[Peace-discuss] Howard Zinn

[Brussel]

DemocracyNow! had a moving tribute to Howard Zinn, which for those who missed it can be still seen and read. In a clip from that interview of Amy Goodman with Alice Walker, Chomsky, Arnove and Naomi Klein, there is this relevant quotation from Zinn in one of his talks:

…We should look for a peace movement to join. Really, look for some peace organization to join. It will look small at first, and pitiful and helpless, but that's how movements start. That's how the movement against the Vietnam War started. It started with handfuls of people who thought they were helpless, thought they were powerless. But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power. When workers go on strike, huge corporations lose their power. When consumers boycott, huge business establishments have to give in. When soldiers refuse to fight, as so many soldiers did in Vietnam, so many deserters, so many fraggings, acts of violence by enlisted men against officers in Vietnam, B-52 pilots refusing to fly bombing missions anymore, war can't go on. When enough soldiers refuse, the government has to decide we can't continue. So, yes, people have the power. If they begin to organize, if they protest, if they create a strong enough movement, they can change things. That's all I want to say. 

A transcript of the full interview is at 

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23757

I think that the remarks of Chomsky regarding Zinn have never been more eloquent than they are in this interview, although everybody there contributed to the appreciation of this man . Incidentally, Paul Street also has a moving tribute to Chomsky at the ZNet site. So many have been deeply moved by the loss of this irreplaceable wonderful teacher/activist. 



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