Power and Terror in Our Times

NOAM CHOMSKY

Avram Noam Chomsky, born December 7, 1928 is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and a major figure of analytic philosophy. His work has influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and psychology.

Chomsky is credited as the creator or co-creator of the Chomsky hierarchy theorem, the universal grammar theory, and the Chomsky–Schützenberger theorem.

Ideologically identifying with anarchism and libertarian socialism, Chomsky is known for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy, and he has been described as a prominent cultural figure. His social criticism has included Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), co-written with Edward S. Herman, an analysis articulating the propaganda model theory for examining the media.

According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992. He is also the eighth most cited source of all time, and is considered the "most cited living author". Chomsky is the author of over 100 books.

 

THE FILM

This enlightening 74-minute documentary is directed by John Junkerman, an American living in Tokyo. It covers a series of talks given in the spring of 2002 by Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguist and political philosopher. There are also excerpts taken from an interview at his office in Cambridge. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, he put out a book, 9-11 (Seven Stories Press, 2001), which became a surprise bestseller. Since then this diminutive 74-year-old intellectual has been giving speeches all over the country about American power politics, war crimes, and terrorism. Chomsky's perspective is one that has not been heard very often in the mainstream media, outside of the messages of Ralph Nader and Michael Moore. "Everyone's worried about stopping terrorism," he says. "Well, there's a really easy way: Stop participating in it."

One of the most dreadful after-effects of the atrocities of September 11, according to Chomsky, has been the jump-start those attacks gave to the rapid acceleration of militarization and the undermining of democracy. This has been true not only in the United States but also in Israel where an even more harsh and aggressive campaign against Palestinians has moved full speed ahead. This critic of the Bush Administration points out that the "war on terrorism" doesn't make any sense when it does not include the violent military policies of the U.S. Chomsky helps us recall that the United States is the only country that was condemned for international terrorism and then rejected a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law. He is referring to the unlawful use of force for political ends in Nicaragua where tens of thousands of people died. Americans should not expect other countries to be held to a standard that does not apply to them.

Introducing Chomksy to an audience, a woman calls him "a voice of reason, conscience and intelligence." In this documentary he provides plenty of historical examples of the danger of power politics and the ease with which the media and the intellectual class have stifled criticism during times of war. Chomsky is zealous in the case he makes against violence, that of terrorist groups and that of armed interventions by nation states into the affairs of others. Whether talking about Nuremberg, the Turkish terrorism against the Kurds, or the thirty-five year occupation by Israel of the Palestinian territories, this committed scholar sets the record straight.

It is easy to see why Chomsky has been championed by peace and justice movements all over the world. He truly believes that civilized dialogue about politics and civic activism has made a difference in American culture. This optimism is something that is desperately needed in these anxious and dangerous times.