Talk: “The People Speak” A Tribute to Howard Zinn [] Center for Global Justice
Event Category: All Events, Learning/Education, and Presentations/Discussions
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Monday, September 19, 2022
1:00pm CDT – 2:00pm EDT
FILM & DISCUSSION
“The People Speak” A Tribute to Howard Zinn
This is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Howard Zinn. We honor his contribution to the remaking of
our understanding of the importance of the common man in the making of history by screening his film “The People Speak.” Zinn celebrated the struggles for justice of common men and women, their protests against injustice, our social movements for change. He understood that these struggles outside the established political institutions are the lifeblood of democracy. Democracy is in the streets, not in the halls of Congress where the powerful operate. It is the counter power of the People that makes our country sometimes democratic.Howard Zinn saw the history of the U.S. as a people’s history and in that pointed to a very different concept of democracy from the one promoted by the powerful. In their narrative the essence of democracy is found in contested elections and in the deliberations among the representatives chosen thereby. The role of the people is to choose from among a political elite who is to rule them; the role of elections is simply to produce a government. Once this is done, we have discharged our civic responsibility as citizens and we are expected to return to the affairs of our private lives. Political scientists call this representationism by the term polyarchy. It is essentially an elitist theory of democracy, a kind of low intensity democracy at best.
What we do The Center engages in local community support and outreach to promote and advance initiatives and movements toward social justice, grassroots empowerment and democracy, and environmental sustainability. It is also devoted to critical analysis of the processes and impacts of globalization, both local and international. The Center works to develop alternative socio-economic systems that conserve and share the world’s cultural, economic, and environmental resources for the benefit of humankind.
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