Writings: The problem: Civil obedience, according to Dr. Zinn

Those of you who know me know that I am a huge fan of Howard Zinn (he made his transition in 2010, but his clear, easy-to-read writing will live in folks’ hearts for a long time, and hopefully will shape the way we do things.)

That’ll be clear as you listen to this short video, as actor Matt Damon reads a bit from one of Dr. Zinn’s essays, as he expands on what Jefferson was after when he said, “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” Martin Luther King overlays that with the necessity of speaking up & speaking out: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Some people find civil disobedience distasteful, but it’s pretty easy to see that unquestioning civil obedience has been pretty harmful to millions of people in the last century.

Over to you, Dr. Zinn. We miss you, but your flame still burns.

– Brother Ian