[Peace-discuss] Howard Zinn's 7 rules

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

PLEASE POST....   THANKS!

Thanks to our friend Howard Zinn for the seven tips for the long haul, and 
Asma Barla for circulating this article from Z Magazine.



March 7 1999

On Getting Along

By Howard Zinn

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. No 
matter how much power they have they cannot prevent you from living your 
life, speaking your mind, thinking independently, having relationships with 
people as you like. (Read Emma Goldman's autobiography LIVING MY LIFE. 
Harassed, even imprisoned by authority, she insisted on living her life, 
speaking out, however she felt like.

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!

Third (notice how precise is my advice that I can confidently number it, 
the way scientists number things), understand that the major media will not 
tell you of all the acts of resistance taking place every day in the 
society, the strikes, the protests, the individual acts of courage in the 
face of authority. Look around (and you will certainly find it) for the 
evidence of these unreported acts. And for the little you find, extrapolate 
from that and assume there must be a thousand times as much as what you've 
found.

Fourth. Note that throughout history people have felt powerless before 
authority, but that at certain times these powerless people, by organizing, 
acting, risking, persisting, have created enough power to change the world 
around them, even if a little. That is the history of the labor movement, 
of the women's movement, of the anti-Vietnam war movement, the disabled 
persons movement, the gay and lesbian movement, the movement of black 
people in the South.

Fifth: Remember, that those who have power, and who seem invulnerable are 
in fact quite vulnerable, that their power depends on the obedience of 
others, and when those others begin withholding that obedience, begin 
defying authority, that power at the top turns out to be very fragile. 
Generals become powerless when their soldiers refuse to fight, 
industriaists become powerless when their workers leave the jobs or occupy 
the factories.

Sixth: When we forget the fragility of that power in top we become 
astounded when it crumbles in the face of rebellion. We have had many such 
surprises in our time, both in the United States and in other countries.

Seventh: Don't look for a moment of total triumph. See it as an ongoing 
struggle, with victories and defeats, but in the long run the consciousness 
of people growing. So you need patience, persistence, and need to 
understand that even when you don't "win," there is fun and fulfillment in 
the fact that you have been involved, with other good people, in something 
worthwhile.

Okay, seven pieces of profound advice should be enough.







Â

Mary Anne Grady Flores
   Ithaca Catholic Worker
   Vieques Support Group
   514 N. Plain St.
   Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
   607-273-7437
      mgrady at lightlink.com
La Cocina Latina Catering

"Because we want peace with half a heart, half a life and will, the
war making continues.  Because the making of war is total - but the making
of peace by our cowardice is partial."  Father Daniel Berrigan

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."  MLK

"If you think you're too small to be effective,
you've never been in bed with a mosquito."
                         -- War Resisters' League





"The poor tells us who we are,
  The prophets tell us who we could be,
  So we hide the poor,
  And kill the prophets" - Phil Berrigan