Extended interview: Tom Hayden

Tom Hayden is a renowned political and social rights activist, a former California state senator, columnist and the author of 20 books. Nicholas Lemann, the former dean of Columbia Journalism School declared that “Tom Hayden changed America”.

Hayden was dubbed “the liberal rebel” by George Skelton of The Los Angeles Times . He served 18 years in the California legislature and has written 175 articles of legislation covering domestic violence, gang violence, student fee hikes and the protection of endangered species.

Hayden is the director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in California and is an outspoken critic of continuing global conflicts. The Nation magazine named him one of the 50 “greatest progressives of the 20th century”.

In this extended interview, Hayden speaks about how Texas “is going nowhere”, the strength of the progressive spirit in the country and how social and political demarcations founded on historical battles are what ails the United States.