RUMINATIONS
Howard
Zinn is an American historian, social
critic and political scientist. Since the 1960s, he has been a prominent voice
in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the United States.
Author of 20 books, including A People's History of the United States, a book every American should read. Zinn is Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He lives in Newton, Massachusets with his wife, Roslyn. They have two children and five grandchildren.
Here are some Zinn quotes:
"Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."
"I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers."
"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our idea, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves."
“(Nationalism is) a set of beliefs taught to each generation in which the Motherland or the Fatherland is an object of veneration and becomes a burning cause for which one becomes willing to kill the children of other Motherlands or Fatherlands”
“When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.”
“Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people.”
"We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children."
"The UN should arrange, as US forces leave, for an international group of peacekeepers and negotiators from the Arab countries to bring together Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, and work out a solution for self-governance that would give all three groups a share in political power. Simultaneously, the UN should arrange for shipments of food and medicine, from the United States and other countries, as well as engineers to help rebuild the country."
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
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