The Problem is Civil Obedience - 1970. Howard Zinn


"I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power, that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require small reform but to require a drastic reallocation of wealth. I start from the supposition that we don't have to say too much about this because all we have to do is think about the state of the world today and realize that things are all upside down. Daniel Berrigan is in jail-A Catholic priest, a poet who opposes the war-and J. Edgar Hoover is free, you see. David Dellinger, who has opposed war ever since he was this high and who has used all of his energy and passion against it, is in danger of going to jail. The men who are responsible for the My Lai massacre are not on trial; they are in Washington serving various functions, primary and subordinate, that have to do with the unleashing of massacres, which surprise them when they occur."
The Problem is Civil Obedience - 1970
vimeo: Matt Damon reads from Howard Zinn's speech "The Problem is Civil Obedience" (November 1970)
YouTube: Frank Zappa, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky on American Fascism (separate clips)

2010 January: Howard Zinn

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