Howard Zinn a Student and Faculty Discussion (WB V. V)

The Weekly Beast Volume V (Originally Appeared in the Lariat 3/10/10)

Will Hunting paces around his psychologist’s office. He scans the book case and notices a rather generic book title, he breaks the silence, "A History of the United States, Volume I," he pauses as he continues on examining the large bookcase, “If you want to read a real history book, read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States." This quote is from the 1997 film Good Will Hunting which won the Academy Award for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who wrote the original script. Howard Zinn was already 73 years of age when this film was produced, and was still actively speaking at college campuses and penning best-selling works on politics and history. If one were to open up the Los Angeles Times a month ago perhaps on the 7th page in or so you’d run into a standard 6 inch obituary-Howard Zinn’s name was on it. Howard Zinn passed away January 27th in Santa Monica, California he was 87 years old. America has truly lost someone invaluable. But what does his death mean to students and teachers?



I sat down with students and professors here at Saddleback to discuss who Zinn was for them. I walked into Professor Mike Merrifield's office first, being the fire-brand radical that he is he seemed delighted to discuss Zinn and his impact on society. He compared Zinn's writing to his own field of expertise, Anthropology. "In Anthropology one of the things we do is break down mythologies, and that's what he's done in his historical work." Merrifield went on to talk about his first exposures to Zinn and his thoughts. He first heard Zinn on KPFK 90.7 FM about twenty years ago. If hed had to sum up Zinn's greatest achievement he stated that other than his particular account of the history of the people of the United States, "Howard stayed true to form. He held to his principles."



After talking to a few faculty members in the Social Sciences department an e-mail and a phone call later I found myself sitting in Professor David DiLeo's office 24 hours later. As soon as I got comfortable and spat out my first question someone came rapping at the door. Chris Rouse a fellow history student walked in. We all exchanged short greetings and got down to business. Professor Dileo continued responding to my question regarding Zinn's importance to students. According to Dileo Zinn's writings are important because, "the story he tells is more reflective of their lives-He's writing books about working class people which is congruent to the lives of students." However he did mention that he wanted to distance himself from his younger more "impressionable" colleagues by declaring that he is no "Zinn Cultist." I decided to kill two birds with one stone and ask for Chris' opinion as well. I told Chris I was recording to let him know that what was saying was on the record. I asked him why Howard Zinn was important to students. His response was eloqent and well put: "He paid attention to people who are ignored. He gave a voice to those who are traditionally voiceless."



I decided to interview two other students. Jon Raissi, a transferring Anthropology major commented on his first experiences of Zinn. "Initially I was assigned to read Voice's of a People's History by one of my history professor. I was blown away by his ability to narrate the history of American dissent in such an in-depth way." Jon went on to talk of Zinn as a pioneer of alternative history writing. A Geography major by the name of Nika Daroui age twenty spoke highly of Zinn stating that "Howard Zinn has made me question everything I learned about history during high school." She articulated Zinn's difficulty as a historian stating that he was a historian with a definite perspective presented in a very neutral way. Professor Andrew Dzida was next on my hit list of interviewees. Professor Dzida teaches Philosophy at Saddleback. We discussed his first experiences, and lasting impressions of the historian. "I saw him interviewed a while back on Bill Moyers." Dzida revealed that he hadn't heard Zinn speak much until recently, he said he'd been meaning to read The People's History of the United States for a quite some time. He did mention that he saw bits and pieces of "The People Speak." Recently Zinn along with Matt Damon produced The People Speak a series of dramatic performances of political speeches and dissenting poetry. Dzida elaborated on his feelings about the film, "He got me thinking about social justice issues in general-even the ethical question of fair wages, or living wages."



Many pundits on the right would love to dismiss Howard Zinn as a mere polemicist. Some people have gone as far as trying to rob Zinn of his well-earned title as a historian. (see Sean Wilentz’ contribution to the LA Times’ posthumous panel discussion of Zinn) No matter how people try to distort the memory of the man one thing is undeniable he was truly a historian of the people. His landmark work, A People’s History of the United States sold over two million copies, and is on many professors syllabi across the country as required reading for U.S. History classes. The text is mostly interested in dismantling what is normally thought of as history, (e.g. glorified nationalistic fairy tales excluding regular people from the process of making history). Howard Zinn wanted to bring to light those who were marginalized, distorted or omitted from the pages of history: women, feminists, socialists, anti-war resisters during World War I, and World War II, and the working-class. Zinn’s most important lesson may be ,"If you don't know history, it is as if you were born yesterday."

UCI Students Take the Streets! (WB V. IV)

The Weekly Beast Volume IV (was meant to appear in the Lariat edition 3/10/10, however due to space limitations it did not)


To many students and faculty at the University of California Irvine the events of March 4 were a complete surprise. A group of over 600 people made up of students, workers, union members, professors, political activists, and the occasional passerby marched through the UCI campus. They were armed with voices, with drums, with picket signs, with posters, and discontent. The marches we're not strictly limited to college campuses some made their way from uptown to downtown, and some such as the Los Angeles Unified School District were teacher-led strikes. March 4 was a day chosen months ago in October as a "day of action" by multiple campus student groups, and adjacent political activist groups in a large general assembly held at UC Berkeley. Over 29 other states alongside California planned to make March 4 memorable.

The aim of this action, as acknowledged by all the groups that formed the student coalition in Irvine was to draw attention to and voice anger about the UC Regent's decision to raise tuition a devastating 32%. Raul Perez a UCI Sociology graduate student stated some the reasons why students were marching, “this is a crisis and it’s not going away, there are real structural problems with the UC system and capitalism, these conditions force people into action.” On top of the increase there have been state-wide furlough days which essentially amounts to professors taking pay cuts in their salaries. Eric a current grad student at UCI majoring in Visual Studies summarized the days events positively saying, “this is a real testimony to the fact that students are interested in change-groups are coming together in recognizing the need for public education as a public good.”

The first hundred or so student activists gathered at the flagpoles in front of the administration building at UC Irvine. Many students were weary that this would be the only people to protest in Irvine that day. 40 minutes later however the plaza was teaming with over 300 students. They marched throughout the entire looping campus. Aldrich Hall, the science department, the Langston Library, dormitories, study and lecture halls across campus all heard numerous chants throughout the day. "They say 'cut back' we say 'fight back!'" was a phrase that filled the air that day. Students and workers took to the streets around 2 PM.

They poured into both Campus Drive and the connecting bridge overhead. Traffic on both sides were forced to a halt due to all the people in the street. The crowd urged bystanders to join them in the street in support of their education. The protest moved up the street seemingly ignoring both sidewalks and principally marching down the six lanes of traffic on both sides of the street. Traffic was at a standstill on Campus Dr. for over 15 minutes. Three policemen zoomed ahead of the crowd on motorcycles in an effort to control the crowd. Sylvia Pham a senior at UCI studying Biology was concerned with people’s initial perception of the marches and protests, “people confuse law and order with justice, the law protects the rich, intimidates us and legitimizes oppressors. The general public needs to recognize we’re not disrupting peace our lives are being disrupted.”

The duration of the street march lasted for 40 minutes before it came back onto campus grounds. An unidentified student managed to quiet down the entire crowd with hand signals. He declared, “let’s take a building.” The crowd cheered and yelled as they marched back onto the campus. As they were making their way back to the front of the administration building roughly half the the crowd collectivley decided to storm a lecture hall and urge their fellow students to join the walk-out and fight their education. The instructor ceased her lecture, and even seemed welcoming to the actions. Some demonstrators broke away from the main shouting line, grabbed chalk, and wrote “walk out” on the board. An attempt to occupy one of UCI’s study halls was next on the agenda, and again the crowd split into two one shouting and making declarations in the study hall the other half pouring outside it’s doors and urging student to join the cause as they walk to and from class.

The march reached it’s final resting place at approximately 4:00PM. The administration building had it’s doors pounded on with dozens of fists. Multiple students yelled into the bullhorn, “you’re cowards!” and “why are you hiding?” The answer was indicated much earlier. The administration in an unprecedented move had closed their doors to general public in the early morning declaring themselves “closed for the day.” After a failed attempt to get a reaction from the administration the crowd gathered at the grassy area facing the locked-down building. They held an impromptu assembly where people could grab the bullhorn and make statements about the day’s actions and future plans for the student movement. Speeches and polemics were made, and calls for further actions pierced the quiet breeze.

March 4 2010 as an (unbroken) spectacle

Here's a collection of photographs and videos taken during the March 4 "Day of Action"
@ University of Irvine California. More to come.

Welcome to the Tragic Kingdom (WB V. III)

The Weekly Beast Volume III (Originally appeared in The Lariat 2/24/10)


Considering their past year’s revenue and projected earnings for 2010 Disney’s management found it appropriate to deny health coverage to over 2,150 hotel workers in California. By the end of their fiscal year back in October 3, 2009 Disney Corporation reported their earnings to the public. During our country’s worst economic recession since 1930 Disneyland managed to generate 36,000,000,000 dollars in profits. This astronomical figure is enough to pay off California’s debt with 16 billion dollars to spare. With these figures wouldn’t someone with a human heart continue to provide healthcare premiums without burdening their already suffering employees? Disney’s answer is a resounding no.

Many unions have caved-in to pressure from Disney officials and from economic constraints completely out of their control (recessions, financial sector meltdowns…little things like that). However one union has decided to stick their guns, and so have the 2,150 workers who are members. Unite Here! Local 11 has been waging a public battle with Disneyland Hotel for over two years. The Union along with a handful of its members have gone on hunger strike only consuming water for days at a time. The first hunger strike occurred February 9th in front of Disney’s Grand California Hotel & Spa; eight individuals have consumed only water for a week straight. The topical issue of healthcare was/is at the center of the grudge. Healthcare up until two years ago was virtually free for all employees working for the hotel. However that is all changing without any type of negotiation Disneyland is forcing workers to pay up to $500 a month for health insurance.

Just a few months ago in December of 2009 Unite Here! Local 11 organized two separate walkouts. The walkouts were aimed at an issue apart from health care premiums. Non-negotiated additional workloads have been forced onto hotel workers. Larger beds, and heavier sheets have resulted in more and more reported on-the-job injuries. Kirill Penteshin an attorney for Unite Here! has clarified the new working conditions saying that the original bedding was 3 pounds and now it is 9 pounds, and stretches a yard farther in each direction. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports have illustrated the point that since the installation of new amenities workers have reported over 53 injuries.

The hunger strike has generated interest in many people from different walks of life. Anaheim City Councilwoman Lorri Galloway, United Farm Workers of America co-founder Dolores Huerta, and even Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine played a short concert at the rallies in front of Disney’s Grand California Hotel. Community religious leaders have held vigils and have given words of support to the strikers. Shakeel Syed director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California to quote Syed, “Workers here are upholding the timeless and universal call for justice by fasting and praying to heal the hearts of those who hear not - of the silent cries of the workers, their children and their grandparents…human society driven by the business and industrial machine has the lethal capacity to deaden our spirits.” The strike has ended in Anaheim but is planned to be continued at Disney’s Burbank headquarters.

A common and misguided rant against the hotel workers is that they have applied at these jobs and that they have the freedom to leave at anytime if they chose to. This is completely meaningless rhetoric, one that tries to enforce the myth of “endless social mobility”. In fact it is a contradictory and self-defeating philosophy, one could also say why doesn’t the company just choose to be more decent? People have jobs to provide for themselves and their families. One could only be ‘free’ to walk away from a job if they’re willing to jeopardize their family and security. Support Disney Hotel workers, contact Unite Here! and if you can try to ditch those Disney Season Passes.

The People's Historian: Howard Zinn's Life of Resistance (WB V. II)

The Weekly Beast Volume II (was produced as an opinion column for The Lariat, HOWEVER they rejected it on the grounds (I'm assuming) that no one knows or gives a shit about Howard Zinn.)

Will Hunting paces around his psychologist’s office. He scans the book case and notices a rather generic book title, he breaks the silence, "A History of the United States, Volume I," he pauses as he continues on examining the large bookcase, “If you want to read a real history book, read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States." This quote is from the 1997 film Good Will Hunting which won the Academy Award for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who wrote the original script. Howard Zinn was already 73 years of age when this film was produced, and was still actively speaking at college campuses and penning best-selling works on politics and history. If one were to open up the Los Angeles Times two weeks ago perhaps on the 7th page in or so you’d run into a standard 6 inch obituary-Howard Zinn’s name was on it. Howard Zinn passed away January 27th in Santa Monica, California he was 87 years old. America has truly lost someone invaluable.

In 1943 after reading about the awful atrocities committed by the fascists in Europe Zinn signed on to be in the United States Army Air Corps. After serving in World War II as a bombardier he returned home and packed all his medals sealed them into a postage envelope and wrote “Never Again” on the seal. During a post-doctoral research mission he read the French newspapers written at the time of occupation, he conducted interviews with French citizens who described the experience of WWII on the ground. Civilian death tolls caused by both Germans and Americans were also released. Zinn was on an airplane which alone ended the lives of 1,000 French civilians. On the G.I. bill he attended New York University for his B.A. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Columbia University. His academic career started at Spellman College. 7 years later he accepted an offer to teach at Boston University.

One of Howard Zinn’s first outright challenges to authority and historical racism was his struggle alongside historian August Meier against the Southern Historical Association holding meetings in segregated hotels. Zinn was involved as an advisor for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a group remembered for being largely responsible for many positive actions and victories during the civil rights era. In 1967 Zinn published Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal an unabashedly critical collection of articles asserting the Unites States had no right to be in Vietnam and should leave with no conditions, except of course reparations for the Vietnamese. Zinn and Reverend Daniel Berrigan also went on a diplomatic mission to Hanoi, Vietnam to ascertain the whereabouts and negotiate the release of American POWS, they succeeded in bringing three American Air Men home.

His resume continues on: he participated in publishing the secret Pentagon Papers, testified on behalf of the New York Times fighting against the United States government keeping “embarrassing” secrets from the public, and wrote vigorously against the War in Iraq. He was also a playwright writing three plays all of which were produced his most famous called “Marx in Soho: A Play on History.” Last year Matt Damon and Howard Zinn teamed up with the History Channel to produce “The People Speak” a collection of readings, and dramatic performances of famous American insurrectionists, rebels, and protesters. Actors such as Tim Robbins, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, and musicians such as John Legend, Lupe Fiasco, and Bruce Springstein came together to aid Howard Zinn in spreading his message

Many pundits on the right would love to dismiss Howard Zinn as a mere polemicist. Some people have gone as far as trying to rob Zinn of his well-earned title as a historian. (see Sean Wilentz’ contribution to the LA Times’ posthumous panel discussion of Zinn) No matter how people try to distort the memory of the man one thing is undeniable he was truly a historian of the people. His landmark work, A People’s History of the United States sold over two million copies, and is on many professors syllabi across the country as required reading for U.S. History classes. The text is mostly interested in dismantling what is normally thought of as history, (e.g. glorified nationalistic fairytales excluding regular people from the process of making history). Howard Zinn wanted to bring to light those who were marginalized, distorted or omitted from the pages of history: women, feminists, socialists, anti-war resisters during World War I, and World War II, and the working-class. Zinn’s most important lesson may be ,"If you don't know history, it is as if you were born yesterday."

Hands off Haiti! (WB V. I)

The Weekly Beast Volume I (originally appeared in The Lariat 2/3/10)


The world has been captivated and horrified by the indescribable damage caused by Haiti’s most recent natural disaster, a 7.0 earthquake. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property damage has been reported and over 200,000 lives have been lost. People have rightly chosen to organize and mobilize aid for the desperate population of that country. However, analysis provided by major news corporations has given the public no substance and no historical understanding of why there is such abject poverty in Haiti. What’s worse is that stories such as the U.S. blocking aid from reaching Haitians, as well as the disgusting opportunism exhibited by security companies have been completely removed from the media’s “discussion.” (I recommend you read Jeremy Scahill’s latest article for The Nation for an in-depth story of how security companies are profiting off the suffering of Haitians.) We must widen the narrow discussion to include criticism and to ask pointed questions about why Haiti is so poor.

In less than a week after the earthquake struck Haiti leaving two million homeless, the United States Government has sent over 20,000 troops to Haiti. What’s striking about this is that their mission is supposedly to stabilize Haiti, and maintain security, however when compared to the reality on the ground they are achieving the exact opposite. The U.S. has taken full control of the Port-au-Prince airport and since then multiple aid efforts have been blocked and prevented from landing. The U.S. has been so disruptive that the Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) have lodged five separate complaints against these military acts.

U.S. commanders have denied the Medicines Sans Frontiers from delivering an inflatable hospital, forcing the group to land in the Dominican Republic over 200 miles away from where critical aid is/was needed. This delayed the construction and application of the health facility by 24 hours. On NBC’s Meet the Press Lieutenant General Ken Keen discussed the issue of commandeering the airport, “We’re working aggressively to open up other ways to get in here. The ports are part of that.” So instead of using jets to fly in medical supplies, water and food he wants to utilize boats? Doesn’t he know that the Port-au-Prince Port was decimated by the earthquake?
Let’s picture Haiti before the earthquake. Imagine living in a country where the problem of poverty and starvation were so unbearable that people literally ate dirt to survive. In Haiti this is a daily reality. This reality has been constructed by a history of the United States meddling in democratic elections, (kidnapping presidents) The International Monetary Fund offering trojan-horse loans filled with destructive clauses that made bankers rich and Haitians the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. (as well as making them completely dependent on high-priced imported food) This is why the U.S.’s recent undemocratic military actions in Haiti should be condemned.

Poverty amplifies pain: The total deaths of U.S. citizens due to earthquakes since 1811 is 1/5 of how many people died in Haiti’s recent earthquake. If U.S citizens are interested in helping Haiti then we must pressure our government to retract the 2006 HOPE act specifically (Section (d)(1)(C)) which forces Haiti to eliminate “barriers of United States trade and investment.” When I think of the U.S.’s involvement in Haitian affairs I can’t help but think of the stereotype of a mafia don offering favors for severed heads. What’s relieving to know is that the International Monetary Fund recently caved-in to international pressure and gave Haiti a 100,000,000 dollar grant, perhaps the U.S. can be pressured by the domestic and international community to get its grubby hands off Haiti.

Additional and vital information:

DONATE NOW!
www.redcross.org/en/donatemoney

"Doctors without Borders interview" -Newsweek Magazine
http://www.newsweek.com/id/232058

"The International Monetary Fund's dealings with Haiti" -The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/517494/what_haiti_is_owed

"Top 10 Reasons to oppose the IMF" -The Global Exchange
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/TopTenIMF.html

I write for the college newspaper now!

I attend the prestigious institution known as Saddleback College. I am a reporter and staff member of the student-run newspaper the Lariat. I am also President of the Student Leftist Group. I'll be writing a weekly opinion column for the Lariat. I've already written two so far, I'm working on my third. I've decided to post these opinion columns on this blog (with supplemental information since I am usually only allowed 600 words). I'll dub these web-based versions "The Weekly Beast".
First one will be posted tonight.