Howard Zinn

[democratus]

There was a happier story to tell, just over one month later. On Saturday night, June 12, 1971, we had a date with Howard and Roz to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Harvard Square. But that morning I learned from someone at the New York Times that-without having alerted me-the Times was about to start publishing the top secret documents I had given them that evening. That meant I might get a visit from the FBI any moment; and for once, I had copies of the Papers in my apartment, because I planned to send them to Senator Mike Gravel for his filibuster against the draft.

From Secrets (p. 386):

"I had to get the documents out of our apartment. I called the Zinns, who had been planning to come by our apartment later to join us for the movie, and asked if we could come by their place in Newton instead. I took the papers in a box in the trunk of our car. They weren't the ideal people to avoid attracting the attention of the FBI. Howard had been in charge of managing antiwar activist Daniel Berrigan's movements underground while he was eluding the FBI for months (so from that practical point of view he was an ideal person to hide something from them), and it could be assumed that his phone was tapped, even if he wasn't under regular surveillance. However, I didn't know whom else to turn to that Saturday afternoon. Anyway, I had given Howard a large section of the study already, to read as a historian; he'd kept it in his office at Boston University. As I expected, they said yes immediately. Howard helped me bring up the box from the car.

We drove back to Harvard Square for the movie. The Zinns had never seen Butch Cassidy before. It held up for all of us. Afterward we bought ice-cream cones at Brigham's and went back to our apartment. Finally Howard and Roz went home before it was time for the early edition of the Sunday New York Times to arrive at the subway kiosk below the square. Around midnight Patricia and I went over to the square and bought a couple of copies. We came up the stairs into Harvard Square reading the front page, with the three-column story about the secret archive, feeling very good."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-0

[Mojambo]

1. He was a hero in every sense of the word.

What a terrible loss for this country and the world.

[G_j]

2. I was struck by this comment,

teddy January 28th, 2010 3:35 pm

not only with What Howard Zinn dedicated to telling TRUTH of history and events ...but in what he did in the rest of his life and his commitments, his activism against injustice, his teaching and living by it....

as Daniel Ellsberg's words say that need to be REPEATED - especially for americans:

"that he was," in my opinion, the best human being I've ever known. The best example of what a human can be, and can do with their life."

it is truly a sad commentary on America - a land of 300 million people - that has in fact produced some of history's BEST individuals:

including these men at present: Howard Zinn, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky...and others long dead such as Dr Martin Luther King, Jr..and so many, many others that in ANY culture or history would be the true people of real humanity....

that america is hardly even AWARE of them...or if aware, hardly even cares about them or what they stood for -- or if "cares" about them -- is too COWARDLY to follow their teachings.

THAT is the saddest commentary on a nation. instead -- america glorifies as "leaders" and exemplars of "good citizenship" people who created and maintain conditions for Injustice , Untruths, Falsehoods and Exploitation.

what a sad, sad state of a "nation".

[democratus]

3. Thank you

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
78 min, English
Shortlisted for 2005 Academy Award

Co-Directors: Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller
Narrated by Matt Damon
Original Music Composed by Richard Martinez
Additional Music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie and Billy Bragg
On-line Editor: Cyndi Moran

"'To be neutral and to be passive is to collaborate with whatever is going on.' Democracy is not just a counting-up of votes, but a counting-up of actions.'"


You Can't Be Neutral documents the life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People's History of the United States. Featuring rare archival materials, interviews with Howard Zinn as well as colleagues and friends including Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker, YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL captures the essence of this activist and thinker who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years. As Noam Chomsky has said of him, "it is no exaggeration to say he has changed the consciousness of a generation."

http://www.agitfilm.com/

[asdjrocky]

4. Yeah, I just read that today.

They are going to see one of my all time favorite movies, while in the eye of the hurricane, what giants.

What heroes all of these people were.

[democratus]

5. You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

American historian, playwright and social activist Howard Zinn died yesterday, aged 87.

The author of the million-plus bestseller A People's History of the United States, which gave a leftist view of American history, died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, his daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn told the Associated Press today.

Zinn wrote more than 20 books and his plays have been produced around the world, but it is for A People's History, first published in 1980 with a print run of just 5,000 copies, which the historian is best known. Told from the perspective of America's women, Native Americans and workers, the book provides a revisionist view of American history from the arrival of Christopher Columbus - who Zinn charges with genocide - to president Bill Clinton's first term.

"My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality," wrote the author in the bestselling book. "But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all) - that is still with us. One reason these atrocities are still with us is that we have learned to bury them in a mass of other facts, as radioactive wastes are buried in containers in the earth."

Growing up in an immigrant, working-class family in Brooklyn, Zinn became a shipyard worker at 18, later joining the air force and flying a bomber during the second world war. His experiences shaped his opposition to war, and on his return he took a PhD in history at Columbia University, later working with civil rights movement activists including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman, and leading antiwar protests. Professor emeritus at Boston University, Zinn received a host of honours, most recently the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr Humanitarian award from New York University for embodying "a vision of peace, persistence in purpose, and inspirational action".

In December, a documentary narrated by Zinn and based on A People's History aired on the History Channel. Intended to give a voice to those who spoke up for social change throughout US history, producers on the film included Matt Damon and Zinn himself, with performances from Morgan Freeman, Bob Dylan, Viggo Mortensen, Bruce Springsteen and others.

The Zinn Education Project, which promotes the teaching of A People's History in schools throughout America, said it was "deeply saddened" to learn of Zinn's death. "His incredible energy, wit, knowledge, political analysis, vision, and dedication had us convinced that he would outlive us all," the project posted on its website. "At 87, he continued to inform and inspire in his presentations across the country, radio interviews, essays, and film-making."

http://www.zmag.org/zvideo/3340

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. We must remember him.

He was a hero, the real deal...

Off to the Greatest Page for you.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

7. Thanks for posting

I'm going to be a part of an action this spring in DC and I will
keep reminding myself of Howard Zinn's strength and courage
when getting ready for our arrest moment.