by Oui
Sun May 22nd, 2022 at 06:49:57 AM EST
An evening with Noam Chomsky: Contours of Global Order
The topic up for discussion was the 'Contours of Global Order: Domination, Stability, Security in a Changing World'. As you can imagine this is a vast area. We began by looking back to 1939 during World War II when the United States had devised the `Grand Area' for post-war dominance. Chomsky talked about how the US wanted to gain unquestionable power and maintain fierce loyalty from their allies. He remarked that this was still true of today, saying `The US presidents may have changed name or "style" but their substance is still very much the same'.
He suggested America sympathized with Stalinist principles, their public support for democracy hiding the fact that they would not want certain countries to gain independence if it threatened America's international dominance. He gave the `disobedience' shown by Turkey as an example of this, saying that when they supported 95% of their population's opinion and refused to accompany Britain and America into the Iraq war, the US had advised them it would be best to show their loyalty to the west.
Chomsky discussed global warming, the reality of its seriousness and his dismay at the people denying its existence. He raised his concern over the efforts to destroy the public educational system and the results it would produce to keep us all ill informed, compliant and distracted from the problems surrounding us.
This lecture was not a light-hearted one. There were times when you could feel the audience squirm in their seats, as if Chomsky had lifted the veil and shown them the way the world really works. Despite all the worries and power struggles Chomsky discussed he also reminded us all that we have been through it all before and we were still here; that it is that time again when we need to fight but will emerge stronger for it.
Discerning the patterns of world order: Noam Chomsky and international theory after the Cold War | Review of International Studies - 2003 |
Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Noam Chomsky | NY Times - Apr 21, 2021 |
In my lifetime one of the most respected scholars on the United States and Global Power.
Noam Chomsky - UCL Rickman Godlee Lecture 2011
Earlier post in diary - EU Death Trap - Fast Track Ukraine As Member
Chomsky On Prevention World War III
Noam Chomsky on How To Prevent World War III | Current Affairs |
The eminent scholar on the worsening threat of nuclear warfare, how to end the war in Ukraine, the self-justifying myths propagated by imperial powers, why the Global South finds American moralizing laughable, and more.
Professor Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential public intellectuals in the world. He has written more than 100 books, including, most recently, Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance, co-authored with Marv Waterstone, and, forthcoming, The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power by Noam Chomsky with Vijay Prashad. He is currently the Laureate Professor at the University of Arizona and Professor Emeritus in the MIT Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Professor Chomsky recently came on the Current Affairs podcast to talk to editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson about the threat of nuclear war, how American culture often promotes indifference to the suffering of people in other countries, and the history of U.S. foreign policy that brought us to this point. This interview has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity. The full exchange can be listened to here.
