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Howard Zinn Quotes about Democracy

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Civil disobedience is not something outside the realm of democracy. Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience democracy does not exist.

Civil disobedience is not something outside the realm of democracy. Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience democracy does not exist.

Howard Zinn
Democracy, Doe, Realms

Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.

Howard Zinn
Direct Action, Voting, Democracy
Howard Zinn (2012). “The Historic Unfulfilled Promise”, p.208, City Lights Publishers

Democracy depends on people speaking out, and in times of great crisis, on people creating a commotion.

Howard Zinn
Creating, People, Democracy
Source: openvault.wgbh.org

Perhaps the most important thing I learned was about democracy, that democracy is not our government, our constitution, our legal structure. Too often they are enemies of democracy.

Howard Zinn
Government, Enemy, Democracy
Howard Zinn (2010). “You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times”, p.10, Beacon Press

If democracy were to be given any meaning, if it were to go beyond the limits of capitalism and nationalism, this would not come, if history were any guide, from the top. It would come through citizen's movements, educating, organizing, agitating, striking, boycotting, demonstrating, threatening those in power with disruption of the stability they needed.

Howard Zinn
Democracy, Citizens, Movement
Howard Zinn (2015). “A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present”, p.674, Routledge

Will Iraq be a democracy? The question is, 'Will America be a democracy?'

Howard Zinn
Iraq, America, Democracy

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of "the proper channels," a way of breaking through passages blocked by tradition and prejudice. It is disruptive and troublesome, but it is a necessary disruption, a healthy troublesome.

Howard Zinn
Law, Healthy, Democracy
Howard Zinn (1997). “The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy”, p.383, Seven Stories Press

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