Strangechord

Last night we saw the new documentary about Howard Zinn called “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train”. What a hero! Zinn is truly one of the most necessary historians and activists of the 20th century and a person of tremendous integrity and caring.

I began Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States over June break (I know, late to the game) and have been aware of other writings of his through progressive magazines, but I had no idea that he was such an activist for Civil Rights in the 60’s South or that he was quite the anti-war professor in 70’s Boston. I also did not know that prior to all of that, he was in the Air Force during WWII and dropped bombs on European villages or that he spent much of his early 20’s working in a shipyard. This documentary of his life is really inspiring and I encourage everyone to see it.

There’s a short, terrific interview with Zinn recently in Z Magazine. In it, he makes the following interesting distinction:

What’s the difference between a liberal and a radical?

Zinn: A liberal thinks that the system is basically good, but that it has a few flaws. A liberal will say that we made a mistake in Vietnam, while a radical will say that we didn’t make a mistake - it was deliberate. Liberals think that you can work within the system and maybe get a better president. Radicals think that the whole system is so corrupt that it will swallow you up and spit you out. Radicals also think that you need to create powerful social movements outside the system that will put pressure on the system, what has been called a permanent culture of resistance.

That said, I’m definitely a radical, not a liberal.