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Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn Quotes

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Famous Howard Zinn Quotes

“The First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights in the United States Constitution were being violated in Albany again and again - freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the equal protection of the laws - I could count at least 30 such violations. Yet the president, sworn to uphold the Constitution, and all the agencies of the United States government at his disposal, were nowhere to be seen.”

FirstsStatesGovernmentLawPresidentUnitedUnited StatesRightsEqualSpeechConstitutionProtectionAgencyAmendmentsFreedom Of SpeechAgain And AgainViolationFirst AmendmentAssemblyState GovernmentUnited States GovernmentEqual ProtectionAlbanyFreedom Of AssemblyFourteenth Amendment
Author:Howard Zinn
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“We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism....”

PeopleWorldHumansCountryGovernmentFormValuesPracticeDemocracyRightsResourcesHatredThirdsHuman RightsDenyTerrorismHatedCorporationsThird WorldMultinationalsThird World CountriesMultinational Corporations
Author:Howard Zinn
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“Unfortunately, the greater consciousness among Whites about Black equality has not carried over to the new victims of racism - Muslims and Immigrants. There is no racial enlightenment for these groups, which are huge. Millions of Muslims and an equal number of immigrants, who whether legal or illegal, face discrimination both legally from the government and extra-legally from White Americans - and sometimes Black and Hispanic Americans. The Democratic Presidential candidates are avoiding these issues in order to cultivate support among White Americans.”

SometimesGovernmentFacesOrderBlackWhiteNumbersConsciousnessMillionsSupportIssuesGreaterGroupsHugeEqualRacismEnlightenmentVictimDemocraticDiscriminationPresidentialExtrasCandidatesImmigrantsIllegalAvoidingHispanicPresidential Candidate
Author:Howard Zinn
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“I think a way to behave is to think not in terms of representative government, not in terms of voting, not in terms of electoral politics, but thinking in terms of organizing social movements, organizing in the work place, organizing in the neighborhood, organizing collectives that can become strong enough to eventually take over - first to become strong enough to resist what has been done to them by authority, and second, later, to become strong enough to actually take over the institutions.”

ThinkingWayFirstsHas BeensDoneEnoughGovernmentStrongSocialTermMovementAuthorityInstitutionsBehaveVotingCollectivesNeighborhoodRepresentativesStrong EnoughSocial MovementsWork PlaceRepresentative Government
Author:Howard Zinn
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“Transcendentalism is, we might say, an early form of anarchism. The Transcendentalists also did not call themselves anarchists, but there are anarchist ideas in their thinking and in their literature. They were all suspicious of authority. We might say that the Transcendentalism played a role in creating an atmosphere of skepticism towards authority, towards government.”

ThinkingIdeasGovernmentMightFormLiteratureRolesAuthorityCreatingAtmosphereSkepticismSuspiciousAnarchismAnarchistTranscendentalism
Author:Howard Zinn
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“The United States government was proud that, although perhaps 100,000 Iraqis had died in the Gulf War of 1991, there were only 48 American battle casualties. What it has concealed from the public is that 206,000 veterans of that war filed claims with the VA for injuries and illnesses. In the years since that war, 8,300 veterans have died, and 160,000 claims for disability have been recognized by the VA.”

YearsHas BeensWarStatesGovernmentUnitedUnited StatesProudBattleClaimsDiedIllnessInjuryDisabilityVeteranConcealedCasualtiesState GovernmentGulf WarUnited States Government
Author:Howard Zinn
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“The democratic principle, enunciated in the words of the Declaration of Independence, declared that government was secondary, that the people who established it were primary. Thus, the future of democracy depended on the people, and their growing consciousness of what was the decent way to relate to their fellow human beings all over the world.”

PeopleWorldWayHumansGovernmentHuman BeingsConsciousnessPrinciplesDemocracyGrowingFellowsIndependenceDemocraticPrimariesRelateDecentDeclarationDeclaration Of Independence
Book:A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present
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“Surely, if it is the right of the people to "alter or abolish," it is their right to criticize, even severely, policies they believe destructive of the ends for which government has been established. This principle, in the Declaration of Independence, suggests that true patriotism lies in supporting the values the country is supposed to cherish: equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. When our government compromises, undermines, or attacks those values, it is being unpatriotic.”

PeopleIfsBelieveHas BeensEndsCountryGovernmentLyingValuesLibertyPrinciplesPolicyIndependencePursuitCompromiseDestructiveCriticizeCherishDeclarationPursuit Of HappinessAbolishDeclaration Of IndependenceUnpatrioticTrue Patriotism
Book:A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
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“History can come in handy. If you were born yesterday, with no knowledge of the past, you might easily accept whatever the government tells you. But knowing a bit of history--while it would not absolutely prove the government was lying in a given instance--might make you skeptical, lead you to ask questions, make it more likely that you would find out the truth.”

IfsGovernmentMightPastLyingAsksGivenBitsBornAcceptingKnowingProveYesterdayInstanceSkepticalCritical ThinkingHandyKnowledge Of The Past
Author:Howard Zinn
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“If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, not as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love of one's country, one's fellow citizens (all over the world), as loyalty to the principles of justice and democracy, then patriotism would require us to disobey our government, when it violated those principles.”

IfsWorldCountryGovernmentJusticePrinciplesDemocracyCitizensWorshipFellowsBlindLoyaltyDefinedObedienceFlagsSubmissiveAnthemBlind Obedience
Book:Declarations of Independence: Cross-examining American Ideology
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“Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. They had no quarrel with "big government" when it served their needs.”

NeedsHas BeensBigsGovernmentFacesReligionEconomyAtheismIndustryHistoricalAtheistFinanceCaptainsFree MarketQuarrelsInterventionBig GovernmentAnti ReligiousGovernment InterventionHistorical Truth
Author:Howard Zinn
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“We've never had our injustices rectified from the top, from the president or Congress, or the Supreme Court, no matter what we learned in junior high school about how we have three branches of government, and we have checks and balances, and what a lovely system. No. The changes, important changes that we've had in history, have not come from those three branches of government. They have reacted to social movements.”

ImportantMatterGovernmentSchoolThreeSocialPresidentMovementBalanceHigh SchoolNo Matter WhatCourtInjusticeCongressLovelySupremeChecksBranchesSupreme CourtJuniorsJunior HighSocial MovementsBranches Of GovernmentHigh School JuniorThree Branches Of Government
Author:Howard Zinn
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“Memorial Day will be celebrated ... by the usual betrayal of the dead, by the hypocritical patriotism of the politicians and contractors preparing for more wars, more graves to receive more flowers on future Memorial Days. The memory of the dead deserves a different dedication. To peace, to defiance of governments.”

DifferentWarGovernmentMemoriesFlowerPoliticianDeserveBetrayalGravesUsualDedicationPreparingMemorialDefianceMemorial DayHypocriticalContractor
Book:The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy
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