Farewell Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn was a historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller A People's History of the United States. Zinn was active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the United States. The author of some 20 books, Zinn was Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He lived in Massachusetts with his wife, the artist Roslyn Zinn. He passed away on January 27, 2010 at the age of 87.


Here's a quote from Howard that Steve has sent me.  If we can only remember this in the midst of our despair, and keep on trying to do the right things even when no one seems to notice, and loving even when surrounded by hate or indifference, there will always be hope.



The struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent


overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem


invincible in their determination to hold on to it. The apparent power has,


again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than


bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization,


sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience—whether by blacks in Alabama


and South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Vietnam, or workers


and intellectuals in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union itself. (And I


would add, by people all over the world to prevent a nuclear holocaust.) No


cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are persuaded


that their cause is just.




The following links contain a small amount of the wisdom that was Howard Zinn. There is more insight into the nature and condition of the world today contained in the 9 short responses given to a variety of questions in the first link (bigthink ,total of 27 minutes), as you are likely to get from countless evenings in front of the tele. For those with a bit more time, the Bill Moyers interview (pbs.org) contains a fascinating look into Zinn's genious in a Bill Moyers interview. (Howard comes onto the program at about the 26:30 minute mark)

Follow the link for short interviews in which he tells a bit about his ideas on a range of topics.

http://bigthink.com/howardzinn/

http://video.pbs.org/video/1356508776/