Bill Moyers Journal: Bill Moyers Essay: Takin' It to the Streets, Again

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Bill Moyers Essay: Takin' It to the Streets, Again

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Posted by Bill Moyers Journal on November 5, 2007 5:53 PM | Permalink

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Dear Mr. Hofmeister: The Moyers-Myles Horton interview is available on dvd from Highlander Center. http://www.highlandercenter.org/r-b-videos.asp

Posted by: Helen de Haven | July 17, 2009 3:35 PM

Is there somewhere I can view the interview with Myles Horton? I found a transcript published in a review of Horton's work and would like to see the original interview.

Posted by: William Hofmeister | July 17, 2009 12:32 PM

I want to ask that every last one of us who stood up against the Vietnam War get out there and protest this one. WE were children and grandchildren of those who went to war to preserve our precious Democracy and save Europe. Far from being spoiled by post-war boom times, we were charged with making a better world. We grew up believing the U.S. was the most moral country. World War must never happen again! We studied Existentialism, Democracy, we heard JFK tell us to "Ask not what [our] country can do for [us], but what [we] can do for our Country." And when we had children, we did our best to help them grow into the best they could be. I am proud of all of our good efforts, but now it is time to assume our wise elder roll: I ask you to remember that Idealism, that Love, that questioning of authority, Violence & the "necessity" of War. Despite the deep wounds of our generation- the Draft, the Bomb, Duck And Cover, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War and the terrible fact that ALL our leaders were assassinated or disgraced by political skullduggery -- take action...

Posted by: LJ W | November 17, 2007 3:43 AM

I am wondering if anyone out there has heard of the Freedom Force? If so, is it legit or not?

Posted by: Issy | November 15, 2007 12:18 PM

Bill, your "Journal" is the most important and compelling television program on the air. I wish it were mandatory viewing for the executive and legislative branches of our disfunctional government.

Posted by: James Ruiz | November 14, 2007 10:08 AM

Moyers Webmaster: Please remove my phone number from the Post of November 8, 2007.

Posted by: Isabel Cohen | November 13, 2007 11:18 AM

Why was my post quashed? Did I get too close to the truth? Don't be ashamed of our good dead friends. Email me: beretco.op@hotmail.com

Posted by: Grady | November 13, 2007 12:34 AM

Bill, you interviewed the radical hillbilly Myles Horton many years back. (backtrack on that gold baby!) He wasn't a protestor so much as an enabler. Oppressed people were invited to Highlander on the foundation and social conscience dime to think it out and make a plan of action. What seems to be lacking today is enabling institutions to build plans and solidarity. New effective methods will be found to unleash people power in such incubators. I hear that even during Hitler's reign some visionary Germans held retreats to plan for a better government after the war. With folk schools people with little resources gain self-respect and begin to demand their due. I'd like to see the office workers in the big insurance firms get organized, and maybe even the cooks and porters working for Brown and Root. We should start everywhere and never stop. Where is that seed money and that visionary attitude, Bill?

Posted by: Grady Lee Howard | November 12, 2007 10:14 PM

This is one of the best programs Bill has done! Keep it up. Don't let them restrain you!!

Posted by: Esther Franklin | November 9, 2007 11:51 PM

Dear Mr. Moyers, Re: lack of anti-war coverage. The war in Vietnam and the conflict in Iraq could not be more different. Vietnam was an evolving mistake, a series of blunders by well meaning politicians and a military unprepared for a new kind of war and unwilling to change basic philosophies on how to wage it. We knew it would fail and we were right to oppose it. Iraq is the exact polar opposite, unlike anything America has faced before. No one "got it wrong" in Iraq. The people who made this war aren't stupid. Every possible action and response was studied and carried out with the goal of establishing a permanent, virtual Okinawa in the Gulf region, and every tactical "mistake" made in the initial days and months of the invasion served that end. So why the lack of coverage of the anti-war movement? Fear. We are up against what is arguably the most intelligent and focused group of people to ever wield power in this country and we allowed ourselves to be manipulated to a degree we thought impossible after Vietnam. We were unprepared for the opportunists who saw nothing wrong in using the tragedy of 9/11 to...

Posted by: John D. Anthony | November 9, 2007 11:24 AM

Can anyone give me a glimmer of hope that the will of the majority of the people in this country will ever be heard, and adhered to again? Or, are we so far down the slide to destruction, propelled by the big money corporations in bed with our elected officials, that we are doomed? Millions of us need something for which to hope. And, we'd do something, if we knew what to do. But, as I look at the polls regarding the candidates for president this time, it looks like the same ole system is still in control of us. We don't seem to have the courage to support someone who would stand up to the elite among us, and say "enough, we're taking back our country for the majority."

Posted by: Ben | November 8, 2007 6:08 PM

Dear Bill: "Takin' It to the Streets" was a masterful work of public service. I forwarded it to my teenage children so that they might grow in wisdom. 40 years ago I began my undergraduate studies intent on becoming a naval officer. I came from a rural, very conservative, Nebraska town. I also came from a family steeped in the military tradition. One of my uncles graduated from the Naval Academy in June 1941 and served as a Navy Aviator in both theatres of war during World War II. A second uncle survived the fighting on Iwo Jima as a Marine Corps junior officer. One of my great great grandfathers served as a captain in the cavalry company that served as Abraham Lincoln's personal guard. I competed my university studies receiving my commission as a US Navy Officer in May 1971. After serving a four year tour in the fleet, and in bitterness and despair, I resigned my commission in May 1975, only months after the abandonment of Saigon. I hope and pray that we/the United States shall not repeat the entirety of the Vietnam War. Please press on: let the People hear your voice. Paul Mathew LCDR, SC, USNR-Retired.

Posted by: Paul Mathew | November 8, 2007 3:52 PM

I cannot believe that this unprecedented power grab, a "STATE of EMERGENCY" that mimics Musharref's, has not been aired by anyone!!! PLEASE, BILL. READ THIS!!! AND TALK ABOUT IT ON AIR President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president. The "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive," with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator. That job, as the document describes, is to make plans for "National Essential Functions" of all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president's directives in the event of a national emergency. The directive loosely defines "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions." When the president determines a catastrophic emergency has occurred, the president can take over all...

Posted by: Jane Green | November 8, 2007 2:20 PM

the whole world is turning into a variety of socialized prisons

Posted by: gary alan brumley | November 8, 2007 10:48 AM

Hi Bill, I have inadvertantly viewed the movie, Zeitgeist. My life has been in upheaval ever since. I have told everyone I know about it and gotten no response from over 50 friends. My husband is furious at me for buying into this. I don't know where to turn. I believe that most of this film is true. And then there's the B-52 incident in last August toting 6 Russian nuclear missiles across the country. Six military personnel have died over this. No media coverage. No investigation. I have seen the Amero. I would like to mobilize people to do something. They are all frozen in fear, I guess. Please advise. Isabel Cohen Omaha, NE

Posted by: Isabel Cohen | November 8, 2007 10:17 AM

mr. ahles, below, is ENTIRELY correct.

Posted by: donald vance | November 7, 2007 9:38 PM

Dear Mr. Moyers, The solution to the Iraq war is not as we think, in the hands of the President or Congress who have taken us to such a terrible place; but rather, in this Democracy of America, the remedy is solely up to its citizenry or us. Simply stated, if no one signs up for military duty, the war would have to end. The solution Mr. Moyers is not for people to march in the streets; the solution is for our young to simply stay home. The president doesn’t have the power, we do! = MJA

Posted by: Michael J Ahles | November 7, 2007 10:38 AM