Quiz: Strikes (surgical or otherwise)

Exactly 45 years ago, the Pakistan Air Force launched a largely ineffectual pre-emptive strike on Indian Air Force bases, inspired by the Israeli Air Force strikes on Arab bases during the 1967 Arab-Israel conflict. Yet another reason for a quiz on strikes — surgical or otherwise

1 Still on the 1971 India-Pakistan War. The codename for the operation by the Pakistan Air Force was inspired by one of the most famous conquerors in history. Just name the person in question.

2 The first recorded strike in modern Indian history was in 1827, when a particular section of workers staged a successful strike for higher wages. Which specific profession, now defunct, were they from?

3 The Israeli Air Force is well known for its surgical strikes. In June 1981, in which country did they carry out a successful operation to destroy a nuclear facility?

4 In 2009, Operation Aurora was a series of cyber-strikes conducted on Google and dozens of other American companies including Yahoo, Symantec, Adobe and Morgan Stanley by a set of hackers known as the Elderwood network. From which country did they operate?

5 On July 2, 2009, what was struck down by a two-member bench of the Supreme Court after a petition filed by the Naz Foundation against the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi?

6 On June 16, 1976, over 20,000 students from Soweto in South Africa went on strike to protest the compulsory teaching of which language? Guessable

7 Thirty-seven years before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy had launched a surprise strike against which imperial power in Port Arthur?

8 Not the most common form of protest in Hollywood. In 2009, which actress and activist, a Woody Allen favourite, began a hunger strike to protest the conflict in Darfur? She lasted 12 days before doctors forced her to stop, citing severe health risks.

9 In September 2006, in which country did scores of wives and girlfriends start a unique sex strike called La huelga de las piernas cruzadas (the strike of crossed legs”) to force their partners to surrender their weapons to the law?

10 It’s rare that a national football team goes on strike, even rarer when it is a top footballing nation in the middle of a World Cup. But in 2010, the French national team refused to attend practice. For which specific player’s expulsion did they refuse to play till the sports minister and the government of France intervened?

Answers

1. Genghis Khan

2. Palanquin bearers. The second strike was by Railway porters of Howrah station in 1862 demanding an eight-hour working day

3. Iraq. Operation Babylon destroyed the only Iraqi reactor in construction

4. China; they were Beijing based with ties with the People’s Liberation Army

5. Article 377 of the Indian Constitution, which criminalised sexual activities ‘against the order of nature’. Sadly overturned in December 2013.

6. Afrikaans. In remembrance, June 16 is commemorated as Youth Day in South Africa

7. Russia

8. Mia Farrow. Incidentally, Richard Branson also went on hunger strike for three days in support

9. Colombia, specifically in the crime-prone city of Pereira. The murder rate plummeted over the next few years

10. Nicolas Anelka. They lost their next match to hosts South Africa

_{Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup}

_{Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj}

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