[Howard Zinn raw #58: Zinn answers a variety of questions from Harvard students]

Howard Zinn gives a talk at Harvard University.

Continuation of  Tape #19553.

0:02Copy video clip URL Tape opens on Howard Zinn speaking to a group of students at Harvard. As the tape begins, he is talking about objectivity. The camera changes perspectives, and Zinn goes on to talk about class divisions, racism, war, and the government of the U.S. He talks about the ways that citizens can challenge and questions the narratives presented by the people in power, and the history of rebellion in the United States.

25:14Copy video clip URL He stops speaking, and they open up to questions from the room. A woman asks if a capitalist system can exist without systematic racism. He talks about the relationship between the two systems, and whether he thinks racism could ever be completely destroyed in any circumstances.

30:4o A student asks about his contact information, and he gives out his email. A woman asks for suggestions for teaching history to middle schoolers, and he points her in the direction of an organization called “Rethinking Schools.”

34:00Copy video clip URL A student asks about defining moments of American history in the last 50 years, and about Social Darwinism. Zinn talks about the protest movements of the 60’s, and talks briefly about how he thinks Social Darwinism has affected history.

38:10Copy video clip URL Another student asks Zinn why he never ran for office, and why he decided to try and change things from the bottom up. He talks about why he believes in social, grassroots movements. 

42:50Copy video clip URL A student asks about the “spinelessness” of the media in the United States. Zinn talks about the way that money controls the media. Another student asks about propaganda, and the sheepishness of American people to stand against the government. Zinn talks about indoctrination of American citizens from their youth, and the formation of social movements. 

55:00Copy video clip URL A student asks about his start in playwriting, and he says that he started writing after the Vietnam war, and then about the first play he wrote. He then talks about Marxism and socialism. 

1:00:23Copy video clip URL A student asks if he reads the comic, “Non-Sequitur.” He says that he has never heard of it. A different student asks what he thinks about the environmental movement. He talks about this history of it, and why it is hard for it to progress. 

1:02:13Copy video clip URL Video ends. 

1:02:23Copy video clip URL Tape ends. 

Continued in tape #19555.