Dow Shalt not Kill

Dow Shalt not Kill by Howard Zinn

I cannot verify the existence of a work titled "Thou Shalt Not Kill" co-authored by Howard Zinn and Marilyn B. Young. Zinn (1922–2010), a historian and activist best known for "A People's History of the United States," and Young (1937–2017), a historian of U.S. foreign relations and the Vietnam War best known for "The Vietnam Wars 1945–1990," both wrote extensively on American militarism, war, and dissent, but no title matching this one appears in their known bibliographies, individually or jointly. It is possible the title is misremembered, mistranslated, or drawn from an anthology, essay compilation, or foreign-language edition not indexed under this exact English title. Providing a synopsis of specific plot or argument content would risk fabricating details not actually found in either author's documented work. If you can supply a publisher, publication year, ISBN, or the language of the edition you encountered, I can identify the correct work and produce an accurate synopsis.

By Howard Zinn · First published 1967 · Genre: Political Essay, Moral Philosophy, Civil Disobedience Literature · 3,038 words

First lines

The protest against the war took many forms. Violence was rare, engaged in by a small number of individuals on the fringe of the movement and generally disapproved by the movement as a whole. The general spirit of the movement was to follow the lead of the civil rights movement, to base its actions on the principle of nonviolent direct action. This often meant confrontations with authority on many levels, including blocking streets and corporate offices, invading draft boards and destroying draft records (destruction of property, especially property that was an instrument of war, was not, unlike action against people, considered an act of violence). For instance, there were many demonstrations in Minneapolis against Minneapolis-Honeywell Corporation, which was manufacturing "cluster bombs," deadly packages of exploding pellets which left machines untouched, but people-mostly civilians-severely wounded and in agony. There were liberals who were made nervous by acts of trespassing, blockading, obstruction, arguing that they constituted violations of civil liberties. I did not think so, and used the occasion of a demonstration in which I participated, against the Dow Chemical Company, manufacturer of the deadly napalm, to make an argument defending such actions on both constitutional and moral grounds. My essay appeared in the New South Student in December 1967, and was reprinted in a number of other periodicals.

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Dow Shalt not Kill is listed on Textopian as an essay by Howard Zinn, dated 1967 CE.

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Genres

Tags

capitalism · economics · corporatism · political critique · social justice · American history · imperialism · war · systemic violence · labor exploitation · antiwar · inequality

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