Howard Zinn

[Harold Berlak <hberlak@yahoo.com>]

On Getting Along

By Howard Zinn


You ask how I manage to stay involved and remain seemingly happy and  
adjusted to this awful world where the efforts of caring people pale  
in comparison to those who have power?

It’s easy.  First, don’t let “those who have power” intimidate you.   
No matter how much power they have they cannot prevent you from  
living your life, speaking your mind, thinking independently, having  
relationships with people as you like.

Second, find people to be with who have your values, your  
commitments, but who also have a sense of humor.  That combination is  
a necessity!

Third (notice how precise is my advice that I can confidently number  
it, the way scientists number things), understand that the major  
media will not tell you all the acts of resistance taking place every  
day in the society, the strikes, the protests, the individual acts of  
courage in the face of authority.  Look around (and you will  
certainly find it) for the evidence of these unreported acts.  And  
for the little you find, extrapolate from that and assume there must  
be a thousand times as much as what you’ve found.

Fourth.  Note that throughout history people have felt powerless  
before authority, but that at certain times these powerless people,  
by organizing, acting, risking, persisting, have created enough power  
to change the world around them, even if a little.  That is the  
history of the labor movement, of the women’s movement, of the anti- 
Vietnam war movement, the disabled persons movement, the gay and  
lesbian movement, the movement of black people in the South.

Fifth.  Remember, that those who have power, and who seem  
invulnerable are in fact quite vulnerable, that their power depends  
on the obedience of others, and when those others begin withholding  
that obedience, begin defying authority, that power at the top turns  
out to be very fragile.  Generals become powerless when their  
soldiers refuse to fight, industrialists become powerless when their  
workers leave the jobs or occupy the factories.

Sixth.  When we forget the fragility of that power at the top we  
become astounded when it crumbles in the face of rebellion.  We have  
had many such surprises in our time, both in the U.S. and in other  
countries.

Seventh.  Don’t look for a moment of total triumph.  See it as an  
ongoing struggle, with victories and defeats, but in the long run the  
consciousness of people growing.  So you need patience, persistence,  
and need to understand that even when you don’t “win” there is fun  
and fulfillment in the fact that you have been involved, with other  
good people, in something worthwhile.

Okay, seven pieces of profound advice should be enough