Advice for Peacemakers on Staying the Course 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. (Read Emma Goldman's autobiography LIVING MY LIFE. Harassed, even

imprisoned by authority, she insisted on living her life, speaking out,

however she felt 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 scientist number things), understand that the major media will not

tell you of 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 disable

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 their jobs or

occupy the factories.

Sixth: When we forget the fragility of that power in 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 United States 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.