By Howard Zinn • ZCommunications • February 1, 2010
In this world of war and injustice, how does a person manage to stay socially engaged, committed to the struggle, and remain healthy without burning out or becoming resigned or cynical?
I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world.
In 1963, Howard Zinn was fired from Spelman College, where he was chair of the History Department, because of his support for students’ civil rights activism. In 2005, he was invited back by President Beverly Daniel Tatum to give the commencement address.…
By Howard Zinn •
ZCommunications • September 30, 2004; The Nation • September 20, 2004
In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy?
I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played.
The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world.
Interviewed by David Barsamian • The Sun • July 2004
Barsamian: You have called attention to the role of artists in a time of war. What attracts you to artists?
Zinn: Artists play a special role in social change. I first noticed this when I was a teenager and becoming politically aware for the first time. It was people in the arts who had the greatest emotional effect on me.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Articles about Howard Zinn, Artists, Civil Rights Movement, Elections, George W. Bush, Optimism, Organizing, Prison, Veterans
By Howard Zinn • The Progressive • August 8, 2003
The "victory" over an already devastated and disarmed Iraq led Bush, Rumsfeld, and their teammates into a locker-room frenzy of exultation and self-congratulation. I half expected to see Bush joyfully pouring beer on Rumsfeld's head and Ashcroft snapping a towel at Ari Fleischer's derriére.
But it turns out that the war did not bring order to Iraq, but chaos, not crowds of cheering Iraqis, but widespread hostility. "No to Saddam! No to Bush!" were the signs, as Iraqis contemplated their ruined historic treasures, their destroyed homes, and the graves of their dead--thousands and thousands of civilians and soldiers, with many more men, women, children wounded. And it goes on as I write this in mid-June--an ugly occupation. I see a headline: "U.S. Troops Kill 70 in Iraqi Crackdown."
By Howard Zinn • The Progressive • June 1, 2000
A high school student recently confronted me: "I read in your book A People's History of the United States about the massacres of Indians, the long history of racism, the persistence of poverty in the richest country in the world, the senseless wars. How can I keep from being thoroughly alienated and depressed?"
It's a question I've heard many times before. Another question often put to me by students is: Don't we need our national idols? You are taking down all our national heroes- the Founding Fathers, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy.
Granted, it is good to have historical figures we can admire and emulate. But why hold up as models the fifty-five rich white men who drafted the Constitution as a way of establishing a government that would protect the interests of their class-slaveholders, merchants, bondholders, land speculators?
By Howard Zinn • ZCommunications • March 7, 1999
You ask how I manage to stay involved and remain seemingly happy and adjusted to this awful world where the efforts of caring people pale in comparison to those who have power? It’s easy. First, don’t let "those who have power" intimidate you.…Second, find people to be with who have your values, your commitments, but who also have a sense of humor. That combination is a necessity!
Optimism
A Marvelous Victory
Posted: February 1, 2010 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Essays and Speeches, Optimism, Possibility, ZCommunications
Against Discouragement
Posted: May 15, 2005 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Civil Rights Movement, Democracy, Essays and Speeches, In the South, Nationalism, Optimism, Possibility, Spelman College
The Optimism of Uncertainty
Posted: September 30, 2004 by Howard Zinn Website
In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy? I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Essays and Speeches, Optimism, Possibility, The Nation, ZCommunications
Rise Like Lions: The Role Of Artists In a Time Of War
Posted: July 1, 2004 by Howard Zinn Website
Barsamian: You have called attention to the role of artists in a time of war. What attracts you to artists?
Zinn: Artists play a special role in social change. I first noticed this when I was a teenager and becoming politically aware for the first time. It was people in the arts who had the greatest emotional effect on me.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Articles about Howard Zinn, Artists, Civil Rights Movement, Elections, George W. Bush, Optimism, Organizing, Prison, Veterans
Humpty Dumpty Will Fall
Posted: August 8, 2003 by Howard Zinn Website
The "victory" over an already devastated and disarmed Iraq led Bush, Rumsfeld, and their teammates into a locker-room frenzy of exultation and self-congratulation. I half expected to see Bush joyfully pouring beer on Rumsfeld's head and Ashcroft snapping a towel at Ari Fleischer's derriére. But it turns out that the war did not bring order to Iraq, but chaos, not crowds of cheering Iraqis, but widespread hostility. "No to Saddam! No to Bush!" were the signs, as Iraqis contemplated their ruined historic treasures, their destroyed homes, and the graves of their dead--thousands and thousands of civilians and soldiers, with many more men, women, children wounded. And it goes on as I write this in mid-June--an ugly occupation. I see a headline: "U.S. Troops Kill 70 in Iraqi Crackdown."
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Essays and Speeches, Iraq, Optimism, The Progressive, War
Unsung Heroes
Posted: June 1, 2000 by Howard Zinn Website
A high school student recently confronted me: "I read in your book A People's History of the United States about the massacres of Indians, the long history of racism, the persistence of poverty in the richest country in the world, the senseless wars. How can I keep from being thoroughly alienated and depressed?" It's a question I've heard many times before. Another question often put to me by students is: Don't we need our national idols? You are taking down all our national heroes- the Founding Fathers, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy. Granted, it is good to have historical figures we can admire and emulate. But why hold up as models the fifty-five rich white men who drafted the Constitution as a way of establishing a government that would protect the interests of their class-slaveholders, merchants, bondholders, land speculators?
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, Essays and Speeches, Heroes, Optimism, Possibility, The Progressive
On Getting Along
Posted: March 7, 1999 by Howard Zinn Website
You ask how I manage to stay involved and remain seemingly happy and adjusted to this awful world where the efforts of caring people pale in comparison to those who have power? It’s easy. First, don’t let "those who have power" intimidate you.…Second, find people to be with who have your values, your commitments, but who also have a sense of humor. That combination is a necessity!
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Essays and Speeches, Optimism, Possibility, ZCommunications