I wonder if young Zinn was as enthusiastically pro-zionist as the young Chomsky (who quickly got bored with it apparently).
http://middleeast.about.com/b/2010/01/27/howard-zinn-oliver-stone-of-historians-had-questioned-israels-purpose.htm "It was only after the 'Six-Day War' of 1967 and Israel's occupation of territories seized in that war (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, the Sinai peninsula)," Zinn wrote, with clever quote marks around the biblically-anoited "six-day war") "that I began to see Israel not simply as a beleaguered little nation surrounded by hostile Arab states, but as an expansionist power." He went on: True, Israel's claim of "security," given its geographical position, seemed to have more substance than the one made by the U.S. government, but it seemed clear to me that the occupation and subjugation of several million Palestinians in the occupied territories did not enhance Israel's security but endangered it. I was reinforced in my view during a spirited discussion of the Israel-Palestine conflict I was having with my large lecture class at Boston University. A number of Jewish students were fervently defending the Occupation, whereupon two young women who had been silent up to that point rose, one after the other, to say something like the following: "We are from Israel. We served in the Israeli army. We want to say to you who love Israel that the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will lead to the destruction of Israel, if not physically, then morally and spiritually." That's now a pretty conventional view, at least among liberals and centrists in Israel, as Likudists continue the illusion of considering the West Bank their "Judea" and "Samaria." He goes on: I have for a long time considered the nation-state as an abomination of our time--national pride leading to national hatred, leading to war. It always seemed to me that Jews, without a national territory, were a humanizing influence in the world. The charge against them by Stalin, that Jews were "cosmopolitans" was exactly what I thought the great virtue of Jews. Of course, there is no turning back the clock and it may be that an independent Palestine alongside an independent Jewish state is the best interim solution, but since the poison of nationalism will undoubtedly infect both states, the ideal of a democratic, secular community of Jews and Palestinians should remain a goal of all who desire lasting peace and justice. Not, sadly, in his lifetime. Zinn died today in California of a heart attack. He was 87. http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/01/marvelous-victories-5-lessons-from-the-late-great-howard-zinn/ dan e said on January 29th, 2010 at 12:04pm # Zinn does deserve high praise for his work and is definitely worth reading. However. Long before Zinn came to prominence I’d encountered most of the history he reports in the works of earlier writers like WEB Dubois, Herbert Aptheker, Philip and Eric Foner, Charles & Mary Beard and others. Also I notice Zinn associated himself closely with the “semi-progressive” strain in recent US “left” politics, people like Amy Goodman & the “Z” publishing empire. In my mind, there’s a parallel between the Great Man roles of Zinn and Noam Chomsky. Both are undoubtedly great writers, persons of great achievement, major figures on the US Left. But in Chomsky’s case also, before he came along I’d encountered the main facts about the “Isreal” problem in works by other writers such as Ralph Schoenman, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Rabbi Elmer Berger, Israel Shahak, Lenni Brenner, Rashid Khalidi, Jeff Blankfort, Livia Rokach, Hilton Obenzinger, just to name a few. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
