Howard Zinn Speaks: Collected Speeches 1963-2009 PDF
Preview Howard Zinn Speaks: Collected Speeches 1963-2009
ZinnSpeaks_pprbk7.pdf 1 9/25/12 11:46 AM Howard Zinn has illuminated our history like no other US C historian. This collection of his speeches on protest O H L movements, racism, war, and US history, many never L O E before published, covers more than four decades of his C W T A active engagement with the audiences he inspired with his E D R humor, insight, and clarity. S D P E Z “Reading Howard’s spoken words, I feel that I am almost hearing his voice E I again—his stunning pitch-perfect ability to capture the moment and the C N H N concerns and needs of the audience, whoever they may be, always E S S enlightening, often stirring, an amalgam of insight, critical history, wit, 1 P 9 blended with charm and appeal.” 6 E —NOAM CHOMSKY 3 A – 2 K 0 S “With ferocious moral clarity and mischievous humor, Howard turned 0 C 9 routine antiwar rallies into profound explorations of state violence and staid M academic conferences into revival meetings for social change. Collected here Y for the first time, Howard’s speeches—spanning an extraordinary life of CM passion and principle—come to us at the moment when we need them most: MY just as a global network of popular uprisings searches for what comes next. CY E We could ask for no wiser a guide than Howard Zinn.” D CMY IT E H K —NAOMI KLEIN D B O HOWARD ZINN Y A W “To hear [Howard] speak was like listening to music that you loved—lyrical, N A uplifting, honest. . . . I know he would love it for each of you to find your voice T H R and to be heard. This book will provide you with some inspiration.” O D N SPEAKS —MICHAEL MOORE Y Z A I N R “To read this book is to hear Howard Zinn speak again, inspiring us for the N N O struggles from below that are our only hope for any future at all.” V COLLECTED SPEECHES 1963–2009 —FRANCES FOX PIVEN E History $18.95 HOWARD ZINN EDITED BY ANTHONY ARNOVE HaymarketBooks.org Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page i Howard Zinn Speaks Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page ii Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page iii Howard Zinn Speaks Edited by Anthony Arnove Haymarket Books Chicago, Illinois Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page iv © 2012 e Howard Zinn Revocable Trust Introduction © 2012 by Anthony Arnove Published in 2012 by Haymarket Books PO Box 180165 Chicago, IL 60618 www.haymarketbooks.org 773-583-7884 ISBN: 978-1-60846-223-0 Trade distribution: In the US, Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, www.cbsd.com In Canada, Publishers Group Canada, www.pgcbooks.ca In the UK, Turnaround Publisher Services, www.turnaround-uk.com In Australia, Palgrave Macmillan, www.palgravemacmillan.com.au All other countries, Publishers Group Worldwide, www.pgw.com Cover design by Abby Weintraub. Photo courtesy of the estate of Howard Zinn. Published with the generous support of Lannan Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund. Printed in Canada by union labor on recycled paper containing 100 percent postcon- sumer waste in accordance with the Green Press Initiative, www.greenpressinitiative.org. Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data is available. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Union bug Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page v Table of Contents Introduction by Anthony Arnove vii Note on the text xiii 1 Southern Influence in National Politics 1 2 Speech against the Vietnam War on Boston Common 15 3 Thinking about Vietnam: Political Theory and Human Life 21 4 Academic Freedom: Collaboration and Resistance 41 5 Second Thoughts on the First Amendment 59 6 1492–1992: The Legacy of Columbus 77 7 A People’s History of the United States 91 8 A Call to Action: Abolish the Death Penalty 115 9 The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti 121 10 Emma Goldman, Anarchism, and War Resistance 133 11 Confronting Government Lies 145 12 History Matters 161 13 The Myth of American Exceptionalism 175 14 Just War 185 15 Overcoming Obstacles 207 16 Civil Disobedience in the Twenty-First Century 225 17 The State of the Union 241 18 Standing Up for Justice in the Age of Obama 255 19 Talk on Democracy and Citizenship in Greece 265 20 Three Holy Wars 283 Acknowledgments 301 Index 303 Books by Howard Zinn 310 Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page vi Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page vii Introduction by Anthony Arnove My work with Howard Zinn over the last decade was punctuated with frequent enthusiastic calls and e-mails, his dispatches from the road and the home front. I remember Howard calling the morning after he ap- peared on stage at a Pearl Jam concert. Eddie Vedder had brought him out on stage in front of tens of thousands of Pearl Jam fans and handed him a microphone. “I gave the best speech of my life last night,” he said. “It was three words long: ‘End the war.’” As a speaker, Howard understood the power of brevity, of never mak- ing anything simple complicated. He understood the power of the dra- matic pause, letting his audiences have a moment to take in his thoughts, the power of humor to convey radical ideas in a compelling and dramatic way—and the power of the simple word “no.” “They say war is the only solution,” he’d say in one of his many talks delivered against the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “No . . .” Our relationship began with a call, when I happened to pick up the phone one day at South End Press, where I was working as an editor at the time. He was calling to see if South End might have work for a friend of his who had just been released from prison after a number of years. That, of course, was exactly the kind of radical Howard was. Other calls over the years were more mundane. He and Roz had lis- tened to the Bob Dylan album I’d sent him. Or they’d watched a film vii Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page viii viii | Howard Zinn Speaks Brenda and I had recommended. The Red Sox had beaten the Yankees. I had the great privilege of working with Howard on the book Voices of a People’s History of the United States, which then led to dozens of live performances that we cast, produced, and narrated together, and then the movie The People Speak. If Howard loved a specific performance, he didn’t even use words to describe it. There’d just be a visceral “Mhmmm” and his remarkable smile would grow into a full grin. After our first few Voices performances, I figured out that I had to tell the sound technicians to turn off Howard’s microphone during the readings, because otherwise our tapes of the performances would pick up his sounds of pleasure during particularly good readings. Filming our documentary The People Speakin Boston one afternoon, Howard observed that the camaraderie between our cast members, the sense of collective purpose and joy, was a feeling he hadn’t experienced with such intensity since his active participation in the civil rights movement. Since Howard’s passing, I have thought often of that moment, which crys- tallizes for me what made him so compelling an example of someone com- mitted to, and enjoying to its fullest, a life of political activism. Howard jumped into the civil rights struggle as an active participant, not just as a commentator or observer. He decided that the point of study- ing history was not to write papers and attend seminars but to make his- tory, to help inform grassroots movements to change the world. He was fired from Spelman College as a result, and risked losing his next job at Boston University for his role in opposing the Vietnam War and in sup- porting workers on the campus. When there was a moment of respite after the end of the Vietnam War, Howard did not turn back to academic studies, or turn inward as so many other 1960s activists had done, but began writing plays, understanding the importance of cultural expression to political understanding and change. He also began writing A People’s History of the United States, which came out in 1980, right as the tide was turning against the radical social movements he had helped to organize. A People’s Historywould provide a countercurrent that developed and grew as teachers, activists, and the next generation of social movements Howard Zinn speeches text.9_Layout 1 10/2/12 11:34 AM Page ix Introduction by Anthony Arnove | ix developed new political efforts and new movements. Howard was there to fight alongside them. Throughout, he reminded us of the history of social change in this country, and kept coming back to the essential lessons that it seems we so often forget or need to learn anew: that change comes from below; that progress comes only from people resisting and organizing—workers going on strike, consumers boycotting, soldiers refusing to fight, saying no to injustice and war. He reminded us that we cannot rely on elected officials or leaders, that we have to rely instead on our individual and collective actions: social movements, civil disobedience, and political protests; that change never happens in a straight line but always has ups and downs, twists and turns; and that there are no guarantees in history. But Howard added a distinctive element to these arguments by em- bodying the understanding that the shared experience of working along- side others for political change is the most rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful life one can live. The sense of solidarity he had with people in struggle, the sense of joy he had in life, was infectious. The stereotypical image our corporate media presents of the left, es- pecially the radical left, is that it is humorless, boring, and out of touch. Howard shattered this convenient caricature. His voice, as this collection of speeches clearly illustrates, combined personal conviction and powerful historical narratives with comedic punch-lines that delivered keen social observations and compelling political criticism. These qualities are in full view in his play Marx in Soho,which manages to simultaneously reclaim Marx from his critics and his Stalinist distorters while bringing down the house with humor that evokes Sid Caesar and Zero Mostel. Howard knew how lucky he was—with Roz, with his family, with his experiences of being part of movements for social justice and the friendships he formed in them. He conveyed this with a sense of joy that was inspiring. He communicated to everyone around them that they mat- tered, that they were an active part of history making. In an article on Eugene Debs that Howard wrote in the 1990s, he said, “We are always in need of radicals who are also lovable,” and said what we
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