Readings from VOICES OF A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
120 min
NOAM CHOMSKY
IMPERIAL GRAND STRATEGY
220 min
ANARCHISM IN AMERICA and
FREE VOICE OF LABOR: THE JEWISH ANARCHISTS
Directed by Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher
75 min / 55 min
(AK Press)
www.akpress.com
Many are familiar with Howard Zinn's groundbreaking A People's History of the United States, which offers detailed historical perspectives on the history of our nation told from the point of view of those who, more often than not, came out on the "losing" end of historical narratives. In short, how does Columbus's arrival on this continent, westward expansion, and Manifest Destiny look through the eyes of, say, the Native peoples who originally lived here? Zinn and Anthony Arnove edited a companion volume entitled Voices of A People's History of the United States, which is filled with transcripts of a lot of the material that informed that book--letters, poems, speeches, songs, manifestos, and the like of the people who fought to end slavery, to give women the right to vote, for civil rights, the eight-hour day, and many other causes in hopes of making ours a better world. This DVD captures a performance of various actors and artists reading select passages from Voices. Lili Taylor as Emma Goldman, John Sayles reads Mark Twain's treatise against imperialism, Paul Robeson recites his father's testimony before HUAC, and many others.
Noam Chomsky might like to lay claim to the title Imperial Grand Strategy, but thus it is one that was picked for him, as he notes, by the architects of unaccountable power themselves. Like watching the news or reading the newspaper headlines, you don't know whether to laugh, cry, or get terribly pissed off. In a way, Chomsky probably intends all three, but not gratuitously. If he intends to upset you, it is only in the hope that it will spur you to action, and that we might change the dreadful processes he so articulately and matter-of-factly details. The DVD features two lectures: "Imperial Grand Strategy" looks at the role of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and discusses the significance of aggressive U.S. military posturing. "The Assault on Freedom and Democracy" details the role of the intellectual classes--both domestically and abroad--as far as "keeping the rabble in line." He dissects Patriot Acts 1 and 2, and places them in a historical context juxtaposing the colonizer's noble rhetoric with the lethal effects of its actions.
Anarchism in America traces the history of just that, and attempts to make the argument that anarchism is a distinctly American philosophy and political tradition. What is most compelling about the film is the way in which it illustrates that the competing strains of anarchism--"free market" for the right, and "socialism" for the left--are not so far off from each other as one might suspect. Also included on the disc, The Free Voice of Labor examines the history of the 87-year-old Yiddish anarchist newspaper of the same name as they publish their final issue. The film examines the role of the paper not just as a platform for partisan politics (a hallmark of a vibrant public press in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), but also as part of a larger cultural glue, a way for an immigrant culture to maintain their traditions as they become part of a new community. -EDWARD BURCH
|
