Interview by BigThink • 5/8/08
How do you blend anarchism, socialism and communism?
HOWARD ZINN: I think there are elements in all three that are useful.
Interview by BigThink • 5/8/08
Who do you endorse for President [in the 2008 U.S. election]?
HOWARD ZINN: Between Clinton and Obama, well both of them have promised to end the [Iraq] war, but I must say their proposals for bringing the troops out of Iraq are rather halfhearted and they talk about keeping troops there, or Barack Obama says, “Let’s take troops out of Iraq, send troops to Afghanistan.” Neither of them has shaken what Barack Obama rightly called the mindset that led to the Iraq war. The mindset is a mindset which sees war and military intervention as a solution. Neither of them has shaken that.
Interviewed by BigThink • 5/8/08
Topic: Race in America
HOWARD ZINN: There are more openings in media and business and the professions for a certain number of Black people. But I speak about 10 or 20 percent. For the vast majority of Black people, their lives are still constricted by poverty and racism. The civil rights movement accomplished a good deal by beginning to remove some of the important social barriers. What it did not remove was the barrier of class, the barrier of economic injustice.
Martin Luther King recognized this. That’s why toward the end of his life he began working for economic rights for Black people.
Interviewed by BigThink • 5/8/08
What did you learn from your experience in WW II?
HOWARD ZINN: I didn’t learn much about myself during that time, that is, while I was at war. You don’t learn much while you’re in the military except doing your job.
Interviewed by BigThink • 5/8/08
What should the next U.S. President do to get the military out of Iraq?
HOWARD ZINN: I think the next president should begin, announce the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. I think this will be a very healthy thing for Iraq.
The American occupation has not helped a thing. It has not stopped civil war; it has provoked civil war. It has not given the Iraqi people security or democracy; it has given them the opposite. It has ruined their country. And, of course, it has ruined our country, too.
Interviewed by BigThink • 5/8/08
"A more realistic and more truthful history would take a look at American foreign policy over the last several hundred years, really. It will take a look at American foreign policy and see it for what it has been–expansionist, violent and militaristic. In other words, it would be a history that would be honest in the way that we expect individuals to be honest about themselves and their past and to rectify their mistakes."
Interview by BigThink • 5/8/08
What is the state of the world today?
HOWARD ZINN: The world today, 2008, it’s trying to overcome American dominance in the world, trying to overcome the American military bullying that’s taking place here and there in the world, in Iraq and Afghanistan and military bases in a hundred countries.
Interviewed by Wajajat Ali • Counterpunch • April 19, 2008
Zinn reflects on his historic and memorable time at Spelman College in the ‘60s, his thoughts on the Democratic Party, his philosophy of dissent as democracy, and his hope for America’s future.
Interviewed by Shelly R. Fredman • ZCommunications • May 22, 2006
"For those who find a special inspiration in Judaism or Christianity or Buddhism or whatever, fine. If that inspiration leads them to work for justice, that is what matters."
Interviewed by Amy Goodman • Democracy Now! • April 27, 2005
Howard Zinn: I believe neutrality is impossible, because the world is already moving in certain directions. Wars are going on. Children are starving. And to be neutral, to pretend to neutrality, to not take a stand in a situation like that is to collaborate with whatever is going on, to allow it to happen. I did not want to be a collaborator with what was happening. I wanted my history to intercede and to take a stand on behalf of peace, on behalf of a racial equality or sexual equality..."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Democracy Now!, In the South, Politics, Prison, Spelman College, Vietnam War, WWII
Interviews With Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn’s Personal Philosophy
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
How do you blend anarchism, socialism and communism?
HOWARD ZINN: I think there are elements in all three that are useful.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video
Howard Zinn on U.S. Presidential Candidates
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
Who do you endorse for President [in the 2008 U.S. election]?
HOWARD ZINN: Between Clinton and Obama, well both of them have promised to end the [Iraq] war, but I must say their proposals for bringing the troops out of Iraq are rather halfhearted and they talk about keeping troops there, or Barack Obama says, “Let’s take troops out of Iraq, send troops to Afghanistan.” Neither of them has shaken what Barack Obama rightly called the mindset that led to the Iraq war. The mindset is a mindset which sees war and military intervention as a solution. Neither of them has shaken that.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video, Essays and Speeches, War
Howard Zinn on Race in America
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
Topic: Race in America
HOWARD ZINN: There are more openings in media and business and the professions for a certain number of Black people. But I speak about 10 or 20 percent. For the vast majority of Black people, their lives are still constricted by poverty and racism. The civil rights movement accomplished a good deal by beginning to remove some of the important social barriers. What it did not remove was the barrier of class, the barrier of economic injustice. Martin Luther King recognized this. That’s why toward the end of his life he began working for economic rights for Black people.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video, Class, Racism
Learning From World War II
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
What did you learn from your experience in WW II?
HOWARD ZINN: I didn’t learn much about myself during that time, that is, while I was at war. You don’t learn much while you’re in the military except doing your job.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video, War, WWII
Howard Zinn on Iraq: Advice for the Next U.S. President
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
What should the next U.S. President do to get the military out of Iraq?
HOWARD ZINN: I think the next president should begin, announce the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. I think this will be a very healthy thing for Iraq. The American occupation has not helped a thing. It has not stopped civil war; it has provoked civil war. It has not given the Iraqi people security or democracy; it has given them the opposite. It has ruined their country. And, of course, it has ruined our country, too.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video, Democracy, War
Howard Zinn on the Limitations of American History Books
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
"A more realistic and more truthful history would take a look at American foreign policy over the last several hundred years, really. It will take a look at American foreign policy and see it for what it has been–expansionist, violent and militaristic. In other words, it would be a history that would be honest in the way that we expect individuals to be honest about themselves and their past and to rectify their mistakes."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video, Education
Howard Zinn on the World Today
Posted: May 8, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
What is the state of the world today?
HOWARD ZINN: The world today, 2008, it’s trying to overcome American dominance in the world, trying to overcome the American military bullying that’s taking place here and there in the world, in Iraq and Afghanistan and military bases in a hundred countries.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: BigThink Video, War
Zinn Speaks: An Interview on the State of the Empire
Posted: April 19, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
Zinn reflects on his historic and memorable time at Spelman College in the ‘60s, his thoughts on the Democratic Party, his philosophy of dissent as democracy, and his hope for America’s future.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Civil Rights Movement, Democracy, In the South, Politics, Possibility
An Interview with Howard Zinn
Posted: May 22, 2006 by Howard Zinn Website
"For those who find a special inspiration in Judaism or Christianity or Buddhism or whatever, fine. If that inspiration leads them to work for justice, that is what matters."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Politics, Possibility, War, ZCommunications
“To Be Neutral, To Be Passive In A Situation Is To Collaborate With Whatever Is Going On”
Posted: April 27, 2005 by Howard Zinn Website
Howard Zinn: I believe neutrality is impossible, because the world is already moving in certain directions. Wars are going on. Children are starving. And to be neutral, to pretend to neutrality, to not take a stand in a situation like that is to collaborate with whatever is going on, to allow it to happen. I did not want to be a collaborator with what was happening. I wanted my history to intercede and to take a stand on behalf of peace, on behalf of a racial equality or sexual equality..."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Democracy Now!, In the South, Politics, Prison, Spelman College, Vietnam War, WWII