Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn will join Barbara Johns via a live
telephone call at 1 p.m today to lead an anti-war teach-in the
Ackerman Union Grand Ballroom.
The featured speaker will be Barbara Johns, a member of Voices
in the Wilderness, an organization protesting the U.S. sanctions
against Iraq.
Chomsky, a linguistics professor at MIT, has been a vocal
anti-war activist since before the Vietnam War.
Zinn is a historian and author of the bestselling book, “A
People’s History of the United States.”
Chomsky and Zinn have both loudly criticized aggressive U.S.
foreign policy.
“Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn are very prominent voices
who have historically stood up for unpopular positions,” said
Kayta Min, co-director of Speak Out, a Bay Area based non-profit
organization that promotes progressive speakers.
Chomsky and Zinn have been controversial figures in the past,
but, according to Min, the voice of dissent is becoming more
accepted.
“I think (the teach-in) is a great thing,” said
Martin Gilins, an associate professor of political science at
UCLA.
“This is what universities are all about.”
Despite Chomsky and Zinn’s left-wing political stances,
which have been described as radical, their upcoming telephone
teach-in has not ruffled many feathers at UCLA.
“(War) is important for people to talk about, and
controversy is good,” said Naomi Lamoreaux, a UCLA history
professor.
“They are not bad-controversial,” she added.
“Chomsky has had a long and distinguished career.”