From the video description:
Here, Matt Damon reads from a speech Howard Zinn gave in 1970 as part of a debate on civil disobedience. Matt Damon and his family were lifelong friends of the Zinns.
This performance was part of “The People Speak, Live!” show, featuring Damon, Lupe Fiasco and a cast of Chicago’s finest poets, actors, activists, artists, musicians, and writers. The show took place at the Metro in Chicago, on January 31, 2012, and was produced by Voices of a People’s History (peopleshistory.us) in collaboration with Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival (youngchicagoauthors.org).
Learn more about Voices of a People’s History at Facebook.com/VoicesofaPeoplesHistory and on Twitter @VPH.
Here’s what Howard Zinn writes about this 1970 speech in his introduction to the full piece in his book Voices of a People’s History of the United States, written with Anthony Arnove and first published in 2004 by Seven Stories Press:
“In November 1970, after my arrest along with others who had engaged in a Boston protest at an army base to block soldiers from being sent to Vietnam, I flew to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to take part in a debate with the philosopher Charles Frankel on civil disobedience. I was supposed to appear in court that day in connection with the charges resulting from the army base protest. I had a choice: show up in court and miss this opportunity to explain — and practice — my commitment to civil disobedience, or face the consequences of defying the court order by going to Baltimore. I chose to go. The next day, when I returned to Boston, I went to teach my morning class at Boston University. Two detectives were waiting outside the classroom and hauled me off to court, where I was sentenced to a few days in jail. Here is the text of my speech that night at Johns Hopkins.”