READ THIS BOOK!

Read it and be inspired

I've read a lot of books on social change, activism, politics of all flavors, and on down the line.

And in this blog I try and recommend reading materials that inform and "fire up." I'm reading a book right now that I feel is very well worth recommending for a few reasons: 1/ It's easy to read; 2/ It introduces the reader to real activists doing practical things about real problems; 3/ It's inspiring -- instead of weighing you down it makes you think, "Yeah, there is real hope and I can make a difference."

The book is "Global Uprising: Confronting the Tyrannies of the 21st Century -- Stories from a New Generation of Activists." Basically, the book is a series of short -- a few pages -- profiles of activists doing great things on all kinds of issues. It's co-authored by Neva Welton and Linda Wolf but many of the words come straight from the activists themselves.

It's entertaining, uplifting, practical and motivating. Sure, there are some stark realities contained between the covers, but this book is all about hope and the reality that change can happen.

The book is published by New Society Publishers. They have some great books on their site but this one is out of print. It was published in 2001.

You can buy it here or do a Google search for it and buy it from wherever you wish.

So don't just sit there and feel overwhelmed -- we've all done that at times. Get this book and give yourself a real lift.

Of "Global Uprising," the wonderful historian and activist, the late Howard Zinn, said: "For anyone despairing of the rule of money ... here is a testament to the spirit of resistance."

And remember the words of Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [and women] do nothing."

Happy reading, happy life,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like THIS IS HOW WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD or EDMUND BURKE'S ETERNAL TRUISM.

SHOULDN'T WE CELEBRATE CHARLES MANSON TOO?

It seems only fair that we introduce a Serial Killers Day here in America.

I mean, this Monday is Columbus Day. That SOB killed more people than Manson, Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez and their whole sick crew could ever have dreamed. Still, a country should honor its homegrown maniacs, don't youth think?

You could throw in our war-mongering politicians and Lockheed Martin and the whole tax-funded global killing machine. Make it a mighty Death Extravaganza Day. See what I'm sayin'?

If that sounds a bit twisted, you're right. It's very twisted. Having a mass murderer, slave merchant, disease spreader and general piece of garbage from the 15th century celebrated each year is a national disgrace. But no, it's a public holiday.

Columbus hit the Americas like the Black Death and yet he still gets a red letter day on our calendars.

How about this: Instead of Columbus Day, we have National Humanitarian Day? Or Indigenous People's Day? Or a National Day of Regret? Y'know, something with positive connotations. It's pretty sad that such a notion passes as radical thinking.

Christopher Columbus wasn't much different to any other genocidal maniac in history. Except he arrived on a boat and found a way to reconcile Christianity and dismemberment (though he was neither the first nor last in that regard).

Problem is, Chris kept a journal. And a roomful of crooked cops couldn't beat a better confession out of a man.

So let's teach our kids the real history of the planet. Deal? Glossing this stuff over only gives them a distorted, ethnocentric view of things.

Howard Zinn

For some solid info on the real Columbus, the late historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" is essential reading. (Or, for younger folk, his "A Young People's History of the United States.")

Here Zinn talks about his "Young People's" version of the book and about Columbus and others. I urge you to buy this book for your kids and tell the local schools to add Zinn's history books to the curriculum.

I'm going to side with truth, not lies this holiday weekend. For me, Monday shall be Howard Zinn Day.

Enjoy the extra day off and find something better to celebrate,
Adrian Zupp

COLUMBUS DAY UPDATE: FOX NEWS HAS DONE IT AGAIN! Read my response FOX NEWS: SCUM NEVER SLEEPS, IT JUST BLOCKS FEEDBACK.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOWARD ZINN check out my blog entry VALE HOWARD ZINN.

WHERE IS HENRY DAVID THOREAU WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.
-- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)


This blog entry kind of follows on from my last and, yes, I still have some Part 2s to write. Yikes!

Also, I do admit this current topic is more than a pet peeve of mine and I've been arguing it with people for years. Onward!

Here's a radical concept for you: Not all rules are good rules; not all laws are good laws. Disobedience and deviance from the norm are often essential to human progress. And humane progress.

Making the world a better place -- which is what this humble blog is devoted to -- often involves enduring inconvenience, sacrifice, insults, threats, misunderstanding, incarceration, being seen as a nut/troublemaker/malcontent, a sense of isolation, despair, self deprivation, self criticism, being ostracized and... well, you get the picture.

But there is also nothing more fulfilling than having the courage of your convictions, especially if it will benefit others now or in the future. It brings a certain inner peace with it amidst any turmoil that may have resulted.

Here is a point that is very close to my own heart and experience and, to be honest, I need to get it off my freakin' underdeveloped chest: The world would perish without rebels and "troublemakers."

There is a fairly simple way to prove this.

I have known some people who were VERY conservative in how they lived their lives. I mean the types who would put getting a fat 401K ahead of any risk taking or real self-actualization -- ahead of, in essence, really living. (It's that fear thing again.) Now, I know the arguments and what I say may not apply equally to all people.

But these play-it-safe folks always have the same dull drumbeat: You need a secure job to live. Well, there is some commonsense to that -- especially if you leave it in that narrow context. And to "normal society," it doesn't matter if you are, say, a crooked lawyer or bomb designer: If you have a nice suit and decent bank balance, you're a "respectable citizen." Now, even if you take much more harmless jobs, decent jobs, POSITIVE jobs -- nurse, fireman, charity worker -- they ALL have one thing in common: Today's jobs (and everything else) exist because people who lived before us took risks.

You know, crazy, unorthodox, nutty people like artists and writers; scientists and astronomers; inventors and "insane" theorists. People who were often total outsiders in their time.

Let's break it right down. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the great geniuses of history. A brilliant mind. An extraordinary artist, anatomist, designer, botanist, cartographer, engineer ... the list goes on and on. There weren't many guys in his day who were designing helicopters [see above illustration]. Think about the awesome creativity of that!

Still, if they'd had 401Ks in the 15th century, I'm sure there would have been friends and neighbors tsk tsking Leonardo and telling him to give up the airy-fairy nonsense and plan for his future.

But Da Vinci WAS the future. Without his "crazy ideas" and solitary courage, progress in the arts and sciences would not have moved nearly as quickly as it did.

My point? It is the creative minds and the courageous outsiders who are responsible for all the choices we have today. Without those minds, modern history would have ground to a hideous halt and you'd probably have a choice between plowing a field behind a team of oxen, or staying home in the cabin to bake bread in a stone oven.

And black Americans would still be lynched as a matter of course, and women would not have the vote, and we'd probably still be in Vietnam.

Our options and our true human rights were bought and paid for by the rule breakers and law breakers who went before us. And they're still out there doing our dirty work. The renowned ones and the anonymous ones. Maybe we should, at the very least, welcome them in from the cold.

Some of the finest people I have ever encountered have been arrested numerous times. There are many of them. Here are four: Noam Chomsky, the late Howard Zinn, the Reverend Dan Berrigan, and Norman Solomon. And you'd be crazy if you called any of them less than respectable, peace-loving, selfless members of our society.

Look these people up. You'll see for yourself. They are all pacifists. They are all the kindest of the kind, and the smartest of the smart. And, yes, they have all been locked up for "breaking the law."

Here's another radical idea: "Making a living" involves many dimensions. In the 21st century the phrase immediately brings to mind the idea of going to your job every day and feeding your family. Fair enough. In my mind, making a living is also about enriching oneself. Looking at the interesting ideas of others. Developing my soul and my mind. And being resourceful enough that I don't have to cling to one job like it's my only lifeline. To me, making a living is not just about income or accruing tangible assets.

That gives me a real security that money can't buy. And it has carried me through some very hard times. It has worked!

Many of us live pretty well and we have good times. But we are creatures of infinite potential and we should not let that be overly restricted by convention. Now, here is another key point: You can make a living for your soul without sacrificing a decent income. These things are not (necessarily) mutually exclusive! You don't have to go broke to stage your own little rebellions of the mind and soul. Free yourself up!

Don't just "think outside the box" (if I ever find the dude who authored that phrase I'm going to smear him with honey and tie him to an ant bed). Why? Because we shouldn't have boxes in the first place. We are over regimented. Over directed. Over conventionalized. Our creativity and our sense of conscientious objection have been muted by mundanity, fear and habit. Suppressed. By people who don't want us to think too creatively and maybe start coming up with alternative ways to behave rather than sticking to the behaviors that make them rich.

Idea: Bunjy jumping isn't risk taking unless you try putting some little cuts in the cable first. Risk taking is FREEING YOUR POTENTIAL. And not in some dumb-ass self-help book kind of way. For goodness sake, you can invent your own life!

Next time you take a "safe" career path or settle into a job that's limited to 40 hours per week, or assert your rights as a minority or take a dissenting view at a political rally, just remember that it was people who didn't take the comfortable route who gave you that option -- or the option to go in another direction. And it is this same kind of people who will lead our real economic, altruistic and environmental progress to a better world.

All of my life I've been considered a "rebel" to some extent, which I feel is rather silly. I haven't even been arrested yet! It doesn't take much to get the label. I mean, I'm hardly building a fortified compound. I just don't choose to live a life of quiet desperation, as Thoreau so eloquently put it. I prefer the road less traveled. It's more rewarding. More interesting. Hard at times, but life's like that sometimes anyway. Right?

And being a "rebel" got me from a lousy high school education in the tough western suburbs of Sydney, to conversations and interviews with some of the most brilliant and creative minds around. And you can do it to. In your own way. What's your "crazy" dream?

Remember: Jesus Christ was a law breaker. Crucified. Gandhi was a resister. Assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr. rejected the laws of segregation. Assassinated. John Brown was an abolitionist without peer. Hanged, 1859. And Emily Davison, became the most famous suffragette of them all. Accidentally killed during protest action, 1913.

They didn't take the easy road. They followed their conscience. They all had plenty of enemies and rebuked the laws of their day. But really their only "crime" was that they blazed trails. Today we see them as they really were. And we accept them. We even canonize them. We understand their actions as legitimate and right, and their "lawful" persecutors as wrong.

So blaze your own trail. And make it a good one. Take others into account. Help them see what it is you're doing.

Even if you have to put up with being called crazy and advised to get a job with a good 401K. Leonardo would be proud of ya!

Take care, and take care of someone else,
Adrian Zupp
PS: Don't worry: I will definitely be talking about Thoreau at some point soon. How could I not?

VALE HOWARD ZINN

This blog entry is way overdue.

On January 27, 2010 we lost someone very special. That day, historian and activist Howard Zinn passed away.

If you are really interested in "great Americans," here is one you should read more about. Zinn was a brilliant, courageous and gentle soul who affected many lives in a very positive way and left a legacy that will be with us always.

It would be simply too much to try and tell this man's story here. Below I have listed some URLs if you wish to learn more about him -- and I dare say you should. But here are a few "highlights":

-- Zinn came from humble beginnings in Brooklyn, the son of Jewish immigrants;
-- He worked in the shipyards before becoming a bombardier in WWII, an experience that would shape his later political views;
-- He earned his B.A. at NYU and his M.A. and PhD at Columbia University;
-- From 1956 to 1963 he taught at Spellman College in Atlanta, a black women's college. Here he was both an inspiration to his students and a civil rights activist. One of his students, the famed novelist Alice Walker, called him "the best teacher I ever had";
-- In 1980, Zinn published his best-known book: "A People's History of the United States." A brave departure from the standard American history book, "A People's History" looks at the struggles of the country's true heroes and denounces the invaders and demagogues, tyrants and rulers. With an original print run of just 5,000 copies, the book has sold more than 2 million copies, including condensations such as "The 20th Century" and "A Young People's History of the United States." (His one-time neighbor, actor Matt Damon, mentions the book in the Academy Award-winning movie "Good Will Hunting.")
-- Zinn published several other important books, including his autobiography, "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train."
-- Zinn's activism included brave stands against racism, the Vietnam War, and labor injustices. He was always willing to back up his words with his deeds.

It is a sad commentary on our culture that a great man like Howard Zinn isn't a household name. But this is also a tribute to the perceived threat he was to the elites who run the U.S. Folks like Zinn are too dangerous to give Oprah-like exposure to. Sad also that "A People's History" is not a standard textbook in every American high school.

And it is very sad that we have lost Howard Zinn.

But he would not have it that way. The always-smiling Zinn would not want us to be sad at his passing. But that would be out of humility. In fact, we should celebrate this great man's life and give thanks that he lived for 87 years, setting us an example with they way he used his life on Earth.

So take the time to read some Zinn. And smile. His was a wonderful life.

VALE J.D. SALINGER

Ironically, on the same day that Howard Zinn died, author J.D. Salinger also left us.

Since the 1960s Salinger was a recluse, publishing nothing (though still writing for himself) and refusing interviews.

He is best remembered for his masterpiece "A Catcher in the Rye," widely regarded as one of the 20th century's great novels. Published in 1951, the book is narrated by 16-year-old Holden Caulfied, who has just been expelled from prep school.

The voice of the book was groundbreaking and grabs the reader right from its powerful opening:
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

It is unfortunate that Salinger decided to withdraw. One imagines that he might have been a great teacher or lecturer. But he chose not to go that way and we must respect that.

May he rest in peace.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

Links for Howard Zinn:

Obituary article in The Washington Post

The Howard Zinn website

"A People's History of the United States" full version online

Go here and scroll down to "Editorial Reviews" for two synopses of "A People's History"