Anthony Arnove

Anthony Arnove

Photo from Wikimedia Commons / Author of Photo: Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación Argentina

Overview

* Freelance writer, editor, and activist
* Member of the International Socialist Organization
* Advisory board member of Iraq Veterans Against the War
* A close ally of the late Marxist historian, Howard Zinn
* Supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement — an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas initiative


Born in 1969, the freelance writer, editor, and activist Anthony Arnove is a member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO). He sits on the editorial boards of the International Socialist Review, a bimonthly magazine published by ISO, and Haymarket Books, a self-described “radical” publisher whose mission is to produce “books that contribute to struggles for social and economic justice.” Arnove is also an advisory board member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Arnove edited the 2000 book Iraq Under Siege, a collection of essays denouncing the economic sanctions which the United Nations and the U.S had imposed on Saddam Hussein‘s Iraq throughout the 1990s.

In 2002, Arnove and the Marxist historian Howard Zinn co-edited Terrorism and War, a collection of interviews Zinn had given over the years.

In 2002 as well, Arnove founded the Brooklyn-based Roam Agency, which represents “progressive authors who have made a unique contribution to understanding and changing the world.” He continues to serve as the company’s principal owner.

In April 2002, Arnove was a signatory to a “Letter from United States Citizens to Friends in Europe,” condemning America’s foreign policy and the post-9/11 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. “Supposedly in self-defense,” read the letter, “the United States launched a war against Afghanistan.… [I]t was exactly what the United States was already doing, and had already planned to do, as outlined in Pentagon documents: bomb other countries, send military forces onto foreign soil and topple their governments.”[1]

In August 2002, Arnove and Edward Herman together drafted a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Representatives of the UN Member States. Citing the “declared intention of the United States to commit aggression against Iraq,” the letter demanded that “the Secretary General and members of the United Nations … speak out, oppose, and attempt to stop” America’s “flagrant aggression.”

In 2004 Arnove and Howard Zinn co-edited Voices of a People’s History of the United States, a companion to Zinn’s famous 1980 book, A People’s History of the United States.

Also in 2004, Arnove execrated “the March 20, 2003 [U.S.] invasion of Iraq” as “a demonstration attack, intended not to counter weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, stave off an imminent attack, or ‘install democracy’ (itself an oxymoron), but to further establish U.S. preponderance in the oil-rich and geostrategically vital Middle East.” The invasion, Arnove added, was further designed to: “advance an agenda that long predated the horrific attacks of September 11 that is meant to maintain and extend U.S. hegemony as a global economic, political, and military power”; “establish that the United States (and to a lesser extent its clients, such as Israel) has the right to engage in ‘pre-emptive strikes’ against countries that pose no clear threat and in cases when no attack is actually being pre-empted”; and “send a clear message … that the U.S. government will allow no challenge to the ‘credibility’ of U.S. imperialism.”

Arnove is the author of Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, a 2006 screed demanding that America immediately end its military presence in Iraq.

During Israel’s war against the Islamic terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas in the summer of 2006, Arnove signed a letter accusing Israel of “war crime[s]” and “state terror.” Further, he and his fellow signatories pledged their “solidarity and support to the victims of this brutality and to those who mount a resistance against it.”[2]

In 2008, Arnove was the co–executive producer and co-director — along with Howard Zinn, Chris Moore, John Brolin, and Matt Damon — of The People Speak, a film documentary version of A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

In 2008 as well, Arnove edited the book, The Essential Chomsky. That same year, Arnove was one of numerous college professors, students, and academic staffers who signed their names to a statement titled “Support Bill Ayers.” The purpose of this declaration was to express solidarity with the former Weather Underground terrorist who had recently come under media scrutiny because of his longstanding relationship with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Arnove was also a signatory to a December 14, 2009 document titled “Open Letter from U.S. Trade Unionists to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: Boycott Apartheid Israel.” Drafted by Labor for Palestine, an organization affiliated with Al-Awda and New York City Labor Against the War, this letter supported the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) — a Hamas-inspired initiative aiming to use various forms of public protest, economic pressure, and court rulings to advance the Hamas agenda of permanently destroying Israel as a Jewish nation-state.

In 2010 Arnove co-founded the arts and production company Civic Bakery, which proudly “supports creativity and rabble-rousing by many means.”

In 2012 Arnove edited Howard Zinn Speaks, a collection of speeches which the late historian had delivered over the years.

In 2013 Arnove produced the documentary film Dirty Wars, based on Jeremy Scahill’s book Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. Arnove’s film investigated various allegations of American malfeasance and war crimes.

In August 2014 Arnove attended a “Mapping Socialist Strategies” conference in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where some 100 influential leftists from across North America and Europe convened to brainstorm about how they could most effectively advance their political agendas.

For additional information on Anthony Arnove, click here.

 

 

Footnotes:


  1. Other signers included William BlumWard ChurchillJohn Bellamy FosterRobert JensenGabriel KolkoRobert McChesneyEllen SchreckerNorman SolomonGore Vidal, and Howard Zinn.
  2. Other signers included John PilgerTariq AliGore VidalRichard FalkJoel BeininAlexander CockburnIlan PappeHarold PinterNoam ChomskyArundhati RoyTanya ReinhartStephen Zunes, and Howard Zinn.

Additional Resources:


Further Reading: “Anthony Arnove” (Keywiki.org, Zcomm.org, Lannan.org, Linkedin.com, IVAW.org); “This Is Not Our War: A Letter from United States Citizens to Friends in Europe” (Rights vs. Public Safety after 9/11: America in the Age of Terrorism, 2003, pp. 123-130); “Open Letter To UN Secretary General” (Anthony Arnove et al., 8-21-2002).

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