In this editorial, Howard Zinn nominates Eartha Kitt for Woman of the Year and Dr. Benjamin Spock for Man of the Year because “both refused to play the game” by speaking out against the Vietnam War.
Excerpt:
We’ve become fanatic about the word communist and this is part of the game.…
Emma dramatizes the life of Emma Goldman, the famed anarchist, feminist, and free-spirited thinker who was exiled from the United States because of her outspoken views, including her opposition to World War I.
Interview by Bill Bigelow • Author on Air • January 19, 2010
In early January of 2010, the Zinn Education Project joined with HarperCollins, publisher of Howard Zinn’s classic A People’s History of the United States, to sponsor an “Ask Howard” online radio interview, and invited teachers from around the country to participate. Sixty teachers and students submitted written questions to Professor Zinn. The Jan. 19 interview was conducted by Rethinking Schools Curriculum Editor Bill Bigelow. Below is the full audio recording, followed by excerpts from that interview, edited for length and clarity.
By Howard Zinn • The Guardian • October 10, 2009
I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace.
By Howard Zinn • The Progressive • July 20, 2009
There are things that happen in the world that are bad, and you want to do something about them. You have a just cause. But our culture is so war prone that we immediately jump from, “This is a good cause” to “This deserves a war.”
You need to be very, very comfortable in making that jump.
Interview by Dave Zirin • May 2, 2009
Discussion ranges from the U.S. elections, the New Deal in the 1930s, the struggle for racial justice, equal marriage, and the need to recreate a socialist alternative.
Interviewed by Al Jazeera • Sept. 13, 2008 Q: Is there any hope the US will change its approach to the rest of the world?
"If there is any hope, the hope lies in the American people. [It] lies in American people becoming resentful enough and indignant enough over what has happened to their country, over the loss of dignity in the world, over the starving of human resources in the United States, the starving of education and health, the takeover of the political mechanism by corporate power and the result this has on the everyday lives of the American people."
Interview by Žiga Vodovnik • Published at CounterPunch • May 12, 2008
"There is one central characteristic of anarchism on the matter of means, and that central principle is a principle of direct action. ... In the South, they did not wait for the government to give them a signal, or to go through the courts, to file lawsuits, wait for Congress to pass the legislation. They took direct action; they went into restaurants, were sitting down there and wouldn’t move. They got on those busses and acted out the situation that they wanted to exist."
By Howard Zinn • TomDispatch.com • April 1, 2008
With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace of the idea.
However, the very idea that the United States was an empire did not occur to me until after I finished my work as a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War, and came home. Even as I began to have second thoughts about the purity of the "Good War," even after being horrified by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even after rethinking my own bombing of towns in Europe, I still did not put all that together in the context of an American "Empire."
American Empire
Howard Zinn Guest Editorial (1968): “Refuse to play the game of silence in the midst of murder”
Posted: November 8, 2018 by Howard Zinn Website
In this editorial, Howard Zinn nominates Eartha Kitt for Woman of the Year and Dr. Benjamin Spock for Man of the Year because “both refused to play the game” by speaking out against the Vietnam War.
Excerpt:
We’ve become fanatic about the word communist and this is part of the game.…
Category: Audio & Video, Video About Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Politics, Vietnam War
Howard Zinn’s Emma
Posted: June 14, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Audio & Video, News, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, American Empire, Performances
‘One Long Struggle for Justice’
Posted: January 19, 2010 by Howard Zinn Website
In early January of 2010, the Zinn Education Project joined with HarperCollins, publisher of Howard Zinn’s classic A People’s History of the United States, to sponsor an “Ask Howard” online radio interview, and invited teachers from around the country to participate. Sixty teachers and students submitted written questions to Professor Zinn. The Jan. 19 interview was conducted by Rethinking Schools Curriculum Editor Bill Bigelow. Below is the full audio recording, followed by excerpts from that interview, edited for length and clarity.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Audio With Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, American Empire, Civil Rights Movement, Class, Education, Possibility, Zinn Education Project
War and Peace Prizes
Posted: October 10, 2009 by Howard Zinn Website
I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Barack Obama, Mainstream Media, War, ZCommunications
Untold Truths About the American Revolution
Posted: July 20, 2009 by Howard Zinn Website
There are things that happen in the world that are bad, and you want to do something about them. You have a just cause. But our culture is so war prone that we immediately jump from, “This is a good cause” to “This deserves a war.” You need to be very, very comfortable in making that jump.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Class, Essays and Speeches, The Progressive, War
‘You have to go beyond capitalism’: Dave Zirin Interviews Howard Zinn
Posted: May 2, 2009 by Howard Zinn Website
Discussion ranges from the U.S. elections, the New Deal in the 1930s, the struggle for racial justice, equal marriage, and the need to recreate a socialist alternative.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video About Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Activist, American Empire, Barack Obama, Boston University, BU Five, Civil Rights Movement, Economics, FDR, Gay Marriage, George W. Bush, In the South, ISR, Labor, New Deal, Politics
Three Holy Wars: The Progressive’s 100th Anniversary Conference
Posted: May 2, 2009 by Howard Zinn Website
Speech give by Howard Zinn in Madison, Wisconsin, May 2, 2009
Transcript
Matt Rothschild: For all his fame he’s more humble, or as I told him once, he fakes it better than anyone I know. So, let’s hear it for Howard Zinn.…
Category: Audio & Video, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Class, Essays and Speeches, Racism, The Progressive, War, WWII
U.S. ‘In Need of Rebellion’
Posted: September 13, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
Q: Is there any hope the US will change its approach to the rest of the world?
"If there is any hope, the hope lies in the American people. [It] lies in American people becoming resentful enough and indignant enough over what has happened to their country, over the loss of dignity in the world, over the starving of human resources in the United States, the starving of education and health, the takeover of the political mechanism by corporate power and the result this has on the everyday lives of the American people."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Civil Disobedience, Democracy, Elections, Politics
Rebels Against Tyranny: An Interview with Howard Zinn on Anarchism
Posted: May 12, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
"There is one central characteristic of anarchism on the matter of means, and that central principle is a principle of direct action. ... In the South, they did not wait for the government to give them a signal, or to go through the courts, to file lawsuits, wait for Congress to pass the legislation. They took direct action; they went into restaurants, were sitting down there and wouldn’t move. They got on those busses and acted out the situation that they wanted to exist."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Civil Disobedience, Democracy, Politics
What the Classroom Didn’t Teach Me About the American Empire
Posted: April 1, 2008 by Howard Zinn Website
With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace of the idea. However, the very idea that the United States was an empire did not occur to me until after I finished my work as a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War, and came home. Even as I began to have second thoughts about the purity of the "Good War," even after being horrified by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even after rethinking my own bombing of towns in Europe, I still did not put all that together in the context of an American "Empire."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Essays and Speeches, TomDispatch.com, War