Howard Zinn died from a heart attack yesterday. He was 87.
I had the great honor of meeting Howard Zinn in 2003 when I was in production with my first documentary Liberty Bound. Just until a few years before this, I’m ashamed to say, I really didn’t know who he was. I had recently gotten involved in politics (late 1999), and that’s when I first heard of this remarkable man.
I had taken the train from CA to MA to interview him, after contacting him via his old Boston University email. I was a little more than surprised he agreed to the interview. After all, he was a huge figure in leftist politics and a renowned historian and author, but that’s who Howard was: a kind, gentle man who did everything he could to promote knowledge of that which is little-known and to shine light on hidden injustice to the people of the USA and the world, even if it was through a idealistic, unknown, independent filmmaker like me.
I was quite nervous during the interview, at first, but Howard quickly put me at ease with his understated and humble presence. When he spoke, which was always softly with a literal twinkle in his eye, everything else stopped. Even when speaking about the most horrific events of human history, he did so calmly with insightful elegance.
After the interview, I found it difficult to edit out anything Zinn had said. It all was quite relevant and eloquently spoken. More than a few people have told me that my interview with Zinn was among the best they had seen. Unfortunately, very few people saw my film.
Zinn did. And he congratulated me on a job well done.
We stayed in touch over the years, and he helped me set up an interview or two for my second documentary Internationally Speaking. He even wrote a letter of recommendation for UT Grad School when I had briefly considered going back for my PhD.
I still have that letter. Unopened with his signature scrawled across the back.
It’s among my most cherished possessions.
If you haven’t yet done so, I think all citizens of the US (and the world) should read his masterpiece People’s History of the United States. As any thinker knows, history is written by the winners, and the point of writing is down is as much about documenting events as covering up (or downplaying) mistakes and embarrassments.
A People’s History of the United States is the exact opposite. This is history from the POV of the losers. The down-trodden. The persecuted.
It had me crying uncontrollably and utterly horrified by page 6.
Hard truths often have that result.
Howard Zinn dedicated his life to easing the suffering of others. He spoke for those who could not speak for themselves. He fought bravely in WWII. He protested injustice and refused to stay silent when Civil Rights were violated, and he encouraged others to do the same.
The world is more than just a little bit better because of this exceptional man’s life and work.
Many, many, many people I’ve spoken with over the past six months are in a dire economic situation. There was another time in fairly recent memory that this country suffered a similar repression, and it just so happened to be after the last 8-year Republican administration.
Hmmmm…. coincidence?
With republicans trying to keep affordable, reliable health care away from the 50+ million Americans who are uninsured, changing every effort to do so in a way to benefit insurance companies…
With hundreds of thousands of orphan and foster children living in less-than-standard conditions when there are, again, hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples willing and ready to adopt, giving these children a support system and a way out of poverty and abuse…
With the greatest civil rights issue of our time still unresolved, leaving thousands of same-sex couples without a legal union thus negating their right to be with their partners in sickness and death, among many, many, many other issues…
Perhaps we should keep this in mind:
This is an oldie but a goodie…
Day in the Life of Joe Republican
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his workday. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.
Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It’s noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards.
He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”
United We Stand sounds great, but we are not a united country. We are in fact deeply polarized with a significant majority trapped between in apathy, frustration, or disgust.
Politically, these poles are called conservatives and liberals. The conservatives however tend to prefer the colloquial terms Right and Left for what should be obvious reasons. Let us take a quick look at these words and then you can decide whether politicians and pundits at least can cast spells with common language.
The word “conservative” implies preserving. In this case preserving the traditional values of our ancestors. Sounds fine on the surface, but peel off the top layer and see what is wriggling underneath. Our ancestors practiced slavery, genocide, racial segregation, religious intolerance, oppression of women, etc. It is primarily an unwillingness to evolve, either socially or individually. It is no wonder they prefer to refer to themselves as “The Right” with the automatic assumption that everyone else is wrong.
The word liberal brings with it the connotations of freedom and generosity, and yet it has been given a veneer implying totalitarian oppression through its unwarranted association with the Soviet Union. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic was neither communist nor socialist. It wasn’t even a republic, but rather an oppressively totalitarian regime.
“The Left” is even worse with its Medieval Christian connotations of evil. The Latin word for “left” is sinister, which received its modern definition because left-handed people were thought to be wrong somehow.
It has occurred to me from my own observations that a more appropriate designation for these two groups would be big and small. I base this on their respective world views.
Liberals tend to start big: “save the world,” “world peace,” “think globally,” -and then work their way down- “universal healthcare,” “good schools” “community markets,” “family planning” “act locally.”
Conservatives on the other hand tend to start small and expand. “Me first,” “me and mine,” “family first” “my church/social club/sports team” “my religion,” “America, love it or leave it.”
These are of course tendencies and not rules. But if we look at the way each group looks at separate issues then patterns quickly emerge.
Liberals try to look at the world as a whole. OK, liberals look at the world anyway they want, but one of the central ideas behind liberalism is that we all live on the same small planet. Some liberals just think of it as a human world and worry only about humans. The broader view is that it is a single ball of life that we are all a part of. Every living creature and ecosystem has a right to life. There is a general willingness among liberals to sacrifice some of their own well being for the greater well being of the planet.
The more righteous party has a tendency to break down and isolate issues. This allows them to focus attention on a narrow point without revealing the greater consequences of their actions. Rather than solving a problem, there is a tendency to remove it from their yard. As long as it is happening elsewhere and not to them, it is not a problem. Is it not ironic that those who use the “United We Stand” phrase the most are the most divisive?
And let us not forget the immortal words of Samuel Johnson:
“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
During Egypt’s New Kingdom, if I am not mistaken (actually let me check on that and get back to you), Amenhotep II ordered giant monuments of Egyptian pharaohs and gods to be built on their border with Nubia. Also included were temples covered in bas-relief images depicting the royal ass-kicking the Nubians would receive if they messed with the Egyptians.
Think also about when the fellowship of the ring entered the ancient bounderies of Gondor. This river passage was also marked with immense statues carved into the mountains depicting stern kings, also a warning to invaders and a display of the kingdom’s might.
Now consider Mount Rushmore, carved into a cliff side in the heart of Indian territory according to the original treaty. I find it hard to believe that this was anything but a deliberate reminder of who the new overlords of the ancient Indian lands were.
South Dakota talks a lot about Mount Rushmore, but the real monument is the Indian response to this deliberate affront. The Crazy Horse Monument, which is still incomplete as only a face, is 87.5 feet high as compared to Rushmore’s 60 foot high busts. When finished in the round, it will be 641 feet long and 563 ft high.
It was begun in 1948, and if it seems like it is taking a long time it’s because it’s funded completely by private sources, primarily the ten dollars per-person visitor’s fee to go see it. Rushmore, on the other hand, was a government funded construction which lasted from 1927 to 1941, at which time government funds ran out and the monument was declared complete as-is. Only about one third of the intended carving was completed. The Indians are still working away at theirs, so they are way ahead of the great white fathers on that score.
According to the treaty of Fort Laramie, Mount Rushmore is actually Lakota territory. Before being renamed after a gold prospector, it was known as Six Grandfathers and was considered sacred to the Lakota people.
Somehow I don’t see the U.S. giving it back any time soon.
This is a bumper sticker Christine’s father had made up, and I thought it was pretty clever. It also got me thinking. Why do people watch things like American Idol & So You Think You Can Dance?
Like everything else, it’s the economy.
The idle are watching American Idol because times are hard. Too many people with too few jobs to go to. What else is there for them to do? Or, on the other hand, people who have jobs that are underpaid and/or underapprciated. Or perhaps they just hate their job. Shows like American Idol offer a two-fold escape. One can root for someone chasing the “American Dream,” because, who isn’t? Secondly, they can vicariously take their pent up aggression out on people through the comments of the judges. Perhaps when one of the contestants fail, it makes they feel better about their own failures… at least they’re not being broadcast on National Television.
So. The economy. Unemployment on the rise…
Cuba has a national unemployment policy which pays unemployed people to go to college for retraining if they choose to. This is why they were able to offer us the use of hundreds of doctors when Katrina hit, and the Louisiana National Guard was in Iraq. We (i.e. the republicans in power) were too proud to accept, of course.
In America, we have cable daytime TV and video games to distract the unemployed from their imminent eviction.
In France, the government will pay the wages of employees when their employers are unable to.
In the U.S., those who qualify can join the National Guard, complete with a free trip to Iraq or Afgahnistan.
Companies who can’t pay their employees get massive payouts direct to the CEO’s. The employees (or former employees) lose their homes.
In Canada, there are social programs and economic safety nets including healthcare for everyone (like every other first world nation on the planet that’s not the USA).
Here on the homefront, after one loses their job and their home has gone into foreclosure (because the banks pocketed the bailout money), at any supermarket one can pick up a shopping cart to push your possessions around in.
Since we are the “greatest nation on Earth,” don’t you think it is about time we started acting like it?
Several years ago when I was a budding filmmaker, I made a little short film called Corporate Nation. It was how consumers who support corporations (buying things from such corporations) are responsible for the actions of said corporation. Basically, the idea that you vote with every dollar you spent.
I’m very careful where I spend my money.
If a company tests on animals, for example, they never see a dime of my money. It’s been this way for 20 years, when I boycotted my first two companies for animal testing: Gillette & L’oreal (both have stopped animal testing practices now).
One company I used to boycott with a vengeance was Starbucks Coffee. They were the epitome of the evil corporation, snuffing out the little guy all around them. Putting up a Starbucks on every corner around a mom & pop coffee shop until the little guy was forced out of business, even if that meant 3 of their 4 own stores went belly up.
To top it off, they were using clear cut rain forest land to raise their coffee, destroying acres and acres of precious rain forest and forcing countless species into extinction. Unacceptable.
However, those are all now things of the past.
I have now been a supporter and near-advocate of Starbucks for a few years now. Not only do I love their decadent Mochas, but they have grown ethically as a corporation.
I support ethical corporations.
They sell water (Ethos) that helps bring clean water to the billion-plus people in this world don’t have access to clean water.
Although all their coffee isn’t fair trade, it all is “ethically traded” coffee. They have a special relationship with their coffee workers and provide health care and more to their coffee workers. They visit each farm and ensure that the farmers are adhering to environmental and ethical working standards. Now they help protect the rain forests.
All their paper cups and napkins are made of at least 10% post consumer recycled material, and they offer a discount for bringing in your own refillable cup.
I was the most impressed when they joined the Product (Red) campaign, the brilliant brain child of Bono. Now I buy every cup with my Starbucks (Red) card, which provides medicine to AIDS victims in Africa.
I’m a HUGE advocate of Product (Red). In fact, I stepped into the GAP for the first time after 15 yrs because of Product (Red). Some corporations are learning.
Starbucks is one of them.
Sure, they still make billions a year while many, many starve; but compare them to other corporations like Proctor & Gamble, who I still boycott, who hasn’t grown one iota ethically in the last 20 years.
Those of you who know me personally, know I have been quite the activist in my time. Politics. Animal Rights. Environmental Issues. Gay Marriage. Civil Liberties. Freedom of Expression/Speech/Religion. etc.
Freelance Editor Juliet Ulman is sponsoring a team on Madness Against Malaria. Please participate! Even a few dollars will help. She needs to raise $50-100 more to get to the next level.
By participating, you could win one of these books!
This is it! Wear WHITE today in solidarity with all those thousands of people whose marriages are about to be erased in the eyes of the law…. unless the California Supreme Court can see reason today.
That was my reaction when I saw on the news this morning at my mother’s that the Uncle Sam was giving $30,000,000,000 to the insurance giant AIG. That in addition to the something like $85B they’ve already given them. Since the country is in such a deficit (courtesy of the Bush Administration), they don’t have this money… so they’re just printing more. So far to AIG, that’s $125B.
Then let’s add in the Auto Industry bailout – another $150B
+
Bank bailout $250B
+
Cost of War in Iraq – $1 TRILLION (conservative, as many say it’s $2 Trillion)
So far, this is a total of $1,425,000,000,000.00 SQUANDERED, and the economy is no better for it.
Really?!
Can’t they see this isn’t working?!?!?!?!?! Trickle down doesn’t work. That’s been proven again and again over the last (at least) 25 years. That an illegal wars that cost Americans $ and lives… just to put that money into Big Oil’s pockets…
It’s time for TRICKLE UP!
Okay. So (supposedly) the US Govt. thinks that by bailing out the auto industry, banks, and insurance companies, it will somehow help the American people.
NEWS FLASH!! It’s not helping anyone but corporate big whigs buy new million dollar homes in the Carribbean.
CHRISTINE’S TRICKLE UP THEORY:
The government should take that $1,425,000,000,000 ($1.4 trillion) and give it to the American people. No more of this $300 fricken stimulus check. That same $1.425T would give EVERY SINGLE ADULT AMERICAN (over the age of 18, approx 225m) $6,000!!! That’s over $10,000 per average household.
Then let’s add into that these $40M bonuses and outrageous salaries for CEOs, professional athletes, and Hollywood executives/stars.
Really. Does ANYONE need more than $10 million per year? That’s a lot of fricken money. So – cap salaries at $10m a year. That will free up another (approximately) $5 Billion … CONSERVATIVE estimate… and put all that money toward a program for Universal Health Care for US Citizens. It’s high time we come up with
THEN
people could pay down their student loans (i.e. the govt. would get some back)
people could pay down their mortgages (i.e. the banks would get some back)
people would go shopping, buy cars, buy new houses, etc (i.e. auto industry, insurance, ECONOMY!!!
It’s not rocket science people! TRICKLE UP!
Give the money to the people WHO NEED IT. . .
Otherwise, more CEOs and other corporate big-whigs will pocket the cash, just as they have been doing.
Uncle Sam, think of this $10,000 per person and compensation for having to put up with Bush for 8 yrs, for having our civil liberties challenged and compromised, and for an illegal/unjust war that has not only destroyed our economy but also has destroyed hundreds of thousands of families.
Time to pay up, Uncle Sam — the people of America, for a change.
Damn straight.
Let’s get a petition going on Facebook… I don’t know how to do this.
Who’s with me?
On second thought. As they’re just printing more of it anyway, why not give us all $100,000!!
That’s only $22.5 Trillion on top of our already $10.6 Trillion… so what’s the big deal?
The extended deadline is tomorrow. Please watch this moving video (and the funny one beneath it) and sign the petition. I know times are tough for everyone now, but if you can donate $10 or $25 to this worth cause it will help keep thousands of families together.
This is the great Civil Rights Issue of our time. Supporters of Proposition 8 and those who spread hate against gays will not only be ashamed in years to come, they will have to suffer to see the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes (as Sean Penn said at the Oscars).
Howard Zinn died from a heart attack yesterday. He was 87.
I’m a HUGE advocate of Product (Red). In fact, I stepped into the GAP for the first time after 15 yrs because of Product (Red). Some corporations are learning.
