Friday, April 29, 2005
To Be Neutral, To Be Passive Is To Collaborate
There isn't much that legendary historian Howard Zinn hasn't seen. In his youth, Zinn was a World War II bombardier and participated in the Napalm bombing in France. He went on to dedicate his life to opposing wars of all kind. As an active fighter in the Civil Rights Movement, he served as an advisor to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and traveled to Vietnam with Father Dan Berrigan in the late 1960s (amidst intensive US attacks) to negotiate the release of US POWs.
In a thought provoking interview, award-winning journalist and 'Democracy Now!' host Amy Goodman spoke to Zinn about why "To Be Neutral, To Be Passive In A Situation Is To Collaborate With Whatever Is Going On."
Zinn recalls that it wasn't until after the war, when he read about Hiroshima and stories of survivors and what they went through, did he begin to think about the human effects of bombing. "Only then," he said, "did I begin to think about what it meant to human beings on the ground when bombs were dropped on them, because as a bombardier, I was flying at 30,000 feet, six miles high, couldn’t hear screams, couldn't see blood. And this is modern warfare."
In a thought provoking interview, award-winning journalist and 'Democracy Now!' host Amy Goodman spoke to Zinn about why "To Be Neutral, To Be Passive In A Situation Is To Collaborate With Whatever Is Going On."
Zinn recalls that it wasn't until after the war, when he read about Hiroshima and stories of survivors and what they went through, did he begin to think about the human effects of bombing. "Only then," he said, "did I begin to think about what it meant to human beings on the ground when bombs were dropped on them, because as a bombardier, I was flying at 30,000 feet, six miles high, couldn’t hear screams, couldn't see blood. And this is modern warfare."
