Howard Zinn
Biography and Quotes

Liberal Hall of Shame
The Top 1000 Liberals in America

About 200 intellectuals, activists and artists from Latin America and elsewhere issued a letter Monday urging the top United Nations human rights watchdog to side with Cuba in an expected battle over the communist country's rights record.

"We urge the governments of the commission's member countries to not permit [the resolution] to be used to legitimize the anti-Cuban aggression of the administration of [President] Bush," the letter said.

Among American signatories were actor Danny Glover, author Alice Walker and historian and activist Howard Zinn. Other international figures included filmmaker Walter Salles of Brazil, the music group Manu Chau and France's former first lady, Danielle Mitterrand.

The letter said the U.S. government has no moral authority to criticize Cuba's human rights record after its own scandals over treatment of terror suspects at prisons in Iraq and the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 6:20 p.m. EST
Danny Glover, Alice Walker Back Castro on Human Rights
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/3/15/182232.shtml

Former Naderites urge votes for Kerry

A raft of former Naderites have signed a petition urging voters who might be tempted to vote for the independent presidential candidate to support Democrat John F. Kerry. "We urge support for Kerry/Edwards in all swing states, even while we strongly disagree with Kerry's policies on Iraq and other issues," the petition said. "For people seeking progressive social change in the United States, removing George W. Bush from office should be the top priority in the 2004 presidential election." The more than 70 signatories include actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon; former talk show host Phil Donahue; academics Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Cornel West; and musicians Bonnie Raitt and Eddie Vedder. (Washington Post)

Kerry tops Bush among likely Minn. voters September 16, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/16/kerry_tops_bush_among_likely_minn_voters/

War talk in Washington is alarming and unnecessary.

We are patriotic Americans who share the belief that Saddam Hussein cannot be allowed to possess weapons of mass destruction. We support rigorous United Nations weapons inspections to assure Iraq’s effective disarmament.

However, a preemptive military invasion of Iraq will harm American national interests . Such a war will increase human suffering, arouse animosity tow a rd our country, increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy, and undermine our moral standing in the world. It will make us less, not more, secure .

We reject the doctrine—a reversal of long-held American tradition—that our country, alone, has the right to launch first-strike attacks.

The valid U.S. and U.N. objective of disarming Saddam Hussein can be achieved through legal diplomatic means. There is no need for war. Let us instead devote our resources to i m p roving the security and well-being of people here at home and around the world.

Si g n e d , A rtists United to Win Without Wa r

Mike Farrell and Robert Greenwald, C o - C h a i r s - Gillian Anderson - Edward Asner - Rene Auberjonois - David Bale - Kim Basinger - Ed Begley, Jr. - Theo Bikel - Barbara Bosson - Jackson Browne - Peter Buck (REM) - Diahann Carroll - Eugene J. C a r r o l l , Jr., Rear Adm. U.S. Navy ( R e t . ) Kathleen Chalfant - Don Cheadle - Jill Clayburgh - David Clennon - Jack Coleman - Peter Coyote - Lindsay Crouse - Suzanne Cryer - Matt Damon - Dana Daurey - A m b a s s a d o r Jonathan Dean (U.S. Rep. to NATOWarsaw Pact) - Vincent D’Onofrio - David Duchovny - Olympia Dukakis - Charles S. Dutton - Hector Elizondo - Cary Elwes - Shelley Fabares - Mike Farrell - Mia Farrow - Laurence Fishburne - Sean Patrick Flanery - Bonnie Franklin - John Fugelsang - Jeananne Garafalo - Larry Gelbart - Melissa Gilbert - Danny Glover - Elliott Gould - Samaria Graham- Robert Greenwald - Robert Guillaume - Paul Haggis - Robert David Hall - Ethan Hawke - Ken Howard - Helen Hunt - Anjelica Huston - LaTanya Richardson J a c k s o n - Samuel L. Jackson - Jane Kaczmarek - Melina Kanakaredes - Casey Kasem - Mimi Kennedy - Jessica Lange - Tea Leoni - Wendie Malick - Camryn Manheim - Marsha Mason - Richard Masur - Dave Mathews - Kent McCord - Robert Duncan M c N e i l l - Mike Mills (REM) - Janel Moloney- Esai Morales - Ed O’Neill - Chris Noth - Peter Onorati - Alexandra Paul - Ambassador Edward Peck (former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq) - Seth Peterson CCH Pounder - David Rabe- Alan Rachins - Bonnie Raitt - Carl Reiner - Tim Robbins - Steve Robinson, Sgt., U.S. Army (Ret.) (National Gulf War Resource Center) - Mitch Ryan - Susan Sarandon - Tony Shalhoub - Jack Shanahan, Vice Adm. U.S. Navy ( R e t . ) - William Schallert - Martin Sheen - Armin Shimerman - Gloria Steinem - Marcia Strassman - Michael Stipe (REM) - Susan Sullivan - Loretta Swit - Studs Terkel - Lily Tomlin - Blair Underwood - Dennis Weaver - Bradley Whitford - James Whitmore - James Whitmore, Jr. - Alfre Woodard - Noah Wyle - Peter Yarrow - Howard Zinn

http://www.winwithoutwarus.org/pdf/celeb_ad.pdf

Not In Our Name
A Statement of Conscience

Let it not be said that people in the United States did nothing when their government declared a war without limit and instituted stark new measures of repression.

The signers of this statement call on the people of the U.S. to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world.

We believe that peoples and nations have the right to determine their own destiny, free from military coercion by great powers. We believe that all persons detained or prosecuted by the United States government should have the same rights of due process. We believe that questioning, criticism, and dissent must be valued and protected. We understand that such rights and values are always contested and must be fought for.

We believe that people of conscience must take responsibility for what their own governments do -- we must first of all oppose the injustice that is done in our own name. Thus we call on all Americans to RESIST the war and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration. It is unjust, immoral, and illegitimate. We choose to make common cause with the people of the world.

We too watched with shock the horrific events of September 11, 2001. We too mourned the thousands of innocent dead and shook our heads at the terrible scenes of carnage -- even as we recalled similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama City, and, a generation ago, Vietnam. We too joined the anguished questioning of millions of Americans who asked why such a thing could happen.

But the mourning had barely begun, when the highest leaders of the land unleashed a spirit of revenge. They put out a simplistic script of "good vs. evil" that was taken up by a pliant and intimidated media. They told us that asking why these terrible events had happened verged on treason. There was to be no debate. There were by definition no valid political or moral questions. The only possible answer was to be war abroad and repression at home.

In our name, the Bush administration, with near unanimity from Congress, not only attacked Afghanistan but arrogated to itself and its allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime. The brutal repercussions have been felt from the Philippines to Palestine, where Israeli tanks and bulldozers have left a terrible trail of death and destruction. The government now openly prepares to wage all-out war on Iraq -- a country which has no connection to the horror of September 11. What kind of world will this become if the U.S. government has a blank check to drop commandos, assassins, and bombs wherever it wants?

In our name, within the U.S., the government has created two classes of people: those to whom the basic rights of the U.S. legal system are at least promised, and those who now seem to have no rights at all. The government rounded up over 1,000 immigrants and detained them in secret and indefinitely. Hundreds have been deported and hundreds of others still languish today in prison. This smacks of the infamous concentration camps for Japanese-Americans in World War 2. For the first time in decades, immigration procedures single out certain nationalities for unequal treatment.

In our name, the government has brought down a pall of repression over society. The PresidentÕs spokesperson warns people to "watch what they say." Dissident artists, intellectuals, and professors find their views distorted, attacked, and suppressed. The so-called Patriot Act -- along with a host of similar measures on the state level -- gives police sweeping new powers of search and seizure, supervised if at all by secret proceedings before secret courts.

In our name, the executive has steadily usurped the roles and functions of the other branches of government. Military tribunals with lax rules of evidence and no right to appeal to the regular courts are put in place by executive order. Groups are declared "terrorist" at the stroke of a presidential pen.

We must take the highest officers of the land seriously when they talk of a war that will last a generation and when they speak of a new domestic order. We are confronting a new openly imperial policy towards the world and a domestic policy that manufactures and manipulates fear to curtail rights.

There is a deadly trajectory to the events of the past months that must be seen for what it is and resisted. Too many times in history people have waited until it was too late to resist.

President Bush has declared: "youÕre either with us or against us." Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say NOT IN OUR NAME. We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare. We extend a hand to those around the world suffering from these policies; we will show our solidarity in word and deed.

We who sign this statement call on all Americans to join together to rise to this challenge. We applaud and support the questioning and protest now going on, even as we recognize the need for much, much more to actually stop this juggernaut. We draw inspiration from the Israeli reservists who, at great personal risk, declare "there IS a limit" and refuse to serve in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

We also draw on the many examples of resistance and conscience from the past of the United States: from those who fought slavery with rebellions and the underground railroad, to those who defied the Vietnam war by refusing orders, resisting the draft, and standing in solidarity with resisters.

Let us not allow the watching world today to despair of our silence and our failure to act. Instead, let the world hear our pledge: we will resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it.

Michael Albert, Laurie Anderson, Edward Asner, actor Rosalyn Baxandall, historian Russell Banks, writer Jessica Blank, actor/playwright Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange William Blum, author Theresa Bonpane, executive director, Office of the Americas Blase Bonpane, director, Office of the Americas Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ Leslie Cagan Henry Chalfant, author/filmmaker Bell Chevigny, writer Paul Chevigny, professor of law, NYU Noam Chomsky Robbie Conal, visual artist Stephanie Coontz, historian, Evergreen State College Kimberly Crenshaw, Professor of Law, Columbia, UCLA Kia Corthron, playwright Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange, Ossie Davis, Mos Def, Carol Downer, board of directors, Chico (CA) Feminist Women's Health Center, Eve Ensler, Leo Estrada, UCLA professor, Urban Planning John Gillis, writer, professor of history, Rutgers Jeremy, Matthew Glick, editor of Another World Is Possible Suheir Hammad, writer Rakaa Iriscience, hip hop artist David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center Erik Jensen, actor/playwright, Casey Kasem, Robin D.G. Kelly, Martin Luther King III, president, Southern Christian Leadership Conference Barbara Kingsolver C. Clark Kissinger, Refuse & Resist! Jodie Kliman, psychologist Yuri Kochiyama, activist Annisette & Thomas Koppel, singers/composers. Savage Rose, Dave Korten, author Tony Kushner, James Lafferty, executive director, National Lawyers Guild/L.A. Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, TIKKUN Magazine Barbara Lubin, Middle East Childrens Alliance Staughton Lynd Anuradha Mittal, co-director, Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First Malaquias Montoya, visual artist Robert Nichols, writer Rev. E. Randall Osburn, exec. v.p., Southern Christian Leadership Conference Grace Paley Jeremy Pikser, screenwriter Juan G—mez Quiñones, historian, UCLA Michael Ratner, president, Center for Constitutional Rights Adrienne Rich, poet Boots Riley, hip hop artist, The Coup David Riker, filmmaker Edward Said Starhawk Michael Steven Smith, National Lawyers Guild Bob Stein, publisher Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Naomi Wallace, playwright Rev. George Webber, president emeritus, NY Theological Seminary Leonard Weinglass, attorney John Edgar Wideman, Saul Williams spoken word artist, Howard Zinn, historian