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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Comrades, This seems like a really good TV
program to watch. I suggest we all set the DVR to record this
to hold for the future. In solidarity,
Wayne.</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, December 12, 2009 11:46 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Howard Zinn's 'People's History' Masterwork Hits the
History Channel [AlterNet] / Sunday, Dec. 13, at 8 pm</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Forwarded by Judy Gardiner <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E
href="mailto:fredjudygardner@comcast.net>"><fredjudygardner@comcast.net></A><BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>
<DIV class=moz-text-html lang=x-western><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 24px; LINE-HEIGHT: 26px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana,Arial,sans-serif">Howard
Zinn's 'People's History' Masterwork Hits the History Channel</SPAN>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 26px"><B>The People Speak, this
Sunday night on the History Channel.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 26px"><B><BR></B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 26px"><B>For more about the
program:</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 26px"><B><BR></B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 26px"><B><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-WEIGHT: 500; FONT-SIZE: 12px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px">On December 13th, a
date I've basically had tattooed on my arm like the guy
from <EM>Memento</EM>, <A
style="COLOR: rgb(0,68,187); TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="http://www.history.com/content/people-speak"><EM>The People
Speak</EM></A> finally makes its debut on the History Channel. This is more
than just must-see-TV. It is nothing less than the life's work of "people's
historian" Howard Zinn brought to life by some of the most talented actors,
musicians, and poets in the country. Howard Zinn and his partner Anthony Arnove
chose the most stirring political passages in Zinn's classic <EM>A People's
History of the United States</EM>, creating a written anthology
called <EM>Voices of a People's History of the United States</EM>. Those
"voices" have now been fully resurrected by a collection of performers ranging
from Matt Damon to hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco to poet Staceyann
Chin.<BR><BR><EM>The People Speak</EM> also showcases John Legend reading
the words of Muhammad Ali, Kerry Washington as Sojourner Truth, David
Strathairn's take on the soaring oratory of Eugene Debs, and Morgan Freeman as
Frederick Douglass asking, "What is the 4th of July to the American Slave?"
There are also the words of women factory workers read by Marisa Tomei,
rebellious farmers personified by Viggo Mortensen, and escaped slaves voiced by
Benjamin Bratt.<BR><BR>Certainly the lunatic right will howl to the heavens
after seeing "liberal Hollywood" perform the words of labor radicals,
anti-racists, feminists, and socialists. In fact, aided by the craven Matt
Drudge, they are already in full froth, campaigning online to get the History
Channel to drop <EM>The People Speak</EM> before its air-date. If it
weren't so contemptible, their actions would be almost quaint, like a virtual
book burning.<BR><BR>But beneath the bombast, their hostile aversion "a people's
history" speaks volumes about why we need to support this project. This is a
country dedicated to historical amnesia. Our radical past holds dangers for both
those in power and those threatened by progressive change. We need to rescue the
great battles for social justice from becoming either co-opted or simply erased
from the history books. Our children don't learn about the people who made the
Civil Rights movement. Instead we get Dr. Martin Luther King on a McDonald's
commemorative cup. Because of our country's organized ignorance, endless hours
are wasted in every generation reinventing the wheel and relearning lessons
already taught.<BR><BR>One reason Barack Obama made so many of us feel "hopey"
during the 2008 election season is that he seemed to understand and even take
inspiration from our "people's history." Candidate Obama would invoke the
odysseys of abolitionists, suffragettes, freedom riders, and Stonewall rioters.
He linked his campaign to this history with a slogan from today's immigrant
rights and union struggles: Si Se Puede, Yes We Can.<BR><BR>And yet this
Presidency in practice has been like watching George W. Bush with a working
cerebellum. Send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan? Say nothing in the face of
racist rallies held outside the capitol? Tell LGBT people to shut up and wait
for their civil rights? All in a year's work. The Obama administration is now
counting upon the American people, to once again, quietly go with the flow all
while pretending we never saw this movie before. This is why <EM>The People
Speak</EM> matters. It's aimed at reclaiming our hallowed history from all
who would profane it: to resurrect our past as a guide to fight for the
future.<BR><BR>There are those who will wrongly see <EM>The People
Speak</EM> as a kind of "spoonful of sugar" approach to education. Get a
celebrity to recite the words of Susan B. Anthony and all of a sudden, we'll all
want to be history buffs. But this isn't Hollywood "slumming" in the land of
radical chic. It is instead a bracing spectacle where our sacred history is
reimagined by performance artists of tremendous craft. Consider the dramatic
task at hand: they are attempting nothing less than turning politics into art.
If Zinn and co-producers Arnove, Damon, Josh Brolin and Chris Moore pull this
off, it holds the potential to introduce a new generation to Sojourner Truth,
Eugene Debs, and perhaps most importantly of all, to the works of Howard
Zinn.<BR><BR>As Zinn himself once said, "Knowing history is less about
understanding the past than changing the future." This is the grand adventure of
Howard Zinn's life. I encourage everyone to come along for the ride. Get your
friends and family together on Sunday night and experience <EM>The People
Speak</EM>. Then take them by the hand and pledge to be
heard.</SPAN></B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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