We are heartbroken to hear of the passing of activist and historian Howard Zinn. Many of you know his work, and through his work, got a feeling for the man himself. He will be sorely missed.

Zinn’s life was dedicated to the concept of social justice, and at trying to see the world from the point of view of everyday people, instead of through the eyes of the rich, famous, and powerful. His groundbreaking book “A People’s History of the United States” was a retelling of the same events we learned in school, but shown from the perspective of the marginalized and oppressed. It’s a common saying that history is written by the winners, but Zinn’s writings tried to recapture a bit of history for everyone else.

Zinn’s autobiography was titled “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train”, which emphasized the idea that a person needs to take sides in life.  Society is always in motion, and if you have the slightest care how that society looks, who is helped, who is harmed, about justice and freedom, YOU HAVE TO MOVE.

Zinn was also very proud to have a version of his history writings turned into a movie, of sorts. In 2009, the History Channel aired a documentary called “The People Speak”, which features talented actors like Matt Damon, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin, and Viggo Mortenson, reading the actual words of forgotten souls from history, speaking their minds about important historical moments, and often disagreeing violently with the tales we’ve been told.

Others who knew him best will better tell Howard Zinn’s story, and describe his gentle personality (although we interviewed Howard on the Axis of Justice Radio show back in 2006, you can hear it here and here. We only know that he has enriched our lives, changed the lives of many others, and kept the memories of others long gone from crumbling into dust.

A new Supreme Court case has reversed a positive court decision that was one of few bright spots of hope in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.  Read the details here. Mumia supports have called for emergency protests on January 20, but so far we’ve only seen specifics for protests in NYC- 4-7pm at 125th St & 7th Ave.  More information at FreeMumia.com.

Huffington Post: “An earthquake centered near the impoverished Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince caused the collapse of several buildings and an unknown number of fatalities Tuesday. The quake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale and at least 1.8 million people live within the area where the earthquake had its highest intensity.

President Obama said on Tuesday that his “thoughts and prayers” were with the people of Haiti. “We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti,” Obama said in a statement. The Obama administration said that the State Department, USAID and the U.S. military were working to coordinate an assessment of the situation and any possible assistance.”

Text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate. 100% of your $10 donation goes to Red Cross for Haiti relief. Your cell carrier keeps nothing.

Many More Ways You Can Help Now!

On January 11, guitar manufacturers from Korea will travel to Anaheim to protest the illegal actions of their employer Cort Guitars.  In 2007, Cort Guitars—which manufactures instruments for popular American companies like Fender, Ibanez, and Gibson—fired all of its Korean employees and closed all of its Korean plants in a blatantly illegal move to avoid paying proper wages, or to fix its deplorable working conditions.

Representatives of the Korean guitar workers will protest outside the NAMM Show 2010, the most popular yearly exhibition of musical equipment in the United States. The workers hope to raise awareness about the unfair conditions which go into the creation of many beloved American guitars, and hope to pressure Cort into giving the workers their jobs back.

The protest has been endorsed by many local labor groups, such as AFL-CIO United Steel Workers Local 675, AFL-CIO USW Carwash Workers Campaign, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), ENLACE International, and the International Action Center.

A week of events, press conferences, and protests will take place from January 11-17 in the LA and Anaheim area. The schedule of events is posted below.

You Can Help

The guitar workers have suggested these three ways that people can help their campaign

• Post on Fender and other companies’ online forums (like http://fender.com/community/forums/ or http://forum.ibanez.com/) with the information about Cort and links to videos and the blog; start a thread and keep posting to that thread.
• Write to the Facebook page of guitar companies - write a comment on  their page or wall.
• Tweet about Fender and other companies- and tag the Twitter post and the content in such a way so that it comes up in search engines.

More information at http://cortaction.wordpress.com

Contact Sukjong Hong to get involved: sukjong33@gmail.com

Full Schedule of Public Cort Action Events in LA and Anaheim

Mon. 1/11 - 2pm OUTDOOR CONCERT, FLYERING @ Westwood Musical Instruments:

1627 Westwood Boulevard,

Los Angeles, CA 90024-5603

Mon. 1/11 nite: 6:30pm Supporters night for organization and musician jam session @ KIWA office , art-making

Hear from the workers, watch a short documentary on the issue, hear musicians jam, and create art/propaganda for the campaign together. PLEASE COME TO THIS NIGHT OF SHARING!

3465 West 8th Street

Los Angeles, CA 90005-2519

Tues. 1/12 -2pm OUTDOOR CONCERT + FLYERING @ Guitar Center, The goal is to reach the consumers of Fender, Ibanez, G&L, and other companies that Cort contracts from and gather signatures and support:

7425 West Sunset Boulevard

Hollywood, CA 90046

(323) 874-1060

Wedn. 1/13 - 7pm Solidarity Concert, Location TBD (backup is KIWA) Musicians will play their songs in solidarity and the workers will speak about their struggle. This is open to the general public and supporters.

Thurs. 1/14 10 am - 6pm –OUTDOOR CONCERT, PETITION DRIVE, FLYERING

@ NAMM Show,  Anaheim Convention Center

11 am Press Conference

800 West Katella Avenue

Anaheim, CA 92802

Fri. 1/15 NAMM DAY 2-  Anaheim Convention Center  10 am - 6pm

Musicians welcome to perform at any time

Sat. 1/16 NAMM DAY 3 - Anaheim Convention Center 10 am - 6pm

Musicians welcome to perform at any time 12:30 pm - 2 pm Musical March, Concert. We would love to have as many musicians and workers and folks as possible for this (who can carry their instruments) and we will have noisemakers

Sun. 1/17 (tentative) Hollywood Farmers’ Market, 10am- 1pm OUTDOOR CONCERT