diff --git a/cnt/#AOVIVO _ Noam Chomsky em coletiva com mídias alternativas 1705__qxBPo.en.cnt b/cnt/#AOVIVO _ Noam Chomsky em coletiva com mídias alternativas 1705__qxBPo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..704ac7c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/#AOVIVO _ Noam Chomsky em coletiva com mídias alternativas 1705__qxBPo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,960 @@ +good people good night everyone and everyone sorry for the delay +I would like to thank the presence of each one in each one at the baron and say that the +professor tones who had a setback why we ended up being late +a little is and our idea is to follow the following dynamic is we give about 30 +minutes for him to give a presentation of the political picture of how +he is seeing the situation is there will be a subsequent translation that the juliana +who is here wanted to thank and help us with +translation is we are broadcasting live who can share the networks +of the baron also the transmission and the idea is that he would do the 30 minutes and +then we open for a round of questions and that's when we have to +finish here until about 19 15 at the most because it is not to be so late then +wanted to thank and disabled to head rio the teacher shows that and have to +study female I touch fans of heavy journalist blogger +was +today i wanted to say a few words about two extremes is still given with the +press first about said press do +free world right the vanguard of the free world that would be the press in england +and the united states and then on the latin american press which is +known for having a very rightist orientation and with little space +for any divergent opinion it was pro tork jorge or the golden one in the form of mouth +as the sun and rain is to begin I wanted to talk about the press +English and wanted to quote a passage from a book that we all read that is is the +of george orwell of animals the sale of animals is what he talks about +that he's doing a satire is from the totalitarian world but that england +shouldn't be too full of self considering that in england it is +divergent opinions are usually suppressed without the use of violence +two years ago a year the hotel doesn't talk much about how these ideas are +divergent are suppressed but he speaks at least two ways as +that happen one is that the press is is the means of de +communication are held by wealthy men and the second is that people who have had +access to a privileged education that went to oxy went to cambridge +they simply know that there are certain things that are better left unsaid is this +introduction in which the world of these things was suppressed and only appeared in +in his papers and after 30 years that had already been published +we get to the media from Western countries, we will realize that it is +these two points that the geologist raised has a lot of subsidy in this one +press +regional joao da madeira we got works from a shopping media +corporation +we observe the structure of how the press works in these countries +Westerners we will see that they are large corporations that belong to +even bigger corporations that sell their product +advertisers who are actually the real customers of these corporations +so we have a business where the producers of their clients' news +who are advertisers and advertising companies have the same interests +and it is these interests that guide how this news is going to be modeled and how +what will be interesting to be printed +[Music] +the voice of an angel in having no smell of beautiful incense from oau portugal will be +the second question that he believes that what the abel said that the question that the +good education makes you know is what should be or shouldn't be said are you realize +that this is also working a lot because people who have +access to an elite education have been indoctrinated and trained to do so +very well to discern what should not be said and not say it +[Music] +we can go a step further than what was said and realize that this is already +has been internalized so there are certain things that you just didn't say +as you already know you shouldn't even let it go through your head +and it is something that what is called common sense as hegemonic +internalized +the singers james cameron joined the list of those who think go calm back the worst +pilot's first touch is the first step so understanding how the media +works like the media is put these instruments into operation and at that point +we already have thousands of pages literally written about how to +these structures work in practice and the result is exactly what we +can simply wait with one is what we can assume by already making her charge +actions is without study is not but the studies that prove these things although he already +has been is more than effects are they obviously have no interest +to publicize them and that's what you're going to talk about now +pocket is two examples of this are the farms the great great conflicts of +invasion in which the united states has been involved since the second world war +one of them was the invasion of indochina, right from the Vietnam war and another was the +invasion of iraq both with abominable consequences +the first 10 rock the hawks on the spectrum bank is war +Vietnam ended in 1975 and since then you have many opinions about it +but basically divide between two fields one of the fields thinks that the states +united could have won the war had they had a strategy is better and and +that this would have served a noble cause +[Music] +is the most interesting because although it is a little more it is beyond the left but not +not an inch more than what is established and one of the +most commented most interesting opinions was that of anthony do new +york times +tomorrow today is that journalist's opinion is basically that the war started as +an incredible but noko effort to do what was right and we know it was +do what was right simply because the united states that was +doing so by definition it would be doing what is right is harmless +simply because they lost the war and from the 70s when +it was very clear that that war was invincible which was actually clear +is that the united states was not going to succeed in not achieving democracy and the +freedom in that country at a cost that would be acceptable to the united states +the same bus right mall +is is most of the american press is about 70% of the press +American is and does not consider that the war is simply a mistake but is +something morally reprehensible +[Music] +the long ones is every time they did opinion polls the answer from +population was that war was not a mistake it was one thing is morally +reprehensible and each of these people who came to that conclusion that the war +was morally reprehensible had to come to that conclusion alone because +the opinions that were disseminated were those that the war was an effort is +wonderful but something is never these opinions that it could be something +morally reprehensible were shown last night the egg shows today +but when it comes to kicking because +erroneous mall new years mixtape in kabul +is how political scientists finally started to ask themselves why +people were answering that is that the war was was morally wrong is +they came up with the explanation that they are responding here because +the united states shouldn't and shouldn't have liked so much money and so many +American lives any conflict the other the other nerdy option because it would +morally wrong is unthinkable it is better not to mention it visit is another and +uol death was then that it would be easy to get a response from the people themselves if +you do an open poll asking for a qualitative poll +asking why they thought war was morally unacceptable but +this was not considered viable chopstick nobody really wanted there was this +that response and the other response option your cared for people who were very +outside the margin of mainstream media like professor johns himself who +treated the Serbian +to record students for a rigorous London blue hill +obama stayed in london at the beginning was completely supported by the elite and +when things started to go wrong this support started to cool down +but the heaviest criticism that this war heard yet was that of +president obama who considered the war +it just turned out to be a strategy that opinion about strategic error is not +it is an original opinion of obama, it was an opinion that some people +had some German generals had in +regarding the Nazi defeat for russia for example is and we condemn these +generals but the agent at the same time allows liberals to have that opinion +on strategic error iraq without major consequences +the water comes from araguaia in the 80s is a matter of a lack of +freedom of expression is not with several vehicles being closed the draft and the +professor jonas who was invited by a friend to give a lecture there +is is by a friend of his who was actually original from guatemala and not from +nicaragua and wii is not in 1989 he spent a week in nicaragua invitation is this +friend to study a specific newspaper called la prensa +[Music] +but the other object +in the urine and the clerk five laps +is this newspaper la prensa he was supporting is the war while the war +something was happening that would not happen in most countries +western countries and and yet the united states not only +attentive to it as they would never discuss it was not within the field of +things we could say about it +today had a workshop is again in relation to venezuela is under on the chavez +venezuela was harshly condemned by england the united states and by +other Western countries simply because a channel of +rtl tv was switched to a smaller channel at school +it rains he likes and hi i'm cruel +today, however, the pilot was far away [Music] +still without god is he with him agrees with a conjunction of that of england and +united states that it was a mistake by the Chavez government +he condemns this action in relation to the tv channel hebe disagree with the +second part that it would never happen in the united states in +england this would not happen in the united states in england because this +television channel would simply no longer exist and publishers would be +shot in public square is imagined you have a coup d'etat and us +united states for example where the team is publicly supporting this coup and +always ask continued is circulating in the country while supporting the coup that +what the country is experiencing year there was +the funk funk brand +however paulo costa the problem today i liked the +pleads for the attack because he can film the show and pulls up first director is the +left and center left governments that have passed to america +Latin America in recent decades has generally had an open posture in +relation to the press so the press continues to operate freely still +that the press was is practically universally against these governments and +make very harsh criticisms of governments and countries in those countries +free in central countries england united states etc +it would never happen if I would never have a press that would be +universally uniformly beating governments like Latin companies +American authorities were and were authorized by leftist governments +the store is in the middle of the Chavez government for two years that was already in power is he +i was naked in chile and was quite shocked to know what use +the liberals the people from chile with whom he talked with that he had access to +were very critical of venezuela and thought that xavi was implementing +an autocracy a dictatorship called him a murderer and he was surprised even +start reading the Chilean newspapers and they were all completely against Venezuela and +they only criticized and only showed things with what Venezuela was doing +doing +we stayed all day even during the years of the Chavez government is not a one +great Chilean opinion polling agency has done several polls is is in the +Venezuela and confidence and is of the Venezuelans in democracy and in +legitimacy of that of his government were among the largest on the Latin continent +American along with Uruguay and this discrepancy at the time of possession of these +research with the opinions they had was something that was never quite the +inter na lisa never much discussed by those same intellectuals who had +opinions is negative regarding Venezuela in +field think the Argentine newspaper what is the +landing is to run another example and ask you a question that I don't know +answer is is the largest polling agency in the world getting states +united is at a gallop and in 2013 she did a survey asking which country is +who wants to make more threats to the world more threatening to the rest of the world were not going +arise is still yielding a love that +felt the use today remember by jo +is this year is that the guys who asked this question the answer in the states +united was always iran russia north korea and the rest of the world the answer was +basically united states and this research was never published in the states +united and after that the agency decided to stop asking this question obama and it's +it all happened for years the crash theoretically was the government +progressive so you can imagine the result of this research today is but then the +people learned that certain things are not asked are not said is this +presentation was brief but I think you can cover a little of what +situation of the current panorama of the press in the said free countries and in america +which is known for being a right-wing media monopoly +it is tempting to continue because the examples abound +but we will stop here and open the questions +thank you teacher you have the chance teacher that is juliana i give you to you +guys let's do this is a process and the dragon quest means to i ii and win +it is paulo henrique pedro to see here in front of paulo favor we are sorry +you can't see rita so 3 then you write it down and there for him +paulo henrique pedro then you there we go to him to answer to open +three more teachers we are who i have been a journalist for a long time and today i +I dedicate especially to the job of doing political coverage on the internet +my question is how do you explain that president squid has not +faced the globe television network +(Laughter) +[Music] +the attack soon I don't understand them too but it took the band rock for years +she is loki this is what happened in brazil it was no exception was the +rule is the left that was in power in latin america was incredibly +openly surpasses surprisingly even open to let the press run from the +the way she wanted it is the same thing happened in nicaragua and +in venezuela is a diogo government was also hard +attacked by the press and left it with result to fight directly and without +to directly retaliate against this press is that it criticized him something that would never happen +in the central countries where if something like that is reproduced it is sc and it is +immediately stopped and the newspaper editors and one has one if they were just +arrested on an internship is he said these issues cannot be discussed +in the united states i mean can he can speak these things for a group +as well as ours but cannot be discussed in the press and even in +universities and in spaces where this should have discussed the chance professor +good night is the question i have here is to protect the center of the world are you sir +says in several articles and in different texts and not only you but many +people from the media including the global one that Brazil might become a +colossus we didn't reach the operations account +against corruption such as car wash is operations of corruptions that are +aligned to the united states this is what i wanted to know +that was a witty saleh ftmib site center world question quest in +a fiat idea brasil the club going up +uai two spouts the house itf is and famous couple +and got chan in a jeu de o car wash +kiss the globe the globe g1 +he and I said that this actually became a reality that over the years +squid and dilma brazil has become has become a country +the most respected country in the world during those years and achieving the +organize the South American bloc in a way that has never been seen before and that +it can happen again +rita +I was not even for I come from a board of a communication project +was dismantled here in Brazil and also as people here sodom of +movement is probably the most democratic freestyle in Brazil but my +question is a disrespect to international society that could channel as +the bag of potatoes signed with society and from brazil show +Brazilian solidarity in an effective way and particularly when dealing with the +January state I will ask my question but do you want +translate before the practitioner must continue it is not like and it is projects +witnessing this is only the denial of the reality of the one where the +people followed those grenades a large exposure in full not +everyone thought here and ask me nothing critical of the state +is that I am finally doing what drugs especially the sample that the +curator of the exhibition said she wanted rap rap sabratha in the unit +could he understand well is it true money in fact the parking lots and +that's it for me you can think the connection of the information discourse that it rains has to +always have at each international scene of the girlfriend the head of the people from whom +is understanding on the page in this expectation to see from a distance I'm sorry +the question was very long and fields went public to communicate blackmail and +you passed out two chinas well in 2011 doing action xb in ius do lem +obama she rained on she wants you next edition hence I gave and wife and ed +[Music] +the girl who dances streets I think Celso is a debauchery at 10 and +[Music] Bahia that land said that this is the +great idea at last in order to prevent dengue in +about to the wind ao andante s the english and country and night and the end +of the month falling similar to the final but the question is mine +[Music] +[Music] this highlight of tchipipa uendel sa +laser kick the end of the slide there are generation kick the end of the straight nor rural +dislike word line in ryan bingham think that s so is right stop little new +generation x your ex time life aft to send brazil has a distant dream of +all dark +it is interesting to talk about the issue of torture in iraq because so far the +people don't even know a crime why is the united states never signed +the convention against torture and even when the united states is like that no +these international conventions they usually put what he called +reserves and and those reserves generally say that that does not apply to +united states so is he +they signed on to the issue of torture but excluding all practices that the +cies the torture practices that pt +hangs in iraq be today called the problem +is has a specificity on the issue of torture in iraq because unlike the +that happens in most other cases in guantanamo in the Latin dictatorships +of what happened in Brazil where the United States generally +supervise and train torturers but do not torture themselves is in the +iraq it was the american soldiers themselves who did the torture this +was considered somewhat problematic when they invaded the +iraq they needed some justification +one justification was that iraq would have weapons of mass destruction and the +another justification was that saddam hussein was bothered by al qaeda +although the two justifications were completely false they needed +collecting data and testimonials support these statements and for that they +did they needed for these tortures is waves to get +the information that finally the urgent as a cent +says the untrue information spoke puts the squid field tastes and +field the final issue of this is always impunity is not because nobody anybody +was was tried no one was punished by that time maybe people some +rounds of stature debates but no one is from the army elite +an example of this is the r15 jose is that in 1981 in cambodia is to release an order to +what if you basically shot it is with +with an air raid on anything anyone who had +movement +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +this phrase is actually even published in the new york times +in the context where nixon's tapes were leaked and published by the newspaper +but he didn't focus much on his knife anymore and no one spoke ill of anyone who +that in this sentence that called the project on the site is not good just for us if +organizing here has many questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 people +I think it will not be possible to talk to everyone, so I will try to be very +fast and powerful to read the names of people who signed up for vcp +that everyone is fine I had written in a certain excuse +the group vinicius vinicius vanessa mariana +with your name so mariana so ready adriano you here your name +Julia and baby we are asked that I will not have it so let's try it +not see if it will be possible to talk everyone is my question is the teacher said +that the themes of communication the problems of communication are not discussed by +big media I wanted him to comment a little on what in the +his opinion changed with the emergence of the internet and the great +social media platforms are thought to have made a contribution and face +a little bit of common sense or if this is producing common sense ship and a new +monopoly space is communication +fine +in this sense it is this framework is conceptual that framework of operation of the area of +large media the traditional media can be changed modified is potentially +these new technologies can be changed the taste of new technologies this new +way to be the first found this great structure of functioning of the +mind with it will or will not the idea and today - in the scandal +sandro silva that the issue is much more for people like you than for +it is and that is something that has been discussed for quite a while currently the +question of net neutrality and how it works is that question that the +internet as well as various technologies was developed by people and and +so the incorporation program is basically being taken and that companies +like google for example tend to privilege the interests of others +big corporations and leaving ordinary people other people behind and +who and ethics in this regard has now been implemented the government has taken and what +this will probably continue in that direction if people don't +able to organize themselves to change something in that sense we had the +telesur would do 30 asked where he was right +captain in we have data on the lawyers who studied in the states +United are now working in the legal wars in Brazil children if they have +also given is the narrative of the construction of corruption as a regional narrative +also in the united states and also some movement in the united states to try and +implement this feature at national level 1 and 2 quickly is what is the +evaluation of the role of oea a in military interventions our militarism +in the region +the first thing that the repercussions in the united states of the narratives of +Brazilian jurists who studied in the Brazilians who are now working in the +legal wars and we also find here in Brazil a union between +this between the media and the one that exists today we have a judicial system +wanted to know if you are the tunnel also interest alliance of the mind of your +readers and if that simply acquisition from the quick start +professor james who hinted that ordering is dark and letter a un chan +and if the impact of the world is complemented the question is whether in the near future maybe +could elect a socialist government if it is politically seeking that it +would allow and what impact this could have +the night was still rainy +dell technology covered wilson jose ramos horta e costa +then they say 2 to 2 +this to think about it you have to think first what does a +socialist government is in the united states today what has been what has been +called socialism for example the bather in god who who claims to +socialist is actually a social democracy +very mild and and if this space starts he can see the chance of a +of the government on these issues being elected is but this would be no less +surprising so there are ideas are also new +the government is already a socialist, it is much more difficult in the option that is +on the table now although he also doesn't think it's an impossible thing to +happen one day in the united states is for him what +what we need to do at this point is to build these perspectives for the future +in the present and finally planting seeds in the reality that we already have +am the same human person marks account of us distant from the historic flight and touched +for the goal and it was a request of what exactly people are studying the +united states is a known case is that of the latin +Americans who went to study economics in the united states and chicago +mainly and became known as the chicago boys and will return +for their countries and remembered for example those who voted for Chile +did and during the pinochet government and succeeded in a few years with a +chicago economists' advice is to destroy the economy of that +country and this is a relevant thing to think about now if we stop to think +the economist behind the employee is one of those kids from chicago too +so looking at this history you can imagine what it is +intending to do here in valenca and van +already sold made us try to close in time +good night teacher i am vanessa martina silva magazine editor +southern dialogues I would like to know from you is if the +Brazil based on this non-compliance with the UN decision regarding +of the candidacy of the president president lula brazil then becomes a state +scoundrel and in face of this situation is this positioning of Brazil currently +we must fear for real intervention by the united states in +venezuela since the protagonism that the country +Brazil exercised that in the region there was a void no longer has this leadership +good night teacher my name is ivan is a journalist from the forum magazine is mine +question is whether you think the era of reconciling democracy and +neoliberalism if it is being carried out there if there is no more possibility +neoliberal governments to be democratic since in Brazil for +example the neoliberal agenda is being imposed through a coup and +that this has also been observed in other countries in latin america +thank you west to blow out of hell s came in came and venezuela will give +[Music] +in the 90s the paul factor and the uol +did not understand the question is not whether the united states does not interfere in the +venezuela because they are already interfering +but perhaps the united states no longer has the same capacity to impose things +latin america that they had in the last 10 or 15 years +the countries of latin america managed to get rid of one of one of a subjugate +so straight from the united states is not like at the time of the dictatorships +Latin American countries that they all had not only support but specific direction +coming from washington on hi little fans +[Music] +fashion team work is in 1962 kennedy changed the armies' guidelines +Latin American security is the hemisphere for national security the +which is the same thing that you will take off the army collar and +army against its own population and that has spawned a series of +regimes the regime plague is throughout the +continent is dictatorial regimes he thinks the united states no longer +have that same power over Latin American countries but that is an issue +again that is not even discussed in the united states +good evening +[Music] +jorge joao e was the human rights commission of the un that made this recommendation +so that President Lula could be a candidate in the elections but it has to do +that the un and this commission are not respected by the united states for +example we cannot think of the un as an independent entity +because her action is limited by what the most powerful nations personally +united states whether or not they allow her to take jean on them +johnny love government is for an example of how and overcomes during is the war of +vietnam the attacks of the united states still +china have never been convicted nor even discussed and in conversation on several off +several people from the high ranking UN un have even discussed with him +that the question is whether or not to say anything is condemned any +the united states thing about closed vietnam is just to give an example +another funny example is that the united states has a rule that if any +American went to the international judo court +the international criminal court is the united states can and in saving that american +rescue this American what in Europe they call the invasion law +another question of democracy and the end of it sml berlin and democracy is +neoliberal and should involve the team more and night when it says team resolve was the +2010 man william together and mail +if silas and twitter those from the south the gaucho +[Music] +neither me nor my motto is again this is a question that is in the hands of de +people like you if those powers are allowed to act in accordance with your +interests +if they do not act according to their interests and and against the interests of the +most of the population but it is not just a question of the +liberalism leaving neoliberalism aside we are in a dodo phase of the +capitalism that anyone who wants to read it knows that we are +faced with a resistance problem even though the issue of heating +for example is jeopardizing the continued existence of the +humanity before that what the great +corporations and governments in different countries have done is not is just not +limit the use of fossil fuels for example but how to enhance this +use and invest more and more in it so it's an example is we don't even have +words is to describe and that kind of attitude +but it is a radical example of what capitalism is you should do is +you should invest in profit even when it means not investing in +continuity of the human species of human societies but this is what the +people are watching it happen now is I had ten questions +we had four more subscribers but we had a schedule agreement with the +professor johns that we would finish at 9 15 we are finishing at 9 and 18 wanted +apologizing for lasagna to julia will bring mariana priest year but we +ends here I wanted to thank the sounds that went well +efe amanda peet and phil is obliged to all and +children's ceis love of this finish wi fi internet +I want to thank the foundation perseu open that he was here with us doing the +live broadcast and I would also like to thank celso amorim who +intermediate teaches south dialogue here tonight but could not be here +with us so thank you amorim the foundation perseu open and to all who +were here brigade people +0 +6 +14 +18 +25 +34 +40 +44 +50 +56 +60 +68 +77 +106 +128 +136 +140 +144 +149 +155 +188 +214 +221 +233 +240 +244 +261 +300 +304 +310 +315 +319 +340 +347 +369 +375 +381 +384 +404 +459 +463 +468 +474 +479 +484 +489 +496 +503 +514 +527 +531 +538 +541 +546 +552 +582 +588 +594 +597 +605 +646 +660 +673 +680 +685 +691 +698 +703 +710 +716 +750 +755 +762 +780 +816 +823 +829 +835 +846 +871 +884 +889 +896 +913 +958 +966 +968 +973 +980 +986 +992 +1016 +1028 +1037 +1043 +1062 +1069 +1098 +1104 +1109 +1112 +1119 +1124 +1149 +1166 +1174 +1178 +1184 +1188 +1192 +1198 +1211 +1236 +1239 +1246 +1252 +1259 +1264 +1278 +1328 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+5663 +5673 +5675 +5679 +5682 +5688 +5693 +5699 +5705 +5709 +5716 +5722 +5728 +5732 +5739 +5747 +5751 +5762 +5767 +5773 +5780 +5793 +5800 +5823 +5827 +5832 +5838 +5842 diff --git a/cnt/'Caos total' _ AFP LQOeDg0qFf4.en.cnt b/cnt/'Caos total' _ AFP LQOeDg0qFf4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b39479 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/'Caos total' _ AFP LQOeDg0qFf4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +and the American philosopher and linguist noam chomsky is incisive in assessing the +responses to the new coronavirus pandemic in the united states and the developing world +interview agence france-presse floors that is concerned with the world +can pandemic the main factor for concern a political chaos ensued +by world leaders new readers other than bunny leadership is chaotic +the white house is in the hands of an interested megalomaniac partner nothing but +of your own electoral expectations power doesn't care about country a +fact after another is total chaos during guarantee the country and to the world +one without the formalities of rockers the 91-year-old writer believes that the +neoliberal system the maximum has been replaced by a health system +universal is something that would be crucial in the pandemic +united states are bottom of the barrel the government just didn't want to hear the +American intelligence bombed the White House between January and February saying +to an approaching pandemic series we need to do something together just +analyzed the ranking on TV and the stock market that he considers important +for his election in the group emerged civil in stock information deciding whether it is due to +serious crisis like this gym is not our biggest problem let's recover +at hard expense but not the recovery of the polar thaw from melting the increase in +sea level and other deleterious effects of global warming today is +and today the previous syllable interest on the other hand also seems to believe that +digital technologies like the internet of things can become allies for the +future the scholarship reveals systems of +control are developing is not inevitable as is global warming +it's not inevitable it will happen unless people have it we can +seeing trends on the way the powerful forces behind are visible is not +secrets can we let that happen a words sounds that believes another +sure waiting for the united states here the country is on its way to the precipice and +0 +6 +11 +16 +22 +32 +36 +40 +48 +55 +58 +65 +69 +73 +78 +82 +104 +109 +113 +118 +129 +134 +139 +143 +148 +153 +162 diff --git a/cnt/'The Assad Regime is a Moral Disgrace' - Noam Chomsky on Ongoing Syrian War fu_5nzvPWao.en.cnt b/cnt/'The Assad Regime is a Moral Disgrace' - Noam Chomsky on Ongoing Syrian War fu_5nzvPWao.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f3893f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/'The Assad Regime is a Moral Disgrace' - Noam Chomsky on Ongoing Syrian War fu_5nzvPWao.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Noam Chomsky, one of the world's best-known dissidents. +He's institute professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught for +more than 50 years. +Juan Gonzalez and I spoke to him live on Democracy Now! on Tuesday's program. +After the broadcast, we continued the conversation. +I asked him to talk about the situation in Syria, as well as the broader Middle East. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Syria is a horrible catastrophe. +The Assad regime is a moral disgrace. +They're carrying out horrendous acts, the Russians with them. +AMY GOODMAN: Why the Russians with them? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, pretty simple reason: Syria is their one ally in the whole region. +Not a close ally, but they do have--their one Mediterranean base is in Syria. +It's the one country that's more or less cooperated with them. +And they don't want to lose their one ally. +It's very ugly, but that's what's happening. +Meanwhile, there have been--it's kind of like the North Korean case we were discussing. +There have been possible opportunities to terminate the horrors. +In 2012, there was an initiative from the Russians, which was not pursued, so we don't +know how serious it was, but it was a proposal to--for a negotiated settlement, in which +Assad would be phased out, not immediately. +You know, you can't tell them, "We're going to murder you. +Please negotiate." +That's not going to work. +But some system in which, in the course of negotiations, he would be removed, and some +kind of settlement would be made. +The West would not accept it, not just the United States. +France, England, the United States simply refused to even consider it. +At the time, they believed they could overthrow Assad, so they didn't want to do this, so +the war went on. +Could it have worked? +You never know for sure. +But it could have been pursued. +Meanwhile, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are supporting jihadi groups, which are not all that different +from ISIS. +So you have a horror story on all sides. +The Syrian people are being decimated. +AMY GOODMAN: And the U.S. now sending 400 more troops to Syria. +But if the U.S. has a better relationship with Russia, could that change everything? +NOAM CHOMSKY: It could lead to some kind of accommodation in which a negotiated diplomatic +settlement would be implemented, which would by no means be lovely, but it would at least +cut down the level of violence, which is critical, because the country is simply being destroyed. +It's descending to suicide. +5 +8 +13 +14 +18 +20 +25 +30 +34 +39 +40 +47 +52 +58 +60 +65 +71 +77 +88 +96 +99 +102 +104 +105 +111 +112 +116 +120 +127 +128 +130 +131 +134 +142 +144 +147 +149 +153 +157 +167 +175 +181 diff --git a/cnt/1992 Killian Lecture - Noam Chomsky, 'Language and the ‘Cognitive Revolution’' _b-dH-CqFXk.en.cnt b/cnt/1992 Killian Lecture - Noam Chomsky, 'Language and the ‘Cognitive Revolution’' _b-dH-CqFXk.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9806a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/1992 Killian Lecture - Noam Chomsky, 'Language and the ‘Cognitive Revolution’' _b-dH-CqFXk.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2722 @@ +[MUSIC PLAYING] +Good afternoon, and welcome. +I'm Kim Vandiver, the chairman of the MIT faculty. +We gather here today to honor two people-- +James R Killian, Jr. and Professor Noam Chomsky. +The Killian Award is the highest award +that the MIT faculty bestows upon one of its own, +named after the late Jim Killian, 10th president of MIT. +He came to MIT as a student in the mid-1920s. +He joined the staff of Technology Review in 1926, +and he retired as chairman of the MIT Corporation +45 years later, in 1971. +He brought great honor and distinction to MIT +through his many years of national service. +I'll mention two examples, which are just +the tip of the iceberg. +In the late 1950s, he was the first full-time science adviser +to a president of the United States, +and provided important leadership +in the period that set the nation's course +to putting a man on the moon. +He also served as chairman of the Carnegie Commission +on Educational Television, which recommended +the formation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. +He was also a very genuine and likeable person, +as I discovered quite by accident one day +about 20 years ago, when I was a new graduate student at MIT. +I sat down at a table in the Lobdell dining room +with an elderly gentleman that I didn't know, +and we struck up a conversation, one +that was to begin a long series of enlightening conversations +I had with him until the time of his death in 1988. +His easy way with students and with other members of the MIT +community are one of the things that define Jim Killian to us. +This award is named in his honor. +We bestow it upon a faculty member +each year who has also brought honor and distinction to MIT. +Professor Chomsky has been doing so for 37 years +as a member of our faculty. +Professor Chomsky, would you come to the stage, please? +In preparing for today, I did one small piece of research +on Professor Chomsky, which I'd like to share with you. +With the help of the MIT library staff, +I was able to determine how often he is cited in the Arts +and Humanities Citation Index. +[LAUGHTER] +As of the last time the statistics were compiled, +we discovered that he is in the top 10. +It happens that none of the others are still living. +[LAUGHTER] +He is the most cited living author. +I thought you might like to know the names of the company he +keeps. +They are, in order-- +Marx, Lennon-- +[LAUGHTER] +[APPLAUSE] +Shakespeare-- +[LAUGHTER] +Aristotle, the Bible-- +[LAUGHTER] +Plato, Freud, Chomsky, followed by Hegel and Cicero. +[LAUGHTER] +[APPLAUSE] +I would like to read from the award. +It says, "The president and faculty of the Massachusetts +Institute of Technology have the honor +to present the James R Killian, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award +to Noam Chomsky, and to announce his appointment as Killian +Award Lecturer for the academic year +'91, '92, in recognition of his extraordinary contributions +to linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive psychology. +One of the foremost thinkers of this century, +he revolutionized the study of language and of the human mind. +His books, monographs, and articles +constitute major milestones in the history of linguistics. +An inspiring teacher, he has trained +scholars who are among the most important contributors +to the discipline. +His presence here has greatly enriched MIT." +Professor Chomsky, the microphone is yours. +[APPLAUSE] +He's lucky he didn't read what those citations say, but-- +[LAUGHTER] +The title of this talk, the announced title, +has three parts-- +refers to language, the cognitive revolutions. +And then there's the quotes around cognitive revolutions. +The relation between language and cognitive science +is natural. +That's a reasonable combination. +Modern linguistics developed as part +of, what's sometimes called, the cognitive revolution +of the 1950s-- +actually to a large extent here in building 20, +thanks initially to Jerry Wiesner's initiatives. +It was also a major factor in the development +of the cognitive sciences ever since their modern origins. +So those two words are sort of obvious. +The quotes are intended to express a lingering skepticism. +And when I say cognitive revolution from here on in, +you're supposed to hear a so-called cognitive revolution. +I'll explain why as I proceed. +The skepticism that I feel does not have anything +to do with the actual work that's +done in the various areas of cognitive science-- +so vision, language, cognitive development, a few others. +In these areas, there have been quite significant advances +over the past 40 years. +The questions in my mind arise at a second order level, +that is, thinking about the nature of the disciplines that +are concerned with what were traditionally +called mental acts or mental faculties. +And I want to come back to a few of those questions. +Some of them are substantive. +Some of them are historical. +First, a few words about the contemporary cognitive sciences +and the cognitive revolution, as they look to me. +And let me stress that others don't see it this way at all. +This is not intended to be a survey, but rather a rather +personal point of view. +George Miller, who was one of the leading figures +and founders of the modern field, in a recent article, +he traced the modern cognitive sciences back +to a meeting in 1956, held in Cambridge. +I can't remember whether it was here or at Harvard, +but one or the other. +It was a meeting of the Institute of Radio Engineers, +which had a series of papers on experimental human psychology, +which made use of information theory and signal detection, +and other then pretty new ideas. +It had a paper of mine on language, +which outlined some of the basic ideas of generative grammar. +It had another paper on problem-solving and reasoning. +It was a paper by Herb Simon and Al Newell, +a simulation of theorem proving in elementary logic. +And he argues that that confluence of research papers +essentially initiated the modern field. +Well, there were some shared ideas among the participants. +One shared idea was a kind of shift in perception +or perspective toward the disciplines, a shift which +is not terribly surprising now, but was pretty striking +at that moment. +The shift was away from the study of behavior +and the product of behavior, such as words or sounds +or their arrangement in text, a shift +from that focus toward the study of the states and properties +of the mind and the brain that enter into human thought +and action. +From the first point of view, which overwhelmingly prevailed +at the time, behavior and its products +were regarded as the object of study. +From the second point of view, what +later came to be called the cognitive sciences, +behavior and its products were of no particular interest +in themselves. +They simply provided data, data which would be interesting +insofar as it served as evidence for what really concerns us +now, the inner workings of the mind, where the phrase +mind here simply is a way of talking +about relevant properties and states +and processes of the brain. +The data of behavior and the text, +and so on, from this point of view, +are to be used alongside of other data, whatever +might turn out to be useful, say, +electrical activity of the brain. +But it has no inherently privileged status, +and it's not the focus of interest. +That's a shift. +It's a shift away from what was called +behavioral science, or structuralism, +or stressed statistical analysis of texts, +and a shift toward something that might properly +be called cognitive science. +In my personal view, it was a shift +from a kind of natural history to at least +potential natural science. +Now, that shift was highly controversial at the time, +and it still is. +And in fact, if you were to use such measures as amount +of government funding, it would still +be very much in the minority. +But I think it was the right move. +Well, that was one kind of shared interest +from independent ones of view. +There was no communication among the people +prior to the meeting. +A second shared interest was an interest +in what we might call computational representational +systems. +That means a way of looking at mental activities +and mental faculties, at what the brain is doing, +to looking at them as a kind of a software problem, that +is, a study of the mechanisms, but viewed +from a particular abstract perspective. +Analogies can always be misleading, +but one might compare this approach to, say, chemistry +about a century ago, where there were notions like valence +or periodic table or organic molecule, and so on, +but they were not grounded in the basic physics of the time. +The results, however, and the ideas +did provide guidelines for what turned out +to be quite radical changes in physics +that were necessary to accommodate these ideas. +Chemistry was never actually reduced to physics. +It would be more accurate to say that physics +was expanded, in a certain sense, to chemistry. +Similarly, computation representational theories +of the brain attempt to establish states and properties +that have to be accommodated somehow in the brain sciences, +and might well provide, insofar as they're correct, +they might well provide guidelines for inquiry +into mechanisms. +It's possible, again, that they may provide guidelines +for what will have to be radical changes in the way +that the brain and its processes and states are conceived. +How two approaches to the natural world +will be unified, if ever, can never be +guessed in advance really. +It could be reduction, as in, say, the biology and chemistry +case, more or less. +It could be what you might call expansion, +as in the physics, chemistry case, +or it could be something else. +Crucially, there's nothing mysterious about any of this. +It seems, to me at least, to be just normal science, +normal science at a typical stage before unification +of several approaches through some topic in the natural world +before they're unified. +Well, again, that was and remains highly controversial. +Assuming it, anyway, how can we proceed? +You can look at the brain or the person +from a number of points of view. +Let's begin by taking what you might +call a receptive point of view. +So we think of the brain, say, as being in a certain state. +A signal reaches the brain. +It produces some kind of symbolic representation +of the signal internally, presumably, +and it moves to some other state. +If we focus on the interstate transitions, +we're looking at problems of learning +or maybe, more accurately, growth. +If we focus on the input signal and the symbolic representation +of it, we're looking at perception. +If we focus on the initial state of the system +prior to any relevant signals, we're +looking at the biological endowment, +the innate structure. +We could trace the processes back further. +At that point, we'd be moving into embryology. +And one should stress that these distinctions are +pretty artificial, actually. +Typically, the systems that we're looking at +are like physical organs. +Or we might say more accurately, like other physical organs, +because we are studying a physical organ +from a particular point of view. +They are like physical organs, other physical organs, in that, +say, like the digestive system or the circulatory system +or the visual system, or whatever, +which, again, we often look at abstractly, +as one would expect in the study of the system +of any degree of complexity. +We can call these particular systems mental organs, +not implying, again, anything more than +that they are involved in what were traditionally +called mental states, mental faculties, or mental processes. +Well, like other physical organs, +these mental organs quite typically +reach a kind of a stable state at a certain point. +That is, the input signal that's causing +an interstate transition moves the system around +within some kind of equivalence class of states, that are +alike, for purposes at hand. +That's obviously an idealization, +but a reasonable one. +When you look at the stable state +after the point at which there isn't a significant change, +then you're very clearly studying +perception, when you look at the signal or result relationship. +So for example, if you take the visual system, +if you look at the initial state, +the state prior to relevant signals, +you're looking at the basic structure of the visual system. +If you look at the interstate transition, +you're looking at the growth of the visual system, +the changes in the distribution of vertical and horizontal +receptors in the striate cortex or the onset of binocular +vision after a couple of months of age in humans, and so on. +If you look at a stable state, you're +studying adult perception. +Adult perception, of course, has some kind of access +to systems of belief about the world. +Not much is known about this, but it +seems reasonable to assume that that involves +some kind of computational procedure +that specifies an infinite range of beliefs, which are called +upon when needed, although here, we +move into a domain of almost total ignorance. +Turning to the language system, you +can look at it the same way. +The initial state of the system, the initial state +of the language faculty, the study of it +is sometimes called universal grammar, these days. +The study of the initial state of the language faculty +is the study of that, is a study of biological endowment. +It's an empirical fact, which seems pretty well established, +that this element of the brain is pretty +uniform across the species. +The variations appear to be quite slight apart from extreme +pathology. +And it also appears to be unique in essentials. +There's no other known organism that is anything like it. +Also, it's rather different from other biological systems +in many respects. +Systems of discrete infinity, which this plainly is, +are pretty rare in the biological world, +so it appears. +If you're looking at the interstate transition +as signals, some relevant information comes in, +you're studying language acquisition. +It apparently reaches a stable state at about puberty. +This stable, steady state incorporates +a computational procedure, which characterizes +an infinite set of expressions, each +of them having a certain array of properties, +properties of sound, properties of meaning, +properties of structural organization. +That computational procedure constitutes person's language. +To have such a procedure in the appropriate part of the brain +is to have a language or, as we sometimes +say, to know a language. +When I speak of a language, I simply +mean the computational or generative procedure +that specifies the properties of an infinite range +of linguistic expressions, such as, say, +the one I just produced. +Since your language is similar enough +to mine, when the signal that I just produced +reaches your brain, your generative procedure +constructs an expression, an expression +with these properties, which is similar enough to the one +that I form, so we understand one another, more or less. +Unlike the system of belief that's +accessed in visual perception, in this case, +we happen to know quite a lot about the generative procedures +that are involved in the use of language, +and even about their innate, invariant basis. +And these, in fact, are the areas +of major progress in the past generation. +Well, what about perception of language? +There are several common assumptions about this. +One major assumption is that there +is something called a parser. +A parser is something that maps a signal +into a symbolic representation, paying no attention +to any other aspects of the relevant environment, +of the environment. +Of course, it is assumed, if people are rational, +that this parser accesses the generative procedure. +That is, it's assumed that you use your knowledge of English +when you interpret signals. +Note, however, several assumptions. +First, one assumption is that such a thing +exists, that a parser exists. +There is some faculty of the mind that +interprets signals independently of any other features +of the environment. +That's not at all obvious. +The existence of an internal, generative procedure +is far more secure and far more obvious than the question +of the existence of a parser. +And it's also far better grounded +assumption, far better grounded empirically, +and with much richer theoretical structure. +This is contrary to common belief, which usually considers +the two the other way around. +Nevertheless, let's assume that a parser exists, +though it isn't obvious. +It's further assumed that the parser doesn't +grow the way a language grows, from some initial state +to a stable state. +Now, that assumption, again, is not very well founded. +It's based mainly on ignorance. +It's the simplest assumption, and we have no reason +to believe anything about it, so we might as well believe that. +There is some kind of evidence for it, +indirect perhaps, but interesting. +There is a forthcoming book coming out from MIT Press, +by Robert Berwick and Sandiway Fong, a former student of his, +on what you might call a universal parser, a fixed, +invariant parser, which has the property that if you +flip its switches one way, it interprets English. +And if you flip its switches another way, +it interprets Japanese. +And if that's the right idea, then there +is a universal parser, which is unaffected by environmental +factors, apart from the properties that +serve to identify one or another language, that is, +the array of flipping of switches. +I'll come back to that. +There's a further comment. +So that assumption, the assumption +that the parser doesn't grow, while strange, could be true. +And there's only this kind of indirect evidence for it. +A further common assumption is that parsing is easy, +something that you do very quickly and easily. +In fact, that's often held to be a criterion +for the theory of language. +It's often held to provide-- +the criterion is supposed to be that the theory of language +must provide generative procedures that +satisfy this requirement, that parsing is easy and quick. +Well, that one is flatly false, uncontroversially. +Parsing often fails completely and quite systematically, +and it's often extremely difficult. +Many categories of what are called parsing failures +are known, even with short, simple expressions. +A parsing failure just means a case where the parser works +fine, but it gives some kind of an interpretation which +is not the one that's assigned to the signal by the language. +So it's wrong in that sense. +It's perfectly true that when-- and very often, you can easily +find categories of expressions, even pretty simple ones, +where the parsing system just breaks down. +People don't know what they're hearing. +It sounds like gibberish, even though it's +perfectly well formed and has fixed, strict meaning, +so on and so forth. +Now, it's perfectly true that one +uses expressions that are readily parsed, +but that verges on tautology. +What it means is we use what is usable. +Other resources of the language, we just don't use. +There's a related assumption. +It's often alleged that language is well +adapted to the function of communication. +It's not clear that that statement is even meaningful, +or any similar statements about biological organs. +But to the extent that one can give +some meaning to that statement, this one, +again, looks just false. +The design of language appears to make it largely unusable, +which is fine. +We just use those fragments that are usable for us. +It doesn't mean that the design made it usable somehow. +There are similar assumptions in learnability theory, +formal learnability theory. +It's often claimed, as a starting point, +that natural languages must be learnable. +In fact, natural language is often defined. +Natural languages are defined often +as the set of languages that are learnable +under standard conditions. +Now, notice that that could be true. +We don't know that that's false, as we +know that the comparable statement about parsing +is false. +It could be true that languages are learnable, +but it's not a conceptual necessity. +Language design might be such. +That's our language faculty could be such, +that it permits all kinds of inaccessible languages. +These would be realizable in the brain, just as, +say, English is, but not accessible to humans. +Again, that wouldn't stop us from doing what we do. +We would just pick up the accessible ones. +In fact, there is some recent work, quite recent work, +which suggests that natural languages are learnable. +But if true, that's an empirical discovery and, in fact, +a rather surprising one. +Well, I've said nothing so far about production of language. +There is a reason for that. +The reason is that apart from very peripheral aspect, +it's almost a complete mystery. +We can learn a good deal about the mechanisms that +are put to use when we speak, and we +can study at least certain aspects of perception, +the mapping of signals to percept, +using the internalized mechanisms, +the generative procedure of the language. +But no one has anything sensible to say about what I'm doing now +or what two people are doing in a normal conversation. +It was observed centuries ago that the normal use of language +has quite curious properties. +It is unbounded. +It's not random. +It is not determined by external stimuli, +and there's no reason to believe that it's +determined by internal states. +It's uncaused, but it's somehow appropriate to situations. +It's coherent. +It evokes in the hearer thoughts that he or she might +have expressed the same way. +That collection of properties-- we can call them the creative +aspect of language use-- +that set of properties was regarded by the Cartesians +as the best evidence that another organism has +a mind like ours, not just a body, like a dog +or a monkey or a robot. +Actually, if you look back at their argument, +it was quite reasonable. +The science happened to be wrong, +but it was very reasonable. +And within the framework of scientific reasoning, +we might put matters in different terms. +But we haven't made any progress in understanding +these critically important phenomena, the phenomena that +concerned them and that rely much-- +the provide much of the basis for the traditional mind-body +distinction. +In my opinion, in fact, contemporary thought +about these topics, usually phrased +in terms of notions like the Turing test, +involves a considerable regression +from the much more scientific approach +of Cartesian psychology. +I'm not going to have time to elaborate properly. +I merely mention this to provoke some possible interest or maybe +outrage. +We'll see. +Well, I've mentioned several kinds +of shared interest in the early modern cognitive sciences, +say, back to the 1956 meeting that George Miller pointed to. +One common interest, again, is in +computational representational systems, +looking at the brain in terms of software problems. +For linguistics, at least, this turned +into the study of the generative procedures that +are put to use in perception and presumably, +an expression of thought speaking, +although the latter again remains a complete mystery. +There's another shared interest. +It's what we might call the unification problem. +Now, that's a problem that has two different aspects. +One aspect is the relation between the hardware +and the software, the relationship +between computational representational theories +of the brain and the entities that they postulate, +and what you might call implementation. +And as I suggested, I think you can +regard that as similar to the problem of the relation +between, say, chemistry and physics 100 years ago +or genetics and chemistry 50 years ago, and so on. +That's one problem, the unification +generally, one aspect of the unification +problem, the deepest aspect. +A less deep aspect has to do with the relation +among the various domains of cognitive science, say, +language and vision, whatever may +be involved in problem solving. +This is the question, what do they have in common? +Notice that that's much less profound a problem, +if it turns out the answer is nothing, just the way it is. +On the other hand, we'd be upset if the answer to the first one +was no answer. +Well, at this point, some of my skepticism begins to surface. +So let's take the first one, the deep problem, +the serious, scientific problem-- +the relation between roughly the hardware and software, +chemistry and physics. +Here, there are two different approaches you can identify. +One approach== let's call it naturalistic-- +says, it goes like this. +It says, the mental organs are viewed +as computational representational systems, +and we want to show that they're real, +that their statements in these theories are true, +that is, that there are certain states and the properties +of the brain which these theories exactly capture, +in that's what you try to show. +The mental organs can also be viewed in other ways. +For example, you can look at them +in terms of cells or atoms. +Or more interestingly, for the moment, +you can look at them in terms of electrical activity +of the brain, so-called event related potentials, ERPs. +Now, rather surprisingly, there's +some recent work which shows quite dramatic and surprising +correlations between certain properties +of the computational representational systems +of language and of ERPs, evoked potentials. +For the moment, these ERP measures +have no status apart from their correlation with categories +of expressions that come out of computational representational +theories. +That is, they're just numbers picked at random, +because there's no relevant theory about them that +says, just look at these numbers and not at some other numbers. +In themselves, in other words, they're curiosities. +Still, it's interesting, because they do-- +or there are correlations to rather subtle properties that +have emerged in the attempt to develop +computational representational theories which explain the form +and meaning of language. +So that suggests an interesting direction for research, +namely to try to unify these quite different approaches +to the brain, and to place each of them +in an appropriate theoretical context. +For the moment, that's primarily a problem for the ERPs, +but if you can pursue it, it could be +quite an interesting direction. +And one can think of lots of consequences. +Well, the same is true of the relation between CR systems, +computational representational systems, +and physiology, at least in principle. +Here, it's just in principle, because in practice at present, +we don't really have much to look +at there except from the theories +of the computational representational systems. +But here, whatever the difficulties may be, +we seem to face ordinary problems of science before +the typical situation when alternative approaches +don't-- there's no understood way to unify them or connect +them. +Well, there's a different approach +to this unification problem, which +actually dominates contemporary thinking +about cognitive science-- +not necessarily the actual work, but the thinking +about what it amounts to. +This approach is to divorce the study of mental organs +from the biological setting altogether +and to ask whether some simulation can, essentially, +fool an outside observer. +So we ask whether the simulation passes some rather arbitrary +test, called the Turing test. +But Turing test is just a name for a huge battery +of possible tests. +And so we pick out one of those at random, +and we now ask whether some, say, +extraterrestrial invented organism +or some actual programmed computer +passes the test that has fooled somebody. +And people write articles in which +they ask, how can we determine empirically +whether an extraterrestrial or a programmed computer or machine +can, say, play chess or understand Chinese? +And the answer is supposed to be, +if it can fool an observer under some arbitrary +conditions, called the Turing test, +then we say we've empirically established that. +Actually, you may have noticed, last November, there +was a big splash about a running of the Turing test, +over at the Boston Computer Museum, +together with the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies +and a quite distinguished panel, that a bunch +of programs which were supposed to try to fool people. +There was, I think, a $100,000 prize offered, +a big story in the Boston Globe, front page story in the New +York Times. +Science had a big splash on it. +I wasn't there, but I'm told that the program that did best +in fooling people into thinking that it was a human was one +that produced cliches at random. +[LAUGHTER] +Apparently, it did pretty well. +I don't know. +It may tell you something about humans, but I'm not sure what. +As far as I can see, all of this is entirely pointless. +It's like asking how we could determine empirically +whether an airplane can fly, the answer +being if it can fool someone into thinking +that it's an eagle, say, under some conditions. +But the question whether an airplane can fly +and whether it's really flying or for that matter, +the question whether high jumpers were really +flying at the last Olympics, that's +not an empirical question. +That's a matter of decision, and different languages +make decisions differently. +So if you're speaking Japanese, I'm told airplanes, eagles, +and high jumpers all are really flying. +If you're talking English, airplanes and eagles +are really flying, but humans aren't, except metaphorically. +If you're talking Hebrew, eagles are flying, +and neither airplanes nor humans are. +But that's just a matter of-- +there's no substantive issue involved. +There's nothing to this to determine, +no question to answer. +Simulation of an eagle could have some purposes, of course, +say, learning about eagles or maybe solving +some problem in aerodynamics. +But fooling an observer under some variety of the Turing test +is not a sensible purpose, as far as I can see. +As far as I'm aware, there's nothing +like this in the sciences. +Incidentally, if you go back to the 17th and 18th centuries, +scientists were very much in-- +who we call philosophers, but they didn't distinguish-- +they were greatly intrigued by automata, by machines, +for example, automata that simulated, +say, the digestion of a duck. +But their goal was to learn about ducks, +not to answer meaningless questions +about whether machines can really digest, +as proven by the fact that they can fool an observer who's +just, say, looking behind a screen or something, +however they may be doing it. +Well, this is one of the respects +in which, in my opinion at least, +there's been regression since the 17th and 18th century. +Chess playing programs are a perfect example of this, +in my opinion. +Well, anyway, that's two approaches +to the first question of unification, +the sort of deep one. +What about the more shallow question +of unification, that is, the question of unification +among the various branches of the cognitive sciences? +Is there any real commonality among them? +Well, that doesn't seem entirely obvious. +So take what you might think of, what you might call, +physical organs below the neck, metaphorically speaking, +meaning not the ones we call mental. +Say, take the circulatory system and the digestive system, +the visual system, and so on. +These are organs of the body in some reasonable sense, viewed +abstractly, and that's a normal way +to study any complex system. +The study of these abstract organs +does fall together at some level, +we assume, presumably at the level of cellular biology. +But it's not at all clear that there's any other level, +that is, that there is some kind of organ theory +at which these systems are unified. +Maybe, but it's not obvious. +Well, the brain is scarcely understood, +but to the extent that anything's understood about it, +it appears to be an extremely intricate system, +heterogeneous, with all kind of subparts that +have special design, and so on. +And there's no special reason to suppose +that the mental organs are unified, +in some kind of mental organ theory, +above the level of cellular biology, +that is, above the level at which they may fall together +with the circulatory system, and so on. +If there is no intermediate level, +no such unification, then there is no cognitive science. +Hence, there was no cognitive revolution +except for similarities of perspective, which could +be quite interesting, in fact. +Well, there are various speculations +about this question. +And in fact, they go right back to that 1956 meeting. +One general line of speculation is +that the mind is what's called modular, that is, +that mental organs have special design, +like everything else we know in the physical world. +The other approach assumes uniformity, that there are, +what are called, general mechanisms +of learning or thinking, which are just +applied to different domains. +They're applied to language or to chess, and so on. +And as I say, these differences didn't exactly surface, +but they were more or less implicit at the 1956 meeting. +The paper on generative grammar took for granted modularity, +that is, a rich, specific genetic endowment, the language +faculty's special system, and no general mental organ theory. +The Newell-Simon approach, the study of the logic machine, +that took for granted the opposite position, that is, +that there are general mechanisms of problem solving +which are quite indifferent as to subject matter-- +in our case, theorem proving, but equivalently, chess +or language, or whatever. +And you can trace these different intuitions +back quite a way, quite back 100s of years, in fact. +They're very lively today in the discussions +about connectionist work, for example. +My own view is that the evidence is overwhelmingly +in favor of the highly modular approaches. +There are only a few areas where we have any real insight, +and these invariably seem to involve quite special design. +Possibly, there are some unifying principles, but about +these, if they exist, nothing much is understood. +Again, that's a minority view, but I can only tell you +the way it looks to me. +Even internal to the language faculty, +there seems to be quite highly modular design. +So let's distinguish roughly between what +we might call grammatical ability, meaning the ability +to produce properly formed expressions, +and conceptual ability, that is, to produce expressions that +somehow make some sense, and pragmatic ability, that +is, the ability to use expressions +in some way appropriate to the occasion. +Well, these capacities have been discovered to be dissociated +developmentally-- like one can develop and the other is not-- +and selectively impaired under injury. +And their properties are quite different. +And they seem to be radically different from what we find +in other cognitive systems. +So even internally, just at the most gross look, +we seem to find modularity. +And when you look more closely into subsystems of language, +they just seem to behave rather differently. +I don't see why this should surprise anyone. +It's exactly what we find about every other biological +organism, so why shouldn't it be true of the brain, which +is maybe the most complex one around? +But it's considered a very controversial position. +Again, I stress, as far as I know, +all the evidence supports it, and it shouldn't be surprising. +Well, just how modular is the language faculty? +That's an interesting question. +It doesn't seem so special that it's +linked to particular processing systems. +Here, a study of sign language in the last decade or so, +maybe 20 years, has been quite interesting. +Rather surprisingly, it seems that sign language, +the normal language of the deaf, sign language +is localized in speech areas of the brain, +in the left hemisphere and not in the visual processing +areas-- which you might expect, since you see it. +You don't hear it. +That's shown pretty well by aphasia studies +and again, ERP studies. +Also, it turns out that children who +are acquiring sign language in a natural setting +go through steps-- at least in the early stages, which +have been studied-- that are remarkably +similar to the acquisition of spoken language and timing +and everything else. +They even override obvious iconic properties +of visual symbols. +So pointing is overridden and given +a symbolic interpretation. +Furthermore, acquisition of sign language +turns out to be quite different from acquisition +of communicative gestures. +There's even one case on record of spontaneous invention +of sign language by three deaf children, +who had no environmental model and no stimulus +at all, as far as anyone can be determined. +And that's the perfect experiment. +The system that these three kids constructed +has very standard properties of natural language, natural +spoken language, and the developmental stages also +appear to be similar. +That looks like about a pure expression of the language +faculty unaffected by experience, +and it suggests that however modular the system may be, +it's not so modular that it's keyed to a particular mode +of articulation or input. +What's now known suggests that the language faculty +simply grows a language, much as other organs of the body grow. +And it does so in a way largely determined by its inner nature, +by properties of the initial state. +External events doubtless have some kind of an effect, +like I'm talking English, not Japanese. +But a rational Martian scientist who is looking at us +would probably not find these variations very impressive. +And the language that grows in the mind +appears to be, at least partially, +independent of sensory modality. +Well, at this point, we're moving toward serious inquiry +into modular architecture of mind and brain, +in some of the few areas where it's possible to undertake it, +and with some surprising results. +Well, one last element of skepticism +about the cognitive revolution has +to do with just how much of a revolution it was. +In fact, to a far greater extent than was realized at that time, +or is even generally recognized today, +the shift in perspective in the 1950s +recapitulated and rediscovered some long-forgotten ideas +and insights from what you might call the first cognitive +revolution, which pretty much coincided +with the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries. +Now, the Galilean-Newtonian revolution in physics +is well known. +The Cartesian revolution and its aftermath +in psychology and physiology is not very well known. +But it was quite dramatic, and it had important effects. +It had important consequences. +It also developed some of the major themes that were taken up +again since the 1950s, primarily in the areas of language +and vision, which are perhaps the most +successful branches of contemporary cognitive science, +as well. +Now, this first cognitive revolution, +though it had a great deal of interest, +and there's much you can learn from it, it did face barriers. +And in fact, they were insuperable barriers. +So for example, in the study of language, +it came to be realized soon enough that human language is +somehow a process, not just a dead product. +It's not a bunch of texts. +It's some process that goes on. +Furthermore, it's a process that makes +infinite use of finite means, as Wilhelm von Humboldt put it +in the early 19th century. +But no sense could be made of these ideas, +and the inquiry aborted, aborted for well over a century. +By this century, the formal sciences +had provided enough understanding of all of this, +so that many traditional themes could be productively engaged, +particularly against the background of other advances +in science and engineering and anthropological linguistics. +And one could understand quite well +what it meant to make infinite use of finite means. +Well, let's turn to a quick look at some +of the kinds of questions that arise +and some of the kinds of answers that +can be offered with respect to language specifically. +So take something that everybody knows. +Start with something really trivial, very simple. +So take a simple phrase, like, say, a brown house. +You and I have generative procedures +which are more or less similar, and these generative procedures +determine what we know about this expression. +For example, we know that it consists of two words. +We know that those two words have the same vowel +for most speakers. +We know also that if something or other, +if I point to something, and I say, +that's a brown house, what I mean is its exterior is brown. +If somebody paints a house brown, +we know that they painted the exterior brown. +If they painted the inside brown, +they didn't paint the house brown. +If you see a house, you see its exterior. +So we can't see this building, as a matter +of conceptual necessity. +If we were standing outside, we might. +And the same is true of a whole mass +of what are sometimes called container words, like box +or igloo or airplane. +You can see an airplane, for example, if you're inside it, +but only if you can look out the window and see the wing, +or if there's a mirror outside which +reflects the exterior of the airplane, +or something like that. +Then you could see the airplane, otherwise not. +The same is true with invented concepts, +even impossible concepts. +So, say, take a spherical cube. +If somebody paints this spherical cube brown, +that means they painted the exterior brown, not +the interior. +So all of these, a house that's [INAUDIBLE] and all +these things are exterior surfaces, +which is kind of curious to start with. +However, they're not just exteriors. +So suppose two people say John and Mary are +equidistant from the exterior regarded +as a mathematical object. +Suppose they're equidistant from the exterior, +but John is outside it, and Mary's inside it. +We can ask whether John, the guy outside, is nearer the house, +or whatever it is, and there's an answer, +depending on current criteria for nearness. +But we can't ask it about Mary. +We're not near this building, no matter what the criteria are. +So it's not just an exterior. +It's an exterior plus something about a distinguished interior. +However, the nature of that interior +doesn't seem to matter very much. +So it's the same house if you, say, take it and fill it +with cheese, or something like that. +You change the exterior, it's the same house. +It hasn't changed at all. +And similarly, you can move the walls around, +and it stays the same house. +On the other hand, you can clean a house +and not touch the exterior at all. +You can only do things to the interior. +So somehow, it's a very special combination +of a abstract, though somehow concrete, interior, +with an abstract exterior. +And of course, the house itself is perfectly concrete. +The same is true of my home. +That's also perfectly concrete, but in a quite different way. +If a house is a brown, wooden house, +it has a brown exterior surface, but it doesn't just +have a wooden exterior. +It's both a concrete object of some kind and an abstract +surface, as well as having a distinguished interior +with weird properties. +Well, proceeding further, we discover +that container words, like, say, house, +have extremely weird properties. +Certainly, there can't be any object +in the world that has this combination of properties, +nor do we believe that there is. +Rather, a word like house provides +a certain quite complex perspective +for looking at what we take to be things in the world. +Furthermore, these properties are completely unlearned. +Hence, they must be universal, and as far as we know, +they are. +They're just part of our nature. +We didn't learn them. +We couldn't have learned them. +They're also largely unknown and unsuspected. +Take the most extensive dictionary +you like, say, the big Oxford English Dictionary, +that you read with a magnifying glass, +and you find that it doesn't dream +of such somatic properties. +Rather, what the dictionary does is +offer some hints that allow a person who +already knows almost everything to pick out the intended +concept. +And the same is true of words generally. +And in fact, the same is true of the sound system of language. +They are largely known in advance in all their quite +remarkable intricacy. +Hence, they're a universal, a species property. +The external environment may fix some details, +the way the Oxford English Dictionary can +fix a few details. +But language acquisition, and in fact, probably +a good deal of what's misleadingly called learning, +is really a kind of biological growth, +where you fill in details in an extremely +rich, predetermined structure, that +just goes back to your nature-- +very much like physical growth or, +as I think we should say, other aspects of physical growth. +Well, if you look at the structure +of more complex expressions, then these conclusions +are just reinforced. +Again, let me take pretty simple cases to illustrate. +So take the sentence, say, John ate an apple, +and drop out the word apple, and you get John ate. +And what that means, everybody knows, +is John ate something or other. +So if you eliminate a phrase from the sentence, +you interpret it as something or other. +John ate means John ate something or other, +more or less. +Take the sentence, a little bit longer, but not much-- +John is too stubborn to talk to Bill. +Well, that means John is so stubborn, +that he won't talk to Bill. +And just as in the case of John ate an apple, +drop the last phrase, Bill, and we get, +John is too stubborn to talk to. +And by analogy, or by induction, if such a thing existed, +people ought to interpret it as meaning +John is so stubborn, that he won't talk to someone or other. +However, it doesn't mean that. +John is too stubborn to talk to means John is so stubborn, +that nobody is going to talk to him, John. +Somehow it all inverts if I drop the last word. +Suppose you make it a little more complex. +John is too stubborn to expect anyone to talk to Bill. +Well, that means John-- you have to think maybe a little bit +here already, because parsing is not easy and quick. +John is too stubborn-- it means John +is too stubborn for him, John, to expect +that anyone will talk to Bill. +Now I'll drop Bill again. +Now we get John is too stubborn to expect anyone to talk to. +And reflect for a moment, and you'll +see that the meaning shifts radically. +It means John is so stubborn, that somebody or other doesn't +expect anyone to talk to him, John. +Everything shifts. +Now, all of this is inside you. +Nobody could ever learn it. +Nobody could possibly learn it. +None of it is mentioned, even ever hinted at, in fact, even +in the most comprehensive grammar books. +It's known without experience. +It's universal, as far as we know. +In fact, it better be universal, or it +means there are genetic differences crucially +among people. +It just grows out from our nature. +A huge variety of material of that sort +has come to light in the last 30 years or so +as a direct consequence of something new, namely +the attempt to actually discover and to formulate +the generative procedures that grow +in the language faculty of the brain, +virtually without experience. +That had never been done before. +It was always assumed that it's all obvious. +How can it be anything complicated here? +If you go back, say, to the early '50s, +the problem about language acquisition was supposed to be, +why does it take so long? +Why does it take so long for such a trivial thing to happen? +Why do children need so much exposure to material +to do this simple process of habit formation? +As soon as you try to describe the facts, +you discover that it's quite the opposite. +There's extremely intricate things +that are known even in the simplest cases. +There's no possible way of picking them up +from experience, and consequently, they're +universal. +They're part of our nature. +These are just part of the generative procedures +that the brain determines. +Well, what do these generative procedures look like? +Apparently, they look something like this. +A language can be looked at as involving +a computational procedure and what you can call a lexicon. +A lexicon is a selection of concepts that are associated +with particular sounds. +The concepts appear to be pretty much invariant. +There are things like house, let's say. +And they have very weird properties, +which means that they must be invariant, +because if they have very weird properties, +they've got to be unlearned, which +means that they're going to be invariant, just +part of our nature. +The sound variety also seems quite limited. +On the other hand, the association +between a concept and a sound looks free. +So you can say tree in English and [INAUDIBLE] in German, +and so on. +So that tells us what one aspect of language acquisition is. +It's determining which of the given set of concepts, +with all their richness and complexity, +is associated with which of the possible sounds, +with their limited variety. +Notice that that's a pretty trivial task. +So you can imagine how a little bit of experience +could help fix those associations, +if the concepts were given, and the structure of the sound +was given. +Well, the lexicon also contains what are sometimes +called formal elements, things like inflections, +like tense or plural or case markers of the kind +that you find, say, in German or Latin, and so on. +And languages do appear to differ quite substantially +in these respects. +However, that seems to be mostly illusion. +At least, the more we learn, the more it looks like illusion. +So for example, take, say, cases. +English doesn't have them. +You've got to memorize them when you study German and Latin. +But that looks illusory. +It appears to be the case that English has them fine, in fact, +exactly the way Latin has them. +It's just that they don't happen to come out the mouth. +They're not articulated. +They're in the internal mental computation, +and their effects, which are quite ramified, are detectable. +But that part of the computation just +doesn't happen to link up to the vocal tract. +So the computation is running along, +but where it gets spelled out of sounds, +it just didn't have to look at this stuff. +Well, that's another aspect of language acquisition, that +is, to determine what aspects of the computational system +receive an external articulation. +There are also some differences among these formal elements +that also have to be fixed, but they appear pretty narrow. +Notice, incidentally, that if you +have a very intricate system with just +a few possible differences in it, which +could be right at the core somewhere, making those changes +may produce something that looks phenomenally quite different. +Just look at it from the outside, +and they look radically different, +even though it's basically the same thing with really only +trivial differences. +And that's pretty much what languages seem to look like. +Well, what about the computational system? +That's the lexicon. +What about the computational system? +It's possible that it's unique, that is, it's invariant. +There's just one of them. +There's nothing at all to be learned. +That's not certain, but it's at least possible, +in fact plausible. +If this picture is on the right track, +notice we're very close to concluding +that there's only one human language, +at least in its deeper aspects. +And incidentally, going back to this rational Martian +scientist, that's what he would have guessed, in first place. +Otherwise, acquisition of these highly intricate systems, +on the basis of fragmentary experience +and the uniformity of the process, +would just be a miracle. +So the natural assumption is, well, there's +basically only one of them, and it's fixed in advance. +If, in fact, acquisition of language +is something like a chicken embryo becoming a chicken +or humans undergoing puberty at a certain age, +then it's at least within the realm +of potential scientific understanding, not a miracle. +And that's the way it seems to be. +The more we learn, the more it looks like that. +More precisely, there does seem to be +a certain variety of languages, apparently a finite variety. +That is, it does seem to be the-- or it's a good guess now +that each possible language that the language faculty makes +available, each possible language +is fixed by answering a finite number of fairly +simple questions. +You can look at the system as being like a complex, wired up +thing which is just given, with a switch box associated with it +and a finite number of switches. +You can flip them up. +You can flip them down. +You do that on the basis of the answer to one +or another of these questions, and they've +got to be pretty simple questions. +If we could understand the way that +works-- bits and pieces of it are understood-- if we suppose +we could understand it, then we ought +to be able to, say, deduce Hungarian +by setting the switches one way and deduce Swahili by setting +the switches a different way. +The questions must be easily answered for empirical reasons. +Children do it highly efficiently and very fast +and with very little evidence-- pretty much the way they grow. +It follows that languages are learnable. +That is, if this is correct, it follows +that, as I mentioned before, languages, in fact, +are learnable, which is an empirical discovery, +and a pretty surprising one. +No reason why it would have had-- no biological reason why +it would have had to be true. +But it looks as though it may be true, +largely because the variety is so restricted. +Well, assuming that to be true, we now +have the following situation. +Languages appear to be learnable, which is surprising. +But languages appear to be unusable, +which I don't think is surprising at all. +What that means is that only scattered parts of them +are usable. +And of course, those are the parts we use, +so we don't notice it. +Now, actually, this unusability property +may be somewhat deeper than what I suggested. +Since the origins of modern generative linguistics, +there have been attempts to show that the computational system +is constrained by certain very general principles of economy, +which have a kind of global character to them. +And there some recent work that carries these ideas +a long step forward. +It's still pretty tentative. +In fact, it's unpublished. +But let me sketch some leading ideas that +indicate where things might go. +Suppose we think of a linguistic expression in something +like the following way. +The language faculty selects a certain array +of items from the lexicon. +That's what it's going to talk about. +And it begins computing away, using +its computational procedure-- which +I'm now assuming to be invariant across languages. +It computes in parallel, just picks out these items, +and goes computing along with them. +It occasionally merges pieces of computation, +so you bring them together, then maybe it +picks something out and starts going in parallel again. +At some point in the computation, +they've all been merged. +It just keeps computing. +It proceeds merrily on its way, in other words. +At some point after they've merged, +the system, the language faculty, +decides to spell it out, meaning to provide instructions +to the articulatory and perceptual system. +Then the computation just keeps going on, +and it ultimately provides something +like a representation of meaning, which is probably +to be understood as instructions for other performance systems. +Well, proceeding in this way, the computation +ultimately proceeds to paired symbolic expressions, +to paired outputs, instructions for the articulatory perceptual +apparatus, on the one hand, and instructions for language +use, or called somatic sometimes. +So these are the two, let's call them, +interface levels of the language faculty. +The language faculty seems to interface +with other systems of the mind, performance systems at two +points, one having to do with articulation and perception, +the other having to do with the things you do with language-- +referring to things, asking questions, and so on, roughly +somatic. +So let's say that's what happens. +It looks like it does. +Now, of these various computations, +only certain of them converge in a certain sense. +The sense is that the two kinds of outputs, the phonetic, +or instructions, the articulatory perceptual system +and the somatic, actually yield interpretable instructions-- +like they might compute along and end up +with an output that doesn't yield +interpretable instructions. +In that case, if either one of them fails, +we say that it doesn't converge. +Now, looking just at the convergent derivations, +the convergent computations, those +that yield interpretable paired outputs, some of them +are blocked by the fact that others of them +are more economical. +That is, they involve less computation. +Now, here, you've got to define amount of computation +in a very special and precise sense. +But it's not an unnatural sense. +Well, if you can do this, it's going +to turn out that many instructions that +would be perfectly interpretable just +can't be constructed by the mind, at least +by the language faculty, because the outputs are blocked +by more economical derivations. +What is the linguistic expression, then? +Well, the linguistic expression is +nothing other than the optimal realization +of certain external interface conditions. +A language is the setting of certain switches, +and an expression of the language +is the optimal realization of universal interface conditions, +period. +All the work would now be done by special properties +of the nature of computation and very special notions +of economy, which do have a kind of global character. +They have a kind of a least effort character, +but of a global sort. +Well, it turns out that quite a variety of strange things +can be explained in these ways, in terms +of a picture of language that is really rather elegant. +It's guided by conditions of economy of derivation, +with very simple and straightforward operations. +They're not only elegant, but they're +pretty surprising for a biological system. +In fact, these properties are more +like the kind, what one expects to find, +for quite unexplained reasons, in the inorganic world. +Well, these economy conditions, as I mentioned, +have a sort of a global character to them, +though not entirely. +They have a tendency to yield high degrees +of computational complexity that would +render large parts of language unusable. +Well, that's not necessarily an empirical objection. +We then turn to an empirical question. +Are the parts that are rendered unusable +the parts that can't be used? +We know there are plenty of parts that can't be used. +So if it turns out that parts of language +involve irresolvable computational complexity, +irresolvable by a reasonable device, +and those are the parts you can't use, fine. +That's a positive result, not a negative result. Well, +what we might discover then, if this continues +to look as promising as I think it does now, what we might +discover is that languages are learnable, because there isn't +much to learn, that they're unusable in large measure, +but that they're surprisingly beautiful, which is just +another mystery, if it turns out to be true. +Thanks. +[APPLAUSE] +0 +13 +15 +20 +24 +30 +33 +38 +45 +50 +54 +58 +64 +68 +71 +74 +78 +82 +85 +87 +90 +94 +97 +101 +107 +112 +115 +121 +125 +128 +131 +136 +141 +145 +151 +154 +156 +164 +169 +172 +177 +180 +185 +189 +194 +196 +199 +203 +207 +210 +213 +218 +221 +222 +224 +226 +229 +235 +236 +238 +241 +242 +248 +251 +261 +264 +267 +269 +273 +277 +279 +284 +289 +292 +296 +298 +304 +306 +309 +311 +316 +318 +338 +342 +346 +349 +351 +356 +361 +366 +368 +371 +373 +376 +377 +381 +385 +389 +394 +397 +403 +407 +412 +415 +419 +422 +426 +432 +438 +440 +444 +447 +451 +455 +457 +458 +460 +465 +470 +474 +478 +481 +484 +491 +496 +501 +504 +506 +511 +518 +522 +525 +528 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Neoliberalism and the End of History - Part 1 - Introduction yqE5O1ef1wY.en.cnt b/cnt/25. Neoliberalism and the End of History - Part 1 - Introduction yqE5O1ef1wY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e4e464 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/25. Neoliberalism and the End of History - Part 1 - Introduction yqE5O1ef1wY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ +The following content is provided under a Creative +Commons license. +Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare +continue to offer high-quality educational resources for free. +To make a donation, or to view additional materials +from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare +at ocw.mit.edu. +MICHEL DEGRAFF: I don't want to make anyone jealous who +came before, but I think we can say pretty safely +that we saved one of the best for last, right? +I won't say the best. +OK? +All right. +So as you can see, throughout the course +we looked at these issues about how language, race, ethnicity, +gender, how they can be used to create various hierarchies. +And as you can see now after the semester, +these are tools, really. +They're not inherently part of who we are, +but they are tools that various pools of power +use to keep control, to create hierarchies. +And I think last week, you guys you had a very good discussion +with Dr. Aleman about how sometimes these hierarchies can +be internalized. +And there was a very good discussion, +as I can tell, from the video that she took for me about how +you, yourself, we need to do some work inside of us +to go beyond these threats that these terror attacks impose +on us. +So we went very micro. +So we went very macro, then went micro. +And today, with my friend and colleague, Noam Chomsky, +we're going to go my macro again. +But I guess you've read the papers. +I read the papers. +And I must say, Noam, I was very disturbed by what I read. +But the fact is that those are the data. +So this is MIT. +We are very much involved in trying to understand knowledge. +And many of you throughout the semester +made a case that we have all this knowledge here at MIT. +But often, this knowledge does not translate into action +into the real world. +And in a way, I think with Noam's entire life, +we have an example of how that can happen. +How we can take very abstract, technical knowledge +and make it available to the world +and try to make it better. +And the theme of this course throughout +was how to build bridges, how to make change and build bridges. +So we hope that with Noam today, we'll +get a clear sense of how that can happen. +And perhaps, how we might, with some luck, +save the world, right? +NOAM CHOMSKY: I think the best way to proceed is-- +in a court seminar is for you to say what you're interested in. +I'll see if I have some way of reacting to it. +Lots of things I could talk about. +I mean, one thing we could talk about related +is right in the headlines. +So there are things which is an opening for things we can do. +That's the plan that was just made public yesterday +to deport Haitians back to Haiti from Boston. +That's a very live issue. +A lot of lives depend on it. +We can do something about it right here if we want. +It turns out-- I didn't know this-- +that the Haitian Ambassador, Michel just +told me, who is pleading with the government +not to carry out this onerous and destructive act, +is actually a former MIT student, who +wrote about these topics in his thesis. +So that's one of many things that could be discussed. +1 +3 +5 +7 +11 +14 +18 +22 +24 +28 +32 +34 +34 +37 +38 +45 +49 +54 +55 +58 +61 +64 +67 +71 +72 +74 +79 +82 +85 +86 +88 +90 +95 +97 +100 +101 +106 +109 +111 +114 +117 +120 +123 +125 +128 +131 +133 +135 +136 +138 +142 +145 +147 +150 +152 +156 +161 +164 +167 +170 +173 +179 +183 +193 +195 +197 +200 +202 +206 +209 +214 +218 +222 diff --git a/cnt/9RC Miradas Internacionales - Noam Chomsky OoTGienp58E.en.cnt b/cnt/9RC Miradas Internacionales - Noam Chomsky OoTGienp58E.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46e5a7f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/9RC Miradas Internacionales - Noam Chomsky OoTGienp58E.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +are you but no more since +they are on fire aznar stick and trade +as I said at the time if there is no problem in having a base +North American in perfect Ecuador we can give permission to install in +that base as long as they give us permission to install a military base +Ecuadorian in Miami if there is no problem they will accept +one +i +but a society +2 +8 +52 +56 +62 +66 +70 +77 +80 diff --git a/cnt/Amid Deadly Israeli Crackdown on Gaza Protests, Chomsky Says U.S. Must End Support for “Murderers” tizHBCJen-4.en.cnt b/cnt/Amid Deadly Israeli Crackdown on Gaza Protests, Chomsky Says U.S. Must End Support for “Murderers” tizHBCJen-4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc123c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Amid Deadly Israeli Crackdown on Gaza Protests, Chomsky Says U.S. Must End Support for “Murderers” tizHBCJen-4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,334 @@ +"Noam Chomsky Is a Soft Revolution" by Foy Vance. +This is Democracy Now! +I'm Amy Goodman, as we return to our conversation with the world-renowned dissident, linguist +and professor Noam Chomsky. +Let's turn to the situation in Gaza. +Israel's Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Thursday Israel could launch another +wide-scale military operation against the Gaza Strip. +This comes after Israel's violent crackdown on peaceful protests in Gaza from March to +May, when Israeli forces killed over 136 Palestinians, injured over 14,000 Palestinians. +I want to turn to the Canadian doctor, the Palestinian-Canadian doctor Tarek Loubani, +who was shot by Israeli forces in both legs while he was helping treat Palestinians injured +by Israeli forces during the nonviolent Great March of Return. +It was May 14th, a Monday. +I asked Dr. Loubani--this is right after he was shot--if he felt he was targeted. +I don't know the answer to that. +I don't know what orders they received or what was in their heads, so I can't tell +you if we were deliberately targeted. +What I can tell you is the things that I do know. +In the six weeks of the March, there were no paramedic casualties. +And in one day, 19 paramedics--18 wounded plus one killed--and myself were all injured, +so--or were all shot with live ammunition. +We were all--Musa was actually in a rescue at the time, but everybody else I've talked +to was like me. +We were away during a lull, without smoke, without any chaos at all, and we were targeted--and +we were, rather, hit by live ammunition, most of us in the lower limbs. +So, it's very, very hard to believe that the Israelis who shot me and the Israelis +who shot my other colleagues--just from our medical crew, four of us were shot, including +Musa Abuhassanin, who passed away--It's very hard to believe that they didn't know +who we were, they didn't know what we were doing, and that they were aiming at anything +else. +So, later that same day, May 14th, the man that Tarek was just talking about, Dr. Loubani +was talking about, paramedic Musa Abuhassanin, was shot and killed by Israeli forces. +He was shot in the chest. +Dr. Loubani tweeted a photo captioned, "A haunting photo, Friday, May 11. +Left: Mohammed Migdad, shot in the right ankle. +Hassan Abusaada. +Tarek Loubani, shot in left leg and right knee. +Moumin Silmi. +Youssef Almamlouk. +Musa Abuhassanin, shot in the thorax and killed. +Volunteer unknown. +Photographer: shot and wounded." +And he showed this photograph that he had, that he thought he was just going to have +for a scrapbook, and then realized these were some of the last days of their lives. +What's going on in Gaza right now, from your perspective, Noam? +We can add to that list the young Palestinian woman, a medic, who was murdered by a sniper, +far from the so-called border, when she was tending to a wounded patient. +Yes, it's hideously ugly. +But there's a background, as always. +The crucial background is that Israeli--this Israeli stranglehold on Gaza, which has reduced +the life to bare survival, has reached the point where the United Nations, other analysts +predict that by the year 2020, Gaza will literally be uninhabitable. +That's two million people, half of them children, being caged in a prison, carefully +controlled, savage restrictions on food, on anything that comes to them, to the extent +that the fishermen are kept close to shore so they can't fish, the sewage plants have +been destroyed, the power plants have been attacked. +The official program--official--was to keep Gaza on what was called a diet, barely enough +to survive. +Doesn't look good if they all starve to death. +Notice that this is occupied territory, as recognized by--even by the United States, +everyone but Israel. +So, here's a population kept in a prison, in an occupied territory, fed a diet to keep +them at bare survival, constantly used as a punching bag for what's called--what +calls itself the most moral army in the world, now reaching a point where within a couple +years it will be uninhabitable, yes, and in addition to that you have sadistic acts like +highly trained snipers killing a young Palestinian woman medic when she's tending a patient, +and what the doctor just described. +What do we do with it? +We actually react to that. +The United States has reacted. +It has reacted by very sharply cutting its funding to the one organization, UNRWA, U.N. +organization, that keeps the population barely alive. +That's our response, along with, of course, overwhelming support for Israel, providing +with the arms, diplomatic support and so on. +One of the most extraordinary scandals, if that's the right word, in the modern world. +Can we do something about it? +Sure, of course we can. +Gaza should be a thriving Mediterranean paradise. +It has a wonderful location, has agricultural resources, could be marvelous beaches, fishing, +sea resources, even has natural gas offshore, which it's not being allowed to use. +So there's plenty that can be done. +But we've--the U.S. has preferred, under repeated administrations, but much worse now, +to, as usual, support the murderers. +Noam, Israel is threatening another strike on Gaza like what they called Operation Protective +Edge in 2014 when they killed well over 2,000 people--about, oh, around a quarter of that +number children. +Yes, they are threatening. +If you look over the record--there's no time to talk about it now--there's a marvelous +book that just came out, incidentally. +Norman Finkelstein's book Gaza, which is about Gaza's martyrdom, is a definitive +study of this. +But what's happened since 2005 is pretty straightforward. +I mean, the previous history is ugly enough. +But in 2005, Ariel Sharon, other Israeli hawks, recognized that it didn't make any sense +to keep a couple of thousand Jewish settlers illegally settling in Gaza, using up most +of its resources and devoting a large part of the Israeli army to protecting them. +That was totally senseless. +So they decided to move them from their illegal, subsidized settlements in Gaza to illegal, +subsidized settlements in areas that Israel wanted to keep, in the West Bank, in the Golan +Heights. +It was framed as a traumatic event, but that was a play for world opinion. +It was basically a joke. +They could have done it quite easily. +And they pulled out, and that was called a withdrawal. +But they remained under total Israeli occupation, just that the army wasn't inside Gaza; it +was controlling it from the outside. +There was an agreement reached in November 2005 between the Palestinians and Israel on +a ceasefire, no violence, opening Gaza's seaport, rebuilding the airport that Israel +had destroyed, opening the border so that there could be free flow between Israel and +Egypt and so on. +That agreement lasted a couple of weeks, in--that was November. +In January, the Palestinians committed a major crime: They ran a free election, recognized +to be free and fair, only one in the Arab world. +But it came out the wrong way. +The wrong people won: Hamas. +Israel, at once, escalated violence, tightened the siege, increased the repression against +Gaza, imposed the diet. +The U.S. reacted by standard operating procedure: started to organize a military coup. +Hamas preempted the military coup, which was an even greater crime. +Violence, the U.S.-Israeli violence, increased. +The savagery of the siege increased, and so on. +Then it goes on like that. +Repeatedly, there's an episode of what Israel calls mowing the lawn. +Smash them up. +They're defenseless, of course. +Then there's an agreement reached, which Hamas accepts and lives up to. +Israel violates it constantly. +Finally, an Israeli escalation of the violation leads to some Hamas response, which Israel +uses as a pretext for the next episode of mowing the lawn. +I've reviewed this. +Norman Finkelstein reviews it in his book. +Others have. +That's been the history since 2005. +So, yes, there might be another one. +But now we're reaching a point where it's almost terminal. +Repeat, it's expected that the Gaza Strip, having been devastated so savagely over the +years, will literally become uninhabitable. +Now, there are ways to deal with this. +It's not a--doesn't take a brilliant scientist to figure it out. +It's quite obvious. +And Noam, the solution that you say that is straightforward and simple? +Very straightforward. +Live up to the terms of the November 2005 agreement. +Allow Gaza to reconstruct. +Open the entry points to Israel and Egypt. +Rebuild the seaport that was smashed. +Rebuild the airport that Israel destroyed. +Allow them to reconstruct the power plants. +Let them become a flourishing Mediterranean site. +And, of course, permit--remember that the famous Oslo Agreements required, explicitly, +that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank be a unified territory and that its territorial +integrity must be maintained. +Israel and the United States reacted at once by separating them. +OK? +That's not a law of nature, either. +Palestinian national rights can be achieved, if the U.S., Israel are willing to accept +that. +Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, author and linguist, now a laureate +professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, Tucson. +Chomsky taught for 50 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. +Visit Democracynow.org to watch our first full hour with Noam Chomsky, discussing immigration, +U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and more. +In the coming week, you'll hear Noam Chomsky on North Korea, Yemen, Iran and more. +And that does it for our broadcast. +I'm Amy Goodman. +Our website, Democracynow.org. +Thanks for joining us. +0 +1 +2 +5 +7 +10 +16 +20 +26 +34 +39 +45 +49 +51 +57 +59 +66 +68 +71 +76 +86 +90 +94 +96 +102 +107 +114 +119 +123 +130 +131 +137 +142 +144 +149 +152 +154 +157 +158 +159 +163 +165 +168 +173 +178 +182 +191 +197 +200 +203 +215 +226 +234 +244 +257 +264 +268 +279 +280 +283 +289 +290 +299 +304 +311 +318 +325 +328 +330 +331 +334 +343 +346 +352 +355 +363 +364 +366 +372 +386 +394 +398 +404 +408 +415 +422 +423 +425 +431 +434 +445 +446 +451 +455 +464 +472 +480 +482 +491 +497 +498 +503 +505 +506 +510 +517 +519 +528 +541 +548 +549 +555 +563 +567 +570 +573 +583 +586 +595 +601 +605 +609 +611 +619 +620 +622 +632 +634 +641 +648 +650 +652 +653 +656 +659 +662 +672 +674 +678 +684 +685 +689 +691 +696 +701 +708 +712 +714 +718 +723 +732 +743 +746 +750 +751 +756 +762 +763 +768 +773 +778 +783 +786 +792 +794 +795 +796 diff --git a/cnt/Avram Noam Chomsky Идеи, меняющие мир _ World Changing Ideas jcePXjgTNSc.en.cnt b/cnt/Avram Noam Chomsky Идеи, меняющие мир _ World Changing Ideas jcePXjgTNSc.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..40dda75 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Avram Noam Chomsky Идеи, меняющие мир _ World Changing Ideas jcePXjgTNSc.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,570 @@ +you just need an idea to change the world +and +our project is called ideas world-changing ideas do not come to everyone's mind far +not everyone here we just flew a statue +freedom seems to me that in order for you to be visited by a great idea you need to have +a very free mind not burdened with political and religious prohibitions and +even moral ideas create and destroy the idea does not always change the world to +the best they can ruin can enrich but in order to change the world +all you need is ideas and it's true, in my opinion, this is how our journey began +in America they say today the most intellectually developed country is the most +ingenious economy on the planet with this you can argue of course but you can +still count on Boolean laureates and the number of patented inventions and +change your mind to argue anyway, our task is completely different +show a world without borders and science without borders and the triumph of human thought +which borders are also useless and why did we start from America +well, why not +the speed of thought is said to be equal to the speed of light and of course we have no possibility +to reliably depict the flight of human thought +but if you think about it, why shouldn't he be so so beautiful so +exciting so uneven and thrilling +our heroes are people who change the world to the best of their strength and capabilities not a child +Michael Gazzaniga first divided the hemispheres of the human brain and the +most not only eased the suffering of many seriously ill people, but also discovered +amazing properties of the brain the so-called phenomenon of 2 minds in one +body jin sharp ideologue of modern revolutions +controversial character but he seems to like it even more controversial john +perkins repentant economic killer +at first mercilessly shackled the world with loans from the American government +and now he preaches love and altruism from a small but very comfortable +islands and finally Noam Chomsky linguist and public figure +our Socrates as the Americans call him to get to know them with all of us +circled the perimeter of the usa new york boston all this is los angeles +big cities and people changing the world +abraham noam chomsky american linguist political scientist public figure +Linguistics professor at MIT author +classification of formal languages called the Chomsky hierarchy is known +their radical left political views and criticism of foreign policy +us government was born in 1928 in philadelphia since 1945 studied philosophy +and linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania for 61 years has been teaching at +Massachusetts Institute of Technology in his doctoral dissertation hamske +began to develop linguistic ideas which he then revealed in more detail +in 1957 in the book Syntactic Structures +his works on generative grammars contributed significantly to the decline +behaviorism and promoted the development of cognitive sciences +but Chomsky agrees with you, modern linguistics cannot yet offer +the world of explanation of the phenomenon of appearance on earth +different languages and therefore passes through the centuries without losing meaning and relevance +legends about the tower of Babel, the punishment for pride became for people +mixing of languages people ceased to understand each other and +dispersed across the land without leaving others Babylonian ambitions Babylonian tradition +almost every nation in Burma and Mexico has a tower +among the Tlingit tribe in Alaska and in ancient Greece, scientists are especially surprised +the fact that this is the legend of the tower to the sky appears among isolated peoples +from a friend and no longer intersecting in historical and cultural planes and +everyone has their own idea of how the Babylonian +the tower, in our opinion, it could well come out and such as this building +Massachusetts Institute of Technology Teaches Noam Chomsky here +the most famous linguist of our time, he made a real revolution in +linguistics including when he said that language is an innate mechanism of communication +and explained why exactly a person is able to master this talent to speak +albeit in different languages, but in the end it is no longer a complaint to a linguist +okay virone tower +behind the skin +a gun +hello, thank you for agreeing to this interview and taking the time for us +today I am pleased to be strongly suppose that we have this property +speaking properties to use language has been given since +from the very beginning, but why did we so relatively recently learned this +we cannot say exactly when we +received this gift well, definitely during evolution +a person over the past hundred thousand years, in fact, this determines our race +it was during this period that human homo sapiens mastered speech and we can +trace the emergence of languages, it seems to me that this property appeared in +for a very short time compared to the entire period of evolution with +since this human ability appeared, it has been used constantly for +it is a short time in this instant in terms of evolution +there was a development of man of the industrial revolution, so on but +no significant changes in brain function occurred +human cognitive abilities have changed little in this sense we are identical +Aboriginal tribes and how if the ability to language +this is an innate mechanism, but let's say if we consider this knowledge as a kind of key +what kind of door does he open with regard to scientists +they need to determine which properties of the language are innate which +acquired the next question is what are the variations as far as possible changes in +language system, you can artificially create linguistic systems that +nevertheless will not become a language because they will not meet the requirements +human language laws of my development +however, we cannot study the properties of language on other kinds of creatures except +human since animals have no language but even with humans and such experiments +it is very difficult to carry out it is necessary to use some indirect methods +learning the language system does not exactly lead to very interest +the result of how scientists can use this information further +resulted in we want to know how it developed +language systems are what fundamentally distinguishes us not only from other living +creatures but also from other primates we all +human beings come from a small group of people who lived in africa and we +we can trace our origins from there are archaeological +evidence confirming that the person appeared approximately 100 150 thousand +years ago, there are also archaeological facts related to the development of the language +therefore, it is safe to say that over the past 50 thousand years, an explicit +evolution did not happen so this is the window in which this amazing +property of a person properties of language it is rather narrow in this new +Chomsky was called a revolutionary of linguistics, the idea of changing the world turned out to be +simple and ingenious why does a child start talking in the first two years +life in the native language because Chomsky answers that there are 7 and language containing +all possible principles of all languages of the world are an innate mechanism of mastering +language which will choose the required algorithm +depending on which language the child should speak this mechanism +works until about 12 years old, by the way, he explains her childish ease in learning +foreign languages that are becoming difficult to access in +later age, Chomsky's main argument is +parents do not tell the child which language constructions are impossible, however +the child very quickly understands what is what +and I'm sure Chomsky has some pre-set information for the kid for this +that you can't figure out what and in what sequence you speak science +we can say with confidence that a person has very serious +innate properties we know about it thanks to observations +reborn babies are surrounded by a complex environment love he hears sounds +the child sees objects instantly reflexively +selects language-related information from this environment and is pretty good +I understand what is happening absorbing this information it passes +through several stages at the age of six months 10 months two years and so on +and gradually he acquires what we have with you the language before our eyes +something magical happens thanks to which a person can learn a language +but scientists want to know how a newborn baby of one day about labor +determines in which language howl amongst he lives this is a non-trivial task at the very +in fact, we now know that a person acquires some abilities even before +birth being in the womb research +show that the child can distinguish the speech of the mother whose voice he never +heard another woman speak means something is happening before birth +the child somehow tunes in to a particular system on this topic was carried out +many studies have studied languages of different categories and it turned out that before +gaining speech and language no matter what language surrounds the child so that +the adopted child begins to speak the language of the parents as easily as +biological this suggests that the mechanism of acquisition and cognition is the same +for all languages even if the child was born in the Amazon forest in brazil +then he has the universal ability to speak any language +if he gets into a certain environment, then he can learn, let's say Russian and +then studies at the university in Moscow +generative universal grammar conceived by boorish for half a century determined +the development of linguistics, the task of scientists of the next generations is to confirm or +refute the new chomsky then and neil and believe to travel missionary and +targets in South America discovered the Piraha people speaking their +Piraha language, which does not fit into the theory of universal +grammar but so far this is only an exception confirming the rule +how language is evolving today to what is humanity moving +there is a lot of talk about language evolution however languages do not evolve language is +programmed properties are a pretty tough system this ability +creates a certain area of our brain and this ability has not changed since +the moment of its origin for the reasons that I have already spoken about but the languages themselves +changing constantly when the Normans conquered Britain it changed +English my grandchildren do not speak as I spoke at their age but slang +teenagers generally change the language in one generation +however, all these are only superficial changes within a given structure +we want to understand what kind of structure it is, what is this rigid form that is not +allows the language to change dramatically if you ask +the question of how a negative sentence is constructed in English or +some other language, then as a rule there is an element +meaning negation in English is the word not which is in the middle +sentences can be invented pseudo language in which this element +not appears in third place in sentences this is a very simple rule with +the point of view of mathematics, however, there is no such language and people could not +to learn it +language has two aspects, sound and meaning, but how the combination of sounds is associated with +understanding of these meanings why it is believed that the name given to the child from birth +determines his fate and character and can this be shifted to the scale of whole +peoples speak differently how language develops national character +can tell about my experience my parents gave me a name but this is a Hebrew word +which has never been used as a name for me to say, but it +means pleasure pleasure in the bible there is +expression 10 however the name itself but not when I +grew up with this strange name people most often called me Norman just wrong +heard when I introduced myself, I said okay, I'll live as a Norman sometimes at +I have problems at the airport but in fact +the name does not play a big role, but there is another hypothesis that is being discussed already +a couple of hundred years how does the language you speak affect the perception of the world +there are many attempts at how you interpret the social environment +demonstrate such a connection but they are not very convincing rather there is +evidence that language has little effect on the perception of the world may be small +differences but they are not dominant but +it's amazing that you think so and that the emotional is rich emotionally +colored language does not affect our thoughts in any way does not affect our character and +our fate, I now propose to recall the work of George Orwell 1984 +remember there was a new language invented newspeak and it was scary don't forget +that at the snouts he thought mostly aban +and what could happen to her in the future, and Newspeak was an illustration of that +what could have happened there well this is not a new language this is new +using language when fame starts to mean the opposite of their meaning +the very concept of Newspeak is precisely related to the concept of double thinking double +standards when there are two opposite concepts in the brain, that's for +to reconcile them and a new one was created, it exists in any +society and we have newspeak and we will take the term aggression from you +international law, it has a certain meaning, however +in the English-speaking world, this word is used only when aggression is directed +against us when we carry out the aggression ourselves +we call it trying or something, it's not just us +this is a universal thing you can swagger Hitler's invasion of Poland +it was not aggression but defense and defense against the wild terror of the Poles. +the Nazis practically destroyed northern China +40 years ago I saw interesting documents and there is completely noble +rhetoric to save poor Chinese from bandits +give them a Japanese paradise and Hitler captured Czechoslovakia from the purest +incentives to end ethnic cleansing and establish German civilization +the same thing when America pokes its nose into other countries and when Russia invades +to other countries always the same any of us telling another's crime +exaggerates a person he adds his attitude shows how much it is +awful this is newspeak double thinking double standards they are everywhere and in +culture and in the system of power, you said about the inventions of language, I remembered +an attempt by people to invent the language of international communication, Esperanto, and this +the language did not develop and did not become popular in your opinion why is it +a kind of parasite language those who speak it subconsciously +use knowledge of their own language to speak from +the first why this language did not take root for this are social and cultural +reasons it could be used as an international language there were attempts to +done but failed because the language of international communication +the truly international language has become the English language of the most powerful +states view scientific international +symposia from austria to thailand mainly in english 1 +in the morning listened to the BBC broadcast of the conference in singapore delegate +from china speaks english this is the power of british feathers american +empire if so you can dream up +assume that humanity will sooner or later come to the need to speak +in one language was view mens nike will they speak the same language +I hope not, it would be a very boring language and so it disappears very quickly +usually refer to Aboriginal languages, but in reality languages are rapidly disappearing and +in the center of europe, say in italy, there are many people who cannot +talk to their grandmothers because they speak a different language and what +today it is called Italian in fact it is a collection of different languages +whose speakers often do not understand each other and disappear in Germany +a few years ago I had a doctoral student who studied +German grammar after graduation he got a job in Germany to teach +German student German they speak a dialect +they need to learn correct German in general, now many Germans speak +in English and with another country in the United States themselves there are areas where in +colleges teach standard English because the language in which +students say this is a kind of English +comes a very rapid decline of languages, many disappear under the pressure of powerful +powers imposing their language according to unesco experts in the world exist +about 6,700 languages but half of them will soon disappear on average every 15 +days at least one language ceases to be used moreover specialists +believe that 96 percent of languages are spoken by only 4 percent of the population +planets and 150 teeth of Russia have died in the last century 2 but now it is next in line +dozens are bad news for a dying language before and for scientists +linguists in this course of life itself +but there is a reverse process, the revival of languages in Europe, for example, in Spain this +Basque country and Catalonia or Welsh in the UK is sometimes associated +with the need for national self and identification +sometimes it is a means of resisting pressure and sometimes these languages are used +for music of songs and other similar things, it all started recently and revival +languages is much slower than their decline and disappearance is obvious +the number of languages has decreased in the last adieus me the most recent +question our world is constantly changing and in words declarations of international laws +it seems to be getting better but is there a change for the better in +in fact and in your opinion, what idea in the near future could change this +world for the better and phil, I think that if you look at a long stretch of history +we will see steps forward for example we have abolished slavery and even until recently +time women and this is half of the population +considered property under British law, for example, a woman was simply +considered the property of a father or husband it was very recently +but this changed minority rights to a certain extent began to be respected +a lot of things have happened there is opposition to violence these are all steps forward but on the other +side of the human race is now threatened +destruction of the environment of its existence, the first is a catastrophic change +the climate is very serious and very gloomy +perspective and not so distant future it seems to me that we are marching towards +this cliff is pretty fast and the second is a war, I think it's just a miracle +that during the last 60 years we have avoided a nuclear war that could +destroy the whole world much can be done to overcome this +threat however not much is done here are two +vectors in which the development of civilization is going on; change on the one hand +positive and, on the other hand, destructive and it depends on us which of these directions +to win believe it does not depend on God from people +we made sure that noam chomsky despite the biblical name +not at all religious this wonderful admitted absolutely +scientifically by the majority of an intellectual and an enthusiastic attitude towards their +subject but he is Finnish they say that neither he nor +other linguists, together with neuroscientists, cannot say how our brain has changed and +what made different groups of people associate with certain concepts +different sounds is unclear why almost all languages are based on +these are the rules, by the way, and Chomsky and other scientists in the study of these +universal rules go backwards looking for diversity +variants of verbal constructions and some universal restrictions then +there is as it is impossible to say in any language the topic is not yet fully disclosed +therefore the Bible remains the best explanation for the uninitiated +let's mix their language there so that one does not understand the speech of the other +39 +57 +68 +75 +77 +82 +87 +92 +98 +104 +110 +114 +119 +123 +129 +133 +140 +145 +148 +153 +160 +167 +170 +175 +179 +182 +188 +190 +194 +198 +202 +207 +212 +219 +225 +229 +233 +237 +245 +250 +254 +258 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bet it is + +we also don't you know + +as I talked at the end of January we are +as I talked at the end of January we are +as I talked at the end of January we are in the midst of the disaster that could +in the midst of the disaster that could +in the midst of the disaster that could turn into a huge catastrophe the US Air +turn into a huge catastrophe the US Air +turn into a huge catastrophe the US Air Force is pounding large parts of Iraq +Force is pounding large parts of Iraq +Force is pounding large parts of Iraq and wait the dust killing them of no one +and wait the dust killing them of no one +and wait the dust killing them of no one knows how many people American troops +knows how many people American troops +knows how many people American troops are about to march into what could be a +are about to march into what could be a +are about to march into what could be a meat grinder there are two countries +meat grinder there are two countries +meat grinder there are two countries fighting this war the United States and +fighting this war the United States and +fighting this war the United States and England despite extreme US pressures and +England despite extreme US pressures and +England despite extreme US pressures and threats few others have been willing to +threats few others have been willing to +threats few others have been willing to give more than token support except for +give more than token support except for +give more than token support except for the finally dictatorships the rule of +the finally dictatorships the rule of +the finally dictatorships the rule of Gulf oil producers in the region +Gulf oil producers in the region +Gulf oil producers in the region opposition to the u.s. British war is so +opposition to the u.s. British war is so +opposition to the u.s. British war is so extreme that it's turning into mass +extreme that it's turning into mass +extreme that it's turning into mass popular support for the hated tyrant +popular support for the hated tyrant +popular support for the hated tyrant Saddam Hussein why are the United States +Saddam Hussein why are the United States +Saddam Hussein why are the United States and England virtually alone in fighting +and England virtually alone in fighting +and England virtually alone in fighting a war that almost no one else wants it's +a war that almost no one else wants it's +a war that almost no one else wants it's something that we ought to try to +something that we ought to try to +something that we ought to try to understand let's go back to last July +understand let's go back to last July +understand let's go back to last July when the Iraqi dictator was George +when the Iraqi dictator was George +when the Iraqi dictator was George Bush's amiable friend and favored +Bush's amiable friend and favored +Bush's amiable friend and favored trading partner true he was a murderous +trading partner true he was a murderous +trading partner true he was a murderous gangster we'd set up maybe the worst +gangster we'd set up maybe the worst +gangster we'd set up maybe the worst tyranny in the world but you could make +tyranny in the world but you could make +tyranny in the world but you could make plenty of money trading with him and it +plenty of money trading with him and it +plenty of money trading with him and it looked as if he was our thug so +looked as if he was our thug so +looked as if he was our thug so therefore he was quite okay on august +therefore he was quite okay on august +therefore he was quite okay on august 2nd everything changed the State +2nd everything changed the State +2nd everything changed the State Department had let Saddam Hussein know +Department had let Saddam Hussein know +Department had let Saddam Hussein know that it had no serious objection that he +that it had no serious objection that he +that it had no serious objection that he settled some border disputes with quate +settled some border disputes with quate +settled some border disputes with quate by force but he took over the whole +by force but he took over the whole +by force but he took over the whole country that's not acceptable +country that's not acceptable +country that's not acceptable this region is US turf and no one and +this region is US turf and no one and +this region is US turf and no one and that means no one is allowed to strike +that means no one is allowed to strike +that means no one is allowed to strike an independent course the Iraqi dictator +an independent course the Iraqi dictator +an independent course the Iraqi dictator therefore changed overnight from a +therefore changed overnight from a +therefore changed overnight from a moderate whose behavior was improving to +moderate whose behavior was improving to +moderate whose behavior was improving to a new Hitler who had to be stopped +a new Hitler who had to be stopped +a new Hitler who had to be stopped before he conquered the world he had +before he conquered the world he had +before he conquered the world he had stepped on the wrong toes ours +stepped on the wrong toes ours +stepped on the wrong toes ours there were two very different reactions +there were two very different reactions +there were two very different reactions to erect aggression the first was at the +to erect aggression the first was at the +to erect aggression the first was at the United Nations where the Security +United Nations where the Security +United Nations where the Security Council immediately imposed sanctions +Council immediately imposed sanctions +Council immediately imposed sanctions and that means sanctions and diplomacy +and that means sanctions and diplomacy +and that means sanctions and diplomacy that means negotiations to arrange +that means negotiations to arrange +that means negotiations to arrange withdrawal as the sanctions take effect +withdrawal as the sanctions take effect +withdrawal as the sanctions take effect that's actually the usual US response to +that's actually the usual US response to +that's actually the usual US response to a UN response to aggression usually that +a UN response to aggression usually that +a UN response to aggression usually that response is blocked by the great powers +response is blocked by the great powers +response is blocked by the great powers the United States in fact is far in the +the United States in fact is far in the +the United States in fact is far in the lead with Britain right behind it +lead with Britain right behind it +lead with Britain right behind it usually they support her carry out +usually they support her carry out +usually they support her carry out aggression themselves but the to warrior +aggression themselves but the to warrior +aggression themselves but the to warrior states happen to be opposed to this act +states happen to be opposed to this act +states happen to be opposed to this act of aggression instead of supporting it +of aggression instead of supporting it +of aggression instead of supporting it carrying it out so they allowed the UN +carrying it out so they allowed the UN +carrying it out so they allowed the UN sanctions to be imposed but the US and +sanctions to be imposed but the US and +sanctions to be imposed but the US and Britain at once moved to undercut the +Britain at once moved to undercut the +Britain at once moved to undercut the peaceful means prescribed by +peaceful means prescribed by +peaceful means prescribed by international law sanctions were +international law sanctions were +international law sanctions were undercut by dispatch of a huge +undercut by dispatch of a huge +undercut by dispatch of a huge Expeditionary Force to the desert +Expeditionary Force to the desert +Expeditionary Force to the desert instead of a small deterrent force which +instead of a small deterrent force which +instead of a small deterrent force which could be kept in place while the +could be kept in place while the +could be kept in place while the sanctions took effect as they were +sanctions took effect as they were +sanctions took effect as they were almost sure to do in this case and the +almost sure to do in this case and the +almost sure to do in this case and the US and Britain made it crystal clear +US and Britain made it crystal clear +US and Britain made it crystal clear that they would not permit any form of +that they would not permit any form of +that they would not permit any form of diplomacy now that's important to +diplomacy now that's important to +diplomacy now that's important to understand the official story is that +understand the official story is that +understand the official story is that George Bush went the last mile for peace +George Bush went the last mile for peace +George Bush went the last mile for peace turning the force only after +turning the force only after +turning the force only after extraordinary diplomatic efforts were +extraordinary diplomatic efforts were +extraordinary diplomatic efforts were exhausted those are the words of the +exhausted those are the words of the +exhausted those are the words of the President and no one expects the +President and no one expects the +President and no one expects the government to tell the truth but that's +government to tell the truth but that's +government to tell the truth but that's a bit too much from August the US +a bit too much from August the US +a bit too much from August the US position has been explicit unwavering +position has been explicit unwavering +position has been explicit unwavering and unambiguous there will be no +and unambiguous there will be no +and unambiguous there will be no negotiations Washington has been happy +negotiations Washington has been happy +negotiations Washington has been happy to deliver an ultimatum saying +to deliver an ultimatum saying +to deliver an ultimatum saying capitulate or die that's not diplomacy +capitulate or die that's not diplomacy +capitulate or die that's not diplomacy official reasoning on this was spelled +official reasoning on this was spelled +official reasoning on this was spelled out by New York Times diplomatic +out by New York Times diplomatic +out by New York Times diplomatic correspondent Thomas Friedman last +correspondent Thomas Friedman last +correspondent Thomas Friedman last August he said that the administration +August he said that the administration +August he said that the administration feared that a diplomatic track might in +feared that a diplomatic track might in +feared that a diplomatic track might in his words defuse the crisis at the cost +his words defuse the crisis at the cost +his words defuse the crisis at the cost of a few token gains for Iraq +of a few token gains for Iraq +of a few token gains for Iraq perhaps a quaity island or minor border +perhaps a quaity island or minor border +perhaps a quaity island or minor border adjustments or issues recognized to be +adjustments or issues recognized to be +adjustments or issues recognized to be negotiable anything short of +negotiable anything short of +negotiable anything short of capitulation to US force is unacceptable +capitulation to US force is unacceptable +capitulation to US force is unacceptable whatever the consequences at just that +whatever the consequences at just that +whatever the consequences at just that time the US had received an Iraqi offer +time the US had received an Iraqi offer +time the US had received an Iraqi offer for a settlement in very much the terms +for a settlement in very much the terms +for a settlement in very much the terms the treatment outlined a government +the treatment outlined a government +the treatment outlined a government Mideast specialist described the offer +Mideast specialist described the offer +Mideast specialist described the offer as serious and negotiable it was +as serious and negotiable it was +as serious and negotiable it was instantly dismissed as were subsequent +instantly dismissed as were subsequent +instantly dismissed as were subsequent proposals from Iraq and others the last +proposals from Iraq and others the last +proposals from Iraq and others the last known example was disclosed by US +known example was disclosed by US +known example was disclosed by US officials on January second it was an +officials on January second it was an +officials on January second it was an Iraqi offer to withdraw completely in +Iraqi offer to withdraw completely in +Iraqi offer to withdraw completely in return for agreement on the Palestinian +return for agreement on the Palestinian +return for agreement on the Palestinian problem and the banning of weapons of +problem and the banning of weapons of +problem and the banning of weapons of mass destruction +mass destruction +mass destruction US officials described that offer as +US officials described that offer as +US officials described that offer as interesting because it dropped any +interesting because it dropped any +interesting because it dropped any border claims a State Department Mideast +border claims a State Department Mideast +border claims a State Department Mideast expert described it as a serious +expert described it as a serious +expert described it as a serious pre-negotiation position it seemed that +pre-negotiation position it seemed that +pre-negotiation position it seemed that it might be enough just to express +it might be enough just to express +it might be enough just to express willingness to deal with these two +willingness to deal with these two +willingness to deal with these two outstanding issues George Bush's +outstanding issues George Bush's +outstanding issues George Bush's response was a letter to Saddam Hussein +response was a letter to Saddam Hussein +response was a letter to Saddam Hussein saying that there would be no +saying that there would be no +saying that there would be no negotiations capitulate or dot now the +negotiations capitulate or dot now the +negotiations capitulate or dot now the official reason for this is that the +official reason for this is that the +official reason for this is that the United States can't reward aggressors by +United States can't reward aggressors by +United States can't reward aggressors by allowing what's called linkage to the +allowing what's called linkage to the +allowing what's called linkage to the arab-israel conflict and the elimination +arab-israel conflict and the elimination +arab-israel conflict and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction as Iraq +of weapons of mass destruction as Iraq +of weapons of mass destruction as Iraq had in fact bone requested but we know +had in fact bone requested but we know +had in fact bone requested but we know for certain that the official reason is +for certain that the official reason is +for certain that the official reason is a fraud the u.s. commonly rewards +a fraud the u.s. commonly rewards +a fraud the u.s. commonly rewards aggressors and pursues a laborat +aggressors and pursues a laborat +aggressors and pursues a laborat even in the case of far worse crimes +even in the case of far worse crimes +even in the case of far worse crimes that this one furthermore the US had +that this one furthermore the US had +that this one furthermore the US had rejected a diplomatic settlement of +rejected a diplomatic settlement of +rejected a diplomatic settlement of these two outstanding issues including +these two outstanding issues including +these two outstanding issues including Iraqi offers long before the invasion of +Iraqi offers long before the invasion of +Iraqi offers long before the invasion of Kuwait the US has rejected diplomacy +Kuwait the US has rejected diplomacy +Kuwait the US has rejected diplomacy because it opposes a settlement of the +because it opposes a settlement of the +because it opposes a settlement of the arab-israel conflict that recognizes +arab-israel conflict that recognizes +arab-israel conflict that recognizes Palestinian rights and it wants Israel +Palestinian rights and it wants Israel +Palestinian rights and it wants Israel to retain its hundreds of nuclear +to retain its hundreds of nuclear +to retain its hundreds of nuclear weapons since the u.s. is virtually +weapons since the u.s. is virtually +weapons since the u.s. is virtually alone in the world in this stand apart +alone in the world in this stand apart +alone in the world in this stand apart from Israel it rejects diplomacy and +from Israel it rejects diplomacy and +from Israel it rejects diplomacy and therefore rejects linkage that's the +therefore rejects linkage that's the +therefore rejects linkage that's the plain and simple truth of the matter +plain and simple truth of the matter +plain and simple truth of the matter why have the US and England insisted on +why have the US and England insisted on +why have the US and England insisted on rejecting a diplomatic settlement which +rejecting a diplomatic settlement which +rejecting a diplomatic settlement which might well have ended the crisis without +might well have ended the crisis without +might well have ended the crisis without war to answer this question we have to +war to answer this question we have to +war to answer this question we have to ask just how these two countries are +ask just how these two countries are +ask just how these two countries are different from others and the answers +different from others and the answers +different from others and the answers are pretty clear the US and Britain are +are pretty clear the US and Britain are +are pretty clear the US and Britain are the two countries that impose the +the two countries that impose the +the two countries that impose the imperial settlement on the region and +imperial settlement on the region and +imperial settlement on the region and they naturally arranged it in their own +they naturally arranged it in their own +they naturally arranged it in their own interest the settlement they imposed +interest the settlement they imposed +interest the settlement they imposed guaranteed that the United States and +guaranteed that the United States and +guaranteed that the United States and its British Ally would control the +its British Ally would control the +its British Ally would control the richest energy reserves in the world and +richest energy reserves in the world and +richest energy reserves in the world and crucially with benefit from the enormous +crucially with benefit from the enormous +crucially with benefit from the enormous profits that they yield these profits +profits that they yield these profits +profits that they yield these profits have given a very substantial support to +have given a very substantial support to +have given a very substantial support to US and British corporations financial +US and British corporations financial +US and British corporations financial institutions and their economies +institutions and their economies +institutions and their economies generally the essential points captured +generally the essential points captured +generally the essential points captured by a joke playing around Wall Street +by a joke playing around Wall Street +by a joke playing around Wall Street question why to the United States and +question why to the United States and +question why to the United States and quate need each other answer equate as a +quate need each other answer equate as a +quate need each other answer equate as a banking system without a country and the +banking system without a country and the +banking system without a country and the United States is a country without a +United States is a country without a +United States is a country without a banking system like a lot of jokes it's +banking system like a lot of jokes it's +banking system like a lot of jokes it's not a joke there's a second major +not a joke there's a second major +not a joke there's a second major respect in which the US and Britain are +respect in which the US and Britain are +respect in which the US and Britain are different from their allies they have +different from their allies they have +different from their allies they have troubled economies but they have a near +troubled economies but they have a near +troubled economies but they have a near monopoly of force with the Russians +monopoly of force with the Russians +monopoly of force with the Russians having withdrawn from the world there is +having withdrawn from the world there is +having withdrawn from the world there is no longer any deterrent to their use of +no longer any deterrent to their use of +no longer any deterrent to their use of force it hardly comes as a surprise that +force it hardly comes as a surprise that +force it hardly comes as a surprise that the two warrior states want to establish +the two warrior states want to establish +the two warrior states want to establish the principle that the new world order +the principle that the new world order +the principle that the new world order is to be ruled by force in which they +is to be ruled by force in which they +is to be ruled by force in which they reign supreme that's not a pretty +reign supreme that's not a pretty +reign supreme that's not a pretty picture and it's going to become much +picture and it's going to become much +picture and it's going to become much uglier if the citizens of the two +uglier if the citizens of the two +uglier if the citizens of the two radical military states allow this to +radical military states allow this to +radical military states allow this to happen + +you +27 +74 +74 +165 +165 +178 +178 +181 +181 +189 +189 +191 +191 +215 +216 +220 +220 +223 +223 +226 +226 +229 +229 +254 +254 +258 +258 +260 +260 +264 +264 +289 +289 +292 +292 +294 +294 +298 +298 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file mode 100644 index 0000000..44c350d --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/CHOMSKY - TAIBO II #FILZócaloLibertad kfvtD4ptZ-k.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,820 @@ +applaud compadre +good good night again +in these meetings in a half-crazed plinth this one that does not lower the heat or +speed is a pleasure to have you with us +as a reference to libertarian critical thinking +Thank you very much for being in Mexico again +has he receives images from the public jose ramon if he receives images from the public +okay +I think the first thing we could say is that +that the profound changes that have occurred in Mexico are somehow +reestablishes the connection with the us and I don't mean the formal connections with the +trump usa i mean real country to country connections +ever jokingly said what +I said some places in the US had to be bombarded with your books and +rita hayworth movies when she takes off her glove +the pan the globe and the famous field [Music] +rita hayworth on keyboard +our message must not be reaching +if we wanted to ask you about everything +How do you see the perspective of Mexico-United States relations from +down right now +[Music] +[Music] +what Chomsky says is that this question refers to him makes him remember some +occasion in which he taught at the University of Arizona a course in +radical political philosophy and then they began to have contact with the +University of Hermosillo which is very close to the University of Arizona +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +and then [Music] +there are many ways to connect there are the real ways while i was giving +This course in Arizona Chomsky found a way to invite students from the +University of Hermosillo so that they could visit them on that side of the border and +at the same time that this visit was reciprocal of seeing students visiting +also the university of hermosillo and some some connection mechanisms +between peoples are real are materials like this like this example but that +there are also many other symbolic ways through which +North American peoples of the American and the Mexican can +may have contact that even this same event that we are carrying out in +this moment and through which, thanks to which we are being able to +knowing chomsky's library because he is from his home is a way too +through which the peoples are getting closer since we are people +real +if not +the necessary relationship between two peoples that are separated by a meter of +border +would necessarily pose a connection from below in terms of the problems +common we have because suddenly we think +like Latin Americans who suffer from the presence of the United States +from Latin American +but at the same time and the injustices suffered by the American people +This is a historic moment although it is not very clear who can help +who +[Music] +[Music] +says that one of the examples in which the problematic +that you live day by day or you live day by day the peoples saw the night of +yesterday well with the battles so strong with the violence so strong that it was lived +in Culiacan between the drug cartels and the Mexican state itself +battles same violent events that would not happen were it not for the +the United States there is a huge consumption of drugs that remain illegal and that if not +the illegality or that amount of consumption existed from outside because drug traffickers do not +they would have the power they have +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +45 years ago +[Music] 4 or 5 years ago there was a meeting one +summit of all of all america of all not only north america but also +in Central and South America and there were aptas and I don't remember Jones that it was in +Cartagena Colombia and there were two things in which you can never reach a +The first agreement was the admission of Cuba once again to the economy of +Latin America so that it could also trade and the US did not vote in favor and +Canada vote in the same direction to support the United States and the other +situation in which they could not reach a new account agreement with +the same procedure due to the refusal of the United States and the endorsement and with the endorsement of +Canada was the decriminalization of drugs and this has to be understood +the decriminalization of drug use no that does not mean in a way +immediate legalization of drugs but at least the decriminalization of +drug use, the US did not want to and this has been a suffering +effects have continued to be felt by the two peoples +the usa which has a huge amount of consumption and therefore also a +huge number of people who are considered criminals for consuming +drugs and on the other hand Mexico, which being a producer and exporter to the +America is falling apart due to the violence generated by the +criminalization of drugs +In Mexico it is very common to say poor Mexico so far from God and so close to +The USA phase that is attributed to many characters including Porfirio Diaz +I would like to reverse the phrase +I would like to reverse the phrase that is to say poor of the us so close to +Mexico and so far from the best of its history +I don't tell you this because because I couldn't think I couldn't think of me +same in 200 references of culture +American who have formed me +from from the best novels of chandler hammett +raymond chandler and dashiell hammett up hardware books' fast up +your first arguments against the vietnam war +and I can spend hours saying plays movies songs yes that would be +of me without blowing in the wind and no +where to where I want to take you to the idea that the only real bridge to +from which we can create a new relationship with the us is culture +also control +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +Well, if indeed he can notice it at the University of Tucson in Arizona +which is in new classes at least half of the student population are +Mexicans not only in the university but throughout the entire southern strip +of the border between the us and mexico because there is a huge amount of population +Mexican Mexican music has also greatly influenced music +North America in those same regions and but beyond that beyond this +mutual influence that both peoples have culturally speaking from the +creation of our Chomsky popular culture also observes the enormous +concern that the two peoples have in reference to the conflicts that +exist because of the militarization of the border militarization that began to +occur in a more intense way with the administration of bill clinton but that +started from the time of the signature here I have known as the tlc I do not know +began to militarize the border and that has reached its maximum expression with +this government of trump chomsky considers that a fate should be established +in agreement similar to that of the countries of the European Union in that +Well, they also have their free trade agreement, finally that is what +the european union is where there is not only transit of goods and capital +but there is also free transit of people and that is the point at which +We would have to reach the United States and Mexico where the borders +still exist geographically and politically but that people already +could move freely between those two countries without so much +protocol no +have been a permanent political analyst for the last 50 years or 40 years +good news donald trump stay or go +[Laughs] +[Music] +[Music] three hands +[Music] +Oh no +yes luck of the organization +[Music] and well we are considers that it is known that +There are several various statistical models thanks to which one can with a +more or a greater or lesser closeness to predict what will be the result of +elections and one of those models has to do with investigating what is the +perception that the people have about the state of the economy this does not want +say the real state that the economies keep but the perception they have +people regarding their country's economy and that these studies indicate that +the American people consider the economy to be good enough +and if that perception is maintained, there is a high probability that Trump will win +elections unless something unexpected happened +within which could be some that people begin to take more +importance to certain policies and certain decisions that trump makes +with respect to other topics within which probably the most +terrifying and the most troublesome from Chomsky's perspective whether +your statements and your attitude towards climate change climate change +that trump denies and in fact not only trump but the entire republican party and that and +that if concrete actions are not taken, Chomsky considers that the +humanity only a few years before the +true atrocities of this climate change +wow +efe +[Music] +[Music and +[Music] +[Music] +good [Music] +two +Author +[Music] +and not only that, but even though most of the countries in the world are already +doing something to change their extractive policies and change their policies +Regarding the exploitation of the environment, it seems that the United States is the +the only country in the world where this has not changed and is not being carried out and +continue to extract using natural resources in a way +indiscriminate this is going to affect, in general terms, the whole world of +a lethal way in a lethal way changing the natural relationships of +unimaginable ways +This would directly affect Mexico, particularly it could be noted in the +gulf of mexico where if oil is exploited as it has been proposed that +exploit people and animals the ecosystem could die poisoned by +time that in case the poles will actually end up melting for +global warming there would be many areas that will end up being unavoidable +the same gulf would overflow and that can already be seen in some other latitudes +the world effects of climate change chomsky shares that in india +this past summer temperatures exceeded 50 degrees were reached +where people then had to protect themselves from and sleep in the open +because it was absolutely impossible to stay inside the houses during +night by the amount of heat they absorbed and she at and at the same time in +Japan we could see this in images on the news and on the internet +just a few weeks ago there was a cyclone +because of a force also unusual despite being an industrial country and being +a technologically developed country are not exempt from suffering the force of +nature and well that +2 today +then +dunn and him +no +[Music] +confrontation the gift of the technical order +[Music] +and +i +and music] +and there is more +[Music] +[Music] +Well then, four more years of trump in environmental terms +could be the difference between still having chances to survive as +kind or of probably succumbing this hard the facts and that is why it is only +the first of the two great problems that Chomsky observes in case of +Trump to continue in power and the next problem is the reopening of the +huge risk posed by a nuclear war worldwide +Chomsky shares that Trump has just recently annulled a treaty that +had been signed by Gorbachev and Reagan since the 1980s for the +non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and that it breaks just annulled that agreement and +not only that but another one that prohibited countries from developing technology +nuclear nuclear weapons that could be fired executed from space and +then with these two missing treaties it seems that he is +is inviting Russia to enter a new nuclear arms race that +could endanger all of humanity particularly these +next four years maybe i could ask a question +after +He states that he is still in the first four years of the government +American presidents tend to be less belligerent to unleash on +the following a tougher policy and thus reelection space +that happened and records the last American presidencies +Do you think we would expect a movie in case of Trump re-election +even more belligerent more regressive politics +no +as [Music] +[Music] white +and work +[Music] +[Music] +future rest +after +and music] +[Music] +and nothing +on mondays where +Well, in front of Trump, what we have is a single president of the state of the +The US has never had a previous president who said that he is the chosen one +the sous en one while stretching the arms with the palms facing the +sky and himself looking up at the sky and that there had never been a +secretary of state who would be the equivalent of our secretary of +government that says our president was sent by god to protect the +people of israel from the iranis then we are in one we are in one dimension +completely different awareness of a supposed historical role that he has +as president in the us at the same time even though trump has said that +has withdrawn troops from the Middle East as announced when withdrawing troops from +Syrian and Afghan troops but on the other side is sending new +Troops have just sent two thousand elements 2.000 troops to Saudi Arabia with the +intention that the war that country is carrying +carried out against Yemen and that is leaving that country destroyed, I mean Yemen and +returning to europe these this treaty that trump abolished between gorbachev and +Reagan had to do with the proliferation of short-term missiles. +achieve this means constantly the anato or the organization of the +treaty of the north atlantic and the countries of europe were constantly +threatening each other with short-range ballistic missiles however +once reagan and trump sorry reagan and that cork signing this +treaty withdrew the missiles that were threatening each other there are +since the abolition of this treaty by trump has put everything +along the border between western europe and russia new missiles +threatening it +a war could break out at any moment +thinking what to take care of +yes +[Music] +1st +future +[Music] the dead +[Music] he +[Music] +wow +or +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +yes +two +[Music] when I woke up +[Music] +yes +[Music] +[Music] +Well, and to complete the question I asked him, he says well, you propose that the +better trump will not have anything to worry about because in his second +candidacy as it would be the last and then it would no longer have a third term +to the presidency but today what would happen if I decided not to release the presidency +legally in the US if you could apply a third time you do not have legally no +they have limits they do not do it by tradition but they could run forever if +so they decided like george washington did it only twice then +respect that tradition but what if trump decided no no +leave the presidency and then it will turn out that although he decides to stay +de facto with the support of a whole series of militias that exist because besides the +American people is a people that is heavily armed many of the +which are considered to be identified with ideology of white supremacy and that +they have a real fear it is not a scam it is not an unfounded fear but there is +statistics that contemplate that in the coming years +what today is still the white majority will end is +became a white minority and under no circumstances consider +that this is desirable because it would imply what they call it +to the disappearance of Anglo-Saxon Christian culture while they are +also strongly and radically Christian and therefore are +seeing them threatened by cultures by barbaric non-Christian civilizations +that endanger their own survival and that many of these +groups are so heavily armed that they even exceed the reaction force +what the local police have, not the US army, the army +American would have the ability to subdue them +but but already when you are in front of such a particular scenario where +It could be that the peoples who support these discourses of supremacy +white and who support trump, who is their because their leader took to the streets to +defend their permanence and the military would have to respond to +submit to those groups because we are talking about a highly +chaotic for the us and what and what not if not highly probable +if there is a possibility that it will happen +restoration +after an absolutely discouraging outlook like the one you just +trace in Mexico at the moment we are living in a climate of relative +euphoria +you were about to throw an ice cube on our backs +let's say we can still tell us tell us how we can help you not relax +thrombus the mexicans +[Music] +[Music] +the rise of the same +[Music] +best script in both cases +[Music] +[Music] +the manager of smart for the world [Music] +at +well there is not being honest there is not much that the Mexican people can do +But if there is much that the American people can do and that of +fact is already being done particularly by generations of +young people who are organizing to try that through repudiation +towards the liberal model that has been implemented in the US during the +last 40 years and the results of which have been appalling +is and is proliferating the idea for the first time of something that is quite +new to the American mindset that would be the establishment of +social democratic policies and not only that but movements that are +taking to the streets through speeches particularly at this time of +environmental claims where they have forced the same companies and have +forced the us congress to have to put it on its legislative agenda +to discuss the new legislation that must lead to +carry out the legislative reforms that they have to carry out precisely +to avoid all these issues of ecological devastation in parallel with +environmental movements also exist particularly along the +border between arizona and mexico young people who are organizing to go and +helping migrants to people who are trying to flee from a +reality of poverty of suffering where survival conditions +are extremely difficult towards the US and they have to cross the desert and then +young people are organizing to help them cross the desert at the time +that giving them food and on many occasions also shelter +yes +I asked him who thinks he could and who thinks he could be a +option to defeat trump in the next election and in particular to +by bernie sanders demille +[Music] +and +[Music] +[Music] +and +one +Thank you +[Music] +in the existing thick +from our side +God has brought us to our +[Music] Can't tell yet who will be +candidate by the Democrats cannot be known yet towards +where is noam chomsky going to attend the next vote +particularly the candidate that would be of his predilection would be bernie sanders +but at the same time bernie is constantly getting attacks from +media that caricature him that ridicule him that +they misrepresent all his statements to make him look like an unviable person +and that perhaps the only person he considers could be a candidate +democrat would be elizabeth warren, which is that within what is possible is +better than donald trump because basically anyone else would be +better than donald trump consider chomsky and then why can't you tell +still properly what is going to happen, however what can +to know is that there is some hope because throughout the United States there are +movements of people who are raising awareness the same tucson their +city the city he lives in is arguing over whether he should +consider whether it owes itself a sanctuary city which +would mean that all those people who are being persecuted +by the border patrol and that they had managed to escape could arrive +to Tucson and there they could not be arrested and then they would receive refuge +throughout the length and breadth of the city so that I can no longer not live with fear +of being persecuted and yet you still cannot know what is going to happen +next year there is however still some hope and would like to +chomsky close with the following reflection something that the +people of Mexico to show the North American people how convenient +is to have a social democratic government progress in such a way that we +let us set an example for them that our relationships +better sociopolitical do in such a way that then the Americans +they will turn what they do to the south and say look what can be done look +what can be done without having a social democratic government and finally +well we are on the edge of what will determine the fate of the +humanity for normal good in the next 20 years he says this has been +said many times but it had never been true but this time it is true +what is decided now is what will lead to what will lead to +short humanity +no +Thank you very much it has been a pleasure to have you with us again in the socket of the +Mexico City +thank you very much to all +they also have a chelsea suddenly it's very good gives him the chances and +the dimension of what a book fair is the book as a vehicle for +transport ideas debates reflections to transport to this city and +this moment one of the smartest thinkers on the planet today +good night thank you very much marina has information +0 +10 +14 +22 +28 +37 +43 +49 +53 +58 +64 +72 +79 +84 +91 +101 +110 +119 +124 +132 +137 +155 +190 +196 +202 +206 +213 +221 +228 +241 +250 +259 +284 +289 +294 +298 +302 +306 +312 +314 +319 +325 +329 +333 +337 +352 +356 +363 +373 +380 +386 +401 +408 +420 +424 +441 +459 +471 +477 +481 +487 +494 +498 +505 +509 +530 +543 +565 +576 +592 +606 +612 +617 +622 +628 +635 +640 +644 +649 +655 +660 +664 +672 +675 +681 +684 +690 +699 +703 +710 +716 +728 +735 +746 +753 +757 +766 +775 +782 +786 +795 +801 +806 +821 +844 +881 +896 +915 +932 +937 +941 +946 +950 +955 +961 +965 +970 +974 +979 +986 +993 +997 +1004 +1008 +1011 +1016 +1020 +1026 +1029 +1034 +1039 +1048 +1061 +1084 +1099 +1131 +1143 +1151 +1158 +1164 +1170 +1174 +1180 +1185 +1190 +1196 +1201 +1206 +1211 +1215 +1219 +1224 +1228 +1236 +1243 +1247 +1252 +1261 +1267 +1288 +1317 +1325 +1340 +1347 +1352 +1362 +1372 +1394 +1400 +1405 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philosopher intellectual father of modern linguistics +intellectual writer I mean noam chomsky who was listed just a few +weeks by new york times as one of the most important living intellectuals +of humanity we place it in magic the university of massachusetts does +a few weeks with the journalists simon europa +simone the general impressions of this interview good and the impression is +shocking shocking is mighty's place in this university since 1944 +god 65 people among students and teachers who won the nobel prize +from this hour of interviews with others well the conclusion is this image is from +the South American region and Latin America in general completely outside of +control of the unique states that are coming out of the US control of +hands and the other thing that hit me on the +Chomsky's attention to Colombia +you are not only enterpises but with many other writings +it seems to me that they are directing many many steps good moods thank you very much +precisely the width that lecture in written dissertations has devoted to +Colombia and because that is the question simply because Colombia is +crossed by two issues of international people at that time the issue +ecological and the issue of drugs is also worth bearing in mind that no +expansion of critics over the last years of foreign policy +American not only with or under the administration of George Bush since +the wartime in vietnam and there is one detail in particular with noam +chomsky on September 11 the same September 11 when the attack on +twin hook towers producing a tremendous trial against politics +American outside accusing her of being the only responsible and guilty of +the attacks of September 11, which was worth the enmity that +good part of intellectuals not only North American +but of the world some analytical critics have tried to locate the +kim shows on the left but there aren't many who define themselves as a man in +libertarian and a man clearly the artist that's our theme today in +contravia welcome and welcome +counter +ah +- He continues to put a bullet against which the only way to pacify the country is a +Gonzalez's complaint +well +with the events of the last decade in the system of domination the continent +has moved towards a degree of independence which washington is not going to +tolerate but you really can't do much about it +the election of lula in brazil was of great concern but a great relief to the +know that their policies are very similar to those of governments +However, this element of independence does not like the USA +Today I was working I want to work with a different Argentina and I'm going to +announce each step as corresponds to society +there can't be two old men signed why I don't +in Argentina Kirchner essentially told the International Monetary Fund +him to leave and they couldn't do anything about it +this fund is tied to the us treasury department this +it was a hard hit for washington which was expecting a kind of tightening +sometimes called a tightening of credit communities like those +gangster movies and that's the role of the international monetary fund in +gray end +this is what the executive director calls a tightening of +credit communities but kirchner did not play the same game and may +Argentina and even Brazil get out of control of the monetary fund +international +we have won now we are going to make the change of the country is just like that +most of the people +bolivia as mentioned chose a very popular peasant leader from the center left +But Ecuador will probably do the same quickly. +Same way +the indigenous people of the region who are quite a lot organized for the first time +as a unit and it is the beginning of the creation of an indigenous nation like +some call it from Bolivia this Ecuador to program proclaiming the +indigenous rights since their populations are mostly +indigenous and are not interested in resources stolen by the West or +they control them themselves or they won't even exploit this for example for the +peasants from ecuador it is not obvious that they let destroy their lands so that the +people out there in trucks the traffic or in large masses like in new +york 'may seem obvious to us but +not for them then the pressure to maintain their lives their communities and their +resources is of great fear for the west especially for the us and others +powers which are used to treating other countries as in their +own garden they take what they want crush people say some +words of praise about democracy but they really are like your chips for +move at will this is not happening and goes from venezuela to argentina and +It even goes further in Mexico the same thing can happen since they can also +elect a center-left government the only region that the us still have +control is central america for the brutal wars that have been for more or +minus a decade under the reagan administration in which they killed hundreds of +thousands of people and destroyed societies and consequently these +societies are crushed and controlled +the father of what is happening there in the middle east and in the town of +dac +Venezuela is starting to send oil to make investments and they have +been a great source of energy for the us since 1970 +even though before the 70s north america was a great producer and exporter but +from that year things changed +In this hemisphere, Venezuela is the leader and has the +largest resources in the bolivia region also has many resources of +natural gas that has not been exploited by the us but is looking for it +exchange relationships exist and increase slowly the same as +trade relations with europe and also south america south america and +even south to south the latter being very new for example brazil south africa +and india form a blue alliance and these are regions and relationships that +they come out of the management and control of washington and although they believed and assumed that +they were in control of the world after the second world war +there will be no war there will be no war here there will be peace we will put the world +a weapon and that that kind action against that +we would live better economically socially culturally better than with +USA or with the international community +and there is pressure against the governments of the left by the us and they are going to +try to stop this trend +This can be seen with the expenditure they make towards Latin America, but there has been a +big change +during the cold war the so-called financial aid was higher than the +military aid this has changed military aid today and is on par with +the economy +if not +and military aid has increased tremendously in some parts but +oriented towards Colombia for example the air base in ecuador is also +column-oriented +and the number of military in Latin America has reached its peak and +is at levels compared to financial aid +but beyond there has also been a change in military training this +it has been a big problem due to the supervision and pressure of the congress and it has +been restricted by the conditions of the rights +humans +well +therefore the pentagon has taken the reins which enjoys no pressure +restriction or supervision you can train torture personnel and not +nothing less happens +the pentagon is reviewing aid goals formerly called defense +hemispheric kennedy the change for internal security +and that means that it is against terrorism +now it has also changed towards the world against drugs but with issues +social +radical groups and gangs are the targets now and under the power of the +pentagon this is not supervised +ah +ah +there is a drug problem in the us as in europe and other parts of the world +and it is known how to confront it according to government studies +but it does not give us the right for others to solve our problem where +we have the best solution are the programs +prevention and treatment and so this scourge must be confronted +hurts done works we have not seen it work for example in tobacco that +it is much more destructive than drugs +if we look at strong drug deaths versus tobacco deaths +the differences are monstrous +the marijuana that has millions of consumers does not throw almost deaths but +The problem with tobacco is that it is very serious in the United States. +effectively and you don't find out here +people smoking and those who do it at the university or other places are +foreigners you may smoke but we are leaving here +you find people smoking in the slums but the +education has worked it's effective and it's not cost +pride expansion in body the police action program is much more expensive +ineffective and operations abroad for example in Colombia are +expensive and least effective +This transfer represents an investment of more than 12 million +dollars in word and a nine month job +With the internal drug problem in Colombia, it has not been possible to be +controlled by the usa +against drugs is more related to the counterinsurgency war because +There are vast regions of Colombia beyond the control of the security forces. +and if you want to see how little it is related to the war of the +drugs its production is controlled by the paramilitaries and they do not go after them +but against the peasants they call it fumigation but it really is a war +chemistry +it's personal charity aids +and I've seen it and you're probably also made by mercenary forces +they destroy vast areas of crops everything in their power +biodiversity which is a very serious problem because it is an area very rich in +plant and animal life resources in the world there are serious health problems there are +peasant children getting sick and dying these people are taken out of +her land +Colombia is one of the places with the most population displacement towards areas +urban after afghanistan and sweating +there are some peasants who were displaced you left to convince +by the anguish of money they were convinced by the anguish of +money selling her land for a very serious price having her land +for a price they were convinced by +once these peasants are exiled the mining companies enter make their +work the oil companies do their excavations +freely and equally among the agro-industrial companies they cultivated it +to export +and this makes the rich get richer and the peasants if they survive by +yes alone +this happens with indigenous peoples, peasants and Afro-Colombians and they +for example in cauca they are well organized but they can do nothing +against the planes of the mercenary forces that enter fumigate devastate and +they go +under the pretext of the war on drugs +the fight against drug trafficking continued just as strong here we did not lower the +throttle to this and this is an example and with the help of the Americans +we will continue with all our efforts with the core of the problem is still Colombia +has received the largest military aid in the lower hemisphere since the 1990s +the clinton administration and it was called the drug war the +which for me is a scandal +murphy iphone environmental event if you look at the indexes most people in +colombia die from us tobacco production that people in us +for the consumption of cocaine produced by colony +it may be true in other countries but this does not entitle them to create a +chemical warfare against areas for example in kentucky north carolina for +eradicate plantations +and what end but since it is the west that the base the +that has the power is therefore not questioned it is claimed that it is done with the +approval of the Colombian government and +the whole concept is grotesque +two +clicks of interest +by fumigation, coca production is reduced but for the +peasants can survive growing coca in deeper areas of the jungle +there are very few funds earmarked for alternative crops peasants do not +they seek to grow coca for export but to survive and be able to feed +their families and to face this if it were something serious it would be to create funds +for eradication with alternatives such as alternative cultivation programs +and there are but very small for example the subsidy of the European community +towards tobacco prevention is much higher than all the subsidies intended +for alternative cropping programs and the effect of sweeping the land and +giving way to multinationals to exploit the areas tells us that the +war on drugs is cynical +i +and Colombia's history of violence takes many years and is +rooted in a country very rich and diverse in natural resources +but it has always been controlled by a very wealthy elite white minority who live +in luxuries +while the rest of the population lives in misery +this leads to the creation of conflicts, repressions and wars +reaffirmed there in the cradle of laws and in the temple of democracy that the +Willow's patriotic commitment to save safeguarding a free Colombia +worthy safe and in peace keep well +the conflict worsened in 1962 when they want and the military role changed +internal security +specifically in colombia kennedy sent a special forces mission +under the command of the general of harvard to train and advise the forces of +Colombian security to use paramilitary force against the forces +communists which in the context of counterinsurgency means using the +paramilitary force and terror against pastors who work with the +peasants and against leaders +and this is the legacy he has and left Colombia similar to that of other parts +like the sponsorship of the coup d'etat in brazil that happened after his +murder and that's where the conflict got worse south +and that's where the conflict got worse and where the paramilitary forces +developed into a significant force working together +with military force to such an extent that the human rights organization +has called the sixth division +and +5 +22 +28 +33 +38 +42 +48 +54 +59 +64 +67 +72 +79 +88 +95 +100 +104 +108 +111 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+1405 +1410 +1419 +1424 +1429 +1435 +1443 +1449 +1454 +1464 +1468 +1488 +1500 +1505 +1516 +1522 +1526 +1535 +1556 +1563 +1568 +1580 +1586 +1592 +1597 +1602 +1607 +1612 +1616 +1624 +1630 +1634 +1643 +1649 +1653 +1658 +1685 diff --git a/cnt/CONVERSATORIO NOAM CHOMSKY dBBwysIPFzc.en.cnt b/cnt/CONVERSATORIO NOAM CHOMSKY dBBwysIPFzc.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..832739c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/CONVERSATORIO NOAM CHOMSKY dBBwysIPFzc.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ +[Music] and already this +noam chomsky and the origins project that brings together the brightest minds in the +planet address the importance of social participation and collaboration +around climate change with the presence of the philosopher linguist +and activist noam chomsky in the conversation called a great debate +of the project origins climate change environmental and social consequences +for mexico and the world begins the international colloquium the harassment of +wall-to-wall civilization that will address various axes such as the new orders +economic democracy and the role of the internet in it among others +tonight talk about the background that comes with climate change +capitalism has been imposed by force +and obviously this imposed system has cultural implications and +economic and structurally it does not have a soul, that is why it attempts to +against survival and human health that's why we have to go back +to analyze the traditional way of organizing ourselves in community and +relate to nature and how we understand work and this +question has taken for granted far beyond technological issues and +we will talk about that +climate change and the topic that you will see presented today in the +nights has implications that go beyond the physical have implications +social and economic in mexico youtube is also impacted by the change +climate and because of the neighbor that it has that is also has implications in +trade in trade and these implications affect countries and the +climate change is the biggest market failure in history and that's the +problem does not recognize walls or walls or borders and therefore its solution +needs the collective action the origins project is an initiative +created in 2009 at arizona state university that brings together prominent +experts to explore many of the most scientific and social problems +urgent of our time the harassments to the wall civilization to +Wall is organized by the Unam and the University of Guadalajara with the +purpose of issuing an open declaration of rejection of any type of +wall that you want to build both real and metaphorical that prevents dialogue and +solidarity more information at www punto los acoso +to civilization mx point for tv unam sweet arches +[Music] +1 +5 +9 +12 +17 +21 +26 +30 +35 +40 +46 +52 +56 +61 +65 +69 +74 +78 +86 +90 +95 +102 +106 +114 +119 +125 +130 +134 +138 +143 +147 +152 +157 +163 +170 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky & Foucault - Justice versus Power J5wuB_p63YM.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky & Foucault - Justice versus Power J5wuB_p63YM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d3ef11 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky & Foucault - Justice versus Power J5wuB_p63YM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,292 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +0 +1 +4 +7 +10 +13 +16 +18 +20 +23 +26 +29 +32 +35 +38 +42 +45 +47 +50 +52 +55 +58 +61 +63 +65 +67 +69 +71 +73 +76 +78 +82 +85 +88 +91 +93 +293 +295 +299 +302 +303 +307 +310 +313 +316 +320 +323 +326 +329 +332 +335 +338 +341 +343 +347 +350 +351 +355 +358 +361 +364 +366 +370 +371 +375 +378 +381 +384 +386 +389 +392 +393 +397 +400 +403 +405 +407 +562 +564 +567 +570 +573 +576 +578 +581 +583 +585 +589 +592 +595 +598 +600 +602 +605 +608 +611 +614 +617 +620 +622 +624 +627 +630 +631 +634 +636 +638 +640 +643 +646 +649 +650 +653 +656 +659 +662 +664 +665 +668 +671 +675 +678 +681 +684 +686 +688 +720 +724 +728 +731 +734 +737 +738 +741 +744 +747 +748 +751 +754 +760 +762 +764 +768 +769 +772 +775 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - CIA Targeting of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is 'Disgraceful Act' paGTB2kiyqk.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - CIA Targeting of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is 'Disgraceful Act' paGTB2kiyqk.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21aeb65 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - CIA Targeting of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is 'Disgraceful Act' paGTB2kiyqk.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,150 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: Noam, I wanted to, before we get to your book, your latest book, ask you +about this latest development in the United States. +The director of the Central Intelligence Agency gave his first major address, and he focused +on WikiLeaks. +And it looks like now the U.S. is preparing an arrest warrant for Julian Assange, who's +been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for almost five years now. +Pompeo calling WikiLeaks a "hostile non-state intelligence service," calling Julian Assange +himself a "demon," and said he's not protected by the First Amendment. +Your thoughts? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think it speaks for itself. +WikiLeaks has released lots of information that governments don't like. +It's overwhelmingly information that citizens should have. +It's information about what their governments are doing. +And perfectly natural that systems of power don't want to be exposed, so they'll do +what they can to prevent exposure. +I think it's a disgraceful act. +In fact, I think it's disgraceful even to keep Julian Assange holed up in the Ecuadorean +Embassy. +I did visit him there once, but you can guess yourself. +It's, in many ways, worse than imprisonment. +At least if you're in prison, you can see other prisoners, and you can get out and look +at the sunshine now and then. +He's in a small apartment, where he can't go out. +You know, he can go to the balcony, but that's about it, a small--basically, a couple of +rooms inside a small apartment. +It's not a big embassy. +The embassy is like a kind of an apartment in London, surrounded by police and so on. +There's been no credible basis for any of this. +And to go on to try to raise it to the level of criminal prosecutions, I think, is, again, +one of these efforts to look tough at home, and the kind of effort that a government would +carry out that is dedicated to trying to protect itself from exposure of facts that citizens +should have, but systems of power don't want them to have. +I think that's the crucial issue. +AMY GOODMAN: The suggestions are it has to do with his aiding and abetting perhaps Chelsea +Manning and also Edward Snowden, doing that with Edward Snowden, which he openly admits, +while he's trapped in the Ecuadorean Embassy. +NOAM CHOMSKY: If the charge is true, he should be honored for it. +Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden carried out heroic, courageous acts. +They fulfilled the responsibility of somebody who takes citizenship seriously--that is, +who believes that the people of a country ought to know something about what their government +is up to. +OK? +Like if their government is carrying out murderous, brutal attacks in Iraq, people should know +about it. +Takes us back to Martin Luther King's talk in 1967. +If the government is, and corporations, too, incidentally, are listening in to your telephone +conversations and what you're doing, you know, tapping this discussion and so on, we +should know about it. +Governments have no right to do things like that. +And people should know about it. +And if they think it's OK, fine, let them decide, not do it in secret. +And I think people wouldn't agree to it. +That's why it's kept secret. +Why else keep it secret? +You know? +And these are people who exposed it at great risk to themselves. +So those are heroic, courageous acts. +If WikiLeaks was abetting them, more power to them. +That's what they should be doing. +AMY GOODMAN: I mean, President Trump endorsed WikiLeaks, right? +He said, "I love WikiLeaks," during the campaign. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, when it was releasing things that he liked, yeah. +Any system of power will do that. +"You release information that I like, it's great. +But I don't want to be exposed." +AMY GOODMAN: That's MIT professor Noam Chomsky speaking on Monday at the First Parish Church +in Cambridge. +To see our full conversation, go to democracynow.org. +That does it for our show. +I'll be speaking at Middlebury College in Vermont today at noon, then on to the Vermont +College of Fine Arts in Montpelier at 7:00. +Tomorrow, Thursday, at noon, I'll be at Bennington College, tomorrow night at the +Unitarian church on Pearl Street in Burlington, Vermont. +Then, on Saturday night, after Democracy Now!'s 5-hour broadcast of the People's Climate March +in Washington, D.C., I'll be speaking at the Plymouth Congregational Church. +1 +7 +10 +17 +19 +25 +30 +37 +43 +45 +49 +56 +61 +67 +74 +78 +81 +89 +90 +95 +98 +103 +106 +110 +116 +117 +119 +125 +130 +139 +146 +156 +161 +162 +170 +179 +183 +189 +197 +203 +208 +209 +210 +216 +217 +221 +229 +237 +239 +241 +243 +247 +250 +252 +253 +254 +257 +262 +266 +267 +270 +272 +276 +278 +281 +284 +288 +289 +290 +292 +296 +298 +301 +304 +308 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - Cutting off military aid to Israel would have “major effect” on Middle East JD3t_jtAAmQ.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - Cutting off military aid to Israel would have “major effect” on Middle East JD3t_jtAAmQ.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a235cb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - Cutting off military aid to Israel would have “major effect” on Middle East JD3t_jtAAmQ.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,90 @@ +The support for Israeli expansionism, repression, the whole alliance that's developing, that +support has shifted in the United States from the more liberal sectors--roughly, the Democratic +Party--to the far right. +Not very long ago, support for Israel was based passionately in the liberal sectors +of the population. +It was a Democratic issue. +It isn't anymore. +In fact, if you look in the polls, people who identify themselves as Democrats by now +tend to support Palestinian rights more than Israel. +That's a dramatic change. +Support for Israel now is in the most reactionary parts of the population: evangelical Christians, +ultranationalists. +Basically, it's a far-right issue. +Among younger people, this is even more the case. +I mean, I can see it myself, just in my own personal experience. +Up until about maybe 10 or 15 years ago, if I was giving a talk at a university on Israel-Palestine, +even my own university, MIT, I had to have police protection, literally. +Police would try to prevent the meeting from being broken up. +They wouldn't let me walk to my car alone. +I had to be accompanied by police. +Meetings were broken up. +Nobody was objecting to any this. +It was happening all the time. +That's changed totally. +And it's a very significant change. +I think that sooner or later--I hope sooner--this may lead to a shift in U.S. policy. +There are some very simple moves that could be made in U.S. policy that would change the +situation in the Middle East dramatically. +So, for example, one simple proposal is that the United States government should live up +to U.S. law. +That doesn't sound too dramatic. +The United States has laws, like the so-called Leahy Law, Patrick Leahy Law, which requires +that no military aid can be given to any military organization that is involved in systematic +human rights abuses. +Well, the Israeli army is involved in massive human rights abuses. +If the U.S. were to live up to U.S. law, we would cut off aid to the IDF, the Israeli +army. +That step alone would have a major effect, not just the material aid, but the symbolic +meaning of it. +And it's quite possible that with the shift of public opinion, especially among younger +people, there might come a point when there will be a call for the United States to follow +its own laws. +OK? +Again, not a very dramatic appeal. +And it wouldn't even be breaking new ground. +0 +10 +20 +23 +33 +34 +36 +37 +50 +56 +60 +67 +68 +73 +75 +81 +91 +97 +102 +104 +107 +109 +111 +113 +115 +118 +126 +134 +136 +144 +145 +148 +157 +166 +168 +174 +182 +183 +190 +191 +197 +203 +204 +205 +208 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - It's as if Trump Administration Is Flaunting That U.S. Is Run by Goldman Sachs qwZYsNTqe98.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - It's as if Trump Administration Is Flaunting That U.S. Is Run by Goldman Sachs qwZYsNTqe98.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff56d89 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - It's as if Trump Administration Is Flaunting That U.S. Is Run by Goldman Sachs qwZYsNTqe98.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,192 @@ +This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzalez. +And, yes, our guest for the hour is Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist +and author. +His latest book is Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration +of Wealth & Power. +Juan? +JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, I wanted to ask you--those on the left are accustomed +to looking at the American government basically as in the service of the capitalist class, +the politicians. +Occasionally, you had a Rockefeller or an actual member of the capitalist class who +went into government. +But now, with this Trump administration, it's an extraordinary number of extremely wealthy +people have actually moved directly into government. +And yet you're seeing this narrative that they are attracting support from the white +working class of the country. +Could you talk about this, the capitalists directly taking over the running of government? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, as you say, they've run it all the time. +The simple measures, like campaign funding alone, simple measure like that, is a very +close predictor, not only of electoral victory, but even of policies. +That's been true for a century. +And if you take a look at the analysis of public attitude--a major topic in academic +political science is comparing popular attitudes with public policy. +It's pretty straightforward. +Public policy, you can see. +Popular attitudes, we know a lot about from extensive polling. +And the results are pretty startling. +Turns out that about 70 percent of voters, which is maybe half the electorate--about +70 percent of voters are literally disenfranchised, the lower 70 percent on the income scale, +meaning that their own representatives pay no attention to their--to their attitudes +and preferences. +If you move up the income scale, you get a little more correlation, more--a little more +influence. +The very top, which is probably a fraction of 1 percent, if you could get the data, it's +where policy is set. +Now, the Trump administration is kind of a caricature of this. +It's always pretty much true. +But here they're--it's as if they're kind of purposely trying to flaunt the fact +that this country is run by Goldman Sachs and billionaires, and nobody else counts. +JUAN GONZALEZ: Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Right, all of them. +I mean, it's almost like a shocking parody, as if they're trying to show, "Yeah, what +we all know is true is dramatically true, and we're going to show it to you." +The interesting--an interesting question, the one you raise, is: How are they maintaining +support among the people they're kicking in the face? +That's not uninteresting. +And if you look into it, there's a number of factors. +One--first of all, many of the Trump voters, white working-class voters, quite a few of +them voted for Obama in 2008. +You go back to the Obama campaign, the exciting words were "hope" and "change." +I don't usually agree with Sarah Palin, but when she asked, "Where's this hopey-changey +stuff?" she wasn't talking nonsense. +It quickly became clear there's no hope and there's no change. +And the working people were significantly disillusioned. +You could see it right in Massachusetts, where--when Kennedy died, you know, the "liberal lion." +There was going to be a vote for--to replace him, 2010. +Amazingly, a Republican won, in Democratic Massachusetts, Kennedy's seat. +And union voters didn't vote for the Democrats. +They were very upset by the fact that they had been cheated, they felt, rightly, by the +Obama campaign of promises. +And they turned to their bitter class enemy, who at least talks the words. +The Republicans have mastered the technique of talking words as if you're sort of an +ordinary guy, you know, kind of guy you'd meet in a bar, that sort of thing. +It goes back to Reagan and his jellybeans, and Bush, you know, mispronouncing words, +and so on and so forth. +It's a game that's played. +And it's a con game. +But in the absence of any opposition, it works. +And what happens when there is an opposition? +That's very striking. +The most astonishing fact about the last election, which is the Sanders achievements, that's +a break from a century of American political history. +As I said, you can pretty well predict electoral outcomes simply by campaign funding alone. +There's other factors that intensify it. +Here comes Sanders, somebody nobody ever heard of. +No support from the wealthy, no support from corporations. +The media ignored or disparaged him. +He even used a scare word, "socialist." +Came from nowhere. +He would have won the Democratic Party nomination if it hadn't been for the shenanigans of +the Obama-Clinton party managers who kept him out. +Might have been president. +From nothing. +That's an incredible break. +It shows what can happen when policies are proposed that do meet the general, just concerns +of much of the population. +AMY GOODMAN: Do you think he could still win if he ran again? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, there was a Fox News poll, couple of days ago--Fox News--asking who's +the--trying to ask who's your favorite political figure. +Sanders was way ahead, far ahead of anybody else, with no vocal, articulate support among +the concentrations of power--media, corporations, elsewhere. +In fact, if you look at policy preferences, you see something similar. +We already mentioned the health issue. +That's--and on issue after issue, much of the public that is actually voting for +their bitter class enemy, if you look at the policies, actually favor social democratic +policies, even environmental policies. +0 +4 +6 +10 +11 +17 +18 +19 +24 +28 +29 +32 +34 +39 +42 +49 +50 +55 +63 +71 +76 +79 +89 +95 +97 +99 +103 +106 +113 +122 +129 +132 +137 +138 +144 +145 +152 +154 +160 +167 +169 +171 +177 +181 +187 +191 +193 +196 +203 +208 +215 +222 +226 +230 +233 +238 +243 +251 +255 +263 +266 +272 +277 +282 +288 +289 +292 +293 +297 +300 +302 +308 +314 +320 +324 +327 +332 +335 +339 +341 +347 +351 +352 +353 +355 +365 +366 +368 +372 +380 +390 +394 +401 +404 +411 +418 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - Leftist Latin American Governments Have Failed to Build Sustainable Economies maHgtLp21Iw.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - Leftist Latin American Governments Have Failed to Build Sustainable Economies maHgtLp21Iw.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d7960f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - Leftist Latin American Governments Have Failed to Build Sustainable Economies maHgtLp21Iw.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,100 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman. +We return to MIT professor Noam Chomsky. +Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez and I spoke to him on Tuesday. +JUAN GONZALEZ: I wanted to ask you about Latin America. +We had a period, for about 10 years, of enormous social progress in Latin America--all these +socially minded governments, reduction of income inequality, the only part of the world +where there are no nuclear weapons. +And yet, now we've seen, in the last few years, real steps backwards. +Quite a few of the popular governments, with the exception of Ecuador, recently have been +thrown out of office, and a deepening crisis in Venezuela. +Your sense of what has happened, in that, after so much promise, all of a sudden it +seems that the region is going backward? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, there were--there were real achievements. +But the left governments failed to use the opportunity available to them to try to create +sustainable, viable economies. +Almost every one--Venezuela, Brazil, others, Argentina--relied on the rise in commodity +prices, which is a temporary phenomenon. +Commodity prices did rise, mainly because of the growth of China. +So there was a rise in the oil price, of soy, and so on and so forth. +And instead of trying to develop a sustainable economy with manufacturing, agriculture and +so on--like Venezuela is potentially a rich agricultural country, but they didn't develop +it--they simply relied on the commodity--raw materials commodities they could export. +That's a very harmful--it's not only not a successful, it's a harmful development +model, because when you export grain to China, let's say, they export manufacturing goods +to you, and that undermines your manufacturing industries. +And that's pretty much what's been happening. +On top of that, there was just enormous corruption. +It's just--it's painful to see the Workers' Party in Brazil, which did carry out significant +measures, just--they just couldn't keep their hands out of the till. +They joined the extremely corrupt elite, which is robbing all the time, and took part in +it, as well, and discredited themselves. +And there's a reaction. +I don't think the game is over by any means. +There were real successes achieved, and I think a lot of those will be sustained. +But there is a regression. +They'll have to pick up again with, one hopes, more honest forces that won't be--that +will, first of all, recognize the need to develop the economy in a way which has a solid +foundation, not just based on raw material exports, and, secondly, honest enough to carry +out decent programs without robbing the public at the same time. +AMY GOODMAN: What about Venezuela? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Venezuela is really a disaster situation. +The economy relies on oil as to a great--probably a greater extent than ever in the past, certainly +very high. +And the corruption, the robbery and so on, has been extreme, under the--especially after +Chavez's death. +So, it's a--I mean, if you look at it, it still has--if you look at, say, the U.N. +Human Development Index, Venezuela still ranks, say, above Brazil. +So it's the--there are hopes and possibilities for reconstruction and development. +But the promise of the earlier years has been significantly lost. +0 +4 +5 +8 +11 +13 +21 +25 +26 +32 +36 +41 +46 +47 +51 +61 +65 +72 +76 +80 +84 +93 +98 +105 +111 +119 +121 +125 +129 +138 +142 +147 +150 +152 +155 +160 +162 +172 +179 +187 +191 +193 +200 +208 +209 +215 +217 +225 +231 +242 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - Like Obama, Trump Is Radically Increasing the Danger of Nuclear War b9S_E1KpdAo.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - Like Obama, Trump Is Radically Increasing the Danger of Nuclear War b9S_E1KpdAo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b0ef25 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - Like Obama, Trump Is Radically Increasing the Danger of Nuclear War b9S_E1KpdAo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, we were in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I sat down at the First +Parish Church in Cambridge with MIT professor, longtime dissident, world-renowned linguist, +Noam Chomsky. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Huge specter that we're kind of trying to survive under, and that's nuclear +war. +That's a whole other story. +Here, both the Obama administration and, increasingly, Trump are radically increasing that danger. +This--the threat of the new developments is captured very effectively in the best, +simple monitor of the state of the world, established at the beginning of the nuclear +age by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. +I'm sure you all know about this, but the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists regularly brings +together a group of scientists, political analysts, other very serious people, to try +to give some kind of estimate of what the situation of the world is. +The question is: How close are we to termination of the species? +And they have a clock, the Doomsday Clock. +When it hits midnight, we're finished. +End of the human species and much else. +And the question every year is: How far is the minute hand from midnight? +Well, at the beginning, in 1947, beginning of the nuclear age, it was placed at seven +minutes to midnight. +It's been moving up and back ever since. +The closest it's come to midnight was 1953. +1953, the United States and Russia both exploded hydrogen bombs, which are extremely serious +threat to survival. +Intercontinental ballistic missiles were all being developed. +This, in fact, was the first serious threat to the security of the United States. +There's an interesting story behind that, but I'll put it aside, unless there's +time to talk about it. +But then, it came to two minutes to midnight. +And it's been moving up and back since. +Two years ago--2014, I think it was--the analysts took into account for the first time +something that had been ignored: the fact that the nuclear age--the beginning of the +nuclear age coincided with the beginning of a new geological epoch, the so-called Anthropocene. +There's been some debate about the epoch in which human activity is drastically affecting +the general environment. +There's been debate about its inception. +But the World Geological Organization has recently determined that it's about the +same time as the beginning of the nuclear age. +So we're in these two eras in which the possibility of human survival is very much +at stake, and, with us, everything else, too, of course, all living--most living things, +which are already under very severe threat. +Well, a couple of years ago--I think it was 2014--the Bulletin began to take that into +account and moved the minute hand up to three minutes to midnight, where it remained last +year. +A couple of--about a week into Trump's term, the clock was moved again, to two-and-a-half +minutes to midnight. +That's the closest it's been since 1953. +And that means extermination of the species is very much an--very much an open question. +I don't want to say it's solely the impact of the Republican Party--obviously, that's +false--but they certainly are in the lead in openly advocating and working for destruction +of the human species. +I agree that's a very outrageous statement. +So I therefore simply suggest that you take a look at the facts and see if it has any +merit or if it just should be bitterly condemned. +That's up to you. +My view, the facts are pretty clear. +6 +12 +20 +22 +32 +33 +34 +43 +55 +61 +64 +70 +79 +84 +88 +92 +95 +99 +103 +110 +112 +115 +120 +129 +131 +134 +141 +146 +147 +150 +156 +166 +172 +180 +187 +189 +192 +197 +199 +209 +215 +218 +224 +232 +233 +239 +240 +244 +255 +263 +272 +273 +276 +284 +287 +289 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - Trump Radically Interfered with Israel’s Election to Help Re-elect Netanyahu OCHP6wuA6cQ.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - Trump Radically Interfered with Israel’s Election to Help Re-elect Netanyahu OCHP6wuA6cQ.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..255d5c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - Trump Radically Interfered with Israel’s Election to Help Re-elect Netanyahu OCHP6wuA6cQ.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,282 @@ +no more about what happened in israel and prime minister netanyahu how things +a rocker fast terms but right before the election +hereafter us here your an ex ilegal israeli dairy people who +occupied was bank read my trump officially recognized +release a friendly about the golan heights festival is useful I am +accounts leaked and netanyahu dies the chugging again +the feature provides windows you can do this is not a substantial and trams of powers +hetalia +figure are other sample of the extra torque there the judgment reacher them 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an opinion kind of broccoli soup getting +them so saab and I have always been almost deadly and the time has come +significant change at accenture leather hope there is it let me shift +and us policy sm very simple news.be and us +policy to change the situation in the middle east could easily be this far +just simple proposal is to see it always buy a shirt live on the +guys lol that 1017 kumar singh always home like the single blade putter +dress of which requires no military they can be given to the military +organization there is a system and system un rights +apologize her boys +paul the mass number ichoosr first us were to live up to us wages +how we care of the idea in cheryl aimee last apple thunderstorm and from microset +the nachos too symbolic with youri lions +opinion and it is quite easter bolder to clear shift or public opinion +special a man younger people there might come up for one dobiacco over in +one always fall with such a loose ok scanmar about computer science and i know +nie van be working new grande longchamp kiwi ghosts tl salt charters +dna us change is long time boston was a professor who is next to his study +technology for over fifty years at the end of the event to celebrate it is +my you dare he speak with a very happy birthday canoe bacon and the +gausscurve specialized gauge wiper john hamilton +my studio dennis marlisa example ended up being amazed and of +summer zhang +0 +6 +12 +17 +22 +32 +39 +45 +50 +55 +63 +70 +77 +83 +90 +97 +107 +113 +121 +127 +135 +139 +146 +153 +162 +167 +176 +183 +190 +201 +205 +213 +221 +228 +232 +238 +245 +252 +262 +268 +274 +282 +290 +298 +306 +314 +321 +325 +334 +340 +348 +353 +358 +363 +368 +375 +381 +390 +395 +402 +409 +416 +423 +428 +433 +438 +443 +448 +457 +461 +469 +476 +482 +490 +498 +508 +515 +520 +527 +531 +540 +545 +551 +560 +569 +575 +581 +587 +596 +601 +607 +614 +619 +625 +633 +639 +644 +653 +659 +665 +669 +678 +683 +690 +695 +700 +707 +712 +719 +725 +728 +737 +745 +751 +759 +764 +769 +774 +780 +785 +792 +799 +806 +813 +819 +829 +838 +842 +845 +854 +862 +865 +871 +876 +885 +892 +896 +902 +907 +912 +917 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - U.S. Is Helping Israel Annex So Much Land, Palestinians Could Have Essentially Nothing GDeKeERFGSY.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - U.S. Is Helping Israel Annex So Much Land, Palestinians Could Have Essentially Nothing GDeKeERFGSY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a54d1c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - U.S. Is Helping Israel Annex So Much Land, Palestinians Could Have Essentially Nothing GDeKeERFGSY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: President Trump met with Sisi on Monday, meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan +on Wednesday at the White House, saying they're not raising the issue of human rights anymore. +Your thoughts on this, and then also, of course, Israel-Palestine? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, raising the issue of human rights is--it means something, but not very +much, because--take, say, Saudi Arabia, one of the worst human rights violators in the +world. +It's our darling. +You know, they pour weapons in. +Obama sold them more weapons than, I think, any predecessor. +Sisi is particularly disgraceful. +His dictatorship has driven Egypt into some of its worst days. +The United States kind of supported him, but not openly and vigorously the way Trump is +doing. +Trump is--it's a little bit like what you said about the Cabinet. +It's kind of like a parody of what goes on all the time. +Usual thing is to support brutal dictators, but not with enthusiasm, and with some tapping +on the wrist, saying, "Look, what you're doing is not very nice," and so on. +Here, it's saying, "You're great. +We love you. +You know, go ahead and torture and murder people." +That's--it's a terrible blow to the people of Egypt. +But Jordan is sort of a mixed story. +But these steps are very regressive. +With regard to Israel-Palestine, actually, Trump has pulled back from his original position. +But his original position that--he and his administration--was that there's nothing +wrong with the settlements. +They're not an obstacle to peace. +If you look at the way the settlements have been treated over the years--of course, they're +totally illegal. +They're destroying any hope for Palestinian rights. +There's a systematic Israeli program, very systematic. +It's been going on since 1967. +It's to try to quietly take over every part of the West Bank that is of any value to them, +while excluding the areas of Palestinian population concentration. +So they're not going to take over Nablus or Tulkarm, but take over everything that's +of significance and value, leave dozens, maybe even hundreds, of isolated enclaves and Palestinian +population concentrations, which can kind of rot on the vine. +Maybe the people will leave. +Whatever happens, we don't care. +That's been going on consistently. +Now, if you go back to about 1980, the U.S. joined the world not only in calling them +illegal, but in demanding that they be dismantled. +Go back to the U.N. Security Council resolutions, I think 465, approximately. +So, you have to dismantle the illegal settlements. +That has been weakened over the years. +So, under Reagan, they stop-- AMY GOODMAN: Now you have David Friedman, +the U.S. ambassador to Israel, who's been approved--right?--who raised money for the +settlements. +And you have Jared Kushner in charge of the policy. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, it's been step by step. +Reagan weakened it. +Clinton weakened it. +Obama cut it back to not help--obstacles to peace. +Trump, it's not helpful to peace. +Meanwhile, we fund--Jared--the Kushner Foundation and, of course, this new ambassador are strong +supporters of the ultra-right far right, way to the right of Netanyahu. +The Beit El, the community that they're pouring their money into, is run by an Orthodox +rabbi whose position is that the army shouldn't follow orders, has to follow the rabbi's +orders. +This is way at the right end of the Israeli spectrum. +Originally, they said they were going to move the embassy to Jerusalem. +They're kind of backing off on that. +At first, their position was there's nothing wrong with settlements. +Now there's a mild "they're not helpful to peace." +But, meanwhile, the U.S. continues to pour money and support into fulfilling this project +of constructing a Greater Israel. +I should say that the general discussions about this, I think, are extremely misleading. +What's said on all sides, actually--Israel, Palestinians, international commentary--is +that there are two options: either a two-state settlement, in accord with the long-standing +international consensus, or else one state, which would be an apartheid state, in which +Palestinians wouldn't have rights, and you could have an anti-apartheid struggle, and +Israel would face what's called the demographic problem--too many non-Jews in a Jewish state. +But those are not the two options. +There's a third option, the one that is actually being implemented--namely, construction +of a Greater Israel, which will not have a demographic problem, because they're excluding +the areas of dense Palestinian population, and they're removing Palestinians slowly +from the areas they expect to take over. +So you'll get a--what's called Jerusalem as maybe five times as big as it ever has +been, goes all the way into the West Bank. +There are corridors going to the east, which break up the remaining territory, one to Ma'ale +Adumim, a town which was built mostly during the Clinton years, which pretty much bifurcates +the West Bank. +There's others to the north. +The so-called Area C, where Israel has total control, about 60 percent of the West Bank, +is slowly being incorporated into Israel with big infrastructure programs and so on. +And this program is just taking place right before our eyes. +The United States is providing diplomatic, economic and military support for it. +It will leave the Palestinians with essentially nothing. +There will be a Greater Israel, which will have--which will not face the dread demographic +problem. +AMY GOODMAN: Professor Noam Chomsky. We'll be back with him in 30 seconds. +0 +5 +11 +15 +21 +27 +28 +29 +32 +37 +41 +47 +54 +55 +59 +65 +73 +77 +78 +79 +81 +87 +91 +95 +101 +108 +110 +112 +117 +118 +121 +125 +128 +138 +143 +148 +158 +163 +165 +166 +168 +176 +181 +187 +190 +193 +198 +201 +202 +204 +205 +206 +207 +211 +215 +221 +227 +235 +241 +242 +246 +249 +252 +256 +260 +268 +270 +277 +284 +290 +296 +302 +308 +310 +318 +324 +332 +335 +340 +342 +351 +359 +360 +362 +368 +375 +380 +385 +388 +395 +395 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - With U.S. History of Overthrowing Govts, Outrage over Russian Hacking Claims is Laughable E3SxLegl2AA.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - With U.S. History of Overthrowing Govts, Outrage over Russian Hacking Claims is Laughable E3SxLegl2AA.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b45f3d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - With U.S. History of Overthrowing Govts, Outrage over Russian Hacking Claims is Laughable E3SxLegl2AA.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,154 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: Our guest for the hour, Noam Chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, +linguist, author, institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. +His latest book is Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration +of Wealth & Power. +Juan? +JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, I'd like to ask you about something that's been in the +news a lot lately. +Obviously, all the cable channels, that's all they talk about these days, is the whole +situation of Russia's supposed intervention in American elections. +For a country that's intervened in so many governments and so many elections around the +world, that's kind of a strange topic. +But I know you've referred to this as a joke. +Could you give us your view on what's happening and why there's so much emphasis on this +particular issue? +NOAM CHOMSKY: It's a pretty remarkable fact that--first of all, it is a joke. +Half the world is cracking up in laughter. +The United States doesn't just interfere in elections. +It overthrows governments it doesn't like, institutes military dictatorships. +Simply in the case of Russia alone--it's the least of it--the U.S. government, under +Clinton, intervened quite blatantly and openly, then tried to conceal it, to get their man +Yeltsin in, in all sorts of ways. +So, this, as I say, it's considered--it's turning the United States, again, into a laughingstock +in the world. +So why are the Democrats focusing on this? +In fact, why are they focusing so much attention on the one element of Trump's programs which +is fairly reasonable, the one ray of light in this gloom: trying to reduce tensions with +Russia? +That's--the tensions on the Russian border are extremely serious. +They could escalate to a major terminal war. +Efforts to try to reduce them should be welcomed. +Just a couple of days ago, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jack Matlock, came out +and said he just can't believe that so much attention is being paid to apparent efforts +by the incoming administration to establish connections with Russia. +He said, "Sure, that's just what they ought to be doing." +So, meanwhile, this one topic is the primary locus of concern and critique, while, meanwhile, +the policies are proceeding step by step, which are extremely destructive and harmful. +So, you know, yeah, maybe the Russians tried to interfere in the election. +That's not a major issue. +Maybe the people in the Trump campaign were talking to the Russians. +Well, OK, not a major point, certainly less than is being done constantly. +And it is a kind of a paradox, I think, that the one issue that seems to inflame the Democratic +opposition is the one thing that has some justification and reasonable aspects to it. +AMY GOODMAN: Well, of course, because the Democrats feel that that's the reason, somehow, +that they lost the election. +Interesting that James Comey this week said he is investigating Trump campaign collusion +with Russia, when it was Comey himself who could have--might well have been partly responsible +for Hillary Clinton's defeat, when he said that he was investigating her, while, we now +have learned, at the same time he was investigating Donald Trump, but never actually said that. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, you can understand why the Democratic Party managers want to try +to find some blame for the fact--for the way they utterly mishandled the election and +blew a perfect opportunity to win, handed it over to the opposition. +But that's hardly a justification for allowing the Trump policies to slide by quietly, many +of them not only harmful to the population, but extremely destructive, like the climate +change policies, and meanwhile focus on one thing that could become a step forward, if +it was adjusted to move towards serious efforts to reduce growing and dangerous tensions right +on the Russian border, where they could blow up. +NATO maneuvers are taking place hundreds of yards from the Russian border. +The Russian jet planes are buzzing American planes. +This--something could get out of hand very easily. +Both sides, meanwhile, are building up their military forces, adding--the U.S. is--one +thing that the Russians are very much concerned about is the so-called anti-ballistic missile +installation that the U.S. is establishing near the Russian border, allegedly to protect +Europe from nonexistent Iranian missiles. +Nobody seriously believes that. +This is understood to be a first strike threat. +These are serious issues. +People like William Perry, who has a distinguished career and is a nuclear strategist and is +no alarmist at all, is saying that we're back to the--this is one of the worst moments +of the Cold War, if not worse. +That's really serious. +And efforts to try to calm that down would be very welcome. +And we should bear in mind it's the Russian border. +It's not the Mexican border. +There's no Warsaw Pact maneuvers going on in Mexico. +And that's a border that the Russians are quite reasonably sensitive about. +They've practically been destroyed several times the last century right through that +region. +5 +9 +13 +18 +19 +20 +24 +25 +29 +34 +38 +39 +42 +47 +48 +54 +56 +62 +69 +75 +80 +87 +92 +93 +95 +104 +113 +114 +119 +123 +127 +133 +140 +145 +148 +157 +167 +172 +175 +181 +188 +195 +205 +211 +213 +220 +228 +233 +239 +246 +253 +258 +267 +274 +281 +291 +295 +300 +304 +307 +318 +325 +332 +336 +339 +343 +344 +352 +357 +359 +361 +366 +368 +371 +375 +381 +385 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky - is Iran a threat (UCL) 1pH8gCEZ4Ds.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky - is Iran a threat (UCL) 1pH8gCEZ4Ds.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..656b744 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky - is Iran a threat (UCL) 1pH8gCEZ4Ds.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,290 @@ +>> In Western policy making circles +and among political commentators the Iranian threat is considered +to pose the greatest danger to world order and hence, +must be the primary focus of US foreign policy; +Europe's trailing along politely as usual. +This year is called the Year of Iran, because of the danger +of that enormous threat, +which does raise a question: what exactly is the Iranian threat? +If you read the public commentary you don't get much +of an answer, but there actually is an authoritative answer, +which is ignored. +The authoritative answer is provided by the regular +reports to Congress by the Pentagon +and US intelligence agencies that come every year, +reports on the global security and of course, +they include a section on Iran; +the most recent was almost a year ago. +The reports make it very clear +that whatever the Iranian threat is, it's not military. +So I'll quote, "Iran's military spending is relatively low +compared to the rest of the region." +In fact, it's less than a quarter of that of Saudi Arabia +and minuscule as compared with the US, of course. +Iran's military doctrine is strictly defensive, +designed to slow an invasion +and to force a diplomatic solution to hostilities. +Iran has only limited capacity +to project force beyond its borders. +They, of course, bring up the nuclear option and say that +"Iran's nuclear program and its willingness +to keep open the possibility +of developing nuclear weapons is a central part +of its deterrent strategy." +Well, the brutal clerical regime +in Iran is undoubtedly a major threat +to its own people - hardly outranks US allies +in that regard - but the threat lies elsewhere and it's ominous. +The one element of the threat is Iran's potential deterrent +capacity; notice that that's an illegitimate exercise +of sovereignty because it might interfere with US freedom +of action in the region. +And it's, of course, glaringly obvious why Iran would seek a +deterrent capacity; just take a look at the disposition +of forces in the region, including nuclear forces. +Seven years ago one of Israel's leading military historians, +Martin van Creveld, wrote that, +"The world has witnessed how the United States attacked Iraq +for, as it turned out, no reason at all." +Had the Iranians not tried +to build nuclear weapons they would be crazy, particularly +when they're under constant threat by-- +constant threat of attack by the United States, +of course in violation of the UN Charter but, +remember that that doesn't apply to the United States. +Whether they are, in fact, +developing a nuclear capability we don't really know but, +perhaps so. +Well, the Iranian threat as described in the documents +and the reports goes beyond deterrents. +Iran is also seeking to expand its influence +in neighbouring countries and thus +to destabilise the region, as it's called. +Notice that when the US invade and +occupies Iran's neighbours, that's stabilisation. +When Iran tries to expand its influence, +say commercial relations, with its neighbours, +that's destabilisation. +That is actually routine usage in foreign policy commentary +so for-- sometimes it becomes almost comical. +Here's prominent foreign policy analyst, James Chase, +former Editor of Foreign Affairs, +rather on the liberal side incidentally. +He was properly using the term stability in its technical sense +when he explained that in order to achieve stability in Chile, +it was necessary to destabilise the country [Laughter] namely +by overthrowing the elected +government installing a vicious dictatorship. +Sounds contradictory, but it isn't +if you understand the technical meaning of the terms. +Well, other concerns about Iran I have no time to go into. +They're interesting to explore but, +I think they simply show, +underscore what the guiding doctrines are and +their continuing status in imperial culture. +That's very much in accord with the doctrines that were laid +down by FDR's planners during the Second World War. +The United States cannot tolerate any exercise +of sovereignty that interferes with its global designs. +And the United States and Europe are of course engaged +in punishing Iran for its threat to stability and trying +to get it to become a more civilised country, but +it's useful to recall how isolated the US +and Europe are. +The non-aligned countries, which is most of the world, they have +for years been vigorously supporting Iran's right +to enrich uranium. +Within the region, as I mentioned, +the irrelevant public even strongly favours Iranian +nuclear weapons. +The major regional power, Turkey, +voted against the latest US sanctions motion +in the Security Council, along with Brazil, +which is the most admired country +of the South, as polls show. +Turkey's disobedience led to sharp censure at that point, but +not for the first time. +Turkey was bitterly condemned in 2003 +when the government committed a major crime: +it followed the will of 95% +of the population and refused to take part +in the US-British invasion of Iraq +and that demonstrated its very weak grasp of democracy, +which [Laughter] led to its sanctions and sharp censure. +It's the same today; after the 2010 Security Council misdeed, +Turkey was warned by Obama's top diplomat on European affairs, +Philip Gordon, that it must demonstrate its +commitment to partnership with the West: +follow orders in other words. +A scholar with the Council on Foreign Relations asked, +"How do we keep the Turks in their lane?" +They're departing; something wrong; +'in their lane' means following orders +like good democrats, our style democrats. +Brazil's Lula was admonished in a New York Times headline. +He was warned that his effort with Turkey +to provide a solution +to the uranium enrichment issue outside the framework +of US power is a spot on the Brazilian leader's legacy. +In brief, do what we say, that's your function. +There's kind of an interesting side light to all of this, +which has been effectively suppressed. +The Iran-Turkey-Brazil deal had been approved in advance +by President Obama, presumably on the assumption +that it would fail and that would provide an ideological +weapon against Iran. +That was revealed by the British Foreign Office, +which released the letter of support for it +after Brazil was censured. +When the effort succeeded, approval quickly turned +to censure and Washington ran +through a Security Council resolution, which was so weak +that China readily signed and is now chastised for living +up to the letter of the resolution, +but not following Washington's unilateral directives, +which go far beyond it. +3 +5 +11 +15 +20 +23 +27 +29 +33 +36 +40 +41 +44 +48 +52 +56 +58 +61 +63 +66 +73 +75 +79 +83 +90 +92 +96 +99 +102 +106 +110 +111 +115 +118 +121 +125 +129 +134 +139 +142 +147 +149 +153 +156 +161 +166 +168 +173 +176 +178 +182 +186 +190 +193 +196 +198 +201 +202 +206 +209 +213 +216 +221 +225 +231 +235 +238 +240 +245 +248 +254 +255 +258 +263 +267 +272 +274 +278 +280 +284 +287 +290 +292 +297 +300 +302 +308 +312 +317 +320 +324 +328 +331 +332 +337 +341 +343 +347 +351 +353 +356 +360 +363 +365 +369 +374 +376 +380 +383 +385 +388 +391 +396 +400 +407 +411 +414 +417 +420 +424 +427 +432 +434 +438 +445 +449 +451 +454 +459 +464 +466 +468 +475 +479 +483 +485 +488 +490 +494 +500 +503 +507 +513 +516 +519 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky Hitler History Lesson WpJjuotD534.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky Hitler History Lesson WpJjuotD534.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d6e255 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky Hitler History Lesson WpJjuotD534.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@ +Before the rise of the Nazis, wouldn't you say meddling of Western powers, or U.S. powers, +had something to do with that because maybe workers parties wanted to rise up and +It's not a secret. +Again, we have plenty of internal records. +I mean, what's now called "appeasement," you know, bad thing, appease the Germans, that +was regarded as a sensible policy. +In 1937, the State Department described Hitler as a "moderate" who's standing between the +extremes of right and left and if he doesn't succeed, the left, the labor and disillusioned +middle classes might get together and maybe even move towards the Russians or something, +but in an event, have a worker-based leftist government which the U.S. won't tolerate. +Britain even worse, they didn't want it. +They had tight business interests with Germany, U.S. did too, but Britain much more so. +So they were much happier to work with Hitler. +In fact, you know, as late as 1938, they probably could have stopped the war. +could have stopped the war. +Germany wasn't ready for war then. +But they wouldn't do it. +A 1937 Report of the State Department's European Division described the rise of Fascism as +the natural reaction of "the rich and middle classes, in self-defense" when the "dissatisfied +masses, with the example of the Russian revolution before them, swing to the Left."\h +Fascism therefore "must succeed or the masses, this time reinforced by the disillusioned +middle classes, will again turn to the Left."\h +The Report also noted that "if Fascism cannot succeed by persuasion [in Germany], it must +succeed by force."\h +It concluded that "economic appeasement should prove the surest route to world peace," a +conclusion based on the belief that Fascism as a system was compatible with U.S. interests. +One of the books on this topic is: Thank God They're on Our Side. +And it shows you history that I don't think is being taught in school. +How greed has caused an enormous amount of misery throughout history. +And that the quest for stability is really continuing the status quo of greed with a +disregard for democratic rights of the people. +Look at what they're willing to do to keep down the people. +The so called quest for stability -- on who's terms? +That's the key. +Quoting from this book, page 86: This concern +was +Chomsky Hitler History Lesson +4 +10 +15 +16 +19 +24 +27 +35 +44 +48 +56 +58 +63 +66 +72 +74 +76 +77 +83 +89 +94 +99 +102 +108 +110 +115 +120 +124 +128 +132 +137 +140 +143 +146 +147 +200 +209 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky Suite (2011) by Tod Machover ZXfXy771K8w.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky Suite (2011) by Tod Machover ZXfXy771K8w.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b391114 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky Suite (2011) by Tod Machover ZXfXy771K8w.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,832 @@ +("Chomsky Suite" by Tod Machover) +(pages rustling) +("Chomsky Suite" by Tod Machover) +- [David] Welcome to Kronos, Noam. +I bet you never thought you'd be sitting +in the middle of a string quartet. +(laughter) +Maybe, would you wanna start off by +playing that violin over there? +- This one? +- Yeah, that one, yeah. +You need the bow too. +- Oh, all right. - Yeah, that's right. +And I rosined it all specially for you, +so it's all set to go. +(audience laughs) +- Well, you remember the introductory remarks +were that there was a certain moments +when you shouldn't get up and walk out. +(audience laughs) +When one of the musicians is holding a violin. +But this is an exception. +This is your chance to walk out. +(laughter) +I won't inflict this on you. +- [David] Scratch away! +- Scratch away? +- [David] Press harder! (violin screeches) +There it is! +- Oh, whattaya know! +- [David] Put it close to the mic so they can hear it. +- Uh-uh! (Noam laughs) +(audience laughs) +(violin screeching) +I'll tell you, I +I once did learn how to play an instrument, +I've no musical talent, it skipped me in my family, but +I once did learn +how to play an instrument, a guitar. +There was a band, +a pickup band made up of MIT and Harvard +mostly graduate students, some faculty. +My wife was on and she played the accordion. +Ken Hale, our department, was the fiddler, a great fiddler. +And there was a ringer, a student from the conservatory, +who sort of ran it. +And for one concert they needed a guitar +and they didn't have anybody to play it, +so she thought she would teach me how to play the guitar. +And she managed to teach me how to play one string. +But to move my fingers so that it would look +as though I was playing the guitar. +And we sort of carried it off. +So maybe I could learn this. +Actually my son brought something like this home, once. +A little bigger, but not much, from third grade. +The music teacher had shown the kids violin, +he was utterly entranced with it, +so he convinced the teacher to let him take it home, +and he went on to, +to get to the point here, +he was thinking of becoming a professional violinist. +But an event occurred which I described to Daniel once, +which made him decide to become a gifted amateur instead, +which he is. +But I never progressed beyond the first string. (chuckles) +- So, Noam, what's in your record collection? +- Pardon? +- What's in your record collection? +- Well, one record is the basis for what you just heard, +the first Bach suite. +It's uh, must've listened to it a couple hundred times +in the last few years and many times before. +It has a rather special personal meaning, +if you don't mind some personal anecdotes. +My wife and I were married as children, basically, +had, we were working students, +never had any time for anything. +Never got more than a short distance from home. +But early in the 1950s we did manage to +take off a couple of weeks over the summer, first time. +And we decided to go to Europe, +which was a trek for two kids +who had really never been away from home. +And the goal was to go to Prague, +where Casals was then running the, +Pablo Casals was running the Prague Festival. +And the absolute peak achievement what drew +some of the best professional musicians in the world +to this little town in the Pyrenees +was his playing of the Bach suites. +Casals had essentially resurrected them from oblivion +and I think probably became the first cellist +to perform them seriously. +The atmosphere was indescribable. +I mean, it, Prague is a lovely little town in the Pyrenees +it's right below Mont Canigou, which is the, +kind of the symbol of Catalan nationalism. +Casals was a committed Catalan nationalist. +Actually, +by all rights, +my bones should be up on Mont Canigou right now. +I decided to try to climb it in a fit of abandon and +lost the trail halfway up and I started wandering around +and by the sheerest accident +ran into +the shed of a Catalan woodsman who lived alone up there and +after he cursed at me in Catalan for about half an hour +he showed me a trail back. +Oddly it never occurred to me to be nervous. +I later understood why. +Turns out the male brain +doesn't mature until about 25. +(audience laughs) +Before that you think you're indestructible, +nothing can happen. +There's probably an evolutionary reason for that. +But there had to be somebody in hunter-gatherer tribes +who was willing to go out +and fight that saber-toothed tiger. +(audience laughs) +Anyhow it didn't occur to me. +I came down, +we had done some quite remarkable things on that trip. +We went through Paris, +where we were able to catch a concert +by the incredible Russian violinist David Oistrakh, +who was on one of his rare visits to the West. +In Rome we saw a magnificent +outdoor performance of Aida +at the Roman ruins, Terme di Caracalla, +unforgettable. +Managed to get to the Lascaux caves, +they were then still open, now sealed. +And could see why Picasso, when he went there, +exclaimed that 30,000 years ago, +they had already discovered the secrets of modern art. +And many other things, +but the peak was what we were aiming for, +the Prague concert. +We finally got to it the indescribable aura, +quite apart from the personal aspect, +about as close to, when he did play one of the suites, +the first suite, and it's about as close to +a moment of sublimity as I can imagine. +Actually it had a further personal meaning to me. +Casals was a dedicated republican, antifascist. +He claims, he recorded the suites, six of them, +for the first time, actually maybe the first time +they were ever recorded, +right at the end of the Spanish Civil War, 1939. +Just at the time when Barcelona was under attack +and it soon fell, that meant Franco's fascism +took over Spain. +He of course had to flee, +he would've been killed immediately. +Fascist slogan was "Death to intelligence" +and he was a marked man +as a republican activist. +Went across the border and managed to survive +the Second World War. +He refused offers by the Nazis, who admired his music. +He was already a very famous cellist, +and they wanted him to come to Berlin, he refused. +He refused to play in occupied France. +After the war, Casals refused to play in any country +that recognized Franco. +And he wouldn't play in Russia, anti-Bolshevik. +Wouldn't play in the former fascist countries. +But he was, had, you know, just flooded with +lucrative offers to come and perform after the war +but he refused. +He finally agreed to play in Prague and he, +I think in the late '40s, began the Prague concerts +and we were lucky to be able to catch one of them, +one of the early ones. +All of this also had a special personal meaning for me. +As a child I was, +in the 1930s, I was closely following +the dreadful rise of fascism in Europe. +The first article I wrote, or at least remember writing, +was right at the time of the fall of Barcelona. +It was about how, +I don't want to inflict that on you, either, +but it was about the fall of Austria, +Czechoslovakia, then Barcelona. +The kind of last hope for some barrier +to the spread of this hideous specter +of fascim all over Europe. +And I knew something about Casals's, by the time we went, +about his record and the performance, heard it many times. +And being in Prague and listening to this heroic figure +and magnificent musician, carrying forward, +as he did every time, kind of a new performance +of the suites, to which he devoted +much of his artistic life, was, +along with everything else, quite a remarkable +and unforgettable experience. +So, hearing this, +these elaborations and developments of it is +personally very meaningful for me. +If there's a lesson in all this, which maybe there is, +for young people among you, +when you have opportunities like that don't let them pass. +They can enrich your lives enormously and +the memories remain +and in later years +become more vivid and even more significant. +So, it's wise to exploit the chance. +(applause) +("Chomsky Suite" by Tod Machover) +- Thank you for that, that was beautiful, Noam. +I've been thinking about this for months, +trying to know what +to ask. +I think you know what I, what I'm trying to ask, +because of all the people I've ever met +I think you might be the best listener that I know of. +And the ability to really listen, +and get beyond the actual words, +and to really read and also get beyond the actual words +and know what's really meant, +is something you've spent your whole life doing, I think. +And what I wanna leave with this evening, +is some sense of how, +through a musical experience, +we can demand of the environment we live in, +the leaders that we have, the culture we have, +that our society be more just. +Our, +that it just be more open to the future +and to what really needs to be done. +I've always thought music is the one language +that really doesn't need translating very much. +Even though, when we play with a musician +form Afghanistan, or someone from China +or someone from many different parts of the world, +frequently we need translators to make a +nonverbal musical experience. +But I'm just wondering if you have any thoughts about this. +(Noam clears his throat) +- There are some real puzzles about the nature of music +and its ubiquity. +As far as I know, every human society that's been found +has some form of music and I think some form of dance. +It may not be in the tonal idiom of classical music, +maybe something else, but something. +And it's a good question, "Why?" +Since it's universal, it +very likely originates somewhere in East Africa. +Before our ancestors, maybe 50,000 years ago, +probably quite a small group of them, +left Africa, quickly spread around the world. +So it's gotta be something deep in our nature +that's embedded there, for some reason. +And there's a good question, "Why?" +What is it about music that makes it part of +the nature of humans? +It's, species-specific, I mean, songbirds have song, +but it's quite a different phenomenon. +Music is not +instrumental in the sense of +trying to achieve some end, like mating, +or something like that. +It's been, there is one other, a couple, +there are a few other similar biological phenomena. +One of them, of course, is language. +Language is universal, it's every human, +all humans have it. +All humans have the same capacity. +We know that if you take an infant +from some Amazonian tribe that, +the tribe hasn't had human contact for maybe 20,000 years +and you bring that child to Boston, +raise it here from infancy, it'll +be indistinguishable from my grandchildren. +Maybe it'll be studying quantum physics at MIT. +And conversely, which means, +there are individual differences +but there's no known group differences. +Which means that first of all it means +that language hasn't evolved, +language capacity has not evolved +for at least 50,000 years. +And in fact it doesn't seem to go back very far before that. +Same is probably true of the musical capacity, +but it's harder to study, +I don't think it has been studied. +In the case of language, you can at least imagine some +selectional reason why it should've propagated. +It may not be the right reason, +these are mostly fairy tales, +but at least you can imagine something. +Can I say music, it's hard to see what it is. +That kind of puzzle has bothered evolutionary biologists +ever since Darwin and Wallace co-discovered +the theory of natural selection. +Wallace, in his writings about it, +was very puzzled about the fact that humans all +have arithmetical capacity. +Again, no selectional reason possible, +because it's only been used very recently in human history +and by a very small group of people. +But it's again, universal. +So an Amazonian child has the same capacity as, +say, my grandchildren. +Even if it's not developed +in the culture in which the kid lives. +And he wondered why, since it has, again, +no selectional value. +He thought that there must be some other force +in evolution beyond natural selection. +Darwin strongly disagreed with him but had no explanation. +Very likely, in the case of arithmetic, +it's sort of an offshoot of language. +That you can, if you understand, +once enough had come to be understood +about the structure of language, +you could see how a minor, actually simplification of it, +could give you the basis for arithmetic. +But nothing like that is known in the case of music. +Except maybe at a very primitive level there's +probably just cause we don't understand enough, either, +about language or music. +So it is known by now that there are, pretty well-known, +that there are special neural tissues unique to humans +which, in newborn infants and probably intrauterine, +pick out of the environment certain rhythmic structures. +Roughly at the level of a syllable, +so probably specific to humans. +It's probably the core of picking out, +an amazing achievement of an infant, +to pick out of the whole, complex environment, +the data that's language-related. +How children do that, nobody understands. +No other organism can do it. +And picking out a certain rhythmic structure +may be part of the core of it. +Later come other rhythmic characteristics. +By about six months old a child +has pretty much the understanding, +knows the intonational structure of the language +that it's been exposed to. +Maybe that has something to do with the +part of the development of music. +That leaves open a very deep question, +what about structural properties of music? +It's not just rhythm, of course. +Well, where do they come from? +It's tempting to think that +somehow they grew out of the language capacity. +Which something is sort of suggested by Leonard Bernstein's +famous Norton lectures 40 years ago. +And there's been work on it since, +but it still remains quite a mystery. +But that's just from the point of view of biology. +What about from the point of view of our lives? +Well, you know, I mean listening to +a skilled, +sometimes remarkable musical performance +or seeing a work of art or +does do something to us +or should do something to us personally. +It should instruct us that, +however good we are at what we do, +and most of us work hard doing things we're expert at, +doing well, but it should tell us there's something more. +You should really be, have an idea, you should be aiming +at something much higher. +At maybe something you can't achieve +or even begin to achieve. +Look, I'm never gonna be Pablo Casals, obviously. +Or even play this. +But the fact that he could continue to do it, +and that I could appreciate it, +particularly in those remarkable circumstances +but even just listening to the record and so on, +you know, for many other things, +does, should inspire us to at least try +to aim for something higher than what we can do regularly, +expertly and appropriately. +So try to find some touch of sublimity in your own work. +Or for that matter your own life. +Because even a life can, the humblest life +can be quite beautiful. +Actually that reminds me of something that +I mentioned that my son was an aspiring violinist. +My wife and I took him to a master class +when he was about 12 years old, +run by Yehudi Menuhin over at the conservatory. +And I remember there was one young woman violinist +who played a piece with just absolute perfection. +You know it was technically +the most magnificent thing you can imagine. +And at the end of the piece +Menuhin looked at her and said, +"Magnificently done, +"but you didn't stop to smell the flowers." +And that was a very meaningful comment. +And it's for all of us. +We have to somehow stop to smell the flowers. +There's more to life than doing what you can do +with technical perfection. +And listening to a marvelous work of music +brilliantly performed, teaches us that +the flowers are there, it's for us to try, +somehow, to smell them. +Try to excel, try to go beyond what we know we're capable of +and at least aim for something higher in life. +Whether it's in your activities, +try to make it a better world. +In your work try to achieve some goal +that can barely be formulated or whatever it may be. +(pages rustling) +("Chomsky Suite" by Tod Machover) +(applause) +15 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+3098 +3114 +3121 +3124 +3143 +3147 +3152 +3160 +3166 +3172 +3181 +3184 +3190 +3193 +3197 +3202 +3205 +3209 +3218 +3260 +3265 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky on Hypocrisy of Bombing Afghanistan fbwRvzXULtg.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky on Hypocrisy of Bombing Afghanistan fbwRvzXULtg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ce2b8b --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky on Hypocrisy of Bombing Afghanistan fbwRvzXULtg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +...'cause you can't comprehend +that we should apply to ourselves the standard you apply to others. +That is incomprehensible. +If you take a poll among US intellectuals, support for bombing in Afghanistan is just overwhelming. +But how many of them think that you should bomb Washington, +because of the US war against Nicaragua, let's say, or Cuba or Turkey or anyone else? +Now if anyone were to suggest this they'd be considered insane. But why? +I mean, if one is right, why is the other wrong? +When you try to get someone to talk about this question, they just - well, try... +They can't comprehend what your question is. +Because you can't comprehend that we should apply to ourselves the standards you apply to others. +That is incomprehensible. +Now, you know, there couldn't be a moral principle more elementary. +I mean, all you have to do is read George Bush's favourite philosopher. +There is a definition, famous definition, in the Gospels of the hypocrite. +The hypocrite is the person who refuses to apply to himself the standards he applies to others. +By that standard the entire commentary and discussion of the war, +the so-called 'war on terror,' is pure hypocrisy, virtually without exception. +Can anybody understand that? No. They can't understand it. +But that's not so unusual. +I bet you anything that if you go back to Japan in the 1930's or 40's, +and you did a poll of intellectuals on the war, you'd probably get the same reactions. +I mean, I know it's true in Germany, France, and everywhere else. +It's just standard. It's ugly, but it's standard. +2 +3 +7 +11 +17 +21 +27 +32 +35 +40 +43 +48 +50 +56 +60 +64 +71 +77 +84 +89 +93 +98 +103 +108 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky on North Korea & Iran - Historical Record Shows U.S. Favors Violence Over Diplomacy UqFnnoM-ttU.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky on North Korea & Iran - Historical Record Shows U.S. Favors Violence Over Diplomacy UqFnnoM-ttU.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d290f30 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky on North Korea & Iran - Historical Record Shows U.S. Favors Violence Over Diplomacy UqFnnoM-ttU.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,330 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: At this point, as President Trump nears his 100th day, North Korea and Iran +have been a major focus. +Are you concerned that with the president at the lowest popularity rating, I think, +in any president's history at this point, that he will focus abroad, as he has in the +last few weeks, dropping the MOAB, the "Mother of All Bombs," in Afghanistan, bombing the +Syrian government, and yet focusing specifically on North Korea and Iran--in North Korea, +McMaster, General McMaster, the national security adviser, saying tensions with North Korea +are coming to a head. +Do you think there is a possibility that the U.S. would attack North Korea? +NOAM CHOMSKY: I mean, this administration is extremely unpredictable. +Trump probably has no idea what he's going to do five minutes from now, so you can't--literally--so +you can't really make predictions with much confidence. +But I doubt it very much. +The reason is very simple: An attack on North Korea would unleash--no matter what attack +it is, even a nuclear attack, would unleash massive artillery bombardment of Seoul, which +is the biggest city in South Korea, right near the border, which would wipe it out, +including plenty of American troops. +That doesn't--I mean, I'm no technical expert, but as far as I can--as I read and +can see, there's no defense against that. +Furthermore, North Korea could retaliate against American bases in the region, where there's +plenty of American soldiers and so on, also in Japan. +They'd be devastated. +North Korea would be finished. +You know, so would much of the region. +But if attacked, presumably, they would respond, very likely. +In fact, the responses might be automatic. +McMaster, at least, and Mattis understand this. +How much influence they have, we don't know. +So I think an attack is unlikely. +But the real question is: Is there a way of dealing with the problem? +There are a lot of proposals: sanctions; a big new missile defense system, which is a +major threat to China, it'll increase tensions there; military threats of various kinds; +sending an aircraft carrier, the Vinson, to North Korea, except by accident--it happened +to be going in the opposite direction, but we'll forget that. +But these are--those are the proposals, that kind of proposals, as to how to solve. +Actually, there's one proposal that's ignored. +I mean, you see a mention of it now and then. +It's a pretty simple proposal. +Remember, the goal is to get North Korea to freeze its weapons systems, weapons and missile +systems. +So one proposal is to accept their offer to do that. +Sounds simple. +They've made a proposal. +China and North Korea proposed to freeze the North Korean missile and nuclear weapons systems. +And the U.S. instantly rejected it. +And you can't blame that on Trump. +Obama did the same thing a couple of years ago. +Same offer was presented. +I think it was 2015. +The Obama administration instantly rejected it. +And the reason is that it calls for a quid pro quo. +It says, in return, the United States should put an end to threatening military maneuvers +on North Korea's borders, which happen to include, under Trump, sending of nuclear-capable +B-52s flying right near the border. +Now, maybe Americans don't remember very well, but North Koreans have a memory of not +too long ago, when North Korea was absolutely flattened, literally, by American bombing. +There was--there was literally no targets left. +And I really urge people who haven't done it to read the official American military +histories, the Air Quarterly Review, the military histories describing this. +They describe it very vividly and accurately. +They say, "There just weren't any targets left. +So what could we do?" +Well, we decided to attack the dams, the huge dams. +That's a major war crime. +People were hanged for it at Nuremberg. +But put that aside. +And then comes an ecstatic, gleeful description of the bombing of the dams and the huge flow +of water, which was wiping out valleys and destroying the rice crop, on which Asians +depend for survival--lots of racist comment, but all with exaltation and glee. +You really have to read it to appreciate it. +The North Koreans don't have to bother reading it. +They lived it. +So when nuclear-capable B-52s are flying on their border, along with other threatening +military maneuvers, they're kind of upset about it. +Strange people. +And they continue to develop what they see as a potential deterrent that might protect +the regime from--and the country, in fact--from destruction. +This has nothing at all to do with what you think about the government. +So maybe it's the worst government in human history. +OK. +But these are still the facts that exist. +So, why is the United States unwilling to accept an agreement which would end the immediate +threats of destruction against North Korea and, in return, freeze the weapons and missile +systems? +Well, I leave that to you. +And remember, that's bipartisan in this case. +Could negotiations go--the usual argument is "Well, you can't trust them," and so +on and so forth. +But there is a history. +And I--there's no time to run through the history. +It's quite interesting. +Begins in 1993, when Clinton--under Clinton, the North Koreans made a deal with Israel +to terminate North Korean missile shipments to the Middle East, which is a great, serious +threat to Israel and the world, and, in return, Israel would recognize North Korea. +Now, the Clinton administration wouldn't accept that. +They pressured Israel, which has to do what they're told, to withdraw from it. +And North Korea responded by sending--by firing their first intermediate-range missiles. +I won't go on with the rest. +It's a very interesting story. +There was actually an agreement in 2005 that North Korea would completely dismantle its +nuclear weapons and missile systems, end them, finish, dismantle them, in return for a nonaggression +pact from the United States, an end to threats, provision by the West--that means by the +United States--of a light-water reactor, which can't produce nuclear weapons but +could produce--be used for peaceful purposes, research, medical, other purposes. +That was basically the agreement, 2005. +Didn't last very long. +The Bush administration instantly undermined it. +It dismantled the consortium that was supposed to provide the reactor. +And it immediately imposed--pressured--and when the U.S. pressures, it means it happens--banks +to block North Korean financial transactions, including perfectly legitimate trade. +So the crazy North Koreans started producing missiles and nuclear weapons again. +And that's been the kind of record all the way through. +So, yeah, maybe the most horrible regime in human history, but the fact of the matter +is the regime does want to survive, and it even wants to carry out economic development--there's +pretty general agreement about this--which it cannot do in any significant way when it's +pouring resources, very scarce resources, into weapons and missile production. +So they have considerable incentive, including survival, to perhaps continue this process +of reacting in a kind of tit-for-tat fashion to U.S. actions. +When the U.S. lowers tensions, they do. +When we raise tensions, they go on with these plans. +How about that as a possibility? +I mean, it is--if you look at the press, it's occasionally mentioned. +In fact, there was not a bad article in The Washington Post about it recently by a U.S. +professor who teaches in South Korea. +So, occasionally, it's this strange possibility of letting the North Koreans do exactly what +we want them to do. +Sometimes this is mentioned, but it's pretty much dismissed. +We can't do that sort of thing. +There are similar questions to raise about Iran. +So, Iran is, you know, the--again, the adults in the room, like Mattis and so on, say it's +the greatest threat to peace, you know, the greatest sponsor of terrorism, on and on. +How is it a sponsor of terrorism? +Well, could go through that. +So, for example, in Yemen, it's claimed that they are providing some aid to rebel +tribesmen, Houthi tribesmen, in Yemen. +OK, maybe they are. +What is the United States doing in Yemen? +It's providing a huge flood of arms to its Saudi Arabian ally, who are destroying the +country, who have created a huge humanitarian crisis, huge numbers of people killed, massive +starvation. +They're threatening now to bomb a port, which is the only source of aid for surviving +people. +But Iran is the major source of terrorism. +And if you look around the world, there's many questions like this. +I don't want to go on too long. +But, very strikingly--and this--there's one lesson that you discover when you carefully +look at the historical record. +What I just described about North Korea is pretty typical. +Over and over again, there are possibilities of diplomacy and negotiation, which might +not succeed--you can't be sure if you don't try them--but which look pretty promising, +which are abandoned, dismissed, literally without comment, in favor of increased force +and violence. +In fact, that's also the background for the 1953 moment, when the clock moved to two +minutes to midnight and the U.S. faced the first serious threat to its security, that, +in fact--you know, since probably the War of 1812--could have been avoided. +There's pretty good evidence that it could have been avoided. +But it was--the possibility was literally not even considered. +And case after case is like this. +It's worth looking at the historical record from that perspective, to ask whether that +general comment has some validity. +I think, if you do, you'll find that it has considerable merit. +AMY GOODMAN: We'll be back with Professor Noam Chomsky in a minute to talk about the +war in Syria and the Trump administration's threats to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian +Assange. +Stay with us. +0 +11 +13 +20 +29 +36 +43 +49 +51 +56 +62 +69 +72 +74 +81 +89 +94 +97 +105 +108 +115 +119 +120 +121 +125 +128 +131 +135 +139 +142 +148 +155 +164 +171 +174 +181 +183 +186 +188 +194 +195 +200 +202 +204 +214 +216 +218 +222 +223 +225 +228 +232 +240 +249 +253 +260 +268 +272 +279 +285 +287 +290 +292 +296 +298 +300 +302 +309 +316 +323 +326 +329 +331 +338 +343 +344 +351 +358 +361 +364 +365 +369 +378 +385 +386 +388 +392 +397 +398 +400 +403 +404 +414 +421 +426 +430 +436 +442 +444 +446 +455 +463 +472 +481 +486 +490 +492 +496 +502 +511 +518 +522 +526 +531 +540 +546 +553 +560 +567 +570 +573 +575 +579 +585 +587 +595 +597 +600 +603 +605 +613 +619 +621 +623 +630 +634 +636 +638 +645 +653 +654 +661 +662 +664 +667 +670 +677 +681 +686 +693 +700 +707 +708 +716 +723 +731 +734 +738 +740 +747 +750 +754 +759 +764 +765 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky on Syria - We Must Help Fleeing Refugees & Pursue Diplomatic Settlement F0Z02rpvS-k.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky on Syria - We Must Help Fleeing Refugees & Pursue Diplomatic Settlement F0Z02rpvS-k.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b77cf36 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky on Syria - We Must Help Fleeing Refugees & Pursue Diplomatic Settlement F0Z02rpvS-k.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,348 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman in Burlington, Vermont, where we're continuing our community tour +throughout the country. +But we go back now to my conversation with linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky, speaking +on Monday in Cambridge, Massachusetts. +AMY GOODMAN: I last interviewed you on April 4th, just a few weeks ago, on Democracy Now!. +It was the 50th anniversary of Dr. King giving his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, why he opposed +the war in Vietnam, where he called the U.S. "the greatest purveyor of violence in the +world." +And I wanted to turn from North Korea and Iran to Syria. +It was the day of the gas attack in Syria, so we didn't get to talk about it very much. +And I'm wondering your thoughts on what you think happened, and then the ensuing U.S. +bombing that President Trump would later talk about, saying he was having chocolate cake +with the Chinese president--very, very good chocolate cake--when they launched the Tomahawk +missiles into Iraq, he said. +And he was corrected by the interviewer--right?--who said it was actually Syria. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Bunch of "ragheads"; it's all about the same. +But, well, there are some things we know for sure. +There was a serious chemical weapons attack. +Nobody doubts that. +It's plausible that it was the Syrian government, which does raise some questions. +It's not so obvious why the Assad regime would have carried out a chemical warfare +attack at a moment when it's pretty much winning the war, and the worst danger it faces +is that a counterforce will enter to undermine its progress. +So it does raise some questions. +It also--even though maybe you can think up some reason why the Assad regime, which +is a murderous, brutal regime, might have done it, there's even another question as +to why the Russians would have allowed it. +Now, remember, this is a--the air base is a joint Russian-Syrian base. +Russia has plenty of clout in Syria. +And for them, it's a total disaster. +They have global concerns, not just local concerns in Syria. +So there are some concerns. +And there are further concerns. +There has been--the White House did put out a careful--you know, a justification, an +intelligence report, to explain and account for, showing why they had absolute confidence +that it was a Syrian government attack. +This was analyzed closely by a very serious and credible analyst, Theodore Postol, professor +at MIT, who has a long record of highly successful, credible analysis. +He's a highly regarded strategic analyst and intelligence analyst. +And he gave a pretty devastating critique of the White House report. +You might--you can pick it up online and take a look at it. +So there certainly are some questions. +That there's--that Syria is capable of a monstrous act like that, the Syrian government, +that much is not in doubt. +But one question that arises is: Before doing something, could you find out what happened? +OK? +I mean, let's have an inquiry, take a look and see what in fact actually happened. +There are plenty of cases where things--where it looked as though things happened, but they +didn't. +And remember that reporting from Syria is extremely difficult. +If reporters go into the rebel-held areas and don't do what they're told, you know, +get your head cut off. +Patrick Cockburn and others have written about this. +You just can't seriously report from those areas. +There are obvious questions when you're reporting from the government side. +So the reporters are--there are very good reporters doing a serious, courageous job, +but there's not much you can do. +So we just don't know a lot. +Well, those are the circumstances in which the 59 Tomahawk missiles were launched. +That's pretty easy. +It's easy to sit in Washington and push a button and say, "Go kill somebody." +That's considered courage, you know, macho, showing how strong we are. +What did they actually do? +Well, apparently, the Tomahawk missiles were targeting a part of the airfield that doesn't +seem to be used. +And, in fact, the next day, planes were taking off. +And, in fact, the village that was attacked by the chemical weapons has been even more +heavily attacked by straight bombing from the Assad government after the 59 Tomahawk +missiles. +So whatever they were intended to do doesn't seem to have anything to do with Syria. +I suspect that what they were intended to do was pretty much what you described, to +shore up Trump's image as--I think it was Nikki Haley at the U.N., said, "There's +a new sheriff in town." +So now we've got Wyatt Earp, you know, pulling out his gun and getting rid of the bad guys. +No more of this soft stuff. +So, it was probably an attempt to shore up that image. +Pretty much like the bomb in Afghanistan. +Nobody knows what it was for, what it had to do with. +Probably destroyed a large part of Afghanistan. +Shortly after that, there was a mass--an incredibly brutal and successful Taliban attack, +which killed a couple hundred recruits, most of them unarmed. +The young draftees didn't know what they were doing. +It was so bad, the defense minister resigned. +Doesn't seem to have any effect on--it was supposedly aimed at ISIS. +Maybe it was. +Maybe it wasn't. +They don't seem to be affected by it. +So these look like--there doesn't seem to be any strategic analysis behind any of +these actions, as far as anyone can tell. +They seem like kind of about at the level of the twitters that keep coming out: something +that kind of occurs to me, so why not do it? +It's cheap. +It may kill a lot of people, makes me look good and, you know, makes it seem as if I'm +defending the country, and so on. +It's hard to see it as anything but that. +That these things help the people of Syria and Iraq is very hard to imagine. +AMY GOODMAN: What do you think has to be done to solve the crisis, the humanitarian catastrophe, +in Syria? +NOAM CHOMSKY: In Syria, it's a terrible catastrophe. +And, you know, unfortunately, there isn't a lot that can be done about it. +There are some things that can be done. +I mean, the idea that you can send in the Marines and bomb and so on, that has a small +problem. +If you do, you probably set off a nuclear war, and not only is Syria destroyed, the +rest of Syria, but the rest of the world, too. +So there's a little difficulty in that scenario, whatever one thinks about the justification +for it. +So what can be done? +Well, one thing that can be done, which is really easy, very easy, is to take care of +the people fleeing from this disaster. +I mean, there are huge numbers of people fleeing from the disaster. +What do we do about them? +Make sure they don't come here, you know, kind of like people fleeing from--you know, +my relatives, in fact, fleeing, trying to flee from Eastern Europe under the--before +when the Nazis were coming along. +"We don't want 'em. +Not here." +You know. +So the Syrians don't come--maybe a tiny trickle, but very few come here. +Europe's not that much better--in fact, pretty horrible, too. +So one thing you could do is just take care of the people who are fleeing the disaster. +Another thing you can do is provide humanitarian aid for those in the region. +Now, there are countries who are absorbing refugees, remember, like take Lebanon. +It's not a rich country like us. +Poor country. +About 40 percent of the population are refugees, many of them fleeing from the Israeli wars +as far back as '48, many--huge number of Syrians. +Jordan, another poor country, has absorbed a huge number of refugees. +Turkey has a couple of million. +Iran has accepted refugees. +So there are very--there are poor countries that are accommodating refugees, but not the +rich countries. +The rich countries, it's not our business, certainly not us. +It's even a more serious problem with regard--for us, moral problem, with regard to Central +America, but let's keep to Syria. +So another thing you could do is provide badly needed aid and assistance for those who have +succeeded in fleeing the disaster, or who remain in parts of Syria where survival is +possible, but are living under horrible conditions. +Now, that's all cheap and easy, a tiny fraction of increasing the military budget to cause +more destruction. +Now, the other thing that can be done and is being done is to try to support local efforts +throughout Syria at local ceasefires, just to lower the level of violence. +That's happening in different places. +Yeah, maybe the people don't like each other, but people sometimes like to survive. +And there are accommodations worked out, and they could be helped. +A broader possibility is to try to pursue the negotiations that will lead to some kind +of diplomatic settlement. +Now, there have been efforts, but they're mixed. +And there probably--can't be certain, but there seem to be possibilities that were dismissed. +So, for example, in 2012, there were reports from former Finnish minister Ahtisaari--has +a very credible record of involvement in international peacekeeping--who claimed that the--that +a republic--that a Russian diplomat had proposed a settlement in which Assad would be eased +out in the course of the negotiations, and some settlement would be reached in which +the Assad regime would be ended. +That was apparently dismissed without comment. +The U.S. and Britain and France just assumed at that point that they could overthrow the +Assad regime. +They didn't want to have anything to do with it. +That's the report. +The report appeared in England--as far as I know, it was never even reported here--by +good reporters. +Is it true? +Who knows? +Got to look into it to find out whether it's true. +You have to inquire. +You have to pursue the options, if they exist. +And they weren't. +But there are things that could be done, not what we would like to see. +You know, it would be nice to see: "Here's a solution that will make everybody happy +and end the destruction." +But those just don't seem on the possible agenda, because--for all kinds of reasons, +including the threat of a very serious war if Russia and the United States don't act +in a high level of concert in pursuing whatever they may be doing. +0 +3 +7 +8 +14 +16 +23 +29 +36 +37 +40 +46 +52 +58 +65 +68 +72 +76 +79 +87 +88 +95 +101 +109 +116 +119 +126 +131 +133 +138 +141 +144 +149 +150 +152 +159 +167 +170 +177 +185 +192 +196 +199 +203 +209 +211 +218 +219 +226 +232 +233 +238 +246 +248 +250 +254 +258 +263 +265 +267 +273 +274 +280 +287 +289 +296 +297 +301 +307 +314 +315 +321 +327 +334 +336 +342 +344 +348 +352 +356 +359 +366 +372 +375 +377 +381 +382 +383 +386 +392 +394 +400 +402 +403 +409 +411 +414 +420 +426 +427 +431 +438 +439 +446 +447 +452 +455 +462 +463 +464 +471 +473 +477 +481 +487 +494 +496 +497 +498 +499 +504 +508 +513 +518 +524 +527 +529 +536 +541 +546 +549 +552 +558 +560 +564 +571 +572 +580 +586 +589 +596 +598 +605 +611 +614 +619 +622 +630 +631 +637 +644 +655 +662 +672 +679 +683 +686 +693 +694 +695 +697 +702 +703 +705 +706 +708 +709 +712 +713 +718 +724 +725 +735 +746 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky on the GOP - Has Any Organization Ever Been So Committed to Destruction of Life on Earth fJ3cbtZ-UM8.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky on the GOP - Has Any Organization Ever Been So Committed to Destruction of Life on Earth fJ3cbtZ-UM8.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fedcc3f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky on the GOP - Has Any Organization Ever Been So Committed to Destruction of Life on Earth fJ3cbtZ-UM8.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,208 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: As President Trump prepares to mark 100 days in office, we spend the hour +with the world-renowned linguist and political dissident Noam Chomsky. +I spoke to him on Monday night at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. +We talked about climate change, nuclear weapons, North Korea, Iran, the war in Syria and the +Trump administration's threat to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. +I began by asking Noam Chomsky about his comments that the Republican Party is the most dangerous +organization in the world. +AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about this comment that you made that the Republican +Party, you said, is the most dangerous organization in world history. +Can you explain? +NOAM CHOMSKY: I also said that it's an extremely outrageous statement. +But the question is whether it's true. +I mean, has there ever been an organization in human history that is dedicated, with such +commitment, to the destruction of organized human life on Earth? +Not that I'm aware of. +Is the Republican organization--I hesitate to call it a party--committed to that? +Overwhelmingly. +There isn't even any question about it. +Take a look at the last primary campaign--plenty of publicity, very little comment on the most +significant fact. +Every single candidate either denied that what is happening is happening--namely, serious +move towards environmental catastrophe--or there were a couple of moderates, so-called--Jeb +Bush, who said, "Maybe it's happening. +We really don't know. +But it doesn't matter, because fracking is working fine, so we can get more fossil +fuels." +Then there was the guy who was called the adult in the room, John Kasich, the one person +who said, "Yes, it's true. +Global warming's going on. +But it doesn't matter." +He's the governor of Ohio. +"In Ohio, we're going to go on using coal for energy, and we're not going to apologize +for it." +So that's 100 percent commitment to racing towards disaster. +Then take a look at what's happened since. +The--November 8th was the election. +There was, as most of you know, I'm sure, a very important conference underway in Morocco, +Marrakesh, Morocco. +Almost roughly 200 countries at the United Nations-sponsored conference, which was--the +goal of which was to put some specific commitments into the verbal agreements that were reached +at Paris in December 2015, the preceding international conference on global warming. +The Paris conference did intend to reach a verifiable treaty, but they couldn't, because +of the most dangerous organization in human history. +The Republican Congress would not accept any commitments, so therefore the world was left +with verbal promises, but no commitments. +Well, last November 8th, they were going to try to carry that forward. +On November 8th, in fact, there was a report by the World Meteorological Organization, +a very dire analysis of the state of the environment and the likely prospects, also pointed out +that we're coming perilously close to the tipping point, where--which was the goal +of the--the goal of the Paris negotiations was to keep things below that--coming very +close to it, and other ominous predictions. +At that point, the conference pretty much stopped, because the news came in about the +election. +And it turns out that the most powerful country in human history, the richest, most powerful, +most influential, the leader of the free world, has just decided not only not to support the +efforts, but actively to undermine them. +So there's the whole world on one side, literally, at least trying to do something +or other, not enough maybe, although some places are going pretty far, like Denmark, +couple of others; and on the other side, in splendid isolation, is the country led by +the most dangerous organization in human history, which is saying, "We're not part of this. +In fact, we're going to try to undermine it." +We're going to maximize the use of fossil fuels--could carry us past the tipping point. +We're not going to provide funding for--as committed in Paris, to developing countries +that are trying to do something about the climate problems. +We're going to dismantle regulations that retard the impact, the devastating impact, +of production of carbon dioxide and, in fact, other dangerous gases--methane, others. +OK. +So the conference kind of pretty much came to a halt. +The question--it continued, but the question was: Can we salvage something from this wreckage? +And pretty amazingly, the countries of the world were looking for salvation to a different +country: China. +Here we have a world looking for salvation to China, of all places, when the United States +is the wrecking machine that's threatening destruction, in--with all three branches +of government in the hands of the most dangerous organization in human history. +And I don't have to go through what's happened since, but the--in general, the +Cabinet appointments are designed to--assigned to people whose commitment and beliefs are +that it's necessary to destroy everything in their department that could be of any use +to human beings and wouldn't just increase profits and power. +And they're doing it very systematically, one after another. +EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, has been very sharply cut. +Actually, the main department that's concerned with environmental issues is the Department +of Energy, which also had very sharp cuts, particularly in the environment-related programs. +In fact, there's even a ban on posting and publishing information and material about +this. +And this is not just at the national level. +The Republican Party, whatever you want to call it, has been doing this at every level. +So, in North Carolina, a couple of years ago, where the Legislature, mostly thanks to gerrymandering, +is in the hands of the Republicans, there was a study. +They called for a study on the effect of sea level rise--on what sea level rise might +be on the North Carolina coast. +And there was a serious scientific study, which predicted, in not--I forget how many +years--not a long time, about roughly a meter rise in sea level, which could be devastating +to eastern North Carolina. +And the Legislature did react, namely, by passing legislation to ban any actions or +even discussion that might have to do with climate change. +Actually, the best comment of this--I wish I could quote it verbatim--was by Stephen +Colbert, who said, "If you have a serious problem, the way to deal with it is to legislate +that it doesn't exist. +Problem solved." +AMY GOODMAN: MIT professor Noam Chomsky, author of the new book, Requiem for the American +Dream. +We'll be back with Chomsky in a minute to talk about the threat of nuclear war, North +Korea, Iran and more. +Stay with us. +5 +11 +15 +22 +28 +33 +41 +43 +48 +54 +55 +59 +62 +70 +78 +79 +87 +88 +92 +100 +103 +112 +118 +122 +123 +128 +129 +136 +137 +139 +141 +142 +148 +149 +156 +159 +164 +172 +174 +181 +193 +202 +210 +213 +219 +223 +228 +234 +242 +250 +255 +259 +266 +267 +276 +283 +287 +292 +298 +305 +311 +313 +319 +326 +332 +341 +349 +351 +356 +362 +368 +370 +377 +385 +389 +397 +406 +411 +415 +420 +426 +434 +440 +447 +448 +451 +457 +466 +471 +479 +481 +488 +495 +498 +505 +510 +516 +523 +524 +525 +533 +534 +538 +541 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky on the Pope's Radicalism zPDv_1peapY.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky on the Pope's Radicalism zPDv_1peapY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a9145e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky on the Pope's Radicalism zPDv_1peapY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@ +Sung- Wake uo...not time for sleeping... + +Abel: Do you think the reawakening social justice concerns +in the Catholic Church speaks to a paradigm shift +something like we saw- particularly in Latin America with the Catholic Church +there, +a focus on liberation? Noam: There's a good test of this. +In 1962 with +Vatican II- Pope John the 23rd +introduced a very substantial paradigm shift. +He tried to restore the Gospels to the church. +They'd been essentially eliminated, except in form. +since the 4th century, when the Roman Empire +took over Christianity, as soon official religion, +This is a major change and it was picked up in Latin America, as you say, +became most (often) called liberation theology. Priests and nuns +lay people went out talk to peasants +set up groups in with a group of peasants would read the Gospels, think about their +radical pacifist message. There is a reason we're Christians were persecuted +for three centuries- gospels is a radical... +It is basically radical pacifism +with its preferential option for the poor. They tried to restore and +what happened? Well, the US went to war +fought a bitter, brutal violent war against the Church. +If we had Free Press. that's the way they present it. +It started out with hope, you know, +a long listed religious martyrs. +There's another photograph,a painting over there which depicts them. +The overthrew governments, the institutional of +Neo- Nazi style dictatorships; a major war against the church +which ended, sort of, in 1989 +with the assassination of six leading +Jesuit intellectuals by a- what we should call them a terrorist group. +A US-backed, US trained, US Armed battalion +in El Salvador which it is come from +renewed training at the Kennedy School counterinsurgency warfare +acting on official orders of the Salvadorian command, +very close to the US Embassy. I don't have to attribute this to the US government, +it accepts this. The School of the Americas which +trains latin-american officers, killers basically, +one of it's talking points is that the US Army helped defeat Liberation Theology. +Okay that's what happened when the church +tried to return to the gospels. It's not happening now +and the reason is that so far nothing much is happening. +What's happening is...you know, I like the fact that the tone has shifted. +there's more... better words about social justice but +we have to see if it crosses the point +where it leads to, say organizing people to +insist on their rights and to +pursue the path love preferential option for the poor, +take a gospel seriously, if it gets to that point, +then I think we'd see the same reaction. + +twitter @so1idaritymedia + + +good +3 +4 +8 +12 +15 +20 +20 +24 +28 +31 +34 +37 +42 +45 +49 +54 +59 +62 +67 +72 +75 +79 +83 +87 +92 +96 +99 +102 +105 +110 +114 +119 +123 +129 +132 +136 +140 +145 +149 +153 +156 +162 +165 +169 +173 +178 +182 +186 +190 +193 +197 +201 +206 +213 +220 +229 +237 diff --git a/cnt/Chomsky y Mujica el documental de Saúl Alvídrez #ParaHablarEnLibertad O4L8f2GI1NM.en.cnt b/cnt/Chomsky y Mujica el documental de Saúl Alvídrez #ParaHablarEnLibertad O4L8f2GI1NM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76a9366 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Chomsky y Mujica el documental de Saúl Alvídrez #ParaHablarEnLibertad O4L8f2GI1NM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1740 @@ +[Music] +Werner undistorted feature again Wilder and Mind versions of +Folkloric gardeny is not confined limit in the use of the mobile especially +the werder and many other purposes in the civil guard part of it's cold too +mujica in design by comenter isabel love live free and power and the big star +Alliance of the Universe within three months of wise is to send servile water +from the film in this world his mind is his version of stieg action detachment +special and mediating innovations and only weakened folk virus in berlin +months of hummer and expulsion in our crankcase of the long life of fighters +from the garden ercros platform of this new we see important intellectual see +times in addition to the politicization of walter standards who pepe mujica +my name is aula libre stereo new sound mexican en de director of documentation +in logic desert stories of the uniform umbrella concentrates on which power +collect the vices of the fruit directx from the mexican ruler +intelligence walk perfumery commercial conglomerates of prostitution +in media factories candles james may live recording in rich city +maddox and no water but now excel install american with three of them +walking art history reflection and being faced with this decision are the norm in pp +and download very personally in the life luis novena management by fai de polis +conversation approach would be new problems for 2001 levels by +turn on want you know is not my story and the mission 20 spray +[Music] +this is football and they were more time 1999 scientists and other vials had more +wine [Music] +childish and superheavy commercials from miriam monsters +supermarkets took better care of the garden working on the project in for the funk +On trees for fire wisner in after lo tease y flight rain morden six handed +emails in whitehall this gonzalez in aguas work on friday management and +l'esport batua m2 video where you can listen to understand the young man defended himself friendly +in his beloved son sprite sleeps with him from living a mobile phone +I do have directly +thank you very much +i but no +welcome we are all in another to speak freely and this time +We have the great pleasure of having Alvidres the director with us +of the long-awaited documentary that I think all of us in this +transmission we are waiting for chomsky and music thank you very much first +know by inviting you can accept the invitation and welcome to the networks of +the brigade to daniela, thank you very much +true that all the pleasure is mine and well greetings to you and all the people who +They see us they listen to us still good and I think that for everyone it is +It is important to know where you come from, not these projects are not born out of nowhere and +that have to do absolutely with your personal training and port interests +so I would like you to tell us before anything else is that you studied +where did you study and it's good to enter +Well this I am 32 years old I am from Chihuahua but as I was 20 I came +for here I studied law and economics of Monterrey this +Well, initially I see it that way, before I was a classic cricket that +I wanted to do I wanted to be a politician and I dreamed of myself +of being deputy president and things like that and then I had some experiences +very strong policies and as a result of that my way of seeing things about +a whole time I lived in South America for about four years from the +2014 and well then now I see it is a little different if I have a one line +and a goal of life without a doubt political but right now what interests me is not +is to govern the people but that the people govern themselves and well, I am doing everything +what is possible from different trenches audits the cinema among other things +Well, we are walking I understand flavor that you studied +law and economics is the basis and I also think it is important that the +comment on his passage through the 132 movement that was therefore iconic for everyone not +in this country I think that talking about 132 is talking about a whole context of everything +that moved in this country and that were the bases for the change of some u +otherwise it would be reflected in the ballot box in 2018 yes without a doubt I think +I think yes I am 132 it is of the dimension that you mention and to me in +particular in a personal way because it also has a very tint +important this was a moment in my life that completely transformed me +Well, you know, on May 11, 2002, a simple campaign Enrique Pena Nieto- +Fa libero the kids a lot of kids deliberated organized to make a +demonstration against what the guy represented +And well to make a short story I communicated with those guys this my +facebook i made a group called university union in which i +argued that the four social private schools in this case and tam anahuac and +tec de monterrey will show solidarity with the 131 kids who uploaded a video +saying they weren't by or grabbed and showing their ID +about three days later that group had 90 thousand people on facebook me +I approached with the kids, deliberated, I suggested that we make a movement that +It is called I am 132 and that I ran for 22 basic actions this is you +speaking like May 16 not 15 and that run by two basic lines one +the rejection of Enrique Pena Nieto for everything he represents and two +democratization of the media because without media democracy is inconceivable and +I also suggested that as part of the project we would march on May 18 at +you televise both San Angel and Santa Fe and that there are different +light cameras we expected that on May 23 the same thing will be replicated in +all the public squares of the country and well the response was tremendous +the movement and then to make the story a little +short we all know more or less what happened in terms of the +movement but in my personal experience I without realizing it during a +month and a half I was followed by a spy of the system a guy called Manuel +cooked it was known that the guy worked in the cisen until a year after 932 +but what this guy did is that he was stealthily and legally +recording for a month and a half for not being I imagine that with +hidden things me and a week before the elections I was actually in +the capes because I had done there is a matter with the Ecuadorian press I do not +agreement where it was for the case write there is a letter of 132 and it is going to +give each president but 5 in the morning of that day which was June 12 +2012 June 18 but they do not speak to me on the phone very early and I +they say saul look at youtube there are some videos of you i know i dont know what i wear i watch it and +Before I finish watching the videos, close the computer like a plane and +return to Mexico City and well in those videos this character with videos with +talks completely decontextualized and edited in itself +same with hours and hours of recording I do not know if +there are many conversations that I am going to identify with many +different conversations that do not have a coherence in conversation because +He never answers me, it's basically the bits that I use it and that way +I posed as a leader in his visible moment of the movement because I was +first that he worked for lopez obrador which in reality never had much +felt, although there was a lot of flight in the media because there was no +financial bond there was nothing at all nothing actually 40 or strong and other than +I said the word web after each sentence to which the date is already not +I know a person who talks like that but hey tells me it was my voice they were my +words and I insist on Wayne now I am not very clear as always saying +but it was very difficult to defend myself from that, the situation was +politically unsustainable to me politically they closed all the +doors the right of the people because they did not approach me to approach me but in that +moment the left the left also closed ranks this I was like +that the plagued did not want it to look good for me to appear and with anyone and it was +very difficult for me even at this moment not to see me +movement I was posing you want +transform into a national student federation like the Chilean or something like that +so that it did not die as an electoral project that was but good and in that +At the time, it was impossible for me to participate politically because everything was very +contaminated some groups immediately took me out +publicly known or possible in a movement of this kind and well +death threats and a lot of clear things is that you already know and then +After a while for me it was very difficult and while South America and well there +I tried to keep growing politically and learning +So even after all this complicated thing that you lived through being +victim after social networks because everyone +We perfectly remember the media scandal, it was how it is from yours +they said everything that can be invented at that moment make the decision to leave +to South America and at that time he says is chomsky and mujica or how not exactly +22 weeks before it started I am 132 my father had passed away and this +and well from that +well step 132 with my father step 132 then I had a problem because he did a +so much business but hey is another story and the fact is that suddenly +I was in a lot of trouble politically I couldn't participate in +nothing I wanted to continue doing something for my 132 was in terms of property but +of feeling it was like my baby was not something that my life has confirmed to me +that extraordinary things happen and what to tell them by chasing +So then I decide to go to South America and there I go with doing two things +trying to promote a project using a technology that +Right now this technology is already half outdated but at the time in Bolivia +and Ecuador- I was trying to come up with a technology to radiate internet from +high quality in areas of difficult access and with low cost I never managed to get +this project was going ahead but in the process it also got there, a +computer project that since 2003 I began to develop precisely thinking +in I am 132 and well I have been trying that for a long time and above all I +I got to study a lot, a lot of many things from intelligence +synthetic biology everything that seems to me to be relevant for the next 30 +years and I mean the next 30 years because I think the window we have +so that our civilization does not collapse if we make the decisions +correct I deposed is to take care of that a lot and there +here and although I already knew who they were, I began to study noam in particular +chomsky pepe mujica and good to identify first that the two +characters strangely have never met +second that the characters that I studied were based on everything that +I personally more admire and consider wiser +I insist that is my personal opinion and then from that and above all +identifying that they as two great heads of the story of forgiveness of two +big heads of the left they have a speech that not necessarily +went hand in hand with the most important factors ins than on the left in +the left active in the political left not only theoretical no and that +message was precisely what the idea commented a bit at the beginning +not so much to govern the people but that the people govern themselves is not saying what +It is real democracy and something for example I asked for I learned a lot from them and it is +to say that democracy is to vote every 4 or 6 years who said everything else is not +no company and I think that is precisely the key or the possibility that we have +to avoid this apocalypse that I consider us millennials and +ante lean are the heirs of that apocalypse while from my point +in view civilization is ecological, economically, politically and socially +unsustainable then well the intention after having a lot of +conversations and by mail from that +precisely starting with the issue of 632 because after many months I asked him +that if then I at that time well Ecuador asked him if he could go to +visit boston haiti i went and talked to him about the computer project that +I have been developing and for which at that time it is in Ecuador which is +inspired by pp is inspired by pp and well filled to me and I told him how good +I considered that both he and Mujica were the two most +wise that existed and that given the particular concern I have about +the civilizational collapse seemed to me that the indispensable thing that +they knew each other and that there was a witness or an element that we +could make use of the enormous value +that the wisdom of these characters and well he is also very curious +I knew what would happen if you got two people like that together and well it was a +hard work of a long time of much insisting more than anything by stubborn this and +for many years I was promoting the project until I managed not to +Managed wife abroad is not going to spend a weekend at Pepe's house we signed it +this then I started battaglia and then I returned to Mexico and we started +again with post-production then some financial problems and +Then I decided to do the kick. People found out it helped us a lot. +in kickstarter is this page on the internet in the usa where people can +donate to make a project happen and well fortunately obviously for the +weight of the characters and how interesting it could be to see them together after we +The kickstart was very good and we started that was in December and well in January or +February we resumed post-production unfortunately it arrived +the coronavirus and that stopped us in several ways because in theory to +right now I should be finished though first +you know that the crown lives the world will be another after the +coronavirus and I did not want this movie to be left behind and expired +so right now we are just in the process of including those elements of the +what is coronavirus and things that are present and are not present +they were necessarily part of the conversation because impossible to know +when they were pp and not attached we are not including that we have also +had some delays in the process because there are not some libraries +closed to get footage and well a series of +circumstances apart from certain materials to transform that then +Right now due to the circumstances of the confinement it is not possible but I hope +that and I also say it as a commercial warning that at the end of this +year is already ready and what I can assure you is that it will be a movie +amazing +Saul, taking up what you just told them, we all agree on +that we are a generation that is no longer sustainable from neoliberalism or +ecological, social, or economic, nor in any way has this +model in the economy but I am very curious +I think all of us who follow or believe on the left are two +referents pp and chomsky not each in their own way +Pepe from the passionate way in which he speaks and transmits to us and is capable of +tell us that this thing absolutely difficult to understand in a practical way +it is not brought down by our real life and has an incredible ability to communicate and +Chomsky that throughout all these years he is the philosopher who most +still in the world right now tell us what it is like to work with them no +with the characters but because normally we not only have access +to them that are what we see in conferences in what we can see +on their channels but live with them because at the end of the weekend you +you were with them you talked with them how they are as people well apart +of the character that can represent yes yes it touched me lucky is a +blessing for me I fortunately had to spend a lot of time with +them and as you say at the beginning in effect both are excellent +excellent communicators communicators with very different styles +dp I tell him that he is a philosopher poet of the people because precisely they have the +ability to say the most important things in the simplest words and +whoever it is, no and well, no, I'm an intellectual of the highest level, no +is your name your name represents that in itself but well yes +there are many things that frankly I had to see that it is not that they are not there in +what one can see from the outside, for example, I can not tell you that +It is not something that I did not expect it is a guy with a great sense of humor a +great sense of humor a very warm person very very fine very +Well the word goes away at this moment for +a person of tremendous human warmth extremely educated extremely he +always never gets in the middle never assumes the always I don't know with one +incredible human quality pp as you say is a lot of passion is an incredible guy +talking to him is fascinating in this that I can tell you is +What I know is a guy who inspires is a guy who inspires as much as you are with +he and as soon as you talk to him is a guy who knows how to generate empathy with you +incredible and it is just a matter of starting a conversation especially if you raise +interesting topics and you realize with the two that you are talking to +monsters today is taste me in some interviews +who has given about this what the documentary is about I love the part in the +What are you talking about? They are talking about the two of them globally, but they are not +speaking only of politics, they do not honor the idea of the documentary but they speak of the +love of the society of relationships evidently we gave a spin to a +geopolitical analysis practically the whole globe analyzes economic models +stories and many intellectual questions but nevertheless there is clear +a part a part more introspective not so much intellectual that it was an intention +very important of the documentary and also for that reason the reason for taking their wives +and that it was a question of home and more or less cold - stiff than +allowed characters who had never seen each other to meet +Obviously who he was and I both tell them they both had a lot they have +mutually enormous respect in the intention was to look for a more or +a warmer situation that would allow us to allow +get to topics like the ones you mention this we talk about what is the +old age of what is life of what is death of what is the truth of what +what is love what is justice what it is to have a meaningful life +that is to say, give meaning to your life and not just let life give you +carry around and well, many really powerful messages even arrive +beautiful of both characters personal experiences that I know why +I have studied them very well that there is nothing out there, we can see for example no +he's a very hermetic guy in his private life he always has been +and well here we see him telling stories that I frankly +I was surprised that he was counting them and laughing and well then what are we going to do +to see a different perspective of both Saul what you mention seems to me +important the role that your partners play in your life we all know what +this pp spent 15 years in jail we know that his wife lucia is dedicated +also to politics and that is also involved in this is not publishing +loose complaint and that he was also in jail +and so different they are because it is not so much I think that if there is one the wife of +Lennon is not as public as if she could be the wife of +Pepe, not them, how did you feel it? How did they participate in the project? +understood that the recording was made in the house or the little girl I pretended that +It has pp and it was the same one who looked after them or who made the food +who was there with you, tell us a little about that if it is correct because the +The truth is that their participation was something that helped precisely that +moment out and another much more interesting she yes I know if they withdraw a +little is to say fundamentally is a conversation +between the two of them but without a doubt they participate and if indeed it looked, it is the one that +a famous sanz its famous Uruguayan barbecue very good by the way it was my fortune +to sit with them at the table to eat and this and if they took great care of us +the truth is that Lucia is also an extraordinary person with a warmth +incredible and obviously they were very attentive to Pepe's visit in fact +against uruguay to fuck not hunger next to uruguay they were news that was new +mother +I want to take up a part that you said at the beginning +where both nadal and music understand the part of what it means +democracy does not and that power does not reside in being the president and that democracy +no, she is not going to vote every four every six years but they have very +Of course, democracy is what what the people themselves were telling us +is correct if this I think the reflection goes just in that sense in the +sense that homework and I believe in that sense that millennials homework +it is my mission in particular is to try to amplify the public debate and focus it +in the solution of global problems and I believe that the solution of +global problems come precisely from transferring decision-making power over +issues of public interest to society that is to say that citizens begin to +decide as we mentioned beyond deciding every 4 or 6 years who decides +everything else is obviously not possible or desirable that from +tomorrow everyone make all the decisions to be made in terms +public in a country is unfeasible nobody wants that but I think they should +have a movement that comes from below that comes from the people for that +I think the revolution is not in government right now, the revolution is in the +people and the revolution is to convince ourselves and have the tools and the idea in +head the clarity that decision power must be transferred to the people and +that is done by organizing ourselves and little by little starting I don't see why +you can't decide what time the street lights turn off +or at what time does the garbage happen little by little I even think that beyond that in +that will appeal that what is lacking is education what is lacking is practice +politics what is lacking is getting involved being part of the decisions empowering +about that and learn as decisions are made because if not what +we have is a system where very few people a handful a few hundred +people all over the planet when we are almost eight million people every day +these are the decision-makers and that is what has achieved good that +we as a civilization as a species do not attend to the needs of +our group simply cater to the needs of the guidelines of a +small group that is the one that controls practically everything that is what +orders human civilization and from there to attend only to these +needs of those interests of tiny domes since we as a species +we are putting aside vital needs +as clean water or as clean air or as the possibility of being +relatively humble minded happy don't you know right now suicide rates and +well we can start mentioning crises everywhere right now +So even if we understood the project, it had to be because it would have to +not having left earlier this year but I travel to berlanga in the middle of this +year but because of what happened to the quabit pandemic they decided to stop it so that +during this in the documentary there was also participation of pepe and des +hommes that talking about the pandemic or is just going to be an addition that +doing that is precisely one of the issues that we are seeing how we are going to +include the topic of the coronavirus and some other things and yes, above all +I will tell you as soon as some things are reactivated in some libraries that +are needed to be able to continue with the project because we advance but +almost assured that by the end of this year it will be ready +Hey, I was struck by the work team with which the +documentary could you tell us about who is with you so that everyone +Let's know the quality of the people who are involved in this project, yes of course +yes, just let me turn on the light for a second +better this yes look me good I am director and producer of the film now +turn there are two other producers and stacy perskie a very large product very very +interesting movies like james bond godzilla bad boys for life +Breitbart nerd things of that level and Maria and a friend also a producer and +recently two other very tall characters have joined the team +level in the film industry one is free swat who is one of the +best editors in mexico and the other is lucia gaja, a documentary director +from the hollywood academy and amazing mexican incredibly talented and +well, together we are right now working very hard to make this +project as I tell you how I tell you you can leave and at the end of the year and what +I can also assure you its weaving a little in the characters that I am +saying they are supporting us this is going to be great material +hear how the cinematographer maria seco got involved in the project +forgive me forgive me how is it possible how is it possible and from here I send you a kiss +huge and I apologize that it was one of the fundamental parts of +this project mariah seco maria seco a photographer +Uruguayan, by the way, this was the one who helped them from the beginning since this +project always went to talk because he vibrated and looked and they just entered +just a short time ago but but if Maria did a job +amazing and she was her we contacted her through stacy perskie precisely +because it seemed to us that he was the ideal character for a project like this and wow +that your work was amazing today during some interviews that you have +given to another medium you said that this documentary had a dedication to +julian assange if it is correct that with the character +I would say maybe after the pp and not am he would +I am the one who most admire the third character the most, I think I most admire +and precisely on the day that he took this unemployed manuel stopped he met the audios +the one with the cisen precisely found the one that Julian entered into +London to the Ecuadorian descent and if he seems to me the revolutionary of our +Times seems to me to be a reference that must be fundamental for millennials +and the previous ones and I am very sorry and I am very concerned about knowing the +situation in which it is and all the powers that it has over and go well it is +a guy we should be stuffing medals with and +unfortunately I'm locked in a room like I'm not a hero +of journalism but quite the opposite and we know that at any moment +he can die, both things cannot kill him +and well, I think it's a fight that has to continue because +unfortunately although problems are not made in what is the debate +public or what is handled in the discourse in the discourse of the status quo +Well, sometimes things as important as these are lost but nevertheless +for me that theme has not lost its validity and I think that this character +we have to go out for him he has to go out and he has to have our support from +somehow I can't do much that I wanted and go to jail and +get it out of there but at least that's the least we can do +Saul I would like to know what is your opinion of the role of the 4th I think that in +at some point you were very undisputed in the politics of this country that you think +that it may be that the government could be better I never like to speak in +negative I like it I can say it could be better without a doubt any +government could always be better because I don't think there is a perfect government +Well, there are no perfect citizens either, but nevertheless I think it is +a blessing that there has been a change in the country is a blessing something is +had to stir the waters the thing was too toxic and evidently +the country that runs through this new one that collects this new administration is a +burning country that is happening to you all at the same time literally everything is a +very difficult situation this seems to me that there are some things that were due +of having handled some issues better, some handling of issues such as feminism +I don't really like the way the president handles this issue and so +I can get some some as I hope but I certainly think I think +we still have to give it a chance that this project is not +I would say being born but it already has a little more considerable time but +It is a project that has very interesting ambitions and +precisely through what said what the Argentine president said that only +There are two in America that are trying to change +the world or not is he and the other and doctor andres manuel lopez obrador i +i think she's definitely trying to make a change i hope that's +possible I think the truth is that what I never liked is that he can understand +politically but in the heart there are not many dark people that I did not like +to participate which seems to me to undermine the leadership of +Until recently, a brunette seemed to me an aberrant fatal fatal thing at such a level +that I better say that if I have nothing to do with that I hope I know +take the appropriate measures this is a historical process and a responsibility +history that this party has and that I believe unfortunately even if it +there are a huge amount of very valuable people I think they have not yet +managed to tighten the nuts that are necessary for it to be a +instrument of democracy beyond andres manuel lopez obrador I don't know if +brunette can can do something beyond lopez obrador i say obviously going +is going to monopolize many spaces of power but but I think internally it makes +much improvement remains, I think it was lasting very slowly and I think the country did not +it is for him for that it is for more and it is what they are waiting for, not this avalanche +of non-federal votes Saul normally during these +broadcasts we also give the floor to colleagues through chat and +then all can read some questions and we will continue with the +interview but so that they do not stay in the air, ask the xxi how to ensure +that the teachings of the un and pepe are applied in this transformation in +our good country to assure seems to me a very +strong because we would have to enter as dictators without getting off that everything +world do what you want and that is not necessarily desirable but what +what can be done is to try to make it heard as far and as loudest and loudest +possible that is not why I chose the cinema I think it is a good window in these +moments and especially when the target is millennials and centennial to leave +that seed to leave the message now because I say it cannot be assured +because you can sow a seed in the middle of what is possible but take care of it +water it germinate line and wait until there are fruits and responsibility of +each then from my point of view the most that can be done is +find valuable messages by dispersing as much as possible in the best way +as I told you my mission in life, I widely consider it to be +amplify public debate and focus it on solving global problems but +I insist this is everyone's thing and only if we all participate will it be possible +that we move forward in relation to what you are commenting on +there are several questions on the same topic on which platform you plan to do the +documentary or if it is going to make movies or it is going to be netflix amazon they have that +part is going to be one of those that one of those you comment on is the one that +diffusion has the one that offers the greatest diffusion but I comment on that more +go ahead but you will be available for everything +They also ask what other topics you are interested in making documentaries +a very interesting question because now that I'm with this movie thing too +being in South America I tell him that you made me see a lot many songs of +technology and social trends that are seen in the programs I am was +focused on 2020 or 2050 precisely because of this the minute global collapse and +Well right now this there I also had the luxury of writing a series a series +from television this one I cannot advance much right now we are already playing +the is a very ambitious project I would say without detracting from the size of +the characters of course but it is a much more ambitious project than chomsky +mujica in terms of everything the production and quantity represents +of characters to participate etc. but hey what I can tell you is that +right now we are because I am producing a +the new series a very high level television series is but with a view +and that it can reinforce precisely this intention to continue +focusing on amplifying the debate the debate the public conversation about the +solutions to global problems and well, as I was saying, we talked a lot about +technology of the new circumstances that may arise from +these technological disruptions how it changes how morality changes how +ethics changes how the concept of being civilized changes, I am sure that in +ten years the concept of being civilized is going to be something very different from what it is +today and well the series touches many of these +themes and the intention is therefore to start producing next year +serena asks us or in which the thought of music and Trotsky converge in +three words +no doubt good but say real democracy +Saul I see that you are very interested in the subject and in the idea that as a generation +We only have this 30-year window of opportunity to take the +adequate decisions that do not lead us to succumb as a species +because you think that apart from the obvious what we all live from all that +we know that ecologically you are unsustainable +of the world but to you personally who gets to say that good as you mention +We all know everything that is evident when you start to study the +depth you scare more outside of that than intellectual +I feel I feel that if we are almost on board and I think that and in this +case because it seems to me that the best that you can not the most interesting that they can +to do with your life is to try to avoid something like that. +possible there are times that I am optimistic times that not so much but +quite a few comments during the chat saying they are waiting for the +documentary and what a great idea that can be contacted there is no app I think also +it would be nice to encourage them so things are not impossible +clearly, maybe all of us would have the idea that it is not impossible that +pp before a message that is not going to read something that you write and for your +experience we see that the topics were not assigned what matters is the topic +that potential guests are asked to chilli people with the +that one wants to talk I think that is one of the things that you leave us +documentary is knowing that these characters are not unattainable for most +of us and I believe that I believe that everything is +impossible until you go and do it and I think the way to break that +barrier is certainly determination to know what you are doing and why you are +doing because only then can you fall in love with something to +enough desire and what it takes to do the essentials until it happens +and the second is tenacity I say it humbly is what I is what I +I believe and the truth is that I had an advantage, well, from a very young age I have always +I had more or less idea of what I am passionate about and from there it always grabbed me +no and that helps me but also the experience I am 132 as I told you +I separated from the tremendous media kick they gave me +I also learned that amazing and extraordinary things happen to +ordinary people when you do something with the heart not then that and about +all too that the way it ended for me and the fact of knowing +that I was a pissed off politician thinking about myself the worst I lost confidence +of a lot of people nobody nobody in the political sphere everybody closed me +the doors there were many people who believed that they really was it was because +more or less what those audios painted and it was very difficult for me and I even +until a few years later I got over it, I think, but for a long time that +left too marked that changed my life because for me it was personally +very strong I also think that's why I left the country and well, I grabbed hold of that +courage and ides at the beginning it was I wanted to make wayne very big something +important again to vindicate myself little by little because I matured it +and I just took that desire to do the things that I was passionate about, not so much +thinking about erasing what I thought at the time +that it was going to be indelible and that I knew I did not deserve it and that it +horrible heart but well I think that is what to take from those of the defeats +take strength and if if you get up from a very big defeat it can lift you very +high how beautiful this is the super incredible +that they say these things later every time something happens to them we believe that it is the end of +world and that we are not going to get up from those things if life continues no +Then you have to stop and what follows, Maria de Lourdes asks us if you +would like to participate in politics again at some point as you +I commented from the beginning, I, my way of doing politics and what will be +here in front it is not seeking to rule the people but I want the people to +rule herself then for me party politics is not an option +I want to organize people but size but not organize it I know with the +that people organize, this is not my thing, I will always be giving my +opinions I from 132 and since always I say what I think this and I will +participate in me as much as possible because with this with the cinema with the software that I go +to take out in about two months is interesting I know I will tell you and well I will +to try that but no I do not want to rule the people lately +who seeks to govern in general, there is no longer me, too, I think I think the +grid is something that I detest, I know many people who are doing politics and not +This has no objective other than to be a politician yes and that seems to me +emptier than there is and 99% of the people who are in politics are people who want +power is people who want to rule others are people who see themselves on the stage and +you feel that in that photo he would be important to a large number of people +that is in politics, unfortunately it is like that I have had to see it in many +countries and I'm not like that and I don't like it +endure those partisan logics that this is the leader and the leader who possesses +say no then I the truth what I invite you especially those who are very +crickets we have to find different ways +to do politics because if it is not 30 years the revolution will not be there +the change is not there +it is evident although I am certainly glad that there has been this +change that lopez obrador is in the presidency, it is evident that the +won Lopez Obrador the presidency is not going to save the world, it is not true at all +more likely in the air when lopez obrador finishes he will not save the +country of the level in which we are maybe the best hopefully not but then I know +install there is the key fact you aspire to make a new great work lopez +because it seems to me that he is a ney type he is intelligent, very hardworking and sincere +but the world needs another type of revolutionaries the revolutionary of the +21st century is not who takes power to distribute it is who distributes power without +take it +Of course, if the idea is that we suddenly have deep roots in amd in America +Latina of caudillismo I think it is time to leave it and know that where it goes +to be the change is in an organized civil society but good coming back +Alicia Rodriguez asks us after these great thinkers live together +actors on the left do you think they want Mexico +we have the opportunity to travel is to travel there this administration +it is just open the door we can achieve something in effect it is just open the +door and surely things will be achieved I believe that there are already some achievements +important, for example, I am very pleased that large companies and +start paying taxes for example for saying something or the big cuts the +austerity came to me here, I also told about some problems and some +disorders in some cases but hey I think there have been important changes +but they will never be enough we will never be in the best place always +it is a permanent process because change is constant and what we can +wait or what we should do rather is take advantage of this circumstance +history of change that allows certain things to happen but lopez obrador +I insist he will not be able to change the world much less but he will not be able to +change the country only us the world in general needs to move from this +capitalism which is one that capitalism is a culture +it is not just a system it is much stronger than that culture it is stronger than +even armies and this capitalist culture is +individualistic and competitive think individualistic and competitive is a +completely antisocial formula well that is the model that governs us and +we have to move from that individualistic and competitive culture to +a collaborative collective culture yes and for and that is precisely why the +change the revolution has to come from the masses and the agent organizing +because we have to move to the collaborative collective and that alone +it works it does not work when someone arrives and they say this is done like this +It works when people get fed up, they say I'll do it myself and that's what +needs Mexico and humanity in general +Of course I think what you say is important to pass from thought +individual to collective thought not at the moment we remove the chip +As long as it doesn't affect me that the world burns, I think that at that moment we will arrive +to advance in many ways as your life there is even something more dangerous +still well, I hardly eat meat and I always throw the garbage in the can +So let the world burn, ham or brother, reach me with that and you think +I use an electric car because the world is not enough with that +finishing and we need you to go out and organize with the people and +that they solve the problems of your colony and that they save and if not +enough for them to organize themselves with the colony right away and that +create a collective organization from the grassroots that of and if I go running and +Yes I am and I am a very conscious millennial that I do not know that I love them +the puppies and adopting is not much more than that the situation is much more serious +that what worries me when you see human history is that we are not +we are very good for the short term to plan in the short term and it is +positive that sometimes I am half pessimistic but that you have to feel like it because +you have to do as much as you can hear they ask us in relation to the government +This is the future that you see for Mexican cinema +Mexican cinema is in a very good moment, the industry in general is in +a very good moment because the model is the model of streaming platforms +hain implies that there is a lot and there is a lot +need for many materials because people are consuming a lot of one +much faster and that is why this industry seems to me to be something very +interesting because there is the opportunity to enter certain information that +necessarily kiss but in Mexican cinema in particular and I think +to begin with, it is evident that there is a lot of talent and it is not just these three +directors, that is, there are producers, there are writers, there is Mexico, it's very talented +not for nothing do we have the tremendous history and the tremendous culture that we have to +we have that that that that is not part of what this country gives this wealth to its +great creativity to its great artistic nature in short I think it is a great +At the moment, I hope that the government also has all the support +Incentives are needed because because not only baseball is not very good +that supports that and many other things but I think that cinema is a branch +important to develop one's own society, especially if +you're talking about cool things it's not being done by reality shows +of people yes of course maybe it would be important +emphasize that it is understood and to whom they had been supported lately in the +cinema or what kind of projects are those that were sponsored by the +government and well, we'll see what happens with the cuts in that area but +I do think it is important to say that if a review had to be made +people to whom the money was being given and the type of projects to which +is sponsoring the state that the state we are all are not ours +taxes and it is super clear and super good that we all have interference from +know to whom it is given and why it was almost always given to them clear +Well, like all the things the government did before, this post was pure +piggy and of course you have to lift the mat everywhere and sweep it +well the cinema the organisms that play the cinema do not +must be the exception and well if I hope that this way in the +The film industry and everything else in Mexico is gradually being refined in +that sense seems to me very interesting the obsession that lopez has +work with the issue of corruption I think it has been consistent with this +theme in particular and well, I hope they are that is heard louder and that +go ahead and go ahead miguel macedo asks us if you don't fancy doing +a second part a mujica change spoke +I think it would have to be something different you +I spoke quite logically about amlo there are many things that I have there that are not +out there they talk a lot also with not talk much about andres manuel and +of Mexico in particular of the circumstance that is lived and what +It would not have to happen for a country like this to get ahead +unfortunately the short version of the documentary will not be able to put this +part of Mexico because literally not every time I have many hours of +graduation but I'm going to do a broader section where a +a little more of this but hey that's a good idea and there are several ideas +I say on the way this I the truth I'm not putting this the cinema with everything +I say we are starting a very interesting series then it has never done like this +as champ means in some way and well, interesting projects come and +I'm going to talk to you, you'll see +they also ask us if you are doing a particular action to +try to help make the case of gil arias h visible +Well the most I can do today right now is say well right now +especially when the film is finished is when I have a microphone +above to be able to talk about the subject and say that it is dedicated to this +character outside of that is the cause of getting Julian out of jail +Julian Causes on Transparency Convey transparency in the +democratization of information privacy all these are issues that +on all the other projects I'm working on double is practical well in +everyone is that philosophy inside as with what as lions mujica everything is with +all you can do is not consistent with well with these three +characters that is what I try with these three characters that I so much +I admire and I admire them precisely because the three of them are +huge and beautiful coincidences too and very inspiring +especially because they themselves as characters beyond their speech +they are has a level of congruence such that they themselves physically de +flesh and blood represent that either simply by their trajectory and that +for me it is a huge impact and hates this question manu comment +that reach us has to do with what you are saying and it gives saints what +great opportunity and responsibility to communicate the options they find +these great thinkers so that ordinary mortals can participate in +this change +They have put me like this but the truth is that if I feel a great responsibility to +fact at times that I felt tremendous pressure because when I could +making a mistake can't go wrong but well, I imagine that's normal +apart this is my first film is my first film but I am completely +sure and as I see the progress, this has turned out very well and +by my doing but because as we said from the beginning the characters both +They are exceptional communicators and that makes things much easier. +quite a few complications with the language issue because by the way he does not speak +Spanish Pepe does not speak English so there is an issue but it is a great +responsibility and therefore I hope to be at the height and measure in you +to close this interviews they still ask us if you think that this +we are living with the crisis with the pandemic is the end at last but the +capitalism I don't think it's the end of capitalism +this first because I do not see another well structured and powerful option in +no area of the world well we can talk about china but we will also talk +of capitalism with its variants I do not believe that unfortunately if a +tightening of the states especially with the arrival of certain +new technologies are much discussed and given mind they will be first where +there is always power I believe that I believe that a time is coming +particularly harsh I don't think the coronavirus is definitely coming to +comes to lift that mat and show all the rottenness of this system and +put it beyond neoliberal and apart many circumstances trump the +break sheet many things are marking a change of time in that sense but +I do not think that from this everything will start to improve no no no no +I believe I precisely believe that what has to be is a lot of conscience +first of the problems and possible solutions, so I insist I believe that the +mission should be to try to amplify the public conversation and focus on the +solution of global problems then the first thing is a lot of awareness and +second indispensable a lot of action and the third +that this action is collective you only there compadre you are not going to change the world +Hey, I would like to know your opinion, you talk a lot about responsibility +that we have as a generation evaluate the generations left behind us +what do you think about what happened in the trump campaign was not very viral +the matter that at his start of the campaign he was waiting for the crowds and +seas of people and how the millennials organized not to sabotage their event +and that it was basically which its closest site not situations like +Those without a doubt all of us who are on this side fill us with emotion and +expectations sometimes not but sorry for being so pessimistic or changing it so +quick look what happened with sanders of course this is possible or yes of course +There are many people in the United States there are many people awake in many people very +valuable this those who are asleep are also valuable but it would be more +valuable if they weren't, the point is that +unless i don't know maybe it's all new floyd and black light matter case +I do not know something has to happen but but I am not necessarily very +convinced that this is going to happen in the usa +I hope so because that would imply a huge change but he blocked me +just happened with with with bernie sanders that practically sensed me +this because it comes to reinforce it, it comes to sit us again in the +earth and tell us this is the deep state of the us this is how this organism works this +This is what you can, this is what you can't and this is what you should be able to +later is to say that the fight continues, I'm not saying that it is +that bernie sanders participation has not historically transformed +many things in fact he is creating a new electorate that is going to be bigger +still in the next elections but well let's see I think there is a lot to +do and leave with the US they end up doing a lot because there are many people out there without +They arrive at Lopez Obrador, the left has already won, so we are already on the road +correct correct is that we all +Let's change for the things that belong to everyone and it is no longer lopez himself +Obrador has said it many times, that is, they want to prosecute presidents +they want to do this in the people who organize themselves +can not yet it has not happened to you that when you already knew that you will have the opportunity the +opportunity to be with pepe and chomsky you said I'm going to talk about this +theme of this theme of this theme and throughout the emotion and what you recorded will be +There was some issue in the inkwell that I am already in the position well, notice that not good +to begin with I was with them several times before they met +and we had the opportunity to talk a lot and well, the truth is that I +I was also very prepared that it was all I wanted to play more than that. +I think that rather what happened is that things happened that I did not have +planned and that were of enormous value in vicky I did not know what will happen or +that what had occurred to me to ask I explain myself as for example if +these personal stories that they drew from any topic and from +suddenly stories of enormous historical value and if I believe it was more that +more than that I have forgotten what it is that we had many problems when +beginning with the translation in fact we have a translator and at the beginning we +it worked like this good at the beginning first bring some chicharitos here +then they did not have enough volume and they did not hear thread after we removed them and +the translator came in the translator was very slow very professional but very slow +then later I got into the conversation and then there I was between +directing and translating, I trained my pp and he was half run over +medium complicated but luckily it turned out very well +Saul and to finish they ask us in the chat what do you like the most and what +It is the type of cinema that you see +what do I like the most about good cinema in life than what I like the most +in general, I really enjoy these topics having interesting conversations +meet people who have done things that interest me and that I am passionate about and +above all this I am looking for how to fix big problems not because I +I consider myself very great but I believe that I have death very much in mind and +I am very convinced that tomorrow may be the last no and yes too +that you only live once I'm not particularly in one +religion in a particular belief in that sense then I think +What to do is take advantage of the time that is obtained in the best way +what is trying to do something positive for others not or something like that +[Music] and the cinema the cinema the cinema that most +I like to watch well notice that I really like science fiction +You some season in which I like the horror ones, the bad thing is the horror ones +that very few are good very few are good this I like comedy but I +The same thing happens with terror the lagoon from which all rocks I know +all of pedro infante for example jorge negrete this that time of cinema +I am fascinated by this Mexican grade sign and well there are some pearls too +out there but but hey, the truth is that at the cinema, I'm not a passionate cinephile +lately it has put me much more especially to learn but to me the most +nothing I like is when I see something that has important content something +that leaves you that leaves you something that you did not have before seeing it not then me +admires and I approach the cinema, this is how it interests me that the content +be something from another world and then we see how we make production be +something amazing especially is a beginner somehow still in +I'm telling people who know the most, but what nurtures me the most is putting a +plate on the table that has something truly valuable +yes of course I am I am convinced that in particular art has to move you +that you have to go out with something different after seeing a movie or a play +of theater reading something that has to move you and that is the beauty of art and that +type of expressions and yes when you are the spectator I think that when you are +who produces it who creates it you have and especially if you are going to make art I would say +that in anything in life any job they do but you have +to be in love with that because it is very difficult I can maybe do in another +talk but the truth is that for me to get into these kinds of projects +in fact life is very complicated because not necessarily all the +world supports you, I had already had a habitat for a while today, I'm 32 years old +hey sauli what are you doing not with your cited software and a movie and I don't know what +put hand as well as what to see there is a movie that destroys I'm about +nobody believes you but but yes and a little out there +Well, thank you very much for accepting the invitation of the brigade to +name of all my colleagues and in a personal way we want to thank you +We also very much want to convey to you that many people had comments for +say how good you are doing this job you are waiting for +anxious the day the documentary comes out and I don't want to leave without +Please tell us which social network on which web page where we can be attentive to +the day you are going to leave and all the information that has to do with you +well this is the page of chomsky and mujica dotcom +chomsky n from mujica dotcom there will always be information habit will not +we have made a lot of changes because we are still in the process even of +finish defining your own post-production schedule, that's why right now neither +I even venture to give you a date I do not know more or less where it will be +but I do not venture to that apart from that because there is my twitter that is +users revolution news revolution users revolution +there is my twitter there is also my instagram which is you steal classroom leaders r +but hey this is rather personal this and there is the facebook of the facebook +from jose mujica also just chomsky and mujica and well there +we will be releasing a little more information too if you +participated in the homework kicks campaign and we are constantly uploading +Well, what is the status of the project that we are doing because we are +doing so and but you can be sure that as soon as I have a little more than +information is not said when I have the film ready, I'll see how I do it +but I'm going to make sure that everyone finds out +again many thanks to a reminder that the networks of the brigade and +our channels are always open for those who want to comment on us hopefully +not be the once we have the opportunity to be with you and a lot +good luck for these projects and for everything that comes to the contrary man +Thank you very much to you and all the people who are listening to us I would love +re-participate particularly what you have done in the brigade since +many years ago and around there Marina and everyone knows them. +It seems a huge value, it is incredible what you do, I liked it a lot +participating here has discussed so thank you very much and then we +see you soon, thank you very much to all who accompanied us, we ask you to +do not go we are going to say in 10 seconds more that it will be what we have in the +week to join you please stay down +and music] +and music] +through everyone I hope they have not left and listen to us these 10 seconds more +just to tell you what we are going to have in the brigade this week +We start with one thing that makes us very happy, which is the tribute that +we are doing jose emilio pacheco on Tuesday 30 at 12 noon let's go +to release the audiobook that we are making we have the participation +by carmen aristegui diosque from the borbolla forest by monica lavin de +humberto mussachio of guadalupe loaiza and of many very important voices +I hope you can join us this Tuesday at 6 in the afternoon of our +political training talks we will have the participation of the senator +citlali hernandez-mora and at 9 o'clock in our classic marx tuesday +we are with the second session of the oscar de pablo about racism in the us +on Wednesday at one in the afternoon we invite you to join us with the +talk we are going to have about the cartels in Mexico City +now that the attack on the security secretary has passed +And we are going to have the journalist Pepe Velez together with Marina Taibo talking about that +subject already one o'clock I say and at seven at night we are going to have the director of the ies +Pedro his turn at our political training talks on Thursday at 6:30 +in these same political training talks we will have the participation +from tatiana clouthier on friday we have a super nice project which we really do +We hope you can support us as everyone will know about us during the +book fairs we have fellow booksellers of exhibitors who already have +more than four months without being able to work so we are going to do a campaign to +support them many of our colleagues are +carrying and selling the books then we are going to do that project. +can accompany on Saturday we already have the case of our documentary that we are +happening again is a chapter of the chef by paco ignacio taibo 2 and at 11 o'clock +tomorrow we have the participation of the journalist +and on Sunday at this same time that has already become our schedule +stellar in the brigade we will have the participation of the documentary maker +melissa elissondo who is the east documentary maker director of el sembrador +and we will have utilities chat with them if they have any questions that +from now on they want to write down they can send it to the brigade networks +Well, remember that you can follow them through arrow on twitter at +steal cultural arrival who subscribe to our win or follow us on +facebook to get to the aggregate page with more than 200 books of +free download and see you in the week thank you very much for your time +[Music] ah +[Music] +5 +32 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+4106 +4126 diff --git a/cnt/Conferencia Gangster Capitalism por Noam Chomsky y Marvin Waterstone en Hermosillo dVN885BR5Ig.en.cnt b/cnt/Conferencia Gangster Capitalism por Noam Chomsky y Marvin Waterstone en Hermosillo dVN885BR5Ig.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93cd53f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Conferencia Gangster Capitalism por Noam Chomsky y Marvin Waterstone en Hermosillo dVN885BR5Ig.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2130 @@ +Sundays as we have Mexico world is one of the most complex Andean +joint border makes 350 million dollars generated annually and houses more +of 14 million people including 26 greene +indigenous groups as we speak there are more than a million people who already +crossed the border legally or illegally and it is estimated that that +around half a million people cross the mexico-united states border +and mexico has not stopped sharing we share ecosystems of three rivers +huge including the colorado river countless human resources and +economic and we also share the risks of economic change and +global environmental professor professor chomsky and marvin are here to +share with us a little bit of your good common sense about +of the implications of global capitalism for situations that concern +both of our countries the doctor songs which is one of the +most cited intellectuals in political philosophy and cognitive psychology of the +world has received many international and national awards and has +various honorary doctorates from leading universities including our +own having introduced the concept of universal grammar which is something that +underlies every language in the world is one of the founders in +modern linguistics is currently professor of the emae kings of the issue and +since 2016 he is a member of the faculty of the university of arizona +Dr. Marvin Waterson is Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona. +former director of the comparative studies literary links of the +university of arizona with education in biology psychology and geography +professor waterstone's his studies focus on notions of hegemony and +common sense and connects these ideas with progressive change and the and the changes in +general maintains these issues such as environmental management and management and change +climate the school of sonora wants to thank the science school +University of Arizona Social Sciences Index See the Social Justice Index of +university of arizona and the college of sonora please welcome us to +both protective doctors jones and martin works +so thank you it's a pleasure to be here today I would like to thank the +sonora school for its hospitality which has been very very +very warm with a great welcome it's great to be here at the university +sonora I appreciate the opportunity to speak to +it is incredible to be back here in Hermosillo I hope to come more +followed [Applause] +before it grows more and more difficult to control +the title you see up here I think is an amalgamation of some phrases that +we were in a course that professor chomsky and I offered at the university +zone but we present it via video conference to +sonora school and we were very very happy to share with some +of the students who were in that course a little before this lecture +with the title that comes this this title this the way it was built +this course is a course that tries to identify underlying causes and +connections between the thousands of problems we have right now and the +purpose of the course is largely to clarify these problems that +seem separate from each other actually are today connected between +them and should be a basis for political action computes an element of +think where we are right now not present in this industrial age that was +industrial which is supported by capitalism +and some problems with the border these dreams and Mexico and I want to leave +Of course, in particular where we are +of crisis but also of but it is a time of unique opportunities and with +that's going to start talking a little bit about the idea that is capitalism won this +I think this phrase explains itself but I want to say explain something before +continue before I get there I want to talk about +very brief way about the kutxa of the historical trajectory that has +brought to this particular moment and that is to think about period that we can of +mark by the dates that you can see here on the screen as approximately +40 and 15 to 70 before neoliberalism are sometimes in this +period is called regulated capitalism sometimes it's also called as +liberalism to annex is also called the golden age of capitalism +depending on your disposition towards capitalism it is also referred to as +a capitalism with a big human face and this is the period in which +there is a there is a great negotiation between +capitalisms and those of labor but I want you to know that in this photo +is that this is capitalism with the gloves on +I am going to contrast these with capitalism with gloves or without +gloves so in this period in terms of the global economy +we can think of the bretton woods system that was designed by the +they won the second world war as a system that controls and for +regulate international trade and international development a number +large institutions that we already know emerged from the bottom of the system a +global international home the general tariff agreements that later +followed the last world trade organization after headquarters +of these financial institutions that now largely and particularly in +the period we are talking about I have 35 to 50 controlled +mostly controlled what was happening in the world economy there was +changes in fixed currencies the system was backed by gold gold +backed the dollar which was the international currency was +moderately open in a moderately open economy that had some +sense not a world economy moderately this way allowed +movement so the book so to speak I'll talk about it in a moment +it also allowed and allowed foreign direct investment and the U.S. by far +in the largest political and economic identity there was and many of the +arrangements made in these periods favored the development of the us and +its economy not in these systems this one allowed large investments we are going to +say that it also allowed the colonization of the states but at the +same time led to the problems we have now is that it also opened +those to the US markets to Europe markets and allowed +strong growth in capitalist economies around the senate of +these of this set of contradictions several problems began to emerge +between capital and labor among various sectors of capitalism among it +money from the us and capital from around the world and this started in a +decrease in profit the capitalists began to gain so +slower there were several recessions so this called for a new model to +capital accumulation and this model is what we think of as the period +neoliberal a new model on how the world economy should be managed to +maximize the return on capital this is a period that dates from the 70s more or +less until the problem of the crisis of 2008 more or less out there but in effect +this is what puts the period acceptably this important points of the +liberalism is that ideas had already been +specifically or not since the 40s there was an organization called the +montpellier society very remarkable very economical very iconic like freddy +years but the ideas were there but they didn't start to gain value until like +until the 70s are more or less two and then there they took off in very +very remarkable way in a world political sphere of administration of +ronald reagan and after the administration of his counterpart in which +the man is there and the idea was to free +to entrepreneurs or the entrepreneurial skills of individuals +this is entrepreneurship is something very important of neoliberalism +I hope +within an institutional framework characterized by +strong private property rights free markets in quotes with +scared quotes said +free trade trade again in quotes because none of these +markets are free and trade is not free either but they are +influenced by the states very strongly at all levels the economy +global is characterized by the removal of barriers to +movement of goods services capital and money across national borders +but very important, in a majority way, is to maintain the workforce +in place that is the labor force remained where it should be is +say people could move looking for the best salary and so there were problems +so then this is something very important of neoliberalism +the role of the state broadly with things the following things create +and preserve an institutional framework that is appropriate for activities and +practices just described to ensure quality and integrity +of monetary systems +establish police military defenses and legal structures to ensure +private property insurance is very important for forces and it is necessary +for markets to function properly +privatize and bring to the market anything from the city or the +society this environmental things environmental pollution controls everything +if the markets in these areas did not exist then they must be created +then by state actions if necessary these are areas of the economy +that they cannot simply be left adrift they must be made to submit to the +market so that they finally produce something any other action of the +been any other action is illegitimate like +you will notice it in a moment more when we mention it there are many functions that +we can think of as properly a civilized state lacking that +list or they're not on that list +to be a little bit more specific the role of the economy in the state includes +some of these kinds of things the aggregate demand waiver that's what +that the regulatory period of capitalism was about if there was not the +enough demand in the economy to take all production and increase +then where capitalism was involved then the state was +involved +also a significant form of this kind of song ism in the in the good +minutes science nismo militarized spending large amounts of money on the +military in some way or another and instead of +to handle demand there was a policy movement to provide +subsidies lower taxes on the richest and the fury is that all the wealthy +because they benefited and the regulation of industries +basic is to release the deregulation of the financial sector is +say to move +to increasingly risky actions the weakening of the regulation of the +product safety for consumer safety at work +of environments weakening anti-trust forces that is to say that we +carry agglomeration monopolies from the seventies onwards in almost +any sector of the economy there are fewer and fewer corporations than +they control almost all the activity in this sector privatization icon and doing +contracts for public goods and services in mexico you know that +one of the key examples of this is the change in the law regarding the ejidos +that for a long time were common goods but in this period the +ability to privatize them something very important was done +finally cut its removal from all social welfare programs +later we will talk a little more about that so we are in a period that many +professors call it gangster capitalism +generally following the crisis of 2007 2008 or the financial collapse +normally called global collapse there are some exceptions such as +china that did very well even during that period +and a very wild greed especially in the richest assault on all +citizen common property institutions that have no right to ex +expect help from the state these are characteristics that I think are +now coming out in production on gas capitalism or +in capitalism gas the dominance of financial capital over all others +sectors which leads us to chronic capitalism an insight +deep or privatization of all elements of society +war instead of a war against poverty we have a war against +poor and against the vulnerable a massive production of populations +surpluses the more capital moves to finance rather than to +productive economy labor is being destroyed at precipitous rates +very large so labor is no longer needed then they no longer serve as +consumers then they are no longer really good for anything now I'm going to +use the free trade agreement as an example of what I'm saying about +moment of neoliberalism this i want i want to see the purposes of naphtha those +real and those that were explained and that we are now in renegotiation have +seven specific goals when it went into effect in 94 the first was +introduce you to signatories and a better nation state eliminate +barriers and facilitate the movement between borders of goods and services +now again no labor once and promote conditions of a +fair or fair competition and increase investment opportunity +investment provide protection and enforce property rights create +procedures for solving commercial disputes this is a point +Central to all of these agreements are protections for investors and +arbitration mechanisms are usually very secret they are kept they are kept +within the confines of those of the actors +of trade and only remain with investors and no one else and +finally establish a framework for multilateral regional cooperation +trilateral to expand the benefits of these trade agreements here I +I am going to make a little bit controversial what it says because the true objectives +the true objectives i would say that the true objectives of the tlc are +free American corporations from the laws that protected the +workers and the environment to prepare the way for the agenda +neoliberal in the us and elsewhere including privatization +of public services the deregulation of finances and the destruction of +independent trade union syndic movements these are the +real goals and have been very successful so let's look at the shortcomings of +naphtha +job loss in the us difficult to estimate these but but the estimated +current of those of the political institutes +what is bipartisan which is an analytical group is very difficult it is difficult +to designate but to estimate but between half and a million lost jobs +particularly from california and from factory jobs there are some +increases in jobs but fewer months paid less wages this and with +more precarious conditions mostly services and at the border after +suppression of wages and intimidation of workers more through +threats by corporations to seize what you want you don't go if you don't +have if they don't have many fixed expenses they can is to threaten to leave or +if they do so they can have a very disciplinary effect on labor +it is simply the threat is very disciplinary this has happened in those +three countries the way the suppression for example even today the workers of +Mexico earns 30 percent less than Americans even when I eat +we compare housing costs or living costs farmers +Mexicans eliminated them from business poverty rural poverty were created +products required us imported products from us and this created many +rural promises and this created a lot of immigration and these are +they went to rural areas sorry urban and these were absorbing this the +urban parts observing a large part of these people I don't know why that happens +but then the most recent estimated 1.3 million farmers +they lost their farmers lost their jobs +2 points 9 million Mexicans were living in the U.S. in 95 during the +tlc I am going to jump the other numbers but not go to this in 2014 there were 5.8 +Millions of Mexicans living in the United States, which is more or less double than when +instituted the tlc +this also led to the militarization of the border, great loss of life +policies of those pieces of immigration and that we still have them to this day +from today +a high in the maquiladora industry +and working conditions its standards very low workers wages +vulnerable and the maquila had more or less employed 30 percent of +the Mexican workforce a huge impact finally a whole set of +environmental effects environments from pesticide business mining practices +of deforestation etcetera these are [Music] +it's a very schematic and illustrative list but a lot so we talk +a little bit let me talk a little bit about the general effects of capitalism +good guys an effect is that we see everywhere now it's a race to +down +that is to say either in wages in environmental protection in health +occupational in any sector you want to think about is part of what +called a spatial arrangement of capitalism and capitalisms +need this different supplies of labor or product accesses to +other markets then you're looking for those places where you're going to maximize your +profitability they will not look where wages are higher they will not look +where there are many environmental regulations they will not look for places +where resources are more expensive so this is what a career takes +down with capitalism this is what is threatening to push +all downwards so there is an inequality in income and wealth these +inequalities have dramatically increased and impacts on the +wellness and health environmental effects including climate change +Like a god +as we see the damage that fossil fuels are creating this a +weakening the position of labor everywhere these effects of +disciplines action discipline session i.e. discipline the workforce +enormously the commercialization and privatization of everything including +importantly it is again it is very important in many parts of the world +including indigenous knowledge and some practices that is to say also things +of intellectual copyright patents when everything becomes part of a +system where everything can be put on the market the important things have been done +things that have been done through millennia millions million years now +you can bring economic instability to the market and they were +and the interesting thing from before is that there was an economy very stable economic +important and now from the 70s onwards now we see +a catastrophic instability in the economy including the peso crisis +94-95 in the passage of gasoline in the Asian crisis +this some things some parts escaped them as I said a few moments ago +in 2008 +not as dimension above +disposable production again this is one reason for capitalism that of +you can actually make a profit without producing anything just by moving the +electrons around the world you can bet any one and win money or +lose money on it but it the fact that they require less +workers and requires fewer workers +produces its less effective consumers then +an overproduction in disposable people which again wields enormous +so again these jobs enriching to +highly skilled and people are seeing that it would be lucky to use +in the town of the jobs and finally there is a change of state in +the legitimacy in this new regime that is in the period from 1945 to 1970 +Much of the legitimation of the state was based on giving the common good to +citizens who deserved it as well as a role of finance and +corporations air becomes more important in the world the states cannot +guarantee this type of social political common good not even its +citizens so a new basis for optimizing the state is what +we see from a state of the common good of those of support with social problems +well now you're going to protect worthy citizens from others so I +let's say the enemies and these are foreigners the terrorists are the +national or domestic cousins so immigrants the vulnerable the +poor the young the old so societies are being +divided against themselves this is the model that they have been for +protect those worthy citizens from the dangerous others from the dangerous others +there has been an increase in social movements in response to +these effects and these again account is one of the types of effects of the +capitalism that aster nastic that there have been a substantial number of these per +the place provide a few to you guys so if I pick it up from +us zero battle at least 799 that was a protest against the world +pride +social war that also another world may have started in 2001 the summer +arab i do +the battles that are taking place against the buttock and the pockets in +English the anti-internal trade movements were more recently with +the arguments presented against the pacific treaty +movements with austerity worker movements that don't +have land or are homeless that is being taken away from them +people for production we also see similar similar cases +in south africa +out a move against one +against a company that aims to design electricity to the movement of the +stl in mexico that are increasing more and more +in these cases everything started before the free trade agreement of america of the +north that was in response against gasoline +but they started before or after but we are seeing the movements +progressive are growing but are against anti-globalization many their +movements are in favor of global integration in one way or another +whether that through the works or some other type of collaboration of the +world but they are against the neoliberal reform of globalization in the +which benefits the mind goes to a group to a very small population of the +world but this also generates other types of movements +excuse me and I wanted to teach you other global anti-capitalists and global +thesis but that has also produced a +reaction from concentrating on +the concentration of wealth in very few has generated +xenophobic movements worldwide for example +let's make north america were a big country new account +or first of all this again I would say are +reactions to any kind of characteristics but they have a +very different inflection with what we are seeing above these are groups +they're using this kind of globalized effect to +become more insurgent more xenophobic in more +and ancient chroniclers +I'm going to end this slide where we are going slowly here with him +what national and neoliberalism and capitalism song marx and engels +crowe marx it +either an official constitution of society +on a large scale and a common ruin of class strife +they thought things could end in an asset in a useful way +or quite disastrously the watts on this +also based on the process he said that things as they are today the +capitalist civilization that cannot continue we must either move towards +socialism or backing down to barbarism +very similar +the increase in social movements in reaction to legalization +in its neoliberal form and that clear financing through all the +world are seeing more movement people are realizing and people are +she is not happy with the system that is being delivered to us by millions but the +big question is +I return to make the reaction of the elite state of the mobilization to the +resistance go to be accepted and there will be a change in the system it will be real or it will be +artificial [Music] +or there will be an increase in repression and I think with those terms +satin +I would only be adopting the framework that Marc has already described to us and I will fill +more spaces here for yesterday's comment than yesterday +the rest in a very specific way is to say that there is no society +only individuals +in fact it clearly wasn't +aware of it but I was paraphrasing ways that once +he referred to society as a sack of potatoes that he was not praising the +result of was condemning him he was describing he was writing +the rule of autocratic regimes the regime that wanted society +comparing society to an isolated sack of potatoes happened individuals +isolated confronting power by themselves and in our case they are not kings or +princesses +and if not in the concentrations of private power in their agencies, that is the +neoliberalism real definition of the system that mons +condemned mark you know and in its current form so it's not just society +a sack of potatoes on its own so in an organized way +against organized power and in fact neoliberal policies in fact +lead to this result which is quite obvious and true and expect them as what +we have been doing until today for 40 years of experience should +demonstrate the obvious have led us to a very particular concentration and +specific to corporate and economic power and that's been growing +in an extraordinary way and have done nothing to practically harm the +economy but +in finance they have been responsible for many of what is happening in the us +owner of 40% of these institutions have further damaged the +economy the concentration of private power immediately leads us to +deterioration of democracy so it's so obvious it's not even +necessary to describe it this should take +an example an exemplary case is the research carried out by one of +America's leading economists who did it a couple of years ago showed that +votes of +lesson of deputies in major cases is +could predict almost accurately with amazing accuracy only +to see the funds from the campaigns where they came from, how about they received so much +that the candidates are getting in shape in the way that the students are +resulting another effect is that it has been mentioned about the concentration of +air of economic good is the deterioration of the +population in terms of real wages now the current wages are +much lower than in the sixties than in the late 60s +now that more money is being produced it is going to very few +pockets particularly in the majority of the population +this is being recognized +[Music] franklin also when he was at +charge of the national economy as director of in addition to board of directors +next also one of the greatest economists in history that was before +that his reputation +went away due to the 2008 crisis +which teaches us exactly I want you are managing +he testified that before the congress that because the economy was also going +and he attributed to what he called +the insecurity of employees who weren't sure they feel +bullied the star of get tried to get +better wages or working conditions then the economy prospered then +that's called the health of the economy even when jobs are +available workers felt fearful given the nature of the +system that they had built with wages that +even with very low unemployment that is not really low because it does not have +all the people who left the workforce out of desperation +but that's the insecurity growth of the employees helps +to economics according to doctrine and there are many illustrations +regarding the collapse of democracy and one of the most shocking is that +just recently been studied in a role that is military spending +and military spending always increases and continues to increase already under a pretext u +another the first role just came out the first +study by a very respectable analyst on popular opinion +Regarding military spending, about 60 years of surveys that have been carried out +you dig and it turns out that the public consistently wants you to spend less on +everything that has to do with the military but continues to increase more and more +and this increases and alternates the function that democracy works and the greater +part of the long-term population has wanted preferred some kind of care +public medical health +all these effects are systematic +social relations break unions also in all unions +the effects vary from country to country but are basically everywhere +places and in weak and conflictive societies +the effects can actually be lethal +there are some very shocking examples of this for example in rwanda +there are many atrocities there that happened in the early 80s and have had +many conflicts in rwanda massacres technical conflicts +but they were very dejected by all the reforms +neoliberals and all the structures presented in the eighties +to create xenophobia hate racism in all of that that impacted the +western societies and created ethnic conflicts +that caused very massive massacres in the early 1990s is another example +yugoslavia which was doing very well during the eighties and +Yugoslavia was also subject to neoliberal assault regarding the two +who believes that society went bankrupt and then guided by volcanoes at the beginning of +the nineties then societies are weak 6 and there we just stopped +writing are almost types of genocide there are those kinds of societies +but the overall effect +has almost are almost inherent in non-liberal policies at the time of +separate people from each other and leave them isolated without any way to +defense are isolated in some kind of market is a market +which is already arranged in the aspect that is in favor of the whole class and of +investors and corporate powers +and in the west the result is some societies that were managed by the +fear anger focused institutions +and very big situations that collapse and that is very constant in the elections +European the last lesson in Italy and everything everything +that in the parties on the left that +run the political system fell +and other new political parties fell the non-fascists +and the same has happened in other places is perhaps the same is true for the us +in the 2016 elections +there was a lot of surprise and a lot of huge discussion regarding the election +cheating but that was the least surprising thing about the results +not so surprising that a billionaire who spends big +amounts of financial and economic support and you have +all the support of the media mean when they do someone does a lesson is +not surprising because he was not the traditional candidate but basically +is a cover for the people who are designing the policies +for the left side and all the capitalist parties what was very +surprising for the election was the bernie sanders campaign +that deviated from all American political history +it was the first time that a candidate actually came very close to victory and +who could have won it had it been by many partisans without any support +of private power of corporations without any media support either +they attacked and named them nobody knew him yet they used the word fear in +usa and I also use the word four +letters not allowed to mention it +and he is very easy he could have won the election without it being for you +for problems that had nothing to do with his campaign and even now maybe +it was the most popular political figure in the country that says something to something else +in a functional democracy one can think that the most popular figure +the most popular political figure knew what his opinions say in the +newspaper reports and all that is not because it is silent but +there is a lot of discussion about him but and about his campaign +and many activist groups that are working across the country in many +ways +they go under roll it's the kind of thing that should happen +but don't listen to it but it's happening and it's very important well and in +Latin America under the liberal lion program what +have passed in recent decades there has been a period of low recovery +more progressive leadership but unfortunately many opportunities +were that you're going to lose is a question that deserves attention but +right now there is a very severe regression I don't think things are permanent +can change a lot was obtained and you can build on that +there have been a very interesting number of economies for over 30 years +of neoliberalism and the results are very direct I will quote +lower raisins with lower growth rates +social welfare measures measures from rich to poor countries these are +dating in growth patterns is ambiguous +one of very marked growth in the era +neoliberal that preceded it +50% reduction in which equality is measured per capita there is no +poverty reduction there is a Chinese exception which is that it always ignores the +neoliberal prescriptions and some other Asian countries that +they omit to pay attention to these parts to these precepts and they have grown and +eliminated poor poverty one of the facts not so +appreciated is the decrease of what is the growth go from also +the policies [Music] +policies increases inequality poverty and among +countries when you walsh and what china rate when you use realistic measures of the +poverty +all all the countries these that have eliminate +poverty does not meet or would not be understood as neoliberalists of +interesting way economic theory doesn't change it doesn't seem to matter it's disproved +100 percent of the time which is very interesting the question now arises +of academic integrity we are not going to talk about mexico from the tlc mexico +It is ranked at number 15 of the Latin American countries in what is the +gross domestic product the poverty rate grew many se +they lost many jobs many farmers left they had to leave +many of its places cannot compete with +businesses that are subsidized what is not very beautifully called this +free trade +in the us it increased by 80 percent and then from the tlc it leveled off +now immigration to the us is called a crisis +it is an immense moral crisis where he says they are from societies +destroyed of central america [Music] +from since the enthusiastic support of regan since the genocides that there has been no +They have rebuilt those nations and are going to the United States and that is +called this what is a lot of people emigrating +to the us from honduras for example to the us that +it became one of the most violent states in the world this is a crisis +of refugees there are two countries in the region from which we have no immigration +there is virtually no one is Costa Rica, which happens to be the country +[Music] the only country where you haven't +intervened usa I say there is pressure in one way or another +but it hasn't intervened that's one of those little things that +nobody is supposed to notice other countries nicaragua that is a country of +Central America that had a that had a military some soldiers to defend +your citizens of the us and then at that time in some +times societies were established +to defend them but they are blamed for a lot of atrocities +and there have been many attacks but they were dependent on light +but hey there is no immigration flow from nicaragua well the tlc is +essentially continued the neoliberal policies that had been +instituted since the 80s of some depression of the monetary fund +international to increase deregulation the regulation of +factories owned by foreign investments and mexico are +moved away from development policies of previous decades and the purpose +of the tlc was explicitly enclosing that's the phrase that was used publicly in +close [Music] +the changes of the neoliberal period to put it in +an international treaty and that it was very difficult to get out of there and that it be very +hard to come back then of course it is all +free trade agreements allowed the free movement of capital but not the +free movement of labor if there is such a thing people who have +studied economics they have been told to read adam smith but not to mention that +Adam Smith considered the free movement of labor as something +main market is good one of the many things that have been +forgotten if the Mexican economy had continued to grow at rates +before the 80s for the next two decades if +would have continued to grow like this in the neoliberal period +Mexico today would have the average economic income of +societies European societies this is how everything was moving but well +of course after the tlc per capita income fell below it compared +against 100 percent increase at other times +europe is a very interesting case [Music] +one of the economies specializes in investigating for +Central American example of this if we study the policies +neoliberals in europe what he did is study +regular meetings of the international monetary fund which looked +year by year and they reviewed the policy situations +this person studied these policies and found very interesting things +I'm going to need it found a very scary pattern that the 2008 crises +it was exploited as an opportunity to enclose neoliberal reforms +instead of putting more this tax was to cut welfare to services +social not generally moved to create a society and I'm quoting that +have less negotiating capacity +mediators governments smaller social protection networks this growth of +reduced employment and the international monetary fund does not raise this and the +last five years these decision makers weren't elected +this europe is a is a drama effect a dramatic effect +how these neoliberal decisions are destroying many countries +and there is something called troika the center the European central bank for example they +put the policies and have to adhere to them and one has a view +radical democracy have fear xenophobia hate +courage that is happening right now in europe everywhere +any country in europe that was even if it was poor for example then already +we were seeing great massacres but since they are rich countries then what +we see are therefore a bit ugly things like the resurgence of neo-Nazis +these policies have similar effects elsewhere with everywhere +depending on the nature of the society where for example +well let's see the tlc there are some some interesting facts +there are commercial exchange laws since '74 that requires any agreement +International that affects workers has to be achieved +after talking to the workers unions these are +organized by there is a committee called the law d +of the workforce so to speak of the employees +the labor action committee was informed of the +they were informed of the tlc decisions the day before they were never +actually asked if they got together anyway they did a study and +Of course, it was very convincingly presented to them that the +executive version of the tlc was going to +and the tlc will have negative effects but they presented an alternative that +they +they said it would lead to big to big growth that it wouldn't have those +negative effects and interestingly this committee in testing the +defense of workers the report was very similar to the one created by congress +in the us office of technology these studies +they had the same conclusions basically this was all totally +ignored we no longer find mention of this in the press in literature +academic but there was an effect immediately the technology office +and evaluation was removed by the clinton administration +they didn't want research that could provide information they didn't want something +similar to what rum is doing with climate change no but this +looks like this was clinton what happened is that the low-growth version of the +tlc had no discussion and this tells us a little more about what democracy is +the tlc has some very weak provisions regarding the rights of +workers for example it's almost nothing but one is that it's supposed to +to study the effective rights of the tlc in +As for manpower and some studies were done by Mr. brain and a +cornell university historian during about tlc rules and +found that the actions of the employees directly reduced them +by the effect of the tlc 50% of the shares were eliminated +as to go on strike they were removed they were removed +for example there was a factory where they were planning to go on strike and the +manager started a propaganda where he told them that if you go on strike +well we are going to take the company mexico and put a sign that said +operation transfer to mexico and the workers returned they returned to +work and that is legal this but if you have a state that is illegal then no +it matters if it is legal or illegal so the tlc if it has very ponderable effects +direct on workers' rights to our usa +in this quest to find any indicative of this indeed +first the first in canada for example today there are negotiations with them in +relation to naphtha and there are some interesting aspects in which Mexico could +participate canada what you read is that all objections +The US with the NAFTA but Canada also have objections to the NAFTA and are +interesting can read them in the Canadian press they canada who +renegotiate the tlc that will prevent it from preventing anti-employment laws before +unemployed in the us and these who are not allowed to come to court at +supreme court as it happened recently these are laws +called right to work the right to work means +right to steal laws with right to work +means they can be represented by a by a union leader but not +they have the right to pay that's what is what is done in the us and that I had a +great effect on unions obviously not this should have would have +declared illegal in the tlc for example the subsidies of the +agriculture businesses could have been changed during the renegotiation of the +tlc is a radical violation of business +of agriculture that are subsidized is a violation so for example +Mexico Mexico may have to take part in this type of activities, not the +business subsidies for example after another doctrine of +neoliberalism as omar mentioned in the financial liberation introduced since +the seventies and this had an immediate effect +in an impressive increase in speculative capital +and in the speculative capital flows that exploded after that and that had +an effect what does it mean that countries had to put aside +reserves to protect themselves to protect their countries from any attack that's a +double attack on the economy a speculative capital because this no but not +support or do not contribute to production they certainly do not support when +reserves are saved to defend a country's currency from attack +speculative then removes some capital from the +production and this and this is very impressive that +certain countries maintain capital control +this would not be allowed or some countries are not allowed to do these +that is, they are not allowed to protect themselves from repeated crises +financial for example 97-98 india china malaysia +they had capital control and they suffered from these crises in 2007-2008 +the same thing happened but release financial forgiveness release has a +immediate effect on democracy is undermining democracy and are separated from +The ones I just wrote are important for Mexicans +consider why they will arrive very soon after the next election +and it goes to what employers consider the for the wrong part +businesses are going to create something that economists call a parlament +virtual parliament +that's some economics economics literature +with a virtual parliament of people who can contribute or lend money and +they can do referendums on them and they can decide if the policies are +irrational or not that is if they are designed to benefit people or +to maximize profits then they decide to exercise their veto power +for currency taxes and so on then governments go and go +face a dual constitute cya is to say that means at least in +principle is that if one of them is his population until he does not know until +point where they can if it is a democratic country and the other would be the +virtual parliament even in rich countries that is the prevailing constitution +and this this situation is very likely to appear very soon in Mexico as well +that if the Mexican election goes the wrong way from the +point of view of the us or international business if it starts like this it starts to +pursue moderately progressive policies if parliaments do +they make their decisions so mexico is going to have only one way to protect itself +and it's the same thing that successful countries do they have done it and this is +as they do they do it with other means to +defend and +well it must be recognized that other Asian countries for the so-called countries +miracle how they are developing they had and still do have a +very tight control of capital for example south korea you can't get +this the death penalty for capital flight then latin america and +I will end this has many internal problems away from the assault +Neoliberal Latin America is notorious for its extreme concentration of power and +money is not wealth there are the elites who have no responsibility in the +well-being of populations and it is very difficult to compare with mexico +Latin America with East Asia and South Korea for example long ago +was the level of South African countries and now it is an industrial power the same +It happens in the countries of East Asia and the changes in Latin America are very +dramatic Latin America is is much more favored than these other countries have +many more internal resources east asia does not have this no +Latin American has external enemies Asian countries and wars attacks +However, East Asia has developed and Latin America has grown +very little and the reasons are not difficult to identify for 30 years during the +growth period in East Asia Latin America has observed the +neoliberal rules the washington consensus +East Asia has been totally ignored by the elite. +Latin America have separated from their own countries, maybe this +They tried the same as this one from Asia but here they were not allowed these +Elite decisions have been in this way, such as the flight of +capital capital flight is in is Latin America is very common +that is to say you can you can punish in east asia even for the penalty of +death there is an economist david felix who speaks +that good consumption he and only the main scholars write that the +consumption patterns and the behavior of elites have been very different in +both regions in Latin America there is a fervor an insatiability of the elites +to stop it to produce luxuries in contrast to that with the orientations +of Asian societies in things created in their homes in the most organic +so before turning it into something consumer for example in contrast +dramatic with Latin America that is for example in the countries +Latin Americans have also been much more open to investment +foreign since the 50s multinationals have controlled +large shares of industrial production in Latin America much more +that in the success stories in east asia +the world bank reported that privatization and foreign investment +has tended to replace other capitals in Latin America by transferring the +control and sending profits to other countries something that does not happen in eastern +asia and that is something that is happening to mexico right now this +for example energy systems and more generally east asia +it adopted the kinds of modes of development that had allowed the countries of the +west develop including us germany what are transfers +technology and focused investments Latin America mainly the latest +generations have adhered to the principles of markets yes they were that +they were forced by the colonies that are now called countries +third world now you should mention that there is a +this an exception to these East Asian successes is the philippines +which is the only country that by the way because it has a lot of control of the us +There are no things that are not seen, such as Costa Rica and other examples +similar but there is also good news the good news is that +Latin America culturally has the good ones +cultural and economic resources to escape this will not be easy but it is +possible since the partial successes of some +of the few years of positive development in Latin America as indicated now +the task is to use this opportunity that is very real and crucial for +develop thank you [Music] +we have we have received a distillate of the questions that were +made and have been organized for us into three categories and we are going to +try to cover as many questions as we can the first category is the +criticism of capitalism and direct the spaces of resistance the second is the +relationship of the usa and mexico and the third is the role of the students in the cdm +in academic situations because we don't start with the first one with criticism +of capitalism in spaces of resistance and the first question is how +is how they see the anti-capitalist movements in this sector in +comparison of other movements like anti feminism +in our course you know what +a key part of the course was trying to make a connection of what +it could be at least on the surface at different movements that was +in terms and teams of when people are gathering and tend to leave +in various orientations feminism is more important than this other +movement or is it better than this one and then when we design the course we +we design thinking about our problems and all of them talk about +very similar circumstances that even in our night +in a very brief way we talk about problems in a way +a more dominant form in what has been the realism of capitalism +it is the common ground of what has been the political movements what is coming +being for the collision capitalism is real +I think in a very very good way and the question here is very well encapsulated in +the next sentence today it's easier to imagine the world the end of the world than +imagine the end of capitalism and that's a time when we are +living right now we are saturated right now and somehow +way capitalism subdivides +puts one segment of the population against the other is connected to +feminism questions of racism with xenophobia homophobia is that that's very +useful for capital to divide the working class into +and infinite forms against itself so feminism and capitalism are +very important intersect in a very important way and one of the ways in +the ones that intersect is here for example in the very important choice or +lessons to learn in order to proceed in the face of the anti chant +anti global capitalism and before neoliberalism movement in the +moments in a way that they were developed in the movements of the +one of the ways that feminism helps us understand +/ the difference between hierarchies that's +no values give it value in one way over the other so we have many +lessons to learn about feminism clearly we have many +intersections between capitalism which is a system +that must continue to grow is a system that must continue to grow +in a finite world so we have many connections between capitalism and its +current form and the environment itself the environmental effects are missing +some of these problems so these problems came up very +fundamentally in the capitalist way organizing the economy and society +so I think they are very +close between these movements that precisely only between these that +were accomplished in question but among all of them who are connected +between a framework of capitalism and the only way that society can +be organized so I think they determine that with that x I will let +Professor Chomsky take the next question which is +in terms of climate change with the +capitalism what are the real ways in +the chapter +these are all the failures opportunities to be able to take this question so +I will take Mexico here in the middle they have many problems that they have to solve +So Mexico has to develop a way to grow and a way for +grow mexico is to maximize its use of fossil resources +in exploration in the gulf of mexico to be able to carry more exploration and +exploitation of fossil fuels is and be watching it +as the sea level continues to rise +and everything later everything will be underwater +submerged underwater then it is not especially true but mexico has +is in a position to develop +wind solar energy then are times when you have +to take leadership and develop alternate forms of energy here the +electrical resources and other resources are options the more right away I don't think +it doesn't take much imagination you can recognize them and recognize these options +that are available is I would like to make another comment about the first +question +on board I think it is quite correct but there is also another way of looking at it and +that's looking at what's happened through human history +throughout history the history of mankind everywhere in the +nature we can see it everywhere the power +resist legitimate authority if there are hierarchies and if they don't exist then you +they take great efforts to overcome this and all of this crystallizes +with an assault in a legitimate way on legitimate institutions +that they demand a form of hierarchy and dominance and so are justified is not +automatic as well as a +like the test race then not to say this burden of proof +all this is evidence of capitalism capitalism must be dismantled +fundamentally based on legitimate authority +some people give orders others follow them +and we can see all this from the industrial revolution that +it was a form of slavery for wages so if we look at the culture +of the U.S. working class in the 19th centuries during the revolution +industrial or be to accept young women +in the textile industry or working in the mills all of them with the +subordination of orders as well as legitimate for a form slavery is +a way of writing must be timeless and then you +you go free this was so popular it was a catchphrase of the party +revolutionary in the us and it is natural to recognize that +when you sell something you produce something of your own under your own +decision that does not touch your personal integrity that +when you do something under orders that attack you +it's great +produces something that is beautiful under orders +with salaries we can is to watch what he does but we hate what he is +and that was understood by what the working class understood the capitals the autocracy +the capitalist became instilled as a common sense +but they can be rebuilt and this includes everything that is mentioned the +feminism immigrant rights +anything I mentioned through these structures of +authority and dominance we have no justification +there are movements in the current time that take themselves +the ideals of enchantment then +These are the +but the movement has many aspects +any form of authority or dominance no matter how it is +legitimate - and good and seeks to justify itself but cannot which is almost always the +case and are looking to dismantle to add to that quickly to +expand governance systems a little bit and this I think speaks +also in the ways in which we can think of as social change +they have opposite positions and there is a continuum no they are not empathetic between them they are two +interesting forms of governance one is hegemony consisting of govern +with the government with the consent of the governed which is the model +preferred and on the other side of the spectrum is +the other is the coercion that exists when consent fails and the +government has to move a little more towards conversion and there is a +governance problem when you have no legitimation when you have the +government with consent is the question is why do people see what +they see this way because they give them the consent to have the right to be +governed because they believe governance is done for their benefit +if he if that legitimation begins to fail and there are many laughs for which +can fail then government structures have to move around a lot +more towards coercion then governance becomes a lot +more fragile and one of the things we see under the gangster gangster capitalism is +one of the things you see is the relations between the us and the us is that it +closer to coercion think about that in light of the next question the +construction of the wall in the on the border this is a sign of the +gangster capitalism if you think of ways in which the framework +neoliberal occurs and the idea that they can have so much capital movement +of goods and services as possible but that you must keep the hand of +works in its place then the wall because it makes sense then if +the idea that the problem with material conditions deteriorate +it's always the fault of other dangerous people in one way or another +it is never the fault of those who make the decision how to maximize the +capital accumulation you have to see sorry move to another part of those +people the responsibility must fall on those people who come to take +our works for example putting that that wall has a lot of logic in terms of +rhetoric about tangible barriers in a way that the neoliberal framework +you must prevent certain types of movements and allow others for example +the wall if it is to be built has to see it will be quite permeable from and in +others then not so much but the wall is a result of gangster capitalism +and I want to remind dance med the icon of capitalism again +and the principle that the core of the market capitalism market is the +movement of labor if it does not serve us +also it is not only the wall it is important to note what +mention that what is called the refugee crisis is an immoral crisis +because the flow of refugees is not mainly from Mexico, the flow of +Refugees are from Central America who were unable to defend themselves against the assault. +from the us and those who could defend themselves because they are not refugees and that +It has doubled in Europe, not only in the USA is one of the great +Today's moral crimes is the European effort to maintain the +migrants far from their coasts thousands of people are trying to +run away from africa and they're dying in the mediterranean and they're putting them in +fields not to say field concentrator or they're returning them but it's +a very simple question because people are leaving europe and africa +Europe sorry and not in another direction that is something difficult to explain but it is not +a secret you just have to review it and destroy your country as people leave and +they are going to countries where they can get rich where they can get +profit that's a moral crime and if we see it +that's right grandpa +I'm going to take this advantage of having the microphone and I want to get to this +category 3 question which I think is vitally important this is a +asks about the role of students in academic institutions so what +I am going to read Mexico has student movements +students who have brutally suppressed one in 68 in the +disappearance of napa students recently so the questions are that +can you recommend to the students of our generation is a very question +directed then as they see the role of academic institutions including +teachers unions then I will not speak to stop apart no I will not +talk about for me one of the reasons why I've been in +teaching in over 30 years that seems like a blink to anyone +this time or teaching as a company with a lot of hope in the sense that +it gives one the opportunity to put ideas not sense of indoctrination but to put +ideas there and people move with those ideas in ways that are +totally unpredictable sometimes putting ideas there and hoping that they can +go in certain directions but it is an act of faith that means that the +people who are going to find them to face the problems that we have +described and that our generations have created sorry I'm sorry to say that's +people that young people who are young today +the fact that they can name in student movements we can put +the finger in certain movements that there are in the us several social movements that +I put on my two blackboards in all those are for youth movements +then hope has to be put there they have to put ideas there and that +students advance with them the academic institutions that can +do because we can be as brave or as shy as our inclinations +take us I think there are still huge opportunities in the academy +to have for example have a meeting like this have a conversation like +this which is difficult to consider or have in any other sphere have +this kind of freedom this is I think in many other places +it's good we have to protect it as much as possible is a company of hope +the idea that students are going to take ideas in ways that cannot be +prejudice or prosecute +[Applause] [Music] +let me add a little more to that the relationship between student teacher is a +authority relationship and not like the others but but how is that must +questioned and has been questioned by by educational theorists paulo freire a +brazilian educator +he mentioned throughout his life that the teaching experience should be +participative of a participative company where the students and +teachers cooperate from different points of view but they cooperate and that if +happens it can't happen anywhere and if it happens in certain parts +particularly let's say in advanced science courses where there's +seminars on serious organic constitutions +let's say in one of the sciences because this is how it works +courses where I have given courses where students give challenging new ideas and +that challenge how things are going +this modern physicists for example from carrasco de mighty and who gave courses to +principles those who were entering then the students who were +going in they said we are going to see this year and he said no matter what we are going to +covering what matters is what you discover and maybe you discover something +again something that will change the way we think about things that +is there are other cases I have seen cases where children children can bring their own +ideas can participate can learn how to learn by participating in the process +of discovery and that's what teaching should be the teacher +he has a background he has certain privileges he has studied for a long time +time many people use it many people contribute to that but pablo +freire is basically okay there is an authority structure that should +to always confront each other over time and what can be done +in very productive ways [Music] +[Applause] +so I think we have time for one more question +I'm going to let you not answer this I don't know why people want to ask +more so what is the one a socioeconomic policy that mexico +you need to regain your identity and your independence but that is not hand +I would say that they build the wall and make +let them pay it [Applause] +[Music] +I don't think there is a socio-economic policy can you can put a +simple sentence this is not but it would not mean much because there are many +aspects many policies that mexico should face or that has to +facing has a variety of problems this one I don't have to tell +You guys can tell me a lot more about that wide range of things than +we talk about is that they have destined to Latin America the +immunity of elites from elites of responsibilities +of that of the inequalities more of the masses and in Mexico it has some very +specific specials that you know for example insurance know +that there is a sentence that says Mexico's problems are far from +god and very close to the us the problems of the usa approach +that is to say that the us brings the problems or says that the problems come from +drugs but the drugs are based in the us then demand and supply +then the demand comes in the us but but the supply of weapons basically +comes from the usa we live in arizona there you can go to a store and buy +a submachine gun and they give it to you and some representative can be part of the cartel +and someone from drug trafficking can pass it to the other part of the border on +alcohol tobacco most +most of the weapons that have the cartels of mexico are +The United States is also one is something of politics in the hemispheric conferences that +held every few years every two years the most recent one was in panama +the entire hemisphere opposed or was opposed to +Canada and USA and there was no consensus one of the reasons +it was that they wanted to recognize recognize Cuba these sounds do not want and canada +kind of like he wants that and that's something that has been going on for a long time and the +another is for the criminalization of drugs the criminalization policy of +drugs is devastating for Latin America for many for many +things for example in Colombia there is still a chemical warfare through +fumigation that is destroying as cattle crops has had has moved +entire populations and in mexico they already know what the +effect a problem for mexico is that it has +to get out of this we already know how to do it there are models +Portugal for example a couple of years ago just decriminalize on drugs +legalized and it's like a traffic violation now +and criminal activity was reduced society is healthier +there have been no negative effects in mexico it will be more difficult because it is something that +is immersed in society and why is it so close to the united states- +but for socioeconomic policies if mexico tries +more progressive administration returning to +to development policies before the neoliberal decades the policies +of the industrial era focusing on the domestic market focusing and +controlling capital and other measures then there is an old person who does not +is going to like it in a virtual parliament as it is called as I told you and it is going to +they are going to take action they have ways to do it and for mexico for mexico +defend yourself this is going to require two ways of +well a lot of internal strength and organization of the inside from within +from mexico but also solidarity with popular forces in the us what +which is not impossible but one of the facts +awesome 80s is so important that it's never discussed +is that for the first time in the history of imperialism for the first time +popular groups and societies of the empire not only protested the +atrocities that were taking place in central america which is where the +they were educated but thousands of people went to help the victims +from the us from rural communities of evangelical evangelical churches sorry +Masses 10 tens of thousands went to help the victims by participating +taking part seeking to help them with their needs +seeking to protect them in the way they could against racist attacks +imperialists this had never happened something like this they never thought they were going to live +in a Vietnamese country for example or in a country of Algeria to go help them +them running running as part of the resistance was important +there's the nature of society is very mixed on what can be done and +These movements are extremely important and this in Latin America for +example during his years for several years of +progressive policies you started and started to develop institutions +independent which is something very important and in South America for example +unisur became a union of societies of south america that did not +a lot but the important thing was to fight the main empire not something that never +lit or did not grab shape but there it is something that made up the entire hemisphere +just excluding the united states and canada that's very important +and its importance and importance is that you can be a form of solidarity in +against the attack of virtual parliaments and the imperialist state that +is behind it and if mexico starts trying to get out of those +colonial or colonialist traps because you are going to get into trouble there are +many academic studies in mexico have surely seen 80 percent of the +Mexican businesses are involved in some way or another in drugs +banks are involved in many ways +so +this this system we must end this system of self-destruct corruption +and destroying it is not going to be easy so I don't think there is a policy +socioeconomic there is an important variety of policies but it is not going +to be easy it's something that will require a lot of energy effort from within +mexico and much international solidarity 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+popular historical researchers from Argentina and the research center +Eduardo del Rio Rius without regret from Mexico this international seminar of +online training takes place all week on Mondays with the cycle on +trade union historical memory on Tuesdays with the cycle on the other days politics +Wednesday with the other education tomorrow we will have the presence of the French +Pedro director of the ices and unesco is paid on Thursdays with the cycle that +We call other insurgent voices this Thursday will be discussed on the youth +today and on Fridays the international contact group coordinated by +leaders and union leaders of Latin America ' +the faculty of humanities of the university of panama has decided that +this seminar the other politics and each of its encounters are part of +the contents of the course on public policies and social participation of the +Master of Social Sciences with an emphasis on educational policy +contemporaries that develop the faculty of humanities of the +university of panama that is to say this lecture by doctor chams that forms +part of the training of students and students of this master's degree +vice-rector for extension of the university of panama has decided +certify each of these seminars those who participate in 70% of the +courses every Tuesday for this you must interact in the youtube chat +of other voices in education and in each of the facebook +organizations that carry out these seminars this seminar and the +organizations that we promote the international center other voices in +education the historical popular educators cooperative and the simple being +try to encourage critical thinking and develop political alternatives +educational and union organizations in the face of neoliberalism when we are going to send a +strong hug also the difficult moment that Mexico is living today with a +very important earthquake especially in the south zone for the comrades +brothers and sisters especially from oaxaca we send here from this barefoot that +we carry out strong support, enormous support for this situation so +complex that are living at the low complexity of the parador pandemic and +joins fellow comrades is this horrible situation so go a +warm hug from the entire alliance for mexico +well today we have the honor enormous honor the presence of chongqing +intellectual, linguist, philosopher, political scientist, and activist from the +1,928 since 1945 he studied linguistic and mathematical philosophy at the +University of Pennsylvania received his doctorate in 1955 after leading +conducted most of his research at the University of +Harvard in 1998 received an honorary doctorate in linguistics from the +rovira and virgili university and received this same distinction in numerous +universities around the world the work and life done and we can +divide into two large planes not obviously separated but are +related because it is always positioned against the structures of +power and oppressor of the dominant groups either in the theoretical plane +philosophical as well as political one has to do with the field of linguistics and +the other with his political commitment and activism against US policies +in 957 with only 29 years they are who revolutionized the field of linguistics +history with his theses on logical structures of theories +linguistics would not be published until 1,975 his linguistic and psychological theory +derived from central assumptions of structuralism as well as of psychology +behaviorism with typical forgiveness noam chomsky became interested in politics very +early age stimulated by the free readings and guides of the +Spanish anarchists exiled in New York +defines himself as a supporter of the anarchist tradition especially of +the labor orientation current of anarchism anarcho-syndicalism and is +member of the famous revolutionary union of americans ted and +ww although he is a great critic of capitalism especially with politics +outside the U.S. was in 1967 when he began his inclusion in activism +politician totally opposing the participation of the United States in the war of +vietnam from this he produced his essay book entitled the responsibility of +intellectuals for which he obtained great recognition is associated with the law +new left and was therefore arrested several times for his activism +against the war although he has published numerous books and articles against +neoliberalism and neoliberal globalization imposed by the US as another +great work of the North American intervention Joyce who has asked +USA and Canada lift economic sanctions imposed +to cuba and venezuela so we are beyond proud +to this great intellectual and thinker of reference throughout the world in our +dear noam chomsky and ezekiel +other +in question +question +and that it is important to note that the focus of everything is currently on the +the issue of the pandemic and therefore the crucial question that people ask is +how the pandemic is going to change everything from this great event +three cool questions is rock and roll +expression of condemnation that is like that of both projectiles of 23 teachers +sainz test in which 26 predictions was the next to an robots wars and things +[Music] first the question would be for +what is a pandemic after all is important the crucial thing now is to find +the reason for its origin since it was predicted in 2003 +after the sars case that was so serious then scientists are +predicting a similar event due to global warming +factors that led discharge +but it is not, we are not +God +the one world water is water black white list +two +There are basically three factors that have led us to this situation in the +2003 it was understood that it was very possible that this happened and there was a +knowledge to deal with it however currently knowledge +is not enough and someone has to be willing to act in relation to +This, then, what do we mean by big pharmaceuticals that are governed by +a logic of capital that if something is not profitable or cannot be voted on +profit because it simply cannot be developed or should not exist +it is +that problem +if the drug companies the pharmaceutical companies +they are being excluded due to this logic of capital +The obvious alternative is the government that counts for the resources and thus has the +means to develop this this cost effective solution +which is not rigid by capital, however, there exists because this thought the +neoliberal that taking alpes to the presentation of the former president +President Reagan in which he simply said that the government is the +problem that you can not leave things in the hands of the government so we have +this limitation also by the government +game +or [Music] +physically +the worst of the control replay +United States +for ever ready +henceforth because I feel that private companies are excluded +due to the logic of capital and government is excluded by the logic +liberalism then as how governments can react to +this reality the cases are known china reacted by producing its own +drugs in search of the solution in their vaccine was that the eastern countries of +Asia Oceania also the response of other countries varied however because +another slower way is valid in the case of in the western hemisphere usa and +emblematic brazil in their reaction to the case +of the pandemic +and me +at 12 +stream sonar ex ignore by law +by sea [Music] +Mr +i +in the case of countries in the hemisphere where things can be done with them +call from outside or outside the reaction are those countries in which things +are out of control and these two are countries that are led by fans +extremists where they are willing to open the economy +In search of profit and power we can mention for example the case of the stock market +In Brazil, since the numbers are very high in deaths from the pandemic, then +His answer was simply who cares in the case of the president of +trump in the usa seeing the numbers so high just what he said was then +that the tests were stopped for I have no more cases arise these are the +countries where things are a little out of control +and nothing is together +m +with +the werder elements claim in crisis funding hans op 64 false field in +destroy +then the world awaits us after the pandemic in the case of the most +powerful in the history of the United States as the president of Trump said that in +February when he produces his new annual budget he will continue +withdrawing its fund from the entire international initiative to develop some and +that will then continue to provide funds for everything that is the initiative +militaristic and nuclear weapons in a nutshell +[Music] +in that direction +of is +efe +the tukkers +in a theme a theme that unifies everything that refers to the new proposal of +US budget first distribute in the system +health for people for the simple fact of not being profitable so it can +Therefore, it does not make sense, we will have a center to control +diseases are still planted for the public and return to subsidize from a +open way all that is seeking +fossil energy as part of making the capitalist initiative profitable +also the regulation of environmental controls and this must be +highlight the malicious nature of this mentality in removing all +the regulations on air quality controls in the environment in +full pandemic of a health nature where health is greatly affected if +these industries are active and pollute the air more than +which is already apart from the condition of 5,019 land for +know if you allow me to add to what is important what the doctor says +Chomsky is that reducing regulations to +controls of the contaminations did it at this moment with under the mask of +that the economy was going to be reactivated if there were regulations, the +economy but that is why it is the malicious character they hide behind the +reactivation of the economy and thus seek to justify what they are +politics is moving thanks +rain +quest +i +[Music] +16 h +from saint marc +its T +the media have described the cuts destroy the world where you kers +[Music] if really all elements that is +It is important to note that we already mentioned the subsidy to everything that the industry +fossil as in the destruction of public health systems and the +increase the military budget and give that last blow to the remnants the +gun control plan that had been evident for 30 years which all +translates into new contracts for the government since the new countries +would also serve as a means of continuing to direct public funds to +the large arms industries and thus leading us to a new career +nuclear to armamentism again +and me +video +[Music] +expert +i +[Music] +two +marks [Music] +reuters +weapons +[Music] +efe that's the broom +If there are some basic principles of this neoliberal doctrine, we must take +in consideration above all because greed greed and +apart from that because the goals of that greed +keep pace with corporations is simply established by explaining that +seeks to expand profits for members of private +these then new owners of the government at the time leaders like +thatcher and reagan simply as they expressed the need +that private sectors had control of the economy and it is understood that +that Karl Marx in the 16th century criticized for turning this intention of +turn the population into simple sacks of potatoes the inhabitants and in this +more modern times the minister of brazil simply good talks that there is +a whole private structure within the government +I don't know if Luis wants to add something to +very well thanks +singh you +exact konami +[Music] +well +and os windows +then the main thought or the main slogan below the government +except when we need it and it tells us to look for other +mechanisms to protect ourselves and we have a very important lesson from this +pandemic which is that the result of the following that there is state violence +more and economic plans than in the same as +It was ceded in Austria between the two great wars in the 20th century +it is something common doctor chams that rafael there is something that seems important to me when +teaches that the idea of neoliberalism is to remove the government from +center not but control is the hands of individuals but simply +when they need the government they use it again to protect them for +that says that neoliberalism and state violence go hand in hand +as is happening at the moment there was no very strong economic crisis that +we are still not out of it and what did the entrepreneurs and the +Senators both Democrats and Republicans +they wrote trillions in money to entrepreneurs to get back that +power that control they had, they do not want it, the government does not work but +used when they need to rebuild +the gourd today +[Music] +[Music] +i +[Music] fusion +and in the attempt +wang wei +if he is the main idea or what moves +really because this movement of change can really lead to +exemplify it through the case of austria in the 20th century +because it was a moment in which it was led with a strong movement +which was destroyed by economic forces to make way for +new to new forms of government such as fascism such as that of mussolini +it can be said that the establishment of these friendly dictatorships of good +intentions because in many cases it was said that they were the ones that saved +europe at the time +efe +I'm going to take two layoffs +with months +Well, to do it in a fairly simple way if we go to the pages +website of the institution fan page is we need to understand that many of the +things that are explained there after saving civilization because +important is to save the structures not the people +important is the collective in its logic +yes no but but the idea that he added in that web page is that he was told to +people in those moments where they were destroying governments like the +Austrian Social Democrat that after saving society those of the +black shirts that were type of clothing that they wore in which +supported those fascist dictatorships were going to return and disappear from the +scene no and unfortunately we realized that it did not happen that way or there +neither with hitler nor with mussolini thanks reflex +l +you are not +d +[Music] +this is the sun +efe +Nine dollars +with a crack why +[Music] +because there is a compromise it could be called that this neoliberalism +somehow it will bring violence as in the case of Chile for +exemplify cliche cases without going into more detail +Well, torture chambers and money from foreign investors +thus caused the Chilean industry to change +However, by ignoring Feinmann's anxiety, I do not completely +they privatized the copper industry, which we know that somehow +helped anyway in 1982 it should be remembered that there was a destruction +total of its economy is what in the end because it causes all this +trans +[Music] +two +two +as soon as this neoliberal experiment had problems, it was seen as a +establishment of a system that we know prevailed for 40 years with the +Reagan and Thatcher doctrine has caused enormous instability +suffering and discomfort worldwide due to the way in which the +same visit the world +they admire +abroad +i +and in this +we wish +i +[Music] 6 +[Music] as +[Music] +h [Music] +and luis huerta there are also para para and para also for translations and +we are doing aybar son louis and of course rafael is great in price he added +what I think may be importing now of the contextualize effect +we continue +Okay +hc we see with concern that all genders in davos switzerland are therefore +concern of these elite groups of the world because in their private environments +where they argue for 40 years they have held hegemony in the past +January there was concern due to the follow-up of a nuisance at the +world against capitalism and as it would be a new issue the issue was the +development of new companies that work in a more humane way in which +propose to privatize everything for the benefit of humanity this is the +new we could say doctrine +so if it is something that appears important than doctor chams that +is pointing out is that generally in each year they met in Switzerland in a +teacher to ski and all that what the people of the capital met and +congratulated each other to point out how well they were doing +In their managing the world, in fact, the Salesians are the owners of the world of the +universe but that this year in January was different because they started talking about +the concern they had as the masters of the universe for the resistance +the social uprisings that people were doing against the +capitalism as a system, not for that reason what Rafael says very rightly that +recognized that for 40 years they have made mistakes and that they were going to be now +now more this humanitarian companies not that they were going to work for the people +with doctor chams I know +we had the story of war z 'extralegal our activity repression harting of +bernal only short rhythms to require regional +natural de los de textiles del arenal software corporation neuer extract +gordi with software +when there is a private eye cherry bomb order +by politicians +if I wanted to refer to a term +because if looking at history 60 years ago +companies switched to them throughout this long period of time when +his thinking predominated approximately these 40 years and they were perfected because +somehow his way of selling himself to the public then this term +software that is human corporations or corporations or businesses +with the human being in the middle or in the center of its activity +it is like a proposal that they had originally made and that they will +retake it they have wanted to sell that it is going to be retaken they are going to rule the world +putting people at the center for your personal benefit they will offer you +that you are going to have a role in everything else, however they are going to dominate what +is at the end the story and something to point out is that that story was the +counted 60 years ago in 1960 when capitalism was emerging again +has a lot of force after the second world war we were told that +companies were that kind of concern for people they did not work +for people etc they have spent 60 years and now what the one mentioned in +davos switzerland worried because people were resisting capital +so now they told us that once again they will be human enterprises like +you said they are concerned that people are well participate +etcetera etcetera but but doctor chams says that we are going to wait for others +60 years to realize that the same thing happens then the state repeating that +in reality the data the facts that we see are not important or do not take them +in consideration people +reuters / eric light +two +vigor +with sporting +two +i +2 warner crisis the lord all softly +is to collect the crises then through the ebro has come the new ever +yes this is very important to make an illustration of three major themes that +we are living the first is that we are in a crucial moment +capitalism is fighting a very fierce class struggle +to ensure that the post-pandemic world is a world +totally according to his vision and second this represents a possible end of the +organized movement an organized social moment for reasons well enough +governments and thirdly because there is a crisis +that will also be intensified by the hammer of the +capitalism in the same way and I would like to add how important +It is the vision that they share with us, we take advantage of it, how to be the world +After this pandemic passes, it is a great question, it is very important because +because capitalism right now as it illustrated when it said it +remove the regulations here in the US for example in the middle of the pandemic that is going to +help production for example oil companies companies +that companies that extract fossils from fossil energy and it is a class struggle +what is he doing against people all over the world and then what will happen +if they actually succeed in the neoliberal system +triumphs when the pandemic passes because they right now as they do in the +doctrine of the clash which I believe that somehow we have +heard what happens when that shake that the system makes at this moment +we are under the pandemic but capitalism is acting the +neoliberalism is pushing to remove all regulations and it will come +a time when if they succeed they will continue to make excessive profits +all that greed and there will come a time when it will put us in a +instance where we are at the point of the destruction of human life from +democratic societies as we know them +this means the use of new opportunities +efe opportunities for what we can work to order rested ruiz football from +raids ternitz no temple guys road production +To conclude, this is a moment of historical significance where there is a +great opportunity also to focus on the human being their needs their +rights and not only in the profit and the obtaining of returns +to put it this way and because at the same time it is some +presents great challenges as Rafael mentioned it is a historic moment +It also gives us opportunities and we should think about the possibility of +build in this case on the social resistance that is emerging +in many countries of the world even here in this country in the usa many people from +power I'm like in a trance I'm in shock I don't know how to describe it because people +he is protesting he is moving he is articulating he is acting +jointly and that did not happen then that is the opportunity for example that +Dr. James points out that because if we can take advantage of this moment that +we are living with resistance in the system we can get to establish +better a new social order where the needs of beings are important +humans not just corporate profits +fernando +do your good but it is +ok fernando, in 5 minutes he has to go to +another good interview was not for questions but +maybe in a dialogue we can get it out but then the happiness that is grateful +really this conference the proposal now of this cycle of the other politics +It is also in asking some questions, yes, we can pass +quickly to the questions and thank Rafael Cardenas teacher of the +english apartment at the university of panama public intellectual and doctoral student +in humanities and social sciences panama university and keeps them +listen to them associate professor of critical pages and multiculturalism that +They were doing this translation and we can move on to the questions all three +questions we had belen tanus the word is shown +educate popular and hungary dora and institute history teacher left +with any of gonzalez Argentina member of the cooperative of +educators and mentors can you historic llc sorry for interrupting you +professor chomsky has to leave in five minutes +well then I don't know if it would be nice to fire him thanking him and +between us handle the questions of the participants I do not know why he does not go +to be more time but yes to think if suddenly a final message is to say +a message to the teachers and with that those audiences do if it is a final message +from doctor chams that for the teachers of latin america and of all +the world ok +you want to tell races +Benefits +wayne +newman sprint +Just be show racing jordi young expert welcome to end +rising +[Music] +racing in the arc +the street +will +[Music] +[Music] +there luis if you can translate +If you are not seeing the final message, it is that we are living in a moment +unique historical and that some of the things have to be resolved by +For example, the great risk that still exists in the pandemic that is active and +very still as affecting many population of the world +we have another big risk another big threat is +the environmental crisis that continues to deteriorate and continues to generate many +problems at the world level and the other is the risk or threat that exists with the +issue of nuclear war not because of the investment you are making in +these moments especially in this country but he says that the essence of the +hope we have time but not much +actually say a couple of decades to decide what kind of world we're going to have +or how are we going to change the world we have +louis ask him if you can do it just a final greeting to close +regards +He left and I think he was in a hurry for two degrees +good to thank you obviously are with this masterful lecture by chomsky as +We said at the beginning this is part of an alliance between the center of +research and international other voice of education +venezuela the cooperative educators popular researchers historical de +Argentina and the international education center of the regidor del rio sin +third and this this talk of this conference today is part +precisely from an international seminar of online training programs and the +Tuesday is the other policy today we had with chomsky on Tuesday who will be +with Juan Carlos Monedero tomorrow will be the day of the other education where +we will have the presence of francesc pedro director of the ies' la de unesco +On Thursdays we are with the cycle that we call other insurgent voices that +this Thursday he will speak about today's youth on Friday the +international contact group coordinated by leaders and leaders +trade unions in Latin America and on Mondays the cycle is about historical memory +union all these as we said are +sanctified by a city of Panama and is the cycle of permanent formation in +line that operates all week from Monday to Friday 3 p.m. +Mexico 4 in the afternoon venezuela time and 5 in the afternoon -Argentine time- we invite +also to enter our pages of the national center of other voices in +education of historical ceip in the face and that of simple being so that they can +see all the information we have on the seminars we are taking +go ahead so well thank you all for being and we will be +seeing we are seeing tomorrow at the same time in the cycle as he just said +classmates from another education so we thank everyone for being +thank you very much thank you very much thank you very much rafael also thanks to +work them +thank you thank you thank you luis 2 +thanks thanks +0 +21 +28 +33 +38 +42 +46 +51 +56 +61 +67 +72 +77 +82 +86 +90 +93 +99 +103 +107 +110 +115 +120 +123 +129 +133 +136 +142 +147 +151 +156 +161 +166 +171 +177 +183 +188 +193 +198 +205 +212 +217 +222 +226 +231 +235 +240 +244 +248 +252 +257 +261 +267 +272 +278 +283 +288 +292 +295 +300 +305 +309 +313 +319 +325 +330 +335 +339 +343 +349 +353 +356 +361 +368 +378 +393 +399 +403 +409 +414 +422 +431 +445 +454 +460 +465 +470 +478 +488 +505 +515 +522 +544 +549 +554 +561 +566 +569 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international research center other voices in education +from venezuela the cooperative of educators educators +and popular historical researchers from Argentina and the +eduardo del rio rius research center without regret from mexico this seminar +international online training takes place all week on Mondays +with the cycle on union historical memory on Tuesdays with the cycle on +the other policy on Wednesday with the other education tomorrow we will have the +presence of frances pedro director of issste and unesco leaves on Thursdays +with the cycle that we call other insurgent voices this Thursday will be discussed +on today's youth and on Fridays the contact group +international coordinated by leaders and linear leaders of Latin America ' +the faculty of humanities of the university of panama has decided that +this seminar the other politics and each of its encounters are part of +the contents of the course on public policies and social participation of the +Master of Social Sciences with an emphasis on educational policy +contemporaries that develop the faculty of humanities of the +university of panama is to say this conference of doctor champ that forms +part of the training of students and students of this master's degree +vice-rector for extension of the university of panama has decided +certify each of these seminars those who participate in 70% of the +courses every Tuesday for this you must interact in the youtube chat +of other voices in education and in each of the facebook +organizations that carry out these seminars this seminar and the +organizations that we promote the international center other voices in +education the cooperative of historical popular educators and the simple being +try to encourage critical thinking and develop political alternatives +educational and union organizations in the face of neoliberalism when we are going to send a +strong hug also the difficult moment that Mexico is living today with a +very important earthquake especially in the south zone for the comrades +brothers and sisters especially from oaxaca we send here from this alliance +that we carry out strong support, enormous support for this situation so +complex that are living at the low complexity of the parador pandemic and +joins fellow comrades is this horrible situation so go a +warm hug from the entire alliance for mexico +well today we have the enormous honor honor presence of intellectual chomsky +US linguist, philosopher, political scientist and activist was born in 1928 from +1945 studied linguistic and mathematical philosophy at the University of +Pennsylvania received his doctorate in 1955 after undertaking the major +part of his research at Harvard University in 998 +received the honorary doctorate in linguistics from the rovira university and +virgili and received this same distinction in numerous universities throughout the +world the work and life done and we can +divide into two large planes not obviously separated but are +related because it is always positioned against the structures of +power and oppressor of the dominant groups either in the theoretical plane +philosophical as well as political one has to do with the field of linguistics and +the other with his political commitment and activism against US policies in +1907 with only 29 years jones who revolutionized the field of linguistics +history with his theses on logical structures of theories +linguistics would not be published until 1975 his linguistic and psychological theory +derived from central assumptions of structuralism as well as of psychology +behaviorism with typical forgiveness noam chomsky became interested in politics very +early age stimulated by the free readings and guides of the +Spanish anarchists exiled in New York +defines himself as a supporter of the anarchist tradition especially of +the labor orientation current of anarchism anarcho-syndicalism and is +member of the famous American and revolutionary union east +www.cristinaonline.com and 967 when it began its inclusion in activism +politician totally opposing the participation of the United States in the war of +vietnam from this he produced his essay book entitled the responsibility of +intellectuals for which he obtained great recognition is associated with the law +new left and was therefore arrested several times for his activism +against the war although he has published numerous books and articles against +neoliberalism and neoliberal globalization imposed by the US as another +great work of the North American intervention what he has asked +United States and Canada lift economic sanctions imposed Cuba and +Venezuela so we are beyond proud +to have this great intellectual and thinker of reference throughout the world in our +dear sancho and ezequiel +attention for +is in question world of all the question forums +and that it is important to note that the focus of everything is currently on the +the issue of the pandemic and therefore the crucial question that people ask is +how the pandemic is going to change everything from this great event +three questions +then +He is an expert in pandemics such as the projectiles of 23 teachers of Federico +sanchez in the index impressions was the next a robot awards and things +[Music] first the question would be for +what is a pandemic after all is important the crucial thing now is to find +the reason for its origin since it was predicted in 2003 +after the sars case that was so serious then scientists are +predicting a similar event due to global warming +factors that led from blatantly to each other +but it is not, they are not new god +extreme football waner libertadores water black white +west +eleven +football for the sterling and m2 +There are basically three factors that have led us to this situation in the +2003 it was understood that it was very possible that this happened and there was the knowledge +to deal with it however currently knowledge is not what +enough and someone has to be willing to act on this +So what do we mean by big pharmaceuticals that are governed by +a logic of capital that if something is not profitable or cannot be voted on +profit because it simply cannot be developed or should not exist +oops +that's the problem +if drugs companies pharmaceutical companies +they are being excluded due to this logic of capital +The obvious alternative is the government that counts for the resources and thus has the +means to develop this profitable solution that is not rigid by capital +However, there is therefore this neoliberal thought that, taking it to +to the presentation of former president reagan +in which he simply said that the government is the problem that cannot be +leave things in the hands of the government so we have this limitation +also by the government game +[Applause] +issues +basic adherents +the replay +the worst of Greece +for ever ready +if you feel ahead because I feel that way that private companies +are excluded due to the logic of capital and the government is excluded by +the logic of liberalism then as how governments can react +Faced with this reality, the cases are known, China reacted by producing +own medicine in search of the solution in his vaccine just like the +countries of east asia oceania also the response of other countries +varied however, since other slow forms such is the case of in the +western hemisphere usa and brazil emblematic in their reaction to the case +of the pandemic +it's me with a glass globe +chris ware 12 +beijing +in stream sonar ex +by law +by sea +tucker +in the case of the countries of the hemisphere where things where they can +call from outside or outside the reaction are those countries in which things +are out of control and these two are countries that are led by fans +extremists where they are willing to open the economy +In search of profit and power we can mention for example the case of works +Now in Brazil, the numbers are very high in deaths from the pandemic +because simply his answer was who cares in the case of the +president of trump in the us seeing the numbers so high just what +He said it was then that the tests were stopped so that they would not have us more +cases these are the countries where +things are a little out of control or not at all +on the balance sheet +laughs +Wow +then the world awaits us after the pandemic in the case of the most +powerful in the history of the United States as the president of Trump said that in +February when he produces his new annual budget he will continue +withdrawing its fund from all international initiatives of +development of some and that it will then continue to provide funds for everything +what is the militarist initiative and nuclear weapons +in a nutshell [Music] +lesson +of is +[Music] +2 reuters +in a theme a theme that unifies everything that refers to the new proposal +first of all destroy the US budget system +health for people for the simple fact of not being profitable so it can +Therefore, it does not make sense, we will have a center to control +diseases are still planted for the public and return to subsidize from a +open way all that is seeking +fossil energy as part of making the capitalist initiative profitable +also the regulation of environmental controls and this must be +highlight the malicious nature of this mentality in removing all +the regulations on air quality controls in the environment in +full pandemic of a health nature where health is greatly affected if +these industries are active and pollute the air more than +which is already part of the condition of 2019 and delays the +If you allow me, is to add that the important thing there is what the doctor says +Chomsky is that reducing regulations to +Pollution controls did so at this time under the mask of +that the economy was going to be reactivated if there were regulations, the +economy is not why it is the malicious character they hide behind the +reactivation of the economy and thus seek to justify what they are +politics the one that is moving thanks +this [Music] +efe +[Music] +oops +[Music] +from saint marc +just +so the media have described the cuts destroy the world where you kers +if there are really two elements that it is important to highlight that we already mentioned +the subsidy to everything that the fossil industry because in the destruction of the +public health systems and the increase in the military budget and give +that last blow to the remnants the gun control plan that had +evident for 30 years which all translates into new contracts for the +government because the new countries would +also as a means of continuing to direct public funds to large +arms industries and thus leading us to a new nuclear race and a +weaponry again +and me +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +i +marks [Music] +reuters +two +two +two +price racing that the broom +If there are some basic principles of this neoliberal doctrine, we must take +in consideration above all because greed greed and +Apart from that, the goals of that greed, where does it lead us? +the corporate guru as he simply stated it by explaining that +It seeks to expand the profits for the members of private these these new +government owners at the time leaders like Thatcher and Reagan +simply because they expressed the need for private sectors to have the +control of the economy and it is understood that Karl Marx in the 16th century his +criticism of converting this intention to convert the population into simple +sacks of potatoes is inhabitants and in this more modern era the minister of brazil +simply good talks about the fact that there is a whole private structure within the +government I don't know if you want to add something louis +very well thanks +singh me +monthly +konami +i +[Music] +and 2 +then the main thought or the main slogan below the government +except when we need it and it tells us to look for other +mechanisms to protect ourselves and we have a very important lesson from this +pandemic which is that the result of the following that there is state violence +more economic plans that is the same as I wish occurred in Austria between the +two great wars in the 20th century komen doctor chams that there is something to rafael +that it seems important to me when teaching it that the idea of +neoliberalism is to remove the government from the center, but control is the hands +of individuals but simply when they need the government they use it +new to protect them that is why he says that neoliberalism and +violence the state goes hand in hand as is happening at the moment no +There was the very strong economic crisis that we are still in, we have not come out of it +and what the businessmen and senators did +Both Democrats and Republicans wrote trillions in money to the +entrepreneurs to regain that power that control they had was not +they want the government does not work but they use it when they need to rebuild +the gourd +dyn [Music] +[Music] +two +[Music] +d +[Music] fusion +and in this +6 +one way +if he is the main idea or what moves +really because this movement of change can really lead to +exemplify it through the case of austria in the 20th century +because it was a moment in which although a strong movement was led +which was destroyed was economic forces to make way for +new to new forms of government such as fascism such as that of mussolini +it can be said that the establishment of these friendly dictatorships of good +intentions because in many cases it was said that they were the ones that saved +europe at the time +efe +I'm going to take I describe take +name is it you +Well, to do it in a fairly simple way if we go to the pages +web of the institution fan gleizes we need to understand that many of the +things that are explained there after saving civilization because +important is to save +the structures not the people the important thing is +the collective in its logic if not but but in the idea that +added in that web page is that people were told at those times where +they were destroying governments like the Austrian Social Democrat who +after saving society from the black shirts who were kind of +clothing worn by those who supported those fascist dictatorships were +to return and they will disappear from the scene no and unfortunately we gave ourselves +He tells that he did not pass from saman from there neither with hitler nor with mussolini +thanks efe +l +or are you +d +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +the one with the sun +[Music] +from my +Nine dollars +I don't know why [Music] +because there is a compromise it could be called that this neoliberalism +somehow it will bring violence as in the case of Chile for +identify cliche cases without going into more detail +since the structure chambers and the money of foreign investors and +the geese therefore caused the Chilean industry to change +However, by ignoring the anxiety of priman completely no +they privatized the copper industry, which we know that somehow +helped anyway in 1982 it should be remembered that there was a destruction +total of its economy which is what in the end then causes all this +trans +[Music] +two +working +as soon as this neoliberal experiment had problems, there was a +establishment of a system that we know prevailed for 40 years with the +doctrine of wigan and touch has caused enormous instability +suffering and discomfort worldwide due to the way in which the +same +and admire two suites +[Music] +Hello +news corporation +efe +[Music] 6 +[Music] +h [Music] +and luis huerta also and for and for also for the translation +so we are doing there is a louis couple who watched the truth is that this +Rafael is great the price added what I think may be an importer was +of perfect context +we continue +Okay +hc we see with concern that all genders in davos switzerland are therefore +concern of these elite groups of the world because in their private environments +where they argue for 40 years they have held hegemony in the past +January there was concern due to the follow-up of a nuisance at the +world against capitalism and as it would be a new issue the issue was the +development of new companies that work in a more humane way in which +propose to privatize everything for the benefit of humanity this is the +new we could say doctrine +so if it is something that seems important than we authorize it to be +pointing out is that generally in each year they met in Switzerland in a resort +to ski and all that what the people of the capital met and congratulated each other +each other to point out how well they were doing in their driving the +world in fact are excellence for the owners of the world of the universe but +that this year in January was different because they started talking about +concern that they had as the masters of the universe for the resistance +social uprisings that people were doing against the +capitalism as a system, not for that reason what Rafael says very rightly that +recognized that for 40 years mistakes have been made and that they were going to be now +now more this humanitarian companies not that they were going to work for the people +take descriptions that order +we had the story before exteriors igal our activity repression rating of +bernal only short beats to require human +nature angels +textiles of the software corporation neuer extract +2 [Music] +is prohibited +are corrected +if I wanted to refer to a term +because if going to history 60 years ago +companies changed them throughout this long period of time when +his thinking dominated approximately these 40 years and they were perfected because +somehow his way of selling himself to the public then this term +software human embeddings +to companies with the human being in the middle or in the +center of its activity because it is like a proposal that +they had originally made and that they are going to take it again they have wanted to sell that +to be retaken they are going to rule the world putting people at the center to +your personal benefit they will offer you that you will have a role in everything else +however they will dominate what is in the end the internal and something to +point out is that this story was told 60 years ago in 1960 when the +capitalism was emerging again with great force after the +Second world war we were told that companies were that kind of +concern for people did not work for people etc have not passed 60 +years and now what the Swiss have mentioned they worried because the +people were resisting capital so now they told us again +account are going to be human enterprises like you said that they are worried that +people are well participate etcetera etcetera but but the doctor says we raise +that we are going to wait another 60 years to realize that what happens +same then the state repeating that in reality the data are the facts that +we see are not important or do not take them into consideration +people +rounders light +two +rightnow vigor +sporting +two +l +2 letting the crisis arm the lord of +plan give me is to collect the crises so today the new mistress has come through the black +yes this is very important to make an illustration of three major themes that +we are living the first is that we are in a crucial moment +capitalism is fighting a very tough class struggle +in a way that ensures that the post-pandemic world is a world +totally according to his vision and second this represents a possible end of the +organized movement a social movement organized for reasons +quite obvious and thirdly because there is a crisis +that will also be intensified by the hammer of the +capitalism in the same way and I would like to add how important +It is the vision that the chamos share with us that what the world will be like after +what happens in this pandemic is a great question is very important because because +capitalism at this time as illustrated when he said remove the +regular regulations here in the United States for example in the middle of the pandemic that will +help production for example oil companies companies +that companies that extract fossils from fossil energy and it is a class struggle +what is he doing against people all over the world and then what will happen +if they really succeed if the neoliberal system +triumphs when the pandemic passes because they right now as they do in the +doctrine of shock 'which I believe that somehow we have +heard what happens when that will shake what the system does at this time +we are under the pandemic but capitalism is acting the +neoliberalism is pushing to remove all regulations and it will come +a time when if they succeed they will continue to make excessive profits +all that greed and there will come a time when it will put us in a +instance where we are at the point of the destruction of human life from +democratic societies as we know them +racing meters this means two achievements or the new +opportunities this opportunity because it is we can work to order will rest ruiz +Ternitz raids football no temple and wish road production +To conclude, this is a moment of historical significance where there is a +great opportunity also to focus on the human being their needs their +rights and not only in the profit and the obtaining of returns +to put it this way and because at the same time we +presents great challenges as Rafael mentioned it is a historic moment +It also gives us opportunities and we should think about the possibility of +build in this case on the social resistance that is emerging +in many countries of the world even here in this country in the usa many people from +power I'm like in a trance I'm in shock I don't know how to describe it because people +he is protesting he is moving he is articulating he is acting +jointly and that did not happen then that is the opportunity for example that +Dr. Sessions points out that because if we can take advantage of this moment that +we are living with resistance in the system we can get to establish +better a new social order where the needs of beings are important +humans not just corporate profits +what fernando +do your good +ok fernando, in 5 minutes he has to go to +another interview very good in condition for questions but +maybe in a dialogue we can get him out of the bar then congratulate and +thank or insane this conference the proposal now of this cycle the other +politics is also in asking some questions if we can +go quickly to the questions and thank Rafael Cardenas teacher of the +english department at the university of panama public selector and doctoral student +humanities and social sciences panama university y les guardas +marry them associate professor of critical couples and multiculturalism who +was doing this translation and we can move on to the questions all three +questions that we had of slow light and we are each the word is to educate +popular and hungary dora and history teacher of the institute left with joaquin +gonzalez argentina member of the cooperative of educators and mentors +Well, historical llc, sorry for interrupting that Professor Chomsky +has to go in five minutes well then I don't know if it would be +good to say goodbye to thank him and between us to handle the questions of +the participants I don't know why he won't be there longer but I do think and +if suddenly a final message ask the teachers for a message and with that +those audiences does if it is a final message from Dr. Chams that for the +teachers from Latin America and around the world +you mean terraces +big benefits +weiss +in this +racing +the expert the com +rising risk observed band mix we know where you guys and william a +waiting +2 discreet is serious +[Music] +question +there luis if you can translate +if it is not saying as a final message it is that we are living in a moment +unique historical and that some of the things have to be resolved by +example the great risk that still exists with the pandemic that is active +I still eat like affecting a lot of the world's population +we have another big risk another big threat is the environmental crisis that follows +deteriorating and continues to generate many problems at the world level and the other is +the risk or threat that exists with the issue of nuclear war not because +investment that is being made at the moment especially in this country but +he says the essence of hope we have time but not much +actually say a couple of decades to decide what kind of world we're going to have +or how are we going to change the world we have +louis ask him if you can do it just a final greeting to close +is +she left and I think she was in a hurry she's hard +good to thank obviously is with this masterful conference of champs that as +We said at the beginning this is part of an alliance between the center +international research another voice of education +venezuela the cooperative educators and popular historical researchers +Argentina and the international education center of the river without third and this +this talk of this conference today is part of a seminar +international online training program and Tuesdays is the other +politics today we had with chomsky on tuesday off we will be with juan carlos +purse tomorrow will be the day of the other education where we will have the +presence of francesc pedro director of ies' la unesco on Thursdays +we are with the cycle that we call other insurgent voices that this Thursday +the contact group will speak about today's youth on Fridays +International coordinated by leaders and union leaders from Latin America +and on Mondays the cycle is about the union's historical memory +All of these, as we said, are certified for the University of Panama +and it is the cycle of permanent online training that works all week from +Monday to Friday 3 in the afternoon Mexico time 4 in the afternoon and Venezuela and 5 +in the afternoon -Argentine time- we also invite you to enter our +the national center for other voices in education of historical ceip in the face and +the simple one to do so that they can see all the information that we carry from +the seminars that we are carrying out so well, we thank +all and all to be and we will be seeing each other we are seeing tomorrow in the same +hour in the cycle as the colleague from another education just said so +we thank everyone for being +thank you very much thank you very much rafael also thanks to working the first +thank you thank you thank you luis 2 +thanks thanks +0 +21 +28 +33 +38 +41 +45 +50 +55 +60 +65 +71 +77 +81 +85 +90 +93 +99 +103 +107 +110 +115 +120 +123 +129 +133 +136 +142 +147 +151 +156 +161 +166 +171 +177 +183 +188 +193 +198 +206 +213 +217 +223 +228 +232 +236 +240 +244 +248 +252 +257 +262 +266 +272 +278 +283 +288 +291 +295 +300 +305 +315 +319 +325 +330 +335 +339 +343 +349 +353 +357 +361 +368 +378 +389 +403 +409 +414 +422 +426 +432 +446 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humans were at the center of +the cosmos and around this idea they had built their whole belief system. +Suddenly, this did not seem to be the case anymore. +Foucault's theory can be clarified by pointing out that, +in relation to culture, he takes a sort of Galilei-type standpoint. +Since the time of Galilei, people have thought that +when it came to culture and society, humans do were at the center. +After all, it is they who created these. +Foucault denies this. +It is not the subject that counts to culture he argues, +but the structure, the universal. +Something that is in itself already understandable +if one realizes that the rules according to which mankind behaves +for the largest part were already invented long before one was born. +And the name of the inventor remains completely unknown to us. +One can compare Foucault to Galilei, but from another perspective, +one can also compare Chomsky to Galilei +because his work in the science of language -- linguistics -- +has had a great revolutionary influence over the whole world. +Chomsky has brought about a major transformation in the field of linguistics. +Interestingly, Chomsky's theories point in the exact opposite direction +as the theories of Foucault. +Chomsky gives much more primacy to the subject. +In the confrontation between these two completely different thinkers, +it is moreover good to remember that they work in very different fields. +Foucault is a cultural researcher; Chomsky is a language researcher. +In other words, Foucault's interest lies in the history of scientific language. +While Chomsky's interest lies in the daily language we use. +It is interesting, and maybe also not coincidental, +that the debate between these two thinkers only really gets exciting +in the second half when they start discussing politics. +Still I believe it is good that this is preceded by a theoretical part. +This because in any discussion about philosophy and society, +what matters are not the political standpoint certain thinkers happen to take +but rather on the basis of which arguments they do so. +It might be nice to note that this discussion took place +in the auditorium of the technical college of Eindhoven (NL). +A discussion between two philosophers, two researchers, whose work is characterized +by great precision, great detail and also great clarity. +Further I thought it quite symbolic it took place in a space with lots of glass: +the inner- and outer-world blended together. +During the broadcast you could see the traffic outside passing by: +symbolic indeed, because the relationship between inner- and outer-world +is central to the first half of the fourth philosophers debate +about human nature and the ideal society. +Ladies and gentlemen, +welcome to the fourth debate of the International Philosophers' Project. +Tonight's debaters are Mr. Michel Foucault of the College de France +and Mr. Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. +Both philosophers have points in common and points of difference. +Perhaps the best way to compare both philosophers +would be to see them as mountain-diggers working at opposite sides +of the same mountain with different tools, without even knowing +if they are working in each other's direction. +All studies of humanity, ranging from history to linguistics and psychology, +are faced with the question of whether in the last instance, +we are the product of all kinds of external factors +or if, in spite of our differences, we have something we could call +a common human nature by which we can call each other human beings. +So my first question is to Mr. Chomsky, +because you often employ the concept of human nature +in which connection you even use terms like "innate ideas" and "innate structures". +Which arguments can you derive from linguistics +in order to give such a central position to this notion of human nature? +Well, let me begin in a slightly technical way. +A person who is interested in studying languages +is faced with a very definite empirical problem. +He's faced with an organism, a mature, let's say adult speaker, +who has somehow acquired an amazing range of abilities, +which enable him in particular to say what he means, +to understand what people say to him, +to do this in a fashion that I think is proper to call highly creative. +Now, the person who has acquired this intricate and highly articulated +and organized collection of abilities +-- the collection of abilities that we call knowing a language -- +that person has been exposed to a certain experience; he has been presented +in the course of his lifetime with a certain amount of data, +of direct experience with a language. +We can investigate the data that's available to this person; having done so, +in principle, we're faced with a reasonably clear and well-delineated scientific problem, +namely that of accounting for the gap between the really quite small quantity of data, small +and rather degenerate quantity of data that's presented to the person, to the child, and +the very highly articulated, highly systematic, profoundly organized resulting knowledge that +he somehow derives from this data. +Furthermore -- even more remarkable -- we notice that in a wide range of languages, +in fact all that have been studied seriously, there are remarkable limitations +on the kinds of systems that emerge from the very different kinds +of experience to which people are exposed. +There is only one possible explanation, which I have to give in a rather schematic fashion, +for this remarkable phenomenon, namely the assumption +that the individual himself contributes a good deal, an overwhelming part in fact, +of the general schematic structure and perhaps even of the specific content of the knowledge +that he ultimately derives from this very scattered and limited experience. That is, +to put it rather loosely: the child must begin with the knowledge, certainly not with the +knowledge that he's hearing English or Dutch or French or something else, but he does start +with the knowledge that he's hearing a human language of a very narrow and explicit type, +that permits a very small range of variation. And it's because he begins with that highly +organized and very restrictive schematism, that he is able to make the huge leap from +scattered and degenerate data to highly organized knowledge. +I would claim then that this instinctive knowledge, if you like, +this schematism that makes it possible to derive complex and intricate +knowledge on the basis of very partial data, is one fundamental constituent of human nature. +And I assume that in other domains of human intelligence, in other domains of human cognition +and even behavior, something of the same sort must be true. +Well, the collection, this mass of schematisms, innate organizing principles +which guides our social and intellectual and individual behavior, +that's what I mean to refer to by the concept of human nature. +Well, Mr. Foucault, when I think of your books like +The History of Madness and Words and Objects, I get the impression that you are +working on a completely different level and with an opposite aim and goal; +when I think of the word 'schematism' in relation to human nature +I suppose you are trying to elaborate +several periods, several schematisms. What do you think about this? +Well if you permit, I will answer in French +because my English is so bad that I would be ashamed of answering in English. +It is true that I mistrust the notion of human nature a little. +And for the following reason: I believe that of the concepts +or notions that a science can use, not all have the same degree of elaboration. +Let's take the example of biology. Within the field of biology +there are concepts that are more or less well established, like the concept of a "reflex". +But there also exist peripheral notions, which do not play an "organizing" role within science, +they are not instruments of analysis and they are not descriptive either. These notions +simply serve to point out some problems, or rather to point out certain fields in need of study. +For instance, there exists a very important concept in the field of biology: +the concept of life. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the notion of life was +hardly used when studying nature: one classified natural beings, whether living or non-living, +in a vast hierarchical tableau. Life was a concept they didn't use and didn't need. +At the end of the eighteenth century a number of problems arose, for instance in relation +to the internal organization of these natural beings. Moreover, thanks to the use of the +microscope, different sorts of phenomena and mechanisms that had been unclear in the past +and could not have been perceived until then suddenly came to light. +The developments in chemistry have also highlighted certain problems in relation +to the connections between chemical reactions and the physiological processes of organisms. +And that's how an entire field appeared, +one that was completely new for biologists, one that is nowadays known as life. +Life was a concept that served to point out new fields of study that science still +had to discover. I would say, as a historian of science, that the concept of life was an +epistemological indicator; an index of the problems that still had to be uncovered. +And I ask myself whether perhaps one could say the same thing about human nature. +Foucault is therefore comparing Chomsky's concept of human nature +with the concept of life as used in biology and in the history of that science. +He does this because his sees of the concept of human nature +more as an indication of a research program +rather than as an indication of humanity's potential for achievement. +For him, human nature acts as a scientific shopping list and nothing more. +Chomsky is willing to accept this as long as it is clear that the fields +of biology, physiology and neurology still don't have the means +to adequately describe human nature and humanity's capacity for language. +Quite early on in the debate, moderator Mr. Elders +finds it difficult to keep the interaction flowing between the two speakers. +This is partly due to the different languages they speak, but most importantly due to the +fact that Chomsky and Foucault inhabit such different worlds of thought, to the point +in which their ideas easily slide past each other. We actually observe the curious phenomenon +of two brains thinking simultaneously, where one picks up the last claim of the other in +order to further elucidate it from his own system of thought. +For Chomsky the concept of creativity plays an important role, +and the following part of the debate will be largely dedicated to this issue. +For Chomsky creativity is actually acharacteristic of all human beings. +Everybody uses it. People stuck in traffic who unexpectedly and on the spot, +have to think about what to do next. +The educator who doesn't want to fall into a pattern of authoritarian behavior +and when confronted with a difficult pupil, has to invent new behavior. +But above all, this creativity applies to the child +who learns a language and who curiously learns to produce new language. +Foucault is opposed to this idea. He constantly emphasizes +the so-called "epistemological field" within which human activity takes place. +This "epistemological field" or "episteme" +is described as the totality of unconscious rules +that manage the totality of all separated fields of knowledge. +Foucault also talks of "tableau", and also calls it "system of elements", +and in the debate the word "grille" is mentioned: bar or grid. +Perhaps it's best to speak of a network within which everybody in +a particular culture thinks whether they want it or not. +It is a certain set of rules to which everybody's thinking obeys +and with which people search for identity, coherency and so forth. +This system is not a creation of particular individuals: +it decides the rules of the "think-and-do" habits we call culture, which every individual +is subjected to. Such a system is not a thing or idea, but lies precisely in between these. +For Foucault the history of thought is not be associated with the history of ideas +or even of the development of the mind, +but rather it should be understood as discontinuous transformations. +transitioning from one network to another. +That is a totally different approach from that of Chomsky, +for whom creativity plays a central role. At this point we encounter +Foucault's dethroning of the subject, as already illustrated with the example of Galilei. +The philosophy of Foucault is a philosophy in which the philosopher +constantly disappears from sight. +One could say that, paradoxically, it is a philosophy without philosophers: +an idea to be generalized because humans are, according to Foucault, greatly absent +within their own culture. In this respect, Foucault's strong and negative reaction +towards the moderator who showed interest in private matters of his life. +When Foucault debates, it is about everything except Foucault himself. +This is an introduction to the following -- quite detailed -- theoretical part of the debate +which seems to mainly focus on one question: +to what extent is the individual able to discover something new, +and if so, how should we make sense of this? This seems to me to a very relevant question, +especially if we remind ourselves that we need quiet some new forms +of behavior, knowledge and science if we want to survive together in this world. +We resume the debate where Foucault explains why he doesn't pay much attention +to the creativity of the individual from a historical perspective. +Within the traditional history of science, +the creativity of individuals has been accorded maximum importance. The history of science, +up until recently, essentially consisted of showing how an individual -- whether it was +Newton or Mendel -- had been the creator, or rather the discoverer of a reality that +was already existing in things and in the world, a reality that no other person had +previously discovered. I believe the postulate that lies at the core of the traditional history +of science is that truth exists in order to be known; yet the human mind, due to the effect +of a number of inhibitions or obstacles, has not managed to see this truth. The mind is +made to see the truth and a contingent obstacle is impeding him to see it. According to some +historians, this obstacle could be linked to socio-economic conditions, or to different +forms of mentality, or to the belief and naivety in old religious myths and moral themes. +All of these could act as obstacles, as blinders to those who want to see the truth. In reality, +the mind is meant to see, it is made to have access to the truth. In this traditional conception +of the history of science, on the one hand there is an emphasis on the creativity of +the individual who has the right to possess the truth, and yet a system of obstacles will +prevent him from capturing, formulating and constructing this truth to which he is essentially +entitled to possess. I believe the problem that is being posed is the exact opposite. +What happens when we witness a great scientific transformation? In a great scientific transformation +-- for instance the birth of biology mid seventeenth century, or the birth of philology +at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century -- it is true that +a number of obstacles, prejudices, preconceived ideas tumble and disappear. What strikes me, +however, is that science, at the moment of its birth, not only gets rid of a certain +number of obstacles but also eliminates and masks a certain amount of existing knowledge. +It's as if applying a new grid, which allows for the appearance of phenomena +that had been previously masked while at the same time masking already existing knowledge. +Therefore, a science, the advancement of science and the acquisition of science, is not simply +the oblivion of old prejudices, or the fall of certain obstacles. It is a new grid that +masks certain things while allowing for the appearance of new knowledge. Therefore, when +I criticize the notion of creativity, what I mean is that truth is not acquired through +a kind of continuous and cumulative creation, but rather through a set of grids stacked +on top of one other, which leak old and collect new knowledge. +I think in part we're slightly talking at cross-purposes, +because of a different use of the term creativity. In fact, I should say that +my use of the term creativity is a little bit idiosyncratic +and therefore the onus falls on me and not on you in this case. +But when I speak of creativity, I'm not attributing +to the concept, the notion of value that is normal when we speak of creativity. +That is, when you speak of scientific creativity, +you're speaking, properly, of the achievements of a Newton. +But in the context in which I have been speaking about creativity, +it's a normal human event. +I'm speaking of the kind of creativity that any child demonstrates when he's able +to come to grips with a new situation: to describe it properly, react to it properly, +tell one something about it, think about it in a new fashion for him and so on. +I think it's appropriate to call those creative acts, +but of course without thinking of those acts as being the acts of a Newton. +It's the lower levels of creativity that I've been speaking of. +Now, as far as what you say about the history of science is concerned, I think +that's correct, illuminating and particularly relevant in fact to the kinds of enterprise +that I see lying before us in psychology, linguistics and the philosophy of the mind. +That is, I think there are certain topics that have been, in your words, repressed +or put aside during the scientific advances of the past few centuries. +But now, I think, we can overcome those, +it is possible to put aside those limitations and forgettings, and to +bring into our consideration precisely the topics that animated a good deal of +the thinking and speculation of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, +and to incorporate them within a much broader and I think deeper +science of man that will give a fuller role +-- though certainly not expected to give a complete understanding to such notions as +innovation and creativity, freedom and production of new elements of +thought and behavior within some system of rule and schematism. +Those are concepts that I think we can come to grips with. +In reality, I believe there is a quite strong similarity +between what Mr. Chomsky said and what I tried to show: +in other words there exist in fact only possible creations, possible innovations. +One can only, in terms of language or of knowledge, +produce something new by putting into play a certain number of rules +which will define the acceptability or grammaticality of these statements, or which +will define, in the case of knowledge, the scientific character of the statements. +Thus, we can roughly say that linguists before Mr. Chomsky mainly insisted on +the rules of construction of statements and less on the innovation +represented by every new statement, or the hearing of a new statement. +And in the history of science or in the history of thought, +we placed more emphasis on individual creation +and we had kept aside and left in the shadows these communal, +general rules, which obscurely manifest themselves through +every scientific discovery, every scientific invention, +and even every philosophical innovation. These are not only linguistic rules +but also epistemological rules, which characterize contemporary knowledge. +Well I think... Perhaps I can try to react to those comments +within my own framework in a way which will maybe shed some light on this. +How is it that we are able to construct any kind of scientific theory at all? +How is it that, given a small amount of data, it's possible for various scientists, +for various geniuses even, over a long period of time, +to arrive at some kind of a theory, at least in some cases, +that is more or less profound and more or less empirically adequate? +This is a remarkable fact. +And, in fact, if it were not the case that these scientists, including the geniuses, +if they didn't have built into their minds somehow an obviously unconscious +specification of what is a possible scientific theory, +then this inductive leap would certainly be quite impossible: +just as if each child did not have built into his mind +the concept of human language in a very narrowing way, +then the inductive leap from data to knowledge of a language would be impossible. +So even though the process of, let's say, deriving knowledge of physics from data +is far more complex, far more difficult for an organism such as us, +far more drawn out in time, requiring intervention of genius and so on and so forth, +nevertheless in a certain sense the achievement of discovering physical science +or biology or whatever you like, is based on something rather similar +to the achievement of the normal child in discovering the structure of his language: +that is, it must be achieved on the basis of an initial limitation, +an initial restriction on the class of possible theories. +And the fact that science converges and progresses +shows us that such initial limitations and structures exist. +That is, I don't think that scientific progress is simply a matter of +accumulative addition of new knowledge and the absorption of new theories and so on. +Rather I think that it has this sort of jagged pattern that you describe, +forgetting certain problems and leaping to new theories. +And transforming the same knowledge. +Right. But I think that one can perhaps hazard an explanation for that fact. +Oversimplifying grossly, I really don't mean what I'm going to say now literally, +it is as if, as human beings of a particular biologically given organism, +we have in our heads, to start with, a certain set of possible intellectual structures, +possible sciences. Okay? Now, in the lucky event that some aspect of reality +happens to have the character of one of these structures in our mind, then we have a science. +And it is because of this initial limitation in our minds to a certain kind of possible science +that provides the tremendous richness and creativity of scientific knowledge. +It is important to stress -- and this has to do with your point about limitation and freedom +-- if it were not for these limitations, we would not have the creative act of going +from a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of experience, to a rich and highly articulated +and complicated array of knowledge. It is precisely because of this that the progress +of science has the erratic and jagged and transformational character that you described. +And that doesn't mean everything is ultimately going to fall within the domain of science. +Quite the contrary. Personally I believe that +many of the things we would like to understand, +and maybe the things we would most like to understand, +such as the nature of man, or the nature of a decent society, +or lots of other things, might really fall outside the scope of possible human science. +Well I think we have now two questions out of this statement. +One question is: Mr. Foucault, if you agree with the statement about +the combination of limitation, fundamental limitation? +It is not a matter of combination. +Creativity only becomes possible thanks to a system of rules: +it is not a mixture of order and freedom. +Freedom can only be truly exercised thanks to a system of regularity. +Where perhaps I don't completely agree with Mr. Chomsky is +when he places these regularities within the sphere of the human mind or human nature. +I would like to know whether one cannot discover this system of regularity and of constraint +-- which makes science possible -- somewhere else, even outside the human mind: +in social forms, in relations of production, in class struggles, etc. +But what does this theory of knowledge mean for your theme of the death of man +or the end of the period of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? +But this is not related to what we are talking about? +I don't know, because I was trying to apply what you have said +in relation to your anthropological concept. You have already refused to speak +about your own creativity and freedom, haven't you? +Well, I'm wondering what are the psychological reasons for this. +Well, you can wonder about it, but I can't help that? +But what are the objective reasons, in relation to your perception of understanding, +of knowledge, of science, for refusing to answer these personal questions? +Does it have to do with your conception of society? +When there is a problem for you to answer: +what are your reasons for making a problem out of a personal question? +No, I'm not making a problem out of a personal question; +I make of a personal question an absence of a problem. +In the entire tradition of the history of thought, ideas and sciences, +one has always questioned the problem of knowing. +At what age was Newton weaned into conceiving the universal law of gravity? +At which period did Cuvier meet his first mistress +in order to finally discover fossils and comparative anatomy, etc? +I believe these types of analyses, which I am now simplifying, are not very interesting. +On the other hand, it is much more interesting to understand the transformations of a certain +knowledge within the general field of science and within the so-called vertical field +which consists of a society, a culture, a civilization at a particular moment in time. +Once we finally grasp the totality of this transformation, +we realize that the little individual moments of a wise man's life are not important. +Again Foucault's last comment suggests how the individual life +of the researcher tends to disappear from sight. +But how do we explain then the relation of man in relation to its culture in politics +and maybe even the question about how to change this culture and society? +After all one can show within the history of science and culture, +the input of the individual is almost negligible, +the question 'how do I act?' -- the political question - remains standing. +It may thus become clear by now that this political question, from Foucault's perspective, +rapidly develops into "how far can mankind escape from its own culture?" +It is important to note that Foucault doesn't want to distance himself from politics. +In the contrary, he says "I would have to be ideologically blind +to not interest myself for that which is most substantial to human existence: +economic relations, power relations, you name it". +Therefore, Chomsky and Foucault do agree on the importance of the political question. +In his opinion, it is required to abolish and destroy the different forms of capitalism +in order to favor direct workers' participation +It may also be informative to explicitly mention that Chomsky defines his political standpoint +as anarcho-syndicalism. +in workers' councils and so on. Decentralization, socialization and participation +are keywords in Chomsky's political program. +Chomsky might say he sees no obvious relation between his scientific and political views, +but the following opening statement reveals +that he heads straight from his scientific conceptions to politics. +His political and scientific views may not flow logically one from the other, +they do certainly head in the same direction. +Let me begin by referring to something that we have already discussed, +that is, if it is correct, as I believe it is, that a fundamental element of human nature +is the need for creative work, for creative inquiry, for free creation +without the arbitrary limiting effect of coercive institutions, +then, of course it will follow that a decent society should maximize the possibilities +for this fundamental human characteristic to be realized. +That means trying to overcome the elements of repression and oppression +and destruction and coercion that exist in any existing society, ours for example, +as a historical residue. Now a federated, decentralized system of free associations, +incorporating economic as well as social institutions, +would be what I refer to as anarcho-syndicalism; +and it seems to me that this is the appropriate form of social organization for an advanced +technological society, in which human beings do not have to be forced into the position +of tools, of cogs in the machine. In which the creative urge that I think is intrinsic +to human nature, will in fact be able to realize itself in whatever way it will, I don't +know all the ways in which it will. +I would say that I am much less advanced than Mr. Chomsky in this respect. +That is, I admit not being able to define, not even to propose, +an ideal social model for the functioning of our scientific or technological society. +On the other hand, one of the tasks that seems immediate and urgent to me, +over and above anything else, is this: it is the custom, at least in our European society, +to consider that power is localized in the hands of the government +and that it is exercised through a certain number of particular institutions, +such as the administration, the police or the army. +One knows that all these institutions are made to transmit and apply orders +and to punish those who don't obey. +But I believe that political power also exercises +itself through the mediation of a certain number of institutions that look as if they +have nothing in common with political power and as if they are independent from it, +but in fact are not. One knows the university and more generally all teaching systems, +which appear to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class +in power and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class. +Another example is psychiatry +which in appearance is also intended for the good of humanity +and for the knowledge of psychiatrists. +But in reality is another way to bring to bear the political power over a social class. +Justice is yet again another example. It seems to me that the real political task +in our contemporary society is to criticize the workings of institutions +-- particularly the ones that appear to be neutral and independent +-- and to attack them in such a way that the political violence, +which has always exercised itself obscurely through them, +will finally be unmasked so that one can fight against them +If we seek to advance straight away a profile or a formula of the future of society +without having thoroughly criticized relations between the different forms of political violence +that exercise their power within our society, we run the risk of letting them be reproduced +-- even in the case of the noble +and apparently pure forms, such as anarcho-syndicalism. +Yes, I would certainly agree with that, not only in theory but also in action. +That is, there are two intellectual tasks: +one, and the one which I was discussing, is to try to create the vision of a future just society. +Another task is to understand very clearly the nature of power and oppression and terror +and destruction in our own society. +And that certainly includes the institutions you mentioned, +as well as the central institutions of any industrial society: +namely the economic, commercial and financial institutions and in particular, in the coming period, +the great multi-national corporations, +which are not very far from us physically tonight [i.e. Philips in Eindhoven]. +Those are the basic institutions of oppression and coercion and autocratic rule +that appear to be neutral despite everything they say: +well, we're subject to the democracy of the market place. +Still, I think it would be a great shame to put aside entirely +the somewhat more abstract and philosophical task of trying +to draw the connections between a concept of human nature that gives full scope to freedom +and dignity and creativity and other fundamental human characteristics, +and relate that to some notion of social structure in which those properties +could be realized and in which meaningful human life could take place. +And in fact, if we are thinking of social transformation or social revolution, +though it would be absurd of course to draw it out in detail +the point that we are hoping to reach, still we should know something +about where we think we are going, and such a theory may tell it to us. +Yes, but then isn't there a danger here? +If you say that a certain human nature exists, that this human nature has not been given +the rights and possibilities that allow it to realize itself in our contemporary society... +That's really what you have said, I believe. +Yes. +And if one admits this, doesn't one risk defining this human nature +-- which is at the same time ideal and real, and has been hidden and repressed until now +-- in terms borrowed from our society, from our civilization, from our culture? +I will give an example by greatly simplifying it. Marxism -- at the end +of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century -- admitted that in +capitalist societies man hadn't reached its full potential +for development and self-realization; +that human nature was effectively alienated in the capitalist system. +And Marxism ultimately dreamed of a liberated human nature. +On the other hand, what model did it use to conceive, +project, and eventually realize that human nature? +It was, in fact, the bourgeois model. +Marxism considered that a happy society was a society that gave room, for example, +to a sexuality of a bourgeois type, to family of a bourgeois type, to bourgeois type of aesthetic. +And it is moreover very true that this has happened in the Soviet Union: +a kind of society -- simultaneously real and utopic -- had been reconstituted and +transposed from the bourgeois society of the nineteenth century, +in which humans finally were able to realize their true nature. +The result, that you also realized, I think, is that it is difficult to conceive +of what human nature precisely is. +Isn't there a risk that we will be led into error? +Mao Zedong spoke of bourgeois human nature and proletarian human nature, +and he considers that they are not the same thing. +Well, you see, I think that in the intellectual domain of political action, +that is the domain of trying to construct a vision of a just and free society +on the basis of some notion of human nature, we face the very same problem +that we face in immediate political action. For example, to be quite concrete, a lot of +my own activity really has to do with the Vietnam War, +and a good deal of my own energy goes into civil disobedience. +Well, civil disobedience in the U.S. is an action undertaken +in the face of considerable uncertainties about its effects. For example, it threatens +the social order in ways which might, one might argue, bring about fascism; +that would be a very bad thing for America, Vietnam, Holland and for everyone else. +So that is one danger in undertaking this concrete act. On the other hand there is a +great danger in not undertaking it, namely, if you don't undertake it, the society of +Indo-China will be torn to shreds by American power. An in the face of those uncertainties +one has to choose a course of action. Well, similarly in the intellectual domain, +one is faced with the uncertainties that you correctly pose. +Our concept of human nature is certainly limited; +it's partially socially conditioned, constrained by our own character defects and +the limitations of the intellectual culture in which we exist. Yet at the same time it +is of critical importance that we have some direction, that we know what impossible goals +we're trying to achieve, if we hope to achieve some of the possible goals. +And that means that we have to be bold enough +to speculate and create social theories on the basis of partial knowledge, +while remaining very open to the strong possibility, +and in fact overwhelming probability, +that at least in some respects we're very far off the mark. +Well, perhaps it would be interesting to delve a little deeper into this problem of strategy. +So, for example, in the case of Holland, we had something like a population census. +One was obliged to answer questions on official forms. +Would you call it civil disobedience if one refused to fill in the forms? +Right. I would be a little bit careful about that, +because, going back to a very important point that Mr. Foucault made, one does not +necessarily allow the state to define what is legal. Now the state has the power to enforce +a certain concept of what is legal, but power doesn't imply justice or even correctness, +so that the state may define something as civil disobedience and may be wrong in doing so. +For example, in the United States the state defines it as civil disobedience to, +let's say, derail an ammunition train that's going to Vietnam; and the state is wrong in +defining that as civil disobedience, because it's legal and proper and should be done. +It's proper to carry out actions that will prevent the criminal acts of the state, +just as it is proper to violate a traffic ordinance in order to prevent a murder. +If I was standing at a street corner and the traffic light were red, +and then I drove across traffic light to prevent somebody from, let's say, +machine-gunning a group of people, of course that's not a violation of law, +it's an appropriate and proper action; no sane judge would convict you +for such an action. Similarly, a good deal of what the state authorities define +as civil disobedience is not really civil disobedience: +in fact, it's legal, obligatory behavior in violation of the commands of the state, +which may or may not be legal commands. +So one has to be rather careful about calling things illegal, I think. +Yes, but I would like to ask you a question. +When, in the United States, you commit an illegal act... +Which I regard as illegal, not just the state... +When the state considers it illegal. +Do you justify your action in terms of justice of an ideal, +or do you justify it in terms of necessary class struggle? +Again, very often when I do something which the state regards as illegal, +I regard it as legal: because I regard the state as criminal. +But in some instances that's not true. +Let me be quite concrete about it and move from the area of class war +to imperialist war, where the situation is somewhat clearer and easier. +Take international law: a very weak instrument as we know, but nevertheless +it incorporates some very interesting principles. +Well, international law in many respects is the instrument of the powerful: +that is, international law permits much too wide a range +of international forceful intervention in support of existing power structures +that define themselves as states and against the interests of masses of people +who happen to be organized in opposition to states. +But, in fact, international law is not solely of that kind. +And in fact there are interesting elements of international law, +embedded in the United Nations Charter, which permit, in fact, I believe, require the +citizen to act against his own state in ways that the state will falsely regard as criminal. +But nevertheless, he's acting legally, because international law also happens +to prohibit the threat or use of force in international affairs, +except under some very narrow circumstances, of which, for example, +the war in Vietnam is not one. +Which means that, in the particular case of the Vietnam War, +which interests me most, the American state is acting in a criminal capacity. +And the people have the right to stop criminals from murdering people. +Just because the criminal happens to call your action illegal when you try to stop him +doesn't mean it is illegal. +A perfectly clear case of that is the present case of the Pentagon Papers in the United States +which, I suppose, you know about. Reduced to its essentials and forgetting legalisms, +what is happening is that the state is trying to prosecute people for exposing its crimes. +That's what it amounts to. +So it is in the name of a purer justice that you criticize the functioning of justice? +It is important for me to know about this. +In France there is currently a debate +about this problem of justice and that of popular judicial institution. +A certain number of people, including Sartre, believe that in order to make a critique +of the current penal system or of police practices, we have to create a kind of tribunal +which -- in the name of a superior, ideal and human justice -- will condemn the practices +of the French judges or policemen. Moreover, there is another group of people, +myself included, who say this shouldn't be done because when they refer to an ideal justice +-- which the tribunal is supposed to apply -- +they refer to a certain number of judicial ideas which +were formed in our time by a certain number of individuals who are themselves, +directly or indirectly, a product of their societies. +We have to attack the practices of justice. +We have to attack the police and their practices: +but in terms of war and not in terms of justice. +Surely you believe that your role in the war is a just role; +that you are fighting a just war, to bring in a concept from another domain. +And that, I think, is important. If you thought that you were fighting an unjust war, you +couldn't follow that line of reasoning. +I would like to slightly reformulate what you said. +It doesn't seem to me that the difference is between legality and ideal justice; +it's rather between legality and better justice. +Now this better system may have its defects, it certainly will. +But if comparing the better system with the existing system, without being +confused into thinking that our better system is the ideal system, we can then argue, +I think, as follows: the concept of legality and the concept of justice are not identical; +they're not entirely distinct either. Insofar as legality incorporates justice in this sense +of better justice, referring to a better society, then we should follow and obey the law, +and force the state to obey the law and force the great corporations to obey the law, +and force the police to obey the law, if we have the power to do so. +If in those areas where the legal system happens to represent not better justice, +but rather the techniques of oppression +that have been codified in a particular autocratic system, +well, then a reasonable human being should disregard and oppose them, +at least in principle; he may not, for some reason, do it in fact. +I would simply like to reply to your first sentence, +when you said that if you didn't consider the war you wage against the police +to be just, you wouldn't wage it. I would like to reply to you in terms of Spinoza +and tell you that the proletariat doesn't wage war against the ruling class +because it considers such a war to be just. +The proletariat wages war against the ruling class because it wants +for the first time in history, to take power. +And because of its will to overthrow power it considers such a war to be just. +Yeah, I don't agree? +One wages war to win, not because it is just. +I personally don't agree with that. +For example, if I could convince myself that attainment of power by the proletariat +would lead to a terroristic police state, in which freedom and dignity and +decent human relations would be destroyed, +then I wouldn't want the proletariat to take power. +In fact the only reason for wanting any such thing, I believe, is because one thinks, +rightly or wrongly, that some fundamental human values will be achieved +by that transfer of power. +When the proletariat takes power, it may be +quite possible that the proletariat will exert a violent, dictatorial and even bloody power +towards the classes over which it has just triumphed. +But if you ask me what would happen if the proletariat exerted bloody, +I can't see what claim anyone could make against this. +tyrannical and unjust power towards itself, then I would say that this could only occur +if the proletariat hadn't really taken power, but that a class outside the proletariat, +or a group of people inside the proletariat, or a bureaucracy or petit bourgeois elements, +had taken power. +Well, I'm not at all satisfied with that theory +of revolution for a lot of reasons, historical and others. +But even if one were to accept it for the sake of argument, +still that theory is maintaining that it is proper for the proletariat +to take power and exercise it in a violent and bloody and unjust fashion, because it +is claimed, in my opinion falsely, that that will lead to a more just society, +in which the state will wither away, +in which the proletariat will be a universal class and so on and so forth. +If it weren't for that further justification, the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat, +violent and bloody, will certainly be unjust. +I for example, I am not a committed pacifist. +I would not hold that it is under all imaginable circumstances wrong to use violence, +even though use of violence is in some sense unjust. +I believe that one has to estimate relative injustices. +But the use of violence and the creation of some degree of injustice can only itself +be justified on the basis of the claim and the assessment -- which always ought +to be undertaken very, very seriously and with a good deal of skepticism -- that this +violence is being exercised because a more just result is going to be achieved. +If it does not have that grounding, it is really totally immoral, in my opinion. +As far as the aim of the proletariat in leading a class struggle is concerned, +I don't think it would be sufficient to say that it is in itself a greater justice. +What the proletariat will achieve by expelling the ruling class +and by taking power is precisely the suppression of class power in general. +But that's the further justification. +That is the justification, one doesn't speak in terms of justice but in terms of power. +It is in terms of justice; it's because the end that will be achieved +is claimed as a just end. No Leninist or whatever you like +would dare to say "We, the proletariat, have the right to take power, +and then throw everyone else into crematoria." +If that were the consequence of the proletariat taking power, +of course it would not be appropriate. +The idea is -- and for the reasons I mentioned I'm skeptical about it - +that a period of violent dictatorship, or perhaps violent and bloody dictatorship, +is justified because it means the submergence and termination of class oppression, +a proper end to achieve in human life. +But it seems to me that, in any case, the notion of justice +itself functions within a society of classes as a claim +and as a justification for it made by the oppressed class. +I don't agree with that. +And in a classless society, +I am not sure that we would still use this notion of justice. +Well, here I really disagree. I think there is some sort of an absolute basis +-- if you press me too hard I'll be in trouble because I can't sketch it out -- +but some sort absolute basis, ultimately residing in fundamental human qualities +in terms of which a "real" notion of justice is grounded. +I think it's too hasty to characterize our existing systems of justice +as merely systems of class oppression; I don't think that they are that. +I think that they embody systems of class oppression +and they embody elements of other kinds of oppression, +but they also embody a kind of a groping towards the true humanly, +valuable concepts of justice and decency and love and kindness +and sympathy and so on, which I think are real. +Well, do I have time to answer? +Yes +How much? Because... +Two minutes? +But I would say that that is unjust? +Absolutely. +No, but I don't want to answer in so little time. +I will simply say that I can't help but to think that the concepts of human nature, +of kindness, of justice, of human essence and its actualization... +All of these are notions and concepts that have been created within our civilization, +our knowledge system and our form of philosophy, +and that as a result they form part of our class system; +and one can't, however regrettable it may be, put forward these concepts +to describe or justify a fight which should -- and shall in principle - +overthrow the very fundaments of our society. +This is an extrapolation for which I can't find the historical justification. +Well, I think we can immediately start the discussion. +Mr. Chomsky, I would like to ask you one question. +In your discussion you used the term "proletariat", "we as proletarians"; +it's the irony of history that the moment young intellectuals +coming from the middle class and upper class, +call themselves proletarians and say we must join the proletariat. +But I don't see any class-conscious proletarians. And that's a great dilemma. +It is not true in our given society that all people are doing useful, productive work, +or self-satisfying work -- obviously that's very far from true. +Lots of people are excluded from the possibility of productive labor. +And I think the revolution, if you want, should be in the name of all human beings; +but it will have to be conducted by certain categories of human beings, and those will be, +I think, the human beings who really are involved in the productive work of society. +Now what that is will differ, depending upon the society. In our society, +it I think includes intellectual workers. +So I think that the student revolutionaries, if you like, they have a point, partial point: +that is, it's a very important thing in a modern advanced industrial society how the +trained intelligentsia identifies themselves. +If they are going to be technocrats, or servants of either the state or private power, +or alternatively, whether they are going to identify themselves as part of the workforce, +who happen to be doing intellectual labor. +If the latter, then they can and should play a decent role in a progressive social revolution. +If the former, then they're part of the class of the oppressors. +I have one small additional question -- or rather a remark to make to you. That is: +you, with your very courageous attitude towards the war in Vietnam, +how can you survive in an institution like MIT, +which is known here as one of the Great War contractors and intellectual makers of this war? +There are two aspects to that: one is the question how MIT tolerates me, +and the other question is how I tolerate MIT. +Well, as to how MIT tolerates me, here again, I think, one shouldn't be overly schematic. +It's true that MIT is a major institution of war-research. +But it's also true that it embodies very important libertarian values, which are, +I think, quite deeply embedded in American society, fortunately for the world. +They're not deeply embedded enough to save the Vietnamese, but they're deeply enough +embedded to prevent far worse disasters. And here, I think, one has to qualify a bit. +There is imperial terror and aggression, there is exploitation, there is racism, +lots of things like that. But there is also a real concern, coexisting with it, +for individual rights of a sort which, for example, are embodied in the Bill of Rights, +which is by no means simply an expression of class oppression. +It is also an expression of the necessity to defend the individual against state power. +Now these things coexist. It's not that simple, it's not just all bad or all good. +And it's the particular balance in which they coexist that makes +an institute that produces weapons of war be willing to tolerate, in fact, +in many ways even encourage to be quiet honest, +a person who is involved in civil disobedience against the war. +Now as to how I tolerate MIT, that raises another question. +There are people who argue, and I have never understood the logic of this, +that a radical ought to dissociate himself from all oppressive institutions. +The logic of that argument is that Karl Marx shouldn't have studied +in the British Museum which, if anything, was the symbol of the most vicious +imperialism in the world, the place where all the treasures an empire had gathered, +the rape of the colonies, was all poured in there. +But I think Karl Marx was quite right in studying in the British Museum. +He was right in using the resources and in fact the liberal values +of the civilization that he was trying to overcome, against it. +And I think the same applies in this case. +But aren't you afraid that your presence at MIT gives them a clean conscience? +I don't see how, really. I mean, I think my presence at MIT serves marginally, +I hope a lot, I don't know how much, +to increase student activism against a lot of the things that MIT stands for, for example. +Ladies and gentlemen, I think this has to be the end of the debate. +Mr. Chomsky, Mr. Foucault, I thank you very much for your far-reaching discussion +both the philosophical and theoretical, as well as the political questions. +I thank you very much both on behalf of the audience, here and at home. +4 +7 +10 +13 +18 +23 +27 +31 +37 +39 +45 +48 +49 +53 +56 +58 +62 +67 +72 +76 +79 +83 +88 +93 +101 +102 +106 +111 +116 +121 +127 +132 +135 +139 +141 +146 +150 +155 +162 +165 +169 +175 +182 +183 +190 +195 +199 +204 +217 +219 +224 +231 +239 +244 +248 +254 +259 +262 +269 +274 +278 +283 +288 +291 +295 +301 +305 +312 +319 +322 +326 +332 +338 +343 +345 +350 +356 +359 +362 +368 +373 +374 +381 +389 +398 +403 +411 +413 +419 +425 +429 +433 +439 +445 +455 +461 +467 +472 +477 +482 +487 +493 +498 +503 +508 +514 +520 +526 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mFeCq-KZ9nM.en.cnt b/cnt/Dialoghi sul nostro tempo - Marco Damilano con Noam Chomsky mFeCq-KZ9nM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64ee80f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Dialoghi sul nostro tempo - Marco Damilano con Noam Chomsky mFeCq-KZ9nM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1012 @@ +afternoon good afternoon are the dialogues on our espresso time +we started these conversations about our world about our present about +our future now many weeks ago when Italy lock down and all the +the rest of the world lived almost the same condition as us +this week we are approaching the end of this initiative counting then +to resume it in other forms given the support the interest it has aroused +but we are at the moment a bit conclusive a bit of taking stock and then +this afternoon we do it with one of the leading intellectuals of the West +i would say of the world i don't think this is an expression in fatigue non jones chi +good afternoon professor chomsky it is a pleasure to be with you linguist +all-round intellectual philosopher who is being published these days by +bridge of thanks with a book that is available as a paid ebook here +we see the crisis of civilization, pandemic and capitalism which is a book that collects +some world premiere interviews for Italy then the first question is +very simple professor chomsky what he taught us is what is there +teaching this global pandemic that in some ways she was heralded +repeats the World Health Organization several times +had warned of a pandemic risk but governments did not +they have done absolutely nothing and capitalist economies have not +prove able to change what has taught us what is there +teaching the covip this global emergency and what are the risks for the +future +the lesson we must draw from these events is very clear enough that +let's go back in memory to not many years ago in 2003 there was +a major outbreak of a coronavirus the farce and scientists have said so +immediately that it was very likely that there was some at some point of time +another another epidemic that perhaps could have turned into a pandemic +scientists at the time said we must prepare and described that +what you had to do to prepare I think that as everyone knows it is not enough to know them +things also need someone to do something then who could do something +what let's see it 1 could do something +the companies the drug manufacturers the pharmaceutical companies but +they follow a capitalist logic and capitalist logic dictates to +only seek profit then make preparations for something +it is not for today it is not for tomorrow it could happen in ten years it does not generate +profits and so let's say big pharma did nothing the fuss could do +something number 2 and governments that are the ones who finance the part anyway +of the scientific research that scientists who have laboratories and so on +for example it is due to the funding of the various governments of the world if we have +found vaccines for many diseases but nothing new was done there because +let us say the logic of the neo of neoliberalism as this is dominated +very clearly giving up reggae 40 years ago the government is not the solution +but it is the problem and therefore this logic says that decisions must be removed +from the hands of governments and placed in the hands of tyrants and okay let's call them +private companies that are completely devoid of any sense of responsibility e +they must not give an account to anyone this is the logic +this is the fundamental principle and therefore are these industrial groups +tyrannical private individuals in my view who manage this type of +consequently also on this level nothing has been done but it is not +that we have always been at this level of nation under the first the first +Bush administration ie of bush father actually called the president +that is, it creates around itself a committee of scientific consultants advising the +of the white house when barack obama was elected president of the states +united of america 2009 the first thing he did get the committee called +to the scientists who were part of it to prepare plans for one +potential pandemic which was done within five weeks by the way +creating important infrastructures when already +took office as president of the united states of america in january 2017 +within a few days he dismantled all that system that was +aimed precisely at making the appropriate preparations in view of probable events +like that of a new pandemic has canceled all the programs that +they served to support collaboration between research scientists +Americans and Chinese ones in an attempt to identify others +potential coronaviruses and above all it has always been doing something it does not have +never ceased to do ie definanzia ie reduces cuts the funds in the center for the +disease control center for disease control cdc in our acronym +English does not know has never stopped because even this last February +when the pandemic was already raging, he made plans for another one +reduction of the funds of the cdc so here that the system of the united states was +totally unprepared but how can I say deliberately and intentionally +in unprepared therefore it can not be surprising that currently we +we are the ones in the world who are faring worse as a number of new infections like +death toll but donald trump refused to pay attention to the former +symptoms that were emerging in US citizens and has +refused to listen to the news that came from china where +these things started happening as early as December 2019 +at one point china informed and the world health organization +that is, there was a rather worrying frequency of +pneumonia-like symptoms of unknown etiology in the population in +c. since then they continued to work and identified the source of the impact +of the pathogen that promoted these symptoms, namely a crown +viruses managed to sequence the genome and this information was +spread all over the world so much that in half +January of this year all the clocks in the world more or less knew +what there was to know or rather what we say +we were able to know at that time so that some countries reacted +instantly the Asian countries of Oceania and Australia reacted +on two feet without time in between others have a bit delayed but a +washington for two months plus secret services +US intelligence has been trying to talk to the White House for two months +to warn look that we have a problem but without result because donald +Trump did not want to listen was not available to listen we arrived +so in March when the sudden drop in stocks on the Wall +street awakened garnered the president's attention +and then he turned around and said yes there is a pandemic and I am +practically almost said I'm the first world ruler +in short, to find out this has precipitated our country into states +united in chaos in the disaster because we said there were three +factors capitalist logic should have changed but it is difficult +that you change without being imposed on the brake limitations and the +logic of neoliberalism has further eliminated the brakes and +and there have been the reactions of governments when at the head of a great nation +and as important as the united states of america there is some sort of tumor +walking evil and clear that this is the recipe for disaster today we are in +same situation as in 2003 in the sense that scientists are saying +exactly the same things they said then there is a very real possibility +that another pandemic arrives and the warming of the planet earth does not +other than to worsen the conditions the circumstances in which and these agents +pathogens can more easily spread something but +that must be done and the logic of capitalism must be overcome +to completely discard ideologies from the neoliberal approach e +above all it should be in the palaces of government power +responsible this is the teaching that I draw +you mentioned roller reagan the government is not the government's solution +problem was his flag during the electoral campaign that took place +exactly 40 years ago because ronald reagan was elected president of the states +united in November 1980 in the same period the year before in England +the Conservative party led by Margaret Thatcher had won +she too is a slogan for some even more radical +the company does not exist have been a bit of the dogmas these two sentences the government is +the problem the company does not exist I ask if it is +possible today an afterthought today that everyone +they discovered the importance of public health the importance of the state +in the economy in Europe you have contrasted yourself with +trump model the model of angela merkel that is a ruler who leads +of a state that cares about its citizens and does not care but is +only a blaze dictated by the emergency as it was during the +recession of 2008 or you can hope for a real authentic +change +the answer is in the hands of the populations in the hands of the citizens +she is correctly remembered the phrase you miss the touch and that companies don't +exists meant that individuals must +be thrown into the market trying to survive as best they can +of course she didn't know when she said those words but she was +paraphrasing something he had said before her in a completely era +different carlo marx when he condemned, let's say autocratic governments of his own +it was that they sought, he said, to transform people +the people in a kind are getting so potatoes ie made everything of +isolated individuals unorganized and therefore completely exposed vulnerable +in power the effects of this way of thinking +I am obviously talking about the last 40 years since the time I do and before +regal then as she remembered they said those things are before the eyes of +everyone in the united states i speak for my country because the one i know best +only 0.1 percent of the population owns 20 percent +of all the wealth in the country 50 percent of us American citizens have +a net worth as we say in negative in a nutshell has more debts than +crisis about 70 percent of citizens +Americans have substantial difficulties in making ends meet month after month that is +from when he takes his salary until when +a month later to really serious difficulties in keeping afloat +meanwhile the riches and the profits of the very rich have increased to an extent +astronomical while the wages of those who earn a living remain stagnant e +benefit then all social services have been cut this is the product +of neoliberalism that among other things if we really want to say it all from you +in europe it was aggravated in the age of austerity programs +We have therefore clearly seen the sources for 40 years +of this of this situation now as it comes out there are a lot of forces +powerful people who have created and who perpetuate this situation if it does not exist +a counter force a force that opposes you will continue to win the +counterforce what is the hour that are organized citizens are +bottom-up organizations involving the population I think +at europe yannis la ruffa kiss the former greek minister founded a movement +m25 and proposed to join to make common cause with the organization since +low that was created around the former Democratic presidential candidate +of the united states for each sanders to form ie to give life to one +progressive international in short, things do not happen +it is not by magic that people need to become active and participate in a way +active to transform all this into reality, therefore the outcome of this +conflict of this opposition will give us the answer to the question that you me +certainly posed a conflict is a match +still open I ask and then I will go all on +also specific about what political activists can do and what +it will happen in November with the election of the new president of the united states +I ask her when we talk about green new deal +we allude to franklin delano roosevelt's new deal in the 30's over the years +forty of the twentieth century there is the possibility for a thought +leftist progressive to propose an idea of that kind on a global scale +change of way of seeing a change of paradigm something that +reverses what has been the characteristic of these years which is the +disintermediation ie the idea that the individual is alone with himself alone +facing the economy and only facing consumption and only facing even its own +individual behaviors there is the possibility that a watershed +historical like this imposes a new way of thinking and therefore is a great one +opportunity for progressive thinking or it will be a missed opportunity +bush let's say the elections that history has given us can be useful +they can make suggestions even if it is clear that they do not apply in a way +mechanical if I go back to when I was +child that is in the early thirties well me +I remember the problem in America with the great depression that broke out in 29 +it was much more serious than the problems, let's say, of an economic nature +today is that at that time everyone saw quite clearly that the +there were two possible ways out and in fact so it was one was the way +exit predicted by fascism and we know where it led +the other way out was the one that was adopted by Franchi with his +my gino and the social democracies in europe and we saw what they were +the fruits we are today in a situation guards do not hide it much +that is, there are two possible directions to the intensification of +system that first led to this crisis with such disastrous effects +so painful for most people who have lived in the world for 40 years +to this part that is to this then among other things we must add keep in +account the new technologies of surveillance control and strengthen the +repressive tools that are in the hands of governments often piloted by the big ones +corporation or what she said a new international new deal +progressive of which what we have called green new deal is a part but is +only part because this crisis due to the red coronary pandemic +certainly disastrous but that due to global warming +therefore to the change in a worse sense of the climatic conditions of the whole +planet is far more serious I'm saying than since the crisis of +coronavirus we can exit probably we are already exiting but from +melting of the polar caps there is no turning back so it is clear that +the green new deal new ecological green deal is the only way +di con to counter these phenomena but we always face two choices there +we come to find today as then I have a resurgence of a revised version and +corrected contemporary fascisms or the passage but this involves +truly a paradigm shift to a system that in view of a future of +true progress organize societies our societies for well-being +of their members and not of the advantage of small minorities +right now don't ask me to make predictions because the outcome is not +predictable as like the thirties and dressed and predictable that +be an open game helps to be optimistic then the first question on +this on this game concerns his country we are in a campaign +very particular electoral is not in fact the electoral campaign of +past in this story how important it is to reconfirm or not the +president donald trump what's at stake for november e +from this point of view I ask you if you will vote the candidate for the +Democratic candidate that this right now appears to be joe biden +the slot machines she asked me who who I vote but she knows that the elections go +given at least the American elections must be seen and this in particular +they have to be seen a little differently, you don't ask who you vote for +you ask yourself who you vote against it is certain that I will vote against the trump and therefore +I will vote Democrat whoever is the candidate and he asks me what the stakes are +at stake for the presidential elections next November +it is very high because just look at the policies of fano il tram +just look at the interests so that they support it just look at +that people surround themselves and understand everything i think donald trump is +committing the worst crime conceivable and see what measure +words in the sense that he knows very well that Hitler was a criminal and absolute +but without what I tell her she never thought of doing what she is +among other things by doing ours with its de facto policies it aims and wise +putting our hand to destroy, let's say the environment in which it can survive +organized human life as we know it today that crimes will be committed +monstrous but has never even remotely thought of destroying the environment +which hosts all of human life organized in the world +here is donald trump's policies lead to this because for example they are +Trump is in favor of maximizing the use of fuels +fossils and quisi of his of the last financial law of the last kiss that +he submitted to the congress already I said he cut the funds to the center for the +disease control but also greatly increased subsidies to adults +industrial groups to corporations that produce what fossil fuels is +a slave to the oil industry thinks only of his own +short-term interest and that of the oil industry should +costing the end of all life on earth +so in these four years we have almost reached points of no return +let's say another four years with irreversible turning points +tram but would be the catastrophe is increasingly difficult I mean +compensate for the instructions that have already been inflicted on our planet +another thing donald trump and those around him do is the attempt +to destroy democracy these are people who really democracy +they hate her passionately as they know they are a minor +bend the only way they have to keep their grip on the rest of the +company is what they are doing does not know what it was doing is filling +all levels and degrees of the United States justice system +of america of young ultra-right jurists who will take charge +how to say to take care of the implementation part at the daily level of +champ politics is no secret here we don't know everyone knows it +we see lastly I say again that from the field it is he who is actively +proceeding with the dismantling of the entire arms control system +already to say revoked the support of the united states to the treaty of mf that is on +on medium-range nuclear weapons what they concluded she quoted reagan +concluded Reagan and Gorbachev in their time now even threatening +to completely revoke the treaty called open skies and dating back +even to the era of eisenhower and has already announced that it will not sign the new one +start treaty to limit the number of nuclear warheads present on the +world which means hello to the arms control regime +we can safely commit madness and because there is no we say +binding treaty signed by the united states +last example of the trump policies that I said let's tell the +disapproval of all and the policy held towards iran with +iran and the united states and europe had concluded an agreement that stood +working with great effectiveness as he had pointed out not least +US healthy intelligence donald trump dismantled that saturday being +by imposing new and harsh sanctions on Iran +which means to try or rather to encourage +and stimulate Iran to try to get out completely, let's say that +had held and cause a serious military crisis in the Middle East as well +it would blow up all our systems all trump to put it mildly +one word is a spoiler Trump is a wrecker all he can +stand in the way of its short-term interests and prospects +electoral he knocks it down he dismantles it and it is a policy that +clearly made to keep friends with those large industrial groups I was talking about +first let him free rein, give him a free hand for another four +years would lead I'm not kidding to the catastrophe the entire planet has +explained perfectly what is at stake is why you will vote against +donald trump and many hope that this challenge will be successful +but compared to the last things he said give trump the spoiler in hand +to the great powers I remember that four years ago when it was +first elected he presented himself as the enemy of wall street and the friend of +finance the enemy of multinationals that outsourced their industries +outside American territory outside the states operated outside Michigan +out of ohio and as the defender of the forgotten lands of forgotten men +she wrote one of her most well-known major books called the +consent factory +these populist leaders of recent years are great builders of +consensus around themselves in the name of the people against the establishment +she thinks that these years have served and have been enough +to remove a tramp from the many trumps that are around the world +even in European countries this image of guardians of the people with respect to +stable students who want to suffocate them that they have in short threw +the mask or they will continue to play this +part in comedy +in American history there is a figure but also a character +elsewhere, of course, a very particular figure is a curious character +he said at the same time we don't call it kalman which is short for +confidence man the man of confidence is the guy who comes to you from the bridge +of brooklyn a bit like toto with the trevi fountain confidence well +cam this kind of character so distinctive to tomorrow like everyone with +a holds a banner where it says I love you I will save you +I will protect as long as you support me with the other hand he stabs you in the back +here i did the portrait of donald trump +the whole legislative program of the current president says tax relief +only for the very richest great achievement this let alone the benefits +practically everyone went to the world of large corporations to the very rich +including those who shop real estate sales real estate agents +which then is his branch of the business for the others almost nothing +the consequences of this were already announced when it was presented +we say this this measure already paul ryan in the House of Representatives +and from the Senate they seek me what they said +these people's representatives is now we have a big deficit therefore +what we can do about the only thing we can do is cut services +social well defined cagliari and cut the assistance that bit of +public health care we have in america medical coupons +social security if not how can we do with all this deficit +that we have this is donald trump's program +when you subsidize the fossil fuel industry it enriches those +it is better to enrich and harm everyone else also because thanks +to the help of the jurists he has placed one by one in key posts is being dismantled +all that regulatory apparatus because we had it +in the united states which for example serves to protect the quality of water +or of the area so it lends a hand to large groups +industrialists who make profits on condition that no one is allowed to +check to put a limit on emissions of pollutants +in the water in the air carbon dioxide rather than mercury I speak of the asp +and it is also a hand to the large arms manufacturers in short, with one hand both of the +I love you sign I will support you but you support me and I will save you and with +the other does everything possible to destroy the very conditions of +survival of people these are the damages and samp is a big e +demagogue and is a master in the art of convincing people and meanwhile +plant a knife against him between the shoulder blades is recognized and is incredible +the fact that there is a large sector of the population on all of the +US population who still believe him while he stabs her at +shoulders I find that it is a remarkable achievement +what she says I say and while she was talking she passed you a roundup of these +characters very present also on the European scenario and also on the +Italian scenario from this point of view we really have nothing from +envy but I wanted to ask her instead in this match +the other front, 2019 was an important year for the +movements to raise awareness on climate change movements +youth protest movements the boys and girls of greta tombeur le +revolts in some countries of the world for example Chile against corruption of +governments against corporations the virus seems to have extinguished those mobilizations +even on the physical plane our squares are empty yes +demonstrations cannot be organized e +all organizations and associations are struggling to keep up +together at a distance how you can start over how those will start over +movements from where the movements of non political activism will start +only about her is she right to say what she says is true but I invite her to +consider that they have not stopped these guys are continuing is true +that you can not go to the streets agrees but continue in the work of +awareness-raising information but also at the level of the GT organization +development of new programs at the level of activism that is of the states +united where we are witnessing a resumption of workers' initiative +which is expressed with strikes with legislative proposals that benefit +those who work who express themselves by creating new organizations for da +part of categories let's say that before they were not even unionized one for +all French let's say in the United States and the +teachers now returning to my gil of the years +thirty and that's not it rained from the sky 100 was brought forward +in the sense that it was also supported and promoted by a level from a type +of activism on the level of the workers' movement +Americans had been squashed in the 1920s but recovered and clearly +the great depression of the 29th somehow served to bring him back on stage +the great confederation of state labor was fully created +united ie the umbrella organization of all of all trade unions +certainly it helped to have an administration that listened to certain +instances but it could happen again because not you have to work hard why +those who want to keep the system even worse know no respite then also +whoever opposes him must know no respite must take action and the ways and +mode skies are many despite the stop due to the town +we have already said about the progressive international +I find it important for a reason the white house of phan fah +currently from the outside it looks like a great chaos but let's say there is a plan there is a plan +geostrategic to the White House is to create a reactionary international +that is, to take all of the world's most reactionary leaders and align them +all of us behind we say the white house we have already seen the approaches +between trump and bolzonaro the president of brazil is we know the relations that +entertains with al fissi who is the worst dictator egypt ever has +had there even the hand of the +royal family let's say the royal families of the gulf +Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States are also increasingly part of Israel's track +decisive right turn in recent years and the Indian government head ways +government of the Hindus who did everything to crush +let's say the independence of kashmir and in fact to strangle democracy +laica from india is closer to your home +orban in hungary and right at your home +a gentleman like salvini who sees himself in between and also very pleased to assist +contemplate the wretches who are trying to reach Europe +from Africa they drown in the Mediterranean all these form the international +reactionary so it is clear that this is a world force that aims to +to make the living conditions of so many people even harsher and more brutal in +our world for the benefit of very small minorities +that is why I think of the progressive national team because it needs forces +who want to counter these developments unite and find land of +common organization and intervention and attention the intervention must be a +level of the individual nations of course but above all at the international level +because the pandemic has shown us that the pandemic is a worldwide event that +asks which requires to bring back let's say lead us to normal one +international effort and an increasing reactionary international effort +let's say it aggravates the situation of the environment and aggravates the threat of +a nuclear war must be fought on ground +absolutely international modalities ways instruments there are and there are +many certainly some have been limited by the organ for the moment but not +many remain so it is necessary to grasp and grasp with energy with +force these opportunities otherwise we will enter a situation that will +will screw of a catastrophe without end and with no way out +before getting to professor chomsky's final question about it one +she once asked about the role of intellectuals +one of his books called them the new mandarins, that is, they are the ones that +they have the keys to knowledge in their hands, but we also know how much about that +ground them of the thought of the word of words this war is fought +between the reaction as you defined it is progress from this point of view +what do you think of what has been said that what has been written about almost everything is +it was thought in these weeks of the pandemic there was a reaction +at the height a new thought has begun to form or we are all +very related and ancient patterns +we get out of having to give her an answer so a little cold shower ie if her +look and what many intellectuals have covered throughout history +of mankind sees that it is rather uniform equal to itself through +over the centuries you think about what happened at the time of the first war +world and many almost all intellectuals in every country are +enthusiastically close around the states to which they belong and therefore +they took part in the war instead of rejecting the war with very few +exceptions look i want to name them for for +honoring him in the uk centered break in germany at rosa luxemburg +eugene jazz in the united states were voices of intellectuality that you are +opposed to that massacre that ended up in prison for this the story of +stances of the intellectuals and very much so the majority of +intellectuals in history makes common front with power indeed provides +let's say the picture is the ideological framework that serves the self-defense of power +except for small fringes, that is, we say of figures and situations rather +historically marginal more or less has always been so I read +regularly not only the American but also the British press how many +articles came out that seriously addressed the issue of +roots of this pandemic that is that they have shown that it makes 10 of +this pandemic to the bottom of its own in the reserved capitalist logic +exasperated by the ideology of neo-liberalism of Reaganiana Facari +Bergamo and there was no memory if you have seen many tell me why me +surely I have not noticed and say that I still follow this +press you see the criticism for example to the policies of champ but you have +the impression that he is being criticized because certain things are not good for him to look like +I say the writer would do better serious criticisms I do not see many +I don't even have to tell a strict one in the press that we call independent how many +articles come out that really highlight the very narrow +connections between the social and economic policies of the Trump presidency and the +world of large corporations and the logic of capitalism are fringes +unfortunately for the most part then I find that the intellectuals have behaved +as always as usual throughout history the vast majority are +as an end they jumped on the bandwagon of the winner they had defended ideologies +dominant and power-like forces what your antonio +gramsci called the hegemonic thought he wants to say but to me it seems to be so good +I thank you because we talked about many things but allow me one last +she asks on a more personal level what struck her most on a personal level +what is most affected in these weeks of the lock down pandemic e +what will you bring with you allow me personally these +weeks of loeb town have certainly not been particularly difficult +it is not difficult for me to stay indoors to work but we are people +privileged for most of the others the other people have been +horrible weeks is the important question that you basically place in +this whole conversation sort of a red thread what we can learn from +this coronavirus pandemic experience we can learn why it is +success, that is, going to find the real root causes and address the causes +or we can relax and once it's over we hope to leave soon +that those powers that provoked or facilitated it transform it into something +even worse these are the things I always think about which I keep on +to think and I would like to say to which we will all have to dedicate our own +attention and attention there is not only to think but there is to act and act with +vigor act boldly boldly to deal with any other crises that +they could fall on us even if we have not faced them already since +immediately in an active way in a proactive way in an incisive way you will arrive +to a point in history that neither she nor I have ever seen a point that will be +a point of no return I say it in very simple terms such as +I find that today's generation has the decision on whether that is possible +human life survives human life and the life of many on this planet +other species that we are casually destroying with with +cruelty and recklessness to the issues we face +there may be solutions but they will not stay here for long we must act +to make decisions and therefore not only think but also do +understand the roots of the crises that afflict us today than those that we are +they threaten for tomorrow and tomorrow the year, however, to understand and act without delay +there is no time to understand and act I believe this conversation is his words +have been very important for understanding also as a stimulus +to action so thank you very much thank you professor +chomsky for your time and for this important dialogue thank you +good day to good continuation for everything she thinks she says and +for his testimony and good afternoon to all of you who have us +listened and followed until now the appointment for the dialogues on ours +espresso time is for tomorrow always at 15.30 thanks to all +92 +98 +106 +114 +119 +124 +129 +136 +143 +150 +156 +164 +171 +177 +184 +190 +198 +202 +207 +213 +219 +227 +231 +236 +241 +248 +252 +257 +262 +267 +271 +275 +280 +284 +288 +293 +297 +302 +307 +311 +317 +323 +327 +333 +339 +344 +348 +352 +358 +363 +368 +373 +381 +386 +392 +396 +402 +405 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of relations +that the honor of presenting the watch goes everyone already knows well the honor of +to present to that press conference professor jones that that is a +of the most important intellectuals in the contemporary world is a great sausage +emeritus professor philosopher from several North American institutions and to +in addition to this your intellectual academic production of relevance +very important for humanity is a political activist is socialist +libertarian defender of the good causes of humanity +he gives us the honor of coming to Brazil especially to visit the +president squid here in his prison in addition to having participated in a seminar that +was held last friday in sao paulo is and we too having the pleasure +everyone already knows how to present our minister senator aloisio +merchant who also accompanied the teacher shows that on the visit the +president squid and both can give the statements the president's messages +squid and eventually answer questions and we also have mine with valeria +wasserman that the teacher's wife who is also an activist who is +we don't have the honor of having a +and she will translate the questions and answers of the +professor joseph now though his king if anyone wanted to +get ready to do the favor feel free because I'm already tired +after all and the claw of the meeting for an hour if anyone wants it like that +to stay I think it's useful from Brazil because it's going +having daughter plaid wrestling heh heh mmc viviane the village is a boris journalist +matter if opel was media in brazil is political the body +from the land at 20h +report chelsea to the great place to run spanish to organs of the year 1986 a bow +wow +joao rocha novo with a shock in this important book +now chatroulette is expected and they were waiting 80 school and look just twisted will +take a long time, but I think it also leads to FIFA because I was able to remember +mine because this is the difficulty of reading already touched the raw rock I will not do +like this but I ask everyone afterwards he will answer and now he will +produce August but it is summarizing what the president said here attacks +squid suffered during the period he was in government +this retreat from the press didn't give a break and it's important that this +type of press does not retain it is more balanced, right, because they say that +only constant criticism throughout his government +summarizing the sporting coach but what the hell civilians island of brazil intellects +the time of things rio the brazilian is already expecting class leadership +Northern intellectual we should not expect leadership from the +intellectual class liu tian xi colloquium of people like you +was one of the top 10 popular movements luiz cruls all movements +popular grow or another or san antonio by bus delivered some +often join movements and, together with their voices, sexual and +Bruno cellulite and night for example civil rights in the united states +everything around the year didn't start as intellectuals us history started +with some black students sitting on the streets next in restaurants +while the rest of the Englishman were arrested and taken to other students +bruno's children came are soon you had a number of students to a +absurd brothers project direct to in July 2011 were able to vote volts trump +of the goal is to register to pull out the best deal that was extremely dangerous +the production of grape sound adopt the use of peeling on the face and another of the own +ian core the time to hear from a little bit of that +the time today to perform more that started to appear +the exit then was the pilot is jack black raulzinho who started to unite +to social movements we discuss and this is the way I think that +changes happen this way thank you I'm not President Lula's and +how about what they talked about to sum up in a confrontation in the bucket exchange business +even today the spiritist group was a wonderful experience +it's not true a nixon i used in the years following the game +whoever changes is not every day that you find an extraordinary figure of a +21st century +royce kick the next to you that the person with the right should be the next +Brazilian President +remains optimistic in athletic know and infinite many clear plans for the +future the mother sister of andre santos +the imam corrected me i reminded him when we met 20 years ago and all +month of blood life that the government banque he said he never thought that +could be elected +he was elected at home leaving bogota in the filter area and this is an indication +of what can happen in the future +look I have some messages from President Lula +first it was extraordinary to follow the dialogue of 15 intellectuals +lushan president squid but he said he has conviction was actually won +election he is excited about the campaign +think that fernando our candidate purpose his candidate even in +excellent performance a lot of dignity and a lot of consistency with a lot of +tranquility he wins the hearts of the rectors every day more than ours +military militancy a vehicle we will win the elections that in +truth will be the next president of brazil +he is also asked that the militancy do not just wait for the research that +Canada will stay alive nor will I watch the campaign. +the clay mass on the street hitting from house to house and work because the future of +Brazil depends on these next 17 days of the campaign that shows everything is going +very well in the campaign another great asset the big difference that we +we have is the militancy of social movements is the militancy of the pt +we have to go to the street forwarded showing that the option that is +a landmark a culture of respect for diversity dialogue with the difference that +allows plurality but that Brazil needs peace and that the path of peace and +fernando haddad presence in brazil are the dogs and cats that he asked for the +process is you and it is very difficult for me to know since the mid years +70 see the squid at a time like these people +that he on the street and that he wants from the republic locked in a cell +of 15 square meters but he is much bigger is a giant and +nothing is going to choose the pace is one thing he said I +I want to ask you guys it's amazing that he gets bigger +American intellectuals of the contemporary world and comes to +parliamentary leaderships from everywhere from everyone more representative +parliamentary leaders coming or four ex ministers and ex ministers of europe +this week in Brazil defending his freedom and denouncing injustice +and that the Nobel Peace Prize Pope Francis sent him a third +of a book and nobody goes to the newspaper's palace +nobody visits this coup government so I think of the world and the UN and the show +is saying is free squid the people want the world also about the woman spoke +something about this polemic of pardon no he said he already sent more +of a letter making his position very clear he is an innocent man and +who believes in his innocence and that's why he didn't take refuge in the embassy +he came to face in justice and in the courts because he is sure that he +will prove innocence because what has happened so far is to run over deadlines +agency will prevent him from being a candidate to phrase the true truth +of this process and everything that was built to prevent it from being the +presidential election shift candidate +however does not want to include the check proving innocence that justice recognizes +who gave and will fight for it and I'm sure +that this is also the commitment as I said that fernando haddad the work +will fight along with so many intellectual and political leaders and as advice +of human rights the UN has already said for the freedom of squid has I don't know if he +is alone in a more optimistic scene today after meeting in an economy +I thought more optimistic with 166 in the last year +is not a source of energy and in the exam but the violent episode is with him a +great experience +happened the last time they met if today insurance has little +entered twice with the saints the object of the icomon of the colleges years +running like that was just the embu film where he spoke for the future +for him for the squid doesn't seem like his thirst a sentence but it seems to be +prepared to board as if it were a board to catch my hinterland +bicolor leather it all illegal and with the help of you people how can you +become a reality, we leave there with a broken heart and willingness to +cry but the smile his strength is so energetic that we leave more +motivated when he becomes a giant and the courage he has of innocents who +invented is facing with head up and justice despite little 1916 +skeptical about the school he did an assessment of anac or in what he always +demanded today he must be in the lead to create a free society with light +of you talked about what the polls are announcing so +present the candidate there the one that we don't +speak the name in front ooo save from going up you +commented on this, went on to detail more of researches have a lot of information but +I think that at sea the historical experience of Brazil none +candidate who has experienced such extraordinary growth in such a short time +to command detained in those little more than a week that he is candidate and has a +reason clear this legacy from the pt government the strength of our party militancy the +third old militants of social movements and the will of the goal of flame is +squid heart of the people part po non-resident +android has grown a lot and has an avenue to keep pressing can +stop just an Angolan flag I take a whole gap +human rights socialism and freedom +i draw zinho +8 +16 +23 +29 +35 +42 +48 +53 +58 +63 +69 +76 +83 +86 +93 +99 +104 +108 +114 +120 +124 +130 +137 +148 +158 +174 +219 +230 +245 +252 +255 +259 +264 +269 +273 +280 +288 +291 +301 +322 +328 +336 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students I want to welcome all of you +here tonight for the first annual SPS Annual Lecture +and, without a doubt, this is going to be a very hard act +to follow. +Before we get started, I have a few people to thank. +The first is Al Bergesen, head of the Department of Sociology, +who recommended this series as a way +to showcase the best of the social and behavioral sciences +to our local community. +[APPLAUSE] +Second, I'd like to thank two faculty +who have been long associated with Professor Chomsky +and who helped make his appearance here +tonight possible, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini and Thomas +Bever. +[APPLAUSE] +Both teach in our world-class Department of Linguistics. +[APPLAUSE] +And, in fact, there are so many faculty with research ties +to Chomsky in the Department of Linguistics +that this department is sometimes +referred to as MIT West. +[LAUGHTER] +I'd also like to thank the head of the Department +of Linguistics, Simin Karimi, as well as the many faculty, +staff, and students from the department +who have been working so hard on this event. +On the screen behind me is a list of some of the donors +who have helped sponsor tonight's lecture. +I would especially like to thank our co-sponsor, Confluencenter +for Creative Inquiry and its director, Javier Duran. +[APPLAUSE] +Financial support has also come from members of the SPS +Magellan Circle and tonight's event is especially +underwritten by Magellan Circle member, Elise Collins Shields +and her husband, Creston Shields. +Thank you very much. +[APPLAUSE] +I'd also like to thank the support of the Arizona Daily +Star, the College of Education and its dean, Ron Marks, +and the College of Humanities and its dean, Mary +Wildner-Bassett. +[APPLAUSE] +Thank you. +Others contributing to this event +include the School of Anthropology, +the Cognitive Science Program, the Department +of Communication, the Department of Computer Science, +the School of Geography and Development, +the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, the School +of Government and Public Policy, the Department of History, +the School of Journalism, the Center for Middle Eastern +Studies, the School of Middle Eastern and North African +Studies, the Department of Psychology, +the Department of Sociology, and the UA bookstores. +[APPLAUSE] +And thanks to everyone in the dean's office +and in SPS development and the Centennial Hall Group +who have put all of this together. +Thank you all very much. +Well, now, what can I say about tonight's speaker? +Who, after all, has been as intellectually influential +as Noam Chomsky? +The author of 100 books and countless articles, +he is the founder of modern linguistics. +His ideas have not only revolutionized linguistics, +they have indelibly shaped anthropology, +cognitive science, childhood education, computer science, +the languages, mathematics, psychology, philosophy, +and speech. +In fact, you can find self-described Chomskyites +in every field that asks the question, what +does it mean to be human? +If there was a Nobel Prize for social and behavioral sciences, +he would have won it long ago with his original book, +the first book, Syntactic Structures, +which appeared in 1957. +He is, according to the Chicago Tribune, +the most cited living author and he's +third most cited in the world behind Plato and Freud. +[APPLAUSE] +Professor Chomsky gave a research talk yesterday +to a small group-- 1,200 faculty, students, +and community members and the US Student Union-- +and I have to say, I was overwhelmed by the response. +Tucson, by all rights, you have a claim +on the title the Athens of the West. +And, of course, there is Chomsky-- +the public intellectual, the self-described libertarian, +socialist, and anarchist, a critic +of established politicians on both the left and the right. +[APPLAUSE] +An activist who has influenced millions, +Professor Chomsky is well known for his relentless critiques +of US foreign policy from his outspoken stance +against the Vietnam War and his first political book, American +Power and the New Mandarins, to his forthcoming 2012 volume, +a collection of essays titled Making the Future, Occupations, +Interventions, Empire, and Resistance. +[APPLAUSE] +The topic of tonight's lecture, education for whom +and for what, draws on another line of critique. +One based on a lifetime of thinking +about education's role in the pursuit of democracy, justice, +and freedom. +For us at the University of Arizona, +these issues are of utmost importance +as we grapple with how to maintain quality and access +in the face of over $180 million of budget cuts in recent years. +Today, only 16% of the total university budget +comes from the state, a figure that is half +of what it was 10 years ago. +Of course, these cuts have occurred not just in Arizona, +but in all states and they go directly +to the question of whether higher education should +be a public good, a common investment in our children's +and our state's futures, or, instead, +solely a private matter left to would-be students +and their families. +Professor Chomsky's remarks tonight will undoubtedly +spark reflection on this and many other questions related +to education. +And now I'd like to say a few words +about tonight's proceedings. +Following Professor Chomsky's talk, +we have allotted approximately 30 minutes for a question +and answer period moderated by Arizona Public Media's +Christopher Conover who was up here a minute ago. +Mr. Conover has over 23 years of experience in broadcast +journalism and has been a mainstay at KUAT and KUAZ +since 2005 and I'm very grateful to him for his help tonight. +[APPLAUSE] +Finally, throughout the evening I +ask that whatever your opinions, you respect those of our guest +and your neighbors in the audience for tonight +we have a unique opportunity to engage +in thoughtful, civil discourse with one of the greatest +intellectuals and public figures of our time. +Please join me in giving a warm Tucson welcome +to Professor Noam Chomsky. +[APPLAUSE] +Thank you very much. +Mic check. +Mic check. +Mic check. +Mic check. +Thank you-- +Thank you-- +-- for supporting-- +-- for supporting-- +I can't hear what you are saying. +[INAUDIBLE] +[APPLAUSE] +I'm truly glad you came to say hello. +[INAUDIBLE] +Sorry. +I couldn't hear it, but I'm sure it was very important. +So I hope everyone else did. +[LAUGHTER] +Well, I'm going to concentrate mostly on higher education, +but that can't really be disconnected +from what happens from infancy so I'll +say some words about early education too. +In the background, there are contrasting conceptions +of whom education is for and what it is for, +so let's take a look at whom it is for. +There are two fundamental views that go far back. +One view is that higher education is basically +for the elites, for the privileged. +The rest of the population should +be dumbed down, maybe allowed entry into vocational schools +to learn trades. +There's a more general conception +that lies in the background and which, strikingly, +holds across the mainstream political spectrum. +It's more instructive almost always +to focus on the left liberal extremes, +so I'll keep to that-- the less harsh extreme. +So, for example, the leading public intellectual +of the 20th century, Walter Lippmann-- +who was kind of a Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy liberal. +His view was that we have to distinguish +between the intelligent minority, +called the responsible men, and what +he called the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders-- that's +the general population-- who have to be spectators, +but not participants in action. +And the responsible men-- incidentally anyone +who ever discusses this is always +part of the intelligent minority by definition-- +so the intelligent minority, the responsible men who +are in charge of decision-making, +they have to be protected, in his words, +from the roar and the trampling of the bewildered herd. +He developed the concept of manufacture of consent-- +it's a new art of democracy, which +has to be used to keep the ignorant and meddlesome +outsiders from interfering. +He was actually relying on his own experience-- +these were writings in the 1920s. +Incidentally, they are called progressive essays +on democracy. +He was relying on his experience in the first and, in many ways, +only official US propaganda agency, the Committee on Public +Information, a term that Orwell would have liked. +It was the Creel Commission established during the First +World War to try to drive a pacifist population into raving +warmongers and it worked pretty successfully. +It was led by the responsible men, the intelligent minority +who were, more or less, unaware that they themselves +were the targets of an earlier propaganda agency, the British +Ministry of information-- another Orwellian phrase which +was essentially designed to control +the thought of American elites. +So they would, therefore, participate +in the great task of bringing America into the First World +War on England's side. +Another member of the Creel Commission +who was also very impressed by it was Edward Bernays. +He's one of the main founders of the modern public relations +industry and his views were about the same. +There has to be an intelligent minority in control +and we have to have a technique-- he called +it engineering of consent-- to make sure +that the rabble stays in their place +as spectators, not participants. +The basic view goes back much farther. +So, for example, long before this Ralph Waldo Emerson +was considering the question of why political leaders are +interested in having public education-- +mass public education was just beginning-- +and he said that the ground on which eminent public servants +urged the claims of popular education is fear. +That in their words, he says, this country +is filling up with thousands and millions of voters +and you must educate them to keep them from our throats. +Meaning, educate them the right way, +keep their perspectives and their understanding +narrow and restricted, discourage +free and independent thought, and frighten them +into obedience. +That's something that is done over and over in the schools +as well. +We've all experienced it. +If you go back still farther to the framing +of the Constitution, it was based essentially +on the same principles. +James Madison, the major framer, his view +was pretty much the same. +He said we have to make sure that the public is marginalized +because otherwise there'll be trouble. +And in fact, if you read the speeches at a Constitutional +Convention, he urged the Convention +to think about what would happen in England-- that was obviously +the model. +What would happen in England if they really +had a democratic vote? +He said, well, what would happen would +be that the majority of the population +would use their voting power to take away +the property of the rich-- to carry out what these days we +would call land reform and obviously that would +be unjust-- so, therefore, we've got to guard against democracy. +Actually it's kind of interesting +that whether consciously or not, Madison was reformulating +an argument that goes back to the first main major study +of political theory, Aristotle's book, Politics. +Aristotle reviewed the many forms of government +there could be and didn't like any of them, +but decided that democracy would be the least bad. +He is, of course, mostly thinking of Athens, +but he raised the same dilemma. +He said this same problem that Madison did. +He said that one of the big problems of democracy +is that the majority of the poor would use their voting +power to take away and divide up the property of the rich, +which is unjust. +So Madison Aristotle faced the same problem, +but they drew opposite conclusions. +Aristotle's conclusion was we should +eliminate inequality-- make everyone middle class, more +or less. +And he proposed actual measures for this-- +what we would call today welfare state measures-- +and that would overcome the problem. +So reduce inequality, overcome the problem. +But Madison's solution was the opposite-- reduce democracy. +So design a system in which the public will not +be able to exercise the kind of free vote +that would threaten one of the main goals of government, which +he said is to protect the minority of the opulent +against the majority. +So same problem, but opposite conclusions-- reduce democracy. +And if you look at the framing of the Constitution, +that's the way it's designed. +So, again in Madison's words, the constitutional framework +has to ensure that power is in the hands of what he called +the wealth of the nation, the responsible men, the men who +have respect for property and its rights +and, therefore, will ensure that the opulent minority is +protected from the majority. +And that's why, in the original framing of the Constitution, +power is primarily in the hands of the Senate-- +the Executive at that time was kind of an administrator. +So power is in the hands of the Senate-- +which, remember, people didn't vote for. +That was much later. +And the Senate, he said, would be the wealth +of the nation, the people who would +make judicious and responsible decisions. +Actually in Madison's defense, it +should be mentioned that he was, at this point, pre-capitalist. +So his model of the wealth of the nation +was some mythology about Rome, where distinguished gentleman +and benign aristocrats devoted to the public good +would make all the right decisions. +He soon learned differently, but that was the model. +That's the original intent of our constitution +for those who are interested in original intent, originalism. +To go back a little bit further and go back to, say, +David Hume, one of the first great +modern political philosophers. +He wrote a book called The First Principles of Government +and in this-- I'll quote him. +He wondered at "the easiness with which the many are +governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which +men resign their own sentiments and passions to those +of their rulers. +When we enquire by what means this wonder is brought about, +we shall find that as Force is always +on the side of the government, the governors have nothing +to support them but opinion. +'Tis therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; +and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military +governments, as well as to the most free and most popular." +And, in fact, in the more free in the more popular +where force is less available, you +get the most sophisticated development +of the notions of manufacturer of consent, +engineering of consent, public relations industry, and so on. +And the educational system has to be +enlisted in this enterprise. +It's a very conscious policy-- I'll +return to the way it works in the modern period. +Well, that's one point of view about whom education is for. +Another alternative point of view, including high culture, +is that it's for everyone and there's +interesting work on this. +One book I'd strongly recommend if you +have good eyesight-- it's very tiny print, unfortunately-- +is a scholarly book by Jonathan Rose. +It's called The Intellectual Life +of The British Working Classes. +It's a monumental study of the reading habits of 19th century +British workers and it's pretty remarkable +to see what they were reading. +Rose contrasts-- I'll quote him-- "the passionate pursuit +of knowledge by proletarian autodidacts" +with "the pervasive philistinism of the British aristocracy." +There is good evidence for it and pretty much the same +was true in the United States. +In Boston, let's say, in the 19th century +if a blacksmith could afford it, he would typically +hire a young boy to read to him while he's working +and reading meant reading classics-- +or contemporary literature that we now +consider classics-- in the factories that +were the mills that were just beginning +to be built in the early days of the Industrial Revolution. +A lot of the workers were young women +from the farms-- they were called factory girls. +Now there was a pretty lively labor +press at the time-- very interesting to read. +The factory girls had plenty of condemnations +of the industrial system into which +they were being forced-- I'll come back to it +in a little bit-- but one of them +was that it was taking away their high culture. +They were used to reading contemporary literature, +classics, and so on. +When they were driven into the mills, +that was taken away from them and this continued. +I'm old enough to remember the 1930s. +At that time, there was lively programs of workers' education +and some of the leading scientists +and mathematicians wrote popular books +intended for worker education. +Mathematics for the Million, things like that. +George Gamow later, One, Two, Three-- Infinity, JD Bernal, +another well-known scientist. +There were educational courses-- my own family, my relatives, +were mostly unemployed working class, +but they were deeply immersed in high culture +even though some never made it through elementary school. +They were what Rose calls proletarian autodidacts, +although they were helped by workers' education courses +and things like free Shakespearean plays in Central +Park and so on. +Well, those are two views of whom education is for, +two contrasting ones. +Then comes the question what it is for. +And here too, there are contrasting views. +The contrast is actually discussed +during the Enlightenment and there's +imagery associated with it. +One image is that education is like pouring water +into an empty vessel and, in fact, +it's a pretty leaky vessel as you all +know from your experience. +So you're pour water into a vessel +and, of course, all of us have been through this +and you remember nothing. +The other alternative is that teaching +should be like laying out a sting along which +the student can explore and progress in his own way. +That image comes from Wilhelm von Humboldt +who was the founder of the modern university system, also +one of the founders of classical liberalism. +I'll get to John Dewey, America's greatest +social philosopher a century later. +He wrote that it is "illiberal and immoral" to train children +to work "not freely and intelligently, +but for the sake of the work earned, in which case +their activity "is not free because not freely +participated in." +And as he also pointed out, it will be a leaky vessel. +Those contrasting choices are very sharply drawn today. +I'm sure, again, that most of you +have seen it in your own experience-- I certainly +have myself. +It has very definite policy implications, +right now in fact. +There is just some very recent and very pointed +discussion of this, which I'll quote the American +Association for the Advancement of Science, +a main scientific organization. +It has a regular journal, The Journal of Science, +and in the last couple of issues, the editor-- biochemist +Bruce Alberts-- sets forth these alternatives very clearly. +He's discussing science education in the schools, +but it generalizes. +So one approach he discusses is, in fact, the Enlightenment +view-- that teaching is laying out a string along which +the student progresses in their own way +through discovery and exploration. +And his version of it is that "our goal +is to make it much easier for teachers +everywhere to provide their students with laboratory +experiences that mirror the open-ended explorations +of scientists, instead of the traditional 'cookbook' +labs where students follow instructions to a predetermined +result." +And then he contrasts that with actual practice, which +is of course is pretty much the opposite-- concepts +taught with an overly strict attention to rules, procedures, +and group memorizations. +And then he goes on to quote his own testimony to the California +Standards Commission, his testimony opposing such ideas +as teaching the periodic table of the elements in fifth grade +which is totally meaningless to the student. +Incidentally, he points out he was unsuccessful in this-- +it is taught that way. +And what he says is, "When we teach children about aspects +of science" that they cannot yet grasp, +"then we have wasted valuable educational resources," +"produced nothing of lasting value," and much worse, +"we take all the enjoyment out of science when we do so." +And he discusses DNA, his own field. +He says, "Unfortunately, most students today are taught about +DNA at such an early age that they are forced to merely +memorize the fact that"-- he gives a quote from a textbook-- +"'DNA is the material from which genes are made,' a chore that +brings no enjoyment or understanding whatsoever." +And much later he says, "when they do have the background +to understand both the structure of the DNA +molecule and its explanatory power, +I fear that the joy of discovery has +been eliminated by the early memorization of boring DNA +facts. +We have spoiled a beautiful story for them +by teaching it at the wrong time." +Then he goes on to the college level. +He says, "For example, in an introductory biology class, +students are often required to learn the names of the 10 +enzymes that oxidize sugars-- but an obsession +with such details and obscure any real understanding +of the central issue," leaves "students with the impression +that science is impossibly dull," causes many of them drop +it. +"Tragically, we have managed to simultaneously +trivialize and complicate science education. +As a result, for far too many, science +seems a game of the recalling boring, incomprehensible +facts-- so much so that it may make little difference +whether the factoids about science +come from the periodic table or-- a movie script. +He gives some examples. +Again, I'm sure you've had your own experience about that. +Just to interpolate, I certainly have. +I remember when I was a 16-year-old freshman +at the University of Pennsylvania, +I had to take a general chemistry +course with about this many students in the audience. +It was insufferably boring and furthermore, +it was completely obvious what was going to happen. +So if you read the textbook, you knew +exactly what was going to happen so I never went to class. +But, I got an A, it was OK. +I actually had a friend who took notes-- that helped. +But the worst part was that they had a lab +and I knew perfectly well that if I went to the lab +and carried out the experiments, none of them would work. +That's automatic, so I didn't go to the lab. +There was a manual where you had to fill in the answers +to the results of the experiments +and, again, entirely obvious what they were going to be. +So I filled it in and got an A and so on. +But then I had a very unpleasant experience. +I had to register for the next semester +and when I tried to register, they +insisted on my paying a fee for breakage in the laboratory. +I'd never been to the laboratory-- +I didn't know where it was. +But obviously couldn't say that so I had to pay +$17, which was a lot of money in those days for the breakage +in the lab that I never attended and, of course, +I don't remember a thing from the course. +I'm sure many of you can duplicate this experience. +Actually, this approach generalizes-- even has a name. +It's called No Child Left Behind. +[LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE] +I see you've experienced it. +Actually, it's been going on for about 10 years. +No reported progress, which is no surprise. +Serious education is radically different. +It's what Alberts was recommending +and it's the way science is actually taught +at the advanced levels-- take my own university, MIT, +it's a research university. +There is a world-famous physicist, the late Victor +Weisskopf, who-- like a lot of senior faculty-- +taught freshman courses. +And he used to say that when he came +to the first session of his freshman course, +students would ask, what are we going to cover this semester? +And his routine answer was it doesn't matter what we cover-- +it matters what you discover. +And maybe you'll discover that what I'm teaching is wrong. +That would be great-- that's the kind of thing we want to do. +This goes on right through the graduate level. +In a serious university, that's all there +is-- it's the whole curriculum. +And that's actually possible all the way down to kindergarten-- +there are examples. +In fact, Alberts in this series of articles +gives a good example. +He talks about a kindergarten class which +won some award in the sciences. +These five-year-old kids-- the task +that was given them-- each kid in the class +was given a dish that contained seeds, pebbles, and shells. +And their task was to figure out which ones were the seeds. +So the kids got together in what they +called a scientific conference and they each +had ideas about how you might do it. +They exchanged the ideas, suggested +some ways of testing it, and finally carried out the tests. +They finally got somewhere with a little teacher guidance, +but they are basically figuring it out for themselves. +It ended up at the point where they figured out +what were the seeds and they were dissecting the seeds. +They were given magnifying glasses and could look into it +and locate the embryo, which was the source of sustenance. +That's learning-- real learning. +That's Enlightenment style leaning, +not No Child Left Behind. +It can be done and sometimes is like in this case, +but far too little. +Well, let's take a brief look at the history. +Not surprisingly, the US system of higher education +has evolved along with broader socioeconomic changes. +Actually there was very sharp change +at the time of World War II. +Everything changed after World War II-- +it was a very dramatic event for world history. +The United States was the richest country in the world, +but it wasn't a major actor in the world scene. +The major actors were Britain, primarily France, Germany-- +but not the United States except regionally. +But after World War II, it was all different-- totally. +The United States emerged from World War II +with a position of global dominance +that had absolutely no precedence in history +and no precedence since-- it began declining shortly after. +The United States at the time had literally 50% +of the world's wealth. +Other industrial societies had been seriously +harmed or devastated. +For the United States, which was untouched by the war, +the war was a tremendous stimulus, a huge government +stimulus to the economy. +The industrial production quadrupled +and it already had been the richest country in the world. +It also had an overwhelming position of security-- nothing +remotely like it. +Well, this affected the whole culture, including education. +Prior to this, higher education-- +at least elite education-- had been +a kind of gentlemen's club. +And, indeed, it remained so at the elite schools well +after-- again, personal experience again. +I was a student at Harvard in the early '50s +and that's exactly what it was-- It was a gentleman's club. +But the US had also pioneered mass education +through colleges. +In fact, that's a very important achievement +of American society. +It was motivated in part by just what Emerson talked about. +It was motivated by the transition +from an agricultural society of free, independent people +to an industrial society. +It was necessary to turn free farmers into disciplined +factory workers. +And since they didn't like it, you +needed the kind of education that Emerson was talking about. +The kind of education that will keep them from our throats. +And it was dramatic-- I mentioned the labor press-- +and it was very interesting to read. +Factory girls, artisans from the town-- +they have many complaints about the system they're +being driven into. +It's worth reading-- it's available now. +The industrial system, they said, +was crushing their culture, their dignity, their freedom. +It was turning them into something like slaves. +In fact, a century and a half ago, +a very common belief-- so common that it +was a slogan of the Republican Party supported by Abraham +Lincoln-- was that wage slavery is different +from chattel slavery only in that it's temporary, but other +than that it's the same. +You're being forced-- you're working on command, +not under your own initiative. +So they wanted to get rid of it-- +worker ownership and so on. +I think the most interesting element of their critique +was their condemnation of what they +called the new spirit of the age-- remember, +this is 150 years ago. +The new spirit of the age is gain wealth, +forgetting all but self. +Adam Smith had talked about that. +He called it "the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." +All for ourselves, nothing for anyone else. +And the new spirit of the age-- a century later-- +was to try to drive this deeply inhuman idea +into people's heads. +It was a very sharp break from traditional societies +that valued trust and solidarity and mutual aid +for common purposes. +In our own tradition, the standard example +should be the English commons. +We're going to celebrate-- probably won't-- but we should +be commemorating the 900th anniversary of the Magna Carta, +The Great Charter, in a couple of months. +It is forgotten. +The Magna Carta, as everyone ought to know, +is the foundation of civil liberties-- presumption +of innocence, trial by jury, due process, and so on. +But it's sort of forgotten, interestingly, +that there were two charters. +There was a Charter of Liberties and there +was a Charter of The Forests. +The Charter of The Forests was about preservation +of the commons. +The commons-- including the forests-- +were the possession of everyone. +They were the source of food, of fuel, of building materials. +They had been carefully cultivated +with mutual aid and mutual support for centuries, +so they were very complex ecosystems +which everyone had access to. +And The Great Charter calls for preservation of the commons +from the predatory acts of the kings and nobles. +Well, that's been forgotten, so nobody talks about that +anymore. +And that's a very serious problem. +In fact, the failure to attend to the commons +is going to destroy us. +That's the environmental crisis which we're marching +towards with utter abandon. +If some extraterrestrial observer was watching, +they would think we're all lunatics, +but it is going on right now-- +[APPLAUSE] +-- and unless this conception of preservation of the commons +and the values that were part of it-- unless that's restored, +we're in trouble. +Well, shortly after that with the beginnings +of capitalist industrialization, there's +a move towards making everything a commodity. +And it then becomes necessary to inculpate +the new spirit of the age-- gain wealth, +forgetting all but self-- and reverence for what +Adam Smith condemned as the vile maxim. +Actually there are major industries devoted to it. +The public relations industry-- advertising, +marketing-- it is probably a sixth +of the gross national domestic product-- +is devoted pretty much to this. +It's devoted very consciously-- interesting to read +the literature their own literature. +It's devoted to what's called creating wants-- fancy needs, +stimulating consumerism, turning people's attention to what +are called the superficial things of life, +like fashionable consumption, and away +from real human values. +And enormous work goes into this-- keep people +from our throats, again. +That new spirit of the age is so inhuman +so that over 150 years of effort, +there still is always resistance. +So in the early 1970s, as an outgrowth of 1960s activism, +there was a very important series of labor striket-- +young workers mostly. +Many of them were Vietnam veterans, +others just young people getting into the workforce. +The most famous one was at Lordstown and very +significantly, they were not striking particularly +for wages and benefits, but for human dignity in the workplace. +That was also the time when women +were becoming organized and active-- chicanos, farm +workers, black unions, and so on. +All of this was beaten back and it's +been beaten back for a generation, but it's there. +In fact, the Occupy movements that are spreading all over +are reviving it. +[APPLAUSE] +I think it is a main significence. +And a lot hinges on whether the new spirit of the age-- +150-years-old and, in fact, in England going back centuries +to the destruction of the commons-- +it is a very important to determine +whether this new spirit can be overcome. +If not, we're just lemmings walking off the cliff and soon. +There's a lot to say about that, but I'll put it aside. +Well, again, after World War II-- +going back to that-- there was a another new spirit, +a spirit of triumphalism. +Before the Second World War, the United States +was a kind of cultural, intellectual backwater. +If you want to study a science or philosophy or the arts +or be a writer, you went to Europe-- Germany, Britain, +France, someplace like that. +But after World War II, that all changed +and it led to just a different attitude. +I remember very well-- I was just becoming a college +student at the time. +The atmosphere was that we should +shed all of this old world baggage +and lead the world to a bright future-- what +was called an American century. +European scholars-- many of whom were emmigrating here +fleeing Nazi Germany-- they were feared +because they were too good and they +were disdained because that's the old fashioned baggage. +And the two were at the same time. +There were many very ugly incidents. +I could tell you about some of them, which I remember. +From a student perspective-- like what +I was in the 1940s in philosophy, linguistics, +psychology-- they just had to start afresh. +Disregard all of this old nonsense from Europe-- biology +too in fact. +Forget it all, don't talk about it, +and start from the beginning. +We're going to create a new age-- and a lot of contempt +and a lot of ignorance. +There are many consequences, some of them +right to the present. +It's very striking in the behavioral sciences, in fact, +but also elsewhere. +There were also changes at that time-- +crucial changes-- in the way the economy functioned +and the state role in the economy, which +had a huge impact on the universities, higher education +particularly. +You go back to the colonial period-- +Adam Smith gave advice to the colonies-- +the greatest economist of the day. +And the advice he gave was the standard prescriptions +that the World Bank and the IMF and the US Treasury and others +give to the poor countries today. +Pursue your comparative advantage, +don't try to import more advanced goods +from the advanced countries, don't +try to control your resources-- everything +will be better if you do that. +Well, the United States was independent by that time, +so they were able to totally reject +the rules of what are called sound economics and they did. +If we had accepted them, we'd be a third world country. +But, in fact, that is how the third world +was pretty much created. +But the colonies could reject it. +The so-called Hamiltonian system introduced very high tariffs +to block superior British manufactures. +There was a lot of stealing of technology-- +what is now called piracy. +And the United States began to develop +and this went from textiles, the early stages +of industrialization, then right through steel +and on pretty much until the First and Second World War. +A huge role of the state system and state +sector in developing the economy-- mass +industrialization was developed, for example, +in armories because there you could control things. +The railroad system was managed by the Army Corps of Engineers +and so on. +Well, after World War II, that took a major leap forward-- +huge. +There was massive funding for science and technology, +mostly through the Pentagon. +And was done through the Pentagon for the usual reasons. +You have to inspire fear and you can +get taxpayers to pay the Pentagon to protect us +from various imaginary dangers. +But the money that went through the Pentagon +ended up creating the high-tech economy +that we're now living in. +So computers, internet, satellites, +microelectronics-- a whole array of stuff +comes out of decades of mostly Pentagon funding and research. +My own university, MIT, was right in the middle of it. +And the net effect is to socialize cost +and to privatize profit. +And it's a standard device-- interstate highway systems, +another example. +It's not what it's claimed to be. +It was sold on the basis of defense. +It was really part of the mass subsidy +to automobiles, energy corporations, rubber +corporations. +The idea was to make us a society that massively +wastes fossil fuels with consequences +we're now in the middle of. +There was also a rapid expansion of the student body +through the GI Bill, which brought +a whole new sector of the population +into higher education-- people who +never could have gone before. +That a very positive impact on the colleges +and on the general society. +That's incidentally a course that's +been reversed in the last generation-- I'll come back +to it. +The sharp increase in funding was mainly directed +to science and technology but, of course, +there was a spillover into other domains. +1957-- the Russians sent a satellite +into space, Sputnik, and the laments +about how the US is falling behind, going to be destroyed, +and so on. +The scientific community knew that this was total nonsense, +that the achievement was essentially nothing. +We could duplicate and go way beyond it +any time we wanted to, but it was exploited. +It was exploited pretty cynically, +I should say-- I remember it very well. +And it was exploited to give an enormous additional input +into higher education and also K to 12. +That's when you get the start of the kinds of things +that Alberts is deploring, like new math for example. +I have to say-- I had young kids at that time-- +we had very amusing experiences with watching +my young children, nine, 10-year-old children, +try to learn new math from teachers +who didn't understand a word about the said +theoretic basis for it but were trying to teach it. +And the kids were making up their own-- +I'll just give you one example. +When my youngest daughter was maybe 10 or so, +I had a visit from a friend, an Israeli logician-- +he's an old friend. +Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, some of you know. +He came and stayed with us for a while +and he saw my daughter doing her work and what was called +Boolean-- they are called set theory, +actually Boolean algebra. +And he was interested because he'd +been trying to teach it to junior high school +students in Israel and they are having a hard time doing it +and she seemed to be doing it fine. +So we started asking her questions +like if you have three things, how many sets are there? +You know, like a milk bottle and a cup and a book or something-- +and she said right off, eight sets. +And then he asked her to list them. +She listed them, including the null set. +And he asked, which set is included in all the others? +She said, the null set. +And I couldn't believe it, so I asked her, +how do you know the null set is included in all the others? +So she said, well, to have a set what you do is draw braces +and you put the things inside it. +And if you look carefully, there's +always a little space between them-- +that's where the null set goes. +So what in fact had happened is she was +doing something quite sensible. +She was making up a physical model +which happened to work for these principles and, of course, +had absolutely nothing to do with what +they are trying to teach her. +This was going on all the time-- that's No Child Left Behind. +In the '60s, there were major social, cultural changes-- +the Civil Rights Movement, moves towards diversity, +women's rights, all sorts of things-- and the universities +were greatly enriched by that as, indeed, +was the whole society. +By the end of the 60s, there was also +a fair amount of political activism developing +and it became a major force. +Again, at my own university, MIT-- mainly a science +university-- it had an extremely conservative and passive right +through the 60s. +People are absorbed in their work, +But by the end of the 60s-- by 1969-- +activism had gotten to the point that a day was set aside, +formally, for the whole Institute to consider +the question of the role of technology in society. +Amazingly, a question that had never been asked-- you just +do it. +And that led to a lot of consequences +which, in fact, brought about a permanent change +in the Institute. +And similar things were happening in other places, +even abroad too-- it is a general movement. +And it had a real civilizing effect on the whole society. +Well, that civilizing effect of the 1960s +aroused deep concerns all across the mainstream spectrum. +That's why it's usually called the Time of Troubles. +It was civilizing the country too much and that's dangerous. +And it's kind of interesting-- I'll talk +a little about the reaction. +It has very strong effects right to the present. +On the right, one striking example +was an influential memorandum-- which is worth reading, +you can pick it up on the internet-- a memorandum +by Lewis Powell who was a corporate lawyer. +He was later appointed by Nixon to the Supreme Court. +At the other end of the spectrum, +there's an important study-- also +worth reading-- by the Trilateral Commission. +These are liberal internationalists +from the three major industrial regions-- Europe, United +States, and Japan. +Their general outlook is indicated by the fact +that the Carter administration was +drawn almost completely from their ranks-- that's +who they were. +And both of them merit attention. +They provide a good insight into the ideological aspects +of what has, in fact, been a major assault on democracy +and on rights that was beginning to take +shape 40 years ago-- escalated pretty +sharply in the Reagan-Thatcher years and continued +and it's now reaching new heights. +And they also provide insight into how this assault targets +the educational system. +So let's start with Powell's Memorandum, 1971. +This was sent to the US Chamber of Commerce. +That's the main business lobby. +The title was "The Attack on the American Free Enterprise +System." +And it's worth reading, not only for the content, +but also for the tone, which is totally paranoid, which +is characteristic of the major criminals, who were Ralph +Nader, with his consumer safety campaigns, Herbert Marcuse, who +was preaching Marxism, the New Leftists were on the rampage, +but primarily their naive victims, who dominate +the universities, the schools, television +and other media, the educated community, and virtually +control the government, if you haven't noticed it. +I'm incidentally not exaggerating. +That's exactly what it said. +I urge you to read it. +Well, the takeover of the country by these devils +is a dire threat to freedom, he said. +Because the only alternatives to free enterprise +are varying degrees of bureaucratic regulation +of individual freedom ranging from moderate socialism +to the leftist and rightist dictatorships. +Actually, if any of you are watching +the Republican debates, the same thing +is being repeated right now with the center, right, +Obama administration, and Marxist radicals, and so on. +Actually, Powell was very familiar +with another alternative to free enterprise, +namely the system in which he and his Chamber of Commerce +associates thrived. +He was an influential lobbyist for the tobacco industry. +And he was surely aware of the huge, federal subsidies +for the production of this leading killer, which +not only kills the users at a scale that vastly exceeds +the targets of the mostly farcical drug wars, +but also kills many others. +Deaths from passive smoking-- collateral +damage, just being around when somebody's smoking-- way +beyond those from hard drugs. +And he was surely aware of the great successes of lobbyists +like him in assuring that for many decades, +the government would help-- not only subsidize the industry-- +but help it conceal what they all knew. +They knew about the lethal product +that they were peddling. +And there are huge mounds of corpses +to show for their achievement. +They're still piling up rapidly. +But that didn't keep him from wailing in his memo +that I'll quote, "As every business executive knows, +few elements of American society today +have as little influence in government +as the American businessman, corporation, +even the millions of corporate stockholders, +in case you hadn't noticed." +And that, again, is considered is pretty characteristic. +And the reason is that there's an assumption +that for the state to support, subsidize, +private power, that's just the natural order. +Any disruption of it is a catastrophe. +And he then drew the obvious conclusion. +He was talking about the universities. +He said the campuses from which much of this emanates +are supported by tax funds generated largely +from American business and contributions +from capital funds controlled or generated by American business. +The boards of trustees of our universities +overwhelmingly are composed of men and women who are +leaders in the business system. +Most of the media, including the national TV systems, +are owned and theoretically controlled +by corporations which depend on profits and the enterprise +system to survive. +And therefore, these marginalized groups +who are being destroyed should organize to defend themselves, +instead of just watching passively +while business and our fundamental freedoms +are destroyed by this Marxist onslaught +from the media and the universities. +Well, Powell's memo expresses the concerns +elicited by 1960s activism at the right end of the mainstream +spectrum. +But much more revealing, I think, +is the reaction at the opposite extreme, the Liberal +Internationalists. +And these are spelled out in the Trilateral Commission report +that I mentioned. +It's called, "The Crisis of Democracy." +It's not easy to find, incidentally, +because they mostly took it off the market +when people started reading it. +But it's there. +Actually, I should say that MIT-- I read it +when it came out. +And I figured this isn't going to last very long, +so I bought a lot of copies from the MIT library. +So if you can't find one, MIT library +has maybe a dozen or so copies. +And then, it did go out of print, +I should say, very quickly. +The crisis of democracy that they were talking about +is, literally, that there's too much democracy. +The problem, they said-- this is leading figures, +major political scientists from Harvard and so on-- the way +that democratic order is supposed to work, +the public is supposed to be passive and apathetic. +The Lippen, Bernays, Emerson, Madison model, or Hume, +they're supposed to be passive, apathetic. +But in the 60s, they were beginning +to organize to press their demands. +That's what was being done by what are +called "the special interests." +The special interests are women, young people, old people, +workers, farmers-- the population, in other words. +They are the special interests. +And when they press their demands, +there's too much pressure on the state. +The state can't deal with them. +Therefore, they have to moderate their demands. +Now there's one group that isn't mentioned-- +the corporate sector-- and that makes sense. +Because they represent the national interest, not +special interests. +Just like the far right, the Liberal Internationalists +assume that their extraordinary power, and their control +of the state and other institutions, +is just the natural order. +A primary concern of the Trilateral Scholars, +just like Lewis Powell, was the failures of what they called, +and I'm quoting, "the institutions +responsible for the indoctrination of the young. +The schools, the universities, the churches and the like, +they're not carrying out their duty +to indoctrinate the young properly." +And that's why we had this time of troubles. +In general, they said, we have to have more moderation +in democracy if the national interest is to be protected, +including much more successful indoctrination of the young. +Well, the Powell memo, and the Trilateral study, +spell out the concerns at the opposite extremes +of the dominant, ideological spectrum. +These are largely shared concerns. +And they've led to vigorous action +to restore order, as often happened in the past. +One consequence of these and other developments +has been a pretty sharp attack on public education taking +many forms. +I'll mention a few. +About a year ago, I went to Mexico +to give talks at the National University, UNAM. +Quite a good university. +It's a very poor country, of course, +but quite a good, impressive university, high standards, +good faculty, lively discussion, reasonable facilities, +not like a rich American university, +but quite reasonable. +I also visited a City University. +There's a City University in Mexico City. +Incidentally, UNAM is free. +No tuition. +About 10 years ago, there was an attempt +by the government to raise just a very low tuition. +That led to a national student strike. +The country practically closed down. +The government withdrew the proposal. +There actually still on the UNAM campus +is an administration building that was occupied at the time. +And it's still occupied. +And it's used as a kind of activism center. +The City University is not only free, +but has open admissions with compensatory options +for those who need them. +And it's also a pretty respectable. +I was quite impressed to see it. +Well, I went from Mexico to California, maybe the richest +place in the world. +There, the public education system, +which is just the best public education system in the world, +is being destroyed. +It's being privatized, for the rich, of course. +For the rest, there's some level of mostly technical training. +And that's quite a contrast between a poor country +and, in many ways, the richest place in the world. +And that's happening all across the country. +In most states, like here I just heard +before, tuition, in most states, tuition covers more than half +of college budgets. +That's also true of most public research universities. +Pretty soon, only the community colleges +will be state financed. +And even they are under attack. +I'm quoting a recent study. +Analysts generally agree that the era +of affordable, four-year, public universities +subsidized by the state may be over. +That's one important way to implement indoctrination +of the young for a very good, simple reason. +Students leave in a debt trap. +College debt has reached the astonishing level +of over a trillion dollars now. +When a student leaves college with a big debt, +they don't have many options. +Indoctrination is working. +That's true of social control, generally. +It's also an important feature of international policy. +Well, as the Mexico-California comparison +illustrates, the reasons for the conscious destruction +of the greatest public education system in the world +in California, and comparable things elsewhere, +the reasons are not economic. +There are many other cases, including rich societies, so +Germany, to mention one, or for that matter, the post-war US +experience. +Much poorer country than we are now but it wasn't totally free. +But tuition was very low. +So for example, when I went to the University of Pennsylvania +as an undergraduate, it was literally $100 a year. +That might be $400 today. +It's not an economic reason. +But as a technique of indoctrination, +it's very valuable. +Well, if they're not publicly supported, +how are universities going to survive? +They don't produce commodities for profit. +And that's the dominant value under the New +Spirit of the Age. +The funding issue raises many troubling issues. +These would not arise if fostering independent thought +and inquiry were regarded as a public good +as during the Enlightenment model, +that is, having intrinsic value. +The traditional ideal of the universities +were flawed in practice. +And there are major attempts to change that. +So crossing the ocean, in Britain, +the right-wing government is now challenging +what's been for centuries called the Haldane Principle. +It's a century old principle that +barred government intrusion into academic research. +Whether they'll succeed in overturning it, I don't know. +And well, there's another kind of assault +on intellectual culture that you can read about it +in this morning's newspapers. +The Cameron government has announced that it's not +going to apologize. +It's not going to give an apology for essentially +murdering one of the great mathematicians +and scientists of the 20th century, Alan Turing, who +apart from being a major intellectual figure, +also happen to be a war hero. +He was crucially involved in decoding the German code, +something which saved Britain. +They killed him, basically, drove him to suicide. +Cameron, the prime minister, said +they're not going to apologize because Turing broke the law. +He was guilty of the crime of homosexuality, +which is a violation of law. +This should be a major scandal. +I mean, I don't know how to describe it. +But we'll see if it is. +It isn't so far. +Well, in the United States, for say, +research institutions like my own-- MIT-- the way +the problem was being dealt with is by a shift +to more corporate funding. +And that has several effects. +First of all, there's more emphasis +on short-term, applied work. +Funding from, say, the Pentagon, or the NIH, +they're concerned with the long-term future +of the advanced economy. +That, incidentally, means also the profitability +of the corporate sector long afterwards. +So we develop computers and the internet +for a couple of decades, and it ends up +being profitable for the private corporations that feed off it. +That's the socializing costs, privatizing profit principle. +Well, that's government funding, Pentagon funding, for example, +very free, best funder there is. +I was funded by them for a long time. +In contrast, the business firm typically +wants something it can use and not its competitors. +And it wants to be able to use it tomorrow. +I don't know of a careful study, but it +appears that the shift towards corporate funding, +in fact, does lead to more short-term applied research +and less exploration of what might turn out +to be interesting and valuable for the longer term future. +And another consequence of the shift from, say, +Pentagon funding to corporate funding is more secrecy. +During the Pentagon-funded era at MIT-- +I happened to be on a faculty/student committee which +examined it carefully-- decades of Pentagon funding, +there was no secrecy on campus. +One exception was the political science department. +But in the sciences, there was no secrecy. +Literally true, they were involved in the Vietnam War. +So none in the physics department, engineering +department, and somewhere else. +That's not true today. +Corporate funders, they, of course, cannot force secrecy. +But they have an indirect way of doing it. +They can threaten non-renewal of contracts. +That's led to some scandals, some of them severe enough +to have landed on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, +involving MIT. +Corporatization can also have a considerable influence +in other ways. +Corporations, by their nature, focus on profit making. +That's what they're for. +And they seek to convert as much of life as possible +into commodities. +There's a lot to say about this topic and no time, +but one particular consequence is the focus +on what's called "efficiency." +Efficiency is not a simple economic concept. +It has quite crucial ideological dimensions. +For example, if a business reduces personnel, +it becomes more efficient by standard measures +with lower cost. +But quite typically, that shifts the burden to the public. +It's a very familiar phenomenon. +And the costs to the public are not counted. +That's not a choice based on economic theory, but ideology. +And that applies directly to the business models +for the university. +Increasing class size and using cheap, temporary labor instead +of full-time faculty, graduate students, for example, +and other measures like that may look good +on university budgets, but significant costs +are transferred to the students and to the society +generally as the quality of instruction is affected. +There's furthermore no way to measure +the human and the social costs of converting the schools +and universities into facilities that produce commodities +for the job market. +Abandoning the traditional ideal of the universities, +encouraging creative and independent thought +and inquiry, challenging perceived beliefs, +exploring the horizons free of external constraints, +it's an ideal that's undoubtedly been flawed in practice. +But nevertheless, it is a kind of a measure of the level +of civilization achieved. +Well, there are related consequences for the K to 12. +There's a major assault on the public schools underway. +And the main reason is the New Spirit of the Age. +Public schools are based on a very dangerous principle. +They're based on the principle that we care about one another. +That's a violation of the New Spirit of the Age. +Me, for example, I don't happen to have kids in the schools +anymore, obviously. +So why should I pay taxes? +I mean, I'm not getting anything out of it. +Therefore, let's get rid of public schools +and just do things for ourselves. +The attack on Social Security has pretty much the same root. +It's based on the principle that you're +supposed to care about the disabled widow across town. +You're supposed to care she doesn't have food to eat, see? +Why should I care? +I'm doing fine. +There are various pretexts offered, +but they collapse very quickly on examination. +The real source of these attacks on just humane public values +and public goods, I think, is the passionate effort +to instill this hateful and destructive principle, this New +Spirit of the Age, going on for 150 years, +and long before that, the attack on the commons, +and instilling it has enormous profits +to concentrated, private power, very harmful, +and human effects. +There's a related campaign to destroy +those parts of the educational system that +enrich the lives of students and enable +them to follow the string that's laid out +for them in the enlightenment vision of education. +That interferes with indoctrination, +with control, with imposing passivity and obedience, +with subordination to the principle of caring only +about oneself. +A major struggle about that right +here is-- you know better than I do-- +the destruction of the flourishing, Mexican-American +studies program. +And even-- +[APPLAUSE] +--even the removal from classrooms +of books that are used in that program +has become a national scandal, incidentally. +Classics, like Paolo Freire, the history +of Chicanos in the Mexican civil rights movement. +It looks like we're rethinking Columbus, +even Shakespeare's Tempest. +This is all reminiscent of precedents +that we don't like to think about, +but they're worth thinking about. +And it's particularly dramatic that it's happening right here +in the midst of what could properly be called +"occupied Mexico" conqured in-- +[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING] +We all know, and we don't have to go into it, +it was conquered in a brutal war of aggression. +Well, I don't know any simple answers +to the dilemmas that constantly arise +in trying to develop and sustain an educational system +of independence and integrity, a one that strives +for the Enlightenment ideal, and to do this within societies +that are dominated by concentrations of power +with very different values and goals. +But at least one thing seems clear enough-- +efforts to do this cannot progress very far in isolation +from much broader struggles to protect what has already been +achieved-- and a lot has been achieved-- from severe, +ongoing attacks and to carry them forward towards a world +of greater freedom and justice. +Thanks. +[APPLAUSE] +Come over there? +Should I go over there? +Yeah. +Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. +As we get ready for the question and answer part of our program +tonight, a reminder. +We only have about 30 minutes for this, +and I can imagine a lot of you, if you had, paper as I do, +would have a lot of notes and a lot of questions +and a lot of comments for Professor Chomsky. +So as we get into this question and answer, +let me lay out some ground rules, some housekeeping, +if you will. +We have two microphones in the aisle. +We'll alternate back and forth. +As Dr. Jones mentioned at the beginning, +make sure you respect others' opinions. +We want a thoughtful and civil discourse, as he talked about. +There may be a few differences of opinion in here. +Also, the ground rules for this. +We're not going to do follow-up questions +from our people in the audience because we want to get +as many questions as we can. +So please try and keep your questions +as succinct as possible. +And we'll get through as many questions +as we can in about the next 30 minutes or so. +I should say, I don't hear too well, +so you may have to translate the questions for me. +Yeah. +That's fine. +Am I supposed to use this? +Yeah. +OK. +As you line up for the questions-- +and we will have staff there-- I'm +going to ask the first question. +I'm going to take moderator's privilege here, if you will. +Professor Chomsky, you were talking about, +towards the end, corporate influence, corporate funding, +and the idea that the universities, +in the corporate eyes, need to turn out "commodities." +MIT, your home institution, now has a new program +called OpenCourseWare that I know +is getting a lot of information given out about it. +For those of you that don't know what it is, +there are many forces at MIT that the materials are now +available free and online for the public. +Talk about that a little bit and how +that may be going against that corporate idea. +I think it's-- actually, one of my close friends is more +or less running it. +But I think it's a great idea, you know. +And I think it's just what ought to be done. +I mean, of course that means it's +available on the internet, so not only here, but everywhere. +All over the world you could hear leading scientists, +scholars, others, are delivering their lectures. +You can hear the classroom interaction. +I mean, it's not like taking a course in a serious university, +because you're not part of the interaction. +Like, you can't stand up and say, that's wrong. +There's a better way to do it. +You know? +Which is a large part of what real education is. +It's supposed to encourage independent thought. +That means challenges. +And a lot of what we and everybody else is teaching +is wrong, that's why you don't teach the same thing every year +unless your field is dead. +Because you're learning, and a lot of learning +comes from what students are doing. +They're part of the educational process. +And you don't interact with other students. +I'm sure all of you know that-- just from your own experience-- +that what's enriched your educational experience +is peer interchange, talking with other students, +arguing about things, trying to work things +out together, and so on. +I'll take my own university since I know it best, +but if you walk around the floors of the departments, +students are talking to each other, +working together, writing joint papers. +And a lot of very important stuff comes out of that. +Well, if you're watching OpenCourseWare, +you're not part of that. +So it is necessarily kind of passive. +Actually, there are efforts being made-- +and it's tricky-- to develop modes of more interaction. +And it's not impossible, but it's hard. +And I hope that it'll go to that. +But the general idea is great, I think. +All right, I will abide by our own rules +and not ask a follow-up, as badly as I would like to. +Let me start on this side. +And, again, let's keep our questions +fairly short so we can get through as many as we can. +Hi, Professor Chomsky. +The first thing I want to say is thank you +for visiting the University of Arizona +and thank you for such a great talk. +Thanks. +[APPLAUSE] +I wanted to ask about the two documents you mentioned, +the Powell Memorandum and the Trilateral Commission. +Do you consider that the major reason for the increase +in intuition? +And what other factors come into play? +Well, I don't really know of any study of this, +so I have to speculate. +It's kind of surprising that there isn't-- as far as I +know-- there isn't any study, because it's a major +phenomenon. +But if you just look at the timing and the thinking behind +it, and other things that are happening in this society, +it's hard to doubt that the concern about what they call +on the liberal end "the failure of the institutions +to indoctrinate the young"-- their phrase-- +the failure of this, which showed up in the civilizing +effect of the '60s, it was followed very shortly, +and not only by the beginning of the rise in tuitions, +but by lots of other things, even university architecture. +So university architecture began to change. +If you look at universities that were built and designed-- +this is world-wide, incidentally. +You know, Japan, United States, everywhere-- +that are designed in the '70s and the '80s, +they usually don't have public places. +They don't have anything like Sproul Plaza in Berkeley +where students get together and have discussions, +demonstrations, and so on. +So there are paths from here to there, +but not places for students to get together. +That is conscious. +I've talked to architects about it. +And I suspect that the same is true of tuitions. +Actually, it's a good topic to study. +I don't know of any studies, but it looks very plausible. +Again, there can't be an economic reason for it, +for the reasons I mentioned. +It's got to be an ideological reason. +Thanks for your question. +Now I'll come over to this side. +Thank you for coming, Professor Chomsky. +I just wanted to ask, I think a lot of us +here are in that group who would say +that education is for everyone. +So in light of things like No Child Left Behind +and the HB2281 Anti-Ethnic Studies, +my question is about hope. +Where should we find inspiration, +a lot of us being educators in here, +to kind of go forth with hope for education? +Well, for one thing, there's-- take, let's say, Mexico. +It's right nearby. +As I say, we're basically in it. +[LAUGHTER] +The-- +[APPLAUSE] +It's a poor country. +It's not a rich country like us for reasons that have something +to do with us, as you know. +But anyway, it's a fact. +And what they do in the higher education system +is quite impressive. +Actually, I should add that this city college and city +university, open city university in Mexico City, is not old. +It was instituted by Obrador when +he was the mayor, left-wing mayor, of Mexico City. +He started it and it's been apparently flourishing since. +As I say, that visited and was pretty impressed. +Things like that, that's an inspiration. +Or you can look at the student movements over this hemisphere. +I mean, from Chile up to here, in fact, +there are very lively, vibrant student movements. +In Chile, it's amazing. +It has just revitalized the country. +There's been student protests. +Remember, this is protests against the lingering effects +of the dictatorship that we imposed +on what in Latin America is called The First 9/11. +It's kind of striking that people here don't know +what that means, most of them. +But the first 9/11, 9/11/1973, by any dimension +that I can think of was much worse than what we call 9/11. +[APPLAUSE] +And not just in Chile. +It had a very global effect. +And the dictatorship has formally +been gone for about 20 years, but there +are lingering effects, just as there are in Spain. +There are lingering effects of the Franco dictatorship +right now. +And the young people protesting there, the Indignados, +as they're called, are trying to undermine +the very serious lingering effects of the dictatorship. +They're very real. +Well, that's Chile. +And there are similar things going on +through the hemisphere. +In fact, abroad. +And, in fact, right here. +The protests about the destruction of the Mexican +Studies program, for example. +It's important. +And teachers are organizing. +And they're under a lot of pressure, you know? +Tremendous pressures against public school teachers. +You speak up, you're thrown out, and so on. +But it doesn't mean that people are taking it passively. +There are efforts to respond. +There are journals where people are writing about it. +And there are the struggles of the past. +After all, we've achieved a lot. +You know, this country isn't what +it was 30 years ago or a hundred years ago. +There's a lot more freedom, justice, rights, and so on. +Again, take my own university, but it +generalizes over the country. +If you walk down the halls at MIT when I got there, 1950s, +you would have seen white males, well-dressed, very passive, +very conformist, doing their work often very well, +but that's it. +That was the Institute. +If you work down the halls today, +it looks like this-- half women, a third minorities, +informal dress-- which symbolizes informal relations-- +and a lot of concerns and activism +of all sorts of things. +It didn't happen by magic. +It's happened all over the country, and, in many ways, +all over the world. +And that's the kind of inspiration +that ought to suffice. +I think it goes back to the early days, the very earliest +days, as far back as you want to trace it in history. +Thank you. +Over on this side now. +Hi, I'm Denise from Chicago. +First, I just want to thank the intergenerational audience that +came tonight. +From where I stand, it's so exciting, +especially seeing all the young people here. +So thank you to both of you for bringing that out. +Two, I'd like to invite you, Professor Chomsky, and anyone +here to Chicago May 19, a concert +for troubadour Woody Guthrie, who emulates many of the themes +that you talked about tonight. +And you could find info on the Illinois Labor History web +page, who holds the deed for the Haymarket Martyrs. +Do you have a question? +The question, what do you think of the super PAC +and the decision by the Obama administration +to get into it with the-- you talked about lobbying, +and now they've made the decision to enter that fight. +It's obviously a sell-out, but not +the first one, incidentally. +On the other hand, there is an institutional fact +that political figures just have to live with. +The structure of election, the electoral system, +has been shredded. +I mean, it always was under the effect +of-- there's always a big effect of campaign spending. +If you want to learn about it, the best work that's done +is by a political economist named Thomas Ferguson, who's +a personal friend. +But he has a book called Golden Rule, which goes back +a century studying in detail the effect of campaign spending, +not only on who's elected, but on what their programs are. +It goes right through the New Deal right up to the present. +He's extended it since. +And I think it's pretty convincing. +It's what he calls the investment theory of politics. +It treats elections as occasions in which groups of investors +coalesce to invest to control the state. +Campaign funding is one standard mechanism. +And it doesn't explain everything, +it doesn't pretend that is does, but it explains quite a lot. +Now, that's changed radically in the last 30 years. +The last 30 years, part of this whole basically neoliberal +assault on democracy and justice-- and that's +what it is. +It's worldwide, but here, too-- part of it +has just been the sharply rising cost of elections. +And now, especially since Citizens United +in the Super PACs, it's gone through the roof. +But it's been going up steadily, and it +has a very definite effect. +It forces political figures into the pockets +of those who have the money-- the private corporate sector. +It's increasingly financial institutions. +Incidentally, that's not only true of the president running +for office or Congress running for office, +it's even permeated the Congress. +I mean, it used to be the case that if positions +of some authority or prestige in Congress, +say, chair of an important committee, that +used to be the result of seniority and service. +By now, literally you have to buy it. +You have to pay money into the party coffers +in order to qualify for a chair of a committee. +Well, you can guess what the effects of that are, obviously. +And this has been enormously changed +by Citizens United in the Super PACs, +but it's a process that's always been there. +Actually, you go back a century, there +was a great, famous campaign financier, the most famous +of the era, Mark Hanna. +He was once asked, what are the important things in politics? +And his answer was he said, well, +I can think of three things that are important. +The first one is money. +The second one is money. +And I've forgotten what the third one is. +That was over a century ago, and it's gotten a lot more extreme. +So, yeah, this is a sell-out on Obama's part, +but if he wants to run in a multibillion dollar election, +you don't have a lot of choices. +It's the system that's rotten at the core, and not +the choice of the individuals. +[APPLAUSE] +Good question. +Thank you, Professor Chomsky. +I'm a student from South Korea, and thank +you a lot for your writing for the Village of Gangjeong +in Jeju Island. +It suffers a lot from the military base construction. +But I just want more of your opinion about the tax +expenditures on the military expenditures +instead of education. +For instance, Korean students are suffering a lot +from the actual increasing of tuition. +And almost we are heading towards the same way +American students are being, but still the government +is expending lots of money on the military instead +of educating people for better humanity. +Yeah. +Actually, that Jeju Island construction that you mentioned +is something very significant. +We ought to know about it. +Jeju island is quite significant for Korea. +It was the site of a huge massacre in 1948 +by the US-backed mostly basically fascist state +in South Korea. +Horrible massacre. +And the island, it's been, actually, designated, +I think by the UN, as an island of peace. +It's trying to be an island of peace. +And the US and South Korea are building-- +trying to build a major military base, a major naval base, +on the island oriented towards China. +I think it's 500 kilometers from China, proximately. +And it's part of the kind of encirclement of China, +which is called containment of China. +Here it's described as protection +of freedom of the seas. +The Chinese see it a little differently. +There see it the way we would see it +if the Chinese navy was building bases in the Caribbean. +We'd blow them off the planet if they did that. +But the way the world is supposed to work, +we're supposed to be able to do it anywhere. +In fact, if you read the professional literature +and strategic analysis, security studies, +they refer to the Chinese/American +naval confrontation as a classic security dilemma. +Each of the two sides thinks that there's +kind of an existential danger. +They just can't give it up. +It's too important. +So we think that it's an existential threat +if the United States doesn't control +all the oceans around China. +And they think it's an existential threat +if we send nuclear arms super carriers +into their territorial waters. +That's the security dilemma, you know? +What can you do? +And in fact, the US is trying hard +to essentially encircle China so that they can't have access +to the Pacific or to the Malacca Straits, where a lot of trade +goes and so on. +Japan is part of this system. +Japan's a client state. +There's military bases all over Japan, many of them on Okinawa. +This is over the strong objections +of the people of Okinawa, who've been +trying to get those bases off for 60 years, +and they can't do it. +Recently the US basically forced a Japanese prime minister out +of office because he was thinking about it. +Well, Jeju Island in South Korea's another case. +And it's really serious, and an important issue. +There's a lot of protest on the island, +civil disobedience, a lot of arrests, violence, and so on. +But your general point is quite right. +I mean, the vast military expenditures +are part of the-- I don't think they're the main reason. +We had vast military expenditures in the '50s, +and it still was almost free education. +And for GI Bill, totally free. +And huge amounts of money going into the research system +and so on. +And now it's a burden, undoubtedly, +but I don't-- society has to decide where you want to spend +your money. +Do you want to spend it on classic security +dilemmas in China's territorial waters +with all the debt that would lead +to building naval bases on Jeju Island and on Okinawa +and so on, or do you want to spend +it building a decent society? +And this question arises all across the board. +I mean, one of the most striking cases-- +is doesn't involve education, but it +does involve survival-- is the Canadian tar sands and shale +oil throughout the country. +In Obama's State of the Nation Address, +if you read it carefully, one of the things he said +was that we're now coming to a position where +we can have a hundred years of energy independence +by exploiting-- using high-technology techniques +and fracking and so on, to get previously +inaccessible, and incidentally very dirty, +oil, with all sorts of local environmental consequences. +And this is all over. +There was a recent speech by the President +of the Chamber of Commerce, main business Lobby-- I forgot. +It's Thomas Corcoran, I think. +You can find it in the internet. +It's his annual speech to the business world, +and the first point that he mentions, +the most important point, is that we can now move to, +he says, several centuries of energy independence +by just tapping our own oil. +You go to the most responsible and serious newspaper +in the world that I know of, the London Financial Times, +they devote a whole full page to a euphoric description +of the possibility of the United States +having a century of energy independence +and a century of global hegemony by tapping these resources. +There's only one small footnote. +If we use those resources, we're finished. +You know? +There's no future for your children +and your grandchildren. +That's not discussed. +You got to gain wealth forgetting all but self. +And that means my profits tomorrow, +not what happens 30 years from now to my grandchildren. +And that's-- +[APPLAUSE] +Meanwhile, you know, there are alternatives like, ultimately, +probably solar energy's going to be the main alternative. +And it's quite striking to see what's +happening to the solar energy industry that by now, +about half the world's solar panels +are being produced in China. +Now, that's not cheap labor. +It's not a labor-intensive industry. +They started the way all manufacturing starts, +very low-level manufacturing. +Manufacturing provides the incentive, the ideas, +the design conceptions, and so on that lead +to technological advances. +Very common. +And slowly they've been-- not so slowly, +they've been moving up the high-technology ladder. +They're now producing the most advanced solar cells +in the world. +Well, OK, that's one way to use your resources. +We have choices. +We have plenty of choices, because we're +a very rich society. +China's a very poor society. +We're a very rich one, so we have plenty of options. +We have about 10 minutes left, so thank +you so much for keeping your questions short so +we can get through as many-- +That means I should keep my answers short. +I got it. +[LAUGHTER] +You're the guest of honor. +You can answer as long as you like. +Yeah. +Hello, Dr. Chomsky. +I'm a member of Unidos. +And our question is-- +[CHEERING] +In your opinion, what are the larger implications +of the decision by the TUSD governing board and state +superintendent John Huppenthal to ban +Mexican American Studies? +Well, I think it's a particularly ugly part +of the whole attack on anything like the enlightenment +ideal of education. +In this case, to destroy the diversity of richness +of the educational system and meaningfulness for students +and so on, for a large number of students. +After all, it's a big Mexican community. +So I think it's just part of the general attack +on a free and creative education that +stimulates learning, discovery, enriching one's life and so on. +And it's trying to impose indoctrination and conformity. +A particularly ugly case right here +because of where it's happening. +It would be ugly anywhere, but it's particularly so right +here. +Thank you. +Back to this side. +Professor Chomsky, I believe I speak +on behalf of almost everyone here, +it's an absolute humbling honor to be +learning from you in person. +Thank you. +[APPLAUSE] +I'm an Iranian-American peace and human rights +and environmental activist, and I'm +a participant in Iran's Green Movement, +a supporter of the Arab Spring Movements against dictatorship. +And obviously I'm a passionate participant +in the Occupy Movement in this country, which +I believe has already awakened incredible energy, +and therefore I am hopeful, but also fearful +of what it may do wrong in order to possibly waste +this last chance movement. +So please share with us your wisdom about +what is it that you think, at this point in history, +the Occupy Movement needs to be wary of or be careful about? +Well, like you, I think the Occupy Movement +has been quite a remarkable success, way +beyond what I thought. +And the tactic has been very effective for a lot of reasons. +One effect that it's had is just changing +kind of national discourse. +In fact, even the terminology and imagery +of the Occupy Movement is now sort of mainstream. +It's focused attention on serious problems-- inequality; +like somebody asked before, the purchase of elections; +shredding of democracy; the extraordinary power +of financial institutions which probably +contribute very little, if anything, to the economy. +In fact, the most respected financial commentator +in the world, I think, Martin Wolf +of the Financial Times in London is very conservative, +highly respected correspondent. +He describes the financial institutions +that have developed in the last 30 years +as kind of like a larvae that destroys the host in which it's +embedded. +[LAUGHTER] +[APPLAUSE] +I couldn't get away with saying that, but he can. +And I can get away with quoting it. +And the Occupy Movement has directed attention +to foreclosures, homelessness, a lot +of problems that were there but were kind of buried. +Another major contribution it's made, in my opinion, +is just overcoming the atomization of the Society. +The United States is a very atomized society. +People are kind of alone. +You know, the ideal social unit, from the point +of view of concentrated power, is a dyad. +You and the screen, nothing else. +That's a way to make sure that everybody's conforming. +And there's a lot of that. +You know, children. +It's a real disease, a pathology. +And the Occupy Movement's overcoming it. +It's creating, spontaneously, communities +of people who actually are reviving traditional ideals. +I mean, if there were any real conservatives in the country, +they'd be applauding the fact that they're +reviving the concepts of solidarity, mutual support, +sympathy, free discussion, and so +on that are just the most traditional values we have. +There's been major efforts to destroy them, +and that's being revived in the communities of mutual support +and solidarity that are being created. +Well, all of this is really important, I think. +But now, where do you go from here? +Well, first of all, I don't regard myself +as any kind of an expert on tactics. +I've been wrong so many times on tactical judgments +that I usually shut up. +And these are important judgments. +Tactical judgments are those that +have direct human consequences, so they're not marginal. +But my general feeling is that tactics +have a kind of a half-life. +They have diminishing returns. +They may be very successful, but it sort of declines. +After a while, there's kind of a dynamism in which the tactic +begins to overcome the purpose, apart +from beginning to alienate other people who +you're trying to reach. +So while I think that the Occupy tactic has +been a great success, I think it has to be rethought, +and moves have to be made somehow to reach out +into larger communities. +Now, that's been going on in a number of interesting ways. +Like one of the developments in several cities, +I know in New York and Boston and elsewhere, +has been what's been called Occupy The Hood. +Neighborhood Occupy Movements, which have, to some extent, +integrated with the ones that make the newspapers, Occupy +Wall Street, occupy your neighborhood in Brooklyn. +Occupy other things. +And those deal with the immediate problems +of the local people. +And they can be very serious. +I mean, it could be something that +sounds as simple as getting a traffic light where +kids have to cross the street. +I mean, if people can achieve that, +they learn you can achieve something by mutual aid +and you can go on. +That's what successful organizing is about. +And if the Occupy Movements can go in that direction, +reach out to larger sections of the population +and engage the working class, which +they have yet really to do, and that's very significant, +then I think they have great prospects. +But it's not easy to do this. +And we have a lot of repression, violent repression sometimes, +and power systems don't fade away cheerfully. +They'll do what they can to control things, +but I think that David Hume was correct-- +"power is in the hands of the governed." +There's nothing-- there's no weapon that the powerful have +other than control of opinion. +Attitudes, opinions, beliefs, if they +can make people feel hopeless, dependent, passive, atomized, +OK, then you can keep power. +But the governed, that is the 99% +in the imagery of the Occupy Movement, they have the power. +But they have to get organized, committed. +And that's the task of people who want +to devote themselves to this. +[APPLAUSE] +We have time for one final question. +It will come from this side. +Hi, Dr. Chomsky. +I met you first with Daniel Berrigan. +It's a long time ago. +But anyway, getting back to your specific expertise in +linguistics. +It's been troublesome to me that the media will use words +like "socialism," "class warfare," +but we never hear "fascism." +And from my studies of ideology, state-supported capitalism, +pretty much what you've been talking about, is fascism. +I know words have power, and you know that, too. +Are we too shy to talk about what basically almost brought +the end of mankind in the last century? +Or is it just the media controls and you +have to go to Link TV or Democracy Now +or-- I don't know. +But they are not supported. +They have to be supported by people donating to them. +Isn't anyone aware? +Well, the history of that word is kind of interesting. +Fascism obviously took on bad connotations in the 1940s. +But if you go back-- and, incidentally, +the same is true of other words. +Like take "propaganda." +The term "propaganda" now is not used for information. +In English. +It still is in other languages. +If you go back to the 1920s, information +was just called propaganda. +Like Edward Bernays, who I mentioned, +the founder of the public relations industry, +the book of his from which I was quoting on engineering +of consent and controlling the masses and so on +is called Propaganda. +Propaganda is just what you do when +you try to control beliefs and attitudes. +Well, since the 1930s and the '40s, +you can't use that term anymore for its obvious connotations. +Fascism is a very interesting one. +And we can learn a lot about ourselves +from looking at its history. +Before the Second World War, before the United States +got into the Second World War, 1941, +fascism was not regarded particularly critically. +In fact, there's a very important book +I urge you to read if you haven't called Business +as a System of Power, by one of the great political economists, +Robert Brady, a Veblen economist. +It's about the spread of fascism through the industrial world. +He points out that in every country, all +the industrial countries, there are developments +of basically fascist character. +And he discusses them, and, perfectly understandable, +he was quite right, in fact. +There's nothing inherent in fascism that says +you have to have gas chambers. +That's a special thing that developed. +And in fact, say Mussolini's fascism +was very highly-regarded in the United States. +Remember, that's pre-Nazi. +So FDR, Franklin Roosevelt, President Roosevelt, +he described Mussolini as "that admirable Italian gentleman." +I mean, as late as 1939 he was praising Mussolini saying, +well, he's been kind of misled by Hitler, +but basically doing the right thing. +And when fascism was instituted in Italy, +and it was pretty ugly, it was praised across the board +in the United States. +Business Investment shot up. +It also did after Hitler came in. +Fortune magazine, the main business journal, +had an issue in, I think, 1932. +The title, you look at the front page cover, +big letters it says "The Wops are Unwopping Themselves," +meaning the wops are finally doing something right. +You know, they've got a fascist government, which works, +and we like that. +People on the left were praising it. +Same with Nazism. +I mean, as late as 1938, Roosevelt's main advisor, +Sumner Welles, went to the Munich Conference. +That's the conference which tore up Czechoslovakia. +And he came back full of praise for the Nazi moderates, +who were going to help us usher in a new era of peace. +They're the moderates kind of protecting civilized values +from the extremists of the right and left and so on. +I mean, George Kennan, who's very much honored and respected +now-- there's a major biography that just came out +full of praise-- if you take a look at his actual record, +he was the American Consul in Berlin right through 1941. +He was withdrawn, Pearl Harbor. +And he was sending back diplomatic correspondence +to Washington saying, you shouldn't +be so hard on the Nazis. +They're doing some things wrong, but basically we +can do business with them. +They're the right kind of people. +Well, a couple of years later, you couldn't talk about fascism +that way. +Fascism meant crematoria, you know, gas chambers, and so on. +So you stopped using the word. +But your point is correct. +As a social and political order, Robert Brady +knew what he was talking about. +There are elements of this kind of state capitalist order +all over the industrial world taking different forms. +Thank you. +Well, thank you all for all of your questions +and for your attention. +[APPLAUSE] +[MUSIC PLAYING] +0 +16 +18 +19 +22 +27 +28 +30 +33 +38 +42 +45 +49 +52 +54 +58 +60 +66 +69 +72 +74 +79 +80 +85 +90 +94 +96 +99 +101 +103 +107 +109 +117 +118 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is a scholar of +field of analytical philosophy his works combine mathematics and +establishing standards of behavior in communication in the field of +sounds policy that identifies itself with the so-called +anarcho syndicalism and considers himself a libertarian socialist criticizes +relentlessly to state terrorism and media manipulation and is undoubtedly a +of the most important intellectuals today +[Music] +the shows that it is a huge pride to receive you just thanks for having +coming here to interviews will participate in this conversation with me and the teacher +jones that two voices rice espina who is editor of the magazine theory and debate and the +insured rose who teaches at puc de sao paulo and at the sociology school and +politics of sao paulo both participated in this conversation with +these humidity that comes from the united states visit us professor thomas i +I know you were in Brazil at the end of the 20th century +only came back at the beginning of the 21st century was here last year here is one more +time that brazil you discovered at the end of the century for this brazil that the +you see today is quite something I have a different interpreter in Brazil now the +I look at my wife Valeria is Brazilian and introduced me to aspects of Brazil that +I was unfamiliar on my first visit and of course on the first +time I was here about 20 years ago it was a very different period in +Brazil still Brazil she was emerging +luxury is from the ends of the dictatorship and it was a good thing of the period of development that +then came the bank a world bank describes it as being the glorious decade of +2003 until 2003 if and then the reaction came and now we have a period of your +very important for the future of brazil +the tension is obvious angle and understandable Brazil had to make a choice +soon another direction will be taken another direction that are opposite +another mother who will determine the future of the wealthy country and because of +importance of brazil and latin america and it is in fact in the world a lot by +we will have very important hemispheric and global implications so it is a +historical moment for Brazil criticized in that specific period of time when +you were here the first time brazil was chaired by a sociologist +by an intellectual fernando henrique cardoso +you return to brazil in another ex-president of the country +the worker is currently stuck in curitiba +what this days in Brazil the teacher +nor abandon the line if it were me we visit null short my period in +curitiba prison a few days ago I personally see him on how I +I consider one of the most important political prisoners of the current period +chan because those who think can think +on the charges are not very impressive charges against him +accompanying in a radical way that is disproportionate to the sentence and received +above compared to the accusations and if mainly in the context of these corners +of Brazil in the last few years going back to the 90s we cannot +interpret this except as being a side of and prison political moment +designed to ensure that he did not participate in the presidential election +like he would probably win would know his presidencies if allowed to +he participate in the campaign is this the Brazilian people could be heard +would certainly support you hard windows what come out of the elections the fact that the figure +most popular policy in the country that has an impressive track record during its +presidential mandates being kept outside the electoral system is a fact +very negative in the history of Brazil as I said the schools that will have to +be done now are of great importance to us +rarely do you have such a decisive moment of difficult pride +teacher is like to tell me about the image that brazil has today an out if +correspond to what you have seen here if it corresponds to you have to +information far from brazil abroad +has changed quite significantly since the times of my first visit to the +Brazil 20 years ago during the period +January 12 is new is the government squid the actions that President squid took +together with his foreign minister celso amorim took brazil is +the center of the world to the stage of the world year and has become one of the main countries +acting on the global stage no one and started to achieve the +potential and has always been predicted for Brazil for over a century ago +when it was anticipated that brazil would become what was called the colossus of +a promise that was never achieved but that was beginning to be realized +in the glorious decade as the world bank called it in brazil plays a role +very important in international affairs and I quoted the voice of the streets +mtur to the non-western world 8858 giving them a place something that was once +tried for many years several times since the beginning of decolonization and the +think the international economic order of work is different another +way to see information in order was to always slow the progress of that area +important in the western beauty powers part of the covenant there was a +significant change or institutions to develop first in latin america +were independent for the first time from that imperial order of the united states +forms in the formation of brics and for example again created san antonio +being had no influence from a pressure that could modify the scene +worldwide and traditional use this was a very important development but +now unfortunately this has greatly declined the role of brazil +so we can not say that this is more true Brazil has withdrawn is +international affairs of international relations is a point and even +losing its connections with africa which was quite promising and very +important but I think the moment was not lost and all this was not lost +can recover but it will not be easy because the insured is a teacher I +I would like to know your opinion on similarities and differences between the +presidential candidate in brazil jair bolsonaro and the president tramp many +talk about these similarities although tramp, right +political before the evolutionary presidency reputed since 91 with +meaning is of this influence detran pi in the pocket application the milan i think +that people there aren't even many analysts who are trying to +make a differentiation in domestic strategies in gel policies +information that can be assigned europe not before selection not +understanding what's going on a field that has won main euro scumi is +one with exclamation marketing the exclamation point everything just me i i i see the movie +is a television guy is a man wanted confidence and is a very effective politician and +he has a task on the boy and he is a sea wolf with him has to be +always in front of everything to appear was the most subtle victorious year too +well a political commitment wins long before recognizing what i intend june +in two will be presented a different one represented a supporter is real which is +the power of surprises and wealth including the real estate industry and +the richest these are their main players +if you read the legislation used by the executive carried out on the government +quiet they are uniformly designed to +serve the interests of the dense who support it that only the great references +the second group already supporting are voters and and and people who return to +power which is completely dissociated by that first support group and +saints in his government does not open the executive and legislative field until +are directed at dra voters but the yen's task is either +to keep the real ones anyway to show up if the person who is defending +these voters finds we are the establishment of and languages of +traditional forum that justifiably they resent these and the people have +resentment of the very rich cerutil and this is the point of connection against these +offenders he pretend to be the person who will defend the red the general public +the vast majority of the population that has suffered a lot during the jury the 40 +years of the experiment of neoliberalism and the economic policies of the states +united they left out most of +population these policies to neoliberal policies were designed to +concentrate wealth by humala clinton and it automatically treated itself and if it has not +political power through oss that are obvious to people does not discuss here the +democratic system becoming more more dysfunctional beer to serve the +interests of the majority of the population does not take into account +on prison day this has been a period in the united states of stagnation +or thriller for most of the American people and +wealth grew but only in the hands of a few a fight at night +got rich in that and the real wage taking out inflation discarding the +American worker inflation is lower than income today Saturday +that in 1979 when the neoliberal experiment was starting to circulate with +tati in england and then with him in the united states so we have +anger resentment of the majority of people across England in the states +united came in a situation where it was bigger +a gogo skunk can appear android and try and how to become oo years +apparent spokesperson for those where the majority of the population is being affected +he really feels the nacion justice sets that they were left of +brands have been nationalized and tries to drive their anger or resentment +against vulnerable people and and lots that actors mothers who get help +of the public health system is the shampoo is doing that group so it's a +world situation and it is very interesting that we go out to urp squid the elections +recent problems sweden for example which is a very interesting country in +as in most European countries in the last european elections almost all +they centrist parties went into decline as well as going into decline +united states business is we are not o the establishment has always fallen and the right +is growing more and more of the far right growing and the explanation +your swedish soul for that is who are the result +is due to immigration with foreign states you see up close this is not +truth of Fabius there was a study of the book done with five +economists ue this is how last time the through the photo give right and +and that the vote on the right before this immigration flow and wants to cut the benefits +and wants to create austerity programs that have started to be +actually undertaken even for their previous Social Democratic governments +that was already going to the right too and it happened across europe and the +as the immigrants appearing there became the expiratory goat +convenient for this right there is study shows here in finland which is +neighboring sweden there was the same phenomenon as the rise of +right and had no immigrants to the city a migration to the truth I +I think we are seeing in the United States in England in Brazil the last +module and not in much of the world if there are numbers the mall will work +certain figures that in order to explore the situation on the court well he is dedicated +with a use to its true supporters which is the private wealth the +power of large companies banks financial institutions and at the same +time they can introduce themselves or try to introduce themselves as the guardians of the +people that defended by the majority of the people and that despises and trash is this is very +interesting and complicated game and the team is playing this game with a +very special brilliance of the years and the liberals is helping the shock in the end +accounts focus attention for an instant mind is ethics saying things +crazy with alan absurd comments that he does vulgar behavior in condemning +this environment are ending up contributing to the image that they +are even trying to develop as a spokesperson for the change of people who are +despised by a wealthy millionaire elite who are considered +temporary a word that she melted is never expressed attitude +aquino and people feel that this person who will defend you the people who +against those who are condemning it to their culture who are playing with the +your daughters who don't take you seriously make jokes and your widow defends you +with three but in fact what he is doing is the opposite of weakening +the interests of the people if you see for example i am the odor of juruti a +realization of the expectation that he learns even his government managed +for example a law that was passed on tax reform and that reform +tax was to give money for a very rich use and for the sector favors the +large companies and and for the interests of the real estate industry that the trump has +her interests and at the same time she was there that the carefully designed and +in fact the online architect who is the mayor of the deputies +analyzes the bill was approved in the income tax reform he the in +that we created a huge deficit so we have to do some +thing with verses so what are we going to do we're going to cut spending +we will cut social spending in the area of +public health in the area of public education for the welfare state +social for people so it's a two knife as the first one looks like they're +walking a lot of money for the rich and then in the afternoon the general public and at +while trying to present and defend when the person who defends the +interests of the majority of the people who pay so the sound is very interesting this +realization that the ground because it managed to do this very well playing this game is the +employee seems to have tried to make a game similar to brazil +before entering again specifically on the Brazilian question before the picture +electoral election what are you saying last +analysis is that neoliberalism is a major enemy of democracy +the whitish law by a simple goal function +neoliberal policies have a very clear and definitive effect and deconcentrate +wealth in the hands of a few and accelerate the great expansion of institutions +banks' financial interests a great expansion and a radical change to +characteristic of banks if you go back in the 1950s 1960s a period of +growth of the western economy and the curious 30 years that have been called +after the war then during that period the banks were silvio bank you +could put his money in a bank if he had a small band happens to be +can lend someone their money for the bank to whom they are +starting a house buying your own home but starting at the beginning of +1970s and exploded in the 80s and 90s the banks itororo ar or institutions +from speculating you to real economy data playing games with +complex financial instruments with a lot of speculation and exploded +look at all of this combined - the huge growth of hobbies that came to +hit the sky more and more money going to influence the results of +elections for the general population led to stagnation in their lives +if you see real wages like jade are lower today than they were before +of neoliberalism austerity in europe and had the same consequences on the +real income of workers in england and the rest and america +also suffered two lost decades of adjustment +structural change based on the same phenomenon so there were also other parts +in thematic ways so we all know about the crisis the river rwanda in +90s but not one but few people noticed the studies that were +made sociologists and anthropologists working in rwanda in the 1980s +where structural adjustment the structural adjustment program were instituted +which led to a very harsh effect on the population and had an effect of +lead to the ethnic conflict that ended up happening and this is an obvious consequence +of the worst of people's lives people seek scapegoats when the worst to +sexual and civil situation with a saint if the background to the atrocities in the +90s the same thing happened in the constancy when adjustment programs +structural neoliberal programs were instituted in the 1980s +I raise the exacerbation of ethnic conflict or that later exploded in the 90s +ok this has done everywhere countries like united states and now the +Brazil and settled on the stage which is a gogo theme can appear and make a +appeal to and attract to that anger and resentment that exists most of +population and pretend to defend that majority of the population against an elite that is +hated this phenomenon is showing up in every lane played putting the blame +by the situation being addressed scapegoats so in sweden the sounds +immigrants in the united states the blame is on the Mexicans who are the mothers who live +doing well with the family purse so if we go to the shipment there were attacks +racists at the time of the president irrigation of mothers who received support scholarship from +government to the stock market queens he called in the united states +I see and in the meantime he showed me some mamma dames to do with the ginca driver to +receive the benefit of social security and taking a distraction then +attention of an ethnic minority is usually people who are more +vulnerable you these minorities this is the technique that if +uses and we have seen this technique being used worldwide and this is a consequence +how neoliberal policies were made and I'll tell you +taking a quick break is a privilege to hear a class like us +we are listening here we have to take the break and come back as soon as possible +possible even now [Music] +[Music] we are back to the union cafe +of bank employees here in downtown Sao Paulo with the interviews program +talking today with this absolutely unique figure in the universe +intellectual in the world the teacher on the streets and now asks is to breathe through +North American framework that lost, there is room for the construction of the left by +a rope on the left build a candidacy as opposed to crack +in the next elections how has this movement been taking place +this internal articulation [Music] +I think this is a victory for the right +if you go back to prevention 2016 so what impressed you sleeping was the election +from iphan if you think about it this was not +surprising after all for two reasons for an ounce and coincide public +chromium all republican primaries before the last two ten years when the +candidate appeared from the base to base of popular vote +the person was so extreme in so absurd that the establishment +Republican put all efforts to try to bring you candidate who +come from base one after another they managed to do that they managed +have your elected as the best example but what happened in 2016 +it was more or less the same except this time they didn't +managed to smash the triangle and think it was the crucial difference some that +spoke on behalf of the base what evangelical Christians the future and fruit the +clear tributaries that propose themselves to this type of candidate you opposed people +desperate people who were angry afraid of losing their jobs +always a more intense thing since they failed to defeat this type of +candidate so what happened that venice where a billionaire - that +had huge media support with the united states tv channel +practically doing the Fabio campaign the funding is huge especially +at the end of his campaign there was a huge organization of money +who joined his campaign for the transit and senate and at +congress of deputies and he barely won the election because he lost in the vote +popular and this is not a thing and in the advances but there was one thing that +happened that was extraordinary and much more important than that which was the +varnish campaign among Democrats you have to recognize that in the states +united the elections are more or less bought +literally the academic academic research is very large that shows you +can predict the outcome of an election is a fairly large precision public +gordhan so much for the inmate elections for the congressional chair looking +a single variable for campaign spending and that's just the beginning but what +happened in 2016 is that for the first time in a century of +gold and a candidate appeared without any explicit support the companies was not +ready directly by the affluent fiocruz that the rich and allows also had not +support everybody to float with him this call of socialist +in the united states the service is a bad word is different from other +parts of the world you can't say that word +socialist is a shovel a bad word you talk social socialism is a bad word +nor was he known by the links he would have won the nomination for the candidate +of the Democratic party if some party leaders let them really have +this is a very big break for more than a century public in history +Irish state policy after the elections I benefited emerged as +being the most popular political figure in the country in the united states and the new +popular movement that he more or less followed and called for success he +continues to do many things by electing people who were +moving away from the standard of the national democratic party and now there is a conflict +between the democratic party among the supporters of clinton are you gentlemen +democratic is more or less what it was we always live moderate democrats who +went to the right and are the big concern is to attract the most professional +rich big donors support from big companies and gaining power that's the biggest +but this one has another that the popular base a new part of the public is well +different in the democratic party which is social democratic sometimes even more than +that this more advanced than those with concerned about minority rights +and with the working class women's working class rights +women's rights this is a party track which way it will take +it is still unclear something very similar happened in england +the glue movement than the leader and now the labor party in england is +much like what is happening in the united states is a +very decent person occur very honest very direct cares about the +egg he turned part labor in england no party that really +knows how to react to the wishes of the great people it represents and this is not common for +a political party I must say rarely does this happen with political parties +politicians we can discuss this but this is not +very common but the world cup and letting that time even became the figure +leading politician in england on the company's political scene and he's +under another place a tremendous attack from the media the media +attacks he is and others want to be another of the labor party was to get rid of him +you may have an idea that the labor party led by a +decent person who actually really cares about his supporters with his +represented cares about the people who suffer everyone that's an hour in the +fear aaa what happened so far the same thing with the varnish campaign +in two in the united states and something has happened in other places here +similar things are happening in different ways in different countries and +one of them that I think is very important together right +is the transnational thing year the focus ie it is off the movement and 1,025 that +is now presenting transnational candidates with the save program +what is still good about the European Union to overcome the defects that +are serious about the european union in 2010 and sees sources a few days ago is did +a joint statement calling for the establishment of a +progressive international right to counterbalance the forces +reactionary and backward international level headed by +sandri is people is the shampoo i bolsonaro supported by position in brazil among +them to italy and other countries so going back to your question and i think +this went straight to the point the dissatisfaction the anger against the +neoliberalism its disaster has led to two types of reactions a reaction is the right +to the emergence of the right which is very dangerous +there is another way was the growth of progressive left forces +democratic zcas which could the daytime that are in a position of him forward +to change policies was significant in a more +progressive and I think that's exactly what's going on and in the election in the +brazil this is what is at stake in the brazil election the choice of two +paths in this is a worldwide insured rose phenomenon still remaining in the +neoliberalism issue is a fundamental point in the show brought these +examples of resistance and he is ours we have that he occupies an important place +in the use of language in the construction of narratives how to build a narrative +of confronting neoliberalism fleeing which are the main ones of the old +I think this is very clear that it is not a matter of language as being +simply open and honest and clear about the developments that are +occurring at 1 to 1 is not quantum physics i think is a +very simple thing right in front of us and we can see the things that are +happening class stagnation the decline in real wages the cut +in social spending social benefits and a sharp increase that this concentrated +of big capital everything is very well documented years +the work of thomas p that had the french economist the growth +extraordinary financial institution of banks that in brazil +particularly has been is extremely lively and disturbing juruti is very +impressive when the recession hit Brazil in 2013 and 2014 +bank profits have gone up like never before and symbolic of what has +happened and dramatically in brazil partly because of the rates of +stratospheric interest rates and which prevent credit that is beyond any interest rate +interest in the world and offers temptations for private capital +switch to financial paper transactions that have much more +money from it and moving away from the real economy of the productive economy of +companies and privatization within the country's assets seeking quick profits at +short term is happening dramatically in brazil and other countries +countries and in the cancer and narrative that we talked about i think the appropriate narrative +to write everything that is happening accurately describe it very clear +for most people that the scapegoats that you are addressing +their anger is not the source of their problems not only are they suffering +even more than yourself because the source of the problem is up there and not +down there and so I think it can be shown +the facts are clear and are easily understood people feel and come is +in your party of their lives in a negative way so I think +this is the narrative that must be built together +work on and around a solution that is clear and reasonably +build policies that can be undertaken to overcome regression or +delay that has occurred in the last 40 years and this is a very serious regression +the previous period was in most parts of the world it was a period of growth +reasonable large more or less egalitarian in a sense there was a +very large increase in civil rights in that period the rights of minorities +women's rights at a higher level of civilization development of +organization through the popular citizenship activism movement but that +frightened an elite the elite who are part of neoliberalism's reaction to +concern that much of the population was becoming too +engaged in the citizenship political system growing up working for their rights +and achieving it is to homer the traditional forums of +oppression and domination and who managed to overcome and question this is not quite +coming to people who have the money privileges power and incidentally it was up to +even called the democracy crisis there was too much democracy don't we have +that diminish democracy and we i think the way to tackle that is +simply tell the truth what's going on in a simple and +understandable direct keep the facts and +able to break these distortions that there is this smoke screen that +existed I don't think it's an impossible task is +attacking my best says for example success even sleeping being socopa in +england is proof of what something can be done and much more can be done +that their programs were not very advanced for those benefiting from +example united states he is called socialist but in fact he programmed the +sambas policies were not a big surprise for I want a lot like the +original is israel in the 50s which was considered a conservative the +president hasmann the spectrum was now i'm to the right that to return the +moderate center 16 a moderate liberalism seems revolutionary today in +day but we can go well beyond that very well +we're going to do another quick break don't leave it +[Music] +we went back to a cafe by the bankers' union in downtown sao paulo with the +interview program today tuxedo red carpet although we don't even need the +tuxedo and the red carpet just the illustrious guest professor at the jasc who +dispenses with greater presentations professor saints that as soon as you arrived at the +Brazil you said that the workers' party +would need to speak to Brazilian society and recognize the errors that +committed what exactly did you mean by +this i think we had first +place fantastic achievements great achievements in the squid period with the stage +describes it as the glorious decade and a novelty in the history of the +Brazil so there have been fantastic achievements of Brazil +really assumed a prominent place in the international arena which was of great +importance was became a voice for the south of the globe but big governments +problems great opportunities have also been missed +some of the problems that had to do with one of the most serious problems +had to do is that the party allowed granted the oak is a plague of corruption +that hits latin america and i must say that even worse in rich countries +it's not a thing in latin america only people play a lot make fun of +latin america corruption in latin america but if you compare corruption +from latin america with united states and england europe +and latin america doesn't even come close to this corruption game that exists in europe and +the seasons is not an aberration when the big banks in europe and the +united states manages to get billions of dollars +the jp morgan tonight bike and all these seats +they are never condemned is nothing to do with us because they work through +of how long you pay fines is a 15 billion fine +dollars and you deduct from income taxes payable and you are happy and +you don't go to jail there when i found a corrupt one in these banks anymore +in latin america on another level corruption is serious so i'm not +saying other than that this is a problem that must be faced and overcome a +another problem that happened was the rustling is to take advantage of the +opportunity for tis to stay the Brazilian economy to economic policies were +designed to seek profit from the fact that china was a huge +market for raw materials and primary products +soy iron ore and so on which means bringing the manufactured +cheap Chinese and can be imported into Brazil and thereby weakening +local manufacturers to local industrial production which was accelerated by +extraordinary growth of banking financial institutions that +were absorbing the wealth of the economy +through paper transactions and moving away from productive investment all +these things could have done in a different way +the fundamental structural problems of Brazilian society have not been +faced during that period have been left intact and this includes the +structural system that is increasingly financed but private capital as a +everything beyond financial capital has no responsibility for any stone +the movement of a country and a very big difference between latin america and +stay in south east asia is that in latin america never managed to escape +colonial standard in which the very rich have no responsibility for the +society as a whole and are guided by another path they carry capital +that they have to zurich for switzerland or bought houses in the magazine era saw their +children to study at oxford at colleges abroad they don't have +no interest in your society society this is southeast asia in the +last century that has none of the advantages of latin america do not have the +natural resources that latin america has no years nor material +even so it must be us sometimes country grew up because they had a control +very strict about the more circulating sectors more aquatic could not +export their capital and had by the death gangrene for capital flight +and that was accepted but it is and loans were had targets according to a +program to develop nationally these rural business loans and 3 were +very poor technology transfer was required in a standard if you want to +invest here you have to transfer technology along with this investment +so in general the pattern of southeast asia was different in latin america and +it was done in latin america and specifically in brazil it wasn't +signed by the workers' party, something could have been done and the +media monopoly in Brazil is very serious is a very serious problem throughout +latin america also knows all the countries of latin america the media +controlled and in the hands of few family members are oligopolies and right-wing +and this has been a minus for every effort in latin america to go on a +more progressive direction I post the details for you if you want +diego is nicaragua missing in the 80s you during the santista period +nicaragua for example the main newspaper la press openly publicly +was asking for the overthrow of the Sandinista government supporting the attack on the +government a newspaper as if it had existed in the united states +editors owners would be trapped were soft they would face +death squad if you say something like that in nicaragua they were the three +great editors of the big newspaper and the same thing was true in venezuela +when there was a short military coup and the press supported this military coup in +venezuela cbsk american television supported the military coup in venezuela +and you never will and there will be cps again so this event is his in chile is is the +unbelievable and this is true across the continent what +the director been faced with this problem there are ways to create alternatives to the +media monopoly of radio televisions and this has not been implemented and +there were a whole series of problems of this kind that should have been faced in the +seriously on your visit to ex president lula you can say +these things to him yes yes I spoke clear why not I see +I told him all this but I think it's not true it's the squid which is the +responsible for the pt as a whole that has to think the union the forces +progressives of intellectual teachers like you activists +militants this are things that belongs to society +as a whole because we can't escape the structure +basic colonial colonial standards that concentrated wealth and made a world +his own away from the rest and who does not work for the country and even +having a high degree is where do you know a minority who have +great but that has a contempt for most of the people this is something that the +I could better understand how I married the valeria that the media +Brazilian and then I can have a more inside view coming from her she +serving as an intermediary and showing how privileged certain sectors are and +How do they see the poor? +be able to reach 11 a conclusion that the car covers from the working class +that I can't go to college that can't speak the language +Portuguese is appropriate that it could be a leader of the country as it was when it happened +column and are cultural attitudes that come along with the lack of concern and having +commitment to the majority of the people of the country +it is a high option of employment closed at international level this characteristic +colonial cities that Brazil and many Latin American countries are still +failed to overcome the colonialism that existed, I am not suggesting that +things are wonderful that's not what i'm talking about you know +we are recording at the bar of the bankers' union in sao paulo downtown +city and ran an ambulance cheat sometimes even police cars and I must +confess that when we think it's police we get a little worried +woe to him if they knew that this dangerous people of communism are here +international rose +the teacher who both sequentially with the conversation about the media is +do you think it is the new alternative media have as it had a way to +to force a change in behavior in this mainstream media +changing one using a little bit is in relation to a left-wing government in +brazil what do you think could be done against monopolies you just +would advise cutting concession well i think social media doesn't +plays a very complicated role but a role exactly on what you +said they get their pressure between ba and +prejudices distortions the main media of large chains of +tv and radio we've seen it the last few days on +Brazil we had these huge manifestations of he not thousands of people +took to the streets in all capitals is a fantastic event and I ate the help of +my valeria wife i could see the media and the media didn't give the big tvs anything and +radios gave nothing globe articles nothing came out about the demonstrations through the +social networks people can see what's going on and can spread and you +have an idea of these big real demonstrations +the same thing happened in the west I for example the media in the united states +practically nothing I have nothing like nothing happened in Brazil +this is not the kind of thing that the mainstream media the mainstream media will support this +it's a new thing is i'm going to briefly describe george orwell's in +essay that almost nobody read because it was suppressed the presentation was selected +of your level the animal farm now everyone in this book has love shape +no one nor the book presentation the book introduction as i said was +deleted from the edition was discovered years later and later published +in his introduction he says the following this book is a satire of the animal +totalitarian but you people of england shouldn't feel like the +holders of the absolute right because in england it frees and in popular ideas +they can be suppressed without the use of force and he goes on discussing +quickly how do you do that i'm quoting uncle now a reason +that gets them here is about is that the press is owned by rich people who +for some reason he doesn't want certain ideas to be expressed and there is another reason +that he says that in my opinion it is even more important here is the culture +dominant intellectual who has a hegemonic culture in the country if you have +a good educational background you found the time you +understanding that there are certain things you shouldn't say the +man should think there are already things you shouldn't even think about and you much less +say it is part of your nature that is part of nature what we call +high-level education very well educated people is already part of +your understanding that you shouldn't say certain things and is a consequence of what the +writer george orwell said of free england and most of the world +democratic western are ideas in popular that events in popular can +be suppressed without the use of force and this can be overcome +searching for the things you just asked +so the media has public concessions are public concessions to television by +example uses public space public good +the roads are belongs to the people belongs to the state and are given through concession +a public concession to private companies but to be done in another way +these concessions can be changed there may be a national media like +bbc in england for example or it could be a community radio a radio +local a local tv but that actually with squid 20 years ago i went +quite impressive must say an event the suburbs of rio de janeiro the +south and nova iguacu i don't know if the project still exists but +a small TV producer was going to the suburbs in the new city iguacu +that was close to the river and established the equipment in a public square where the +people were there and congregating and it showed a screen on a big screen is +in the public square that featured TV shows on insects described +by people from the community itself and the actors who were even from the community +nova iguacu community some were comedy skits some 0 reports +other serious political discussions and one of the young actresses who +performed on this public television in the square would walk through the crowd as +question microphone asking questions and comments from people people +commented that it was being shown on the big screen in the public square and others reacted +so there was an interaction from a large audience of that local community +focused on discussions and interactions of very serious issues and +this kind of community tv popular tv can be done was made that was 20 years ago +years ago in many ways from the national media to the communities +developing a basis for informing an information system +that could break the media monopoly and many actions can +be done at different levels eleven insured +between getting into an issue that you worked on that the issue of the role of +women in politics you know that historically women are oppressed +right and recently throughout the 20th century +but has recently been playing an important role in the united states with +quiet is in europe all you see is this great pressure from +women in this contemporary political debate and role it took a long time +a long time to get there thousands of years ago to get there is in fact is very +interesting that the united states is actually a little behind with respect to +this exists in other countries of the world including latin america where +women have already elected presidents prime ministers and it never happened +in the united states so it is already late in this +the internship is well behind with respect to these women achievements but +is finally starting to see a breakthrough is not American scenery +electoral campaign more and more women are presenting themselves as candidates +candidates is in American politics minority women who have never +applying for politics before is there are several examples that I could cite to +you but it's a tough battle for women if you see the background in which +it's hard let's take england united states for example that were +historically the countries that went earlier to pass by promoting a form of +democracy of democratic governments democratic systems in the united states +when it became an independent country and ended in 1780 and ended up accepting the law +English law if women were not sewn people in English law of the +underage women were the property of their +her father's husband and the property was then handed over to the +husband and in fact if you see the debates at the congress you should be entitled to +voting for women dream one of the arguments against making the right +back the woman who would be unfair for unmarried moments because a man +getting married would have two votes his and his wife's vote +his property this lasted for a long time the denial +of voting for women and there was a very big battle he is from the 19th and 20th century +to try to break that barrier against women women's rights +to vote was only approved in 1920 is almost in +same time that Afghanistan has the right to women will vote +in fact until 1985 after a militancy in the 60s in 1975 for the first time +the United States Supreme Court ruled that women are peers +they have rights to appear and as members of the jury in courts +federal and before women could not they had status of beings +humans could then be part of juries in 1975 is not that long ago and +so progress even progress being made still has many barriers against +women so yes I agree with you to a women's struggle and tremendous +in one of the great achievements of political activism of the 60s and +Since then, these institutions have +women, but it has a long way to go to make further progress. +great was made after centuries and centuries of struggles +I think how you have this is one of the most important points in the +cultural and political point of view but there are many barriers to +overcome but this is a sign of what can be accomplished by popular struggle of +hard movement and was given as a gift to women +rights are never given are earned through struggle and this can +be won professor john squire as ultimate +unfortunately asks why our time is running out +since the attack on the towers of new york in the united states that were already the police +the world won more arguments to watch the planet earth +what is the limit of that unfortunately one year is very discouraging for us +contemplate if we want to see how the future will appear +look at china china has made great progress in many ways but in +others the picture is scary there is a +very large control and surveillance the Chinese people chambers is recognitions +facials and following people's activities by watching people and how it is and +how will they behave in their participation the leaders and has punishment +this and this looking forward but we allow it to continue +the amount of swimming that is being collected on people the lives of +people who are not of their choosing is extraordinary just to give you a +example the united states probably other countries also the manufacturer +automobile once are now considering a major problem they have +lots of data about people if you drive a car they knew where you +went where it was where you came across the car if you passed a red light if +you for a return all this data is stored by +automobile industry in the computer systems of cars in the states +united and they understand that this is a tremendous way at first +could be used for citizen surveillance and control but could be +used for advertising to make money on top of that information like +is that we can find a way to communicate this data to gain +money is is one of the ways it could be that you can give and receive a +gift from the company that sold the car in heavy rain the messi whatever the +auto company can give a gift and put and retribution you +agree that the dashboard in front of you while driving is on me with +an advertising screen so if you're entering the neighborhood of a +restaurant and the bank is database know that sometimes you stop for lunch +at a dinner restaurant will put that restaurant's advertising on the screen +which is a few blocks away and you can and maybe at the restaurant then you +going to have this effort to influence and shape the behavior that you don't +manages to escape on its benign side of that of surveillance and storage of +data on people but there is a much more negative aspect is that these +things can be used to monitor watch over control irony give many +people want to suppress something with the right to get states data is that +the can be handled manufactured to the thing that appeared on facebook can be +used and as a means of directing their behavior for fear of being punished +influence their behavior to be eaten be punished you can +publicize something about these people that's all +possibilities who is this and anyone who has a cell phone is +under constant surveillance every minute of the day wherever you go +this information appears where it is going ready and mullet of cta going to +some central source that stores this status +this has terrible imminent dangers this is a system that we need +seriously take into account is and try to figure out ways to restrict +finish embarrassing this type of system and establish another title +under democratic control and not under central control by big brother for +someone who's watching us the teacher we went I don't have +words to say thank you and sir i have a long career as +journalist but certainly be able to have the privilege of interviewing or is one of those +things for us to put on the curriculum and keep there stored with great affection +thank you very much the two roses that made this conversation so great too +thank you very much for seeing us so far in this new schedule +remembering that in interviews he comes back next Tuesday at ten o'clock that +you can see this program through our facebook channels on youtube +always remembering more reason after listening to professor jonas who +never despair +[Music] +[Music] +0 +5 +11 +19 +24 +29 +34 +37 +43 +49 +54 +68 +74 +80 +87 +93 +99 +107 +113 +123 +132 +142 +150 +155 +162 +170 +177 +184 +194 +198 +205 +211 +217 +223 +230 +235 +243 +248 +255 +262 +268 +276 +282 +288 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Noam Chomsky, lingüista y profesor OEdfJP9S4NE.en.cnt b/cnt/Es el momento de enseñar a los niños a entender el mundo. Noam Chomsky, lingüista y profesor OEdfJP9S4NE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..265d125 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Es el momento de enseñar a los niños a entender el mundo. Noam Chomsky, lingüista y profesor OEdfJP9S4NE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,150 @@ +The current situation is very serious, +you don't have to tell anyone in Spain. +The virus, we should understand +as the result of a colossal market failure. +It is important to understand the context +if we want to avoid future reappearances +of catastrophes like this. +At some point, it will end, +but the cost can be very high. +It was known that there was very likely to be a pandemic, +including one for coronavirus. +It was something pretty obvious to scientists +after the SARS epidemic in 2003. +The genome was sequenced and a vaccine was created, +and it was all over, but the cost was very high. +And it was immediately predicted that other coronaviruses would appear +and that we should prepare for it. +The foundations were laid, +but there needs to be someone to pick up the testimonial and move on. +Who did it? +No one. +We will recover from all this, +we have recovered from worse pests, +the cost will be terrible, but we will partly recover. +Maybe we'll even recover completely in a long time. +The courage and heroism of those who fight on the front lines +against the pandemic, +Doctors, Nurses, Health Workers, +they are admirable. +Local communities have organized and helped each other. +Schools are closed, +the children are at home, the parents cannot work. +But in this kind of situation, +in which we live in a very fragile system, +which can go awry if nothing goes wrong +but in which everything collapses when there is a catastrophe, +education will also collapse. +And we have much deeper problems +about the kind of education system we want. +Do we want a society in which we treat children +as containers where we pour water and something comes out of it? +Or we want an education system that encourages creativity, +participation, cooperation +and encourage you to meet your goals +and take advantage of the possibilities +that open before you to pursue your interests? +I don't think it's a matter of telling them, +but to provide them with the stimuli and opportunities +for them to follow their own creative instinct, +so that they explore the world as much as they can, +on the Internet if it is the only one they have; +to do creative activities, +such as writing, drawing, +or build things that help them understand the world. +This can be done at any level. +For example, there is an interesting project +which has been done with older students +in which the following question is asked to them: +How does a mosquito fly in the rain? +If we calculate the pressure exerted by a raindrop +about a mosquito, +that can be calculated, +it is so large that it would crush a human being. +So how does a mosquito fly in the rain? +As they study it they learn a little physics, +a little bit of biology, of our organisms, and so on. +Many similar projects can be done, +which give children the opportunity +to satisfy his natural curiosity +so that they can make them understand things about the world. +And it can be done in all areas. +Literature, History, whatever. +That should be education, and it can be achieved. +Of course at home, where there is no interaction between children, +it is more difficult, but not impossible. +3 +7 +12 +17 +22 +26 +31 +35 +39 +43 +48 +51 +56 +60 +65 +69 +73 +77 +79 +84 +85 +86 +88 +91 +95 +100 +103 +105 +110 +111 +115 +117 +122 +123 +127 +130 +134 +136 +139 +143 +146 +152 +156 +161 +164 +168 +172 +175 +181 +186 +190 +196 +198 +202 +206 +209 +212 +216 +221 +225 +228 +230 +232 +237 +240 +243 +248 +251 +254 +257 +262 +266 +269 +273 +277 diff --git a/cnt/Especiales TNU - Noam Chomsky (entrevista) 9OqdQ5-zcIE.en.cnt b/cnt/Especiales TNU - Noam Chomsky (entrevista) 9OqdQ5-zcIE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a77af6e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Especiales TNU - Noam Chomsky (entrevista) 9OqdQ5-zcIE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1110 @@ +[Music] +hello good night welcome to a new edition of the specials on +Uruguayan national television in this case about the visit last week +from the political activist philosopher and linguist noam chomsky who comes +invited by former president jose mujica to a conference organized by +the libero seregni foundation and also took a few minutes to dialogue in +exclusive with national television of uruguay in this first part of +program we are going to share this interview in which he addresses reality +uruguay's policy of south america and also that of the us with the administration +from donald trump our conquest in health was dissimilar sweet day uruguay and +public television [Music] +from deeside country and uruguay +/ m +station their rhythms +d +of politics [Music] +win +and +[Music] +6 2 +the software +yes +[Music] and what +dyn [Music] +berman without software and kindergarten until 1521 ah +the verb powers progress such aspects form the +universe was formed wine [Music] +to [Music] +2 [Music] +but they don't hesitate +it means +and the sea byrs +from the nation [Music] +[Music] +with the +and before [Music] +with romanians +and so much [Music] +[Music] sing +or yes time line h charisma nor factual of +solution of the tremendous golden star manomanist +45 political pressure situation off ex-president lula da silva action of +political pressure off-site situation in waste +[Music and +[Music] the day +[Music] +[Music] +5 [Music] +yes +because the former producer of the state administration of donald trump you tube +de balde dangers of an atomic word rangers of climate change a 2 de mayo +world is now +[Music] +[Music] +the world [Music] +there are 13 direct cattle of the national cameron there are total image +racing thorax arms of their bodies spaces +2 [Music] +[Music] +[Music] +[Music and +[Music] +[Music] +m +at that age syndication a day is about summer cancer +[Music] +reinaldo his leisure hours all +[Music] this recognition +[Music] racing +[Music] +safe human rights +normal [Music] +Jesus +[Music] +combination of politics +organizations worldwide convit company is war set in the gender +and the king studios place in a timely manner +[Music] efe +love the fit brand you are but it's very +Cool +[Music] +ah +1 on your body +is content to see build [Music] +suddenly +[Music] on the psuv in marketing with the way de +choice is defined right and how the partisan the big companies to find the +winner of the election foresting in the states trade +can play formal soccer the commute phrases stem weeden framework the +effort in princeton norkom they opened art order they look at +visit in this field +and by others in tourism since May in space +and where +[Music] to me +[Music and +[Music] +2 [Music] +because they have to be able to feel their kind of melting problems +[Music] and the tract bout corruption and without +corruption +to +is nothing more products +before alive +[Music] +Uruguay +and +in this second block of the special teneos on the visit of new chance +that we are going to share part of the conference that he gave at the mayor's office +of mount where among other things he referred to the geopolitical situation +basically what is happening in the us and also in europe we are going to +share your point of view on how democracy works +American we see it in a democracy is the voice of the people is the +heard so let's ask ourselves what's going on in the us if it +upholding that principle one effect would be that the most popular political figure and +respected in the country would have a role would play a role of great importance +maybe I would even be president and I'm referring to bernie sanders and it would be +by a very wide margin the sanders campaign was great +importance was the most important thing in the 2016 election in some way +broke with the prevailing model of more than a century in history +usa policy +and a lot of evidence political science research that establishes of +very convincing way that elections basically buy the +campaign financing only with that we can already predict what the +possibilities of who will win the congress and who will win the +presidency research also shows that a +considerable majority of the electorate those lower in the +income scale are ignored and that their own representatives do not provide +attention to your preferences as wealth increases representation +politics also does it until it reaches the top at that fraction of 1% +where the policies are already fixed that's what we call democracy would have +that being a plutocracy the sanders campaign somehow broke with this +such established model sanders was hardly known had no +no support from the financing sources of the corporate sector of +private wealth ignored by the media still used that term +threatening like socialism and probably would have won the +nomination in the Democratic internal if it had not been for the lies of the +obama clinton campaign managers let's assume you're the cattle +you had a public platform today we could have heard +statements like this one related to labor rights +I have no use or place ineter regardless of their party +politician they think I have the dream the stupid dream of turning back time +back when disorganized work was a shapeless mass only the +reactionaries who think of destroying the guilds only a fool would try +to take away from workers the right to join the union of their choice +and that in fact sanders did not say it to sen hauer when he applied to +president at 52 +that's from the time of the growth period of state capitalism +regulated much more called the golden age of economics +we have come a long way since that time now we are more to see the +disappearance of public unions and real democracy would be very different +This is how opinion studies show +the same can be applied to various other themes +as both parties have shifted to the right in the +neoliberal period the republicans basically left the spectrum where +they get to the point where conservative political scientists describe the party +current as a radical insurgency that has abandoned parliamentary politics +a consequence of all this is anger frustration and contempt for +the formal institutions of democracy many times acquiring +very unpleasant ways the basic fact is that the population would never vote for +the policies designed by the elites and we have numbers that give us indication +of why this happens then let's go now to 2007 just before +collapse that was the maximum of euphoria about +the great triumphs of neoliberalism and neoclassical economies in that +time in 2007 the real wages of American workers were lower +than they had been in 1979 when the neoliberal experiment was beginning +there is a reason for this and the main reason was explained by the president +from the federal reserve alan greenspan when he was testifying at the +Congress on the economy of which he was taking charge informed the +congress that a greater insecurity for workers a greater in security +for the worker that kept wages low and inflation too +go down workers are too intimidated to demand fair wages +benefits better working conditions which is a sign a sign of +the health of the economy according to some standards security measures +social were also reduced in this neoliberal period usa is in fact +end of the list of developed companies established by the oecd +and also in social justice measures along with greece, mexico and turkey but +profits flourished especially in the industry +financial predator as it exploded during the +neoliberal period representing 40 percent of corporate profits +just before the debut collapse for which of which of the collapse of which +were really responsible one of the reasons for the neoliberal reforms +as they were called was to reverse that rate of decline in income which was a +consequence of popular activism and worker militancy in the +60 this was achieved in this sense the reform was a success +under these conditions then democracy can hardly be tolerated and +the same has happened in europe under the concept of austerity +neoliberal that even the IMF economists recognize that there is no basis +sustainable bureaucrats who listen to different +voices listen to the banks listen to the northern banks to the rich banks +from North +and that in the voices that control the troika that determine the policies of +europe basically the european central bank the monetary fund and the commission +European marc ways spots an economist has +conducted very careful research on the political agenda that +leads to destructive economic policies +Estoril studied the reports of the consultancies of the monetary fund +international +and discovered an important consistency and a pattern really in his role +terrifying the financial crisis was exploited as an opportunity for of +somehow fix the neoliberal reforms by making cuts in the +public sector with tax increases reduce benefits and services +public and also cuts in the health service in some way undermining the +collective bargaining and generally leading society and leaving the +society with fewer tools to negotiate at a higher level with a lack of +equity an increase in poverty and thus reduce growth and employment +basically what happened in latin america in the last decades +and thanks to the international monetary fund and the acceptance of +washington and finally concludes that the agenda of decision makers in +Europe +and have achieved many of their goals in the last five years is an agenda with +which we are very familiar with +In Europe, the population would also never vote for this type of reform. +reforms therefore democracy must be sacrificed in order to set the +neoliberal reform the measure in europe is very simple is +basically transfer decision making to agencies that have not been +elected public response in europe looks like what has happened in the us +the center political institutions have been discredited there is disappointment +public there is fear there is anger games +and those who are old enough to remember their 30s like me +I make +however they will find out and they will surely be alarmed by +the rise of neo-fascist parties not only in austria germany but in +all countries these neoliberal policies point +directly to undermine the regulatory power of countries and ashoka +vargas in the ability to resist shocks +of this machinery of domination +the power of government is the power of the people +as long as this government is democratic decrease democracy +is a typical feature of neoliberal programs +these programs by their very nature tend to concentrate wealth +wealth in very few hands while most of its stagnant situation +and so functional democracy is affected that all this is a natural effect of the +concentration of economic power which in turn translates into the concentration of +political power +of acro the doctrinal claim is the +transfer of decision-making from the public sector to the +markets in order to contribute is made to believe that this contributes to freedom +individual but in reality it is the other way around this transfer is one of +public institutions in which people can intervene as long as +democracy work pass it on to private tyrannies in which people +has no opinion whatsoever it is the corporations then that dominate the +economics these policies are dedicated to making sure that society no longer +exist by margaret thatcher's famous description of the world as she +perceived or the reality world that she expected +create was thatcher for unconsciously doing +the condemnation of marks to the repression in france +leaving society like a bag of potatoes an amorphous mass that could not +function in the contemporary case the tyrant is not +an autocratic leader creative car at least in the west but the +concentration of private power and bureaucracy +and they're now free from public control professor jones that his lecture has +given an answer to the question of that great philosopher of evolution +they went to smile it is better to be smart the problem is the +combination of substantive stupidity and powerful arrogance that reigns in the +today's world and it's bringing us close to the fateful midnight in the +atomic scientists bulletin clock +As far as I understood your lecture, you described and explained how +prevailing power relations are bringing humanity closer to catastrophe +climatic and atomic that productive and destructive technology has made +possible the blindness of the elites has a long historical background what is +relatively new as you stressed to start in the second war +global your conference is the power of technology here comes my question is a +ask double up and down if I may say so on the one hand +How do we make science, technology and innovation serve less to expand +the power of economic and political elites +serve less to bring us closer to midnight +on the other hand the symmetrical part as we do so that science technology and +innovation serve more so that the popular sectors are agents of the +social improvement and environmental sustainability I ask you these questions with +professor anguish I am absolutely convinced that if we don't +subtract advanced knowledge from elite control and link it to +popular sectors our destiny will be difficult to present +agustin canzani highlighted his role in the fight against despair please +of the objective and rational elements for hope thank you very much +[Applause] +I think you are right to make it clear that technology is not the +problem but it is the control of technology is a social problem are +non-technological social problems technology can be our savior +for example in environmental problems the only way to solve them +is to advance technology the technology of solar panels for example that +can make a big difference in leading us to create energy +sustainable or the wind energy used in uruguay that is also +technology technology can be used and can be one of the +important aspects one of the important aspects of solar energy is that +is distributed is not concentrated that's why energy companies are +trying to avoid using it basically because it represents a record +of its income because it can increase popular democracy because it decentralizes +and you can use popular control +and so they try to avoid using it because they don't want the +energy is decentralized but it can be done that way +so that everyone has their own generation of energy +for example automation automation can be used to +destroy the workforce or it can also be used to reinforce the +workforce can go up or down +this has in fact been the case for many years not a new problem +we have to be aware of what has happened so far work has been done +Regarding this notebook topic, a technology historian who has +recently died unfortunately performed +studies in the sixties and what's called numerical control +basically the control of the machines by means of the computer this was started +in the basic mentions tools for +control the machines this is very relevant today +there are alternative ways of designing technology one of the ways is to design +the technologies could have been locating the control inside mechanics +trained trained mechanics could have taken care of these +decentralized tool handling machines and you could also have +placed in the hands of the central corporate power +there were reasons to go one way or the other were equivalent but +we know which one was taken not the one that created capable and trained mechanics but that +was placed in the managerial hands of corporations +these are political and social choices of how to use technology +and the same the same question is asked now with the +robotics +this technology will be used to control and dominate and centralize the +power or will be used to free workers from repetitive activities +dangerous and they will be given freedom for more creative activities the direction +will go in one or the other but it will depend on participation +for example consider in tics this can be used by governments +to control the population you can use google or facebook to +get a lot of data about people and thus generate ways to control +to people or it can also be used for participatory control of the +democracy in the economy offering real-time information making +workers can take care of their own +endeavors to make the right decisions can also be +used for those aspects +a worker working in a conglomerate can make the decisions +correct in real time the technology is neutral and can be used to +any purpose is going to depend on how we design political structures +and social and that's for people to get involved +first to understand how these aspects work and then to recognize +the liberating potential of designing and developing +social systems to use those potentials and I think it's a +very clear hope for the future [Music] +third block of specials to have about visiting again jones who +we were going to share another excerpt from the conference that he gave at the mayor's office +Montevideo in this case where he comments on the effects of the policies +neoliberals in Latin America and the relationship of the countries of America of the +south with the international monetary fund thank you professor chomsky here in america +latina in some cases we have defeated that +relationship between money and politics between media and politics +between corporations and politics getting leftist parties +representing a wide range of popular movements came to +government in bolivia in brazil in ecuador at the time in paraguay +also here in uruguay and in argentina and all these governments and parties +Progressives and leftists have given him Latin America 'ole ole they gave him +with more force in the past Latin America 'the right to stand up with their +own feet gain autonomy in relation to the us +create new concepts like good life good good old and new +concepts new perspectives of development new modes of law +where the original peoples were challenging positive law, in short, +been a long decade of political innovations and I wanted to ask you what +place do you see him latin america south america with his political innovations +with their leftist governments in this perspective the place would have +latin america to improve the global survival prospects that +the place you see this latin america with its political news with +his ways of challenging the great imperial powers especially from the us +now in these years in this global perspective that's my question +the park has a European level +basically starting with reagan and thatcher latin america was the first +victim of structural adjustment programs that +it was a tax on latin america 'devastated the continent in the 80s in +90s gosh was called the lost decade +this was done by the washington consensus administered more than anything +by the international monetary fund goes which is basically a branch of the +us state department you already know the effect of those years that +they had those consequences +Latin America was also the first part of the world to emerge from this +situation Latin America and East Asia there +it was the collapse and the east asian countries withdrew +Latin America at the beginning of the century the governments of +america took steps to reverse these disastrous situations the +disastrous consequences of a decision was in fact expelling the fund +international monetary +it no longer makes loans to latin america but is directed to europe and asia +and Latin America withdrew from the treasury department that was in charge +of the global system +this was applied in different countries and some took steps to reduce the +poverty significantly increase education opportunities improve +civil rights under the leadership of lula in brazil there were efforts +to try to change the international order and thus give them a +greater a more important voice to the global south the formation of the wealthy +a separate block started mainly by lula +those were significant changes +in order to modify the structure of decision-making worldwide +that was a substantial improvement +unfortunately it was accompanied by quite a few failures +that now threaten to sink and reverse the profits made +and going back to the disastrous policies of the early years +there are two very important problems +one is the lack of left leadership capacity to avoid the +levels of endemic corruption in latin america and in many parts of the +world and the other is the failure to eliminate another long-term problem +that has affected Latin America and its development +Latin America has many resources but these resources are traditionally +have been used to enrich a small sector of great wealth and to +foreign investors latin america 'in all these years and has continued +under leftist governments basically to produce and export +primary elements this has been a temptation that should be resisted +that came about through the growth of china and its appetite for +raw materials that was very convenient for the economies and satisfy these +Chinese lawsuits then Latin America 'exploited soy and iron and that +of course means importing manufactured goods from china +at a very low price which affects the industry +then you see societies based on +export of raw materials and there is also a destruction of the +local economy that has happened for centuries in latin america and +unfortunately and continued and sometimes even exaggerated under the governments of +left of the 21st century those are pretty major problems can you +beat 3 +it is surprising to compare latin america with chrome +with east asia living felix is an economist has conducted studies on +this +Latin America has great advantages if we compare it with Southeast Asia +[Music] louis +Latin America with Uruguay at the head have very rich resources in the east +Asian does not have Latin America they do not have external shipments and the east +Asian as well but the policies that have been made +since the 50s are somehow very different +Latin America continues its traditional dedication with the +welfare of a small sector of the richest +Latin American imports are still luxury items. +changes and doesn't compare it to East Asian +and East Asia exports capital and has banned South Korea from facing +to this death penalty for the export of capital and investments in the +this asian is allowed but controlled the government controls the +foreign investment there are areas for development and growth in america +Latina basically invest to steal everything +what can america's class structure +latina you know it better than I am inclined to a great lack of +equality there is a very large concentration of power +basically investors enrich themselves towards their parents there +very important differences if we consider South Korea for example +in the 50s south korea was literally on the same level as +a poor country in africa like ghana today south korea is a power a +industrial power and this does not happen in Latin America ' +there is no reason why this should continue there were major changes in +the first years of the century those failures that I mentioned should be made those +changes must build on those changes and move towards +the movement of a more egalitarian city that can control its +destiny great measures have been taken how to eliminate the monetary fund +international and to US military bases +If they consider Brazil, for example, Lula's policies were not so different. +of regular policies in the 60 words +policies of color led to a US-backed military coup +in fact promoted by the united states with great support from the us +in fact linking ambassador gordon of kennedy +and called that coup a great freedom victory of the 20th century imagine that +would be the standard response to a coup d'etat when lula established a +similar program there could be a coup +is not that +usa is weaker is weaker now compared to what the 60s were +due to developments that took place within the us and now there is more opposition +imperialism and external aggression of what the 1960s had +partly because of the developments and you take it you end up in latin america +in fact solidarity between north and south is a significant factor +especially with central america +one of the most important developments in the history of imperialism is what +what happened in the us +during the atrocities committed in central america in the reagan years +this is the first time in years that the people of the imperial powers +but they went to help the victims and even protect them +thousands of us from conservative rural areas +religious areas were central america to participate directly in the +people's efforts to defend themselves against this serious slaughter never +something like this had happened in the history of imperialism nobody in europe left +there was an African city for example no one from the us went to live in a +Vietnamese little town was not even discussing the possibility +of something inconceivable but in the 80s that happened in a substantive way this type of +north-south solidarity +it may be more important so I think these are signs of hope +Well, Latin America can play a role in breaking free +of neoliberal measures of neoliberal oppression +they have already done things and can do more the question here would be the following +I would like to know your perception of the USA of what some call the decadence +of its status as world hegemonic power +How does this culturally impact the U.S. in its relationship with the rest of the world and +particularly with Latin America 'and I say again that their material +union movement reference so I might as well have called you +companions +in general the American power is in +decline there is a lot of talk about the decline about how power is moving +to the east there is an element of truth in all of that but you have to be careful +more studied American power peaked at 45 +that was the peak of the us power in the world never in history was there a power +such a large concentration of power +The U.S. had almost half of the world's total wealth, something that was never +have seen before +he had unmatched military power +us planners knew that there were there are many records of the second +world war and the following years of very important planning for +organize the world basically according to the interests of the sectors +deprived of the us, a very careful and meticulous analysis had been carried out that +it was carried out successfully but from that time there was a decline in power +American and there was a very steep decline by 49 when china was +independent and that was a consequence concept very +important for the us the terminology used for this phenomenon in was se +called the loss of Chinese doubtful the loss of China what does that mean I don't +I can lose something I cannot lose your computer I can lose my +computers then the loss of the Chinese the phrase +somehow implies the concept that we are the owners of the world +and that if someone gets out of our control it's a loss it looks like a loss and +it was a very important topic in the us +basically mccarthy responsible for the loss of china when kennedy +started to escalate the war in south vietnam part of the reasons was the +fear that they will blame him for losing indochina 2 +remember we can't lose it +with the guatemala government we have to avoid the loss of +Guatemala +I don't have to go into the details of what happened in South America in the 1960s. +and in the 70s they already know that without fear of fear of +losing south america was intolerable +2 but then the losses increased to +early 70s in unasur the international economy was tripolar +now we had three more important sectors we had the us that was +solidified by the naphtha and that somehow blocked it was fixed to +mexico in the neoliberal reform within the context of the power of the us all +consequence is that in mexico it has the lowest growth in latin america +since 94 with the destruction of agriculture +but other parts of latin america remained a little more independent +and it turns out that he when two lost islands follow each other +ticking and that decline is still in process now us must have 20 percent of +world wealth but we should not be fooled because +it is a standard measure but it is an ideological measure there is a +much more significant mean is the glove of the world economy is +owned by American corporations is something much more +significant to take into account and if we don't go we take that into account the +results are amazing are American corporations are +they appropriate almost 50 percent of the world's wealth +they are the first in almost all sectors +energy telecommunications +and almost every sector American corporations are +leading +and they own almost 50% and of course the multinationals have +national bases receive the support of the military power from the support of +American taxpayers so we have another measure that is better suited +to the world of global corporate power with a power network is very complicated +many of the developments in this have occurred in the +last 10 20 years but the power of the us is extraordinary but not the power +national specifically but the corporate power of business power that's +a measure that is rarely used but is very important in the modern world +so the question of this decline is an important issue +there is a decline in some aspects of growth in the +military dimension there is no competition from the us +a spends almost more than all the rest of the world combined in technology are +much more advanced one of the most significant developments that +hardly discussed is the nuclear modernization program that basically +removes Russian deterrents +this is another dimension that we have to take into account no other country +has thousands of military bases around the world +troops special forces operating in dozens of countries that's a measure of +power in this way, so we end the coverage of the +Public television on the visit of the political activist, philosopher and linguist +noam chomsky who was in uruguay last week next week in +special this one in the us migrations that is the subject thanks for joining us +[Music] +4 +10 +15 +20 +25 +30 +34 +39 +43 +48 +53 +57 +61 +66 +73 +79 +87 +96 +99 +105 +111 +115 +119 +131 +136 +145 +153 +162 +170 +174 +178 +188 +196 +205 +212 +223 +229 +236 +248 +252 +259 +269 +276 +291 +310 +323 +331 +337 +345 +348 +355 +362 +372 +378 +391 +401 +410 +417 +436 +444 +452 +462 +482 +491 +501 +511 +519 +531 +539 +546 +550 +555 +558 +564 +570 +574 +580 +586 +594 +600 +603 +614 +623 +636 +646 +650 +657 +663 +667 +675 +683 +689 +705 +708 +715 +721 +725 +734 +746 +750 +755 +763 +769 +771 +781 +792 +798 +803 +807 +813 +818 +822 +827 +832 +840 +845 +850 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As Much As You Think It Does pnFuTypd5nw.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +and i know you once a day i dunno the first amendment external speech was one +intel really the the civil rights movement for those were so real ik protest en +peak is typical for architects 5 +for the en prostalife eye for detail and this is not just a given you first me +thousand product freedom switch the first amendment jury the keys +create history what you area context for the speech of the furthest mine +accelerating tenzing wanting to excel there was a theory to the century +that's you starter reaching the bike or +and scream for the early statements model this boring freedom of +speech the workmen cents and spray our burners and rain soak because you want +was a chill pc printing civil rights movement there +power we stand at the fever and pond polluters +I so in times who anoint my king sixty four the +supreme court for the first time a struct and the principle of sorts +becomes less so with pear and quiet thousand games +a little chain pull that's about word ' +this and the wild create where the fair +1916 line and jump corfetti but the faster you cut the knife over my rich and +famous impacting freedom of speech cushions or we ku klux klan cees +idenburg are a party and the week was speech and the greater in +established lesbian lovers also speak to you +I curl up participation and implement with him +ewan own white we store and now I want a menu become small and you sea +shake let's not permitted speech need pc media and course which flexible +my hands dirty prince on our exactly how winter with the jelly the +fridge speechen beat your query shirt became a specific topic with +these ring issues are so far posters are following a neo-nazi +your in lecture it is something too clean use billboard in +times square in new york about the no time square they had to +look cities crematoriums so you have the beeper in the middle an object myself there quickly +means calling a kiwi here this morning +professional but a feeling is who the deal with it for speech +there is a black one with drugs tomorrow and then men +thrust are upon us in an ever human party crawley +jan a whole culture and they have their protection of freedom speech +got swimmers and two-wheelers so mister neo-nazi +group just go it reve gray and economically you cook +wages and witches full of luck or they stay back on a brown and is notice +illustration tell me in spree and nelis cru middle +that is all of you they want to quarrel +tony simmer to know where i will organize the car demonstration +script s'posed the group plus cryptologist cuddly euro and you see that +the barry white whale aboutaleb not on and +is a posts i say block the easy way in an a location to acetyl +label for cheating the that sometimes know +it is that the best tactic to pick them up case and many more exposure is one +while sleidinge nathaniel i'm s'pose so two crossed just haven't +and willy trio we can buy the channel from the new york times +loic rose the viewer and they finally carol it works here earlier you like this +long course new concerns will make the production +villains to mulder people in hiding places I give my sister the sweetest rinus +the one that repeopled your profile from the manly +criminals pc criminals how they did what i we are short when +you major newspaper you see your fans our post +quenched up and jon bon for the people curious +take risks banish you run l so let's be the worst criminal ever +bodies the cosmic worked with x need a pointer +the nash us curling like is a dutch around that the music u +[Music] yes +beautiful +[Music] +0 +5 +11 +14 +21 +28 +34 +42 +46 +54 +61 +65 +70 +77 +84 +89 +95 +101 +108 +114 +120 +127 +133 +141 +149 +156 +164 +168 +173 +179 +186 +191 +198 +203 +209 +215 +221 +229 +235 +240 +246 +253 +262 +265 +270 +273 +278 +285 +293 +302 +306 +312 +317 +323 +327 +334 +340 +346 +353 +357 +361 diff --git a/cnt/Faculty Forum Online - A Conversation with Noam Chomsky HZVxcoS1etE.en.cnt b/cnt/Faculty Forum Online - A Conversation with Noam Chomsky HZVxcoS1etE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db69df8 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Faculty Forum Online - A Conversation with Noam Chomsky HZVxcoS1etE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,842 @@ +Judy Cole: Welcome to the Faculty Forum Online, a program of the MIT Alumni Association. +I'm Judy Cole, the EVP and CEO of the Alumni Association and I will serve as moderator. +Our viewers of today's conversation include MIT alumni, friends, friends of MIT libraries and the +general public. Any MIT alumni who wish to ask a question, enter your name and question +and we'll try to get to as many questions as possible. The general public is encouraged +to share their questions on Twitter by using #mitfaculty. Our guest today is Noam Chomsky, +Institute Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics at MIT. Professor Chomsky is +an author, political activist, and philosopher, and he created the field of modern linguistics, +the scientific study of language. He is also the subject of the Chomsky Archive, a recently +launched MIT Libraries project to preserve and digitize the lectures, personal papers +and materials he has donated to MIT's Institute Archives and Special Collections. Professor +Chomsky, welcome. Could you start by telling us what you hope readers and researchers will +draw from these historic items? +Noam Chomsky: Well, the archives include everything I could think of. Endless amounts of correspondence, +the hard copy of the maybe 20 years ago and it starts mostly to be electronic. Books, +papers, class notes from most of 60 years, notes or talks, lengthy transcripts of discussions, +and probably tapes of things like this. What I hope people will be able to do is reconstruct +some of the history of both sides of my existence, both how the linguistics, cognitive science, +modern philosophy have taken the shape they have, and on the other side an ongoing commentary +on what's going on in the world. So lots of data in there. +Judy Cole: No doubt, I'm sure it will provide a rich, rich text of the evolution of your +thinking. Questions are coming in now and as we gather them let me ask a question or +two of my own to start us off. As you may know, we've been doing these forums for years. +Never have we had so much interest from viewers as for this one, nor so many testy responses. +As a public intellectual, you've certainly sparked controversy. How do you decide which +contemporary issues to address? +Noam Chomsky: Well, it's a mixture. Partly it's just personal interest and background. +Partly I try to evaluate what are the most humanly significant issues that we're now +confronting. And some mixture of those two considerations. +Judy Cole: So here's another question. You have been applauded for your boldness and +clarity and your many vigorous public debates are legendary. Is there a favorite debate +that stands out or do you have a favorite opponent, perhaps someone you vigorously disagree +with or enjoy engaging in debate with? +Noam Chomsky: Well the people I enjoy most engaging with are in the so-called, what I +think of as the professional side of my field, so discussions about the nature of language, +the origin of human cognition and language, and lots of lively discussions and debates +about that. Those are pretty constructive. +Judy Cole: So now we are getting them from our alumni. Bob in Leverett, MA, asks...uh, +somehow this isn't scrolling properly, there we go. I value the insights I've learned from +you but every time I hear you speak I feel depressed. How can we change feelings of helplessness +into positive actions that can turn our governments around? +Noam Chomsky: Well the best way to do it, there are several ways. One is to pay attention +to history. Things may look difficult and uncomfortable now but they were much worse +50 or 60 years ago. Take MIT, where we're all from. When I got here in 1955, the Institute +was virtually, entirely white males - well dressed, polite, deferential, relatively formal +relations among people, faculty and students. Take a walk down the halls today, it's radically +different. It's half women, maybe a third minorities, informal relations, informal dress, +which is in fact symbolic of the informal relations among people. Look at the bulletin +boards - calls for engagement in all kinds of issues, at that time, it was virtually +nothing. That's happened all over the world and it's a very positive development. It +didn't happen by itself, it happened by a lot of difficult struggle. Yesterday, Martin +Luther King day, was a good time to recall a very substantial part of it. It was by no +means easy, and there's plenty to go forward. If you look back beyond, there's kind of +a trajectory, with relative progress over the last few centuries. In many respects. +There's also regression, but the best reason for optimism is we've changed things before +and we can do it again. +Judy Cole: It seems like there's a certain impatience in the MIT DNA that wants things +to happen more quickly, so. But you're right, putting it in perspective is what really... +Noam Chomsky: One of the difficulties in the United States is that there's very little +continuity in activism. Everything begins from zero. So take the Occupy movement. It +began with a, it just sprang up, no historical recollection, no, few connections to everything +that happened before. You have to kind of learn everything from scratch. Along with +that comes a feeling that we want quick victories. If you do have this sense of continuity and +struggle, you know it goes back a long time, so take again the civil rights struggle, it +kind of sparked around 1960 when several events, a couple of black students sat at a lunch +counter in Greensborough, North Carolina, others joined and were arrested, others joined +them and pretty soon you had freedom riders in the south, violence, tremendous courage, +registering voters, marches like Selma and so on, and finally some victories. But it +didn't begin in 1960, it goes back to abolition, and that's the way life works, you're +not going to get quick, you can get small changes, but major victories are going to +take time. +Judy Cole: So another alumnus, David in Jerusalem, asks, what influences and which teachers helped +you form your current world views, including your view on the Arab/Israeli disagreements? +Noam Chomsky: Well actually that was a major concern of my life as a teenager. There were +individuals of course, but I was very much involved as a teenager in what was then called +Zionist activism, now it's called anti-Zionist. It was part of the Zion - this is pre-1948, +it was the part of the Zionist movement that was opposed to a Jewish state, and was committed +to some form of Arab-Jewish cooperation at the time within an effort to develop a cooperative +economy, an economy of the kind that was in fact partially developing in Palestine at +the time, the Jewish sectors of Palestine. And there were, there were particular individuals +who were influential, but it was mainly the...simply engagement in the constant activism committed +to those goals and continued from there. +Judy Cole: So, Louis in Massachusetts asks, do you feel your writing has influenced or +directly impacted decisions made by policy makers and what evidence if any do you see +to support this? +Noam Chomsky: The influence is often, the most significant influence is indirect, so +take, say the Vietnam War, a major topic, I was very intensively involved in it through +the 60s and 70s, and many others were too, in fact MIT became one of the leading centers +of opposition to the war, even resistance activities. What was the effect? Well the +effect, it had an effect on bringing the war to an end, very slowly, much too slowly, not +until millions of people had been killed and several countries practically destroyed, but +it did come to an end. If you look closely at how it came to an end, uh, it traces back +to the fact that there was so much opposition to the war engendered by these activities +that the government was never able to call a national mobilization of the kind that was +called during World War II when people really dedicated to the war effort. Well, the national +mobilization is very good for the economy, uh, if you take a look at what happened during +World War II, the war's horror story, if you just look at the economy, industrial production +almost quadrupled, depression was ended, there were jobs for everyone, the basis was laid +for very substantial technological and economic growth in the subsequent years, cause people +were really committed to the effort. In the 1960s you couldn't do that, it wasn't +that kind of commitment. So what was fought was what was called a guns and butter war. +You have to keep the population quiet and at the same time continue with the war. That's +very harmful to the economy. And in fact it led to stagflation. Stagnation and inflation +became the...the internal economy began to suffer. In January 1968, there was a major +uprising in South Vietnam, the Tet Offensive, that made it very clear to the decision makers, +in particular in the business community that this war was going to go on for a long time. +At that point a decision was made to begin to wind it down. Now it ... they don't, +no one says the peace movement pulled the decision makers to wind it down, but the indirect +activities of stimulating opposition concern, dissent, protest, had the indirect effect +of leading to the decision, and in fact we have direct evidence for that. It's pretty +obvious from what happened, but if you look at say the Pentagon Papers, the famous Pentagon +Papers, the record there ends in mid-1968, a few months after the Tet Offensive, and +if you look at those last few sections, they're pretty interesting. What happened is that +the government...these are internal records so not intended to be read, but, the government, +uh, the Johnson administration, wanted to send a couple hundred thousand more troops +to Vietnam after the offensive. The military was wary, they didn't want to do it, and +the reason was, they said that there would, if that happened they would need troops in +the United States for civil disorder control because of the extent of the protest and dissent +among young people, among women, among minorities. They listed the groups they were concerned +with. Well, that's - +Judy Cole: I remember those days. +Noam Chomsky: Yes. That's a way to influence policy. And it happens over and over in complicated +ways, and it's not a matter of, take a trip to Washington and convincing the president +that you should do so and so, you know, they know what you're going to tell them anyway. +But there are indirect ways of, uh, bringing about results. Yesterday's commemoration +of King is a good example. It wasn't a matter of Martin Luther King going to Washington +and convincing Lyndon Johnson to pass the voting rights act. A lot of activism took +place for years, in fact going back centuries, but in recent - in the immediately preceding +years, there was very intensive struggle, activism, popular mobilization, it created +a situation in which certain decisions were made. +Judy Cole: Very interesting, I have to tell you, it's a much more international set +of questions than we typically get. The next one is from an alumnus, Kalil in Saudi Arabia. +What role did the west and the regional powers play in distinguishing the Arab Spring outcries +and flares? Do you think they will rekindle again? +Noam Chomsky: Well the Arab Spring took many different forms. It actually began in the +last African colony, Western Sahara, about a month before the Tunisia, uh, the demonstrations +and protests. +Judy Cole: I didn't realize that. +Noam Chomsky: Well it's not discussed, but it's important that it's not discussed. +There's one colony left in Africa, Western Sahara. It was Spanish. The Spanish left in +1975. It was supposed to go through decolonization under UN auspices, but Morocco invaded and +uh, the, a war began which continues between the indigenous population and the Moroccan +invaders. Morocco transferred arms, a number of people into the territory, hoping to swamp +a referendum if it ever takes place, and this struggle continues right up to the Security +Council. It's one of the cases where there hasn't been significant progress because +there isn't popular activism and mobilization. That's quite significant. In cases where +there has been, there was progress. Back in, I guess it was October, shortly before the +Arab Spring broke out, there was a popular demonstration, a tent city, set up in the +main cities of Western Sahara by the Sahrawi indigenous population. They were crushed by +force very quickly. Went to the Security Council and it was blocked, mostly by France which +is a patron of Morocco. That one ended. Then came Tunisia, then Egypt, then other places, +and the effects varied. So in Tunisia there was, there has been significant progress, +uh, again it's mostly French influenced. French tried to block it, but it didn't +break out, and it continued. Egypt is a complicated matter, they're again, substantial achievements +but a sharp reversal. Egypt's now heading into a very dark period. Saudi Arabia, where +the questioners is, I'm sure the person knows, there were initial attempts at joining +the Arab Spring, very mild purposed, they were crushed by force instantly and nothing +ever happened. In nearby Bahrain, where struggles went on for a while, finally Saudi Arabia +sent troops to quell the uprising, and it, Syria of course turned into the whole monstrosity, +Libya was torn to shreds and nothing left, so the question what happened, well, right +now I think it's kind of in limbo. My suspicion is it's going to, I think there were substantial +achievements despite the regression, and it probably lays the basis for something that +will break out soon. I don't think the current regimes will mostly really dictorial regimes, +have the capacity to deal with the demands of the, the just demands of the population, +for freedom, for economic development, for some degree of social rights, and ... +Judy Cole: The current situation seems unsustainable indefinitely. Maybe a little longer but hopefully +not too much longer. +Noam Chomsky: Well right now the region is being torn to shreds by the repercussions +of the invasion of Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was very devastating for Iraq, but it also +set in motion sectarian conflicts which didn't really exist before. Take a look at Baghdad +in the year 2000. Shiite and Sunni were intermingled, they intermarried, they lived in the same +places, sometimes people living in the...it was kind of like knowing what Protestant sect +your neighbors were in . Some you didn't know. Within a couple of years it turned into +a raging war, now tearing the whole region to shreds. That's going to be very hard +to deal with. +Judy Cole: Indeed. So our next question comes from Geneva. Alumna Simone. What are the fundamental +differences between spoken and invented languages, e.g. Elvish, and what are the main difficulties +in inventing a language? +Noam Chomsky: Well, the concept of inventing a language is very misleading. So take say +the best known one, Esperanto. If you take a look at ta grammar of Esperanto, it doesn't' +tell you the rules of Esperanto, just as if you take a look at a grammar of Spanish, it +doesn't tell you the rules of Spanish. Those almost nobody knows, those are matters of +discovery. To try to find the principles that are really operating when you and I converse +is a problem like finding out what's going on in our visual systems when stimuli hit +our retina and I see a person or a room or whatever, that's very com- you can't interspect +into that. You don't know what it is, you have to discover it from the outside. The +same is true of language. Esperanto is, carries over, when people think they know Esperanto, +what's really happening is they know language, they know their own language, they know something +about common romance languages. Unconsciously. And beyond the level of consciousness, just +like they can't figure out how your digestive system is working, or your visual system or +whatever. So the invented languages are really just the invention of extremely superficial +elements of language, like the choice of words, or the choice of sounds, or the decision what +order to put the words in. These are all facts about language but they're extremely superficial. +What's really happening, say in our interchange, is deep and below the level of conscious awareness, +and it's actually the topic of linguistics and cognitive sciences and brain sciences, +is to try to unearth it. But all of that is taken over unconsciously, when people say +they're inventing a language, what they're doing is actually filling out some of the +superficial details of their actual linguistic knowledge. +Judy Cole: Fascinating. I'm not sure I understand all of that but it was really good. So Michelle +in Philadelphia: what do you think of the impact of the world wide web - what do you +think of the impact that the world wide web has had on language. +Noam Chomsky: My hometown. Philadelphia. I don't think, I mean it's had a kind of +effect in the way that teenage slang has an effect on the language. So there are some +locutions that are used that weren't used otherwise, but languages are constantly changing +in these pretty superficial respects. The web is, use of the web, especially texting +and so on, has probably had some minor effects but the language doesn't change. +Judy Cole: It seems it's sort of in formalized it somewhat in the same way that relations +between people at MIT has become less formal over time. +Noam Chomsky: Well that's a process that's been going on for a long time and it affects +usage of the language but it doesn't affect the language. +Judy Cole: Okay. +Noam Chomsky: The language is the same whether you use it in formal discourse or informal +talk with your grandchildren. +Judy Cole: Got it. So Erik in California asks, what are the long term prospects for the U.S. +economy? The standard of living has been maintained through consumer debt and asset bubbles but +these cannot continue indefinitely. What other obstacles are there? +Noam Chomsky: Well actually consumer debt did rise sharply in this early part of this +millennium, but by now it's not really high relative to GDP. Problems with the economy +are different. Problems are...the problem is that during the, what's called the new +liberal period, roughly the past new generation, productivity has increased not quite as fast +as before, but it has increased, on the other hand it hasn't reached the population. For +the majority of the population it's been a period of relative stagnation or decline. +So a real minimum wages today are at about the level of the 1960s even through productivity +has gotten much greater, wealth has been produced but it's gone into very few pockets. The +last decade, I don't have the exact figures but I think about 95% of the wealth produced, +something like that, went to 1% of the population, and the 1% that people talk about is misleading, +because if you take a look at that 1%, it's heavily skewed towards a tenth of one percent +at the very top, so what's happened is an extreme maldistribution of wealth. Stagnation, +relative stagnation for much of the population and the limited opportunities for work. I +mean there's now a lot of, uh, some, uh, praise for the fact that the unemployment +rate has gone down, which is good but misleading because one of the reasons it's gone down +is that people have just dropped out of the workforce. +Judy Cole: They've given up, yeah. +Noam Chomsky: If you take a look at the proportion of the working population that has good, full +time employment, it's still way below what it should be. I mean, this, you know the financial +access is for the last roughly, actually it goes back 20 or 30 years since deregulation +started, but particularly the last decade have lost trillions of dollars of output, +and those are the problems of the economy. You can see there's much discussion now +about the minimum wage. But some things are overlooked. If you go back to the rapid growth +periods, 1950s and 60s, what's called the golden age of the economy, the minimum wage +tracked productivity, which it should. As productivity increases the minimum wage increased. +As you get to the mid-1970s they start to separate. Productivity goes up and minimum +wage flattens, which means it goes down relatively. If the minimum wage had continued at the rate +of the 50s and the 60s, it would now probably be about $20/hour or something like that, +and that's a reflect- and that of course reflects everything else. AS minimum wages +go down, so do others, and we have a period of, if you take a look at the economy today, +you can see really deep failures. I mean there's a huge amount of work that has to be done, +Drive around the city, the infrastructure is a wreck, schools underfunded, the health +center is an international scandal, way too expensive for what's achieved. There' +s a tremendous amount of work to be done, there's lot of people who want to do the +work, plenty of resources, and it's not happening. The system is so dysfunctional +that massive capital resources, great and willingness to work, vast amounts of work +to be done can't be put together. That's a serious, I mean, we can think of ways out +of that, but the fact that it's happening is a major problem. Consumer debt in contrast +is not a major problem. +Judy Cole: Right, and that has actually gone down more recently anyway. +Noam Chomsky: It's now within a reasonable limit. It did increase briefly during the +housing bubble. +Judy Cole: So I was hearing on the radio this morning about legislation around creating +super PACs, and the ability of anonymous donors to support different political lobbying efforts. +It seems to me that that might be a part of the causes of some of these problems that +you're talking about, getting it all together. +Noam Chomsky: There is a very fundamental problem of the functioning of the democratic +system. There's a very good study of the last election, the midterm election, by two +leading political scientists, Water Dean Burnham and Thomas Ferguson, the major students of +electoral politics, and the figures, the results that came out are pretty startling. It turns +out that voting participation in much of the country is about at the level of the early +19th century. That's a time when voting was restricted to propertied white males. +Judy Cole: That's scary. +Noam Chomsky: It's very scary and what they conclude is plausibly, people have just given +up on the political system. They know that it doesn't do anything for them. And if +you look at other studies, you see the details. So for example an important book came out +a couple of years ago by Martin Gilens, I think he's at Princeton, it's called Affluence +and Influence, it's just a study of how, the relation between public opinion and public +policy. There are many such studies. This is one. What he found, which is what others +find, is that for a large majority of the population, roughly 70% at the lower part +of the income scale, they're effectively disenfranchised. Their representatives simply +pay no attention to their opinions. As you go up the scale you get a little bit more +influence. When you get to the very top, that's where policy is made. And that's closely +related to what you brought up. The elections are basically bought and those who are, uh, +put into office by the massive funding of concentrated wealth are responsive to that +constituency. Actually, this goes way back, it's nothing new. You go back about a century, +the famous campaign manager Mark Hannah, he was once asked what are the important things +for running a successful campaign? And his answer was, he said there are three things +that are important: the first one is money, the second one is money, and I've forgotten +what the third one is. That was over a century ago, and it's gotten much more extreme, +particularly in the light of recent Supreme Court rulings. +Judy Cole: So I'm going to jump around a little bit here and stick with the international +flavor. Tugral in Nairobi, Kenya, asks, media powerhouses around the world use words and +language of exclusion and division such as martyr, religious, and terrorist. Do you think +social media has the ability to counter the divisive language used by mass media? +Noam Chomsky: They can in the same way that popular activism can counter public decisions +that impose repression and oppression. So social...take, say terrorism, social media +- the term is used in almost a certain Orwellian manner, the terrorism means the terrorism +they commit against us but not what we commit against them. So social media, I mean we've +seen this, right, in the last couple of days in regard to the Charlie Hebdo affair. It +was a terrorist act. There are others that we've committed that are very similar that +don't even enter into the discussion. Some are even worse. For example the U.S., and +NATO, bombed and destroyed, put off the air a Serb television station, uh, during the +attack on Serbia in 1999. And killed 16 journalists, about the same as Paris. And there was a reason: +it was producing information supportive of the government we were attacking, okay? That's +not called terrorism. We did it a couple of years later, uh, the U.S. Marines invaded +the town of Fallujah, in Iraq. You take a look at the newspapers just days of the invasion, +very positive reporting, it was described as a noble enterprise. It's still described +that way. It's actually one of the worst war crimes of the millennia. First day of +the invasion, you take a look at the New York Times, there's a picture on the front page +of, which is described in the caption, the picture is patients lying on the floor of +the general hospital, the troops invaded the general hospital, which is a war crime, uh, +took the patients out of the beds, put them on the floor, tied their hands behind their +back. Same with hospital personnel and so on. There were questions from reporters and +there was a reason: they said the hospital was a propaganda agency for the rebels. What +was the propaganda? Producing casualty figures. Well, when we do that's considered fine. +In fact, there's a bestselling movie now, a famous movie that glorifies some of these +things. When if they were to do that to us. +Judy Cole: They would be terrorists. +Noam Chomsky: Oh my God, beyond terrorism. But that's the kind of thing that can be +overcome by popular engagement, and social media is just one form of popular engagement. +Judy Cole: Mm hmm. So going back, let me see, where was I, Jane in Cambridge: how do you +write and how have you managed to be so productive. Was it a conscious goal for you to be prolific? +Do you believe that it's possible to be so politically active while still climbing +the ranks of academia? +Noam Chomsky: Sure. There's no special trick. It's just hard work. It's something anybody +can do if they want to. You have to decide how you want to spend your time. It takes +time for other things, you can't help but doing that. +Judy Cole: Right, there's only 24 hours in a day. +Noam Chomsky: Only 24 hours, but it's very fulfilling in many ways. +Judy Cole: So Jonathan in California asks: do you have any observations or predictions +about the recent warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba? +Noam Chomsky: Well that's an interesting development. We should look a little bit at +the background. The U.S. has been extremely isolated on Cuba. You take a look at the votes +of the United Nations. Every year there's a vote in the general assembly on the U.S. +embargo in Cuba, basically a blockade. The votes are, you know, 180 to three. The United +States, Israel, and the Marshall Islands or something like that. But it goes on year after +year. It's gotten so extreme. A very interesting development has taken place in the Western +hemisphere in the last ten or fifteen years. For the first time in the last 500 years, +literally, the countries mainly of South America, have begun to extricate themselves from imperial +domination. In the last century or so, that means U.S. domination. They've begun to +move towards integration. They've moved towards independence. The U.S. is, one sign +of it is the U.S. doesn't have a single military base left in South America. The, +uh, and they've begun to confront their very serious internal problems. One consequence +of this is that the U.S. has lost its influence in the continent. If you go back to, say, +1945, where at the end of the second world war, the U.S. was able right away to call +a hemispheric conference in Mexico, where the U.S. virtually dictated what was called +an economic charter for the Americas, designed very explicitly to keep the continent as exploitable +resource base for U.S. industry and enterprise. You can't conceive of doing that now. In +fact the last hemispheric conference, the U.S. and Canada were virtually excluded, and +the next one they may be literally excluded. That's the background for the...Obama's +move toward Cuba. One of several issues which the U.S. has been isolated in the Western +Hemisphere is the refusal to allow Cuba to enter into the Hemispheric system, the rest +of the hemisphere is in favor of that and has been for a long time. +Judy Cole: Well and haven't some of the South American countries been ignoring our +blockade? +Noam Chomsky: They try to ignore it but you can't really ignore it. The U.S. has been +very punitive about the blockade. Not just South America, so, you know if Sweden, to +take a real case, sends medical equipment somewhere that's using nickel that was gotten +from Cuba, that can be punished under the U.S. embargo. It's a very punitive system +and it's been, of course, extremely harmful to Cuba. But on top of that, going back to +terrorism, the U.S. tends to forget that beginning with Kennedy, the U.S. launched a very serious +terrorist war against Cuba. What people talk about is attempts to assassinate Castro, and +yeah, they existed. But that wasn't what it was about. It was blowing up petrochemical +plants, killing a lot of people, sinking ships in harbor, shelling hotels, uh, biological, +probable it's not certain, biological warfare it could be, it's not certain. A very serious +attack. That's kind of out of our, our history, but it's in real history. And that's again +part of the background that went on into the 90s. +Judy Cole: So we're going to, we're running out of time here, but um, we have time for +just one or two more questions I think. I think this is an interesting one. What do +you think is the greatest tool in demilitarizing our economy and our culture? +Noam Chomsky: The human will. It's the greatest tool for any change. But take, say, nuclear +weapons. There are now plans to spend about a trillion dollars in the current coming decades +to upgrade the nuclear weapons system. That's a tremendous threat to survival. I mean it's +kind of a miracle that we've survived the nuclear age. If you look at the record, there +have been case after case where war came very close through inadvertence. So take a recent +case that was just discovered from archival research. In the early 1980s, this is one +of many incidentally - in the early 1980s, the incoming Reagan administration decided +to probe Russian air and sea defenses by simulating attacks including nuclear attacks to try to +determine how they would react and to learn about their defensive systems. They also declared +a nuclear alert intended for the Russians to know it so that they would take it seriously. +Well, this was a very tense moment, it turns out. Pershing missiles were being installed +in Western Europe, a five or ten minute flight time to Moscow. The, of course Russia was +completely surrounded by missiles, Turkey, everywhere. Star Wars, so-called SDI program, +was announced. That's understood to be on all sides a first strike. The Russians took +it very seriously. Newly released archives indicate that there was a major war scare +which was not well understood but it's worse. Just about a year ago, again, archival information +revealed that, you know, in this very tense period, the Russian automated systems which +make huge numbers of errors, errors, detected a major missile attack from the United States. +And the protocol is that that information is supposed to be transmitted to the high +command which then ordered a retaliatory strike. Well there's one human being, his name is +Stanislav Petrov, who received the automated information and decided not to transmit it. +And that's why we're here to talk about it. We don't know how many cases there are +like that but there are, there's a recent study that came out in the Atomic Scientist, +just studying the, whatever data they have, a lot of it is classified, but whatever data +they have from the U.S. systems, from about 1980 to 1983, that period, they found probably +hundreds of cases where there were accidents that could have blown up and they assumed +that it continues. Well this is quite apart from cases where there were really open confrontations +like the Cuban missile crisis, or what might be building up, that's constant. In the +face of that we're now upgrading our missile systems. Just a couple of days ago the Russians +announced that they are withdrawing from a pretty successful agreement in which the U.S. +helped them eliminate dangerous nuclear weapons stores that they had after the Cold War. They're +pulling out of it because of the conflict in Ukraine. That's hazardous. And this is +a case where we know, at least we know the answer of how to end the problem: get rid +of nuclear weapons. And in fact we're committed to that by the non-proliferation treaty. But +we're going in the other direction. +Judy Cole: Like that old movie War Games, where the only winning move is not to play. +Noam Chomsky: Well if the article of the Atomic Scientist starts off by talking about black +swans, you know, highly improbable events that do nevertheless take place. And what +it says is a nuclear war is a black swan. We won't know that there is one until we're +all dead. +Judy Cole: Well going back to the person who asked about how to feel better afterwards, +that's kind of a sad note to end on, but I'm afraid we must. Cause we're out of +time. +Noam Chomsky: It's an optimistic note to end on, and the reason is that this is at +least one problem that we know how to solve. There are others equally serious where it's +not clear that we know, like environmental catastrophes. +Judy Cole: That's very true. So on behalf of the MIT Alumni Association, thank you Noam +for your insights, and thanks to our viewing audience for joining us. For more information +on the Chomsky Archive at the MIT Libraries, visit libraries.mit.edu/chomsky. We encourage +you to continue discussing these topics on our blog, Slice of MIT, by following the link +that will appear on your screen, and on Twitter by using the hashtag mit-faculty. You can +also view an archive of past Faculty Forums Online by visiting the Learn section on the +Alumni Association website. Please join us next month for another session of the Faculty +Forum Online. +3 +11 +18 +26 +35 +40 +49 +55 +61 +67 +72 +78 +84 +86 +95 +104 +116 +125 +136 +144 +149 +156 +163 +171 +178 +184 +186 +193 +202 +207 +216 +222 +228 +232 +243 +252 +259 +262 +270 +280 +286 +289 +296 +304 +316 +328 +335 +344 +353 +362 +366 +374 +380 +389 +397 +404 +405 +410 +415 +420 +428 +436 +442 +451 +458 +471 +476 +482 +488 +496 +503 +504 +512 +517 +530 +538 +545 +552 +562 +569 +576 +583 +586 +594 +600 +602 +609 +616 +623 +630 +639 +645 +653 +660 +664 +670 +675 +682 +689 +696 +702 +708 +714 +721 +730 +738 +742 +750 +757 +765 +770 +776 +786 +792 +800 +805 +812 +818 +826 +830 +831 +834 +841 +848 +853 +860 +870 +876 +883 +890 +892 +897 +905 +911 +915 +923 +932 +933 +934 +938 +946 +954 +963 +970 +975 +983 +989 +997 +1004 +1011 +1017 +1025 +1031 +1037 +1046 +1052 +1060 +1067 +1074 +1082 +1088 +1095 +1101 +1109 +1116 +1121 +1130 +1131 +1136 +1146 +1153 +1162 +1166 +1171 +1178 +1179 +1187 +1194 +1195 +1201 +1208 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powers +plundered by the transnational companies we met to find a +integration but an integration for liberation our peoples we have +coexist integrated world is now that this world is stopped the funds +vultures and insatiable banks did not have that also threatens and harasses not +we are here to win we are here to form a government we are here to +change the country economic terrorists are also those who destabilize the +economy of a country and cause poverty hunger and misery from the sin of +the high speculation high to the shit out of here the bankers no longer send +here they no longer see the media power here to nome in the monetary fund and the +international bureaucracy that don't go to the hairdresser here you send +free no matter what and whatever it takes +today [Music] +good night we are tonight before an important event we are going to +interview noam chomsky one of the world's most renowned intellectuals +within the framework of this exceptional forum that has just taken place in buenos aires- the +international forum emancipation and equality a forum that has brought together +intellectuals come from practically the entire world intellectuals of enormous +prestige come from the usa come from all latin america 'come from many +countries in europe and that has tried to reflect on the moment that is being +living not only in latin america but also in some european countries +where some political organizations first like ciriza for example in +Greece has come to power is trying to change things in Spain there is a +organization how can we are also showing up to +the elections that can come to power that can change things in Spain and +in other European countries some organizations are contemplating what +It has happened in Latin America 'in progressive countries and it tries, although not +imitate but do reflect on the solutions that have been provided in +Latin America 'of social inclusion in the fight against neoliberalism and what +How could this bridge in Buenos Aires be implemented in Europe? +this bridge between europe latin america has been witnessed between reflections in the +two continents has been let's say at the center of this +international forum and let's say the personality that has been the the center +also from this general reflection as he has spent years thinking about what +it is precisely a more just world a less unequal world a world with less +violence is this American intellectual noam chomsky who now +for viewers who do not know him, we will be able to meet him at +through this tape that we are going to spread and then we can meet him and I will +to have a conversation with noam chomsky so at the moment we see +this tape +what we are and what we do is just language, they assure not jones that the +top intellectual of today linguist philosopher and +American political activist was born in Philadelphia in 1928 he entered the +university of pennsylvania to study linguistic and mathematical philosophy and +he obtained a doctorate in linguistics in 1955 in 1957 chomsky revolutionized the +field of theoretical linguistics with the publication of the work structures +syntactics based on his doctoral thesis logical structures of theory +linguistics in which he raises the existence of a brain device +innate that allows you to learn and use language almost instinctively is +emeritus professor of linguistics at the massachusetts institute of technology +in haiti since 1961 and one of the leading figures in linguistics +of the 20th century his academic and intellectual work throughout half a century +covers the fields of linguistics communication +and sociology his work is very extensive comprising more than 30 books and hundreds +of articles chomsky is one of the linguists who have +transformed the most essential concepts of general grammar +founding the transformational generative grammar according to chomsky being +human has a natural faculty that develops language as a mechanism +necessary of militant communication of the North American intellectual left +is recognized worldwide for having chosen the path of thought and +political activism its critical and committed position in relation to capitalism +contemporary and foreign policy of the us since the war years of +Vietnam to this day this firm decision has allowed him to be a +privileged interlocutor in debates on world order problems +In numerous articles and public presentations, he highlights that the media +communication are strategic instruments subordinate to large +economic corporations that dominate the state and civil society +good night and business welcome to the set of +Argentine public television +we are going to tackle a series of themes gathered around three themes +individuals let's talk about latin america ' +we are going to talk about the usa in the world at the present time and we are going to talk also +mass communications communication manipulation of spirits a subject or +two three topics on which you have reflected a lot I would like +ask the first question +a few days ago president obama made a statement that is an order +executive in which she declared that Venezuela was a threat to the +us national security what do you think of this statement from the +President Obama +[Music] we have to be careful to distinguish +two parts of that statement on the one hand one part was real was the +imposing sanctions on seven officers Venezuelans the +another part is also a technical aspect is the way laws are formulated +Americans today when a president imposes a sanction must raw invoke +ridiculous statement esther saying there is a security threat +national and the existence of the us of the island of granada or whatever +that's a technical aspect of American law is so +ridiculous that the lender never actually records it if they +records in the us but only because this +emerged in Latin America the original statement is never mentioned in all its +context and I think it's the ninth time obama has invoked the threat to +national security and survival usa +because it is the only mechanism within its reach by which the law allows it +impose a strong sanction, that is, what counts are the sanctions, the rest is +an absurd formality that is a history of many years that we could +which we could do without but love the case it doesn't mean anything sometimes if for +example in 1985 president reagan +invoked the same law saying that the state of nicaragua is a threat to the +national security and us survival but in that cavern it was true +it was fine at a time when the world court had ordered up +two husbands who sustraba an end to their attacks against nicaragua +with the side the inappropriate use of force against terrorism +Nicaragua does not take it into account and the nations security council +united considered at that time two functions that asked all states +they will respect international law did not mention anyone in particular +return and I knew they were on their way refer the United States and states and the +second he did the same in both cases in the congress +American court asked us to end terrorism +international and it will pay for very large repairs and congress +what he did was increase the financing +of the North American forces that attacked Nicaragua is to say that the +government did not expose its veto to the resolution and violated what was being +seeing in that context king gun put on his cowboy boots and said it was +a threat to the security of states that made sense will remind them of +moments he organized a course saying that the Nicaraguan troops are only +two days walk from some old cities +so we were in big trouble and they couldn't have survived well that +man unfortunately it was a reality but now it is not a truncal +try to say it's not an extra effort to try to undermine the +government of venezuela something that the united states does and that almost always does +In those cases they have not met President Hugo +chavez +On the other hand, President Chavez had great admiration for you +he promoted some of his books very insistently +What memories do you have of President Chavez and what opinion do you have of him? +he deserves president chavez as ruler in particular for his +influence in latin america [Music] +after the pepper and chavez after they showed the yellow radiation +it sold very well and a friend of mine said his book was 2,600,000 in +souls +ovidio asked me if president chavez could not show my book the book of +he +that we had with him in science evaluation price I had a +day with a friend we basically talked about how he got to +power how the united states reacted and many +things of that nature +Chavez made a very important effort to try to introduce changes +substantial in Venezuela and its role in the world is more one of its first +Hindu acts was brought to the opep +the notorious case of going down to production to increase a price according to what I +he said that was the time that the us finally turned against +Venezuela used to tolerate it and much more +fire with oil supplied cheaply to Cuba and other Caribbean countries +efforts to develop or improve the health system in that +poverty the missions they got it was an effort within their community +entire etcetera this had some degree of success from +Steve who faces serious difficulties particularly the +incompetence and corruption as dreamed strike etc and the other end +it is a difficult context for a venezuela internally and the most important problem +serious that has not been overcome and is a problem for Latin America in general +insofar as they depend on a new unsustainable format of development +economic based on the export of bread +one can get with that as argentina brazil among know it but unless +the economy diversifies in such a way that it cannot develop +from basic car production to industrialization +both of agricultural products but the industry that most is not its social model +and if you take the developed countries starting with england +united states and others all upload originally started exporting +basic products for example the case usa was developed because it had almost a +monopoly on commodities most important in century but that was the +cotton made in slave camps in the usa +that there were camps that would have impressed the Nazis if they had +could see they failed to increase cotton productivity faster +industry had no technical duration apart from the whip they used every time +more for three gilded slaves with the widely used torture and other +activities to the reptile before cotton production increased very +quickly which did not enrich the owners we are slaves +for they have put but also development of the manufacturing system if you go for +example to the northeast which is a manufacturing area +at that time the main expenses were spent on spector and cotton +predicted cotton cloth the same as the earth +it did not matter usa and they had their first factory and that also developed their +financial systems themselves it was an extremely complex move +about borrowing funds and other financial stuff and all that from +cotton export a trading system financial systems well +The US like other developed countries that did not respect what is called the +healthy economy under which those principles that today are done with +high tariffs and with other mechanisms and exports continued like this until the +year 1945 when they could really develop the industrial production of +textile steel and other drugs this is how development can be done if a +country is self-imitating the importation of basic products is going to be installed and +that's what happened in that the economy continues to depend +terribly of oil export +and this model is also sustainable for the export of soy or other +agricultural products in such a way that we have to go through a format +other than development like England and the USA and others did for +course for example france lived in the 90's the wealth came from the torture of +Haitians today sadly continue the same with history +knowledge about other countries venezuela has not overcome this obstacle and has +other serious internal problems and of course the us exacerbate those +problems and I believe that sanctions is an effort to achieve this +For me it is a good answer to Venezuela, it would be just letting go +ignore sanctions cannot be ignored because they are real +but raise what you mentioned the ridiculous claim of threats to the +American national security it's important to remember that this in itself we +represents like I didn't say it was just a matter of ways +It is something that was not reported to the US It is something that is important is the role in the +Latin America that counts in that case last December 17 +President Obama and also President Raul Castro made a +joint non-joint statement each for his part in which they announced the +normalization of relations between Cuba and the US President Obama in +that statement acknowledged that 50 years of US pressure politics +Americans with included economic blockade had not produced any +result and that you had to change your policy what do you think of this +normalization between cuba and the us and how do you see the evolution of relations +between Cuba and the United States and its influence for the whole of Latin America ' +it's not normalizing your first steps to what might be a normalism +that is, the embargo, but it will be the restrictions on the neighborhood +they can travel debt free but if it is a step towards +normalization and it's extremely easy to see what the current rhetoric of the analysis is +of obama and suppression do whatever fertile he said 50 years of +efforts to bring democracy freedom and human rights agreements +have failed and that other countries unfortunately were not supporting us in +the reinforcement carmen we have against another way to continue our +dedication to the imposition of democracy, freedom and human rights that +dominate our benign policies in word plus word plus word +less than eight flights the eggs fill up though when a government +pronounce something you have to translate it into a cute what does this mean +for 50 I have made a terrain of the great is to change an economic struggle +simple have left the us totally isolated in +a world in Latin America that we have not been able to undermine the government of Cuba in +those fifty years with which how about five we close another solution is the +translating a little bit of the speech is what it really means or what is +can say Spanish or English it is worth remembering that most of these +issues are suppressed the North American debates and even +Europeans indeed usa campaigned +terrorism terrorism against Cuba under Kennedy terrorism was we will include +right now there is a debate sometimes about assassination attempts +trace that is they made to saturate that those +petrochemical facilities bombing hotels where they knew there were Russians who +they were housed in killing cattle or a very large campaign that lasted many +years but more after the united states will end its terrorism the +direct appeared supporting terrorism let's say +based on miami from the 90's but the economic war didn't play a part +started by jce en haul but really picked up momentum during the era +kennedy and got worse after excluding the pretext of economic war was not +democracy and the introduction of black brothers but that is cuba was a +appendix of the great satan who was russia straight and who had we had to +protect ourselves in the same way that we had to protect ourselves from others +collapsed in the Soviet union with the embargo the blockade got worse +clinton won him the status game to extend the brito block then +made a liberal senator much stronger or something weird from being without later +Worse still is an effort to strangle that it obviously has nothing to do with +with democracy and with human rights it's not even a joke because +is the only thing we have to do is look at the North American records of their +I support violent terrorist dictatorships not only support them and not +impose on them with the case of those destined where the us was the strongest support of the +Argentine dictatorship and when they reagan +the guatemala government was carrying out a genocide +de regan wanted to support them but the congress of the day set certain minutes +that's why he said well how about we do it in Argentina we transform them with neo-Nazis +to do what we have unfortunately Argentina became the +democracy later and that's where they lost that support they had then +They went to Israel to continue training the armies of +terrorism in guatemala +we analyze international relations specialists well no +they want to talk about this but in fact it is a very important principle of +monetary policy sometimes domain theory for example +if the usual argument is that the us lost if the world war but not +it's true if we look at internal planning the us achieved the most +their goals if not perhaps the maximum goal if we think that the Philippines for +example but if the basic objectives that were good similar to those of Cuba if +the concern they had in the 50s was that maybe in vietnam it might +follow a path of successful independence a radical nationalism like +we could call it and so this would be a model for others who would like to follow +regions along the same path which could lead to undermine this +domain system that could later be copied in thailand for example +and in other places governments is a big problem it was indonesia that gave +many actions for the resources that they already had the us is worried because +japan was sometimes called the super domain +it could also follow this desire for independence and become a center +industrial in asia in economics also so they lost the facet of the +peaceful in war and then there we have the new order of japan already +the early 1950s the us was not prepared to tolerate this loss to +lose the second war so what they had to do was a henry kissinger +I used special terminology to describe this these small countries are +like viruses that could transmit diseases to infect us if by +example to other places here chile for example that could conquer others +countries then we have a the system +parliamentary democracy here in chile and could bring this disease to the south of +Europe and others could be contaminated with what we could call the car +communism in some is a danger what we do if we have +a virus that can transmit diseases so it must be destroyed +to the virus it is necessary to inoculate the possible victims it is necessary to vaccinate those like +imposing these tough military addicts baquba the virus +in 62 +Kennedy had already led the economic war on terrorism and had also +made a very important decision one of the most important of his government is +change goes the mission of the Latin American military that were controlled +For the United States, it replaced by hemispheric defense and became +internal security and this of the hemispheric defense was something of the second +war this internal security is not something that has no meaning is +war against the people against the population and in the towns of +Latin America knows what others mean by a neo-Nazi style of terrorism +murders here argentina the new the worst cases and we see one after another +then you well as the domino pieces were falling in the direction +Correct this contagion of terrorism in Cuba was also subject to the +huge pressures and why did this change good and change because states +sustainable they had what they said is that Cuba was isolated but the opposite the +the us are the ones who are isolated and think about the votes the voting in +united nations year after year voting on embargo +then we have a hundred and one votes on one hand and then we have the countries +The United States is almost alone, and in Latin America the cases are so +extremes that the congresses of this hemisphere +no full agreement is ever reached by the us and canada itself +They support the rest of the countries of the hemisphere and we have it in Cuba and Cuba. +is a member of this us isolation got to the point where you have to +make another kind of effort to undermine and weaken and destroy this virus and this +is the correct translation of the words of obama +in 1999 another virus appeared but in the opposite direction chavez appeared in +Venezuela a number of countries adopted some +very different anti-neoliberal programs some governments +Progressives began to appear in Latin America 'first in Brazil +after venezuela truth with lula then in bolivia with evo morales then +in Ecuador on a leash then in Argentina with Kirchner +in uruguay with tabare vazquez and mujica and this has spread throughout latin america +and indeed, as you have just said, Latin America has left a +little of the hands to the us I would like to ask first what +opinion do you have of these progressive governments in general of america +Latin and second, how is it that the U.S. has been in this situation? +of loss of influence in Latin America what you wrote is a +very significant change is a point of historical importance and the us are by +course the country the power that exercises the most dominance of all the all the +world all united no longer have the overwhelming power to destroy governments and +impose military dictatorships where you want if you think for example the +last 15 years there have been some coups a coup attempt in +venezuela in 2002 yes well it worked let's say for a few +days nothing more if the us fully supported it but did not have the power to +impose the new government or another in haiti in 2004 so there we have the +torturers from haiti french usa combined +to rip kidnap the president and send him to central africa and +keep it hidden there so that it could not even participate in +elections well this was successful but haiti is a very weak country there was another +case in honduras in 2009 if with obama the military if they got rid of the +parliamentary government so there's a democratic excuse from us they didn't want +condemn it as a military coup or were isolated in this they were led to +After the elections, with the permission of the United States, this military coup supported it. +successful and now this country is a mess by completely caught we have a +terrible record of the worst human rights and if we see the migration to +united states which is a great topic most of it comes from honduras because this +country was destroyed by the coup that the us supported +so you see some success stories so to speak +but not as in the past not as formerly Latin America has now +taken a step forward to achieve a certain degree of independence is the +correct path forward yes so good the mercosur unasur is lab there +different groups representing steps towards integration something totally +Celac is completely new because we are not united and Canada remains +excluded and this good no one could have thought of this is inconceivable +years ago and this is reflected in various places +a very interesting recent study if what is called for example the +way of reflecting the worst torture in the world we take someone and what +we send the worst military dictatorship to torture him and with impunity and +we can have information this is the worst form of torture +The US has been doing it for years, I live a study to see which countries +Middle Eastern countries cooperate of course +there we sent them to carry out this random torture syria in egypt they were +kadafi libya well they torture well no and the European countries mostly +england sweden france all participate then there was a region of the world +where no Latin American country participated +and this is really striking very interesting when you are america +latina was under the control of the us it was a global torture center and now +they even refused to participate in this kind of this us torture game and +this is a very significant change and it is a sign it really is an event +very significant there have been certain partial success stories in america +Latina who has led the resistance to this neoliberal game +we can call it that also other successes +and there is still a long way to go +[Music] +0 +21 +34 +41 +46 +50 +56 +61 +66 +70 +76 +83 +87 +92 +101 +146 +155 +161 +170 +176 +181 +188 +195 +200 +206 +212 +216 +220 +227 +233 +240 +246 +253 +259 +265 +277 +284 +290 +297 +303 +309 +313 +316 +321 +326 +332 +336 +344 +348 +353 +357 +364 +367 +373 +379 +382 +388 +391 +395 +400 +404 +409 +414 +419 +424 +429 +435 +439 +443 +453 +459 +465 +471 +476 +481 +489 +494 +498 +504 +512 +518 +521 +527 +533 +540 +546 +554 +562 +571 +576 +581 +587 +592 +598 +602 +608 +614 +620 +625 +631 +637 +644 +650 +657 +665 +670 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+1741 +1746 +1750 +1753 +1759 +1766 +1770 +1778 +1783 +1789 +1795 +1800 +1805 +1809 +1816 +1823 +1827 +1835 +1841 +1847 +1853 +1858 +1862 +1867 +1873 +1878 +1883 +1891 +1897 +1901 +1909 +1916 +1923 +1928 +1933 +1938 +1944 +1949 +1956 +1960 +1969 +1976 +1985 +1990 +1997 +2002 +2007 +2013 +2018 +2025 +2030 +2037 +2042 +2047 +2054 +2060 +2064 +2071 +2076 +2081 +2086 +2091 +2094 +2099 +2103 +2112 +2116 +2122 +2126 +2131 +2138 +2144 +2151 +2155 +2163 +2166 +2172 +2178 +2185 +2190 +2197 +2202 +2208 +2214 +2221 +2225 +2229 +2236 diff --git a/cnt/Happy 90th birthday Noam Chomsky! NbjETlxFysE.en.cnt b/cnt/Happy 90th birthday Noam Chomsky! NbjETlxFysE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c972736 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Happy 90th birthday Noam Chomsky! NbjETlxFysE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +[Music] you snono ali hassoun for cult +value sound tim cook art we will have to do our best wishes for her +ninetieth birthday because it allows us to thank you for marking the +our experience as a linguist +[Music] +schools +[Music] graphic than ever by china limited and ipod +touch my generation bislacchi and many many generations from tears and of +therefore an opportunity for sky with no doubt language +main stage +the mechanical food designs are fake and dario indie scene did baby jane +holl student at france tournaments and modern manas science owes them in one +Intellectual connection you will learn Professor Jones' happiness +john stephens +[Music] +[Music] +5 +26 +32 +36 +51 +63 +72 +85 +93 +98 +105 +113 +140 +145 +185 +194 diff --git a/cnt/I put a question to proffesor Noam Chomsky. yS2Xvxjg4wM.en.cnt b/cnt/I put a question to proffesor Noam Chomsky. yS2Xvxjg4wM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39a8a24 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/I put a question to proffesor Noam Chomsky. yS2Xvxjg4wM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +I put a question to most famous linguist in World, on the planet Earth. +I asked the professor for his most valuable professional "linquistic" help. +It's interesting how other point of view, simply other angle of camera here, can change and changes the whole tone of the event. +Similar happens in theatre drama "13 Angry" (see on www.earthrecovery.eu) from the cosmic point of view for the whole space shuttle crew. +Could it be misused as an effective tool of propaganda as well? +I asked Mr. Chomsky for 'Mr. Chomsky's best linquistic unpolitical help: +What language will be most suitable for the planet Earth to recover it, if this happend? +Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator and activist. +Sometimes described as the "father of modern linguistics". +Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy. +He has spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is currently Professor Emeritus, and has authored over 100 books. +He has been described as a prominent cultural figure, and was voted the "world's top public intellectual" in a 2005 poll. +MAKRO film video management 2014 +Thakns a lot to Richard Cotes from Czech capitol Prague! +Thank U Mister Chomsky! +0 +9 +14 +27 +37 +44 +50 +73 +85 +95 +112 +149 +167 +174 +181 diff --git a/cnt/Interview mit Noam Chomsky - Die unangefochtene Dominanz der USA ist vorbei gW-PIvSExwU.en.cnt b/cnt/Interview mit Noam Chomsky - Die unangefochtene Dominanz der USA ist vorbei gW-PIvSExwU.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdc21df --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Interview mit Noam Chomsky - Die unangefochtene Dominanz der USA ist vorbei gW-PIvSExwU.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,600 @@ +welcome to the broadcast in conversation with korea today we have a whole +special guest one of the most influential thinkers of the week +great scientist and professor i speak of noam chomsky his contribution +linguistics has the approach to research in this +science area that is known worldwide for +his political commitment and his search for justice that he and the +extremely unfair international politics of the united states always amine +condemned for conflict and war and violence +imperialism on the whole planet welcomes criticized professor +our broadcast in conversation with korea thank you our invitation +if they like it here how he is doing very well they live now +here in arizona yes i live here in arizona i got some years ago +married we are very happy wonderful i congratulate let us +Talking about imperialism would help us a lot if you +please define the term short six years an entire +the term broadly speaking means the term in one or the other +others form the ability to control and dominate what +others can sometimes do so through extreme violence, such as that +invasion of iraq sometimes through financial manipulation like that +favoring the migration of capital or the imposition of +adjustment programs are carried out in some cases, even the +kidnapping a president as happened a few years ago +Many different shapes are essentially what the term means +ability to exercise control and get away with it in the least +to be punished to say it critically +I am thinking of the free trade agreements or the adjustment agreements etc +there are the deals and also what my friend edward hermann deserves +and unworthy victims make a distinction between the invalid victims and theirs +fulfill obligations with the agreements +the finished do what you want mr professor the world politics of +the twenty-first century will consistently rise again from russia +and china shaped as new economic powers, especially the usa will become china +continue to be the hegemon of international order if you take the time +after the second world war, the highlight was the united market +states in 1945 at the time the united states owned +probably the world's prosperity you had the certainty of control +the two oceans and their coasts across the entire western hemisphere +they also had an unprecedentedly strong military with nuclear weapons +this is a degree of dominance for which there was previously no historical president +gave as if crumbling started quite quickly in 1949 something happened +what is interestingly in the united states under the term +loss inas is known that is a very interesting +formulation because I can lose my computer, for example, but not in +yours but the prerequisite is only that we occupy the world and if someone has it +then we lose independently and the loss of china had one +the so-called magical repression had an enormous impact on the domestic market +he is considering an enormous effect on foreign policy, such as kennedy +whether he attacked us against south vietnam where it was all in china +One of his concerns was that the loss of inter china +accused it is not ours if we do not +check strictly if you look at the +period of 1945 you should see that it does +the united states has steadily decreased there is one more factor +who is usually not measured by economists and political scientists +usa live international system in the form of us company +meanwhile, the world has changed as a result of neoliberal globalization +and if you now look at the property in the world +us groups and international companies in the united +states are home to around 40 percent of the global economy +us groups are leaders in almost all categories of production +finance trade in pretty much everything so the national power has in +from a certain measure, but from a different point of view it is +economic and political power in the united states is still changing +and there is still the military area in which nobody is approaching the usa +come they spend almost as much on armor as the rest of the world +together they are technologically advanced +advanced they may have around 800 to +900 military bases worldwide but not in manta i will be yours +wonderful comment in this regard will never be forgotten +i repeat it again and again offer ecuador but has no base either +in miami no other country is far from him +team set up like the united states +i think china certainly has a dynamically developing economy +which enables him to have a say in world divorce +but it is still a very poor country if you look at the +United Nations Human Development Index View Who You Are +china finishes at number 90 it has enormous internal problems +this includes ecological and demographic problems as well as political ones +repression then a lot of inner problems so the developed ones +industrialized countries have not professor you mentioned that +United States military power in the world exercise +according to donald trump, this makes even bigger and better under his government +become stronger what is the military strategy of the usa +under the government of donald trump the opposite is actually the case +in case of trump it becomes weaker less +effective it disintegrates internally and loses its international authority +and to see that you sat once the trump government moves +Towards the destruction of the world by far the most important policy +government is the approach to a driver's existential crisis +climate change here the united states +detached from the whole world every other country feels like it is something +be clearing with regard to this actually growing and upcoming +crisis the united states are under +not only give up your efforts in this area but abandoned +Aggressively increase the risk of escalation by becoming even more concerned +concentrate the production of fossil fuels +the united states are saudi arabia as the largest +oust producers of fossil fuels +this is devastating i understand it but how do you want the united states +get, for example, to sign the environmental contracts if you have one +have such strong military power +of course, the united states have no capacity to destroy everything +question any other nuclear power can do that but we also have to understand +that we have reached one point is one of my argument +between the leading nuclear powers atomic life for him on the whole +extinguish planet worth the first blow he will also have that nuclear power +meet him personally chosen because of the consequences of a very +probable atomic winter including one out of sheer volume +decades or even centuries we have reached an annihilation stand +that is already beyond human imaginations +based on many years and now it will always be dangerous to see them +nuclear war clock in the report sheet the atomic scientists at the 1947 +was founded every year by a scientist +political analyst tries to assess the threat to the world and the +minute hand set at midnight +midnight means the end of our style and, like many other styles, the watch +was set up in 1907 and is set to seven minutes to twelve after that +the pointer is moving and it reached two minutes before midnight +That was in 1953 when the United States played and only these offer theirs +atomic bombs have tested hydrogen bombs that were all capable of it +quickly destroyed then the watch has been swinging back and forth for several weeks +she is back at the next two minutes before midnight +distance since the establishment of the eu very interesting professor that +it was the twentieth century and the bloodiest in world history +Have you claimed that the world is at even greater risk than the world? +the countries' nuclear arsenal faces the war rhetoric +between the united states around north korea concrete and predictable +take shape +it can be done very easily as in this case there is a very doable +approach to coping with the crisis this is well known it is a +proposal from china has been on the table for years and yes from russia and +most countries will support North Korea as well +potential support and that makes a lot of sense +the approach has freezed david friesen in north korea +weapons development and its nuclear weapons development +in return you will be frozen hear the united states with theirs +threatening military maneuvers on the border with north korea on the usa +the most advanced aircraft of the type he once used as 52 can one +atomic bomb is constantly transporting and flying over the north korean border +that is a serious danger now back to the losers +there is the un charter that prohibits a threat or the use of violence +threats or violent use are a serious violation of the un +charter they are a crime that happens all the time when you see them +looking at the history of the united states and north korea is one thing +meaningful threat the united states have the country +practically flattened in the 15 years so the united states would have to +stop these threats and north greens that its weapons development +from freezing that could be a basis for negotiation +create them in a reasonable and constructive way with the conflicts +and the crisis bypasses whatever you can about the north korean government +some may think they are the worst government in history +It is known that the government is trying to move towards the +to move economic development and she told some successes in +this fight, however, the weapons programs and the constant confrontation risk +if you are an enormous burden you have every reason to be one +type of agreement to relax the tensions and a +economic development and possibly an agreement too +enable if you look at the history of the +Negotiations looks really show a lot of propaganda on them +That there are many possibilities, the professor considers the main subject of this +talk is imperialism let's talk about the internal +talking about american problems the same problems as for the +rest of mankind violence for example violence is one of the biggest problems +of american society how do we solve this problem why do +we are not the obvious weapon control that is internal +problem in the united states it's a real cultural and social +illness the deaths from the north are about 25 in the united states +times as high as in comparable countries in all countries that do not like +Syria war is 25 times higher and there is one +widespread i cant even believe it then a widespread kind +passion in the usa that says that God has the right here +To carry an assault rifle in a cafe if you want to drink coffee without +curve youth but where does it come from that there will be a lot about the saint +missed the commitments of the second additional article +do you know when it started in 2008 it's not american +history and now additional articles had existed +but in 2008 it became a judgment 2a and gods do it +judgment in the washington dc trial against helga was not only very interesting +interesting what is but also the way it is handled +the decision was very tight that is when you look at the second addition rtl +it is said to maintain a well-organized civil service +people have the right to carry weapons and the debate was about it +whether it means that wearing the right weapons is a requirement for the +founding the citizen via is or whether it is an individual right is independent +from the civil defense that is the debate and the decision +from richter scale to a highly respected lawyer is a so-called original +says that we are on the intentions of those people who are the law +have decided that it is a +individual rights and is not dependent on animals, then there is +the debate among lawyers whether it is a form of civil defense as a tea or not +all of this is totally irrelevant if you are a real original +goals of the founding fathers looking back why did people want back then +examining weapons it's very easy to kill Indians +and to control slaves why do you need a civil defense because +The British came first of all, regardless of what history +means that is somehow used today no +the second additional article has no applicability these discussions are +completely irrelevant for the facts if you asked why this +Weapons needed so they had these larvae and I did +cruelest belief system in human history under control +keep going on the continent +Spread honors to advise the population that is why they have weapons +this is an interesting story in connection with the +second additional article if you pay attention but what is discussed +almost completely irrelevant and that is the reason why the decision from the +year 2008 which has unexplained 100 years of traditional opinion +which said that it is not an individual right but that it is only with one +civil defense connected +let's talk about the relationship between the usa and latin america +speak professor as you know i come from +Latin America will see the increase in right nationally oriented +governments in latin america negatively affect relations with the usa from the +achievements of the so-called pink tat have not yet been destroyed +for example, there are no us military bases +there is a certain degree of military interference but no direct one +military bases not in ecuador is even more interesting that the iwf the +actually part of the United States Treasury Department was exiled from there +but they can still come back they try to come back just like +the military tries to come back but it differentiates states and +what was once the time when the united states was one +overthrown government is over politician see eg the military +delete and support that but you cannot do that by inserting a +military dictatorship in brazil compare to the largest country in the south +hemisphere you can in case of electoral fraud +help but that can not be compared with the state he +only recently the terror in central america dominated the sea cloud +eighties hosted this horror as the usa date in every country +and support every region and if they don't the army +Then the guerrilla forces that attacked the country were able to control +you can no longer do that so yes there were thunderstorms also social internal +winner there is a regression a lot of problems +but i believe that there were many achievements i have to give them +contradict professor people have changed but +you can still overthrow governments in latin america you used to +example the mass media to destabilize governments governments +by stabilizing but this is very different from the military coup +ruin like it used to go unpunished for years +without wanting to fall back on history for a long time +or let's take, for example, the military +optimal wave of repression since I was early +60s riva latin america is in business and likes to be in the news +arrived in guatemala something like that is no longer in the night of the united +states +how do you rate the politics of the usa in relation to venezuela +in venezuela there are many international players from russia and +china who have important interests there and the neighboring country is colombia +an important military ally of the usa, you can stand up for venezuela +similar scenario to imagine for syria i don't think so +venezuela has very serious problems but the usa is unable to meet one +to initiate military policy there or to attack the country +i think this is highly unlikely the usa has this +just doesn't do anymore you enjoy the support this +The United Kingdom was afraid of another subject, Professor +Julian Assange is not allowed to be the Ecuadorian embassy in London +leave it to believe that with the demands +the usa after its delivery, the usa has no connection +explicitly asked for the design of the delivery but I think +it is generally believed that he will end up panama someday if he does +I'm pretty sure I'm leaving the embassy now +professor let's continue talking about latin america +that is the unbalanced government of the world there alongside both extremely rich +as well as extremely poor people this is of course a distribution problem +there is no shortage of resources we have many resources that are bad +and technically we have solutions for it and +more progressive tax system e.g. +or at least tax recovery or tax recovery funding from +starts initiatives to create equal opportunities for everyone +state schools for everyone, for example a state health system and such +further control of market power observance of freedom rights +better distribution of national resources +the problem is not technical but politics, that would be the elite +damage that has always ruled us these elites own like factories and +The mass media sees every government will try to solve this problem +attacked +but these attacks can be returned +and there have actually been advances in preserving educational opportunities +eg that has changed so much in brazil for example where my wife +coming from under lula, large population groups had access to education +and where is lula now that is his fight you know what is happening there for +changes are not easy this is an ongoing struggle it is +striking that he is by far the most popular politician in the country +tried not to admit him to the elections but 30 years ago they had +usa simply introduced a military dictatorship, so a lot has happened +changed +we come to my last question professor how would you solve this problem +approach if you were an honest latin american president like that +like you did in ecuador mother like julia in brazil or +morales in bolivia there were many defects everything far from +perfection for what a lot was wrong let us take that alone brazil +most important country lula never succeeded +basic economic countries who hasn't really tried it +raw material export internal development which is very different from the east asian +makes a difference but they did the opposite +corruption was enormously widespread and that can be overcome and that +is also the task thanks a lot professor it was a pleasure for me +thank you for accepting our invitation +I hope to see you again soon +many thanks many thanks to all viewers that you +have watched the show in conversation with korea until next time +Goodbye +0 +5 +10 +16 +20 +24 +29 +33 +38 +44 +47 +54 +58 +63 +67 +75 +80 +85 +90 +95 +100 +104 +109 +113 +118 +122 +132 +137 +142 +144 +153 +157 +164 +172 +177 +185 +190 +196 +202 +207 +214 +219 +222 +229 +235 +241 +247 +255 +260 +267 +271 +275 +282 +287 +293 +298 +304 +309 +314 +319 +325 +331 +335 +341 +347 +354 +357 +363 +370 +374 +379 +382 +385 +390 +394 +400 +405 +411 +416 +421 +427 +431 +436 +441 +448 +452 +458 +464 +470 +475 +479 +485 +490 +493 +498 +503 +507 +512 +516 +524 +530 +537 +543 +549 +554 +560 +565 +569 +574 +579 +583 +591 +597 +601 +607 +613 +620 +628 +632 +640 +645 +650 +654 +662 +667 +672 +677 +682 +685 +691 +697 +704 +709 +713 +718 +723 +729 +738 +745 +751 +757 +763 +769 +775 +781 +786 +791 +796 +800 +804 +809 +813 +817 +821 +827 +833 +837 +842 +845 +850 +858 +862 +868 +873 +878 +884 +890 +897 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100644 index 0000000..97271e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Language and the Mind Revisited - The Biolinguistic Turn with Noam Chomsky yJp1-Od67-U.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,3148 @@ +(soft music) +- Almost exactly 35 years ago, +I had the opportunity to give several lectures here, +same auditorium I think +on the topic language and mind. +And quite a lot has been learned in the intervening years +about language and the brain, +hence the mind in the sense in which I used the term then, +the term mind, and mental and such terms. +And those lectures, +(audience member speaking off mic) +Pardon. +Aw, thank you. +(all laughing) +And we'll continue to use them now, +always nice to have a friend in the audience. +(audience laughing) +I'm using these terms as just descriptive terms +for certain aspects of the world, +pretty much on a par with such descriptive terms +as a chemical or optical electrical, and so on. +These are terms used to focus attention +on particular aspects of the world +that seem to have a rather integrated character, +and to be worth considering for a special investigation +but without any illusions +that they cut nature at the joints. +In those earlier lectures, +I took for granted that human language +can reasonably be studied as part of the world, +specifically is a property of the human organism +mostly the brain and for convenience, I'll keep to that. +Both then and now, I'm adopting what Lyle Jenkins +in a recent book calls the biolinguistic perspective, +that's the framework within which +the approach to language that I'm considering developed +about 50 years ago. +Also for convenience, I'll use the term language +to refer to human language, +that's a specific biological system +there is no meaningful question +as to whether the communication system of bees +or what might be taught the Apes, +or mathematics or music, +there's no question as to whether these are languages +or whether airplanes really fly +or submarines really swim, +or whether computers think or translate languages, +or other comparably meaningless questions +many of them based on a misinterpretation +of a important paper by Alan Turing +little over 50 years ago in 1950, +which has spawned a large and to my mind +mostly misguided literature, +explicitly, despite Turing's very explicit warning +not to pursue that direction +which has apparently been overlooked. +From the bio linguistic perspective, +language is a component of human biology +more or less on a par with mammalian vision +or insect navigation, and other systems +for which the best theories that have been devised, +attribute, computational capacities of some kind, +what's in informal usage sometimes called rule-following. +So for example, contemporary texts on vision +describes the so called rigidity principle, +it's formulated about 50 years ago as follows. +That says if possible, and other rules permit, +interpret image motions as projections +of rigid motion in three dimensions. +In this case later work provided substantial insight +into the mental computations, +that seemed to be involved and when the visual system +follows these rules in informal terminology. +But even for very simple organisms +that's no slight test. +A great many issues remain unresolved in these areas +which are quite obscure even for insects. +The decision to study languages part of the world, +in this sense should be in my view uncontroversial +but it has not been, on the contrary, +the assumption that this is a legitimate enterprise +was rejected pretty forcefully 50 years ago +and continues to be rejected. +Virtually all of contemporary philosophy +of language and mind is based +on rejection of the assumption. +The same is true of what's called +the computer model of mind +that underlies a good deal of theoretical cognitive science +denied in this case not only for language +but for mental faculties generally. +It's explicitly denied, +and the technical linguistic literature +and what are called plate mystic, accounts of language +and also in a different way denied by the conceptualism +that was devised by the same authors +inaccurately attributed to many linguists including me. +It's also apparently denied by many sociolinguists, +it's incompatible with structural, +behavioral approaches to language. +It's a little to my surprise rejected +by current studies of language by leading neuroscientists +most notably Terrence Deacon and recent work +which has been favorably received +by eminent biologists, again little to my surprise. +The approach therefore seems to be controversial, +but I think the appearances are misleading. +A more careful look will show +I think that the basic assumptions are tacitly adopted +even by those who strenuously reject them, +and indeed have to be adopted even for coherence. +I'm gonna put aside this interesting topic +of contemporary intellectual history, +and I'll simply assume that language +can be studied as part of the world, +continue in other words to pursue +the biolinguistic approach that took shape +about half a century ago, +heavily influenced by ethology, comparative psychology +and intensively pursued then along +quite a few different paths, including much of the work +that claims to reject the approach. +Well, assuming that turn to some things +that ought to be obvious. +It can scarcely be denied that some internal state +is responsible for the fact, that I speak +and understand some variety +of what's loosely called English, +but not say Hindi or Swahili at the borrow +and in fact adapt a traditional term, +we can call this the state whatever it is, +it's internal to me, +a state of the human faculty of language +primarily a state of the brain. +We can call each such state an internalized language +in the technical literature +often called an I language for simplicity I'll call it that. +It should also be uncontroversial, +that the Faculty of language has an initial state +part of our biological endowment +which permits a certain range of options, +the attainable I languages. +The Faculty of language then is a special property +that enables my granddaughter, but not her pet kitten +or chimpanzee to attain a specific I language +on exposure to appropriate data, +data which her mind in some obscure way +is able to extract from the booming, +buzzing, confusion and to interpret +as linguistic experience, +that's no slight task nobody knows how it's done +but it obviously is. +More accurately every infant acquires +a complex of such states, that's a complication +that I'll put aside. +The expectation that language +is like everything else in the organic world, +and therefore is based on +a genetically determined initial state, +that it distinguishes say my granddaughter from her pets +that assumption has been called the innateness hypothesis. +And there's a substantial literature +debating the validity of the innateness hypothesis. +The literature has a curious character +there are lots of condemnations of the hypothesis, +but it's never formulated and nobody defends. +It's alleged advocates of, of whom I'm one, +I have no idea what the hypothesis is. +Everyone has some innateness hypothesis concerning language +at least, everyone who's interested +in the difference between an infant and say her pets. +Furthermore, the invented term +innateness hypothesis is completely meaningless, +there is no specific innateness hypothesis +rather there are various hypotheses, +about what might be the initial genetically determined state +these hypotheses are of course constantly changing +as more is learned, that all should be obvious. +Confusion about these matters +has reached such extreme levels, +that it's becoming hard even to unravel +but I'll put all that aside. +The bio linguistic approach takes mental faculties +to be states of the organism. +In particular, internal languages, I languages +that are states of the Faculty of language. +I'll focus on language, but most of what follows +that should hold as well for other cognitive faculties +and in fact for far simpler organisms, +say a bee communication or navigation for example. +Well, when we adopt this approach, +several questions arise at once. +The central one is to determine +the nature of the initial and attained States. +And though the matter again appears to be controversial +I know of no serious alternative +to the thesis that these are +in substantial measure computational states, +whether we have in mind insect navigation +or what you and I are doing right now. +Again, that's held to be controversial +but since there's no alternative ideas +I don't understand why. +It's held to be controversial for humans +it's not held to be controversial for say, +insect navigation but the questions about the same. +Investigation of the brain in these terms +is sometimes called psychological, +and it's contrasted with investigation of term +in terms of cells chemical processes, +electrical activity and so on that's called physiological. +These are again terms of convenience, +they don't have any sharp boundaries, +chemistry and physics were distinguished +in pretty much similar way, not very long ago. +So, the formulas involving complex molecules +that we now study in school. +These were pretty recently considered to be, +I'm quoting merely classific story symbols, +that summarize the observed course of a reaction. +The ultimate nature of the molecular groupings +was held to be unsolvable, +and the actual arrangement of atoms within a molecule +if that even means anything, +was never to be read into the formulas. +I'm quoting from a standard history of chemistry. +Keiko Leong whose structural chemistry paved the way +to eventual unification of the chemistry and physics, +he doubted that absolute constitution of organic molecules +could ever be given, +his own models his analysis of valency +and so on were to have +only an instrumental interpretation as calculating devices. +The actually large parts of physics +were understood in the same way, by prominent scientists +including the molecular theory of gases +even Bohr's model of the atom. +In fact, only a few years before physics +and chemistry were united in Linus Pauling's +account of the chemical bond, +America's first Nobel prize-winning chemist, +dismissed talk about the real nature of chemical bonds +as in his terms metaphysical twaddle, +this was nothing more than a very crude method +of representing certain known facts about chemical reactions +a mode of representation only, just a calculating device. +The rejection of this skepticism by a few leading scientists +whose views were incidentally condemned +as a conceptual absurdity, +that paved the way to the eventual unification. +These are fairly recent debates, +this is talking about the 1920s. +These fairly recent debates in the hard sciences, +I think have considerable relevance +for today's controversies concerning computational theories +of cognitive capacity, that's from insects to humans. +Important topic, one that discussed a little bit elsewhere +and I think deserves a good deal +more attention than its received. +Well, with the biolinguistic approach in place, +this framework in place, +we wanna discover the relationship +between psychological states and the world +as described in other terms. +We want to know how computational states +are related to neuro physiological states, +states of the brain were represented +in them and one terminology. +We also want to find out how these mental states +relate to the organism external world, as for example +when the motions and noises produced by a forager +be direct others to a distant flower, +or when I talk about a recent trip to India +or when I say that I recently read +Darwin's Dissent of Man, referring to a book, +all of this is called intentionality +and philosophical jargon. +The broad issues were raised prominently +at the end of the decade of the brain, +which brought the last millennium to a close. +The American Academy of Arts and Sciences +and at the end of the millennium year 2000 +published the volume to mark the occasion, +that summarized the current state +of understanding in these areas. +The guiding theme of the volume was formulated +by a distinguished neuroscientist Vernon MountCastle +in his introduction to the collection. +It is in his words, the thesis that things mental +indeed minds are emergent properties of brains, +though these emergences are not regarded as irreducible +but are produced by principles that control the interactions +between lower-level events, +principles we do not yet understand. +That same thesis has been put forth in recent years +as quoting as an astonishing hypothesis +of the new biology, a radically new idea +in the philosophy of mind, +the bold assertion that mental phenomena +are entirely natural and caused +by neuro physiological activities of the brain, +opening the door to new and promising inquiries and so on. +Contributors to the American Academy volume, +were for the most part quite optimistic +about the prospects for overcoming the remaining gaps +between psychological and physiological accounts. +Mountcastle's phrase, "We do not yet understand." +Reflects that optimism suggests we will soon understand. +Wilson wrote that, "Researchers now speak confidently +"of a coming solution to the brain mind problem." +Similar confidence has been expressed for half a century +including announcements by prominent scientists, +Nobel Prize winner in one case +that the brain, mind problem has already been solved. +We may recall usefully similar optimism +shortly before the unification of chemistry and physics. +So in 1929, Bertrand Russell who knew the sciences well, +he wrote that chemical laws cannot at present +be reduced to physical laws. +In his phrase at present, like Mountcastle's word +yet expresses the expectation, +that the reduction should take place +in the course of scientific progress, perhaps soon. +Now, in the case of physics and chemistry +it never did take place, +and what happened was something different +and totally unexpected. +Namely, unification of a virtually unchanged chemistry +with a radically revised physics. +And it's hardly necessary to stress the fact +that the state of understanding +and achievement in these areas, +50, 80 years ago was far beyond anything that can be claimed +for the brain and cognitive sciences today, +which oughta give us pause. +The American Academy volume +reviews many important discoveries, +but the leading thesis should arouse our skepticism. +And not only for the reason that I just mentioned, +another reason is that the thesis is by no means new. +In fact, it was formulated and virtually the same words +two centuries ago, late 18th century, +by the eminent chemist Joseph Priestley. +He wrote that properties of mind +arise from the organization of the nervous system itself, +and those properties termed mental +are the results of the organical structure of the brain, +just as matter is possessed +of powers of attraction and repulsion that act at a distance +contrary to the founding principles +of modern scientific revolution +from Galileo to Newton and Beyond. +Half a century before Priestley, +David Hume had casually described thought +as a little agitation of the brain, +and shortly after the French philosopher, physician +Gabonese wrote that the brain must be considered +a special organ designed to produce thought +as the stomach and the intestines +are designed to operate the digestion, the liver, +to filter bile and various glands +to prepare salivary juices. +Lemetri, he had similar proposals, +they were suppressed at the time +but they're well known today. +A century later, Darwin asked rhetorically, +why thought being a secretion of the brain +should be considered more wonderful than gravity +which is a property of matter. +Actually, these and many other conceptions +developed from an inquiry, +into what was called thinking matter +in part developed from what's sometimes called +by historians of philosophy Locke's suggestion, +John Locke's suggestion. +That is, his observation in his words +that God might have chosen to super add to matter +a Faculty of thinking, just as he annexed effects to motion +which we can in no way conceive motion able to produce +the theological apparatus, +may well have been for self-defense. +So Locke's correspondent suggests. +By the late 18th century, +the thesis was widely regarded as inescapable. +Newton had demonstrated to his considerable dismay +that matter does not exist, +in the sense of the Galilean revolution +and of the scientists of his own day and his own sense. +That being the case, the mind-body problem +could no longer even be formulated, +at least in anything resembling the classical form. +Current formulation, as seem at best to restate +the problem of unification of psychological +and physiological approaches, and to do so +in highly misleading terminology. +There was no mind-body problem, +any more than there was a chemistry physics problem +in the 1920s. +Unification of Newton's discoveries +led to, they really left no coherent alternative +to the conclusion that was drawn by Hume Priestley, others +and rediscovered today in pretty much the same terms. +But with the problem of emergence, +as unresolved as it was two centuries ago +and that includes the question whether this notion, +with its reductionist connotations +is even the right notion, maybe it's the wrong notion, +as proved to be the case for chemistry and physics. +The traditional mind-body problem +is often ridiculed as a problem of the ghost in the machine +but that's misconception. +Newton exorcized the machine, +he left the ghost completely intact. +A similar observation is made very recently +by two physicists Paul Davies and John Griffin +concluding a book of theirs, called the Matter Myth. +They write that during the triumphal phase +of materialism and mechanism in the 1930s, +that Gilbert Ryle derided, mind-body dualism +in a pithy reference to the mind part, +as the ghost in the machine. +But already when he coined that pithy expression +in the 1930s, the new physics was at work +undermining the materialist worldview +on which Ryle's philosophy was based. +By the end of the 20th century they continue, +we can see that Ryle was right to dismiss the notion +of the ghost in the machine, +not because there is no ghost +but because there is no machine. +Their point is correct, but the timing is off +by at least two centuries, actually three. +Although, it did take some time +for Newton's demolition of what was called +at the time, the mechanical philosophy, the belief +that the world is a machine, +it took a little time for that to enter +scientific common sense. +Newton himself was well aware of the conclusion +and far from pleased by it. +He regarded his own conclusion as an absurdity +that no serious person could entertain, +and he sawed away around it to the end of his life +as did prominent scientists of his day, +and much later always in vain. +Over time, it just came to be recognized +that Newton had not only effectively destroyed +the entire materialist, +physicalist conception of the universe, +but he had also undermined the standards of intelligibility +on which the early Scientific Revolution was based. +The outcome is familiar at least in history of science, +it was described very well in the classic +19th century history of materialism by Friedrich Longa. +He pointed out that scientists have accustomed theirselves +to the abstract notion of forces, +or rather a notion hovering in a mystic obscurity +between abstraction and concrete comprehension. +A turning point in the history of materialism +that removes the surviving remnants of the doctrine +far from the ideas and concerns +of the genuine materialists of the 17th century, +and deprives them of any significance. +That too is now a virtual truism, +at least among historians of science. +One of the founders of the modern discipline +Alexandre Corre he wrote 40 years ago +that a purely materialistic or mechanistic physics +is impossible, and we simply have to accept +that the world is constituted of entities +and processes that we cannot intuitively grasp. +The problems of emergence and unification +take on an entirely new form, in the post-newtonian era. +A form that's furthermore unstable, changing +as science comes to accommodate new absurdities +as they would have been regarded by the founding figures +of the Scientific Revolution including Newton. +And I know of no reason to suppose +that the process has come to an end. +It's worth pointing out that the only part of our knowledge +or what we take to be knowledge, +for which we can claim much confidence +is our mental world, that is the world of our experience. +As reflective beings, humans try in various ways +to make sense out of this experience. +One part of this effort is sometimes called folk science +when it's conducted in a more systematic, +careful, controlled way we nowadays call it science. +One standard conclusion of contemporary science, +is that each organism, humans in particular +reflexively develop what ecologists call and unveiled +the particular mode of constructing +an interpreting experience given the data of sense, +it's quite different for us and for bees for example. +Furthermore, there is no great chain of being +in fundamental respects, +insects have richer experience and more sophisticated ways +of dealing with it for action, +using it for action than humans do. +Among other standard conclusions of modern science, +are those that Priestley and many others +drew the conclusions they drew centuries ago, +about thinking matter reiterated +at the end of the decade of the brain, just two years ago, +that without notable change or maybe surprisingly +without much awareness that its revival, not innovation +and that its revival of something +that was taken to be an unavoidable truism, +two centuries ago for quite good reasons. +Given the lack of a positive determinant account +of the non mental part of the world +of the world, what sometimes called the physical world. +Talk of the hard part of the mind-body problem, +recent years that's been taken +to be consciousness conventionally. +That talk of that kind is misleading at best, +if it's even meaningful. +It may not be, sometimes the problem +is not very clearly posed, that is it's posed +in terms of questions to which +we can't even of wrong answers. +So for example, there's no sensible answer +to the question, what is it like to be me? +Or, what is it like to be a bat, +and quoting Thomas Nagle's famous paper. +There are no bad answers to that, +they're no good answers, none at all. +Formal semantics inquiries, +often take the meaning of a question +to be the set of propositions that are answers to it. +And if that is at least a condition on meaning, +then it follows that if there are no sensible answers, +the question has no meaning. +Even when legitimate questions are posed, +we don't have any good reason as far as I can see, +but to suppose that they are intrinsically harder +than lots of other problems, say the problems posed +for our understanding by quantum mechanics +or cosmological theories of an infinity of universes. +Or for that matter by the properties of motion. +We don't have any reason that I know of, +to question the opinions of Newton, David Hume, +and other not inconsiderable figures +who in various ways reached Locke's conclusion +that motion has effects which we can in no way +conceive motion able to produce. +Even before Newton puzzlement about motion was profound +his precursors or William Petting +described springing or elastic motion +as the hard rock in philosophy, +philosophy means what we call science. +The obscurity was so great, Robert Boyle felt +as to prove the existence of an intelligent author +or disposer of things. +Even the skeptical Newtonian Voltaire +felt that the impenetrable mysteries of motion +proved that there must be a God, +who gave movement to matter rather like Locke suggestion. +One cannot say that the hard problem was solved, +it was just abandoned in the course +of a significant revision of the enterprise of science, +that is the recognition that in some fundamental sense +the world is just unintelligible to us, +and that we have to reduce our sights to the search +for intelligible theories, +that's something quite different. +And even that goal has been strongly contested +by prominent physicists. +For example, in the critique a century ago of atomic theory +or even of the idea that physics +should go beyond establishing quantitative relations +between observable phenomena. +The significance of that shift, +should not be underestimated, +it was recognized soon enough for example by David Hume +who wrote that in his words, +"Newton's discoveries reveal the obscurity +"in which nature's ultimate secrets ever will remain." +These mysteries of nature as Hume called them, +referring to the phenomena of motion. +Will remain beyond our cognitive reach, +perhaps we might speculate, he didn't for reasons +that are rooted in the biological endowment +of the curious creature, that alone is able +even to contemplate these questions. +Well, I did talk a little bit +about these topics 35 years ago, +and what's happened since including incidentally +my own belated self-education inclines me to believe +that what I said then, should be reiterated +much more forcefully, and in much greater depth +and with much more explicit connections +drawn to contemporary discussions +about problems of language and mind. +Well, let's return to the narrower question +of emergence of mental aspects of the world, +or perhaps the development of an account +of the non mental world that can be unified with them +if the physics, chemistry model turns out to be accurate. +The scale of the gap that remains +and the very dubious grounds for the general optimism +about overcoming it, are revealed very clearly +in the American Academy symposium +that reviewed the state of understanding +at the end of the millennium. +One leading specialist on vision +who was toward the optimistic end of the spectrum, +and nevertheless reminded the reader +that how the brain combines the responses +of specialized cells to indicate +a continuous vertical line, is a mystery +that neurology has not yet solved. +Or even for that matter how one line +is differentiated from others or from the visual surround. +Sameera Nzeki, +the AAAs journal American Association +for advancement of science, journal science. +A year ago they devoted an issue to +neuroscience. +The summary article was co-authored by Eric Kandel, +Nobel laureate, it was subtitled +Breaking Down Scientific Barriers +to the study of brain and mind. +The article covers a lot of interesting ground +but it ends up with the conclusion +that the neuroscience of higher cognitive processes +is only beginning, it's surely beginning +from a higher plane than was constructed +by Descartes who was in many ways, +the founder of modern neuroscience +but nonetheless, it's still beginning. +Fundamental questions remain +beyond even dreams of resolution. +That includes those that were traditionally +considered at the heart of the theory of mind, +such as for example at choosing some action +or even thinking about doing so. +There's been very valuable work +about the narrower questions. +For example, how an organism executes a plan +for integrated motor action, +say how a cockroach walks or how a person reaches +for a cup on the table. +Well, let's return to the narrower question +of emergence of mental aspects of the world +or perhaps the development, of an account +of the non mental world that can be unified with them, +if the physics chemistry model turns out to be accurate. +The scale of the gap that remains, +and the very dubious grounds for the general optimism +about overcoming it, are revealed very clearly +in the American Academy symposium +that reviewed the state of understanding +at the end of the millennium. +One leading specialists on vision +who was toward the optimistic end of the spectrum, +and nevertheless reminded the reader +that how the brain combines the responses +of specialized cells to indicate a continuous vertical line +is a mystery that neurology has not yet solved, +or even for that matter how one line +is differentiated from others or from the visual surround, +Sameera Nzeki the AAAs Journal American Association +for advancement of science, journal science, +a year ago they devoted an issue to neuroscience. +The summary article was co-authored +by Eric Kandel Nobel laureate, +it was subtitled Breaking down Scientific Barriers +to the Study of Brain and Mind. +The article covers a lot of interesting ground +but it ends up with the conclusion +that the neuroscience of higher cognitive processes +is only beginning, it's surely beginning +from a higher plane than was constructed by Descartes +who was in many ways the founder of modern neuroscience, +but nonetheless it's still beginning. +Fundamental questions will remain +beyond even dreams of resolution, +that includes those that were traditionally +considered at the heart of the theory of mind. +Such as for example choosing some action +or even thinking about doing so. +There's been very valuable work +about the narrower questions. +For example, how an organism executes a plan +for integrated motor action. +Say how a cockroach walks, +or how a person reaches for a cup on the table. +But no one even raises the question +of why the person or the cockroach executes one plan +rather than some other one, +that question is raised only for the very simplest organisms +single-cell organisms. +In fact, the same is true even of a visual perception +which is often considered a passive process. +A couple of years ago, a few, two cognitive neuroscientists +one a colleague of mine, published the review of research +on a problem that was posed in 1850 by Helmholtz, his words. +"Even without moving our eyes we can focus our attention +"on different objects at will, +"resulting in very different perceptual experiences +"of the same visual field." +There's been interesting work on that +but the phrase at will points to an area +that's beyond serious empirical inquiry, +it remains as much of a mystery +as it was for Newton at the end of his life +when he was still seeking what he called a subtle spirit +that lies hidden in all bodies, +and that might without absurdity +account for their properties of attraction and repulsion, +the nature and effects of light sensation +and the way members of animal bodies +move at the command of the will. +These are all comparable mysteries for Newton +that perhaps even beyond our understanding +he thought like the principles of motion, +and the classical problems of the theory of mind +at least since Descartes, +who incidentally also regarded them +as possibly beyond human understanding. +Even if we restrict ourselves to the study of mechanisms, +the gaps are quite substantial. +One of the leading cognitive neuroscientists +Randy Gallistel pointed out recently, +that we clearly do not understand +how the nervous system computes, +or even the foundations of its ability to compute +even for the small set of arithmetic and logical operations +that are fundamental to any computation. +He happens to be talking about insects +but obviously extends beyond. +In another domain, one of the founders +of contemporary cognitive neuroscience Hans-Lukas Teuber. +He introduced an important review of perception +and neurophysiology, by writing that, +it may seem strange to begin with the claim +that there is no adequate definition of perception, +and to end with the admission that we lack +the neurophysiological theory. +Though this was the most that could be said. +Now, it's true that that was 40 years ago +and there were dramatic discoveries, +right at the time that he was writing and since. +But I suspect that Tueber who's since died +would have expressed much the same judgment today. +Tueber also outlined a standard way +to move towards addressing the problem of unification. +He explained that his purpose in reviewing +the perceptual phenomena and offering +a speculative psychological account of them +was because this may suggest directions +in which the search for neural basis of perception +should proceed, namely by clarifying the assumptions +that those neural basis must satisfy. +Now, that's a classic approach, +along with the restriction of the scientific enterprise +to more modest goals, namely intelligibility of theories +rather than of the world. +Another consequence of Newton's demolition +of the hopes of the Galilean revolution, +for a mechanical conception of the world. +Another one was recognition that scientific inquiry +is gonna have to be local in its expectations. +Overarching unification, may take place +but perhaps over a long term, +and in ways that can't be anticipated. +The 18th century English chemist Joseph Black +set the tone for subsequent scientific work +by recommending that chemical affinity +be received as a first principle, +which we cannot explain any more +than Newton could explain gravitation, +but let us defer accounting for the laws of affinity +till we have established such a body of doctrine +as Newton has established +concerning the laws of gravitation. +And chemistry in fact proceeded along that course, +separating itself increasingly from physics. +Physics followed Newton's admonition +that nature will be comfortable to herself +and very simple, observing a few general principles +of attraction and repulsion +that relate the elementary particles +of which all matter is constituted +more or less in the way that different buildings +could be constructed from the same bricks. +The goal was therefore to understand to quantify, +to reduce the whole of nature to simple laws +as Newton did for say astronomy. +I happen to be quoting Arnold Thackeray +in his history of Newtonian matter theory, +and the development of chemistry. +He goes on to say "This was the compelling, +"the enticing, indeed the almost bewitching goal +"of much work pursuing the thoroughly Newtonian +"and reductionist task of uncovering +"the general mathematical laws +"which governed all chemical behavior." +There was a distinct chemical tradition, +followed the path that was outlined by Joseph Black +Lavoisier Wallace founded modern chemistry, +that tried to keep neutral probably to avoid controversy. +But his own work helped to found the separate chemical track +Dalton abandoned and entirely the Boyle, +Newton corpuscular theories of matter. +He adopted the radically different view +that matter could exist in heterogeneous forms +with varied principles. +His approach, Thackeray writes was chemically successful +and therefore enjoyed the homage of the history, +unlike the philosophically more coherent if less successful +reductionist schemes of the Newtonians. +By the end of the 19th century, +the fields of interest of chemists and physicists +had become quite distinct, +including a standard history of chemistry. +Chemistry dealt with a world consisting +of some 90 material elements, +with many and varied principles and properties, +while physicists handled a more nebulous mathematical world +of energy and electromagnetic waves +that were perceived in light radiant heat, +electricity, magnetism, later radio waves and x-rays +the chemists matter was discrete and discontinuous, +the physicists energy was continuous +and the gap appeared unbridgeable. +Meanwhile, chemists developed a rich body of doctrine +achieving chemistry's triumphs in isolation +from the newly emerging science of physics, Thackeray again. +As I mentioned the isolation, ended only recently +in a completely unanticipated way, not by reduction, +but by unifying a radically revised physics +with the bodies of doctrine that chemistry had accumulated +which had in fact provided important guidelines +for the reconstruction of physics, +basically towards this point about perception, +and that's happened often in the history of science +and we cannot know whether something similar +might be required for unification +of the study of brain and mind, +if assuming that to be a task +that is within our cognitive reach, +and that we don't know either. +Well, I've already suggested and will repeat +that there are interesting and important parallels +between the debates concerning the reality of chemistry +up to the unification which was just 65 years ago. +And current debates in the philosophy of mind +about the reality of the constructions +of psychological approaches. +The former debates, chemistry physics +they are now understood to have been totally pointless, +based on serious misunderstanding. +We simply have no grasp of reality +other than what our best explanatory theories can provide. +If they happen to be computational theories, +okay that's reality. +My own view, I've discussed it elsewhere, +is that current debates very much alive right now, +are also largely pointless +and for essentially the same reasons, +this includes central topics of philosophy of mind +and theoretical cognitive science, +which those of you in the disciplines will recognize +or even in the general literature. +Well considerations of the kind that I've been reviewing +these were in the background +of the so called cognitive revolution of the 1950s, +at least for some of the participants. +Although it was unknown at the time, +in many ways the shift of perspective +brought about by the cognitive revolution +actually recapitulated the first cognitive revolution +of the 17th century, +that includes the focus on vision and language +in the latter case adopting the bio linguistic approach +that is shifting the focus of attention +from phenomena like behavior and its products, say texts. +Shifting from that to inner mechanisms +that enter into producing the phenomenon. +Now, that's a shift but it's actually a shift +that was taken in the 17th century. +Notice again then there was regression for a long time. +Notice again that that shift still leaves us +a long way from the problems of action, +that's a vastly different matter. +I've myself often quoted +though Hume from Humboldt's aphorism, +that the core problem of the study of language +is the infinite use of finite means, +so it was a leading concern +of Cartesian philosophy before him, +and a problem that really couldn't be posed +very clearly at least until the mid 20th century +that when the concepts of recursive generative procedures +that was fully clarified. +These procedures constitute the finite means +that are put to infinite use, +but it's important to be aware +I don't think I've stressed this enough. +It's important to be aware +that despite quite a lot of progress +in understanding the means, +the means that are employed for infinite use +the question of how they are used, +is scarcely even addressed and it was that question +that was the fundamental one for Descartes Humboldt +and other early modern figures, +and again those questions aren't even addressed +for say insects, let alone humans. +It's reasonably clear that the human capacity for language +is what's called a species property, +that is biologically isolated in essential respects +and close to uniform across the species. +That actually seems less surprising today +than it did not long ago, +in the light of very recent discoveries +about the very limited genetic variation +among humans as compared with other primates, +suggests that we've all descended +from a very small breeding group, +maybe 100,000 years ago. +So, humans are basically identical +from the point of view have say, +an outside biologist looking at us. +The bio linguistic approach adopted from the start, +what has been called quote, +the recently published encyclopedia +of cognitive neuroscience, +what's called the norm these days in neuroscience, +the modular view of learning, +that is the conclusion that in all animals +learning is based on specialized mechanisms +instincts to learn in specific ways +happen to be quoting Randy Gallistel again, +"These organs within the brain," as he calls them, +"Perform specific kinds of computation +"in accordance with specific design. +"Apart from extremely hostile environments +"the organs change state under the triggering +"and shaping effect of external factors, +"they do so more or less reflexively +"and in accordance with internal design." +That's the process of learning, +although growth might be a more appropriate term +avoiding misleading connotations of the term learning. +The language organ the Faculty of language +fits that pattern, the normal pattern. +according to the best theories we have +each attainable state of the system +each I language, is a computational system +that determines, generates in the technical sense. +Infinitely many expressions each of these expressions +is a store of information, +about sound and meaning which is accessed +by performance systems. +The properties of the I language, +result from the interplay of several factors, +one factor is individual experience +which selects among the options +that are permitted by the initial state. +A second factor is the initial state itself, +which is a product of evolution. +And a third factor is general properties +of organic systems, in this case computational systems +incorporating it's reasonable to expect +principles of efficient computation. +The general picture involving crucially the third factor, +is familiar in the study of organic systems generally +this classic work of Darcy Thompson and Alan Turing +on organic form and morphogenesis +is an illustration the topic currently +and contemporary biology. +One example, current example that might be suggestive +in the present connection, present context +is recent work by Christopher Juniac +mathematical biologists at Maryland +who's been exploring the idea that +minimization of what he calls wire length, +as in microchip design should produce what he calls +the best of all possible brains. +And he's tried to explain in these terms, +the neuroanatomy of nematodes, +one of the simplest and best studied organisms +and also various pervasive properties of nervous systems +such as the fact that the brain +is as far forward as possible on the body axis, +wants to try to show that that's just property +of efficient computation based on wire length minimization. +Well one can trace interest in this third factor +general properties of organisms, +back to a Galilean intuition namely Galileo's concept +that in his words, "Nature is perfect." +From the tides, to the flight of birds +and it's the task of the scientist to discover +in just what sense this is true. +Newton's confidence that nature must be very simple, +which I quoted, that reflects the same intuition. +However obscure it may be that intuition +about what Ernest Pickle called nature's drive +for the beautiful, has been a guiding theme +of modern science since its smart modern origins +and with a Galilean revolution, +perhaps even its defining characteristic. +It's hard to say exactly what it is +but that it's a guiding intuition is not a doubt. +Biologists however have tended to think rather differently +about the objects of their inquiry. +Very commonly, they adopt what Francois Jacob, +the Nobel laureate his image of nature +as what he called a tinkerer, +which does the best it can with the materials at hand +often a pretty rotten job, as human intelligence seems +to be keen on demonstrating about itself. +One well-known contemporary biologist +Gabriel Dover British geneticist, +he concludes in a recent book that biology +is a strange and messy business +and perfection is the last word one could use +to describe how organisms work, +particularly for anything produced by natural selection. +Though of course produced only in part +by natural selection as he emphasizes, +and as every biologist knows and to an extent +that can't be quantified by available tools. +Well, we just don't know +which of these conflicting intuitions is more accurate, +the Galilean intuition or say Jacob's intuition. +And we will not know until we know the answer, +and they seem very remote those answers. +The same author Gabriel Dover writes that +"We are nowhere near relieving our deepest ignorance +"about the biological world around us." +Now, he goes on to reserve his sharpest words +for those who seek to give scientific respectability +to complex behavioral phenomena and humans +that we cannot even begin to investigate seriously. +He calls that a sign of intellectual laziness at best, +and shameless ignorance at worst +when confronting issues of massive complexity +which far exceed the reach of contemporary science. +He gives some examples but for charity, I'll ignore them. +The long-term goal of investigating the third factor +that is the role of general properties of organisms +in determining the Faculty of language, +and the states that can attain internal languages, +that goal was actually formulated in the early days +of the bio linguistic turn, +but it was put aside as unfeasible +and attention focused on the first two factors +experience and the initial state. +In technical terminology that's called +the problems of descriptive and explanatory adequacy, +and the latter is the question of how the initial state +enters into determining the transition +to the final state, the state attained. +The earliest attempts 50 years ago, +to replace traditional or structuralist accounts of language +by generative rule systems, revealed very quickly, +that very little was known +about the sound and meaning and structure of language +and that huge problems had been unwittingly +swept under the rug, +rather as in the days when it was assumed +that bodies fall to their natural place. +As has often been the case, +one of the hardest steps in the development of the sciences +is the first one namely to be puzzled +by what seems so natural and obvious. +To gain some realistic sense of what had been overlooked +was an enormous task in itself, even more so +in the light of the recognition +that the apparent complexity and diversity of languages +that was very soon discovered, +just had to be an illusion. +The reason for that conclusion is a standard one in biology +namely as in the case of other organs of the body. +Experience can play only a very limited role +in determining the state that's obtained +in this case the attained I language. +So, even a young child has mastered a rich +and highly articulated system of sound +and meaning and structural properties. +that goes far beyond any evidence available, +and that's shared with others who have different +but also highly restricted experience. +So, it has to be the case, that the initial state +plays an overwhelming role, in determining the language +that the child attains in all of its aspects. +Experience surely has a role of triggering +and shaping role, as in the case of other organs, +but it has to be a limited one. +So, there's no reason to suppose that language +and other higher mental faculties depart radically +from everything known in the biological world. +The task was to show that the apparent richness +and complexity and diversity is in fact an illusion, +that all languages are test to the same mold +and that experience serves only to set options +within a fixed system of principles, +all determined by the initial state. +Much as in the case of other biological systems. +Well, a great deal of the research the last 40 years +in these areas has been driven by a kind of tension +between descriptive and explanatory adequacy, +that is the tension between the search +for true theories of I languages the attained state +on the one hand, and a true theory +of the invariant initial state +of the language or again on the other. +The invariant initial state is the topic +of what's come to be called Universal grammar, +it's adapting a traditional notion to a quite a new context. +The search for a descriptive adequacy +like a true theory of Hungarian, +that leads to complex intricate theories +of particular constructions and particular languages +differing from one another. +In contrast, the search for explanatory adequacy +seeks to find the common ground +from which the existing languages and all possible others +arise given the data that are structured is experienced, +by the operations of the initial States, +again in some unknown manner. +The first proposals from the 1950s +suggested that the initial state, +the topic of universal grammar. +That the initial state provides a kind of a format +for rural systems in their organization, +and a procedure for selecting one instantiation +of the format over another, +in terms of its success in capturing +authentic linguistic generalizations +and empirical notion that incorporates +also a kind of a theory internal version +of standard best theory considerations. +The rules themselves at the beginning +were adaptations of informal traditional notions, +which had proven to be utterly inadequate +when they were subjected to close examination. +So that meant for example rules for forming +relative clauses in Hungarian or passives, +or in Japanese or positives +and the Romance languages and so on. +The general approach did offer a kind of solution +to the core problem of the study of language, +sometimes called in the literature, +the logical problem of language acquisition +that is how does the initial state map +constructed experience, to the final state. +But as was emphasized, that solution holds only in principle +because in practice the conception was unfeasible +because of the astronomical computational demands. +Well, from about 40 years ago +attempts were made to reduce the scale of the problem +by seeking valid general principles +that can be abstracted from particular grammars +and attributed the universe grammar meaning +to the initial state of the language faculty leaving residue +that might be more manageable. +Actually some of those proposals were kind of proposals +that were then being explored. +I reviewed in the lectures here 35 years ago, +after that time, by then already +there was some progress after that time +then considerable progress, +but it still left the tension unresolved. +That as the general picture +was somehow fundamentally defective, +there was no true solution, feasible solution +to the logical problem of language acquisition. +Well, a possible resolution of the tension was reached +after a good deal of effort about 20 years ago, +with the crystallization of a picture of language +that marked a very sharp break +from a long and rich tradition +of tracing back to classical Indian and Greece, +is sometimes called the principles and parameters approach +that dispenses entirely with the core notions +of traditional grammar notions, +like grammatical construction or grammatical rule. +From this point of view, +categories such as a relative clause or passive construction +are understood to be real enough, +but only as taxonomic artifacts. +So for example, aquatic organisms +which would include say dolphins, trout, eels +and some bacteria it's a category +but not a biological category. +The phenomena, the phenomenal properties of these artifacts +result from the interaction of invariant principles +of the initial State, Faculty of language +with parameters that are finite number of parameters +fixed in one or another way. +It would incidentally follow +that there are only finitely many possible human languages +apart from idiosyncrasies and choice of lexical items, +and even these are sharply constrained. +That means that the problem of unfeasible search +is eliminated it's a major conclusion if correct. +The conception has now been applied +to typologically different languages +of just about every known kind, +it's led to many discoveries a host of new questions +that were never before contemplated +sometimes suggestive answers. +This principles and parameters approach +is an approach, it's not a theory. +Within the general approach, there are many diverse theories +there is actually a very good introduction +to the topic just published by Mark Baker, +called Atoms of Language he himself has made +major contributions to the approach, +that he's been working primarily on languages +that appear to be at opposite ends +of the spectrum of typological possibilities, +picking that on purpose of course. +Mohawk and English that's the pair +that he studied most intensively, +trying to show that although they are about +as different phenomenally as two languages can be, +there in reality virtually identical +apart from very small changes in a few parameters, +so that's a Martian observer +who views humans as we view other organisms, +would conclude that they're essentially identical +dialectal variants of the same language. +There's been extensive work of a similar character +carried out worldwide with quite revealing results. +One major program funded by the European Union +is studying the vast number of languages in Europe, +huge number in fact misleadingly called, +things like German and Italian and so on +though they're totally different languages. +Included by those in those characterizations +and it's happening being done elsewhere as well. +I don't wanna suggest that the approach has been established +that's very far from true, +but it has been very successful as a research program +as a stimulus to empirical and theoretical inquiry +that progress towards the goals of descriptive +and explanatory adequacy, has far surpassed anything +that precedes, that not only in depth of analysis +of particular languages, +but also in the range of typologically different languages +that have been investigated. +And also a new areas of linguistic structure +that had barely been explored before. +Related fields such as the study of language acquisition +have also been completely revitalized +within a similar framework, they now look +totally unlike anything that was around 20 or 30 years ago. +There are some important steps towards convergence +although it's certainly gonna be a long and difficult course +even if the approach turns out +to be more or less on the right track, +we're far from having a clear idea +of what the principles and parameters actually are. +But I think it's fair to say that the study of language +in the last 20 years, has moved to an entirely new plane. +Well, I wanna pick up these topics tomorrow +and then move on to the issues, +particularly the role of the third fact +there are general properties of organisms +and say something about that. +And then to move on to the work called +the questions of intentionality, +now that is the question of how language now understood +within the by linguistic framework +relates to the rest of the world. +(audience applauding) +- Professor Chomsky has agreed to take a couple of questions +that were submitted by the audience. +Since these questions were submitted +at the beginning of the lecture, +they may not have been part of what's covered today, +it might be a sneak preview of tomorrow. +"Do you still believe that the human language faculty +"evolved all at once in a sudden evolutionary leap? +"Doesn't this conflict with the general finding +"that evolution is gradual?" +- This idea sometimes called the monster mutation +was invented as far as I'm aware by Elizabeth Bates, +and has been repeated by many other people, +that's been attributed to me for some reason +I haven't got the slightest idea why, +I've never said a word about it. +And I have no idea whether it's true +nor does anyone know anything about these topics in general. +Why it was invented, +why it was attributed to me you can try to figure out. +The fact of the matter is no one knows +anything about these things, +even for much simpler questions. +So for example there, one well-known fact +about biological organisms +is they all you know above the level bacteria, +they all seem to have essentially +the same body type, same body forms. +And it's now kind of understood how that works +certain regulatory genes have been master genes +have been discovered that create the forums +and it just runs through the whole organic world of animals. +Well very recent work, actually a couple of papers in nature +just a few weeks ago, show +laboratory experimental work +that shows how this might have happened +in one monster mutation. +Well, okay maybe maybe not. +There's recent work about the evolution of the human brain +articles in science a couple of weeks ago, +suggesting in fact that one small mutation took place +which suddenly led to explosion of brain cells. +Maybe, maybe not these are you know, +I don't have anything to say about these matters, +I just repeat what's in the technical literature. +But why this conception was attributed to me +is a total mystery as far as I know. +- I hope this is not at the same you like it, +so do you still question again. +"Do you still view language as self-contained module +"that is independent of other cognitive systems? +"Wouldn't it be simple to assume that language ability +"is grounded in the same cognitive mechanisms +"as other forms of human cognition?" +- Well, I take for granted that the human language, +I mean it's kind of like asking +whether the visual system is distinct +from other systems of the body. +Of course it isn't or say the immune system. +Of course, it's not distinct from the rest of the body +like you can't cut the immune system out +and leave the rest of the body, I mean it's impossible. +Every subsystem of the body +that's isolated for a particular inquiry +is isolated because it has a kind +of an integrated character, +and you think you can learn something about it. +It doesn't mean that it's in a little box +that you can pull out, right? +So the immune systems in every cell, +but it's still a system. +And presumably the same is true of the language faculty. +I mean, it's brings together, many different components +which come from all over the place, +for example the language faculty +what you and I are now doing, +makes essential use of the delicate architecture +of the bones in the middle year, okay. +They're terrific for wonderfully designed +for understanding language. +Of course they evolved for reasons +having absolutely nothing to do with language, +they evolved from the fact that they apparently +that the skulls of early mammals about 160 million years ago +were getting bigger, and as they got bigger +blowing in the reptilian jaw started migrate +and for mechanical reasons apparently, +it ended up in the middle of the ear +which turns out to be great for language. +And the same is true of, it could, +I mean the computational principles +that are at the core of language, +and we might discover that those +are the same computational principles +that are used by insects for navigation, +if we did that the fascinating discovery, +would mean that it's one of the things +that was recruited to form the language faculty. +The idea that the language faculty is isolated +from other cognitive systems +just makes no sense at all, can't be. +I mean we use the language faculty to express our thoughts +to think to ourselves to communicate, +to have and communicate attitudes, to perceive the world. +Of course, it's integrated with the entire collection +of cognitive faculties and other faculties. +Again, the interesting question +that should be asked about that question +is why it says do I still believe, +because nobody could possibly believe this. +There's a huge mythology about these things +which has been developed. +It's kind of characteristic of studies +of human higher mental faculties. +They are pursued at a level of irrationality +that is just hard to deal with. +In fact centuries ago, the hard sciences +were dealt with in a similar way, +but we should be able to escape from that. +- [Moderator] Have your views regarding poverty +of the stimulus change in light of these studies? +- There are no such studies. +(audience laughing) +All studies show what everybody knows in advance, +that the amount of data available +for language acquisition is extremely small. +This notion of poverty of stimulus is a little bit +like what I call the innateness hypothesis. +Everyone believes in poverty of stimulus, +not only for language but for everything. +There was a certain embryo once upon a time +that turned into my granddaughter okay. +Why didn't it turn into a worm let's say? +I mean is it because of the nutritional input? +Like what a different nutritional input +to the cell have turned it into a worm? +Well you know, nobody even takes questions seriously +they're so idiotic. +What is assumed automatically by every scientist +is what's called poverty of the stimulus, +in the case of language. +It's considered controversial +in the case of human mental faculties, +but taken for granted without even any discussion +throughout the rest of biology because it's so obvious. +I mean it cannot possibly be that +what you and I are now doing, is based on early +or for that matter late input for the environment +because there isn't any, virtually none. +In fact, it's easy to demonstrate +that the things that even a young child do +have a statistical level that is barely +at the point of noise in an actual discourse. +The point is kind of obvious, +there's nothing to discuss about it. +Everyone agrees that there is poverty of the stimulus, +the only question is well what is the initial state +that in fact, first of all structures data as experience +which is no trivial task, +and then takes that experience and almost instantaneously +and reflexively as Gallistel points out, +constructs an attained state, that's the problem. +Somebody has some ideas about it, be my guest +it's a great topic. +- [Moderator] You have suggested that human beings +possess a language acquisition device, +is this device a real entity or a metaphor? +- Well, kind of like asking whether the genetic endowment +that leads to an immune system +is a real system or a metaphor. +I mean we end up doing what you and I are... +Well, let's go back to my granddaughter +and her imagined pet chimpanzee. +Let's suppose that the two of them +are exposed to exactly the same data okay. +One of them ends up doing what you and I +are now doing, the other one does nothing. +Suppose that she also happens to have a pet bee, okay. +Well, the pet bee and my granddaughter +exposed to the same visual data +in the case of the bee, it'll end up +with a complicated intricate system of communication, +the humans can't possibly duplicate +it's way beyond their cognitive capacities +to communicate the distance and height +and quality of a flower, humans simply can't do that +but the bee does it reflexively. +Well, observing facts like that, +every scientist just takes for granted, +there's something special about my granddaughter, +or the bee and the chimpanzee +which uses the same data to end up in very different states. +And unless it's miracles, +that has to do with their genetic endowment. +So, therefore we can talk about +a language acquisition device +a chimpanzee call acquisition device, +a bee communication acquisition device +these aren't metaphors, +these are just descriptions of sub components +of an organism which you try to understand, +there's nothing metaphoric about them +and there really should be nothing controversial about them. +I mean unless one thinks that the bee, +the chimpanzee and my granddaughter +should end up the same way with the same data, +unless anybody thinks that, +then the answer should be obvious. +- [Moderator] Is there any evidence of evolutionary change +in the historical record of human language? +- No, that's why I mentioned before the current, +at least current understanding is that +there's extremely little genetic variation among humans +as compared with other primates. +Meaning which can only, is taken to mean +that we're basically all kind of cousins +coming from the same small breeding group not very long ago +like a 100, 1,000 or 200,000 years +is essentially nothing in evolutionary time. +There's been no time for any evolution +nobody knows exactly when language got into the picture, +but probably about the same time +roughly plus or minus a 100,000 years. +And there's been just no time +for any evolutionary change to take place, +that's why say my granddaughter +and don't know why I'm focused on her. +But my granddaughter if she'd grown up +say in Tokyo, would be talking perfect Japanese +because she's genetically identical +to the kids who grow up in Tokyo, +as far as this capacity +or probably just about every capacity is concerned. +So then if that's true, there can't have been evolutionary +any meaningful evolutionary change +in the history in the brief history of language, +it's just way too short. +- [Moderator] Now this is the last, +and it's a very open-ended question +so feel free to ignore it or do what you like. +"what details are results of current neuroscience +"bear on your current biologically based language theories." +- Well currently neuroscience is providing +some new ideas, not so much neuroscience +as new techniques, for example imaging, +brain imaging is providing +rather interesting suggestive results +you know FMRI and things like that. +You don't exactly what to make of them +because you know these are investigating +systems that are just not understood +on the basis of signals that are detected from the outside. +Some of the results are quite in a way startling, +so for example Proceedings +of the National Academy of Sciences, +just recently a couple of months ago published a paper +by Laura Patito, an investigator +who's was in Montreal now and Dartmouth. +She apparently has seems to have shown +that sign language, the deaf children who use sign, +the neural centres that are involved in processing the sign +are close to identical, as far as you can tell, +identical with those of hearing infants +who are processing auditory input. +That's a very surprising result. +I mean a little less surprising +than it would have been 20 years ago +because work has shown that these systems +are very similar in many structural respects. +But that there neurally represented in the same place +is quite interesting, if it's true +it would mean that whatever our Faculty of language is +it's probably independent of modality, +sensory modality, some analytic computing system +that could use one modality or another. +The fact that say vision and hearing +end up analyzed in the same place +is a little bit surprising, +because of what's known about the projection +of sensory systems into the cortex. +But that kind of inquiry is pretty interesting +and suggestive, and there is work of that kind coming along. +As for neuroscience itself, +remember that very little is known. +I mean, I quoted the encyclopedia, +the current edition of the MIT encyclopedia +of cognitive neuroscience is pointing out +that we do not understand the neurophysiology +of even the most elementary computations, +that are used throughout the animal world, +say for insect navigation. +Even the simplest ones, the neurophysiology +is completely obscure. +When you try to get to human language +you're off in some in outer space somewhere. +It's an important problem maybe someday it'll be understood, +but it's pretty remote. +- [Moderator] Well, thank you very much +for a most stimulating lecture. +(audience clapping) +(upbeat music) +2 +33 +36 +41 +43 +47 +52 +55 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during the gold rush +and settled in San Francisco where he opened +a private practice that thrived. +In 1885, he established a professorship +here at Berkeley as an expression of his +long-time interest in education. +His daughter, Lillie Hitchcock Coit +greatly expanded her father's original gift, +making it possible for us to present a series +of public lectures. +The Hitchcock Professorship is one of the most cherished +endowments of the University of California, +recognizing the highest distinction +of scholarly thought and achievement. +Thank you Lillie and Charles, +and now a few words about our speaker, Noam Chomsky. +(audience applauds) +Dr. Chomsky is no stranger to the Berkeley campus. +In fact, he spoke on this very spot +to an overflow crowd several years ago, +and ever since then we have wanted him to come back. +So we're honored that he has accepted our invitation +to be a Hitchcock professor. +Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential linguists +of our time. +He has dominated several fields in linguistics +over the past 40 years. +He is credited with changing the focus +of linguistics from a concern with methods +of classification to a search for explanatory principles +and his numerous writings on the subject document this. +But Noam Chomsky's influence extends beyond +the realm of academia, he is a forceful critic +of US foreign policy and a spokesperson +against the abuse of power. +Noam Chomsky received his PhD in linguistics +from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955. +He has been a professor at MIT since 1961. +He has written numerous books and has received +various honorary degrees, awards, and honors. +I am very pleased to present Dr. Noam Chomsky. +(audience applauds) +- Thank you. +Well, I ended yesterday by describing +the so-called principles and parameters approach, +which gave the first serious conception, +to my knowledge, of how the tension +between descriptive and explanatory adequacy +might be resolved. +In this sense, it's fair I think to regard it +as the first genuine proposal as to what +a theory of language might be. +Whether that step turns out to have been right or wrong, +it offered the kind of a liberating perspective +which led to an explosion of highly productive inquiry, +and it opened new problems to investigation, +also revitalized the study of language acquisition +along new lines and other language-related areas +of the cognitive sciences. +To the extent that outstanding problems can be solved, +not a simple matter, but to the extent that that's possible, +we will have a conception of the initial conditions +that map experience to the state that's attained +by the faculty of language, to what I called yesterday +the internal language, the I-language, +that determines the infinite array +of sound-meaning combinations that the speaker +of a language has available for use, +the potential expressions of the language. +These initial conditions include, +but are not exhausted by, the genetically-determined +initial state of the language organ. +In addition, there's the third factor +that I mentioned yesterday, general principles +that are not coded in the initial state, +just as properties of protein folding +are not coded in the genome but are available +to be exploited in the growth of the organism. +Now there is, I think, some reason to believe +that understanding of language +has at last reached the level that makes it feasible +to address these questions, that is, +to pursue the Galilean intuition +that nature is somehow perfect. +In this case asking not only what the properties +of language are, but why language +has these properties and not others. +That inquiry, in recent years, has been called +the minimalist program. +Notice that that program is theory independent, +whatever you think is the right theory of language +you may or may not decide to pursue these questions. +The initial state, it can be disaggregated +into elements that have a principled explanation +and others that remain unexplained +at this level of analysis, they have +to be attributed, therefore, to something independent, +perhaps an evolutionary accident +where properties of the brain that remain unknown +and would have to be investigated along similar lines. +The principled elements of the initial state +are the conditions that are imposed +on the faculty of language by the systems +with which it interacts. +These are what are called interface conditions. +If language is to be usable at all, +its design must satisfy these conditions. +That is, the information that is in the internal expressions +that are generated by the language have +to be accessible to other internal systems, +that includes language external but person internal systems, +including sensory-motor systems and conceptual systems +that enter into thought and action. +So we can therefore restate the deeper problem +of determining why language has the peculiar properties +that it does, insofar as the properties of an I-language +can be accounted for in terms of interface conditions +and general principles of computational efficiency +and the like, they have a principled explanation. +And we will have verified the Galilean intuition +of perfection of nature in this domain. +Well, if one proceeds this far, you face a challenging task. +The task is to examine every device, principle, +idea, technique, that is employed in characterizing +languages and try to determine to what extent +it can be eliminated in favor of a principled account +in terms of general conditions of computational efficiency +and the interface conditions that the organ must satisfy +to function at all. +That's been a focus of a good deal of work +in the past few years, +and there are, by now, rather plausible accounts +in these terms of some basic processes +of the computational system of language. +These systems that previously had been +stipulated as descriptive technology +but can now be reduced to principles +of computational efficiency. +And also more complex properties of individual languages +have, to an interesting extent, been derived +from close examination of the way principled mechanisms +function under minimization of search +and other principles of efficient computation. +Furthermore, what appear to be radical differences +among languages have in a number of interesting cases +been reduced to something close to the optimal conclusion +that would means that the internal computational processes +are identical, the phenomenal differences result +not from how the mind computes +but rather how the internal objects that it constructs +are related to external events by sensory-motor systems. +So the interesting cases involve a category of properties, +features with no independent meaning +that had not really been noticed before, +though they're crucial, it appears. +And differences in how the apparent diversity +of languages seems to be traceable +to a very significant effect, the slight differences +in the way these uninterpretable features +are externalized, are used by the sensory-motor system. +It's as if the mind computes in a fixed way +but with varying effects at the mouth and the ear. +The general observation, not this far, +but the general point was a very natural consequence +of the principles and parameters approach, +it was recognized from the moment that it came to be +formulated with at least some clarity. +Actually, I discussed it near here in 1979 +at Kant Lectures at Stanford. +At that time I referred to classic work, +biological work on regulatory mechanisms +by Jacob and Monod, two Nobel laureates, +quoting their observations about how slight changes +in regulatory mechanisms, utilizing differently +the same structural information might yield +enormous phenomenal differences. +Their examples, differences between a butterfly +and a lion or a worm and a whale, +basically identical organisms but with minor +changes in how regulatory mechanisms function, +same mechanisms. +Similarly, slight changes in parameters +left open in the fixed schematism of language +might lead to what appear to be very different systems. +Apologies here for quoting myself in 1979, +it was actually in the years that followed +that such ideas really did begin to bear fruit +in the study of language. +Similarly, in the biological sciences +there have been quite dramatic progress +along similar lines. +Such conclusions would have greatly pleased +Alan Turing I think, he's known to philosophers +and linguists, logicians, computer scientists, +mainly for his work in other areas, +but some of his best-known work was on morphogenesis +and the effects of chemical and physical law +on the possible course of evolution. +These are matters on which he took a rather strong stand +and that have become a central topic +in contemporary biology. +One fundamental problem that remains +is why there is parametric variation at all +in the computational system, +so why isn't there just one language? +There are some possible answers that have been suggested, +but the general problem in my opinion is still mysterious, +it's a problem that eludes our grasp, +but you can think of possible answers. +One might also hope to approach the question +of evolution of language in these terms. +It's rather curious to compare the enormous number +of pages devoted to the evolution of human language +with work on evolution of much simpler systems, +say, bee communication. +A couple of years ago asked a biologist friend +to do a database search on that topic, +and he could come up with very little. +Apparently, the subject is considered too difficult +to pursue, although bees are just a wonderful subject, +they only have 800,000 neurons, +a brain the size of a grass seed, +many different species that yield rich comparative data, +a very brief gestation period, lifespan, +no need to obtain consent forms for experiments, +and so on, every conceivable advantage. +But, nevertheless, the problem's considered +far too hard to study. +The question of how the human language faculty, +it might have evolved, is vastly more obscure +and hard to study. +One can imagine various scenarios, +a number have been proposed, +some of them are maybe suggestive. +But some leading evolutionary biologists, +Richard Lewontin is the most prominent, +they have argued strongly that the problem +is entirely beyond reach in terms of anything +remotely like present understanding. +He, Lewontin, at least extends that +to evolution of human mental faculties generally. +Well, if we, nevertheless, want to pose the problem +of evolution of language, we have to begin +with a recognition shared by everyone +that the faculty of language is not a distinct entity, +it's not like a box in the human brain +with a single location or a single function, +whatever that term is supposed to imply. +The faculty of language surely recruits processes, +capacities, physiological mechanisms, +that have evolved quite independently, +and it could turn out in principle +that there's nothing in the faculty of language +that's specific to language, +that the faculty is just the specific form +of organization of elements that are recruited +to constitute this organ of the body, +to borrow Randy Gallistel's term again. +If the minimalist approach to language +has real prospects of success, +and at least my judgment is that it does, +we would expect to find that language crucially +involves interface conditions and computational processes, +some of these at least may have homologous structures +in other primates, maybe even beyond. +If that's the case, then the study of language +will involve, in part, the evolution of these elements, +the evolution of the way they're organized +in the language faculty +and whatever may have evolved independently +in the last flick of an eye in evolutionary time, +in human evolution, and it's extremely short. +There is intriguing work, very recent work, +on primate perceptual systems that could bear on the topic. +For example, a rather surprising discovery +that untrained tamarin monkeys distinguish +among some language types in ways that are analogous +to newborn human infants, in all cases +without any experience, though perhaps they use +different cues, that's under investigation. +Additional work is proceeding along similar lines +also investigating what Harvard primatologist +Marc Hauser calls wild minds in natural settings, +also experimental work that he and his laboratory are doing +on a number of topics including computational capacities +of monkeys on language-like problems. +It could turn out that the core computational +properties of natural language are found elsewhere +in the animal world, perhaps in what +perceptual psychologists call the rules +of visual intelligence that are used +to create what we see, quoting. +Conceivably, you might even find them +in systems as remote as insect navigation, +that possibility and others like them can't be excluded +and they do suggest avenues of research +into the evolution of at least some of the factors +that enter into human language avenues +that might be promising. +My view, at least, if so, that would be the first time +that the problem of evolution of language +becomes a really serious problem. +Well, to proceed further along in any of these areas +would require a good deal of background discussion +that I can't take time for here. +And, of course, this is where the topic gets interesting, +but I'll put that aside and just restate +the guiding intuition of the minimalist program, +basically Galilean, insofar as this program succeeds +we will be able to conclude that principles of the kind +that one finds, say, principles that hold for, +say, sphere packing in early cell division +or formation of polyhedral cells +of polyhedral surfaces of viruses +or stability of body forms and symmetries, +maybe optimal wiring of neural systems, +just general principles of physical and mathematical laws, +may also hold for an organ that's a very recent product +of evolution and appears to be a crucial component +of whatever it is that's specific about human beings, +certainly at the core of their existence, +their thought and their interaction. +Although we have to bear in mind +that the classical problems of the theory of mind, +the ones that preoccupied Descartes, Newton, and others, +they remain as obscure as ever, +and the problem of unification, +well, it takes a wholly different form +after the Newtonian revolution, as I mentioned yesterday +that problem remains unsolved. +The gaps look as unbridgeable today +as they did for chemistry and physics +not many years ago, 70 years ago. +Well, let me return to the initial question +that I began with yesterday, +the questions that are sometimes called +the problems of intentionality, +that is, how does language, this biological entity, +how does it relate to the rest of the world? +One of these is the unification problem, +how do accounts of the brain in terms +of computational systems relate to others, +say in terms of cells? +As long as that question is unanswered, +there's a crucial explanatory gap +in accounts of behavior, whether it's insect navigation +or human language, there's a gap in explaining, +accounting for how computations eventuate in action. +Notice that this is over and above +the questions that are not even posed, +that is questions of choice of action, +so like why does a cricket turn left instead of right? +What about the second problem of intentionality, +that is, the use of language to talk about the world, +as when I say that I read Darwin's Descent of Man +referring to a book. +There are parallel problems on the receptive side, +but let's focus attention on the questions +as they arise for the speaker. +These questions have two aspects, +one is how does the sensory-motor system +use the instructions provided by the internal language +to carry out gestures? +That would be articulatory gestures +in the case of spoken language, +and second, how does the system of thought +use these instructions to talk about a book +or a river or the crisis in Argentina +or whatever it may be? +It's this second aspect that's held to be +particularly vexing, but perhaps one can +gain some insight into it by asking about +the less contentious interface with sensory-motor systems. +So we now put aside the explanatory gap +that holds for all animal behavior +and we ask how the phonetic information +that's generated by the internal language +is accessed and used by the sensory-motor system +for articulation, alternatively perception, +but I'm putting that aside. +Let's adopt a conventional but, in fact, +non-trivial assumption, namely that the phonetic +information of each expression is encoded +in a single internal generated object, +what's called its phonetic form +or phonetic representation, here you have to be careful +to divorce the notion representation +of any connotations drawn from other uses of the term +as in the classical theory of ideas +or in discussion of representational art, for example. +These problems have been studied intensively +with hi-tech equipment for half a century +and long before that in other ways, +but understanding remains quite limited. +The problems are not easy, well, +maybe everybody's overlooked an easy solution +which works like this. +We all agree that the lexical item, +any lexical item, say book, has a sound +and sounds are perfectly robust and familiar notions +so we can tell without difficulty +whether some event is the sound of book +or the sound of river. +Unproblematically, we can speak of the various +events that are sounds of book, of the word book, +on various occasions of use. +So let's just say that the internally generated +phonetic representation of the word book +just picks out a sound or many sounds if we like, +that relation we can give a name, we can call, +we can give that relation a name, +let's call it phonetically denote, p denote, +let's say that that relation holds +between the internal object and the sound. +Its properties will be the properties +of the technical notion, denote or refer, +that's devised for formal systems, +say the relation between the numeral three +and the platonic entity three +in a system of formal arithmetic of the Fregean variety, +for those of you who know some logic or metamathematics. +Further inquiries about the sound +don't have to bother us, they can be forwarded +to the physics department, perhaps they'll tell us +that the sound is some indescribable, four-dimensional +space-time construct based on motions of molecules. +Perhaps inquiries can be forwarded +to the sociology department too +if we want to make the task even more hopeless +by introducing some unexplained notion +of common language that involves norms and conventions, +attitudes, experts, and so on. +Well, however we proceed there aren't +any ontological problems, that is, +no problems about existence. +No one doubts the existence of the particular +motion of molecules that I produce when I say book, +so there's no problem about the existence of sounds, +the notion is perfectly robust, +to borrow the standard philosophical term. +Problems of communication are very easily solved, +you identify what I'm saying because your internal +representation p denotes the same sound as mine +or at least a sufficiently similar one. +Okay, without preceding we've now solved +the problems to which acoustic +and articulatory phoneticians have devoted +so much labor without much success. +Well, it's clear enough why this solution +has never been proposed, it's a bad joke. +The new theoretical notions, sound, and p denote +are completely useless, they merely restate the problem +in vacuous terminology, leaving the problems, +in fact, even in more worse shape than before. +The proposal has all the virtues of theft over honest toil +to borrow Bertrand Russell's aphorism. +The actual course pursued is much harder, +we have to discover the elements +of the phonetic representation of the word book +and others, the properties that constitute it. +Those are commonly called its features, +and we have to determine how feature complexes +are accessed by the sensory-motor systems +and related to external events, +maybe ultimately motions of molecules. +There's no determinant mind-external object +that's picked out by an element +of the phonetic representation as its sound. +Rather, these internal objects provide information, +it's accessed by other systems to yield +or interpret mind-external entities in a variety of ways +that depend on circumstances, expectations, +and a host of other factors. +In fact, the real-world problem is so intricate +and involves so many variables +that no one even contemplates studying it, +actual inquiry keeps to highly idealized +experimental situations as always in the natural sciences. +Well, let's now consider an easy answer +to the problems that arise on the meeting side, +following point by point the preceding +ridiculous account of the sound side of language. +I made up the other one, but the one I'm going +through now is real, unfortunately. +We all recognize that the word book has a meaning +just as it has a sound. +The entity book, whatever it is, +has an internal semantic representation +that incorporates all information about its meaning +that's determined by the language +just as the internal phonetic representation +incorporates all language-determined +information about sound. +And we know exactly what the word book, +or its semantic representation, +picks out in the world, namely books +just as the phonetic representation +picks out the sound or the sounds of the word book. +So we can therefore set up a relation +that's a counterpart of p denote, let's call it s denote, +meaning semantically denote, s denote +holds that relation, holds between +the internal semantic representation +of the expression book and books. +You understand that I'm talking about books not tables +because your word book, s, denotes the same things as mine. +And the child acquires the s denotation relation +by virtue of causal properties of the world +that relate external phenomena to mind-internal entities, +let's call them concepts to use the standard term. +Those who are concerned about the status +of the external objects that are s denoted +that don't have to have any qualms, +these are some indescribable constructions +based on whatever physics tells us about the world, +and we can forward further inquiries +to the physics department or maybe the sociology department, +again, if we want to make it even more hopeless. +There aren't any problems about the existence of books, +those are the things that are on bookshelves and tables. +It's true that if you and I both took +Darwin's Descent of Man out of the library +there is a question about whether one book was taken or two, +but we can settle this any way we like. +And if someone is concerned that books are simultaneously +abstract and concrete and have a host +of other extremely odd properties when you look closely, +we can answer robustly that that's just what books are, +it's a problem of metaphysics +and not semantics or cognitive science. +Well, it should be clear that something's gone badly wrong, +we're back to theft rather than honest toil. +For one thing, referring is something that people do, +not words, that was stressed 50 years ago +by Oxford philosopher Peter Strawson, +and known before, of course. +And like other human actions, +referring is a highly intricate action. +It's specific to circumstances, it has normative aspects, +the act of referring succeeds or fails +in ways that depend on a wide variety of conditions. +The act need not even involve terms +that have some circumstance independent relation +to the referential intention. +So, for example, I can refer to India +without using any word or having any thought +that has any independent connection to India, +whatever India is. +If such fundamental properties of referring, the act, +are omitted from consideration, +one may be studying something, +but it's not the problem of intentionality or aboutness. +Well, a fair response that could be given +is that exactly in other cases +we have to idealize if we hope +to gain some grasp of reality. +We have to abstract away from a welter of complexity +to focus on the properties of core notions, +in this case s denote or p denote, +and that's a reasonable response, +but it's a promissory note. +As in other cases, it has to be justified +by showing how the idealization yields +some insight and explanatory power +and doesn't merely reformulate +the original dilemmas in misleading ways. +That doesn't seem an easy task in the present case, +to put it rather mildly. +In fact, I think it really is theft +rather than honest toil in both cases, +the case that's never even discussed, +the sensory-motor side, and the case +that's pretty standard, the analog on the semantic side. +Well, how can we approach the problem of what's happening +when we think or talk about the world? +It's possible, and in my view likely, +that the study of sound provides some useful clues to that. +In that inquiry there isn't any reference-like relation +between an element of phonetic representation +and a mind-external entity. +Rather, the speaker or hearer employs the systems +of language use to access the phonetic representation, +the internal object, so as to produce +and interpret organism-external events. +And perhaps something similar is true on the meaning side, +so Smith uses an expression to refer +when his attention is focused on some parts of the world +which he views from the complex perspectives +that are provided by internalist semantics, +very much as in the case of sound. +Features of the internal item, book, +in Smith's internal language, provide information +that's used by other cognitive faculties, +constraining the ways that Smith uses it +to talk about the world, think about the world +differently from other words. +Smith succeeds in communicating with Jones +to the extent that Jones attends to related parts +of the world and has appropriately-related perspectives +and understanding of circumstances and background. +Similarly, Jones's ability to perceive +what Smith is uttering depends on his ability +to map the noises that he hears +to his own internal language. +And these are always matters of more or less, +not yes or no. +Well, that's the point of view +that I've personally regarded as reasonable +since I began thinking seriously +about these topics about 50 years ago. +At that time influenced by Oxford +ordinary language philosophy and later Wittgenstein. +But as I later learned, +the approach has traditional antecedents. +There's an important 18th century critique +of the theory of ideas based on the observation +that the phrase, he has an idea, +should not be understood on the model of, +he has a diamond, invoking a reference-like relation +between the term idea and some extramental entity, +that's putting aside for the moment +whether that's even a proper step in the case of diamond, +I think it's not. +Rather, the phrase, he has an idea, +18th century commentators pointed out +the phrase, he has an idea, means something like he thinks. +The phrase is what Gilbert Ryle +called a systematically misleading expression +in an influential contribution +to 20th century ordinary language philosophy, +actually resurrecting a traditional critique. +And the same conclusion holds for a belief, +a thought, desire, other terms of so-called folk psychology +as expressed in its English language version, +which is far from universal, in fact, rather idiosyncratic. +The basic insights generalized to the whole vocabulary +and even more dramatically to more complex expressions +constructed from lexical items. +If this is anything like correct, +most of the work that's going in philosophy of mind, +philosophy of language, and theoretical cognitive science +is just off on totally a wrong track, +as my opinion has been for years. +The roots of these insights are far deeper, +in fact, they extend well beyond misleading +analogic interpretations of surface form +as in the case just mentioned, +the 18th century case resurrected by Ryle. +Perhaps the first study of these matters +was by Aristotle, he asks, for example, +what's the nature of the house? +And he concludes, quoting Aristotle, +"We can define a house as stones, bricks, and timbers" +"in terms of its material constitution" +"or as a receptacle to shelter chattels and living beings" +"in terms of function and design." +So I may think that the place that I call home is a house, +but I could be wrong, it could really be a library +in which some odd people spend much of their time. +And, in fact, someone entering it for the first time +might be pardoned for reaching that conclusion. +The answer depends on choice of perspective +and on circumstances which I might not even know. +So if that thing was designed to be a library +and is characteristically used that way while I'm gone, +in fact, much of the time I'm there, +then perhaps it really is a library, +it's not a house, contrary to what I thought, +or perhaps it's really a garage +or maybe it's an oddly constructed +and misplaced paperweight belonging to a giant +and so on, there simply is no mind-independent truth +of the matter, and material constitution, +as Aristotle recognized, is only one factor +in reaching answers. +We can also integrate the factors +of material constitution and function design, +that's in Aristotle's terms, combining matter and form, +and we can bring in other factors too, +some of which he also explored. +Well, for Aristotle these are questions of metaphysics, +that is, the way the world is. +Notice that he talked about defining house, +the thing, not the word house. +From the 17th century there's been a very reasonable +tendency to reformulate such analyses +in epistemological, conceptual terms, +that is, as properties of something real, +but the construction and interpretation +of experience that's provided by our cognitive capacities, +that's in our cognoscitive powers +in 17th century terminology, which include +the internal semantics of the language. +And, in fact, there was quite illuminating discussion +of these issues by Hobbes, Cudworth, Locke, many others, +sometimes adopting David Humes' principle that, +I'm quoting him, that the identify with which +we ascribe to things is only a fictitious one +established by the mind, not a peculiar nature +belonging to what we were talking about. +Well, in all of these matters, +textual interpretation is uncertain, +but the general idea seems clear enough +and very plausible. +The house that Smith lives in +or the books that he's reading +surely do not have their strange and quite intricate +properties by virtue of some mind-independent constitution. +And the properties really are strange and intricate, +as soon as you look at the meanings of the words carefully, +dictionaries have nothing to say about this, +they just presuppose it. +Rather, they have these properties by virtue of the way +Smith and others think in particular circumstances +and the internal meanings of the terms +in which these thoughts are internally +or sometimes externally expressed. +These devices, in turn, are a property +of fixed and shared internal human nature +as are other aspects of their lives and being. +The semantic properties of expressions +are used to think and talk about the world +in terms of perspectives that are made +available by the resources of the mind, +rather in the way that the sounds +of language seem to function, +in the latter case as everyone assumes. +I've tried to show elsewhere and won't review +that these conclusions are supported +by descriptive observations that are in a tradition, +17th, 18th century tradition that's been +much too long forgotten and greatly reinforced +when we look more closely into the meanings +of even the simplest words, including those investigated +in the 17th, 18th century philosophy, +British empiricism and others, +words like tree or river or person +or names of substances like water +or the most elementary devices of reference and anaphora, +probably every aspect of language. +All are far more intricate than has commonly been supposed, +so much so that they must come to us +from the original hand of nature, in David Humes' phrase, +and hence must be fundamentally the same for all languages. +Now, these topics have been addressed +in illuminating work by Julius Moravcsik over at Stanford +on what he calls the ideational theory of meaning, +bringing classical sources to bear +on contemporary issues of language and thought, +others have pursued them too. +And the approach seems to me to have +a lot to recommend it. +Well, what about Fregean systems that are usually adopted? +That is, systems based on either relation of denote +or refer, holding between linguistic objects +and extralinguistic entities. +It seems to me that these are reasonable enough +for Frege's specific purposes, +most important for what really interested him, +namely formal studies of mathematical objects, +at least understood platonistically in his terms. +The ideas also seem appropriate as a kind of a +normative ideal for the specific +human enterprise of science. +That is, one hopes that such notions as say, +black hole or oxygen or electromagnetic field +will pick out something in the world, +in the mind-independent world. +And we hope that the same will be true +of the internal entities and computational principles +that are postulated in the study of insect navigation +or visual perception or human language. +There's also some evidence that animal communication, +outside of humans, is based on a notion of representation +that's similar to the invented technical concept +of reference that's familiar in the study of formal systems. +Here, the concept representation is understood +as isomorphism, that is, a one-to-one relation +between mind-brain processes and an aspect +of the environment to which these processes +adapt the animal's behavior. +As, for example, when an ant picks out the corpse +of a conspecific by its odor. +Actually, I'm quoting here, again, Randy Gallistel +in the comprehensive introduction to a series +of essays on animal representation. +Well, if the picture that I've just briefly reviewed +is anywhere near accurate, +it could turn out that the use of language, +human language, to refer or in other ways +is totally different from animal communication systems +and this is in numerous other respects. +Human language might not have any denotational semantics, +just an intricate form of pragmatics +along with very rich internal syntax +that includes what's usually called semantics +but ought to be called syntax, +it's the study of internal representations. +Of this amalgam, the parts that we can currently hope +to understand in most depth are the internal syntax, +what's called semantics. +A theory of human action that would bear on +in some revealing way on the act of referring +is far more remote than comparable theories +for much simpler organisms and actions, +domains in which the problem is scarcely even entertained +because it's understood to be far too complicated. +Well, so far I've kept the language, +but in principle everything I've said +should carry over to the study of other mental qualities. +In practice, however, the difficulties mount very quickly, +language appears to be relatively isolated +from other cognitive capacities. +Here I'm referring to its structure, not its use +or the particular component which are integrated +into the structure which could be individually shared +with other cognitive faculties or even other species +as I had mentioned before. +One of the reasons why language is a good topic +for study for inquiry into the mind +is its essential role in human affairs, +but another is that it is indeed +or appears to be relatively isolated. +When we turn to other aspects of mind, +for example, our moral nature, +it's much harder to isolate components for separate study, +that means to abstract them from reflective thought +and variety of other factors. +Nonetheless, those topics, the study of our moral nature, +have been subjected to investigation in various ways. +Now, that includes interesting thought experiments, +actual experiments with children +in the last couple of years and comparative studies. +Not uncommonly, the real world offers illustrations +of how these faculties function, +sometimes with very painful choices. +Issues like that test our moral faculties +and may help us to discover something about their nature. +Sometimes this perspective is counterposed +to what's called a relativistic one +which holds in an extreme form that apart +from their basic physical structure humans have no nature, +they have only history, or that their thought +and behavior can be modified without limit. +Nothing like this can be even close to true +if taken literally, though seems to be +what is sometimes said in aversion +due to Richard Rorty history on anthropology, +I'm quoting him, show that humans +have extraordinary malleability, +we're coming to think of ourselves +as the flexible, protean, self-shaping animal +rather than as having specific instincts. +Now there can be no moral progress in human affairs, +just different ways of looking at things. +We should put aside the vain effort +of exploration of our moral nature +or reasoned argument about it, +and we should keep to what he called manipulating sentiments +if we happen to be for or against torture +or massacre, for example. +I suspect I'm misinterpreting because it's hard +to believe that the words are intended +to mean what they seem to say. +Well, such proposals have evoked a good deal of criticism, +Oxford philosopher Galen Strawson, +quoting related statements of Rorty's +on the relevance of the extralinguistic world, +the truth, he asks whether the nonsense might be less bad +if it didn't build in such an astonishing contempt +for the reality of human suffering. +And his conclusion is it's just as bad. +A recent paper on the philosophical foundations +of human rights by Matthias Mahlmann +discussing Rorty and others +points out that, quoting him, +nobody would've taken a nazi seriously +who had claimed in 1945 that the sole basis +for the moral condemnation of the Holocaust +by the rest of the world is just due +to some kind of culturally relative emotional manipulation +based on shrewdly devised sentimental stories. +If that's so, and I assume it is, +we want to understand why, and if nobody +really means no normal human being, +that leads us back to the hard questions +of intrinsic human nature. +This notion of unique human malleability +is not at all novel, it's been a fairly conventional view, +at least back to the beast-machine controversies +that were inspired by Descartes. +And, for example, the argument of James Harris, +British philosopher in 1740, +that unlike animals and machines, +the leading principle of man is multiform, +originally uninstructed, pliant and docile. +The idea that human-alleged weakness of instinct +leads to vast variety and extreme malleability +has had a long and, in fact, inglorious history ever since. +Well, with no metric and little understanding, +it's hard to know what to make of those judgments. +But whatever merit they have, +they cannot offer an alternative +to the conception that I just outlined. +No one doubts that a person's understanding +and judgment and values and goals +reflect acquired cultures, norms, conventions, and so on. +But these aren't mind-external entities, +they're not acquired by taking a pill, +they're constructed by the mind +on the basis of scattered and constructed experience, +and they're constantly applied in circumstances +that are novel and complex. +And to these facts and their significance +were discussed 250 years ago by David Hume +who observed, I'm quoting him, +that the number of our duties is in a manner infinite. +Therefore, just as in other parts of the study of nature +we must seek a few general principles +upon which all our notions of morals are founded, +principles of human nature that are original instincts +of the human mind that are perhaps enhanced by reflection +but steadfast and immutable as components +of fixed human nature. +Hume, notice, is articulating +the basic idea behind generative grammar +in a different cognitive domain and centuries earlier. +Like Adam Smith, Hume took sympathy to the, +what he called a very powerful principle in human nature, +one of our original instincts +and the grounding of much else. +That idea was reconstructed in a Darwinian framework +about a hundred years ago by the anarchist +natural historian Peter Kropotkin +in what I think should be taken as the founding work +in what's nowadays called evolutionary psychology. +And there's recent work that suggests +some possible evolutionary scenarios. +Well, there's little reason to suppose +that the variety of cultural outcomes +reflect significant variety of genetic endowment +so we're back to the situation we faced +in the study of language or the visual system +or any other basic property of organisms. +It's necessary to account for the richness +and specificity of outcome on the basis +of shared intrinsic nature tolerating variation +but within a highly structured range +as throughout the biological world. +Well, to this picture we should add +other conceptions that have been studied in recent years +and also resurrecting the 17th century origins +of modern science. +One strand is the recognition that our innate capacities +are only latent, that is they have to be triggered +by experience to be manifested. +Then they're manifested in ways determined +by our intrinsic nature, much as susceptibility +to a disease is innate, though the disease +requires an external trigger. +That's actually the analogy that Descartes suggested +in discussing innate ideas, one of the reasons +why Locke's famous critique is beside the point, +that's long recognized. +Another idea that was fruitfully examined +in the 17th century is that the phenomena +of the world around us do not +in themselves constitute experience. +They become experience for us as they are constructed +by our modes of cognition. +I'm quoting 17th century work, +these, they must therefore conform +to these modes of cognition. +This is 17th century, picture came into modern thought +through Kant's version of it. +These modes of cognition are a distinctive property +of our nature, they differ for different organisms. +They're what the evolutionary biologist Konrad Lorenz +called the biological a priori, +in work that I, in fact, discussed here 35 years ago. +That's also true of the rich mental constructions +that we call cultures, norms, and conventions +insofar as they're shared by groups +that interact in complex ways. +Well, still assuming that each child +is intrinsically capable of acquiring +any culture over a very broad range, +the process of mental construction of experience +and interpretation of it is based +on the common genetic constitution +which must be rich to the extent that the outcomes +are highly structured and constrained +in ways that do not simply reflect features +of the environment, basically Hume's observation. +It seems unavoidable that the so-called +relativistic approaches must be profoundly innatist, +at least that they're willing to address +the issues of nature acquisition +and use of attained systems, Hume's questions. +If so, then they fall together with the study +of visual or linguistic systems +or other properties of organisms, +hard to see any serious distinctions here, +or any interpretation under which relativistic +approaches differ from the most highly innatist approaches. +Well, one last word on the import of any conclusion, +it has to be a very tentative conclusion about human nature, +one way to assess the importance of such conclusions +is to observe how deeply they enter into conceptions +of right and justice and the struggles that they engender. +It's very easy to illustrate from personal relations +to international affairs. +More generally, every approach to how human relations +should be arranged, whether it's revolutionary +or reformist or committed to stability, +every such approach is based on some conception +of human nature, at least implicitly. +If it has any claim to moral standing, +it's advanced with the claim that it's beneficial to humans, +meaning because of their intrinsic nature, +at least as one of its crucial qualities. +We should face honestly the fact that our ignorance +which is profound, but yet recognize that we have no choice +but to proceed on the best tentative assumptions +we can reach. +For many of the classical mysteries, +quite extraordinary bodies of doctrine +have been developed in the past several hundred years, +they're some of the greatest achievements +of the human intellect, +they also have far-reaching implications for human life. +And there have been some remarkable feats +of unification as well, sometimes very surprising +in how they turned out as in the cases +I discussed yesterday. +How remote the remaining mountain peaks are, +even where they are, one can scarcely guess. +Within the range of feasible inquiry +there's plenty of work to be done +in understanding mental aspects of the world, +including human language. +We would do well, however, in my opinion, +to keep in some corner of our minds +Hume's conclusion about nature's ultimate secrets +and the obscurity in which they ever did +and ever will remain, and particularly the reasoning +that led him to that judgment and the confirmation +of that reasoning in the subsequent history +of the hard sciences. +Now, these are matters that are +too easily forgotten I suspect +and that merit serious reflection, +perhaps someday even constructive scientific inquiry. +Thank you. +(audience applauds) +- We have a number of questions +that we'd like to put to you. +- Okay. +- First of these is, when you say that language +is a matter of computation, +do you mean in the observer-relative +or the observer-independent sense? +And do humans really start off in the world +with the requisite concepts to express +things like carburetor and bureaucrat? +- Well, as far as the first part is concerned +we could ask the same question about insect navigation. +So take a look at, say, the study of insects by scientists. +You find that they attribute to the insect +highly intricate computational systems +which enable, say, bees or ants +to do things that are far out of our range. +We can't determine the azimuth of the sun +as a function of the time of year and day +or do dead reckoning the way an ant and so on and so forth. +The explanations of these that are offered +in the literature are computational systems. +Are they independent of the observer? +Well, in the sense that any science +is independent of the observer, +so when you have a model of the, say, planetary system, +in a sense it's relative to the observer. +That is, we can't get out of our skins, that's hopeless. +But the enterprise of science is an effort +to get out of our skins as much as we can. +You try to construct an account of the world +that is as observer-independent as we can manage. +Now, there are limits to this, +for example, studied in quantum physics, +but we can put that aside. +So yes, it's observer-independent +in the sense in which any scientific construct +is observer-independent, no different. +It's true whether it's computational systems +of insects, whether it's computational systems of humans, +whether it's the planetary system +or anything else that science tries to understand. +As for carburetor and bureaucrat, +I have to say that my Jerry Fodor +was a little offended by the fact that the statement +you quoted was attributed to me in a recent article, +actually it's his, his proposal, +and he wrote to me that he's sorry +that it came up because he can prove +that the notion carburetor isn't innate +since he doesn't even know how to spell it, you know, +but the fact is that he was making a very serious point. +His point was that we have to somehow account +for the fact that terms like carburetor +and, what was the other, bureaucrat, we do understand, +just as we understand river and tree +and person and very simple words, +and we understand them on the basis +of extremely limited evidence. +We have a rich and complex understanding of them. +So we're back to the problem +of why we grow arms rather than wings. +You can't just wave your hand about it +and say, well, it's the culture +because then we have to ask how did we acquire the culture? +And, as I said, it's not by taking a pill. +The culture is a construction of the mind +on the basis of scattered experience. +So the answer that Fodor, Fodor takes a stronger +position than I do, I don't want to defend his position, +but in general this is the problem, +what is it about the nature of our minds, +the intrinsic nature of our minds +that allows us to acquire concepts +like river, person, tree, water, book, +carburetor, bureaucrat, even though we have +very scattered experience? +And that's the general problem of developmental biology. +And the only answer that anyone knows +is the one I just quoted from Hume, +talking about our moral nature 250 years ago, +and the one that's assumed by every biologist +for everything except the human mental qualities. +It's got to come out, come somehow +from the intrinsic nature of our minds. +And in that respect it's innate, +the fact that it's difficult to accept +is a sign of our irrationality +because it's got to be that way unless it's a miracle. +It's either a miracle or it's pretty much along the lines +that Fodor suggested, maybe not as extreme as his position. +- Thank you. +Semi-related, the second question is, +is it a good idea or not to search +for evolutionary precursors to language +whether in cognitive, sensory, motoric systems? +- Yeah, it's a good idea, +and, in fact, if you can find any, fine. +In fact, I suppose the question was written +before the comments I made - Absolutely. +- Well, yeah, I think it's a fine idea. +In fact, I think we're just getting to the point +where it may be possible to do it. +If, in fact, something like the program +that I very sketchily outlined, +if something like it turns out to be correct, +that is if we can give a principled explanation +for significant aspects of language +in terms of interface conditions +and computational principles, +then it makes perfect sense to search +not only for, I wouldn't call them precursors, +for homologues, homologous structures in other organisms +that happen to be like this. +And as I say, we might find very remote ones. +We might, I don't think anyone expects it, +but you can't exclude the possibility +that we might discover that the basic +computational principles of language +show up in insect navigation, it's not impossible. +In fact, it's not even crazy. +It wouldn't be a precursor to language +like bees aren't a precursor to humans. +Remember, species are not precursors of one another +like bees are no more precursors of us +than we are of bees, just different evolutionary lines. +And if you can find sensory or perceptual +or other computational components +in the nature of other organisms +that have some potentially homologous relationship +to human language, yeah, that would be interesting, +of course, that's what evolutionary studies are about. +- [William] Well, further proof that these were written +before you spoke is given the next question, +why are children geniuses of language +between ages one-and-a-half and four, +yet other cognitive abilities are still developing +at a much more concrete, much less abstract level? +- It's kind of like asking why children undergo puberty +around age 12 instead of age 35, +that's the way we're designed, you know? +We're designed so that certain things +happen at particular times. +In that respect we're like every other +organism in the world. +Binocular vision, being able to focus your eyes +and use that for depth perception and so on, +now that comes along at around four months, +so we might ask, well, why does it come along at four months +and not at one month or six years? +Well, the answer to that would have to be something +about the way we're genetically programmed. +All of these questions are much too hard to answer, +nobody knows the answers to any questions like that +even for primitive organisms, +what we call primitive, like insects, +now which are by no means primitive. +But to try to answer the question for language +is far beyond reach, nobody knows +how genetic instructions create an organism. +That's one of the reasons why the Human Genome Project +is looked at with some skepticism by many biologists. +Now, you could know the entire human genome +and that would tell you very little about humans, +because you don't know how you go +from genetic instructions to an organism. +That's an incredibly complex process, +only tiny bits of which are understood. +And this is just one of those many questions, +all of them very poorly understood. +- [William] Somewhat different direction is indicated +by the next question, if the study of language +is a branch of natural science +and language consists of a lexicon plus computations, +how would you respond to Sorel's critique +that computation is not a notion of natural sciences +like mass or photosynthesis but an abstract +mathematical notion which is entirely relative +to the observer? +- Same, well, first of all it's not relative. +It's relative to the observer in the same way +that any scientific construct is. +Yes, in that sense, of course it is. +Is it an abstract mathematical concept? +Sure it is, just like Fourier analysis +calculus, anything that's used in the sciences +is an abstract in the advanced sciences, +is an abstract mathematical concept +that is applied to particular situations. +That's why Newton and Leibniz had to invent calculus +in order to study the effects of motion, +and the same is true here. +Computational systems are particular kinds +of mathematical notions that appear to be +very well-adapted to problems like, say, +insect navigation, bee communication, +human language, and some other things. +So the point is correct, yeah, +it is an abstract mathematical concept +used in these areas to give us the best theories +that we can find. +If somebody can find a better theory +that doesn't involve computation, +great, let's have a look at that, +for insects or humans or anything else. +But until then we just work +with the best theories we can find. +Notice that this is very similar +to what I talked about yesterday concerning chemistry. +Up until very recently, in fact, less than a century ago, +1920s, leading scientists described chemistry +in exactly the same way. +They said it's just an invented computational system, +it's a calculating device, it yields the phenomenal effects +that you see in experiments, but it's not real, +can't be real, it's just something +that people invented in order to have some way +of organizing the phenomena that +they discover in experiments. +Why can't it be real? +Well, because it couldn't be reduced to physics. +Which was true, couldn't be reduced to physics, +reason, physics was wrong, +so it couldn't be reduced to physics. +After physics was radically revised +by the invention of development of quantum physics, +Linus Pauling succeeded in giving +a quantum theoretic account of the chemical bond, +he won the Nobel Prize for it. +It's 1935, it's not that long ago +And then chemistry and physics were unified +and everyone recognized that all of this talk +about calculating devices was complete nonsense. +Chemistry was the best theory you could devise +for dealing with these problems, +and that's the only notion of reality that we have, +we don't have any other notion. +The only notion of reality we have +is whatever our best theories provide, there's nothing else. +So chemistry was as real as you like, +happened to be more real than physics +which was on a wrong track. +When physics changed they became unified, +you get the contemporary science. +In this case, the best theories we have +as far as anyone knows are computational theories, +so that's reality. +If neurophysiology doesn't integrate with them +and we don't know where the problem is, +it may be in the brain sciences, it may be +in the computational theories, +maybe everything's on the wrong track, +that's often happened in the history of science too. +You know, you don't know the answers +until you find the answers. +But there are no questions about the reality +and calculating devices and observer relativity +and so on, they simply do not arise +for reasons which are well understood. +We have a couple of centuries of history +of the hard sciences from which we ought +to be able to learn some lessons, including these. +And they apply in this case as in earlier cases. +- [William] As a theoretical chemist, +thank you for transcending some boundaries. +Moving along. +You mentioned yesterday that a number of theories +of biolinguistics are, quote, +pointless or obviously misguided. +Why then do other scholars continue to pursue them? +(audience laughs) +- Gotta ask the other scholars. +I can't, it depends, I mentioned a few and gave some reasons +why I think they're misguided. +Incidentally, those were not theories of biolinguistics, +those were theories of language +which deny that language is a part of the world. +- [William] I see. +- I think that's seriously misguided. +- [William] You have disqualified Quine's +radical translation paradigm, calling it a new, +quote, mythological, epistemological dualism, closed quote. +Could you explain this more? +- Well, the radical translation, +there's a little misunderstanding of this, +the radical translation paradigm, +the fact that, this will only be intelligible +to those of you who know this stuff. +But Quine's conclusion about what he calls +indeterminacy of translation that comes from this paradigm, +I don't disagree with that conclusion. +I think the conclusion is correct, +it just seems to be a truism. +That's what I thought when I was a student of Quine's +in graduate school 50 years ago, +and we argued about it then and I still think so, +it's true, but it's a truism. +In fact, it's just one example +of underdetermination of theories by evidence, +known to be a truism at least since Hume. +Quine's argued that there's nothing more involved, +but I don't think he's demonstrated it, +you can look at the literature and see. +As for the radical translation paradigm, +that's an approach to the study of language +that we would never adopt in the study of anything else, +say, insect navigation or any topic, +you would never adopt that paradigm. +In that case you have to ask +why do you oppose it for human language? +Well, as far as I can see, that's a kind +of methodological dualism. +It's saying we somehow have to approach +higher human mental faculties by methods +that we would never use anywhere else +in studying the physical world. +Now, that's not old-fashioned metaphysical dualism, +it's something much worse, methodological dualism. +Metaphysical dualism, you know, mind-body dualism, +that was a scientific theory. +It was a substantial scientific theory, +it was the early scientific revolution, +Galileo through Newton, it was a serious scientific theory +that was a conception of matter +in terms of a mechanistic picture of the world, +what's called contact mechanics, common sense mechanics, +things interact if they're in contact, +what we all intuitively believe +even if we've taken a physics course +and know that it's false, we still believe it +because we can't help it, it's our nature. +So contact mechanics was developed, +gave a picture of matter. +There were clearly some things it couldn't accommodate, +it's Descartes' point and he was correct. +He therefore postulated a different principle +to account for them, that's science, +you know, it's the right way to do science. +He was shown to be wrong in a surprising way, +namely matter doesn't exist, okay, +therefore you can't, doesn't matter, +it's of no interest that other phenomena +don't fall within the concept of matter +because nothing does. +Okay, so that ends metaphysical dualism, +there's no more mind-body problem. +Methodological dualism is just pernicious, +there's no reason why we should study human +higher mental faculties in suicidal ways +which we would never use in studying other topics, +why should we do that? +That's a kind of a methodological dualism +which has no saving graces as far as I can see. +- [William] Thank you so much, and thank you +for a couple of wonderful presentations, +please join me in thanking Dr. Chomsky. +(audience applauds) +(introspective music) +1 +32 +35 +37 +39 +42 +44 +48 +51 +52 +56 +60 +62 +64 +67 +70 +72 +76 +78 +81 +84 +87 +89 +92 +95 +98 +100 +104 +111 +114 +116 +118 +122 +125 +127 +130 +131 +134 +136 +138 +141 +145 +149 +151 +155 +158 +161 +163 +167 +171 +173 +177 +181 +197 +198 +202 +207 +210 +213 +216 +218 +222 +226 +229 +234 +239 +243 +246 +250 +255 +258 +265 +270 +274 +278 +281 +284 +288 +292 +295 +299 +301 +305 +308 +311 +314 +318 +322 +325 +329 +332 +334 +337 +340 +344 +348 +351 +354 +357 +360 +363 +365 +368 +372 +378 +381 +384 +387 +392 +394 +398 +403 +406 +408 +411 +413 +417 +420 +424 +429 +432 +435 +440 +445 +448 +451 +455 +460 +464 +468 +471 +475 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are honored to have a linguist with us who needs no introduction, +Professor Noam Chomsky. +Thank you and nice that you could schedule us. +>> I am happy to talk to you. +>> Shall we start right away if that's okay? +>> Sure, of course, yes. +>> So first of all, and I am sure you have answered this question many times before, +But I think it is something that certainly interests the participants of this course +and that is the original reason that you have immersed yourself in linguistics. +[LAUGH] >> The real reasons? +>> Well. +[LAUGH] >> I was 16 years old +and student at the University of Pennsylvania, and +I had gone to college with great expectations. +The study offer seemed very exciting. +>> [LAUGH] >> The high school was very boring, +and this seemed like a way out, but pretty much every college I attended offered +just more boring high school material and I lost interest. +There was one college I was very interested in, Arabic. +With a good professor. +A learned scholar, an Italian anti-Fascist immigrant, it was 1945. +Giorgio Levi Della Vida +I was about to quit my studies, it was so boring. +When I happened to meet Zellig Harris through separate relationships. +Political, common political interest. +And he was a very impressive person, and +I always enjoyed talking to him. +And he asked me a book from his hand that +would appear soon to correct. +It later appeared as 'Methods in structural linguistics'. +It was my introduction to the field. +Then he suggested that I attend his lectures, which I did, and +then he suggested other lectures to other members of the faculty. +Philosophy, mathematics, and I started this. +I ended up with a very strange university education, +which consisted of a mixed bag of lectures. +[LAUGH] Without professional certificates, but +I became more and more interested in the field. +I had some background, my father was a Hebrew scholar. +>> Yes. His dissertation covered +Kimhi and Medieval Hebrew Grammar +And when I was maybe 12 or 13, I read being +dissertation and some works on the history of Semitic. +I was interested in this and all this was taken into this common interest. +>> Yes. +So it all came together at some point? +>> Yes. >> It felt- +>> Real certificates and linguistics or +anything like that would never be allowed into a respectable department. +>> [LAUGH]. +>> [LAUGH] Okay, so +I think you have studied linguistics all your life and +What is the language like +fascinating that you continued to study it? +>> Well, language has been recognized for centuries by philosophers, +by scientists: Descartes, Darwin the whole list, +>> Yes. >> as the essential human gift, +the impressive ability that distinguishes people from other organisms. +That is the traditional view, and I think there is extensive evidence for it. +And it is an essential characteristic of man. +It is the source of creativity or +originality or mind and what not, +the ability to plan something in a way that is unique in the animal world. +And when we do, it also has some very strange features when you get there +looks at it carefully. +So language is one, what is considered a digital infinite system. +It is infinite. +There is no limit to the amount of expressions you can produce and +mountain pipes. +Which is always interesting because how do you obtain infinite capacity +from a finite amount of data? +>> Yep. +>> And it is also digital, it is not continuous, +as for example the communication system of bees is a continuous system. +>> yes. >> Language is a digital system; +sentences with five words, sentences with six words, but not sentences with five and a half words. +And digital infinity is an interesting feature. +This was fairly well established in the mid-20th century. +The theory of computation, the mathematical theory of computation and so on. +And it became possible, then, really for the first time to try +accurately determine the nature of this property. +And it is, there are many interesting, +It is quite unusual in the organic world. +You don't find such systems. +And according to tradition, it was very difficult +because the concept of digital infinity, computability, +theoretically was not really clearly understood until +about the middle of the 20th century, +within mathematics and beyond it was-. +>> So-. +>> Yes-. +>> So would it be appropriate to summarize it as follows +that it is both the mathematician +elements of the system and how, +by studying language, you can study how we are put together. +>> Yes, the essence of human beings. >> Yes, the essence of humanity. +>> What kind of creature we are. +This is our kind. +It's not the whole story, but it's a ... +But that combination of accessibility to formal issues, +is carefully formal questions and human significance, I think, +an irresistible combination. +>> Yes, yes. +Well, of course we totally agree. +>> Yeah. [LAUGH] >> If, you know, beginning linguists. +Yes, another question we have is what is most surprising +what you know now, but what you did not know when you started linguistics? +>> Well, in the very beginning ... +First, I have to say the following, in connection with what you said before, +that this was not the way language was viewed at the time. +>> Yes. +>> In fact, the general view was that languages +may vary arbitrarily, and that each language was different from all others. +You should not approach a specific copy with any presuppositions and that +language simply ... A good example of how language was understood was actually +Harris' book 'Methods in structural linguistics'. +It was a collection of procedures, +that a linguist can use in the field +to organize the materials he collects from an informant. +That's what linguistics was about. +There was theoretically not much to say, +and maybe some things about, you know, the structure of phonology, +what characteristics there are. +But beyond that, not very much. +And that was because it was not possible at the time, +it is not intended as a criticism to establish what a generative procedure is. +What is an infinite generative procedure? +>> Mm-hm. +>> But most of all, it was pretty clear in the beginning, +say around 1950, anything, any language +had some sort of basic property that she should share with all languages. +That is a generative procedure that +produces an infinite collection of hierarchically structured expressions. +>> Mm-hm. +>> Each of them has a fixed interpretation of two, +on the interface of two other biological systems. +The sensory motor system for externalization and the internal, +conceptual, planning thinking system that sometimes leads to a conceptual, +intentional system. +So there are two external conditions to which the generative +procedure must comply. +And this system had to evolve somehow. +There was a time when it wasn't there. +Now it is here. +it is apparently uniform among men. +There are no known differences in linguistic capacity within the human species. +So for example if you take someone from an Amazon- +tribe that has not had contact with other people +in the last 20,000 years and you bring him to say, Boston. +Then he will be like my grandchildren. +Conversely, there is no known linguistic or other coginitive difference. +>> Yes. >> So somehow something came up, +that is certain. +And it seems quite recent, but we didn't know it at the time. +But now it is quite clear, fairly clear, that it is not +has evolved in the last 50 or 60,000 years since man left Africa. +And if you go back further, not long before in evolutionary time, +there is no evidence that this existed, that would be anachronistic. +What I say is now reasonably known, when it was not known. +What was known was that it somehow evolved and +that it seems the same to all people. +Now that raises a very serious question. +It suggests that when you try a linguistic, a grammar, +to write a grammar of a certain language, it seems extremely difficult. +>> [LAUGH] >> Each seems very different +than the last one you tried. +And that's why the mechanisms that you have to put forward are for +this principle is extremely complicated. +If you look at early generative grammars from the 1950s, 1960s, +then the theoretical frame of reference +very complex actions, mutual guidelines of actions. +And that seemed necessary to be adequate at least in the description. +to try to capture the data. +But it was obvious that this could not be correct. +For example, there is no way they could be taught. +And for another reason, they couldn't ... +it could not have evolved, the system, this complex. +So the correct answer must somehow be that, +there is an extremely simple system that somehow generates this diversity and +this complexity, only for the interaction of extremely simple principles and +general laws of nature, which are probably laws of computation. +But that seemed like an idle dream at the time. +>> [LAUGH] >> The most interesting discovery is that +it doesn't seem like a vain dream. +>> Hm. >> There is reason today, I think, +to take seriously a thesis that can demonstrate, +but I think we are close, that language is an almost perfect system. +This means a perfect system would be a system that conforms to universal and +linguistic conditions of arithmetic effectiveness. +>> Hm. +>> These are essentially natural laws that use the simplest possible +generative action, combinatorial action. +We know what it is. +And then, by the way it works, it produces the visible diversity +a complexity of languages due to minor adjustments here and there. +>> Hm. >> That sometimes leads to a strong, +minimalistic assumption. +And it would have seemed crazy 20 years ago, hopelessly +impossible 50 years ago, but now more or less plausible. +>> So, what you are saying is that it is actually all surprisingly simple. +Or is it surprisingly orderly, perhaps? +>> It's almost, it's a possible assumption, that maybe +your generation proves that language approaches a perfect system. +>> [LAUGH] >> It's close, at the core, +it approaches the optimal way to meet the conditions of the interface. +And there is more. At this time, +I think this is, I'm not talking about consensus in the field at all. +This is my personal opinion, and from a few other people. +I think at this time, there is growing evidence that the relationship to the interfaces +is asymmetrical. +That is that in particular the relationship of the sensory motor system, the +externalization, is secondary. +It is a secondary property. +The core system of the teaching of synthetic language and +semantics and so on, +is independent of the properties of externalization. +So in particular, for example, it is independent of a linear word order. +We need to speak. +The words should come out in a linear order. +>> Yes. +>> But I think this is only a property of the articular system. +But it is not a language, it is a filter through which language must pass. +And if you look at other systems of externalization, like gestures, +we now know, 40 to 50 years ago this was still unknown, but +now it is known that gestures are essentially the same as spoken language. +>> Right. +>> Right. +>> It has remarkable similar properties, however +externalization differs because it is a different modality. +So you can use simultaneity in gestures or +spatial orientation, for example anaphors for a reference +and so on, in ways you cannot use in spoken language. +And if you have other modalities, different circumstances, +but if this is correct, and I think there is a good reason to believe it is, +then almost all current linguistic work is a peripheral system. +>> It works on a system of externalization. +And that makes sense in a practical sense. +So for example if you want to, say, learn Dutch, +they don't have to, they can't learn the fundamental principles. +Nobody knows these so they cannot be taught. +What you learn is the pronunciation, vocabulary, word order facts or +such things that seem particularly superficial. +>> Yes. >> Very complicated, but +extremely superficial. +And apparently +this has no consequences for the core of syntax and semantics, +which is independent of this. +And so for example, the relationship between a verb and a direct object, +a transitive verb and a direct object are semantically the same +whether the verb precedes or follows the direct object, it doesn't matter, you know. +And that seems to apply in general +for some interesting properties of language. +>> So if that's right, +as I suspect, then the core principle, +the basic principle that I mentioned at the beginning, +an infinite collection of hierarchical structures continues +the link to the interfaces should actually be link to one interface - the idea +>> Yes, conceptual >> interface. +Furthermore, there is another system that has to do with externalization, +reveal what is going on internally in your mind. +Which probably takes place mainly unconsciously. +Well there is another option, I think, +which seems to me increasingly plausible that many of the +mental processes that work when you interpret something, +understands, creates, expresses, not only unconsciously, +but beyond the level of consciousness. +>> Yes. Actually we had, +this has something to do with another question we had. +because you are currently also involved in bio-linguistics. +And what is the focus of that field, we would like to know. +And can you perhaps explain something about this topic? +About bio-linguistics? +>> Well, this also brings us back about 65 years. +Around 1950 when this kind of work started, +there was some sort of what you can call party policy. +A widely supported >> [LAUGH] +>> consensus in the field, it was, +it was essentially behavioral science. +you studied behavior, organized behavior. +Within linguistics you study the organization and organization, +and the patterns of data you collect ... +and things, language learned through training, +by habit, this development may not have been +natural selection or something, but ... +Only a few people and I had a different vision, +actually three students. +One of them is in the office next to me, Morris Halle, +the other is Eric Lenneberg, the founder of the biology of language. +The three of us were students at Harvard in the late 1950s. +And we strongly disagreed with the prevailing view. +Part of the disagreement was the acknowledgment of what +a truth to me seems like a cow, but what is widely contested. +And that is that language, your language is an internal property of you, +that is within you, +it is not in the world. +It's in your brain, somehow rendered. +nowadays sometimes described as "I-language" and internal language. +>> Yes. >> As an internal language +property of a person. +Then it is a biological system. +And you wonder what kind of biological system it is. +It is bio-linguistics, and there was not much to say about it at the time. +But over the years it has become a bigger topic. +Eric Lenneberg's book +Foundations of biology of language, or something like that. +Released in 1967, and is still best in many ways. +I think he offers the best treatise on the evolution of language, +one of the best... +out there, but on all these topics +thought about it, but there was not much to say about it. +So let's say the evolution of language, +these were subjects that were simply discussed. +It had to be recognized that the system evolved in some way, and +that it had to be simple enough to evolve. +It is a condition, sort of an overarching condition +in the construction of linguistic theories. +And it showed that they must all be incorrect. +Because they are far too complex to possibly have evolved. +That's actually the motivation to look for something, +like what I call the Minimalist Program. +>> Yes. +>> It could have evolved, the question is whether it is possible. +But there was not much literature about it. +There were many meetings, conferences, symposia ... +For many years I gave a lecture together with a +laureate in Biology at MIT, however +very little came out because there was not much to say about it. +Linguistic theories were too complex +to approach wisely, both in the area of acquisition and +evolvability. In the 1980s, +1990 started to change that, there were things to say about it. +A significant change came about 1980 when the so-called +principles and parameters approach crystallized. +That was an opening to many possibilities. +The earlier approach to linguistic theory within this general +The framework was that linguistic theory provided a kind of format for grammar. +Every grammar of every special language had to fit in that format. +And you chose that grammar based on an evaluation of measured data. +The idea is that a child has data, there is a fixed format in his head, +that is genetically determined. +And then it picks the simplest grammar in terms of +the technique of measuring, given the data. +That basically produces an answer on how to acquire a language, +but it doesn't work because it requires astronomical calculations. +So it is totally impracticable. +As it is understood, it is basically +possible, but it may not be correct. +The principles and parameters approach that +crystallized in the early 1980s offered a different view. +The principles are fixed, they are part of the genetic legacy, +and we hope to make them simple enough. +So that they can have evolved, that's what we have come to call the Minimalist Program, +it's just the continuation of the effort since the early 1950s, +which hopefully leads to the Minimalist Program or +something like that as a possible answer. +The parameters are the options available for the tests to determine the data given and +there is quite interesting work in the field of parameter setting and +the choices and arrangement of parameters and so on. +Another interesting evolutionary problem has been added. +Where did the parameters come from? +And there are a few interesting ideas about this. +One possibility that is being investigated is that there are actually no parameters. +It is just that the principles +are under-specified +in some ways. +>> And that specification of what +underspecified gives the various options. +If that turns out to be true, +then that solves the evolvability problem. +But it is very hard work. +To show in detail that the hits, +the superficial diversity and complexity you see are actually misleading. +And that they can be reduced to a few basic, simple principles. +And this is fairly well known in science. +And I think in every science you look at, the data seems hopelessly complex. +This was the case in physics when Galileo and +his associates tried to find the basics of movement, +they were mainly ridiculed +because it is clear that it is hopelessly complex. +Just look at the leaves blowing in the wind and so on. +>> Yes. >> And it took a long time before +they understood you +can explain various and complex phenomena in terms of simple principles +if you can find out what they are and how they function. +>> The same goes for biology. +In fact, at the time, when it was widely adopted in linguistics that +languages are arbitrarily different from each other and there is no limit to diversity, +about the same was assumed for biological organisms. +That the diversity and complexity of organisms is so +great was that each had to be studied separately. +It has been discovered over the years that this is not true. +That there are striking similarities, preservation of fundamental forms, +limited possibilities for organisms etc. +In fact there is +even a premise that is taken seriously, although not accepted, +that there is a universal genome, a genome for everything. +With only a few variations. +It is no longer a strange assumption, +it is like the Minimalist Program. +>> Yes. +So, I'm afraid we'll run out of time. +And I am sure you have many other obligations today. +So, [LAUGH] to wrap up the conversation, of course, +there are people watching this video who are already interested in linguistics, +they participate in this online introductory lecture. +So, they will know a little bit more about linguistics after this course. +What would you recommend to them? +Do they have to read your work? +>> [LAUGH]. +>> Or is that still a bridge too far at the moment? +>> They should do that, all I have said is the position of a minority. +I do not represent a consensus in it +the field and that should be understood. +>> Yes. +>> All my life, I've actually been part of a small minority of linguists who +go against the flow. +So that must be taken into account. +>> Yes. >> It's the way I view it, +it is not the way the field views it. +But it is up to you, students, to find out for yourself. +>> Yes. >> [LAUGH]. +>> There are many different opinions about the right ways about this +to think things through +>> But that is -. +>> But that's >> That's good, I guess. +Okay? >> Sorry to interrupt you. +That's good, I mean-. +Disagreements lead to interesting new ones. +>> Indeed, that makes the field exciting. +>> Yes. +>> And, which is very exciting, both because of the meaning of +the study of language, as we said, at the core of human nature. +>> Yes. +>> The apparent contradiction and +I think it is clear, between the diversity and complexity of the data ... +and the recognition that for this +should be a basic simple explanation. +>> Because of +the conditions of learnability- +>> vulnerability, and so on. +And that kind of superficial contradiction, +makes it an extremely interesting field. +>> Yes. +>> Good. +Yes. Thank you very much. +6 +12 +17 +20 +21 +24 +26 +28 +32 +37 +41 +46 +47 +52 +56 +59 +61 +64 +70 +76 +81 +84 +91 +94 +99 +104 +107 +111 +115 +120 +122 +126 +128 +134 +141 +144 +148 +151 +155 +159 +163 +169 +171 +176 +181 +187 +188 +190 +192 +195 +200 +201 +202 +206 +209 +214 +220 +225 +229 +238 +242 +246 +252 +257 +263 +267 +269 +274 +276 +281 +282 +287 +288 +289 +294 +298 +301 +307 +310 +316 +321 +326 +332 +335 +337 +340 +345 +351 +356 +360 +363 +363 +364 +367 +370 +376 +379 +382 +383 +385 +389 +394 +399 +402 +403 +406 +409 +414 +420 +421 +425 +428 +430 +435 +441 +447 +454 +457 +460 +465 +470 +472 +475 +478 +480 +483 +488 +495 +497 +498 +504 +509 +517 +522 +527 +528 +534 +538 +543 +548 +550 +555 +557 +564 +567 +568 +571 +578 +582 +587 +591 +593 +599 +601 +603 +608 +614 +621 +624 +629 +635 +638 +641 +646 +649 +652 +655 +660 +665 +669 +674 +679 +684 +689 +690 +694 +697 +699 +703 +707 +712 +718 +724 +727 +731 +733 +735 +740 +747 +752 +756 +757 +763 +766 +769 +775 +781 +782 +783 +788 +793 +797 +799 +807 +812 +815 +821 +822 +827 +830 +836 +838 +843 +845 +849 +851 +854 +859 +863 +865 +867 +868 +873 +877 +880 +885 +890 +891 +892 +894 +898 +901 +907 +912 +917 +924 +931 +934 +936 +940 +944 +948 +953 +956 +958 +960 +964 +968 +970 +973 +980 +983 +986 +989 +990 +993 +1000 +1004 +1007 +1012 +1018 +1022 +1025 +1030 +1035 +1039 +1044 +1046 +1047 +1050 +1055 +1058 +1061 +1063 +1067 +1070 +1077 +1081 +1083 +1085 +1087 +1091 +1094 +1100 +1105 +1110 +1112 +1115 +1119 +1124 +1128 +1137 +1143 +1146 +1153 +1154 +1156 +1158 +1164 +1167 +1169 +1172 +1175 +1182 +1186 +1189 +1194 +1199 +1203 +1204 +1210 +1213 +1215 +1218 +1222 +1224 +1231 +1233 +1236 +1239 +1243 +1246 +1247 +1251 +1256 +1260 +1263 +1265 +1271 +1275 +1280 +1284 +1290 +1295 +1300 +1304 +1311 +1318 +1323 +1330 +1335 +1338 +1342 +1345 +1351 +1356 +1358 +1361 +1364 +1368 +1373 +1378 +1382 +1388 +1393 +1397 +1401 +1406 +1411 +1415 +1420 +1422 +1425 +1430 +1433 +1434 +1436 +1438 +1441 +1444 +1446 +1448 +1452 +1459 +1464 +1466 +1471 +1476 +1481 +1484 +1487 +1490 +1493 +1497 +1503 +1507 +1509 +1515 +1520 +1525 +1529 +1533 +1536 +1544 +1549 +1551 +1556 +1560 +1563 +1566 +1569 +1570 +1577 +1580 +1585 +1591 +1594 +1599 +1600 +1603 +1603 +1606 +1612 +1614 +1616 +1617 +1623 +1626 +1628 +1630 +1631 +1636 +1638 +1642 +1643 +1643 +1645 +1648 +1650 +1652 +1655 +1656 +1661 +1666 +1666 +1669 +1675 +1679 +1684 +1685 +1687 +1689 +1693 +1695 +1696 +1697 diff --git a/cnt/Motmakt - Noam Chomsky in Oslo 2011 kVNq8knHGew.en.cnt b/cnt/Motmakt - Noam Chomsky in Oslo 2011 kVNq8knHGew.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7de20ab --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Motmakt - Noam Chomsky in Oslo 2011 kVNq8knHGew.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +Hello and welcome to Motmakt's event here at Litteraturhuset: +Noam Chomsky - Beyond State Socialism. +We are fortunate to have Professor Noam Chomsky with us for a session - +- with the theme of libertarian socialism and libertarian organization. +Many of you who are familiar with Noam Chomsky are aware that he in addition to being - +- a professor of linguistics also is a libertarian socialist; just like us in Motmakt. +We are therefore naturally delighted and proud to have him here tonight. +Tonight Chomsky will participate in a conversation with Adrien Wilkins from Motmakt. +They will have a conversation for about an hour and a half - +- and we will have time for three questions from the audience. +Everyone here have been offered to put questions to Chomsky - +- and we have picked three people who get to do that when the conversation is over. +We have a very strict schedule and delays so there will not be time for any more questions. +And finally: After the event you should go check out our book stand - +- where we sell a lot of exciting Chomsky titles and other cool books. +Now it only remains for me to wish a warm welcome to Professor Noam Chomsky! +As I said, there are three people here tonight who have been selected to ask questions to Chomsky. +We start with a question from Johannes Bennetzen. +Next question is from Sveinung Legard. It is you. +I am coming back there so you get the microphone. +Say your name. +8 +11 +15 +22 +26 +31 +39 +44 +54 +58 +62 +66 +71 +76 +81 +86 +3859 +3873 +4062 +4387 +4396 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky Disappearance of Languages exCYLQuu-sQ.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Disappearance of Languages exCYLQuu-sQ.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2903ce0 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Disappearance of Languages exCYLQuu-sQ.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +Nazarov, if I teach this to someone once all how you can achieve +I know whose term we are from the virus and making aleppo and canvas +poster of ukraine on the situation in the very center is easy +comments 2 sighting talking about of course super on +it is too +edge of a kind must be saved already there is something new +state drive before dawn facts of sport in squirrels states started by felix +you will find out +bill what were good +0 +28 +34 +40 +47 +57 +63 +71 +74 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky Does US Support Democracy Q-E3wR2ftac.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Does US Support Democracy Q-E3wR2ftac.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ee6350 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Does US Support Democracy Q-E3wR2ftac.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ +the u.s. supports democracy if and only +the u.s. supports democracy if and only +the u.s. supports democracy if and only if it accords with strategic and +if it accords with strategic and +if it accords with strategic and economic objective +0 +4 +4 +6 +6 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky Obama Supported Mubarak Till The End! R3foK01tLJY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Obama Supported Mubarak Till The End! R3foK01tLJY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31df347 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Obama Supported Mubarak Till The End! R3foK01tLJY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +the feeling is declared i'm afraid here it is for you she does not +one of which are you looking against the background of Mikhail weighs +and you want to challenge the hit recipes +what data types are the fastest +furniture for the bar so it is necessary here gary7 trains from the lobby i +ask and life carousel +an exercise +offers worth that these are the best +these products for come on at least until the flagship site is still what to do +what can I say postcard ate 12 units are going and the quality was relay you +larin stage infections. She's blonde +him with ragnarok fantasies he expresses and take I see nothing until +get now and Sarah, take the building outfit from your target +from that it was from a person so I go there micro advertising on the table and videos +please lola the sum of a series of sand and it was for the fact that the pilot +it is easier for us than lines so we will not repent in the clare club search speed say minus +Belarus size what +I want it with amnesics and say the product how are you today +2 +9 +31 +36 +40 +48 +52 +56 +60 +68 +77 +83 +94 +98 +105 +110 +116 +120 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky 'Corona and Beyond' - dai HOME LTPuJ541N0o.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 'Corona and Beyond' - dai HOME LTPuJ541N0o.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de70286 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 'Corona and Beyond' - dai HOME LTPuJ541N0o.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,896 @@ +Hi everybody, this is DAI Heidelberg online channel daiHOME, free of charge. +Donations are welcome. We are very happy today to have a special guest, the famous +linguist laureate professor who taught at MIT half a century and is now +teaching at Arizona the renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky who +joins us for a conversation from his home in Tucson Arizona, where he is +sheltering with his wife Valeria. Hi Noam!" "Hi. How are you?" "Fine. Today the United +Nations celebrate the humanity of the human rights day while we face the +erosion and the Doomsday Clock shows about a hundreds seconds before 12, so +all data seem to say "rebellion or apocalypse".. What is your advice for us?" +"We're in a very unusual moment, a unique moment in human history. The Doomsday +Clock, which you mentioned, illustrates it. I'm sure you all know every January The +Bulletin of Atomic Scientists brings together distinguished scientists and +political analysts try to give an assessment of the security situation in +the world. They've been doing it since 1947. It's encapsulated in the Doomsday +Clock, certain number of certain the minute hand is a certain distance from +midnight. Ever since Trump was elected the minute +hand has been moving closer to midnight. Two years ago it reached the closest +point it had ever been since 1947, when it was initiated. This last January they +abandoned minutes and moved to seconds. As you say it's now a hundred seconds to +midnight. Midnight means terminal disaster. Since January Trump has been +acting in ways which moved the second hand even closer to midnight. Recall that +there are three issues that the analysts focused on: One is the increasing threat +of nuclear war. Trump has since escalated the threat, he had already +abandoned the INF treaty, has now abandoned the Open Skies treaty, which +goes back to Eisenhower. The last treaty is the New START treaty. The Trump +administration has imposed frivolous conditions on any negotiation to ensure +that it will not be settled. I mean they're +developing new nuclear weapons. The Trump administration is calling for new +nuclear tests for the first time in 28 years violating the treaty. Second issue +is the enormous risk of growing environmental catastrophe that Trump has +been escalating that, they're perfectly openly incidentally in his February 2020 +budget proposal for the next year he called for - this is while the pandemic is +raging - he called for continuing to +reduce funding, as he's been doing for the last four years to continue to +reduce funding for the Center for Disease Control and all health related +elements of the government. And to increase subsidies for the fossil fuel +industries and of course for the military. +Meanwhile his administration is making use of the pandemic cover to eliminate +regulations, which somehow mitigate somewhat mitigate the effects +of global warming and protect Americans from the lethal effects of pollution. So +that's increasing. The third issue that they raised was the deterioration of +democracy. At first that sounds as if it doesn't belong with the two existential +threats but it in fact does, because they vibrant functioning participatory +democracy is the only possible hope for escaping from the two major threatening +disasters. Well what's Trump been doing on that tearing to shreds the remnants +of American functioning democracy. He has already eliminated from the +executive branch, any independent voice all that is left is cowardly psycho fans +there are inspectors general established by Congress to monitor executive branch +the corruption and malfeasance. They were beginning to look into the swamp that +Trump has created in Washington. He fired them or eliminated them, they're purged. +Today's news, look at the newspaper ,he wants to purge the Pentagon of anyone +who is not sufficiently loyal to him. This goes step by step trying to +eliminate the formal aspects of functioning democracy. That democracy +doesn't rely on laws. British democracy is 350 years old.The +Constitution is maybe a dozen words. It relies on trust and good faith. If you don't +have those, you can have beautiful Constitution the way Stalin did it, +doesn't make any difference. This is dismantling every component of +functioning democracy to try to turn the country not towards fascism. Fascism is +well above Trump's comprehension level. That was an +ideology couldn't understand that . This is turning the country into a small +tin-pot dictatorship of the kind you find in the neo-colonial societies where +there's a coup of a couple of years, and it's run by a megalomaniac whose only +interest is himself. Now that's the objective and it's being carried forward, +so if the Doomsday Clock were set now, second hand would move closer to +midnight. What can we do about it? Almost everything. Europe does not +have to capitulate to this. Europe has so far been so cowardly that it capitulates +to every move made by the Trump administration: the tortoise shreds, the +Iran nuclear deal, which was working very well, +raising growing threat of war in the Middle East, the severe threat. +Europe doesn't like it, but they go along, they don't do anything to objective it +and this is the case. The same is true of everything else." "Noam, it it's so +shocking in a way. You mention nuclear power, but in fact in none of the +newspapers we read, we ever see that kind of headline. We see another +headline, that's racism at the moment. We see black lives matter, we see +the argument of full prisons, we see many other signs of riots, we see police force +questioned. Why is the nuclear threat so invisible?" "It's invisible here, too - I mean you +can find discussion of it and the arms control journals. Occasionally you see a +report but basically nothing. In fact it's rather striking that in the +campaign that is underway in the United States which of course has +enormous publicity, there is almost no mention of any of the +three things that the Doomsday Clock registered. Most no talk +about the growing threat of nuclear war. Even very little commentary on the +growing environmental catastrophe that which is quite serious. On the racism +issue: it's not a small point and what is happening is very significant. The +demonstrations around the country, overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations with +enormous public support are completely unprecedented. There's been nothing like +them: scale solidarity, black solidarity popular support. And it's a very belated +beginning of a recognition of 400 years of vicious repression, which +has left a very bitter legacy, not just police violence. So I mentioned that +Trump is eliminating regulations on emissions like carbon dioxide and other +emissions. Well they happen to poison the atmosphere. +We're in the middle of a respiratory lung pandemic. Pollution in the +atmosphere increases that significantly. So the regulation says not only "Let's +destroy the environment." but "Let's poison Americans in the middle of it by making +the respiratory disease worse." Who suffers from this?The people who live +near the polluting plants. Of course they can't afford to live anywhere else. Who +are they? Mostly black, because of the legacy of racism. So this everywhere you +look, you find this. Again, this aspect of it is not being discussed but +should be. But as for why the European press is not focusing on the main issues, +you'll have to tell me. They're very serious. I mean the pandemic is +a very serious affair. We should be asking why it came at all. If we don't +get to the roots of the reason why it's here, it will recur in a harsher form. +Scientists are telling us right now exactly what they did in 2003, after the +SARS epidemic. That another pandemic is coming probably a corona virus, could be +worse than this one, exacerbated by global warming. And they are telling us +exactly what we have to do about it. We didn't do it in 2003, we have to do it +now. And that is barely being discussed. Meanwhile of the Arctic ice sheets are +melting, that's inexorable. There's undermining of +the huge glaciers in the West Antarctic. We're on a course, which within a +generation will make most of the habitable world +almost unlivable: large parts of South Asia, the Middle East, Africa. All of +this is taking place. That means, well most countries are +doing at least something about it, not enough. +That's something the Trump administration alone among the developed +societies is racing toward the abyss as rapidly and enthusiastically as we can: +more use of fossil fuels including the most polluting of them, eliminating +regulations on automotive emissions. Some of what's going on is almost +indescribable. I give you one example: one of the Trump administration +bureaucracies, national transformation transportation administration, years ago +published a detailed environmental assessment. A couple hundred pages +detailed analysis of what's happening to the environment.They predicted, that if +we continue on our current course, by the end of the century the global +temperatures will have risen four degrees centigrade over pre-industrial +levels. That's Cataclysm and they make a +recommendation that we eliminate emissions controls on automobiles. +Understand? We're heading for total catastrophe so +therefore let's eliminate the controls that are mitigating it to some extent. If +there's a document like this in human history, +I'd like to see it. The only thing that comes to mind to me is the Wahnsee +declaration, but that doesn't compare in evil to this. Hitler was saying "Let's +kill all the Jews, the 30 million Slavs, Roma and others." He didn't say "Let's +destroy organized human society." But that's what they're saying. Do you have a +headline about that?" "So 2020 that is a probably the most crucial election +in human history. Do you think we can actually make a change, will that be a +change?" "It's very incertain. If you look at +polls, it seems that the Trump is far behind. But that's quite misleading. First of +all, polls are not voter. Voters are skewed segments of the polls. We don't +know what they'll do. Also we have to remember the electoral college in +the United States. In 2016 Trump lost the popular vote by about 3 +million, but won the electoral college. All that's necessary is a few selected +counties and a few states might swing the electoral college. There's also a +serious question being raised at the highest level, that's weather if +Trump loses the electoral college he will leave office. +That's a question not out of the fringe, it's being raised right at the +highest level. This is a not a normal person. This is not a person of the kind +who has ever been seen in Western parliamentary systems, +maybe Hitler was one. If he loses the electoral college is perfectly capable +of saying, that the vote was faked, that there were illegal immigrants voting, we're +going to stay here, I'm calling out my armed militias to protect the White +House. Then what happens depends on the military and that's why what happened +this morning is not insignificant. He's purging the military, trying to at +least of all but Trmup loyalists. I think there's a reason for that, they're +thinking of these possibilities. This may sound exotic, unfortunately it's not. Even +the Democratic presidential candidate said "If we have to take him +out of the White House we'll do it by force." We're not talking about something +out of the fringe." "Do you think that the Bernie Sanders movement will +probably influence this? It's a broad, a youthful movement in a way. Will they +be capable of making a contribution to the outcome of this election?" "That's +happening. Sanders and his associates have begun to engage in the Democratic +National Committee program and they have shifted the program quite far to the +left. In fact, if you take a look at Biden's program it's the most +progressive of any Democratic candidate probably since FDR. So they're +influencing the program. The activists are making a difference. If they continue, +that's crucial - they don't go home, if they continue that +can have an effec. The public opinion can't be disregarded even in a +dictatorship and we're very far from the dictators. So yes, they are having an +effect and can have a greater effect. But we're coming to a very severe problem. I +should say in the background is something different. If none +of this was happening, if there was no Trump if the country was continuing on +the normal parliamentary course it would still be facing a serious constitutional +crisis a very serious one. The US Constitution in the 18th century was a +progressive document even the phrase "We the people" +was a very impressive move. The continuous what was called a +revolution terrified European statesman. King George, the third of England said +he heard the whole British Empire bizarre and marinate warned about the +rise of this threat of republicanism, which will destroy all civilized society. +Well that was the 18th century to adhere to an 18th century constitution today +it's very regressive. If the United States were to try to enter the European +Union with its current constitutional structure, it would be turned down by the +European Court of Justice almost certainly. The Senate which is the +most powerful part of the formerly is radically undemocratic. +The state of Wyoming with 500,000 people has two senators. California with +40 million people has two senators. This affects the electoral colleges, will +excuse the electoral college towards the smaller states. Beyond that there are +demographic changes so eternity the votes there's an increasing urbanization +but that's not affected by the voting. It means that rural air enough +plenty of gerrymandering in the most the Republican parties working overtime to +try to prevent voting. They're very much afraid of voting because what they're +hoping for and what the constitutional crisis is leading to is that a small +part of the population maybe 15 or 20 percent that's mostly rural, conservative, +the Christian, white supremacist, elderly, now that sector +could actually govern the country, the way the constitutional system is set up. +And there's nothing that can be done about it. The only way to change it would be +by constitutional amendments and the smaller states will never have enough +votes to prevent that. So there's quite a serious constitutional crisis coming." +"What about the GOP, the grand old party, the republicans. +They're considered dead, you considered them the most dangerous organization of +the world." "The Republican Party ceased to be a normal parliamentary party quite +a few years ago, not my opinion two of some of the leading political analysts +from the conservative American Enterprise instead +Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann wrote years ago that the Republican Party has +become in their words "A radical insurgency, which does not observe +parliamentary programs" we saw that very clearly when Obama was elected. The +Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not at the moment, +two years late, Mitch McConnell the Senate the Republican majority leader of +the Senate announced openly that the sole goal of the Senate will be to +prevent Obama from doing anything. That's the end of the kind of trust and +good faith on which democracy rests. The Republicans have profits through +probably 30 or so efforts to try to overthrow the Affordable Care Act. Right +now, in the midst of a pandemic, they are supporting a suit in the courts to +eliminate the health system. I mean this is not a normal political party. This is +a group of extreme reactionaries who know that there are minority but are +doing everything they can to hold on to power. You take a look at the Senate +under McConnell the last couple of years. It blocks all legislative +proposals that come from the house. The way the system works legislative +proposals come from themselves in house considered by the Senate and joint +meetings. They all block. What the Senate is doing is two things: +passing legislation to enrich the very rich and the corporate sector like +the tax bill and the new bills that are passing right now. And stuffing the +judiciary from top to bottom with young ultra-right +lawyers who will be able to block any legislation for a generation that +departs from their ultra reactionary position. They are trying to destroy the +functioning democratic system, because if they try to survive within it, +they will never win another election. +Radames note said openly, if we allow a voting, Republicans will +never be elected, because too many people who vote." What about the role of +the media? You once said Trump and Murdock cooperate in this destruction of +the United States as well as the world." "The Murdock system includes primarily +for Fox News major television channel now plus lots of others so the talk +radio the radio that people listen to when they're at home or driving has +been totally taken over by extreme far right groups which are even righter than +Fox News. There's a major temp but Fox News itself has a very interesting +relationship with President Trump. Fox is the new source the main news source, almost +the only news source for most Republicans, there are studies on this. Fox News is an +echo chamber for the White House. If Trump says of the coronaviruses is just +a flu, Fox News announces "corona virus is just a flu, don't worry about it." If +Trump was to announced tomorrow that the world is flat, they will say +"greatest discovery in human history". But that's only half of it. +Trump doesn't pay attention to the news. He doesn't pay attention to intelligence +reports. In the morning he turnes on Fox News and that tells him what to +say. What's on Fox News. So there's a dyad, a kind of a mutual echo chamber +which is what the Republican constituency watches and that's why you +have the results that you have. Say global warming is the most serious +challenge that humans have ever faced, except for a nuclear war. 22% of +Republicans think that humans have some role in global warming, 22%. +The same percentage think that's a problem that is important to deal with. +What's happening in the most important +country in the world is shocking and Europe is just as bad. They're doing +nothing about it just cowtowering to the power in Washington. I mentioned one +thing that's true and everything else. They don't have too. Europe could be +a force in world affairs." "So in this terrible arena, +what actually gives you hope? Is that there is an attempt for Green Deal, new +deal, there are youngsters on the move, they are even gangsters in Brazil +who do what the president is obviously not capable for doing for his +citizens. Cuban doctors go to Italy. So there are obviously signs of +encouraging aspects. What do you see as a hope in in a kind of sustainable sense +of the word?" "Exactly that and it's very substantial. The black +lives movement protests in the United States, they can reach very far +to the social groups of racism, the institutional structures, that lie behind +the racism. The D crisis over the last several hundred years and they're very +broad. They affect the whole community the whole society. I'll take the green +new deal which you mentioned. A couple of years ago nobody was discussing. A group +of young activists sunries movement were pressing very hard for it +they finally occupied congressional offices, they got some support from the +new young Congress women who came in on the Trump wave also from a Democratic +senator in Massachusetts Ed Markey. Now it's in the center of the legislative +program. Some form of green New Deal, well another form is essential for survival. +Now that shows what can be done. As I mentioned the Sanders movement +has been oppressing and succeeding and moving the Democratic Party programs, the +will, towards the Social Democratic side. We should recognize, that what's called +the Sanders revolution in Europe would be considered mild social democracy. +Let's take a look at Sanders as two major programs which are considered +revolutionary in the United States. The radical programs universal health care +You heard of a country that hasn't? You heard of a country that doesn't have it? A free +higher education. Ever hear of a country that hasn't? Now those are considered so +radical, that we don't know if the American people can tolerate. +Sanders is moving with a lot of the population behind him, he is probably the +most popular political figure in the country, towards a kind of social justice, +social democracy, extension of the New Deal, the programs that Eisenhower +wouldn't have been surprised by. It's a sign of the sharp shift to the right of +the political issue on not the public during the neoliberal period and now +that's being reversed. That's a sign of real hope. Similar things are +happening in Europe. Well the Progressive International which was just announced a +couple of weeks ago at its first major meeting in September in Iceland with +the prime ministers. Remeber, this is initiated by the Sanders campaign in the +United States by Yanis Varoufakis and the diem25 movement in Europe, +transnational movement, bringing in voices from the global South. If that can +get off the ground could be a major counter force to the developments that +are taking place, to the efforts by those who created the system to try to +perpetuate it. Now that's a conflict which is very significant at the moment. +How it turns it's kind of almost you could almost call it a class conflict on +the international scale. How that turns out will determine whether organized +human society can survive." "Now the virus was considered the great or is sometimes +presented as the great equalizer between rich and poor. In fact the poor pay a +terrible price in it. Now we see the governments around the world trying to +have programs in trillions of dollars. What will that make in this process, +that is ahead of us?" "First of all it may be called a great equalizer but it is +the opposite. If you take a look at the impact on I don't know the European +figures. But in the United States take a look at the figures on inequality, +they've risen. The people who are gaining from the crisis are billionaires, private +equity firms, hedge funds, Amazon.They are gaining tens of billions of dollars. +In fact there was just a study, during the pandemic some tax revisions were +taking place, that presumably have to deal with the pandemic. It turns out that 80% of +the gains from the tax changes go to people who make a salary an income of +more than a million dollars a year. That's the great equalizer. Meanwhile as +I mentioned pollution controls are being eliminated which will rate increase the +pandemic, the respiratory crisis, among people living near polluting plants, +black and poor. That's the great equalizer. People in power know what +they're doing. They're not in favor of providing the poor and vulnerable people +with gifts. They're in favor of providing gifts for themselves. Well if they can +get away with it gonna be a great equalizer. So the question is: how the +public will respond to these developments? And we're back to where we +were. But there are steps towards it, but it's gonna be." "Noam, now just two +final little questions. A crucial point will be or is considered here +the choice of the running mate for Biden, whom do you have in mind? +There are several black women that are suggested. Do you have one guess +for us?" "My guess doesn't mean much but off the cuff I would yes it's very likely he +will pick Kamala Harris, my guess doesn't mean anything so don't pay attention to it." "May I add a very +personal question: four years ago we sat together and against the two of us +Valeria, your wife predicted the success of Donald Trump in this presidential. Does +Valeria have an idea for the outcome this year?" "Valeria is the the only +person I know who predicted the Trump victory in 2016. She's not here but I have to call to her, +current prediction is that Trump will lose the election. So since +she has a perfect record so far, maybe she's right. +However bear in mind what I said before and what people in high places up to the +Democratic Party candidate are saying. If he loses the election that's not +necessarily the end." "Now we had a few questions of people coming in +let me just take one talk about globalization. Do you think the +rapid spread of the corona virus will be regarded as a downside of globalization +and therefore lead to a global counter movement with more nationalized +industrial production what consequences would stem from this?" "First of all +globalization is a fine thing. But the fact that you and I could be +together four years ago that's globalization. The question is what form +of globalization. Now a particular form of globalization has been developed +under the neoliberal model which basically holds that decisions have to +be in the hands of private unaccountable power. That's the major principle of +neoliberalism. Can be dressed up in other terms but that's what it comes down to. +When Ronald Reagan says "government is the problem not the solution" that means +hand decisions, take decisions away from government which has the flaw that it +can be influenced by people, turn it over into the hands of unaccountable private +tyrannies corporations in which people have no influence. +That's how globalization was formed what are called free trade agreements or in +fact investor rights agreements. They have almost nothing to do with free +trade. The form of globalization that was established was to try to maximize +profit and you maximize profit if you have no spare capacity. If you're running +an automobile plant and you want to maximize profit you make sure that you +have no waste capacity meaning no security. If anything goes wrong well you +can fix up the assembly line. When you run a world like that it's a disaster. +The globalized system that was set up is extremely fragile. If anything goes wrong +it collapses. In fact we even see that in the health system not compared Germany +in the United States. Germany delayed on dealing with pandemic but it finally did +it. Germany had spare capacity diagnostic +capacities, spirit health capacities. Another health +system was able to reduce the number of deaths. The United States had the same +basically the same number of cases, still does, because the health system is run on +a business model, a strict neoliberal business model: no spare beds no spare +capacity, almost totally privatized health system, huge salaries. +You're after profit. Same with the +globalized system. One thing that is very likely to happen is that there will be a +shift towards less fragility and more security. I felt if the corporate +managers who run the world under the neoliberal system, if they +prevail, nothing much different is going to change. +Just less fragility more more security." "There's a special attention given to +a very American issue that's weapon lobbyists. Can you imagine how these +militant and violent actions enter the campaign of the election?" +"It's already entering. I don't know how much the news reaches you but was the +report of what happened in Bethel, small village in Ohio about two +weeks ago. Well I tell you in case it wasn't. It's now happening all over the +Midwes. This is a small village, couple thousand people, six +policemen nothing ever happens. A few people decided to have a small peaceful +march to support the protest the nationwide protests on racism. The +village was assaulted by about seven or eight hundred militia troops armed +militias, smashing the place up overwhelming the police force, driving +people back to their homes, calling for denouncing the protest and so on. Now +this is happening all over the country. In the state of Wisconsin are these +armed militia. Demonstrators actually took over this the legislature. It's a +serious phenomena and Trump is supporting them all the way. I +should mention some statistics who were recently released. Take a look at +terrorism in the United States and threats of terrorism. There is +a huge amount but it's substantial. In 2016, 20 percent of the +terrorism and terrorism threats was connected to white supremacy and 2018 +it's 98 percent and it increased in 2019. Now it's almost all. +That's related to the tweets that you see coming out of the White House, which +stimulate this. When the legislature was occupied in Wisconsin, Trump tweeted +"These are good people very good people." You know about Charlotteswill, it's always +there and you notice, what he's doing. That's part of his constituency and he's +got a voting constituency. His actual constituency is the super-rich and the +corporate sector. All the legislation goes to serve them, but you have to have +a voting constituency. You can't go to ask people to vote for you by telling +them I'm tryna undermine you and support the very rich. No I don't vote for you +that way. So you have to appeal on what are called cultural issues, +religious extremism, 25 percent of the country's evangelical vote for them. +White racism, white supremacy. The second amendment, which is a force. I could go into +that but no it's holding rid. You have to have your assault rifle with you, when +you go into a coffee shop. So will appeal to them on tha,t and this is part +of the support of the militia. And it's a serious phenomenal." "Yeah, we have seen them in Tulsa +at his campaign, that people were standing there with guns at the +entrance to this place and they can actually openly wear." "The law says +you can carry guns openl. I teach at the University of Arizona, when you come to +the gate of the University there's a sign saying no weapons allowe. Now +that's a constant battle between the University and the state legislation, +which wants to open the university too to open carry of guns. In the state of Texas +that's already permitted. I have a friend, a hundred years old, +assisted living place way out in the suburbs. You go to visit him, nice house +with elderly people - there's a sign on the door saying "no weapons allowed." I mean, there's not much time but +I'll be brief - the whole history is a con job. In the late 19th century the gun +manufacturers realized that they don't have a market for their fancy weapons. The +Civil War was a great market. European Wars were a great market. There was +declining. Nobody wanted the fancy weapons they produced. But it was an +agricultural society every farmer had a weapon. But it was like a shovel. +You wanted the old rifle the scary coyotes away. They wouldn't buy the fancy +weapons, so they started the first huge public relations effort in history. +A huge campaign to try to concoct fables about the Wild West which never existed. +You know nowadays everybody sees them on cowboy movies nor existed the sheriff +who's fast on the draw. I mean I +believed, when I was a kid, we used to play this game it was all invented and the +subtext was "You have to buy your son a Winchester rifle or else he's not a real +man." So they started buying this. That was bad enough. Then came 2008 the most +reactionary Supreme Court in his modern history. +She changed the meaning of the Second Amendment. She read the Second Amendment +it says "In order to establish a well or militia the right to hold guns shall not +be infringed." That was the 18th century +and they had reasons for it. One is they were afraid the British were coming for +good reasons. They were the big power and there was almost no standing army so you +needed minutemen and the other was they were invading the Indian country, that was +part of the reasons for the Revolutionary War. To be able to invade +the West, you needed guns. Thirdly it was slavery. There were slave revolutions, you +needed guns. Those are the reasons why the founders wanted guns and a militia. +And that's for a hundred years the court decision was having guns +was connected to a militia right. That was reversed in 2008, the Scalia decision +said it's an individual right, nothing to do with militias. That turned the +Second Amendment in the Holy Writ and now it's to ask most people what's in +the Constitution the only thing they'll know is the second aendment, which is that +right to carry an assault rifl, when we go into a coffee shop. The judgment is +astonishing. It mentions none of the reasons why the founders established the +Second Amendment. These are supposed to be originalists, you know people who +observe the original text and meaning of the terms for the founders, not in this +case. Jjust let's make individual rights to guns the Holy Writ +and you'll notice that every time Trump issues a tweet supporting some +action, he says "you have to defend your second Amendment rights" even if it has +absolutely nothing to do with it. Why? Because that's the rallying cry. That's +the way you get your voters together to vote for you, even when you're +stabbing them in the back. It's a very effective trick. And +I'm afraid I have to leave." "Yes thank you very much, and thanks also to Valeria for +keeping a strict regime on your health. We are all very grateful for you sort of +participating in this and thank you very much for your generous time." "Good to see +you, we might make it anytime in person on these." "Yes, hopefully" +"Thank you." +6 +13 +23 +31 +38 +46 +56 +63 +72 +82 +92 +101 +107 +113 +119 +124 +130 +136 +145 +152 +159 +165 +174 +181 +187 +194 +201 +206 +213 +220 +228 +236 +242 +247 +253 +258 +264 +268 +276 +283 +290 +296 +303 +309 +318 +326 +333 +342 +350 +357 +364 +372 +379 +387 +394 +402 +407 +413 +420 +426 +432 +439 +444 +449 +455 +462 +470 +476 +480 +489 +495 +502 +509 +516 +523 +535 +548 +554 +560 +565 +570 +577 +583 +589 +596 +602 +608 +618 +627 +634 +642 +646 +653 +660 +667 +672 +678 +685 +692 +698 +705 +713 +720 +726 +733 +739 +745 +753 +758 +767 +772 +779 +784 +787 +792 +799 +806 +818 +826 +833 +838 +846 +851 +857 +861 +870 +875 +882 +885 +892 +900 +907 +913 +923 +933 +939 +947 +954 +961 +970 +977 +983 +990 +995 +1002 +1008 +1013 +1024 +1031 +1036 +1042 +1048 +1055 +1063 +1068 +1072 +1082 +1093 +1106 +1117 +1125 +1130 +1137 +1144 +1148 +1154 +1159 +1166 +1172 +1178 +1184 +1194 +1199 +1207 +1214 +1220 +1227 +1233 +1239 +1245 +1251 +1256 +1266 +1272 +1279 +1286 +1293 +1298 +1303 +1309 +1317 +1323 +1328 +1335 +1340 +1346 +1354 +1359 +1368 +1374 +1379 +1385 +1392 +1401 +1407 +1412 +1419 +1427 +1433 +1446 +1454 +1462 +1469 +1474 +1482 +1488 +1493 +1501 +1509 +1516 +1522 +1530 +1537 +1543 +1548 +1555 +1560 +1570 +1579 +1588 +1593 +1600 +1607 +1614 +1622 +1628 +1636 +1641 +1646 +1652 +1657 +1665 +1672 +1677 +1683 +1693 +1699 +1707 +1714 +1721 +1727 +1736 +1745 +1756 +1763 +1773 +1783 +1791 +1799 +1809 +1816 +1822 +1828 +1834 +1840 +1847 +1852 +1859 +1868 +1875 +1881 +1888 +1894 +1900 +1906 +1913 +1917 +1922 +1927 +1934 +1940 +1947 +1954 +1960 +1967 +1974 +1981 +1989 +1993 +2000 +2005 +2010 +2016 +2024 +2031 +2039 +2048 +2055 +2063 +2067 +2077 +2084 +2091 +2098 +2106 +2112 +2121 +2128 +2134 +2145 +2150 +2156 +2162 +2171 +2180 +2188 +2199 +2208 +2217 +2226 +2235 +2242 +2251 +2258 +2262 +2271 +2276 +2283 +2290 +2297 +2303 +2309 +2316 +2320 +2326 +2333 +2340 +2345 +2352 +2359 +2366 +2370 +2376 +2381 +2388 +2396 +2403 +2411 +2415 +2423 +2429 +2437 +2441 +2445 +2450 +2455 +2462 +2470 +2477 +2482 +2493 +2498 +2501 +2513 +2524 +2538 +2546 +2553 +2559 +2566 +2575 +2584 +2592 +2600 +2609 +2615 +2624 +2629 +2636 +2642 +2651 +2659 +2669 +2674 +2682 +2688 +2694 +2700 +2705 +2711 +2716 +2721 +2728 +2736 +2740 +2745 +2753 +2761 +2766 +2773 +2780 +2784 +2791 +2799 +2806 +2822 +2830 +2836 +2841 +2846 +2852 +2858 +2867 +2875 +2881 +2888 +2894 +2899 +2908 +2912 +2918 +2925 +2928 +2933 +2938 +2944 +2948 +2954 +2960 +2969 +2976 +2981 +2987 +2991 +2997 +3004 +3009 +3016 +3023 +3030 +3035 +3041 +3045 +3051 +3063 +3070 +3076 +3080 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky 'spending money is not speech' - Abel Collins interview n9uD4bkx-JM.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 'spending money is not speech' - Abel Collins interview n9uD4bkx-JM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d186b91 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 'spending money is not speech' - Abel Collins interview n9uD4bkx-JM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +(sung) Wake Up No time for sleeping +In light of the McCutcheon Case that is being discussed right now by the Supreme Court +(Chomsky: That's serious) Could you talk specifically about the idea of political +spending equating to free speech +well thats Buckley v. Valeo +I think it's a terrible decision spending money is not speech +I think and the ACLU disagrees +but disagree with them on this but the +thinking of granting +the free spending of money +for political campaigns +essentially saying let's forget any pretense of being a democratic society +if your concept the free speech says +okay let's give up democracy and has become a plutocracy +well okay but then say it straight out don't just stand up and say +"I'm defending free speech" because that is the immediate consequent +(There is) already overwhelming +power in the hands over tiny percent and +the population already knows it so +roughly eighty percent of the population in the US +says in the polls and has for thirty years +that the government-run but a few big interests looking out for themselves +Actually in England it's even worse +about 90 percent think the same thing +and with some justice if you look at the academic political science +you know professional political science +the gold standard the best work in the field +concludes the the about seventy percent of the population is unrepresented +that means that they have no influence on policy +no matter what they think the lower seventy percent on the +income scale as you move up the scale you get a little bit more influence +when you get to the very top a people just get what they want +that plutocracy and the more and the primary reason for it is a +free spending that money to buy candidates +to influence legislation to lobby so on +you can't really stop all of this you can' t stop lobbying by +constitutional amendment but the these are +deep pathological problems in society but to +escalate those problems by things like McCutcheon +is shocking I think (sung) circle out X Generation +Superficial are the means of division Deeply rooted at the source we connect +twitter@so!idaritymedia +0 +6 +10 +15 +19 +22 +26 +30 +33 +36 +39 +43 +48 +51 +55 +59 +62 +67 +70 +74 +78 +82 +87 +90 +93 +98 +102 +105 +110 +114 +118 +122 +126 +131 +135 +139 +143 +146 +150 +154 +162 +168 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - 'The Delphic Oracle - Her message for today' _3KpQAI00KM.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - 'The Delphic Oracle - Her message for today' _3KpQAI00KM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..085b9f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - 'The Delphic Oracle - Her message for today' _3KpQAI00KM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1544 @@ +hello and welcome to brasilia Fogo i'm oliveira the president of the association +Brazilian linguistics for me is a chicken decoration project with committee +sausage permanent the sausage association +hi and the latin american rotation of philology and linguistics society +Argentine of all linguists and what we pass on our part and science +in particular and in particular the study of languages and +of the world's languages in the face of all the challenges we face in the world +and then to the association of language schools +is already bringing everyone together to talk about linguistics and and related by +all over the world on a platform designed and engineered for +student researchers to talk about the most varied sports that +encompass human language let's start this series with sausage from +name starting today with the name of the man who accepted our proposal +thanks to braille teacher warwick and also welcomes you today +here also professor lopes maya here also accepted the challenge of doing with +that all this was possible thank you very much +thank you very much miguel bora good afternoon as president international document +sausages are not very happy to welcome you to the first event +of braden's series of presentations on important topics in linguistics +until the next train from us and 3d the local location will be announced at +teacher clutch where that was the main speaker at our +congress and and he will talk about I already have +will our century +we are very honored to participate with embrace in this series of +presentations and waiting for the teacher, there are some who provide the first +lecture he needs no introduction and if he was the first leader of +leading thinker since the middle of the last century thank you very much and I now turn to +word professor marcos maya for more presentations professor chomsky +what's up +hi good night miguel good night teacher love you you are +hi and good night everyone who is watching teacher not only what is a +of the other spectators alive today they that presentation of some pilots the +people is an activist he not the linguistic singer +and he reinvented linguistics in the 1950s and played a very important role in +cognitive revolution is an honor for all of us only to open up a +abralin series of lages if you are already that agreed to +answer some questions after the presentation he will speak +good today will talk about the oracle of dolphins and the message that the oracle leaves +for us today thank you very much cent in being able to be with you personally +but we all know what the reasons are +is the most famous phrase ok the priestess of the oracle of dolphins was so know +even though it was expanded by socrates to an unstudied life is not worth the +sorry to be lived and this thought has strength but it does not +goes far enough and we're the series of how beings +and also to get to know the world where we +lives and in addition to human cultures societies have created in all their wealth and +variety not found are not found in a way more a hint than place +where to find a meeting is being conducted today the world is not a place +very happy that moment he plunged into a crisis of severe anemia and that +will probably lead the world economy to the times of the great depression +the king ae will kill the incalculable number of people but this is +just the beginning but we will recover from the crisis at a very cost +high but there will be no recovery and you have a polar cap regiment +which is going to cause extreme effects or accelerated pace of global warming and +sea level growth will be devastating is from a number of other +lethal effects that affected the survival of the +the game of man in today's world the largest bank of the united states in morgan chase +warns that the survival of the human species is at risk if we continue +along this path including investments in fossil fuels made by the +There will also be no recovery from the destruction of the Amazon rainforest that +an imbalance must come to an end in the not too distant future when the +forest will hopelessly become desert land the estimate is +that in about fifty years to five years 2025 the amazon may be the +out of the lungs the world to the largest gas emitter +carbon dioxide in sao mateus varzea for brazil and for the whole world we consider +the essential role that the Amazon plays in the world economy tragically for the +brazil a un costo a horrible in terms of sight weeks is he is to assault the +tithe other than the indigenous people having discouraged +and this is not a problem for the president of brazil when +military for not following the American military in which the +Indians many years ago now we are in the middle of two major crises to +crisis of the invitation of 19 or the coronavirus crisis that is currently is +consuming all our attention plus a crisis much deeper than +and puts the survival of the human race at risk in the not too distant future +and inside this crisis in two ways, countries are alone in the world +in its reaction is different from almost practically all +world of your governments are dedicated to amplifying the two crises my +country saw you the colossus of the north as it is known and the country that long ago +expected it to become the colossus of the south good and that in some moments arrived +very close to occupying that role especially the view of the bank +year year was called the golden decade day of the history of brazil the first +the millennium of that first decade when Brazil was perhaps the most +respected in the world hi people now bought the paper more +regular and ridiculed i don't need to examine what president jair +bolsonaro is doing and in terms of maximizing the impact of glass your +partner leonor depressed think which is even more +and is powerful by the global power that of the united states and even unique dedication +to dedicate the corporate and governmental priest the mass the harmful effects +fossil fuels +which for example the autocad energy being checked +hi and the reaction of these countries against viruses we really don't even have that husband +opals of all the details but they are at the level of harm and breaking with the +world and the united states and the house are confronting +a coronavirus that way and the plague coming back to the population +ah and so are unmatched advantages in the united states over +resources and riches and I buy myth commitment from the +president trump and has no clarity give has no clarity +good and the proposals he has for the next year things he put +in February in February and together with bolsonaro +and treating the coronavirus as a simple flu and +and the also systematically cutting funding and incentives +financial and is related to the whore with health problem in being a problem +address of the united states and this thanks to the problem of the academy +the guide requires some metric financial measures and they are also +a hi cause for the increase +in the caries video the subsidies related to fossil fuels by +everybody there hi and this money instead of slacking +right going out to military issues to protect the united states +ah and also protect the united states against terrorism and the invasion of +emigrants and you're being told loud and clear +and the bones to cover and to cover your message against the +Americans he's trying he's succeeding with the help of scapegoat +to ms now he's always ready to target because he's trying to destroy +the apostles of that organized this and many people cover in africa +and look at that change is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world +and ms has actions so that the advantage terms can survive all this +plus the famous phrase from bolsonaro speak who cares +hi and then they come back in which country and played a role +essential and there in africa also in cuba they +and then and they made the world available the world +an unprecedented model sending doctors to everyone there in Europe +finds itself for rich countries for what are part of the so-called european union +and most western countries are destroying the environment the environment +that sustains life and subjecting the people who live there to the problem of +coronavirus plus a bigger they're also competing +reception in some some companies are +competing and the beard +and the sentence below the intelligence alive death has been a motto in the fight +corporate +the beans but then if all these acts and happen laterally they can +influence the good and maybe bolsonaro center in that case is the +your doctor's way when the white house +hi linda just removed the person who was developing the vaccine +is because I was recommending it to its leaders and bolsonaro can make the +same thing and in the same way ready it is diminishing the meaning of science +her importance +good and all this in the name of the so-called freedom +and there are four seasons four hours the science media academy and the corporation +they are all pillars for them to support their ideas +and the science nor car and is that the trump decreased the value of +science in federal public policies are disrupting education programs +research marking a transformation for the government and its effects +good and who can receive it per year and that yes they see themselves as the biggest +the target of the attacks parts of the bed and the so +happiness is going the scientific consensus +and then the target's father is actually quite +bigger the other seeing the science of planting the +health ink and they are ignoring the expert opinion +and this has been worse than ever +that's it looks like one and it looks like there are two points in the +pandemic that has to be considered the united states in brazil the two centers +and has increased the cycle with respect to +survival we're not going to let it go and +let's talk about what we came here to talk about +let's talk loop calorie tumor and to know yourself don't talk to +the individual but as a member of the species the +good and the essential features of all +and we are unique several ways and the core of each one how to turn off the +pan that color is the computer the co-creator of the theory of evolution a +intellectual and moral nature are attributes are very significant +the biological world and go beyond human capacity +and the faculty of language is naturally considered the element +of human capacity to its emergence in the evolutionary register +what mends the mighty trust adapt to 239 brings the shapes your +emergence in +the evolutionary record is certainly considered as an object that stimulates the +appearance of human capacity the evolutionary record +and that would be the summary I'm paying for, +thought which of the progress of the call by the newspaper what happened +it seems and there was a certain is the structuring of the brain that created the wealth of the city +the eye language thoughts needed for development +behavioral changes that are revealed in the records and the +our spectacular some magnificent ones that have happened since then +in some of them, it has damaged the survival of men and the rest in +land which is the main property appeared in all branches the hominids +many years ago but they considered the operation encoded in the brain that will +numbers to the repertoire number of expressions and constitute articulation +human thought that may or may not be analyzed a +our motor system and samsung sensory and reflects our thoughts more +deep and and that's what +and then the remarkable characteristics of +language learn to scholars sme700m 17th century 18 cm to perceived +that in first and there closes modern that in some +moments have some aspects are broken like us some parts of the record +the human ones especially linguistics may be addressing some scenes +something like the Galilean revolution to a change +the careful descriptions of many times the one of much perception for the explanation +of some principles a step in the 17th century it was very futuristic the sense of +understanding the world was a greater desire to be surprised by simple symptoms +why not love an apple fell on the ground and here speed it does it and it is +us the g1 +and understood it a triangle and its measurements with which it arrives today in general +what are the main principles behind what happens in the world +at that time there was a report and among the philosophies the academic +here on this subject but they often had stories +mystical with which the Galilean scientific call good morning with properties +acquired to how sympathetic forms that form the original were explained by the +science ii xi resemble the games monologue +of jesus in the attempt +and mysticism its founders of the scientific revolution will not need +ignored thinking about the Galilean language and their contemporaries expressed the +citing their surprise and when they marveled that language allowed +build from 30 40 sounds a multitude of expressions in although not +resemble one another but the wow that goes through our mind still reveal all +the secrets of the mind becomes intelligible to others who cannot +penetrate the launch and explain everything that we without +want to understand and all the movements of our soul and this challenge presents +this present challenge which is called the galilean challenge +margot usafl we have to know what is one of the greatest rehearsals of the mind +age and it's language it really transposes millennium +hi and she transposes +and general thinking because it includes cultural principles of language +the guide and gives explanation to the thought +hi and then it brings important empirical results in conceptual +and then the empirical victory was limited, but on a conceptual level it was more +clear how we always managed to capture the joining one part with another to +understand how language works +this is so in a totally creative way this is always going to have a load of +mystery ah but this let's leave these aside +because structural behaviors entered there despite having been +recognized until then there was really is clarity until the middle of the century +play dough it was possible to overcome some barriers that were blocked here +blocked in fact is the linguistic arts of anthropological structure and +with that more data was gathered to be considered and then considered +in the externalization of the language and the code of our brain +and many discoveries in the mathematical field 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like institutions +internationals think they shouldn't get into national issues +and this will start the next elections and what will be the consequences +and Yemen is going through the worst humanitarian crisis in the world +hi and the government helps poor crop systems +that's because they receive help they don't know help and that help is being given to me +nothing because he doesn't want to be helped by it is happening in part in +latin america and i can't say number for you +here but the bolsonaro said who cares this is a very outside way +of sadism common and his tithing is very common +and we have nothing in the story and no one we've ever seen anyone +work with your eyes open to destroy your eyes open to destroy +to the scenario as we have today and he knows that people around us +also knows more who cares someone who doesn't get that kind of thing +ah but this is really a naked eye employee +I'm going back to a normal system and it won't be very good because there are a lot of 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some +problem but this will pass through Brazil and the whole world because the power +America +and they would not in the others if there was no American support he would not be able to +do what are you doing out there the ok thank you very much teacher now +we have a question about linguistics and what are your current thoughts +about and innate knowledge in creating the +language as there are new discoveries of statistical knowledge and the +linguistic stimulus is not so much after all there are no results of these +patients actually speak with her language creation you look at +truth has no statistics available for example but all very recent +it's something that we have to be familiar with that we are familiar with +the community of English and Japanese speakers +and your look at 9 month old babies more or less +and his perception capacity starts to change +and Japanese Japanese babies they ask for some kind of ability with +discount are exposed to the English language but this does not actually have statistics +take a look and you look at the data if you have two peaks to talk about if +English the winner circles with respect to listening +is the short spectrum the broad inspector +and it's not statistics on the radio it's numbers it's numbers you get the +quantity and speaks of quantities but it is not statistical there are other +statistical results do not +there is a very deep statistical analysis analyzed about children in the first +years of life and was made by claudiane +got involved there at the university than silvana with a computer system +called being personal who is aline universe consequence +universal.com.mx and length and speech +children's day and it consists of doing this small words two +50 words you can find but they are not more frequent than with +bigger days you might not find which means that the data that is +coming to the child they are sparse a lot more space than us +imagined and then +and the problem of stimulus poverty +and it was what we thought was the cause but we don't have patients +with about it another thing that calm some this rage a straight fury and it's a +interesting gift has been waiting for 20 years and showed +what do you take children from eight to nine months and give them +is a tag along with certification says they are able to interpret +the probability and they have a barrier a boundary of +words but they can detect +there is no high mobility for the next segment to happen and it will not be +a unit of low ownership of those segments you only one +word a unit 1 hi and then wow I'm caused one by one +the mark that what we have here is to believe here the theme of what +people have learned in the last 60 years is the truth more or less fear movement +of the 50s the farmer the linguistic theory of +logical culture and said that the word boundary can +be detected was going there and that went to the cult by harryti +hi and he detected it like that but it won't work it won't +have themes later 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the em +cooperation and do you think it reveals ownership +the word nothing and if you look at the articles +of that in a lot of things also cause noise catch a noise +and the article especially said that this is this is a property of the faculty of +language and not a particular language and +was only found in the amazon court not everyone has not everyone uses +a blindfold +yes but it is for the dipyrone palace they have the structure they can learn +Portuguese and there +hi and what article says is correct or not even if what you said is correct +for us we were curious +and it's like that tribe that used to sell on the bus +and this is like English doesn't take when we see childish elements to save +to speak it does not mean that they are not part of the ufg +good thank you thank you one last question french researcher stanislas +dehaene says that all things are language the similarity is similar +in terms of parameters of organization of the mind and the agreed the data with that 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steps back but it is +possible that darwin the wallace too +I don't have the key, as the common thing in the language in all of them, music is +look like intel a universal element +and asks, do you have some work that says that the core of the music tone they +involve +comment operations +hi people today has morals moral principles team birthday together so it's +possible hi hi hard to find if you put in +place it is possible that this operation has appeared +and in the case of linguistics but then and we don't know anything +regarding that there is no evidence to leave from here so it's all +speculation and it's very bad to speculate without evidence is +a possibility there is a possibility here +language may have been useful in proliferating it so that everyone uses it is +a very important reason to believe that the faculty of the +language today joke 150 thousand years ago we know how +is that this works within the genome the most distant groups most +it's more time ago time people in africa when they split up 150 thousand +years ago maybe this separation happened to me more or less when the language +language appeared and curtain tip +is very attracts +good so now in things we have the language but we can the language when +this the basic language operation became available it was sold to +other domains is another possibility is that in a +form or another of the gringos joined or more +hi and then onwards or the song or it's very difficult to say see there is no +empirical difference between what we remember what we speculate we +speculating this the most we should remember a particle is important +that the piece was published a text was published by sweet atlantic I want +found biological evidence +there have already been 4 volumes is an invitation to +cognitive intelligence he has an article also one where he speaks the +our cognitive scientists and does not speak of the evolution of the commission there +say that for demijohn it's not that it didn't happen 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smo +hi and the poor conception of Darwinism and if you see it is communication +if you ask how does it work where is it where are you hiding you +will not understand the opel else gerson you spend are +means of communication or form but fundamentally the structure of the language +it doesn't care for complications is the evolution of the scheme the language must +be returned to the opinion of another type of communication +and it is very difficult to believe is not radically different from everything that +we already imagined it but we have no reason to believe it because +although the language is a useful complication, there is no indication that it has the +derived from other forms of communication previously used by others +or asphalt type of communication and bacteria for example +and it has nothing to do with human language +thank you it's been almost 90 minutes and we pass +more we could double this time here listening to you talk but I think it's on +it's time for us to like we 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b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - A Perfect Storm sprot_gEYoA.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +If you take a look at recent history since the Second World War, +something really remarkable has happened. +First: human intelligence created two huge sledgehammers +Capable of +terminating our existence, or at least organized existence, both from the Second World War +One of them's familiar. In fact both are by now familiar +Second World War ended with the use of nuclear weapons +It was immediately obvious on August 6th 1945, +a day that I remember very well, +it was obvious that +soon technology would develop to the point where it would lead to terminal disaster. +The scientists certainly understood this +In 1947, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists inaugurated +its famous Doomsday Clock, you know, how close is the minute hand to midnight. +It started seven minutes to midnight +By 1953 it had moved to two minutes to midnight +and that was the year when the United States and Soviet Union exploded hydrogen bombs +But, it turns out, we now understand, that at the end of the Second World War the world +also entered into a new geological epoch. It's called the Anthropocene, the epoch in which +humans have a severe or in fact maybe disastrous impact on the environment +Moved again in 2015, again in 2016 +Immediately after the Trump election, late January this year, the clock was moved again +to two and a half minutes to midnight - closest it's been since 53. +So there's the two +existential threats that we've created which might, in the case of a nuclear war, maybe wipe us out, +the case of environmental catastrophe, severe impact +Then a third thing happened. Beginning around the 70s, +human intelligence dedicated itself to +eliminating, or at least weakening, the main barrier against the threats - +it's called neoliberalism. +There was a transition at that period from +the period of what some people call regimented capitalism - 50s and 60s - the great growth period +egalitarian growth, a lot of advances in social justice and so on +That's sometimes called the Golden Age of modern capitalism. +That changed in the 70s and with the onset of the +Neoliberal era that we've been living in since +And if you ask yourself what this era is, it's crucial principle is +undermining mechanisms of social solidarity and mutual support and +popular engagement in determining policy. +It's not called that - what it's called is "freedom." +But "freedom" means subordination to the decisions of concentrated unaccountable private power. +That's what it means - +The institutions of governments or other kinds of association that could allow people to +participate in decision-making, those are systematically weakened. +Margaret Thatcher said it rather nicely in her +aphorism about "there is no society, only individuals" +she was actually, unconsciously no doubt, paraphrasing Marx +who, in his condemnation of the repression in France, +said the repression is turning society into a sack of potatoes - +just individuals, amorphous mass, can't act together, that was a condemnation. +For Thatcher, it's an ideal. And that's neoliberalism. +Well, what does that do? +The one barrier to the threat of destruction is an informed, engaged public +acting together to develop means to confront the threat and respond to it, and that's systematically weakened +Consciously. Back to the 1970s - we've probably talked about this - +there was a lot of elite discussion across the spectrum +about the danger of too much democracy and the need to +have what was called more moderation in democracy +for people to become more passive and apathetic +and not to disturb things too much, and that's what the neoliberal programs do. +So put it all together, and what do you have? A perfect storm. +0 +4 +8 +17 +18 +25 +29 +33 +39 +42 +44 +50 +54 +58 +64 +68 +72 +79 +86 +93 +100 +104 +110 +116 +118 +126 +130 +135 +139 +145 +147 +150 +158 +164 +167 +173 +176 +181 +189 +193 +196 +205 +207 +213 +217 +222 +226 +231 +236 +242 +247 +252 +254 +261 +271 +275 +279 +283 +286 +291 +295 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Apathy and Anarchy 2_9_93 V-gXJqZI1Eo.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Apathy and Anarchy 2_9_93 V-gXJqZI1Eo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b76006a --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Apathy and Anarchy 2_9_93 V-gXJqZI1Eo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1562 @@ +[Applause] +let's see +to me +13 or not +j you will see +really and eye +original +and +no +and +now away +bye +[Music] +or +ah +I do not +that part +and ah +well he +6 +/ +tired +3 ah +for me +They are +and just wait before +d +but no +4 +and it is known by +well [music] +well +ah +then it was also the same +for it +it is necessary ah +For that +finally good morning mail +yes +for evil too +do +in so long 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Are Islamic Ideals a Threat aD2QhTJKNUM.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32f4e15 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Are Islamic Ideals a Threat aD2QhTJKNUM.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +Islamic ideas...? + +Question about the Islamic ideals in practice? + +I mean Islam is like +Christianity, Judaism, +Buddhism +There's no such thing as Islamic ideals +There are lots of different Islamic ideals +Now, just like..the real question +we should be asking, particularly here, +is what about Christianity? +That's something we could do about +so that's the highest priority. So what are +Christian ideals? Well, +They're very all over the place, +people in high places now +claim to be devout Christians, +and on the basis of Christian ideals, they're +saying "let's proceed to destroy the world", +and I don't know anybody in the Islamic world who is doing that. +Now, that's, of course, not all Christian ideals-- +there are others too. Martin Luther King +expressed different Christian ideals, and it's the same +with the Islamic world--you can find lots of things, +but the idea that there are +fixed Islamic ideals which are +a problem for the world, that doesn't mean anything, +you have to look at.. +take a look at individual cases, so take, say, +Iran in the United States. They're both +states in which the leadership +claims to be +deeply religious and committed to the faith, +and asking what the two of them are doing +with regard to the leading +issue that they're now in conflict over +It turns out that the Iranian leadership +is calling vociferously +for establishing a nuclear-weapons-free zone +in the region which would end any threat, +and the Christian United States with its +deeply Christian leadership is saying "sorry we can't +because we have to preserve Israeli nuclear weapons +from inspections". +Well, +is it a problem about the Islamic faith? +5 +8 +11 +15 +22 +24 +27 +29 +31 +34 +37 +40 +42 +46 +48 +51 +53 +56 +59 +61 +64 +68 +70 +73 +76 +79 +83 +85 +88 +90 +93 +96 +99 +101 +104 +107 +110 +114 +118 +120 +124 +128 +130 +134 +137 +139 +140 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Bailouts xiOwAyN27v0.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Bailouts xiOwAyN27v0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0d8905 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Bailouts xiOwAyN27v0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,166 @@ +Suppose I... +Suppose I lend you 100$ +and a couple of years later you pay me back 100$ +Who lost? +OK. +But, furthermore, +the bailouts are a very small part of the public subsidy. +When the business press uses IMF figures +they estimate 83 billion dollars a year of subsidy +they're not talking about the bailouts. +They're talking about other things... some of which I mentioned +like cheap credit... access to cheap credit +higher credit ratings... inflated credit ratings, which give you all kind of options. +Because the credit agencies understand that there's a "government insurance policy" +These guys are going to be bailed out if they get into trouble +so we can give them higher credit ratings. +It also means many other things... +If you're, say, Goldman Sachs +you can make a risky transaction +risky transactions tend to make high profits, but they also carry the possibility of failure +But you have not to worry about it! +Right? +'Cause you guys are going to pay 'em if they get into trouble +That's the "government insurance policy" +If you had an insurance policy like that you could do all sorts of things +But you do give the banks that insurance policy +As I said, the IMF figures lead to an estimate of 83 billion dollars a year... +you could argue the details, but something on that order. +And they say that's essentially all the profits of the big banks. +That has enormous consequences +like one of the consequences is +what's called 'systemic risk' +There's a risk... if, say, Goldman Sachs makes a risky transaction and it happens to fail +It might bring down the whole system +we saw that a couple of years ago, when Lehman went... it looked like the whole thing was going to collapse +Well, there's a protection against systemic risk. Namely, you! +You pay for it and guarantee is not going to happen +That just increases risky behavior and the likelihood of crashes +like what we're now seeing +These are all pretty serious problems +I mean, they're not at the level of climate catastrophe and nuclear war... those are kind of colossal dangers +But these are pretty serious dangers +I mean, the public really suffered from the latest financial collapse... the financial housing bubble and collapse +A lot of people are still suffering from it +Actually there was congressional legis... +Speaking of bailouts, the bailouts came from congressional legislation +but that congressional legislation had two parts two it: +one was 'bailout the criminals', the other was 'help the people who were their victims' +protect them from foreclosures and so on. +Which part of the bargain was kept? +Well, it's not a secret! The Inspector General of the Justice Department, Neil Barofsky, was cribbing about it. +He wrote a book about it... but, you know, that's really existing capitalist democracy. That's the way it works. That's its logic. +So, yeah, they sort of paid back kind of the actual bailout... but that's a joke. +And in fact what's happening now is just mind-boggling. +The biggest... +The world's biggest insurance company, AIG, was on the verge of collapse +and the... Geithner, you know, the government essentially bought it and bailed it out. +Now it's richer than ever. +That wasn't just going to knock out AIG, so Goldman Sachs, for example, was heavily involved in risky loans guaranteed by AIG. +If AIG went down, Goldman Sachs would go down, and so on across the board. +But you guys stepped in and saved it all. +Right after that, after it was rescued from having virtually brought down the international economy, +AIG gave expanded bonuses to its chief executives. That caused a little bit of controversy. +You know, how come after these guys practically destroyed the economy and we pay 'em off +they decide to give themselves bonuses? +Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury... Obama's... you know, one of his chief advisors +responded to that saying 'Well, we just don't have any choice. It's a contractual obligation and we believe in contractual obligations. So we're just forced to accept it.' +At the very same time, the State of Illinois was refusing to pay pensions to public service workers 'cause they said they didn't have enough money. +Was that a contractual obligation? +Not only that, I mean, the workers had already paid for it! +When you have a pension, it's because you take lower wages. It's a bargain that's made. +But that contractual obligation which workers already paid for, that one didn't have to be honored. +And we're back to the logic of wreck again. +AIG executives -yeah, of course- they have to get a huge bonus after practically destroying us, +but teachers, firemen, and so on, they don't deserve that kind of thing. That's what George Orwell once called 'unpeople', that's distinct from 'people'. +So they... no contractual obligations. There. That's our commitment to capitalist principles. +What's happening now is beyond grotesque. +The former CEO of AIG, Maurice Greenberg, is now principal in a court suit, +Starr International vs. US government, is going to the Supreme Court right now +He's complaining that the bonuses weren't... that the payout to AIG wasn't big enough +and he wants to be reimbursed... for causes to AIG... that's, you know, if anybody asked you for the definition of 'hutzpah', you can mention it. +That's in the Supreme Court right now, and, you know, given the nature of the court, it's so easy to figure out how it will turn out... +even though, I mean, this is like beyond insanity. Except under the logic of really existing capitalist democracy. That's the story of the bailouts. +0 +1 +4 +9 +11 +11 +13 +17 +21 +25 +27 +31 +35 +41 +47 +50 +52 +54 +57 +61 +67 +69 +70 +73 +75 +80 +85 +92 +95 +100 +102 +105 +109 +117 +119 +125 +130 +133 +139 +140 +143 +151 +153 +163 +165 +168 +173 +177 +185 +188 +191 +200 +209 +216 +220 +221 +227 +233 +235 +246 +252 +255 +264 +278 +283 +286 +293 +303 +314 +317 +320 +326 +331 +334 +340 +351 +358 +361 +372 +378 +385 +395 +402 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Bakunin’s Predictions 3gS6g41m_NU.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Bakunin’s Predictions 3gS6g41m_NU.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7b76ee --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Bakunin’s Predictions 3gS6g41m_NU.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +I think it's a tragedy and a catastrophe that the left +has accepted the idea of humans as +historical products +Simply reflections of their environment +because what follows from that, of course, is that there's no moral barrier to molding them anyway you like +And that humans have no inner nature. +They don't have an inner instinct for freedom... You know... if it's not +fundamental that their nature to have +free, creative, productive work under their own control... if that's not part of their nature +Then why... you know... there's no moral reason for allowing them that space +You could just mould them into being what you think they ought to be +and you can be the Central Committee, or you can be with the... +you know... the managers of the corporation or the +directors of a fascist state or whatever +And it's quite interesting that the modern intellectuals have mostly moved in one or the other of those directions overwhelmingly +either there... and in fact this was foretold in one of the +maybe the only +prediction of the social sciences that ever came so dramatically true +was Bakunin's discussion of this in the late 19th century... he was arguing with Marx +And it's well before Leninism, but he predicted +very perceptively that the rising class and intellectuals were just kind of becoming identified as a class and modern +modern industrial societies... he predicted that they were essentially going to go in one of two directions +There would be some who would believe that +The struggles of the working class would offer them an opportunity to rise and take state power in their own hands +And at that point he said they would become the red bureaucracy who would create the worst tyranny that +humanity has ever known of course all in the interests of the workers. That's one direction and he said the others +Would recognize that you're never going to get power that way and the way to get power is to associate yourself with +What we would nowadays call state capitalism +And just become the servants of its ruling class +And then you become the managers and the ideologues and so on for the state capitalist system +And as he put it those people will beat the people with the people stick in other words +They'll talk about democracy, but they'll really be beating people with the stick of democracy +Which they'll turn into a mechanism of coercion. There's some who think you can get power by +by exploiting popular struggles +And there are others who +see that you're going to get power by just associating yourself with the people already have economic power and that's largely dominated +And I think there was a very accurate description of the century that followed him +On the one his is fifty years before the Bolshevik Revolution +But he predicted its form very precisely and also its ideological background, and he also predicted +quite accurately what happens in the modern state capitalist industrial societies and looking at it now from the +retrospective a hundred years +We can see I think we can see this development very clearly and it also explains an odd fact about 20th century intellectual life +Namely, how easy it's been for people to shift from one position to another +so the same person who's a +Stalinist apologist one year is a super American patriot the next year is supporting every atrocity and +working and working in the Hoover Institute +And you know associated with most reactionary institutions that transition, which sometimes is called the God that failed +Change which was sort of authentic in the early years like people like Salone and others +You know there was something authentic about it. It became a joke. I mean when people within the... in fact +We're seeing in Russia right now +the the worst commissars are now the ones who are most passionate about the +You know the free market and investing and enriching yourself and so on +They've made the transition very easily and that goes way back, and I think the reason is there's no transition. +It's just a different estimate as to where power lies, but the same ideology. +The ideology is you beat the people with the people stick and we're going to do it in fact if you look at modern acad... +Democratic theory in the West it's remarkably similar to this. It's remarkably Leninist in its character +if you think of modern Democrat the leading +tendencies in the modern democratic theory in the West +so in in +academic world it would be the +Strands of political science that developed from the thinking of people like Harold Lasswell and others one of the founders of modern +contemporary political science and in the general sphere the Wilsonian +Intellectuals the so-called progressive intellectuals of whom maybe Walter Lippmann was the most +striking example in the United States +progressive intellectual in the 1920s +..all of these people developed theories of democracy and they're quite interesting they're very Leninist in their character +The conception is that in a democracy there's two classes of citizens +There's the general public who Lippmann calls +ignorant and meddlesome outsiders and +Lasswell says they're too stupid to... We should not be overcome by dogmatism +About the common man, who's too stupid to be able to do anything +That's the standard view so there's these people the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders +Which is maybe 90% of the population and then there are the responsible men the wise men... you know... the smart people +the +People with integrity and honor or the intellectual aristocracy whatever you call them +and they have to rule they're the ones who make the decisions who do the thinking and so on and the role of the +Masses the ignorant and meddlesome +Outsiders is just to show up every couple of years +Decide which of the smart guys is going to be their leader and then go home +0 +3 +9 +11 +14 +19 +21 +25 +27 +33 +39 +43 +47 +51 +53 +60 +64 +65 +70 +77 +81 +90 +97 +101 +108 +116 +123 +129 +132 +136 +142 +147 +153 +157 +160 +162 +169 +174 +179 +186 +194 +196 +204 +209 +212 +220 +223 +230 +235 +242 +243 +249 +253 +260 +264 +270 +277 +280 +283 +285 +287 +294 +300 +306 +309 +311 +318 +322 +326 +329 +336 +339 +344 +351 +352 +356 +363 +366 +369 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Born to be Free RPXEp81ts_0.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Born to be Free RPXEp81ts_0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef09033 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Born to be Free RPXEp81ts_0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +Bill Moyers: Do you believe that by nature, human beings yearn for freedom? +Or do we settle in the interests of safety and security and conformity? +Do we settle for order? +Noam Chomsky: These are really matters of faith rather than knowledge. +On the one hand, you have the grand inquisitor who tells you what people - what humans crave - is submission. +And, therefore, Christ is a criminal, we have to vanquish freedom. +That's one view. +You have the other view of, say, Rousseau and some of his moments that people are born to be free +and that their basic instinct is the desire to free themselves from coercion, authority, and oppression. +The answer to which you believe is more or less where you stake your hopes. +I'd like to believe that people are born to be free. +But if you asked for proof, I couldn't give it to you. +0 +3 +9 +11 +14 +20 +24 +25 +30 +37 +43 +47 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Can Machines Think Ex9GbzX6tMo.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Can Machines Think Ex9GbzX6tMo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..384861d --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Can Machines Think Ex9GbzX6tMo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,166 @@ +computers were being developed actual +working computers and it was widely +believed and still is that sooner or +later they'll be massive computers with +very rapid processing and they can deal +with huge amounts of data carry out some +statistical procedure on the data and +something miraculous will come out it's +still very widely believed that people +are very misled by it +in fact there's there's something called +the +Turing test which is probably heard +about which, every year there's a +competition if you win it you get a +hundred-thousand dollars to pass something +called the Turing test, a totally +meaningless task it's is it supposed to +show it can you show that machine's +think it's all based on a paper of Alan +Turing's it was a great position and one +sounds of computational science and as +an eight-page paper that he wrote in +1950 on whether machines can think he +starts off the paper by saying the +question whether machines can think is +too meaningless deserve discussion that +sentence has somehow been ignored and +the entire literature and there's a good +reason for it because to ask whether +machines think is basically asking +what kind of metaphor you like that's +like asking do submarine swim, well +from a certain point you can say so +from another point of view not but it's +not a meaningful question he +proposed this imitation game which is now called +the Turing Test for a different +reason he said it'll be interesting to, +the idea is to see if you can construct a +program that'll +delude a blind observer you know and +then see what's going on but not be +able to distinguish the program to a +person +ok he says it will be useful for trying +to as a challenge to create bigger +machines better machines +ok maybe so that probably was but it +doesn't tell you anything about whether machines can +think in fact the whole idea of machines +thinking is posed in a way which is +almost designed to cause confusion I +should say that the people who are +confused by this are some of the most of +the leading philosophers most +influential philosophers and scientists +and others not a trivial thing won't +mention names with many of you know for +one thing machine the computer itself is +maybe useful as a paperweight +it doesn't do anything what is doing +anything is the program that you put +into it +ok so the real quick if you want to pose +the meaningless question it should be +can programs think? well what's a program +a program's just a theory written in a +crazy notation so that a machine can, +a computer can implement it, so the question +really is well, can this theory think in other +words is this a theory of thinking? Well I +know the answer is not unless you +understand something about thinking +nothing the theory of X just cause it +passes some meaningless test you know the +theory of X if it gives you insight and +understanding of the nature of X so the +real question is are the theories that +are written in these programs giving +us some insight into the nature of thinking? +And as soon as you pose that question you don't even +bother with the prize, because of course they're not. +0 +2 +4 +8 +12 +16 +20 +22 +25 +27 +30 +33 +34 +36 +38 +40 +44 +46 +52 +55 +58 +61 +64 +66 +72 +76 +78 +82 +84 +86 +91 +93 +95 +98 +100 +103 +106 +109 +111 +115 +117 +118 +122 +125 +126 +127 +130 +132 +134 +138 +139 +142 +145 +148 +150 +152 +154 +157 +160 +163 +167 +170 +173 +175 +176 +179 +181 +184 +188 +191 +194 +197 +200 +202 +204 +208 +210 +213 +216 +219 +223 +225 +228 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Changes Within the System ZNG2K533_2I.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Changes Within the System ZNG2K533_2I.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e717492 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Changes Within the System ZNG2K533_2I.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,130 @@ +I think there are good grounds for changing the nature of the political system pretty radically. I mean in a system of +organization of production let's say just keeping to that, which is geared towards +a profit maximization, not use is +inherently destructive. +[a] system of +institutional organization in which +the basic functioning +Institutions are totalitarian +like a business +Top-Down control +Fits somewhere and it take orders from above given below at the bottom you rent yourself. That's inherently I think +humanly and +socially destructive +So there's plenty of changes that could be made and we can think about them and in fact you can try to build +within the existing +Society +Pieces of what might be a more +democratic and humane future society it's even being done, +but you can't change the political system radically unless the great mass of the population +comes to a recognition +That we're in a situation where the changes that have to be made +can't be made and will be resisted within the current system. We're nowhere near that. +So I don't think the question arises as +a practical question. It does arise as a question to have in mind and choosing tactics and strategies. +I think any of us could sit down at +You know [a] coffee shop, and think of much better ways to run a world. You know, better institutions where +[democratic] ones were just ones and so on. But thinking of that doesn't really help. You have to get +the great mass of the population to be committed to creating and +You can only do that incrementally. You have to work within the system that exists. +you can do a lot of things within it. You can have +a vision of the future which people can take us a guideline for +further action and maybe leading +As I mentioned before, you can construct +institutions of a future society within this one, like cooperatives, for example, like +workaround enterprises. If they would extend they would be they would change the society enormously. And those are things that arise +constantly, if you're willing to grasp the opportunity. So take, let's say, the 2008 crash. +One of the things that happened, then which was pretty interesting +was that the government essentially nationalized the auto industry. +Basically just bailed it out it was going to disappear. +So the government meaning the taxpayer bought out the auto industry. And then there were a couple of choices that could have been made +That one choice is the one that was made without discussion, +namely turn it back to the former owners (may be new faces +but pretty much same town same banks +And so on). So essentially turn it back to the former owners and have it go on doing exactly what it was doing: +producing cars. +There was another possibility: +Turn it over to the workforce, let them run it democratically, and have it produced with the society needs, +which is not more cars, but rational mass transportation. +That was another possibility. +But in order for it to be implemented you had to have mass popular support for it. There was essentially none, +so it didn't happen. And things like that happened even right locally in this neighborhood. So a couple of years ago, there was a +small plant and +Taunton, suburb of Boston, which was quite successful: a plant making +sophisticated parts for aircraft. +It wasn't making enough profit for the multinational who owned that could keep it going. So, they decided to put it out of business. +the +progressive union, offered to buy the plant, and have it run by the workforce. +Which probably would have been profitable for the multinational, but for class reasons, they don't like that kind of thing. +If there had been popular support, +they could have won. +There wasn't any so they didn't win. +Things like that are happening all the time. +These could lead to major changes in the society. Are they incremental? in a sense. +but they're their long-term consequences, they could be very great. And +that's true of all kinds of things. +0 +9 +15 +19 +20 +23 +26 +28 +31 +33 +36 +45 +46 +47 +54 +56 +58 +61 +65 +72 +75 +81 +87 +90 +97 +100 +109 +118 +123 +129 +132 +137 +141 +146 +152 +161 +169 +173 +178 +181 +189 +194 +199 +202 +208 +210 +212 +218 +223 +225 +233 +241 +244 +251 +254 +262 +263 +270 +278 +280 +282 +285 +287 +293 +299 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Consciousness and Mind-body Dualism KJFvWrW8rhg.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Consciousness and Mind-body Dualism KJFvWrW8rhg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..40ca507 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Consciousness and Mind-body Dualism KJFvWrW8rhg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +Recovery of counterattack Full name What to look at Soindo 2 It's a recent job, but it's a Huh Life album. +I like sitting in the spring, but don't put it up and look for it again +It's okay and it will be all right. Uh 1 I like to say in the email. +There was a time when I was able to tie the Bravo main to good, so why didn't I tell the prisoner that I should have been given a strong blow? +nl As if not from the west, when I was in the B-L era, I wanted to be from Chukyung-an on the top of the prime lens. +Did you sign up for anything? When the four of us didn't do anything, that's what we said. +It's rumored that there was no Cho Eun-yu and no network delivery. +The dermis is also a bit of a drive. +I can't tell you what the examinees are doing. +Once the Chuno was in Prague, it was reported that the rice wine was very good to meet in July. +If you don't look at the baby, it's funny that you're not wearing underwear. +After dropping in the value security at 2 pieces in Vista, come on and lend it and Le Map ate the face wash +That's why there are uvex knife trends, so this year, Lee acts come to know the pearl eyeshadow +Kiman Shrinking Out of Sleep How the sleep was the main of the forest The lost courtyard Sejun Jobin Mae published these editions +1 yaen In Excel, I can be strong like this. +Even if you feel like the church is not going to mean heavy pressure, this creative earth will give you a space to go out. +As a monk, the nor shank sprig rack at the bottom is q8. +Yeah xun from duo on copying 5% sct +I can play web sound hattu for the first time. +I put a little bit and the application has seen a strike. +Crack distance n2 What can give you something? +When the fire is a little bit, when the hooker d2 age comes up, the story f5 that floats is prepared and spread by countless outside prisoners +It's inconvenient to get rid of it. +Well nss and suspicions When counting children, Marie Black has a lot of real lover's suits, the mother is Platy Wool. 2 +I'm going to do it. I want to eve the stents line. +And you can make a super elk in fpu horses mind de sharm +Chloe wants to pay a price for a deca locker, then polite 3 than this scalpel +In the future, the graph is about 20 pills of Wesley's side. +Even if I did a drink, I came to the router for 50 nights. Shane Demi, this habit is more superberry shipment. +Red Hill House 2 +I think it's the deer's job. Even if it's a horse, Loewe Intern Let's ask Stahl, who wrote it in July. Time Rush 2 1 3 +Other than that, it can be like a spoiled yet crooked crocodile with one drink, but I have read it. +But this knife is hot, so I just paste 50 more on the horse. The blue one is the decal. +Maybe it's probably 1 1 Ciao Oh so 50 to close the company to write 58 +yaen I'm famous and I want to use Nam Won-ju 8 weeks ago. +The sensation is the fire, and we use you. We put the fetus in front of the wm cut-in. +Kershaw 5 January Sui One time I know how to lose I would have slept a little +2 om combination would dawn more ah +out on sep 2 or 50 dot four seoul tower um none +Yes, when those rs are a bit sad, when I give a temper between oo want has spoken +Que 3 yo service that represents 8 hours co2 clot +Others should be under the hood rd ste an open a site 3 +wicker opera Why was this erotic sex tm 2 +Oh, ah, oh why did this rule give me a little polite pop up +Ender fleets once n 4 4 5 5 Wenser Easy Tek demand will also own cube +Ah this source was a white candle lamp e5 trident user to Fist into Jewelry Shop or when it seems is related +video Dwarf serve as we paste term 4 Kerom, what is it? +9 ji do mo You didn't have it at all. I have 3 sweets all the time. +I wanted to make the weather harder Hold this bed Oh yeah but what takes office What is 3 notes 3 +Hyundai lf love spell 4 escape into a too much to say 34km wafer rab 4 c less than 50% 4 +Give me 559 Then what then why? +Ah the tankers are wolves themselves, even when they are given openflow m +Ah, the main boat shoots 10 shots 40% from the inside. +If you do, you will be treated by courier El. +I'm sure it's gonna be ah ah a why spravel israel a lot of rides and de singer's pants have gone blessed so cow absorbed say red +Go ahead and write it and you can make a rs flop. You can do this like this. +But turn chef Schul late only 7 degrees technical data cell black l5 legislators can pay their salary free kml while drinking kml soup +Don't get the bridge or Fraze Holden from the xl got string site +After class, when I broke the brand, I used his son frn +Wait, it's been a week since I liked one thing. I know how to get caught. It's almost anything. +You need to know how to separate the bra by scratching +0 +9 +14 +23 +34 +44 +53 +63 +71 +82 +94 +101 +108 +117 +125 +136 +146 +154 +162 +168 +175 +183 +192 +197 +205 +211 +219 +227 +237 +248 +252 +261 +269 +280 +289 +297 +307 +313 +320 +331 +342 +355 +364 +372 +379 +391 +406 +424 +434 +443 +456 +465 +472 +478 +485 +497 +509 +519 +528 +535 +543 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Conversations with History 8ghoXQxdk6s.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Conversations with History 8ghoXQxdk6s.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d95d90 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Conversations with History 8ghoXQxdk6s.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2646 @@ +(bright music) +- Welcome to A Conversation With History, +I'm Harry Kreisler +of the Institute of International Studies. +Our guest today is Noam Chomsky. +Noam, welcome to Berkley. +Where were you born and raised? +- I was born in Philadelphia, 1928. +Stayed there til I went through undergraduate school, +University of Pennsylvania, +then went off to Harvard for a couple of years +in a research fellowship, and then graduate school. +When I was done with that, went over to MIT, +and I've been in Boston ever since. +Around Boston since about 1950. +- Your parents both were Hebrew grammarians +and taught Hebrew school? +- My father was professionally a Hebrew scholar, +and his main work was Hebrew grammar, +and my mother was a Hebrew teacher. +My father sort of ran the Hebrew school system +in the city of Philadelphia. +My mother taught in it. +He taught in Hebrew college later. +There's a university of Jewish studies, +graduate university of Jewish studies, +that's the college which he taught in. +But they were all part of what amounted +to a kind of Hebrew ghetto, Jewish ghetto, +in Philadelphia. +Not physical ghetto, it was scattered around the city, +but cultural ghetto. +- And was Hebrew the language spoken at home? +- No. - No? +- Second. +It was in the background. +So for example, by the time I was eight or nine, +say Friday evening, my father and I would read +Hebrew literature together. +- [Harry] And looking back, how do you think your parents +shaped your perspectives on the world? +- Well, those are always very hard questions to answer, +because it's a combination of influence and resistance, +which is difficult to sort out. +I mean, undoubtedly, the background +has shaped the kinds of interests +and tendencies and directions that I've pursued, +but it was... +It was independent. +I mean I think more direct influences +actually came from other parts of the family. +- [Harry] Mhm, please, go ahead. +- Well, my parents were immigrants +and they happened to end up in Philadelphia, +but my mother from New York, +and my father from Baltimore. +When he came over in 1913 for whatever reason, +his family went to Baltimore +and my mother's family, +from another part of the Pale of Settlement, +came to New York. +And there were two different families, +there was the New York family and the Baltimore family, +and we were in the middle in Philadelphia. +So we naturally went out the back, but close by. +The families were totally different. +Now, the Baltimore family were ultra-Orthodox. +In fact, my father told me +that they had become more Orthodox when they got here +than they even were in the shtetl, +the little town in Ukraine where they came from. +In general there was a tendency +among some sectors of immigrants +to intensify the cultural tradition, +probably as a way of identifying themselves +in a strange environment, I suppose. +So that was that family. +The other part of the family, my mother's, +was mainly Jewish working class. +Very radical, the Jewish element had disappeared. +This was the 1930s, so they were part of the ferment +of radical activism that was going on in the 30s +in all sorts of ways. +And of all of them, +the one who actually did influence me a great deal +was an uncle by marriage, +who was an extremely interesting person. +He came into the family when I was about seven or eight, +and became a big influence. +Married my aunt. +He was brought up in New York, +also from an immigrant family, +but he'd grown up in a poor area of New York. +In fact, he himself never went past fourth grade. +It was, you're on the streets, you know? +This criminal background, all sorts of stuff. +What's going on in the under class ghettos in New York. +He happened to have a physical deformity, +so he was able to get a newsstand +under a compensation program that was run in the 1930s +for people with disabilities. +He had a newsstand on 72nd street in New York. +Lived nearby in a little apartment. +And I spent a lot of time there. +That newsstand became an intellectual center +for emigres from Europe, +lots of German and other emigres who were coming, +and he was a very educated person. +Like I said, never went past fourth grade, +but maybe the most educated person I've ever met, +self-educated. +Without going through the whole story, +he ended up being a lay analyst +on a riverside apartment in New York, +but the newsstand itself was a very lively +intellectual center with professors of this and that +arguing all night, +and working at the newsstand was a lot of fun. +- So newspapers and events of the world +were mixed up with ideas, +almost like a coffee house without the coffee? +- Yeah, the newspapers were kind of like an artifact, +so for example I went for years +thinking that there was a newspaper called Newsinmira. +The reason is that as people came out of the subway station +and raced past the newsstand, they'd say, +"Newsinmira." +Well, I heard it that way, +and I gave them two tabloids, +which I later discovered are the News and the Mirror. +(laughs) +I noticed that as they picked up the Newsinmira +the first thing they opened to was the sports page. +- I see, I see. (laughs) +This is an eight year old picture of the world. +But yeah, there were newspapers there, +but that was kind of like the background +of the discussions that were going on. +And then through him and through other influences, +I kind of got myself involved +in the ongoing 30s radicalism. +And that was very much part of the Hebrew based, +Zionist oriented, this is Palestine, pre-Israel, +Palestine-oriented life. +And that was a good part of my life. +I became a Hebrew teacher, myself, +for Zionist youth, later, +combining it with the radical activism in various ways. +Actually, that's the way I got into linguistics. +- One of the formative influences, +as I understand it, in this period for you, +was reading George Orwell. +And also in terms of events, +really in addition to the Depression, +the Spanish Civil War. +Tell us a little about that mix. +- It came the other way. +Orwell's great book, in my opinion, his greatest book, +Homage to Catalonia, +I think it was first published 1937, +but it was suppressed. +A couple hundred copies published. +Both in England and the United States, +it was essentially suppressed. +The reason was it was very anti-communist, +and in those days that didn't sell. +During the second World War it was totally suppressed, +because you couldn't be, you know, there was Uncle Joe. +So it didn't sell, what he was doing. +I think his book finally reached the public, +this is from memory so maybe the dates are wrong, +but I think it was around 1947 or '48, +with an introduction by Lionel Trilling, +and it was presented as a Cold War document at that time. +I mean Orwell, who had died already, would have hated it. +And that's when I found Homage to Catalonia, +but I'd been interested in the Spanish Civil War +long before. +- And you actually wrote, +your first essay was as a ten year old +on the Spanish Civil War. +What did you say then, +and what do you think now +about how that event and your response to it influenced you? +- Well, the article, like you said, I was ten years old. +(laughs) +I'm sure I would not want to read it today. +But I remember what it was about, +because I remember what struck me. +This was right after the fall of Barcelona. +The fascist forces had conquered Barcelona, +that was essentially the end of the Spanish Civil War. +The article was about the spread of fascism around Europe. +So it started off by talking about Munich, +and Barcelona and the spread of the Nazi fascist power, +which was extremely frightening. +And then just to add a little word of personal background, +we happened to be, for most of my childhood, +the only Jewish family in a mostly Irish and German +Catholic neighborhood. +Sort of a lower middle class neighborhood, +which was very anti-Semitic, and quite pro-Nazi. +I mean it's obvious why the Irish would be, +you know, they hated the British, +not surprising the Germans were. +But I can remember beer parties when Paris fell, +and the sense of the threat of this black cloud +spreading over Europe was very frightening. +I could pick up my mother's attitudes, particularly, +she was terrified by it. +And it was also in my personal life, +'cause I saw the streets. +Interesting, for some reason, +which I do not understand to this day, +my brother and I never talked to our parents about it. +I don't think they knew +that we were living in an anti-Semitic neighborhood. +But on the streets, you know, +you go out and play ball with the kids +or try to walk to the bus or something, +it was a constant threat. +And it was just the kind of thing +you didn't talk to your parents about. +You knew, for some reason, you didn't talk to them. +To the day of their death, +they didn't know. +But there was this combination of the knowing +that this cloud was spreading over the world, +and picking up, particularly, +my mother's attitudes, very upset about it, +my father too, but more constrained, +and knowing from the uncles and aunts, +some of the background, +and living it in the streets in my own daily life, +that made it very real. +Anyhow, by the late 30s I did become quite interested +in Spanish anarchism and the Spanish Civil War +where all this was being fought out at the time. +It was right before the World War broke out, +but a kind of microcosm, what was going on in Spain. +By the time I was old enough to get on a train by myself, +around 10 or 11, I would go to New York for a weekend, +stay with my aunts and uncles +and hang around at anarchist bookstores +down around Union Square and Fourth Avenue. +There were little bookstores from emigres. +Really interesting people, +to my mind they looked about 90, +they were maybe in the 40s or something. +(laughs) +These people who were very interested in young people, +they wanted young people to come along. +I spent a lot of attention talking to these people, +this real education. +And then out of that, when I wrote the article, +it was with that background. +It was long before I heard of Orwell. +- These experiences we've described, +you were saying that it led you into linguistics +but it also led you into your view of politics +and of the world, +and you know, you're a libertarian anarchist, +and when one hears that +in the way issues are framed in this country, +and you know why there's often so many misperceptions, +because of things that you've written. +Help us understand what that means, +in other words, it doesn't mean that you favor chaos +or no government, necessarily. +- Well remember, the United States +is sort of out of the world, on this topic. +Britain is to a limited extent, +but the United States is like, on Mars. +So here, the term libertarian means the opposite +of what it always meant in history. +Libertarian, throughout modern European history, +meant socialist anarchist. +It meant the socialist movement, the worker's movement, +and the socialist movement +sort of broke into two branches, roughly. +One statist, one anti-statist. +The statist branch led to Bolshevism +and Lenin and Trotsky, and so on. +The anti-statist branch, which included Marxists, +left Marxists, Pannekoek, Rosa Luxemburg, others, +to kind of merge, more or less, +into an amalgam with a big strain of anarchism, +into what was called libertarian socialism. +So libertarian in Europe, always meant socialist. +Here it means ultra, you know, Ayn Rand, +or Cato Institute or something like that. +But that's a special US usage, +having to do with a lot of things +quite special about the way the United States developed, +and this is part of it. +There it meant, and always meant, to me, +socialist, and the anti-state branch of socialism, +which meant highly organized society, +completely organized, nothing to do with chaos. +But based on a democracy all the way through. +That means democratic control of communities, +of workplaces, of federal structures, +built on systems of voluntary association +spreading internationally. +That's traditional anarchism. +At least, anybody can have the word if they like, +but it's a mainstream, +probably the mainstream of traditional anarchism, +and it has roots, you know, +coming back to the United States, +it has very strong roots +in the American working class movement. +So if you go back to, say, the 1850s, +the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, +this was right around the area where I live, +in eastern Massachusetts textile plants and so on, +the people working in those plants +were in part, young women coming off the farms. +They were called factory girls. +So the women come to the farms, work in the textile plant. +Some of them were Irish immigrants in Boston +and that group of people. +They had an extremely rich and interesting culture. +So kind of like my uncle who never went past fourth grade, +very educated, reading modern literature. +They didn't bother with European radicalism, +that had no effect on them, +but the general literary culture +they were very much a part of, +and they developed their own conceptions +of how the world ought to be organized. +They had their own newspapers. +In fact, the period of the freest press in the United States +was probably around the 1850s. +In the 1850s the scale of the popular press, +meaning run by factory girls in Lowell and so on, +was scale of the commercial press or even greater. +And these were independent newspapers, +a lot of interesting scholarship on them, +you can read 'em now. +Just spontaneously, without any background, +never heard of Marx or Bakunin or anyone else. +Now, they developed the same ideas. +They thought that, from their point of view, +what they called wage-slavery, +renting yourself to an owner, +was not very different from chattel slavery, +that they were fighting the Civil War about, +and you have to recall that in the mid-19th century, +that was a common view in the United States. +For example, it was the position of the Republican party. +It was Abraham Lincoln's position. +It was not an odd view, +that there isn't much difference +between selling yourself and renting yourself. +So the idea of renting yourself, +meaning working for wages, was degrading. +It was just an attack on your personal integrity. +And they despised the industrial system that was developing, +that was destroying their culture, +destroying their independence, their individuality, +constraining them to be subordinate to masters. +There was a tradition of what was called Republicanism +in the United States, we're free people. +The first free people in the world. +This was destroying and undermining that freedom. +This was the core of the labor movement all over, +and included in it was the assumption, +just taken for granted, I'm quoting, +"Those who work in the mills should run them." +In fact, one of their main slogans, I'll just quote it, was, +they condemned what they called the new spirit of the age. +"Gain wealth, forgetting all but self." +(laughs) +That idea, the new spirit, +that you should only be interested +in gaining wealth and forgetting about your relations +to other people. +They regarded it as just a violation +of fundamental human nature, +and a degrading idea. +Well that grew into, +that was a strong, rich, American culture, +which was crushed by violence. +The United States has a very violent labor history. +Much more so than Europe. +Now, it was wiped out over a long period, +but with extreme violence. +By the time it picked up again in the 1930s +that's when I sort of personally +came into the tail end of it. +Right after the second World War it was just crushed. +So by now it's forgotten. +But it's very real, and see, +I don't really think it's forgotten, +I think it's just below the surface +in people's consciousness. +- And this is a continuing problem, +and it's something that emerges your scientific work also, +mainly the extent to which histories +and traditions are forgotten, +and actually to really define a new position +often means going back and finding those older traditions. +- Things like this, they're forgotten +in the intellectual culture, +but my feeling is they're probably alive +in the popular culture, +in people's sentiments and attitudes +and understanding and so on. +I mean, I know when I talk to, say, +working classes audiences today, +and I talk about these ideas, +they seem very natural to them. +I mean, it's true, nobody talks about them, +but when you bring it up, I mean, +the idea that you have to rent yourself to somebody +and follow their orders +and that they own, and you work there, +and you built it but you don't own it, +it's a highly unnatural notion, +and you don't have to study any complicated theories +to see that this is just an attack on human dignity. +- So coming out of this tradition, +being influenced by it, and continue to believe in it, +what is your notion of legitimate power? +Under what circumstances is power legitimate? +- Well, the core of the anarchist tradition, +as I understand it, +is that power is always illegitimate +unless it proves itself to be legitimate. +So the burden of proof is always on those +who claim that some authoritarian, +hierarchic relation is legitimate. +If they can't prove it, then it should be dismantled. +Can you ever prove it? +Well, it's a heavy burden of proof to bear, +but I think sometimes you can bear it. +So to take a homely example, +if I'm walking down the street +with my four year old granddaughter, +and she starts to run into the street +and I grab her arm and pull her back +that's an exercise of power and authority +but I think I can give a justification for it. +Obvious what the justification would be. +And maybe there are other cases +where you can justify it, +but the question that always should be asked, +for most, in our mind, is "Why should I accept it?" +It's the responsibility of those who exercise power +to show that somehow it's legitimate. +It's not the responsibility of anyone else +to show that it's illegitimate. +It's illegitimate by assumption. +If it's a relation of authority among human beings +which places some above others, +then that's illegitimate by assumption. +Unless you can give a strong argument +to show that it's right, you've lost. +It's kind of like the use of violence, +say, in international affairs. +There's a very heavy burden of proof to be borne +by anyone who calls for violence. +Maybe it can be sometimes justified, +personally I'm not a committed pacifist, +so I think that yes, it can sometimes be justified. +So I thought, in fact in that article I wrote, +in fourth grade, +I thought the West should be using force +to try to stop fascism, and I still think so. +But now I know a lot more about it, +I know that the West was actually supporting fascism, +supporting Franco, supporting Mussolini and so on, +and even Hitler. +I didn't know that at the time, +but I thought then, and I think now, +that the use of force to stop that plague +would have been legitimate, +and finally, was legitimate. +But an argument has to be given for it. +- Is there less of a burden of proof +when you're looking at weaker power entities, +looking at the powerless, basically, +is the burden of proof less for them? +- No, same. - Same. +- I mean, take, say, people living +under a military occupation, +or under racist regimes and so on. +Now, they have a right to resist, +actually everyone in the world +except the United States and Israel +believes they have a right to exist. +If you look at the UN resolutions. +- Talking about Palestine now, yeah. +- Palestine or South Africa, +I mean, if you take a look at the major UN, +there are major UN resolutions on terrorism. +One in 1987 denouncing the plague +of international terrorism, +calling on everyone to do something to stop it, +it passed with two negative votes, +the United States and Israel. +The reason was exactly this, they explained it. +It said said "Nothing in this resolution +"will prejudice the right of people +"to struggle for independence against racist +"and colonialist regimes and foreign military occupation." +That referred to South Africa and Israel. +So therefore the United States objected, +because it opposed, it does not grant the right +of people to struggle against racist and colonialist regimes +and foreign occupation. +The US and Israel are alone in that. +When the US votes against a resolution, +it's out of history, so you don't read about it, +but it's there. +The war against terrorism, isn't new, it's old, +the US is alone in opposing it. +Now, grant, I believe that the world right on this +and that the US is wrong. +There is a right to resist racist and colonialist regimes +and foreign military occupation, +but then comes your question. +Is there a right to use violence to do that? +Well, no, I think the burden of proof +is on those who say there is a right to use violence +and that's a hard burden to meet, +both morally and tactically, +and frankly I think it can very rarely be met. +- I'm curious, I think I've read interviews +where you have tried to separate +your approach in science to your approach in politics, +but I'm curious as to whether, +I'll ask the question again, +let me ask you this, +how does your approach to the world as a scientist +affect and influence the way you approach politics? +- See, I think studying science +is a good way to get into fields like history. +- Okay. +- The reason is you learn what an argument means. +You learn what evidence is. +You learn what makes sense to postulate and when. +What's going to be convincing. +You sort of internalize the modes of rational inquiry, +which happen to be much more advanced +in the sciences than anywhere else. +On the other hand, you know, +applying relativity theory to history +isn't going to get you anywhere. +- No, no, yeah. (laughs) +- It's a mode of thinking, +and I try at least, +with what success others have to judge, +to use the mode of thinking +that you would use in the sciences to human affairs, +and I think it's a good idea to do so. +As to other connections, +there may be some but they're pretty remote. +If you think about the core notions +of what I was calling anarchism, +which as I say, is just deeply rooted +in popular traditions everywhere, +for good reasons, I think, +it's based on a certain conception of, +if you sort of try to take it apart, +it's based on some kind of conception +of what Bakunin once called an instinct for freedom. +That people have an instinctive drive +for freedom from domination and control, +and I think that's, you can't prove it, +but it's probably true. +The core of the work +that I've been interested in in language, +is also interested in a kind of human freedom. +The cognitive capacity to create indefinitely +and its roots in our nature. +Now, historically, people have drawn a connection +between this. +So if you look at the, say, +18th century Enlightenment and the Romantic period, +this connection was explicitly drawn. +So if you read Rousseau, or Wilhelm von Humboldt and others, +the connection between human freedom +as in the social and political realm, +and human freedom in the creative use +of cognitive capacities, particularly language, +they did try to establish a connection. +Now if you ask, +"Can this be connected at the level of science?" +The answer is no. +It's just a sort of a parallel intuition +which doesn't link up empirically, +but maybe could someday if we knew enough. +- You said somewhere, I think in this new book, +on power, "You can lie or distort the story +"of the French Revolution as long as you like, +"and nothing will happen. +"Propose a false theory in chemistry, +"and it will be refuted tomorrow." +- Yeah, that's the kind of thing I mean. +Nature's tough. +You can't fiddle with mother Nature, +she's a hard task mistress. +So you're forced to be honest in the natural sciences. +In the soft fields, you're not forced to be honest. +Nobody's gonna undermine, I mean, +there are standards, of course. +On the other hand, they're very weak, +and if what you propose is ideologically acceptable, +that is, supportive of power systems, +you can get away with a huge amount. +In fact the difference between the conditions +that are imposed on dissident opinion +and on mainstream opinion are radically different. +I might give you concrete examples, if you like. +- [Harry] Yeah, do. +- Okay, so for example, if I write about terrorism, +say I've written about terrorism +and I think you can show without much difficulty +that terrorism pretty much corresponds to power. +I don't think that's very surprising. +But the more powerful states +are involved in more terrorism by and large, +and the United States is the most powerful, +so it's involved in massive terrorism +by its own definition of terrorism. +Well, if I want to establish that, +I'm required to give a huge amount of evidence +and I think that's a good thing, +I don't object to that. +I think anyone who makes that claim +should be held to very high standards, +through extensive documentation +from the internal secret record, +from historical record, and so on, +and if you ever find a comma misplaced, +somebody ought to criticize you for it. +So I think those standards are fine. +Now, let's suppose that you play the mainstream game. +So, for example, Yale University Press +just came out with a volume called the Age of Terror. +The contributors are leading historians, +many of them Yale, the top people in the field. +You read the book the Age of Terror, +the first thing you notice is there isn't a single footnote. +There isn't a single reference. +They're just off the top of your head statements. +Some of the statements are tenable, some are untenable, +but there are no criteria, +there are no intellectual criteria imposed. +The reviews of the book are very favorable +and laudatory, and maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong, +I mean, I think a lot of it's wrong, +and demonstrably wrong, +but it doesn't really matter. +You can say anything you want, +because you're supporting power +and nobody expects you to justify anything. +For example, if I was, say, +in the unimaginable circumstance +that I was on, say, Nightline, +and I was asked, say, "Do you think Gaddafi is a terrorist?" +I could say, "Yeah, Gaddafi's a terrorist." +I don't need any evidence. +Suppose I said George Bush is a terrorist. +Well then I would be expected to provide evidence. +"No, you can't say that." +- So you aren't cut off, right then. +- See, and in fact the structure +of the news production system +is you can't produce evidence. +In fact, there's even a name for it. +I learned it from the producer of Nightline, +Jeff Greenfield, it's called concision. +He was asked in an interview somewhere +why they didn't have me on Nightline, +and his answer was, two answers, +first of all, he says, +"Well he talks Turkish, nobody understands it." +But the other answer was, +"He lacks concision." +Which is correct, I agree with him. +Now, the kinds of things that I would say on Nightline, +you can't say in one sentence, +because they depart from standard religion. +If you want to repeat the religion +you can get away with it +between two commercials. +If you wanna say something that questions the religion, +you're expected to give evidence, +and that you can't do between two commercials, +so therefore you lack concision +so therefore you can't talk. +I think that's a terrific technique of propaganda. +To impose concision is a way of virtually guaranteeing +that the party line gets repeated over and over again +and that nothing else is heard. +- And this is why so much of your work +in the area of politics +has really been focused +on what you call the manufacturing of consent. +Mainly, the framing of issues, +the way topics are put off the table for discussion, +and so in the end what your work suggests +is that in focusing on that +and coming to understand that +then there's hope for really understanding +the problems we confront. +- Oh yeah, actually, I should say, +the term manufacturing of consent is not mine, +I took it from Walter Lippmann, +the leading public intellectual and leading media +figure of the 20th century, +who thought it was a great idea. +He said, "We should manufacture consent. +"That's the way democracy should work. +"There should be a small group of powerful people, +"and the rest of the population should be spectators +"and you should force them to consent +"by regimenting their minds." +That's the leading idea of democratic theorists, +and the public relations industry, and so on. +So I'm not making it up, I'm just borrowing their conception +and telling other people what they think. +But yeah, that's very important, +and yes, there is hope. +I think ordinary common sense suffices, +no special training, like my uncle, +to unravel this and see what's really happening. +I don't think it's hard to discover +that the US is a leading terrorist state, +I think it's obvious. +- And when one reads your arguments, +really, what you're laying out is fairly simple. +Namely, if I can paraphrase, +that if you're suddenly calling Iraq +a rogue state in the 90s, +well, what were you calling it in the 80s? +And were they doing the same thing? +And at that time, were you helping them do it? +And this is your critique of US foreign policy. +- Well, you know, I think, +I mean, if George Bush tells us, like he did last week, +and Tony Blair tells us, in this case, +that we can't let Saddam Hussein survive +because he's the most evil man in history, +he even used chemical weapons against his own people, +I agree that far. +But it gives hypocrisy a bad name to stop there. +You have to add, "Yes, he used chemical weapons +"against his own people, +"with the support of Daddy Bush, +"who continued to support him right past that, +"knowing what he was doing, +"helped him develop weapons of mass destruction, +"welcomed him as a friend and ally, +"gave him lavish aid after all these crimes." +Unless you add that, it's just, +like I said, giving hypocrisy a bad name. +Well, nobody does that. +You can read the commentary +and the learned opinion, and leading figures, +and they just stop, +"used chemical weapons against his own people." +Now, this is not difficult to understand. +I think you can explain this +to children in school, you know? +And it takes major effort +for the educated classes +to prevent people from knowing these things, +and that takes dedication. +It would be a lot easier to tell the truth. +Now, this is one example, it's a characteristic example. +So, take, say, by the late 1990s, +the last few years, +there was a huge chorus of self-adulation in the West, +about how we're entering a new age of history +in which the enlightened states +bring humanitarian ideals to the world +for the first time in history, +following principles and values, +and the proof of it is we're bombing Serbia. +Well, at the very same moment, +the same people were actively supporting +terrorist atrocities which went way beyond +anything charged to Milosevic in Kosovo. +In fact, I just happened to come back +from the site of one of them, southeastern Turkey, +where massive atrocities were going on. +- Where the Turkish government +is committing atrocities against the Kurdish people. +- Yes, that's true, but the way I would put it +is the US government is committing atrocities. +- [Harry] By providing aide. +- By providing virtually 80% of the arms, +and in an increasing flow as the atrocities increased, +providing support, blocking criticism. +The press is helping by not reporting it, +and in fact, even more amazingly, +Turkey is praised here, as a model for opposing terrorism, +namely by carrying out +some of the worst terrorist atrocities +of the late 1990s with our assistance. +Well, you know, that's an impressive contribution +of the educated culture. +It wouldn't be easy. +It takes effort to do this sort of thing, +and it's not hard to explain. +I can explain it in two minutes. +I can even give you the documentation, if you want. +- Now, if we were at the Council on Foreign Relations, +which we're not, +the argument would be made, +"Well, Turkey has to fit into a larger strategic... +"view of the world, +"in which they are a modernizing secular Islamic state." +Or not an Islamic state, +they are a state that has Islam within its population. +What would your answer be to that? +- So therefore we should help them +drive two to three million people out of their homes, +destroy thousands of villages. +- No, don't go there. +- Well, that's the question. +In fact, I think we're harming Turkey by doing this. +We're supporting the most reactionary strains in Turkey. +Like I said, I was just there. +I was there talking about these things, +and popular support for opposing the military run regime +is overwhelming. +We're supporting the military run regime, +we're supporting, we're preventing its modernization +and development. +In fact, that's happening throughout much of the world. +But even if it were true +that we were helping modernization, +that in no sense justifies +participation in some of the worst acts of terror, +or worse, I don't know if it's worse, parallel, +praising them as a model for countering terror +by carrying out massive terror. +And you can generalize this. +You know, take, say, let's go somewhere else, Indonesia. +When Indonesia was following an independent path +in the 1950s and early 60s, +US was strongly opposed, +actually tried to break up Indonesia in 1958. +Finally, a military coup took place +with the assistance of the United States in 1965. +The coup massacred maybe a million people, nobody noticed. +Mostly landless peasants. +It was greeted here with complete, unconstrained euphoria. +It was described accurately. +So, New York Times, it was a staggering bloodbath, +Time magazine, you know, boiling bloodbath, +and praise. +It was praised because, +what they called the Indonesian moderates, +namely the ones who carried out the massacre, +were turning the country into a US client state. +Well, from then, 65 til 98, +in that the Indonesian leader, one of the worst, +kind of like Saddam Hussein, +one of the worst criminals of the modern age, +was lavishly praised and supported +as a wonderful person, +the Clinton administration called him our kind of guy, +because he was serving US interests +while carrying out huge massacres +and compiling one of the worst records +of atrocities in the world. +What happened to that in history? +Well, you know, it's history, +but it's not what you teach people in high school, +as you should in a free country. +That's the task of the intellectuals. +Be careful to be sure +that nobody understands what's going on. +It's a major task. +- You actually believe +that there are two kinds of intellectuals. +One, the kind that serves, say, power, and are rewarded, +and the other, those who stand outside, +who basically call a spade a spade. +- I mean, we all agree with that +when we're talking about enemies. +So when we're talking about the Soviet Union, +we all agree that there was a difference +between the commissars and the dissidents. +Now the commissars were the guys inside +who were propagating state propaganda, +and the dissidents are a very small group on the fringe +who were trying to call a spade a spade. +And we honor the dissidents, +and we condemn the commissars. +- Because they were doing that in our adversaries. +- And when we turn around at home, it's the opposite. +We honor the commissars and we condemn the dissidents, +and furthermore, this goes right through +back through history. +You know, go back to classical Greece, and the Bible. +So who drank the hemlock in classical Greece? +Was it a commissar or a dissident? +(laughs) +When you go to, say, the Bible, +you know, you read the Biblical record, +there are people called prophets, +prophets just means intellectuals, +they were people giving geo-political analysis, +moral lessons, that sort of thing. +We call them intellectuals today. +There were the people we honor as prophets, +there were the people we condemn as false prophets. +But if you look at the Biblical record, +at the time it was the other way around. +The flatterers at the court of King Ahab +were the ones who were honored, +and the ones we call prophets +were driven into the desert and imprisoned. +You know, that's the way it's been throughout history, +and understandably. +Power does not like to be undermined. +- There's an important point here +that I want to bring out, +which is if you're comparing our acting against Serbia +at a time when we're not doing anything +about East Timor or Indonesia, +or a number of other places. +- It's not that we're not doing it-- +- Well, no that we're doing the wrong thing. +- We're intensifying the atrocity. +- But I guess the really interesting thing, +is that as part of the self deception +that is created by the media, +we forget we're doing in one place +and set it where it would be very easy +to do something about it, +namely, stopping the military aide. +Whereas in other areas, for example Serbia, +well, if you start bombing, +you know, what are the consequences for innocent people? +- That's another question. +To which it is independent +of what we should have done in Kosovo. +Maybe we can guess at on its own, +but what it does show is that whatever we did +it's not humanitarian. +Just take a look at everything else that's going on, +you see that. +So what should we have done in Kosovo? +Well, here you have to look at the record, +and the record is interesting, +and it's suppressed by the intellectuals. +So there's a massive literature about it, +and if you look through that literature +you'll notice that something is systematically omitted, +namely the actual record of what was happening. +And we have a voluminous record, +from the state department, from the British defense system, +from NATO, from the UN. +As far as I'm aware, there's only one book in print +that reviews that record, mine. +And of course the book is condemned, +because it reviews the record. +What the record shows is unequivocal. +Right up to shortly before the bombing +the British were the most hawkish element +of the coalition. +Internally, now it's released, +then it was internal, +regarded the guerrillas as the main source of atrocities. +This is after the Racak Massacre. +- This would be the Albanian guerrillas. +- Yes, they said they are the main source of the atrocities. +What they're trying to do is to elicit +a disproportionate Serbian response, +which they did, which would then bring in the West. +Now, I don't personally believe that, +but that's the British. +We know that right up until the bombing, +nothing much changed. +It was an ugly place, I mean, you know, +these are not nice guys. +The Serbian occupiers were doing vicious things, +and not on the level of what we were doing +in other places, but bad enough. +But nothing changed up until the bombing. +When the bombing was undertaken, +it was on the expectation that it would elicit atrocities. +Not surprising, you start bombing people, they react. +And it did, I mean, you look at the Milosevic trial, +it's for crimes committed after the bombing, +given one exception, but-- +- The bombing made by NATO. +- After the bombing, with an invasion threat, +exactly as anticipated. +Atrocities mounted, and they started +expelling the population. +Now, those are crimes, undoubtedly, +this guy's a major criminal, +but the crimes happened to be provoked +by the NATO bombing. +Now, what you read is, +well, we had to bomb to return the Albanians to their homes. +Yeah, except that they were driven out of their homes +after the bombing. +Now, there were some displaced before, +but the huge expulsion was after the bombing. +Before that, the West saw it as kind of, +guerrillas trying to elicit atrocities and responses, +and responses. +That's the description. +Well, if you don't tell the truth, +well, you may still decide it was the right thing +or the wrong thing, +but unless you at least look at the facts, +you're not even in the real world. +I mean, for example, it's a fact, +which we should look at, +we can ask, was there an alternative? +It was a bad place, no doubt. +Was there an alternative to violence? +Were there diplomatic alternatives? +Well, you can look back, and you see, +in fact, I wrote at the time, +it looks like there are diplomatic alternatives. +I mean, Serbia had a position, NATO had a position, +if you actually look at the result +after 78 days of bombing +it's a compromise between those two positions. +NATO gave up its most extreme demands, +Serbs gave up their most extreme demands, +and there was a kind of compromise. +Could that have been reached without the bombing +and the atrocities? +Well, there's a good case that can be made +that it was. +But remember, the burden of proof is on those +who say you have to bomb. +They try to put the burden of proof on others. +They can't. +It's the ones who use violence +that have the burden of proof. +- Not everyone is Noam Chomsky, +and can't produce the extraordinary opus +of works on these issues. +So what is your advice for people +who have the same concerns, +who identify with the tradition +that you come out of, +and who want to be active in opposing these policies? +What is it they need to be doing +that would be productive? +- The same as the factory girls +in the Lowell textile plant 150 years ago. +They joined with others. +To do these things alone is extremely hard, +especially when you're working 50 hours a week +to put put food on the table. +Join with others, you can do a lot of things. +It's got a big multiplier effect. +I mean, that's why unions have always been +in the lead of development of social and economic progress. +They bring together poor people, working people, +enable them to learn from one another, +to have their own sources of information +and to act collectively. +That's how everything has changed. +Civil rights movement, the feminist movement, +the solidarity movement, the workers' movements. +The reason we don't live in a dungeon +is because people have joined together to change things, +and there's nothing different now from before. +In fact, just the last 40 years +have seen remarkable changes in this respect. +- And in that sense, +in addition to ending the war in Vietnam, +the protest movement of the 60s +really did change our consciousness. +- Totally changed the country. +- And it changed the behavior of governments, +what they had to do to get what they wanted. +- Yeah, I mean, this is a good time to talk about it. +This month, March 2002, happens to be the 40th anniversary +of the public announcement by the Kennedy administration +that they were sending US pilots to bomb South Vietnam. +That's a US bombing of South Vietnam. +That was the initiation of chemical warfare +to destroy food crops, +driving huge numbers of people into concentration camps. +Nobody was there except the US +and the south Vietnamese, +and that was a US war against South Vietnam, +publicly announced, not a peep of protest. +Now, the war went on for years before protest developed, +but by the time it did, +not just the anti-war movement, +the civil rights movement and other rising movements, +it changed the popular consciousness. +The country just became a lot more civilized. +No American president could possibly dream +of doing that today. +And the same is true in many other areas. +Go back to 62, there was no feminist movement, +there was a very limited human rights movement, +extremely limited, +there was no environmental movement, +meaning rights of our grandchildren, +there were no third-world solidarity movements, +there was no anti-apartheid movement, +there was no anti-sweatshop movement, +I mean, all of the things that we kind of take for granted +just weren't there. +How'd they get there? +Was it a gift from an angel? +No, they got there by struggle, +common struggle by people who dedicated themselves, +with others, 'cause you can't do it alone, +and made it a much more civilized country. +There's a long way to go, +and that's not the first time it happened, +and it'll continue. +- I gather it's your belief that when we focus on heroes +in the movement, that's a mistake, +'cause it's really the unsung heroes +the unsung seamstresses or whatever in this movement +who actually make a difference. +- They're the ones that do things. +I mean, take, say, the civil rights movement. +You think of the civil rights movement, +the first thing you think of is Martin Luther King. +King was an important figure, +but he would have been the first to tell you, +I'm sure, that he was riding the wave of activism. +The people who were doing the work, +who were in the lead in the civil rights movement, +were young SNCC workers, freedom riders, +you know, people out there in the streets every day, +getting beaten, sometimes killed, +working constantly. +And they created the circumstances +in which Martin Luther King could come in +and be a leader. +And his role was extremely important, +and I'm not denigrating it, +it's very important to have done that, +but the people who were really important +are the ones whose names are forgotten, +and that's true of every movement +that ever existed. +- If students were to watch this tape, +how would you advise them +to prepare for the future +if they identify with the goals +that you're putting on the table? +- Be honest, critical, accept elementary moral principles. +For example, the principle +that if something is wrong for others, it's wrong for us. +Things like that. +Understand the importance +of the fundamental anarchist principle, +namely, prior illegitimacy of power and violence, +unless you can justify it, +which is not easy. +It's their burden of proof, not yours. +That's true whether it's personal relations +between a family or whether it's international affairs, +and beyond that, try to join with others +who share your interests +to learn more and to act responsibly +to improve the many very serious problems in the world, +which can be done. +- There's an important element of courage +in this kind of work, is there not? +And what is involved in that courage? +- Oh, you know, in a country like the United States, +the level of courage that's involved +is extremely low. +I mean, if you're a poor, black organizer in the slums, +yeah, that takes courage, because you could get killed. +If you're a relatively well off, educated white person, +the level of courage is minuscule. +Just see what other people face elsewhere. +Like I say, I just came back from Turkey. +I mean, the people in the southeast, +living a dungeon, millions of them. +They show real courage when they wear Kurdish colors, +let's say, or speak openly, let's say, +Kurdish as a language. +They can end up in a Turkish prison or worse, +and that's not fun. +But let's even go to Istanbul, +you know, sort of more Western. +I actually went there for a political trial. +The government was putting on trial a publisher +who had published a couple of sentences of mine +on the repression of the Kurds. +Well, in Istanbul, the writers, leading writers, +journalists, artists, intellectuals, and others, +they are constantly carrying out civil disobedience. +Like when I was there, +they purposely co-published The Book of Banned Writings, +writings of people in jail, which are banned, +co-published it, went to the prosecutor, +I went with them, demanding to be prosecuted. +That's no joke. +Some of them have been in jail, +some will go back to jail, they face repression. +But they're not making a big fuss about it, +they just do it in their normal behavior, +not waving flags and saying, +"Look how courageous I am." +That's just life. +That takes courage. +As compared with what they face every day, +what we face is so pathetically small +that we shouldn't even be talking about it. +Yes, unpleasant things can happen, +but not in comparison with what goes on in the world. +- Coming out of science, +and the level of complexity in that field +that you can comprehend the field of linguistics, +I'm curious as to whether this accounts +for what I think I detect is a moderate +or almost conservative view, on your part, +of how much things can change in the short term. +I don't know if that's a fair comment on you, +but is that the case, that in some sense, +by seeing so much, you understand +that very little sometimes can be accomplished +but that may be very important? +- Very important, and what's more, +I don't think we should give up long term visions. +So I agree with the factory girls in Lowell in 1850. +I think wage slavery is an attack +on fundamental human rights. +I think those who work in the plants should own them. +I think we should struggle against +what was then the new spirit of the age. +"Gain wealth, forgetting everybody but yourself." +Yeah, that's all degrading and destructive, +and in the long term, I don't know how long, +it should be dismantled. +But the way you proceed, +right now there are serious problems to deal with, +like three million Americans +who don't have enough to eat, +or people elsewhere in the world who are far worse off, +and who are, in fact, under our boot. +You know, we're grinding them into the dust. +Those are short term things that can be dealt with. +Now, there's nothing wrong with making small gains. +Like the gains that I was talking about before, +from the 60s til today, +they're extremely important for human lives. +Doesn't mean that there are not a lot +of mountain peaks to climb, there are, +but you do what's within range. +Same in the sciences. +You might like to solve the problems +of what causes human action or something, +but the problems you work on +are the ones that are right at the edge +of your understanding. +Actually, there's a famous joke +about a drunk under a lamppost, +and somebody comes up and asks him, +he's looking at the ground, +"What are you looking for?" +He goes, "I'm looking for a pencil that I dropped." +They say, "Well, where did you drop it?" +He said, "Oh, I dropped it across the street." +"So, why are you looking here?" +"Well, this is where the light is." +You know, that's the way the sciences work. +I mean, maybe the problem you'd like to solve +is across the street, +but you have to work where the light is, +then you try to move it a little further, +and maybe ultimately you'll get across the street. +And the same is true in human affairs. +I mean, I think the same is true in personal relations, +when you have a problem with your kids, +that's the way you have to deal with it. +- One final question, and I understand +your unwillingness to focus on heroes +or to be made into a hero, +but if an activist is watching this interview +what lesson might they draw from your life +about what they can do in their life, +with regard to the issues that are of concern to them? +- Last night, for example, +I gave a talk in Berkeley to a big mob of people +about the US and the Middle East +and Israel and Palestine, Turkey, these things. +Who is responsible for that talk? +Not me, you know, I flew in from Boston, +came over, and gave a talk. +The people responsible for that +are the people working on it. +The people working day after day +to create the organizational structures, +the support systems, +to go up and back to work with oppressed people over there, +and maybe their names won't enter some record, +but they are the ones who are leading everything. +I come in and it's a privilege for me +to be able to join 'em for an hour, +but that's easy. +Get up and give a talk, it's no big deal. +But working on it day after day, all the time, +that's hard, and that's important, +and that's what changes the world. +Not somebody coming in and giving a talk. +- Noam, thank you very much for joining us today +for this fascinating discussion +of at least some aspects of your life and your work. +Thank you. +- Thank you. +- And thank you very much +for joining us for this conversation with history. +(bright music) +1 +31 +33 +34 +36 +39 +41 +43 +49 +54 +55 +59 +64 +65 +68 +70 +74 +75 +79 +82 +86 +90 +91 +93 +96 +100 +102 +104 +107 +110 +112 +115 +116 +118 +119 +121 +122 +128 +131 +134 +136 +140 +143 +146 +150 +153 +156 +161 +164 +166 +169 +171 +174 +177 +179 +181 +183 +187 +189 +190 +192 +194 +196 +198 +201 +205 +206 +209 +211 +215 +218 +222 +224 +226 +231 +235 +238 +239 +242 +246 +253 +255 +261 +263 +264 +269 +272 +274 +280 +282 +283 +286 +289 +293 +295 +301 +303 +309 +314 +317 +321 +324 +328 +330 +331 +336 +340 +343 +346 +348 +351 +353 +354 +357 +360 +364 +368 +370 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+3510 +3511 +3512 +3513 +3517 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Coronavirus - what is at stake _ DiEM25 TV t-N3In2rLI4.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Coronavirus - what is at stake _ DiEM25 TV t-N3In2rLI4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bb113e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Coronavirus - what is at stake _ DiEM25 TV t-N3In2rLI4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1116 @@ +Bouziane Hassan translation Welcome to a different world after the Coronavirus +Virus I am really happy and my honor +This episode is special because there is +A special guest, join us today. +And this special guest isn't just me +It's a hero for several generations. +Unfortunately, we both are +Isolation, so this is also very special +Appropriate, but without further introduction +I think most of you, who are watching this +I know who I am ostrich Chomsky and me +Very pleased that Naoum will join us today. +Hi Noam, can you just tell us, +Where are you? Are you really? +Isolation and for how long? +Well, I'm in Tucson, Arizona +Self-isolation. +So, I wrote, I was born in 1928 +I wrote your first article, as far as +I know, when you were only ten years old, +Which was an article on Spanish +Civil war. Actually after the fall +Barcelona and so it was 1938, +Which seems too far from +jelly. I survived the second +World War, Hiroshima, I was a witness +To Hiroshima, I have been witness to many +A very important historical political +Events, from the Vietnam War to Oil +Crisis, to the fall of the Berlin Wall. +Before that, where is the witness +To Chernobyl, then in the 1990s, +You are a witness to a historic moment +That led to 9/11, which was also +International and recent event +I'm trying to really shorten a long time +The life history of someone like you, +But the last event was +Financial Crash of 2007 and 2008. +So in this background, such a rich life +To be a witness and an actor as well +These major historical processes, "how +You look at the current corona virus +crisis? Is it unprecedented historical? +The event, is something stunned +You are? How do you look at it? That would +Be my question. +I must say that is my first memories +Who is chasing me now, is who +1930s, the article you mentioned +In the fall of Barcelona he was mainly acting +About, it seems, a ruthless spread +From the fascist plague all over, +Across Europe and how it will end. +Then, I found out later, When +Internal documents came out, that +US government analyst, at the time +The following years predicted that +The war will end, the war will end +Coming, that the war will end, +The world split into the air dominated by the United States +Regions and area controlled by Germany. +So my childhood worries weren't completely +Misplaced. These memories come back +right Now. I remember, as a child, prof +A young child listens to Nuremberg to Hitler +Marches over the radio, I could not +Understand the words but you can easily +Understanding mood and threat +Etc., and I must say when I'm listening +Donald Trump rallies today, reverberate. +It is not that it is a fascist, it is not +She has a lot of ideology, +He is just a sociopath, but an individual +Cares about himself but temperament and +Fears are similar and the idea is that +The fate of the country and the world in +Hands sociopathy collector is +shocking. The coronavirus is dangerous enough +But it is worth noting that there is +We are approaching the greatest horror +The race to the brink of disaster, much worse +Then anything that happened in a human +History. And Donald Trump and his followers +They are in the lead, in the race to the abyss. +In fact, there are two enormous threats +We are facing. The first is the growing threat +Nuclear war, exacerbating it +The remaining arms were torn +Control system and the other is of course +The growing threat of global warming. +Both threats can be dealt with, but none +Much of the time the corona virus is +Terrible can have terrifying consequences +But there will be a rebound, while +Others will not be recovered, it is over. +If we don't deal with them, we are finished. +And this is how childhood memories come +Return to haunt me, but different +The dimension. Threat of nuclear war +You have no idea where the world is +Really, given early, +Until January, you know +Every year the clock is set on Judgment Day and set +With the minute hand at a certain distance +From midnight, which means termination. +However, since Trump was elected +The minute hand moves closer and +Closer to midnight. Last year it was two +Minutes until midnight. Top matching +Highest level ever. This year +Analysts began cutting out minutes, it started +Move to seconds, 100 seconds until midnight +This is the closest it has ever been. +Seeing three things: a threat +Nuclear war and the global warming threat +Democracy degradation that +It doesn't belong here completely +But it is, because this is the only one, +We hope we have, +To overcome the crisis +And in the (inaudible) audience +Take control of their fate, if that +Doesn't happen, we are doomed. +If we leave our fate +The sociopathic buffalo, we're done. +This is getting closer, Trump +It's the worst, that's because +The power of the United States, which is overwhelming. +We are talking about the retreat of the United States, +But you just look at the world, +Do not see it when the United States +Imposes penalties, killers, +Devastating penalties, that is +The only country that can do that, +But everyone should follow. +You might not actually like Europe +Hate acts against Iran, however +They have to follow, they are +They must follow the teacher, otherwise +He is expelled from the International +Financial system. This is not a law +Nature is a decision in Europe +Affiliated to Mr. In +Washington and other countries +I don't even have a choice. +Going back to Coronavirus, +One of the most shocking, +From its harsh aspect, it is a use of +Penalties, to increase pain, +Consciously, Iran +In a region, huge internal problems. +By the throttle tightened +Consciously designed penalties +Frankly, to make suffering and suffering +Bitterly now. Cuba is suffering +From it, from the moment you gained it +Independence, but it's amazing, +They survived, but they stayed +Flexible and one of the most cynical +The elements of the virus crisis today, is that Cuba +Helps Europe. I mean this as well +Shocking, you don't know how +To describe it. Germany cannot help +Greece, but Cuba can help the Europeans +Countries. If you stop thinking +What does that mean, all words fail, +Like you see thousands of people +Dying in the Mediterranean, Varenne +From the area destroyed +For centuries it is sent to death +In the Mediterranean, you don't know +What words to use. +The crisis, the civilizational crisis +The West at this point is devastating, +To think about it, it brings +Even childhood memories of listening to +Hitler cheers on the radio to the loud crowds +Makes you wonder if these are the types +Even viable. +You mentioned the crisis of democracy, +At this moment I think we have found ourselves +Also on a date never seen before +The situation, in the sense that approx +Two billion people, that's a number I've found +Today, one way or another +Confined in the house, be it isolation, +Self-isolation or quarantine. +Almost 2 billion people in the world +At home, if they are lucky enough +a house. At the same time we can +Witness is that Europe, but also other +Countries, closed their borders, +Not only the internal but the external borders. +There is an exceptional property everywhere +Countries we can think of, which means +Curfews in many countries, +Such as France, Serbia, Spain, Italy and +Other countries, an army in the streets +And what I want to ask of you as a linguist, +Is the language of length that is now, +Spin around. If you just not listen +To Donald Trump, if you listen to him +Macron, and some other European countries +Politicians, you'll hear that constantly +They talk about war. +Even the media is talking about it +Doctors who are on the first front +Streak and the virus is called the enemy. +It reminds me of course, +Not from childhood memories, fortunately however +A book written at the time, +Victor Klimbrier, "Lingua tertii imperii" +Which book is a book about +The language of the Third Reich and +In any way through language, +Ideology was imposed, so who +Your point of view, what does this speech do +About the war, tell us and why they are present +The virus is an enemy, is it only +Legalizing a new state of exception or +Is there something deeper in that +Dialogue? +Speech protection, but I think it is +do not make it too much. It has some significance. +The meaning is that if we want to deal +With the crisis, we must act +To something like packing in wartime. +So if you think of a rich country, +Like the United States, it has the resources +To overcome the immediate economic +Second fill +World war, I led the country to far the limits +Greater debt than is imagined today +It was a very successful mobilization, +Practically the United States quadrupled +Industrialization, recession ended, left +Country with [inaudible] instead, but prof +The ability to grow. This is less than we need +Perhaps, not on this scale is not like that +This is in a world war, but we need to +Social Movement Mindset ??? +It is trying to overcome the short term +Severe crisis. We are here too, +We can remember the swine flu epidemic +In 2009, it was raised in the United States +Hundreds of thousands of people, +At first glance recovered from +The worst, but it must be dealt with, +This is a rich country like the states. +Now there are two billion people, +The majority is in India. What happens +For Indians, they live from hand to mouth, +Who is isolated, starving to death. +What is gonna happen? +In a civilized world rich countries +They will help after that +Who needed, instead of strangling +Them, and that's what we do, +Especially in India but in many +Globalism. The type of crisis, you know +Whether the crisis could be within +A country like India, I don't know, bears +Mind that, with current trends +If South Asia continues, it will +Be uninhabitable in a few decades. +The temperature has reached 50 degrees, +In Rajasthan this summer and it's +increasing. Water now, +It can get worse, there are two nuclear types +Powers, they will fight +Restriction of low water supply. +I mean, the corona virus is very dangerous, +We can't underestimate it, but we have to +Remember it is a small, small portion +Part of the next major crisis +Along. May not disrupt life +The extent, which the corona virus does today, +But they will disrupt life to an extent +Which makes the species neither viable nor viable +In the distant future. +So we have many problems to deal with, +Well, that's immediate, coronavirus +Seriously, you must deal with it and +Much bigger, much bigger, +They are waving. Now, there is +Civilization crisis, we have to end +Maybe the good side of the corona virus, +As it might, it might bring people into thinking +What world do we want? +Do we want the kind of world that drives +To this? We must think +The origins of this crisis, why is there +Corona virus crisis? It is a huge market +Failure, back to the essence +From the markets, exacerbated by neoliberalism, +Brutal, intensified neoliberalism +Profound socio-economic problems. +It was known for a long time, +Epidemics are highly probable, and they were +Understood, well understood, that +It is possible that there will be a pandemic of the corona virus +Minor modifications for SARS +Pandemic, 15 years ago it was overcome, +Viruses identified and sequenced, +Vaccines were available, labs around +The world can work right then +Develop protection for potentials +Coronavirus pandemic. +Why didn't they do that? +Market signals were wrong. +Pharmaceutical companies, we delivered it +Our fate to your tyranny, wait +Companies that are not accountable +For the public, in this case, a great pharma +And for them they make new body creams, +It's more profitable than finding it +A vaccine that protects people from +Of mass destruction. Impossible +Government to intervene, and back to +Mobilization in wartime, that's what happened +Polio at that time, I remember too +Well it was a terrifying threat, it was over +By discovering a Salik vaccine by +A government institution launched before +Roosevelt Administration. No patents +Available to everyone. Maybe +It was done this time, but neoliberal +The plague prevented it. +We live under an ideology for it +Economists have a good amount of +Responsibility, and it comes from +Common sector. An ideology, namely +It boils down to reading Ronald Reagan +It was on the script, by his company +Gentlemen with his sunny smile, saying +The government is the problem. Let's get rid of it +The government, that is to say, let's help +Concerning decisions of private despotism, +That are not accountable to the public. +On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, +Thatcher was ordering us there +A society, in which individuals are only thrown +The market to survive one way or another +Moreover, there is no alternative. +The world is suffering underneath +Rich, years it is now in point +Where things, which can be done, +Like direct government intervention +On the scale of the Salik invention +Vaccine, but it has been banned +Ideological reasons get out of +Neoliberal plague, the point is that +It could be this corona virus epidemic +Was blocked, the information was there +To read, he was actually well known in it +October 2019, just before the outbreak. +There was an extensive simulation, +By simulating the level in the United States, +In the world of a potential epidemic +This type. Nothing has been done now +Then the crisis got worse than before +Betrayal of political regimes. +We did not pay attention to the information +Which they were aware of on December 31, +China has informed the World Health Organization +Regulating pneumonia, such as symptoms +With unknown etiology. after a week, +They identified, some Chinese scholars, +I identified it as Corona virus, +On top of that they serialized it and gave it +Information to the world, by then +Virologists, others who were bothering +To read the WHO report +He knew, they were Corona virus and +They know how to handle it. +Did they do anything, well, some of them did. +Region Countries, China, +South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore have all started +They do something and they kind of have them +To a large extent it appears to be containment, at least +The first boom of the crisis. +It happened in Europe to some extent. +Germany didn't have it +She moved, at the appointed time, to have the hospital +Sub-liberal regimes, +It has spare and diagnostic capacity +He was able to act extremely selfishly +Fashion, not helping others but for itself +At least, for reasonable fit +Other countries just ignored it, the worst +Them are the UK and +The worst of it was the United States, +Which is happening led by [inaudible] +Who says, you know that one day there isn't +Crisis, it's like the flu the next day +I knew it was a terrible crisis +All day long, we have to give out +For business, because I have to win +election. Idea in the world +These hands are awesome, but the point is +It started with her, once again, enormous +Market failure with reference to the fundamental +Problems of the socio-economic system, +It made neoliberalism much worse +The plague continues due to +Collapse of types of institutions +Structures, which you can deal with, if +have been working. +These are the topics you should be +I think seriously and think +In more depth, as I said, +What kind of world do we want to live in? +If we beat one way or another, there is +Options will be. Options range from +An extremely authoritarian installation +Brutal states all the way to the radical +Reconstruction of the community and more +Humanistic terminology, concerned with human needs +Your profit. That we must bear +Mind you, that authoritarian vicious circle +Countries are fully compatible with +Liberalism, in fact, [inaudible] +Neoliberalism from [inaudible] to Hayek +The rest, they were very happy +Huge state violence, as long as it is +They supported what they called the sound +Economics. Neoliberalism has its origins +In Vienna in the 1920s, from [inaudible] +Can hardly contain his joy, in +Primitive Fascism of the Austrian State +They smashed trade unions +Austrian Social Democracy and joined +The early fascist government, praised +on him. Fascism is, in fact, praised by reason +Protect his healthy economy. +When Pinochet installed a killer +A brutal dictatorship in Chile, all of them +Love him, they all fought there, [inaudible] +Help out from this wonderful +Miracle, she was bringing sound +Economy, big profit for her, for the sake of harnessing +A small portion of the population. +So, it is not impossible to think +It could be the barbaric neoliberal system +Reinstall it by self-call +Liberals with a strong state +Violence, impose, this is one part, +One nightmare, it might happen. +But it is not necessary, there is +The potential to organize people, +She becomes involved, as many do, +And achieve a much better world, +That you will also face enormous +The problems were facing right +The way, the problems of nuclear war, +It is closer than it was before +Environmental problems +There is no disaster of it +Recovery once we get to that stage, +It is not far away, unless we are +Act assertive. +So it is a defining moment for a human being +History, not just because of the aura +The virus, but to bring us, must bring us +Awareness of deep imperfections +The world is flawed, not strong enough, profound, +Dysfunctional characteristics +The whole social and economic system, +That should be [inaudible], if +There will be a viable future. +So this can be a warning sign and +A lesson to deal with it today or prevent it +From the blast, but think about it +The roots and how those roots will be +Lead to more crises, worse than this, +Pay extra on the spot. +And since we don't have much time, +I'll just ask one last question, yeah, so, +I think a lot of people are interested in and +We, too, are the ones who are active in the social sphere +Movements, mobilization and +Organized for decades, using the physical and +Social convergence between people, however +Suddenly we're all together +Accustomed to what is now called +"Social distancing," so my questions are +How do you see a social future +Resistance, in times of social distancing +And if that takes another few months, +Not to mention maybe a year or two, +We are mainly in self-isolation +Home, what is your advice +Progressives around the world, activists, +Also intellectuals, students and workers, +How to organize in this new situation? +And can you tell us maybe the humidity +Seeing hope, instead of entering +Global tyranny, that's open +The historical situation may go drastically +The world turned, and who would +They are green, equal, fair and complete +Solidarity? +First of all, we must bear in mind that, +In the past few years, there has been prof +A form of social isolation, and it is an end +Harmful. Now you go to +McDonald's and look at a bunch of +Teens sitting around the table, +Having a hamburger, what you see is, +Two conversations are taking place. One kind of +Shallow discussion between them, +The last one, everyone has it +On his cell phone, with a remote control +An individual who is with a friend. +This has resulted in the fragmentation and isolation of people +To an extraordinary extent. +Thatcher principle, it was not there +Society, escalated, misused +Social media, which people have turned into +Very isolated creatures, especially young ones +People. Actually there are universities, +Now in the United States, where +On the sidewalk boards on it, saying, +Look for. Because every child walks +Around it, it is glued to itself. This is a shape +From self-induced social isolation, which +It was extremely harmful. We are now on +Real state of social isolation. I did it +To overcome it by reconnecting social +Any way it can be done, from +Need if any kind can help +Needy. Call them, +Organizational development, expansion +Analysis, like before I get it +To be functional and efficient, +Make plans for the future, +Gathering people together he can +Internet era to join and deliberate consultation +To find out answers to the problems +That they encounter and work on, +Which can be done, not face to face +That connections to humans +Basic. But she will be deprived of it +For a while, you can put it on hold to find another +Ways and continue with and +Indeed, expanding and deepening activities +Implemented, can be done, will not happen +To be easy, but humans ran into a problem +Can I ask a question, because we're both +In self-isolation? +My dog is trying to have a conversation? +Was that before a parrot? You have +A bird as well or a parrot? Or a bird, +There was a bird sound, yeah? +Yes ????? Parrot, might say: +Sovereignty to all people +Portuguese. +0 +4 +7 +9 +12 +15 +19 +21 +24 +29 +31 +34 +38 +41 +43 +46 +51 +58 +64 +67 +70 +73 +78 +82 +85 +89 +93 +95 +100 +104 +107 +109 +113 +117 +120 +123 +127 +130 +132 +136 +141 +145 +149 +153 +156 +159 +162 +167 +171 +174 +179 +183 +187 +190 +193 +197 +200 +204 +207 +212 +214 +219 +223 +227 +231 +235 +240 +243 +247 +249 +254 +258 +262 +265 +268 +271 +274 +278 +281 +285 +290 +296 +301 +303 +308 +312 +318 +322 +327 +329 +332 +336 +339 +343 +350 +354 +357 +361 +367 +369 +373 +375 +379 +382 +387 +390 +392 +394 +397 +402 +405 +408 +413 +416 +418 +424 +427 +431 +434 +437 +439 +441 +446 +448 +450 +452 +455 +459 +461 +463 +467 +469 +472 +475 +479 +480 +483 +485 +488 +490 +491 +493 +496 +498 +500 +502 +504 +509 +511 +515 +518 +521 +527 +531 +535 +540 +545 +548 +551 +552 +556 +562 +566 +569 +571 +575 +577 +582 +586 +589 +593 +596 +598 +600 +606 +610 +613 +616 +624 +627 +631 +636 +640 +642 +646 +650 +652 +657 +659 +663 +666 +668 +673 +675 +678 +682 +685 +687 +691 +693 +696 +701 +705 +707 +709 +712 +714 +717 +720 +725 +728 +731 +734 +737 +739 +741 +743 +746 +751 +754 +756 +760 +762 +770 +772 +776 +779 +781 +785 +790 +794 +798 +801 +805 +809 +813 +815 +817 +820 +823 +826 +828 +833 +837 +841 +846 +851 +854 +858 +860 +864 +867 +872 +876 +880 +882 +886 +890 +894 +897 +899 +902 +906 +908 +912 +916 +918 +921 +924 +927 +931 +936 +940 +942 +945 +949 +953 +957 +961 +964 +968 +971 +973 +977 +980 +983 +985 +990 +995 +1000 +1003 +1005 +1008 +1012 +1016 +1019 +1024 +1028 +1030 +1033 +1037 +1040 +1044 +1048 +1055 +1059 +1063 +1067 +1071 +1075 +1076 +1078 +1081 +1085 +1089 +1092 +1098 +1101 +1103 +1107 +1110 +1113 +1117 +1121 +1125 +1127 +1131 +1133 +1136 +1138 +1142 +1144 +1148 +1151 +1155 +1158 +1162 +1165 +1168 +1171 +1173 +1175 +1178 +1183 +1185 +1188 +1190 +1194 +1197 +1200 +1204 +1207 +1210 +1215 +1220 +1223 +1227 +1232 +1236 +1238 +1241 +1244 +1254 +1257 +1259 +1264 +1268 +1271 +1275 +1278 +1282 +1286 +1288 +1290 +1294 +1297 +1299 +1302 +1305 +1308 +1311 +1315 +1317 +1319 +1324 +1330 +1332 +1335 +1343 +1345 +1349 +1352 +1355 +1357 +1361 +1365 +1368 +1370 +1373 +1376 +1379 +1383 +1386 +1390 +1394 +1397 +1402 +1405 +1409 +1411 +1413 +1416 +1419 +1422 +1426 +1430 +1434 +1439 +1443 +1447 +1449 +1454 +1457 +1461 +1465 +1467 +1471 +1474 +1479 +1483 +1487 +1492 +1494 +1497 +1501 +1505 +1507 +1511 +1515 +1519 +1523 +1526 +1530 +1532 +1540 +1543 +1547 +1550 +1558 +1561 +1565 +1569 +1572 +1576 +1579 +1582 +1585 +1588 +1594 +1596 +1599 +1605 +1607 +1609 +1613 +1617 +1622 +1626 +1629 +1631 +1635 +1638 +1640 +1644 +1648 +1651 +1653 +1659 +1662 +1670 +1674 +1676 +1680 +1684 +1688 +1690 +1693 +1697 +1699 +1704 +1709 +1712 +1716 +1720 +1724 +1727 +1729 +1732 +1736 +1739 +1742 +1745 +1749 +1753 +1756 +1759 +1763 +1766 +1770 +1773 +1776 +1780 +1783 +1787 +1789 +1791 +1796 +1798 +1802 +1811 +1815 +1818 +1821 +1823 +1827 +1831 +1836 +1839 +1841 +1845 +1849 +1853 +1858 +1862 +1864 +1868 +1871 +1873 +1876 +1883 +1885 +1888 +1891 +1894 +1899 +1902 +1906 +1909 +1912 +1919 +1922 +1924 +1928 +1932 +1936 +1939 +1942 +1944 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Creating a Libertarian Socialist Society Hr_Qp5k5zDY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Creating a Libertarian Socialist Society Hr_Qp5k5zDY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27cc26e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Creating a Libertarian Socialist Society Hr_Qp5k5zDY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,510 @@ +I think that the libertarian socialist concepts, and by that I mean a range of thinking that extends from +Left-Wing Marxism through Anarchism; I think that these are fundamentally correct and that they are the proper and natural +extension of classical liberalism into the era of Advanced industrial Society in +contrast it seems to me that the ideology of state socialism, that is what has become of bolshevism and +of state Capitalism, the Modern Welfare state. +These of course are dominant in +the Industrial countries and industrial societies +but I believe that they are regressive and +highly inadequate social theories and that a large number of our really fundamental problems stem from A +kind of incompatibility and +inappropriateness of these social forms to a modern industrial society +a French writer rather sympathetic to Anarchism once wrote that Anarchism has a broad back like paper it endures anything and +There are many shades of anarchism +And I'm concerned here only with one namely the anarchism of Bakunin who wrote in his anarchist +Manifesto of 1865 that to be an anarchist one must first be a socialist +I'm concerned with the anarchism of Adolph Fischer one of the martyrs of the +Haymarket affair in 1886 who said that every anarchist is a socialist, but not every socialist is necessarily an anarchist a +Consistent anarchist must oppose private ownership of the means of production +such property is indeed, as +Proudhon, his famous remark asserted, a form of theft +But a consistent anarchist will also oppose +the organization of production by government +I'm quoting, it means state socialism, the command of the state officials over production and the command of +managers, scientists, shop officials in the shop the goal of the working class is liberation from +Exploitation and this goal is not reached and cannot be reached by a new directing and governing class +Substituting itself for the bourgeoisie it is only realized by the workers themselves being master over production by some form of workers councils +These remarks, it happens, are quoted from the Left-wing Marxist Anton Pannekoek and in fact radical Marxism +What Lenin once called infantile ultra leftism +merges with anarchist currents +There's an important point. I think and let me give one further illustration of this convergence between Left-wing Marxism and +socialist anarchism +Considering the following +characterization of +revolutionary Socialism +The revolutionary socialist Denies that state ownership can end in anything other than a bureaucratic despotism +We have seen why the state cannot democratically control industry +Industry can only be democratically owned and controlled by the workers electing directly from Their own ranks +Industrial administrative committees +Socialism will be fundamentally an industrial system its constituencies will be of an industrial character +Thus those carrying on the social activity and industries of society will be directly represented in the local and central councils of social administration +In this way the powers of such delegates will flow upwards from those carrying on the work and conversant with the needs of the community +When the Central administrative industrial committee meets it will represent every phase of Social activity +Hence the capitalist political or geographical state will be replaced by the industrial administrative committee of socialism +The transition from One social system to the other will be the social revolution +The political state throughout history has meant the government of men by ruling classes +The Republic of Socialism will be the government of industry +administered on behalf of the whole community +the former meant the economic and political +Subjection of the many the latter will mean the economic freedom of all it will be therefore a true democracy +These remarks are taken from a book called the state its origins and function written by William Paul in early +1917 just prior to Lenin's State and Revolution, which is his most libertarian work +William Paul was one founders of the British Communist party later the Editor the British Communist party journal +And it's interesting that his critique of state socialism +Resembles very closely I think the libertarian doctrine of the anarchists in +particular in its principle that the state must disappear +To be replaced by the industrial organization of society in the course of the social revolution itself +Proudhon in 1851 wrote that what we put in place of the government is industrial +organization and many many similar comments can be cited that in a sense is the +fundamental idea of +Anarchist revolutionaries +What's more important than the fact that many such statements can be cited is that these ideas have been realized in Spontaneous revolutionary action +several times for example in Germany and Italy after the first world war in Catalonia in 1936 +One might argue at least I would argue that +Council Communism in this sense in the sense of the long quotation that I read is +the natural form of Revolutionary Socialism in an industrial society +It reflects the intuitive understanding that democracy is largely a sham when the industrial system is controlled by any form of autocratic elite +whether of owners managers +technocrats a vanguard party a state bureaucracy or whatever +under these conditions of Authoritarian domination the classical liberal ideals +Which are expressed also by Marx and Bakunin and all true revolutionaries +Cannot be realized man will in other words not be free to inquire and create to develop his own +potentialities to their fullest the worker will remain a fragment of a human being +Degraded a tool in the productive process directed from above +the ideas of Revolutionary Libertarian Socialism in this sense they've been +submerged in the industrial societies of the past half century the +dominant ideologies have been those of state Socialism and state capitalism +But there's been an interesting resurgence in the last couple of years +fact the theses that I quoted from Anton Pannekoek they were taken from a recent pamphlet of a radical French workers group and +the quotation that I read from William Paul on revolutionary Socialism was taken from a paper by +Walter Kendall at the National Conference on workers control in Sheffield, England Last March +both of these groups the French and the English one represents something significant the workers control movement in England in particular +Has developed into a I think remarkably significant force in the last few years it includes some of the largest trade unions for example +the amalgamated engineering federation which I think is the second largest trade unit in England and +which has taken these principles as its +fundamental ideas +It's had a series of successful conferences putting out an interesting Pamphlet literature and on the continent there are parallel developments May +1968 in France of course accelerated the growing interest in +Council Communism and similar ideas other forms of Libertarian Socialism in France and Germany as it did in England +given the general +Conservative cast of our highly ideological Society it not too surprising that the united states is relatively untouched by these currents +but that too may change +the erosion of the Cold War mythology +At least makes it possible to discuss some of these questions +And if the present wave of repression [can] be beaten back +if the left can overcome its more suicidal tendencies and build on the achievements of the past decade the +[problem] of how to organize industrial society on truly democratic lines with democratic control in the workplace as [well] as in the [community] +this should become the dominant intellectual issue for those who are alive [for] the problems of contemporary Society and +and as a mass movement for revolutionary Libertarian Socialism develops as I hope it will +speculation should proceed to action +Now [it] may seem +quixotic to group left Marxism and Anarchism under the same rubric as I've done given the antagonism throughout the past century between +marxists and anarchists beginning with the +Antagonism between +Marx and Angles on the one hand and for example Proudhon and Bakunin on the other in the 19th century at least their differences +with regard to the question of the state was +significant but in a sense it was tactical the +Anarchists were convinced that capitalism and the state must be destroyed together +Angles in a letter of 1883 Expressed his opposition to this idea as follows +The anarchists put the thing upside down they declare that the proletarian revolution must begin by doing away with the political organization of the state +But to destroy it at [such] a moment [would] be to destroy the only organism by means of which the victorious +Proletariat can assert its newly conquered power +Hold down its adversaries and carry out that economic revolution of society without which the whole victory must end in a new +defeat and a mass slaughter of the workers similar to those after the Paris commune +the Paris commune I think it's fair to [say] did represent the ideas [of] Libertarian socialism of anarchism if you like and +Marx of course wrote about it with great enthusiasm +He in fact the experience of the commune led him to modify his concept for the role of the state +As you can see for example by looking at the introduction to the Communist Manifesto the the addition of it was published in 1872 +And to take on something like a more anarchist +perspective of the Nature of Social revolution +well the commune was of course drowned in blood as the anarchist communes of Spain were destroyed by Fascist and Communist armies and +It might be argued that more dictatorial structures would have defended the revolution against such forces +But I doubt this very much +at least in the case of Spain +Seems to me that a more consistent libertarian policy might have provided the [only] possible defense of the revolution +Of course this can be contested, and it's a long story which I don't [wanna] go into here, but [at] the very least +It's clear [that] one would have to be rather naive after the events of the past half century +To fail to see the truth in Bakunin's repeated warnings that the red bureaucracy would prove the most vile and terrible lie of the century +He once said take the most radical revolutionary and place him on the throne of all the Russia's, to all Russia, +He said in 1870 or give him a dictatorial power and before a year has passed he will become worse than the Tsar himself +I'm afraid in this respect [Bakunin] was all too perceptive and this kind of warning was repeatedly voiced from the from the left +For example the anarcho-syndicalist Fernand Pelloutier asked +1890s must even the transitory state to which we have to submit +Necessarily and fatally be the collectivist +Jail? Can't it assist in a free organization limited exclusively by the needs of production and consumption all political institutions having disappeared? +I don't pretend to know the answer to that question +But I think it's tolerably clear that unless the answer is positive +The chances for a truly democratic revolution that will achieve the humanistic ideals of the left are perhaps rather slight +I think Martin Buber put problem quite succinctly when he said +One cannot in the nature of things expect a little tree that has been turned into a club to put forth leaves +for just this reason +It's essential that a powerful revolutionary movement exists in the united states if there are to be any reasonable +possibilities for democratic social change of a radical Sort any within a capitalist world and +Comparable remarks, I think undoubtedly hold for the Russian Empire +Lenin till the end of his life stressed the idea +I quote that it is an elementary truth of Marxism +that the victory of Socialism requires the joint effort of workers in a number of Advanced countries at +the very least it requires that the great centers of world imperialism be impeded by +Domestic pressures from Counter Revolutionary intervention only such possibilities will permit any revolution to overthrow +its own +Coercive state institutions as it tries to bring the economy under direct democratic control +I've mentioned so far two reference points for a discussion of the state classical liberalism and libertarian socialism +They're in agreement that the functions of the state are repressive and that state action must be limited +The Libertarian socialist goes on to insist that the state power must be eliminated in favor of the democratic organization of industrial society +With direct popular control over all institutions by those who +Participate in as well as those who are directly affected by the workings of these institutions +So one might imagine then a system of workers' councils, consumers' Councils, Commune assemblies, regional Federation's, and so on +With the kind of representation that's direct and revocable in the sense that +Representatives are directly answerable to and returned directly to the well-defined and integrated social group +for which they speak in some higher-order +organization something obviously very different than our system of representation +Now it might very well be asked whether such a social structure is feasible in a complex highly technological society +There are counter arguments +and I think they fall into two [main] categories first category is that such an organization is contrary to human Nature and +The second category says roughly that it's incompatible with the demands of efficiency, and I'd like to briefly consider each of these +Consider the first that a free society is contrary to human nature +It's often ask do men really want freedom? Do they want the responsibility [that] goes with it? +Or would they prefer to be ruled by a benevolent master? +Consistently apologists for the existing [distribution] of power have held to one or another version of the idea of the happy slave +200 Years ago Rousseau denounced the sophistic politicians and intellectuals +Who searched for ways to obscure the fact, so he maintained, that the essential and defining property of man is freedom +They attribute to man a natural inclination to servitude without thinking that it is the same for freedom as for innocence and virtue +Their value is felt only as long as one enjoys them oneself and the taste for them is lost +As soon as one has lost them +As proof of this doctrine he refers to the marvels done by all free peoples to guard themselves from oppression +True, he says, those who have abandoned the life of a free man +Do nothing but boast incessantly of the peace and repose they enjoy in their chains +But when I see the other sacrifice pleasures repose wealth power and life itself for the preservation of this soul good +Which is so disdained by those who have lost it when I see multitudes of entirely naked Savages scorn European voluptuousness +and endure hunger fire the sword and death to preserve only their independence +[I] feel it does not behoove slaves to reason about freedom a +comment which +To which we can perhaps give a contemporary interpretation +Rather similar thoughts were expressed by [Immanuel] Kant 40 years later +He cannot he says accept the proposition that +certain people are not right [for] freedom for example the serfs of some landlord if +one accepts this assumption he writes freedom will never be achieved +For one cannot arrive at the maturity for freedom without having already acquired it +One must be free to learn how to make use of one's powers freely and usefully +The first attempts will surely be brutal and will lead to a state of affairs more painful and dangerous than the former condition +under the dominance +but also the protection of an external authority +However one can achieve reason only through one's own experiences and one must be free to be able to undertake them +To accept the principle that freedom is worthless for those under one's control and that one has the right to refuse it to them forever +Is an infringement on the right of God himself who has created man to be free +this particular remark is +Interesting because of its context as well. Kant, in this occasion, was defending French revolution during terror +against those who claimed that it showed the masses to be unready for the privilege of freedom and +His remarks to I think have obvious contemporary Relevance +No rational person will approve of violence and terror and in particular the terror of the post-revolutionary state +Which is fallen into the hands of a grim autocracy has more than once reached indescribable levels of savagery +at the same time no person of +Understanding or humanity will too quickly condemn the violence that often occurs when long subdued masses +Rise against their oppressors or take their first steps towards liberty and social reconstruction +Humboldt just a Few years before Kant had expressed the view very similar to that he also said that freedom and variety are the +preconditions for human self-realization +Nothing promotes this ripeness for freedom so much as freedom itself +This truth perhaps may not be acknowledged by those who have so often used this unripeness as an excuse for continuing repression +But it seems to me to follow unquestionably from the very nature of man +The incapacity for freedom can only arise from a want of Moral and intellectual power +to heighten this power is the only way to supply the want but to do so +presupposes the freedom which awakens spontaneous activity and those who do not comprehend this he says may justly be suspected of +Misunderstanding Human Nature and wishing to make men into machines +Rosa Luxemburg's +fraternal sympathetic Critique of Bolshevik ideology and practice was given in very similar terms +Only the active participation of the masses [in] self-government [and] social reconstruction +Could bring about what she described as the complete spiritual transformation +in the masses degraded by centuries of bourgeois class rule +just as only their creative experience and spontaneous action can Solve the myriad problems of creating a +Libertarian Socialist Society +she went on to +Say that historically the [errors] committed by a truly revolutionary movement are infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the Cleverest central +committee and +[I] think that these remarks +Can be translated immediately for the somewhat parallel ideology of the soulful corporation +Which is now fairly popular among American academics for example Carl Kaysen who writes +No longer the agent of proprietorship seeking to maximize return on investment +Management sees itself as responsible to stockholders, employees, customers, the general public, and perhaps most important, the firm itself as an institution +There is no display of Greed or grasping this +There's no attempt to push off on the workers of the community at least part of the social costs of the enterprise +The Modern Corporation is a Soulful corporation +Similarly the [vanguard] party is a soulful party and in both cases those who urge [that] men submit to the rule of these benevolent +Autocracies may I think justly be accused of wishing to make men into machines +Now the correctness of the view which is expressed by rousseau and Kant and Humboldt and luxembourg and innumerable others +I don't think that the correctness of this is at the moment +Susceptible to scientific proof -- one can only evaluate it in terms of experience and intuition +But one can also point out the social consequences of adopting the view that men are born to be free +Or that they are born to be ruled by Benevolent Autocrats +[what] of the second question the question of efficiency is democratic control of the industrial system down to its smallest functional units +Incompatible with efficiency? This is very frequently argued on several grounds some say for example that centralized management is a technological +imperative +But I think the argument is exceedingly weak when one looks into it +The very same technology that brings relevant information to the board of managers +Can bring it at the time that it is needed to everyone in the Workforce +The technology that's now capable of eliminating the stupefying labor that turns men into specialized tools of production +this technology permits in Principle leisure and the educational opportunities that make them able to use this information in a rational way and +Furthermore even an +Economic elite which is dripping with soulfulness to use Ralph Miliband's phrase +Is constrained by the system in which it functions to organize production for certain ends: power, growth, profit +But not in the nature of the case human needs, needs that to an evermore critical degree can be expressed only in collective terms +It's surely conceivable and perhaps It's even likely that +Decisions made by the collective itself will reflect these needs and interests as well as those made [by] various Soulful elites in +Any event it's a bit difficult to take seriously +Arguments about efficiency in a society that devotes such enormous resources to waste and destruction +As everyone knows the very concept of efficiency is dripping with ideology +Maximum maximization of commodities is hardly the only measure of a decent existence the point is familiar and no elaboration is necessary +0 +6 +14 +19 +25 +29 +31 +34 +37 +43 +45 +50 +58 +60 +66 +71 +75 +83 +87 +89 +93 +96 +99 +105 +110 +116 +125 +131 +135 +139 +146 +148 +149 +151 +153 +159 +163 +169 +171 +177 +185 +193 +198 +205 +209 +214 +218 +220 +222 +229 +237 +243 +247 +251 +255 +258 +263 +268 +273 +275 +278 +286 +293 +296 +300 +304 +312 +314 +318 +324 +328 +334 +338 +343 +348 +353 +357 +360 +367 +373 +379 +386 +395 +400 +403 +405 +412 +416 +423 +426 +434 +436 +439 +442 +446 +452 +460 +466 +472 +475 +477 +484 +487 +488 +495 +498 +501 +506 +511 +518 +523 +526 +532 +538 +544 +547 +553 +560 +564 +567 +574 +579 +582 +584 +590 +594 +599 +607 +614 +622 +631 +635 +640 +642 +651 +653 +657 +665 +668 +676 +677 +683 +689 +694 +697 +699 +705 +710 +717 +718 +726 +733 +738 +746 +750 +755 +763 +767 +774 +776 +782 +789 +790 +798 +806 +810 +814 +819 +826 +830 +837 +844 +849 +853 +860 +863 +868 +875 +883 +887 +892 +893 +898 +902 +906 +911 +914 +919 +924 +929 +930 +933 +939 +946 +951 +954 +961 +966 +969 +976 +982 +985 +991 +999 +1005 +1007 +1011 +1018 +1021 +1026 +1031 +1038 +1043 +1044 +1049 +1055 +1059 +1063 +1070 +1072 +1073 +1081 +1082 +1084 +1090 +1096 +1101 +1109 +1111 +1117 +1121 +1129 +1134 +1140 +1142 +1147 +1152 +1157 +1164 +1172 +1173 +1176 +1180 +1184 +1191 +1199 +1200 +1205 +1212 +1220 +1224 +1231 +1234 +1240 +1245 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Dissidents vs Intellectuals-The Hypocrisy of the West i-0OFk4lg_0.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Dissidents vs Intellectuals-The Hypocrisy of the West i-0OFk4lg_0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dba21be --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Dissidents vs Intellectuals-The Hypocrisy of the West i-0OFk4lg_0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ + +The term intellectual as used in the West is a very curious one; it actually comes, +mostly it begins around the time of the Dreyfus trial, before that you just don't find the +word in "dissent". And, if you take a look at the Dreyfus trial, there were a group of critics, +Emile Zola and others, we could call them dissident intellectuals, and there were the respected +admired intellectuals, the immortals of the French Academy and so on, and they fulfilled +their typical role. The critics were denounced and condemned as Zola himself found out -he +had to flee the country- the immortals the grand-intellectuals that condemned them for +daring to, "what is this writer who knows nothing, how is he daring to condemn the majesty +of the French State and the French military" and so on. That's the typical division. The +term came to be used at the time but the creation goes way back. So you can carry it back to +Classical Greece for example; who was condemned to drink the hemlock? The guy who was corrupting +the youth of Athens by asking too many questions. Take the biblical stories, folk-tales, but +roughly the same period. And they were people who were critical of power who were doing +geopolitical analysis condemning the crimes of the kings and calling for mercy to widows +and orphans and so on. They didn't have the term intellectuals, they called them with +an obscure Hebrew term which is translated as "prophets" and what happened to them? They +were imprisoned, driven to the desert, denounced. At the same time there were the flatterers +of the Court, later called "false prophets", who were the respected ones -centuries later +that changed, but not at the time- and that distinction goes right to the present. In +the West there is a very intriguing tradition. So in the West there is the word "dissident" +but it's only used for critics in enemy countries. So Sakharov, Havel, Ai WeiWei, Shirin Ebadi, +they are dissidents. But people like the ones I'm looking up on that photograph [San Salvador +Bishop Oscar Romero] they are leading Latin American intellectual Jesuit priests who had +their brains blown out by security forces who had been trained by the United States, +they are not dissidents; in fact they are unknown. But the fact is that the term should +be generalised and the pattern remains. If you take a look at the people called intellectuals, +typically in almost every society, there is, the large majority of them are supportive +of power and admired and respected and well treated. But typically there is a small margin +who are critical, often take courageous acts to confront power, often, sometimes write +and speak, and one or another way they are marginalised, condemned, just how, it depends +on the nature of the society. So if it's an American-run colony like El +Salvador as in the painting I'm looking at, they get their brains blown out. If it's +Eastern Europe maybe they are jailed. If it's Western Europe or the United States maybe +they are just marginalised and condemned; but it's a pretty typical pattern. +0 +1 +7 +12 +21 +33 +40 +48 +54 +62 +68 +77 +84 +92 +99 +107 +111 +118 +125 +131 +136 +144 +153 +159 +163 +169 +176 +183 +188 +196 +204 +212 +217 +224 +230 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Erfolgreich Politik verändern XXM4Py1UA3g.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Erfolgreich Politik verändern XXM4Py1UA3g.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4663a8c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Erfolgreich Politik verändern XXM4Py1UA3g.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1472 @@ +[Music] +this interview with professor noam chomsky was conducted on october 28, 2009 10 in +added to his office at the university of arizona in tucson +the interview is thomas professional chance that you have had for 70 years +politics analyzes and tries to change you if you get to this time +Look back on what you consider to be your key advances and +failure +I assume a success that I never expected is related to +the worst slaughter since the second, relative to the size of the population +world war one indonesian invasion of east timor the slaughter was by the usa +strongly supported the western powers and could have ended at any time +our engagement seemed completely hopeless to some mostly young +people organized themselves after 25 years it was finally possible enough +to put pressure on the usa so that the president did what he did all these years +could have already done the thing to call off +But that was only after almost a third of the population had been destroyed +one of the most one-sided conflicts i can imagine a tiny one +country with 600,000 people that defends itself against a great power, indonesia the +Supported by the usa and the european powers was finally successful +That was an unexpected success. Failures too many to list +almost everything fails in some way so i have a lot of time and +effort in opposition to the indochina wars the usa does not invest in +resistance involved and risking a long prison sentence according to many +years ago there was finally some kind of agreement but only when the federal states +were practically ruined from which they never recovered +so that was only partially successful and essentially a +failure there are many other initiatives that could have been successful +But they can almost completely fail like trying some rights for the +Preserve the Palestinian population under Israeli occupation +that really didn't work and it shouldn't be difficult +to achieve this it has been known for many years what the solution is +but there is no way to do this, especially the usa +bring the necessary steps +however, there has been a lot of progress at home +the civil rights movement had some successes +They were limited but important to the women's movements in which I personally +Was not particularly involved, the environmental protection had considerable success +Movements have moved from nothing to significant other +mobilizations are partial success i was closely involved in the resistance +Against Reagan's terrorist wars in Central America this was resistance +not only strong but also unique in history +It was the first time in the history of imperialism that citizens of the +imperial power not only protested, which is rare enough, but +actually relocated to the victims to try and help them +to grant them protection against state terror the one white +face, perhaps, would like to offer thousands of normal us citizens too +Protestant parishes in rural regions took part +intensely difficult to say whether that was a success or not +a few hundred thousand people were killed +countries have been destroyed and are still not functional even today +Still, it wasn't like Vietnam the government was prevented from doing that +do what john f kennedy and lyndon johnson did without domestic protests +chemical attacks to destroy crops and livestock large-scale ethnic +purges forced admission to concentration camps b52 bombings +densely populated areas none of that was found in central america +would have been done but I mean if the protests hadn't happened +you can actually say the same thing about the war in iraq, that war in that +I also got involved was the first time in the history of +imperialism that there are massive protests against a larger war of aggression +existed even before it had officially started +Nevertheless, the city he found was awful enough to have many followers +isis and others nevertheless also here the bush government and its successors +had no way to do what the us government had done for years and without +sanctions in indochina could have done what can I say in summary +can certainly not refer to anything that you can call a complete success +There could be parts of successes and there are many strokes where you can find what you call +feasible hoped for not made it I would like to dig a little deeper into that +get in what you can learn from successes and failures +over the past 70 years we have undoubtedly seen some improvements +as you said, however, the living conditions are in +in many ways terrible with a lot of poverty with a lot of ecological destruction +our planet with violent conflicts the millions of +refugees generate with threats from weapons of mass destruction and +other dangerous technologies in the context of a system strong +rival states and increasing inequality democracy is decomposing into +Politics and business as corruption widespread facilitated by a +huge network of tax havens, mailbox companies and corrupt lawyer +accountants bank managers and financial advisors given this and +Of course, we have a practical reason to be optimistic about other problems +being and telling each other that a better world is possible if only we +work hard enough for it +But if you are not an experienced man then from this point of view +consider human affairs observer like +then probably a further future for humanity appears to you like +It is likely that humanity will ever do that to some extent +to achieve the global political order that we strive for and that will justly achieve +to consider something possible +here we actually have to ask another question as to how probable it is +it is that humanity has a bright or dark future +we have to realize that for the first time in human history +the survival of organized human society within us +known form of decisions depends on the next couple of years +to be hit +the environmental crisis is extremely serious a few weeks ago i read one +Article by one of the heads of the pwc report and pallet on atomic +scientists of the most important journal on all these topics in which he so +let's talk plainly about the time for +panic has come, we have run out of time +we still have a few years to solve these problems +after that it is over look at the other major threat that has existed since 75 +years over our heads hovers since 6 august 1945 a day i never +will be forgotten +Given the facts, it's a miracle that we survived +unfortunately, these facts are largely unknown to the former us +defense minister william perry recently said he was very scared +double fear of the extent of the danger and brown +second, because you have almost no attention +Kyte is devoted to a third reason for such a fear +to lead namely that those who understand very well what they are doing +Let the risk escalate consciously up to and including a major catastrophe, for example +what happened for a couple of weeks the trump administration celebrated +hiroshima day by leaving the intermediate range nuklear service gns +treaty the gorbachev rain treaty for 20 years a minimum of peace +and had guaranteed stability +Short-range missiles in Europe could easily trigger a massive nuclear war +last war trigger the rake in administration was under pressure +here i come back to your earlier question through broad mobilization of the +population and activism which were the basis for their steps in +towards disarmament the trump administration has this disarmament +dismantled and terrorists almost begged to do the same +immediately after withdrawing from the contract, the pentagon tested a missile +the test had obviously been prepared for a long time +a clear breach of contract gave the arms industry the green light +She was ecstatically immensely for developing new exotic +Weapon systems supersonic missiles against which there is no possibility of defense +give them a cheer and are already thinking about the other orders +which you will get to invent defensive measures against the systems +that they are developing now we can be sure that the russians +others will probably do the same thing, too, that makes total destruction significant +So probably going beyond perry, we have three reasons for the greatest +first concern the increasing threat 2 die +Almost complete lack of attention to the threat, thirdly, the very conscious +conscious escalation of the threat from people who know exactly what they are doing +the same goes for the environmental disaster the danger is very real finite +a certain amount of protest develops, especially from young people +But the people who understand exactly what they are doing hurry the danger further +to stir up a familiar and well researched it +example is exxon mobile which ex and scientists were in the 60s and +70s leader in the study of global warming and its +disastrous impact and they captured the best work on this +topic these naturally went to the management and they reacted +finally in the late 80s as the subject mainly by james +henson's famous speech was made public in 1988 +By investing money in denial you are not concrete denial +did not want to say straight away refuted facts but rather the refined strategy +of the doubt how should we know that we have +the clouds denser not examined +Here you can also appeal to economists of whom there are many in +all parts of the world who tell us that it is best to do business first +The richer societies will grow the +then put things in order +that is reminiscent of the joke of a man who fielded the roof of a skyscraper and +shouted to his friend on the fiftieth floor that everything is going wonderfully and always +That was the attitude of economics that worked well +largely the us government, especially under trump, is the ore +not even criminals in human history in the truest sense of the word +Hitler strove to destroy organized human beings +living together but that's exactly what they do to you know it +about a year ago, for example, one of trom's authorities published +the national highway traffic safety administration tsa +one of the most amazing official documents in the history of the +humanity this very careful and detailed +500 page environmental assessment predicted that by the end of the +millennium the temperature would rise by 4 degrees Celsius +this is a rise in temperature that the world bank describes as catastrophic +and is considered by scientists to be twice that of what would be compatible +with the hope of maintaining organized human coexistence +after reaching that conclusion, they recommended a decision +we shouldn't do anything to reduce car emissions +ok and the argument is quite valid it will all be over soon anyway +So let's have fun and so much from the few remaining years +getting as profitable as possible has something like that in human history +once given only partially +here we come back to the threefold fear of what the nsa predicts +terrible the reaction was practically zero +a few articles in the press and then forgotten +and those who know what they are doing are working flat out and doing exactly that +Take the big banks JP Morgan for example +chase the greatest her chief executive jamie diamond knows +everything we know about global warming +He is an educated person and how does he react by putting more money into the +Fossil fuel exploitation point including the most dangerous +fuels like canadian tar sand knowing exactly what that means +I wouldn't be surprised if he did +privately, however, the sierra club supports its institutional role +advocated racing towards the disaster because it would cause it +make profits +exxon mobile has actually announced that its business strategy will be based on it +aims to maximize no money on sustainable fossil fuels +Wasting energy yourself and profitably if less profitable +is so mad she continues forward everywhere now that is part of the world +the other part of the world is made up of +organizations like extension rebellion sunrise moment small groups of young people +people who have achieved something spectacular with their protests and also +try to make progress on climate change +they sat in the offices of congressmen and became +supported by some of the young women who were recently elected to +the wave of sender's movement especially alexandria casio cortez and succeeded +to put a green new deal on the legislative agenda +a green new deal in some form is a prerequisite for survival +two years ago people just laughed about it when they heard about it today +if it is on the legislative agenda there are plans to move it forward +maybe not in this form but certainly in some form +progress and there are these two rival forces +they look very unequal, as in the case of east timor on one side +we young people who want to survive on the other are the most important +institutions of society that put more money in their over-full pockets +want no matter whether humanity survives or +not that in essence, the conflict is a very unequal one, but the same applies +maybe even more for the nuclear weapons topic because it is currently only completely +weak popular movements there in the early 80s they were still huge +but since then they have shrunk and largely unknown few know about it +treaty or its meaning the united states has claimed that it has withdrawn from the +dropped out of the contract because the russians had injured him +That is reported everywhere, it is not reported that the Russians since +years ago claim that the united states violated their claims +American experts take the ballets on atomic seriously +scientists recently brought in from a leading american expert +on this subject photo postl an editorial of the russian claims +described and classified as quite credible +the missile defense positions right on the russian border are already now +a threat you were there with the ridiculous +justification placed Europe must be against non-existent Iranian missiles +defend you can't even laugh anymore +It is widely accepted that anti-missile defense missiles are anti ballistic +Missiles are not defensive weapons, they are only intended for firearms +you can't make a heartbeat but you can +Intercept a retaliatory strike against a first strike +in this respect, they are essentially firearms directly on the russian +limit post analysis shows that such missiles are both offensive and offensive +Can be used defensively you can easily attack weapons +as the latest rocket test confirms the technology will be modified +which was used in this test in august and the violation of the eu +contract is largely the same as the one in the missile defense system here +two great powers each arguing that the other is one +I violated an important contract, it is obvious what is in a reasonable +world would happen both sides would negotiate +and hire an external independent expert to do so +finding the facts and solving the problem this is not our world +In our crazy world they tear up the contract and are still trying +develop destructive weapons without attracting attention +this is our world and here we are unfortunately back to the second and third +reason to be afraid to have little attention and the involved lawn +consciously forward also those who are somewhat respected such as +the matches who withdrew from the tramp administration because he +whose politics could no longer bear and the fas with awe than the +only serious adult is considered it was the new one +actually hatched a national security strategy +is insane +According to her, the usa should prepare for two atomic wars +to win against china and russia at the same time is more than insane +The outbreak of a single nuclear war would all result in one +nuclear winters also die those who hit the first strike +the search for means had carried out the world 50 +fold to destroy you don't know what to say about it +and he jim matthes is respected now that's the problem on +institutional level on the human level we have +popular movements mostly young people but not so much in relation to +the subject of atomic war and if you turn to the problems that is +interesting as you know the buletten on atomic scientists has one +nuclear war clock that you set anew every year +last year they put it closer to midnight than ever before +24 12 what you call the new abnormal and you have new reasons for it +Added earlier it was of course the nuclear threat in younger years +the ecological but this time they added a third reason for decay and +destruction of democratic forums that sounds different but makes sense +Democratic forums are the only way to address the first two problems +to cope with when these forums fall apart you have especially on the +collapse of the messaging systems pointed to the inundation of these +intentional false reporting systems +this is a totally totalitarian tactic the messaging system with so many lies about +flood that people don't even know if there is one at all +there is a difference between true and false so one eliminates the possibility +rational and well discussed through collective decisions with which one +Could address the pressing problems that is a pertinent one +tactics for those who want to maximize profit and power who don't care about the future +and who are willing to destroy democratic forums +that is really an outgrowth of the neoliberal politics before one +Generation has been introduced by rainy weather to pretty much everyone since then +there was no need to be a genius and predict exactly what happened +that there would be a high concentration of assets +at the moment it looks like this in the usa now 0.1 +percent of the population own more than 20 percent of private wealth and +the poorer half has - wealth that is a direct consequence of that +politics most extreme in the usa for various reasons but it happens +stagnation everywhere for the majority democracy decline is almost direct +follow the concentration of wealth that already dominates politics +In particular, the reduction in social benefits naturally leads to people +courage present in the ear and feeling contempt for the institutions that sees +at every election the parties of the middle break a that +is a very fertile field for demagogues who can try +mobilize frustrated and angry populations +By not paying attention to the root causes of the problem that one lets +rather set aside but on scapegoats at people who still +are more vulnerable than they are to immigrants, Muslims, blacks and such +further that is a very dangerous constellation of the same kind as +of those who led to the horrors of fascism they said I had +I've been involved in politics for seventy years, in reality it was 80 +I wrote my first article in 1939 about the spread of fascism +at that time unstoppable there was no very deep conception of one +ten year old but it was pretty obvious what was going on +that was immediately after the fall of barcelona of the spanish republic +ended Austria and Czechoslovakia were captured +looked like there was no end and we're kind of back +trump is far from hitler +he has neither its ideology nor its goals but if you have his +Rallies listen off the childhood memories of radio broadcasts +from hitler's party rallies at which i didn't understand the words but nevertheless +the emotions the passion it was scary to experience that again +I think that we are also closely involved in politics and economics in this area +are linked to each other and enter a danger zone +Fortunately, there is resistance here too in the usa had bernie +sanders and the movements he co-founded had a big impact +the population now wants at least to be traditionally social democratic +skip new deal policy what a big change would be such a big one +Progress would undermine much of what is going on and +the same goes for europe - it will be a long battle on almost every front +there is this kind of confrontation it is not the first time this is im +basically a class struggle that goes far back in history +many other constellations he has just one special +threatening character adopted because of the problems we faced +are enormous are what cannot be overestimated it is literal +the case that the current generation must determine whether +organized human society will continue to exist +it's about nothing less than that +will we be able to stop this +back to my prediction as a ten year old for me be it for that +unstoppable at the time, of course I didn't know then but the us +government had more or less the same impression +we didn't know then we know today that the foreign ministry and +the council on foreign relations that is a non-state predominantly +cooperative association that deals with foreign policy issues that +these two had founded a working group in 1939 called the wall and +peace studies group to prepare for the post-war period +There are very detailed studies on this available today. In 1939 they assumed this +that the usa would emerge from the war very powerful and victorious that +was out of the question +But it was also assumed that another great power would be the Germans +that would be the world of a us-led region and a german one +even as a small child with very limited +Knowing had roughly the same assumption then there was the us +Zone of influence as they called the basic imperative, of course, the whole +the american continent would belong to it like that of the usa +taking over former british empires including the middle east and then +nor asia the germans would rule the rest of the eurasian region +assessment remained in place until 1943 until stalingrad and the giant +Tank battle of course which made it quite clear that the Russians were the +Germans would defeat the Americans and the British rather than each other +would keep aside the way it came to be +At that time they changed to a new assessment about it would still be +two worlds are now but with another enemy they actually thought +british churchill in particular is already thinking about how we wage war +Organize against Russia Churchill had an incredible plan +which came from the british military start and provided for an attempt by the wehrmacht and +to set aside german industry for an immediate war against russia +when the war was over, this plan was likely abandoned by +roosevelt, however, that's how people thought at the time and then came the post-war period +plans of the in peace studies group were later drawn up in the planning office of +Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for many years also largely +implemented that leads us directly into the post-war world and that's how it went +next [music] +When the Soviet Union collapsed there was the illusion that we were now in a time of +would enjoy peace with peace dividend shortening the pentagon +etats and so on who would have bothered the public documents +I would not have believed for a minute as soon as the Soviet Union had seen this +collapsed, the Bush Administration released the first bus +first a new defense budget and a new one +security plan +they are extremely interesting but no one lets them public +Accessible Your core message was that we do +The military budget has to be maintained roughly as before, even without the Russians +and the reason for that is i don't feel that +technological sophistication of the third world powers that is why we need it +huge machine that can blow up the whole world in five minutes +someone laughed nobody even looked +then it said that we would wage wars but now against much weaker ones +enemies we must quickly and decisively +otherwise it will harm us +they re-examine the middle east as the main focus of the us reaction forces +the hangover doctrine or even before and it was said that we were on the +Middle East-facing reaction forces would have to maintain +Then came this interesting turn where threats in our interests are not +can be attributed to the kremlin in other words sorry people we have +lied to you for 50 years, it wasn't the russians who threatened us +they call radical nationalism independent nationalism of themselves +does not adapt to our goals for that we need those reaction forces +that was of course always the real reason, but for the whole 60 years +before that, reference was always made to the russian threat +okay, we made a mistake there you can't take responsibility +to write in the kremlin if there is no longer a kremlin we still have to +Carry on as before and it went almost exactly the same +a few weeks after the fall of the berlin wall, the usa invaded panama +it was about kidnapping a guy who was actually a criminal +but one that the usa had brought to power noriega they have +he also supported him through fake elections +but he made a mistake he started to refuse to take orders +we don't go after all we are the mafia if that +ignoring orders makes him a head shorter +so they sent troops to panama kidnapped them presented to them +American courts and so on settle un decisions with veto +away you bothered +a few months later on august 2, 1990, saddam hussein fell kuwait +he actually had reason to +Allegation that Kuwait had stolen Iraqi oil that Iraq had +Arab world in a long battle against Iran now defended robbed +They admitted Iraqi oil to no justification for an invasion though +a much more serious argument than in the panama case during the invasion +According to human rights watch, around 800 people were killed, significantly fewer than in +panama the usa is an opportunity +now we can really demonstrate our power +just a few weeks after the invasion, there was a lot of delusion +about an impending invasion of saudi arabia and the takeover of oil +fairy tales but within weeks after the attack it was clear that saddam +had understood that he had made a mistake he offered under certain +to negotiate terms of withdrawal +all of this was known reported leaked from the foreign ministry +the press wanted nothing to do with it +i will tell you a personal story +at the time i was pretty close to the editors at the austen club +at that time it was the most liberal newspaper in the country +since then she has almost disappeared i asked her if i could write an article about it +rumors from the foreign ministry are allowed to publish it +indicated that there might be a negotiated solution +we were friends at the time, they said yes, but that won't work until after the attack +the usa in fact published mine +Article right after the January 1990 invasion +that is right after the fall of the soviet union nothing has changed +actually it has become even more extreme +in el salvador there was an elite battalion everyday atl that of the usa +trained and equipped had already committed many atrocities a few days +after the fall of the berlin wall it had just returned from the usa +where it had received additional training from us special forces +The battalion on November 16, 1989 in the Jesuit university murdered six +leading Latin American intellectual Jesuit priests as well +also their housekeeper and daughter to make sure there are no witnesses +it turned out to be this on +Under the orders of the Salvadoran government, a government was passed +and with whom the us embassy can be in close contact +does anyone remember the names of the victims +if that had happened in eastern europe there would have been massive protests +but that we have six leading Latin American intellectuals +jesuit priests murdered who knows +that was a few days after the fall of the berlin wall +nothing happened and this is not an isolated incident +this crime ended the decade of the 1980's that had begun +with the murder of an archbishop when he was celebrating a mass archbishop +romero on march 4th 1980 the same murderers all with the support of the usa +it is known that there were considerably smaller incidents in eastern europe +huge headlines made when enemies did something +pale when we do it there could be many cases of this kind +enumerating let us consider dream recent betrayal +the kurds in syria betrayal of the kurds is practically an official qualification in +the usa each president one after the other +ronald reagan, for example, was president as his friend saddam hussein of the die +usa supported poison gas attacks against iraqi kurds in halabja and others +major atrocities carried out how has the government reacted now to the congress +tried to protest and rain vetoed +rain and his government tried to attack iran over saddam hussein +to protect later when they wanted to invade Iraq, they called it +as a reason for the invasion, look at this terrible villain +and so it goes on and on it is almost automatic 1939 you can +I can still understand it, but since then it has continued the same way +sometimes, for example, when the Soviet Union collapsed, there were slight ones +strategy changes but nothing fundamentally new +That's one side, on the other, you had powerful protest movements +Movements against the war in China took many years to develop +to develop and waited far too long a friend but in the end she became +big enough to limit nixon's escalation efforts and +likely to end +now the time that remains for us is very limited as we said earlier +we have little time left and we almost run out of time +the destruction of indochina was bad enough but now it's about survival +humanity +that is now in our hands and that is a major scandal +Leadership in this teenage fight falls to where the rest of us is greta +thunberg okay a wonderful person but why a 16 year old child and +do you know when she comes out in front of the un not everyone says with their head and knocks her +done very nicely on the shoulder and then it goes +Just as before, the question of how optimistic you are +you that humanity can actually overcome these problems or +will overcome +Do you know that is really not the right question +you have two options you can decide that everything is hopeless +give up and thereby ensure that the worst will or can come +try to take advantage of existing opportunities and there are such opportunities and dedicate themselves to them +maybe it will create a better world that has always been +alternative no matter what happens it's all pointless +well then we come to the next question with everything that has been in the last 50 years +Progressive politics have learned which council would they be next +generation how can they be more successful than +Your own generation should strive for a focused hearing +showing the major political evils in a certain plausible order +fights if so what is the main problem on the progressive +political energies should be concentrated now +I think there are dangers, there is always the tendency to do adventure that one +the consequences of his actions do not think through but act because one +thinks the problems are so dire that you just have to act +Take, for example, the waterman towards the end of the vietnam war, nice young people +people i knew many of them they were shocked by the war +found it so terrible that they deemed it necessary on them +main streets to march throw windows to attack banks and such +further the vietnamese were shocked i remember meeting with +vietnamese where they asked me to talk them out of what vietnamese wanted +wild protests so mild that the peace movement laughed at them +the vietnamese don't care what the americans felt +They wanted to live and they understood that acting in the style of the +Waterman would only step up support for the war +maybe you feel better but we don't get killed +this happens all the time and especially with young people it is natural to rain +up and want to do something wild you have to use the tactics you want +apply carefully think through the consequences +the decision for a tactic is not trivial +human followers depend on the tactics you know and you can do today +There are many cases where this is not thought out carefully and appropriately +The second thing to watch out for is infiltration +We learned that very quickly in the anti-war movement of the 1960s +Every group of government agents infiltrated it was not difficult +to identify if someone is following hollywood version of a hippie +was dressed and said let's get the people ready +then you could be pretty sure that he would soon be in a lawsuit +would show up and testify for the government +however, we had to be careful when we did something tricky with +human life was at stake such as the satire from the country +smugglers did as always in groups of people +who knew each other well because you never deal with government agents +I was able to identify security such are always there, and I'm there today +sure when protests become violent +I immediately suspicious that was always a in the past +Attempted official actors to increase the level of violence popular movements too +discredit and build counter-movements +they steer debates and discussions in the direction of violence where the powerful +win you have to pay attention to these things +a special thing is the so-called identity politics that is complete +understandable these are important problems but they have to be coordinated with others +people who have dedicated themselves to a certain topic will be +Police brutality against black teenagers must be with others +can work together to pursue other concerns +this is sometimes called internationality you have to have shared purposes +pursue and where necessary your own interests in favor of others +can put back these are all pitfalls with every kind of +activism occur one can cope with it +more traps the government and establishment always ask us +in the temptation to reduce political activism to all four +years to vote and then back home +check out the liberal media coverage of bernie sanders +It is very clear that the hate the new york times published for example +a few days ago an article about the establishment of the democratic party +about the fact that they are not sure whether their candidates are really them +correct ones are possibly hillary clinton +or bring someone in and then you want to be the leading candidates of the +democratic party by joe biden elizabeth warren the lot +not one is missing +that is hated and not because of his program but because he is a +he violated an important taboo he organized a popular movement +popular movement that focuses not only on elections but permanently +is active such as those who have penetrated the congress and the +have put the green new deal on the agenda +the people should keep their hands off that sort of thing +history of the formulation of the british civil war constitution +to the british glorious revolution in the seventeenth century the mob like +he is called has his place that is how spectators are not participants +say the liberal democracy theory walter lippmann the founders of the +modern political science etc. you know your role you are not to +govern there that is our job +it is very important to break this division of roles when +if popular movements are to be effective, they must work continuously +Of course you can take part in elections, but that's only a small one +part of your job other activities are more important that is another +Pitfall that you have to beware of otherwise meinrad is obvious +there are existential problems that must be in the foreground +as long as those are not resolved, everything else is insignificant if we are the danger +do not ban or mitigate a nuclear war and also the danger of a +environmental disaster then what else is unimportant +happens because in a few decades it will all be over anyway +so these problems must come first and then everything +other [music] +like the people who set the doomsday clock emphasized that too +the decline of democratic structures and the collapse of the information systems +a big problem this created a powerful one +totalitarian instrument effective action to solve major problems +blocks that is part of it +the problem of massive inequality in europe where it is really extreme where the +population political decisions were almost completely taken away +everything is decided by an unelected bureaucracy in brussels +today that is part of the structure of the european union +no wonder that people are angry and upset +if they are withdrawn, then there are the highly destructive ones +austerity measures for which there is no serious economic justification +societies broken still rich societies mind you through +traditional social benefits provide some protection through them +austerity measures are damaged in the usa because the worse +social institutions are much weaker, we have to tackle all of these +problems along with others like sexism misogyny hysterical migrants +hate kids in concentration camps on the border not far from here tucson +All of these things have to be tackled but they are all interrelated +together influence each other where you get involved depends on the +personal interests and concerns depending on what one +addresses what one considers oneself suitable +With such a commitment one must have the authorization parallel concerns in mind +with whom you can hopefully work together +no easy task and it's another scandal that they are teenagers +the effect is obviously an important goal of consulting +where can I do the most, but there are also other desiderato purposes +does not always justify the means, one could say +They also spent a lot of time on some kind of historical witness +be by gathering information and evidence about it +have what really happened to correct the official story +even if that is no longer of any use to the victims in the case in question +how could you weight these different desiderato at which +you have set your political standards +[Music] +there are some almost trivial standards such as the large existential ones +problems always have to be in the foreground +but what you do as an individual depends on your personal characteristics +what problems do you think you can achieve something +maybe you can improve something in your neighborhood then do it +that there is no general principle it can +don't give my question concerns you personally how +have you solved that is difficult to say why I have for example +East Timor selected you know why because I hardly knew anything about it +nothing was reported about it there were, as is so often the case, two or three young people +PhD students in an east asia program the best at cornell university +students of george pell a great southeast asia expert +they learned of the situation in east timor and were appalled +arno hahn was the main protagonist of the ten nobel prizes if she had +something meant he was starting support for east timor too +organize he contacted me and spoke about the topic at some meetings +pursued it he is almost unknown but it is mainly his +personal merit that it is finally over +he purposely stayed in the background when I got involved when you were with +even a little bit involved in such a thing you catch fire no matter what +it's so dramatic they are +you visit a poor village in southern colombia for hours, as I did +away from the pan american i reach the village via a dirt road +which leads past a small cemetery with wooden crosses where villagers +US-backed paramilitary forces had been massacred +I come to the village and talk to the people who try the mountain +near your village prior to acquisition by canadian mining companies +protect your agriculture would destroy your water supply etc. +spend a few hours like this and the problem will no longer be +let go +The same goes for almost all such problems go downtown and +spend time with homeless people wherever you look there are problems +are so gripping and dramatic that you just have to get involved somehow +if you decide you can't do everything so you try it +to find out what is somehow important to you you already mentioned that +inexorable rise in inequality in wealth they also said that such +inequality democracy and any kind of political equality undermines how +can we turn it back how can we come to a world it +there are many possibilities that are not so mysterious, for example one +property tax +not like the ones in europe that didn't work there was too much avoidance +but it works without aldi avoidance options that europe had built in +that would be really feasible think i drew one and be it over we already +languages have very detailed plans for this +that would make a difference if you could politically enforce it +bring through the congress that depends on the strength of the +People's movement from everything can be enforced if you have enough support +from the population you have to win the congressmen for it no matter +how much money is added ultimately you need votes +So you can get through it but it won't be easy one +financial transaction tax would make a lot of sense it would bring in a lot of money +They would reduce activities in the financial sector which are destructive and +It is predatory, for example, whether a trade is made a microsecond before the +guy across the street can do +All of the many things that have to do with taxes have been public opinion since +years very pronounced for about 40 years there have been surveys in the usa +Taxes essentially two questions were asked +Do you think your taxes are too high? Everyone says yes +Do you think the taxes for the rich are too low? Everyone says yes +take a look at there are a few articles on this in politics +scientific literature the media only report the first +the taxes are considered excessive that is a very interesting result +a measure of whether a democracy works in a functioning one +democracy, people would celebrate the day they pay their taxes +great this is the day we make decisions about what is in +our society has to do and how much everyone should contribute to it +these decisions are now being implemented +we should celebrate the more taxes are rejected and feared +the worse a democracy works +they say there is no escape from death and taxes +this shows that we do not live in a democracy +that is a very simple criterion that people pay their taxes for +hold inflated you can see that we have no trust in what with ours +Tax money is made by the guys up there making decisions with them +we have nothing to do they steal from us don't they +we have to move towards a society in which we are happy about ours +joint decisions about how our society should run effectively +i want my schools to run well i want a park i want to go to the park +Roads can drive great, we are very far from them +Removing globalization naturally exacerbates that inequality problem +Furthermore, different countries play their money off against each other +move abroad and take on another citizenship +that was the problem with the european wealth tax +it was set up so that someone in france could pretend in luxembourg +to live but it doesn't have to be, you can +Restrict, for example, in the US system, theoretically, enforcement does +it is not a US citizen regardless of +Residence is taxed someone can still retain their citizenship +give up but few are willing to do so just to save some money +tax havens are set up by politics that is not a natural law +they suck up trillions of dollars, by some estimates, around 20 trillion +dollar apple computer is the largest company +while their corporate headquarters are in ireland where they likely have an office in +the size of mine and a typist doesn't have to be +All of that could be changed, but there are certainly obstacles like that +that we already talked about +the exorbitant protectionist rules of the world trade organization +radical anti free trade intellectual property rights strong +stricter patent rights +while such rules were part of the international system 200 years ago +the usa would not be able to develop fish and fur exports +there should be no such rules +Supporters of both parties here in the usa protest against china because it fell +intellectual property rights disregard the population should be happy whoever +benefits from the fact that there are exorbitant patents on medicinal products, not that +people who suffer from it the pharmaceutical companies are still generating +excessive profits than would be the case under a reasonable system +you have the thing under control you understand that it really is +attack on china extremely interesting the central watchword is that china +our jobs steals think a second about it keeps the +Chinese government put a pistol on Apple's head, forcing it to +investments or boeing or ibm no the people who take our jobs away +are the bankers and investment managers in new york and chicago +those who run these companies should we not criticize china many of these +things are easy as soon as you make it clear everyone understands it +one only has to remove this thin layer of misleading propaganda +If the flowers have a clear view of the world then they can very well +understand that you have many options for action +well i think we have to come to a conclusion slowly +I would like to thank you very much for giving us your time and answering +With a little luck we can answer these questions on the day of the +we will discuss the event further +unfortunately I have to go to the next appointment, it's okay, thank you very much +[Music] +[Music] +1 +11 +16 +20 +28 +32 +35 +48 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+3665 +3673 +3678 +3687 +3693 +3698 +3705 +3710 +3715 +3727 +3733 +3738 +3744 +3748 +3753 +3761 +3766 +3772 +3776 +3783 +3787 +3795 +3798 +3802 +3807 +3813 +3817 +3822 +3826 +3830 +3848 +3856 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Free Will I J3fhKRJNNTA.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Free Will I J3fhKRJNNTA.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a94b19 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Free Will I J3fhKRJNNTA.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +Okay, your political ideas, +they have a foundation on ethics, yeah?..ethics, morality and then I want to ask you: +How is morality compatible with.. +limited mind, determined human as you put it, if I understood you well +because in +limited mind and determined human, I don't see a place for the free will, which is the base of +morality in the human world, so what you think about it? About free will? +And morality, which is of course the base of politics and social ideas +Yeah, human moral principles we can study, +like the kind of work that I mentioned, John Mikhail and others +are carrying out the beginnings of experimental work which sheds light on, and may ultimately shed a lot of light on +what our innate moral principles are, what Hume was looking for, for example, +and Adam Smith and others. That could shed some light on it +I don't think it's going to tell you much about freedom of the will +Freedom of the will I think we're stuck pretty much where Descartes was +We just can't +abandon believing it, it's our most immediate +phenomenologically obvious impression, +but we can't explain it, and as he said, if there's something which we just know to be true, and we don't have any +explanation for it, well too bad for our explanatory +possibilities, but I don't see any way of getting around that +There's a lot of arguments that we don't have freedom of the will, and those arguments are..there's a ton of literature on that, and +the literature is kind of interesting, actually for reasons that William James discussed +He said: if you believe that there's no freedom of the will, +why bother presenting an argument? +You're just +You're forced to do it, the person you're talking to can't be convinced, because there's no such thing as reasons +So why not watch a baseball game - that wasn't his example. +But you know, anybody who denies freedom the will actually believes that it's there, otherwise they wouldn't bother presenting reasons +I mean unless they say "look, I'm just forced to present the..I can't do anything else but to present these reasons." +Yeah, they're very very odd these discussions many of them. Actually you may have seen some experimental work +which caused the big flurry a couple of years ago. +Some neurophysiologists discovered that +if a person's going to carry an act of willed action, let's say, you know, pick this up, say +you can find +activity in the motor centers of the brain +before there's a decision to pick it up, +and that was held to show, okay +we've undermined freedom of the will. It didn't say anything. All it +says is what we ought to know anyway, decisions are mostly made unconsciously +By the time they reach the level of consciousness, they've probably already been made. But that doesn't tell anything about how decisions are made +My question relates to the previous question actually um, +free well, I'd like to ask you as a philosopher, I'd like to ask you this question +You know studies have shown that +decisions made in the brain actually appear some moments before an individual +makes them +well, how can you then say that +there is such a thing as free will, I mean +Thus +wiring determinism, you know, it proves that free will basically doesn't exist +Those are the experiments I was just referring to +There are some experiments which show that in a willed action, simple willed motor action, you know picking something up, +there is +activity and the Relevant parts of the Motor Cortex +Before the decision to pick it up is conscious +Okay, that tells us absolutely nothing about freedom of the will +accept that +choices are probably unconscious, but I think we know that without the experiments +What? +It's complicated +Complicated? Oh yeah, anything in this area is very..when we understand nothing everything's complicated. Yeah, +that's another truism. +1 +6 +15 +22 +29 +31 +39 +46 +50 +55 +59 +67 +72 +76 +79 +84 +85 +89 +91 +97 +102 +106 +114 +118 +123 +127 +128 +134 +138 +145 +151 +159 +164 +167 +174 +177 +180 +184 +187 +191 +196 +205 +209 +217 +220 +225 +227 +229 +232 +233 +238 +241 +249 +250 +255 +259 +263 +265 +272 +273 +276 +283 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Freedom of Speech in France Fz1N55kT4Yo.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Freedom of Speech in France Fz1N55kT4Yo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..43d9a35 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Freedom of Speech in France Fz1N55kT4Yo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@ +it's interesting to see what is happening in France and these days elsewhere +except that a bicross grid there is a lot of all celebration and +satisfaction because the charlie weekly newspaper published caricatures +racist Muslims made Nazi caricatures of Jews so they +published it makes me benge because if he had done that he would be imprisoned +what makes us rub is really a fraudulent debate +2 +6 +12 +15 +25 +29 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Good and Evil in Human Nature mzcGvaZyyKs.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Good and Evil in Human Nature mzcGvaZyyKs.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd095c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Good and Evil in Human Nature mzcGvaZyyKs.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +- [Interviewer] You've said that evil in society +arises from institutions, not inherently from our nature. +Do you think most human beings are good, +they have good intent, or do most have the capacity +for intentional evil that depends on their upbringing, +depends on their environment, on context? +- [Noam Chomsky] I wouldn't say +that they don't arise from our nature. +Anything we do arises from our nature, +and the fact that we have certain institutions +and not others is one mode in which +human nature has expressed itself, +but as far as we know, human nature could yield +many different kinds of institutions. +The particular ones that have developed +have to do with historical contingency, +who conquered whom and that sort of thing. +They're not rooted in our nature in the sense +that they're essential to our nature, +so it's commonly argued these days +that something like market systems +is just part of our nature, but we know +from a huge amount of evidence that that's not true. +There's all kinds of other structures. +It's a particular fact about a moment of modern history. +Others have argued that the roots of classical liberalism, +actually argue that what's called sometimes +an instinct for freedom, the instinct to be free +of domination by illegitimate authorities +is the core of our nature. +That would be the opposite of this, and we don't know. +We just know that human nature can accommodate both kinds. +1 +5 +9 +11 +14 +18 +20 +21 +24 +27 +30 +34 +37 +40 +43 +46 +50 +53 +57 +60 +63 +66 +69 +73 +75 +79 +84 +88 +91 +95 +97 +101 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - How to Deal with the Trump Presidency 7hw_0Ufxpzs.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - How to Deal with the Trump Presidency 7hw_0Ufxpzs.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f1953b --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - How to Deal with the Trump Presidency 7hw_0Ufxpzs.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,404 @@ +I think it's extremely dangerous in many +ways like the ones I mentioned and +others that you're quite familiar with +on the other hand there's plenty of +opportunities that we should bear in mind +that the country has become much more +civilized in the past 50 or 60 years +a meeting like this could not have been +conceivable in 1969-70 the kinds of +commitment and engagement that you and +many others like you are apart committed +to is something quite new and there have +been many advances and achievement +women's rights civil rights generally +rights of gays opposition to aggressions +wave of environmental concerns that even +exist at that time there's been +tremendous progress that means that +struggles today start from a much +higher plane than they did not many years +ago at the time when Harry was marching +in Selma it was a much harsher world than it +is today +the reason is that plenty of people did +commit themselves to constant +dedicated struggle and there were plenty +of achievements and that goes back in +American history +no need to review it but the earlier +period is one of total horror after all the +country was founded on two incredible +crimes +unbelievable crimes that one ex.. +virtual extermination of the indigenous +population, its kind of migrant crisis in +the kind we don't think about today and +form of slavery which is the most +vicious in history and is in fact the +basis for a large part of the wealth +and economic development of the +United States, England, France and others +that's history when Donald Trump talks +about making the country great again for +many people it wasn't that great +quite the opposite [Applause] +But the point is there has been plenty of +progress because people facing +much harsher conditions than we do +didn't give up +that's an important lesson. Furthermore +even the election itself suggests major +opportunities. For one thing as you know +the Democrats actually had a +considerable majority of the vote and if you +look at the younger voters, the people +who will shape the future they were +overwhelmingly anti Trump and even more +overwhelmingly pro Sanders [applause] +you should also bear in mind +what a remarkable phenomenon the Sanders +campaign [applause] there's somebody unknown came from +nowhere practically no one in the country +knew who he was, he was using words like +socialism which used to be a real curse word +No corporate support, no media support, +no support from the wealthy +everything that has always been crucial +to winning elections, +mostly we have bought elections, had none of it +and practically took over one of +the two major parties, that could have taken it over +if it hadn't been for shenanigans [applause] +It was primarily driven by young people all +of these are very hopeful signs, means there are plenty of +things that can be done there are +opportunities that can be grasped and no +time to run through them but there are +plenty of them and its really very much +in our hands and among the younger of +you in your hands to carry us forward in +this long long arduous path towards +trying to create a civilized society and a decent world. +A lot of dicussion in recent weeks about +the role of workers, of the +working class in this election of +Trump's supposed appeal to white workers +and, Harry you know that the civil rights +movement, as it was growing +and developing needed and was fueled +as well by progressive unions like 11 99 +and the auto workers and others that +give it strength and organization and +resources I'm wondering how you're looking at +this issue, cause Noam as you mentioned all +the young people the problem is that the +young people of the so-called creative +classes are increasingly concentrating +in the big cities they're in Seattle and +they're in Chicago and New York and +and the issue then is what happens +in the rest of the country. You know back in the +sixties and seventies we used to say you +gotta go back out and organize +organize in the communities from which +you came from +How do you see this whole analysis of +quote: "loss of the working class", to sort of +progressive politics that we're +hearing in the commercial when the +corporate breast.. Well take a look again +at the last few elections. In.. Many +of the Trump voters +among the white working class voted for +Obama. They were deluded by the slogans +of the campaign, you may recall that the 2008 +campaign was based on the slogan hope +and change +well many people voted rightly for hope +and change. The working class has +suffered not disastrously but severely +from the neoliberal policies of the past +generation pretty much from 1979 +so if you look, say, just take the 2007 the +peak of what economists were calling the +economic miracle right before the crash +2007 American workers had real wages +lower considerably lower than in 1979 +before these policies were instituted +they lost it +listen to Alan Greenspan who during the +height of the euphoria over the economy +he was called St Alan, the greatest +economist of all time he testified to +Congress explaining the basis for the +success of the economy that he was +running. He said it was based on growing +worker insecurity, growing worker +insecurity, meaning if workers are +beaten down enough and intimidated +enough and if their organizations +their unions are sufficiently destroyed +that they can't ask for higher wages and +for decent benefits +then it's good for the economy, creates a +healthy economy by some measures we know +the measure well all of this has +happened and the working class has +suffered from it they had a real need +for hope and change +well they didn't get hope they didn't +get change. +I don't usually agree with sarah palin +but I think she she nailed it when she +asked at one point that where's all this +hopey changey business number wasn't it +so no hope no change already it shows +very quickly in mid term future elections +this election a comment came along and +offering hope and change and they're +going for it +suppose that people like you +the people who formed the Sanders +movement would present an authentic +constructive program for real +hope and change it would win these +people back +I think many of the Trump voters +many of the trump voters could have voted for +Sanders if there had been the right +kind of activism organization and +those are possibilities +it's been done in the past under much +harsher circumstances organizing white +working people in Indiana is a lot +easier than what the Freedom Riders +tried to do in the South six years ago +much is it takes work that can be done +my feeling is that a core part of the +progressive program is to rebuild the +organized structure of the labor +movement which all throughout modern +history has been in the forefront of +progressive change and that's not +possible either been beaten down pretty +severely in the first generation has +been worse before they go back to the +nineteen-twenties a period which is not +unlike today in many ways the the guild +today's you know the the labor movement +was virtually destroyed Wilson Woodrow +Wilson's Red Scare practically wiped it +out there had been a militant activist +labor movement there's nothing left of +it in nineteen twenties by the +nineteen-thirties it provides the +militant labor action organization of +the CIO overcame racist conflict laid +the basis for the New Deal +programs which were highly beneficial to +the extent that they remain they remain +beneficial that can happen again +no reason why it can't +0 +2 +4 +6 +10 +13 +17 +22 +24 +30 +33 +38 +41 +43 +47 +52 +55 +58 +63 +65 +68 +71 +75 +76 +79 +83 +85 +88 +89 +92 +96 +100 +101 +108 +110 +114 +117 +120 +123 +127 +130 +133 +137 +141 +144 +153 +156 +160 +163 +164 +167 +172 +175 +179 +182 +185 +188 +192 +207 +210 +213 +222 +224 +226 +230 +234 +237 +241 +243 +246 +249 +251 +262 +267 +270 +272 +277 +279 +281 +284 +288 +292 +296 +301 +306 +308 +312 +314 +317 +321 +324 +326 +328 +330 +333 +335 +338 +341 +344 +346 +349 +350 +352 +353 +356 +358 +361 +363 +366 +367 +370 +374 +376 +379 +385 +390 +394 +395 +401 +405 +410 +413 +418 +422 +425 +428 +434 +439 +441 +444 +448 +452 +455 +458 +462 +464 +467 +471 +474 +477 +480 +483 +486 +488 +490 +494 +496 +501 +504 +507 +509 +511 +514 +518 +520 +524 +529 +532 +536 +539 +540 +543 +546 +549 +555 +558 +559 +563 +570 +576 +580 +582 +585 +590 +592 +596 +600 +604 +609 +613 +615 +618 +620 +623 +626 +629 +631 +634 +638 +641 +644 +646 +649 +651 +654 +656 +659 +664 +667 +671 +674 +676 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Inductive Generalizations -xerglwYdkE.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Inductive Generalizations -xerglwYdkE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc4dea4 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Inductive Generalizations -xerglwYdkE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,128 @@ +This contrast between +inductivism and +deductivism seems to me strongly influenced by +Karl Popper, right. So my question is.. +Yes, the philosopher Karl Popper, and so my question is +this: Has there been any influence by Popper on your work? +Popper was just describing. What's +common-sense science since the 17th century +In fact I would question your first statement +It's true that I've been involved in a methodological critique since the late 40s, but it's a methodological pratik of non science +non science this starts with just +Collecting data and trying to make inductive generalizations from it and it gets absolutely nowhere +No, you just can't do it. It's been understood, in fact one of the parts of the +Modern scientific revolution, you know so-called Galilean revolution is you don't even try that +You search +That's why scientists do experiments +In fact in Galileo's case kind of thought +Experiments like he didn't drop two balls off the top of the Tower of Pisa that would never have worked +He just had a very elegant +argument thought argument that explained why +rate of fall wasn't going to +Be affected by mass +Sometimes he may have done experiments a lot of who didn't but the point is ever since the 17th century in fact even before +The scientists inquire of the world they don't just observe it the inquire of the world + +That's called experiments they concoct +situations that might give you some insight and +From them. They make some guesses about what the theories might be and then they try other experiments to test the theories and +Ultimately they get sort of back to phenomena +But they really don't care very much if they get back to this phenomenon because in fact the phenomena themselves are so +Complex, and so involve so many variables that you just don't try to approximate them +Take the examples that I mentioned that be scientists. Don't try to approximate +Bees swarming. It's just too complicated the wind's blowing you know one of them changed his mind +whatever and +physicists certainly don't +You know take a look at what's going on outside the window and try to draw inductive generalizations from it +I mean you go back far enough +maybe and you know +free +Classical Greece, maybe science looked like that, but this is just mythology that doesn't happen, and it couldn't happen +scientists are inquiring +they're +Inquiring about nature and the same is true in linguistics if you're a field worker, so you're working you know some +Unstudied language in the Amazon. I mean if all you can do is take recordings okay you take recordings +But you're not going to find much if you're really doing serious field work +That you use the techniques that you learned in your field methods course in college +And then will you try to figure out the kinds of questions that will elicit data that might be significant and relevant +You just take a look at masses of data. You basically get nothing there +Just the noise you know so I know it's true that it's a methodological critique +But it's a methodological critique of something that dominates in the human sciences, but has absolutely nothing to do with science +That's true of the whole behaviorist tradition. I mean the the idea of what was called behavioral science that +1950s all the human sciences were called behavioral science and that makes about as much sense as calling +Physics meter reading science I mean it's true that you know take Eddington and others you can +Regard the physics is in principle +Just the study of meter readings +But it's not meter reading science you're using the meter reading grease try and discover something about the world well behavior is data +Not all the data incidentally just some of the data +And selected parts of that data +if you aren't smart enough to figure out, which ones it may tell you something about the human capacities and +The nature of the mind, but just to collect data, and you know +Organize it somehow is +Gonna get you nowhere +if you can't think of anything else to do you have no ideas, and then maybe you do that but +It's not the way science is done +0 +1 +2 +6 +13 +22 +38 +41 +44 +48 +56 +60 +66 +72 +78 +80 +83 +86 +92 +95 +99 +101 +103 +110 +116 +117 +120 +124 +132 +135 +141 +148 +154 +161 +163 +165 +170 +173 +175 +177 +185 +187 +188 +195 +202 +206 +212 +219 +223 +227 +235 +245 +251 +258 +259 +261 +270 +273 +275 +283 +290 +292 +293 +299 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Is Iran a Threat jdxxVxtHK2M.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Is Iran a Threat jdxxVxtHK2M.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d2c38b --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Is Iran a Threat jdxxVxtHK2M.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ +Hello, first of all, thank you very much for your presence. I learned a lot by listening to what you said to us. +My question is precisely about Iran and nuclear weapons +And the discussion I raised about Iran and the international community +I certainly understand the idea of a state +Possessing or developing a nuclear weapon to protect itself +Or to be on an equal footing with other countries as is the case with the great powers +Or at the same level as the super powers because they are countries that possess nuclear weapons in any case +However, what do you do when a country tries to develop or acquire a Moai weapon? +Quite frankly, it threatens to destroy another country and remove it from existence +I mean, the two situations we're dealing with are completely different +I am interested in what you put forward, but I do not think you touched on this topic +This is true, but what do we do if a country has already developed a nuclear weapon? +Outside the NPT? +On a daily basis, it burns the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the IAEA +This is a more serious problem +This is another issue, because these countries do not publicly threaten to destroy another country +Neither does Iran +Let's take a look at the statements, those that I do not think belonged - as it is said - to Khomeini +In the period of the alliance between the United States and Iran, I mean between Israel and Iran. And Israel did not give it any attention (Khomeini's remarks) +(These statements) are still being repeated. These statements - as you know - mean that Israel will, with the passage of time, disappear +Well, I really agree with that, too +In fact, many in Israel also believe this, and believe that one democratic country must be established +This is not an announcement to destroy anyone +In fact, Iran supports international efforts to solve the two states (Palestine and Israel). +In fact, there are two countries that not only declare that another country should be destroyed, but in reality they do so +They are Israel and the United States +This is their position regarding the Palestinians. They are not satisfied with saying that +clap +I confirm, they not only say it, but they practice it on a daily basis +This is what Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip mean before our eyes +This is what we support and pay for +Of course, you should not call for the destruction of another country +You should not do that either +It is the official position of Israel, and is backed by the United States +They modified it a little, but considering the official position declared twenty years ago +And issued by the coalition that arose between the Conservative (Likud) and Labor parties. And here I quote "There is no room" "I quote" " +An additional Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan +In other words, they are declaring, with the support of the United States, that there is an existing Palestinian state, Jordan +And the Palestinians object, you know +They say "Wait, no, this is not our country," but those who worry about them +We (Israel and America) say it is your country, and there will be no other country +Well, we have gone further than destroying another country +I mean, this is just like a person would come +Suppose Ahmadinejad (former President of Iran) said that the Jews do not need the State of Israel, because they have a state in New York +Well, I mean, you know, we'll say he's a Nazi. But this is the official position +The official position of Israel and the United States. So there is a lot about Iran's positions +Of course, no one wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and of course any other country +It is (the Iranian regime) undoubtedly a lost regime. In any case, there are worse regimes, but they are our allies +I am not talking about Israel, but rather about other Arab countries +For example, Iran is a paradise of rights compared to Saudi Arabia +But of course, there is no doubt that it (the Iranian regime) is terrible +There is a way to deal with it. For example, creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone +But the strategists, among them Israelis +They do not disagree about Iran's attempt to acquire the ability to acquire nuclear weapons +Which is completely different from acquiring a nuclear weapon +It is the situation that makes you able to possess a nuclear weapon (without obtaining it), as in the case of most developed countries +Like Japan, Italy and others +It is very simple. In fact it is described +An Israeli military expert +Martin Van Krefeld several years ago, after the invasion of Iraq +He wrote an article in which he said he did not know if Iran was developing a nuclear weapon and he hoped it would not +But he said that if they do not develop one, they are free +This is what he said if they do not develop, then they are free. The United States has just announced +I will attack whoever you like, and we will attack you if we can and with us immunity +So it is better to develop a deterrent +OK +Maybe they develop a deterrent +No serious expert expects (Iran) to use nuclear weapons +Even if Iran possesses nuclear weapons, which no one wants +I mean even if they possess and release nuclear weapons, their country will evaporate +A moment and without a doubt +The clerics in Iran as you know are terrible, but they do not appear +Desire for devastating suicide, for everything they own and appreciate +This applies to their diversion of nuclear weapons +If there are real suspicions that Iran is doing so, with the safety of Iran +The probability that he will use it, is equal to the probability that he will hit the Earth meteorite or something similar +It is a serious problem, in fact, the Israeli writers are clear about that +Iranian nuclear weapons are a threat to Zionism, not to Israel +This is what they fear, if the area becomes very dangerous +The residents of Israel will leave +People who have money, education, etc. will leave +Because they do not want to live in a place under threat +In fact, migration is a serious problem +Immigration of learners and trainers +They will leave because they do not want to face danger +But I don't think there is a strategist, at least I haven't seen one +It is believed that Iran will use a nuclear weapon +If they do, it is a complete regression +3 +8 +9 +14 +18 +23 +28 +31 +36 +43 +47 +49 +54 +57 +63 +66 +72 +73 +81 +88 +97 +100 +104 +107 +114 +122 +124 +129 +138 +142 +149 +152 +155 +158 +162 +168 +174 +179 +186 +188 +191 +196 +199 +204 +210 +217 +222 +228 +234 +239 +245 +248 +253 +261 +268 +271 +279 +284 +287 +292 +297 +303 +308 +313 +317 +320 +322 +324 +328 +333 +339 +342 +347 +354 +359 +365 +372 +379 +388 +395 +398 +402 +406 +409 +415 +419 +425 +430 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language is the Basis of Reason and Creativity X7JCyI8_lQw.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language is the Basis of Reason and Creativity X7JCyI8_lQw.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..515a9d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language is the Basis of Reason and Creativity X7JCyI8_lQw.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +just rodrigo to google the mother of genius today to breads and will i am +sure that we are filling the tank and the intricacies and today in note +1 +133 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language, Cognition, and Deep Learning _ Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast cMscNuSUy0I.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language, Cognition, and Deep Learning _ Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast cMscNuSUy0I.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4abffa --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language, Cognition, and Deep Learning _ Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast cMscNuSUy0I.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1302 @@ +- The following is a conversation with Noam Chomsky. +He's truly one of the great minds of our time +and is one of the most cited scholars +in the history of our civilization. +He has spent over 60 years at MIT +and recently also joined the University of Arizona +where we met for this conversation, +but it was at MIT about four and 1/2 years ago +when I first met Noam. +My first few days there I remember +getting into an elevator at Stata Center, +pressing the button for whatever floor, looking up +and realizing it was just me and Noam Chomsky +riding the elevator, just me and one of the seminal figures +of linguistics, cognitive science, philosophy, +and political thought in the past century if not ever. +I tell that silly story because I think life +is made up of funny little defining moments +that you never forget for reasons that may be too poetic +to try and explain, that was one of mine. +Noam has been an inspiration to me and millions of others. +It was truly an honor for me +to sit down with him in Arizona. +I traveled there just for this conversation, +and in a rare, heartbreaking moment +after everything was set up and tested +the camera was moved and accidentally +the recording button was pressed stopping the recording. +So I have good audio of both of us but no video of Noam, +just a video of me and my sleep deprived but excited face +that I get to keep as a reminder of my failures. +Most people just listen to this audio version +for the podcast as opposed to watching it on YouTube, +but still it's heartbreaking for me. +I hope you understand +and still enjoy this conversation as much as I did. +The depth of intellect that Noam showed +and his willingness to truly listen to me, +a silly looking Russian in a suit was humbling +and something I'm deeply grateful for. +As some of you know, this podcast is a side project for me +where my main journey and dream +is to build AI systems that do some good for the world. +This latter effort takes up most of my time +but for the moment has been mostly private, +but the former, the podcast is something I put my heart +and soul into and I hope you feel that +even when I screw things up. +I recently started doing ads +at the end of the introduction. +I'll do one or two minutes after introducing the episode +and never any ads in the middle +that break the flow of the conversation. +I hope that works for you +and doesn't hurt the listening experience. +This is the Artificial Intelligence podcast. +If you enjoy it, subscribe on YouTube, +give it five stars on Apple Podcast, +support it on Patreon, or simply contact with me on Twitter +@lexfridman spelled F-R-I-D-M-A-N. +This show is presented by Cash App, +the number one finance app on the App Store. +I personally use cash app to send money to friends, +but you can also use it to buy, sell, +and deposit Bitcoin in just seconds. +Cash App also has a new investing feature. +You can buy fractions of a stock, +say $1 worth, no matter what the stock price is. +Broker services are provided by Cash App Investing, +a subsidiary of Square and member SIPC. +I'm excited to be working with Cash App +to support one of my favorite organizations called the FIRST +best known for their FIRST robotics and LEGO competitions. +They educate and inspire hundreds of thousands of students +in over 110 countries and have a perfect rating +on Charity Navigator which means the donated money +is used to maximum effectiveness. +When you get Cash App in the App Store or Google Play +and use code LexPodcast you'll get $10 +and Cash App will also donate $10 to FIRST, +which again is an organization +that I've personally seen inspire girls and boys +to dream of engineering a better world. +And now here's my conversation with Noam Chomsky. +I apologize for the absurd philosophical question, +but if an alien species were to visit Earth, +do you think we would be able to find a common language +or protocol of communication with them? +- [Noam] There are arguments to the effect that we could. +In fact, one of them was Marv Minsky's. +Back about 20 or 30 years ago he performed +a brief experiment with a student of his, Daniel Bobrow +they essentially ran the simplest possible Turing machines +just free to see what would happen. +And most of them crashed, either got into an infinite loop +or were stopped, the few that persisted +essentially gave something like arithmetic. +And his conclusion from that was +that if some alien species developed higher intelligence +they would at least have arithmetic. +They would at least have what the simplest computer would do +and in fact he didn't know that at the time, +but the core principles of natural language +are based on operations which yield something +like arithmetic in the limiting case, in the minimal case. +So it's conceivable that a mode of communication +could be established based on the core properties +of human language and the core properties of arithmetic +which maybe are universally shared so it's conceivable. +- [Lex] What is the structure of that language, +of language as an internal system inside our mind +versus an external system as it's expressed? +- [Noam] It's not an alternative. +It's two different concepts of language. +- [Lex] Different. +- [Noam] It's a simple fact +that there's something about you, a trait of yours, +part of the organism you that determines +that you're talking English and not Tagalog, let's say. +So there is an inner system. +It determines the sound and meaning +of the infinite number of expressions of your language. +It's localized, it's not in your foot +obviously it's in your brain. +If you look more closely it's in specific configurations +of your brain and that's essentially +like the internal structure of your laptop. +Whatever programs it has are in there. +Now, one of the things you can do with language, +it's a marginal thing in fact is use it to externalize +what's in your head. +I think most of your use of language is thought, +internal thought, but can do what you and I are now doing. +We can externalize it. +Well, the set of things that we're externalizing +are an external system, they're noises in the atmosphere, +and you can call that language +in some other sense of the word, +but it's not a set of alternatives. +These are just different concepts. +- [Lex] So how deep do the roots +of language go in our brain? +- Well-- - Our mind, +is it yet another feature like vision? +Or is it something more fundamental +from which everything else springs in the human mind? +- [Noam] Well in a way it's like vision. +There's something about our genetic endowment +that determines that we have a mammalian +rather than an insect visual system. +And there's something in our genetic endowment +that determines that we have a human language faculty. +No other organism has anything remotely similar. +So in that sense it's internal. +Now, there is a long tradition which I think is valid +going back centuries to the early scientific revolution +at least that holds that language is the +sort of the core of human cognitive nature. +It's the source, it's the mode for constructing thoughts +and expressing them and that is what forms thought +and it's got fundamental creative capacities. +It's free, independent, unbounded and so on. +And undoubtedly I think the basis +for our creative capacities and the other remarkable +human capacities that lead to the unique achievements +and not so great achievements of the species. +- [Lex] The capacity to think and reason. +Do you think that's deeply linked with language? +Do you think the internal language system is essentially +the mechanism by which we also reason internally? +- [Noam] It is undoubtedly the mechanism by which we reason. +There may also be other, there are undoubtedly +other faculties involved in reasoning. +We have a kind of scientific faculty. +Nobody knows what it is, but whatever it is +that enables us to pursue certain lines of endeavor +and inquiry and to decide what makes sense +and doesn't make sense and to achieve a certain degree +of understanding in the world that uses language +but goes beyond it just as using our capacity for arithmetic +is not the same as having the capacity. +- [Lex] The idea of capacity, our biology, evolution, +you've talked about it defining essentially our capacity, +our limit and our scope. +Can you try to define what limit and scope are, +and the bigger question, do you think it's possible +to find the limit of human cognition? +- [Noam] Well that's an interesting question. +It's commonly believed, most scientists believe +that human intelligence +can answer any question in principle. +I think that's a very strange belief. +If we're biological organisms which are not angels +then our capacities ought to have scope and limits +which are interrelated. +- [Lex] Can you define those two terms? +- [Noam] Well, let's take a concrete example. +Your genetic endowment, it determines +that you can have a mammalian visual system +and arms and legs and so on +and therefore become a rich, complex organism, +but if you look at that same genetic endowment +it prevents you from developing in other directions. +There's no kind of experience which would yield the embryo +to develop an insect visual system +or to develop wings instead of arms. +So the very endowment that confers richness and complexity +also sets bounds on what can be attained. +Now I assume that our cognitive capacities +are part of the organic world +therefore they should have the same properties. +If they had no built-in capacity to develop a rich +and complex structure we would understand nothing +just as if your genetic endowment +did not compel you to develop arms and legs +you would just be some kind of a random ameboid creature +with no structure at all so I think it's plausible +to assume that there are limits, +and I think we even have some evidence as to what they are. +So for example there's a classic moment +in the history of science at the time of Newton. +There was from Galileo to Newton modern science developed +on a fundamental assumption which Newton also accepted, +namely that the world, the entire universe +is a mechanical object and by mechanical they meant +something like the kinds of artifacts +that were being developed by skilled artisans +all over Europe, the gears, levers, and so on. +And their belief was, well the world +is just a more complex variant of this. +Newton to his astonishment and distress proved that there +are no machines, that there's interaction without contact. +His contemporaries like Leibniz and Huygens +just dismissed this as returning to the mysticism +of the Neo-Scholastics and Newton agreed. +He said, "It is totally absurd. +"No person of any scientific intelligence +"could ever accept this for a moment." +In fact, he spent the rest of his life +trying to get around it somehow +as did many other scientists. +That was the very criterion of intelligibility +for say Galileo or Newton. +Theory did not produce an intelligible world +unless you could duplicate it in a machine +and he showed you can't, there are no machines, any. +Finally after a long struggle, took a long time +scientists just accepted this as common sense, +but that's a significant moment. +That means they abandoned the search +for an intelligible world and the great philosophers +of the time understood that very well. +So for example, David Hume in his encomium to Newton +wrote that, who was the greatest thinker ever and so on. +He said that he unveiled many of the secrets of nature +but by showing the imperfections +of the mechanical philosophy, mechanical science +he left us with, he showed that there are mysteries +which ever will remain, and science just changed its goals. +It abandoned the mysteries. +It can't solve it, they'll put it aside. +We only look for intelligible theories. +Newton's theories were intelligible +it's just what they described wasn't. +Well, Locke said the same thing. +I think they're basically right and if so +that showed something about the limits of human cognition. +We cannot attain the goal of understanding the world, +of finding an intelligible world. +This mechanical philosophy, Galileo to Newton, +there's a good case that can be made that +that's our instinctive conception of how things work. +So if say infants are tested with things +that if this moves and then this moves +they kind of invent something that must be invisible +that's in between them that's making them move and so on. +- [Lex] Yeah, we like physical contact. +Something about our brain seeks-- +- [Noam] Makes us want a world like then +just like it wants a world that has +regular geometric figures so for example Descartes +pointed this out that if you have an infant +who's never seen a triangle before and you draw a triangle +the infant will see a distorted triangle +not whatever crazy figure it actually is, you know, +three lines not coming quite together +or one of them a little bit curved and so on. +We just impose a conception of the world +in terms of perfect geometric objects. +It's now been shown that it goes way beyond that, +that if you show on a tachistoscope, let's say, +a couple of lights shining, you do it three +or four times in a row what people actually see +is a rigid object in motion not whatever's there. +We all know that from a television set basically. +- [Lex] So that gives us hints of potential limits +to our cognition? - I think it does, +but it's a very contested view. +If you do a poll among scientists they'll say impossible. +We can understand anything. +- [Lex] Let me ask and give me a chance with this. +So I just spent a day at a company called Neuralink, +and what they do is try to design what's called +a brain machine, a brain computer interface. +So they try to just do thousands of readings in the brain, +be able to read what the neurons are firing +and then stimulate back, so two-way. +Do you think their dream is to expand the capacity +of the brain to attain information, +sort of increase the bandwidth +at which we can search Google kind of thing? +Do you think our cognitive capacity might be expanded, +our linguistic capacity, our ability to reason +might be expanded by adding a machine into the picture? +- [Noam] It can be expanded in a certain sense, +but a sense that was known thousands of years ago. +A book expands your cognitive capacity, okay, +so this could expand it, too. +- [Lex] But it's not a fundamental expansion. +It's not totally new things could be understood. +- [Noam] Well, nothing that goes beyond +our native cognitive capacities +just like you can't turn the visual system +into an insect system. +- [Lex] Well, I mean the thought is perhaps +you can't directly but you can map. +- [Noam] You could be we know that without this experiment +you could map what a bee sees and present it +in a form so that we could follow it. +In fact every bee scientist does that. +- [Lex] Uh-huh, but you don't think there's something +greater than bees that we can map +and then all of a sudden discover something, +be able to understand a quantum world, quantum mechanics, +be able to start to be able to make sense. +- [Noam] You can, students at MIT study +and understand quantum mechanics. +- [Lex] (laughs) But they always reduce it to the infant, +the physical, I mean they don't really understand-- +- [Noam] Not physical, that may be another area +where there's just a limit to understanding. +We understand the theories, +but the world that it describes doesn't make any sense. +So you know the experiment, the Schrodinger's cat +for example, can understand the theory +but as Schrodinger pointed out +it's not an intelligible world. +One of the reasons why Einstein was always very skeptical +about quantum theory, he described himself +as a classical realist and wants intelligibility. +- [Lex] He has something in common with infants in that way. +So back to linguistics, if you could humor me, +what are the most beautiful or fascinating aspects +of language or ideas in linguistics +or cognitive science that you've seen +in a lifetime of studying language +and studying the human mind? +- [Noam] Well, I think the deepest property of language +and puzzling property that's been discovered +is what is sometimes called structure dependence. +We now understand it pretty well, +but it was puzzling for a long time. +I'll give you a concrete example. +So suppose you say, the guy who fixed the car +carefully packed his tools. +That's ambiguous, he could fix the car carefully +or carefully pack his tools. +Now suppose you put carefully in front. +Carefully the guy who fixed the car packed his tools. +Then it's carefully packed, not carefully fixed. +And in fact you do that even if it makes no sense. +So suppose you say, carefully the guy +who fixed the car is tall. +You have to interpret it as carefully he's tall +even though that doesn't make any sense. +And notice that that's a very puzzling fact +because you're relating carefully +not to the linearly closest verb +but to the linearly more remote verb. +Linear closeness is a easy computation, +but here you're doing a much more, +what looks like a more complex computation. +You're doing something that's taking you +essentially to the more remote thing, +it's now if you look at the actual structure of the sentence +where the phrases are and so on turns out +you're picking out the structurally closest thing, +but the linearly more remote thing. +But notice that what's linear is 100% of what you hear. +You never hear of structure. +So what you're doing is and instantly this is universal. +All constructions, all languages +and what we're compelled to do is carry out +what looks like the more complex computation +on material that we never hear and we ignore 100% +of what we hear on the simplest computation. +And by now there's even a neural basis for this +that's somewhat understood, and there's good theories +but none that explain why it's true. +That's a deep insight into the surprising nature +of language with many consequences. +- [Lex] Let me ask you about a field of machine learning +and deep learning, there's been a lot of progress +in neural network-based machine learning +in the recent decade. +Of course, neural network research goes back many decades. +- [Noam] Yeah. +- [Lex] What do you think are the limits of deep learning, +of neural network-based machine learning? +- [Noam] Well, to give a real answer to that +you'd have to understand the exact processes +that are taking place, and those are pretty opaque +so it's pretty hard to prove a theorem +about what can be done and what can't be done. +But I think it's reasonably clear, +I mean, putting technicalities aside +what deep learning is doing is taking huge numbers +of examples and finding some patterns. +Okay, that could be interesting and in some areas it is +but we have to ask here a certain question. +Is it engineering or is it science? +Engineering in the sense of just trying to build something +that's useful or science in the sense +that it's trying to understand something about elements +of the world so it takes a Google parser. +We can ask that question, is it useful? +Yeah, it's pretty useful. +I use Google Translator so on engineering grounds +it's kinda worth having like a bulldozer. +Does it tell you anything about human language? +Zero, nothing, and in fact it's very striking. +From the very beginning +it's just totally remote from science +so what is a Google parser doing? +It's taking an enormous text, +let's say The Wall Street Journal corpus and asking, +how close can we come to getting the right description +of every sentence in the corpus? +Well, ever sentence in the corpus +is essentially an experiment. +Each sentence that you produce is an experiment which is, +am I a grammatical sentence? +Now the answer is usually yes so most of the stuff +in the corpus is grammatical sentences, +but now ask yourself, is there any science +which takes random experiments which are carried out +for no reason whatsoever and tries +to find out something from them? +Like if you're, say, a chemistry PhD student +you want to get a thesis can you say, +well I'm just gonna do a lot of, mix a lot of things +together, no purpose, and maybe I'll find something. +You'd be laughed out of the department. +Science tries to find critical experiments, +ones that answer some theoretical question. +Doesn't care about coverage of millions of experiments. +So it just begins by being very remote from science +and it continues like that so the usual question +that's asked about, say, a Google parser +is how well does it do, or some parser, +how well does it do on a corpus? +But there's another question that's never asked. +How well does it do on something +that violates all the rules of language? +So for example, take the structure dependence case +that I mentioned, suppose there was a language +in which you used linear proximity as the mode +of interpretation, these deep learning +would work very easily on that. +In fact, much more easily than on an actual language. +Is that a success? +No, that's a failure. +From a scientific point of view that's a failure. +It shows that we're not discovering +the nature of the system at all +'cause it does just as well or even better +on things that violate the structure of the system, +and it goes on from there. +It's not an argument against doing it. +It is useful to have devices like this. +- [Lex] So yes, neural networks are kind of approximators +that look, there's echoes of the behavioral debates right, +behavioralism. - More than echoes. +Many of the people in deep learning +say they vindicated. - (laughs) Yeah. +- [Noam] Terry Sejnowski for example in his recent book +says this vindicates Skinnerian behaviors +and it doesn't have anything to do with it. +- [Lex] Yes, but I think there's something +actually fundamentally different when the data set is huge, +but your point is extremely well taken. +But do you think we can learn, approximate +that interesting, complex structure of language +with neural networks that will somehow +help us understand the science? +- [Noam] It's possible, I mean, you find patterns +that you hadn't noticed, let's say. +Could be, in fact it's very much like a kind of linguistics +that's done, what's called corpus linguistics when you, +suppose you have some language where all the speakers +have died out but you have records. +So you just look at the records +and see what you can figure out from that. +It's much better to have actual speakers +where you can do critical experiments, +but if they're all dead you can't do them +so you have to try to see what you can find out +from just looking at the data that's around. +You can learn things. +Anthropology is very much like that. +You can't do a critical experiment +on what happened two million years ago +so you're kinda forced to take what data's around +and see what you can figure out from it. +Okay, it's a serious study. +- [Lex] So let me venture into another whole body of work +and philosophical question. +You've said that evil in society arises from institutions, +not inherently from our nature. +Do you think most human beings are good, +they have good intent or do most have the capacity +for intentional evil that depends on their upbringing, +depends on their environment, on context? +- [Noam] I wouldn't say +that they don't arise from our nature. +Anything we do arises from our nature. +And the fact that we have certain institutions +and not others is one mode +in which human nature has expressed itself. +But as far as we know, human nature +could yield many different kinds of institutions. +The particular ones that have developed +have to do with historical contingency, +who conquered whom and that sort of thing, +then they're not rooted in our nature +in the sense that they're essential to our nature +so it's commonly argued that these days that something +like market systems is just part of our nature, +but we know from a huge amount of evidence +that that's not true, there's all kinds of other structures. +That's a particular fact of a moment of modern history. +Others have argued that the roots of classical liberalism +actually argue that what's called sometimes +an instinct for freedom, an instinct +to be free of domination by illegitimate authority +is the core of our nature. +That would be the opposite of this. +And we don't know, we just know that human nature +can accommodate both kinds. +- [Lex] If you look back at your life, +is there a moment in your intellectual life +or life in general that jumps from memory +that brought you happiness +that you would love to relive again? +- [Noam] Sure, falling in love, having children. +- [Lex] What about, so you have put forward +into the world a lot of incredible ideas in linguistics, +in cognitive science, in terms of ideas +that just excites you when it first came to you +that you love to relive those moments. +- [Noam] Well, I mean, when you make a discovery +about something it's exciting like say +even the observation of structure dependence +and on from that the explanation for it, +but the major things just seem like common sense. +So if you go back to, take your question +about external and internal language. +You go back to, say, the 1950s +almost entirely language is regarded as an external object, +something outside the mind. +It just seemed obvious that that can't be true. +Like I said, there's something about you that determines +you're talking English not Swahili or something. +But that's not really a discovery. +That's just an observation of what's transparent. +You might say it's kind of like +the 17th century, the beginnings of modern science +17th century, they came from being willing +to be puzzled about things that seemed obvious. +So it seems obvious that a heavy ball of lead'll fall faster +than a light ball of lead, but Galileo was not impressed +by the fact that it seemed obvious. +so he wanted to know if it's true +He carried out experiments, actually thought experiments +never actually carried them out which showed +that it can't be true, you know. +And out of things like that, observations of that kind, +you know, why does a ball fall to the ground +instead of rising, let's say? +It seems obvious till you start thinking about it +'cause why does steam rise, let's say. +And I think the beginnings of modern linguistics +roughly in the 50s are kind of like that, +just being willing to be puzzled about phenomena +that looked from some point of view obvious. +And for example a kind of doctrine, +almost official doctrine of structural linguistics +in the 50s was that languages can differ from one another +in arbitrary ways and each one has to be studied +on its own without any presuppositions +and in fact there were similar views among biologists +about the nature of organisms that each one's, +they're so different when you look at them +that you could be almost anything. +Well in both domains it's been learned +that it's very far from true. +There are very narrow constraints +on what could be an organism or what could be a language. +But these are, you know, that's just the nature of inquiry. +- [Lex] Science in general, yeah, inquiry. +So one of the peculiar things +about us human beings is our mortality. +Ernest Becker explored it. +In general do you ponder the value of mortality? +Do you think about your own mortality? +- [Noam] I used to when I was about 12 years old. +I wondered, I didn't care much about my own mortality, +but I was worried about the fact that if my consciousness +disappeared would the entire universe disappear. +That was frightening. +- [Lex] Did you ever find an answer to that question? +- [Noam] No, nobody's ever found an answer, +but I stopped being bothered by it. +It's kind of like Woody Allen in one of his films. +You may recall he goes to a shrink when he's a child +and the shrink asks him, "What's your problem?" +He says, "I just learned that the universe is expanding. +"I can't handle that." +- [Lex] (laughs) And another absurd question is, +what do you think is the meaning of our existence here, +our life on Earth, our brief little moment in time? +- [Noam] That's something we answer by our own activities. +There's no general answer. +We determine what the meaning of it is. +- [Lex] The action determine the meaning. +- [Noam] Meaning in the sense of significance +not meaning in the sense that chair means this, you know, +but the significance of your life is something you create. +- Noam, thank you so much for talking today. +It was a huge honor, thank you so much. +Thanks for listening to this conversation with Noam Chomsky, +and thank you to our presenting sponsor Cash App. +Download it, use code LexPodcast. +You'll get $10 and $10 will go to FIRST, +a STEM education nonprofit that inspires hundreds +of thousands of young minds to learn +and to dream of engineering our future. +If you enjoy this podcast subscribe on YouTube. +Give us five stars on Apple Podcast, +support on Patreon, or connect with me on Twitter. +Thank you for listening and hope to see you next time. +0 +3 +6 +8 +10 +13 +16 +18 +21 +23 +25 +27 +30 +33 +37 +40 +43 +46 +49 +52 +57 +60 +62 +64 +67 +70 +72 +74 +78 +82 +86 +90 +92 +95 +99 +100 +103 +105 +108 +112 +115 +119 +122 +125 +127 +130 +134 +136 +139 +141 +142 +145 +147 +149 +151 +153 +157 +159 +161 +165 +169 +171 +174 +176 +178 +181 +184 +185 +189 +191 +195 +197 +200 +204 +207 +210 +213 +216 +219 +223 +227 +228 +231 +234 +239 +244 +248 +250 +253 +258 +262 +266 +271 +276 +279 +284 +291 +295 +298 +305 +307 +312 +316 +320 +325 +329 +334 +338 +341 +346 +350 +355 +359 +360 +362 +363 +365 +369 +373 +377 +379 +383 +387 +389 +391 +395 +397 +402 +405 +407 +413 +414 +417 +420 +422 +425 +431 +432 +434 +436 +439 +440 +443 +444 +446 +448 +451 +455 +458 +461 +464 +467 +471 +475 +478 +481 +485 +490 +493 +498 +502 +507 +511 +514 +522 +527 +531 +533 +536 +541 +544 +546 +550 +554 +557 +559 +564 +568 +572 +575 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b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Language, Cognition, and Deep Learning _ Lex Fridman Podcast #53 cMscNuSUy0I.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1302 @@ +- The following is a conversation with Noam Chomsky. +He's truly one of the great minds of our time +and is one of the most cited scholars +in the history of our civilization. +He has spent over 60 years at MIT +and recently also joined the University of Arizona +where we met for this conversation, +but it was at MIT about four and 1/2 years ago +when I first met Noam. +My first few days there I remember +getting into an elevator at Stata Center, +pressing the button for whatever floor, looking up +and realizing it was just me and Noam Chomsky +riding the elevator, just me and one of the seminal figures +of linguistics, cognitive science, philosophy, +and political thought in the past century if not ever. +I tell that silly story because I think life +is made up of funny little defining moments +that you never forget for reasons that may be too poetic +to try and explain, that was one of mine. +Noam has been an inspiration to me and millions of others. +It was truly an honor for me +to sit down with him in Arizona. +I traveled there just for this conversation, +and in a rare, heartbreaking moment +after everything was set up and tested +the camera was moved and accidentally +the recording button was pressed stopping the recording. +So I have good audio of both of us but no video of Noam, +just a video of me and my sleep deprived but excited face +that I get to keep as a reminder of my failures. +Most people just listen to this audio version +for the podcast as opposed to watching it on YouTube, +but still it's heartbreaking for me. +I hope you understand +and still enjoy this conversation as much as I did. +The depth of intellect that Noam showed +and his willingness to truly listen to me, +a silly looking Russian in a suit was humbling +and something I'm deeply grateful for. +As some of you know, this podcast is a side project for me +where my main journey and dream +is to build AI systems that do some good for the world. +This latter effort takes up most of my time +but for the moment has been mostly private, +but the former, the podcast is something I put my heart +and soul into and I hope you feel that +even when I screw things up. +I recently started doing ads +at the end of the introduction. +I'll do one or two minutes after introducing the episode +and never any ads in the middle +that break the flow of the conversation. +I hope that works for you +and doesn't hurt the listening experience. +This is the Artificial Intelligence podcast. +If you enjoy it, subscribe on YouTube, +give it five stars on Apple Podcast, +support it on Patreon, or simply contact with me on Twitter +@lexfridman spelled F-R-I-D-M-A-N. +This show is presented by Cash App, +the number one finance app on the App Store. +I personally use cash app to send money to friends, +but you can also use it to buy, sell, +and deposit Bitcoin in just seconds. +Cash App also has a new investing feature. +You can buy fractions of a stock, +say $1 worth, no matter what the stock price is. +Broker services are provided by Cash App Investing, +a subsidiary of Square and member SIPC. +I'm excited to be working with Cash App +to support one of my favorite organizations called the FIRST +best known for their FIRST robotics and LEGO competitions. +They educate and inspire hundreds of thousands of students +in over 110 countries and have a perfect rating +on Charity Navigator which means the donated money +is used to maximum effectiveness. +When you get Cash App in the App Store or Google Play +and use code LexPodcast you'll get $10 +and Cash App will also donate $10 to FIRST, +which again is an organization +that I've personally seen inspire girls and boys +to dream of engineering a better world. +And now here's my conversation with Noam Chomsky. +I apologize for the absurd philosophical question, +but if an alien species were to visit Earth, +do you think we would be able to find a common language +or protocol of communication with them? +- [Noam] There are arguments to the effect that we could. +In fact, one of them was Marv Minsky's. +Back about 20 or 30 years ago he performed +a brief experiment with a student of his, Daniel Bobrow +they essentially ran the simplest possible Turing machines +just free to see what would happen. +And most of them crashed, either got into an infinite loop +or were stopped, the few that persisted +essentially gave something like arithmetic. +And his conclusion from that was +that if some alien species developed higher intelligence +they would at least have arithmetic. +They would at least have what the simplest computer would do +and in fact he didn't know that at the time, +but the core principles of natural language +are based on operations which yield something +like arithmetic in the limiting case, in the minimal case. +So it's conceivable that a mode of communication +could be established based on the core properties +of human language and the core properties of arithmetic +which maybe are universally shared so it's conceivable. +- [Lex] What is the structure of that language, +of language as an internal system inside our mind +versus an external system as it's expressed? +- [Noam] It's not an alternative. +It's two different concepts of language. +- [Lex] Different. +- [Noam] It's a simple fact +that there's something about you, a trait of yours, +part of the organism you that determines +that you're talking English and not Tagalog, let's say. +So there is an inner system. +It determines the sound and meaning +of the infinite number of expressions of your language. +It's localized, it's not in your foot +obviously it's in your brain. +If you look more closely it's in specific configurations +of your brain and that's essentially +like the internal structure of your laptop. +Whatever programs it has are in there. +Now, one of the things you can do with language, +it's a marginal thing in fact is use it to externalize +what's in your head. +I think most of your use of language is thought, +internal thought, but can do what you and I are now doing. +We can externalize it. +Well, the set of things that we're externalizing +are an external system, they're noises in the atmosphere, +and you can call that language +in some other sense of the word, +but it's not a set of alternatives. +These are just different concepts. +- [Lex] So how deep do the roots +of language go in our brain? +- Well-- - Our mind, +is it yet another feature like vision? +Or is it something more fundamental +from which everything else springs in the human mind? +- [Noam] Well in a way it's like vision. +There's something about our genetic endowment +that determines that we have a mammalian +rather than an insect visual system. +And there's something in our genetic endowment +that determines that we have a human language faculty. +No other organism has anything remotely similar. +So in that sense it's internal. +Now, there is a long tradition which I think is valid +going back centuries to the early scientific revolution +at least that holds that language is the +sort of the core of human cognitive nature. +It's the source, it's the mode for constructing thoughts +and expressing them and that is what forms thought +and it's got fundamental creative capacities. +It's free, independent, unbounded and so on. +And undoubtedly I think the basis +for our creative capacities and the other remarkable +human capacities that lead to the unique achievements +and not so great achievements of the species. +- [Lex] The capacity to think and reason. +Do you think that's deeply linked with language? +Do you think the internal language system is essentially +the mechanism by which we also reason internally? +- [Noam] It is undoubtedly the mechanism by which we reason. +There may also be other, there are undoubtedly +other faculties involved in reasoning. +We have a kind of scientific faculty. +Nobody knows what it is, but whatever it is +that enables us to pursue certain lines of endeavor +and inquiry and to decide what makes sense +and doesn't make sense and to achieve a certain degree +of understanding in the world that uses language +but goes beyond it just as using our capacity for arithmetic +is not the same as having the capacity. +- [Lex] The idea of capacity, our biology, evolution, +you've talked about it defining essentially our capacity, +our limit and our scope. +Can you try to define what limit and scope are, +and the bigger question, do you think it's possible +to find the limit of human cognition? +- [Noam] Well that's an interesting question. +It's commonly believed, most scientists believe +that human intelligence +can answer any question in principle. +I think that's a very strange belief. +If we're biological organisms which are not angels +then our capacities ought to have scope and limits +which are interrelated. +- [Lex] Can you define those two terms? +- [Noam] Well, let's take a concrete example. +Your genetic endowment, it determines +that you can have a mammalian visual system +and arms and legs and so on +and therefore become a rich, complex organism, +but if you look at that same genetic endowment +it prevents you from developing in other directions. +There's no kind of experience which would yield the embryo +to develop an insect visual system +or to develop wings instead of arms. +So the very endowment that confers richness and complexity +also sets bounds on what can be attained. +Now I assume that our cognitive capacities +are part of the organic world +therefore they should have the same properties. +If they had no built-in capacity to develop a rich +and complex structure we would understand nothing +just as if your genetic endowment +did not compel you to develop arms and legs +you would just be some kind of a random ameboid creature +with no structure at all so I think it's plausible +to assume that there are limits, +and I think we even have some evidence as to what they are. +So for example there's a classic moment +in the history of science at the time of Newton. +There was from Galileo to Newton modern science developed +on a fundamental assumption which Newton also accepted, +namely that the world, the entire universe +is a mechanical object and by mechanical they meant +something like the kinds of artifacts +that were being developed by skilled artisans +all over Europe, the gears, levers, and so on. +And their belief was, well the world +is just a more complex variant of this. +Newton to his astonishment and distress proved that there +are no machines, that there's interaction without contact. +His contemporaries like Leibniz and Huygens +just dismissed this as returning to the mysticism +of the Neo-Scholastics and Newton agreed. +He said, "It is totally absurd. +"No person of any scientific intelligence +"could ever accept this for a moment." +In fact, he spent the rest of his life +trying to get around it somehow +as did many other scientists. +That was the very criterion of intelligibility +for say Galileo or Newton. +Theory did not produce an intelligible world +unless you could duplicate it in a machine +and he showed you can't, there are no machines, any. +Finally after a long struggle, took a long time +scientists just accepted this as common sense, +but that's a significant moment. +That means they abandoned the search +for an intelligible world and the great philosophers +of the time understood that very well. +So for example, David Hume in his encomium to Newton +wrote that, who was the greatest thinker ever and so on. +He said that he unveiled many of the secrets of nature +but by showing the imperfections +of the mechanical philosophy, mechanical science +he left us with, he showed that there are mysteries +which ever will remain, and science just changed its goals. +It abandoned the mysteries. +It can't solve it, they'll put it aside. +We only look for intelligible theories. +Newton's theories were intelligible +it's just what they described wasn't. +Well, Locke said the same thing. +I think they're basically right and if so +that showed something about the limits of human cognition. +We cannot attain the goal of understanding the world, +of finding an intelligible world. +This mechanical philosophy, Galileo to Newton, +there's a good case that can be made that +that's our instinctive conception of how things work. +So if say infants are tested with things +that if this moves and then this moves +they kind of invent something that must be invisible +that's in between them that's making them move and so on. +- [Lex] Yeah, we like physical contact. +Something about our brain seeks-- +- [Noam] Makes us want a world like then +just like it wants a world that has +regular geometric figures so for example Descartes +pointed this out that if you have an infant +who's never seen a triangle before and you draw a triangle +the infant will see a distorted triangle +not whatever crazy figure it actually is, you know, +three lines not coming quite together +or one of them a little bit curved and so on. +We just impose a conception of the world +in terms of perfect geometric objects. +It's now been shown that it goes way beyond that, +that if you show on a tachistoscope, let's say, +a couple of lights shining, you do it three +or four times in a row what people actually see +is a rigid object in motion not whatever's there. +We all know that from a television set basically. +- [Lex] So that gives us hints of potential limits +to our cognition? - I think it does, +but it's a very contested view. +If you do a poll among scientists they'll say impossible. +We can understand anything. +- [Lex] Let me ask and give me a chance with this. +So I just spent a day at a company called Neuralink, +and what they do is try to design what's called +a brain machine, a brain computer interface. +So they try to just do thousands of readings in the brain, +be able to read what the neurons are firing +and then stimulate back, so two-way. +Do you think their dream is to expand the capacity +of the brain to attain information, +sort of increase the bandwidth +at which we can search Google kind of thing? +Do you think our cognitive capacity might be expanded, +our linguistic capacity, our ability to reason +might be expanded by adding a machine into the picture? +- [Noam] It can be expanded in a certain sense, +but a sense that was known thousands of years ago. +A book expands your cognitive capacity, okay, +so this could expand it, too. +- [Lex] But it's not a fundamental expansion. +It's not totally new things could be understood. +- [Noam] Well, nothing that goes beyond +our native cognitive capacities +just like you can't turn the visual system +into an insect system. +- [Lex] Well, I mean the thought is perhaps +you can't directly but you can map. +- [Noam] You could be we know that without this experiment +you could map what a bee sees and present it +in a form so that we could follow it. +In fact every bee scientist does that. +- [Lex] Uh-huh, but you don't think there's something +greater than bees that we can map +and then all of a sudden discover something, +be able to understand a quantum world, quantum mechanics, +be able to start to be able to make sense. +- [Noam] You can, students at MIT study +and understand quantum mechanics. +- [Lex] (laughs) But they always reduce it to the infant, +the physical, I mean they don't really understand-- +- [Noam] Not physical, that may be another area +where there's just a limit to understanding. +We understand the theories, +but the world that it describes doesn't make any sense. +So you know the experiment, the Schrodinger's cat +for example, can understand the theory +but as Schrodinger pointed out +it's not an intelligible world. +One of the reasons why Einstein was always very skeptical +about quantum theory, he described himself +as a classical realist and wants intelligibility. +- [Lex] He has something in common with infants in that way. +So back to linguistics, if you could humor me, +what are the most beautiful or fascinating aspects +of language or ideas in linguistics +or cognitive science that you've seen +in a lifetime of studying language +and studying the human mind? +- [Noam] Well, I think the deepest property of language +and puzzling property that's been discovered +is what is sometimes called structure dependence. +We now understand it pretty well, +but it was puzzling for a long time. +I'll give you a concrete example. +So suppose you say, the guy who fixed the car +carefully packed his tools. +That's ambiguous, he could fix the car carefully +or carefully pack his tools. +Now suppose you put carefully in front. +Carefully the guy who fixed the car packed his tools. +Then it's carefully packed, not carefully fixed. +And in fact you do that even if it makes no sense. +So suppose you say, carefully the guy +who fixed the car is tall. +You have to interpret it as carefully he's tall +even though that doesn't make any sense. +And notice that that's a very puzzling fact +because you're relating carefully +not to the linearly closest verb +but to the linearly more remote verb. +Linear closeness is a easy computation, +but here you're doing a much more, +what looks like a more complex computation. +You're doing something that's taking you +essentially to the more remote thing, +it's now if you look at the actual structure of the sentence +where the phrases are and so on turns out +you're picking out the structurally closest thing, +but the linearly more remote thing. +But notice that what's linear is 100% of what you hear. +You never hear of structure. +So what you're doing is and instantly this is universal. +All constructions, all languages +and what we're compelled to do is carry out +what looks like the more complex computation +on material that we never hear and we ignore 100% +of what we hear on the simplest computation. +And by now there's even a neural basis for this +that's somewhat understood, and there's good theories +but none that explain why it's true. +That's a deep insight into the surprising nature +of language with many consequences. +- [Lex] Let me ask you about a field of machine learning +and deep learning, there's been a lot of progress +in neural network-based machine learning +in the recent decade. +Of course, neural network research goes back many decades. +- [Noam] Yeah. +- [Lex] What do you think are the limits of deep learning, +of neural network-based machine learning? +- [Noam] Well, to give a real answer to that +you'd have to understand the exact processes +that are taking place, and those are pretty opaque +so it's pretty hard to prove a theorem +about what can be done and what can't be done. +But I think it's reasonably clear, +I mean, putting technicalities aside +what deep learning is doing is taking huge numbers +of examples and finding some patterns. +Okay, that could be interesting and in some areas it is +but we have to ask here a certain question. +Is it engineering or is it science? +Engineering in the sense of just trying to build something +that's useful or science in the sense +that it's trying to understand something about elements +of the world so it takes a Google parser. +We can ask that question, is it useful? +Yeah, it's pretty useful. +I use Google Translator so on engineering grounds +it's kinda worth having like a bulldozer. +Does it tell you anything about human language? +Zero, nothing, and in fact it's very striking. +From the very beginning +it's just totally remote from science +so what is a Google parser doing? +It's taking an enormous text, +let's say The Wall Street Journal corpus and asking, +how close can we come to getting the right description +of every sentence in the corpus? +Well, ever sentence in the corpus +is essentially an experiment. +Each sentence that you produce is an experiment which is, +am I a grammatical sentence? +Now the answer is usually yes so most of the stuff +in the corpus is grammatical sentences, +but now ask yourself, is there any science +which takes random experiments which are carried out +for no reason whatsoever and tries +to find out something from them? +Like if you're, say, a chemistry PhD student +you want to get a thesis can you say, +well I'm just gonna do a lot of, mix a lot of things +together, no purpose, and maybe I'll find something. +You'd be laughed out of the department. +Science tries to find critical experiments, +ones that answer some theoretical question. +Doesn't care about coverage of millions of experiments. +So it just begins by being very remote from science +and it continues like that so the usual question +that's asked about, say, a Google parser +is how well does it do, or some parser, +how well does it do on a corpus? +But there's another question that's never asked. +How well does it do on something +that violates all the rules of language? +So for example, take the structure dependence case +that I mentioned, suppose there was a language +in which you used linear proximity as the mode +of interpretation, these deep learning +would work very easily on that. +In fact, much more easily than on an actual language. +Is that a success? +No, that's a failure. +From a scientific point of view that's a failure. +It shows that we're not discovering +the nature of the system at all +'cause it does just as well or even better +on things that violate the structure of the system, +and it goes on from there. +It's not an argument against doing it. +It is useful to have devices like this. +- [Lex] So yes, neural networks are kind of approximators +that look, there's echoes of the behavioral debates right, +behavioralism. - More than echoes. +Many of the people in deep learning +say they vindicated. - (laughs) Yeah. +- [Noam] Terry Sejnowski for example in his recent book +says this vindicates Skinnerian behaviors +and it doesn't have anything to do with it. +- [Lex] Yes, but I think there's something +actually fundamentally different when the data set is huge, +but your point is extremely well taken. +But do you think we can learn, approximate +that interesting, complex structure of language +with neural networks that will somehow +help us understand the science? +- [Noam] It's possible, I mean, you find patterns +that you hadn't noticed, let's say. +Could be, in fact it's very much like a kind of linguistics +that's done, what's called corpus linguistics when you, +suppose you have some language where all the speakers +have died out but you have records. +So you just look at the records +and see what you can figure out from that. +It's much better to have actual speakers +where you can do critical experiments, +but if they're all dead you can't do them +so you have to try to see what you can find out +from just looking at the data that's around. +You can learn things. +Anthropology is very much like that. +You can't do a critical experiment +on what happened two million years ago +so you're kinda forced to take what data's around +and see what you can figure out from it. +Okay, it's a serious study. +- [Lex] So let me venture into another whole body of work +and philosophical question. +You've said that evil in society arises from institutions, +not inherently from our nature. +Do you think most human beings are good, +they have good intent or do most have the capacity +for intentional evil that depends on their upbringing, +depends on their environment, on context? +- [Noam] I wouldn't say +that they don't arise from our nature. +Anything we do arises from our nature. +And the fact that we have certain institutions +and not others is one mode +in which human nature has expressed itself. +But as far as we know, human nature +could yield many different kinds of institutions. +The particular ones that have developed +have to do with historical contingency, +who conquered whom and that sort of thing, +then they're not rooted in our nature +in the sense that they're essential to our nature +so it's commonly argued that these days that something +like market systems is just part of our nature, +but we know from a huge amount of evidence +that that's not true, there's all kinds of other structures. +That's a particular fact of a moment of modern history. +Others have argued that the roots of classical liberalism +actually argue that what's called sometimes +an instinct for freedom, an instinct +to be free of domination by illegitimate authority +is the core of our nature. +That would be the opposite of this. +And we don't know, we just know that human nature +can accommodate both kinds. +- [Lex] If you look back at your life, +is there a moment in your intellectual life +or life in general that jumps from memory +that brought you happiness +that you would love to relive again? +- [Noam] Sure, falling in love, having children. +- [Lex] What about, so you have put forward +into the world a lot of incredible ideas in linguistics, +in cognitive science, in terms of ideas +that just excites you when it first came to you +that you love to relive those moments. +- [Noam] Well, I mean, when you make a discovery +about something it's exciting like say +even the observation of structure dependence +and on from that the explanation for it, +but the major things just seem like common sense. +So if you go back to, take your question +about external and internal language. +You go back to, say, the 1950s +almost entirely language is regarded as an external object, +something outside the mind. +It just seemed obvious that that can't be true. +Like I said, there's something about you that determines +you're talking English not Swahili or something. +But that's not really a discovery. +That's just an observation of what's transparent. +You might say it's kind of like +the 17th century, the beginnings of modern science +17th century, they came from being willing +to be puzzled about things that seemed obvious. +So it seems obvious that a heavy ball of lead'll fall faster +than a light ball of lead, but Galileo was not impressed +by the fact that it seemed obvious. +so he wanted to know if it's true +He carried out experiments, actually thought experiments +never actually carried them out which showed +that it can't be true, you know. +And out of things like that, observations of that kind, +you know, why does a ball fall to the ground +instead of rising, let's say? +It seems obvious till you start thinking about it +'cause why does steam rise, let's say. +And I think the beginnings of modern linguistics +roughly in the 50s are kind of like that, +just being willing to be puzzled about phenomena +that looked from some point of view obvious. +And for example a kind of doctrine, +almost official doctrine of structural linguistics +in the 50s was that languages can differ from one another +in arbitrary ways and each one has to be studied +on its own without any presuppositions +and in fact there were similar views among biologists +about the nature of organisms that each one's, +they're so different when you look at them +that you could be almost anything. +Well in both domains it's been learned +that it's very far from true. +There are very narrow constraints +on what could be an organism or what could be a language. +But these are, you know, that's just the nature of inquiry. +- [Lex] Science in general, yeah, inquiry. +So one of the peculiar things +about us human beings is our mortality. +Ernest Becker explored it. +In general do you ponder the value of mortality? +Do you think about your own mortality? +- [Noam] I used to when I was about 12 years old. +I wondered, I didn't care much about my own mortality, +but I was worried about the fact that if my consciousness +disappeared would the entire universe disappear. +That was frightening. +- [Lex] Did you ever find an answer to that question? +- [Noam] No, nobody's ever found an answer, +but I stopped being bothered by it. +It's kind of like Woody Allen in one of his films. +You may recall he goes to a shrink when he's a child +and the shrink asks him, "What's your problem?" +He says, "I just learned that the universe is expanding. +"I can't handle that." +- [Lex] (laughs) And another absurd question is, +what do you think is the meaning of our existence here, +our life on Earth, our brief little moment in time? +- [Noam] That's something we answer by our own activities. +There's no general answer. +We determine what the meaning of it is. +- [Lex] The action determine the meaning. +- [Noam] Meaning in the sense of significance +not meaning in the sense that chair means this, you know, +but the significance of your life is something you create. +- Noam, thank you so much for talking today. +It was a huge honor, thank you so much. +Thanks for listening to this conversation with Noam Chomsky, +and thank you to our presenting sponsor Cash App. +Download it, use code LexPodcast. +You'll get $10 and $10 will go to FIRST, +a STEM education nonprofit that inspires hundreds +of thousands of young minds to learn +and to dream of engineering our future. +If you enjoy this podcast subscribe on YouTube. +Give us five stars on Apple Podcast, +support on Patreon, or connect with me on Twitter. +Thank you for listening and hope to see you next time. +0 +3 +6 +8 +10 +13 +16 +18 +21 +23 +25 +27 +30 +33 +37 +40 +43 +46 +49 +52 +57 +60 +62 +64 +67 +70 +72 +74 +78 +82 +86 +90 +92 +95 +99 +100 +103 +105 +108 +112 +115 +119 +122 +125 +127 +130 +134 +136 +139 +141 +142 +145 +147 +149 +151 +153 +157 +159 +161 +165 +169 +171 +174 +176 +178 +181 +184 +185 +189 +191 +195 +197 +200 +204 +207 +210 +213 +216 +219 +223 +227 +228 +231 +234 +239 +244 +248 +250 +253 +258 +262 +266 +271 +276 +279 +284 +291 +295 +298 +305 +307 +312 +316 +320 +325 +329 +334 +338 +341 +346 +350 +355 +359 +360 +362 +363 +365 +369 +373 +377 +379 +383 +387 +389 +391 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a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent tTBWfkE7BXU.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent tTBWfkE7BXU.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8843d34 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent tTBWfkE7BXU.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,310 @@ +You write in Manufacturing Consent +that is the primary function +of the mass media in the US +to mobilize public support for the special interests +that dominate the government +and the private sector +what are those interests? +Well, if you want to understand the way any +society works, ours or any other +the first place to look is +who's in a position to make the decissions +that determine the way the society functions? +societies differ but in ours +the major decisions over what happens in this society +the decisions over investment, and production +and distribution and so on +are in the hands of a relatively concentrated network +of major corporations +and conglomerates and investment firms +and so on +they are also the ones who staff +the major executive positions +in the government +and they are the ones who +own the media +and they are the ones who have to be in a possition +to make the decisions +they have an overwhelming with donor role +in the way life happens, you know +what's done in the society +within the economic system by law and in principle +they dominate +their control of the resources in the need to satisfy +their interests +imposes very sharp constrains on +the political system and the ideological system +When you talk about manufacturing of consent +Whose consent is being manufactured? +We can start with, there are two different groups +we can get into more detail, but at the first level +of approximation there's two targets for propaganda +One is what's sometimes called the political class +There is, maybe, 20% of the population +which is relatively educated +more or less articulated +They play some kind of role in decision making +they're supposed to sort of participate in social life +either as managers or cultural managers +like, say, teachers, writers, and so on +they're supposed to vote, they're supposed to play some role +in the way economic and political and cultural life goes on +now their consent is crucial. One group that has to be deeply indoctrinated. +Then there's, maybe, 80% of the population whose main function is to +follow orders and not to think, you know, and not to pay attention, anything... +and the other ones are usually pay the cost +all right +professor Chomsky, Noam. You've outlined a model, with filters, and propaganda is central +that's way too public you'd briefly out on those +it's basically an institutional analysis of the major media +what we call a propaganda model we're talking primarily about the national +media, those media that sort of set a general agenda that others more or less +adhere to, to the extent that they even pay much attention to national or +international affairs +now the elite media are the sort of the agenda-setting media, that means the +New York Times, The Washington Post the major television channels and so on +They set the general framework local media more or less adapt to their structure +World News! +And they do this in all sorts of ways +by selection of topics, +by distribution of concerns, +by emphasis, +framing of issues, +by filtering of information +by bounding of debate within certain limits +they determine, they select, they shape, +they control, they restrict, in order to serve the interests of the dominant +elite groups in society. +there is an unusual a lot of attention focus today +on the five nations of Central America +This is Democracy's Diary. Here for our instruction our triumphs and disasters +the pattern of life's changing fabric. Here is great journalism a revelation of +the past, +a guide to the present, and a clue to the future. +New York Times is certainly the most important newspaper in the United States +and one could argue the most important newspaper in the world. The New York Times +plays an enormous role in shaping the perception of the current world on +the part of the politically active educated classes. Also the New York Times +has a special role, and i believe its editors probably feel that they bear a +heavy burden in the sense that the New York Times creates History. +What happened years ago may have a bearing on what happens tomorrow. +Millions of clippings are preserved in The Times library, all indexed for instant use. +A priceless archive of events and the men who made them. +That is: History is what appears in The New York Times archives, +The place where people will go to +find out what happened is New York Times, +therefore it's extremely important that History is going to be shaped in an +appropriate way, that certain things appear, certain things not appear, +certain questions be asked, other questions be ignored, and that issues be framed in a particular fashion. +Now in whose interests is that History being so shaped? +Well, I think that's not very difficult to answer. +Now, to eliminate confusion, +all of this has nothing to do with liberal or conservative bias. +According to the propaganda model both liberal and conservative wings of the +media, whatever those terms are supposed to mean, +fall within the same framework of assumptions. +In fact, if the system functions well it ought to have a liberal bias, or at least +appear to, because if it appears to have a liberal bias, that will serve +to bound thought even more effectively. In other words, if the press is indeed +adversarial, and liberal, and all these bad things, +then how can I go beyond there? they're already so extreme in their opposition to power +that to go beyond there will be a takeoff from a planet +so therefore it must be that the presuppositions that are accepted in the +liberal media are sacrosanct, can't go beyond them. And a well functioning +system would in fact have a bias of that kind: the media will then serve to say, +in effect, "thus far and no further". +And we ask what would you expect of those media? +just relatively uncontroversial guided free market assumptions, and when +you look at them you found a number of major factors entering into determining +what their products are. These are what we call the filters, so one of them, +for example, is ownership. +Who owns them? +The major agenda-setting media, after all, what are they? +As institutions in the society, what are they? +Well, in the first place they are major corporations, in fact huge corporations. +Furthermore, they are integrated with, and sometimes owned, by even larger +corporations conglomerates. So, for example, by Westinghouse and GE, and so on +What I wanted to know was how specifically the elites control the media? +What I mean is... I guess... +How do the elites control General Motors? +Why isn't that a question? +I mean, General Motors is an institution of the +elites, they don't have to control that they own it. +so what we have in first place is major corporations which are parts of even +bigger conglomerates. Now, like any other corporation they have a product +which they sell to a market. The market is advertisers, that is, other businesses. +What keeps the media functioning is not the audience, they make money from their +advertisers, and remember we're talking about the elite media, so they're trying +to sell a good product, a product which raises advertising rates, and ask your +friends in the advertising industry that means that they want to adjust their +audience to the more elite and affluent audience, that raises advertising rates. +So what you have is institutions, corporations, big corporations that are +selling relatively privileged audiences to other businesses. +Well, what point of view would you expect to come out of this. Without any further +assumptions +what you predict is that what comes out is a picture of the world, +a perception of the world, +that satisfies the needs, and the interests, and the perceptions of +the sellers, the buyers, and the product. +Now, there are many other factors that press in the same direction. +If people try to enter in the system, who don't have that point of view, they're likely to be +excluded somewhere along the way. +After all, no institution is going to happily design a mechanism to self-destruct. +It's not the way institutions function. So they all work to exclude, or marginalize, +or eliminate dissenting voices or alternative perspectives and so on +because they're dysfunctional. They're dysfunction of the institution itself. +0 +2 +4 +6 +8 +10 +11 +13 +15 +17 +19 +22 +24 +26 +30 +32 +34 +37 +39 +41 +41 +43 +45 +46 +47 +48 +50 +52 +54 +56 +58 +61 +63 +66 +67 +69 +76 +79 +82 +84 +86 +89 +97 +99 +101 +102 +105 +109 +112 +115 +118 +123 +128 +133 +138 +141 +142 +150 +153 +156 +161 +165 +170 +172 +176 +180 +189 +207 +209 +210 +212 +213 +214 +216 +225 +229 +234 +235 +237 +239 +245 +251 +252 +255 +261 +266 +271 +275 +280 +284 +289 +293 +298 +301 +303 +305 +308 +312 +318 +322 +325 +327 +331 +336 +338 +341 +346 +351 +355 +359 +364 +367 +371 +376 +382 +385 +388 +395 +399 +403 +404 +406 +410 +412 +417 +421 +431 +437 +438 +441 +443 +445 +451 +455 +460 +467 +471 +475 +481 +485 +489 +494 +498 +503 +504 +507 +508 +513 +518 +521 +525 +527 +532 +537 +540 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Media and Values OQtHvElCwV0.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Media and Values OQtHvElCwV0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1693cce --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Media and Values OQtHvElCwV0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +Marr: Politicians I come across are deeply irritated, ranging on furious, +about attacks on them in the press day after day on issues, which have come to be known as sleaze +They feel that they are harassed, that they are misunderstood, +and that the press has gone above itself - is uppity and is destructive +That's the message that they are giving. +Are you saying that that whole process doesn't matter? +Chomsky: I mean, when the press - the same thing is true here - +When the press focuses on the sex lives of politicians, +reach for your pocket and see who's pulling out your wallet. +I mean, because those are not the issues that matter to people +I mean, they're a very marginal interest. The issues that matter to people are somewhere else. +So as soon as you hear, you know, the press and +presidential candidates and so on talking about values, +as I say, put your hand on your wallet, you know that something else is happening +Marr: But it's certainly been much more than bed-hopping +It's also been about taking money from corporations -- +Chomsky: corruption, corrupt judges, fine topic -- +-- big business is not in favor of corruption, you know +And if the press focuses on corruption, Fortune Magazine will be quite happy. +They don't care about that. +They don't want the society to be corrupt. They want it to be run in their interest. That's a different thing +Corruption interferes with that. +So for example when I was -- I just happen to come back from India -- the Bank of India released +an estimate, economists there told me it's low, +that a third of the economy is black - meaning mostly rich businessmen not paying their taxes. +Well that makes the press because in fact certainly transnationals don't like it. +They want the system to be run +without corruption, robbery, bribes, and so on, just pouring money into their pockets +So yes that's a fine topic for the press +on the other hand the topics I've talked about are not fine topics because they're much too significant +0 +6 +13 +16 +20 +22 +26 +30 +34 +37 +40 +44 +48 +50 +55 +59 +63 +67 +71 +75 +76 +82 +84 +90 +93 +99 +103 +106 +111 +114 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Media, NATO, ISIS, Free Trade Agreements & Humanity uv7EKQ6Rrrs.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Media, NATO, ISIS, Free Trade Agreements & Humanity uv7EKQ6Rrrs.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58e1a43 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Media, NATO, ISIS, Free Trade Agreements & Humanity uv7EKQ6Rrrs.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,590 @@ +Can you hear us +Yes. +Prof. Chomsky, welcome to acTVism Munich. +Thank you. +Let's get straight to the interview. +In your 1988 book, entitled +"Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media", +talk about five institutional filters that control and change the flow of information. +These serve certain interests in our society. +Can you tell us something about these institutional filters? +Have they become stronger or weaker in our time? +So, first, there was a later edition of this book in which +my co-author Edward Herman and I wrote a new introduction. +And Wwr indicated that one of the five filters was too narrow: the fifth. +When we wrote the book in the eighties, we called the fifth filter the anti-communism filter. +But it should have been called much more general. +There's always some fake enemy that's about to +to destroy ourselves, against which we have to defend ourselves. +Comments, analyzes and the selection of messages are geared towards +to support state propaganda. +and the course of action against this real or imaginary enemy. +For a long time this was the Soviet Union. +It's very interesting to see what happened - you learn a lot about +Propaganda and research if you look at what happened +when the Soviet Union collapsed. +This is the best way to learn about the Cold War. +What happened? +In 1990 there was no longer a Soviet Union. What happened then? +First of all, you should ask yourself what happened to NATO. +NATO was founded to protect Western Europe from the Russian hordes. +Theoretically. +And what happened to NATO when there were no Russian hordes left? +Has it been dissolved? No, it was removed. It expanded eastwards +and is right on the Russian border today. +A threat arises, and another world war threatens because of what is happening in Ukraine. +In the meantime, NATO's mission has been officially changed. +Now it should protect the international energy system: the waterways and pipelines. +NATO is a global system, a global force, +which is controlled by the United States. +This shows what NATO has always been +and you learn about anti-communism as a propaganda technique. +What happened next +A few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States invaded Panama +Killed hundreds, maybe thousands, of people when the slums were bombed. +all to kidnap someone the United States didn't like +and brought to justice for crimes +most of which he had committed on behalf of the CIA. +. Well, that's almost normal with one difference: +You couldn't invoke the Russian threat here, +because there is no Russian threat. +So it was the Hispanic drug dealers who were about to destroy us. +It went on for a while, it didn't work very well, +so you had to come up with new pretexts. +The Middle East is a very interesting case. +The Bush administration - the first president in the Bush family - had to do after the fall of the Russians +immediately introduce a new national security strategy. +In principle, it said that we would continue as before, but with new pretexts. +For the Middle East, intervention forces intended for the Middle East applied +to stick wherever - and now comes a really interesting wording +the serious threat to US interests +could not be put in the shoes of the Kremlin. +In other words, we lied to you for 50 years. It is not the Russians at all. +That is what is called radical nationalism, independent nationalism. +And finally, in order to stamp it out, you need the intervention forces. +So everything takes its course, but with new pretexts. +This shows us that our fifth filter was inadequate. It's not about anti-communism. +It's about whatever pretext needs to be invented, +the continuing worldwide interference, overthrow, armed forces or +to justify international agreements for the protection of large domestic capital. +This is the fifth filter. To come back to your question: they are all used today. +Since you just mentioned the Middle East issue, +I would like to talk to you about the current situation in the Middle East, +where a radical fighting force called ISIS is raging, which among other things is decapitating journalists. +I would like to refer to your book "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media", +in which you speak of unworthy and worthy victims. +Can you briefly explain what this means +and how does this apply to the current atrocities there? +Well, ISIS, of course, are the unworthy victims. +Are you a pretty hideous force? +But the US is strangely opposed to it. +Take a look at US ISIS policy: +there are some forces in the region that are really fighting ISIS, mainly Iran. +Iran is fighting ISIS. Do the US support Iran against ISIS? +No. Iran is an enemy, we have to undermine it. +On the ground is the main armed force against ISIS - in the area around Kobane, Syria - is the PKK, +the guerrilla force based in Turkey, which is on the US terrorist list +The United States does not support them. +Of course, this also applies to the Assad regime, which ISIS is also fighting. +So what is US policy regarding ISIS? +One of the main rapporteurs on the region, one of the best +and the most accurately informed, Patrick Cockburn, calls it an "Alice in Wonderland" policy. +A policy that is senseless and mixed up. +The Obama administration is somehow trying to fight ISIS +while also fighting everyone who is already fighting ISIS. +So who are the worthy and unworthy victims? +It all depends on who the United States is fighting. +Let's talk about some economic issues. +We know that the European Union and the United States are just behind closed doors +negotiating a free trade agreement known as +Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP for short. +Our Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama praise how this agreement +Job creation, economic growth and trade. +You completely rejected the term free trade agreement and found +that there is no free trade, that they do not favor global trade +have anything in common with an agreement. +Could you do this a little? +First of all, we should remember the five filters. +It is not a free trade agreement. +It has practically nothing to do with free trade. +Practically nothing. +There are tariffs, but they are very low. +And changes in customs agreements change practically nothing. +It is protectionism. +It is against free trade. +First of all, consider that everything is decided in secret. +It is fundamentally secret, the population must not know anything about it. +However, it is not secret for everyone. +The corporate lawyers and lobbyists who write the agreement know what it says. +So it's not a secret for corporations and government leaders. +Only the population is not allowed to know about it. +That should already make you think. +Parts of it have leaked, some of it through Wikileaks. A part that leaked +was the section on intellectual property rights, one of the central elements of the agreement. +And what are intellectual property rights? +Well it's a complicated word that describes high protectionist measures +for the profits - the exorbitant profits - more American +and international pharmaceutical and media groups. +This is anti-free trade. +This is extreme protectionism in the interests of very wealthy +and more powerful parts of the economic system. +Other parts of the agreement - and don't forget +that because of the confidentiality we don't know any details, +however, we can get an idea of other agreements +include a number of regulations related to investor rights +to protect against the population. +Take NAFTA (North American Free Trade agreement) for example, we know that. +NAFTA was also negotiated in secret, and is now open to the public. +Large parts of it guarantee US investors in Mexico to be treated like domestic. +So should General Motors invest in Mexico, +it has to be treated like a mexican company. +When a person from Mexico comes to New York +he does not get the same rights as an American citizen, on the contrary: +He could end up in prison for the rest of his life. +But US companies should have the same rights as Mexican companies. +US agricultural companies, heavily subsidized agricultural companies +which completely contradicts the free trade concept +to get the right to flood the Mexican market with fruits and vegetables, +with which Mexican campesinos can of course not compete. +This leads to a so-called immigration crisis, +because they are driven from their country and have to flee. +That is NAFTA. +Another regulation allows corporations, not people, not you or me, +but corporations to sue a state +should take measures that could reduce profits. +So, for example, if Mexico decides to go to an environmental protection zone there, +where any US corporation wants to invest, +this corporation can sue Mexico for thwarting its profits +- future profits in the area, +in the area that Mexico is trying to protect. +Again, people cannot. But corporations do. +These types of provisions can be found in trade agreements. +They are not free trade agreements. +It's not about free trade, in fact it's mostly not about trade, +and they are definitely not agreements, at least +when people live in one of the negotiating countries. +Most of the people are against the agreements, +that's why they work in secret. +Every word in the term free trade agreement is simply wrong. +In Germany there is a lot of encouragement from the people in the form of +independent organizations for the concept of unconditional basic income, +according to which citizens receive a sum of money without reservation, +to meet their basic needs like rent, food, electricity etc. +Can you give your assessment of unconditional basic income? +Unconditional basic income? +In Germany and elsewhere? +It is an interesting concept indeed. +It originally comes from the right camp. +Clock jumping. +Milton Friedman, for example, suggested it. +In his view, this could have prevented the measures taken by a welfare state. +But it doesn't have to have a reactionary component. +It can also be interpreted as a progressive measure that people have rights. +Take a look at Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. +It states that people have a right to adequate nutrition, +Have health, employment, security, etc. These are minimum rights. +Every society should guarantee it. +Well, one way to guarantee this would be a socially acceptable form +an unconditional basic income. +In principle, so-called welfare states try to provide this. +So yes, that's something you could show. +I don't think it goes far enough, but as a short-term solution, +it is suitable to alleviate central problems. +And there are already elements in various societies, +that actually provide such things. +Let's get to my last question: +Could you list some of the dangers that humanity faces +or will face in the 21st century? +And what mechanisms are available to the public to prevent these disasters? +So what dangers do we have to face in the 21st century? +There are two enormous dangers, huge shadows that hang menacingly above everything. +The first of these is an environmental disaster that is definitely imminent. +We can debate how long it will take, but it will come. +And it could get really serious. +There are things you can do about it, and something is done in some countries. +Denmark, for example, is moving towards sustainable energies. +Germany increasingly has plans to focus on sustainable energies. +But the majority of us are just racing towards the cliff that we're going to plunge down. +One thing is almost certain, if we continue to live or want to survive properly, +the fossil fuels from the earth may no longer be extracted. +But the opposite happens: energy companies never miss an opportunity +to suck every drop of oil or gas from the earth and they can't be stopped. +Part of the logic of a capitalist market is to maximize short-term profit, +without paying attention to the consequences for others or the future. +It is a huge problem. +There are things you can do about it, but that happens to a limited extent. +It will be a real disaster for our not too distant future generations. +The other big shadow is nuclear war. +Don't underestimate that. +We have repeatedly come close to a nuclear war. +A nuclear war is basically the final catastrophe. Some survive, but not much. +And we were close to it. There are some serious threats today. +In theory, we would know how to deal with these threats, but we don't. +Instead, the nuclear programs are being expanded. +The U.S. program will be expanded by about a trillion dollars over the next few decades. +There are serious crises in Ukraine, in the Middle East +and other places that could all lead to nuclear war. +These are the biggest problems. +There is another problem in the background. +It's not about survival, it's about minimal decency. +I mean the neoliberal attack on the global population, +which has lasted for several generations. +It has different effects in different places, but it is almost always very damaging. +Some countries have been able to slowly get rid of +some of the most important are in South America. +For the first time in 500 years, South America has started +to free yourself from the imperialist control of the West. +In the past century, that meant control by the United States +The countries united to develop internal organizations +and thus solve the enormous challenges in your own country. Without western dominance. +The US has been driven out of almost the entire hemisphere, +which is tantamount to a remarkable change in world affairs. +In part, they react to the neoliberal attack, +which was particularly devastating in South America. +You followed the rules and suffered for them. +In Europe, austerity measures are extremely destructive to life, +survival and democracy. +Some attempts are being made to resist +especially in the peripheral countries. +In the United States, the neoliberal attack has virtually destroyed democracy. +It hardly works anymore. Take a look at the last November 2014 elections. +Actual turnout statistics have recently been released. +They were identified by some of the leading political scientists: +Walter Dean Burnham and Thomas Ferguson. +They show that turnout in past elections +mostly as high as it was in the early 19th century. +At that time only white male citizens with possessions were allowed to vote. +Today, turnout in a large part of the country has dropped back to this level. +This is a sign that people have hope +have simply given up in the democratic system. +You have every reason: +Detailed studies show what we all basically already know: +the vast majority's opinions and attitudes have no impact on politics. +Today, politics is dominated by an extremely small sector of concentrated wealth. +This is plutocracy, this is not democracy. +Take a look at the economic situation: +Since the neo-liberal attack began largely under Reagan, +actually earlier, but under Reagan it escalated, +it was a period of stagnation or decline for the majority of the population. +Real wages for male workers are back at the level of the sixties. +In the meantime, productivity increased and prosperity increased, +which only benefits a tiny percentage of the population, +actually only a fraction of a percent. +For the majority of the population, this means stagnation, sometimes also decline. +These are serious problems. +You can handle them, they're not the same size as the first two, +that I mentioned, but they are to be taken seriously. +They seriously affect people's lives significantly +Well, there are many more problems to be solved, especially terrorism. +A worldwide terror campaign is taking place that goes far too far, further than anyone else. +It's Obama's drone campaign. +It is a terror campaign of unprecedented magnitude. +This campaign is formally, officially, explicitly aimed at people supported by the government +suspected of wanting to harm us someday. +Maybe one day want to harm us. +You have to be killed, along with everyone else, +he are in their immediate vicinity. +I mean, would Al Qaeda or anyone else launch such a campaign +we would be outraged beyond measure, we would probably destroy them. +But in this case it is official politics that is supported by the western countries. +It is a serious problem. Worldwide terrorism is a serious problem. +It ranks very high up. +So we could go on and talk about many other things. +Noam Chomsky, renowned American linguist and cognitive scientist, +Philosopher, political commentator and activist, it was a pleasure +To have you with us today. Thank you. +16 +19 +20 +24 +26 +29 +32 +35 +41 +44 +48 +55 +59 +65 +72 +78 +81 +85 +90 +96 +103 +106 +109 +114 +117 +119 +122 +124 +129 +132 +138 +139 +143 +148 +150 +156 +160 +167 +171 +173 +175 +181 +183 +188 +193 +198 +201 +204 +207 +210 +212 +217 +220 +223 +226 +230 +235 +241 +246 +250 +254 +258 +264 +269 +272 +278 +284 +287 +291 +303 +308 +313 +316 +324 +328 +331 +333 +339 +343 +345 +351 +354 +364 +370 +373 +383 +389 +392 +397 +401 +406 +413 +416 +421 +429 +432 +437 +440 +443 +446 +449 +453 +457 +461 +463 +466 +489 +494 +496 +499 +504 +508 +512 +514 +517 +520 +524 +526 +533 +538 +540 +542 +547 +554 +556 +563 +567 +572 +574 +580 +583 +586 +589 +592 +598 +603 +608 +612 +623 +626 +629 +634 +638 +641 +646 +651 +653 +658 +663 +667 +670 +671 +678 +682 +688 +695 +698 +702 +704 +709 +713 +717 +719 +725 +728 +730 +732 +734 +744 +748 +753 +756 +760 +766 +770 +772 +774 +776 +778 +781 +786 +790 +797 +806 +811 +817 +820 +827 +830 +839 +844 +849 +852 +856 +859 +861 +865 +868 +875 +881 +888 +893 +897 +899 +905 +910 +916 +922 +927 +933 +938 +948 +955 +960 +962 +968 +975 +979 +982 +986 +992 +997 +1002 +1006 +1012 +1017 +1020 +1023 +1025 +1030 +1035 +1038 +1044 +1050 +1053 +1059 +1064 +1067 +1073 +1080 +1084 +1087 +1091 +1095 +1097 +1104 +1109 +1112 +1114 +1123 +1130 +1134 +1139 +1142 +1147 +1153 +1159 +1165 +1167 +1171 +1173 +1177 +1185 +1191 +1194 +1196 +1200 +1204 +1209 +1215 +1220 +1223 +1226 +1231 +1233 +1236 +1238 +1241 +1248 +1255 +1257 +1263 +1270 +1276 +1278 +1281 +1283 +1289 +1293 +1296 +1300 +1302 +1307 +1311 +1314 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Moral Responsibility m05AVfltE5k.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Moral Responsibility m05AVfltE5k.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0160c61 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Moral Responsibility m05AVfltE5k.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +Chomsky: I have things that I think I can do and I +think are worth doing. That's what I devote myself to. +If people want to describe it the way they do, +that's there decision. +Bolkestein: In a deeper sense, I think, if I would be able to +convey something like that to you. +Would it be very nice not to be an intellectual +with all the responsibilities that go with it? +Chomsky: Would it be nice to be a human being without +the responsibilities of being a human being? +Well, I can imagine that. For example, +if you're a human being and you're a citizen of a relatively free society, +and you're relatively privileged, you have responsibilities. +Moral responsibilities are basically measured by what you are able to do. +I don't have any responsibility for things that happened in the 16th century +because I can't do anything about them. +I do have responsibility for things I can influence. +In a totalitarian society, +where you've got -- say, extermination camps, +there isn't much you can do. +In a free society, there's a lot you can do. +For people like me who are relatively privileged, +there's even more you can do. +So that assigns you a responsibility that you cannot escape. +You can say "I don't care," you know, you can do that +but you can't say "I don't have the responsibility." +You can say "I refuse to execute the responsibility" +that's a choice. +In some ways its easier and in some ways its harder. +Don't forget you have to look at yourself in the mirror every day too. +And people make the choices. +Nobody's a saint, I'm not, I don't spend 24 hours a day trying to help people. +I do other things. +But I adjust my life in some fashions so that I spend a fair amount of time, in fact a lot of time, +doing things that I think contribute to +meeting a very substantial moral responsibility. +And I think many other people do +also and that's what's led to human progress. +Otherwise, we'd be still, you know, living in slave states. +And I think it's important +Bolkestein: Do you recall what the biggest mistake in moral judgement was you ever made? +Chomsky: The biggest mistake in moral judgement I ever made +was waiting so long to getting involved in protests against the Vietnam War. +I should've started it 19 -- the early 1950s. +Bolkestein: Does it still weigh on you? +Chomsky: Very much. I mean look at the effect on Indochina, which was virtually destroyed. +I don't know if I could've made any difference, but one [himself] could have tried, at least. +0 +3 +5 +8 +9 +13 +15 +18 +21 +23 +26 +27 +32 +35 +41 +45 +46 +50 +53 +56 +58 +60 +63 +64 +68 +71 +74 +77 +78 +82 +84 +86 +92 +93 +99 +102 +106 +108 +112 +116 +117 +121 +124 +128 +131 +132 +136 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Neoliberalism II 9awI2P0Xq8E.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Neoliberalism II 9awI2P0Xq8E.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4bf6ab --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Neoliberalism II 9awI2P0Xq8E.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,142 @@ +what's called neoliberalism +is an attack on democracy and is an open attack +on democracy. it's not secret. +The goal is to minimize the state +and, if you minimize the state, +you're maximizing something else. +What is the thing that you're maximizing? +Well, private tyranny. The state is the arena +within which the public has some role, +at least in principle, in determining policy. +In the private sector, it has no role. +So, the more that the public arena is minimized, +and private power is maximized, +the less you have democracy. +Now personally, +in my view, the state is an illegitimate institution. +It should be dismantled, +but not as long as private power is there, +because that's much worse. +That's a system which is unaccountable to the public +and the main thrust of neoliberalism +is precisely that: is to restrict the arena +within which the public can make some difference. +[Question: "Then what is your suggestion?"] +My suggestion is to extend the public arena +and in the classic fashion +namely, as I said before, working people +should have control of the places in which they work. +Not private tyrants. +The people of the community should have control +of their communities, and they should interact +with one another; that increases the public sphere. +If the heavy concentration of private power is eliminated, +then, I think, moves toward dismantling +the entire state system are entirely legitimate--proper +But, you face what the world you are in right now. +Incidentally, these neoliberal moves +are not moves towards establishing a market system. +A private corporation is outside the market system. +If you look at world trade, about, say, the United States, +about half of US trade is not trade at all. +It's just transactions internal to a corporation, +run by a very visible hand +of which just happen to cross borders. +So, half of US exports to Mexico +don't even enter the Mexican economy. +They're just -- parts are being assembled +in the United States, transferred to Mexico, +to another branch of, say, the same Ford Motor Company, +it's called exports, +they come back to the United States, it's called imports. +That's not trade, that's mercantilism, +and that's a huge part of world trade +It's kinda corporate mercantilism in which +the market is functioning only at the margins +and functioning mostly to control people. +The ones who are running the world economy have +protected themselves very strongly from market discipline [unlike the poor]. +In fact, if you look at the -- There's some good studies, +by good economists, +of transnational corporations and there's one major study +by two British economists of the top 100 transnational corporations +every one of them has benefited from the interventionist +policies of its home government +and 20 of the 100 have been saved from complete +collapse by state takeover and bailout +Over and above that, the corporation itself is out of the +market system - its internal transactions are centrally directed +- these are command economies +so you have -- The neoliberal system is an attack, +in my view, both on the market and on democracy. +0 +3 +5 +8 +12 +14 +16 +19 +22 +26 +29 +32 +37 +39 +42 +43 +46 +48 +50 +51 +55 +58 +62 +66 +72 +74 +77 +81 +85 +87 +90 +92 +96 +100 +103 +107 +110 +112 +115 +119 +124 +127 +131 +134 +137 +140 +142 +146 +148 +151 +153 +155 +157 +160 +163 +166 +169 +173 +178 +180 +182 +186 +191 +194 +197 +200 +203 +208 +212 +214 +217 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy tBzSLu3MZ6I.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy tBzSLu3MZ6I.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b4706d --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy tBzSLu3MZ6I.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,302 @@ +- Take a look at recent history +since the second World War. +Something really remarkable has happened. +First, human intelligence created +two huge sledge hammers capable +of terminating our existence +or at least organized existence. +Both from the second World War. +One of them's familiar. +- A scientific thunderbolt gives +a preview of its destructive force. +One of Japan's arsenal cities was selected +as the first to feel the weight +of atomic power. +- It was immediately obvious +on August 6, 1945, +a day that I remember very well. +It was obvious that soon technology would +develop to the point where it would +lead to terminal disaster. +The scientists certainly understood this. +In 1947, +the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists +inaugurated its famous doomsday clock. +How close is the minute hand to midnight? +And environmental disaster which wasn't +thought about much in 1945, +but it turns out we now understand +that at the end of the second World War +the world also entered into a new +geological epoch. +It's called the anthropocene, +the epoch in which humans have +a severe, in fact, maybe disastrous impact +on the environment. +There was a sharp spike in such activities +and disaster after 1945. +So, geologists pretty much even formally +date the origin of the anthropocene to about +the same time as the nuclear age. +Observing that the Bulletin analysts in 2015 +mentioned both +and moved the clock to three minutes to midnight, +the closest it had been since 1984. +Immediately after the Trump election, +late January this year, +the clock was moved again to two +and a half minutes to midnight. +Closest it's been since '53. +So, there's the two existential threats +that we've created. +In the case of nuclear war, +maybe wipe us out. +In case of environmental catastrophe, +severe impact. +Then a third thing happened. +Beginning around the '70s, +human intelligence dedicated itself +to eliminating, +or at least weakening, +the main barrier against +the threats. +It's called neoliberalism. +If you ask yourself, +it was a transition at that period +from the period of what some people call +regimented capitalism, '50s and '60s, +the great growth period, +egalitarian growth. +A lot of advances +and social justice and so on. +That changed in the '70s +with the onset of the neoliberal era +that we've been living in since. +- We deregulated the airlines, +we deregulated the trucking industry, +we deregulated financial institutions, +we decontrolled oil and natural gas prices, +and we negotiated lower trade barriers +throughout the world +to get rid of needless +and burdensome federal regulations +which benefit nobody +and which harm all of us. +- And if you ask yourself what this era is, +it's crucial principle is undermining +mechanisms of social solidarity +and mutual support +and popular engagement +in determining policy. +It's not called that. +What it's called is freedom. +- I'm not in favor of fairness. +I'm in favor of freedom. +And freedom is not fairness. +Fairness means somebody has to decide what's fair. +- But freedom means subordination +to the decisions of concentrated, +unaccountable, private power. +That's what it means. +The institutions of governance +or other kinds of association +that could allow people to participate +in decision making. +Those are systematically weakened. +Margaret Thatcher said it rather nicely +in her aphorism about there is no society +only individuals. +She was actually, unconsciously no doubt, +paraphrasing Marx who in his condemnation +of the repression in France +said the repression is turning society +into a sack of potatoes. +That just individuals amorphous mass +can't act together. +That was a condemnation. +For Thatcher, it's an ideal. +And that's neoliberalism. +We destroy or at least undermine +the governing mechanisms in which people, +at least in principle, +can participate to the extent +the society's democratic. +So, we can then undermine unions +other forms of association, +leave a sack of potatoes, +and meanwhile transfer decisions +to unaccountable private power +all in the rhetoric of freedom. +Well, what does that do? +The one barrier to the threat +of destruction is an engaged public, +an informed, engaged public acting together +to develop means to confront the threat +and respond to it. +And that's systematically weakened +for people to become more passive +and apathetic +and not disturb things too much. +And that's what the neoliberal programs do. +So, put it all together +and what do you have? +A perfect storm. +This is all very simple. +It's all in front of your eyes. +All you have to do is look. +Takes no profound intelligence, +takes no special insight. +Just look at what's in front of your eyes. +It's right there. +In fact, I think a lot of people see it. +1 +4 +6 +10 +16 +22 +24 +27 +30 +32 +33 +37 +39 +41 +42 +44 +48 +51 +54 +56 +59 +61 +63 +66 +69 +73 +76 +79 +83 +85 +88 +90 +92 +95 +99 +100 +104 +106 +109 +113 +117 +123 +124 +127 +131 +133 +135 +137 +140 +143 +146 +148 +150 +151 +153 +155 +157 +159 +161 +163 +165 +167 +169 +171 +173 +175 +179 +182 +183 +185 +186 +189 +191 +195 +197 +199 +201 +204 +207 +209 +210 +212 +214 +216 +219 +221 +224 +231 +232 +234 +237 +238 +239 +241 +243 +245 +248 +251 +254 +256 +258 +260 +263 +265 +267 +270 +273 +276 +279 +282 +286 +288 +292 +295 +297 +299 +300 +302 +305 +307 +312 +314 +316 +317 +321 +323 +326 +329 +331 +333 +336 +338 +341 +344 +347 +350 +351 +354 +355 +358 +360 +361 +363 +382 +384 +386 +388 +391 +393 +396 +399 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Political Betrayal, Mobilizing Action S4KU5YQeWtQ.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Political Betrayal, Mobilizing Action S4KU5YQeWtQ.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45de438 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Political Betrayal, Mobilizing Action S4KU5YQeWtQ.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,434 @@ +NOAM CHOMSKY: No one is going to be brought to The Hague. +But recognize that it would be legitimate and justified +is an important way to help people understand the scale +of what is happening before their eyes. +STUART SCOTT: First I want to thank you for coming. +We do these ScientistsWarning.TV programs at COP every day at 3am. +I have been doing this for several years. +My name is Stuart Scott. I am the host of these 'simulated' TV talk shows. +And you come live from COP-24. +There is an email address for you to contact me, +and I can refer your questions to Noam if you have them for him. +And I am the Executive Director of ScientistsWarning.org +and Faculty of the University of Climate I would like to say. +So today's guest, Noam Chomsky. +He is an emeritus professor of MIT. +He is a laureate professor at the University of Arizona. +He is said to be one of the most cited scholars in history. +And I believe he is America's conscience, +which currently has a particular lack of conscience. +And the name we give to this program is +Political Betrayal Turning Into Mobilizing Action. +And I want to congratulate Noam on his birthday, +he turned 90 on December 7. +I turned 70 on December 7. So we share our birthday. +But he has twenty years more wisdom and experience than I do. +And as I said, these are the answers he gave to questions I asked him. +And I will read the questions to you. +How do you look at the current state of humanity in terms of the climate crisis +and our efforts to deal with it in the UN climate negotiations? " +NOAM: Well, we are facing a very serious dilemma. A grim, cruel dilemma. +On the one hand, there is a serious, terrible crisis. +Dealing with it cannot be postponed. +It is the main problem that has arisen in human history. +This generation - in fact today's leaders and people - will make a decision +whether organized human society can survive in any decently livable form. +It is no less than that. +That is a horn of the dilemma. +The other cornerstone of the dilemma is that we must face the reality of the world. +We need to find ways to respond that are not justified, +but also feasible and effective. +For example, it would be perfectly justified +for the most powerful person in the world, +send the President of the United States to The Hague +for trial for serious crimes against humanity. +And much smaller figures as well. +That would be justified. It is not feasible, it is not effective. +Dealing with ... To choose approaches that are feasible and effective, +we must recognize the reality of the situation we are facing +and adjust our approaches accordingly. +STUART: Then I asked him, "What about the atmosphere of denial that is there +at the highest level in the United States, where Donald Trump, +whom I called a 'recognized sociopath' in my conversation with him, +where Donald Trump is president? +NOAM: So when the President of the United States says, +'I do not believe it. Very intelligent people like me are not believers', +that has an impact on a large part of the population. +Especially when it's echoed by the people on the level below. +So, for example, if you look at the Republican Party Primaries in 2016, +each candidate then denied that global warming is taking place +or said, maybe, but we shouldn't do anything about it. +Which is morally worse. +However, they were the ones who were praised in the room as adults. +STUART: Then I asked him, +"What about directors, business and the general population?" +NOAM: I am sure that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is well aware +of the effect of the free use of fossil fuels. +So how does he decide to respond to that? +By investing more in fossil fuels. +We know very well about the behavior of large fossil fuel companies +in the past 40 or 50 years. +It is now known that their scientists, The Exxon Mobil Scientists +were leading in discovering the meaning and threat +of catastrophic global environmental change. +And presented piece by piece to their own managers and executives, +explaining the nature of the threat. +And when James Hansen wrote his famous speech in 1988, +warning the world of the threat we face, +Did the Exxon Mobil management respond ... +... by switching to financing denial and skepticism +and increase their use of fossil fuels. +And so we can continue. +When the New York Times a few weeks ago +had a long front page, a thousand-word article on how President Trump +huge new fields are opening up in the western United States +for oil exploration, for fracking, +they talk a little bit about environmental effects, +namely, that it could harm the interests of the ranchers who wish to use those countries. +There was literally one sentence in those thousand words +which stated that by removing the restrictions on methane +it can cause a very dangerous gas to escape. +One sentence in a thousand words. +STUART: Now, when I spoke to Noam - we spoke for over an hour - +he was very critical of the mainstream media +which downplays or under-represents the word 'climate change' +in their reports on this topic. +NOAM: And all this has an effect on the population. +People listen. They see. +They see that no one seems to be taking it seriously. +We see the results in polls. +Among Republicans, half of Republicans literally deny that global warming is taking place. +This also applies to people whose livelihoods are destroyed by long droughts +wiping out their sources of fish, food and so on. +They say, no that is not happening. +That's half of the Republicans. The other half - barely half - say that people are responsible. +After all, if the man in charge says, +"Very intelligent people like me don't believe that," who am I to question? +These are some of the realities we need to face. +STUART: Our governments are simply not telling us the truth. +They don't say how serious the consequences are. +They hide behind ... +It's always 'in 10 years', or 'in 12 years', +or the target is 2050. +And he was generally very critical of governments, +how they don't prepare people for the kinds of changes. +So then I asked him: +"What would be the most effective approach to the task ahead of us, +that of addressing this nasty threat? ' +NOAM: The effective approach is not simply by saying, +"Look, there is an emergency. You will have to change everything you do. ' +That's not going to work. +What needs to be done is to approach people, +explain that the situation is serious, +is likely to be catastrophic unless we do something. +And then start showing what is actually true: +Those efforts to deal with it are within reach and will actually make your life better. +They are not going to destroy your life. +We would be much better off living in a green economy. +You would do much better not to spend three hours a day in traffic jams +if you had efficient mass transportation. +You would be better off if it was not necessary to take your children to the doctor +because they have asthma, because they cannot breathe the air. +If we had drinkable water, yes, things would be better. +If we had an environment where people could survive and live decently, +then everyone would be better off. And it is within reach. +There are things we can do and there are things that are done. +Those are the kinds of approaches to take. +And it must be done. +It is a difficult choice because on the one hand +you recognize the enormous character of the catastrophe that is imminent. +On the other hand, you have to withhold your answers +to address the reality of the world in which you are trying to make a change. +An often difficult decision that requires a lot of active effort. +These questions arise. And it should be simple ... You should ... +It has to be arranged, and quickly. +That we have ... +Some of the things that happen are almost indescribable. +I will only mention what is perhaps the most evil document ever published in human history. +That was hardly mentioned in the news. +Of course it comes from a bureaucracy. +Trump's National Highway Administration agency released a large study, +a few hundred pages, a few weeks ago. +In conclusion and explaining why all regulations on car emissions should be ended. +No rules. Free emissions. +And they had a very rational argument. +They said, if we extrapolate from what is happening now, +then we will enter the abyss towards the end of the century. +The temperature will have risen by three or four degrees Celsius. +The sea level will be very high - they have greatly underestimated it. +People will flee from coastal areas. +It's all over. +And the emissions don't really contribute that much, +so why not enjoy it while we can? +The underlying assumption, of course, is, +everyone in the world is as criminally insane as we are. +And no one is going to do anything about it. +"That's the human kind. So, fine, let's steal while the planet burns. ' +Putting poor Nero in the shadows - he just fumbled while Rome burned. +That is the world we stand for. +And we have to understand it, tackle it, sink our teeth in it, +approach the problems constructively and effectively in a way that is feasible. +Suppress the justified feeling +that we should take extremely nasty actions. +That's not to say we shouldn't be doing those things. +Major dramatic actions are very much on the agenda. +Attempts to create a general strike, regular mass protests, +all these things are important. +They must be shaped and aligned so that they, +instead of offending people, energizing and mobilizing them. +That's the way they should be developed, organized and executed. +There are a variety of activities of interest that can be done. +From talking to your neighbor to install LED lighting +to political action, to demonstrate +for the appalling nature of the existing circumstances +to the general understanding. +All of these things are within reach. +There should be no delay in executing it. +These are the most important questions that the human species has ever seen. +And history shows it can work. +We don't have much time. +This must be done effectively, quickly, with good thought. +Actions like Extinction Rebellion, the teacher strike, +the purpose of the strike for Earth, for a general strike ... +All of these things can be parallel +with efforts to easily introduce legislation +to improve renewable energy, +to sharply reduce the use of fossil fuels, +to end the insane expansion of fossil fuel searches. +And ... bringing up fuels. +All of this must be done at the same time. +Nobody will be taken to The Hague. +But recognize that it would be legitimate and justified, +is an important way to help people understand the scale +of what we are ... what happens before their eyes. +We should always keep in mind the slogan that made Antonio Gramsci famous: +We should have pessimism of the intellect, but optimism of the will. +It has never been more important than it is now. +STUART: Pessimism of the intellect but optimism of the will. +We must act. +Act decisively and quickly. +That is why we are here. +That's not why the parties are here, unfortunately. +They are involved in a continuous ... +ritual, annual process of kicking the can over the street. +Help us organize against this existential threat to life on Earth through ScientistsWarning.org. +And I want to thank you all for coming. My name is Stuart Scott. +And that is the contact address. +Thank you very much. +0 +2 +6 +13 +18 +21 +28 +30 +38 +41 +43 +53 +56 +63 +67 +70 +75 +80 +84 +91 +94 +100 +103 +107 +111 +116 +122 +125 +130 +136 +144 +152 +156 +163 +171 +179 +182 +184 +191 +197 +201 +206 +210 +214 +219 +223 +227 +234 +239 +242 +245 +249 +253 +256 +261 +268 +273 +279 +287 +295 +299 +302 +306 +307 +312 +319 +325 +328 +331 +337 +340 +346 +353 +358 +365 +367 +376 +381 +384 +391 +395 +397 +401 +408 +414 +418 +422 +428 +433 +438 +446 +449 +453 +456 +462 +467 +470 +472 +476 +479 +489 +496 +502 +504 +512 +516 +521 +525 +527 +532 +534 +537 +540 +545 +549 +551 +554 +559 +564 +569 +571 +574 +579 +584 +588 +595 +597 +602 +609 +613 +618 +622 +627 +636 +639 +643 +647 +649 +652 +660 +665 +672 +678 +682 +685 +686 +691 +699 +702 +705 +712 +715 +722 +726 +728 +733 +737 +742 +747 +751 +752 +755 +758 +762 +766 +769 +776 +781 +784 +790 +797 +802 +805 +809 +816 +822 +824 +828 +834 +840 +846 +850 +853 +859 +861 +864 +867 +875 +879 +881 +889 +894 +897 +899 +906 +910 +914 +921 +925 +929 +931 +935 +942 +950 +959 +965 +969 +974 +975 +978 +980 +984 +987 +992 +1001 +1004 +1007 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Problems of Knowledge & Freedom (Ideas at the House) Rz3K6IHI_Kk.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Problems of Knowledge & Freedom (Ideas at the House) Rz3K6IHI_Kk.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab29b79 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Problems of Knowledge & Freedom (Ideas at the House) Rz3K6IHI_Kk.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2518 @@ +Tonight at the University of Sydney, Professor Noam Chomsky +will be awarded Australia's only international prize for peace. +Last night, Noam Chomsky delivered +the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture +in the Sydney Town Hall. +Now, Noam Chomsky, as you know, +has been leading at least three very busy distinguished lives - +linguist, philosopher and political activist. +A great number of questions +were submitted to the Opera House for this session. +They fell into broadly a dozen categories, +and I'm going to put a question to Professor Chomsky in each category +that will attempt to reflect the thrust, +the main thrust, of your interests. +We will also try and take some questions from the floor later +in the interests of free speech. +Now, Noam Chomsky is institute professor and emeritus professor +in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT. +Among other things, that means that he can supervise PhDs in any faculty. +Hailed even by his critics +as arguably the most important intellectual alive, +he ranks with Marx, Shakespeare and the Bible +as one of the ten most quoted sources in the humanities. +In addition to his significant work +in linguistics and philosophy, though, +he is celebrated for his unfailing moral courage +and the inspiration and oxygen he has given globally +to the cause of peace with justice. +Please welcome the 2011 recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize, Noam Chomsky. +(APPLAUSE) +Welcome to Australia, Noam. +Glad to be here. +In your lecture last night, you essentially talked about +an integral part of what constitutes a civilised human being. +You said, "One of the great moral and universal responsibilities +"is to address injustice +"and the grievances that are at the heart of much violence, +"and in particular to cease to be complicit +"on crimes for which we share responsibility." +You also reminded us that our wealth +in no small measure derives from the tragedy of others, +that we support dictators when it suits us, +and happily set aside the rule of law when we've had a change of heart. +My question is this - how can we reconcile what you're advocating +with the three most frequently used words +to engender unquestionable public legitimacy, +"the national interest"? +Indeed, given that so many of our problems are global, +how are they to be tackled +when we are each protecting our national interests? +That's an interesting term, 'national interest'. +Of course, it's the core notion of +academic international relations theory, +so-called realist international theory, +international relations theories, +based on the concept that states pursue their national interest. +It's always seemed to me that the concept is very far from realistic - +in fact, has a touch of mysticism about it. +It assumes that there's a common national interest +shared by everyone in the country. +So the CEO of General Electric +and the janitor who cleans the floor +have the same interest. +Well, actually, they have very different interests, +often sharply conflicting interests. +It turns out that the interest of the CEO +is what ends up being the national interest, +not the janitor. +So it's a concept that relates to +elite conceptions of what's in their interest, +and if you look closely, that's the way it's actually used. +Well, there are some shared interests, of course, +like not being destroyed by, say, +destruction of the environment or by nuclear war. +Well, what about those interests? How do we protect them? +Suppose, for example, it was determined +that the Australian national interest, in this sense, +could be advanced +by enslaving the population of sub-Saharan Africa +and sending them to work under miserable conditions +in mines owned by Australian companies. +Suppose that that increased the wealth of Australia +and hence its national interest. +Should we - should you - therefore be in favour of it? +Well, I think if we took a vote among people of Australia, +very few would be in favour of it. +And I should say that this is not really a hypothetical example. +After the Second World War, +when the United States was in a position of just overwhelming power - +I won't go into the details, +but there's nothing like it in history, and planners knew it - +they made detailed, sophisticated plans to organise the world +so that it would serve what they took to be the American national interest. +They assigned every region of the world what they called its function. +So for example, the function of South-East Asia +was to provide resources +and raw materials for the former colonial powers +so that they could then reconstruct, +which was in the American national interest, +and be allies and purchase the US manufacturing surplus +which was enormous at the time and so on. +Well, as they went around the world... +This was incidentally George Kennan +and his policy planning staff at the State Department. +When they got to Africa, they decided +that the United States is not particularly interested in Africa, +but we are interested in the reconstruction of Europe, +so we will hand over Africa to the Europeans to exploit - +the term they used - +hand it over to the Europeans to exploit +to help in their reconstruction. +Well, these are the liberal democrats we're talking about. +George Kennan himself was considered so dovish +he was soon thrown out of the State Department, +considered too soft-hearted for this harsh world. +Well, do we accept that? +Thinking back, is it correct? +Would Americans then, even, have said that it's right +to hand over Africa to Europe to exploit for its reconstruction? +Not many would accept that, I hope, certainly not now. +And those are real issues. +If it turns out to be +in the so-called, mostly mythical, 'national interest' +to exploit, harm and destroy others, is that a conflict? +I mean, are we in a conflict about whether to accept it or not? +I don't really think so. +Noam, the election of Obama +engendered a lot of hope in the US and internationally. +He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. +The Rambo-style execution of Osama bin Laden under a Democrat president +came as a disappointment and surprise - at least to some. +Guantanamo Bay hasn't been shut down. +Has the post-9/11 neoconservative agenda been more successful, +more entrenched and pervasive than you anticipated? +I frankly did not share the... +..hopefulness when Obama was elected. +I thought it was mostly illusion. +In fact, I wrote about it even before the primaries, +just basing myself on his record, his webpage and so on. +So it's not entirely afterthoughts. +Nevertheless, it was worse than I expected. +So I did not expect things like... +In many ways, it's worse than Bush's programs, +and that's been pointed out by conservative military analysts. +So for example... Take, say, Guantanamo Bay. +Bush's program was his way of dealing with suspects - +and let me stress 'suspects'. +There used to be a principle in Anglo-American legal tradition +that people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. +So the term 'suspect' is correct. +The Bush approach to suspects was to kidnap them, +send them to Bagram or Guantanamo - essentially torture chambers - +and keep them there without charges indefinitely. +That's pretty awful. +Why, incidentally, did they send them to Guantanamo +rather than to, say, Kansas? +Nothing to do with security. That's ridiculous. +It's because they anticipated that +Guantanamo would be regarded by the courts +as outside of the applicability of American laws. +Actually the Supreme Court, even the conservative Supreme Court, +disappointed them on that, +and did rule that they have +habeas corpus rights and so on - limited rights. +Well, that was the Bush program. +Kidnap suspects, no matter whether you know anything about them or not, +send them to torture chambers, and then maybe have military trials, +which are no trials at all. +Obama's expanded that. +He does the same things, but it's expanded. +Now the program is to assassinate suspects. +So there are several places in the world, quite a few by now, +in which people like us can be walking around the streets +wondering whether a minute from now +there's going to be a massive explosion +directed by someone halfway across the world - +a drone attack, +which is aimed at killing a suspect +and whoever else happens to be around, +so-called 'collateral damage', maybe us. +That's the Obama global assassination program, +and just in the last few weeks it's been extended a little beyond, +and for the first time got a little bit or criticism for this. +It was extended to purposeful assassination of American citizens. +It's the al-Awlaki case, +and another American citizen who happened to be collateral damage. +Well, that's a little bit of an extension. +There's an elite assumption that American citizens are human beings +and have certain rights. +Others are what are sometimes called 'un-people' - +a term of the British diplomatic historian Mark Curtis +in his discussions of the crimes of the British Empire. +So there are people and un-people, and the non-citizens are un-people, +so it's OK to assassinate them if they're suspects. +But people, it's a little expanding it beyond, +so a little criticism about that. +And in many other ways - I won't go through the details - +Obama has stretched violation of civil liberties +and also expanded war +to an extent beyond what I expected. +In fact, in Afghanistan, for example, +the US and its allies, like Australia, +now have forces well beyond the peak of Soviet forces +during their occupation of Afghanistan. +And in fact, last year was the most violent year in Afghanistan +since 2001. +It's not a pretty picture, and in many ways I think he's - +I won't go through further details - +has gone beyond at least what I expected +in pursuing pretty much the same agendas. +It's not the whole story. +I mean, there have been a few steps that I think are positive, +and better than would have taken place +under, say, a McCain administration. +Like he appointed quite a good Secretary of Labor, +and some of the labour laws +were beginning to be implemented a little bit, +and there were a few other things. +But in general, the picture is not pretty. +I think the strongest thing he has going for him, +and what may, in fact, win the election, +is just that the opposition is practically off the planet. +I don't know if you've been following this. +There's nothing like it +in the history of parliamentary democracy that I can think of. +And maybe for that reason he'll be re-elected +with maybe parts of his base voting for him. +But he's actually lost a large part of the base +that enthusiastically worked for him +and not just voted but organised and so on, +and are terribly disillusioned, and with justice. +We turn to Israel and Palestine, +and, of course, there are many issues that we could take up. +But let's look at prospects. +You've said that under Obama, +"the Palestinians will be offered fried chicken, nothing more." +What do you mean by that? +That phrase, 'fried chicken', is actually not mine. +It comes from the Netanyahu Administration. +In 1996, Shimon Peres was Prime Minister, +and he was then replaced by Benjamin Netanyahu in a vote in 1996. +In Peres's last press conference, he was asked, +"Will there ever be a Palestinian state?" +He said, "There'll never be a Palestinian state. +"We'll never permit it." +Now, actually, that wasn't well reported - +for an interesting reason. +He was actually giving a press conference to a group of +American correspondents - 'Newsweek' and others - +but there were some Israeli correspondents there too, +and you can read about it in the Israeli press, in the Hebrew press. +There was no translations at that time. +The reason it wasn't in the American press +is that in the middle of Peres's press conference, +news came through that a verdict was coming in the O.J. Simpson trial. +So all the American reporters scampered out of the room +to get the important news, +and Peres could make these comments +to a small number of Israeli reporters. +Well, that was the Peres Administration. +Then Netanyahu came in. +This was his first term. He's now in his second term. +And his information minister was asked +what did he think about whether there could be a Palestinian state? +And he answered, "Well," he said, "our plan is to leave +"a few fragments of the West Bank in Palestinian hands. +"We're not interested in them. +"We don't want to bother with the population. +"And if they want to call it a state, we don't mind, +"or they can call it fried chicken." +That's their conception of what a state would be. +And that's essentially the conception that Obama's adopted. +For 35 years, the United States has... +..almost unilaterally barred +a diplomatic negotiated settlement +of the Israel-Palestine conflict +along lines that are well-known, +and, in fact, accepted by virtually the entire world. +It's an overwhelming international consensus. +The basic form of it is a two-state settlement +on the internationally recognised border, +the pre-June '67 border, +and then this phrase, +from the formal US position in the early '70s, +when the US was still part of the world on this, +"with minor and mutual modifications" - +to cease fire lines, straighten it and so on. +So that's the international consensus, +and other provisions for other issues. +That was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council in 1976. +And I won't run through the record, but it stays about the same. +Obama has pushed it even further. +For example, his last veto, last February, +did get some international attention, +because he was actually vetoing a Security Council resolution +that called for the implementation of official US policy, +namely, barring settlement advancement, +which is, of course, illegal - +everyone agrees to that, even the state of Israel. +That was pretty extreme, so it got some notice. +In general, Obama has taken a position in many ways harsher +and more extreme than previous American presidents, +which is saying something. +Now, if you think about the current situation +and indeed the role of Australia, +there's a sort of a standard conventional view +that the United States has been kind of an honest broker +desperately trying to bring together +two recalcitrant opponents - Israel and the Palestinians, +Palestinians being the guilty ones most of the time - +and trying to reach a settlement. +It's just totally untrue. +If there were meaningful negotiations proceeding, +they would be organised by some neutral party. +Pick it as you wish - maybe Brazil, +a respected state that's fairly neutral. +And on one side would be the United States and Israel, +on the other side would be the rest of the world, +almost without exception. +Well, the United States and its allies +don't want honest negotiations. +They want negotiations which meet a variety of crucial preconditions. +Now, again, the conventional view is +the Palestinians are asking for preconditions +and Israel wants just negotiations, and of course the US is neutral. +But if you look at it closely, it's the US and Israel +who are imposing strict preconditions, and important ones. +One is that it has to be run by the United States. +Well, yeah, that's run by +an extremist rejectionist state +which has been blocking a settlement for 35 years. +So that's precondition one. +The second precondition is that Israel must have the right +to continue expanding settlements. +That's a precondition, and it's a precondition... +Again, I stress it's not in dispute +that the settlements themselves are illegal, +and certainly expansion of them is multiply so. +Expansion in what's called Jerusalem - vastly expanded region - +annexed by Israel, that's doubly illegal. +Today's announcements, for example. +It's doubly illegal because it's also in violation of +explicit Security Council demands +that nothing be done to change the status of Jerusalem. +Goes back to 1968. +In fact the US, which at that time was part of the world, +voted with everyone. +Unanimous vote, so it's doubly illegal. +But that's a precondition. +Furthermore, Israel has made it clear - +you can read it in today's papers - +that the expansion is proceeding +in regions which will be annexed to Israel. +Illegally, of course. Well, that's a further precondition. +They're already establishing the borders officially +which they're going to illegally annex. +That's another precondition. +Under those conditions, preconditions, +everyone who has a grey cell functioning, +and certainly the Palestinians, can see that nothing will happen. +Negotiations of this kind can go on indefinitely +while Israel, with US support - +diplomatic, military, economic support - +simply takes over what's left of the... +..what they don't want in the West Bank, +and let the population sort of rot in these fragments, +and it'll be a kind of fried chicken. +If they want to call it a state, OK. +Also, the US and Israel insist that it be separated from Gaza. +That's been US-Israeli policy since the early '90s, +in explicit violation of the Oslo agreements +which insist that Gaza and the West Bank are a single territorial entity. +But Israel and the United States +have been trying hard to separate them since the early 90s - +an interesting story, I don't have time to go into it here, +but you should know about it - and the reasons are pretty obvious. +That means that if any fragments are left to Palestinians in the West Bank +they'll be completely imprisoned with no access to the outside world. +They'll be imprisoned between +the regions annexed to Israel in the West Bank, +Israel and the Jordanian dictatorship. +Gaza would be the only access to the outside, +so of course it has to be separated. +Those are the preconditions, and you can understand... +You can ask whether the Palestinian Authority +made a wise or an unwise tactical move +in trying to approach the United Nations to get around this, +but it's perfectly understandable that they would seek some way +to get around the farcical negotiations of this kind +with their obvious consequences. +Noam, have a drink +because I'd like to move on to talking about money next. +-About? -Money. +Money, OK. We're getting crass. +Wealth, wealth. +(LAUGHTER) +Seems that the simple narrative... has been +that it's in all our interests that the rich get richer +because that's how they create more jobs for the rest of us. +Is the Occupy Wall Street movement +a sign that there's a widespread shift in that perception? +Where do you think the movement will go? +What impact do you think it will have? +Well, first of all we should ask about this perception. +That is the perception of the media, the corporate boardrooms, +the editorial boards, elite opinion - established elite opinion. +Certainly not the general population. +It's certainly not the view of the general population. +The United States is a very heavily polled society, and for good reasons. +It's a business-run society. +Business wants to keep its finger on the public pulse. +That's how you know how to run the propaganda, advertising, so on. +So we know a lot about public opinion in the United States, +and the careful polls are worth looking at - +not all of them, but a lot of them are. +The population overwhelmingly disagrees with this, +and has for a long time. +So right now, for example, +the population overwhelmingly thinks that +first of all, that the deficit is not the serious problem - +it's a minor one - +joblessness is. +But if you pay attention to the deficit, +the way to deal with it is higher taxes on the wealthy +and preserving social benefits. +The decision of the bipartisan commission's +probably going to be the opposite. +But that's part of the huge gap between public opinion and policy +which lies at the basis of the anger and frustration +that's just sweeping over the country. +So first of all, it's not the public perception, +and secondly, the public is correct. +That's not the way jobs come. +And we see it right in front of us at this minute. +I mean, corporate profits are reaching records. +They don't know what to do with their money. +Are they creating jobs? No, they're not creating jobs. +Maybe they're creating jobs in northern Mexico +or in China where you can... labour's cheap and can be exploited, +and people can be treated brutally, +but they're not doing it in the United States. +In fact, it's worth noticing +if you read the business press carefully, +you'll notice that there are signs +that corporate investment might come back to the United States. +The reason is that working conditions and wages +in the Southern states like, say, Mississippi, are becoming so rotten +that they can actually maybe begin to compete with +Foxconn's kind of prison camps in China +where people work under horrendous conditions. +So maybe jobs will come back. +Now, that's the way putting money in the pockets of the rich +might create jobs. +Furthermore, just to make it clear +that this is not just a temporary phenomenon, +there was a period not that long ago +of very extensive economic growth in the United States - +in fact, much of the world - +the '50s and the '60s, +when it was still basically under +sort of New Deal-style social democratic structures. +That was the period of the greatest growth in American history, +and the taxes on the rich were far higher than they are now. +But there was economic growth for many reasons - +large part of it, state intervention. +But it was real, it was extensive. +If you're a businessman who wants to invest, +you might invest if there's demand. +But you don't invest because you have money in your pocket. +I mean, everyone knows that. +This is just an elite myth which has been concocted, +and which the population has never accepted, rightly. +The Occupy Movement, yes, it's expressing it, +but I don't really think it's a shift. +The shift is that public opinion is finally reaching... +..having some kind of an expression in organised activity. +Well, how far can this go? +It's an important question. +It's, in my view, an extremely important movement. +It's the first large-scale active response +to 30 years of +what's called neoliberal globalisation +which have been a disaster for just almost everywhere +where these concepts have been applied, +and the United States as well. +It's a worse disaster in Egypt or Mexico, +but it's a disaster in the United States too. +People are angry about it, upset about it. +They haven't had a voice in the political system +or certainly not in the media - +maybe a few marginal people. +And now there's an active, engaged popular movement +that's beginning to express those concerns, and might go on - +we'll see. +It'll obviously meet a strong backlash of repression. +That's predictable. +If it can withstand it and overcome it, +it could be of historic significance. +You mentioned growth, +and that's another term that has a terrific ring to it. +I mean, what could be bad about growth? +We don't challenge the notion that growth is good. +But are we breeding and consuming our way to extinction? +And what's it going to take for us +to recalibrate our expectations in a finite world? +Well, first of all, again, we should be careful to think about consumerism +and the consumption culture. +That's to a large extent artificially created - +and not my opinion. +Go back say a century +to the origins of the public relations industry, +including the advertising industry. +It's an interesting history. +Back around a century ago, in the freest countries in the world, +England and the United States, there was a recognition - +conscious, articulated recognition on elite sectors - +that enough freedom has been won by popular struggle +so that people can't be controlled by force anymore. +So there'd have to be other ways to control them, +and the other way to control them is control of attitudes and opinions. +That's when you get the call for manufacture of consent +on the part of progressive intellectuals - +the Wilsonian, Roosevelt progressives and so on. +We have to have manufacture of consent. +But we also have to have creation of wants. +People have to be driven to the more superficial things of life, +like fashionable consumption - +actually, I'm quoting from the business press - +because that way we can control people. +If we can fabricate wants - +the term used by the great political economist Thorstein Veblen, +who understood this and wrote about it... +If we can fabricate wants, create wants, we can trap people. +We can trap people into consumerism, debt, and so on. +And it's very interesting the way this was done. +If there was time, I could go into it. +To a large extent, we live in a society in which +enormous resources are devoted to fabricating wants. +I mean, if you take a look at... +I presume it's the same here as in the United States. +If you look at television directed to infants, 2-year-olds, +it's already trying to create +a culture of demand - demand goods. +In fact, there's now an academic discipline, +part of applied psychology, +which is concerned with nagging, literally. +The reason is +the advertising industry recognised a couple of decades ago +that there's a big part of the population +that doesn't have any money, +so they can't buy, +so we gotta do something to make them buy - that's children - +and the way they can buy is by nagging their parents. +"I gotta have that video cam," whatever it is. +And so the advertising aimed at children, television and so on, +devises various types of nagging +that could be used for different kinds of purchases. +Well, the point is...the idea is to trap infants, children +into a culture of fabricated wants +so they can then be trapped into a consumer culture, +and then they can be effectively controlled, +along with manufacturing of opinions. +All very conscious, incidentally. +There's some quite good studies of this, if you're interested. +One very good book by a Canadian law professor, Joel Bakan, +has just come out. +I forget what it's called - +something about stealing childhood or something like that. +It's a very concerted effort. +But quite apart from that, suppose we are to some extent trapped in it. +How do we react to the fact +that of course, as you say, it's a finite world, finite resources, +we're going to hit limits. +Well, there's two ways. One is the way of the lemmings. +We just march happily toward the cliff, +and then when it turns out there's a cliff, +we go over it and we're finished. +Well, that's one way to react, +and that's what the business world is driving us to +for the purposes of short-term profit. +But they're going to fall off too. +They'll fall off too, but you don't think about that if you're... +Literally. +So for example, in the United States, +quite openly, the Chamber of Commerce, the main business lobby, +American Petroleum Institute and others, are very openly - +they say it - organising propaganda efforts +to convince people that global warming is a liberal myth. +And it's affected popular opinion. +You can see the polls reacting as the campaign continues. +Now, the people who are running this campaign, +as individuals, probably share your attitudes. +Maybe they're members of the Sierra Club, +and they contribute to environmental programs. +But in the capacity of a CEO of a corporation, +you have a duty that you must perform. +If you don't perform it, you're out and someone else is in. +This is an institutional property. Much harder to deal with. +The property is you have to maximise short term profit and market share. +In fact, that's a legal requirement in Anglo-American law. +If you don't do that, you're displaced and somebody else comes in. +So there's an institutional imperative to destroy the planet, +to march off the cliff. +That's a serious problem. +It traces back to well-known inefficiencies of market systems +which you can probably learn about in your first economics course. +They ignore externalities, technically, +and that's a built-in institutional property. +And it does lead to the leaders of the lemmings +knowing that they're going to fall off the cliff too. +But we don't have to be lemmings. +I mean, we can deal with these problems sensibly. +Consuming more of the world's resources +is the advertising industry's image of happiness, +but it doesn't have to be ours, +and I think any sensible person knows that it isn't. +It makes me think we're not coming across as being very smart here. +I do want to get onto the brain, but before we do that, +can we talk about WikiLeaks for a moment? +Julian Assange has lost his extradition appeal. +Recently, our prime minister dismissed him on a public broadcaster +as "just anarchic". +The implication is that all sensible people know +anarchism is ridiculous and irresponsible. +Common sense, right? +Depends what you mean by 'anarchism'. +If you mean by 'anarchism' the media image, +which goes back to the late 19th century, +'anarchism' just means people running wild, breaking windows and so on. +OK, and that conception of anarchism, I would agree. +But there's another conception which is the actual conception, +which is the core of traditional anarchist thought and activism. +It goes back to the Enlightenment, in fact. +Literally, it comes pretty much out of +the origins of classical liberalism, +which one great anarchist thinker, Rudolf Rocker - +anarcho-syndicalist analyst - argued, and I think with some plausibility, +that classical liberalism which grew out of Enlightenment ideals - +and, incidentally, is rather different +when you actually read Adam Smith, from the imagery that's concocted - +but the classical liberal ideas, as he put it, +ran aground on the reefs of capitalism. +It was blocked by capitalism, couldn't survive capitalism. +And he argues that his particular strain of anarchism, +anarcho-syndicalism, +was the natural outgrowth of classical liberalism +in an age where you have to overcome +the barriers introduced by the rise of capitalism, +later corporate capitalism. +And I think there's some sense to that. +The core of the anarchist tradition, which again has Enlightenment roots, +is to raise questions about +authority, hierarchy and domination, +and to point out that they're not self-justifying, +whatever structure they are. +You know, master/slave, +patriarchal husband/obedient wife, +imperial power dominating the world. +Whatever the structure of authority is, +it is not self-justifying and it should be challenged. +And if it cannot justify itself, it should be dismantled. +That's a core principle of anarchism. +In that sense, I think everyone should be an anarchist. +And if you look at the... +(APPLAUSE) +Notice I say, "If it cannot be justified." +I think there are cases where justification can be given. +So just to take a personal example. +I once - only once, thankfully - +slapped my little daughter on her hand. +She didn't like it. You can ask her now what she thinks about it. +She's grown up. Now she slaps my hand. +But the occasion was when she was about three years old. +And we had an electric stove. +And as you know, the grills or whatever they're called, +they stay hot after they turn black, +and she was reaching to put her hand on the stove. +So I grabbed her hand and slapped it - one and only time. +I think that was... +..you can give a justification for that. +But it takes effort to justify. +It was an act of authority, of course. +You have to work pretty hard +to justify structures of authority and domination. +Usually they're not self-justifying, +and as moral consciousness expands, +which I think it does over time, +there have been repeated challenges to these structures - +in our own lifetimes, in fact. +And I think they're moves in the right direction. +And that's the basic anarchist conception. +It leads on to a conception of social order +in which voluntary free association, +creative work under one's own control and so on +assume major proportions and revise the nature of the society. +Actually, these questions are coming up in the Occupy Movements +for long-range commitments, +and I think that's good - +that's the way the social moral evolution should go. +I don't think Julia's here, but she might listen to the podcast. +Moving on to... +..media free speech and democracy, Noam, +it's probably fair to say that there's probably +no support among media organisations for more regulation. +You're a great advocate of free speech, +you've also written about media bias. +But given the critical role of media in a democracy, +why shouldn't the general news and comment media +be subjected to the same requirement as public broadcasters +to provide balance? +So if a public broadcaster is lined up in a spectrum of other media, +many pumping out redneck propaganda, where's the level playing field? +Isn't this an example of where +freedoms, in fact, lead to a lack of diversity, +and indeed undermine democratic principles? +And in the end, isn't it in fact money that's doing the talking? +Money is, of course, doing the talking. +That's inherent, and what I was just talking about. +For example, fabrication of a consumer culture. +That's manufacture of consent. +That's money talking - no secret about it. +As for balance in public media, +I can't comment on Australia, but I'll talk about the United States. +There is a kind of balance in the public media. +They're different than, say, Fox News. +On the other hand, the balance is of a very specific kind, +which is actually taught in journalism schools. +So if you go to one of the better +journalism schools in the United States, +you're taught a concept of objectivity, +how you can be an objective reporter. +You're an objective reporter and an honest reporter +if you report accurately what's going on... +..the phrase is "inside the beltway", meaning inside Washington circles. +If you report that accurately - you say +"The Democrats say this, the Republicans say that," and so on, +that's balanced. +It happens, if you look, that that balance excludes the opinions, +and often the overwhelming opinions, of the large majority of the public. +I gave an example, and it's not the only one by any means. +There's an enormous gap between public opinion and public policy. +An objective reporter - +and balance in the public media - +is to present the views of elite sectors accurately. +Again, "Democrats say this, Republicans say that." +If the large majority of the population is against it all, +that would be subjective, biased and so on if you presented it. +So I think there are questions to raise about the notion of balance, +which is not... +But turning to your actual question, +it's certainly true that money is going to talk. +Personally, I'd be against efforts to regulate that. +Because where would the regulation be coming from? +Well, it would be coming from state power. +But I think we should be very cautious about assigning the state +the power to determine what's said and what isn't said. +I think we have to go after the core problem +which is the fact that money is talking. +The fact that there's such a disparity of wealth and power +that a democratic system simply can't function properly +and that shows up at every point. +For example, the United States in the last 30 years +has become rather extreme in this respect, +but it's an extreme version of something that exists generally. +So for example, now and for the last roughly 30 years, +in the United States - the Reagan, Thatcher, neoliberal period - +elections, increasingly, are simply bought. +Literally, you can predict the outcome of an election quite well +by just looking at the amount of campaign spending. +And you can predict the policies that are pursued +by asking about where that campaign spending comes from. +So it should surprise no-one that Obama, despite his nice talk, +is essentially pursuing the policies of a small financial elite. +That's where his funding came from, +it's where it's going to come from in the next election. +Actually, this goes back very far. +There's good studies of it by fine political economists. +But it's been very sharply exaggerated +in the neoliberal structures. +Not just in the United States, everywhere. +By now it's reached the point where even in Congress, +the old traditions of parliamentary functioning +have been pretty much dissolved. +So it used to be the case +that someone in Congress would get a position of influence, +say, chair of a committee, on the basis of seniority and performance. +A lot of questions about that, but at least that was the idea. +That's been pretty much thrown to the winds. +If you want a committee chair at this point, +you have to buy it from the party. +You have to put money in the party coffers. +Then maybe you'll get the chair. +That simply drives members of Congress +into the pockets of the corporate sector, +by now mostly the financial sector, +and further erodes democracy. +And what you describe in the media is part of that. +Incidentally, it holds with not just the media. +I do write about the media. +But personally, I don't think it's very different +from the general intellectual community. +If you look at the elite media, you know, the opinion... +Sometimes called the agenda-setting media. +The ones that provide the framework that smaller newspapers adhere to - +you know, 'New York Times', CBS News and so on. +I don't think there's much difference +between their conceptions and their boundaries +and those that you find in, say, the academic world. +They share the same general academic culture. +It's easier to study the media than to study scholarship, +because it's just easier to carry out careful analyses +and so on and so forth. +But I've done a lot on this. +I've written a lot about it if you're interested. +But I don't think it's very different. +And it all reflects to a substantial extent +the actual distribution of power in the society. +That's an observation that's considered radical, +but it's as old as Adam Smith. +I mean, Adam Smith was not the caricature +that you read about in elementary school. +Smith, for example, recognised +that in England, the England of his day, +the people who basically owned the society, +the merchants and manufacturers... +He said, "They are the principal architects of government policy, +"and they design policy so that their own interests are very well served +"however grievous the impact on others, +"including the people of England." +Well, you know, this is 'Wealth of Nations', 1770s, +and that's basically correct. +Now it's not merchants and manufacturers, +it's multinational corporations, +you know, investment firms and so on. +But the same principle holds, +and it holds increasingly in an exaggerated form. +Under the impact of neoliberal ideology, +to an almost grotesque form. +These are real problems, deep social problems. +And I think we have to go after those +rather than calling on state efforts +to regulate speech and publication. +We better talk about the brain, Noam, before we run out of time. +So, what I'd like to know is +why the study of how we acquire language was important to you, +and what has it revealed to us in a broad sense about how the mind works? +Well, traditionally, the capacity for language +has been understood to be +almost a defining property of the human species. +If you go back... +Say take Cartesian philosophy, 17th century - +the dominant philosophy out of which grew the Enlightenment and so on. +For Descartes, it literally was the defining property. +Remember, for Descartes it was critical to distinguish +creatures with minds - souls or minds - +from those who didn't have them. +The ones who didn't have souls and minds were machines. +That was the mechanical philosophy +that was the basis for early modern science. +They were machines. Those with souls and minds were human. +Well, how would you determine whether some creature has a mind? +The proposals that come from Descartes and his followers were +"By testing their language abilities." +You ask, +"Do they have this fundamental creative capacity +"that humans have, +"and that they exhibit in their normal use of language?" +What's the creative capacity? +I think they captured the essence of it pretty accurately. +It's the ability which all humans share - +and according to them, no animal or machine shares - +to create and produce freely +new expressions which are appropriate to situations, +but not caused by situations. +They're not the result of stimuli coming from the outside +or for that matter even internal stimuli. +There's a big difference between being caused and being appropriate. +It's a crucial difference. A hard one to capture, but we recognise it. +And this innovative behaviour has no limits. +It can go on indefinitely. +In fact, most linguistic performances, new sentences, +maybe never produced in the history of the world, +or your own experience at least. +And they're also intelligible to others who recognise, +"I could have expressed that thought in that way if it had come to mind." +Well, that capacity, the sort of creative aspect of language use, +it was regarded, and I think plausibly, +as a kind of a core component of human cognition, +human morality, moral judgment +and, in fact, human activity. +This was connected, especially in the early days of classical liberalism - +people like Smith, von Humboldt and others... +This was connected with the belief that humans basically have a need, +a fundamental need to carry out +creative work under their own control. +This was put very nicely by Wilhelm von Humboldt, +the founder of the modern university system, +also a great linguist, and one of the founders of classical liberalism. +His point was... +The way he put it is that +if an artisan creates a beautiful piece of work on command, +we may admire what he did, but we despise what he is - +namely, a tool in the hands of others. +On the other hand, if that artisan produces the same beautiful work +under his own control and initiative, +we admire not only the piece of work +but also the artisan himself, who it is. +Actually, Adam Smith said the same thing. +Everyone has read the first paragraph of 'Wealth of Nations' +where, you know, talks about the butcher does this +and the baker does that and everybody's happy. +It comes out in favour of division of labour. +Very few people have gone on a couple hundred pages +into this rather dense book +when Smith returns to the notion of division of labour +and says that division of labour cannot be tolerated +because it will turn people into creatures +as stupid and ignorant as a human being can possibly be +just routinely under command +performing the same actions over and over. +And he says in any civilised society, +the government's going to have to step in to do something about it - +education, other things. +If you take a look at the scholarly editions of 'Wealth of Nations', +the University of Chicago bicentennial scholarly edition - +when you take a look under 'division of labour', +you'll notice this passage isn't even listed in the index, +the most important passage about division of labour. +I'm sure it was not intended deceit, +I think they just couldn't understand it. +It's just an unintelligible view in the modern conception. +You kind of read the words but they don't get beyond the eyes. +But that conception is really fundamental to classical liberalism. +I think it's correct. +They related it loosely to the creative aspect of language use. +Well, we're very far from having answers +to any of these questions, I should say. +But there are steps towards it, +and the major steps do happen to be in the study of language. +There are applications, thoughts about it elsewhere, +but that's where the main work is. +And some rather surprising things have come out, I think. +It's sort of useful to compare +what's been done in the last roughly 60 years +to the very early days of modern science. +One of the great breakthroughs in modern science, +let's say the Galilean period, +was to be willing to be puzzled about things that seemed obvious. +That's a tremendous step forward. +For example, for literally thousands of years, +it had been accepted by important scientists +that we have answers to some very simple questions. +Like, when I hold this thing up, +if I let it go, the cup's going to drop. +If this happened to be boiling water inside, +and I lift the lid, the steam will go up. +So the cup drops and the steam rises. +Well, Aristotle had an answer to why. +"They're seeking their natural place." +And that was taken to be the appropriate answer +for thousands of years. +Galileo and others said, "Let's be puzzled about this, +"let's just not take it for granted because it comes from authority." +And when you start being puzzled about it, modern science begins. +You see you don't know the answers, +and when you try to find out the answers, they break down - +it shows all sorts of intuitions are just wildly off - +and finally, out of this slowly comes modern science. +And I think that's what's been happening in the study of language +since roughly the early 1950s, approximately. +A lot of things that seem completely obvious were looked at carefully, +and they all turned out to be extremely puzzling. +So take a simple example, +which has kind of evolved in industry of analysis. +Take the sentence - short sentence... +.."Can eagles that fly swim?" +OK, we all understand it. +We know that the word 'can' is associated with 'swim', not 'fly'. +We're asking "Can they swim?" not "Can they fly?" +Similarly, we can say things like "Are eagles that fly swimming?" +But we can't say "Are eagles that flying swim?" +Actually, if you think about it, that's a fine thought. +It says "Are the eagles that are flying swimming too?" +So "Are eagles that flying swim?" +But you just can't say it that way. +That thought can't be expressed in that form. +Well, if you think about it, +it was taken for granted forever +that that was just intuitively obvious. +But if you think about it, it's not at all obvious. +Aristotle defined language as 'sound with meaning'. +Well, what the pursuit of this inquiry tends to show +is that that's not correct, +that actually language is meaning with sound. +And it need not be sound - +it can be sign or some other mode of externalisation. +That's a big difference. +It means that the core character of language +is the set of principles that yield structured expressions +and assign them a meaning. +And that part of language is probably... +We can't show it yet, but it looks like it's uniform among humans. +It doesn't seem to vary much, and if we knew enough, maybe at all. +It's just a core property of humans that we have this set of principles +that yields an unbounded array of structural expressions +that have a semantic interpretation that mean something, +and when you look into it, it's pretty strange what it means. +But that just seems to be shared among humans altogether. +There's no known difference among remote tribes in Papua +who haven't had other human contact for tens of thousands of years +and children who grew up here. +If you interchange them at infancy, +they'll grow into their own society without any problem. +So that seems to be a core property of human nature. +The externalisation - what we call the sound part - is marginal, +and it also follows from that that communication is marginal. +I mean, it's kind of like a dogma +among...even scientists who write about these topics +that language is basically a means of communication +and evolved as a means of communication. +You look at current publications on evolution of language, +that's just taken for granted. +It apparently is all false. +It turns out that from the closer analysis of language, +it's actually a tool for thought. +It's a means of expressing thought. +And on the side, you can use it for communication, +as you can use anything else for communication. +Actually, if you just introspect for a minute, +that shouldn't be surprising. +Just ask yourself what is most of your own use of language? +Well, if you introspect, it turns out +that probably 99% percent of it is talking to yourself. +Talking to yourself is not communicating. +It takes a tremendous act of will not to talk to yourself. +-(LAUGHTER) -Try it. You know, it's very hard. +You're walking down the street, +you're talking to yourself in fragments of sentences. +It goes on all night, unfortunately. +(LAUGHTER) +And sometimes it's used for communication +but even the external part is not much. +Well, that's a radically different conception +of fundamental human nature, +and it does lead to other directions +like at least exploring these thoughts about creative work, +about moral judgments and so on. +I think... I don't want to exaggerate. +This is by no means universally accepted, even among scientists, +but I think that's the direction in which work has been moving. +And I think it is a way of finding out +basic things about what kind of creatures we are. +Noam, thank you, but we are running out of time, +and a decision has to be made. +There's so much left to ask you. +We haven't spoken about a universal moral grammar, +we haven't spoken about free will, the existence of free will, +and I also want to know what the sources of your own inspiration are. +But we also need to take questions from the floor. +So I propose a referendum. +We have 10 minutes left. +Would you like us to continue with these questions or... +(APPLAUSE) +OK, those who object? +(SILENCE) +OK, alright. Thank you. Noam, just quickly... +-(WOMAN SHOUTS INAUDIBLY) -(AUDIENCE LAUGHS) +I didn't hear that, sorry. +WOMAN: Questions from the floor. +Oh, look, I'm sorry, +but I think you know being a democracy, you've been outvoted. +Maybe Professor Chomsky will take one from you personally at the end. +Would you be happy with that? +(SMATTERING OF APPLAUSE) +So just quickly, Noam, if possible, please, +you're an institute professor +at the most distinguished engineering institute in the world. +Can you comment briefly about the role of elite academic institutions? +They don't appear to be very radical places, +but you've been there now for over half a century. +Can they contribute to social change or are they a barrier to change? +Well, my own institution's a good example. +It is, I think it's fair to say, +the greatest engineering, science-based university +in the world, +and it was back in the 1950s when I got there. +In the 1950s, first of all, it was almost entirely Pentagon-funded. +But contrary to what a lot of people believe, that was the freest period. +The Pentagon didn't care what you were doing. +During the 1960s, the laboratory in which I worked +was 100% funded by the three armed services. +It was also the centre of anti-war resistance. +I don't mean protest, I mean resistance. +That meant support for deserters, tax resistance - +technically criminal activities. +I was coming up for a long jail sentence. +Other colleagues were involved in this too. +It was all coming out of the same... +It was the main academic centre in the country on this. +It was coming from the same laboratory +that was 100% funded by the three armed services. +That has to do with a fact about the advanced economies, +which is pretty well understood by participants - engineers - +and doesn't seem to be well understood +by economists or the general public, +and that is that the modern economy +depends very heavily on massive state intervention. +If you use a computer, the internet, satellites, microelectronics, +the IT revolution and so on, +you're feeding off of public funding and public initiative. +The Pentagon understood that. +It was the funnel for raiding the taxpayer under false pretences. +You know, "The Russians are coming." +So it wasn't democratic at all. +But it was essentially telling the public +"You pay us, we're going to create the technology of the future." +They didn't say that, but that's what was happening. +So they didn't really care what you were doing. +You want to overthrow the government, that's your business. +Just do your work. +But although that was the fact, +it was a very small part of the institute. +Most of the institute was extremely conventional. +People did their work, they didn't ask questions, +you just developed science and technology. +You know, this Tom Lehrer song about Wernher von Braun +which you may know - +"The rockets go up, where they come down is not my business." +That was essentially the conception. +Well, there was a small group of students - very small, +maybe a dozen or so in the 1960s +who began to be caught up in the general student activism of the 60s +and worked quite hard to try to change the atmosphere. +I won't go through the details, but they succeeded - +succeeded to the point that by the end of the '60s, '69, +it got to the point where actually the administration called a day off +just to focus on seminars, discussions, talks, and so on +about the uses of technology. +Should we be concerned with how science and technology are used? +And a lot of self-criticism came out of that. +Quite important groups formed - Union of Concerned Scientists and so on. +It just changed the atmosphere of the place, +and by now, those are common attitudes. +What was once "You just do your work and shut up" +has become "We have to think about what we're doing and why." +That expands into other forms of social activism too +in all sorts of ways. +I mean, one very dramatic change at MIT, +you can just see it walking down the halls. +When I got up there, in the '50s, +it was white - all white - male, +well-dressed, conventional, "Do your work." +You walk down the halls today, it's like universities elsewhere. +Half women, a third minorities, informal dress - +which is not insignificant, that means informal relationships - +and a lot of activism. +Those are quite big changes. +They came about largely through +the activism of small groups of students - +a couple of faculty, but mostly students - +who just essentially organised the place through their own activities. +A lot of interesting actions took place which changed things. +So, what is a university? +Well, you know, it depends on the people in it. +These are very free institutions in many ways. +A lot of things wrong with them - I don't want to exaggerate. +But among the institutions of the society, +these are perhaps the most free. +And that's particularly true of the sciences. +In the sciences, you just can't institute external controls +and expect them to survive. +You could see that in the old Soviet Union. +Biology couldn't survive under external controls. +The sciences are based on... +They're basically anarchist, in the sense that I was describing before. +Students are expected, in a good scientific university or courses... +They're not expected to just repeat what they were told. +They're expected to challenge. +In fact, a lot of the new ideas and innovation comes from that. +So a student's expected to say "I don't believe what you're saying, +"and here's an argument to the contrary." +That's good. That's what you try to encourage. +And if you didn't try to encourage that, the sciences would die. +So there's a built-in dynamic that kind of frees them up. +It doesn't mean that they're going to go to the point of raising questions +about the use of technology and science. +No, they didn't, and in fact there are classic crazed examples of this +which people should think about. +Take, say, creating the atom bomb. +There were two main institutions in the United States - +Chicago and Los Alamos. +Chicago, they were basically constructing the materials. +In Los Alamos, they were turning it into a weapon. +Now, you go to places like Chicago and Los Alamos, +they had some of the most outstanding intellectuals in the world. +These were, many of them, European emigres who were Einstein types. +Very impressive people - +cultured, literate, many of them what we would call pretty radical, +interested in music, the arts, thinking about things. +They were working in closed environments, +in which about the only thing that they pursued +was how to carry out huge, massive destruction in Japan - +they were pretty sure they were never going to use it in Germany - +in Japan, which might end the human race, +because they weren't really sure. +And it was a single-minded pursuit of that objective. +Now, if you look closely, the first protests, questioning, +came out of Chicago, not Los Alamos. +And the reason was that the Chicago phase of the operation +was completed earlier. +They were providing the materials, +and, of course, that was prior to turning it into a weapon. +It wasn't until their phase of the scientific activities was over +that some of them began to raise questions about +"What in the heck are we doing?" +You know, things like the Pugwash movement and so on grew out of that. +At Los Alamos, it didn't happen until after the bomb went off, literally. +When they began reflecting about it later, +there was a lot of justified self-criticism. +Here you had the most amazing group of intellectuals you could imagine - +lots of broad interests, all sorts of things - +and they were single-mindedly pursuing +highly dangerous, maybe potentially lethal activities, +not just for the victims but even beyond, without thinking about it. +Well, that can happen too. +And the question about what a university can be +or what academic life or free intellectual life can be, +these questions always arise. +You can get caught in what was called 'the sweetness of the problem'. +"It's a sweet problem - we really want to solve it." +You can easily get caught up in that, or you can ask "What am I doing? +"What's the purpose of it? +"What's the right way +"to distribute your energies in the world, and in life?" +There's a lot to say about that, +so I don't think there's a simple answer to your question. +-No, and... -(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE) +My next question was about free will, and I've been contemplating +how I can possibly turn it into a multiple choice +where the answer's either yes or no, +but I don't think that's going to work, folks. +So I think that's where we're going to have to leave it. +I'd like to thank all of you for coming. +I'd like to thank the many of you who sent in questions. +I'd like to thank the inimitable Professor Stuart Rees, +his executive officer Dr Hannah Middleton, +Dr Peter Slezak, Dr Clinton Fernandes, +who is a fountain of knowledge +and his generosity knows no bounds. +And of course I'd like to thank Professor Noam Chomsky. +I know that +you would not travel to Australia for some time +because you were taking care of your wife at home, +and in times when we have +outsourced caring for our dying loved ones, +I think that is the ultimate act of humanity in personal life. +You continue to be a beacon for how to live. Thank you. +NOAM: Thank you. +-Thank you, Noam. -Thanks for chairing that. +5 +9 +13 +15 +18 +19 +21 +25 +29 +30 +33 +36 +41 +45 +47 +52 +55 +59 +63 +68 +71 +74 +77 +80 +84 +87 +91 +95 +98 +104 +130 +132 +133 +137 +142 +147 +149 +153 +156 +159 +162 +166 +168 +174 +179 +182 +187 +189 +194 +197 +202 +205 +208 +210 +214 +216 +221 +226 +229 +233 +237 +240 +244 +246 +249 +252 +255 +257 +259 +262 +265 +268 +271 +276 +280 +284 +288 +292 +294 +299 +303 +307 +310 +313 +317 +321 +323 +326 +329 +334 +336 +339 +345 +350 +355 +358 +361 +367 +370 +372 +378 +381 +383 +385 +388 +391 +395 +398 +403 +405 +408 +410 +414 +419 +422 +425 +427 +430 +435 +440 +445 +447 +449 +453 +458 +462 +464 +467 +470 +474 +480 +486 +490 +496 +501 +505 +508 +510 +513 +518 +521 +523 +526 +529 +535 +538 +543 +546 +551 +557 +560 +564 +570 +573 +575 +579 +582 +586 +588 +591 +596 +600 +601 +604 +608 +610 +614 +620 +622 +624 +628 +632 +635 +641 +644 +648 +653 +655 +660 +662 +664 +669 +673 +677 +681 +684 +688 +690 +696 +698 +702 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+4223 +4225 +4229 +4231 +4235 +4239 +4242 +4248 +4250 +4254 +4256 +4262 +4265 +4266 +4270 +4275 +4279 +4284 +4290 +4293 +4296 +4302 +4306 +4308 +4311 +4316 +4318 +4323 +4325 +4330 +4332 +4333 +4335 +4337 +4340 +4348 +4352 +4355 +4357 +4359 +4363 +4367 +4371 +4375 +4380 +4385 +4388 +4392 +4397 +4399 +4403 +4409 +4413 +4418 +4424 +4429 +4437 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Slavery by Another Name R_otknMmNZE.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Slavery by Another Name R_otknMmNZE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f670c61 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Slavery by Another Name R_otknMmNZE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,136 @@ +I just read .. about two weeks ago .. +One of the most terrifying books I've read +Written by Douglas Blackman +Entitled: Slavery under another name +It is the first detailed discussion +It is not the general story, but rather the first truly detailed discussion of what happened after the age of reconstruction in America +There is a short period after the Civil War when blacks were allowed to vote to choose their representatives +Things seemed to be going for the better. +But the reconstruction ended in 1877 +and then.. +In the south ... and in cooperation with the north ... +They re-imposed a new order +It was much worse than slavery +Basically it was +Black prison system +A legal system that criminalizes life for blacks +Prevent loitering .. talking out loud .. looking at a white woman .. +They were arresting people +They take them to prison .. and stay there for life +This is what generated the Industrial Revolution +Steel factories .. And so on .. +In terrible conditions ... much worse than slavery +And for good reasons..for the slave masters they are the capital and they have to take care of them .. +But here it is different, they are nothing .. just shopping them to prisons +The description is terrible ... and it continued until World War II +During WWII and beyond, a short change occurred +Economic growth ... and the need for skilled workers +So there was some kind of space for the black man to go out and work +And maybe get home +Although the book does not mention that .. +But if you think about it +That period ended in 1970 +When the country headed towards the economy of "money" +Nothing remains for those like poor immigrants +For example, my father was an immigrant +At the beginning of the twentieth century, the economy was growing. She worked in a candy store. +Then your son enters college ... and so on. +This case is over .. +What is happening instead is that the blacks are thrown back to prison +Prison returned to the scene, and you know what is happening now +Since the 1980s, the number of black prisoners has increased more than any other country +It has absolutely nothing to do with crime +So I looked at all the history +slavery +The post-reconstruction phase is worse than slavery +Then the Second World War +pickup window.. +It was not pretty..but at least there was something +Then back to slavery again and hard work in prison +This is the history of blacks in America for centuries +In any case, unfortunately, Professor Harvard was arrested +But .. you have to compare the two cases ... +The book .. by a Wall Street editor +It is not .. +But the whole picture and what it means .. disappeared +Now the picture is different +Today a beer party .. +There is a black head +Everything is over +And we moved to a post-ethnic society +Oh really?! Take a look at the past and the present +It's closing the car industry ... that's what is happening +It is basically .. +Driving upside down .. closing a small window +There is a vacancy .. for .. +Condoleezza Rice +Barack Obama.. +Black middle class +0 +3 +6 +8 +11 +15 +22 +29 +31 +34 +36 +39 +42 +45 +47 +50 +55 +60 +62 +66 +70 +75 +78 +82 +87 +92 +97 +104 +109 +111 +113 +115 +118 +125 +129 +132 +136 +140 +142 +146 +151 +158 +160 +163 +166 +169 +171 +173 +176 +179 +185 +192 +194 +198 +199 +203 +205 +208 +210 +211 +214 +219 +222 +225 +234 +237 +238 +240 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Social Arrangements and Human Nature flF6CVc90Vw.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Social Arrangements and Human Nature flF6CVc90Vw.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78abad9 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Social Arrangements and Human Nature flF6CVc90Vw.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +options there are 3 +and +s +seventh +[Music] on this front +Mayorga these are the instructions +and +he says of course +6 +27 +41 +47 +50 +59 +65 +75 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Survival of Organized Human Life is at Risk Due to Climate Change & Nuclear Weapons F8v_-uagsrY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Survival of Organized Human Life is at Risk Due to Climate Change & Nuclear Weapons F8v_-uagsrY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9a93b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Survival of Organized Human Life is at Risk Due to Climate Change & Nuclear Weapons F8v_-uagsrY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,226 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: Here on Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman, as we return to our conversation with the world-renowned political dissident, +professor, linguist Noam Chomsky. +NOAM CHOMSKY: We can't overemphasize the fact that we're in a unique moment of human +history. +In fact, we have been, ever since 1945. +In 1945, human history changed dramatically. +In August 1945, humans demonstrated that their vaunted intelligence had created a means to +destroy life on Earth. +Didn't quite have it yet at that point, but it was obvious that it was going to extend +and expand, as it in fact did. +A couple of years later, 1947, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists established its famous +Doomsday Clock. +How far are we from midnight, terminal disaster? +It was set at seven minutes to midnight. +It once reached two minutes to midnight, 1953, when the U.S. and then the Soviet Union detonated +thermonuclear weapons, which do have the capacity to essentially destroy life. +Then it has oscillated variously. +It's now back at two minutes to midnight--with an addition. +It was not known in 1945 that we were not only entering the nuclear age, but entering +a new geological epoch, what geologists call the Anthropocene, an epoch in which human +activity is having severe and deleterious effects on the environment in which human +and other life can survive. +We also entered into what's now called the sixth extinction, a rapid extinction of species, +which is comparable to the fifth extinction 65 million years ago when an asteroid, huge +asteroid, hit the Earth, we know. +The World Geological Society finally settled on the end of World War II as the onset of +the Anthropocene--sharp escalation and destruction of the environment, not only global warming, +carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases, but also such things as plastics in the ocean, +which are predicted to be greater than the weight of fish in the ocean not far in the +future. +So we're destroying the environment for organized human life. +We're threatening a terminal disaster with regular nuclear confrontations. +Anybody who has looked at the record, which is shocking, would have to conclude that it's +a miracle that we've survived this long. +Humans beings, right now, this generation, for the first time in history, have to ask, +"Will human life survive?" +And not in the far future will organized societies--those are the issues we should be concerned with. +Everything else pales in significance in comparison with this. +And going back to NATO, well, what is it doing? +It expanded to the Russian border. +If you take a look at Trump's policies from a geostrategic point of view, they're totally +incoherent. +I mean, on the one hand, he's making nice to Vladimir Putin. +On the other hand, he's escalating the threats against Russia, and hence to ourselves, as +well. +Arms the Ukraine, serious threat to Russia. +Increasing forces at the Russian border. +The Russians are doing the same on the other side. +Military maneuvers. +The new nuclear program which he has instituted, which is a severe threat to Russia, and indeed +the world. +Already under Obama, the modernization programs had reached the level where they were posing +a literal first-strike threat to Russia. +Important work on that has appeared in the scientific journals, Bulletin of the Atomic +Scientists. +Trump is escalating it, even more modernization of extremely dangerous forces, also significantly +lowering the threshold for nuclear war. +Also new weapons, which are supposedly tactical nuclear weapons, which, as any nuclear strategist +can tell you, are just incentives for escalation to final disaster. +These are enormous threats against Russia, ourselves as well, combined with being polite +to Putin at a press conference. +Geostrategically, this makes no sense. +It all makes perfect sense on a different assumption. +AMY GOODMAN: Trump has gone after NATO allies from Britain to Germany, and before that, +Macron in France as well as Justin Trudeau in Canada. +But he also, while questioning NATO, says he's questioning--because he simply wants +them to spend more money--and actually named the weapons manufacturers in the United States--that +he wants them to spend more money on--saying they should spend four percent of their budgets +on weapons. +If you could comment on this? +NOAM CHOMSKY: In other words, if you're looking for a serious strategy behind this, +you're looking in the wrong place. +That's not what lies behind it. +None of this makes sense from a strategic point of view. +None. +It's all contradictory, incoherent and so on. +That should tell us something: Let's look somewhere else. +And it all makes perfect sense on the assumption that he is driven by one overwhelming concern: +himself. +All of this makes sense for a megalomaniac who wants to make sure that he has power, +he has wealth, has to appeal to a number of constituencies to make sure he's supported. +One constituency is the overwhelmingly hawkish establishment--you know, expand NATO, build +up the military system, modernize nuclear weapons and so on. +OK, he's got them in his pocket. +The crucial constituency is--and his actual one--are the corporate sector and the super-rich. +And he's just lavishing gifts on them. +While he's prancing in front of the media, and the media are helping him out by focusing +on him, his minions in Congress are carrying out sheer robbery. +I mean, it's unbelievable, if you take a look at it point by point. +I've mentioned a couple of examples before. +Then he has to maintain a voting base; otherwise, he's out. +And he does that by posturing. +"I'm going to--I'm going to confront NATO, make them pay more, so they won't +be robbing us anymore." +Great. +"I'm going to confront China. +Stop stealing our intellectual property." +Great. +"I'm going to put tariffs on everybody. +I'm defending you guys, workers' rights." +Point by point, it all falls into place. +And I think that's pretty much what's going on. +This searching for some coherent geostrategic strategy behind this is almost hopeless. +There are a few things, of course. +The effort to construct an alliance of the most reactionary Middle Eastern states against +Iran--Saudi Arabia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Egypt under the dictatorship--that's a +crazy, but coherent, strategy. +I should say that one corollary to the "me first" doctrine, which has been observed +over and over, is that if Obama did something, I've got to do the opposite, no matter what +it is. +Doesn't matter what the consequences are. +Otherwise, I'm not, you know, a transformative president, a significant president. +0 +3 +10 +12 +21 +22 +25 +31 +43 +45 +50 +54 +63 +64 +67 +74 +85 +90 +92 +97 +105 +113 +124 +126 +133 +141 +144 +151 +161 +169 +175 +176 +179 +186 +193 +196 +203 +205 +217 +221 +226 +229 +237 +238 +244 +252 +253 +256 +259 +263 +267 +274 +276 +284 +289 +296 +297 +306 +309 +318 +326 +334 +337 +339 +342 +350 +353 +359 +365 +370 +371 +373 +378 +380 +383 +386 +387 +391 +394 +405 +407 +415 +422 +435 +441 +444 +452 +456 +462 +468 +473 +476 +482 +485 +493 +494 +495 +497 +500 +501 +505 +510 +512 +517 +525 +528 +537 +547 +551 +559 +564 +565 +568 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Alien perspective on humanity - Jung & Naiv - Episode 284 h0qdbsE3Jqo.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Alien perspective on humanity - Jung & Naiv - Episode 284 h0qdbsE3Jqo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76a9168 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Alien perspective on humanity - Jung & Naiv - Episode 284 h0qdbsE3Jqo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1082 @@ +NC: So, going back to this interested Alien, +what he sees is that this remarkable species developed higher intelligence, +and it is now using it in order to destroy itself, and is on the verge of destruction. +And they might watch something like the current electoral campaign, +everyone's paying attention to it, +and notice a very curious fact: none of this is being discussed. +What's being discussed is tweets at 3 a.m., you know, +various kinds of vulgarity, anything, but serious problems. +TJ: It's a depressing topic. +But maybe the Alien would agree that ignorance is bliss? Ignorance is bliss? +NC: For a short time. Until it hits. +TJ: All right, Young & Naive, we are ... in Boston, are we in Boston? +NC: No, we are in Cambridge. +TJ: Is that different? +NC: Across the river. +TJ: OK. And who are you? +NC: I'm Noam Chomsky, I have been at MIT, where we now are, for 65 years, I'm now a retired professor. +TJ: And you still have an office. +NC: I still have an office. They're nice to me. +TJ: Why would they be nice? +NC: Maybe because they like me. +TJ: I heard you are a little famous ... are you still famous? +NC: That's for other people to decide. +TJ: I read a lot about you, and I want to start with one point you always make in your books, +about the "Alien Perspective". +Could you ... let's pretend you are an alien and watch - on Earth. +What are you witnessing, like, in terms of politics? +NC: Well, if you are an alien with a kind of a long stretch of understanding, +maybe hundreds of thousands of years, +and you're watching what's going on on Earth, you'd be pretty surprised. +TJ: Why? +NC: About two hundred thousand years ago, +a new species appeared on Earth, humans, +radically different from all others, as we can tell by just looking around. +For a long time they kind of just wandered around the Earth, +called hunter/gatherers, hunting, picking fruit and things like that. +But about a ten thousand years ago, they underwent a big change. +They started settled agriculture, they started building cities, +started expanding, started having wars, developed complex cultures ... +And during the last ten thousand years, they have expanded all over the Earth, +some, they already had, but much more densely settled, they have ... +in this country, for example, they immigrated from originally England, +and pretty much wiped out the indigenous population, and conquered a large part of the land ... +and so things continued ... during the 20th century they had massive wars of mutual destruction. +In 1945 they entered a new, a dramatic new era, +the nuclear age, in which they had devised means to destroy themselves. +And they have been living under the shadow of this threat, which is a very serious one, +for 70 years, up and back, now increasing again ... +And at the same time, though we didn't know it at the time, +I'm old enough to remember it, +we now know that at about the same time a new geological epoch began. +The geologists divide all of history into different epochs, Pleistocene, Holocene ... +most of them last millions of years. This new one began ... +geologists now place it approximately at the end of the Second World War. +It's the period when very dramatic changes took place in the environment, +caused by human activity. That's why it's called the Anthropocene, +the human geological epoch, in which humans began to radically transform the environment, +and now to the point where they're on the verge of destroying themselves. +So, going back to this interested Alien, +what he sees is that this remarkable species developed higher intelligence, +and it is now using it in order to destroy itself, and is on the verge of destruction. +And they might watch something like the current electoral campaign, +everyone's paying attention to it, and notice a very curious fact: +none of this is being discussed. +What's being discussed is tweets at 3 a.m., you know, +various kinds of vulgarity, anything, but serious problems. +And the two, the most serious problem that ever has arisen in human history, namely, +are we gonna survive, is not being discussed. +TJ: Why not? +NC: That's an interesting question. +The extraterrestrial Alien might be asking himself, +what strange form of intelligence is it that enables great accomplishments to be achieved, +but is unable to ask the question "will we survive?" and "how can we ensure our survival?" +Of course there are plenty of people doing it. +They're just off the mainstream, so you don't see it in the electoral campaign, +you don't see it in media commentary ... +You do see it in popular activism, all over. +And that's another fact that the Alien might be intrigued by. +TJ: So, if you're the Alien, how do you explain that after 200 000 years humanity hasn't united? +NC: It's tried in various times. +In 1945, at the beginning of the nuclear age, +it was recognized by people who were thinking, +that we simply have to unite in order to overcome the threat we have created to our own existence. +Albert Einstein for one said this as soon as the atom bomb went off, +he said this means that we must have world government, or else we're finished. +And others drew the same conclusion. +In fact, if we go back to the late Forties, +some of the top bestsellers were discussions of how we can move on to world government. +And there was an effort. It's called the United Nations. +Which at the beginning ... it was hoped ... would have promise of moving in this direction. +But it was pretty quickly undermined by competing nationalisms, +actually, the United Sates was of course in the lead, +because at the end of the Second World War the US had enormous ... historic ... enormous power, +without any historical precedent, even remotely like it, +it had about half the world's wealth, which is incredible. +Other industrial societies had been destroyed or severely harmed. +The US economy gained enormously during the war. +Manufacturing quadrupled, new technologies were developed; +it was poised to be the dominant world power at a level that had never been seen in history. +Ah, things have changed to some extent since, but it is still, to a substantial extent, true. +So the US initiatives and actions were pretty critical. +And in the early years, see, the US used its power to turn, +to dominate the United Nations and basically to turn into a battering ram against its major enemies, the Soviet Union. +So in the early years of the United Nations, +if you look at vetoes of Security Council resolutions, +they were almost all Russian, because the UN was being used as a way to attack the Russians. +Often for legitimate reasons, but nevertheless that's how it was used. +That has changed over the years, but not in a way that has made the UN a functioning, +independent force that might bring people together. +So during the Nineteen-Fifties other industrial societies began to reconstruct from the war, +decolonization began; some parts of the world, +huge parts of the world that had been colonies of the European powers, +gained some measure of independence. +All of that led to a more diversified international system, and US power within the UN, +though still overwhelming, began to decline. +Vetoes of resolutions are a pretty good measure of it. +Up until 1970, there were no US vetoes. From 1970 to the present, +the United States is way in the lead when in to vetoing resolutions, +because it's become increasingly isolated from large parts of world opinion. +Americans probably aren't aware of this, +but there are polls of international opinion, carried out by the major US polling agencies, +not the Russian, no hostile enemies, like, Gallup polls, +and one of the questions they ask is "which country is the greatest threat to world peace?" ... +and the United States is way ahead - nobody is even close. +This does not get reported in the United States, so people don't know about it ... +TJ: Is it true? +NC: Is it true? That's what most of the world thinks. +TJ: What do you think? +NC: Oh, I think there's very good reason to believe it. We don't like to look at it that way, but ... +TJ: ... we're the good guys ... the West ... +NC: Not the West, the United States. +But every other great power has also thought of itself as the good guys. +It was true of Britain when it was running the world, +it was true of France when it was a dominant power, +it was true of Hitler-Germany, it was true of fascist Japan, and in fact, it's kind of universal. +Every state that has any degree of power regards itself as uniquely admirable or magnificent, +and doesn't understand why the rest of the world doesn't perceive their angelic character. +That's historically universal. +Probably it is true of Genghis Kahn, though we have no records. +TJ: So ... ah ... let's stick with the Alien Perspective again, +if you say global warming and the nuclear age still has to be resolved, +like, we have to fix those problems - if we don't fix them, +will the 21st century be the final, the last century of humanity? +NC: Probably not of humanity, but of organized human life on Earth. +So for example ... if there is a nuclear war, which has come very close many times, +sometimes by accident, pure accident, +I could give you some examples which are harrowing, but sometimes by reckless actions. +The threat is now increasing. Some of the leading mainstream specialists, +nuclear strategists, people like William Perry, former Defense Secretary, +argue that the threat of nuclear war today is greater than it was during the Cold War. +TJ: Today? +NC: Today. And others agree. +There is a journal called the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists". +It's a major journal of atomic scientists. +It opened right at the beginning of the nuclear age, in 1947, two years after the atomic bombing. +They established what they calling a Doomsday Clock, a clock with a minute hand. +The question is: How far is the minute hand from midnight? +Midnight means termination, we're done. +Every year they collect a group of specialists, experts, to try to set the minute hand. +Two years ago they moved it two minutes closer to midnight. +Now, three minutes to midnight, which is very close, +the closest it's been since the early Nineteen-Eighties, when there was a major war scare - +we almost came to war. +So it's not just William Perry - plenty of others. +Incidentally, when they moved it to midnight, +it was not just because of a threat of nuclear war, +it was also because of the failure of governments to deal with the increasing threat of environmental catastrophe. +And it's serious. So just take one element: Rising sea levels. +That's not in question any longer; sea levels are rising, +and in fact faster than they have in recorded history. +Just consider a country like Bangladesh. It's a low-lying coastal plain; +it has hundreds of millions of people. As the sea level rises slightly, +those people are going to have to flee. +The chief environmental scientist of Bangladesh recently warned +that tens of millions of people are going to have to flee in the coming years, just from sea level rising. +And he made an interesting comment. +He said that if we lived in a just world, these people would be admitted into the rich countries, +the United States, England, and others, because those are the countries that are responsible for it, +and have the capacity to absorb them. +If we think we have an immigrant crisis today, +which is non-existent, +what is it going to be like when tens of millions of people are fleeing from rising sea levels? +And that's just the beginning. Just keep to South Asia. +The water supply of South Asia comes mostly from glaciers in the Himalaya Mountains. +They are melting. What happens when they disappear? +Thea are melting pretty fast. There goes the water supply for South Asia. +Couple of billion people. In India alone, right now, +there are already, about, estimated, 300 million people who barely have access to water. +What's going to happen to them? It's all over the place. +Our coastal cities are going to disappear, and the extreme weather events will increase ... +Right now, there are ... about one person per second is fleeing from the effects of severe weather. +That's more than the number of refugees. And that's going to increase. +We are facing a major disaster, unless something is done. +Now this Alien, who is watching us, he would be astonished, +not just at the fact that it is not being discussed, +but the fact that in the richest and most powerful country in world history, +which is going to shape what happens for the future, +there is a major political party, the one that happens to dominate Congress right now, +which simply denies that it's happening. +They have a policy about global warming: "Forget it. It's not happening, OK?" +It's hard to find words to describe this. +That means that in the most powerful country in world history, +the most educated, with major advantages, +a major political party is saying let's race to the precipice as quickly as possible. +And there's no comment on it. Try to find a comment on that fact. +I mean what it really means is that this is the most dangerous organization in world history. +TJ: The Republican Party? +NC: Take a look. Is that an exaggeration? In the primary, +the Republican primary, every single candidate said it's not happening ... +with one exception, John Kasich, who is supposed to be the sensible, moderate. +He said yes, it's happening, but we shouldn't do anything about it, which is worse. +So that's a 100% refusal, OK? +The winning candidate denies that what's happening, is happening, +and says we should make it worse. We should use more fossil fuels, +including coal, which is the most polluting, +we should eliminate environmental regulations, +we should refuse to help poorer countries move to sustainable energy, +as was agreed in the Paris negotiations last year, +which he wants to dismantle, so in other words, +let's race to the precipice as quickly as possible. +Meanwhile, the threat of nuclear war is increasing, +with very provocative actions on both sides. And there is very little ... +Specialists are concerned, but it's not part of the general kind of conversation. +It's not what you talk about with your friends when you go out for a cup of coffee. +TJ: It's a depressing topic. +But maybe the Alien would agree that ignorance is bliss? Ignorance is bliss? +NC: For a short time. Until it hits. +And it's not bliss for other people. +It's not bliss for the one person per second who is fleeing the effects of severe weather, drought, and so on. +And these droughts, which are all over the place, are really having a big effect. +The catastrophe in Darfour, or what's now happening in Syria, which is horrible, +are to a significant extent the result of severe droughts. Take Syria. +Awful things are happening. Half a million people have been killed, millions are refugees. +The country is being destroyed. +Part of the reason is that several years before the conflict broke out there was a very severe drought in Syria. +Syria has been settled for thousands of years, +it is the heart of human civilization, and there has never been anything like it, in all of history. +A huge drought, that drove peasants off the land, they couldn't farm, couldn't survive. +Drove them into cities, that means densely populated urban slums, lots of tension and conflict. +All of that is kind of dry kindling. +Drop a match on it and it explodes. It sets up the basis for conflict. +In Darfour, where there was again a huge catastrophe, a couple of years ago, +but it's still continuing, +part of the reason is that terrible droughts had driven nomadic populations into agricultural settled areas in order to survive, which set up, of course, a conflict. +If there is an invasion, what amounts to an invasion, of people trying to survive, +it's not pleasant, but that's in large part the basis of what happened there. +And there's going to be more and more of it. +And we're going to have water wars, because water is scarce and not preserved. +Ignorance is bliss, if you can get yourself away from it, +and not think about the near future, like or about the future of your children, say. It's not far off. +TJ: Ahm - want to talk about the American Empire? +Martin Luther King famously said: +"The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government." +He meant the American government. +He said that 50 years ago. Is that still true? +NC: He said it at the peak of the Vietnam War, +where American B52 bombers were carrying out saturation bombing in the densely populated Mekong Delta. +Millions of people were killed, the country devastated ... +at about the time when he spoke, one of the leading specialists on Indochina, +Bernard Fall, a Vietnam historian, a military historian, +who was by no means on the Left, he was strongly in favor of the US-backed Saigon government and US policy. +He nevertheless pointed out that, as he put it, +Vietnam as a historical and cultural entity may not survive the greatest onslaught against a population in an area this size in history. +That's when Martin Luther King spoke. +Has it changed? Not that much. +A couple of years ago ... in 2003 the United States, +along with Britain, invaded Iraq, killed hundreds of thousands of people, +generated millions of refugees, all kinds of atrocities, torture and so on ... +instigated a sectarian conflict ... +there is a major split in the Islamic world, it goes back to the eighth century, +which has been pretty amicable, just like Protestant and Catholic, kind of, +not during period of the Great Wars, but during the peaceful periods. ... +In Iraq, the two groups were there, Shiite and Sunni, but they were intermingled, +they intermarried, they lived in the same areas, +sometimes people didn't know who was who, you know. +One of the effects of the American invasion, +an almost immediate effect was to begin to instigate a sectarian conflict, which is now tearing Iraq apart; +and it's tearing the region apart. +That's a devastating effect, and we can go on, it's not the only case. +TJ: Germany is like one of the leading arms exporting nations in the world; +are we, as Germans, part of the problem as well? +NC: Part, yes, of course. So, for example, during the .... +inside NATO, during the Nineteen-Nineties, +Turkey was carrying out terrifying atrocities against its own Kurdish population ... +tens of thousands were killed, about 3500 towns and villages were destroyed, +hundreds of thousands, some say millions, of refugees fled the South-East of Turkey, +there was every imaginable kind of torture and terror ... +Germany was selling arms to the government of Turkey. +It wasn't the leader - the Unites States was the leader, the big guy on the block, +but Germany was participating as much as it could. And it's not the only case. +TJ: You called Obama's drone program, or drone-assassination program, +the by far greatest terrorist campaign in the world. +Does it mean Obama is a terrorist? +NC: Well, it's just - go back to that Alien. +Suppose he thought for a few minutes, and he asked himself, +how would people in Germany be reacting if, say, +Iran was ... had a program in which sent people, assassins, +around the world to murder people who were threatening Iran. +For example the editors of the New York Times and the Washington Post, +major newspapers, who run articles saying we should bomb Iran right now, not wait. +Big articles. So suppose they figured, well, look, they're threatening us, really seriously, +they're claiming they're gonna destroy us, Let's kill'em. +And plenty of others, including, say, President Obama, who says "all options are open", +meaning including nuclear war, if Iran doesn't do what we want. +So, we'll get rid o' him, and plenty of people in Germany who are saying similar things. +So how would people, say, young people in Germany react to those actions? +Would they call them terrorism? +TJ: Probably. +NC: I think so. And that's what we're doing. +The drone program is a program that is initiated, implemented, from the White House. +Careful planning, they meet Tuesday morning, decide who's on the kill list today, +and kill people who are suspected of planning to harm the United States. +Is that any different than killing the editors of the Washington Post or the New York Times? +Because ... there aren't any ... they're not suspected, in fact, they publish articles saying +"let's bomb Iran right now"... +TJ: So, Obama is a terrorist? +NC: Ask yourself how the Alien would look at it. And ... he's a neutral observer. +He ... or she - we didn't decide, but Aliens are usually a he ... +so, how would he look at it? +TJ: How would Noam Chomsky look at it? +NC: Aahm ... you've quoted me ... +TJ: And since Germany is part of the drone program, with ... uhm I don't know, +Ramstein, you know, Ramstein, they are the relay stations for the drones ... +are we also terrorists? +NC: Sure. In fact not just that. +You are torturers. Germany was involved in the rendition program. +The worst form of torture. +The most depraved form, and the most cowardly form is to take suspects +and send them to terrorist countries where you know they're gonna be tortured. +That's the peak. You send them to Syria, or Libya under Ghaddafi, +and that's the way you can make sure they're gonna be tortured. +There was a study recently of the countries that participated in the ... +it's called rendition, in the rendition program ... +and practically all of Europe ... the Middle East, of course, +because that's where the suspects were sent to be tortured, by dictators, +in fact the only part of the world that didn't participate was South America, Latin America. +They refused. Which is kind of interesting, for a number of reasons. +For one thing, because they refused, for another, +because not many years ago Latin America was the center of global torture. +During the period of the US-backed, sometimes US-installed dictatorships +of the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, first Brazil, then Chile under Pinochet, +then Argentina, which was the worst of all, others, Uruguay. +There was horrible torture all over the place, not very long ago. +But enough of a change has taken place that Latin America, +virtually alone, didn't participate in the most depraved, cowardly, disgusting form of torture, rendition. +But Europe did. +TJ: So ... let's go back to the Alien. +I mean, he's been watching for hundreds of thousands of years, +he has seen empires rise and empires fall. +And, basically the rule seems to be, every empire falls. +But since the United States is the exceptional nation, +maybe the American Empire is the exception to that rule? +Will the American Empire fall? +NC: If you had asked the question in 1850, Britain would have been the exception. +It was ruling the waves, half, large parts of the world were red on the map, +meaning dominated by Britain, it looked impregnable - you couldn't have predicted its fall. +You couldn't have predicted the fall, in 1943, you couldn't have predicted the fall of Hitler-Germany, +1942, maybe, it looked like it was conquering everything. +In fact, if you go back to American planners, right through the Second World War, +of course American leaders were planning how to run the war and what the post-war world would look like ... +and the United States happens to be a very open society, +so we have a lot of information about what the government is doing, +not like other societies, we are much more free .... And we know what they were planning. +At that time, say, roughly 1942, you know, before Stalingrad, +American planners assumed that the post-war world would be divided +into an American-controlled world and a German-controlled world. +Two worlds, the American-controlled world would of course have the Western hemisphere, +take over the former British Empire, whatever they could hold on to in Eurasia, +and the German-controlled world would have the rest. That's what it looked like in 1942 ... +I'm old enough to remember it; +I didn't know it about the planning of course, but you could see what was happening in the world. +And until the Russians turned the tide, and began to drive the German armies back, +Stalingrad, Kursk, and so on, that's the way it looked. +Could you have predicted? Not really. +The American Empire is not what it was in 1945. +As I mentioned, the world's become considerably more diverse. +So in 1945 the US had maybe half the world's wealth, and today it has maybe a quarter, +which is colossal, but not the same. +And large parts of the world that were under US control or partially under US control, in 1945, are no longer. +China for example. China became independent in 1949. +There is a phrase for that in the West. +It's called "the Loss of China", which is a very interesting phrase ... +when the Alien observes and he notices we are calling it the Loss of China. +I can't lose your computer. I can lose my computer. +If we lost China that means we owned China, and that's the assumption. +The tacit assumption is: We own it. It's ours. +And if it becomes independent, we've lost it. +The "Loss of Indochina" was described the same way, it is an interesting mentality. +But nevertheless, it has declined. +However, if you use different measures, you get a different picture. +This is a different world than it was in the Nineteen-Forties. +It's a much more ... in economic terms, it's a more globalized world. +Corporations, for example: In the Nineteen-Forties, +they operated primarily in their home countries. And now they have global operations, so ... +I see you've got an iPhone, or whatever it is over there, something, one of those things ... +let's say iPhones, which have been studied carefully. +They are produced by Apple. They are assembled in South-East China, +by a Taiwanese corporation, Foxconn. +But Apple runs the whole operation, and if you look at the profits, they go back to Apple, overwhelmingly. +Foxconn gets about 10%. China gets a little bit. +They are the assembly plant for Foxconn, which is effectively a subsidiary of Apple. +That's globalized operations. +And if you now look at the ownership of the world, +which corporations basically own the world, it turns out that US corporations have about half of ownership of the world. +So in some respects, it's not very different from 1945. +It's not national territory that has half the world's wealth, bus US-based corporations that do. +That's a change in the world system, a significant change, +which hasn't been sufficiently investigated. +China has grown enormously, but it's not among the top owners ... +if you look at Chinese corporations, they're not the ones that run the world. +So yes, it's a very different, complex world, changed in lots of ways. +These international corporations, multi-nationals, +are nationally based, so they rely on their home country, and the tax-payers in their home country ... +increasingly they don't contribute to their home country. +So take Apple again. It sets up a headquarters in Ireland, which may be, for all I know, the size of this office. +And it says, OK, that's our base. +So we just pay Irish taxes, which happen to be very low. +Luxembourg, even lower, Cayman Islands, even lower. +Recently a study came out, the Panama Papers, it's called. +By now a couple of hundred journalists are trying to work through the hundreds of thousands of pages. +Basically they are the records of a Panama-based law firm +which is running techniques of tax evasion for corporations and wealthy people all over the world ... +trillions of dollars, tens of trillions of dollars being manipulated to avoid paying taxes in the home country, +though they rely on the home country, for subsidy, for support, they rely in many ways. +Take a walk around MIT where we are now, just look at the buildings that are there. +Notice who they are. +You'll see Novartis, Pfizer, other big pharmaceutical corporations, genetic engineering corporations and so on ... +What are they doing there? +What they're doing is ripping off publicly-funded research at MIT. +And Harvard, mainly MIT. That's a large part of the way the economy develops. +The public pays for the research and development, the costly, risky phase, +then hand it over to the private corporations for marketing and profit. +And then they carry out their international operations, try to maximize profit, +and very commonly work out devious techniques, +so they don't have to contribute to their home societies for ... through taxes. +That's a large part of the modern world, a very substantial part. +So, is it an empire? +We have to decide what we mean by the word. +It's a different kind of ... form of international domination. +TJ: Do you think it's gonna be the last empire? ... The Alien looks at it ... +NC: The Alien who looks at it and looks at the way humans are responding to the current situation, +would probably conclude that it's quite likely that in another century human society will have disintegrated ... +because it will not be able to deal with the immense ... +it is not trying to deal with seriously, the immense problems it is facing, including ... +I mentioned two, which are enormous, but there's more than that. +Another major problem is the threat of pandemics, diseases that can't be controlled. +That's already happening. And it's happening for important reasons. +One major reason, which we haven't mentioned, +but the Alien would notice, is industrial meat production. +Industrial meat production is a huge contributor to global warming. +It is an enormous producer of carbon dioxide and methane and other gases, +but it also has another feature. Corporations pour antibiotics into these systems. +Animals are crowded together in horrible conditions, +and to prevent disease, and to maintain growth, +there is an extensive use of antibiotics; +an enormous part of the whole antibiotics production is for this. +The use of antibiotics leads to mutations which make bacteria antibiotic-resistant, +and by now the rate of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is growing faster than the techniques for dealing with them. +So we may be destroying ourselves in that way, too. +There's a lot of things the Alien would notice that we should be noticing. +TJ: So are you a vegan? +NC: I am not, but I can imagine that one would be. +The crucial question in my view is not ... +I mean, individual actions are OK, they're good to do, +it's good to use less energy, and so on. +But what's really needed is collective action to deal with the roots of the problem. +I mean, if you are a vegan, let's say, and you eat food, fruit and vegetables, +that are transported from somewhere else, you're contributing to the destruction of the environment. +That's what transport is. A lot of things to look at. +We all make individual compromises, there is no choice. +You can't avoid it. Like, we've got the lights on. You've got the electricity, right? +But the crucial question is really institutional. +How are we gonna deal with the institutions that are creating these systems? +TJ: Tell us. +NC: Well, there is only one way that's ever been discovered: +Organized, collective action, which has led to a lot of changes. +Take Germany: It's not the same country it was seventy, eighty years ago. Why? +Germans made it a different country. We can do the same. +In fact, take, say, global warming: +Germany is pretty advanced among countries of the world in trying to do something about it. +That's because Germans committed themselves to do something. +We can do the same on the other issues. Take, say, the threat of nuclear war: +Right now it's mostly on the Russian border. +On the Russian border, not the Mexican border. +Now that's a reflection of the scale of global power. Why ... +there's provocations on both sides. +And Germany is right there, in fact, Germany is right in the center of it. +The major issue had to do with Germany. +Go back to 1991, end of the Soviet Empire. +There was the question as to how the world system would be reconstructed with the Soviet system collapsing. +There were two views. Gorbachev, the Russian leader, +proposed a vision of a unified security system for all of Eurasia with no military blocs, +just cooperative integration. That was one vision. +The Americans, with President George Bush number one, +and his Secretary of State James Baker, they had a different vision. +The Russian system would collapse, and NATO would expand. +Crucial question was Germany. +For Russia it's a pretty serious question. +Germany alone had practically destroyed Russia twice during the preceding century, +and earlier, other Western invasions, from Western Europe. +So what happened to Germany was going to be a serious question. +Gorbachev agreed to allow Germany to be unified, East and West, +and even to join NATO, a hostile military alliance, which was quite a concession. +But there was an agreement, he thought, +the agreement was that NATO would not expand one inch to the East. +That was the phrase that was used, which meant East Germany. +NATO immediately expanded to East Germany. +When Gorbachev protested, the Americans pointed out, correctly, +that it wasn't a written agreement. It was just a verbal agreement, like a handshake. +So, if you trust us, that's kind of your problem. +So NATO expanded to East Germany under ... +the following years under Clinton, it expanded to the former Russian Empire, +all the way to the borders of Russia. +In 2008, and again in 2013, under Obama, NATO offered admission to NATO to Ukraine ... +Take a look at the map and [at] history. +Ukraine is right in the geopolitical and strategic heartland of Russia, +apart from long historical, other connections. +Offering Ukraine NATO membership is a very serious threat to Russia. +Western analysts understand that. +Right now the United States, Obama, is placing a ... +what's called a missile defense system in Romania. +The pretense is that it is supposed to defend Europe from non-existent Iranian missiles, OK? +You can believe that, you can believe in Alice in Wonderland. +It's of course aimed against Russia, obviously. +Furthermore, it's understood by strategic analysts on all sides that what's called missile defense is an offensive weapon. +Nobody believes that missile defense could ever stop a first strike, +but it is imaginable that it might deter a retaliatory strike, which means, +it's a first-strike weapon, and everyone understands that. It's highly provocative. +Now the Russians are carrying out a major military build-up of their own, +modernizing forces, new missile systems, nuclear submarines with nuclear weapons, and so on ... +and you have constant threats right at the border. +Jet planes of both sides kind of buzzing each other, and so on ... could blow up. +Germany is sitting right there. +Germany could play a leading role in trying to reduce these tensions, +and in fact some German political leaders have called for that. +But these are choices, and they are choices that the German people will have to make. +Do we wanna have a nuclear war and destroy everything? +Do we wanna wipe out the world with global catastrophes? +That's for people to decide. +TJ: Thanks so much for the Alien Perspective. +We have to wrap it up. Thanks so much! +0 +2 +9 +16 +22 +24 +28 +35 +42 +44 +51 +58 +62 +63 +64 +65 +67 +76 +78 +80 +82 +84 +89 +92 +101 +104 +111 +116 +124 +127 +131 +132 +135 +140 +145 +150 +156 +161 +164 +171 +177 +184 +190 +195 +204 +211 +218 +225 +230 +234 +236 +244 +251 +257 +262 +267 +271 +280 +284 +288 +294 +301 +307 +311 +313 +320 +327 +333 +337 +337 +339 +344 +351 +359 +362 +367 +368 +372 +378 +387 +391 +395 +398 +406 +413 +417 +421 +423 +429 +433 +440 +447 +450 +459 +463 +467 +473 +478 +484 +490 +497 +501 +507 +516 +519 +522 +529 +534 +541 +544 +551 +556 +560 +563 +570 +573 +579 +586 +590 +596 +599 +606 +611 +617 +621 +626 +627 +630 +631 +637 +639 +642 +646 +650 +653 +659 +669 +674 +677 +680 +685 +692 +697 +702 +707 +715 +718 +724 +730 +734 +740 +741 +744 +749 +753 +763 +769 +774 +777 +784 +789 +792 +798 +800 +803 +805 +809 +818 +823 +828 +831 +837 +844 +846 +853 +861 +864 +872 +877 +880 +884 +886 +892 +895 +901 +905 +909 +914 +920 +926 +937 +947 +951 +955 +960 +964 +970 +972 +979 +981 +987 +991 +996 +999 +1005 +1009 +1016 +1017 +1021 +1027 +1033 +1037 +1041 +1046 +1050 +1053 +1055 +1062 +1066 +1068 +1071 +1074 +1080 +1087 +1091 +1093 +1100 +1104 +1107 +1118 +1122 +1131 +1136 +1143 +1145 +1154 +1157 +1164 +1170 +1178 +1182 +1187 +1195 +1196 +1211 +1216 +1221 +1223 +1228 +1234 +1240 +1246 +1248 +1254 +1255 +1259 +1263 +1276 +1280 +1287 +1292 +1301 +1305 +1317 +1320 +1323 +1329 +1336 +1343 +1347 +1357 +1362 +1366 +1374 +1375 +1378 +1381 +1390 +1393 +1400 +1405 +1409 +1414 +1420 +1427 +1434 +1440 +1444 +1447 +1453 +1458 +1464 +1468 +1472 +1475 +1481 +1487 +1493 +1498 +1503 +1510 +1517 +1520 +1527 +1532 +1536 +1543 +1544 +1546 +1548 +1556 +1561 +1567 +1574 +1579 +1581 +1584 +1591 +1595 +1597 +1599 +1601 +1606 +1611 +1614 +1616 +1620 +1622 +1630 +1635 +1642 +1646 +1651 +1654 +1659 +1665 +1671 +1677 +1680 +1685 +1692 +1701 +1705 +1709 +1713 +1721 +1723 +1725 +1731 +1735 +1739 +1744 +1749 +1751 +1758 +1765 +1770 +1779 +1783 +1788 +1794 +1798 +1802 +1806 +1812 +1818 +1822 +1829 +1836 +1841 +1844 +1847 +1854 +1857 +1861 +1865 +1870 +1879 +1882 +1893 +1898 +1901 +1906 +1910 +1915 +1921 +1925 +1928 +1934 +1936 +1941 +1945 +1952 +1957 +1965 +1972 +1977 +1982 +1987 +1996 +2000 +2007 +2010 +2014 +2022 +2026 +2036 +2042 +2045 +2052 +2057 +2061 +2064 +2072 +2076 +2086 +2088 +2092 +2096 +2101 +2107 +2111 +2119 +2129 +2135 +2143 +2145 +2157 +2159 +2165 +2171 +2176 +2181 +2187 +2192 +2197 +2201 +2203 +2207 +2211 +2220 +2227 +2239 +2243 +2249 +2254 +2261 +2266 +2270 +2276 +2281 +2288 +2296 +2301 +2305 +2308 +2313 +2320 +2329 +2332 +2337 +2338 +2343 +2346 +2350 +2352 +2357 +2363 +2368 +2373 +2377 +2382 +2387 +2392 +2393 +2397 +2402 +2408 +2412 +2414 +2424 +2428 +2435 +2438 +2442 +2447 +2450 +2453 +2457 +2462 +2471 +2476 +2486 +2490 +2494 +2499 +2505 +2508 +2511 +2521 +2525 +2529 +2535 +2542 +2546 +2552 +2556 +2560 +2566 +2571 +2575 +2578 +2584 +2586 +2598 +2601 +2606 +2611 +2617 +2620 +2625 +2629 +2638 +2642 +2646 +2654 +2660 +2667 +2672 +2676 +2687 +2691 +2696 +2698 +2702 +2707 +2712 +2716 +2720 +2722 +2725 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Anti-War Movement 85-S4xdsqZg.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Anti-War Movement 85-S4xdsqZg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b40b4ab --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Anti-War Movement 85-S4xdsqZg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,204 @@ +Interviewer: The mistakes that you think the Anti-war movement +has made over the years and things that maybe we should have done differently and +different approaches that we make make in the future.... Clearly we have had some successes, even some significant successes. +But on the other hand we've also failed in some sense. +So what what do you think we've done +that wasn't so wise and what things should we have been doing? +Chomsky: A lot of things could have been a lot better. +Sectors of the Anti-War Movement, +you know who they were, very nice people, our friends and so on +undertook tactics. +If you undertaking something..... +Always, if you're any kind of an activist, and pick something you decide to do +you have to make a distinction between two kinds of tactics. +You could call them 'feel good' tactics, that make me feel good about myself, and 'do good' tactics that do good for somebody else. +To a large extent, the Anti-war movement dissolved +into 'feel good tactics' which were harmful. A fact the Vietnamese were aware of. +What they liked was quiet, non-violent demonstrations +like a group of women standing quietly somewhere. +What they didn't like was what was being done? +say ???? +These are tactics that are understandable from the point of view of the people; they were frustrated ,they were bitter. +Nothing was working so let's go out smash some windows. +Let's go out and have a fight in a Third Avenue bar. Sure the people were authentic and so on. +You know these are like just gifts to the Ultra Hawks (Pro-War Factions) +They help to build up support for the war +It was obvious they were going to have that effect +As the movement dissolved into sects after '68 +A lot of was just self-destructive. +The other BIG error was to stop. +By 1975, end of the war, +around 70% of the population +condemned the war as fundamentally wrong and immoral - not a mistake! +They're kind of unbelievable figures, because nobody ever said that. +Where did they get it from? What did they even mean? Who knows? Nobody checked. +But that meant there was a huge reservoir of +possible support for Anti-war activity. It dissolved, it left. They went away. +You started condemning the Khmer Rouge, or doing some other things. +Then comes the central American massacres and so it goes on. +There are other things. Nobody agrees with me about this. My friends on the left, +many of them don't even understand my own view , +which goes back to around 1970, that the U.S won the war. +The business world recognized that the US won, you read in the Far Eastern Economic Review. +But the left is committed to the doctrine that we won. +That we stopped the war, the Vietnamese won.The people united and the rest of it. It's not what happened. +We have a rich documentary record, and it's very instructive. +We should think about it and be intellectually honest about it. +The U.S. didn't go to war in order to conquer Vietnam. The U.S. didn't care if Vietnam dropped off the planet. +But the U.S. went to war for good reasons. +Interviewer: You would think people in movement would understand that. +It was always pretty clear but we have a rich documentary record, in fact we've had it since about 19.., since the pentagon papers. +They went to war for the usual reasons - the 'Mafia Principle'. Which is the dominant principle of world affairs? +The Godfather does not accept disobedience. It's dangerous. +If one country gets away with disobedience, doesn't matter how tiny it is, somebody else will get the idea, +then they'll be disobedient. Pretty soon the whole system erodes. +That's the one of the dominant principles of world affairs. +And Vietnam is a case in point. +They were afraid that Vietnamese Nationalism +would be successful and have successful economic development. +It would be, to use Kissinger's terminology, a 'virus' that would spread contagion. +So it would spread to Thailand, Malaysia, go on to +Indonesia, and know you're in real trouble. Indonesia has real resources. +Pretty soon, maybe ultimately Japan. +Which, Asia historian, John Dower, called the Super Domino. +Japan would accommodate, that was the word used, +to an independent East and Southeast Asia. It would become its technological or military center +which would mean that the United States would have lost the specific phase of the First or Second world war. +In 1950 they weren't ready to lose the second world war. So you've got to stop it. +You've got a virus, that's spreading contagion. There's a cure - destroy the virus and +inoculate the potential victims. It was done. +South Vietnam was pretty much destroyed by +1965 and the rest of Indochina not long afterwards. +It would never be a model for independent development. The surrounding countries were +inoculated by vicious dictatorships. The most important was Indonesia. It was really rich. +In 1965 came the Suharto Coup which was greeted with total euphoria in the United States. +It killed maybe a million people and destroy the only mass popular organization, +opened the country up to the West +No more accommodation. No more contagion. In fact, McGeorge Bundy, who is not a total fool. +He was the national security adviser for Kennedy and Johnson. In the later years, +Bundy said, 'In retrospect, we should have stopped the war in 65'. +And he was right. +Vietnam was already essentially destroyed, no virus. +Indonesia, the big prize, has been inoculated. +You've got a vicious military dictatorship. 'Our kind of guy', as Clinton called Suharto. +So, Japan's safe, and it'll be on our side so what's the point destroying the rest of the place. +It was a waste of time. +The Anti-war movement should understand that. It's a pattern that is followed over and over again. +It is a dominant principle of international affairs. It makes perfect sense. +It's kind of interesting. It's sometimes ridiculed like the Domino theory - who believes that ha-ha. +Everybody believes it - because it's true! The world is mostly run like the Mafia. +If you don't understand that you're not going to understand the next thing that happens in the world. +In fact that's part of the reason for the incredible antagonism to Iran. +Why Iran? Terrible government. +There's a lot of terrible governments like Saudi Arabia which is a lot worse. Well, they were disobedient. +They're not going to let them get away with it. It's even sad, they took hostages. +Are we going to let them get away with that? +Disobedience. +Cuba is a striking example. +For decades the majority of the population has been in favor of normalizing relations with Cuba. +Okay so disregarding the population is normal. +The business world is in favor of it - has been for a long time. Big sectors like, energy +agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, really powerful sectors. But we can't do it. +We've got to keep punishing them because they were disobedient, and you don't get away with that. +0 +3 +8 +15 +18 +21 +25 +30 +33 +40 +42 +45 +49 +53 +61 +65 +72 +76 +80 +83 +85 +93 +96 +101 +104 +108 +112 +119 +123 +128 +131 +134 +139 +143 +148 +152 +159 +165 +170 +176 +180 +186 +192 +197 +204 +207 +212 +218 +222 +226 +232 +238 +243 +249 +254 +258 +260 +263 +267 +273 +278 +282 +285 +291 +295 +303 +309 +314 +319 +322 +326 +329 +334 +341 +347 +351 +354 +361 +366 +371 +374 +377 +381 +387 +394 +397 +404 +410 +417 +422 +429 +433 +435 +441 +446 +448 +450 +452 +458 +462 +468 +473 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Crimes of U.S. Presidents 5BXtgq0Nhsc.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Crimes of U.S. Presidents 5BXtgq0Nhsc.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5f81dd --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Crimes of U.S. Presidents 5BXtgq0Nhsc.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,462 @@ +You said that if the Nuremberg +principles were applied, every post-World +War II president would be indictable. +It's probably true. -Can we run down them real fast? +What did Eisenhower do that would +indict him? -Eisenhower overthrew the +conservative nationalist government of +Iran with a military coup. He overthrew +the first and last democratic government +in Guatemala by military coup and +invasion, leading to years of... In Iran it +led to 25 years of brutal dictatorship, +finally overthrown in 79. In Guatemala it +led to massive atrocities which are +still continuing. That's after almost 50 +years. In Indonesia, +this was not known until recently, but he +conducted a major clandestine terror +operation of the post-war period, up +until Cuban and Nicaragua, in an effort to +break up Indonesia and strip off the outer +islands where most of the resources are, +and undermine what was then +considered as the threat of Indonesian +democracy. Indonesia was too free and +open. It was allowing a political party +of the poor to participate. They were +gaining a lot of ground, so +Eisenhower supported and helped +instigate a military rebellion in the +outer islands. This is just for starters. +These are all indictable offenses. -What about Kennedy? +Kennedy was one of the worst. +Kennedy, first of all, invaded South +Vietnam. During the Eisenhower +administration they had blocked a +political settlement in 1954, and +instituted a kind of Latin American- +style terror state which had killed +maybe 60 or 70 thousand people by the +end of the Eisenhower period, and it had +instigated a response, a reaction that +Kennedy recognized couldn't be +controlled internally, so he simply invaded. +In 1962, about a third of the bombing +missions were carried out by the US +Air Force in the South by US planes with +South Vietnamese insignia but US pilots. +He authorized napalm. He began +the use of chemical weapons to destroy +food crops. They began programs which +drove millions of people into what +amounted to concentration camps. +That's aggression. In the case of Cuba it was +just a massive campaign of international +terrorism which almost led to the +destruction of the world, led to the +missile crisis, and we can continue. +Again, these are all indictable offenses. +Johnson? -Well, Johnson expanded the war +in Indochina to the point where he +ended up probably leaving three or four +million people dead. He invaded the +Dominican Republic to block what looked +like a potential democratic revolution there. +He supported the Israeli occupation +in its early stages. Again, we can go +around the world. +Take, let's say Carter. -I'll get there but Nixon's next. +Nixon we don't even have +to talk about. We can skip that one, OK? +Ford then. -Well, Ford was +only there for a short time but long +enough to endorse the Indonesian +invasion of East Timor which became +about as close to genocide as anything +in the modern period. They pretended to +oppose it, but secretly supported it, in fact +not so secretly. Immediately +after the invasion the US did join the +rest of the world in formally condemning +it at the Security Council, but +ambassador Moynihan +was kind enough to explain to us in his +words that his instructions were to +render the United Nations utterly +ineffective in any actions it might take +to counter the Indonesian +invasion and he says proudly that he did +this with considerable success, and his +next sentence says in the next few +months it seems that about sixty +thousand people were killed and then he +goes off to the next topic. That's the +first few months. It went on to probably +hundreds of thousands. Formally the +US announced the boycott of weapons +but secretly it increased the supply of +weapons including counterinsurgency +equipment so that the Indonesians could +consummate the invasion. That's just a +short period in office but that's +indictable, seriously, in fact. +That's a major war crime. -Carter? Carter increased, +as the Indonesian atrocities were +increasing -- they peaked in 1978 -- Carter's +flow of weapons to Indonesia increased. +When Congress imposed human rights +restrictions -- by then there was a human +rights movement in Congress to block the +flow of advanced weaponry to Indonesia +-- Carter arranged through Mondale, the vice +president, to get Israel to send US +Skyhawks to Indonesia to enable +Indonesia to complete what turned out to +be near genocide, killing maybe a quarter +of the population or something. +In the Middle East, Carter had just won the +Nobel Prize. His great achievement was +the Camp David agreements. The Camp David +agreements are presented as a diplomatic +triumph for the United States. In fact, +they were a diplomatic catastrophe. +At Camp David the United States and Israel +accepted finally Egypt's 1971 offer which +the US had rejected at the time except that +now it was worse from the US-Israeli point +of view because it included the +Palestinians. In order get +Israel to accept Egypt'S 1971 offer, +after a major war and atrocities and so +on, Carter raised military and other +aid to Israel to more than fifty percent of +total aid worldwide. Israel used it at +once in exactly the way they said they +were going to do, as every sane person +knew, as an opportunity to attack their +northern neighbor, first in 1978 then in +1982, and to increase integration of the +occupied territories. And that's for +starters. We can continue. -Reagan? -I don't +think we have to talk about that one, either. +I mean Reagan is the first president to +have been condemned by the International +Court of Justice for what they called +the unlawful use of force, meaning +international terrorism, in the war +against Nicaragua. Again, that's just for +starters. The Security Council +endorsed it in two resolutions, both of +which were vetoed by the United States. +[George H.W.] Bush? -Well, we can begin with the +invasion of Panama. The invasion of +Panama, which according to the +Panamanians killed about 3,000 people. +Since it's never investigated, who knows +if that's true or not. This was done +in order to kidnap a disobedient thug +who had been supported by the United +States right through his worst +atrocities. -Noriega. -Noriega, who was +brought to Florida and tried for crimes +that he had committed mostly on the CIA +payroll. +OK, that's aggression. You could go into +the details of the war in Iraq, but there +were plainly opportunities for... they +might not have worked, +but there were opportunities for +diplomatic settlement which the Bush +administration refused to consider, and, +incidentally, the press would not report, +with a single exception: Long Island +Newsday, which did report the whole +story throughout accurately, and it is the +only newspaper in the country to have +done so. The Bush administration then did +attack and the attack was carried out +and in a manner which is criminal under +the laws of war. They attacked +infrastructure. If you attack New +York City and you destroy the electrical +system, the sewage systems and +so on, that amounts to biological warfare, +and that's the nature of the attack. +Then came a sanctions regime, which was +mostly Clinton, but began with Bush, +which by conservative estimates +killed hundreds of thousands of people +while strengthening Saddam Hussein. +That takes us off to Clinton. That's the +beginning. That's by no means the end. +We could run through it. +That one case suffices, but there are +plenty of others. -[GW] Bush? +Let's go on with Clinton. One of Clinton's +very minor escapades +was sending a couple of cruise missiles +to the Sudan to destroy what they knew +to be a pharmaceutical plant. There was +no intelligence failure. According to the +only estimates we have from the German +ambassador and the regional +director of Near East Foundation, which does +field work in Sudan, both of them +estimated several tens of thousands of +deaths from one cruise missile. +Very serious. If somebody did that to us, +we'd regard it as bad news, and again we can +continue. In the Middle East, for +example, Clinton began by declaring +past UN resolutions, +in the words of his administration, "obsolete +and anachronistic" because we're finished +with that. No more international law. +Then comes a period called a peace +process except that during the peace +process Israeli settlement, +which means settlement paid for by the +US taxpayer and supported by US military +aid and diplomacy, continually increased. +The most extreme year was Clinton's last +year: the highest level of settlement, the +highest since 1992. +Meanwhile the territories were cantonized +and broken up into small regions with +infrastructure projects and new +settlement. I don't know what you call +that, but it's under military occupation, +and if anyone else was doing it, we would call +it a crime, and again we can continue. +0 +1 +3 +6 +9 +11 +15 +17 +21 +24 +29 +34 +36 +40 +43 +46 +49 +53 +57 +60 +63 +65 +68 +72 +74 +77 +80 +82 +86 +88 +90 +93 +97 +99 +102 +104 +107 +110 +112 +115 +118 +121 +126 +128 +132 +138 +140 +146 +148 +151 +155 +160 +163 +165 +168 +170 +173 +174 +178 +181 +184 +186 +190 +194 +197 +199 +203 +206 +209 +212 +213 +216 +220 +223 +226 +229 +232 +235 +239 +244 +248 +251 +253 +256 +259 +262 +265 +268 +270 +274 +276 +279 +281 +283 +286 +288 +291 +294 +298 +300 +302 +306 +310 +312 +316 +318 +322 +325 +328 +331 +334 +338 +342 +345 +349 +353 +356 +360 +363 +365 +368 +371 +374 +377 +380 +386 +390 +394 +395 +399 +402 +405 +409 +414 +417 +419 +421 +424 +427 +431 +434 +439 +440 +443 +446 +448 +450 +453 +455 +459 +462 +464 +471 +474 +476 +478 +480 +483 +488 +490 +491 +494 +496 +498 +499 +502 +507 +509 +511 +512 +514 +516 +519 +522 +524 +527 +529 +534 +537 +540 +544 +546 +549 +552 +554 +558 +561 +563 +566 +567 +570 +574 +577 +579 +582 +584 +586 +589 +591 +596 +598 +600 +603 +607 +610 +613 +615 +619 +621 +624 +627 +632 +636 +639 +642 +645 +647 +650 +655 +656 +660 +663 +666 +669 +671 +674 +678 +680 +683 +684 +688 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Faurisson Affair qyVQzmuPEvs.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Faurisson Affair qyVQzmuPEvs.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9d88bc --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Faurisson Affair qyVQzmuPEvs.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,212 @@ +Chomsky: Faurisson was a professor of French literature at Lyon University +he published a few private pamphlets denying the existence of gas chambers +He was then suspended from teaching on the grounds that he could not be protected from violence +He was then at that point.. +He was then brought to trial for falsification of history. The book that you're referring to is entitled +Memoir in Defense Against Those Who Accuse Me of Falsification of History on a matter of gas chambers. +It was in fact submit -- +I didn't know if its existence, +But it was submitted to the tribunal, basically, the court for which he was tried for falsification of history and later condemned +How did I get involved in this? +Well, some stage along the line, +I was asked to sign a civil rights petition, as I do thousands of times. +As I do for Salman Rushdie, which no doubt enrages the Ayatollah Khomeini. +[mumbling, talking over eachother] +Here's a case where a price wasn't put on his head, he was actually punished. +There's lots of differences +I do believe in freedom of speech +I realized that's not a popular position around here, but I believe in it. +Bolkestein: I share that opinion, so don't be afraid +Chomsky: Just as I defended people like, say, Henry Kissinger and Walt Rostow, +although I despise what they stand for, when Walt Rostow -- one of the plan -- +a real war criminal in my view, when he came back to try to get a position back at MIT in 1969, +I was in fact the spokesman for a group of students, radical students, +who said that if he is being denied this position on political grounds, +we're going to protest and demonstrate about it. +Because we think this war criminal has a right to teach. +Bolkestein: Would you have quit? +Chomsky: If he had been turned down on political grounds, I might have. +Because I don't believe that people should be turned down on political grounds +But my point is -- that's a really controversial position, incidentally, the war was going on, +we were talking about a man who was a war criminal, and was going to continue research, which he'd be using +Let's go back to Faurisson +There's a very clear academic freedom issue -- very clear -- a man is +Prevented from teaching French literature because he wrote a pamphlet about gas chambers. +That is outrageous +It couldn't have happened in the United States, I should say. +He was then brought to trial for falsification of history, which is even more outrageous +He was actually condemned which is even worse +I signed a petition +Calling on the tribunal to defend his civil rights. I was one of the 500 signers +At that point, the French press, which apparently has no conception of freedom of speech, +Concluded that since I had called for his civil rights, I was therefore defending his theses +I was -- which is absurd, of course, anyone who knows anything about civil rights knows that you're defend - +Typically, defending freedom of speech for views you detest there's no other point to it. +I was then asked by the person who organized the petition to write a statement on freedom of speech. +Just banal comments about freedom of speech pointing out the difference between +defending a person's right to express his views and defending the views expressed. +So I did that, I wrote a rather banal statement called Some Elementary Remarks on Freedom of Expression. +And I told him: do what you like with it. +At that point, Faurisson was writing his memoir in defense, +unknown to me, and my statement was added as a [?] as an opinion +It was attached to this +statement in which he defended himself. +Bolkestein: Which was asked from you before? +Chomsky: No, but in fact, see I can't -- really, I told him do what you like with it +I didn't know about the book but +actually, I think it's completely -- +like for example, if Henry Kissinger was brought to trial for freedom of -- for falsification of history, +I would have no objection to having something I wrote on freedom of speech attached to a memoir in which he defends himself from the charge. +--- but I'm saying but you know I mean -- freedom of speech issues are important, crucial, in fact. +Some of the most crucial issues. So when I learned -- now those are the facts -- +Bolkestein: There's one one simple question: +Didn't you ask yourself afterwards whether it was very wise of you on your part? +To act at least like you were defending him +instead of the right of free speech? +Chomsky: No, because I never acted that way. I never defended him as a person. +I realized as soon as I signed the petition +That this is going to be interpreted by people who have not yet reached the Enlightenment. We're still in the Middle Ages +It's going to be interpreted as a defense of his views of course +I realized that, I understand the world. but freedom of speech issues are important, and I'm perfectly willing to face that +Bolkestein: But why did you try at the last moment to get it back from him? +Chomsky: That's the one thing I'm sorry about --- +In fact I tried to retract it. --- +I wrote a letter, which was then publicized, in which I said, look +Things have reached the point where the French intellectual community +Simply is incapable of understanding the issues at this point, It's just going to confuse matters even more if my +comments on freedom of speech +Happen to be attached to this book which I didn't know existed. So just to clarify things I better separate them +Now in retrospect, I think I probably shouldn't have done that I should have just said fine +then let it appear because it ought to appear, but that's +apart from that I +regard this as not only trivial, but as compared with other positions I've taken on freedom of speech +invisible this doesn't begin to +compare +With defending the rights of American War criminals to do their work while that work is being used to murder and destroy +It doesn't begin to compare with dozens of other cases where I defended freedom of speech +Bolkestein: Why didn't it occur to you that maybe his facts were wrong? --- +Chomsky: Of course they're wrong +I can't even understand this question +Why didn't it occur to me that maybe his views are wrong? Of course it occurred to me. +I knew it. You know if you want to +Read what I said that --- the reason I retracted it was quite different +It was that I realized at some point the French intellectuals cannot make the distinction between -- [who cares?] +I agree and that's why I say I shouldn't have even retracted. +Everything -- as I said -- that's the one thing that I regret +well I regret the fact that I tried to accommodate to the medieval character of the French intellectual +And I should have not done that I should have simply said: look, if you can't understand it, That's your problem +Now, that's a very difficult position to make in Europe +I should say that an issue like this is almost inconceivable in the United States in fact +There are examples very similar to Faurisson. There's a professor of engineering at +Northwestern University, a major university, who writes books denying that the Holocaust took place I mean if he were +Deprived of the right to teach and brought to trial for the falsification of history +there'd be a huge uproar across the country +Because there's a commitment to freedom of speech and that means freedom of speech for views that you detest +That's the only time when the issue arises. Now if a person can fail to +Distinguish between defending rights and defending the theses expressed, they have to go back to the Middle Ages and start all over again +0 +3 +8 +14 +16 +22 +27 +28 +29 +36 +38 +40 +44 +49 +52 +55 +57 +62 +66 +69 +75 +81 +87 +92 +95 +97 +99 +102 +105 +108 +112 +118 +125 +131 +136 +138 +141 +145 +148 +150 +155 +160 +164 +170 +184 +191 +195 +200 +207 +209 +213 +219 +221 +223 +225 +228 +231 +232 +237 +244 +250 +259 +263 +268 +271 +274 +282 +285 +291 +294 +298 +303 +307 +312 +316 +321 +329 +330 +335 +339 +343 +345 +350 +352 +353 +360 +375 +378 +384 +388 +391 +392 +397 +404 +408 +415 +422 +427 +431 +435 +440 +448 +454 +457 +462 +468 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Most Dangerous Organization in Human History O34JM4Xdf3g.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Most Dangerous Organization in Human History O34JM4Xdf3g.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d342a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Most Dangerous Organization in Human History O34JM4Xdf3g.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,494 @@ +The most dangerous organization in human history +I wanted to ask you a statement stating that the Republican Party is +the most dangerous organization +in world history +Can you explain that? +I also said that it was an extremely outrageous statement +But the question is whether this is really true +Has there ever been such an organization in world history, +which would with such zeal +insisted on destruction +organized human +of life on Earth? +I don't know of any. +Is the Republican organization, which I can hardly call a political party, so preoccupied with this destruction? +Absolutely clear. +We don't even have to think about it. +Let's just look back at their latest campaign +lots of advertising. And very few comments on the most important fact +absolutely each of their candidates +either deny that it was happening +what's going on +in particular a serious move towards an environmental disaster, +or found a couple of, say, moderates, like Jeff Bush, who said: +Well, maybe it's happening, we don't really know, +but it doesn't really matter, because mining works well, +so we can continue to mine fossil fuels. +Then there was a man in the hall, whom they called an "adult". +John Cassige +He alone stated that it was true that global warming was taking place, +but that it doesn't matter. He is the governor of Ohio, +and coal will continue to be used to generate energy in Ohio +and we will not apologize to anyone for that. +So we have 100% interest +for the path to disaster. +Then let's also look at what has happened since then. +Elections were held on November 8, +and at the same time, as most of you surely know, +a very important conference took place in Morocco - in Marrakech, +almost 200 countries gathered for the United Nations Conference, +at the United Nations Conference, +to make specific commitments +resulting from oral agreements +which resulted +from a previous meeting in Paris +in December 2015 at the International Conference on Global Warming +The Paris Conference sought to reach a demonstrable agreement, +but she couldn't +because of the most dangerous organization +in human history. The Republican Congress would not accept it +no commitments in this regard +So the world was left to verbal agreements, +but without specific commitments. +At the conference on November 8, they wanted to move this forward, +A report was also published on November 8 +world meteorological organization +quite a catastrophic analysis +the state of the environment +and probable prospects also showed +that we are approaching dangerously close +to the edge, +by the Paris Conference +aimed to delay as much as possible, +and other sinister predictions. +At this stage, the conference practically stopped +Because the news came from the election +and it turned out to be the most powerful country in history +the richest, the strongest, the most influential +leader in the free world +she decided not only +not to support these efforts (conferences), +but even actively undermine them. +So we have literally the whole world on one side, +who tries to do something here and there, +although not enough. Still, there are a few countries that have gone +relatively far away, such as Denmark and a few others, +and on the other hand, in spectacular loneliness +stands the earth +run by the most dangerous organization in human history, +which says: +we will not be involved, we will actually undermine these efforts +we will maximize the use of fossil fuels, +which will take us soon through the turning point +we will not financially support developing countries +(as agreed in Paris) +which are trying to improve something about +climate threats +we remove regulations +to delay the devastating impact +production +carbon dioxide +as well as other hazardous gases +such as methane and others. +OK, so the conference stopped at that moment +so she continued +but with a new question: +Can any of this debris be saved? +And quite surprisingly +countries around the world have turned for salvation +to another country: China. +So here we have the world, +which of all possible places +seeks rescue from China, +while the United States +they are a menacing machine +to destroy the planet +With all three branches of government +in the hands of one of the most dangerous +organizations in human history! +And I don't have to discuss what +has happened since then, +but basically they are cabinet meetings +designed to +to go to the hands of people whose commitments are connected with the faith, +that it is necessary +destroy +everything in your department +what could be to the human species +to the benefit. +That they are not led only +desire for profit and power. +And they do this very systematically. +one after another: EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) +was very noticeably reduced in finances +In fact, the main field he deals with +environmental issues, +is an energy department, which is also very sharp +cut finances, especially +environmental programs. +In truth, a ban was even issued +publish and publish information and materials related to this issue. +And we are not just talking about the national scale. +Republican Party +(or whatever we call it) +it does this at all levels. +So a few years ago in North Carolina, +where is the legislation +mainly thanks to Gerrymandering (voter privilege technique), +legislation is in the hands of Republicans, +a study was created, +they actually asked for a study +sea level rise. +She was to find out what its impact would be on the North Carolina coast. +A serious scientific study was created, +which predicted - +I don't know how many years ahead, +but quite a short time - +sea level rise of about one meter +which would have a devastating effect on eastern North Carolina +And the legislation responded by naming +that she enforced by law +prohibit any action, +or even a discussion, +which could address climate change. +Actually the best comment I would have +he should quote literally +is from Stephen Colbert, who said: +"If you have a serious problem, +that's the best way to deal with it, +when you approve by law it does not exist. " +And look, the problem is solved. But this is happening across the country +and it doesn't just go +and simply about climate change - +it's bad enough there +but we have another huge ghost here +under which +we are trying +somehow survive +and that is nuclear war +This is a completely different story. Here are both reports - like Obama +so even more Trump - +they radically increase this danger. +Threat from new developments +is captured very effectively +and can be expressed best and easiest +on the world state monitor, +based on the beginning of the nuclear age +bulletin of atomic scientists +I'm sure you all know about him, +and this bulletin of atomic scientists +regularly associates a group of scientists, +political analysts +and other highly respected personalities, +and they try to calculate a kind of estimate of the situation, +in which the world is currently located. +Their question is: How far are we (or rather close) to the extinction of the species? +They use the "Doomsday Clock" to do this +(Judgment Hours) +When those hours strike midnight, it means we're done. The extinction of the human race and many others. +And every year they ask themselves the question: +How far / close is the minute hand from midnight +Come on in 1947 +at the beginning of the Atomic Age +they moved the hand to 7 minutes to midnight +Since then, it has moved forward or backward every year. +The hand came closest to midnight +in 1953 +when both the US and Russia powers +which is an extremely serious threat to survival +there is an interesting story behind that, which I will leave aside now +maybe it will be time later +But then the hand reached two in the middle of midnight +and since then it has been moving back and forth +Two years ago +I think in 2014 +analysts included for the first time in the calculation something that had been ignored until then: +the fact that along with the beginning of the nuclear age +she started the same way +new geological epoch - +the so-called anthropocene. +There was talk of an epoch, +in which human action +drastically affects the general environment. +The birth of this epoch begins to speak, +but the World Geological Organization +recently determined its beginning +roughly at the same time as the beginning of the nuclear age. +So we are going through these two eras +in which +is the possibility of human survival at great stake +and with us, of course, everything else +all living, mostly all living, +which is already very seriously endangered +so a few years ago, i think in 2014, +he began to include the Bulletin in his calculation +even this fact, +and moved the minute hand +except for: three minutes to midnight, +where she remained for the last year. +One week after Trump's election +the clock shifted again +at two minutes to midnight +it is the closest they have ever been since 1953 +and that means, +that the extinction of the human species +is a very open question. +I don't want to say it's exclusively +work of the Republican Party +obviously not +but it is certain that they lead an open defense +and the effects of the extinction of the human species +I agree to such a statement +is very outrageous +for this reason, I simply suggest +look at the facts +and assess whether they have weight, +or whether it deserves to be bitterly condemned. It is up to you. +From my point of view, things are absolutely clear. +0 +0 +3 +5 +8 +11 +15 +18 +21 +25 +27 +30 +33 +35 +42 +44 +46 +51 +57 +60 +63 +65 +68 +74 +78 +81 +84 +87 +90 +93 +96 +99 +102 +106 +109 +114 +117 +120 +126 +130 +134 +137 +142 +145 +148 +154 +157 +161 +163 +166 +168 +172 +174 +177 +180 +186 +188 +190 +194 +197 +200 +203 +206 +209 +214 +217 +222 +225 +229 +232 +235 +236 +239 +242 +245 +248 +250 +253 +255 +259 +262 +265 +268 +269 +276 +279 +280 +283 +286 +289 +292 +295 +298 +300 +302 +306 +309 +312 +314 +317 +319 +319 +322 +323 +326 +329 +332 +334 +337 +340 +342 +345 +347 +351 +353 +353 +355 +356 +357 +359 +362 +365 +369 +373 +376 +379 +382 +384 +385 +388 +391 +395 +398 +400 +402 +405 +408 +411 +415 +417 +419 +422 +425 +428 +429 +430 +433 +436 +439 +442 +445 +448 +451 +453 +455 +458 +461 +463 +465 +469 +472 +474 +477 +478 +481 +482 +484 +487 +490 +493 +496 +498 +505 +508 +511 +514 +517 +520 +522 +525 +528 +531 +534 +537 +540 +543 +546 +549 +552 +555 +557 +561 +564 +566 +568 +571 +574 +580 +595 +598 +601 +603 +607 +610 +614 +620 +623 +626 +630 +632 +635 +638 +640 +643 +646 +648 +652 +655 +657 +661 +663 +665 +668 +671 +675 +677 +678 +680 +683 +686 +688 +691 +696 +698 +702 +705 +708 +711 +715 +718 +721 +724 +725 +728 +731 +734 +738 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Nanny State IJUWDdvZhJY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Nanny State IJUWDdvZhJY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f0005f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Nanny State IJUWDdvZhJY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ +Hedges: You talk about the nanny state +What do you mean - the nanny state? What do you mean by that? +Chomsky: The nanny state is a state that gives gifts +to sectors that have the power to demand it, +which typically means the rich and the powerful. +I mean there are, you know -- +Hedges: So is this like subsidies to the fossil fuel industry? +Chomsky: Hundreds of billions of dollars - I think it's something like +500 billion a year to the fossil fuel industry. +Hedges: Talking about government subsidies? +Chomsky: Plain government subsidies +Take, say, the financial industries, +which are the ones that exploded during the neoliberal period, +there was an interesting IMF study that came out of - +International Monetary Fund - a couple years ago which +tried to determine the source of the profits of the six largest American banks. +Turned out, it's almost entirely public subsidy through the indirect effects of the +implicit government guarantee - it's called informally "too big to fail" +It means that there's an implicit guarantee that they're not going to fail, +which means you get access to cheap credit, +inflated credit ratings, +incentive to carry out risky, hence generally profitable, transactions. +If anything goes wrong, the public will bail you out. +That amounts to, as the business press estimated, +that at about 80 billion dollars a year, just straight subsidy. +In fact, everywhere you look, +there's massive subsidy, and it's more than that. +I mean, take, say, the high-tech economy - +the computers, internet, satellites, +micro electronics, the components of your iPhone, whatever it may be - +almost invariably, they trace back to +public subsidy in the state sector of the economy. +Either actual state sector, like places like this [MIT], which are +fundamentally part of the state sector, or subsidy to IBM or something like that. +And in fact what typically happens -- computers are a striking case -- +for decades, the risky and creative work was basically funded by the public +Finally, it's handed over to private corporations for +marketing and profit, and they indeed are protected by monopoly pricing rights. +Hedges: You had an interesting figure here, you said corporations spend about 2.6 billion a year on +lobbying expenditures. That's more than the 2 billion +we spend to fund the House, at 1.18 billion, and the Senate, at 860 million. +What does that say about our democracy? +Chomsky: Well, actually, the huge increase in lobbying +also took place at this transition point between +the regulated capitalism and the neoliberal capitalism. +[In the] early 70s, you start getting a very sharp increase in the number of lobbyists. +In fact, there's probably more lobbyists -- they're basically writing the legislation. +I mean, a congressperson usually relies on the staff +to write the legislation, which maybe he or she tweaks and signs. +What does the staff do? +They consult with lobbyists, who are often experts in the area where they're writing the legislation. +So they produce suggestions - sometimes actual texts of legislation - which then go to the Congress +0 +2 +6 +10 +15 +19 +20 +25 +28 +32 +34 +36 +39 +42 +46 +49 +57 +65 +71 +77 +80 +83 +88 +91 +95 +99 +100 +104 +108 +112 +116 +120 +125 +130 +137 +142 +149 +153 +159 +167 +170 +177 +180 +183 +187 +191 +197 +203 +208 +214 +216 +224 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Psychology of Power PVgC8ZpaRDw.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Psychology of Power PVgC8ZpaRDw.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f409299 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Psychology of Power PVgC8ZpaRDw.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,76 @@ +Psychology? +Well... +Actually, I mean, you know, people differ, so you can't really generalize +But I think the general thing is something that we all know from our own experience +I mean, unless you're -- well, take your own personal experience +I mean, unless you happen to be an unusual kind of saint, maybe the first one since Jesus or something +Unless you're that kind of person, you've done some rotten things in your life. +Like maybe when you were eight years old - +you know - you took a toy from your younger brother because nobody was looking. +Well just go back to that circumstance, or something similar to it, and ask yourself honestly +Did you say +"I'm taking the toy from my little brother because I want it, and I'm bigger than he is, and nobody's looking so I'll take it" ? +Or did you say "look, it's really my toy, and besides, he had no right to it, and besides, +"I need it more than he does, and anyhow, it's better for everybody if I have it" ? You know +Well, like I say, unless you're a saint, +you took the second way out, and furthermore anybody in their lifetime has had a thousand experiences like that +Well, I think that's the way things work +You have some -- +It's not that you -- +You know -- +I mean, belief formation is often contingent on the outcomes that you want +You know? You want a certain outcome, you construct the system of beliefs, +which makes that exactly right and just. +I suspect that that's the psychology in most of these cases +If you're an editor or a journalist or you know professor or something or other, +there are some things you want, like prestige and respectability and salary - +you know - invited to the right parties, and all that kind of thing, +and if you want to get that kind of stuff you have to +see things in certain ways. +Okay, so you start seeing things in those ways just like you did with your little brother. You know? +My guess is that's probably +overwhelmingly the psychology +I don't think many people are cynical enough to be just flat, outright liars, +saying "I'm gonna lie because that way they'll pay my salary" +That's, but you know, people differ, so your guess is as good as mine +I have nothing to say about this the only thing we know about these kinds of things are from +introspection you know and I suspect that what I'm describing is pretty close to universal. +I did take it away from my younger brother when nobody was looking +3 +5 +6 +9 +15 +18 +24 +28 +31 +36 +43 +44 +51 +57 +62 +65 +72 +75 +77 +79 +80 +86 +89 +91 +94 +100 +106 +110 +113 +116 +121 +123 +125 +129 +134 +138 +142 +151 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Soviet Union vs. Socialism 06-XcAiswY4.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Soviet Union vs. Socialism 06-XcAiswY4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cce4ee --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - The Soviet Union vs. Socialism 06-XcAiswY4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +We should recognize, what I think is true, I've written about it plenty myself, +that the so called Bolshevik "revolution", really a coup, was really a counter revolution +which placed state power in the hands of a highly authoritarian, anti-socialist group, +which within a couple of months had destroyed the factory councils, had destroyed the soviets, +had dismissed the constituent assembly because they knew they were going to lose +and had eliminated every popular movement and had done exactly what Trotsky said, +turn the the country into a labor army under the control of the maximal leader. +That was mid 1918. +Since then there hasn't been a shred of socialism in the Soviet Union. +Now, of course they called it socialism, but they also called it democracy. +They were the peoples democracy, the purest form of democracy and socialism. +The west, the big propaganda system in the world of course laughed at the democracy part, +but it loved the socialism part, because that's a way to defame socialism. +So if you think that the fall of Soviet Union is a blow to socialism, +you ought to also think on the same grounds that it's a blow to democracy. +After all, they called themselves democracies too so why isn't it a blow to democracy? +Makes as much sense. +It's only when it gets filtered through the western propaganda system +that it's not a blow to democracy but it is a blow to socialism. +But there is absolute no reason to play that game, +whether you play it in dissent or in the nation or on the right or anywhere else. +Expose it for the fraud that it is. +What ideology? The ideology of totalitarianism? Yeah it's deeply flawed. +I mean they were the initial modern totalitarians. +It has nothing to do with socialism. They destroyed socialism within weeks. +They didn't wait. By 1918 it was finished. +And they knew it. It was not a secret. They knew it. +In fact Lenin, as soon as got grips of things, he moved to what he called state capitalism. +Which is what it was. Had nothing to do with socialism. +Socialism... I mean you can argue but there is no point arguing what the word means but +what it always meant at the core was that producers take control over the production. +Working people take control of production which sometimes is called industrial democracy. +That was the absolute core of it. +Well there was more socialism in Germany, in western Europe, than there was in Russia. +Russia is about the most anti-socialist place you can imagine since 1918. +Had wage labor, had super exploitation, +had no elements of workers control or involvement or participation. +What has that got to do with socialism? It's the exact opposite on every point. +As I say, the west liked to call that socialism +while laughing at fact that they called themselves democrats +but that's for purely propaganda reasons. +I mean, unless you are committed to being part of the western propaganda system +there's nothing to say about that issue of dissent except to laugh. +0 +4 +11 +18 +24 +29 +33 +36 +38 +42 +46 +51 +56 +61 +66 +69 +72 +73 +77 +80 +83 +87 +93 +98 +102 +106 +110 +114 +122 +124 +128 +135 +138 +141 +147 +152 +155 +163 +166 +169 +172 +175 +178 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Thought bmDgBkgqTVY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Thought bmDgBkgqTVY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52c4c5e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Thought bmDgBkgqTVY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +We have little information about what the thought is +There is no clarity as to how to obtain such information +However, much of our knowledge of thought appears through language, so this leads to considering language and thought as one thing +But you can also look carefully at that if you like +It's the only evidence we have, but it doesn't look as though they are the same +There seem to be many types of thought that cannot be divided and clear. And I see no reason to suspect that some kind of thought occurs without a live structure and has no language +There is a huge project in computational cognitive science, and I think it is a waste of time +Which is due to the wrong reading of a short research paper written by "Allen Turing" in 1950, a mathematician who found modern computational sciences and so on. +He had a research paper called something like Do the Machines Think! +He designed a test, now called the "Turing Test" and called it "a game of imitation". +And there was a lot of effort to try anything he discussed or explain what he said +If the machine was, and here is a god in the sense of a program and not a physical computer, then if the program was able to succeed in that test, then this shows us that he is thinking +If you are an employee of "IBM: a computer manufacturer," you will be paid to build "Watson: a computer that answers questions" or software that is supposed to pass the test. +And, as you know, they defeat humans in chess, or gyardy, or something +With each one of them you can get a hundred thousand dollars if you designed such programs +There is one line in Turing's research paper and it seems neglected +What he said is, "The question of whether machines think is empty and does not deserve controversy." +He is right. Question What do you think or not? Like a question, let's say, if a submarine is swimming! If you want to call that a swim, it does swim and vice versa. +But it is not a real question but rather a human space, I think in Japanese they do it, someone told me, but in English no. +But these are not real questions, they are only questions of how to use the word +Something is happening now which is freely referred to as the thought, but we do not know much about what it is +I will not discover this as long as interest is restricted by the reach of perception +Some of you may know that there are recent experimental results showing that decisions made about the action of a machine, for example "pick this up", the decision was actually made in parts of a second before you were conscious of making a decision +Indeed, this has been misunderstood as a controversy of free will, but has nothing to do with it. What this means is that the decisions were made in a way that is not attainable +I don't think it surprises you, anybody alive and think about what they are doing +But it is contrary to the principle of belief, and I believe that these principles will collapse unless we take note of these things +0 +4 +9 +23 +26 +30 +43 +54 +70 +75 +84 +93 +107 +116 +121 +129 +133 +140 +154 +164 +170 +175 +182 +201 +213 +219 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Trump's Bombing of Afghanistan and Syria cO7wK9OO07w.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Trump's Bombing of Afghanistan and Syria cO7wK9OO07w.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e10e9e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Trump's Bombing of Afghanistan and Syria cO7wK9OO07w.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +Could you please comment on the latest operations of Trump and his military-industrial complex in Syria and Afghanistan, and what do you think they want to achieve? +You probably saw that the US uses the 21,000-kilo (kg) missile, the most powerful weapon in the world, which is second only to nuclear weapons, to bomb the mountainous areas of Syria and Afghanistan. You do not know what terrible damage it caused. +In our society and culture, where to drop such a big bomb is an expression of courage. I don't know where it is or what damage it causes. Everyone applauds the president's heroic achievements. This is a cultural issue. +Suppose this bomb really killed a lot of people in ISIS. Suppose it is so. I don't know what it will cause. I don't think the Pentagon knows. But if it is so, then besides murdering many people, what else has it accomplished? Is it effective? +We have good reasons to ask what the expected effect is. We have 20 years of experience. What was al Qaeda (Al Qaeda) in 2000? It is a small group, trapped in a tribe somewhere in the northwest of Afghanistan (Pakistan). The Taliban tolerate it, but don't like it. If you can get rid of it, you might be happy. That was the situation before 9.11. +What is Al Qaeda like now? Including its related organizations, its extension groups such as ISIS, it has spread all over the world! Southeast Asia, West Africa, and in fact, the most powerful Islamic radical terrorism in the world is West Africa. That was the consequence of the bombing of Libya, which sent weapons and jihadists to West Africa. +In fact, we responded to (its) every action with violence and sledgehammer, and every time it expanded Islamic radicalism. Every time, if the goal is to eliminate a threat, what we do is expand it. This record is very clear, and it is not difficult to understand why. +These things have their roots. If you don't deal with these roots, you just smash it hard, then you will only add support to it. And if we happen to kill a lot of ISIS elements, then you are very likely to spread their ideology and provide proof that Westerners want to eliminate Islam. +We will not deal with the factors that led to the creation of ISIS and the factors that led people to join it. Then we will not involve the issue of principle first. From a tactical perspective, this is also an absolutely abominable way of dealing with radical Islamism. +At the same time, we must also remember that we are directly supporting the (multiple) sources of radical Islamism. Most of them happen to be in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of radical Islamism, the roots of wahhabi salafi, and the divergence point of madrasser. +And what did we do to Saudi Arabia? We pour weapons into Saudi Arabia so that they can use bombing and famine to create a terrible humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Is this the way to deal with powerful terrorists? +What about the bombing of Syria? +First of all, do we know what happened? Actually we don't know. We know that chemical weapons are being used. Before taking any action, we should try to find out what happened. Several people who are completely reliable have asked very serious questions. +Lawrence Wilkerson, he was Colin Powel's chief of staff; Patrick Lang, he was a colonel of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and one of the leading analysts on Middle East issues for many years; Scott Ritter, defense intelligence The person who exposed the "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction" scam. They have all issued noteworthy reports explaining why it is necessary to question those claims to be "what happened." +Just this morning, a very important article was published. It comes from Theodore Postol, an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) scientist who is also one of the most incisive and successful analysts on military strategic issues. . . He analyzed in detail the report of the White House intelligence agent who claimed to be the Syrian (government), and then tore the report apart. He said that it is incredible that the intelligence agent would write such a thing. . +So, what can we say? Let me add that there are many conspiracy theories about Syria reported in newspapers. For example, TIMES (The New York Times) has a large page on conspiracy theories about bombing Syria. +They selected some completely unknown people with no credibility, and these people can tear the (White House intelligence) report to pieces. That report systematically avoids all reliable (information) sources, which raises some questions. A common problem is that before you file a retaliatory military action, you first find out what happened. +situation. If you can be sure of what happened, you try to obtain international legitimacy to execute the action. Otherwise, it's just. . . . In fact, the attack on that airport was obviously just a display of meaningless force. +So (this time the bombing) seemed to be for domestic audiences, saying to them: "Look, I'm tougher than Obama, let's do something else! +No, this is not a solution to a serious problem. +This is the same as I said before, if you look carefully at every question in the past, +Whether it's the North Korean issue, the intercontinental ballistic missile issue, +Khrushchev[a Khrushchev's arms reduction problem, +It is the North Korean issue today. Almost all these issues have options for peaceful resolution. +Take the 9.11 incident as an example, a major terrorist attack did happen. +Is there another solution? +One option is to consider Osama Bin Laden's extradition proposed by the Taliban. +He was suspected, I emphasized "be suspected", +Make this attack. +Mentioned that the words "suspected" are important, +, Because 8 months later, after the most concentrated international survey in history, +The Director of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) told the press, +The United States suspected Osama bin Laden did it, but could not provide an argument. +So that is just suspicion. +So when you suspect that someone has committed a criminal attack, what do you do? +Of course you try to catch him, +Investigate him and bring him to justice. +Is this possible? It is very possible. +At that time, the Taliban made tentative suggestions, +I want to know if there is a possibility of an independent trial of bin Laden, +But the United States flatly refused. +It did not request extradition, +Because they have no evidence +If you do that, +Can the problem be solved without bombing Afghanistan? +The bombing of Afghanistan was not only condemned by international relief organizations, +Because millions of Afghan people were on the verge of starvation, +No one knows what will happen, +It was also denounced by some major anti-Taliban Afghan militants. +The most important of them, +And the most respected, is Abdul Haq, +He was eventually killed when he returned to Afghanistan. +He denounced the bombing of Afghanistan, +He said that the U.S. just wants to show its strength, +It is hurting the Afghan people by doing so, +Is destroying us using our own internal power +Efforts to overthrow the Taliban. +He is widely supported by anti-Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, +But these are not what we want, +We just want to use force, full stop. +We don't care about the consequences and don't ask if there is a peaceful solution, +I cite some examples, but such examples are endless, +They should be prominent in our thinking. +The use of force will always cause various destructive effects, +So we should always ask, is it possible to solve the problem peacefully, +In order to do further exploration. This is often there, +The facts are in these examples I have cited. . +0 +18 +37 +58 +74 +117 +146 +172 +197 +214 +239 +259 +262 +293 +324 +365 +378 +408 +428 +445 +451 +457 +461 +464 +472 +480 +484 +491 +498 +500 +505 +513 +518 +524 +526 +532 +535 +539 +545 +548 +554 +557 +561 +565 +567 +569 +576 +580 +584 +588 +590 +594 +596 +599 +603 +606 +610 +614 +618 +621 +624 +629 +633 +639 +646 +653 +655 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Trump's attacks on China are a continuation of 'Yellow Peril' fear-mongering _0KsN4ijdFQ.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Trump's attacks on China are a continuation of 'Yellow Peril' fear-mongering _0KsN4ijdFQ.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce8f3d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Trump's attacks on China are a continuation of 'Yellow Peril' fear-mongering _0KsN4ijdFQ.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,184 @@ +This is typical behavior of autocrats and dictators. +When you make colossal errors which are killing thousands of people, find somebody else to +blame. +And in the United States, it's unfortunately the case, for well over a century, century +and a half, that it's always easy to blame the "yellow peril." +The yellow -- "They're coming after us." +We've seen this all through my life, in fact way before. +So, blame the World Health Organization, blame China, claim that the World Health Organization +has insidious relations with China, is practically working for them. +And that sells to a population that's been deeply indoctrinated for a long time, way +back to the Chinese Exclusion Acts in the 19th century, to say, "Yeah, those yellow +barbarians are coming over to destroy us." +That's almost instinctive. +And it's backed up by the echo chamber, so, you know, say, Rush Limbaugh. +Science is one of the four corners of deceit, along with the media, academia -- I forget +one of the others, but they're the four corners of deceit. +They live on deceit. +You keep driving that into people's heads. +They say, "Why should we believe anything? +Why should we believe the news? +It's just fake news. +They're all trying to destroy our savior, our president, the greatest president ever." +I'm old enough to remember as a child listening to Hitler's speeches over the radio, Nuremberg +rallies. +I couldn't understand the words, but the tone and the reaction of the crowd, the adoring +crowd, was very clear and very frightening. +We know what it led to. +It's hard to -- it comes to mind at once when you listen to Trump's ravings and the +crowd. +I don't suggest that he's anything like Hitler. +Hitler had an ideology, horrible ideology, not only massacring all the Jews and 30 million +Slavs and the Roma, and conquering much of the world, but also an internal ideology: +The state, under control of the Nazi Party, should control every aspect of life, should +even control the business community. +That's not the world we're in. +In fact, it's almost the opposite, business controlling the government. +And as far as Trump is concerned, the only detectable ideology is pure narcissism. +Me, that's the ideology. +As long as I am smart enough to keep serving the real masters, pour money into the pockets +of the very wealthy and the corporate sector, and they'll let you get away with your antics. +It's pretty striking to see what happened at the Davos conference this January. +That's the meeting of the people who are called the "masters of the universe" -- CEOs +of the major corporations, you know, big media stars and so on. +They get together in Davos once a year, congratulate each other on how wonderful they are, put +on a pose of dedicated humanists who couldn't do -- you know, just totally devoted to the +welfare of the people of the world. +"You're safe leaving your fate in our hands because we're such good guys." +Trump came along and gave the keynote address. +They don't like Trump. +His vulgarity is incompatible with the image that they're trying to project of cultivated +humanism. +But they wildly applauded him, lustily applauded every word, because they know that he does +recognize which pockets you have to fill with dollars and how to do it. +And as long as he does that, as long as he serves his major constituency, they'll let +him get away with the antics -- in fact, like it, because he mobilizes a crowd that +will back policies like his legislative achievements. +Main one is a tax scam that pours money into the hands of the corporate coffers and harms +everyone else. +The deregulation is great for business. +They love it. +They can destroy the environment and harm people as much as they want. +Very harmful to the population. +You cut back on pollution constraints, on auto emission regulations, what happens? +People die of pollution, of mercury poisoning. +The waters are poisoned. +And the world, it goes, is facing disaster. +You're accelerating the disaster. +As I said, even in the February 10th budget, while cutting back on protection against diseases +in the midst of a raging pandemic, increases funding for fossil fuel production, which +is going to destroy us all. +Of course, a lot more money for the Pentagon and for his famous wall. +But that's the world we're living in -- here, not everywhere. +As I said, the Asian countries have been acting sensibly. +New Zealand actually seems to have killed it also. +Taiwan is doing very well. +In Europe, Germany has maybe the lowest death rate in the world, Norway, as well. +There are ways to react. +And there are ways to try to destroy everything -- what President Trump is leading, with +the support of the Murdoch echo chamber, Fox News and others. +And amazingly, this conjuring act is working. +So, with one hand, you raise your hand to heaven: "I'm the chosen one. +I'm your savior. +I'm going to rebuild America, make it great again for you, because I'm the servant. +I'm the loyal servant of the working class," and so on. +Meanwhile, with the other hand, you're stabbing them all in the back. +And to carry this off is an act of political genius. +You have to recognize that serious talent is involved, whether intuitive or conscious +planning. +It's devastating. +We've seen it before. +We see it now in dictators, autocrats, sociopaths who happen to get into leadership positions. +And it's now happening in the richest, most important country in world history. +0 +6 +13 +14 +20 +26 +28 +32 +39 +44 +51 +58 +61 +65 +76 +87 +90 +93 +97 +100 +102 +103 +109 +120 +121 +127 +133 +135 +140 +141 +145 +154 +162 +168 +170 +173 +178 +185 +189 +197 +202 +208 +215 +220 +227 +234 +236 +242 +245 +248 +254 +255 +265 +271 +277 +284 +288 +299 +301 +305 +306 +310 +312 +322 +326 +328 +331 +333 +343 +351 +352 +356 +361 +367 +370 +373 +379 +382 +388 +394 +400 +407 +408 +415 +418 +421 +428 +436 +437 +438 +440 +449 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - U.S. Must Improve Relations with Russia and Challenge the Expansion of NATO dXNGirQWiCw.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - U.S. Must Improve Relations with Russia and Challenge the Expansion of NATO dXNGirQWiCw.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7af3ea --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - U.S. Must Improve Relations with Russia and Challenge the Expansion of NATO dXNGirQWiCw.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,300 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman. +Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited President Trump to Moscow just days after +the White House postponed a planned summit between the two leaders in Washington until +after the midterm elections. +To talk more about U.S.-Russian relations and much more, we're spending the hour with +the world-renowned political dissident, author and linguist, Noam Chomsky. +He is now laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, +and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught for +more than 50 years. +His recent books include Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy +and Requiem for the American Dream: the Ten Principles of Concentration of Wealth and +Power. +He joined us from Tucson, Arizona, last week. +I asked him about the recent Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki and played for him a short pinwheel +of U.S. media coverage of the summit. +ANDERSON COOPER: You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by +an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader, certainly that I've +ever seen. +GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: All of you who are watching today will be able to tell your friends, +family, your children, your grandchildren, you were watching a moment of history. +It may not be for the right reasons. +NORAH O'DONNELL: This Helsinki summit was one for the history books. +President Trump's refusal to challenge the Russian strongman drew widespread condemnation +from members of his own party and administration. +The summit that might have been about U.S. condemnation instead ended with President +Putin giving President Trump a soccer ball from the World Cup and Mr. Trump handing Putin +a gift of absolution. +AMY GOODMAN: So that was CBS's Norah O'Donnell, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, and CNN's +Anderson Cooper reporting after the July 16th joint press conference with Trump and Putin. +I asked Noam Chomsky for his response to the Helsinki summit. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Trump has basically one principle: me first. +That's almost all of his policies, and wild statements and so on are perfectly well explicable +within--under the assumption that that's what's driving him. +Now, that--crucially, for him, he has to ensure that the Mueller investigation is discredited. +Whatever they come up with, if it implicates him in any way, the way the media and political +culture function, that will be considered of enormous significance, much more significance +than his pursuing policies on the environment which may destroy human civilization. +But given that, those highly skewed circumstances, he has to make sure that the Mueller investigation +is discredited. +And that was the main core part of his interview with Trump. +Putting aside the way he behaved--you know, the soccer ball, which apparently had a listening +device embedded in it and so on--yes, that was strange and unpleasant and so on. +AMY GOODMAN: Well, actually, that World--that soccer ball, that particular ball has that +little device in it, and that's how it's sold. +It was a World Cup soccer ball, and that's what it--that's one of its attributes that +people like, that they can put their iPhone next to it and get information. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, well, Putin was plainly treating Trump, more or less, with contempt, +so whatever you think about that. +Nevertheless, his main concern was pretty obvious, and that was the central part of +the Putin-Trump interviews. +And so, yeah, I think--I just don't see the great significance of his acting in a +silly and childish way in an interview. +OK, let's--he did. +Now let's go to the important issues which are not being discussed. +The issue of improving relations with Russia is of overwhelming significance as compared +with the remarks saying, "Well, I don't know whether to trust my own intelligence +agencies." +Saying that for perfectly obvious reasons: to discredit the Mueller investigation and +to ensure that his fervently loyal base stays supportive. +That's not an attractive policy, but we can understand very easily what he's doing. +AMY GOODMAN: Those intelligence agencies--former CIA Director John Brennan tweeted, "Donald +Trump's press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold +of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' +It was nothing short of treasonous. +Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. +Republican Patriots: Where are you???" +Again, the former CIA Director John Brennan's tweet. +Noam? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, his remarks were certainly incorrect. +Whatever you think of Trump's behavior, it has nothing to do with high crimes and +misdemeanors or treason. +That's just not true. +But again, the same point I've been trying to make throughout--we are focusing on issues +of minor significance and putting aside problems of enormous importance and significance, whether +we're thinking of how to deal with immigration or whether we're dealing with the question +of survival of organized human life on Earth. +Those are the topics we should be thinking about, not whether Trump misbehaved in a press +conference. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, I wanted to ask you about NATO. +President Trump has questioned a key provision of the NATO military alliance, the mutual +defense of NATO member countries. +He made this remark during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson. +He made his remarks during an interview with Tucker Carlson just a week ago. +TUCKER CARLSON: Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack? +Why is that...? +PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I understand what you're saying. +I've asked the same question. +Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. +TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah, I'm not against Mont...or Albania. +PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. +By the way, they're very strong people. +They're very aggressive people. +They may get aggressive, and congratulations, you're in World War III. +AMY GOODMAN: There is President Trump questioning the whole idea of NATO. +Well, if you could specifically address this. +Interesting he chose Montenegro, where, well, many months ago, when he was with the G7, +the G8, he pushed aside the prime minister of Montenegro. +But the bigger point about--well, he wasn't making this point, but I'd like to ask you--about +whether you feel NATO should exist. +NOAM CHOMSKY: That's the crucial question, not whether Trump made an ugly and demeaning +comment about a tiny country. +But what is NATO for? +From the beginning, from its origins, we had drilled into our heads that the purpose of +NATO was to defend us from the Russian hordes. +We can put aside for the moment the question whether that was accurate. +But in any event, that was the dominant theme, overwhelming, in fact, unique theme. +OK, 1991, no more Russian hordes. +So, the question is: Why NATO? +Well, what happened was very interesting. +There were negotiations between George Bush, the first; James Baker, secretary of state; +Mikhail Gorbachev; Genscher and Kohl, the Germans, on how to deal with the--this was +after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union. +Gorbachev made an astonishing concession. +Astonishing. +He agreed to allow Germany, now unified, to join NATO, a hostile military alliance. +Just look at the history of the preceding years. +Germany alone had practically destroyed Russia, at an extraordinary cost, several times during +the preceding century. +But he agreed to allow Germany to--a rearmed Germany to join NATO, a military alliance +that was set up to counter Russia. +There was a quid pro quo, namely that NATO not--meaning NATO means basically U.S. forces--not +expand to East Berlin, to East Germany. +Nobody talked about anything beyond that. +Baker and Bush verbally agreed to that. +They didn't put it in writing, but they essentially said, "Yeah, we will"--in +fact, the phrase that was used was "not one inch to the east." +Well, what happened? +NATO immediately moved to East Germany. +Under Clinton, other countries, former Russian satellites, were introduced into NATO. +Finally, NATO went so far, as I mentioned before, 2008, again in 2013, to suggest that +even Ukraine, right at the heartland of Russian strategic concerns--any Russian president, +no matter who it was, any Russian leader--that they join NATO. +So, what's NATO doing altogether? +Well, actually, its mission was changed. +The official mission of NATO was changed to become to be--to control and safeguard the +global energy system, sea lanes, pipelines and so on. +And, of course, on the side, it's acting as an intervention force for the United States. +Is that a legitimate reason for us to maintain NATO, to be an instrument for U.S. global +domination? +I think that's a rather serious question. +That's not the question that's asked. +The question that's asked is whether NATO made--whether Trump made some demeaning comment +about Montenegro. +It's another example of what I was talking about before: the focus of the media and the +political class, and the intellectual community in general, on marginalia, overlooking critical +and crucial issues, issues which do literally have to do with human survival. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, now linguistics professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson. +Coming up, we will talk to him about climate change, nuclear weapons, Israel, Gaza and +more. +0 +4 +5 +10 +14 +17 +21 +26 +32 +36 +38 +43 +48 +49 +51 +58 +61 +65 +71 +72 +76 +79 +81 +84 +89 +92 +97 +103 +104 +110 +114 +119 +124 +133 +140 +150 +159 +165 +173 +183 +185 +191 +197 +205 +211 +214 +222 +226 +236 +238 +250 +253 +265 +267 +269 +273 +280 +286 +289 +294 +300 +306 +312 +317 +320 +322 +328 +331 +335 +336 +343 +348 +350 +352 +359 +370 +376 +380 +386 +387 +390 +395 +398 +401 +404 +407 +408 +409 +411 +414 +416 +417 +418 +420 +425 +430 +432 +438 +445 +450 +452 +462 +464 +468 +476 +481 +485 +494 +496 +501 +505 +517 +524 +530 +533 +535 +546 +551 +561 +563 +573 +575 +585 +589 +593 +597 +603 +607 +610 +615 +623 +634 +641 +646 +649 +652 +667 +673 +682 +690 +691 +695 +698 +703 +704 +711 +719 +725 +729 +733 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - What is Special About Language Omg4lUwOZII.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - What is Special About Language Omg4lUwOZII.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e961aa --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - What is Special About Language Omg4lUwOZII.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,3946 @@ +Welcome to Professor Chomsky's linguistics talk. +We are delighted to have you here. +Thank you for sharing this wonderful and exciting event +with us. +My name is Simin Karimi. +I am the head of the Department of Linguistics. +We and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences +are truly privileged and honored to have +Noam Chomsky visit our campus. +This is a unique event. +For several years, some of us entertained the idea +of inviting him to the campus. +And finally, over a year ago, a group of three colleagues +in our college-- they achieved this goal +and they arranged his visit. +Two of them are my esteemed colleagues in our department. +Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini is one of them +who has collaborated with Professor Chomsky. +And he is actually a veteran in inviting them +to various conferences. +In 1974, he invited him to a conference on biolinguistics. +And this was probably the beginning +of the field of biolinguistics. +Then, he invited him for a debate with Piaget, +and afterwards to several conferences and events +in Europe and France and Italy. +And each one of those was a success. +The other member of the trio is Tom Bever, a regents' professor +in our department. +And Tom was one of the first graduate students of Chomsky +at MIT-- early 1960s, some 50 years ago. +Tom will be the moderator for the question +and answer tonight. +The third member is professor Al Bergesen, the head +of the Department of Sociology. +And we are grateful to all three of them +for inviting Professor Chomsky. +Professor Chomsky's visit is hosted +by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, +Conference Center for Creative Inquiry +and the Department of Linguistics. +Our special thanks to our Dean, J.P. Jones III, +who generally supported this event. +And also to Javier Duran, the director of the Conference +Center for Creative Inquiry. +And you can imagine that students, staff members faculty +members-- in the Department of Linguistics-- +they have been enthusiastically involved +in every aspect of this event. +And in fact, many of our graduate students +are on the floor today. +They have volunteered to help the event tonight. +And they will be at the event tomorrow night +as well, helping. +Thank you guys for your help. +Many individuals and units have supported +generously and enthusiastically-- +and co-sponsored this event. +We are thankful to all of them, and I'll go through the list , +and mention each one of them. +At the College of Education, Elise Collins Shields +and Gretchen Shields. +Arizona Daily Star. +School of anthropology. +Department of Computer Science, Cognitive Science Program. +Department of Communication. +School of Geography and Development Department +of Gender and Women's Studies. +School of Government and Public Policy. +Department of History. +College of Humanities. +School of Journalism. +Center for Middle Eastern Studies. +School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies. +Department of Philosophy. +Department of Psychology. +Department of Sociology. +And U of A bookstore. +Many units and individuals on our campus-- they helped. +They worked tirelessly to make this event happen. +We are grateful to them. +All members of the Development Office and the College +of Social and Behavioral Sciences. +The Office of the Dean of Students. +Members of the Student Union Event Planning Office. +And U of A police department. +The usual trend is to introduce the speaker +before he delivers his talk. +This is a special case, though. +Professor Chomsky, according to New York Times, +is one of the most important intellectuals +in the history of human beings, and the only one alive. +So he actually doesn't really need an introduction. +I thought that instead of saying something about him-- you all +know him-- I would share with you some of his famous quotes +about language. +And these quotes will set the stage for his talk. +Here is the first one. +"Learning her mother language is not something +that the child does. +It is something that happens to her." +A second one, the scientific value of the expression, quote, +"learning one's mother language," unquote, +is the same as that of the expression, +quote, "the sun rises," unquote. +It's zero. +And the third one, "Linguistics is +part of biology at the suitable level of abstraction." +And finally, the last one. +"The cases of extreme poverty of the stimulus-- that +means the deaf, the blind, the deaf and blind-- interesting +as they are, mislead us into thinking +that the ordinary child in the ordinary linguistic environment +is not also a case of extreme poverty of stimulus." +The topic of today's talk is "What +is Special About Language?" +Please join me to welcome the legend Noam Chomsky. +[APPLAUSE] +Thank you. +Well, the advantage of sitting out in the back room +is I didn't have to hear what was being said about me, +so I don't feel embarrassed. +Although I probably should be. +The most elementary question that one +can ask about language, the simplest one, +is the one that I selected as the title of the talk. +What is special about language? +How is it different, if at all, from everything else we do? +One possibility-- in fact, the simplest answer-- +is that nothing is special about language. +It's just a kind of a random, arbitrary selection from things +we're doing all the time. +That may sound kind of absurd. +And my own feeling is it is absurd. +But it's important, because it's a very widely held position. +In fact, it's, I think, overwhelmingly +the dominant position among people concerned with language. +Now, that sounds like a contradiction, +and I think it is a contradiction, +but it nevertheless is true. +I'll give you some examples from now and from 50 years ago. +And strikingly, they're about the same. +So take, say, the journal Science, +the Journal of the American Academy +for Advancement of Science, the main scientific weekly +in the country. +I mean, professional journal. +There was a recent article, a review article, +that happens to encapsulate a lot of generally accepted +ideas. +So I'll refer to it a couple of times. +It holds that, it suggests that, language is entirely grounded +in a constellation of cognitive capacities, +that each, taken separately, has other functions as well, which +means that language exists only in the sense, +roughly, that, say, today's weather exists. +I mean, today's weather exists, but it's not +a topic of inquiry, of scientific study. +It's just a collection of a lot of things +that happened to interact to give you today's weather. +But each of them is something separate-- the wind +speed, whatever it may be. +That's Science mag. +If you go to the professional literature, +the technical literature, the major journal +of cognitive science is called Cognitive Science. +One recent article, just a couple of issues +ago, is about what the author calls +MOM, more than one method. +The question that the author is raising is this. +He says, well, we know there's one method +for acquiring language, namely, statistical analysis of data. +And is there another method, or does that do everything? +Well, if that does everything, then there's +no language, because statistical analysis would +work for anything else, too. +And he concludes that-- the article +studies an invented example in an artificial language, +and claims-- rightly or wrongly, you +can look at it-- that this example could be handled +by statistical analysis. +So therefore there isn't more than one method. +There's only one method, statistical analysis. +That throws out the window about 30 years, +40 years of intensive research on acquisition +of language, from which a lot has been learned. +But the conclusion is there's nothing there, +because just statistical analysis of data does it. +In fact, that's the conventional view, almost +universal view-- close to it, not entirely-- +in computational cognitive science. +And in fact, a good part of the general field, +and incidentally, among linguists as well. +This position is not new. +If you go back 50, 60 years, pretty much the same view +was held. +So the most important, the most prestigious 20th century +American linguist, Leonard Bloomfield, +who wrote the standard book Language, for him, a language +is just a collection of all the sentences +that can be spoken in a speech community. +Well, first of all, "all the sentences" is something. +You can't list all the sentences. +In fact, it's an infinite list. +So it leaves pretty obscure what it is. +But another question is left open-- +how do you know if something is a sentence? +How do you know if this action that took place is a sentence, +or it's taking a walk or cooking dinner or something like that? +There's no proposal about that. +The leading philosopher, one of the major philosophers +of 20th century, and certainly the one +who was most concerned with language, +was W. V. Quine of Harvard. +For him, a language is a fabric of sentences associated +with one another and with stimuli +by the mechanism of conditioned response. +So it's supposed to hold for behavior altogether. +So therefore, a language is just some arbitrary collection +of objects-- we'll call them sentences-- +which are like anything else that happens. +He also recognized that language has to be infinite. +So separately, he said a language is just +a class of sentences, kind of like Bloomfield's definition. +But that leaves the same question, +apart from being inconsistent with this definition. +Well, within the professional theoretical linguistics +of the time, 1950s, there was about the same view. +One of the major theoretical linguists, +Martin [? Jos, ?] edited a major collection of essays +on structural linguistics, and he +proposed what he called the Boasian position, named +after Frank Boas, great anthropologist. +Whether it's accurate to say this about Boas or not +is another question. +But he advanced the Boasian tradition, +which is that languages can differ arbitrarily +from one another. +So the next time you study a new language, +you cannot come to it with any preconceptions about what +a language might be like, because it could be arbitrarily +different. +That's the way I studied linguistics, incidentally. +That was just taken for granted. +There's further views, which, again, Quine +and others who've followed him, like John Searle, +arguing that not only language but every mental action +has to be accessible to consciousness. +So if you can't introspect and see it, +it's not there, which would make linguistics pretty easy, +incidentally, if that were true. +You'd just sit around and think and you can figure out +how it's working. +But there can't, in principle, be +anything going on in your mind that's not +accessible to consciousness. +The theories of linguistics, such as they were, +were collections of procedures of analysis. +So if you studied linguistics and structural linguistics, +1940s, '50s, when I was a student, +you were taught how to-- you took field methods courses, +in which you were instructed on how +to get data from an informant. +And then you had various methods you +could apply to organize the data in a useful form. +How you did it depended on your purposes. +There was no right way to do it. +So you do it this way if it's pedagogical grammar, +this way if you want to submit it to the International +Journal of American Linguistics, and so on and so forth. +So it was sets of procedures of analysis. +One well-known linguist ridiculed +what he called the God's truth conception, +namely, there's something true that you +could say about language. +There can't be anything like this. +It's just different ways of organizing data. +All of this was in a framework of behavioral science, which +itself was embedded in a very strange misinterpretation +of logical positivism. +That's a whole story in itself. +But anyway, that was the view. +And it also followed from this that there were +no problems about language. +There's nothing puzzling about it. +You just collect the data, you organize it this way, that way, +and you're done. +I remember as a student, we used to-- teenage student +back at Penn in the late '40s, we thought, +this is kind of fun. +But what happens when we've done a phonemic analysis +of every language there is? +That's it. +Field's over. +It's a terminal field. +So what happens next? +And in fact, if you look at the literature, +then what was assumed happens next +is you go on to other fields, to other applications. +All of this seems very strange, I think. +It has been a very common view. +Still is. +Maybe the most common view. +And the other thing is, the obvious evidence against it +just seems overwhelming. +So just take the most obvious phenomena. +For example, take a newborn infant. +The infant is plunged into what William James famously called +blooming, buzzing confusion. +Just a lot of things going on. +How does the infant figure out that some parts of that +are language-relevant? +That's a non-trivial question. +Nobody knows the answer to it. +But somehow, every infant does it reflexively. +And we even know now that it's in part, at least, +done prenatally. +But something is going on in the infant's head that's +taking out of this massive confusion various things +and says, OK, you're language-related. +You're not. +It's not the auditory system. +For one thing, it's now well known +that sign works the same way. +That wasn't known at the time, but now it's +just another language, happens to use a different modality. +Even touch works. +There's striking evidence about that. +Another reason why it can't be the auditory system +is that there is very recent work +which indicates that chimpanzees, at least, +maybe other primates, have approximately +the same auditory system. +Interestingly, it's even tuned to +the same phonetic distinctions that +are used in human languages. +But when a chimpanzee is faced with a blooming, buzzing +confusion, it doesn't take anything out of it. +So some kind of internal computation +has got to be going on from the very first instant. +It's reflexive, of course. +And then a process of acquisition proceeds +with virtually no evidence, often, +no evidence that goes from the meaning of words +up to the structures, interpretation, of sentences, +and the proper ways of using them. +All of this, incidentally, it's all apparently more +or less reflexive. +Doesn't matter-- I mean, within a very wide range, +it doesn't matter how the infant, the child, is raised. +It's like a sponge. +It just comes, like growing, growing legs and arms. +And all of this apparently is dissociated +from other cognitive capacities. +So there's dissociations all across the board. +This just seems to be one cognitive capacity which +develops the way, say, vision develops. +Return to a couple of examples. +It's also interesting that the nonexistence approach, +the standard one, is supported by literally no evidence +at all. +So take, for example, the one concrete proposal +I mentioned from a recent professional journal, MOM, +more than one method. +Well, the one method, which was just taken for granted, +it's been well established that that method doesn't work. +It doesn't do anything. +It can do something, if it's integrated with other facts, +other principles of language. +I won't go into the details, but if you +use these statistical techniques and you integrate them +with material about prosody, pitch and stress, +what's called phonotactics, the way different pieces hang +together and so on, then you can get some answers about, say, +where words are broken up. +Nothing else. +So the one method that's taken for granted doesn't work. +And in fact, I think if you look-- +well, talk a little more about this-- +there are no results, literally no results, that +come from the nonexistence approach, the approach that +says, we just use general-- the one I +quoted from Science magazine, the constellation +of cognitive capacities. +As far as I'm aware, there are no results from that. +That may sound harsh, and you shouldn't take my word for it. +But I think it is accurate. +And it raises some interesting questions +about intellectual history. +So why do beliefs that have no empirical support, literally, +prevail over long periods, while counterevidence, +which seems to be overwhelming, is simply ignored? +That's an interesting question about our intellectual culture, +the one we live in, the one in the universities. +Well, let me just give you a concrete one. +I don't want to make it totally abstract, +so just take one concrete example to illustrate. +There's myriad examples. +Take the sentence, "He wondered if the mechanics +fixed the cars." +Understand what that means? +And there are a couple of questions +you can ask about that. +You can ask, how many cars? +How many mechanics? +So you can say, how many cars did he +wonder whether-- how many cars did he +wonder if the mechanics fixed? +OK. +Fine sentence. +Try "mechanics." +How many mechanics did he wonder if fixed the cars? +Well, if you think about what it ought to mean, +it's a fine thought. +It means, for how many mechanics is it +the case that those mechanics fixed the cars? +But, while that's a fine thought, +you can't express it that way. +You can't express it by saying, how many mechanics +did he wonder if fixed the cars? +That's, for some reason, not one of the sentences spoken +in this speech community. +Nobody learned that. +Nobody was taught it. +It's not obvious what the reason is. +There's a lot of work on it, generalizes to other languages, +other constructions, and so on. +But it has a name. +It's called the empty category principle. +Don't forget that. +And there are interesting cases where it doesn't work. +And the cases where it doesn't work +have interesting explanations. +So that's-- linguists among you know about this. +Well, that's a typical example. +You have a perfectly fine thought, +but language design prevents you from expressing it +in the simplest, most direct way. +Some complicated circumlocution is necessary. +Essentially one of innumerable cases +that shows how language design appears +to be inconsistent with efficiency of communication. +There are many cases-- I'll mention some others-- where +efficiency of design and efficiency of communication +conflict. +And in every case that's known, efficiency of design +prevails, which has interesting consequences about architecture +of thought altogether. +Come back to that. +Well, that example happens to be misleading +because it's too complicated. +Same questions arise from the very first steps +that the infant takes, and indeed everything that follows. +Well, about 60 years ago, a couple +of people, a couple of students, in fact, graduate students +at Harvard-- I was one of them-- began to raise some questions +about this. +Take Bloomfield's definition-- the collection +of language, the collection of sentences, +that can be spoken in a speech community. +Well, if there's something to that, +there has to be a way to characterize that set. +Your brain is finite, so there has +to be some finite procedure, some computational procedure, +that determines that set. +The computational procedure has to determine, +for each language, an infinite collection +of structured expressions, each of which +has a dual interpretation. +It can be externalized in sound or in sign +or in touch or some other way. +And it can be interpreted by the other cognitive systems. +What's its meaning? +What does it entail? +And so on and so forth. +So it's what's called a generative procedure, +technically, a generative procedure that +yields an infinite hierarchy of structured expressions +with this dual interpretation. +That actually is a way of capturing a very +classical view, going back to Aristotle, +and a perfectly commonsense view, that language +is sound with a meaning. +We would nowadays say other modalities +with a meaning, like, say, sign with a meaning. +That sounds right. +I'll question it in a moment. +But this approach later has been called +the generative enterprise. +It took for granted that language does exist, +and furthermore that it's a biological object. +It's in your mind somehow. +This is somehow supposed to make that clearer. +The notion is called I language, internal language. +It's a concept of language that's +internal to your mind, particular individual, +actually. +The I also is a technical reference. +The account of it is what's called intensional, +intensional with an S. Means you care +about the actual mode of generation, +not just the class of expressions generated. +It's a crucial distinction. +So that's what it is. +That approach to language was later +given a name, which is now widely used, +by Massimo Piattelli, who's here. +Called it the biolinguistic approach, standard name. +Takes language to be a biological component +of the mind, like others-- in fact, +like other systems of the body, say, +the digestive system, or the immune system, visual system, +and so on. +This approach to the mind and the body +is called modular in biology. +That is, it treats a complex organism +as a collection of components-- sort of organs, +roughly speaking-- each of which has +some kind of internal integrity, and can be studied. +Its nature can be studied. +And it interacts with other subcomponents +in the life of the organism. +Doesn't mean that you can kind of cut it out. +Like, you can't cut the immune system out of the body. +But it is a system. +It's a module which has its own properties, interacts +with others. +Same, incidentally, with language. +I mean, nobody seriously expects that you're +going to find a piece of the brain which you can cut out +and that's language. +Different parts of the brain are involved +in language in different ways, but that's a different matter. +And of course, these systems have their own growth +mechanisms. +They grow in particular ways, develop in particular ways, +along their own lines, and they function in their own ways. +That's sometimes been called the norm in neuroscience. +Randy Gallistel, very fine neuroscientist, +points that out, and I think that's right. +There's no reason to believe that the human mind +and language depart from the biological norm +in this respect. +In fact, there's every reason to think that they don't. +Language turns out, when you really +look at it, when you look at the generative procedure that +has these consequences, seems to have very special properties, +which aren't found in other organisms, +or even in other subsystems of humans, +unless they're derivative from language. +But as far as we know, maybe there's some, +but none are known. +This doesn't seem to have anything homologous or even +analogous, in other organisms. +Furthermore, this system in our minds, the language system, +emerged millions of years after separation +from any other surviving creature. +There may have been others before, +other lines of hominids, but they're all gone. +Probably humans killed them. +But anyway, they're gone. +But among surviving animals, the closest related +are many millions of years separated from humans, +and many millions of years separated +from the origin of language. +So it wouldn't be too surprising if this is a very +special module of the mind. +And it's at the core of human activities, human creativity, +and so on. +Well, that opens the door to a discussion of evolution, which +is a very hot topic these days. +There's a huge literature on evolution +of language, books coming out all +the time, innumerable articles, conferences, et cetera, which +is kind of curious, because there +are much simpler questions which aren't studied, +barely studied at all. +So why is this one studied? +So take, for example, bees. +Bees have quite complicated communication systems. +Some of them do. +Some don't. +But there's very little literature +on evolution of the communication systems of bees. +And the reason is quite simple. +It's understood to be just much too hard. +So therefore, you don't study it. +Science studies the kinds of things +you can-- kind of like right at the edge of understanding. +Maybe you can make a little progress. +And the study of evolution of bees +is far simpler than the study of evolution of human language. +For one thing, there's about 500 species of bees, +so there's a lot of comparative evidence. +Some of them have quite complex communication systems, +and, in fact, different ones. +Some have no communication system at all that +anyone knows. +And they've seen them make out about as well +as the ones that do the waggle dance and all these things. +So raises a couple of questions about what +all this stuff is for. +But in any event, there's plenty of comparative evidence. +They have tiny brains, the brain about the size of a grass seed. +You can do any kind of experiment you like. +You don't need consent forms, nothing like that. +And they have a very short gestation period, +so you can breed them and so on. +So it's a perfect animal to study. +But take a look at the literature. +There's very little on evolution of communication systems +of bees. +On the other hand, humans, a huge literature, and a growing +literature, what's called evolution of language. +Another curious thing about it is +that the few serious evolutionary biologists who've +paid any attention to it are extremely skeptical. +The main one who's written about it +is Richard Lewontin, a very fine evolutionary biologist +at Harvard, who's written some of the main articles +on evolution of cognition. +And his conclusion is, go home. +You know, you're not going to learn anything about it. +He said none of the kinds of evidence +that evolutionary biologists know how to use +is available for the study of evolution of cognition +or particularly of language. +I think it's a pretty persuasive article, +but nobody seems to pay any attention to it. +Another reason why it's curious. +Another aspect of it that's curious +is that if you look at this huge literature, +turns out they're not studying evolution of language +at all, with very rare exceptions. +They're studying the evolution of communication. +That's a different topic. +Communication isn't language. +Now, there's a kind of a dogma that-- the phrase is, +"the function of language is communication," +whatever that means. +Biological systems don't have any particular function. +They do lots of things. +But that's a dogma, so therefore people +study the evolution of communication, +or at least speculate about it. +They speculate about the evolution of communication. +And then there's a title that says, evolution of language, +or evolution of grammar, or something like that. +Well, if you study it, you can study evolution +of communication, of course. +At least you can speculate about it. +But it's kind of misleading, because in the case +of communication, there are analogs. +In fact, every organism we know of, down to bacteria, +has some kind of communication system. +So you can mislead yourself into believing +that, well, human communication just must +be kind of more of the same. +That's especially true if you are kind of entranced +by an old and long-forgotten idea, +or buried idea, called the great chain of being, +which was believed at one point, that there +are simple organisms like bacteria, +and then they get more and more complex, +and finally you get to us. +We're the top of the chain. +But in fact, you know, chimpanzees +have evolved as long as we have, and so have bees, +and so have dolphins. +There's no chain. +It's just lots of different organisms. +And in fact, when you take a look at this literature, +you notice something else that's curious. +There's never any characterization of language. +Now, if you're studying the evolution of the eye, which +does have a rich and significant literature, +it's never done by people who don't tell you what an eye is. +You have to know what an eye is if you want to-- at least +you have to know something about it, +if you're studying its evolution. +But if you take a look-- and you can't study the evolution +beyond what you know about the eye, plainly. +But if you take a look at the literature on evolution +of language, there's no characterization of language. +Well, if you're really studying communication, +maybe that doesn't matter. +But anyway, also the study of evolution of communication kind +of carries with it connotations that easily lend themselves +to serious misinterpretations of evolutionary theory. +I mean, there is a kind of an elementary school version +of evolutionary theory, which says that everything +happens by very small steps. +A little more of this, a little more of that, finally +you get complex things. +And there's certainly something to that. +But there's plenty in what's known about evolution that +doesn't work like that at all. +It's sudden changes, small, very small, reorganizations of, say, +the regulatory patterns of genes can lead to totally +different organisms and so on. +There's plenty of literature. +Well, just to illustrate, going back to that same Science +article a year ago, by a well-known scientist, +he's reviewing a set of books on evolution of language +and so on. +And he kind of dismisses them, because the ones he's studying +are all tainted by a false assumption, namely, +the assumption that language exists, that is, that there are +rule systems of some kind that determine the form +and meaning conditions, connections, +and the conditions of language use-- +as, for example, in the one sentence that I gave you. +And he's already denied that. +He said it's just a collection of cognitive processes. +Well, the editors of Science, you +know, presumably serious scientists, +added a photograph to illustrate the point of the article. +The photograph is of three infants, multiracial, +you know, we're kind of very politically correct these days. +So three infants, and if you look at them, +they're kind of paying attention to each other. +And the title of it says, "communication without syntax." +So that shows that you can have communication without syntax, +and therefore, there's something wrong with the idea +that there are rule systems. +Actually, they could have had a picture of three bacteria. +It would have made exactly the same point. +They also communicate without syntax. +The title of the article is, "Without Social Context?" +with a question mark, meaning how can anybody study language +without looking at the social context of use? +And of course, study of the mechanisms of language +ignores the social context of use. +I mean, you can go on to study how, +once you have the mechanisms, they +are used in a social context, but that's different. +Well, if you're studying communication, +that makes sense. +So in fact, the study of communication +without social context would be almost meaningless. +So of course, social context is a crucial element +of the study of communication. +On the other hand, it's not an element +of the study of the mechanisms that +are used by the organism in vision or planning or anything +else. +So if you take the sort of standard work-- take, +say, the theory of vision, which is the most relevant to this, +closest, in some ways. +There's major work, classical work, +from half a century ago identifying the structures +in the striate cortex, the first part +of the brain that visual signals reach, +that kind of analyze the visual signal into straight lines, +pieces of straight lines, angles, and so on and so forth. +That's Hubel and Wiesel, and, you know, +Nobel Prize-winning work. +They didn't study the social context-- Another mic? +Let's see. +Let me try-- +How's that? +Working? +I told you we had a former MIT student here. +[LAUGHTER] +I'll keep it as a spare. +I'll hold this. +We'll give him an extra PhD for this. +[LAUGHTER] +[APPLAUSE] +Well, I was talking about the way scientists +carry out the study of the mechanisms that +enter into behavior and action. +And in the study of those mechanisms, +they don't pay attention to social context. +So the Hubel and Wiesel cases are an example when, say, +Elizabeth Spelke and Renee Baillargeon and others +study the notions of how infants identify, discover, +internalize, or at least recognize +the concept of continuity of objects. +You know, an object moves behind a screen, +you expect to see the same object coming out. +That kind of thing. +They don't study the social context +in which that is carried out. +Just to mention one of the most remarkable discoveries, +I think, in the theory of perception, +there's a principle called the rigidity +principle of Stephen Ullmann. +He discovered that if a subject is +given a series of presentations-- very few, +maybe three presentations-- of a couple of points +of light on a screen, what the subject will see +is a rigid object in motion. +That's just the way we are designed, +our visual system is designed. +Well, obviously the social context doesn't matter. +Equally obviously, it's not learned. +And in fact, any work that is trying +to investigate the properties of the module, the ones that +are put to use in some way, doesn't pay attention +to social context. +That should be obvious. +Well, going back to the same Science article, +the author adds that there are well-developed gradualist +evolutionary arguments-- "gradualist" means +small steps-- gradualist evolutionary arguments +to support the conclusion that there's +no such thing as language, except as a complex +of independent cognitive processes. +And he also rejects, as do many, what +he calls the saltationist argument, that is, +the argument that there's a sudden gap, +you know, something happened not step by step. +The crucial question is how you get from finite to infinite. +And it's supposed to be a great heresy +to say that this is saltationist. +You have to do it step by step. +That's about as interesting as saying that 2 plus 2 equals 4. +It's a point of logic that it has to be saltationist. +But that conflicts with the dogma that everything +has to happen by small steps. +So throughout the literature, and even in this article +in Science, you got to reject it somehow, +strange confusions about evolutionary biology. +Well, do we actually know anything +about evolution of language? +Actually, there's some conditions, +there's some facts about it that we know. +Not much, but they are suggestive. +So one thing that we know with high confidence +is that for roughly 50,000 years, +there has been no evolution of the language faculty. +And the reason we can be pretty confident about that +is that it appears that our ancestors left Africa +roughly 50,000 years ago. +And if you look at all humans in the world, +they seem to have the identical capacity. +Now, there are individual differences. +But there's no known group differences. +So for example, if you take an infant +from a tribe in the Amazon that hasn't had human contacts +for tens of thousands of years, if the child's brought, say, +here, it will speak just like any kid here. +You know, and conversely, which indicates +that there just hasn't been any evolution +of this capacity at all. +Individual differences, of course, +always appear to some extent. +So that's one thing we can be pretty confident about. +Something else that we can be reasonably confident about +is that if you go, say, maybe 50,000 years before that, +there's no evidence that language existed at all. +Of course, we don't have tape recordings, +but we have an archaeological record. +And it appears that roughly in that very small window-- +you can double the numbers and nothing changes. +It's a very small window from the point +of view-- from an evolutionary point of view. +There is a sudden, pretty sudden, explosion +of complex artifacts, many signs of innovation and creativity, +symbolic representation, representations +of astronomical events, complex social structures and so on. +One well-known paleoanthropologist, +Jared Diamond, calls it the Great Leap Forward. +And it seems to have happened very suddenly, +from an evolutionary point of view, +which means maybe over tens of thousands of years. +That's very suggestive about the nature of language. +It suggests that something happened +at that point which yielded this creative capacity that we +make use of in language. +Now, recall that at the core of language, every language, +is a generative procedure, which has the general properties +I mentioned. +It yields infinite array of structured expressions +with interpretations. +And if this emerged suddenly, there's +only one way known in which that could have happened. +There had to be some kind of rewiring of the brain, +maybe very small rewiring of the brain. +So little is understood about the brain, you don't know. +But some kind of rewiring of the brain +which provided this capacity. +Well, that can happen only after some mutation, maybe a mutation +in regulatory genes, something else to be discovered. +But whatever it was, that happened in a single person. +Groups don't undergo a mutation. +A person does. +So some person underwent this mutation, had a brain rewiring, +suddenly had this capacity. +And notice that that person had what's sometimes +called a language of thought, that +is, the structured expressions that +were made available unbounded could relate +to conceptual structures that already existed, +which means that to some extent, this person could think, plan, +interpret, and so on and so forth. +But it, let's call it, was the only person that could do it. +Nobody else could. +So a couple of consequences follow +from that, plausible ones. +One is that there were no selectional pressures at all. +So therefore, whatever developed in the brain was acted upon +solely by laws of nature and general principles that hold +no social context, obviously. +Well, what laws of nature? +It's a computational process, so at the very least, +there should have at least been principles +of computational efficiency that determined +what this thing is in the mind. +So it should have been kind of like a snowflake. +It comes out perfectly, simply because of whatever the laws +of nature are that apply to it. +So you'd expect it to be basically perfect. +Furthermore, it had no externalization. +Since this person is the only one who had that capacity, +there was no point whatsoever in figuring out +a way to get it to come out of the mouth +or out of the hands or anything else, +because nobody else has this. +So what you would have had is something +like an internal snowflake, connected to thought processes, +but with no externalization. +Well, speculating on, if this capacity had +some selectional advantage, it might +have proliferated to offspring. +Now, that's not so trivial, because it's well +known that small changes that have selectional advantage +almost always don't proliferate. +Sometimes they do, or we wouldn't have evolution, +but usually they don't. +So in fact, this might have happened many times +in the proto history of the species. +But we know it happened once, at least, because it remained. +Well, when it proliferates to descendants, +after a couple of generations, in a small hunter-gatherer +group, it could come to be a substantial part, maybe even +dominate the group. +At that point, there's a reason for externalizing, +for one person to have a means to convey +to others what it's thinking. +But that's a very tough cognitive problem. +You've got this snowflake in the mind. +You have a sensorimotor system which +has been around for hundreds of thousands of years. +For that there is fossil evidence. +And you have to somehow match these things. +Complicated thing to do. +Well, that accords pretty well with some general things +that we know about language. +Apparently, the overwhelming mass of complexity of language +is in the externalization. +And the variety of languages appears +to be mostly, perhaps entirely, in the externalization. +When you study a second language, +you study the externalization. +You're not taught anything about the examples +like the one I gave. +For one thing, nobody knows how to teach you that, because they +don't know how it works. +But you're not taught any of that. +When a child is acquiring a language, +it's fundamentally acquiring the externalization. +The externalization is easily susceptible to change, +like the Norman invasion changed the externalization +of English enormously. +But no indication it changed anything inside. +And that's roughly what we understand. +And that tells you what to look for, +gives you some suggestions about what to look for, +when you're asking what the nature of language is. +Well, let's go back to taking a look at that. +If you take the generative enterprise seriously, +you want to ask yourself, what is this procedure +that has these consequences? +It instantly turns out that there +are puzzles all over the place. +I mean, I gave one example. +But that's, again, misleading, because almost everything +looks like a puzzle. +Everything that was assumed to be simple and straightforward +in the 1950s, completely unproblematic, +turns out to be very puzzling. +That's reminiscent of things that have happened +in the history of science. +So if you take a look at the history of modern science, +for millennia, there were some things +that were assumed to be perfectly obvious +and not cause any puzzles, like, for example, the fact that, +say, if I hold this up and it happens to have boiling water +and I take the top off, if I take the top off and let +go of it, the steam will rise and the bottle will fall. +Well, there was an explanation of that that +goes back to classical Greece. +They're seeking their natural place. +So that solves that problem. +Galileo allowed himself to be puzzled about this. +He asked, well, why is this happening? +So did other scientists of his era. +That's the birth of modern science. +As soon as you allow yourself to be puzzled about things +that look obvious, it turns out at once you +don't know the answer. +And when you look a little farther, +it turns out that all your intuitions are wrong, +like about the rate of fall having +to do with mass and so on and so forth. +So that's where science begins. +It really begins with the willingness +to be puzzled about things that look obvious. +And that's very much what happened in the early '50s. +So just to give a couple of illustrations, +one hoary example has to do with a process called +auxiliary inversion. +An auxiliary verb, like "can," or "be," +or something like that, moves from where it's interpreted +to the beginning of a sentence. +So you have sentences like, "Can eagles that fly swim?" +OK, simple sentence. +Well, we know what that means. +We know some puzzling things. +We know that "can" is connected to "swim," not connected +to "fly." +Similarly, if you put "are," "be," a form of "be" +in the front of the sentence, say, "Are eagles that fly +swimming?" that's OK. +But you can't say, "Are eagles that flying swim?" +Again, that's a perfectly fine thought. +It asks, is it the case that eagles that are flying swim? +But you can't say it as, "Are eagles that flying swim?" +You can only say, "Are eagles that fly swimming?" +very much like the "can" case, and in fact, every case +works like this. +And that's extremely puzzling, because the simplest +computational procedure would say +that the auxiliary verb in the front picks the closest verb +and attaches itself to that for its interpretation. +That's a trivial computation. +But it's not the one that's used. +The one that's used is much more complex. +It's called structure-dependent. +It requires that you know the structure of the sentence. +You find the main verb, not the closest verb, +which is a complex computational procedure. +And this is all languages, all constructions, +every place that the question can even be raised, +you have the same conclusion. +What the mind is doing is computing structure, not +linear order, which is very surprising. +It's a very puzzling fact, not trivial at all. +Well, that's incidentally one of the rare cases +where in computational cognitive science, +there have been concerted efforts +to try to show that statistical procedures can deal +with a real problem, this one, and there's +a big literature about this. +It's reviewed in print. +Actually Massimo and I have an article about it, +with Bob Berwick, and I won't run through it. +But if you look at it, you can see +that every effort not only fails, but fails +dramatically, like unresurrectable. +Furthermore, more fundamentally, and I +don't think we made this point clearly enough, +it wouldn't matter if the methods worked, +because if the language worked the other way, if you +used linear order, the same methods would give you +those results. +So even if they worked, they wouldn't +be telling you anything. +That's one of the very rare cases which has actually +been studied and doesn't work. +So what's the explanation? +Well, there is a far-reaching explanation that comes to mind. +The explanation would be pretty much +what I said about speculations about evolution. +Order is part of externalization. +The sensorimotor system requires that you have order, +or some other arrangement. +For example, sign doesn't use just linear order, +uses a lot of simultaneous things. +Depending on the modality, you might +have different arrangements. +But there has to be some arrangement +for the sensorimotor system. +On the other hand, there's no reason at all +to believe that for a semantic interpretation, +the order matters. +I'll talk about that in a minute. +But it is a reflex of the sensorimotor system. +So a plausible conclusion is that order just isn't there +when the computations are being carried out, +so therefore there's no choice of using order, +because it's not available to the computational system. +And there's actually some interesting neurolinguistic +evidence about this. +There's a group in Milan. +The linguist in the group, Andrea Moro, a lot of you know. +They did a study, relevant, looking +at this, basically, in which they gave subjects +two essentially nonsense languages, invented languages. +One of them was-- these are monolingual German speakers. +One of the languages was modeled on Italian, +so it satisfied the general principles of language. +The other violated what we take to be +general principles of language, sometimes called principles +of universal grammar. +For example, it used order. +Examples would be, say, making a negation-- you know, +the negation of a sentence-- forming it +by taking the third word of the-- +by putting the negative element, "not", +in the position of the third word, +OK, which is not the way language works, +but it's a very simple way it could work. +Well, it turned out that the results +are that for the nonsense sentences that +are modeled on a real language, they +got the usual activity in the language-related parts +of the brain, Broca's area. +Just normal activation. +But for the cases that violated principles, like using order, +people could solve the problem, but they were apparently +solving it as a puzzle. +Other parts of the brain were doing it, +and took longer, and so on and so forth. +That's a very suggestive result. And more work of that kind +ought to be done. +Well, in any event, there is a far-reaching thesis +which is plausible, and it seems to be quite general. +So let me take just one second example. +This is one of the other few cases +where there has been some effort to pay +some attention to the real problem +in computational cognitive science. +Problem of language, that is. +Take questions of what's called binding theory, the theory +of referential dependence. +When does a word called an anaphor, like, say, "himself", +relate to an antecedent, like "he" in "He saw himself?" +Early approaches in this-- '50s and '60s, +'70s-- assumed that order was crucial. +And there's a lot of work showing +how this depends on the order of the elements, which +kind of looks right for the overwhelming majority +of sentences you think about. +But by the 1970s, it was beginning +to be understood that this was wrong. +So sometimes you get cases where the order doesn't work. +And so take things like "He thinks that John is a genius." +"He" doesn't refer to John in that case. +Refers to somebody else. +Take "His mother thinks that John is a genius." +There "he," "his," can refer to John. +But the order is the same. +So it can't be just order. +And in fact, if you look at this, +it depends on hierarchy, not order. +The "he" is buried inside "his mother," +so there's a hierarchic structure that differs. +Furthermore, you can violate order, or at least +superficially, so it appears. +So take, for example, "Which picture of himself +does John like best?" +Well, there, the "himself" goes back to John. +But it precedes John, at least in the external order. +Well, that kind of research led to the conclusion +that in fact, order doesn't play any role at all, +that it's just hierarchy. +And that appears to work for many other cases, every known +case, in fact, of semantic interpretation. +This, as I said, is one of the rare cases where +there has been an attempt to approach the problem +from the nonexistence approach. +There's a recent issue of the same journal, Cognitive +Science, by two well-known scientists +who argue that the antecedent-anaphor relation is +just a simple cognitive process. +The, say, John-himself relation is +resolved as quickly as possible in parsing and interpreting +the sentence. +You just solve it as quickly as you can. +Well, that's actually, clearly-- you can easily +show that that's false. +Even the examples I mentioned show it. +But take a more interesting one. +Take the sentence, "Do they expect +to see each other next week?" +OK, there, "each other" goes back to "they." +Now add the word "who" in front. +"Who do they expect to see each other next week?" +Doesn't work anymore. "Each other" doesn't go back +to "they." +It's exactly the same sentence, just with the word +"who" in front. +Well, intuitively we know the reason. +Intuitively, we know that although you +hear the "who" in front, it's actually being interpreted +internally to the sentence. +It's being interpreted as something +like, "For which person do they think that that person, +they think that they expect that person to see each other?" +Well, then you can't do it, because there's +a "that person" in the way. +Well, you don't hear that. +But evidently the mind is hearing it. +So the mind is picking up that missing element, +and it's interpreting it even though it's not there +in the sound. +Incidentally, this bears directly-- one of many things +that bear directly-- on the kind of dogma +that nothing can be going on in the mental processing that +isn't accessible to consciousness, +because you can't possibly introspect about this +and figure out what's going on. +Well, it also shows that if you want to look into it, +you quickly get into pretty complex questions about how +the generative rules, the syntactic rules, +operate, the things that the nonexistence approach is trying +to replace. +This becomes much more obvious if you look at-- this goes on +to much more complex examples. +Well, let's turn briefly to the generative process. +Now, there are three kinds of questions +that you can ask about it, as in any scientific investigation +of any other biological object. +Now you can ask, first of all, "what" questions. +What is it? +What we might call "how" questions, how does it develop? +And "why" questions, why is it this way +and not some other way? +Those are the most interesting. +So take this case. +The "what" questions, the natural approach +is to start with the very simplest assumption +and see how far it can take us. +So what's the simplest assumption? +We have a computational procedure. +Every computational procedure contains within it, +somewhere buried within it, a very simple operation that +says, take two objects already formed, +put them together, make a new object. +OK, call that merge. +That's going to be anywhere in a computational procedure. +If this is as simple as possible, +the two objects that are brought together +are not changed in the course of the operation. +If they are changed, that's more complex. +So the simplest assumption is, well, they're not changed. +Furthermore, they're unordered. +To order them is more complex than to leave them unordered. +Well, what that means is that the simplest computational +operation takes x and y and just forms the set containing xy. +Nothing else. +So let's take that to be merge. +Well, if you think about merge, it +has two logical possibilities. +One of them-- about x and y. +One possibility is that x and y are distinct from one another, +and the other possibility is that one of them, let's say y, +is inside x. +And that exhausts the possibilities. +It turns out there's no possibility of overlap. +Well, let's call those external merge and internal merge. +So for example, if you say "They see each other," +the pieces are put together by external merge. +Now, let's go back to "Who do they expect to see each other?" +What's going on there, and would account +for the facts, is that the "who" is actually +taken from the sentence, "They expect who to see each other?" +It's part of that sentence. +And it's merged to it. +So you get, "Who do they expect to see each other?" +Well, if nothing is changed in the process, +that's internal merge. +If nothing has changed in the processes of computation, +you have two copies of that "who." +So what the mind is really hearing +is, "Who do they expect who to see each other?" +And then the mind just uses the obvious operation, looks +for the closest antecedent. +Of course, the ear isn't hearing that. +The ear is hearing something else, +because in the course of externalization, +the internal one is deleted. +Now, why should that happen? +Well, that's another obvious principle +of computational complexity. +The less you have to articulate, and the less phonology +you have to run through, the simpler it is. +So the optimal procedure is to just erase everything +in externalization, except the one thing that you need, +the hierarchically highest, to show +that the operation took place. +Now, that happens universally, every language, +every relevant expression. +It has an interesting consequence. +That yields difficulties for perception. +People who've worked on parsing programs, +ways of figuring out what a sentence means, +know that one of the hardest problems +is what's called the filler gap problem. +You hear a word like "who" at the beginning of a sentence, +and you've got to figure out where you're interpreting it. +That's pretty tricky. +If you repeated it, you'd have essentially no problem at all. +In complex sentences, this can be quite complex. +Well, here's a case in point, an important case, +where considerations of computational complexity, +making the system as simple as possible, +conflict with efficiency of use. +There's a conflict between computational efficiency +and communicative efficiency. +And computational efficiency just wins, hands down, +all the time. +And there are many other cases like that. +I won't go into them. +And they all seem to have the same consequence, +insofar as we understand it. +And that strongly suggests that the Aristotelian maxim that +I mentioned, language is sound with a meaning, +ought to be to be revised. +It should be, language is meaning +with some kind of externalization, which +is a very different conception. +It means that language is essentially a thought system. +And then, on the side, there's some ways +of externalizing it, one or another. +That looks like the correct answer. +Well, let's quickly turn to the "how" questions, language +acquisition. +I won't go into detail, but clearly that +can take place to the extent that you have some answer +to the "what" questions. +If you know what you're aiming at, +you can ask the question, how it's acquired. +Otherwise not. +Then come the "why" questions, the hard ones. +Why would language have these properties, rather than +some other properties? +And the best answer would be pretty much +what I speculated about. +Some sudden, very slight event yielded +merge in its optimal form, the form that's least complex. +And the rest follows from natural law. +So, kind of things I've talked about. +Well, we're very far from reaching that goal, +but it looks a lot more plausible +than it did not many years ago. +And it is the goal that is the natural kind of point +to which the study of the topic ought to strive. +It has a name these days. +It's called the minimalist program. +And that's led to a lot of misunderstanding. +It's just normal science, you know, +there's nothing to say about it. +It's the effort to try to show that the simplest +assumptions carry you. +See how far they can carry you. +Maybe all the way. +Maybe a little, some residue. +But that this should be true is even kind of suggested +by the very little we know about evolutionary history. +Well, before I end, let me just mention +one more extremely serious problem which +has barely been addressed. +Any computational procedure assumes +kind of atoms of computation, the smallest +things that you compute with. +So minimal meaning-bearing elements, kind of roughly, +words. +Let's take words as a first approximation. +Well, there's two aspects to this. +One has to do with sound, the other with meaning. +The question is, how do these things relate +to the mind-external world? +Well, in the case of externalization, +there are fields that study it. +Acoustic and articulatory phonetics +are effectively the study of how these units, their elements, +relate to the mind-external world. +That's a very non-trivial investigation. +It's been going on seriously for 60 +years with high-tech equipment and so on. +Some results, but hard problem, like most scientific problems. +Well, what about the other aspect? +How do these minimal elements relate +to meaning, something outside, and to use of language +and so on? +Well, there is a standard answer to this. +It's called the referentialist doctrine. +It holds that a particular word, let's say the word "cow," +picks out cows, those things out there, +things that some physicist could identify, maybe +by some kind of causal relation. +That's virtually dogma in modern psychology and philosophy. +It seems that it may be true for animal communication. +So as far as we know, animal communication, +the symbols in animal communication, +do apparently pick out mind-independent entities +that a external observer could identify. +Like, if a monkey has a certain call, +it could be elicited by, say, leaves +moving around in the tree. +We interpret that as a warning call. +An eagle's coming or something. +And apparently, animal communication +is like that everywhere. +So it does seem to satisfy something +like the referentialist doctrine. +However, nothing like that is remotely true for language, +even for the simplest elements. +Take "person," "river," "tree," "it," "thing." +Anything you pick, as soon as you look at the meaning, +you find that that's just not true. +You cannot individuate the entities that people use +the term to refer to by any mind-independent properties. +So, a lot of work on this. +I won't talk about it. +Now, the most you can say is that these internal things +provide the kind of perspectives from which one +can-- that you can use for interpreting and referring +to the world. +Actually, that was kind of understood +in the 17th and 18th centuries. +There was a lot of work about it then, +discussions, trying to argue that these elementary things +involve what we now call gestalt properties, +cause and effect, sympathy of parts, things +directed to a common end, psychic continuity, +crucial for individuating animals and people and so on. +Most of this has been forgotten, but there's pretty good +evidence that it's true. +And if it is, it's another vast chasm +between humans and other animals, +and a huge problem for evolutionary biology. +The origins are completely unknown. +And if Dick Lewontin is right, maybe never will be. +Well, one final comment, just for a few of you, +those who are familiar with all this stuff. +There are some, and I apologize to the rest. +This will only be a minute or two. +Now, there are some important differences +between early generative grammar and the kind +of merge-based systems that I've been talking about here. +The basic properties that were studied from the beginning, +we can divide into contiguous and noncontiguous relations. +So you go back to early transformational grammar, +generative grammar, there are contiguous relations +like composition, order, and projection. +And those were handled in phrase structure grammar. +Then there are noncontiguous relations. +The crucial one is displacement, long-distance agreement. +These were handled by transformational grammar. +That was the division of labor. +By the 1960s, changes were coming along. +X-bar theory developed, and it overcame a lot of problems. +So phrase structure grammar is highly stipulative +and extremely complex. +It's kind of strange it's still used in computational cognitive +science. +It's the worst possible system. +There's all kind of things wrong with it, +which were known 50 years ago. +X-bar theory overcomes these things, +but it introduces some other stipulations, which +haven't been even noticed, let alone given enough attention. +One thing, X-bar theory requires that all constructions +be endocentric. +Another consequence is that you get things like first merge, +second merge, and so on. +You get specifiers and multiple specifiers. +Now, all of this is highly stipulative. +And you can see it even if you look at the simplest rules. +Like, take the standard first rule +of old-fashioned generative grammar, [? SRONPVP. ?] +We put it a little differently now, but the same issue arises. +Now, what about the NP and the VP, the subject +and the predicate? +Well, in an X-bar theory, one of them +has to be the specifier or the other. +And the structure has to be endocentric. +There has to be a head. +What's usually assumed is that the T, +the inflectional element, is the head, +and the subject is the specifier. +But that's completely arbitrary. +You could just as well say that the TP +is the specifier of the NP, of the N, the head of the NP. +And this runs all through the system. +Furthermore, there's no reason to believe +that all merges is to a head, which would +make everything endocentric. +That's an extra complication. +And these things have to be looked at. +That's another puzzle that you can't just ignore, +although it's taken for granted in almost all work. +Well, if you look at a merge-based system +and you have no special constraints on it, +the division of labor is going to be different. +Composition and displacement will all be simple merge. +Order is taken out of the whole system. +It's externalization. +It reflects the sensorimotor system. +Now, what about projection? +Well, that's different from the other properties. +The other properties are virtually visible. +You see them in the expression. +Projection is a theory-internal notion. +You don't see it at all. +It's just somehow internal to the theory, which raises +the question whether it exists. +And if it does exist, what is it? +Well, there is a motivation for assuming +that something like it exists. +Projection tells you what kind of a phrase you have. +How could you tell that? +Well, the best way to do it would be by a minimal search +procedure, which goes from, I would say at least phase +head, to a designated element that tells you what kind +of a structure the thing is. +That works fine for endocentric constructions, +for something of the form, head-complement. +Then the head is picked up by minimal search. +But it doesn't work at all for other constructions, +[? XPVPYP ?] constructions, like, say, subject-predicate. +And there's no reason to rule those out. +Well, how can you find-- now it's +called labeling instead of projection, because you're +searching for something and trying to label it. +How can you overcome those cases? +Actually, there's only two ways to do it, +if you think about the logic. +One of them is an adaptation of some ideas +of Andrea Moro, again, what he called dynamic antisymmetry. +This is in his study of copular constructions, +where he argued that there's a [? copulant ?] of small clause, +and that one or the other of the two +elements of the small clause have to raise. +And he talks about the consequences of this. +You can reinterpret this as a labeling problem. +That is, unless you raise one of them, +there's no way of labeling the small clause. +If you do raise one of them, then only the unraised one +is visible. +The other one is there. +It's a copy. +But it's part of a discontinuous element. +And there's independent evidence that the search procedures, +like agree, don't look at the copies. +In fact, they only look at the whole discontinuous element. +That's the way the standard, say, intervention effects +in Icelandic work, and so on. +So that's one way of doing it. +If you get something like this, you raise one of them. +You can label it. +There's only one other approach. +And that is that if the two elements, the XP and the YP, +have essentially the same designated +element, the same head, then the search procedure +will find the same thing in both of them +and it will use that as the label. +Well, that gives you-- if you think it through, +it's complicated. +It gives you what Luigi Rizzi called criterial positions. +He kind of just stipulated the criterial positions. +But if you look at them, those are +cases where the two things that are put together, say, +a subject and a predicate, have agreeing heads, +like [? phi ?] features. +So those are the two cases. +And it seems that that's the way things work. +And in fact, it yields a lot of consequences. +For one thing, it explains why you +have to have successive cyclic movement. +In successive cyclic movement, you're +getting to intermediate structures, XP YP, +which are unlabelable, so you got to raise one of them +until it reaches a criterial position, in which they're +labeled the same way. +So like a WH phrase and a Q and a C and so on. +Well, there's a lot more to say about that. +But I'll stop there. +But it opens up a whole array of consequences, +of new puzzles that haven't really been thought about. +[APPLAUSE] +Dr. Chomsky, where do you see exclusive externalization, +like in Pig Latin, or changing language intentionally +to keep secrets, of causing the most +impact on the evolution of language, +before or after the 50,000 mark? +So how does evolution affect the externalization process +in the last 50,000 years? +As far as we know, it doesn't. +Externalization changes all the time. +It changes very rapidly in the history. +That's historical linguistics. +Historical linguistics is the study +of how existing languages have changed through time. +But if you take a look at it, it's +almost entirely the study of externalization change. +There is work on syntactic change, +but very possibly, if that's reanalyzed properly, +it may turn out that there isn't any syntactic change, +that the things that are changing +are either in the morphology or in the phonology. +And morphology and phonology are part of the externalization +process. +So I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out. +It's a big job. +It's a goal. +The goal would be to show that nothing changes, +except the externalization. +We do know that the externalization changes +enormously. +Now, that's why you have the Tower of Babel, +people can't understand each other. +Whatever came out of Africa 50,000 years ago +has gone in a lot of different directions. +And that's not too surprising, because every child +has to solve a very hard cognitive problem. +First of all, the child isn't presented +with a single language. +Never. +Even in the smallest community, there's +always differences in the way people talk. +Your aunt talks this way, and your friends +talk a different way, and so on. +So the blooming, buzzing confusion is pretty confusing. +And out of this, the child has to get from those noises +or signs or whatever they are to something inside, which may +be something like a snowflake. +That is, something which is just designed perfectly +by the laws of nature, maybe laws +of computational complexity. +Now, we don't know that. +It's just that the kind of evidence +begins to point to that. +But the effect, the result, is that as far as we can detect, +there is no evolution. +Notice that historical change is not evolution. +Evolution means genetic change. +OK, and there's no reason to think +that, say, tribes in Papua New Guinea +or whatever have a different language capacity than you +and I do. +Again, there's individual differences, +but that's a different matter. +We're talking about group differences. +I should say there is some slight evidence, very slight, +for group differences. +There's some work claiming-- I don't know how credibly, +there's some papers in the literature, maybe some of you +know something about this-- that speakers of tone languages +hear things a little differently from birth +than speakers of non-tone languages. +Is that right? +Yeah. +So you can ask Heidi. +She'll explain it to you. +[LAUGHTER] +Professor Chomsky, thank you for coming here, +and thank you for all your work in many facets. +On behalf of a group called Audit Arizona, +I'd like to just bring in some language with social context, +and present you with this packet, with your permission, +about a local lawsuit that's going forward +prosecuting the Pima County for election fraud. +Well, that's different. +[LAUGHTER] +OK. +Happy to have it. +Professor Chomsky, my question is on computing. +You know, there are a number of us +here on campus, presumably in this room, +who work on a field, so-called computational linguistics, +a field heavily influenced by your work. +So for obvious reasons, we grew up +being quite used to highly-structured views +of language. +You know, for obvious reasons, right? +So on the other hand, one trend that a lot of us +have been observing over the years is that in the field, +most successful computational applications +related to languages are built on relatively shallow, +you know, if any, shallow, flat, linear, +or almost no linguistic structure, motivated +computational models. +So two questions naturally arise in my mind. +One is what is your view on this? +What do you think is going on? +Is it a major departure from your framework, or just +a minor digression? +Or is it totally irrelevant question, how we build things +is totally independent of how we understand language? +So that's one question, what is going on? +But second question is, pragmatically, +do you see this shallow linguistic, +although highly-statistical computational approach +as a viable approach to building computational intelligence that +have language capabilities? +I apologize. +I don't hear very well. +In general, I think we should have one question per customer. +[LAUGHTER] +There's a lot of very good work in computational linguistics. +I mean, I think the things that I was discussing +are mistakes, and pretty prevalent, +but there's very good work right here. +[INAUDIBLE], for example. +Maryland has a very good program. +University of Michigan. +Rick Lewis does very good work. +At Penn, Charles Yang has done quite good work, +I think very good work, integrating +learning-theoretic ideas, a lot of them involving statistics, +with principles of language, and showing +that if you integrate these things, +you can account for some interesting phenomena. +Actually, in this MOM case, Yang is +one of those who showed that if you study +the statistical analysis, study of transitional probabilities, +try to get word boundaries out of that. +And he showed that doesn't work. +But he showed that if you take that information +and you also look at prosodic information, +you know, principles that say a word has a prosodic peak, +then you get better results. +And then there's further work by Shukla, Aslin, +and somebody else whose name I forgot, +which shows that if you look at prosodic phrases-- it's +a more complex notion-- and integrate +that with statistical analysis, you get even better results. +And in fact, I think Yang's most interesting result, at least +for me, is-- there's been a ton of studies, +you know, especially in the connectionist literature, +of how irregular verbs are learned. +It's kind of an odd topic. +Nobody ever really studied it. +But that was kind of like the heart +of the connectionist literature. +As far as I know, Yang is about the only one +who has a good explanation. +It's based on a proposal of Morris Halle's, actually, +that verbs, the irregular verbs, are first +put into classes, you know, like there's +the sing-sang-sung class and other classes. +And then he argues the probability of occurrence +does play a role in determining acquisition. +But rather strikingly, improbable verbs, +which are in a class that has high-probability verbs, those +are learned just as fast as the high-probability verbs. +So what's being learned, really, is the rules, not the examples. +Well, that's interesting work. +And there's other work of this kind which +I think makes perfect sense. +So first off, I'd like to think Professor Chomsky for coming +out and giving this talk today. +It was great. +So I'm not a linguist. +So excuse the potential naivety of my question. +But I am a thinker, and I've also often wondered +how things such as the establishment +of national languages or dictionaries +that limit what is a word or what isn't a word +have affected language. +So my question is, do you think that the state or other +organizations have hindered the evolution, the free evolution, +of language? +It doesn't affect the evolution of language. +Remember, evolution means genetic change. +So after you've been through a boring grammar course +in eighth grade, you may try to speak differently, +but your genes haven't changed. +So there's no indication that any of this +has anything to do with evolution. +Prescriptive grammar, there's nothing wrong with it. +Like, I use dictionaries, you know? +But remember, dictionaries, if they're any good, +they're giving you hints, and they're telling you +things that are idiosyncratic, that you couldn't know just +by being a human being. +So you couldn't know which meaning is pronounced +which way, or things like that. +So the Oxford English Dictionary, +you know, this huge thing, it'll give you information like that. +But most of the information you're providing yourself. +The dictionary doesn't come close to describing +either the meaning or the pronunciation of words. +You're adding all of that yourself, +just by being a human being, the same way +a child does when the child is hearing a word used +and somehow understands what it means. +And in fact, it's pretty remarkable, +but there's quite good evidence for one-trial learning. +And when you think about the meaning of a word, +that's kind of a miracle. +Lila Gleitman has done very good work on this, as have others. +A kid hears a word in one use, and it knows the meaning, +and how to pronounce it. +Maybe it can't pronounce it, because it +doesn't have the articulatory capacity, +but it knows how it's done. +In fact, a kid can learn a dozen words a day. +It is kind of miraculous. +And they do have complex meanings. +So the prescriptive grammars, at best, +just give you data that you couldn't +have known just by being human. +At worst, what they do, and what instruction often does, +is teach you things that are wrong. +Anything you learned about your language in school +is probably wrong, or else they-- for good reasons. +Otherwise they wouldn't have taught it. +Most of it you know automatically. +And if you're taught something, it's +typically trying to get you to do something that's +inconsistent with what you know, and very often inconsistent +with the way language works. +And this does have effects. +And that's why people say things like, "between you and I," +let's say. +It ought to be "between you and me." +Or why they say "he and I left," instead +of "him and me left," which is what English ought to have. +That is a result of teaching. +And the teaching is based on misunderstandings about Latin +that go back a couple hundred years +and worked their way into teaching curricula. +And the teachers have to try to force +the kids to say these things, because they +don't make any sense. +And when kids learn them, they often overgeneralize, +so you get the "between you and I" type stuff. +So that's there, but it's pretty peripheral to language. +Very simple question. +When you refer to complexity, what +do we actually mean by that? +Complex as a dynamic system, or a non-linear-- +Well, complexity is a tricky concept. +We don't have a general theory of complexity. +And in fact, the study of systems and how they develop +teaches you something about complexity, +because there's good reason to think +that systems kind of automatically +develop in the least complex ways. +When you see how they develop, you +get some sense of what the proper notion of complexity is. +So it's an interactive process. +But there are some things that are just kind of obvious. +For example, less is better than more. +Or, a shorter search is better than longer search. +And those are the only notions of complexity +that I used in the talk, and they carry you pretty far. +Nothing like this gets into dynamical systems. +That raises further questions, which may be relevant, +but you kind of wait until you reach problems where +you need more complex notions. +Sorry, but we have to stop the questions now. +[LAUGHTER] +I think I have no choice. +[APPLAUSE] +Thank you, Dr. Chomsky. +Thank you for being here. +Thank you for listening. +My question is probably non-academic, +in that language often falls short for many of us, +and we sometimes refer to foreign language +to try to explain something. +Why is it that my thinking process, +or my experiential process, cannot be articulated with +language? +Where is that disconnect? +Well, you know, each language-- first of all, +I think altogether, I think all of us +know that language does not give us the full capacity, maybe +anywhere near the capacity, to express what we're thinking, +feeling, hoping for, whatever. +There's an awful lot of thought that goes on that just +doesn't come out the mouth, you know, and probably can't. +I mean, when you introspect, you can see this. +So for example, here's a topic that hasn't been studied, +but should. +People are talking to themselves all the time. +You can't prevent yourself from talking to yourself. +Actually, I don't know if that's true of signers. +Do signers sign to themselves all the time? +All the time? +OK. +But you've seen it. +Well, you just can't prevent yourself from doing it. +It takes a tremendous act of will. +Now, if you pay attention, at least +when I pay attention, to what I think I'm doing, +it is externalized language. +Like, I can tell whether two words rhyme. +But I think it's fragments. +I mean, at least what I think I'm doing, +is sort of fragments come to mind, a word, another word, +and then all of a sudden, I know exactly what the thought is, +and I can express it. +Well, if that's true, that means that the thinking is going on, +the bits of externalized language +are kind of spurring you to express it, +and then you can express whatever it is you're thinking. +But even with all of that, there's a lot of stuff +you just can't express. +That's why people write poems and that's +why we have literature and art and music +and all sorts of other things. +And that tells us something, but not enough. +As for looking at other languages, I mean, +there are, sometimes, concepts, that +do have a-- kind of like the mot juste, the right word. +It happens like that, happens to be in another language. +That doesn't happen to be an expression of English. +And there are things like that, you know, schadenfreude, angst, +and stuff like that. +So there are cases where some other language just +happens to have the concept that you're looking for. +But there are plenty of cases where, at least, +my feeling is, where no language does. +And we just can't begin to exhaust +the content of our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and so on. +I think everybody knows this from their own experience. +It's not studied much. +Now, one of the reasons it's not studied +is because of the pervasiveness of certain dogmas, +like the kinds I mentioned, that nothing can be going on +unless you're conscious of it, or at least +you can become conscious of it. +That's a very deep-seated conviction +in philosophy and psychology. +I mean, I've looked-- maybe some of you know better-- +but I can find almost nothing in the history of thought +that raised the question that there are unconscious thoughts. +And incidentally, that includes Freud. +I mean, there's a debate about this. +But as far as I read Freud, I think +when he talks about the unconscious, +I don't think he means by it, inaccessible to consciousness. +In fact, the whole technique of psychoanalysis +wouldn't make sense on that assumption. +So it's as if it's there somehow, +and you can bring it to consciousness. +But the idea that there's something-- +that the stuff going on that is completely unconscious, +that's rarely discussed. +There's some in Jung. +There's some in [? Vico, ?] but not much. +And I suspect that this bears on current work that's being done. +Like, there was some very interesting work +that came out recently. +Some of you remind me. +I forgot the name of the experimenter, which was all +publicized all over the place. +Someone found that before you make a decision, let's say, +to lift your hand, there's something +going on in the motor cortex, that would be connected +with lifting your hand. +I forget who the guy was who did this. +This was interpreted all over the place +as being an argument against freedom of will. +It isn't that at all. +All it's saying is that decisions are unconscious. +So you make a decision. +Before it becomes conscious, already something's going on. +So all the problems remain exactly as they were. +But you learn something you should have guessed anyhow, +that things are happening that just aren't +accessible to consciousness. +Why should they be, any more than the rigidity principle is? +[APPLAUSE] +19 +23 +25 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Well, there is a history for this. +It is an interesting history +That is really a long time +There is something to remember +Zionist Christianity is a powerful force +It appeared long before Jewish Zionism +In England specifically Christian Zionism was +Influential power among Britain's allies +It is one of the motives for the Balfour Declaration +One of the motives for British support +For Jewish colonialism in the name of Israel, remember +The Bible said so +This is a large part of +Elite culture in Britain, as well as in the United States of America +And Drew Wilson was +A committed Christian reads the Bible every day +So are Harry Truman +Harold Ikes a senior Roosevelt administration official once described +The return of the Jews to Palestine with the greatest event in history. +It is the fulfillment of what is mentioned in the Bible +These countries are deeply religious +You take literally what was mentioned in the Bible, and this is also part of colonialism +This is the last stage of European colonialism +Note that the states +The strongest in its support for Israel is not just the United States of America. +It is the United States of America, Australia and Canada +The branches of England, which are sometimes called "the English" +Unusual forms of imperialism +They are colonial societies +Colonial societies, ... not like India, ... not like the British colonization of India +It is somewhat closer to South Africa or to Algeria under French colonialism +Colonial societies are the kind where the colonizer comes +To remove the original people +Also driven by +Religious principles, very religious groups driven by Christian Zionism. These are major cultural factors +There are also important geo-strategic factors ... going back to 1948, for example +There was a difference between the State Department and the Pentagon in the USA +On how the deal with the new state of Israel should be +The State Department was +Reluctant ... was not very committed to the Israeli occupation +To create the state of Israel, and was concerned about refugees. +She wanted a practical solution to the refugee problem +But the Pentagon in return +Reckitt was very impressed by the Israeli military +Israeli military successes +When referring to the internal reports that were declassified, former chiefs of war staff describe +Israel as the second most powerful army in the region after Turkey +And it is the expected base of the American army in the region. This text has a rest +I cannot view the full report now +But in 1958 when there was a serious crisis in the region +Israel was the only country that cooperated strongly with Britain and the United States of America +In return, it received significant government and military support. +1967 The year in which relations with Israel were formed most strongly. +Israel provided a major service to the United States by destroying secular Arab nationalism +Which was the greatest enemy of the United States of America and supported Islamic radicalism .. +The United States has supported and continues to support it. +Currently +See an example of this ... through +Gaza +Let us remember in the last attack on Gaza +When I started to implement Israeli ammunition +During the attack, despite the large amount of weapons Israel possessed +The United States supplied it with more ammunition +Through the Pentagon, notice where it came from +American ammunition was already present in Israel +Intended for use by US forces +This is one of the many clues that explain +How is Israel basically treated +A soldier to America +Intelligent and historically strong intelligence relationships +And many other links +And media bias +To support government policy ... +With very limited questions about marginal particles, but mainly +Accept this policy, for example, America's invasion of Iraq +You will not be able to find the phrase (American occupation of Iraq) in the American media +Although it is clear that there is an occupation +A clear and blatant picture of violence, a clear example +When Nuremberg called it the Great Global Crime, they were unable to mention it (occupation). +President Obama, who has been praised as opposed to the occupation +What did he say? He said: It is a mistake, it is a fatal strategic mistake that we will not continue with. +Now this is some kind of opposition +It is similar to what we heard from the chief of staff of Germany when Hitler invaded Russia +A major strategic mistake, that should not have been done. We should withdraw +England first +This is considered opposition, the same in Vietnam +There is now a memorial in progress. Great commemoration of America's sacrifices in Vietnam +Try to find the phrase (America's invasion of South Vietnam) +In the media during the past years since 1961 +Does not exist, perhaps in Democracy Now +And what I wrote, but it remains on the sidelines. This is not strange to the United States. +Take Britain for example +There are currently serious discussions in the British newspapers, such as the popular Times supplement +Such was the debate over whether Britain should recognize genocide, and that word was used +Genocide +That was a feature of British colonialism +Hundreds of years ago +Should Britain start confronting it? You can ask this question in several places +Tendency +An educated community that goes like a herd +To support the authority of the state, and the influence of those with influence is a very big tendency +Intellectuals like to consider themselves +Dissenters, critics, and brave men stand up to power +Absolutely incorrect, if you look at history, you will find it (the real opposition) on a small margin, often punishing +The general trend tends to +The so-called "herd of minds that are not independent" are moving in the direction of strengthening state power +Nothing new here +Unfortunately, we have to face this herd, not new +0 +2 +5 +8 +11 +15 +19 +22 +25 +29 +32 +35 +37 +39 +43 +46 +49 +51 +57 +62 +66 +70 +77 +82 +85 +91 +94 +99 +101 +105 +110 +115 +119 +122 +124 +131 +137 +143 +147 +153 +159 +162 +165 +168 +172 +175 +183 +188 +194 +197 +203 +208 +215 +221 +227 +232 +237 +239 +242 +243 +248 +251 +255 +259 +263 +268 +272 +275 +277 +280 +284 +286 +289 +294 +299 +305 +311 +314 +319 +325 +330 +337 +341 +346 +350 +351 +356 +363 +368 +375 +378 +384 +385 +392 +399 +401 +403 +405 +412 +416 +424 +431 +434 +439 +446 +449 +455 +457 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Why Haven't Anarchist Ideas Had a Greater Impact VZyFRpqEGzg.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Why Haven't Anarchist Ideas Had a Greater Impact VZyFRpqEGzg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10476c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky - Why Haven't Anarchist Ideas Had a Greater Impact VZyFRpqEGzg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,190 @@ +Just been working on Berkman's book now and then +and just AK Press republished it, what is Anarchism +Reading these letters in the 20s one is working on the book and is finding it very difficult one of the things that he's +trying to come to grips with, I think in the book, +is why haven't people come to this idea, this idea which to me is just common sense, it's just.. +this natural instinct almost, to solidarity and support? +I've seen Russia, I've seen totalitarianism in action +Why haven't +anarchist ideas had a greater impact in the world, I think he's talking about... now that's +80 years ago nearly +and the question we're also facing as people +At least believe what Emma Goldman says, anarchism is the only +belief that shows men and women, their true self, who they can be. We see that +we know that instinctively yet it's still had such A minuscule impact +Is that true or is it ...? Chomsky: I don't think it's true that it's had a minuscule impact. +I mean a lot of the progressive social change of the past century +you know, isn't anarchist like progressive taxation isn't anarchist... social security isn't anarchist +But it's a reflection of attitudes and understanding which if they go a little bit further do reflect +anarchist commitment and they do... they are based on the Idea that +they really should be solidarity, sympathy, community, mutual support, mutual aid, and so on and so forth and +opportunities for creative action and they were based on these... they don't... you know they're subdued and channeled and modified so they +don't take real libertarian forms, but they're there and they lead the social change +Why hasn't it going further? +Well, a large part of it is violence and so, take say.. +Berkman's experience in Russia +He entered into a violent totalitarian state. I mean up until the +Bolshevik takeover, the coup, revolution revolution, whatever you wanna call it, up until that +there were very significant popular +libertarian, sometimes anarchist initiatives all over. +Running from, you know, peasant anarchism in Ukraine to +workers councils with Soviets and so on and so forth... +They were simply smashed by force +by great violence, I mean Lenin and Trotsky were totalitarian extremists, and +they had a theory behind it +They were kind of dedicated Marxists who +believed that a backward primitive country Like Russia can't go to socialism +Masters principles tell us that and +Therefore we have to drive the country by force. +through the stages of +essentially state capitalist development, and then ultimately something will happen +I mean they weren't repeating the master accurately +This required suppression of +many years of Marx's later work which were literally suppressed +He was studying the peasant societies in Russia and so on and so forth, but that doesn't really matter... +I mean the point is they had a conception they used to... they had the force... +It wasn't easy like, you know, to destroy +Makhno's movement or Kronstadt +Eliminate the Soviets and so on. It wasn't a trivial operation, but it was carried out, and Berkman saw a +a totalitarian vicious...totalitarian society +- arising very much the way anarchists had predicted - Yes +- I mean Bakunin spelled it all out. In fact Trotsky.. +before he joined it said it was going to happen as did Rosa Luxembourg and others +But it happened so... and that's their variant... our variant was different +Berkman was writing right after Wilson's red scare - which made +the Patriot Act look like a Tea Party +It was a violent repression run by the progressives +Woodrow Wilson and others and not just affecting +anarchists, not just Emma Goldman who was kicked out, but +You know, even people pretty much in the mainstream like Eugene Debs, you know +leading labor figure... He... I mean Wilson tossed him into jail because he +raised some questions about the nobility of Wilson's war +and refused to even grant him amnesty when everyone else +was granted amnesty... this is really vindictive and it really +crushed independent thought... crushed labor... had a big effect so it was +violence. Alongside the violence there is the rise of +massive propaganda +That's the rise of the public relations industry to try to control attitudes and beliefs but +quite apart from that there's something quite simple. +I mean there are disciplinary effects to the way life is organized +Take, say, a student today +Students today have many... are more in some ways... I mean in a lot of ways they're freer when they were 60 years ago. Their +attitudes and commitments and so on. +- On the other hand the more disciplined. - Yes +- They're disciplined by debt - Yes, yes +- A part of the reason for arranging education so you come out with heavy debt is so you're disciplined or +let's take the last 20 years of the neoliberal years, roughly +What's called globalization: Neoliberalism. +A lot of it is... a very striking part of it is just aimed to discipline +It wants to eliminate freedom of choice and impose discipline +How do you do it? Well if we have a couple in the United States now +working, you know +Each 50... each of them 50 hours a week to put food on the table +But you don't have time to think about how to become a libertarian socialist +What you're worried about is how do I get food on the table +- Where can I shop cheaply? - Yeah, I mean, that guy has kids to take care of, and I got something doing, you know +When they're sick I've got to go to work and what's going to happen to them?, to you know, and that's very +that's well-designed, techniques of imposing discipline. and there are costs to trying to be independent +Just take, say, trying to organize a labor union +and if you're the organizer +there's going to be cost to you... I mean maybe the workforce will gain but there's cost to you +- And we know there is... and we know what the cost is... Not just in energy and effort but just in punishment - Yes +And people who are living in fragile circumstances have, I think, a reasonable calculation... +They say why should I take the cost? I have to get by. +So there are many reasons why normal instincts and attitudes don't come out. +But, you know, over time they often do. That's why we have social changes to for the better +0 +3 +8 +16 +18 +27 +32 +37 +39 +44 +47 +51 +55 +62 +66 +70 +76 +82 +91 +95 +103 +110 +115 +117 +124 +126 +132 +138 +144 +148 +154 +157 +159 +165 +168 +171 +177 +182 +187 +189 +193 +197 +199 +203 +208 +212 +217 +220 +228 +231 +234 +239 +244 +249 +255 +258 +262 +267 +270 +275 +281 +284 +287 +292 +297 +303 +305 +312 +315 +320 +323 +331 +332 +335 +337 +344 +349 +353 +359 +363 +369 +371 +374 +379 +381 +387 +393 +399 +403 +405 +411 +418 +424 +426 +432 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2008 _ Talks at Google rnLWSC5p1XE.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2008 _ Talks at Google rnLWSC5p1XE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36c5c37 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2008 _ Talks at Google rnLWSC5p1XE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1050 @@ +>> ANNE: Many, many years ago back when the acronym CD meant certificate of deposit and +not compact disc, I was a Linguistics graduate student at the MIT here. And it was way late +in November when the [INDISTINCT]. I just returned from New York City where I did my +very first linguistics paper conference and it was very late one Thursday night. I was +walking on front of Building 20 which no longer exists. And as I was walking across because +I'm going to go to hear Noam Chomsky speak, and I'm thinking about how we're about to +have this birthday party for Professor Chomsky. So graduate students were putting together +a surprise birthday party to celebrate his--what was it, half a century of living, 50 years? +So, I'm thinking about this and then I noticed this figure coming out from the parking lot, +and he was approaching me. And I think he's, "Hi Anne." I was, "Oh, it's Professor Chomsky," +and he says, "How was your talk?" Then I looked, and I said, "It was really good. I enjoyed +it. It was nice, but I was so formal, maybe, it felt so old like I was really feeling old." +And I pulled back from there to here. And he said, "To them, it's fighting words." So, +here he is. >> CHOMSKY: She reminds me a little bit of +a--they moved us, after they destroyed Building 20 which Anne was talking about which was +a great mistake. It was a wonderful, old building, contemporary World War II building, which +was the best building on campus by far, movable walls, squirrels climbing up inside the walls, +you know, windows falling out, noises from the garbage being taken out behind our windows, +but terrific place to work. They put us in a fancy, new building. You can't miss it if +you walk on campus. And the first seminar I had to give there, maybe, 30 people, I noticed +I couldn't hear any of the students which then surprised me all that much. But they +couldn't hear me which surprised me a little more until somebody finally pointed out to +me that the ceiling is 30 feet high. And we asked why they can't put up an acoustic ceiling +and they said, "Well, that would interfere with the decor of the building." And so, therefore, +tough luck, you just won't hear each other. That's what's known as progress, I think. +So I'll try to make myself heard but as I say, India is the place to be. +>> MALE: The first question, Mr. Chomsky, comes from Christas Gudrov [ph]. How have +your ideas on universal grammar changed over the years? Are you more or less convinced +of the theory now than you were initially? >> CHOMSKY: Well, there's a lot of confusion +about the notion, universal grammar. Universal grammar had a traditional meaning but in--not +only linguistics, the last 50 years or so, it has had a technical meaning which is not +unrelated to the traditional meaning but it's not identical either. Universal grammar is +just the name for the theory of the genetic component of the language faculty and, transparently, +there's some genetic component, right? Now, there's a reason, say, why my granddaughter +reflexively identified some part of her environment as language-related, which is no small trick--nobody +knows how to duplicate that--and then, more or less, reflexively picked up the capacity +that we're all now using whereas her pet, say, kitten or chimpanzee or song bird or +whatever it may be, with exactly the same inputs, couldn't even take the first step, +can't identify part of the environment as language-related, obviously, not the later +steps. Well, there are two possible answers to how that happens. One is it's a miracle. +The other is there's--she has some specific genetic capacity that's like the capacity +that had her grow arms and not wings, let's say; just some fixed--or had a mammalian visual +system but not an insect visual system. Now, this is not controversial for anything except +human higher mental faculties. For some reason, when people investigate human higher mental +faculties, they have to be insane, you know. You can't accept the approach that we take +to everything else in the world, the kind of methodological dualism. Everything else +in the world we study by the standard methods of science, but when we talk about human higher +mental faculties, we have become mystics. So, therefore, there's a controversy about +the existence of universal grammar which is like--which means a controversy about whether +there is some genetic property that distinguishes humans from everybody else which leads to +these--to the ability to doing what we're now doing. But there shouldn't be any controversy +about that. The only question is: What is it? Well, there have been theories about it +from the 1950s when these studies began up to the present and it's a living field so +it kept changing. So, in that sense, yes, my views about universal grammar keep changing. +So when Anne walked into my office as a graduate student and told me I was wrong about everything, +so, okay, my views changed, you know. But, in that sense, sure, there's going to be constant +change until the field disappears or is dead or something. And there's a long way to go. +These are not trivial questions. There's sort of general tendency of change and not every +linguist would agree by any means; so that's personal opinion. In the early stages, when +the first question was asked seriously, about 50 years ago, as to how we are capable of +doing what we do all the time, how are we capable of understanding, producing expressions +which we've never heard, which may have never been, other than the history of the language +and doing it over an infinite range or where there is strange properties that they have +as soon as you look up on how do we do it. The only answer seems to be that each of us +has a highly intricate computational system in the brain which yields these very specific +results. But that then poses a paradox because it must be the case that we all--all humans +have the same genetic capacity with marginal variation. The reason is if you take a child +from, say, a hunter-gatherer tribe in the Amazon and the child is raised in Cambridge, +Mass., it will have made this--become a graduate student studying quantum physics at MIT with +no difference from anyone else and conversely. So we all have the same capacity. And it's +more or less understood why. The capacity developed very recently in evolutionary time +and probably in some window between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, something like that, +and that's just the flick of any eye. So whatever happened never changed except extremely marginally. +So we're all fundamentally identical for all practical purposes. Human genetic variation +is very slight anyway; the superficial differences are not very profound. A foreign--an outside, +extraterrestrial observer looking at us the way we look at frogs would say there's only +one human and one language with minor variations. So, on one hand, it's got to be uniform. On +the other hand, it seems to be the case that each particular language had a highly intricate +and complex system of rules, computational system, and they're very different from one +another. And that is a paradox, in fact, a, you know, serious paradox. Well, over the +years, there have been efforts to deal with it, to try to overcome the paradox. A major +step was taken and when views on universal grammar, at least for many of us, did change +radically was around 1980. ANNE: I was still there. +CHOMSKY: You were there, yeah. It's her fault. When a different view of the matter sort of +crystallized, what's called--sometimes called the principles in parameters view. The picture +that the principles, the fixed principles which were really embedded; nobody has to +acquire them. They're part of universal grammar. And then, there's a number of options that +can be taken, called parameters, that the child has to pick up from experience and they +have to be pretty simple. You have to be able to pick them up from limited evidence because +that's all there is. And so, for example, in some languages like English, the--it's +called the head-first language, so the verb precedes the object and the preposition precedes +the object of the preposition and so on. Other languages, like, say, Japanese, are almost +mirror image. The verb follows the object; the postpositions, not prepositions, and so +on. So languages are virtually mirror images of each other and you have to set the parameter. +The child has to set the parameter which is, "Am I talking English, or am I talking Japanese?" +And that can be determined from very simple data. So that's a reasonable choice of a parameter. +And the hope was that you could find some finite set of parameters like a finite switch +box, where you set the switch, the child has set the switches one way or another and can +do it on the basis of fairly simple data. And then once this enters into the predetermined +system of principles, you get things which superficially look very different. They are +actually almost identical or just differing in superficial choices. Well, if you could +work that out, you would have solved the paradox. It's a long way to work that out. But that +made it possible at least to confront the issues seriously without facing an immediate +knee-yourself contradiction. And it set off a lot of the really rich period of research +and inquiry, nothing like it, in thousands of years of the history of the study of language +in the last 25, 30 years of a wide variety of typologically different languages, new +questions at a depth that could never have been proposed before, sometimes the answers +leading to new questions and so on in a very lively period. And it also raised another +question: What about the principles? Where do they come from? And that's a fact of the +choice of parameters: Where do these things come from? If they're in universal grammar, +if it's part of the genetic endowment, then it had to evolve somehow. But not a lot could +have evolved because it's too recent, you know. You go back 100,000 years, there's, +as far as we know, nothing. Humans had the same anatomy, anything that's preserved in +the fossil records are about the same, you know, hundreds of thousand years back. So +some small change must have taken place in the brain which somehow allowed all of this +to suddenly blossom and pretty soon after that, again, in evolutionary time, like, maybe, +a couple of tens of thousands of years which is no time at all, humans started leaving +East Africa where we all come from as far as anyone knows. So some small groups developed +this system and then spread it all over the world and, now, they're all essentially the +same. But what evolved in that short period of time cannot have been very complex. You +know, I wouldn't expect a series of extensive stages, like say, development of limbs, you +know, millions of years. Therefore, what you predict is that some other principle external +to language, maybe some principle of nature, principle of computational efficiency or something +like that which is not specific to language, interacted with a small mutation which just +gave rise to the universal grammar. But that sets forth a new goal of research to ask--to +see if you can determine, like, the principles themselves do really have the intricacy that +they appeared to have, but are actually the result of application of non-linguistic, in +fact, non--maybe, non-human principles, like general principles of computational efficiency +to whatever small change took place. And the small change was probably the capacity to +carry out recursive enumeration, basically, the capacity that gives you the number system, +for example, to take two things, two objects already constructed in the mind and make up +a new object out of them and then keep that process up indefinitely so you get an infinite +array of possible expressions, each with some semantic interpretation and some mode of externalization, +speech or sign, whatever it may be; well, that would be--and the goal would be to try +to show that was essentially instantaneous---once the small mutation took place given the--this +operation, recursive enumeration operation, that allows you to create a discreet infinity +of expressions--structured expressions. Well, that's at least the feasible picture; the +trick is to show that it's true or how close it is to true and can you cut away at the +apparent complexity of the principles and show that they can actually be accounted for +in terms of general principles of the hold for organisms--generally perhaps and maybe +even elsewhere in the physical world, and that are instantly or almost instantly applied +once the original move is made to whatever small move it was to produce the capacity +for recursive enumeration. Well, that's a goal, you know. It's far from being attained +but the last 15, 20 years, there's been considerable progress towards it. But there's a lot of +things that it seemed, 20 years ago, you had to assign to genetic endowment. It now have +been rather plausibly shown to be possible consequences of just application, particularly +the principles of computational efficiency to a system which had only the ability to +construct an infinite hierarchy of expressions. And that, we don't know enough about the brain +to know how might that happen but that could have been a very small mutation---just changing +something in somebody's genome and then spreading through the small breeding group. So that, +in that respect, it's a goal, you know, and steps have been taken towards it. But you +would expect that something like that ought to be true, just from the---what's known +about the history of evolution of Homo sapiens in very recent times without much opportunity +for selection that had any effect---maybe a small effect but not much. So, that's, I +think, that's the tendency of thinking, at least my thinking and some other---many others, +on how theories of universal grammar have changed. But the idea that there is universal +grammar that exists, that can't be controversial unless you believe in magic, not for the elementary +reasons that I mentioned. >> MALE: This is from Robin Green. And we +can actually have local questions as well, but this is one from Robin Green who says, +"You are well-known for your criticism of our current generation's lack of insight and +sense of history but what do you see in the younger generations that you personally find +energizing and encouraging?" >> CHOMSKY: I don't know if I had that criticism +of the younger generation. So, I'm not sure I accept the premise of the question; although +I think it is a very sad fact about our culture, our general culture, that it's extremely insular, +ingrown, lack of knowledge of the world, of history and so on and that really goes way +back and I think it's probably less true now than it has been in the past; but it is certainly +true. And in United States, it's dramatically true as compared with comparable societies. +There's some obvious reasons for that. The United States is very different from any other +industrial society in many respects. For one thing, I mean, there's talk about, you know, +there's debate about the American empire--is there one, isn't there one and so on. There +shouldn't be any debate. This is the one country in the world that was founded as an empire--that's +what George Washington called a "nationed empire" when the country was founded. And +the goal, as Washington put it, was to drive the indigenous population--the savages as +he called them--away; they will disappear just like the wolves who they are identical +with, except in shape. Thomas Jefferson, for him, "We are going to drive them behind the +stony mountains where they belong and then the country will be free of blot or mixture, +red or black..." It didn't quite make it but that was the goal. "And then this will be +the nest from which the entire hemisphere is populated by members of our superior race..." +You'd read later of Walt Whitman, others--some hideous racist comments which were just taken +for granted. So, yes, it's an empire and it extends--supposed to extend everywhere. Back +in the, you know, 1820, roughly around then, the principle was laid down that--as modern +historians put it-- that "expansion is the path to security. The only way to be secure +is to expand." At that time, the argument was that's why we had to conquer Florida to +defend ourselves from what were called "the runaway slaves and the lawless Indians" who +were a threat because there were in our way so we have to expand. And then on to the present, +the main scholarly book on the origins of the Bush doctrine which approves of it; John +Lewis Gaddis, historian at Yale, traces it back to that moment and says, "Yeah. That's +the right principle. Expansion is the path to security," and, now, that means expanding +over the whole world and, you know, space and the, you know, the galaxy or whatever. +That's the only way to be secure and to ensure that the empire rules the world. So it's unusual +country in that respect. I mean, the British wanted to be an empire. They modeled themselves +on Rome; but the United States had a different picture from the origins. Furthermore, once +the native population was, you know, driven beyond the stony mountains as Jefferson put +it, it was, the country--the continent was open, you know. They were very rich, you know, +very rich in resources. Ultimate security, nobody ever had comfortable security all to +us, you know, where the waves of immigrants are and there's no reason to look anywhere +else. It's essentially homogenous. So you travel in Europe, you don't have to go very +far to hear completely different languages. We go back 50 years. It was even more so before +the unifying effects of television and national states. Just, you know, plenty of people in +Europe can't talk to their grandmothers because they speak a different language. But even +now in Europe, you don't have to go very far to see different cultures, different languages, +you know, and so on. In United States, you go from Boston-Los Angeles and you have so +nothing changes. You have slight difference in accent, maybe the cars or superhighways +are faster out there but--so there's every reason to expect people to be insular and +you see it dramatically. I mean... people are just unaware of what's happening on the +outside world. Actually, this changed significantly after 9/11. It had an interesting effect in +the United States. One of the effects was to engender fear. That was the first attack +on American soil since the British had burned down Washington in 1814. People mentioned +Pearl Harbor but it's irrelevant. That was an attack on a U.S. naval base, and would +have amounted to a colony and, by our standard, incidentally, a very legitimate attack. I +couldn't explain that if it's not obvious. But that wasn't an attack on a national territory. +In fact, there has been none except tiny forays; you know, Pancho Villa got a couple of miles +into the country or something. But here was an attack on the national territory--the kind +that other countries face all the time---and it did engender fear. That's not what's supposed +to happen but it also opened a lot of minds. So, I think, since then the insularity has +declined and more people are curious about the world and even about history and that's +largely an effect of the 1960s. The 1960s had a highly civilizing effect on the society +and that's why they're almost universally condemned as a terrible period, the time of +troubles and so on. You are going to hear a lot about that this year because it's the +40th anniversary of 1968--it's the 40th--do the arithmetic--but a lot of talk about the +1968, a terrible time. Actually, it was a terrible time. It civilized the country. You'll +see it's so in MIT like, say, when I got here, if you walked down the halls at MIT, what +you saw was well-dressed, differential, white males doing their homework, no political meetings +advertised. You know, you do your work, you build the electrical circuit, you know, build +the bridge, whatever it is. That's a little bit of a caricature but that's pretty much +what it was. When you take a look down the halls now, it's totally different; half women, +third minorities, informal relations, a lot of activism, all kind of topics and that's +symbolic of what happened in the country. And that's a consequence of the civilizing +effect of the '60s which is, of course, very frightening to elites. People are supposed +to be passive, apathetic and obedient. In fact, one of the major studies of the horrible +effect of the 1960's by liberal internationalists, incidentally, condemned the era for its excess +of democracy. The book is called "The Crisis of Democracy." There was too much democracy +in the 60s. The people who are supposed to be passive and apathetic and obedient like +minorities, women, the young, the old, what are called the "special interests"; that is +the whole population except for the corporate sector. We're supposed to be passive, apathetic +and obedient. They weren't doing it. They were trying to enter the political arena to +press their demands, you know, change the society. It was intolerable. We have to have +more moderation in democracy. And, particularly, we're concerned about what they called "the +institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young"--their phrase--meaning schools, +universities, churches and so on. They weren't indoctrinating the young properly and that's +why we got all these excesses like the women's movement and the opposition to aggression +and all sorts of terrible things. But the country did change and positively and it has +changed a lot since then and that has---going back to recognizing history, it did that too. +At the time, let's give you a personal example, just not on typical--I had a daughter in fourth +grade in 1969--I remember the time precisely because of the context---and this is in Lexington, +which is called a very progressive town, you know, professionals, academics, everybody +votes for McGovern, you know, all that sort of thing. I have been looking through her +school textbook one day; it was called "Exploring New England." The structure of the textbook +was there's a young boy. His name is Robert, and he's being taken through colonial New +England by an older man who shows him the glories of New England, and I was curious. +I was wondering: How are they going to handle the massacres, you know, like the terrible +massacre the Pequot massacre--in which the colonist waited for the men to leave the village +and then went in and slaughtered all the women and children and old men and when the men +came back, they were frightened and they all fled, you know, so they got rid of the Pequot--so +how did they handle this, you know? So I looked at it and it was described accurately but +with praise and it ends up with Robert, the young boy, saying, "I wish I were a man and +had been there" you know. Well, you know, I sort of couldn't believe it. I showed it +to my wife. She was appalled, went to talk to the teacher. The teacher couldn't see what +was wrong with it, you know. That was 1969, and you couldn't have a textbook like that +in any corner of the country today. It's inconceivable. There's some recognition of the horrors of +the past. Incidentally, the founding fathers were well-aware of it. John Quincy Adams, +for example, I talked about that hapless race of Native Americans who we are exterminating +with such merciless cruelty and so on. But then it sort of disappeared and it just became +an empty continent full of a few scattered hunter-gatherers and if we kill a couple of +them, that's fine, and so we drive them over the stony mountains. But, by now, that's gone. +You know, there's at least some appreciation of it and also of slavery and other things. +So there's more understanding of the history. There's more understanding of the outside +world; though it's still pretty insular and I think it's getting better. So I think the +next generation will be even better in this respect. +>> MALE: A question from Trevor Sarah--probably, maybe it ties in--due to the Internet, mass +media is increasingly becoming more distributed, blogs, independent news, et cetera. How does +the Internet media impact propaganda model described in "Manufacturing Consent"? +>> CHOMSKY: Well, literally, the propaganda model described in "Manufacturing Consent" +does a gnarly hold of the Internet. I mean, that's a model that's concerned with the intuitional +structure of the media. Okay, the media, the institutional structure is major corporations +selling audiences to other businesses to simplify it. And that's not true with the Internet. +So it doesn't reply directly but it's not completely inapplicable. So though the Internet, +like almost the entire Hi-tech economy is a product of the state sector, I mean, contrary +to illusions, the United States is very far from a free enterprise market economy. I'm +sure all of you--people know that things like computers, the Internet and microelectronics +and biotechnology and I'll go on across the list, come out of the state sector, places +like MIT. In fact, for long periods, the Internet was in the state sector for about 30 years +or more before it was handed over to private enterprise for profit. But the Internet, nevertheless, +there is a question and, in fact, it's a live question now about keeping the Internet neutral, +the neutrality of the Internet. So will the few private systems that have control of access +to the Internet, once it became privatized, will they be able to use that control to differentiate +access to yield preferred, say, you know, fast, easy access to the places where they +want you to go and make it harder and, you know, more devious and so on for the place +that I don't want you to go. So that neutrality is a big issue. People know more about this +than I do. So we'll kind of talk about it. But in that respect, in that corner of the +system, yes, the propaganda model still holds, but other than that, it's been at least in +its early years, a very free system. When it was under state control, like control of +the Pentagon, it was totally free. That's an illusion that many people have. The Pentagon +is, I mean, actually, we know that here, MIT was like, you know, maybe 90 percent Pentagon-funded +up until the early '70s and it was the periods of the greatest freedom. No classified work, +complete, free interchange. You wrote anything you wanted; nobody cared because the generals, +unlike many economists were well-aware that the--it's the state sector that's providing +a large part of the initiative, the dynamism, the inventiveness and so on; that keeps the +hi-tech economy going. So they didn't put many constraints in. As it gets more corporatized, +there's more constraints. But for a long time, it was just in the Army. It was the Military. +You know, it's ARPANET. That was the former Internet. And just to give you an illustration +on how it worked, the United States was--I had another daughter who was living in Nicaragua +in the 1980s, and the United States was carrying out a major terrorist war against Nicaragua, +practically destroyed the country. Communication was impossible. You couldn't go by phone. +You know, the mail wasn't going and so on. But I could communicate with my daughter through +the Pentagon system. Since I'm in the MIT, I was on the ARPANET and she found some place +where she was on the ARPANET. So thanks to the Pentagon, we were able to communicate +during a period when the US was trying to destroy the country. That's an indication +of how free it was. And the question is, "Can it be kept free?" So, yes, that's a problem. +But there are other issues that arise with the Internet that are serious. It's undoubtedly +a tremendous contribution. If you're into research, for example, it's just fantastic. +I probably do 50 Google searches a day or something like that. And you could get things +that you'd really--I haven't been in the library for a long time, but thankfully, I have some +friends and colleagues who go to the library for me. But a lot of it, you have to go to +the library for--you can just pick up quickly, a matter of fact, a lot more. If you want +to find out about information about, you know, say what's going on in world news and so on, +yes, if you know where to look, you can find it. A much wider array of information is available. +All of that is positive but it also has a negative side; in fact, a number of negative +sides. Imagine, say that you're a biologist, and you have now available every article that's +been published all over the world on the field that you are interested in and you spend your +time reading those articles. But the end result is you're the worst biologist in history. +It's a total waste of time. In order to become a serious biologist, you have to know what +you're looking for. If you're flooded with massive information and you sort of try to +wade through it, you're totally paralyzed. You have to know what to look for, you have +to know the framework of understanding, you know, some background conception of what's +going on. The framework can't be rigid like you have to be willing to let it modified; +but it's indispensable. If you don't have it, you're just flooded with meaningless information. +What the problem is that the people--a large majority of people who are using the Internet +do have a framework but it's the framework that comes from the indoctrination that they've +been subjected to. Normally, what the propaganda model applies to and it also generalizes to +the academic, you know, to the schools and the colleges and to the general intellectual +community. There is an intellectual community which the media are a part which I do have +time to talk about it if you like, but it does give an extremely skewed picture of the +world. I could illustrate it from this morning's newspapers if you want. In fact, you can always, +when I give talks on the media, I usually never prepare them for the very simple reason, +that morning's newspaper gives all the evidence you need. It never failed yet in Europe or +here. So I could talk about it. But it is an extremely narrow doctrinal universe and, +in fact, the participants have it internalized. If you want to see a good example of that, +do a Google search and find a program, an interview with Charlie Rose, you know, the +intellectual man's interviewer. He interviewed the most respected correspondent in Iraq, +you know, John Burns, who's kind of like the dean of the foreign policy--foreign correspondents. +It's a very interesting interview and he asks Burns various questions about reporting in +Iraq, and Burns expresses quite clearly and I'm sure unconsciously the doctrinal framework +that shapes coverage and interpretation. To put it simply, we have to be cheering for +the home team so--because the home team is perfect. You know, that's the picture. So +what he says is--you have to get it in his words but the picture is that the United States +is certainly, since the Second World War has been the major force in the world and protecting +human rights, freedom, justice, all kind of wonderful things and history is irrelevant, +we don't look at that, that's boring; but that's the nature of the United States, like +its essence. And he says if the outcome of the Iraq War was that we would lose our willingness +to intervene all over the world with force to protect human rights and everything the +way we've been doing for the past 15 years, then there will be dark days. Okay, that's +the picture. It's not unlike the picture that you would have heard from a correspondent +at Pravda in 1985 about how Stalin was defending democracy and human rights and so on against +the fascist attack, and I probably would have believed it. I'm sure John Burns believes +it. But if you look at the actual coverage, it confirms pretty well of what he describes. +If that's the approach you take towards using the Internet, you might as well be reading +some local tabloid. That's what you'll find. If you have a different framework of interpretation, +of understanding, you'll find other things, whether it's science or public affairs or +anything else. And that--to achieve that requires something way beyond access; it requires understanding +and that comes out of other factors. >> MALE: On frameworks, Bryan Clint writes +"Politicians are adept at changing public opinion by inventing new phrases such as "enemy +combatants" and "enhanced interrogation techniques"; does this expose some flaw in humans that +we reason based on surface words rather than their underlying meanings? +>> CHOMSKY: I don't think it's a flaw of humans and I'm not sure how much to determine--you +see there's two different questions you have to distinguish here. So go back to the propaganda +model. That is a discussion of what the media are doing as institutions. And, in fact, it +generalizes to the intellectual cultured much more broadly. But there's a separate question, +and that is how much are people influenced by it? That's quite a separate question. Okay, +so to what extent do people accept and internalize the doctrinal system that's, say, described +by John Burns? Well, the answer is pretty complex when you look. And say, for example, +say, take to Vietnam War. It's far enough back so we can think about a little bit objectively +perhaps. If you look over the Vietnam War, there was never in the mainstream--never is +a strong word; but close to never, like 99.9 percent. A principal critic of the war, New +York Times correspondent C.J. Chivers, who was there recently talks about "booming Grozny." +It used to be rubble. Now, it's booming. They have electricity run by Chechens. Of course, +the Russians are on the background, but a great success. I mean if Petraeus could achieve +anything remotely like that in Iraq, he'd probably be crowned king. But we don't praise +Putin; at least we shouldn't. We condemned it even though it succeeded in their terms +like the Germans succeeded in Vichy, France--it was a French-run society and, more or less, +stable; but we don't praise it. However, for ourselves, we take totally different principles. +We never, almost never permit or can't even think of a principled critique of our own +crimes. You can test it. But what about public opinion? Well, there you got a striking gulf. +So, for example, when the Vietnam War ended, everyone, you know, serious analysts had to +write a commentary on it and the most interesting ones, as always, or way out on are the ones +at the left extreme of the mainstream. So, say, take Anthony Lewis of the New York Times +who's about as far as we can get and, you know, not be from Neptune or something. But +he wrote a critical commentary; he said the Vietnam War began with, like, blundering efforts +to do good. Notice that that's mostly tautology. Since we carried it out, it was efforts to +do good, period; no further discussion necessary. That's by definition. It was blundering because +it didn't entirely work. So, it began with blundering efforts to do good, but he says, +by 1969, coming back to the date, it was clear to most of the world that it was too costly +to ourselves, okay? That's the left end of the critical spectrum. You can search and +see if you could find anything that goes beyond that. But what did the public think? Well, +we know. In 1969, it happens, the first general polls were taken of public opinion on the +Vietnam War. General, important ones, the Chicago Counsel on Foreign Relations, they +continue to be taken up till today quadrennially. In 1969, 70 percent of the public said the +war was fundamentally wrong and immoral, not a mistake. Try to find that anywhere in mainstream +discussion. Okay? Good exercise. And those figures persist up until the latest polls, +a little vacillation, but basically, there's a huge gulf between public opinion and intellectual +elites, the doctorinal managers. And that's true on a lot of other issues. That's true +on the Iraq war. That's true on the threat to invade Iran. That's true on national health +care. That's true on relations with Cuba. You know, just run across the list. And it +turns out there's a huge gulf between public opinion and intellectual opinion; hence, doctrine, +media and so on. So that does raise a question about the extent to which the public actually +accepts this. To what extent they do, so I'll take your example, just like enemy combatant. +Well, what's an enemy combatant? Well, actually one of them is coming up for trial. I think +it may be the first trial from Guantanamo. It turns out it's a kid who was picked up +as an enemy combatant when he was 15 years old because he did something, maybe threw +a stone or did something, maybe shot or something, an American soldier, okay, so therefore we +have to try him and maybe sentence him. He's been in Guantanamo for years now. Who knows +what will happen to him? What kind of a framework is that? I mean if the United States was invaded +by Iran, let's say, and some 15-year-old kid tried to do something to the invaders, is +he criminal? I mean, the framework, the conception is kind of like in outer space; unfortunately, +it's real. And what was the other term you asked? +MALE: Enhanced interrogation. CHOMSKY: Yeah, enhanced interrogation, it's +just another word for torture. Like there's a huge fuss now about Guantanamo. Delegations +are taken there by the Army to show how beautifully the prisoners are treated, and there's books +and articles about is there torture and so on and so forth. It's all totally beside the +point, entirely beside the point. As soon as you hear that those who are captured are +taken to Guantanamo, you know it's a torture chamber. There is no other reason for sending +them to Guantanamo. Why not send them to a security prison in New York, let's say? Okay? +It's perfectly safe, they'll never get out and so on. Well, the problem is if you send +them to New York, automatically, you start getting the whole civil rights system coming +in. Did they have lawyers? You know, can they be tortured? Are they told the charges against +them and so on? You send them to Guantanamo, you can do anything you like. So, therefore, +as soon as we hear the word Guantanamo, we know it's torture chamber without the investigations, +without the inquiries, anything and then you can ask a further question: What's U.S. doing +in Guantanamo? I mean, actually, the reason they chose Guantanamo was because they can +pretend that the U.S. doesn't have jurisdiction, because it's in Cuba. Okay? So the courts +don't have jurisdiction, and there's big debates about that. But the debates are ridiculous, +of course. I mean, what is the U.S. doing in Guantanamo in the first place? Well, it +turns out, if you look back, that there's a treaty between the U.S. and Cuba, which +Cuba signed at gunpoint. It was under military occupation. And the treaty has absolutely +no validity by any standards you could think of, and the treaty allowed the United States +to use Guantanamo--it's a big port--as a calling station for the Navy. It didn't say anything +about keeping prisoners there so we're violating the illegal treaty that we forced on Cuba. +And, in fact, why is the United States--it leads to a further question. Why does the +U.S. hold on Guantanamo altogether? Well, for one thing, it is a major port, a naval +base for controlling the Caribbean and South America. But there's another reason. It prevents +Cuban development. That means that the eastern end to the island is blocked from development. +So if you want to strangle and destroy Cuba, which we've wanted to do since 1959 for reasons +that are explained in the internal record because of--and we go back to the Kennedy +and Johnson administration, because of it's successful defiance of U.S. principles going +back to the Monroe doctrine and the Russians. The Monroe Doctrine stated we're going to +run the hemisphere. That was the goal of the founding fathers. As I said, Jefferson, it's +the nest, we're the nest from which we'll people the whole continent getting rid of, +you know, the red men and the Spanish speakers. And Cuba is carrying a successful defiance +of this, and that's intolerable so, therefore, we have to seriously punish the people of +Cuba as we've been doing with terrorism, economic strangulation and so on. Incidentally, an +opposition to popular will here; a large percentage of the American population, that's around, +that's usually around two-thirds think we are under normal relations with Cuba. But +holding on to Guantanamo is part of the strangulation of Cuba, ensuring that they can't develop +into the island which we have based for trade with Europe and so on and so forth. Well, +all of these questions are the ones that would be in headlines in the free press, and not +whether this particular 15-year-old shot an American soldier invading his country. So, +yeah, there's a lot hidden behind the word "enemy combatant." And, in fact, you can just +take about almost anywhere of political discourse. You almost pick it at random. I mean, it has +two meanings. It has its literal meaning and it has its doctrinal meaning. And the two +have, usually, almost nothing to do with each other. So it takes aggression, an important +term. It has a technical meaning. It was defined at the Nuremberg Tribunal, and it was then +accepted internationally. But what it means is the obvious thing: sending military forces +into another country, you know, not at their request or something. Okay, that's aggression. +And that's the term we used, applied to anyone else. Like the Nazi war criminals, the primary +reason they were hanged was because of the crime of aggression. And, incidentally, which +is defined more carefully. It defines--the Nuremberg Tribunal defines aggression as the +supreme international crime which encompasses--which differs from other crimes in that it encompasses +all of the evil that follows. So the initial aggression in Iraq encompasses the sectarian +warfare, the destruction of the antiquities, the millions of refugees. Everything that +happened since is encompassed in the initial act of aggression. Justice Jackson, the American +justice at Nuremberg gave a passionate declaration to the tribunal. He said that, "We're handing +the defendants a poisoned chalice, and if we ever sip from it," meaning if we are ever +guilty of the same crimes, "we must suffer the same punishment or else the whole trial +is a farce." Okay? Again, this should be the headlines, except for one problem: The United +States cannot commit aggression by definition. We don't commit aggression. Take a look at +the front page of the Wall Street Journal today, the big lead article, "Iran still---U.S +claims Iran is still sending arms to Iraq." Maybe true. Is Iran the only country sending +arms to Iraq? Well, Condoleezza Rice a little while back was asked on television, "What's +the solution to the Iraq problem?" She said, "Simple, just end the flow of foreign fighters +and foreign arms, then it's over." Nobody batted an eyelash, for good reason. We--our +forces are not foreign. They are indigenous. Wherever they are, they are indigenous. If +we invaded Canada, we would be there by right. And if a Canadian, a 15-year-old kid threw +a stone at an American soldier, he'd be an enemy combatant, and we send him to Guantanamo. +And it follows from a very elementary principle. It's the one on which the country was founded, +we're a nationed empire; expansion is the path to security; we are indigenous everywhere. +We own the world so, therefore, the questions can't be asked. And if you look at commentary +and debate and discussion, we find that that's internalized. Nobody points to it. It's just +part of our picture of the world, you know. And that infects everything. That's why every +term, like the terms we used has, from an outside point of view, it sounds like you're +talking about a bunch of madmen. >> MALE: Marie Bingham writes, "There has +been a lot of discussion about the detrimental effects of e-mail, instant messengers, and +this phone text messaging and the like on syntax and grammar, especially English, do +you feel this is the case or these changes are just a part of natural evolution of language?" +>> CHOMSKY: Well, I have experience with it having two 15-year-old grandsons. When my +grandson comes over to the house to do what's engaging, what's called doing his homework, +you know, Sunday evening. Of course, everything is put off till the Sunday evening. He sits +there with his computer in front of him, earplugs, listening to something that's called music. +Don't ask me to describe it. And while he is doing this thing called homework, he is +meanwhile text messaging to about 15 friends in a form which I can't even read. You know, +it's just a few letters and you know. It's not doing anything to the language. I mean +I think that's a mistake. The language is robust enough so it won't be affected by that. +But I think it's doing something to the minds. You know, the--the kids are just stimulus-hungry. +They can't set aside, like, my own children, let's say, you know, they go to the library +and pick up 10 books and come home, and go off into a corner and read the books. I actually +have a granddaughter in, grew up in Nicaragua, and now in Mexico, and when she comes to visit, +it's the first thing she does, 10 years old, go to the public library, come back with a +stack of books, go off in a corner and read them. It's almost inconceivable for a kid +that age here. I mean, maybe there are some but, you know, they're just--they have to +be stimulated constantly by noise, by visual imagery, by what's called interchange with +friends, although the interchange are so superficial that it's shocking, you know, to take a look +at it when they decode it for you. And I'm sure that's having an effect. It's having +an effect on children growing up, and I don't think a good effect. But it's not really an +effect on the language. That's not going to change. I mean, it's true that if you look +over the history of language, teenage--teenagers generally tend to develop around sort of argot, +you know, way of talking. And I mean, it's one of the sources of innovation and change +in language because the teenagers grow up and, you know, they get what--they sort of +develop this peer group, separation from the adult world, those have some effect on what +the next stage of the language is though not, you know, not like on the syntax or anything +like that. But this I think is serious and it's having--and I think one should be concerned +about the effect on the children. I can see the differences on, say, my grandchildren +who grew up here and the ones who grew up south of the border, you know. And I suspect +that's fairly general. As for e-mail, it is a mixed blessing. I mean, I think it's a great +thing. On the other hand, I spend maybe five or six hours a night just answering queries +and comments. So I'm not sure if it's the best way of distributing energy but... +>> FEMALE: Well, thank you very much for coming here. +0 +7 +21 +24 +27 +37 +43 +46 +49 +57 +67 +75 +81 +82 +84 +89 +97 +105 +112 +118 +126 +132 +137 +144 +149 +155 +161 +168 +172 +178 +186 +190 +195 +204 +211 +220 +226 +236 +241 +245 +251 +258 +266 +273 +279 +286 +291 +296 +301 +307 +314 +320 +326 +332 +338 +344 +351 +357 +365 +372 +379 +388 +393 +398 +404 +411 +419 +428 +434 +443 +449 +456 +462 +468 +474 +482 +488 +496 +502 +506 +513 +520 +525 +530 +536 +541 +546 +552 +559 +563 +569 +576 +580 +587 +593 +597 +604 +609 +614 +623 +628 +635 +641 +646 +655 +660 +667 +672 +677 +682 +686 +693 +699 +706 +711 +719 +725 +731 +739 +743 +749 +756 +765 +771 +779 +787 +793 +800 +806 +814 +819 +825 +831 +839 +844 +851 +856 +861 +867 +872 +879 +886 +893 +898 +905 +913 +919 +926 +932 +937 +944 +949 +954 +964 +970 +979 +985 +991 +995 +999 +1003 +1011 +1016 +1021 +1030 +1038 +1043 +1050 +1056 +1064 +1068 +1075 +1080 +1087 +1094 +1101 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agenda +i road france too correct lives +you so +give kitezh a needle and other hotel ratings +or rather, krishna kings put a kurlyk behind us +pay the interfering monster gets +avtorif +downloaded high quality painted set of functions of two people calls them was +enough gostrey and when abroad insert text from +cows +here you have been successfully refused by the goods +you just need two dollar chairs +hide bad withers to paint in the store. soldiers what's in between +surrounded that we are completing the process the beginning is necessary +if you also want anyone and staying socks or before taking on +I'm already massively freed with extended +lightest wingless for this year andrew weather +I remember a dozen, because he will continue to run from the cage all the time, we will leave somewhere cheats +edge and, if you have only in Europe +a rich harvest for me, he will not be torn at all and +impulse to let Marina Zhilina. +well buy space send nike jordan walked around the country +gear small pelvis yes. rarely singing hearts you too +options people like dinner and you will make a decision and +so let's start +Alexander butt and even the rates remained +with fellowship students and I survived the sounds +Brazilian drive to run this drive dance must survive +give in the ring are given even +it was my ass found the plates easy +that you fight and dart be him website boast low and +and not my finger jumping will be refined cold protrusions of sergeants and it happens +until evening +3d this waterfall on intel contract woman +my closest I am white for fat women of fear citizens +up to 3 hours +how are you 20 +like matters to don mustache can pajero +safri duo can +think with us that I am yours and then I go and montes de vries can practice +appliance, you first need something too, or +do you want to coward atlas on the beach lying in gascoigne the statistics are applied +benefits exit speech about given get up don't cry +any taste of Mendeleev's figure according to the text practice is +program that voice v.v. hear the voice of my iphone +blow and pants sofa decoction manual +and there were wings the father passed through +came to beg the creature that was even +our +17 +77 +83 +110 +141 +162 +168 +174 +197 +211 +217 +232 +240 +250 +259 +268 +281 +324 +368 +376 +380 +386 +390 +414 +421 +427 +434 +439 +446 +454 +461 +475 +480 +495 +539 +545 +551 +559 +569 +579 +598 +630 +646 +657 +662 +686 +697 +703 +713 +723 +733 +742 +749 +759 +767 +777 +782 +790 +795 +805 +822 +829 +842 +848 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2014 The REAL Adam Smith 9Dx000pspt8.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2014 The REAL Adam Smith 9Dx000pspt8.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d2779a --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2014 The REAL Adam Smith 9Dx000pspt8.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,22 @@ +rather to Ivan, I remember the aphorism waterless +... july try to be god founding cities and gobbled up arfid +the process began for an inaccessible Sysoeva it is necessary and she daw +I killed his corner of his eye and with you the charge will give +culture and shade owl +the situation +hours and i'm called a home base this delivery server home leaf advice on +Isaev's survival another sadness and full of sudden +smiled until the very chita fights against running away +delivery of our entire quartet and waveforms and our +rolling star kachalovsky first and +4 +11 +35 +48 +69 +78 +81 +90 +96 +101 +110 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2014 _ Talks at Google Y3PwG4UoJ0Y.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2014 _ Talks at Google Y3PwG4UoJ0Y.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5f3311 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 2014 _ Talks at Google Y3PwG4UoJ0Y.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2394 @@ +JOHN ORWANT: My name is John Orwant. +I'm with the Google Cambridge Tea Party Republicans Club. +And it's a pleasure and an honor to introduce our guest today-- +a man whose fame rises to a level of the kind that renders +the standard introduction pattern completely obsolete. +I could tell you about his 123 books. +I counted. +The seven books have been written +about him, the 38 doctoral-- honorary doctoral degrees-- +that he's been granted. +I could tell you about the species of bee +that has been named after him. +Instead, I'm actually going to talk about tenure, because it's +actually the thing I think of first +when I think about our guest today. +We tend to think of tenure today as an entitlement. +Right? +So, professors-- they work really hard +for some amount of time. +And then they're kind of granted this lifetime protection +from being fired. +And, the institution of tenure has been around +for many decades. +It really started to solidify around the time of the McCarthy +era, where a lot of professors in this country +were being asked to take oaths of loyalty +as part of the anti-communist fervor that +was sweeping the nation. +And it wasn't that the University administrations +wanted them to take those oaths. +They were worried. +The universities were worried about pressure from government. +They were worried about wealthy donors saying, +I'll give you this check for a million dollars, +but you have to fire that professor over there. +And so that's why universities kind of lept +into this institution with gusto. +And yet, when you look at professors +today, they very rarely take advantage of tenure +to speak on popular views. +But of course, our guest today, I think, +is the world's best example of doing that. +And I think that getting tenure perhaps today +should come with a mild obligation +to speak truth to power. +So anyway, with that, ladies and gentlemen, +I want to introduce a man who is to the left of Julian Assange, +but with a less restrictive-- but with fewer travel +restrictions-- Noam Chomsky. +[APPLAUSE] +INTERVIEWER: Well we're very glad to have you back. +You were here in 2008. +And now, Google's grown considerably. +You have a considerable audience. +And as was mentioned earlier, the questions +I'm about to pose to you are from Googlers. +So you guys went online and you posted questions, +and you voted on them. +All right-- so the first one. +Your early view of the potential abuse +of the internet as a political medium seem to convey a wait +and see attitude. +How has your view evolved, and where do you +think the balance of power is headed? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, the internet is obviously +a tremendous research tool. +We use it all the time. +I assume by internet, you mean more generally-- the whole kind +of IT system that's developed. +And, it's certainly useful for activists and organizers. +Almost all activist efforts and enterprises +involve intercommunication through the internet. +On the other hand, we don't have to talk about the fact +that it's a tremendous tool for power systems +to control and dominate in all sorts of ways. +I by now, hardly have to mention the NSA revelations, +Edward Snowden's revelations. +Commercial institutions, like Google, for example, +use it to undermine privacy and independence +in all kinds of ways. +So the balance of power is where it always was, and expending. +Any technology that's around is going +to be used by systems of concentrated power +to dominate and control. +And you can't open a newspaper now +without new things appearing. +Take this morning. +If you happened to look at this morning's newspaper, +there was an associated press report on some revelations +that they've dug out recently about efforts +to develop by the US government through USAID, US aid, which +is supposed to be a aid organization +to carry forward the intensive US efforts to undermine +and overthrow the government of Cuba. +Read the report. +It's interesting for what it says and what it doesn't say. +What it says is that the government through US aid +has set up-- tried to set up-- a kind of social media +inside Cuba that could be used to organize the crowds +to protest with the people, not really knowing +who they're working for what they're doing. +And the original AP report, most of which +didn't get printed, at least from what I saw, +says that this has already been used +in many other places-- Philippines, Ukraine, +and so on-- to try to organize anti-government protests, +which raises quite a few questions about what's +going on around the world. +Well this is one of the techniques that's +being used for subversion, domination, control. +This is an Obama program, incidentally. +Not Bush. +And what's said is interesting. +What isn't said is interesting. +And here, the power of the internet +looms in the background. +You can quickly find out what isn't said on the internet +if you look for it. +What isn't said is that this program-- of course, +it's not called subversion. +It's called bringing democracy and so on. +But this program of trying to subvert the Cuban government +is part of a longstanding war that the US +has been conducting against Cuba. +Longstanding. +You look at the history of the US and Cuba-- +it starts in the 1820s. +Cuba was regarded by the founding fathers +as the next conquest that we have to make. +Cuba was waiting there. +We had to take it for ourselves as we expand and become +the greatest empire in the world. +Well we couldn't do it in 1823. +There was a deterrent-- the British. +They were too powerful. +The British were the main enemy through the 19th most +of the 19th century but the big thinkers, +like John Quincy Adams-- great grand strategist-- +he recognized and said, while we can acquire Cuba now, +it will fall into our hands by the laws +of political gravitation, just as an apple +falls from the tree. +Meaning, over time, the US will become more powerful. +Britain's power will decline, And we'll be able to take Cuba. +And in fact, that's what happened. +In 1898, Cuba was liberating itself from Spain, +and the US intervened in what's called here Liberation of Cuba, +but in fact, was the prevention of the liberation of Cuba +by Cubans. +The US took over the island-- one of several. +Puerto Rico, Hawaii was stolen from its inhabitants +the same year, and Cuba became a colony-- a virtual colony. +Well, something quite interesting +happened that's highly relevant today. +Highly relevant. +But never mentioned, but you can find it on the internet +if you like. +At gun point, the US imposed a treaty +on Cuba, Platt Ammendment, it's called, +in which Cuba granted the United States control +over eastern Cuba-- so what we call Guantanamo. +Happens to include Cuba's major port-- it's +only port oriented towards Europe, +which is where its main trade would be. +Of course, the Cubans had no voice in this. +We just took it over. +And we've had it for 110 years. +Cuba's been trying to get it back, but we refuse. +The purpose has no strategic interest for us. +It's used for storage of refugees, +like if Haitians flee from monstrous dictatorships +that we support in Haiti, we're supposed to accept them +under international law's refugees. +But instead, you send them off Cuba-- to Guantanamo-- +as a storage place, of course, used as a torture chamber. +The Cubans want it back. +We won't give it to them. +Does this remind you of something +that's happening in world affairs right now? +Yeah. +Russia took over Crimea. +Just as we've taken over eastern Cuba for 110 years at gun +point. +We don't formally annex it, but we dominate it. +Russia has a much stronger case than the United States does. +Crimea is primarily Russian. +Its population overwhelmingly supports Russia. +It's got major strategic significance. +It's Russia's only warm water port. +It's the base for their fleet. +It's right on the border of Russia. +Russia's surrounded by hostile military alliance-- NATO. +And for them, it's of great strategic significance. +Cuba for us is nothing. +Guantanamo. +It's just a means of trying to undermine +Cuba-- prevent Cuban development. +And the United States, of course, +has been at war with Cuba since 1959, +when Cuba finally did liberate itself. +Immediately, the US began an attack on Cuba under Kennedy. +A massive terrorist operation was +organized "to bring the terrors of the earth to Cuba," +was Arthur Schlesinger's phrase describing it +in his biography of Robert Kennedy, who +was in charge of it. +It almost destroyed the world. +It was a major factor that led to the missile crisis. +And it's gone on. +It went on afterwards. +The terror based in Florida has gone on almost without a stop. +On top of that, there's an economic embargo +to strangle the country, opposed by the entire world. +Take a look at the votes-- annual votes in the General +Assembly, which don't get reported here. +It's 180 to two-- US and Israel sometimes. +The Marshall Islands or something. +Well, all of this is part of the background to the AP story +about today's effort to subvert the government of Cuba. +Well, coming back to the internet, what's interesting +is what is available, and what isn't readily available, +because people don't see it. +Like, you won't find a word about anything +I said in the press, or in commentary, or discussion, +although it's all extremely timely. +Very timely. +Not arcane scholarship. +But it's right in front of our eyes, but not there. +And when you come back to the power of the internet, +I think it comes back to us. +We don't use it. +We don't use the resource for the purposes for which it could +be used-- to break through the silence, oppression, +domination, terror, violence, and bring +the reality of the world to people. +So the internet, potentially, is a wonderful tool, +but only if you decide to use it. +If you decide to leave it in the hands of private power, +of power systems whether state or private, +sure-- it'll be used as a way to oppress, undermine +and dominate. +But that's a choice. +Don't have to. +INTERVIEWER: Well, on that note, we +will be posting this on YouTube. +NOAM CHOMSKY: What? +INTERVIEWER: We're going to be posting this talk on YouTube, +so your comments will be on the internet. +Happy to say. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Internet-- but they +won't be in the New York Times. +Well our channel is getting more and more popular, +so hopefully people will find this. +Switching gears a little bit, what +is the most interesting insight the science of linguistics +has revealed, but that the public at large +seems to not know about or appreciate? +Well, there are a number of dogmas about language, which +I think are being systematically refuted. +And they're held by linguists, too, I should say. +Not just in the general public, which are probably false, +which I think are being undermined by current research. +This is a minority view. +I'm not speaking for the profession. +The introductory comments said that I'm +supposed to be a contrarian, so I try to keep to that. +But for example, one general assumption +about language-- almost a dogma in philosophy. +Common understanding, the linguistics of psychology, +is that language is primarily a means of communication, +and that it evolved as a means of communication. +Probably, that's totally false. +It seems that language is evolved and is designed +as a mode of creating and interpreting thought. +It's a system of thought, basically. +It can be used to communicate. +Everything people do can be used to communicate. +You can communicate by your hairstyle, +style of walk, everything. +And yes, language can be used to communicate, +but it doesn't seem to be part of its design. +It's design seems to be radically different, +and in fact, even seems to undermine communication. +If you look carefully at the structure of language, +you find case after case, right at the core of language design, +where there are conflicts between what +would be efficient for communication, +and what is efficient for the specific biological design +of language. +And in every case that's known, communicative efficiency +is sacrificed. +It just isn't a consideration. +I think that's a conclusion that has +very widespread significance. +In order to establish it, you have to look at technical work. +It's not the kind of thing you can +explain in two minutes of exposition. +But it's not profound. +It's not quantum physics. +A half an hour would certainly suffice. +Suppliers And I think it's a pretty far-reaching +consequence. +Another general belief about language, +again, almost a dogma in all the relevant fields-- philosophy, +linguistics, and so on-- is that the meaningful, +the minimal meaningful elements in language, +sort of word-like things, pick out +entities in the extra-mental world. +So the word, say, river picks out the Charles River, +and so on-- something that a physicist could identify. +That turns out to be true for animal systems-- +animal communication systems. +The symbols that appear-- the actions that are carried out-- +do apparently have a one to one correlation +with mind independent events. +So some particular call of a monkey +will be related to leaves fluttering, +predators coming, sort of-- I'm hungry, some hormonal change. +It's just not true of language. +Linguistic elements do not have that property. +Actually, this was understood by Aristotle. +It was understood in the 17th and 18th centuries. +Interesting work on it. +The entities that we construct in our communiques, discourse, +expression, interpretation-- are largely mental-- partially, +mental object. +There are ways in which they are-- +modes in which we interpret phenomena. +But they don't pick out entities in the world +that a natural scientist could identify +without looking into our minds. +That tells us a lot about the nature of language, +and about our own nature. +Language is the core human property. +And this was understood by Darwin, +by a long tradition before him. +And it's very different from the way it's usually conceived. +I think those are among really conclusions that +have pretty widespread significance. +Let me stress again, a very minority view. +Very few linguists would agree with this. +But I think, over time, I suspect it will become clear. +OK. +In hopes and prospects, you mentioned your colleague +Kenneth Hale and his work with Native Americans. +In your opinion, how important is the problem +of language extinction? +That is, how important is it for humanity +to preserve the current level of linguistic diversity? +Well, Ken Hale, who was a friend of Anne's as well. +The teacher was a fantastic linguist and person, also. +He worked extensively with indigenous languages +all over the world. +Australia-- he was one of the founders +of Australian linguistics-- worked +with Native American languages, Central American, +African, and so on. +And he did really amazing work, but this particular aspect +of his work was something that greatly concerned +and interested him-- trying to protect. +And as he pointed out, correctly, +when a language disappears, a lot is lost. +A language is a repository of cultural wealth. +It's a way-- this actually relates +to what I was saying before-- each language is +a way of understanding and interpreting the world. +It carries the wealth of tradition +in history, oral history, which can be extremely rich. +Take the Bible, for example. +For years, that was oral history, +before anything was written down. +Homer is oral history. +And that's all over the world. +And we're losing those treasures every time +a language disappears. +And for the people themselves, they're losing their identity. +If English disappeared, we would lose our cultural identity, +and the same is true if it's a small group somewhere. +Well, one of Ken's achievements in this regard, +which was quite spectacular, was to take the language, which +was one of the major languages spoken +right here before the colonists came. +Remember, the United States is not +an ordinary form of imperialism. +The United States is a secular colonial society. +In fact, that's true of the whole-- what's +called the Anglo sphere, the countries that grew out +of Britain's imperial domination. +The United States, Canada, Australia, mostly New Zealand-- +these are countries where the settlers who came in +didn't just run the country the way the British did in India. +British in India provided the bureaucrats, +you know, the officer corps, and so on. +But Indians ran the country under British rule. +Secular colonial societies are different, like ours. +If you go back to the founders of the country-- like, +say George Washington. +He understood very well that we have to, as he put it, +extirpate the Iroquois. +They're in our way. +We have to wipe them out. +They're and advanced civilization. +They, in fact, were the basis for much +of the American constitutional system. +But we had to extirpate them. +They were in our way. +Thomas Jefferson said, we have to exterminate +the native populations because they're attacking us. +And why are they attacking us? +Well, because we're taking everything away from them. +He didn't say that. +But in general, the settler colonial societies +have to pretty much exterminate the indigenous populations, +or else marginalize them. +Well that's happened here. +So where we're sitting was a place +where the indigenous population was +close to exterminated-- pretty close to it. +There are survivors. +One of the major languages spoken was one Wampanoag. +It hadn't been spoken for a century. +The last speaker was a century ago. +Ken, and some students, and a woman from the Wampanoag tribe, +which still exists, Jessie Little Doe, +managed to reconstruct the language using +comparative evidence from other languages, +and missionary texts that were taken and preserved. +And from this, they were able to reconstruct +what the language must have been. +And it now has its first native speaker-- Jessie Little Doe's +daughter, who's a native speaker of Wampanoag. +This has revitalized the tribe. +They're now studying it. +They're reconstructing their history. +They're reviving. +It's a pretty amazing achievement. +Jessie got her Ph.D. with us, with Ken, her department, +it's the first time this has ever happened, I think. +Now there are efforts to do it In other places. +But if you can revive-- right now, +there's enormous destruction going on. +Species destruction, for example, +is taking place at a level that hasn't happened +for 65 million years, literally-- the time +when an asteroid hit the earth, apparently, +and wiped out the dinosaurs, and the majority of living species +were destroyed. +Mammals survived. +That's why we're around. +But, right now, the same thing's happening. +Species destruction is happening, about at that level. +And now, we're the asteroid, of course. +We're destroying the species at a massive rate. +Language destruction is kind of a little +like that at a cultural and human level. +You're destroying the richness of human civilization +and understanding of the world. +It's disappearing fast. +It's disappearing in Europe-- not just +in indigenous cultures. +So if you go to, say, Italy, there +are people all over the place who +can't talk to their grandmothers. +The grandmothers speak a different language. +They're called dialects, but they're actually +different languages. +The number of languages in Europe +has contracted radically over recent years +through the policies of state formation. +When states are formed, the formation of states +is an extremely violent process. +It imposes a rigid form on societies, +bringing together people who have nothing +to do with each other, and separating +people who have everything to do with each other. +That's why Europe was the most savage place +in the world for centuries while the process of state formation +was taking place. +You look around the world today, and just about +every major conflict is based on the imperial borders. +Borders were imposed by the imperial powers +for their own interests, forming states +which have no significance for most of the people. +So take, say, Pakistan and Afghanistan. +We talk about terrorists crossing Pakistan +to Afghanistan. +They are, many of them, are just Pashtun-- +moving from one part of Pashtun territory +to another part of Pashtun territory, +which is separated by a line-- that the British imposed-- +the Durand line-- which the Afghans have never accepted +and the Pashtun have never accepted. +Now that happens everywhere. +President Obama, one of his achievements +has been to break all records in deporting +undocumented immigrants-- almost two million. +They're crossing a border-- the Mexico US border-- +which, like state borders generally, +was established by brutal violence and aggression. +The US conquered half of Mexico. +President Grant described it as, who fought in it, +described it as the most wicked war in history. +Well, OK, that established the border. +It was a pretty open border. +The same kind of people living on both sides +until pretty recently. +It's been heavily militarized now. +Primarily since NAFTA. +When NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, +was instituted, President Clinton, his advisers, +understood very well that this is +going to devastate Mexican-- the Mexican economy. +And it's going to destroy Mexican agriculture. +It's going to undermine small business, and so on. +Mexican compacinos can be quite efficient, +but they can't compete with highly subsidized U.S. +Agro-business. +So there's going to be a flow of immigrants. +So we've got to militarize the border to prevent them. +Send them back. +Right now, to this day, right here near Boston-- +right around us-- there are people +fleeing from the Guatemalan highlands. +Mayan Indians, fleeing from the Guatemalan highlands. +Their languages are also being destroyed. +Why are they fleeing from the Guatemalan highlands? +Well, under Ronald Reagan, the US +supported a genocidal attacks on the highlands, and the Mayan +Indians by the military dictatorship +we were backing in Guatemala. +And the devastation was so extreme +that they're still fleeing. +Well, they're fleeing. +We deport them. +They're coming across from Mexico. +We deport them. +That's a state border. +That's the way borders work. +All over the world, that's the way it works. +Take a look at the horror stories all of the world. +Almost entirely, the result of the imposition of state +borders, which also has the consequence +of wiping out lots of languages. +When you impose a state border, it constitutes, say, +France, or Italy, or Germany, or Guatemala, +or whatever it may be, or the United States for that matter, +you're wiping out huge numbers of languages +which are internal to them. +Well, this is a kind of-- it's not species destruction, +but it's kind of analogous to it. +And it's going on all the time. +And the effort to save species, cultures, societies, languages +is a major effort. +Happening in Europe, too. +So right now there's a referendum +coming up in Catalonia. +Another one in Scotland asking about autonomy, +or independence. +That's dissolving the European state system, something +which has been going on for awhile, +and reconstructing the languages. +Actually, I visited Barcelona in the late '70s. +You couldn't hear a word of Catalan. +It was spoken, but secret, because under the dictatorship, +which the US backed, it was barred. +10 years later, if you go to Catalonia, +all you hear is Catalan. +It revived. +The Basque languages revived. +Other regional languages are reviving. +If you walk around Wales, kids walking out of school +are talking Welsh. +Things like this are happening. +Ken's achievement was unique, but it's +a kind of a natural development. +I think it should be stimulated myself. +But we should recognize that there's +enormous loss when the cultural wealth of a society disappears. +That's encapsulated crucially in its language. +INTERVIEWER: All right. +So I'm going to change gears a little bit again. +Can you comment on the contribution +of research and statistical natural language processing +to linguistics? +And that's a yes/no question, I realize, but-- OK. +[LAUGHTER] +NOAM CHOMSKY: One of the early proponents of it, +maybe the earliest in 1955, when I +was working on linguistic theory, +it seemed to me the only possible way +in which a, let's say, a child, could identify words +in continuous text-- you know, you're not hearing single words +when you live in the world. +You're hearing continuous text. +It seemed to me the only way that is could be done +was by detecting transitional probabilities of sounds +or syllables. +If you get to a word boundary, the predictability +of the next sound is lower than if you're inside a word. +Right? +For obvious reasons. +So if you check these transitional probabilities, +it looked as if you ought to be able to detect words. +That's probably the first proposal. +Maybe the first proposal of literature. +It turns out not to be accurate. +Just in the last couple of years, +there's been some really careful work +on statistical analysis of texts. +Charles Yang, who got his Ph.D. At MIT-- he's +now at Penn, a computational linguist cognitive +scientist-- he showed that if you actually +use this technique on connected text, that what you get +is syllables, not words. +So that doesn't work. +He also pointed out that if you add a linguistic principle, +you do get a better approximation to words. +Linguistic principle is that a word-- well, real words, +tend to have stress peak within them-- +stress pitch peek inside them. +So if you add that principle, and then you +do the statistical analysis, you get a better approximation. +There's subsequent work by a number of cognitive scientists +which has shown that if you add what +are called the prosodic structure-- the whole pitch +stress structure of a sentence-- it goes up and down, +but really reflecting phrases pretty much, +if you look at the pitch structure. +If you add all of that, and then you +do the statistical analysis, you get +and even better approximation. +Now this is one of the very few cases where there's +any results from statistical analysis. +There has been-- there's a kind of a industry +in computational cognitive science and computer +science trying to show that you can +get significant knowledge of a language +by statistical analysis of text. +Antecedently, that's extremely unlikely to succeed. +You do not get discoveries in the sciences +by taking huge amounts of data, throwing them into a computer, +and doing statistical analysis of them. +Try to think it through in the history of the sciences. +It just doesn't happen. +That's not the way you understand things. +You have to have theoretical insights. +You have to know what kind of experiments +to carry out-- what kind of data are worth looking at, +which kind of throw away, and so on. +That's the way the sciences have always worked. +If you wanted to, say, study the laws of motion, +you could take a huge number of videotapes +of what's happening outside the window, +and subject them to statistical analysis. +You could get a pretty good prediction +of the next thing that's going to happen outside the window-- +actually, a better prediction than what +the physics department can give. +But it's not science. +It's a way of matching data, and maybe predicting some new data. +But that's not what understanding is. +And it's very unlikely to work for language, either. +And I think the record shows that it really fails totally. +I could run through examples. +But every example that's been carefully studied, +it simply doesn't work, for pretty much the reasons +that Charles Yang and his successors discovered. +You have to have the-- have to understand the principles that +determine what underlies the system. +And then if you look around the edges of those principles, +you can find some sometimes useful statistical data. +I think that's probably the way it's going to continue, +but certainly is the way it has so far. +INTERVIEWER: We're going to change gears again. +What, in your opinion, are the most effective strategies +for building a more and just peace-- I'm sorry, +start over again-- for building a more just and peaceful world, +and in your view, what are the best-- the most significant +takeaways-- from Occupy the Arabs bring, +and the Ukrainian Euromaiden uprising. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, those are all quite different events, +and I don't think you can consolidate them. +Over time, there has-- you know, history +doesn't just go in a straight line. +There's progress, there's regression. +And they're often in parallel. +So say, take the last say, 50, 60 years in the United States. +There's been significant progress +in developing a more peaceful and just and equitable society. +Probably the most dramatic example is women's rights. +Totally different from what it was 50 or 60 years ago. +It may be kind of hard to remember, +but if you look at US history, at the time +of the American Revolution, the women were not people. +They were property. +The United States took over British common law. +And under British common law, a woman +is the property of her father, and it's +transferred to her husband. +So for example, one of the arguments against giving women +votes was that it would be unfair to unmarried men, +because a married man would have two votes, since obviously +the property votes the way the owner votes. +That was US law. +If you look at the chipping away of this, +it literally was not until 1975 that this principle +was abandoned. +in 1975, the Supreme Court ruled that women have the right +to serve as peers in federal jury. +Peer means a person just like you. +OK, that goes back to the Magna Carta in the 13th century. +Women were accepted as peers legally in 1975. +Now that was part of a major change that's +taken place in American culture since the 1960s-- +one of the main outgrowths of '60s activism. +And there are plenty of other things like it. +So opposition to, say, violent aggression +is far above what it was 50 or 60 years ago. +Take, say, Kennedy's invasion of South Vietnam. +It's a phrase you've never heard, I suppose, +because it isn't in consciousness. +It happened in the world, but it wasn't reported +and it isn't part of American history. +In the 1962, Kennedy sent the American Air Force +to start bombing South Vietnam. +Authorized chemical warfare to destroy crops, +so to drive the people out of the countryside. +Began big programs to concentrate people, and put +them out at the concentration camps, +to prevent them from supporting the guerrilla movement, which +was overthrowing the US installed government. +That's an invasion. +It happened, but not in our consciousness. +The reason it's not in our consciousness +is there was no opposition. +It was recorded. +It was kind of known. +You know, like it wasn't a total secret, but nobody cared. +You couldn't get people to talk about it. +I mean, literally I remember trying +to give talks in the early '60s in people's living rooms. +You could get more people than that together. +Well that was the early '60s. +In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. +It's the first time in the history of the imperial world +that there have been massive protests prior to the invasion, +prior to the invasion-- huge protests all of the world. +Here, too. +My classes were called off because the students wanted +to call them off to go down to the demonstration. +That was 2003. +Well, it didn't end the war, but it limited it. +It's often believed that the demonstrations +didn't do anything. +That's a mistake. +The United States could not begin to carry out the policies +that Kennedy and Johnson could carry out +without a second thought. +It was bad enough, but it wasn't B52 bombing +of heavily populated urban centers. +It wasn't chemical warfare destroying crops. +Many of the atrocities of the Vietnam War +simply couldn't be contemplated. +Horrible enough, but not that. +OK, all of that is progress. +There's also a regression. +There's been a big backlash from power centers +against the civilizing effect of the '60s. +Now, that's the neoliberal attack +on the population which has been going on for a generation. +That's why, say, real wages, real, +for male workers-- real wages today are at the level of 1968 +for the general public. +And real wages are about the level of 30 years ago. +There's been some stagnation or decline +for the majority of the population. +Tremendous concentration of wealth in tiny number +of-- tiny sector of the population. +Mostly a fraction of 1%, which feeds politics. +Political power reflects economic power. +The Supreme Court just yesterday just struck another blow +against democracy and its committed effort +to try to undermine the functioning +of a democratic system by placing power +in the hands of those who are super rich. +OK, that's going on. +That's the McCutcheon case a couple days ago. +Well, that's regression. +And they're going on in parallel. +That's the way history works. +So what's the way to go forward? +Well, you know, as Martin Luther King +put it-- shift the arc of history +by your own efforts in activism. +That's the only way it's ever worked. +The arc of history bends the way we decide to bend it. +INTERVIEWER: In "Hopes and Prospects" +you compare Obama and Bush II. +That's four years ago. +What would you say today? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Like what I just said +about the arc of history-- both better in some ways, worse +in others. +So, for example, I mentioned Guantanamo. +Guantanamo is a major torture center. +OK, today, probably torture isn't +taking place in Guantanamo-- at least what we call torture. +Remember, the United States has a special definition of torture +which is different from the world's definition. +So for example, in the world, a solitary confinement +is considered torture. +You take a look at the torture convention-- +international torture convention. +Solitary confinement is regarded-- +and other forms of mental torture-- +are regarded as torture. +And they are. +You try to lock yourself up in a room for a couple of days, +and you'll see what happens. +So it's kind of torture. +In the United States, it's surely going on in Guantanamo. +But it's also a routine. +It goes on in the prisons all the time. +You go to the maximum security prisons, +they are torture chambers. +People are confined 23 hours a day in a small room. +It drives you insane. +So torture-- what we call torture +isn't going on in Guantanamo. +What is torture is going on, but it's +going on in the incarceration system generally. +And that system is a real international scandal +on scale [INAUDIBLE]. +So that's an improvement. +No magnificent, but an improvement. +On the other hand, there's the surveillance programs, +which are-- I don't have to talk to you about them. +You know about them. +They're mostly Obama. +The subversion of Cuba that I mentioned-- that's +a new Obama program. +The worst global terrorism campaign under way right +now is Obama's global assassination campaign. +The Drone Campaign. +Notice that there's a debate in the United States +when he decides to murder Americans. +Like, [INAUDIBLE]. +You know, is that legitimate or not? +And what about the other people? +The people that are being murdered are suspects. +Go back 800 years again to Magna Carta. +We're going to commemorate its 800th anniversary +next year-- probably morn its disappearance. +The core concept developed in Magna Carta +was what we call presumption of innocence. +What it stated is that a free man cannot be subjected +to state punishment without due process-- +without trial by a jury of peers. +OK? +Now, free man was a very limited concept in the 13th century. +Of course, it excluded women. +It excluded people who weren't free and so on. +It gradually expanded over the centuries. +So it's embedded in the Constitution +also with limits-- the 14th Amendment, other limits. +But now it's being contracted. +The Drone Campaign eliminates presumption of innocence. +The way it works is, Obama and his advisers +get together Tuesday morning and decide +who they're going to kill that day. +The concept guilty means Obama decided to murder you. +That's the meaning of the concept guilty today. +That's a regression that goes back 800 years. +That's pretty serious. +And what's even more serious is, it's not discussed. +The only thing that is discussed is the killing of Americans. +Are Americans different species? +Who says you can kill other suspects? +There's some talk about collateral damage. +What about the people who are just standing around and get +killed? +Well, yeah-- that's bad. +But what about the people you're aiming at? +They are suspects. +You haven't shown a proof of anything about them. +Just somebody the government wants to kill. +That's true of domestic law, too. +Actually, I'm one of the plaintiffs in a suit +that I'm not entirely happy about for this reason. +It's a suit about the NDAA brought by Chris Hedges. +A couple of other people are plaintiffs. +The NDAA legislation under Obama-- +he says he doesn't like it, but he signed it. +It permits indefinite detention. +It extends the principle of indefinite detention +for suspects who are, under this relatively new legislation +under Obama. +In includes-- it is written in such a way +that it could include American citizens. +It's not explicit. +That's what the suit is about. +But the concept is-- it permits indefinite detention of people +charged with providing support for enemies of the United +States. +What's support? +Well, like saying maybe they got a case, or something like that. +Is that support? +It's not a joke, incidentally. +The narrow case-- the very narrow case +is against one part-- the fact that is +might apply to American citizens. +I think it's way too narrow. +It shouldn't apply to anybody. +There should never be such a thing +as independent indefinite detention. +It's criminal. +And the idea of supporting enemies +is so meaningless, that such a concept shouldn't exist as law. +But it's a narrow case about Americans. +And that's the framework of discourse here. +You shouldn't accept it, I don't think. +In fact, take another Obama case-- one +of Obama's major attacks on civil liberties. +It's a case that probably most of you haven't heard about, +but I'd look it up if I were you. +It's a nice thing about the internet. +Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project-- case +brought by the government to the Supreme Court Government One. +Holder is the Attorney General. +Humanitarian Law Project was a group +that was giving legal advice-- legal advice-- +to a group that's on the US terrorist list. +The group happened to be the PKK-- Kurdish group. +The US government calls it a terrorist group, +so it's on the terrorist list. +Humanitarian Law Project was giving legal advice to them. +Obama's Justice Department decided +to condemn that as material assistance to terrorism. +Material assistance of terrorism used +to mean giving a gun to somebody in Al Qaeda. +But this extends it to giving legal advice +to someone on the government's terrorist list. +And if you look at the court discussion colloquy, +it could maybe apply to somebody who +has an interview with Nasrallah, you know, +the head of Hezbollah. +Or just talks to, maybe advises, a group +to turn to non-violence. +That could be regarded as material assistance +under Obama. +That's a tremendous attack on the freedom of speech, +and just ordinate elementary justice-- +passed almost without comment. +Now we might ask ourselves-- why should +we even takes the terrorist list seriously? +What's the terrorist list? +The executive branch of the government +simply determines you're a terrorist. +I put you on the list. +No review. +No judicial review. +No defense. +It's just an executive act of an authoritarian state. +And if you look at the history of the terrorist list, +it's mind-boggling. +Like, Nelson Mandela, for example, +was on the terrorist list because Reagan administration +condemned them as-- his group, the African National Congress, +as one of the more notorious terrorist groups in the world +because they were opposing apartheid, +which Reagan supported. +OK, so that's the terrorist list. +And Mandela was on until about four years ago, +when it took a special Act of Congress +to get him off the terrorist list. +On the other hand, take, say, Saddam Hussein. +He was taken off the terrorist list in 1982, +because the Reagan administration wanted +to provide arms to Iraq, so in order to be legal, +he had to be off the terrorist list. +Actually, that left a gap in the terrorist list, +so they put Cuba in. +Why? +Because Cuba has been the target of more terrorism than the rest +of the world combined in the years before it, +mostly based in Florida. +That's the terrorist list. +So apart from being kind of ludicrous in the way it +actually works, the very concept is an abomination. +Why should the state have the right +to determine unilaterally who's a terrorist? +Do they have that right? +No, they don't. +Do they have the right to murder people +who they put on the terrorist list? +No they don't. +Do they have the right to charge people with material +assistance to terrorism if they give legal aid to somebody +that they've designated as a terrorist? +This gets more and more extreme as you go on. +These are Obama innovations. +Well, history doesn't go straight line. +And I think, myself, Bush would've been worse, +but not that there's much to cheer about in this regard. +AUDIENCE: With cultures that didn't have a written language +until another culture came in that did, +and they adopted their writing system. +Is there any systematic effect on languages +that adopted someone else's writing system? +NOAM CHOMSKY: There is a systematic effect of literacy. +It's not so much adopting the writing system +as using it for reading. +So if we actually want, there's a-- Ken Hale, +same guy we talked about before-- he +did a very important study in the 1970s in which he showed +that-- an article that appeared on what's called cultural gaps. +He studied the languages that he worked on, mostly Australian, +and found that many of them had all kind of what +looked like gaps. +Like, they didn't have number words. +They didn't have color words. +Or they didn't have relative clauses. +A lot of other things they didn't have. +And what he showed was that all of this +was just totally superficial. +The people had all the concept. +They had no problem with dealing with any of them. +They used them all the time, but just in more indirect ways. +So if they didn't have number words, +they would still be able to say five, ten. +They had no problem dealing with market societies. +They may not have had the color red, +but they could say blood-like. +And the same was true even of structural things, +like embedded relative clauses. +Well, that was an important study. +Ignored, like most important studies. +But, shortly after it, somebody else in our department, Wayne +O'Neil, another friend of Anne's and mine, +who studies the history of English, +he did a study of middle English. +And he investigated, and if he was looking for something +similar, he discovered that the use of complex constructions, +which had embedded elements in them, +increased as literacy increased. +There's a natural reason for that. +When you speak, you're constrained +by short term memory, which is pretty small. +Short term memory is around seven or something like that. +The same for humans and other organisms. +And that means you can't do much. +So ordinary speech tends to be what's called para-tactic. +You just kind of tack things on one after the other, +because you can't embed. +On the other hand, once you move to literacy, +you begin to use capacities that you always had but never used. +It's like, when the people learn. +You go to school and, you say, first grade or something, +and they teach you how to multiply. +You begin to use a capacity which you always had. +It's not taught. +It's part of your intrinsic capacities +that you have the capacity for number. +Every society has it. +Every human being has it. +It's kind of a mystery that bothered Darwin and Wallace-- +the founders of evolutionary theory. +They asked, how could it evolve since it's never used? +But it's true that everyone has it. +But you can't do it in your head. +Like, you can't multiply big numbers in your head. +Right? +You'd collapse after a very short period. +But you can multiply them once you learn the technique, +because you've got the knowledge. +You just have to exhibit it. +And the same thing happens with literacy. +Once literacy spreads, you get much more complex +linguistic usage, even in speech, because it carries over +from writing to speech. +So that effect I think is real and documented. +But the effect of just using. +If you just use the letters to say, write things, +but you never read, I'd doubt if it +would have much of an effect. +AUDIENCE: I'm curious as to your thoughts, because I'm +standing now, as to your thoughts +on-- I guess some people have said +that the effect of technology on certain languages +has made us dumber. +So like, texting, LOL, or hash tags. +And if that's actually true, or if it's +just the same as any appendians, like +new words being added to languages. +NOAM CHOMSKY: I think the real question +about the, what might be the cognitive effect-- +the current kind of teenage technology-- it does +have a very superficial aspect to it. +So, that's true, for example, of Facebook. +People think they have lots of-- I +mean I know of cases, teenagers, who +think they have lots of friends, hundreds of friends. +Because if they write, I've got an exam tomorrow, +they'll get 100 letters saying, I hope you do well, and so on. +And the communication is very restricted. +A simple formula is things like that. +So does it have a dumbing down effect? +I kind of doubt it, frankly. +But, you know, it is a topic that could be studied. +It is being studied, in fact. +But as far as I know, there are no real results, +and I think it would be surprising, +because it's all kind of superficial. +It does add a kind of superficiality +to life, which may not be a good thing. +I think it's probably harmful in the long run. +But to try to-- I feel like I'm bringing coals to Newcastle. +You people know a lot more about this +than I do, because I don't use any of this stuff, +except with my grandchildren, when I have to. +Is there one last question? +We have time for a quick question. +There. +Is the-- so the diversity of languages and cultures +is wonderful, but if there is on the other side, if you would +say anything, if you would, sort of allow +that having a unified language and common culture +helps communication and may advance world peace? +Well I don't if it advances peace. +In fact, it seems to have the opposite, because you're +forcing people into situations of conflict. +And the one language that dominates +is just the most powerful state in the world. +But there's an advantage, to having, say, +a single language for science. +OK, so by now, English is pretty much the language of science. +When I got to MIT 60 years ago, I +was teaching scientific French and scientific German-- all +graduate students in every field had +to pass an exam in French and German. +It was a complete fake, but that was kind of +like a residue of the pre-second World War period. +But it was true. +You go back 70 years, a civil engineer +had to know French or German. +OK now, that's all gone. +All around most of the world, the language of science +is English. +That's helpful. +On the other hand, exactly as you say, +there's also-- if that extend from just some mode +of communication to the actual languages of life, +it would be a real loss. +We would lose cultural wealth. +Actually, if you live in the United States, +and you travel abroad, you see it very quickly. +The United States is an extremely insular society. +People don't know anything about the outside world. +Students in colleges don't know where France is. +It's just-- they don't know anything. +It's remarkably different from Europe and other countries. +And part of the reason is that, you +can go 3,000 miles in the United States, +and it looks exactly like where you came from. +Go to Boston to Los Angeles, the weather's a little different, +but everything else is the same. +The accent is slightly different. +You go 100 miles in Europe, and you're in a different society. +So you just kind of automatically +gain comprehension of the richness and complexity of life +that's missing when societies are homogeneous. +Of course American society isn't literally homogeneous. +But, comparatively speaking, it is. +And I think that's the kind of loss +you would get if, in fact, you moved +towards a universal language. +Also, I just don't think there's any possibility that's +happening. +As I said, in Europe, there's now +actually a reaction against the unifying tendencies +of the European Union-- more regionalization, +regional languages, cultures. +It's not just languages, incidentally. +So take Catalonia, which I mentioned. +Under the Franco dictatorship, Catalonian language and culture +were totally suppressed. +They could not be exhibited in public. +But, if you go to Barcelona today, +let's say, you can on Sunday morning, +if you're downtown in Barcelona, take a look at the cathedral. +There's people swarming towards the cathedral-- folk singers, +folk dances, Catalan cultures being revived. +It's a rich culture being revived. +It was kind of there, underground. +Now it's open. +And I think that's just healthy for life. +[APPLAUSE] +7 +8 +13 +18 +21 +25 +28 +29 +30 +34 +35 +38 +40 +43 +47 +50 +53 +54 +56 +58 +61 +63 +67 +68 +73 +77 +79 +81 +83 +86 +88 +89 +92 +94 +96 +100 +103 +105 +106 +109 +112 +114 +118 +121 +122 +125 +127 +132 +136 +137 +144 +146 +148 +150 +151 +153 +158 +160 +162 +164 +166 +170 +171 +173 +177 +181 +183 +185 +189 +192 +199 +204 +208 +212 +215 +220 +225 +229 +232 +235 +239 +244 +246 +250 +252 +254 +257 +258 +261 +269 +273 +279 +282 +289 +293 +294 +298 +303 +308 +315 +318 +321 +324 +326 +328 +332 +337 +340 +342 +345 +349 +351 +353 +356 +358 +362 +364 +368 +370 +375 +376 +378 +382 +387 +389 +390 +394 +397 +400 +406 +408 +412 +415 +417 +419 +421 +424 +428 +432 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+3657 +3659 +3661 +3665 +3667 +3673 +3676 +3680 +3683 +3685 +3689 +3692 +3696 +3696 +3698 +3703 +3705 +3708 +3710 +3713 +3718 +3720 +3723 +3727 +3731 +3735 +3741 +3745 +3748 +3749 +3751 +3754 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky 7 14 2013 at Morris Halle's 90th Birthday Celebration d_LLnhirZ40.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 7 14 2013 at Morris Halle's 90th Birthday Celebration d_LLnhirZ40.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a197074 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky 7 14 2013 at Morris Halle's 90th Birthday Celebration d_LLnhirZ40.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +professor contact +201 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky Condemns Israel’s Shift to Far Right & New “Jewish Nation-State” Law bJfcdLy46w4.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Condemns Israel’s Shift to Far Right & New “Jewish Nation-State” Law bJfcdLy46w4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f980a7c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Condemns Israel’s Shift to Far Right & New “Jewish Nation-State” Law bJfcdLy46w4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,222 @@ +Let me ask you about Israel right now. +Israel's passage of the new law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people +and gives them the sole right to self-determination. +The law also declares Hebrew the country's only official language and encourages the +building of Jewish-only settlements in the occupied territory as a national value. +This is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. +This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel. +We will keep ensuring civil rights in Israel's democracy. +These rights will not be harmed. +But the majority also has rights and the majority decides. +An absolute majority wants to ensure our state's Jewish character for generations to come. +Can you talk about this new law, Noam Chomsky? +First of all, a slight correction: the all-Jewish settlements that are authorized are within +Israel proper. +It's not even a question on the Occupied Territories. +They're all like that. +But this is within Israel proper. +So, yes, the new law does change the existing situation, but not by as much as is being +claimed. +What the new law describes has pretty much been in place for a long time. +Basic law back in--land laws back in 1960 established what the Israeli High Court called, +concluded is--their statement was "Israel is the sovereign state of the Jewish people"--all +Jewish people, but not its citizens, just the Jews. +That was 60 years ago. +The land laws were set up in such a way that, as was recognized at the time, in fact, that--internally +in Israel, not outside--that the state lands would be effectively under the administration +of the Jewish National Fund. +An array of legal and administrative practices were set up to ensure that. +If you're interested in details, I wrote about them in detail 30 years ago in a book +called Towards a New Cold War, sort of went through the documents. +But, basically, a complex array was set up to ensure that the Jewish National Fund would +be in control of state lands. +That amounts to over 90 percent of the country's lands. +What's the mission of the Jewish National Fund? +Well, it has a contract with the state of Israel which determines that its mission is +to work for the benefit--I'm quoting now--of people "of Jewish race, religion or origin." +OK, what do you expect to follow from this? +What you expect to follow is that 92, 93 percent of the land of the country is effectively +reserved for people of Jewish race, religion and origin. +And that's the way it played out. +This finally came to the court, the Israeli courts, High Court, in the year 2000. +Civil liberties association in Israel brought a case. +The plaintiffs were an Arab couple, professional Arab couple, who wanted to buy a home in a +Jewish settlement, settlement of Katzir, which was, like most of the country, restricted +to Jews. +The court finally ruled in their favor, in a very narrow decision. +Almost immediately, efforts began to try to figure out a way around it, by various devices. +And the new law simply authorizes it, straight. +It authorizes all-Jewish settlements in Israel proper, which means about 90 percent of the +country. +If you look at the development of settlements over the years--it's discussed in an important +article by Israeli writer Yitzhak Laor in a recent issue of Haaretz. +I wrote about it in a post here in Truthout. +He points out that I think about 700 all-Jewish settlements were set up, no Arab settlements. +Arab Palestinians are restricted to about two percent of the land, a lot of them being +kicked out of that. +So, all of this, it formalizes what has been practiced, in complex ways. +It does demote Arabic from being an official language to not having that status. +It enhances the past practices by introducing them into what's called the Basic Law, which +is effectively the constitution. +So, yes, these are changes, but less dramatic than the way it's portrayed, not because +these are proper moves, but because it's always been like that in one way or another. +Incidentally, this should not be too strange to Americans. +You look at the housing--this has recently been discussed by [Richard] Rothstein, an +interesting book. +If you look at the New Deal housing programs, they were legally and explicitly directed +to ensuring white-only projects, white-only towns. +That's why the towns that sprang up in the 1950s, like Levittown, were 100 percent white. +Various legal requirements were introduced to ensure that. +This is the New Deal. +We're not talking about the Deep South, although, of course, they influenced it. +This didn't change until the late '60s. +And by then, it was too late to benefit African Americans. +The reason was because of general economic changes in the '50s--'50s and the '60s +were a great growth period in the United States, offered the first time in hundreds of years +of history, 400 years of history, for African Americans to have some sort of a chance of +entering the mainstream society. +But they were blocked from housing, by legal means. +By the time the legal means were dismantled, we were moving into the onset of the neoliberal +period of stagnation and decline, so it didn't do them any good. +That's another chapter in the ugly history of American racism. +So, we shouldn't be all too startled to see what's going on in Israel, which is +quite ugly and is part of the shift of the country far to the right, which was predicted +in 1967, predicted right off, that a consequence of the occupation would be to turn the country +to the right. +When you have your jackboot on someone's neck, it's not good for your psyche. +And I think we've been watching this happen. +Israel is quite aware of it, incidentally. +Israeli political analysts have been pointing out for a couple of years that Israel should +be preparing itself for a period in which it loses the support of sectors of the world +that have some concern for human rights and international law, and should be returning +towards alliances with the countries that just don't care about this. +Say, India, under the recent ultranationalist Modi government, shares with Israel the move +towards ultranationalism, repression, a hatred of Islam; China doesn't pay attention to +these things; Singapore; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates. +And we can see it happening in the United States, as well. +So, not too long ago, Israel was the absolute darling of progressive, liberal America. +That has changed. +By now, among self-identified Democrats, they have considerably more support for Palestinians +than for Israel. +Support for Israel in the United States has shifted to the ultranationalist right and +evangelicals, who, for the wrong reasons, support Israeli actions, with some passion, +in fact, while at the same time many of them hold to doctrines which claim that the second +coming of Christ, which is imminent, will lead to a series of events which will end +up with the Jews being sent to eternal perdition. +That combines with the support for Israeli actions. +And that's why the base of Israeli support in the United States has shifted to the right +wing of the Republican Party. +So, these things are happening all over the world. +Noam Chomsky, now linguistics professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson. +Coming up, he'll talk about the crisis in Gaza. +0 +2 +7 +9 +15 +21 +25 +35 +40 +41 +45 +50 +56 +63 +64 +68 +70 +72 +82 +85 +92 +103 +111 +117 +119 +128 +137 +140 +147 +154 +158 +166 +168 +172 +176 +182 +190 +193 +200 +205 +208 +216 +219 +229 +236 +237 +242 +249 +253 +263 +264 +270 +276 +279 +288 +292 +294 +304 +314 +322 +324 +333 +340 +345 +351 +352 +361 +367 +376 +382 +383 +390 +392 +398 +404 +412 +418 +421 +425 +433 +439 +444 +449 +456 +467 +469 +475 +479 +483 +489 +498 +509 +514 +524 +532 +538 +542 +551 +556 +565 +566 +573 +583 +594 +600 +604 +609 +614 +616 +618 +623 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky Criticizes “Autocratic” Nicaraguan Government, Urges Ortega to Call for New Elections 2mxLHGuZH2I.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Criticizes “Autocratic” Nicaraguan Government, Urges Ortega to Call for New Elections 2mxLHGuZH2I.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d77531e --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Criticizes “Autocratic” Nicaraguan Government, Urges Ortega to Call for New Elections 2mxLHGuZH2I.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,242 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to continue on the situation in Nicaragua. +In a rare interview, the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, recently rejected calls to +step down from power amidst mounting protests and civil unrest. +This is President Ortega speaking on Fox News on Monday. +PRESIDENT DANIEL ORTEGA: [translated] We were elected by the voters. +So, there have been electoral periods, there are term limits, and our electoral period +ends with the elections of 2021, when we will have our next elections. +And then we'll have to see who will be voted in for the new administration. +AMY GOODMAN: So, that's President Daniel Ortega. +Nicaragua's main business association has been demanding Ortega hold early elections, +to which Ortega has responded Nicaragua "is not private property." +International human rights groups say over 300 people have died since their protests +erupted in April, anti-austerity protests, and that the vast majority have been killed +by pro-government forces. +In June, we spoke with former Sandinista leader Alejandro Bendana, who served as the Nicaraguan +ambassador to the United Nations and secretary general of the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry +during Ortega's rule, during the Sandinista rule in Nicaragua, from 1979 to 1990. +This is what Bendana had to say on Democracy Now! +ALEJANDRO BENDANA: One has to remember key historical facts. +The Sandinista revolution began in 1979 and ended in 1990 with the electoral defeat of +Daniel Ortega. +But this has not spelled the end of Ortega, because for 17 years he worked tenaciously +to get back into power. +But to do this, he got rid of his potential competitors and many old Sandinista backers. +He embraced corporate capital in Nicaragua. +He adopted the most retrograded positions of the church and entered into an alliance, +and reached an understanding with the U.S., so that he was able to barely win the presidency +in 2007. +But by that time, he himself is no longer a Sandinista. +Yes, the trappings, the colors are still there, but his entire government has been, in essence, +neoliberal. +Then it becomes authoritarian, repressive. +AMY GOODMAN: That's Alejandro Bendana, who served as President Ortega's, Nicaragua's +ambassador to the United Nations, as well as secretary general of Nicaraguan Foreign +Ministry during the Sandinista rule first time around, '79 to '90. +Students are saying that, overwhelmingly, it's the government that's killed the people. +What are your thoughts, Noam? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, in 1990, it's true that the--first of all, there were plenty of problems +even in the '80s, but by the standards of the region it stood out as almost a stellar +record--bad but by the standards of the region. +In 1990, the President Bush, first President Bush, essentially informed the population +of Nicaragua that either you vote for our candidate, or else the Contra war, the terrorist +war, continues, and harsh sanctions will strangle the country. +And, indeed, at the point of a gun, the population voted the Sandinistas out, and partially for +internal reasons. +There were many things they were doing they shouldn't have. +Since then, it hasn't been anywhere near as bad as the other Central American countries, +the ones that are, more or less, overwhelmingly, influenced by the U.S. +But there's been a lot of corruption, a lot of repression. +It's autocratic, undoubtedly. +The opposition is nothing to write home about, either, for the most part. +So, it's by no means a pretty situation. +One would hope that negotiations could reduce the tensions. +And my own view is that I think it would be a good thing for Nicaragua if Ortega were +to call early elections and allow them to be run without corruption and brutality. +But that doesn't look as if it's--it's hard to hard to see a simple way out at this +point. +It's a very unfortunate situation. +We should bear in mind that in the early 1980s the situation was extremely hopeful in Nicaragua. +Even the international institutions, like the World Bank and others, were praising the +progressive steps being taken by the Sandinistas. +The country was full of hope, excitement, literacy campaigns, dealing with poverty. +With the almost--U.S. intervention actually began in the mid-19th century and had been +horrible all the way through, but they were beginning to pull themselves out of it--until +the U.S. terrorist war began. +We should bear in mind that the United States is the only country ever to have been condemned +by the International Court of Justice for international terrorism--technically, unlawful +use of force--and ordered to pay substantial reparations to Nicaragua for the attack that +it was carrying out. +Of course, the U.S. refused, refused the World Court's jurisdiction. +The World Court was condemned not only by the government, but even by the press. +New York Times condemned it as a hostile forum because it had ruled against the United States, +so of course you don't have to pay any attention to it. +The U.S. even vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international +law. +And then the Contra war went on, the sanctions went on, the other forms of subversion continued, +and the hopes were pretty much smashed. +You could just see the changes in expectations and attitudes. +And one result was internal corruption, repression, and then it's now imploding. +But again, it's a very ugly and unfortunate situation--nothing remotely comparable to +the countries that have been under the U.S. thumb throughout the period. +But I think the point that--going back to the immigration crisis, which is actually +a moral crisis in the United States, and comparably in Europe, we should bear in mind that the +immigrants do not want to leave their countries. +They would be very happy to stay in their own countries instead of coming here to unpleasant +and harsh situations. +They can't, because we have ruined their countries. +So, the first step in dealing with the immigration crisis should be to help reconstruct and rebuild +what we have destroyed, so they won't be fleeing from the homes where they would like +to live. +Now, that's certainly within the means of a super-rich country like the United States +with incomparable advantages. +That's step one in dealing with the immigration crisis--again, a moral crisis, not an immigration +crisis. +Secondly, conditions should be established so that legal--what's called legal immigration--I +don't like the term, but what's technically called that--would be facilitated, with decent +conditions, plenty of entry points, lawyers provided pro bono with U.S. support for immigrants +so they could plead their cases, and decent conditions for the applicants to survive--nothing +like putting them in camps and stealing their children away from them--and facilitating +the kind of appeals for asylum that are granted under international law. +That should be automatically assumed in a--certainly in a rich country like ours. +That's the second step. +We might also recognize that there are countries that have somehow managed to deal with the +huge flood of immigrants, poor countries. +So, take Lebanon, poor country. +Probably 40 percent of the population are refugees at this point, driven out from Israel +by the Israeli--several Israeli wars, '48, '67, Syrian refugees, Iraqi refugees fleeing +from the U.S. invasion of Iraq. +It's a poor country, and there are plenty of internal problems, but they're somehow +surviving with 40 percent of the population refugees. +The same is true of Jordan, another poor country. +Kenya, Africa, another poor country, has a huge number of refugees. +Bangladesh has taken in huge numbers of refugees fleeing from Burma. +But the rich countries of the world--the United States, European Union--the ones who +have an overwhelming responsibility for the circumstances from which the refugees are +fleeing, they can't help with it. +They can't deal with it. +Too much for us. +Go somewhere else. +Go to a poor country, but not go to the countries of the perpetrators of the conditions from +which you're fleeing. +0 +4 +9 +14 +18 +23 +34 +42 +51 +55 +61 +65 +69 +76 +77 +84 +90 +98 +100 +104 +113 +115 +121 +124 +132 +137 +145 +153 +155 +160 +167 +168 +170 +177 +182 +187 +192 +194 +203 +212 +216 +225 +233 +238 +247 +248 +251 +257 +263 +267 +269 +274 +279 +284 +292 +302 +309 +310 +312 +323 +329 +332 +340 +349 +353 +356 +364 +372 +380 +382 +388 +394 +400 +404 +411 +412 +418 +421 +427 +436 +443 +448 +455 +462 +465 +471 +472 +476 +484 +488 +489 +496 +498 +505 +508 +517 +524 +534 +543 +550 +557 +563 +565 +575 +578 +583 +589 +600 +603 +607 +612 +614 +620 +629 +635 +641 +643 +644 +645 +647 +653 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky Interview on Limits of Language & Mind A1RrbexZ5LY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Interview on Limits of Language & Mind A1RrbexZ5LY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..deaeafd --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky Interview on Limits of Language & Mind A1RrbexZ5LY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,942 @@ +Noam Chomsky has global fame in two unrelated fields: Or so it seems +The most famous is being one of the leaders in the opposition to the American war on Vietnam. +The fame of the deeper dimension is as a professor of linguistics, and he managed - before the age of forty - to happen +A fundamental change in his discipline, which is a milestone in the history of philosophy. +Many philosophy professors insist it +He is never a philosopher, because linguistics is simply a field of knowledge different from philosophy although close to it +Well, I'm not going to argue regarding this, it is more than just questioning the definition of the term anyway +In fact, he learned philosophy, and his research work includes many philosophical issues +In contemporary philosophical writings, I can say that his name is as common as it is +The name of any contemporary philosopher is mentioned in it, but the important point in fact is that if there is a philosophical issue +Has dominated the philosophy of the twentieth century more than others, it is the issue of the relationship between +Language and the World, Wangstein - just as an example- +He was captured by this affair. And now comes the linguist Chomsky +He makes the argument that the way we acquire language is in fact - and thus its relationship +With the human experience, and hence its relationship with the world - it is completely different from +What was known in the Anglo-Saxon philosophy. His thoughts appeared first +At the end of the fifties of the last century and was a criticism of the behavioral psychological approach, not far from health +To say that behavioral psychologists have tended to say that the individual +It comes into the world a moldable dough, and thus it is formulated +It is shaped by the environment, through a process of stimulation and reaction, as they say, punishment and +Reward, reinforcement of reward responses, and establishment of ideas about it +In doing so, individuals develop and learn, and that includes language learning. But Chomsky says that +That cannot explain how all humans are regardless of their intelligence +They manage to do something surprisingly difficult, like even being able to use language +When you don't knowingly teach them, as it is for most humans, and they do it +At a very young age, and in a short time, he protested +For this to happen, we must be genetically programmed to do so, and then +It is imperative that all human languages have a common basic structure to interact with +This pre-programming also entails important downsides. The most important ones +Anything that cannot be subject to this structure ... anything +It cannot be captured in this particular network that is linguistically impossible to analyze +And ambiguous can not be understood, then the general linguistic rules common to languages set very important boundaries +Because of our ability to understand the world and to communicate with one another +This appears to be a translation in linguistic terms of some of Kant's main ideas +And I have to say it's always like this to me, but even if it is true, Chomsky +He did it, not anyone else, and it proved worthwhile and had important results +Professor Chomsky, one of the difficulties in discussing your thoughts is her +It is clearly hybrid, on the one hand it is linguistic and on the other hand it is philosophical +On the other hand, it is biological, and you yourself put it first +To argue with behavioral biologists and psychologists, how did you get to that starting point? +Well, the reason was that picture of the nature of language +And the method of language acquisition, the image that was controlling +A broad spectrum of ideas not only psychology but also philosophy and linguistics +An idea that was dominant when I was a student, about 25-30 years ago +The common image of language is that it is a system of habits, skills, or behavior +And that consists through intense training, through repetition +Perhaps through stimulation, generalization and association +A person's knowledge or habits system grows simply through a gradual increase +The more one's experience is subjected to generalization and simulation, and in fact, this image +Which was just an assumption was put forward as a postulate +And it really isn't, I mean, language isn't necessarily +System of that kind, or it is acquired in this way +One thing I pointed out, which is actually something very clear when you notice it, is that most people +They were not taught the language, that is, most of the parents +They give no systematic instructions of any kind to their children, yet the child acquires the language. +Well I want to go further, I really think +Language does not teach - except marginally, and the role of education is not essential +In language acquisition, it can even be said in the present moment +That a language is never learned, at least if by teaching we mean any process it has +Characteristics present in any learning process, such as properties +I have already mentioned, for me, if we want to talk about an appropriate phrase, we must talk about (growth) +Languages seem to grow in the mind to me, somewhat similarly +For the growth of other vital body systems, we begin our interaction with the world in our minds +Based on a pre-existing genetic stage, and through interaction with experience and the environment +This stage changes until you reach the stage of maturity, which we call the stage of knowledge of the language +This series of changes starts from the first genetic stage +To the final stage where we have a complex system of mental processes +The chain of changes seems to me like organ growth, in fact +I think it is acceptable to think of the mind as a device of mental capabilities - one of which is the linguistic ability - +The structures of each are biologically determined, with interactions +Also generally defined by our biological nature, and it grows +It is through experience that shapes and shapes these capabilities as they grow +In an individual during his life. So I say it looks like it to me +Not only is it wrong to think that language teaches, it is wrong +Thinking that language is acquired if it is intended +The processes by which learning is done - in other words we are programmed to acquire +Language is the same way that our hands and feet are programmed to grow into adulthood +In early adolescence, some growth processes are somewhat delayed. - Yes and +Puberty is a good example when we are talking about biological development +It is preprogrammed from creation, but it starts to work after birth +In fact, it can be said that even death is genetically determined +This is because we are a biological construct, and therefore, at a specific time, life processes cease. +In fact, evolution that begins after the beginning of the life of an organism +It does not provide evidence in itself that it is an evolution +Genetically determined or not. It follows from your point of view that if someone had done as you did +During a period of your academic life, he began to research the human language ability +What I researched is a living biological system, I mean +It is something that is tangible in matter, as if present in human tissue +You're looking for human eyesight, human digestion, or blood circulation +I think this is absolutely correct at least we think it is correct in principle. +We are not yet in the neurological stage of studying higher cognitive processes +Where it is possible to identify those systems that are inside the body and include these processes +In contrast, studies conducted on this device are still at the abstract, theoretical level +We can test principles by what they do, but there is very little that can be said +Now we are looking at the ways in which these principles are perceived in the brain +While on the other hand one can study the visual system for example - it is done +That's a very long time ago - while none of the rules we came up with +It can be related to that (nervous) system, or to analyze the mechanism of that in the nervous system, we deduced +It's connected to that system, but we know nothing about how this is perceived in our nervous system +And I think the study of language can be likened here +By studying eyesight in a period when it was technically impossible +Or because of limited understanding, technology, etc., it was impossible +Determine which vital elements are contained in that device +To study only abstractly. Here there seems to be a special difficulty, I mean +We accept the fact that, through careful thinking, I cannot control work +On my liver, I can't watch it excrete bile, or anything else it does +It is also possible that I cannot monitor my neurolinguistic functions in action +But there is an important difference, because if we want to research the work of the liver +We can observe other people, I mean part of a liver of a living person +Or the whole liver of a dead person or an animal, you can try +Different variables and see what results it brings ... and so on +But we cannot experiment on animals with respect to language because their linguistic ability ... +She has no use of language ability. Now does this not close in our faces +The main scientific method by which we search for the rest of the vital functions of humans. +Yes, of course, it shuts off the natural scientific method of research and this +For ethical reasons, we do not conduct practical experiments on humans +So, for example, there are scientific experiments that present themselves +Assuming, for example, I assumed that the language had a general property +And every human language must have this characteristic as a biological necessity, if we were +If we were dealing with another living being we would be allowed to study, the way we study +For example cats or monkeys, what we're going to do is apply the common differences approach +And that would be by designing a built environment from which a factor is removed +To see whether the linguistic system develops naturally under these circumstances, we study one case, for example +We cannot do that, we cannot create artificial designed environments +And we see what happens to children in it, because we cannot conduct experiments in which humans are completely isolated from their societies +But it is important to know that these limitations are not a philosophical obstacle +Which means we have to be smarter about it +A number of scientific research methods cannot be applied here, within the limits of our knowledge there is nothing similar +Of the human linguistic ability of other living things, but this does not mean that we cannot +To study a problem, we must study it indirectly. We cannot often use experiments directly +That can give us clear and accurate answers to the questions we ask, but if you think +In a picture like the one I presented, an image of an ability that begins at the genetic level +In the first stage and then grow until you reach the stage of maturity of linguistic knowledge, then it is clear +That this stage of knowledge will be determined by two factors: the initial innate genetic predisposition +And secondly: the experience that one is exposed to. So as long as the last stage of this knowledge +It is what is known as (towards language); Any system of rules and principles +Which defines a sentence and defines its meaning, how it is pronounced ... and so on, and as long +This system is being researched. We can, in fact, have an enormous amount of evidence. In fact, every utterance is significant +The result can be considered a scientific experiment if you like. Every person's reaction to a meaningful expression +It is a scientific experiment. Thus there is no dearth of information regarding the maturity stage +The knowledge of a language, if we can understand and distinguish the stage of cognitive maturity in a language, its rules +And its peculiarities, which we do not allow us to see in a scientific experiment +It makes sense to think of them as properties that have to do with the initial stage +The main thing that I want to discuss in this interview, Professor Chomsky, is your thoughts +In the philosophical field. I don't want to discuss the details of your business itself +Because that's a high standard for a TV interview +Of this sort, so let's first assume that your theories are correct +And looking at what it entails at the larger level, I'm sure that's what matters +Most of the viewers. One of the results of your theories is that we, as humans, +It is very precisely preprogrammed. There are specific things we can understand, only specific things +We can communicate with it, but anything else outside of that programming that we simply cannot understand or communicate about +- This is really true. I mean, this belief may be disconcerting +I mean, it violates the way we want to see ourselves. Well, maybe +This is the direct reaction, but I think it's not the right response, actually +While we are strictly governed by our genetic programming, I think the most important thing is +It is the presence of these strict restrictions that provides the foundations for our freedom and capacity for creativity +And the reason - what you mean is that it's only because we're preprogrammed +We can do what we can do now. Exactly, the idea is that if we were really resilient organisms +And it doesn't have this intense preprogramming, so it will be the state our mind will reach +In fact, it is a reflection of the environment, which means it will be much poorer +Fortunately for us, we are preprogrammed with very rich systems +Part of our biological creation. In contrast, a small amount of little experimentation +A quantum leap takes place into a rich knowledge system that primarily affects society +It leaves an imprint on all of its members - and it developed within +Countless ages of evolution through the process of biological evolution. +The basic system itself evolved through long periods of evolutionary growth +We don't know how, really, but on the individual level it is, the individual +Capable - with a small amount of evidence - of creating a very rich system +It enables him to behave in a free and creative way, and in fact it is normal for humans +We can say anything we want in a time limitless to other people +They understand us even though they have never heard it before, we are specifically able to +Because of that precise programming, without that programming we would never have been able to +How big is that creativity if we, as you say, are already programmers +And how could creativity be possible for us? Well, I guess one has to be careful here. +I think we can say a lot about the nature of the existing system and the state of knowledge +Acquired. We can say a lot about the biological basis +On the foundations of the initial mental stage of language acquisition. +But when we get to the third question: How is this system used? How can we behave creatively? +How can we decide to say things that are new but not random, and appropriate to the context in which they were said +And without being indoctrinated? When we ask these questions we really get into +To a world of mystery, where human science - at least not yet, and perhaps fundamentally, +He could not reach. We can say a lot about the principles that make it possible for us +To act in our usual creative way, but if the questions are about will or decision +Or cause or action choice - when these questions are asked human science is unable to answer +He has nothing to say to answer it as far as I know these questions remain mysterious +As it was in ancient times. I don't know if you accept it or not +Our arrival to our present state through millions of years of evolution must have passed +A continuous process of creativity, adaptation and development of new capabilities +And changes, members ... etc, maybe we are no longer as flexible as we were +Maybe we are no longer changing the way we used to be, and may we no longer evolve, perhaps only marginally? +Well, here too I think one should be very careful, because while this is true +Foggy if you like, but it is correct to say that the systems we have now +Having evolved through natural selection, it is important to perceive volume +The little we know about it, for example, is undoubtedly not necessary +That every trait that we humans possess is the result of a special selection +We were chosen to have this trait, in fact there are amazing examples +To the opposite, or appear as examples of the opposite, take for example our ability +To deal with the abstract properties of the number system, and such +A distinct human ability, such as distinguishing the linguistic ability, any natural person - in fact +Even at some pathological level - he can understand the properties of the digital system, and he can go +Far to understand its profound properties. But it is very difficult to believe that +This ability is the result of a certain selection. People hard to believe +Those who were better at proving mathematical theories had more children, for example. +This did not happen. In fact, during most of human evolution, but fundamentally in fact +All Human Evolution It is impossible to know which capacity was present +The coincidences that allowed her to operate never happened. +Rather, the trait is present, the ability is present, and the mental organ if you wish is what has developed +It likely developed in conjunction with other features of the brain +Perhaps she was elected. For example, we can guess that the size of the brain increases +Was a factor in distinct production, and hence in evolution, perhaps because of +Physical laws that we do not currently know make the brain increase in size +Under certain conditions of human evolution it simply leads by necessity into order +Has the ability to deal with the characteristics of a digital system. Well this is something related +With physics in the end, and then the mind that developed, the brain that developed will have it +That ability, but not because it was obtained through election. Now I guess it at least +Something similar to this is true for human language. I mean sure if it was +Useless as it lasted, obviously functional, but it's a big leap +To claim that linguistic constructs themselves are a consequence +To a specific election, which is a leap I don't think is reasonable - what you are saying +About our limitations, I have the following idea +We all - I think - have experienced the idea that in social life each one of us is individual +He tends to create an image of the world related to his own experience, and really +It's hard to see how we could do anything else. We do not have +alternative. But that means that each of us creates a distorted image +Of the world because each of them is built on what has become +A special as well as narrow experience for the person who fought it +Do you think that any of that happened to humans in general? +Because of the reasons you included in your theory. In the sense that the whole picture that +Mankind made it for the universe, for the world, it must be distorted +More seriously, it is limited by the nature of the comprehension tools +That had been made available to him - I certainly think it is as I mentioned. But one more time +I will question the use of the word (limited) which has unwanted connotations. +Suppose it is one of our capabilities, a part of our mind - if you will - let's call it +(Scientific ability) The ability to produce clear explanatory theories +In some areas, when looking at the history of science, we discover that it is time after time +When a certain question is asked at a certain level of understanding, it was possible +That the imagination takes an innovative leap to reach theories rich in explanation and explanation were presented +Image of part of the universe - usually false theories +As we discovered later, but after another jump it followed. And that might be the case +We are only because of what we have and what we share without the rest of the creatures, which is the ability to build science +Which restricts us - as you say - but at the same time provides us with possibility +Finding explanatory theories that go much further than any available proof. +Realizing this is important, it is obvious, but it deserves a mention +When a new theory is created - and I don't necessarily mean something like Newton's theory, what I mean is something that might even be +Small theory, what scientists usually do - first has very limited proof +The theory goes far, far beyond that proof. Second, most evidence available +Really ignored, she leaves aside in hopes that someone else will +He takes care of her later, so we can forget her for now. So at every stage in the history of science +Even in ordinary science, not in scientific revolutions, there is a high degree of +Tendency to idealism, so there is a choice between evidence, distortion of some evidence, creation +For a new theory, confirmation, refutation, or modification of that theory, promoting it further and making it more perfect. +These are all steps of cognitive curiosity, and we usually have the power to make them +On making it somehow understandable to others. It just doesn't look like +Random result of imagination. As long as it is possible to develop understandable theories, we can +Some understanding of the nature of that aspect of science. Now this is possible +Just because we are strictly programmed, because somehow we have developed +Through evolution or through a certain ability to produce specific theories +Of course, it follows, or at least it is logical to assume that this ability +Which enables us to create very rich and successful theories in a field +It might be very misleading in another realm, for example if there was a Martian scientist looking +To us and watching our successes and mistakes from a higher level of intelligence, perhaps +They would be amazed to find out, while in some areas we seem to be able to +With important progress, in other areas we are running towards a dead end because +Our brains are too constructed for the cognitive leap +Required, we cannot mold these issues, we do not have the classifications and nomenclature required +Knowledge of that field. Do you think our study of our ability to produce language? +Hence our cognitive abilities - as you call it - our ability to know and understand +And we learn - if these studies you're a pioneer produced a massive, growing amount of +Knowledge of all those human functions and capabilities, do you think that each +This growing knowledge will enable us to change, and thus will actually expand our capabilities and jobs? +I think that's way too far because jobs are biologically given. Can +We study the structure of the heart, but we don't do that because we think we can substitute +Heart with a different kind of pump might be more efficient, for example, that's the case here +As I think, if we achieve a true understanding of the parts of the mind, it might +It helps us marginally with some of the illnesses, but I can't see how +This could provide us - at least through current science or reliable science - with any method of modification +These capabilities, what we can do - I mean at the theoretical level +What is conceivable is that we can discover something about the limits of our ability to formulate the sciences +We can discover, for example, that some types of questions fall further from +The area that we are able to build clear theories about, I think +That we may now have a glimmer of insight about those boundaries that might be between +Theories that are within our ability to understand, and areas about which it is impossible to theorize +And the case that we discussed before perhaps one of them, take, for example, the question about .... +Well .. if you go back to the early history of science, the beginnings of science, reflection +People ask questions about celestial bodies and the sources of human action +We are now asking the same questions about the sources of human action +No progress has been made, we have no idea how to answer this question in a scientific framework +We can write novels about this, but we cannot create even +False scientific theories about him. We simply have nothing to say when we ask the next question: How is it made +A person has made a specific decision and not another when the decision-making is free? +We have no way to deal with this issue. On the other hand a history of physics +For example he has made substantial progress, and it looks as big as I think so +The huge difference between progress in one area and not achieving anything in another field reflects +Special qualities of our ability to craft science. And we may be able to explain that +Someday, if it were true. So far we have talked about this discussion +It suggests that all organized thinking is done through language, but of course it is not the case, is it? +I mean - looking at so many examples, and music is the most remarkable for me +If you take a musician like Stravinsky, who wrote amazing, complex and original music +And it was a revolution in its field, like the enormous orchestra (Spring Weather) +So it is a thought on an inherent and complex level +Perhaps he was thinking in a very detailed and clear way +What's more, he created a structure that could be clearly expressed to others, and so on +Nevertheless, words did not enter this process at any stage, as far as I know, +Are this fact and other similar facts a threat to your theories? Well, not quite +In fact, almost the opposite is true. My hypothesis is that the mind is not an identical system +It is a very disparate system. In fact, it is basically like the body +A system made up of functions and organs, and language is simply one, not on us +To go to a level like Stravinsky's level to find examples of thinking without language, I'm sure +Everyone who introspects his thoughts, and thinks about what he is doing, will know immediately +That much of his thinking does not contain language, or, say, a cat's thinking +For example, it is clear that there is no language in it, there are other ways of thinking +There are other jobs and queens, and I think the musical faculty is one of them, and she is especially a queen +Interesting, I think, because it's very ... it's a field somehow +Like physics it has a rapid and rich evolution but across +A long period of Western history in a way that is understandable to others +I mean not immediately, but after a short while, +And the twentieth century in which this feature is strikingly shown by musical creativity in the twentieth century +I also think it differs qualitatively from eighteenth century music, for example, which is missing +Direct receive, or near-term reception, that was true in the past, and needed +Needed to experiment to prove it, but I have no doubt if we had two children today +Or two groups of children, and one of the two groups taught us music, for example Mozart, Hayden and Beethoven, and we learned +And we taught the other music of Schoneberg and post-Schonberg music, there will be a very fundamental difference +In their ability to understand it and deal with it, and that may actually be reflected - if only +That was true - it would provide some illustration of our innate musical abilities, some points about +This ability has been discussed before, I remember Paul Hindmith 25 years ago +I think in lectures he brought up the idea that breaking a musical law is a thing +Similar to the effort required to break the law of gravity. He meant +Thus it is an innate property. - I don't want us to keep talking about +Compare to music a lot because I just used it as an example +It actually shows that you think we are preprogrammed +In many aspects, is not it? I mean using gestures, recognizing faces, and having +A shared picture of the world and so on. Well, every area of human existence +It deserves to be studied, because it has a rich, complex and progressive structure +It has a unified system, otherwise it would not deserve to be studied, and these are exactly the cases +In which we expect to find pre-programming, making these great achievements possible +So in other words, you think everything we do proves our preprogramming +Games, habits, dress code, way of eating ... everything. - Well here I think again +Some caution is required. For example, games +It seems reasonable to say that the games were designed +At the outer limits of our cognitive abilities, we don't invent games that we're in +As good as we are at using words, for example, because then it will not be a fun game +Because everyone will know it, what we do is we invent games like chess, for example, and it is a very simple game +The gameplay is pretty trivial, but we are nonetheless +We are not very good at it. In the case of using the language we are all very excellent and there is no +We have a difference and differentiation from one another. But when you look at something like chess, it is - I suppose +On the limits of our cognitive ability, in this case individuals of a similar level of intelligence +They will differ greatly, however, in their ability to deal with these artificial issues +This is what makes it a fun game, and in fact I also think there is +Tasks that can exist and are really outside the limits of our perceptual capacities. +In fact, I even think that there is a science of interest in the development of this type of job +It is psychology. Most recent psychology studies are interested in discovering the functions that +Which are not subject to the general laws of the human race. Basically any laws exist among a number +Of human beings. Or to create good science experiments. Any experiences have the characteristic of slow learning +By adding regular additions to them and so on. There are tasks like +(Running in a maze) The level of mice in it is close to that of humans. They are all bad at it +And these - I think - are the tasks that actually happen outside of our perceptual ability +So we advance in it by trial and error, by the catalyst ... and so on - but essentially your approach is complete +He made a rejection of the experimental tradition in philosophy, did he? Because it is clear +You think the empiricists were wrong about how we learned, and that must mean they are +Are wrong with regard to knowledge and the nature of knowledge. And the nature of knowledge is +The central question in all the empirical heritage of philosophy. Well, the classic experimental heritage +Which I think may have been submitted +In his portrait at the hands of Hume, it appears to me to be an extremely important heritage. +A specific theory on the sources of knowledge, and a science of human nature +According to Hume's phrase. Empirical theory - I think Hume, for example, was +He considers it an experimental theory. He takes it, when we study it I think we find out +It is completely wrong, because the mechanisms discussed by him +They are not the mechanisms by which the mind accesses states of knowledge. Because cases of knowledge +Acquired is quite different from the species discussed, for example, in relation to Hume +The mind, in its conception, was like a theater on which ideas appear +And it necessarily follows that we can reflect and introspect +What our mind completely contains, if the idea is not on that stage, then it is not in my mind +And the idea may be related to others, then after that the matter went until he said that there is no theater +There are only ideas, hence the idea he presents is misleading. Well, it's a theory +It is a theory that actually had a great control over thought across +Most of the history of Western thought - to the best of my knowledge. For example the image itself +It also dominated the rational heritage that was assumed to be possible +Processing and studying what the mind contains by paying careful attention to it. Pay attention to evolution +Those clear and distinct ideas and the resulting ideas and so on, and in fact +That even if we go for an example to someone like Freud and use the concept of the unconscious, +I think a careful reading will make it clear that he considers the subconscious to be accessible +That is, we can clearly perceive that theater and the things that are on it +Only if it is possible to overcome the obstacle of suppression and the like. Well if it is +What I suggested is correct, all of this is fundamentally wrong. I mean since the point where +Go from it. I never see that there is reason to believe that principles +The metallic account, for example, has an overlap with our actions, our interaction, or our speaking +Or a belief that all of this can be deduced and contemplated, a belief that is no different from +The belief that the analysis of the mechanism of action of the visual system or, for example, the nature of the liver +Can be deduced. It seems to me that you are returning +The same point again and again. That is because many issues have been discussed, and many theories +Compiled by philosophers in the aggregate. But also psychologists, and I just mentioned +Freud, and in your writings you mention many others - who have theorized physiological processes +It is therefore available for verification through scientific research. And when achieved by research +You find all of these theories are wrong, and so on you +They fundamentally destroy many of the well-established theories in our heritage. It seems to me +What I have raised here over and over is a parallel +To the legacy of the rationalists. I said in my introduction to this episode +That your deeds always remind me of (she's) theories. It seems to me +You almost re-put forward what (was) but in linguistic terms, do you agree with that? +Is there any truth in that? I don't just accept that it's true, I tried to +Show it off somehow. I never specifically referred to (Kant), but I referred instead +To the writings of European Cartesians in the seventeenth century and to +English Neoplatonists who introduced a number of ideas that are now much more famous +Attribute it to (Kant), for example the idea of matching experience to our way of perception +And specifically the idea of the English Platonic Caddeworth +I think it's a rich mine of insights into the organizing principles of the mind +Where the experience is well built. I think one of the rich sources for ideas +Psychology that I know, which is a legacy that I believe can be embodied +This is further clarified by the empirical research currently available. Of course I think +We should disagree with that heritage in a number of aspects, and I mentioned one of them +Specifically, the belief that the contents of the mind are open to introspection. As well +There is, of course, no reason to accept the metaphysics of this heritage. +The belief that there is a duality between mind and body. I mean, you can understand the reason that led the Cartesians +till then. It was rational behavior on their part, but we don't have to follow them +We have other ways to approach this issue. Another thing I mentioned in the introduction +In fact, you have a global reputation in two fields, the other side besides linguistics +Being a political activist. And it seems to me that there is a relationship between +These two aspects you have, and I want to ask you the following question: +Liberalism grew in the history of European thought, and was closely related to experimental philosophy +And scientific research has been clear in the call for non-delivery +Absolute power, she advocated looking at facts and independent judgment +And this was a revolution in politics, science and philosophy, and because of that +Liberalism has always been considered in Western thought the primary opposition to authority +But you, as you opposed empiricism, you also opposed liberalism, and you now say in your writings +Regardless of the liberal past now I have become +An ally of the authority, do you agree with me that there is a relationship between +Your work in linguistics and what you know about opposing the war in Vietnam? +Well that raises a number of overlapping questions. Let me first talk about liberalism +It is a very complex concept. And I think of course it is true because liberalism arose +In an educated environment that believes in empiricism and the rejection of authority, and trust +Evidence provided by the senses and so on, but liberalism has succumbed over the years +A very complex evolution process as a social philosophy. If we return to the classics +Or at least what I consider to be a classic of liberalism, such as Humboldt's limits to state action +And that inspired (Mel) this true liberal classicism. The world that was +Humboldt thinks of him - which, by the way, is a partly fictional world, but the world +For which he developed this political philosophy, a world that arose after conflicts but before the world of capitalism +A world in which there is no great disparity between individuals +In the kind of power they possess and in what they have power over it, but it was there +An enormous difference between individuals on the one hand and the state on the other hand, and thus +The task of liberalism was to concern itself with human rights and equality between individuals ... +And so on, the task of liberalism was to dissolve the huge power of the state +Which was threatening the freedom of individuals. Hence the classical liberal theory +For example, Humboldt and Mill understand it. But that was, of course, before capitalism +He did not imagine that there would come a time when there would be gatherings of individuals +Or a period in which there is enormous disparity in controlling resources and production +It will differentiate between individuals on a large scale. Now in a society of this kind +Liberalism is superficial liberalism, if we look at it through the understanding of Humboldt, because while opposing state power +In that period they coincide with Humboldt's findings. That opposition did not reach that +Because it did not start from the principles laid down by Humboldt, because the principles he set lead to very different results +I specifically believe that Humboldt's assumptions lead to the conclusion that we must dissolve the rule of power +The sources of production that lead to disparities between individuals. In fact +I believe that a direct line can be drawn between classical liberalism and libertarian socialism +Which can be viewed as a kind of adaptation to the main principles and impulses +Classical liberalism in a different social era. Now if we come to the modern period +Liberalism has acquired a very strange meaning for its history. Now liberal +It is basically a theory of state capitalism and state intervention in the capitalist economy +This has a very weak relationship with classical liberalism. In classic liberal truth +It is what I think is known now as conservatism or conservative approach. But the current liberalism is a new view. I think +- in my view at least - she is hugely authoritarian because she accepts +The centralization of authority and leadership in the state on the one hand, and for the gathering of special forces +On the other hand, they all deal with individuals as malleable gears in a machine that has no will +It may be called democracy, but a fair distribution of power +It is far from being democratic, nor can it be done through it. And so my feeling always +To reach the liberal model of the premises that originally created it +In a very different society, we have to go in a very different direction +Superficial and wrong to accept the results obtained in a different society +Without considering the reasons and motives that led to those results. The reasoning I think +very important. I am a classic liberal in this sense. But I guess that leads me to +To be a socialist, not authoritarian. - Well, I would have liked to follow up with you on this matter +Professor Chomsky. But this needs a new discussion and a new episode. 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Lula o principal preso político de mundo hrhFI1rsDDE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,546 @@ +8 and 23 and now here in the current brazil newspaper you will see the interview on +full text made by jacob brasil and literary autonomy with the philosopher +American sociologist and political activist noam chomsky +during the conversation we think he analyzed the new weapons of imperialism used +against venezuela cuba iran and brazil comparing the bolsonaro ad line for +the philosopher squid the main political prisoner in the world +we will follow so we are here interviewing the champions who would like +to start by talking a little bit about your famous 1988 consensus book manufactured +you talk about the role of the media and the press and in building consensus of the +Brazil we recently had the election between haddad to move a new moment +with regard to whatsapp internet and the way with social networks intervenes +in the process how do you compare this to what you're not back there in the years +80 regarding the operation of the pasta company +then I, in relation to the mass press, I think the situation remains similar to +way i wrote actually me and my collaborator adword deceased herman +we recently updated the manufacturing homs book after the +internet became a more present phenomenon however we decided not to +publish it because things have not changed so much with a name since the new phenomenon of +social networks changed things a lot brazil is a dramatic example of the strength +extraordinary use of social networks through them the campaign to demonize +political opposition with lies and distortions was very successful especially +because for many Brazilians they were their only source of club information with +eggs today na juliano see only the big company that is already well +right but it was totally off the radar something that had never happened and +apparently had a lot of success convincing people with all the +types of hideous lies about what would supposedly happen if the pt were the +years later the sound this was one of the factors that interfered in the election but +the main factor was to silence the political opposition put Juan Antonio +big would have something to say about it i don't know if bolsonaro are aware +enough in the world to know who or whom he limits to the example of an employee +benito mussolini recognized that great and needed to be silenced when +grammys was arrested the Italian prosecutor said +we need to silence this man for the next 20 years because voice alone is very +dangerous to be heard there students I am there another river +this is exactly what the right-wing coup did for Brazil last summer +of course if squid could appear publicly he would win the elections +so it was necessary to do something against him to put him in solitary confinement +stop you from making any communication silence your voice +then comes the social media campaign was grotesque and probably a +indication that there will be a trend of what will happen more and more in the world +angel or the weekend in fact something similar also happened in the states +united in 2016 but not in such an extreme way +cambridge analytics a right-wing data mining company +worked together with facebook that gave them detailed information of +habits of the American population before that, the American electorate +makes it a surgical target through specific ads aimed at people +on a relatively large scale exactly how much effect really +caused it is hard to say +we also saw something similar in germany in 2017 in the last federal election where the +far-right party the aft was much better than anyone +imagined one of the hidden factors for this the role of a company in texas that +works to staple netanyahu le pen and other great new people this +texan corporation teamed up with the berlin press with the office of +facebook which obviously has a lot of information about attitudes interests +and concerns of people across Germany and did the same thing +target ads and messages to the right people assembled to appeal to +them and coerced to vote for a fdd which probably increased considerably +your number of votes +curious that this was mentioned in the german financial press but not in +everyday press that has remained silent about it this is the kind of +phenomenon that we will see more and more brazil was an extreme case and of course it has +a special impact here because of the confidence of a large part of the population +with social media such as detachment, which facilitated the success of the +demonization and vilification of the left after they managed to silence the voice +of the opposition I don't need to explain to you the totally fraudulent nature +the overthrow of the dilma and also the right-wing campaign to reverse the +conquests in the years of the squid government found jonathan of the goals for the game +the entire cast of 2011 the champion eight +Paulo imagine that you have recently followed the budgets of interset +Brazil about the squid case when you look at the Brazilian judiciary as +it can be described as a judiciary of modern democracy and that also +there is a lot of cooperation between the Brazilian judiciary and the Ministry of +united states justice and the judiciary of switzerland all starting from +assumption that brazil has a solid democratic system in its +division of powers +well the revelations of neither the mold in ita 7 made it absolutely clear that the +Moorish judge was anything but a hero contrary to what was presented by the +Moorish press was fully involved in corrupt efforts to +trying to guarantee the squid's arrest it became public that even the ministry itself +public did not have sufficient evidence for an indictment and the judge +encouraged to get rid of those dangerous figures so that the coup on the right +could continue +it's interesting that the longer the corruption takes response but it launches +attacks to be able to suppress there showing with the corrupt he is and gets even more +clear the profound attack on Brazilian democracy whose last actions took place +recently +the three of the cup and rainy in relation to the cooperation with other judiciary we +we can only speculate but clearly contact with the department of +United States justice what they did exactly we have no information +you need the same other countries the ford is hard +say at least in the united states during the trump government that supported +intensively those efforts what direct actions they employed we +we just don't know but the hince revelations are dramatic +another thing that caught my attention was the revelations that I live +carefully left out of the investigations the years of fhc government +this is very important because all kinds of horrible things happened in that +at the time for example the worst crime of touching because the destruction of +amazonia has precedent in the fhc government where it grew at a speed +incredible maybe the biggest of all and apparently +there was a lot of corruption or the insistence of preventing fhc from being investigated +while trying to fabricate accusations against squid is a very serious thing +so according to any parameter squid is the main political prisoner in the world +[Music] I'm in Curitiba +recently my wife valeria and i visited squid just before +squid elections was very optimistic at that +occasion he thought that despite having been silenced there would be a great +pt chance to win and this before the massacre campaign on social networks +I was informed today you probably know this better than I do +squid was being transferred to a maximum security prison inside +from sao paulo we're pretty much one or the other we're just +us this is one more effort to ensure that your voice will be silenced one more voice +to silence for 20 years until the squid's security is at risk I +wonder what's going on I think comparing it to work the +mussolini is not exaggerated this rescues a phrase from max about him +once as a tragedy afterwards as a farce +Another dark element of the Bolsonaro government has been the drumming of +war against venezuela there are many rumors about military involvement +Brazil in venezuela there was a tightening of the siege of venezuela brazil +has stopped supplying food to the neighboring country +many food specialists who used to go to venezuela during the +squid government are no longer doing this we must interpret current policies +from bolsonaro and campuses to venezuela the long +the suspect who worked just follows as a mere lackey the orders of the +united states he tries to turn brazil into a +vassal state mostly run by the united states +In this context, the United States is conducting a war against Venezuela on sanctions. +horn and made the Venezuelan crisis a catastrophe it has already killed dozens of +thousands of people the main common rosangela goalkeeper +Venezuelan economist francisco rodrigues who is a serious analyst and +honest and linked to the opposition stated that if sanctions continue they will kill +hundreds of thousands of people the sentence is his the sanctions have transformed +a manageable crisis in a catastrophe osmar handball lame where trafficking +As for sanctions, international law has not yet reached the level +to deal with them however sanctions must be considered acts of war +entirely illegitimate in the case of venezuela they have a +clear objective as in the case of iran simply crushing the economy and so +punish the population to force it to submit to American orders +this compares to a serious arc of war it does not depend on the opinions to +respect of the mature government this is another issue +only then would you say that much of the support that works today is based on +support of the year in the united states so i think the game then local on the street its +story I don't think bolsonaro has support +international today Brazil became a kind of bag +of laughter internationally is quite dramatic when compared today with the +situation that lived with squid because squid was probably the most leader +respected world highly respected by all sides were right-wing or +left already bolsonaro just look at the g20 meeting +in japan people were making fun of him +in the mainland municipalities it is not even necessary to talk about the countless statements +measures that transformed brazil literally a big joke to +difference in relation to the squid era is shocking official however it has the +support from the united states that the most powerful force in the world then is the +enough to at least hold on while he's willing to deliver +brazil for american investors following all american guidelines +of how to behave internationally he will be at least protected if the +Brazilians will tolerate this is another question carlos leite +let's translate the terrifying west book which you put the +united states as developers of quasi censorship techniques through the +media and advertising almost because they are not specifically described as +censorship techniques as they do not interrupt the discourse how to fight them +if a goal the first would like to point out that the comment that follows +it's not original I'll paraphrase george orwell +I'm sure many people take their best-known book to the revolution of +but few have read the introduction to this book the reason for this is that it +was published was suppressed censored and was only discovered thirty years later +oil papers is a very interesting introduction, it is directed to +england people is an introduction to the book the animal revolution and +says this book is obviously a satire on the totalitarian enemy only that people +from free england shouldn't feel confident because in this +england unpopular ideas can be suppressed without the use of +were and john aidos cause of an hour on the west of the river +then he starts to discuss and list the reasons for that +and one of them is because the press is owned by the rich +who have every interest in not seeing ideas and information appear +the second reason that I see as the most impactful concerns good education +if you studied at the best universities like break or oxford +you simply have installed in you the understanding that some things don't +can be said we can go beyond there are also things that don't +can not even be thought of and challenges +today with it becomes of your nature not to even be able to think of some +things in that sense we can for example the +vietnam war the worst crime of the post-war period to the end of that +conflict in 1975 there was an extremely interesting moment in which the main +intellectuals had to write and can stay on the nature of it i wrote +about that time and it's very interesting understood through that +we call bomb hawks the conservatives read like the hawk +said if we had fought harder we would have won it was a stab in the +back a movement against the war he prevented us from winning but pigeons are +much more interesting are always the extreme liberals acted as guardians and +they said this is the limit as far as you can go and no step beyond that number +for we are everything so the main of these liberals anthony mills commentator of +new york times very contrary to the vietnam war +said the war started with clumsy efforts to try to do good good +because they went wrong doing good because it was us because all we +we do is good this is like the doctrine of faith a +religious fanatic of those who need to go to pray in a sanctuary if we did +it can only be an effort to do good there is no need to ask questions +this is the truth that is installed in you years +the man then he says started with fumbling efforts to do good +although in 1969 it was clear that it was a disaster that we would not be able to take +democracy to the people of south vietnam at a cost that was acceptable to us +so all we were trying to do was to bring democracy that's why +want to made use of chemical warfare to destroy crops and livestock and so +confirm populations in concentration camps because it supported a front +of national liberation from vietnam but we said it was to bring democracy +the flocks mount the Portuguese particularly alarming +is that at that time there were public opinion studies on many topics and a +of course it was about the war about 70% of the population understands the +war not as a mistake but there is something fundamentally wrong and immoral but +you just couldn't say it publicly and that position remained +for many years without ever being commented on then among well-educated intellectuals +the spectrum is located between if we had tried more we would have won +we were stabbed in the back until disastrous efforts to do good and take +democracy for the people of vietnam was what i was talking about +if you have a good education there are things that you just can't get +thinking are like religious fanatics who cannot conceive of the idea that +god may not even exist they cannot imagine that the +united states may not be trying to do good in the world even though throwing gas +on the palm or with aerial bombing the b 52 in urban areas is always an effort +to do good or the blood of the Lord took from everyone who +think of the agreement see the discussion around the war of +iraq you can't find a commentator in the stream that can +say what it already is because it was obvious this is an example of that aggression as a +hideous international crime since it had no justification not +there is a better example for people like obama the iraq war was an effort +a mere mistake, this is a line similar to what they said +Nazi generals about the war on two simultaneous fronts made by hitler one +clumsy effort but we don't respect you for that assessment though +respect western intellectuals who say things very similar to Goias +the subject is the case where you can't just think I think that +coming back to your question is the break necessary it's like you're dealing +religious fanatics it is necessary to try to break with certain +conventions that say there are things you can't just +speak you cannot just think +obviously this is the debilitating task and journalists who publish books like +this it can be done but it is difficult because it is something that is deeply +rooted in the press the books at school you never heard a word +questioning this until you get involved with social movements +so it's a struggle but it's worth it +the interesting case the vietnam war most of the population disagreed with the +intellectual consensus that of course can never be debated in an examination of order +and the wind or two suns where the speech of 90 of the cases what happens 50 years +then it is quite interesting the director of the institute who continued +generate research with these results honest social scientists finally +asked the question why are people saying this coming up with the answer +obvious they thought american boys shouldn't die +would that be the only possible answer you could easily investigate this +you could have asked that question but you just couldn't think of it +it's also that you've always had a life story involved in the movement +anti war and the international solidarity movement and at the same +time a very critical intellectual production of the post structuralist tradition +especially French can 68 how do you combine it from the point of view +of the unity of the struggles because many of your fighting colleagues are people with +which you maintain great intellectual controversies +this is an important point for us Brazilians in cuts of +energy speaking to us there are only two questions that need to be answered +one is about the intellectual bases in French structuralism what is your +intellectual base the second is what is your positioning +in my perspective the intellectual base is very narrow and its +reactionary politics maybe I agree with these people opposed to the war +of Iraq but not in the analysis used I have already written about it in detail but they are +two separate questions of different types +one on intellectual integrity the other the implications of adopting certain +perspectives what are the implications of opposing large narratives or saying +that there is no such thing as objective reality and it all comes down to relations of +power i think this is highly reactionary +and wrong send to again already enjoys +cushion is rising today 1 +the interview of concerts that was given to the journalism of the current radio brasil +conducted by journalists aldo salda caue to mini guilherme ziggy and hugo +albuquerque that gives jacoby brazil and we also take the opportunity to thank +the whole effort of our team here joao da hora eduardo quirino also +our colleagues emerson ramos and rafael garcia +1 +8 +13 +17 +21 +27 +30 +36 +41 +46 +50 +55 +58 +63 +73 +78 +83 +87 +97 +102 +107 +112 +116 +129 +133 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political picture of how he is seeing the situation is there will be +a subsequent translation that the juliana that is here +wanted to thank and help us with the translation is we are transmitting to +alive who can share the networks of the baron also the transmission and the idea +so he would do the 30 minutes and then we open for a round of +questions and we have to finish here by 19 15 at most +because it is not so late to enter is to thank and etes applied to have +rio a professor chance that and have to femina to the top heavy fans +journalist see blogger is another the picture was made +[Music] today I wanted to say a few words +about two extremes is given with the press +first about the so-called free world press right the vanguard of the world +free that would be the press in england and the united states and then on +the Latin American press that is known for having an orientation +quite right-wing and with little room for any divergent opinion was +put on blue +Jorge or theft according to the form of +[Music] +run away is to start I wanted to talk about the +English press and wanted to quote a passage from a book that we all read +that belongs to Jorge, the animal goes beyond the animals, he says that he is +making a satire is from the totalitarian world but that england does not +must be very full of himself considering that in england it is +divergent opinions are usually suppressed without the use of violence +two years ago the hotel hasn't talked much about how these divergent ideas are +suppressed but he speaks at least two ways as +happen one is that the press is is the means of de +communication are held by wealthy men and the second is that people who have had +access to a privileged education that went to oxy went to cambridge +they simply know that there are certain things that are better left unsaid is this +introduction in which the dio speak these things was suppressed and only appeared in +in his papers after 30 years that had already been published +we get to the media from Western countries, we will realize that +these two points that the geologist raised has a lot of subsidy in this one +press +observed regional project joao hermann madeiro +we get works from a mall +we observe the structure of how the press works in these countries +Westerners we will see that they are large corporations that belong to +even bigger corporations that sell their product +advertisers who are actually the real customers of these corporations +so we have a business where the producers of their clients' news +who are advertisers and advertising companies have the same interests +and it is these interests that guide how this news will be modeled and how +and what will be interesting to be printed +[Music] +a sixth album how to lose being in a beautiful goal per game +will be the second question that I believe the actor said that the question that the good +education that makes you know is what should or shouldn't be said is you realize +that this is also working a lot because people who have +access to an elite education have been indoctrinated and trained to do so +very well to discern what should not be said and not to say what we can +a step beyond what was said and realize that this has already been +internalized so there are certain things that you not only don't say but you've already +you know you shouldn't even let them go through your head +and it is something that the great thing is called common sense in common gemonio +internalized +with 115 or 6 to 0 solutions options +just walk in tokyo +is the first step then is to understand how the media works how the media is put +these instruments in operation and by that time we already have thousands of +pages literally written about how these structures work in the +practice and the result is exactly what we can expect simply with the +that we can suppose by making her charge for shares is without study is not but the +studies that prove these things although it has already been is more than +effects are they obviously have no interest in publicizing them +and that's what you're going to talk about now +in his pocket are two examples of this are the big and big big +invasion conflicts in which the United States has been involved since the +second world war one of them was the invasion of indochina +vietnam and another was the invasion of iraq both with abominable consequences +creating love did not understand the movie the rocks is war +Vietnam ended in 1975 and since then you have many opinions about it +but basically they are divided between two fields one of the fields thinks that the states +united could have won the war had it had a strategy is better and and +that this would have served a noble cause +is the opinion of liberals is usually more interesting because although they +a little more is the law is to the left but not even an inch away +more than what is established and one of the most important opinions +most interesting comments was that of anthony from the new york times +google launched the morning or da blog +bolton rosa boss coast is the opinion of this journalist is basically that the +war started as an incredible but noko effort to do what was right and the +people know it is to do what was right simply because the states +united they were doing so by definition it would be doing what is right is +innocuous simply because they lost their +war and from the 70's when it became very clear that that war was +invincible what was clear in fact is that the united states was not going to get +fail to achieve democracy and freedom in that country at a cost that +was acceptable to the united states +the bus arrived is mall +is is most of the American press is about 70% of the press +American is does not consider the war to be simply a mistake but something +morally reprehensible is every time they did opinion polls to +the population's response was that war was not a mistake it was one thing +morally reprehensible and each one of those people who came to that conclusion of +that the war was morally reprehensible had to come to that conclusion alone +because the opinions that were divulged were that the war was an effort +it's wonderful but noko is never those opinions that it could be something +morally reprehensible were aired +in today's shows dare u2 fan egg +but when it came time to kick west de everton santos the forum was my new mall +mixtape in the field is how political scientists finally started to +asking why people were answering that is that the war was +it was morally wrong is they came up with the explanation that they +they are responding here because the united states shouldn't and shouldn't have +enjoyed so much money and so many American lives any conflict against +another nerdy option because it would be morally wrong is I thought I wouldn't talk +in it or is it a death so i would be easy to get answer from +people themselves if you do an open poll asking for a poll +qualitative questioning why they thought war was morally +unacceptable but that was not considered viable chopstick nobody wanted to +this answer was true and the other answer option was only given by +people who were very much outside the margin of mainstream media like himself +professor phelps golden chance +the retreat the students by aspects he died in london obama in the beginning was +completely supported by the elite things started to go wrong this +support began to receive but the heaviest criticism that wants war has heard yet +so was that of president obama who considered the war over +the strategy is your opinion about the strategic error is not an opinion +obama's original was an opinion that some people had +one of the German generals had in relation to the Nazi defeat to russia +for example it is and we condemn these generals but the agent at the same time +allows liberals to have that opinion about strategic error iraq without +biggest consequences +was there on the water street in boy andre is and nicaragua in the 80s is an issue +of a lack of freedom of expression is with several vehicles being +closed the draft and professor jonas who was invited by a friend to think +that to give a lecture there +is it is by a friend of his who was actually original from guatemala and not from +nicaragua and wii is in 1989 he spent a week in nicaragua invitation is this +friend to study a specific newspaper called there thinks about and the rangel in +luanda the first of object action problems before who +the owner of the urban car the favor of god for the course was one of the causes of +gorilla digit clerk five laps +is this newspaper la prensa he was supporting is the war while the war +something was happening that would not happen is in most countries +western countries and and yet the united states not only +attentive to it as they would never discuss it was not within the field of +things we could talk about sex I had the deadly monsters again +in relation to venezuela is heard about the keys is venezuela was hard +condemned by england united states and other western countries +simply because a rts tv channel was switched to a +smaller channel generates +[Music] +john scott charney and distant yet godless is he with him agrees with a +freezing of that of england and the united states that it was a mistake of the +he Chavez government contains in this action in relation to the +tv channel does not agree with the second part that this would never happen in the +united states in england this would not happen in the united states in +england because that television channel simply wouldn't exist +more and the editors would be shot in public square is unimaginable you have a +coup and in the united states for example where the team is publicly +supporting this coup and I always ask and continued is circulating in the country while +is supporting the coup that what the country is experiencing year there was the mark of +luxury they can have in their proposal to walk says the color itself - the pomegranate +return of sandro roche for the attack of monte novo show and spectrum is the governments +of left and center left here that have passed to latin america +in the last few decades is generally had an open posture in relation to the +press so the press continues to operate freely even though the +press were practically universally against these governments and +make very harsh criticisms of governments and countries in those countries +free in central countries england united states etc +it would never happen if I would never have a press that would be +universally uniformly beating governments like Latin companies +American have been were authorized by the left governments is in the middle of +of the Chavez government the power is he was naked in chile and was +quite shocked to know that liberals use the chile people with whom +he talked to that he had access to were very critical of venezuela and +thought the xavi was implementing an autocracy a dictatorship called him +murderer and was surprised to start reading the Chilean newspapers and were +all completely against Venezuela and only criticized and only showed the +things that venezuela was doing and stayed away from the media for +the years of the chavez government is a a great opinion polling agency +Chilean did several researches is in Venezuela and trust and is one of +Venezuelans in democracy and the legitimacy of that of their government were +among the largest in the Latin American continent along with Uruguay and +net discrepancy that he can from these surveys with the opinions that they +had was something that was never much the inter na lisa don't want much discussed +by those same intellectuals who had negative opinions about the +Venezuela +I think that landing is another example and asking you a question that +know the answer is is the world's largest polling agency getting +united states is galloping and in 2013 she did a survey asking what is +the country that wants to makes more threats to the world more threatening to the rest of +world there are no flowers yet +away from the love that you felt today rui pousa do jo +is that year is that the guys who asked this question the answer in the states +united was always iran russia korea and the rest of the world the answer was +basically united states and this research was never published in the states +united and after that the agency decided to stop asking this question +obama and michelle this is all happened during usa the thud was theoretically +progressive government so you can imagine what the outcome of that +research today, but then we learned that certain things are not asked +they say is this presentation was brief but I think you can cover a little bit of +than the current press situation in the so-called free countries and in the +latin america which is known for being a right-wing media monopoly +top it is tempting to continue because the examples abound +but we will stop here and open the questions +thank you teacher have a chance teacher that is juliana I give you to you +folks let's do this is a water process actions is by evans and tito and +winning the team is paulo henrique pedro de see here in front of paulo favor that we +sorry we're not seeing rita so 3 +then you write it down and then to him paulo henrique pedro then you there to +we pass it on to answer to open three more teachers we are who I am +a journalist for a long time and today I dedicate myself especially to the work of is +do political coverage on the internet +my question is how do you explain that president squid has not +faced the globe television network +(Laughter) +[Music] +they are making us also put us into effect without the bandana for years or her or me +I think this is what happened in Brazil was not an exception was the rule is the +left that was in power in latin america was incredibly open surpasses +surprisingly even open to letting the press work the way it does +wanted is the same thing happened in nicaragua and +in venezuela for example where the government was also heavily attacked by +press and let it result in fighting directly and without fighting back +directly to the press was criticizing him something that would never happen in the countries +is where if something like that reproduces itself +spa is immediately stopped and the newspaper editors yesterday a sound that if they were +just prisoners stressed the judge gaucho and it is he said that these issues cannot +be discussed in the united states i mean can he can speak these things +by a group just like ours but cannot be discussed in the press and +even in universities and in spaces where it should have discussed the +good night chance teacher is the question I have here is to protect the center of +world is you say in several articles and in different texts and not only do you +but many people from the media, including the global one, that Brazil might be +become a colossus we didn't get there because of +operations against corruption such as car wash is operations of corruptions that are +aligned to the united states this is what i wanted to know +rio a diary from the center of the world and chisa left website is a quest brazil is up +now to the pia home is and famous couple and stayed there for chan in a jeu de car wash +the globe squid globe is good he said that this actually became reality that +during the squid and dilma years brazil became a country +the most respected country in the world during those years and achieving the +organize the South American bloc in a way that has never been seen before and that +it can happen again +Rita on the line I come from a council of a public communication project was +disassembled here in Brazil and also like several people here sodom from one +movement and two free meters in the next more democratic but neither the +question was a disrespect to the international society that seeks a channel like +sack of potatoes above the economy society and brazil manifest +Brazilian solidarity in an effective way and particularly through the +january stories i will ask my question but you want to +translate before the touch touch in the continuum is not shown in the direction of the +project to witness this pressure of reality here where people +accompanied those money only a large exposure in the reserve because the +guys here and ask her if anything here is critical of the treatment of states - +is finally being what to say something about torture and to think that the healer +of the exhibition said he doesn't want it was not rap sabratha on the drive would lose +he already understands the universe of unity and humanity and parking lots and +this is what thinking the denial of information speech that rains train jack mills +at home on the international scene +damn people's heads that it was just understanding a page in that attempt +to see from a distance I'm sorry the question was too long and fields went public +communicate blackmail your deforesting your chances well in 2011 doing do action did +well in lem obama's joe dante the beast there wife and in ed +the ruler +the girl that dante is that the sky is that of the draw and they land this way the one more +thing about the long end of 2007 in the middle of adilson on about what i am bin +everything falls good the engineer to the walking tse and the english and in the country and night and the end +to keep going the end of the question if the end of the line does not stop a little new +generation sul ect brasil +in both trying to beat the year without them +no instant by moment dark it is interesting to talk about the issue of torture +in iraq because it is so far we don't even know it's a crime because it's the +united states never signed the convention against torture and even with +the united states is like that not these international conventions they usually +put what he called reserves and and those reserves generally say that +that doesn't apply to the united states so it's him +they signed on to the issue of torture but excluding all practices that the +cia is the torture practices that pt +in iraq according to sources said in the silly hand +when checking the site is today called the problem is to have a city in the matter of +torture in iraq because unlike what happens in most other +cases in guantanamo in the Latin American dictatorships of what happened in Brazil +where the united states generally supervises and trains torturers +but they don't torture themselves it's in iraq it was the soldiers themselves +Americans who did the torture and this was considered in some way +troubled boy falls the funk sound and informed along with jordan and +jorgito and jorge weasley cute +when they invaded iraq they needed some justification +one of the justifications was that iraq would have weapons of mass destruction and +another justification was that saddam hussein was bothered by al qaeda +although the two justifications were completely false they needed +collecting data and testimonials support these statements and for that they +did they needed is it is it is it brings torture it is waves to get +the information that at last so that your mind are being tortured and +says untrue information +opposes roni the new money but I went was Camboriu +both in the breasts in the field in camboriu the final question of this is always the +impunity is not because no one no one has been tried no one has been punished for +torture perhaps more people some soldiers of short stature but +there is no one is from the army elite an example of this is the r15 gr is that in +1971 in cambodia is to release an order so that if you basically shot at it, +with with an air strike on anything anything anything that had +movement generated and uol andre reminded the trucker at the nightclub +this phrase is actually even published in the new york times +in the context where nixon's tapes were leaked and published by +newspaper but no longer concentrated our weak alone who spoke badly +of who than in that phrase that called cluj on the site, right +good is just for us to get organized here there are many questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 +people I think it will not be possible to talk all +world is so i will try to be very quick and by trying to read the names of +people who signed up to see if I got everyone okay, I had +enrolled in a certain inacio the group apologized vinicius vinicius +vanessa iran mariana you find out your name +so mariana so ready adriano you here your name +julia and at the watermill someone already asked that i won't have so let's try us +is never going to be able to speak everybody my question is you said it is +the communication issues the communication problems are not discussed by the +big media I wanted him to comment a little on what in the +his opinion changed with the emergence of the internet and the great +social media platforms if he thinks this has made a contribution and +face a little common sense or if that tact producing common sense ship +and a new monopoly space is communication +fine +in that sense is this framework is conceptual and functioning from the mainstream media to media +can be changed modified is mainly because the +new technologies or these new technologies this new way +this great structure of functioning of the mind will also be purchased with +she will or cannot +the next one does not approve the idea and today on the left thigh paulo silva that the question +it is much more for people like you than for him and it is something that +the question of the neutrality of +networks and how it works is this issue that the +internet as well as various technologies was developed by people and and +so it's basically being taken over by big corporations and that companies like +google for example tend to privilege the interests of others +large corporations and leaving ordinary people other people behind and +who and policy in this regard has now been implemented the government has taken and what +this will probably continue in that direction if people don't +get organized to change something +sense square we didn't have the telesur would ask 30 question but i will try to pass +We have data about the lawyers who studied in the states +united are now working in the legal war in brazil children if they have +also data from the narrative of the construction of corruption as a regional narrative +also in the united states and also some movement in the united states to try and +implement this feature nationwide with 12 quickly is what is the +evaluation of the role of oa a in new military interventions in +militarism in the region +the first thing that the repercussion in the united states of the commission's narrative +of Brazilian jurists who studied in the Brazilians who are currently working in the +legal wars and we also find here in brazil a single one +union between that between the media and the one that exists today we have a +justice system wanted to know if the central +interest morning alliance among your readers and if that simply +acquisition from the quick start but who hinted that the scenario is dark +on the floor and if the tie is completely restored when hearing the +question is whether in the near future it could perhaps elect a socialist government if +the establishment of American policy would allow and what impact this could +Tue +at night at 10 pm until the states +unidos is not going to the show on the day in the store in vila sao jose 19 +kostiw in the mud and obama in 2008 +this to think you have to think first about what a government means +socialist is in the united states today what has been what has been +called socialism for example the godless bath that which claims to +socialist is actually a social democracy +very mild and and that this space starts he can see the chance of a +of the government in these we have to be elected is but this is no no no it would not be surprising +so there are ideas are also new +the ad government is much more difficult, although it does not think it is +an impossible thing to happen one day in the united states +for him what we need to do at this moment is to build these +future prospects in the present and finally implanting seeds in the na +reality that we already have +the cruise am not the harry economy called majorca account of us far +of history scored a goal and played for the goal and put josue depends on what +exactly people are studying the united states is +a known case is that of Latin Americans who went to study economics +of the united states in chicago mainly and became known as +the boys from chicago who will return to their countries and remembered for +example those who voted for pro chile did and during the pinochet government +and succeeded in a few years with advice from economists of +chicago is to distribute that country's economy and that is a relevant thing if +think now if we stop to think that the economist behind the employee +is one of those kids from chicago too so looking at this history you +can imagine what he is intending to do here in valencia and will already sells +made us try to close in time +good night professor emilson vanessa martina silva magazine editor +southern dialogues I would like to know from you is if the +Brazil based on this non-compliance with the UN decision regarding +of the candidacy of the ex-president of Lula Lula Brazil then becomes the state +scoundrel and in view of this situation is this positioning of Brazil currently +we must fear for real intervention by the united states in +venezuela since the protagonism that the country +Brazil exercised that in the region there was a void no longer has this leadership +the teacher my name is to see you are journalist from the forum magazine is mine +question is whether you think the era of reconciliation between democracy and +neoliberalism if it is being executed if there is no more possibility +neoliberal governments to be democratic since in Brazil for +example the neoliberal agenda is being imposed through a coup and +that this has also been observed in other countries in latin america +thank you the attendant the ons the inss came in venezuela will give +[Music] +the factor paulo and uol +did not understand the question is not whether the united states does not interfere in the +venezuela because they are already interfering +but perhaps the united states no longer has the same capacity to impose things +latin america that they had in the last 10 or 15 years +the countries of latin america managed to get rid of one of one of a subjugate +so straight from the united states is not like at the time of the dictatorships +Latin American countries that they all had not only support but specific direction +coming from washington on hi little fan +[Music] +fashion rocks product top team work is in 1962 kennedy changed the guidelines of +Latin American security armies is from the hemisphere to security +national which is the same thing that you will take off the army collar and +that army against its own population and that was what generated a series +of regimes is a regime plague is across the continent is of +dictatorial regimes he thinks the united states no longer +have that same power over Latin American countries but that is an issue +again that is not even discussed in the united states +good night my angel is in heaven the door to door is was the commission of rights +human rights of the UN that made this recommendation so that President Lula could be +candidate in the elections but it has to see that the un and this commission are not +respected by the united states for example we cannot think of the na +un as an independent entity because its action is limited by what +the most powerful nations personally united states whether or not they allow it +give me a compliment +the Tagus River is an example of how it operates during the Vietnam War +the attacks by the united states on indochina have never been condemned or +not even discussed in the un and in conversation in off several several people of the un of the high one +echelon of the un have already discussed with him that the question is that +whether or not to say anything is anything against the states +united in relation to vietnam the 1 would be closed next to the body +[Music] +I think the kiss is just to set an example another funny example is the +united states has a rule that it is if any american will return to +international judo court like us +the international criminal court is the united states can and and save that american +rescue this American what in Europe they call the invasion law +another question of democracy and the end of it democracy mlb and motocross is +neoliberal and solve but the team is in solving the man +oe mail sir you a symbol of those of the south the cold nor muller is again this +is an issue that is in the hands of people like you if these powers are +authorized to act in their interests +if they do not act according to their interests and and against the interests of the +most of the population but it is not just a question of the +liberalism leaving neoliberalism aside we are in a dodo phase of the +capitalism in which anyone who knows how to read knows that we are facing +of a problem of existence even though the issue of global warming by +example is jeopardizing the continued existence of humanity +and in view of that what big corporations and use +governments of different countries have done is not only is not to limit the use of +fossil fuels for example but how to maximize this use and invest +more and more on that so it's an example is we don't even have +words is to write and that kind of attitude +but it is a radical example of what capitalism is you should do is +you must invest in profit even when it means not investing in +continuity of the human species and human societies but this is what the +people are watching it happen now is I had ten questions +we had four more subscribers but we had a schedule agreement with the +professor johns that we would finish at 9 15 we are finishing at 9 and 18 i +wanted to apologize for 1 to 0 and 6 1 to julia for mariana rotten year but the +We would like to thank you for the chance +guerrilla fans of the night is neither effective nor the mother wanting to read the +request is wire is obliged to everyone and I stand before 6 love says of the Finnish wi fi and wi +fi and ethernet +thanked want to thank the foundation perseu open +who had here with us doing the live broadcast and also wanted +thank the shopping canopy that interning a teaches to south geraldo why this +north but could not be here with us so thank you amorim and the foundation +perseu open and everyone who was here brigade people +0 +6 +14 +17 +22 +31 +37 +41 +47 +54 +57 +64 +72 +81 +126 +132 +137 +143 +147 +151 +160 +166 +198 +209 +214 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continuity between the practices implemented by the United +States in the Philippines in the early 20th century, and today's mass surveillance. +You also mentioned that this control of the population, and more generally, the confrontation +between State and population was very routed in the foundations of the US, with the genocide +of the native americans and other events. So, do you consider that mass surveillance +is just another tool of <>, to use Foucault's words, that it is +just a different scale, but nothing new ? +Noam Chomsky : Differences in quantities sometimes become differences in quality. My impression +is that it is basically a difference in scale. The practices that were developed in detail +to control the Philippine population back in the early 20th century - mostly the elite, +not so much the peasantry - were very successful in breaking up the nationalist movements and +in imposing a US dominated system that remains until today. The Philippines are an outlier +in East and South-East Asia, the one area that hasn't nearly developed, and that has +plenty of struggles, a lot of brutalities. For example, in the early 1910, the US backed +vicious counter-insurgency operations to crush the peasants : there were independent rebellions, +but the system has sustained itself. A few years later, by 1918, 1919, the same systems +were applied at home in what is in fact the most repressive period of american history, +the Woodrow Wilson Red Scare, which is quite vicious and had a long lasting impact. +And then it continues : the FBI used the same techniques, aimed mainly at political elite, +to try to ensure that the senators, congressmen and others, would not get out of line by collecting +information about them that they could use to slander them, to libel them, to initiate +stories, etc. But in the 1960s and 70s, it started being +directed against the entire population. That's the COINTEL PRO : operations primarily under +the democratic administrations of the 60s that continued under Nixon before it was finally +terminated by the courts. It was a very similar operation, but in this case directed against +the native american movements, the new left, the black nationalists movements, the women's +movements... It was pretty serious, led this far as literal political assassination, forcing +suicides, breaking-up groups... and that was a massive operation. It's pretty horrid +to think of it, outside of East Germany and so on : it's hard to think of a comparable +operation in a Western Society, by a national political police; it was the FBI, under executive +orders, trying to break-up and disrupt popular activism, which was quite a significant force +in the 60s, early 70s, and had substantial success. +This now takes-up a broader scale. But this is what you can expect a system of power to +do : the more information they have about people, the better able they are - at least +think they are - to control, monitor and undermine them if necessary. +Juan : There is this idea that information is power... Your activism is very linked to +it : you have to empower people by providing them accurate information on the war and the +different structures of power. Do you think that secret is necessary to form a power? +Noam Chomsky : Secrecy is valuable. Actually, the United States is an unusually open society. +We have more access to internal planing records in the United States than any country that +I know. It is by no mean perfect, but it is substantial. And when you read through this +mass of internal documents, secret documents, as I have done in many cases, one thing is +quite striking : very little has any meaningful relation to any real security issue. Most +of it is defending the State against the population. They don't want people to know what they +are doing, so it's secret. But there is very little indeed, secret records that would +have been a value, for instance, to the Russians, the Chinese, the Cubans, or whoever they thought +they were fighting. They usually knew it perfectly well just from what was happening on the ground. +But it does maintain secrecy from the population, and the tacit assumption is, sometimes I have +heard, that people shouldn't know these things. There is, after all, it's worth +remembering, a leading scene of liberal, progressive democratic theory, which says that people +should not know. You find that expressed overtly, often, by some of the leading figures, some +leading public intellectuals of the 20th century in the United States : Walter Lipmann, who +is a very distinguished figure, he was a progressive, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy-style progressive +and leading commentator on public affairs. He was also the author of Essays in Democratic +and Progressive Democratic Theory. He says, i quote : << the public are ignorant and meddlesome +outsiders. They have to be put in their place. Decisions have to be made by the responsible +men, people like us >>. (The people who write this are always among the responsible men +!) << And we, the responsible men, have to be protected from the trampling and the roar +of the bewildered herd, the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders>>. And the job of what he called +<>, i borrow this term from his book - is to ensure that the +public is marginalized, put in their place, for they can be spectators but not participants. +They do have a role in the political system : every couple of years they are allowed to +lend their way to one or another of the responsible men, and then they should go home and keep +quiet. And this is quite common. I mean, the founders of modern political science, Herald +Glasswell for example, one of the leading figures who was, by US standards, a leftist +progressive, said that we should not be misled by democratic dogmatism about people being +the best judges of their own interest; argued that people are too stupid, too ignorant, +that it would be unfair to allow them to make decisions, that it would be like letting a +three year old in the street : they are not capable, so for their own benefit we should +control what they do, keep them in the status of observers, spectators of what happens in +the political arena. This is pretty much the way things work. +If you look at academic political science in the United States, one of the major topics +of studies is the relation between public attitudes and public policy. It's a straightforward +inquiry. Public policy, you see it. Public attitudes are available from extensive poling +(poling isn't perfect, but it's pretty good and pretty reliable, and often poles +are done quite sensibly). There is a massive information about public attitudes and public +policies and the result, in the major kind of gold standard works of political science, +is that about 70% of the population - the lower 70% on the income scale - is literally +disenfranchised, their attitude have absolutely no effect on policy. Their representatives +pay no attention to them. Whatever they think, it is disregarded. As you move up the scale, +you start getting a little more influence, there is more relation between attitudes and +policy. And when you get to the very top, which is a fraction of 1%, they are basically +making policy, so they get what they want. There is a little fussiness around the edges +but that's the basic picture. Just recently, there was a study released by Princeton University +which got a little publicity to leading political scientists who have worked on these subjects +for years, investigating about 1700 major public policy decisions to identify who had +influence. They had the same conclusion : the public was irrelevant, almost all of it. On +the other hand, when you get to the business world and extreme wealth, so many have a tremendous +influence... They actually create policy, they usually staff the executives, either +they or their representatives. Someone like Henry Kissinger, for instance, was the representative +of the State corporate system. This is how it works, and it is considered appropriate +in progressive democratic theory. For the good of the population you cannot let these +ignorant and meddlesome outsiders make bad decisions, it would be terrible. When you +look at the secrecy system, that's what a lot it is about : I would say the overwhelming +majority is about keeping the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders in the dark, because +it's not their business. +Juan : If the information leaked by Snowden reached the masses - which we don't know +if it has, nor if it ever will, we don't know if people are really aware of the full +extent of his revelations and their political implication - do you think it could empower +them? Or do you think the masses are anyway marginalized by the system, and that only +the upper classes could eventually use these informations? +Noam Chomsky : I think the passionate attack on Snowden, since this started, the high-level +claims that we would hunt him to the end of the world, that we would catch him wherever +he is, and we will punish him, shows that they are really afraid. Now it could be paranoia. +For example, if, at the highest level, the White House had simply disregarded him, it +might have just disappeared. It is possible. Their own paranoia may be feeding the system, +their own demise in a sense, but it does reflect the attitudes. How much effect it can have, +we are not sure. There were effects in Brazil for example : it canceled a presidential visit, +didn't quite break relations but certainly harmed them. +Remember a lot of these Snowden revelations are not just about surveillance of people, +they are also about support for corporate efforts to undermine business in other countries, +such as spying on negotiators and energy deals to make sure that american corporations have +a head up on it, and so on. Big corporations in other countries don't like that. Just +like Merkel doesn't like the fact that somebody is reading her email. But powerful people +and powerful institutions are being harmed sufficiently so there was reaction. The Congress +did start to get concerned when it turned out that the Senate Committees responsible +for this were being spied on. I should say there is absolutely nothing new about this. +If you go back to the foundation of the United Nations, there was a conference in San Francisco +in 1947 which established the United Nations, during which the FBI had been bugging the +offices of the foreign delegations so that American negotiators could have a step up +and get what they wanted. There was a huge fuss made when the Russian did this to the +American Embassy, but it is done all the time. Juan : At this geopolitical scale, coming +back to what you said about the Philippines and how the strategy put in place by the US +continues to be effective more than a hundred years later : how can we explain that Latin +America has had one of the strongest reactions to the mass surveillance revelations, when +we know that the US has always had a very strong presence and influence on the South +American continent? +Noam Chomsky : It is s a very significant phenomenon, really, historically significant. +For 500 years, Latin America had been in the hands of foreign powers. A tiny, mostly white +elite accumulated enormous wealth while the population was living in huge, horrendous +poverty, under the hands of the imperial powers. For a long time it was England, and recently +the United States. So Latin America was <> in US planning, they really +hardly even had plans for it. There were some : for example in 1945 when the US was beginning +the organization of the world at the end of the Second World War, the US did call a hemispheric +conference in Mexico. The Latin American states came and the United States imposed (at that +point the US could actually impose what it wanted) an economic charter for the Americas, +which banned economic nationalism in all its forms. The Latin American countries had to +follow, they had to be completely open societies, which in fact meant being open to US penetration +and control. It wasn't reciprocal. Incidentally, the US itself did not accept these principles. +On the contrary, it had high levels of economic nationalism. That's why you have your computer +and are using the internet : these were largely state sectors of action. The US were concerned +at the time with what the state department called the << new nationalism in Latin America +>>, which was driven by the idea that the people of a country ought to be the beneficiaries +of its ressources. They had to smash this down : no new nationalism, it's the foreign +investors who are the beneficiaries, not the people of the country. It was pretty explicit. +And at that point you could just legislate it, and the Latin Americans did what they +were told. And so it continued. Not without violence. On the post-Staline period, violence +and repression in the North-American dependencies in Latin America were much worse than what +happened in Eastern Europe. Much worse. See an indication of it up there : depiction of +a murder of an archbishop in El Salvador, and ten years later the murder of six leading +Latin American intellectuals, by forces pretty much armed and trained by the United State. +Eastern Europe was bad enough, but things like that didn't happen. And there were +vicious, neo-nazi dictatorships installed, massive torture : that was Latin America until +10 or 15 years ago. Since then, there has been a sharp turn.It was partly the effect +of the neoliberal policies of the 1980s and 90s : the Latin America followed the rules +and it was smashed, the rules were very destructive. The countries that didn't follow the rules, +like South Korea and Taiwan, they did fine. But the Latin America observed them and it +was a very harsh couple of decades, so there was a reaction. There was also finally a reaction +to the US-backed (or sometimes US-imposed) dictatorships, and for a variety of reasons +in the last ten or twenty years maybe, Latin America has for the first time in its history, +moved towards integration, or some degree of integration and some degree of independence. +It is pretty remarkable. What you described here, and the NSA is one example but there +are many others, one of the most striking examples had to do with the CIA torture programs. +The worse torture programs, by far, were called <>. That's a +program where you take somebody you're interested in, you suspect him or you think he has information, +you send him to your favorite dictatorship, Assad in Syria, Mubarak in Egypt, Khadafi +in Lybia, and make sure that he is tortured sufficiently so that he comes out with something, +hoping that he has some information. There was a recent study of the countries that participated +in extraordinary rendition : most of Europe, England, Sweden, all participated. The Middle +East of course, because that's where we send them to be tortured, and most of the +rest of the world. One exception : no participation from Latin America. Which is doubly significant +: first of all because Latin America used to be the backyard, they did what they were +told. Secondly because during the period of US control, Latin America was one of the world's +centers of torture. Now they refuse to participate in US run torture. It is pretty significant. +Juan : Even Colombia? +Noam Chomsky : Even Colombia. During the hemispheric conferences, the US used to give the orders +and everybody followed. At the latest ones, the US and Canada were isolated. It was Latin +America against US and Canada. And there are already organizations formed, CELAC for instance, +that exclude North America. That's a remarkable change. The United States have simply lost +control of the region. +Juan : It's interesting for Europeans, because it seems that Europe is getting more and +more submitted. +Noam Chomsky : Europe is becoming Latin-Americanized. The case of the Evo Morales plane was a dramatic +example. Bolivia, the poorest country in the hemisphere outside of Haiti, a country of +indigenous majority. : the Bolivian President went to Russia to talk to Snowden, flew back, +and the European countries are so terrified of the United States that they wouldn't +let him cross their air space. The Europeans are cowering in terror because the master +might be angry at them. Meanwhile, the poorest country in South America defies the United +States. It is remarkable. +Juan : It is also very troubling... +Noam Chomsky : It should tell the Europeans something about their cowardice. +Juan : Yes, it is difficult to understand what happened since the end of the cold war, +how this alignment happened, with, for instance, France entering NATO. +Noam Chomsky : First of all, during the cold war, remember that NATO was partly designed +to keep Europe under control. As long as they had NATO, Europe depended on the United States. +Efforts to move in an independent direction - De Gaulle, Willy Brandts, Ostpolitik and +others - were very much feared in the United States. There was fear of what was called +a <>, Europe would become a third independent force standing between the +US and Russia. It eventually could have happened. Europe's population is bigger than the US, +European societies are advanced industrial societies, in many ways more advanced than +the US. If Europe had wanted to, if could have become an independent force. I think +a large part the reason why NATO remains and is even expanded, even though there is no +Russian threat (they can create one, but it's ridiculous), is to just keep Europe under +control. So yes, there was pressure too, you can imagine the effectiveness of propaganda +about legitimizing US influence ! +What has happened since? Take France. France is quite interesting. Until the 1970S, the +French intellectuals were the last Stalinists in the world, fanatic stalinists and maoists. +Nobody in the world, in the West, believed in any of this, but they were still moaning +all the slogans. I remember, when I would talk with friends I couldn't believe what +I was hearing, talk with the leading French intellectuals about the genius Mao... In the +mid 70s this radically changed. As far as I can tell, the event that changed it was +probably Soljenitsyne's Gulag, that was translated into French. Everybody read it, +and since the French intellectuals have to be in the lead in the world because after +all, it is France !, they suddenly presented themselves as the first people in the world +who understood the evil of stalinism and started writing articles, great self prayers about +things I knew when I was 10 years old because everybody knew them. There were obviously +factors behind it, but there was a shift among the intellectual classes, from a weird form +or stalinism, third-worldism, maoism, to becoming the most reactionary sector of the Western +intellectuals. And of course, praying themselves for their magnificence in discovering what +everybody always knew. In fact, it is comical to look at the predictions. And it continues +like that. It is a very strange strain of hysteria in the culture, which is interesting +to investigate. A lot of the post-modern excesses grew out of that. And you had similar things +happening in the other countries. What the reasons are, well, interesting to investigate. +But the tendencies are clear. +1h21m02 +Juan : Coming back to the issue of whether we can resist legally... Secret services, +by nature, escape to the public scrutiny. Is it in any way possible to control them +through democratic mean? +Noam Chomsky : They should be controlled. Not just the secret services, but also things +like Gladio, which is still largely secret. Some bits and pieces of it have come out, +it did appear to be involved in the neo-facist and terror in Italy in the 70s, but there +is not much research. Daniel Ganser in Switzerland among a few researchers, but this should be +publicly exposed and under public control, and the same with secret services. In the +US, after the NSA exposure, there were some measures passed in Congress to restrict the +right of the executive to spy on Americans, but it was very limited. That's really a +question of public pressure : if there is enough, it can be eliminated. +Juan : Did you ever question the fact that we needed a State? +Noam Chomsky : A state all together? +Juan : Yes. At the national level. +Noam Chomsky : All my life, since childhood, I have been very much attracted by anarchist +ideas. The nation stage is not some kind of universal property, it is a special construction, +mainly in Europe, spread over the world with European imperialism and settlements, and +in many ways it is a very destructive system. Take the Middle East, which is falling apart, +reaching chaos. Largely, this is a long term effect of the imposition of the Nation-State +system by the European imperial powers, mostly England and France, for their own interests, +not for the interests of the people. Take Irak. Irak was hatched together by the British +after the first world war when they were parcelling out the former Ottoman Empire, it was put +together so that the boundaries, drawn by Britain, ensured that England would have control +of the oil fields near the Turkish border. Koweit was established as a British-run principality +primarily in order to borrow Irak's free access to the sea. It is a mechanism of control. +And that construction put together Chiites, Sunnites, Kurds and other minorities, Turkmen, +who weren't hostiles but basically had not much to do with each other. This was done +for imperial interest. Similarly, the French took Syria and Lebanon and did the same thing +; the British took Palestine for geostrategic reasons primarily, not because the Bible said +this and that. And if you look at Africa : violence everywhere. +Almost all of it, when you look at it, had to do with Nation State systems that were +imposed by the European powers for their own interests. They drew lines that broke tribes +in half, putting together people who were hostiles. Take Pakistan and Afghanistan : the +British, during the days when they ruled India, drew a line, the Durant line, for their interest, +that was going to be British India separated from the rest. The Durant line now separates +Pakistan from Afghanistan. It cuts right through the Pashtun territories. Some of them are +in Pakistan, some of them in Afghanistan. When a tribesman goes from Pakistan to Afghanistan +to visit relatives, we can call it a terrorist attack and send drones to kill him. But from +their point of view that is their country, imperial powers broke it in half. In fact +the same is true of the US and Mexico : US conquered about half of Mexico in a brutal +war of agression in the 19th century. The border was pretty artificial, the same people +lived on both sides, so it was a very permeable border - all kind of developments. Until the +border started to be militarized, in the late 1980s, 1990s. And the militarization of the +border in fact took a big step forward when NAFTA was enacted. In 1994, when Clinton ran +through NAFTA over public opposition, he also started militarizing the border because planers +could easily understand that NAFTA was going to create a huge number of refugees, and Mexican +campesinos can be quite efficient but they can't compete with highly subsidies US agro-business. +And same is true more in general. If you have a flow of refugees you have to militarize +the border. Now, the big issue of people crossing the boarder... shoot them, send them back +and so on, and this is all over the world. So there is nothing natural about the Nation +State. I mean, you can see how unnatural it is by looking at European history : the centuries +during which this system was imposed were some of the most savage centuries in human +history : the thirty years war, maybe a third of the population of Germany was slaughtered. +This is all part of imposing Nation State system. Finally, in 1945, Europeans did recognize +that the next time they would play their favorite game, slaughtering each other, it was going +to be the end. So Europe did finally move towards some kind of integration which began +to somehow erode the Nation State boarders, which are generally pretty artificial. And +i think that is a positive direction, it should take place elsewhere in the world. +Juan : At the same time, this integration creates an even greater distance between the +established powers and the society, making it even more difficult for the European people +to grasp politics. +Noam Chomsky : Because other developments are taking place. One of the things that has +happened in modern integrated Europe is a very sharp attack on popular democracy. Decisions +are being made in Brussels, by bureaucrats and the Bundesbank, and are imposed on the +countries. When Monti was elected in Italy, the population almost had nothing to do with +it, it came from Brussels. When the Greek Prime Minister, Papandreou, had the effrontery +to suggest that you might ask the population <>, there was fury +all over Europe, << how dare you ask the population ? This is decided by the responsible men in +Brussels! >>. Even the Wall Street Journal had an article pointing out that no matter +what political party took power in Europe, right to left, they always followed the same +policy. Of course these policies are not coming from the countries. So, that's another tendency. +Things don't happen just mechanically, a lot of things are going on. +* +Noam Chomsky: Out of curiosity, how did people your age respond to the Snowden revelations? +Juan: It's very interesting because in the elite, in the best universities, there is +quite a debate - not so much about Snowden who is quite an accepted figure, he's well +considered in general - but about people like Assange, there are some controversy: if their +action is good, if it can be supported or not, debates and doubts... +Noam Chomsky: What kind of criticisms? +Juan: They're very skeptical about the reasons, about the trial. For example, they consider +the Raison d'Etat to be a valid justification. But the further you go from the elite, the +deeper into society, the more admired they are. +Noam Chomsky: I'm asking, because I did a small experiment with my grandchildren, +in their 20's, and they don't seem to care. They say, << it's kind of interesting, +but we put everything on facebook anyways, so... >> +Juan : That's what our discussion is about: how did we arrive to this kind of acceptance. +Noam Chomsky : Yes, teenagers, people in their 20's, society is so exhibitionist that they +don't seem to care if anyone knows everything they're doing. +Juan : There is a distinction : many young people, even when they are not politicized, +treat them as heroes; but it doesn't provoke any kind of mobilisation. +Noam Chomsky : Reaction... +Juan : Yes, it just stays as a perception. +Noam Chomsky : People you know are surprised by what was revealed? +Juan : Yes, the discourse of people like Assange... +Noam Chomsky : Do they follow Wikileaks? +Juan : Yes, there is knowledge about it, but it was considered a bit paranoid, I think +that's why the Snowden revelations were so important, because it legitimized the discourse +of those who were worrying about Echelon, mass surveillance. +Noam Chomsky : On to something, they didn't know the least of it... +Juan : I saw you signed a Manifest supporting Snowden, why did you sign it? +Noam Chomsky : Immediately, I thought what he was doing was extremely important. +Juan : Did you see it as an American, or more as global problem? +Noam Chomsky : To some extent every government does it, for example some of the interesting +Snowden revelations had to do about the fact that in England, the government was requesting +the US to use their advanced technology to spy on British citizens. Any system of power +is going to want to have total information about its enemies, and the domestic population +is one of their main enemies. This goes way back, I don't know if you +read it but a major book to look at is Alfred McCoy's. The US pioneered a lot of these +things a 100 years ago, when after the US conquered the Philippines they killed a 100 +000 people but had to pacify it; and they developed, using the highest technology of +the day, not of now, but they tried to gather masses of information, about Philippine elites +basically. They didn't have the technology to go beyond that and they recognized that +if they knew enough information about them they could use it to undermine organisations, +to discredit people, to insight conflicts among people and basically break up the independent +nationalist movements, and it was quite successful. So successful that, if you take a look at +East Asia today, South East and East Asia, there's the famous Asian miracle, with one +exception : the Philippines. It is not participating, it's been under US control for a century +and it remains a dependent third-world society, and furthermore, in a pretty astonishing achievement +of propaganda, Philippinos have been so indoctrinated that they tend to support the US and its crimes +beyond their people, even though they're the main victims: that's a real achievement. +It's now over 100 years, as Mccoy discusses, as soon as these methods were developed for +the Philippines they were immediately transferred back home, so Woodrow Wilson used the same +techniques and the red scare, the big repression, the post WWI period, then they were picked +up by the FBI and it goes on from there. The same happened in England, its system of power +is very much afraid of its own population, for good reason, and gaining information, +and using it to control people, find out what they're doing, discredit them, undermine +them, that sort of stuff. Incidentally, if you read these reports in +the last couple of days about these 42 Israeli intelligence agents, take a look at what they're +describing, the work that they were doing is exactly what McCoy was describing in the +Philippines a 100 yrs ago. Of course they can now cover everybody, not just the elites, +so find out what everyone in the occupied territories is doing, then find out if this +person is having a homosexual love affair, then the person can become a collaborator, +discredit an activist in his community ,so on so forth. Same thing, more sophisticated. +Juan : How do you explain that the US have started to master this propaganda a 100 years +ago, and now they are able to do these mass surveillance mechanisms? +Noam Chomsky : New technologies, technologies that get stronger. +Juan : And it's strengthening, and at the same time we can see someone like Edward Snowden +that comes out alone... +Noam Chomsky : In a way, McCoy is dangerous too, but he's so obscure that they don't +go after him. He's a major figure in scholarship. +Juan : The question would be : how can it be understood that someone like Snowden could +counter these massive tools that are joined together, and counter the public state discourse? +Noam Chomsky : Obviously, he's paying quite a cost, you remember a year ago or so, when +Evo Morales flew to Russia to see him. The European countries are so frightened of the +US. The European cowardice is unbelievable! So frightened that countries like France wouldn't +allow the plane to cross their airspace for fear that the US might be angry at them. The +plane was finally forced to land in Austria, and they sent a police in. This is a presidential +plane! It's a coarse violation of every imaginable diplomatic principle, but nobody +complained because they're just terrified of the US. +Juan : At the same time, the discourse of Snowden, his denunciation is very pervasive; +and the counter discourse of the state doesn't seem to be working. How to explain that an +individual... +Noam Chomsky : As you said, to some extent, it is working. People have claimed the Raison +d'Etat justifies it. Now, these reservists are being denounced across the spectrum, almost +everyone - not everyone, the French. But the Labour party, who's supposed to be left, +whatever that means, the right wing, they all.. +Juan : That's interesting. In Israel, 20 years ago, it was possible to have a public +debate about this. What brought that change? +Noam Chomsky : Occupation. That was predicted right away, in 1967. A highly respected figure +in Israel, Yasheyahou Leibowitz - he was a traditional sage, computer expert, biologist, +Tel-Aviv university, very respected. He said - pretty reactionary incidentally - so he +belongs to a traditional jewish culture, nothing matters except what's good for the Jews. +I had interviews with him, he was bitterly condemning the occupation, and I asked how +about the effect on the arabs, he said he didn't care about what happens to the arabs, +he cares about what happens to the jews, he says, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, +rest doesn't matter, but it's bad for the jews, and what he pointed out right away +is that the occupation is going to turn the Israelis into what he called << judeo nazis +>>, they're going to become like nazis, because when you have your boot on somebody's +neck, you have to find a way to justify it, and pretty soon you make up a justification, +you internalize the justification and pretty soon you're a raving racist. That's what +he predicted in 1967 or 68, and you can see it happening. The dynamics are perfectly predictable, +that's what happens when you are crushing someone, you don't say, << I'm a monster +so I'm going crush him >>, you say, << I'm doing it for their good and they're the +ones causing the problem >>. The problem is that they're resisting, otherwise you get +people like Golda Meir, this famous stateswoman, about how she hates the arabs because they're +forcing us wonderful jews to shoot them which we don't want to do. By now that's spread +across the sky. But it's part of the dynamics of oppression. It was the same with enslavement, +in fact it's the same with parents and children. Of course there are pathological situations +but it's just inherent in domination and control. You cannot accept, very few people +can look in the mirror and say, <>. What they want to do is look in +the mirror and say, << I'm benevolent and I'm sort of forced to do unpleasant things +because they're so bad >>. +Juan : And do you see a similar trigger moment with the US? +Noam Chomsky : There's lots of them, it goes way back to the origins of the society. +Naturally, the society of the US was based on two fundamental principles : one is extermination +of the native population. The other was slavery. And both were justified. When I was growing +up as a child we would play cowboys and Indians, we would be the cowboys killing the Indians, +because we have to defend ourselves from these terrorists. Maybe kids still do it. I was +growing up in that kind of oppressive environment. But with regard to slavery today, the problem +with blacks - even Obama says this - is they just have a better culture. Why, does it have +to do with having 500 years of slavery and its aftermath which is never ending, it's +because there's something better about them, it's the way to deal with it... Back in +the 1960's a friend of mine who worked for Rand Corporation, Tony Russo, who was later +involved with releasing the Pentagon Papers a couple of years earlier. He sent me a pile +of documents which were quite interesting. Rand Corporation had translated Japanese counter-insurgency +literature from the 1930's because they were interested in what their counter-insurgency +techniques were. And it was pretty interesting, of course it's the same the US were using +in Vietnam but what was interesting about them was that these were internal documents +not for the public, them just talking to each other, no reason for them to lie or anything, +and they described themselves, at a time when the Japanese were carrying out horrifying +atrocities, all of the Nanking massacres, all those kinds of things in China and Manchuria. +But they were describing themselves as the most noble people who were trying to bring +an earthly paradise to the Chinese and to defend the Chinese people against the Chinese +bandits (nationalists and communists) who were trying to prevent Japan from bringing +advantages of high technology and advanced civilisation, and they were sacrificing themselves +for the cause and so on. And it's the same with the US version I've heard recently. +In the Times literary supplement, a kind of established historian of imperialism, he was +reviewing a couple of books on the British empire up until the mid-19th century and he +pointed out, if we the British, were willing to face the history of our own empire, we +will rank our heroes alongside the genocidaire of the 20th century, but a long time before +that'll happen they're still heroes. +Juan : Just one thing. Something that for me seems very strange, is the acceptance by +U.S Senators and Congressmen of the idea that they are being controlled, their non-reaction. +Before, if a President tried to know things through illegal means, he would just fall. +But today, Congressmen and Senators know exactly that they are being controlled, and yet nothing +happens. +Noam Chomsky : If they're being controlled, it's by private corporate capital, which +can't do very much to them. In fact, take a look at Watergate. Why was Watergate considered +such a scandal? So Nixon was a crook, Nixon had an enemies list, which is terrible ! How +can he have an enemies list ? I was on it, nothing ever happened from being in the enemies +list, but there wasn't a fuss because I was on it, it was because people like the +head of IBM was on it, the McGeorge Bundy was on it. How can you call important people +<>, if it was in private? Horrible. They took a bunch of crooks, broke into Daniel +Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, ok, that's a crime, but it isn't a major crime. +Take a look at what Nixon was doing at that time : they were major crimes, but they didn't +figure in Watergate. Right at the time that Watergate was exposed, something else was +exposed : the Cointelpro. This is a program by the national political police, the FBI, +through four administrations : it began with Eisenhower and went through Kennedy and Johnson, +and was still going on under Nixon. It was a program that began by subversion attack +on the communist party, then it spread in the Porto Rican independence movement, to +the native American movement, pretty soon to the left, the Millens movement, and it +was a program just of the time we're talking about using every technique possible to undermine +and discredit and destroy dissident, and it was pretty serious that one of the main targets +was black nationalists and they were simply massacred. One of the worst cases was exposed +right with Watergate, it was the murder of a Black act organiser, Fred Hampton, in Chicago, +by the Chicago police in a typical Gestapo way, literally. The police attacked at four +in the morning, murdered him in bed, he was probably drugged, murdered somebody else who +was with him. This was all set up by the FBI, and the FBI had tried to get some other black +group to kill him who wouldn't do it, so they set it up with police. That's the Gestapo +style assassination of somebody who was organizing the black community. +That single event is incomparably worst than all the Watergate story, they never talked, +I never heard about it. Even that was nothing, the worst from Nixon administration was the +bombing of Cambodia, rural Cambodia was bombed literally at the level of all allied bombings +during all the entire pacific area during WWII, rural Cambodia, Nixon's orders, transmitted +by his loyal servant Henry Kissinger, where anything that flies against anything that +moves. I mean that's a call for genocide of the kind you just can't find in an historical +record, and if they found anything like that for Hitler, let's say, or for Milosevic, +everybody would be overjoyed. But you can't find it for Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon. +Does anybody care? No, I mean, Watergate was considered a crime because important people +were mildly harmed - very mildly ; and mild harm to important people means the foundations +of the Republic are collapsing. +Juan : And you don't think that now they know they are being controlled by the NSA +as well? +Noam Chomsky : How are they being controlled? Am I being controlled, are you being controlled? +If they want, they can pick up all my emails. I don't like it but I'm not paying any +attention to it, and there's no reason for any congressman to. They were controlled by +the FBI long before the NSA. Hoover was using the techniques devised in the Philippines +to get information about everyone in Washington, that's implying many things the FBI was +doing to get information about people in the political quest so they could blackmail them. +They could come to a Senator and say << if you do so and so, I'll hint that you released +the fact that he was having an affair with his secretary >>. That kind of control has +been going on for... just at scale +Juan : So it is just an extension of a movement that has been going on forever, you don't +see any great... +Noam Chomsky : The scale is different, but the scale reflects the availability of the +technology. If there were developed techniques to pick up your brainwaves (you know your +brain emits electric impulses), maybe the government would figure out a way to pick +up your brainwaves and then blackmail you because of what you are thinking. That's +what the systems of power are like, that's why the Philippines' story is so interesting +and should really be studied. Philippines are the first modern version when high-end +technology of the day was used and it has been fantastically effective. For one thing, +it came back immediately to the US and was used for the worst of the oppression of American +history during Wilson's Red Scare. But also, as I said, after 110 years Philippines are +still controlled, uniquely in the region. Dramatic. +Juan : Do you think that that this asymmetry, mass propaganda and control of the masses, +is inherent to power? Or is... +Noam Chomsky : It's inherent to power to try, it's not inherent to succeed, that +depends on whether the people resist it. +Juan : You were saying before that you think it's a universal... +Noam Chomsky : It's universal to try, I think it's extremely hard to find any structure +of power and hierarchy, and domination, where those who reel the club won't pride of being +as effective as possible. It's not totally universal - there are people who refuse to +do it - but it's a strong tendency. +Juan : Do you think individual tentatives to resist and try to subvert this... +Noam Chomsky : That's what popular movements have always been about. +Juan : Does it start with individuals? +Noam Chomsky : It starts with... organized groups of individuals which start with individuals. +We have a lot more rights than we had 50 years ago, or 100 years ago, but those rights were +not gifts from above, they always came from popular struggles. It is true whether you +talk about abolitionism or rights of women, opposition to oppression, concern about the +environment : just pick it, it's always popular activism. +Juan : Should this popular activism only aim to obtain and protect rights? There seems +to be a trend of resistance movements nowadays - pacific or not - : do you think these movements +should aim to gain power in order to obtain the results they are fighting for? +Noam Chomsky : That's a mistake : if they gain power, they'll do the same. What they +ought to be trying to do is to diffuse power, so nobody has power. +Juan : So you think one can stay outside of the power circle and still... +Noam Chomsky : The transition from kings to parliamentary democracy is an important step, +though it doesn't eliminate power. Say, the government of the US has much less power +than a king would have 4 centuries ago. +Juan : But is this power coming back to the people or to corporation control... +Noam Chomsky : There are popular controls of what government can do, there are constraints, +and they work. Maybe not well, but they work. Take the Vietnam war : it happened through +the 1960's, at the beginning there was almost no opposition - and it was shocking - but +finally in the late 60's, as the opposition developed, the Johnson administration began +to run into economic problems. They had to fight the guns and butter war, they had to +keep the population quiet and controlled because there was so much opposition to the war. One +result of that is they could never call a national mobilisation. +During the World War II, people were really committed to the war, there was a national +mobilisation, people were willing to accept wage controls, rationing, the fact that they +couldn't drive nor eat meat and so on and so forth, because they really wanted to come +in the war. If Johnson had been able to call such a national mobilisation, then Vietnam +would have been totally crushed - it was practically destroyed anyway, but it would have been crushed. +But Johnson couldn't do it, there was too much opposition. The result was called stagflation, +a combination of stagnation and inflation: the business world didn't like that and +in fact by 1968 after at the Tet Offensive which indicated that the war was going to +go on for a long time, the business classes turned against the war and were influential +in forcing Jonhson into entering some kind of negotiations. The war began to harm their +interests, and the reason it began to harm their interests was because of popular opposition, +and actually, it goes beyond that. Take a look at the Pentagon Papers. One of the most +interesting parts is the very end : the Pentagon Papers ends in mid 1968, this is history, +internal history, that's after the Tet offensive. The Tet offensive was a remarkable event, +among other things, made a clear war zone for a long time. Johnson, the President, wanted +to send more troops to Vietnam. The top military was opposed, and what they said is, if you +do that, we're going to have domestic problems, we're going to need those troops for population +control in the US, there's going to be an uprising of young people and women and many +others, we will need them for civil control. That's an indicator. And in fact that was +effective. What happened was horrible enough, but it could have been a lot worse. In fact +if you look back at Nazi Germany, a totalitarian state, you'll find pretty much the same +thing. Someday, if you haven't done it, read the memoirs of Albert Speer, it's the +Nazi economist. His memoirs are kind of interesting. What he says is probably accurate: he says +the military effort was impeded by the fact that the population wasn't really that much +committed to the war, so he had to carry out a guns and butter war, he had to pacify them, +and that took resources away from the war. I think he said he lost a year or so, I don't +remember exactly. But if he's right, that was the difference between victory and defeat. +Germany was technologically much more advanced than the West, remember the jet planes, rockets +and all sorts of things, but they were overwhelmed by sheer mass much as the Russians... If they +had had more time, who knows, maybe they would have won the war. Well, that's popular opposition +in a totalitarian state. The population just can't be totally disregarded. And there +are achievements like, a lot of the human rights, they aren't perfect by any means, +but it's a big advance over the centuries. +Juan : Do you think that these individual actions of Snowden and Assange will change +something in the future for the community, in terms of how things... +Noam Chomsky : It's up to us. They did what they could, from now on it's up to the people +who have got information thanks to their courageous actions. If you decide to do nothing, it won't +change anything. +Juan : In the United States, did anything change until now? +Noam Chomsky : Not much. I mean ... some has. For example, by now there are some constraints +on government action, not much, but some. There could be more, but that's up to the +people like us. Same in France, same in Italy, same everywhere else : there are governments +who are doing the same things, just not on this scale. +Juan : 50 years ago you were a public enemy, today Snowden is another. Being a public enemy +from the inside is even worse... Do you think there will be another one in 50 years? Do +you think it's permanent? +Noam Chomsky : Same answer, it's up to us. +Juan : But you think there can be a society in which we will not... +Noam Chomsky : Sure, there can be freer societies. In fact, in an earlier period, maybe Snowden +would just have been assassinated. +Juan : Yes, that's a question I wanted to ask you. +Noam Chomsky : I think that's a change. The US are going to try to catch him in every +possible way, if they do, they're not going to assassinate him, they will put him in prison +for life. +Juan : As an example? +Noam Chomsky : Yes, as an example. But mostly out of revenge. A lot of it is just plain +revenge. You can tell with what happened with Daniel Ellsberg, they tried to convict him +but the trial fell apart, incidentally because of Nixon's criminality. I saw it myself, +I was testifying at the trial when the judge called a recess. He left, came back in, and +declared it a mistrial. What had happened is that Nixon had tried to bribe him by offering +him the head of the FBI or something. He could no longer preside over the trial so he had +declare a mistrial. Daniel Ellsberg wasn't convicted, he wasn't murdered. However, +he was punished : he has never been able to get a job, his old associates turned against +him, don't talk to him anymore, and he kind of lives from hand to mouth. A lot of it is +revenge, you don't break ranks. +Juan : Now, about the question of the legality of resistance : beyond Snowden's punctual +act of revolt, do we have to respect the legality that's imposed in order to change the system? +Noam Chomsky : It's the kind of null hypothesis : unless there is an argument on the contrary, +you follow the laws. So, if I drive home tonight and there is a traffic light that is red, +I will stop. On the other hand, if I see that across the street somebody is being murdered, +maybe I'll go through it and I won't stop. You do normally obey the laws, unless there +are reasons not to. A lot of laws are unacceptable, they shouldn't exist. In fact, the worst +lawbreakers by far, are the powerful. A couple of friends and I have today written a letter +in the New York Times which is pointing out <>, that all the discussion +about whether Obama should put to Congress for authorization of the war is basically +beside the point. There are higher laws, real laws under the US constitution, valid treaties +on the supreme law of land; the major valid treaty is the United Nations Charter that +bans the threat or use of force, so that a law abiding state will not be able to discuss +these issues. But a rogue state like the US, where nobody cares about the law, does whatever +it feels like. +Juan : Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. +Noam Chomsky : Thank you. +32 +39 +47 +56 +63 +71 +80 +86 +94 +102 +113 +122 +132 +140 +149 +161 +170 +179 +184 +193 +194 +195 +200 +214 +225 +239 +250 +255 +263 +271 +283 +289 +294 +302 +312 +321 +328 +335 +343 +350 +362 +365 +374 +383 +387 +392 +401 +407 +415 +421 +429 +438 +448 +452 +463 +474 +481 +491 +497 +505 +513 +521 +530 +540 +548 +556 +564 +586 +611 +637 +653 +667 +685 +703 +719 +736 +755 +773 +789 +796 +809 +825 +846 +866 +873 +892 +908 +927 +945 +962 +968 +977 +984 +992 +1006 +1015 +1018 +1026 +1037 +1050 +1073 +1079 +1090 +1106 +1117 +1129 +1140 +1162 +1175 +1181 +1197 +1213 +1231 +1248 +1263 +1278 +1300 +1317 +1334 +1344 +1355 +1369 +1377 +1389 +1400 +1417 +1433 +1435 +1445 +1457 +1466 +1476 +1494 +1522 +1544 +1558 +1569 +1587 +1612 +1619 +1634 +1655 +1676 +1701 +1711 +1721 +1729 +1735 +1748 +1764 +1784 +1804 +1811 +1815 +1830 +1853 +1868 +1873 +1886 +1904 +1913 +1930 +1943 +1961 +1975 +1995 +2012 +2032 +2047 +2053 +2063 +2080 +2101 +2119 +2132 +2136 +2151 +2165 +2176 +2185 +2186 +2199 +2200 +2217 +2229 +2243 +2253 +2272 +2289 +2291 +2294 +2301 +2313 +2321 +2330 +2340 +2349 +2356 +2363 +2373 +2380 +2394 +2405 +2417 +2425 +2427 +2435 +2447 +2459 +2469 +2477 +2491 +2498 +2507 +2520 +2535 +2548 +2560 +2569 +2577 +2588 +2597 +2603 +2611 +2614 +2615 +2623 +2634 +2636 +2652 +2665 +2677 +2691 +2704 +2714 +2722 +2728 +2738 +2741 +2746 +2760 +2770 +2778 +2787 +2796 +2803 +2811 +2824 +2837 +2847 +2864 +2872 +2881 +2890 +2898 +2908 +2923 +2939 +2954 +2971 +2984 +2995 +3008 +3025 +3041 +3055 +3065 +3078 +3085 +3101 +3108 +3118 +3129 +3150 +3159 +3168 +3180 +3197 +3208 +3224 +3233 +3249 +3255 +3265 +3277 +3297 +3300 +3310 +3318 +3325 +3340 +3350 +3360 +3372 +3381 +3391 +3405 +3416 +3417 +3429 +3443 +3461 +3470 +3477 +3482 +3494 +3510 +3517 +3525 +3531 +3536 +3548 +3559 +3567 +3577 +3585 +3587 +3590 +3595 +3598 +3600 +3606 +3616 +3623 +3632 +3642 +3655 +3665 +3675 +3682 +3692 +3704 +3718 +3730 +3746 +3761 +3775 +3785 +3792 +3800 +3814 +3826 +3833 +3840 +3851 +3861 +3875 +3887 +3896 +3902 +3909 +3910 +3913 +3918 +3933 +3939 +3945 +3957 +3969 +3982 +3991 +3997 +4008 +4011 +4022 +4028 +4035 +4038 +4041 +4044 +4060 +4067 +4081 +4092 +4101 +4113 +4118 +4120 +4131 +4133 +4138 +4140 +4144 +4149 +4159 +4165 +4171 +4172 +4181 +4191 +4196 +4201 +4213 +4225 +4230 +4236 +4250 +4254 +4265 +4269 +4270 +4272 +4281 +4290 +4292 +4301 +4311 +4313 +4317 +4325 +4336 +4345 +4354 +4356 +4357 +4359 +4360 +4363 +4371 +4376 +4377 +4378 +4391 +4397 +4398 +4411 +4413 +4414 +4415 +4416 +4417 +4418 +4419 +4420 +4421 +4422 +4423 +4424 +4425 +4426 +4427 +4428 +4429 +4430 +4431 +4432 +4437 +4443 +4445 +4446 +4447 +4448 +4449 +4450 +4451 +4452 +4453 +4461 +4468 +4470 +4476 +4484 +4485 +4487 +4489 +4490 +4491 +4495 +4499 +4500 +4501 +4502 +4503 +4504 +4505 +4506 +4507 +4508 +4509 +4510 +4511 +4512 +4513 +4514 +4515 +4516 +4517 +4518 +4519 +4520 +4521 +4522 +4523 +4524 +4525 +4526 +4527 +4528 +4529 +4530 +4531 +4532 +4533 +4534 +4535 +4536 +4537 +4538 +4539 +4540 +4541 +4542 +4543 +4544 +4545 +4546 +4547 +4548 +4549 +4550 +4551 +4552 +4553 +4554 +4555 +4556 +4557 +4558 +4559 +4560 +4561 +4562 +4563 +4564 +4565 +4566 +4567 +4568 +4569 +4570 +4571 +4572 +4573 +4574 +4575 +4576 +4577 +4578 +4579 +4580 +4581 +4582 +4583 +4584 +4585 +4586 +4587 +4588 +4589 +4590 +4591 +4592 +4593 +4594 +4595 +4596 +4597 +4598 +4599 +4600 +4601 +4602 +4603 +4604 +4605 +4606 +4607 +4608 +4609 +4610 +4611 +4612 +4613 +4614 +4615 +4616 +4617 +4618 +4619 +4620 +4621 +4622 +4623 +4624 +4625 +4626 +4627 +4628 +4629 +4630 +4631 +4632 +4633 +4634 +4635 +4636 +4637 +4638 +4639 +4640 +4641 +4642 +4643 +4644 +4645 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky in Oldenburg (dt. Untertitel) P1J56O1buJk.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky in Oldenburg (dt. Untertitel) P1J56O1buJk.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e65d927 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky in Oldenburg (dt. Untertitel) P1J56O1buJk.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1782 @@ +I will only lose a few words and then leave enough time for discussions with contradictions. +I will tell something about globalization and the media. +Whenever I use the term "media" I imagine the prevailing moral and intellectual culture, +that is most visibly reflected in the media and is easiest to examine through the media. +There are two very different meanings for the term "globalization". +On the one hand there is a literal meaning and on the other hand there is a propaganda meaning. +The second meaning is that which is commonly used. The first is ignored. +It is rather typical. Almost every concept of political usage has the same two levels of meaning. +A literal meaning and another that is actually used. +And the media (the intellectual culture) do their job of creating a picture of reality so we can't really understand what's actually happening, +by always adhering to the propaganda meaning and avoiding the literal meaning. +And that applies in general. +For example, the term "terror" is currently used frequently. +Terror and the fight against terror are talked about every day. +Since the war on terror was declared - +I have written about it in many books and articles and have always used the literal meaning of "terror". +And there is a profound definition for this term. +For example, one finds a definition in government documents of the United States and Great Britain. +And they all have more or less the same meanings. +I will not play them here now. If you want, you can look up my writings. +I was told today that one of my books had been translated into German. +It's called "Pirates and Emperors". +I wrote it in 1986, 5 years after the war on terror was declared. +The war on terror was declared in 1981 by the same people who, with some updates, declared it again in 2001. +The title of the book "Pirates and Emperors" is intended to indicate the two uses of the term "terror". +This phrase comes from Sankt Augustin, who tells a story about Alexander the Great and a pirate who was brought before the great ruler. +The ruler asks the pirate: "How dare you disturb the oceans?" +And the pirate replied: +"I have a small boat. They call me a pirate. But you have a fleet and you call them a ruler." +And that's how the term terror is used. +For the literal meaning you can easily show +that the great powers - above all the United States - are also the leading terrorists. +But they exercise the ruler's terror and we limit ourselves to discussing the pirate's terror. +The pirate's terror can be fierce but it doesn't come close to the ruler's terror. +And in this book from 1986 I give several examples and have brought it up to date with other examples. +Interestingly, it doesn't matter how clear and undisputed the examples are, +we have to hold on to the propaganda meanings. +Terror is always their terror against us, never our terror against them. +And that applies regardless of who uses it. +Japanese imperialists, for example, described their actions in Manchuria in North Asia +as the defense of the population against the terror of the Chinese bandits, +which attacked the legitimate government and the people. +The Nazis defended themselves against the terror of the partisans. +They defended the legitimate government and the people against their terror. +As far as I know, this applies universally. +It is used by the United States as well as other well-behaved states. +By definition, no western terror applies to these countries. Only the pirate's terror exists. +And that applies no matter how clear the examples are. +For example, let's take a completely undisputed case. +The US war against Nicaragua, waged by the same people who are now back in power in Washington. +That was completely beyond dispute. +The United States was convicted of international terrorism before the International Court of Justice +and directed to end this crime immediately and make massive reparation payments. +The United States government (the people who are back in power now) responded with an escalation of terror, +which they officially directed against so-called "soft targets", unarmed civilian targets. +And it ended in a terrible terrorist war. +After the United States did not accept the judgment of the World Court, Nicaragua brought the case to the UN Security Council, +where there were two consecutive resolutions +in which the court decision was upheld and all states were called to abide by international law. +The United States vetoed it. End of discussion. +For someone who has a little faith in international law, the World Court and the Security Council, this is an indisputable example. +But it is not recorded in the anal of terror as it is the terror of the ruler and not the pirate. +The same applies to other examples. +This is how the US terrorist war against Cuba - which has been and continues to be waged since Kennedy - +so this war is not recorded in the anals of terror. +The goal of the Kennedy administration was to bring the "horror of all earth" to Cuba. +This phrase does not come from me, but from the historian Arthur Schlesinger. +A Kennedy consultant and highly respected historian. +He wrote this in his biography about Robert Kennedy, who was charged with waging the terrorist war against Cuba +and saw it as his most important task to bring the "horror of all earth" to Cuba, which almost escalated in a nuclear war. +And so it continues until today, but it doesn't count. +And this also applies to small cases, of which no attention is paid. +For example, Clinton's bombing of Sudan in 1998 halved the drug inventory there. +Germany's ambassador went from Sudan to Harvad University +and published an article in Harvard International Review on the subject, +in which he estimated the death toll at tens of thousands. +Similar estimates have also been made by some other independent authorities who have dared to discuss this issue. +But killing tens of thousands of people is not considered a terrorist act. +Would al-Qaeda destroy half the medication inventory of a country that would be really important +like Germany, USA or England, we would definitely notice that +and we would condemn it as a terrorist act. +Although that would be less bad for us, since as a rich country we could easily get supplies for the missing medication. +You could go on for a long time. There is a long ugly list. +And when you examine them, the term terror is always used in a propaganda sense. +Their terror against us, which is unfortunately the norm throughout history. +The same applies to the concept of globalization as well as any other concept. +There is a literal meaning for the term globalization. +It means "international integration" +and a special form of it is the international economic integration. +Economic exchange between countries - trade, export, etc. +That means globalization. +If we use the term in this sense, globalization peaked about a century ago. +If you look at cross-border interactions between states relative to the size of the national economy, +then the climax was about a century ago. +Then it flattened out between World Wars and started again after World War II +and has now reached about the level of the previous century. +Anyway. That is not the term how it is used. +The term is applied to a special form of international integration, +which was initiated by the United States, Great Britain and their allies about 30 years ago, +which is a special form of international integration, +which is geared towards the needs of investors, corporations, banks, etc. +and sees people's needs as secondary or non-existent. +Since this term is used in this way, all those who speak out against this form of international integration will +and who think that the needs of the people should be the focus and not the needs of the private powers - +they are called opponents of globalization. +And this also applies in the propaganda sense but not in the literal sense. +They are for international integration! That's why they hold international meetings in places like Brazil, India, etc. +to call for international cooperation, solidarity, trade, etc. +But they're opposed to globalization because they don't conform to the specific principles +which were designed to treat the special interests of investors, lenders and corporations privileged +and that of people go unnoticed. +So they are opponents of globalization. +And the power of propaganda is so enormous that they even accept this term. +They sometimes describe themselves as opponents of globalization, although they also advocate globalization in the literal sense. +It is not uncommon. +I will use the term in the following in the propaganda sense, because usually this term is used by everyone. +And I use it with some reservations, because one should not use the term terror only for the terror of the pirate and not for the terror of the ruler. +We know very well what to expect from globalization. +Secret services in the United States work with academic specialists. +In 2000, they published a detailed discussion of their expectations for the coming decades. +Some have to do with globalization. +They expect globalization to continue +and will lead to "increasing financial volatility and increasing economic division". +Literal globalization would have exactly the opposite consequence. +Economic theory predicts that literal globalization leads to a common market, +with common prices and wages. Economists prove whole theorems about this. +However, as expected, this form of globalization leads to increasing financial volatility +and increasing economic division. On the contrary. +Increasing financial volatility means lower growth. Above all, this harms the poor. +Increasing economic division ... It is obvious what that means. +Furthermore, they predict that the increasing economic division +will lead to deeper stagnation - +Anger, frustration, alienation - +which in turn will lead to violence and terror - especially against the United States +which are considered the source of the globalization process. +That is the forecast. +War planners make the same predictions. +And so are the justifications given for the new futuristic weapon systems, such as weapons in space: +An increasing economic division, growing frustration, anger and the need to control the have-nots. +These are the forecasts for globalization in the propaganda sense. +The processes of so-called globalization are formalized in free trade agreements, as it is called. +This term has only three shortcomings: +They are not free, have nothing to do with trade and are not agreements. +They are certainly not agreements if you look at the population as part of the country. +These agreements are overwhelmingly rejected everywhere. Even in the United States. +There is a reason why these agreements are always left out of the elections +and not be discussed in the media. +The population clearly rejects this. And that applies almost everywhere. +At least where we can prove it through surveys and studies. +So they are not agreements in so far as people belong to the country. +They have nothing to do with trading, with a few minor exceptions. +For example, a key element in the current negotiations of the World Trade Organization +the General Agreement on Trade in Services +There's a joke among development economists: +If the word trade officially appears in the title of something, it has nothing to do with trade. +And that also applies to the General Agreement on Trade in Services. +What is at stake here is not trade but privatization. +In this case privatization of services. +Services should therefore be handed over to non-accountable private tyrants. +That is what corporations are. +What are services? +Services are everything a human being can be interested in. +For example, education, health, common good, water, energy. +Anything people could be interested in. These are services. +What are the consequences of privatizing services? +Quite simply: It reduces the public's say to almost nothing. +Everything is controlled by private tyrants who don't have to justify themselves to anyone. +In other words, formally, you have a democratic system that continues to operate, but it can't decide anything +because the public no longer has a say. +This is a major goal of current globalization. +Its core principle was the liberalization of capital movements and the deregulation of currencies. +It was clear from the start that this would slow growth, +whatever happened in the countries that followed these rules. +But it is also a big attack on democracy. +The post-war economies were based on the control of capital movements and regulated currencies, +because John Meynard Keynes and his American counterpart Harry Dexter White were aware of this, +that free movement of capital deprives states of the opportunity to pursue politics independently. +Adam Smith already knew that. +The reasons are obvious: Deregulated currencies lead to massive speculation. +And, of course, speculation went astronomical after deregulating currencies. +Free flowing capital leads to the creation of a so-called virtual parliament, +which always votes on a government's plans. +And if they don't like a project, they destroy the economy through capital flight, currency taxes, etc. +That makes democratic choices impossible. +And that has been known since Adam Smith. +And the logic behind it is pretty simple. And that's exactly what happens. As predicted. +In the countries that followed these rules, growth fell and democracy continues to function formally +but the choices narrowed. +Because the decisions are made by the international community of investors and lenders. +If they don't like the decisions, the economy will be destroyed. +And you can see it in a number of cases. There is no time to talk about it. +So they are not agreements, have nothing to do with trade and are certainly not free. +They contain highly protectionist elements. +A core element of the World Trade Organization and all free trade agreements +is a guarantee of monopolistic price guarantees for large corporations. +The World Trade Organization calls this "trade-related intellectual property rights". +It has nothing to do with trade, not even intellectual property. +It's about monopoly prices. +It grants large corporations the right to ask for unusually high prices in the long term, without competition. +This is completely unprecedented. +No developed society has ever tolerated something like this. +But it is now being imposed to prevent others from reaching the same level of development. +In the economic science literature this process is called "push the ladder away". +This term comes from the German economist Friedrich List. +He showed that the real path to development is always through the state. +He was right about this and added that if a state takes this route, it wants to push the ladder away +so that others are denied access. And that is correct. +And the World Trade Organization is a perfect example of this. +These monopoly price rules guarantee $ 150 billion a year for the United States alone and only for the pharmaceutical industry. +If you transfer that to other industries and other countries, it will add up to an astronomical sum. +And there are tons of such exceptions that violate every principle of free trade. +So you are not free, have nothing to do with trade, are not off deals, +but apart from that they are free trade agreements. +And their main function is to undermine democracy. +It is true for the liberalization of capital movements. +By definition, this is also true for privatizations. +And it is also true for the entire collection of neo-liberal mechanisms. +This is globalization in the propaganda sense +and it will have exactly the consequences that were predicted. +Increasing economic division, lower growth, deep stagnation, increased terror, +which in turn forces us to counter violence, but that is not considered terror. +Because what the ruler does is not terror. Only what the pirate does is terror. +These examples are pretty typical. +Choose any example you are interested in and you will always find the same. +One of the main tasks of intellectual culture and the media in particular +is to stick to the propaganda terms +and generally shape our view of the world so that we don't see what's really happening. +We may have the facts delivered, +but the framework in which these facts are presented to us makes it impossible for us to understand them. +This leads to marginalization of the people. +Allows them to be better controlled. +It deprives them of the ability to exercise real power. +And people know that! +It is not that they are ignorant. You see that. +For example, consider the United States, which is a very well researched society. +The public's viewpoints are well known. +We have accurate data from the last election in 2000. +Shortly before the election, three quarters of the population thought the election was a farce. +That's why the public doesn't care about things like the revelations about the fake Florida elections. +There was a lot of turmoil about it, but only among a group of intellectuals. +And the public did not touch that. +All right. Then the elections were stolen. Who cares? +75% of the population saw these elections, and all other elections, as a kind of game, +with rich donors, party leaders and the PR industry, +which candidates are trimmed to say meaningless things +so that they may be elected but no one can understand where they are politically. +In political science there is a measure of what awareness is called. +This number has been declining for years and reached a historic low in the elections in 2000. +I suspect it will be even lower in 2004. +The reason is not that people are stupid. +I myself don't have the patience to watch the candidates' debates, but my wife does. +She has been teaching at Harvard University for 25 years. I assume that can be described as educated. +She watched the debates and just couldn't understand what the candidates were saying. +And that is the intention. +The PR industry is so kind to tell us what they're doing. +They say that we have to emphasize the qualities rather than the points of view. +Is this person a leader, can you trust him? +Or is he the kind of person you'd like to meet in a pub and have a beer with him? +Is he the kind of person you couldn't stand in fourth grade because he is a punk? +These were the main problems with the election in 2000. And this time there are similar problems. +And the public doesn't take it seriously. +The same applies again now. +So the public knows what's going on but doesn't know what to do about it. +This is partly the job of propaganda. +Let people feel helpless. There is nothing you can do. +In reality, they could do a lot. +We are very free and privileged with a lot of possibilities. +So you have to work very hard to ensure that people don't understand what the problems are. +You have to prevent them from understanding how the world is developing, who is leading the world and where. +And they also need to feel that there is nothing they can do about it that is completely wrong. +Not only is there an understanding of it, but there is also a lot of unprecedented opposition. +Including the media, where alternative media develop. +There is municipal radio, the Internet is used extensively. +There are now others besides the western news source. +We get a lot of information about Iraq and the Middle East, +because there is an uncontrollable news source: +The Arabic news source AlJazeera, +which is hated by all governments in this region +and is particularly hated by the western powers. +The US has worked hard to get the Qatar Emir to shut down AlJazeera. +There is a strange event. +The Emir of Qatar was in Washington a year ago +and Collin Powell put pressure on him to close AlJazeera. +The Emir held a press conference in Washington, where the entire press was present, but none reported. +In which he ironically instructed the assembled press that we have this concept of freedom of the press. +We don't like what they say, but we still allow them to continue reporting. +The press was kind enough to report on it. +You continue to broadcast via satellite and have no embedded reporters. +So there are a number of alternatives and they are becoming more and more used. +The basis for the so-called anti-globalization movement - that is, for those who advocate a different kind of international integration - +relies in particular on internet communication for information exchange, +since this information is not available in the media, +for communication, organization. +And all of these public movements are increasing at an astonishing rate. +thank you +Now what is my image of man? +I think, like everyone else, that humans are pretty complicated beings, +with a lot of different elements and aspects. +Probably each of us could be a torturer or a saint in certain circumstances. +What we do depends on a lot of factors. +I'm not leaning on the examples you gave +but on others like Aristotle, Adam Smith, David Hume +and other figures of the Enlightenment such as Wilhelm von Humboldt. +And they emphasize various aspects of human character. +Aristotle describes in his for the pol. Sciences still the most important work "Politics" +very detailed different political systems. +He saw a lot of problems in all systems +but he considered democracy to be the least problematic system. +So he favored democracy. +Nonetheless, he pointed out that there is a problem in democracy. +Because if there is a high degree of inequality in a democracy, +the poor majority would use their voting power +to deprive the rich of their property rights. +And that would be unfair. +Interestingly, James Madison, the designer of the amer. Constitution, +referred to the same problem at the constituent assembly. +He used England as a role model. +He said: if England were a democracy, +the mass of the poor would use their right to vote, +to divide up large estates +and carry out what we would call a land reform today. +And that would not be fair. +Aristotle and Madison chose different ways to avoid this dillema. +Aristotle wanted to reduce inequality. +He spoke up for what we now call a welfare state +and made specific suggestions that he developed specifically for Athens - not for Germany. +Targeted proposals for the establishment of a welfare state, +to address the undesirable aspects of human Character +and promote the desired aspects. +Madison chose the opposite: diminishing democracy. +If you look at the construction of the constitutional system, you can see +that, according to Madison, the government should protect the interests of the wealthy from the majority. +And then various mechanisms were suggested that should lead to this. +And that's the main point of controversy in US history. Til today. +Adam Smith's and David Hume's image of man was shaped by the idea +that a core element of human Nature is sympathy. +This is the basis of Adam Smith's moral philosophy, which is integrated in his economic theory. +And also in that of David Hume. +A basic concept of human Nature is sympathy. +And sympathy and solidarity should lead to a certain form of society. +Adam Smith was a pre-capitalist thinker. +Therefore, like Aristotle, he assumed +that equality would be a desirable goal. +If you look at his very detailed discussions about the markets, +is a core claim that the markets are under absolute freedom +will lead to a perfect balance. +And that's why markets are good in contrast to globalization, +which, according to all expectations, towards a larger economic Will lead to inequality. +Incidentally, Adam Smith strongly opposed neoliberal globalization. +Hardly anyone realizes that the concept of the invisible hand +which he uses only once in his work "Wealth of Nations" +occurs as part of an argument in which he speaks out against the free movement of capital +and against imports. +He said this would be very harmful to England. +But because of their sympathy and compassion for the local people +English investors would prefer to invest their money at home +and use locally made products +so that we are protected by an invisible hand from the devastating effects of the neoliberal market. +It is exactly the opposite of what is said everywhere, but have a look yourself. +So much for Adam Smith and David Hume. +Wilhelm von Humboldt's image of man was shaped by the idea +that a core principle of human Nature is the desire for research and creation. +If we deprive a person of this right, we deprive him of his human right. Character. +For example, he says that when a craftsman creates a beautiful object on command, +so we admire what he created, but we don't appreciate who he is. +A tool in a system of command and control. +And that's a typical point of view for enlightenment. +I think these are equally plausible ideas of human beings. Nature. +But it is also true that those other aspects also exist. +And depending on how the institutions of power are structured, +will the relevant aspects of human. Prove nature as dominant. +For example, if we had no methods of controlling violent criminals, +the society would soon be run by pathological madmen. +It does not follow from this that this is the only characteristic of human. Is nature. +The construction of the institutions is only designed to support this behavior. +In fact, we have created institutions that are pathological in a variety of ways +and maybe lead to the destruction of creation. +Or deprive future generations of the opportunity to live a decent life. +But it is in our hands. +We could also go the way Aristotle, Adam Smith, David Hume, +Wilhelm von Humboldt and others have proposed. +You also speak of parts of human Nature. +What would I do if I were elected President? +I know what my first act would be. +My first act would be to set up a war crimes tribunal +to accuse myself of the crimes I'm likely to commit. +If we then turn to specific cases, there would be a lot to do. +Take, for example, the so-called terror of the pirate +If you look at intelligence analysis on terrorism, +there is broad agreement on how to increase or decrease terror. +You can intensify terror through violence. +This is because it helps the terrorists to mobilize a target group. +So it's a gift for them. +Would you like to reduce terror ... +The terrorists themselves are criminals who commit crimes. +So the best way to deal with this problem is by police. +That reduces terror. And it works. +In Europe, South Asia and elsewhere, terrorist networks were successfully broken up by police. +But it has also been successfully expanded, namely through violence. +But more important than that is the large target group they are trying to mobilize. +They can be people who hate and fear them. +But nevertheless they see fighters in them who fight for a just cause. +If one practices violence against them, this ultimately convinces their target group of the correctness of their actions. +Would one pay more attention to the justified expressions of suffering of this target group +you deprive them of the influence of the terrorists. +And that works too. +There are endless examples of this. +Take, for example, the current case of the Britten in Northern Ireland. +As long as the British reacted violently to the really bad terror of the IRA, +it was a gift to the IRA. +It helped them mobilize their target group and intensified the terror. +When they finally understood that the expressions of suffering were justified, +and have to pay more attention to them, +this reduced the risk of terrorism +and ultimately led to the dissolution of the IRA. +Northern Ireland is not a utopia today, +but it's a much better place than it was ten years ago. +When I was there it was hell. +The difference is in the obvious approach. +Treat the terrorists as criminals. +Treat the target group they are trying to win over as human beings +with serious expressions of suffering to take care of. +And that worked just fine. +Every single chairman of the Israeli military intelligence and security services +said pretty much the same in context. +And I suspect German intelligence agencies would make similar comments if asked about them. +It is a very general and understandable train of thought. +And those in charge in the US have that choice. +They can choose to intensify terror, which they do +or diminish it, which they don't do. +For example, some intelligence agencies and independent. Specialists before the Iraq war predicting +that this will lead to an increase in the risk of terrorism, which also happened as expected. +And the next similar act will further increase it. +Finally... +The AlQaida phenomenon and Osama Bin Laden +were practically launched only after Clinton's bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998. +No one has ever heard of them before. +Here and there they were known but were not considered to be of great danger. +There has never been much talk of them in American intelligence reports. +Until 1998. +But these bombings were a gift. +They promoted popular approval for AlQuaida. +Helped them with funding and recruitment +and gave them a lot of prestige. +In addition, AlQaida and Bin Laden made close contacts, although they were previously hostile to each other. +The predicted effect is therefore set. And that applies to one example at a time. +This is a problem for which there are known solutions. +But it depends on your goals. +This is a big topic for a long lecture. +I am an anarchist because I take it for granted that a person should be. +I've been changing my mind about it since childhood, +when I first heard about it. +The basic motive of anarchism was formulated by people like Wilhelm von Humboldt and others. +It is the core of classic liberalism. +It disappeared from the pole. Middle with the advent of capitalism +but lives on in libertarian movements and ways of thinking. +I'm using the term libertarian in the original European sense, +not anglo-american. Sense that denotes something completely different. +The basic motive is that every structure of authority and rule must undergo a review +and must prove its legitimacy. +If it can prove legitimacy, you accept it. +If this is not the case, which is almost always the case, you can go about eliminating it. +This applies to relationships within patriarchal families or to international communities. +Authoritarian structures can sometimes be justified. +For example, when I walk down the street with my granddaughter +and hold her arm to hold her back when she wants to walk on the street +so this is an exercise of authority. +But I think we could all find a reasonable justification for that. +Sometimes this is true. Mostly not. +Anarchism is concerned with identifying these structures of authority, +that we usually don't notice. +It is not easy to recognize them because of the habit of submission, etc. +And when we have recognized them, we should start to dismantle them. +That is anarchism. +As far as the nation state is concerned, I agree with you. +It was created by terror. +I think it's a horrible facility. +There is a reason why Europe has been the most brutal part of the world for centuries. +It was about the establishment of nation states. +These are designs that are simply not created +for the culture, needs, relationships, languages of the people. +Centuries of brutal violence have resulted. +It only stopped in 1945 +because you created destruction opportunities that were so overwhelming +that the Europeans understood that they could no longer continue this game. +Should Germans and French decide to slaughter each other again, +this should be the end for everyone. So this is no longer possible. +One must now maintain the established structures through violence. +One of the reasons why Europe conquered the world +was that it was such a violent place. +It developed a culture of violence and also means of violence, +which made it possible to conquer large parts of the world, +In the conquered areas they tried to establish nation-states again. +The USA and Australia solved the problem of establishing the nation state quite easily. +They essentially solved the problem by exterminating the local population. +Then there are no more internal conflicts. +Elsewhere in the world, the plague of the European nation-states has always spread by force. +Most of the horrific wars that are happening in the world today +are the remnant of the Europeans' attempt to build nation-state structures over societies, +where they just don't fit. Which is pretty much the case everywhere. +It just doesn't meet the needs, relationships, connections that people have. +The Turkish State Security Service is currently investigating me +because I made a speech in Djabakir - in the southeast of Turkey. There is the Kurdish region of Turkey. +I said something nice about the Ottoman Empire. +This led to the accusation of separatism. +I said about the Ottoman Empire that of course nobody wanted it back. +But in a way he was based on the right idea. +It left people alone. +In the individual areas the Greeks did their things and the Armenians did their things. +And you could go from Istanbul to Cairo without going through a border post. +This was partly a result of extreme corruption in the caliphate. +Corruption is not a bad thing if it leads to a weakening of power. +A person like Hitler is much worse than a corrupt leader. +A non-corrupt leader who ruthlessly exercises his power. That is the real danger. +Corruption, however, leads to a weakening of power and the caliphate was extremely corrupt. +So it left people more or less alone. +And if you take a look at this region, then this is exactly the right organization for you. +The establishment of a nation state is brutal and violent and has led to a lot of conflict. +In my view, the long-term alternative for the nation state is to abolish it. +It is a rotted institution with a cruel past. +We're still attached to her now because we can't say goodbye. +But one should consider abolition. +And that's what the third way is about. +It exists. And we have the immediate problem that is in our hands +what kind of nation state we should build. +Do we want one like Aristotle suggested? +A welfare state-oriented democracy? +Aristotle would consider this the best solution. +Of course, he spoke of cities and not of nation states. +For nation states, this is the best short-term solution. +In the long run, however, it would be best to abolish it in favor of a genuine people's democracy. +That means everything is under the control of the people. +The workplace, the community ... +... to then develop connections with one another through voluntary interactions +- down to the level of the international economy. +And here we should not fool ourselves and assume that the international economy is liberalized. +The term is used, but Adam Smith would turn in the grave, +if he could see how his name is used. +None of what is going on is liberal in the sense of classic liberalism. +As you mentioned earlier, states are currently moving away from a previously common obligation +to some form of redistribution, +towards the obligation to support narrowly-centered centers of power and privilege. +This is a key component in the destruction of post-war agreements. +The early post-war agreements - including control of capital and currencies - +were created specifically to enable governments +to respond to an overwhelming popular will for a more just society after World War II. +After the collapse of fascism and the disillusionment of the European empires +there was a period of great hope all over the world. +In Europe and the United States, this led to the demand for a decent and fairer society. +That meant social democratic, welfare state politics, sustainable growth. +And that was the post-war system. And it worked within certain limits. +The period with the highest economic growth in world history is between 1950 and 1970. +And it was relatively egalitarian growth. +Even in the United States, which is the least egalitarian society among the industrialized nations, +the bottom 20 percent grew faster than the top 20 percent. +Since the neo-liberal era, this has turned radically into the opposite. +And that applies almost everywhere. +As a result, there is no liberality on the international side. +I'm getting too long, but one more word about it. +Take this Bergiff "trade". +What is called trading today +would definitely not be described in the sense of classical liberalism. +For example, consider the best-studied example: North America. +There is a North American Free Trade Agreement +- and one of his greatest achievements is +to have increased the "trade" between the USA and Mexico. +In fact, this increased the number of cross-border transactions +but by no means the trade. +If you take a closer look at cross-border transactions, +for example, these are mostly transactions that take place within large command economies. +Corporations. +Before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), +was the share of cross-border trade that took place within these command economies +at about 50 percent. Now the share rose to about two thirds. +Imagine that you are Adam Smith +and see how General Motors produces components in Indiana (USA) +and then send them to northern Mexico to put them together +because labor costs are not so high there, you don't have to pay any supplements, you can pollute the environment, etc. +and then send them to New York as cars to sell there. +Would that describe Adam Smith as a trade? +This is exactly the same type of trade as when the Kremlin sent goods from Leningrad to Warsaw, +to have them assembled there and then send them back to sell them. +This is not a trade! These are interactions within huge command economies - great tyranny. +And that is probably correct for most so-called world trade. +It is a bit difficult to determine and nobody looks at it very closely. +But if you try to measure real, authentic trade, +then there is a good chance that it has decreased during the neoliberal period. +All of these conceptual systems are used in such a distorted context, +so that you have to decipher everything from the beginning to understand what is happening. +So the economy is not liberalized and I totally agree with you, +that the welfare state is the right answer only in the short term. +In the long term, however, one should recognize that the whole concept of the nation state +is an uncivilized, destructive concept +and should be abolished in favor of a more human system. +I agree with you that what is called globalization by default +leads to violence and places power in the hands of abstract legal entities, +for example in the hands of corporations and undermines democracy. +But that's because of the special form of neoliberal globalization. +So what is called globalization within the propaganda system. +If we use the term globalization as we should actually use it, +so it only means international integration. +And the question is what form it should take. +It does not have to have this shape. +You are absolutely right that it has taken this form. +But I don't think the answer to that is too weak. +The answer is to design the form of international integration differently. +And this is the goal of the so-called anti-globalization movement. +You want a democratic international system. +What you said about corporations is exactly true. +If you look at the history of the corporations, +this is how it was created - not by people, by elections - +(I know it was in the United States and England. Probably so is Germany.) +they were created by courts and lawyers without the knowledge of the population. +About a century ago, people in England and the United States were given the rights of individuals. +They were given the right of people, i.e. freedom of speech, protection against investigation and confiscation, +Protection of the living space. They are immortal people. +That alone was a huge blow to liberal principles. +Back then there were liberals. The term is still used today, but they no longer exist. +The liberals then - sometimes called conservatives - condemned this practice +as a step towards what they called communism. +For them it was the same as communism. And that's not completely wrong either. +This is just another form of totalitarianism. +Fascism - communism - corporations. +The three types of totalitarianism that developed at the beginning of the 20th century. +And their roots are also very similar. +Its roots lie in the neo-Hegelian ideas of the 19th century +about the primacy of the organic right of structures over individual individuals. +A fundamental attack on liberal ideas. +The historical development of corporations is quite similar to that of Bolshevism. +First, the courts gave them the rights of individuals. +That alone is completely impossible. +Then they did not transfer these personal rights to abstract structures, +but on the group management. +And exactly the same thing happened in the history of Bolshevism. +In fact it happened because these are Leninist principles. +The proletariat is not meant to govern +it is the pioneering party, which is destined to govern. +And within the pioneering party, the central committee determines. +And within the Central Committee, the top leader determines. +This is the traditional Leninist theory. +So Rosa Luxemburg, Trotsky damned it (until he became a member himself) +and Anton Pannekoek - a leading left Marxist +etc. +They viewed it as a form of totalitarianism, whatever it is. +Corporations went through the same career. +The power was transferred to the group management +and ultimately to the supreme leader. +The CEO (chief executive officer). +Meanwhile, courts determined that the core of Anglo-American corporate law is +that these "people" must be pathological. +You have to be that kind of people +that we would normally send to a mental hospital. +They just need to worry about how to maximize their power and profit. +There was a famous case in the United States about 90 years ago. +It was about the Ford car company. +Henry Ford was something of an old-fashioned capitalist. +He thought he should produce cheap cars and pay high wages, +because this is good for people. +Some of his partners brought him to court for this. +The Dodge brothers. +They wanted to build their own car company with the profit, +which would later become the Dodge Motor Company. +This company was later taken over by Daimler. So it is now in German ownership. +The court ruled that the Dodge brothers were right. +Ford can't pay higher wages and build better cars, +because it was Ford's duty to increase the power and profit of this abstract entity. +In these new so-called free trade agreements, these monstrous, pathological entities +granted far more rights than human beings. +So when General Motors moves to Mexico, +may require treatment under national law. +It has to be treated like a Mexican company. +But a Mexican flesh and blood goes to New York +and says I want to be treated under national law +he can be happy when he is sent back home. +Or if he's less fortunate, he might end up in Guantanamo. +These pathological entities have far more rights than humans. +Other than that, they are much larger than states; they are immortal +and completely destructive. +It is in their nature to destroy the environment, to destroy life opportunities +You are right that the current form of so-called globalization treats you privilegedly +but that's just one of many reasons why it's wrong +and should be eliminated together with these structures, +which are just as legitimate as Bolshevism or Fascism. +And yes! They should be eliminated and replaced by public control. +This is a core principle of democracy and therefore also of liberalism. +Do you think that mixing humor and politics is an appropriate means +um pol. To convey ideas to a wider public? Thank you. +I think I understood everything. +I was a bit irritated by the many voices. +So is mixing humor and politics an appropriate way to reach people? +Like Michael Moore, for example. +It certainly reaches a huge audience. +We should be asking ourselves what people take in from what they see? +This is an interesting question. And I'm afraid there are no easy answers. +I have dealt with this in previous discussions +and I'm not going to deepen that now. +But it's a question to ask: +What image of people does the audience have? +This is the question we should be asking. +Many thanks. +Prof. Chomsky, I like your ideas about the abolition of the state +and deciding collectively how we want to live. +Now that a lot of people have been fighting for it in many places, +we can now say that it is not that easy. At least, it seems that way. +Could you give us some ideas or instructions? +How can we do it more effectively? +First of all, you are right. That is not easy. +But indeed there has been great progress. +There has been a lot of progress in recent years. +And much of it was accomplished by students. +Let's look at the past 40 years, for example. +Today society is much more civilized in almost all areas. +Starting with human rights (including women's rights, minority rights and others) +up to international affairs - rejection of attacks eg +Or international solidarity. +Significant progress has been made. Society is also very different today than it was then. +Much of this was started by young people. +I can't give advice. We all know the answer. +There are no magic keys for this. And they never existed. +If anyone had found her, he would have told us. +But nobody told us because they don't exist. +The only way to go there is to devote yourself to what you are interested in. +In the first stage, education includes what includes self-education. +It involves organization. That means interacting with other people +based on the natural instincts for sympathy and solidarity of everyone. +You have to find actions that nobody can describe exactly. +They depend on the circumstances, goals and others. +In the end you get results. +That is why slavery no longer exists. Therefore there are no more kings and princes. +Therefore, women's rights could be realized to a certain extent. +But we still have a long way to go. +That is why we have parliamentary democracies. +That is why we have this unique historical legacy of freedom and privilege. +It was not given to us. +They were won - even by young people - in the only possible way. +It will never be easy. It's easier today than it was in the past +because we have more freedoms and privileges today. +And then it's a matter of choice. +I would like to come back to Aristotle - which is actually not my subject. +When I wrote about the constitutional welfare state +I got into a dispute with an older colleague about whom this comment came from. +He said: If you start with equality rights, +you will never be able to write anything sensible about the principle of the welfare state. +When I heard your views about Aristotle, I thought +maybe Michael Kittner is right there. +Because, as you said, Aristotle decided to establish an egalitarian democracy. +Aristotle had a strange concept of equality. +For him, equal rights only applied to the same. +And the law unequal applies only to inequalities. +I see the roots of the welfare state in it. +On the one hand, an exclusive society for outsiders. +Wohlfart for the rich, welfare for the Germans. +And on the other hand, a fear-driven society for those within. +The question now is how can this principle of a welfare state be transferred to democracy? +How can you transfer that to the international community +which is governed by a people's democracy? +Maybe you can help me there? +I used that because it amplifies the sound. +You are quite right there. +Aristotle spoke out for a democracy for free men in Athens. +Ie not for women and not for slaves and not for non-Athenians. +They restored the traditional fascist structures +and tried to suppress the labor movement and resistance. +They did the same thing in Europe. In Italy at least until the 70s, +where our inspection of files ends. +As for praising the Ottoman Empire ... I think you misunderstood the punch line. +I have not praised oriental despotism. +What I said was that nobody wanted to restore the Ottoman Empire +but there was something right about it. +And I think that's right. +The right thing was that it left people alone. +Still, there were many things that were wrong. +As for the court martial ... Would I work for the judge? +In short, the answer to that is no. +But that has nothing to do with war courts. +The court martial is an educational tool. It's not about accusing someone. +It is an educational tool. +Does it make people better understand how the world works? +I don't think so, but you can see it how you want. +Since the Vietnam War Crimes Tribunal, I don't think +that this is an appropriate educational tool. +And that I could use my time and energy more effectively with other things. +But that's my judgment. Perhaps your judgment is also correct. +But that's how I've seen it for many years. +It would be a little idle if I put the precedent in Nuremberg here. +Because the process in Nuremberg was not based on any principles. +The people who were convicted in Nuremberg were perhaps the worst criminals in all of world history +But remember the Nuremberg principles! +The Nuremberg trials defined war crimes and crimes against humanity +... and it was expressly formulated this way ... +It is a verbechen what you have committed and we have not committed. +For example, the bombing of civilian targets in inhabited areas, +which was an appalling crime - here and especially in Japan. +This wasn't called war crimes, +with the express foundation that the allies did more of it, +than the Axis Powers. +Accused in Nuremberg let go again +if you are an amer. Could find a counterpart who committed the same crimes. +If you take a look at the whole series of tribunals from the Nuremberg trials to the present day, +then there is not a single case where the winner was on trial. +Does this mean that the winners have not committed any crimes? +I mean that is more than absurd! +But the point is that these are the crimes of the vanquished. +And that's not a principle we should follow. +We should talk about crime, whether it's the victor or the vanquished. +That is why I do not use the Nuremberg precedent as an example. +As for the symbolic war crimes trials, I think +that they make sense. +You can dupe some people for a while, +but you can't dupe everyone all the time. +It is not true that all countries have followed the World Trade Organization. +In fact, no country has done this. +It is the trade ministers, pol. Leaders, corporate leaders, etc. who have followed the World Trade Organization +and the public is usually unaware of this. +Anyway. You are right to say that there are good sides too. +You could say the same thing about National Socialism. It also had its good sides. +He brought Germany out of the depression. +Bolshevism also had its good sides. +He promoted Russia from a deeply depressed peasant society +to a rotten industrialized society. +And so almost every horror in the world has its good sides. +Everything is possible. +There has been a lot of media discussion about manipulating intelligence findings +and the wrong reporting about it. +That couldn't be avoided. +If you look at the results of the Iraq war, it turns out +that none of what Bush, Blair and others have claimed is true. +If you want to know something about mass blind weapons, read the David Kay report. +An official U.S. government report from Chief Gun Inspector David Kay. +He admitted that everything was just a lie. He claimed it was an oversight. +What ever. Everything was wrong. So yes, there is a lot of discussion. +But the media nonetheless cooperated on the mass delusion. +In the United States, the government has no way to fool anyone. +This has to be done through the media. +And the media are very subordinate to the powerful. +They transmit government propaganda uncritically. +Would you like to see an example of this? +As I said, these things are very well researched in the United States. +For example, consider September 2002. An extremely crucial month. +Three things happened in September 2002: +1 .: The Bush administration announced its national security strategy. +2nd: They practically declared the war in Iraq. +3 .: Set up the campaign platform for the congressional elections in November, +These three things are related. +The National Security Strategy is the general framework. +The Iraq war should be the first application of it. +The timing had to do with the fact that the Republican campaign strategists knew +and also publicly said +that they could not go to the polls if national issues were in the foreground. +They knew they didn't stand a chance +because their programs were very harmful to the population. +Therefore, the topics had to be shifted to security issues. +A brave leader protects you from terror. +It was at this point that the government made a hint +- they didn't say it like that - +but hinted that Iraq may be producing weapons of mass destruction. +Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11 +You are planning new attacks. You have connections to AlQaida. +All of these were, in one form or another, government statements. +At this point, the media had a choice. +Do we rely on these statements or should we investigate them in depth? +One might ask: if they are responsible for 9/11, where is the evidence? +The media chose the first route almost entirely. +We rely uncritically on these statements. +If you look at the opinion polls, then you believed at the end of the month +about 60 percent of the population that Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11, +that he plans further attacks +that he produces weapons of mass destruction. +These ideas were quite persistent. +They're no longer 60 percent today, but they're still high, +because the media is still repeating it in one form or another. +And as you can expect, sticking to this belief is closely linked +with the support for war. +Attitudes to this war were balanced worldwide. +But those who shared these views also supported the war. +Which is not surprising. +If I believed these things, I would also support this war. +If you go one step further and look at the people, +who have been tortured in Abu Ghuaraib, +then these people come from a background where you believe these claims. +When they come to the Marine Coprs, this belief is reinforced by indoctrination. +So if you ask these people why they're doing this, +then they will definitely say that they want to retaliate. +You attacked us. If you think you can get away with it, +then we'll show them. +It is a common belief. +Of course, the government is happy to see the media spread it. +But it is the responsibility of the media to have done this. +So there are weapons of mass destruction and they are called: +Fox News, CBS News, NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, etc. +You don't have to do that. +315 +327 +331 +343 +364 +374 +384 +390 +400 +404 +416 +426 +429 +437 +444 +447 +456 +459 +471 +474 +483 +492 +495 +502 +513 +523 +540 +547 +551 +561 +564 +571 +580 +589 +595 +604 +611 +614 +623 +627 +634 +641 +647 +652 +658 +661 +669 +676 +680 +686 +694 +696 +706 +712 +720 +730 +748 +755 +760 +766 +770 +782 +788 +790 +800 +805 +814 +821 +825 +835 +843 +847 +853 +867 +880 +886 +892 +899 +905 +914 +920 +923 +930 +936 +946 +953 +960 +964 +968 +974 +983 +985 +993 +1003 +1006 +1013 +1017 +1020 +1026 +1034 +1038 +1046 +1063 +1070 +1078 +1083 +1089 +1098 +1103 +1109 +1115 +1118 +1120 +1126 +1139 +1144 +1153 +1166 +1173 +1185 +1198 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He is worshiped, but not read. +And so, for example, everyone's heard of the phrase "invisible hand," but almost no one knows, well, how he used it. +The term "invisible hand" actually does appear in his classic Wealth of Nations -- once. +It appears in an argument against what's now called "neoliberalism." +What's now called "neoclassical economics," that we're supposed to worship. +So we're supposed to worship Adam Smith, and neoclassical economics, and they radically differ +on the notion [of] "invisible hand." +Adam Smith was concerned, as David Ricardo later was, that if there was free movement of capital +and free import of goods -- he was concerned about England --, he said, England will suffer +because British capitalists will invest abroad, +and they'll import from abroad, and that'll harm the English economy. +Ricardo had similar concerns. +Adam Smith then gave an argument. It's a not a very good argument, +but his argument was that English investors will prefer to invest in England +because of what some called a "home bias" -- they'll have a preference for investing close-by. +And therefore, as if by an invisible hand, England will be saved from the menace of free capital movement +and free imports. +That's "invisible hand." +What's that got to do with the Cato Institute, or the modern enthusiasm about free capital flow and, +you know, having US corporations invest in China so they can send stuff back here to sell cheap, +exploiting Chinese workers? +That's not Adam Smith. +And it goes right across the board. +I mean, everyone who went to college learned the first paragraph of Wealth of Nations, +in which he talks about how wonderful division of labor is, you know, +vows for all kind of efficiency, and productivity, and so on. +Not very many people got to page -- you know, whatever it is, page 400 -- in which he points out that division of labor is monstrous. +Because it turns people into creatures as stupid and ignorant as a person can possible be +-- the person just becomes a machine, and that's a terrible attack on fundamental human rights +and therefore, he says, in any civilized society, +the government's gonna have to intervene to prevent division of labor. +How many people get that far? +In fact, Smith does give arguments for markets -- rather nuanced arguments. +I mean, just take what they call "trade." +You know, the so-called conservatives are very excited that "trade" is increasing. +So, for example, NAFTA is supposed to be a great triumph of conservatism, it +it increased trade between Mexico and the United States. +Well, it's true that cross-border interactions between Mexico and the United States increased. +But would Adam Smith or any classical liberal, or traditional conservative, have called that "trade"? +I mean, suppose General Motors assembles parts in Indiana, and sends them to Illinois for assembly, and then to New York to sell. +Is that "trade"? +Well, suppose it happens to cross the Mexican border -- but it's still internal to a huge command economy. +Is that "trade"? +Well, it turns out that if you look at the rough figures, which are all that we have, before NAFTA, the +part of cross-border interactions between Mexico and the US that was internal to a corporation +was about 50 per cent. +And now it's about two-thirds. +That's no more trade than if the Kremlin produced things in Leningrad, and sent them to Ukraine for assembly, +and to Poland to sell. +That's just operations internal to command economies. +We have to simply, you know -- just +Even to talk about "trade," or "free trade," or "entrepeneurial values," or "consumer choice," +or "democratic functioning," and so on, is putting us in a world of illusion and fantasy. +That's why these terms are all demeaned -- not just conservative. +0 +5 +12 +18 +23 +29 +34 +36 +44 +51 +54 +59 +62 +65 +72 +77 +85 +87 +90 +97 +106 +107 +109 +112 +118 +122 +126 +135 +143 +150 +153 +157 +160 +166 +170 +174 +180 +185 +191 +197 +208 +210 +216 +218 +226 +233 +235 +238 +245 +248 +251 +254 +260 +266 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Spectacular” Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party OUHEP4YXCDg.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Spectacular” Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party OUHEP4YXCDg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9eef557 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Spectacular” Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party OUHEP4YXCDg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,316 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman, as we turn back to my interview with world-renowned political dissident, linguist +and author Noam Chomsky, now at the University of Arizona, Tucson. +AMY GOODMAN: Let's go to the upcoming midterm elections and the increasing number of Democratic +Socialist candidates running, who raise the issue of immigration as one of the top issues. +I recently sat down with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democratic congressional candidate, +whose recent primary victory upended the 10-term incumbent Congressman Joe Crowley, the fourth-ranking +Democrat in the House, who was being talked about as the next House speaker to succeed +Pelosi. +And I began by asking her how she achieved her staggering primary victory. +ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I do think that the way that we won in New York 14 is a model +for how we can win almost anywhere. +I knew from the outset that--you know, I had no misconceptions of the fact that the +New York political machine was not going to be doing me any favors. +And so I didn't--I tried to kind of come in as clear-eyed as possible. +And I knew that if we were going to win, the way that progressives win on an unapologetic +message is by expanding the electorate. +That's the only way that we can win strategically. +It's not by rushing to the center. +It's not by trying to win spending all of our energy winning over those who have other +opinions. +It's by expanding the electorate, speaking to those that feel disenchanted, dejected, +cynical about our politics, and letting them know that we're fighting for them. +So I knew that I had to build a broad-based coalition that operates outside of the traditional +Democratic establishment, and that I had to pursue kind of an uphill journey of convincing +activists that electoral politics is worthwhile. +AMY GOODMAN: And the issues you ran on? +ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: And the issues I ran on were very clear, and I think it was +an important part to us winning: improved and expanded Medicare for all; tuition-free +public colleges and universities, as well as trade schools; a Green New Deal; justice +for Puerto Rico; an unapologetic platform of criminal justice reform and ending the +war on drugs; and also speaking truth to power and speaking about money in politics not just +in general, but how it operates in New York City. +AMY GOODMAN: In a moment, I'm going to play her clip talking about immigration activism. +Yes, Alexandria Cortez--Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to the border right before Election Day. +In fact, her plane was delayed. +I was concerned she wouldn't be back in New York for the Primary Day. +But if you could start by responding to this? +And then we'll hear what she has to say about immigration activism. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think there's--her victory was a quite spectacular and significant +event. +I think what it points to is a split in the Democratic Party between the--roughly speaking, +between the popular base and the party managers. +The popular base is increasingly, essentially, social democratic, following, pursuing the--concerned +with the kinds of progressive objectives that she outlined in those--in her remarks, which +should be directed not only to expanding the electorate but to the general working-class, +poor population of the world, of the middle-class population of the country, for whom these +ideals are quite significant. +They can be brought to that. +That's one part of the party. +The other part of the party is the donor-oriented, managerial part of the New Democrats, so-called, +the Clintonite Democrats, who are pretty much what used to be called moderate Republicans. +The Republican Party itself has drifted so far to the right that they're almost off +the spectrum. +But the split within the Democratic Party is significant, and it's showing up in primary +after primary. +Will the party move in the direction of its popular base, with a, essentially, social +democratic, New Deal-style programs, even beyond? +Or will it continue to cater to the donor class and be essentially a moderate wing--a +more moderate wing of the Republican Party? +And unless that issue is resolved, I don't think they have a very good chance in the +forthcoming elections. +I think she was right in saying that the policies she's outlined should have broad appeal +to a very large segment of the population. +We should bear in mind that, for now almost 40 years, since the neoliberal assault began, +taking off with Reagan, on from there, a large majority of the population are living in conditions +of stagnation or decline. +Real wages are--for, say, male real wages--are about what they were in the 1960s. +It's been--there has been productivity growth. +Hasn't gone to working people. +It's gone into the very few extremely overstuffed pockets. +And that continues. +So, the Labor Department just came out with its report for wages in the year ending May +2018. +Now, they actually slightly declined. +All sorts of talk--real wages, that is, wages measured against inflation. +And it's apparently continuing, with an even further drop. +This is a time when a lot of crowing about the marvelous economy, you know, full employment +and so on, but wages continue to stagnate. +And furthermore, it's plainly going to get worse. +The Republicans are on a binge of pursuing the most savage form of class warfare. +The tax scam is a good example, the attacks on workers' rights, on--Public Citizen +just came out with a report on corporate impunity, which is almost comical when you read it. +The administration has simply cut back radically on any kind of dealing with corporate crimes. +And, of course, the EPA has practically stopped working. +It's as if grab whatever you can, stuff it in your pocket, before--while you have +a chance. +Under those conditions, the kind of appeal that she was talking about should mean a lot +to the general population. +Notice, as everybody's well aware, the tax scam was a purposeful effort not only to enrich +the super-rich and the corporate sector--corporate profits, of course, are overflowing--but +it was also an effort to sharply increase the deficit, which can be used--and Paul +Ryan and others kindly announced to us right away what the plans were--the deficit could +be used to undermine any elements of government structure which benefit the general population--Medicare, +Social Security, food for poor children. +Anything you can do to shaft the general population more can now be justified under the argument +that we have a huge deficit, thanks to stuffing the pockets of the rich. +This is an astonishing phenomenon. +And under those conditions, a properly designed progressive program should appeal to a large +majority of the population. +But it has to be done correctly and not shaped in ways which will appease the donor class. +AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go back to the interview with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has really +upended the Democratic Party, and the kind of message this candidate of Puerto Rican +descent in New York has sent to the entire party, I think the Republican Party, as well. +But this is what she says about immigration. +ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: We have to occupy all of it. +We need to occupy every airport, we need to occupy every border, we need to occupy every +ICE office, until those kids are back with their parents, period. +AMY GOODMAN: Now, the right-wing media--for example, Fox News and others--have kept--have +written about this over and over since she made this comment about occupying airports. +Interestingly, her area of Queens and Bronx include Rikers Island and LaGuardia Airport. +Noam Chomsky? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think we just had a very dramatic illustration of what courageous +opposition to these atrocious policies can do--namely, the young Swedish woman who prevented +an airplane from taking off because it was deporting an Afghan man to almost certain +murder. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam, let me go to the young Swedish woman, the student who you just raised, +who stood up-- +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. +AMY GOODMAN: --on the plane, this flight from Gothenburg, Sweden, to Istanbul, because +she understood that an Afghan refugee was on the flight, as you pointed out, and she +live-streamed what she did next. +This is what Elin Ersson had to say. +ELIN ERSSON: I'm not going to sit down until this person is off the plane, because he will +most likely get killed if he is on this plane when it goes up. +AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Elin Ersson. +And when one of the angry passengers threatened her, threatened to take her phone away, and +then a flight attendant grabbed it back, she went on to say--when passengers talked about +being inconvenienced, she said, "They're not going to die. +He's going to die." +And there were many on the plane, actually, who supported her in her protest, until the +Afghan refugee was removed from that flight on orders of the pilot. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, that was a very inspiring act and an indication of what could be achieved +by really large-scale civil disobedience. +Here's one young woman standing up alone to try to prevent a person from being killed +in difficult and hostile conditions. +Large-scale civil disobedience could achieve a great deal more. +But I would again urge that we think in broader terms. +We should be considering why people are fleeing from their homes. +Not because they want to live in slums in New York. +They're fleeing from their homes because their homes are unlivable, and they're unlivable, +largely, because of things that we have done. +Overwhelmingly, that's the reason. +That tells you right away what the solution to the crisis is: rebuild what we've destroyed, +compensate for the atrocities that we've carried out. +Then the flow of refugees will decline. +And for those who come with asylum pleas, they should be accommodated in a humane and +civilized way. +Maybe it's impossible to imagine that we can reach the level of civilization of the +poor countries that are absorbing refugees. +But it doesn't--it shouldn't seem entirely out of reach. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky is now linguistics professor at the University of Arizona, speaking +to us from Tucson. +Clearly, resistance is in the air. +When we come back, we move from resistance in airplanes to resistance on the air--that's +on Fox, an unexpected interruption. +Noam Chomsky will respond. +Stay with us. +0 +3 +8 +11 +18 +25 +32 +39 +43 +44 +49 +55 +59 +65 +69 +74 +79 +82 +85 +87 +91 +92 +100 +105 +112 +119 +121 +123 +127 +132 +138 +145 +150 +152 +158 +164 +165 +170 +172 +176 +185 +186 +195 +197 +208 +216 +223 +229 +232 +234 +236 +246 +254 +259 +260 +267 +269 +278 +283 +293 +296 +304 +306 +313 +316 +327 +336 +339 +346 +350 +352 +357 +359 +368 +369 +371 +377 +383 +389 +393 +398 +409 +420 +429 +438 +445 +450 +452 +460 +462 +473 +478 +487 +493 +503 +511 +519 +524 +526 +535 +536 +545 +551 +559 +564 +566 +569 +574 +578 +586 +592 +598 +599 +613 +621 +629 +630 +637 +639 +640 +645 +651 +654 +657 +665 +669 +672 +679 +687 +691 +693 +700 +704 +715 +718 +726 +734 +737 +742 +748 +752 +758 +762 +765 +773 +777 +780 +787 +789 +795 +799 +802 +806 +807 +809 +815 +818 +820 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on American Foreign Policy and US Politics rwqkvF7umpk.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on American Foreign Policy and US Politics rwqkvF7umpk.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58006e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on American Foreign Policy and US Politics rwqkvF7umpk.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,970 @@ +C +Part without emails +Harris always got what this got +Barnes Professor at Biotechnology did +Not sure you are supposed to have this type of restaurant and other than try +Made out of twelve but I have some time with it +presentaci great pleasure after you are here +Graduate Haha Gray Depo is now written or more than a hundred specialty +Prolific at the very least books +From American dominance including in the new specs that the SEB mandarin will be repeated +Perhaps from the media apparently equaled cited filming of history is taking place +I only care behind leaving the marks of Shakespeare are the hidden BH Bible +Plato and Freud +Or argument of the Bible upright in the new sis his new book hope some expectations +Well without jobs for the first time in the book she talks about the US State Department +Policy +Already starting out soon with your fans is not great for an exceptional American idea +ism +So let me start perhaps really from asking you what you think of +The main problems with American fork balls +Who paralyzes hopefully that stands out I'm not a fan of American Gallery had it +This is like saying I am not Hanover fast +The moon is called green trees +Not Found +OK +Strong straightened out fast habit +They consider themselves exceptionally impressive +The United States is no exception +good +The basis for a visit +Not too big before that +politely +The problems with American foreign policy is our +It is rooted in the central nature that we are the ace +We know that +So we can know if we want to tell you to go back to +They say the second world war +Upon returning to the point where u_s_ became a world power +Before that he had wanted it largely occupied in the national territory +Conservative population +Including Mexico +And expanded to uh ... +Ea statute +Pretty much take control of the Western Hemisphere +The data is not stable +You know invaded the Philippines killed a few hundred thousand people however +The real global power after that time Britain was the others to them +The unit that was not +Global Po +I became a soldier in the book World War +And uh ... the planners died +Carefully plan the year completely +How to run the post-war world +Uh ... +Tho in +It was the basic idea that there should be what they call grandparents +U_s_ which will be totally under control +During which u_s_ will not be tolerated +Uh ... any expression of sovereignty +He stepped in with u_s_ global designs +One that would be a competitor of course allowed to untuk u_s_ +The area is very expensive to have been included +Western Hemisphere +Asian user +Huh +That the former British Empire that u_s_ the take over includes +Crucially +Uh ... energy reserves in the Middle East +With +That are in the main ones of the world and death +Pointed out that the planners uh ... +Whether we control the Middle East or we can control the world +Uh ... hence you will of course included as much of your Asia as possible +At least for the service +Commercial and industrial center of Western Europe +It was good that a very small big area +And i will guarantee that granbury of u_s_ uh ... +With it the limit is the dominion of Sandoval, that is, the exercise of sovereignty +Well of course uh ... +He spoke to a large extent speaking poetry in the following years of +a path +He was just too ambitious to order +With a bit of power turned v'll +Who are the rubles +Uh ... +Uh ... is that decolonization that uh ... +This week uh ... another ball re-industrial powers +war results +The night before before I think you have to have an Elmo +Over the world and basically try economically poor +North American-based u_s_ postpaid +Europe mostly on the basis of German and uh ... at the time Japan on the basis that it is applicable Asia +Big economic powers +Anderson spent pregnant women in that organization more +Whenever fiscal policy remains little +And uh ... that's why we have maybe 800 military bases around the world +Not anyone else +Why do we have +Spending a lot on the military is uh ... relative to the rest of the world combined +A more technologically advanced art with +Keep destroying uh ... +Plan to be able to override anything force anything +And uh ... why did we spectral dollars invade two countries in +Center +Middle east ... uh occupy central asia selling books to them +And on and on those very serious problems +Silt binder +Let's try to find out or you can tell us why you think we can do these things +Of course we get to this idea that is for freedom and democracy +Uh ... but what the real goal was power and that was money +Who and who makes decisions and why +When she did the position too +The decisions were made in the 1940s which I discussed in +Government and agreement is another point +Government planning and implementation departments +He suggests ghost is wrong +But remember that the state director is the closest very lean linked +To focus private capital +For the corporate sector +The financial industry in recent years and others +Army notes or energy companies +Closer mechanisms +Whereas, the basis is the implementation of the plan +And it is not very surprising that the plan is implemented on their interests +However, this is how it is always done +This is intended for you Adams data guys for women +Talk about England +Correctly indicated +One of the policy engineer +They are the people who are mainly on the country and out today +Manufacturers +And maybe she has to ensure her own interests are +Very well served with motorhome +Agree that any influence on others including the people of England's mother ... +Perch took us +This is one of my simple intuition +Energy systems generally hold it +It is not a big surprise but uh ... we are like other power systems +Without apprehending his last book he tells uh ... +Of course hopes and aspects first occur jobs so it is an example of cigarettes +Guidance +That old wraxall +Hussein was 16 of our conquest of Iraq and it is as simple as saying hey +Defense contractor will earn money Albert will earn money, and therefore we do not +Going to Iraq because of that now there are other forces each one of those +Words reflect strong reasons for invading Iraq +Records from the world's second largest oil reserves +It is right in the heart +Uh from ... what the Middle East is the main energy uh ... reservation +From the world +China Casbah +The regime was the client, and it has a large military base in Iraq and access to +Preferential access to its resources +Of great credit to the people who are +Irene counterparts dealers manufacturers +Uh ... energy companies +From industrial companies, banks, and so on, this mission did not +It was styled sanitary status defeated +He defeated u_s_ goals in Iraq +A very important fact +From the beginning of the cycle of all kinds of pretexts +You know we're going to uh ... with their weapons tied up with you all cried +You know weapons of mass destruction that collapsed when uh ... there was new +The leading democracy was brought in +In fact, u_s_ fought democracy every step of the way +They tried to block the elections when he couldn't random but uh ... +He tried to manipulate Clement to carry on right through through +End +19 work out of eight thousand +When it was very clear that u_s_ would not change its goals +The Bush administration +Barney started talking about what to do +Until November 12 +2007 January 2008 there were +Uh ... strong +Important announcements by management and dating +He said they discussed what dot com should be +We could have talked about the Special Forces Agreement, what to do +Included +At that time they were ordering +I knew what it should include +Hobby ... +UIT +u_s_ right to use +Military bases in Iraq +At the end as a basis for other combat operations and the privilege of access +For u_s_ +Iraqi energy resources +U_s_ corporate +He said that this will quite clearly that they are going desperate +Likewise, she didn't get any of those +The united nations it was not able to uh ... +But uh ... suppressing Iraqi nationalism +Now u_s_ to kill a number of militants that was not a big deal +But they could not deal with his counterpart brought together non-violent popular resistance +It was in the back +Down +Step by step maturity +Find books from any direct friends of the leading companies at +Grocery stores analysts people like uh ... +Jonathan Steele that +Ava Gardner potential times other cities have addresses such as defeat +Defeated u_s_ +So but it is clear what war has so far been reasonable answers +Seems like illegal in a week if the user is future solent's look at it in terms of +That companies are about when you look but that was realization i +Adoption is too late or else you may not understand why we are one of the oil when we were +Do not get loyalty of course +People were the American ruling bride and let my kids be nineteen +The fifties +The u_s_ was great +It produces your source +An interest +But nevertheless, it was dedicated to the management of Eisenhower u_s_. +It was dedicated to monitoring the Middle East +Oral Middle East before the mentioned reasons i +Planners admitted +That if we dominate the Middle East or we can dominate the world +And on this carrier sit +You can control what others do +Whether we use it or not +Eisenhower management protection +For the sake of uh ... +For the benefit of Texas oil producers +Insist on exhausting our local stock +Using the reserves went home care and uh ... +Instead of buying much cheaper ... mother of the Middle East yellow +Well thought out +Those profits were short-term accounts +But in general apart Perry was not presented in favor of the population +Scarcely +It may not be limited to only eight or anywhere else +So we are what Afghanistan looking uh ... we have President Obama design women +Of course we extend our stay there anymore +Knowing how you think this decision gets made I mean he is a president in a while +Decision-making or actually I don't think it's the main decision but +Quad institutions in a specific direction +To walk us through it if you are and how you can relate to what we have been +Was discussed here because that is innocent +Uh ... they don't have much oil that they have pipelines but they haven't +One +The state is famous for surgery +We return to what but when Bush invaded I bought a man +laboratory +And he said uh ... +People would go and get better positioned to know what to do about it +You know very well that there are many books there but for that +Bob Woodward's example book goes last +In detail about what he was told by the insiders about the position +Maybe this is just not worth looking at however +And they will but we hope that we do not have internal documents that we have to +Meditation +My holiday weapon inspector +It is that Obama and his advisers make the political decision +They understand that uh ... they know that unpopular wars +A majority of the population yet believes that we shouldn't either +But they also know +If they leave Afghanistan without something they can call it +win over +And it will be +Slaughtered by the publicity wing system right +And how to share their specifications try to find a way to do +hang on +Long enough +So it couldn't be a situation that maybe she could tell is their victory in +Partially withdrawn +Lamar that a sub-sample is trying the same in Iraq +For us in the city I like the old town as the latest book calls out some expectations +Prescott who deserves any bright spots in American foreign policy +for a while +She settled it +Non-encroachment technical recruiter complete their poems damage that word +Long-term interest of the people +Error choosing a Marshall Plan +He was personally second in his favor at the time but without illusions +The Marshall Plan was a good plan aimed at +How helpful in recovering Europe +But its main goal +Work for u_s_ corporate power +Now that it has been barely hidden +When I remember which situation +Most of it is done by motivating us to the industrial world that it destroyed +World War II +Although u_s_ which was already the richest country in the world +Industrial production is almost four times +We literally had half the world's wealth +At the end of World War II +And u_s_ manufacturers +It was a huge surplus +Uh ... and need it in a market +Also where is the market on the body +Only in other industrial societies +They even had a real test captured with taxpayer money to help others +Rebuilding industrial societies +And after you know the IA market for the u_s_ industry +But also space for expansion +In it the multinationals have somehow actually got to start it +I knew this was not especially my idea that you could read it in Reagan said +The same is true, Ministry of Commerce said +The business press rebound well understood +But preparation done but we should have no illusions +Bite but not the best we can all four enlightened self-interest where we have yes +Companies make money however +It also helps to rebuild +Parts of large portions of Europe are anisha and grabs this is not as bad as this +The thing that is actually very good +Uh ... point +I spread unemployment from +Uh ... I don't think it's the best I could hope for +I do not think the best you can go or choose a country from the Soviet Union +Is that uh ... +And support in Eastern European countries +Uh ... to the extent that it was actually richard misery union +And it's +Better that they do it today +Traded in the way we deal with its colonies +Well but I don't think this is the most I can open the door and I haven't but I +No praise of work +Well ... uh misuse +They get a broad question but you think our system is that was the cabinet +Along +We don't really have a democracy on time +We had a ripple +Marketing issue praised and yes or no +It is not even more or less fare that has many dimensions +Or in some respects the United States is very free +You will go for example or +He takes freedom of speech +Which are protected +It was more in the United States than any other country in Ohio +This is probably a very good friend +Achieve not in the Bill of Rights and by the way +It is not the treatment most obtained in the sixties +That's when the Supreme Court cases are a big factor +Reached within +Impact of the civil rights movement, and so on +But there are now speeches of freedom +Much uh ... +Uh ... hey protect Carly +Much more than them +Other countries and a lot of it is good +on the other side +We just hardly have a political problem +9 fifty years ago he mentioned that u_s_ dallas president +Especially one political party in the business party +With two factions called Republicans and Democrats +And they hope all down a little +They are in the best interest of their business department +The novel is sometimes from +Some help to residents sometimes not +You can see it all the time +Olympic President Obama's update +Was a little bit +The essence of the response +There were financial institutions +From now they are the most important part of +And most of the economy contributes a lot to the birthday of the economy +Heaven does not weigh much they are perhaps at forty percent of corporate profits +good +Very doubtful what contributes to the economy in the immediate with too +strong +And uh ... is that the corresponding +According to the traditions of politics u_s_ that would have been studied completely +Well documented +This tradition is in +The case is usually with +Concentration of financing +Everywhere all the time of politics +Financiers expect to pay off +Blue it was not a big surprise but uh ... +The biggest beneficiary of Obama's domestic politics +Where are the financial institutions who take very to the economy +And you can see it right away +One of the people we chose as his economic advisors was not there +Find out about the Nobel Prize who had to +Where was that +Condemned a politician that led to the crisis uh ... +It was not people or like +The youngest technician is Paul Krugman and others +He chose the people who created the crisis +One of the basics +Robert Rubin over there +Plumbers are the puzzle of the superintendent who is best known for doing us +Undermine +Regulation of derivatives is one of the main causes of the crisis +Great writers and parents +The answer is Yahoo stock exchange +And the two created +Save anonymous financial institutions in +Obviously I needed something +Financial institutions have destroyed the economy so that it has to be done +Doubtful buttons right had to be done in a way that uh ... +Enriches us with those who create the most powerful crisis ever made +This is what you would expect from a policy path to work +D now +I think this is a conscious decision, but while all races know what I think +Players who participated in the destruction of the economy anyway because these guys got paid by +Not a conscious decision +How to achieve that decision? +Uh ... +If you go back to the General Office of the Soviet Union +And you ask what the people were thinking +We had a good idea of what they were thinking because we were there +Internal published documents +They were thinking that there is +Saving democracy from the US-led fascist attack ... oh +They're gonna make a generation +It also benefits people +You reject the fascists Anita +We have tons of documents that are kept +Pamper the country +One of the only Japanese fascist document +Overflowing +your mercy +When when they were carrying massive massacres in China +They were bringing earthly paradise to China +And protecting people from thieves were trying to undermine him +So on and so forth +It's very hard to go oh automatically you look you find themselves serving +Creating ideologies +SOS Obama brainwashed by the system +You do not know anything about it Obama +dust +Psychological escape ms family +After submitting the issues +And I don't care what uh ... you know immigration and really fought +I care what he did +By itself and then finally six if we can deal with questions broadly resolved +Been in this mess, and it's complete to the outside ... oh +You and I may disagree over something but we agree that +And all our politicians are bought their machine it's the system at Rick +Pointed when we hear +Uh ... how can we fix it +If we can +What we can do with Genentech if you look at how American history is there +Then waves of progress and then decline +So the current situation, for example +Somewhat similar to the twenties 19 +1923 Inequality is enormous +And about what it was in the 19th century +Uh ... there was uh ... the labor movement has been largely destroyed +Independent or a third of them +That clearly represents friends +Woodrow Wilson Red fears and other devices were still in operation +19 twenties on the utopia of the masters of the end of history +Well you know nineteen thirties changed radically +It was the popular movement to stay here +Democratization of the country that created it +Very important ... uh the government was forced to create uh ... +Care measures are great +Social security uh ... workers rights uh ... +This is who +Much improved the country, and it was perfect +But there has been a great improvement +Affects the regulation of financial institutions +that was good +From the absence of any financial crises +So I started to dismantle every million seventies and eighties +You can't look at the 60s and the popular movement here for them +Also lead to a great democratic transformation of the country +puff +Freedom of expression protection that i mentioned uh ... +AA was the country to cede another civil rights movement +Women's rights are a very important factor +Creating the right to ethnic minorities and this is the most free and unjust society +It can happen to me again that it will happen on his own +Which sites +Dedication effort +What would happen if how did they do what we give up on the form we can so we Lauren +You can do that now +Secret pictures most know we have you old you but the fruit is gone +Books apply to the modest mid-thirties was +Very active in the sixties and there is no big secret +Pitch-positive organization of devices 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+1424 +1427 +1429 +1434 +1437 +1442 +1446 +1448 +1452 +1456 +1459 +1463 +1465 +1469 +1472 +1476 +1480 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on COVID & ECONOMY zi6ae6kZNqE.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on COVID & ECONOMY zi6ae6kZNqE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e351d8b --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on COVID & ECONOMY zi6ae6kZNqE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1052 @@ +Hi everybody I'm Linda Solomon Wood. I'm the editor in +chief of Canada's National Observer. Good evening hello if you're joining us from +the east good evening if you're joining us from the West good +afternoon I'm so honored and thrilled this evening to have Noam Chomsky as +my guest and it's great to be here together at home with all of you so +welcome we've created a couple of ways you can engage with us today one way is +through the question and answer button on your screen at the bottom there where +you can type in a question you want me to put to Noam Chomsky you will also be +able to vote for the questions people are submitting and the second way to +engage is through the chat that's where you can share your ideas your reactions +and your thoughts so I'm talking to you tonight from my dining room table and +it's the very place I started Observer Media Group 13 years ago with a site +called Vancouver Observer and a readership of 10 my +family and friends it grew and we launched National Observer five years +ago it grew too and mostly thanks to people like you who are joining us +tonight who have subscribed and who have donated and I'm so grateful to you for +that for allowing us to do the work that we do. Last month we had a readership of +1.5 million people so I'm really thrilled about that today here I am back +at the same dining room table this time 1,300 people signed up tonight to be on +our talk with Noam and so we've come a long way but now to our topic for +the evening most of us have been in some form of isolation for going on five +weeks now because of the pandemic sweeping the world some of us are +struggling with the fear of losing jobs and others with the fear of losing loved +ones and some of us already have and there's a pervasive sense that we +really don't know what's coming cities like Vancouver are on the edge of +default. Provinces are looking for help and in the U.S., the same thing. States +cities and so are people in Canada half of us according to an article today in +Bloomberg News live paycheck to paycheck and over a million people in Canada for +over a million people in Canada those paychecks just disappeared. Around the +world 250 million people are at risk now of starvation according to an article +yesterday in the New York Times and in an article in National Observer today +Maude Barlow who founded Council of Canadians wrote that more than half of +the global population lacks access to water to even wash with soap which is +the basic protection against Covid 19 so against that backdrop knowing it's +just so great to have you with us tonight but before we get into our +conversation I briefly want to share a few things I know about you with our +audience I see 500 people are online now. You've +been described as the most cited living author of all time. That's +after Marx Lenin Shakespeare Aristotle the Bible Plato and Freud +You have 37 honorary degrees and you have been teaching philosophy and +linguistics at MIT since 1955 now you're a professor emeritus and you've been +described as the most important intellectual alive by the New York Times +so wow. And thank you again for being with us +and Noam, our topic tonight is can we emerge from Covid-19 with a new economy +and if so how? +Well, the usual class war is operating right now there are the people basically those +who call themselves the Masters of the Universe who are already trying to plan +the future economy. There's another group the general population who are at the +moment more quiescent if that continues then the first plan will be implemented +their plan is to reconstitute the economy pretty much the way it's been +under the neoliberal period roughly the last 40 years but harsher with more +controls over people, more the means of more authoritarian measures. More efforts +to ensure that there's no interference with this model we see that in many ways +I could run through them. There's a good opportunity to ask questions raise +questions about what kind of world we want to live in do we want to live in a +very different world do we want to live in a world where things like the +pandemic don't happen and remember that although we're right now suffering from +the pandemic it's not the main crisis by far. We can we will sooner or later +escape from the pandemic at severe cost. We are not going to escape from the +melting of the polar ice caps of the rise in sea level the other extremely +harmful consequences of global warming. Now the ones who +well it varies but the major country in the world the most important country the +United States happens to be in the hands of someone and in fact a party that +wants to exacerbate the crisis, wants to ensure that the coming crisis which may +well end the prospects for organized human life they want to make sure that +as severe as possible and as imminent as possible and are putting all their +efforts into that right as we speak. (I) can easily give examples if we want that to happen we can watch and not react. +Canada's hardly blameless in this. There are many other problems. Do we want to have a +world in which people have to live paycheck to paycheck in the United +States that's estimated maybe 60 or 70% of the population, now that's the result +of policies of the past 40 years generally called the neoliberal programs +they are designed so that wealth is very sharply concentrated in very few hands +the United States happens to be somewhat extreme but others are not all that +different. In the United States before the crisis 0.1 percent not 1% 0.1% of +the population had about 20% of the country's wealth and about 50 percent +have negative net worth liabilities greater than assets and can barely get +by if anything goes wrong that's not a necessity those are specific +policies but those policies can be changed. In fact, it's not Utopian to think +that we could do back to a period before Reagan, Thatcher, and the rest in which +they were different and you had different consequences. So for example if you look +at I don't know how much detail you want but yes we can make a very different +world. We can start doing it right now. So for example there's a stimulus program +the Republican Congress has passed, so take a look at it. For example, +let's take something that happened this morning and gives you a good example. The +Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who's really the guiding hand he's a +thinker of the administration the real evil genius came out and said that +the stimulus program cannot give money to states -- blue states it's not +going to be a blue state they'll have no money for places like +New York that vote Democratic and the reason he said is that we're not gonna +the future generations don't have to pay for the mistakes that these states have +made in the past. The mistakes are that they granted pension plans for police +and firefighters and teachers and others and if they want to waste their money +that way we're not going to pay for it now let's look one inch away at the +stimulus plan. Who are we giving money to? Enterprises like say the airline +industries which have spent the last year gorging themselves on super profits +and using it then not to benefit consumers, not to build up the industry +but on stock buybacks to raise profits for +investors and crucially for managers and CEOs how much did they spend that way +about forty five billion dollars. What are they getting in the stimulus? Fifty +billion dollars. So in other words if the rich and powerful and corporate sector +want to misspend their money by enriching themselves we'll pay them off. But if states +misspend their money by giving pensions to working people tough luck +we're not going to give it to you that's the mentality of the administration it's +a level of sadism that is hard to describe although it has very clear-cut +class basis you can see it very clearly. Now, if you want another illustration just +kind of telling now have a look at the federal budget proposal that many Trump +administration submitted on February 10th. On February 10th, the pandemic is +raging. People are dying, hospitals can't keep up. What's the budget? The +budget proposal is to continue the cuts in health related parts of the +government to cut back further on the Center for Disease Control of Trump +throughout his term has been regularly cutting it back and in the midst of the +pandemic let's cut back more let's not cut back everything let's increase the +subsidies to fossil fuel industries. What are fossil fuel industries doing? +Undermining the prospect for organized human life and of course let's have more +funding for the bloated military which no ways most of the world and of course +for his famous wool not to keep those rapists and murderers from +coming across the border with you where I live what that's the mentality of the +administration which in fact is just an extreme version of the mentality of the +Republican Party which drifted off the rails years ago. That's so interesting +Noam, and when we were talking--before we got started tonight, you said a couple +of things that really I think are probably going to stay with me for the +rest of my life. You said that, I was asking you about a tweet that I had a +headline I had seen where you said I believe you said something like voting +for Trump would be worse than voting like voting for Hitler or worse than +voting for Hitler and you just said back to me that Trump is maximum +said maximum sadism, like worse than you said he was worse than him oh I think +it's obvious. I've been saying it for years. It's now become utterly +transparent let's take a look Hitler was maybe one maybe the worst +criminal in human history he wanted to murder six million Jews. He murdered my +extended family. 30 million Slavs, +Roma, homosexuals others. That's pretty evil. What does Trump want to do? He wants to destroy +the prospects for organized human life. All. Okay? And in the near future. That's +what it means to maximize the use of fossil fuels to cut back on all +regulations that might diminish restrict the danger. In fact let's take a look at +the documentary record probably the worst document that we know of from the +Nazi era is a declaration in 1942 where they basically decided to kill all the +Jews, and conquer Eurasia and so on well +let's take the Trump administration. The most interesting document that's +appeared there which apparently was mentioned in the press was about two +years ago a document produced by the National Transportation Agency which was +a long, I think, several-hundred-page assessment of the environmental +situation and they concluded that by the end of the century global warming will +reach four degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels now that's taken +to be catastrophic by just about every analyst and they +drew a conclusion from it. The conclusion was, we should stop adding emissions +controls. We should have no emissions controls on automobiles and +the logic is sort of clear we're going off the cliff anyway so why not have fun +and make profit? How does that compare with the declaration +of 1942 we see this in every action so it's not just global warming but let's +kill more Americans. Now so for example look right in the middle of this crisis +the Environmental Protection Agency which is no subsidiary of the corporate +world used to be functioning scientists have been thrown out in silence and so +on so they decided to relax, eliminate essentially, controls on emissions from +coal plants and others let's in mercury into the waterways pollute them kill +lots of children and so on so let's extend that. Why? Put some more +dollars in their pocket okay once the deregulation goes on and +on whether they just cut back the Obama administration efforts to place limits +on emissions. Although that's just harming people in the United States. +You are one of the world's most renowned and most respected +social critics. I wonder what advice you would have for we're now up to 650 +people on this call like when advice do you have for us and +for you know for all of us of how to push back against the kinds of things +you're describing? Not hard. Popular movements. We've done harder things in the past. Activist movements. +The civil rights movement, the +It's not the same we were even 50 years okay so take +the fossil fuel industry take a look at +oil prices pretty low the major the United States Canada others could simply +socialize the industries bottom up not that expensive and put them out of +business there would be a great boon to the world you can't do it in a day which +could be coming back on and using profit be what resources you have to replace +and buy sustainable energy how much would that take they want to carefully +an estimate it's been very good economists about how much it would take +to how much would it cost to carry out policies which will basically +trol the enormous climate environmental crisis you're not going to end it we've +already done too much damage but to keep it within livable limits turns out it +would be a small percentage very small percentage of the mobilization for World +War two and we're much richer countries no so is +that feasible well it's feasible if I and this is only +one of the major problems we face there are others which people aren't talking +about but are just as severe one of the contributions of the Trump +administration to human life is to dismantle the arms control regime which +has over some protection from terminal nuclear war and anyone who's looked at +the record will find that it's appalling it's almost a miracle that we've +survived that talk about it at this time so I know Trump's decision is let's make +it worse so the last August Trump dismantled the INF treaty which +was established by Reagan not a leftist Reagan and Gorbachev reached +intermediate nuclear forces treaty in 1987 which has significantly reduced the +threat of nuclear war Trump abandoned it and to make it clear to the Russians or +anyone else what he meant immediately after abandoning the treaty +within days he arranged to launch a missile that violated the treaty but +saying to Mr. Putin please develop weapons to destroy us and that'll be +great for the arms control in just of the arms in the military industry +in fact if you look at their pronouncements they love it they're +getting a huge shot in the arm enormous money to build weapons that will +destroy everything and then down the road they'll get more money to try to +build defenses against these weapons that we're encouraging others to produce +next on the chopping block it's just announced couple of days ago is the Open +Skies treaty goes back Eisenhower as Open Skies treaty has again reduced +the threat of accidental nuclear war quite significantly so let's get rid of +that next on the agenda last in fact is the New START treaty that limits +the number of missiles and nuclear +warheads on for Russia and the United States Putin, not the most lovely guy in +the world, don't have to go into that, has been pleading with the United States +to renegotiate the treaty. It's due early next year the u.s. well Trump +administration won't do it the trick that they're using to try to +prevent it is to say we want a broader treaty that includes China. That's a bad +joke. Chinese nuclear facilities don't even come anywhere near the minimal +level of the START treaty. It was just a trick to use the Yellow Peril hysteria +to try to prevent the signing of the New START treaty when that's done we're done +with the arms controllers. You how serious is that it's so serious. It's so +serious and I know I'm I have one more question for you before I see before I +start asking you questions from the the crowd we have a lot and we won't be able +to get to as many of them as we would like but I'm I just wanted to you know +like draw you back to where we are right now and ask you you have lived a very +long productive amazing life I'm just what is it like for you to see what's +going on right now with the Covid-19 pandemic and how do you see the world in +this moment. Now as before that your mother's about my age +I suspect she has the same memories I do it's all bringing back memories of early +childhood the early 30s the early thirties you could see the beginnings of +the rise of the fascist plague actually the first article I remember writing was +in 1939 right after the fall of Barcelona - Franco it was about the the +terrible shadow that's spreading over the world seems inexorable first the +Nazis took Austria and then they took Czechoslovakia now they've got Spain +where is it going to end? Seems like they'd taken over everything that's +early childhood memories there are others I remember don't want to waste +time on it but that's back at that point there were two choices the world had to +face the Great Depression had an enormous impact much worse than this +effect in a much poorer country and there were two ways out. One way was +fascism spread over a lot of the world another way was basically New Deal style +welfare state style democracy and liberalism that was another way out that was the +way the United States took overcame depression established a version of +regimented capitalism which was extremely beneficial to people it's now +being torn to shreds during the neoliberal period but for a long time it +was very effective those are the two way out two's way is +pleased though we're in the same situation +not exactly won't be the same things but we can either choose to make the world +harsher and more brutal to march on to short range destruction or we can +overcome these problems by means that are readily available +but as I said small percentage of the funding for the second and second world +war mobilization small percentage of that would be sufficient to get the +environmental crisis under control to ensure that human life and many other +species can survive nuclear weapons straightforward +no reason for them to exist they can be cut sharply cut back in fact eliminate +okay and we could go on with other crises the economic crises that lead to +a world in which 0.1% of the population holds 20 percent of the wealth and the +others struggled a bit by for a week no reason for that to exist. We know exactly +how to end in fact we've been through ways of ending. But those choices today are reminiscent of the early 1930s +I have so many questions and I see that the one that's been voted up to the top of the list is +from Robert Hackett and I just want to tell everybody even though it's gotten +so many votes up I'm gonna go to the second question because I feel it's such +a good follow-up to what we've been talking about already and then I'm gonna +get to Bob's question this is from James Doyle he says I'm 14 years old what do I +do to take back my future? Well that's a very good question and there's a very +good answer to it. Take a look at who's on the front line to try to prevent the +world from being destroyed by the Trump types. Young people. Take a look at the +climate strike last October who very significant series of events who was out +there on the front lines young people take one of the most +dramatic events in my lifetime which I think will be played in every classroom +all over the world but for the meeting of the Davos conference in January the +Davos conference are the ones who in fact call themselves the Masters of the +Universe of CEOs of major corporations big news media executives commentators +they get together once a year in Davos to Switzerland go swimming, tell +each other how wonderful they are and so on the meeting opened with two talks one +after the other one was by Donald Trump the people that they wasn't liking too +much he's too vulgar for them he drops their image of humanism but they +applauded him lustily because there's one thing he knows that they understand +how to pour money into the pockets of the very rich on the portrait section so +he got enormous applause it was a crazy rant if you look at it he was followed +by a young girl - Greta Thunberg. A seventeen-year-old girl who gave a quiet +factual speech. Accurate, careful describing the imminent crisis eloquent +as she ended quietly saying you the people out there are destroying our hope +for any life. She got quiet clapping, pat on the head nice little girl go back to school +that that's the answer to your question it's the Greta Thunbergs and the 14 +year-olds whose world is being destroyed and they're on the front line of trying +to save it and the older generation is betraying them and they should what continue +to work energetically to make this clear I stress again that that the videotape +of the opening of the meeting is a real classic. It tells you a lot about the world and about ourselves. Now this +said this question is from Robert Hackett who writes for National Observer +greetings Noam, when I interviewed you for your National Observer article +last year you presciently said that both pandemics and climate change constituted +threats to organize human society but you also said that mass social movements +could demand and mitigate climate change do you feel that the pandemic makes +either of these outcomes extinction or rebellion more likely what can we learn +from the pandemic about organizing for a more climate-friendly economy that's +very important what we're seeing is many things on the one extreme we're seeing +the Trump administration trying to increase the severity of the pandemic I +didn't talk about it much but we could on the other hand we see really heroic +people, you know the doctors and nurses on the front line what they're doing is +indescribable they're trying to protect people's survival and help people survive +under hideous conditions but without protective gear because the government's +haven't given it to them they've preferred to waste their money elsewhere +but they're on the front lines constantly all over the world in China +United States Canada everywhere that's an indication of the magnificence of the +human spirit it's a model for what can be done and there's much more around +much of the world including the United States the mutual self-help groups or +organizing spontaneously communities in which people just get together to +try to help those in need, give food to elderly people who are excluded you know +help people are in trouble this is happening everywhere sometimes in almost +spectacular ways the most extreme that I know happens to be in Brazil the favelas +in Rio the slums are miserable hopeless places you can't ask people to wash +frequently because I don't have water they live you can't sick sequester +because they're all packed into a small room the government won't help they're +like the United States no we don't help but there is a group that's organizing +to provide some help for them. You know who it is? The crime gangs that have been +terrorizing the community they are now getting together to try to help people +in the miserable slums to try to survive this you see things like this all over +the world there's something else happening on the international level +there is the Progressive International is being formed that's the +name to have its first meeting in November it was initiated by Bernie +Sanders in the United States and Yanis Varoufakis, a wonderful economist, former Greek +Treasury secretary in Europe he's the founder of the organization DiEM25 +Europe wide organization which is working to try to salvage what makes +sense in the European Union and to overcome its deep flaws so they're +calling for the meeting of the Progressive International which will +bring together activist groups around the world also crucially bring in the +global South those who will suffer the worst from this endemic and what they're +doing is hoping to counter something that's developing before our eyes +and isn't discussed very much a reactionary international an +international of the most cruel the harsh reactionary states organized from +the White House which is heading it including Bolsonaro in Brazil who's +described as even worse than Trump doesn't do as much damage because it's +not at that powerful of country he's in fact helping to destroy the world by +wiping out the Amazon which will have an overwhelming effect, horrible. People +affected in the country. (He says) it's all a flu, don't worry go out you know go +to your restaurants. So he's part of it. Moving to the Middle East the el-Sisi +dictatorship in Egypt the worst dictatorship in Egypt's history the +family dictatorships of the Gulf of the Gulf states brutal harsh dictatorships +Israel which has moved so far to the right that you can't see it anymore is +right in the center moving further Modi's India. Modi is working to destroy, +demolish Indian secular democracy and institute a right-wing Hindu nationalist +virtual dictatorship crush Kashmir. In Europe, bring in Orban's +Hungary. Turning Hungary from wiping out Hungarian democracy bringing in +turning it to a dictatorship. Salvini in Italy +gets his kicks out of making sure that ships barges his little group sink in +the Mediterranean killing people fleeing from characters like that around the +world so forge that into a international it's +happening right now the main geo- strategic program of the Trump +administration well so let's counter that with a +progressive international. Well, can that be done? If you look at the level of +states they see it seems totally out of balance you look at the level of people +that's not true most people in the world want what the progressive international +stands for so the question and the answer your question is can they be +mobilized to take over I should say that the people who own the world are worried +about it go back to that Davos conference and +imagine it was very interesting usually every year is just self-congratulation +this year the mood was different the top people there recognized that the +peasants are coming with the pitchforks now we better do something about it so +the mood of the conference was let's apologize for what we've been doing for +the last year's yes we did bad things we harmed people but we now understand so +we're now going to be the gentler more humane, we're going to be concerned not +just with stockholders and executives but communities and the workforce we're +really nice guys and trust your future to us we'll take care of you that was +the mood at Davos and they didn't bother telling us that we heard this tune +before so in the 1950s the tune was from now on corporations are going to be what +was called soulful corporations overflowing with human sentiments +wonderful lovely benefactors of the human species +soulful corporations well we seen sixty years of to discover how soulful they +are but the point is they're running scared they see what's happening the +peasants are coming with the pitchforks that's so interesting and I just wanted +to you know that we have a lot more +questions. "I'm Dave Cuddy is asking can you discuss any threats of Blackrock The +Wall Street investment firm that claims to be going green yet its invested +heavily and fossil fuels manages trillions of the global economy how +concerned should we be that the Bank of Canada very recently appointed Blackrock +as its advisor for a new quantitative easing program for corporations how +important is it to lobby the Canadian government to cut its ties with +Blackrock?" well that's part of the creating the image of social +corporations they're not doing it out of love for the human race they're doing it +because they're being pressed to do it they're under pressure to do it recently +there was a memo from JPMorgan Chase biggest American Bank saying we're under +reputational pressure what does that mean means people are banging at our +doors and telling us we don't like what we do so we've probably better cut back +on the funding for fossil fuels ok you know you can put one of the ways to--I mean +short of dismantling these institutions which my view should be done but much +sort of that lots of pressure can be put on them to turn them to become soulful +at least an image and improve things and way beyond that but that's what you're +describing is an indication of the significance of constant popular +pressure that's had a lot of effect. To give you an example, for example in the United +States now take the notion of a Green New +Deal. Some version of a Green New Deal is essential for survival. A couple of +years ago it was just something to be ridiculed in the center of the +legislature how did that happen well group small +group called Sunrise Movement, a group of young activists young turned back to the +first question young activists were pressing very hard to move this to +Congress whether they got to the point of sitting in congressional offices they +were noticed that they were backed by some of the young congressional +representatives who came into office on the Sanders movement pressure +especially Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, local voters and they were +joined by Ed Markey senator from Massachusetts has been interested in +environmental issues now it's on the legislative agenda. You don't laugh at it anymore. +alerting maybe it can be pushed through we can survive this case if their case +okay and we're familiar with it in the past I mean take a look at the United +States in 1960. It was one of the freest countries in the world it also +had anti-miscegenation laws which were so extreme that the Nazis refused to +adopt it had federal laws requiring that Governor 'le government subsequent +supported housing had to be segregated no blacks and women were still legally +treated under the initial laws of the founding of the country which they took +over from Britain in which women were technically property not persons handed +from the father to the husband it had been eroded somewhat over the years but +it wasn't until 1975 after the pressure of the women's movement that women were +legally recognized to be peers they had a right to serve on federal jury +we can go on and on country has changed enormously, Canada too. It didn't happen by +magic was not a gift from social corporations or benign government it +came from extensive popular mobilization and action which can change things and +has in the past in many ways we're a much more civilized world thank you so +much I'm we have so many good questions here +"Mr. Chomsky, do you think the post Covid-19 pandemic will create a +more positive economical and social global world or will it continue to be a +downward spiral?" Whoever the questioner is that's up to you the +choices are there just as in the early to thirties the choices were between +fascism and liberal social democracy there are those who are going to be +struggling consciously to make it just a continuation of the neoliberal world +with harsher texture there'll be others like you who will be trying to change it +in another direction the ones who for example will be meeting +the ones who carried out the climate strike led up to the ones we were +working constantly to make Blackrock shift its policies to make JP Morgan +Chase cut back on fossil fuels. What world will come out depends on the +balance of forces. Thank you this question is from Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta +Maxine asks, you mentioned clean energy but after viewing the recent +documentary Planet of the Humans which convincingly argued that the fossil +fuels required to produce short lived solar panels and wind turbines and for +backup to these technologies equal or exceed +what's used currently from burning coal oil gas have we been misled by the +environmental NGOs what's your view on this? I think the question is +clean energy is it kind of--are we being duped that the clean energy like +solar panels and wind turbines is actually clean because a documentary +called planet of the humans convincingly argued that it's equivalent to burning +coal oil and gas I think I got that right Maxine you're on the chat over +solar panels and (wind) turbines is equivalent to burning folks are near oil +yeah burning fossils yeah so we had a slide couldn't have convincingly argued +that because it's not even remotely true I mean there are costs to solar panels. +You have to dispose of them so you have to manufacture but that's not even +remotely in the domain of what happens with the use of fossil and it simply +suggest to the questioners to look into the details of the matter apparently +Bill McKibben wrote an article debunking that so maybe that's something the +questioner could refer to. Noam, who has written widely, sorry who has written +widely on what a sustainable economy would look like is it even possible a +sustainable economy? A lot of interesting work - Robert Pollin +economy very good economist, a co-author of mine +occasionally has written extensively in great detail about how to develop a +sustainable economy which would also ensure that those who are losing their +jobs as the fossil fuel industry goes out of existence +will in fact have ways of being integrated successfully into the new +economy and he also points out that it'll be a much more livable economy it isn't +much fun to spend maybe many hours a week with sitting in traffic jams be +much easier to have be much pleasure life now the decent mass transportation +system instead of having a huge electric bills we could pay almost nothing like I +do have solar panels there are many ways to make the world a much more pleasant +to live in and not to be destroying it with the use of fossil fuels pollen as +elaborated this in detail. Robert Pollin, is that correct? Robert Pollin is that the +author. OK. A lot of people are asking. He's an economist at +the University Massachusetts great another one is Jeffrey Sachs very good +economist - is it Columbia - runs the Earth Sciences Institute that he's +written extensively on has a very long careful article in the journal American +Prospect a couple of months ago, he spells it out. It is within reach. The next question +thank you and this question is from Senator Rosa +Galvez she asks what are the three most critical changes that we have to apply +to hyper capitalism to induce major shift for example to a circular economy +or to decrease growth and there was a follow-up to that question so I'm just +going to ask you that as well from Annabelle White. What would the world +become if the institution the institution of global +finance totally collapsed? What would the world become if +the institution of global finance totally collapsed? so there I just gave +you four questions here the last words if global what collapses finance the +global economy collapses collapses well there's no reason for the global economy +could collapse with rotten policies on the part of governments but there's +certainly no reason for it I mean actually we've been through worse +pandemics than this take a look at what's called the Spanish flu a +century ago. It was far worse than this and in a much poorer country and there were +no means that nobody knew at the time how to control it. did we did everything +disappear? Economies recover. far worse and now we're in much better shape to +deal with it what are the I don't know if I can +mention three things but there are a lot of things that can be done to overcome +the immediate -- not only the immediate crisis but the causes. Let's +take a look I'll use the United States as the example for two reasons one I +know more about it and secondly it's the most important country so right now +there's a big stimulus bill being given almost no surveillance no does it have +to be let's take the airline industry which I imagined +I suppose we decide to bail them out for their having spent the last years +enriching themselves with stock buybacks instead of building up the enterprise +and suppose we decide ok we'll do it anyway +it can be done with conditionalities okay saying you wanted some money from +the government you have to commit yourselves to never carry out +stock buybacks to never put your money in tax havens which robs the public of +tens of trillions of dollars to put workers on the management board +let's have ensure a livable wage for all your workers to pay some attention to +the needs of passengers instead of investors and CEOs we can put all of +those conditionalities on you don't want to make them get lost +we'll just take over the industry things like that is that utopian incidentally +not not least before Reagan all of this was law. It was implemented. It's not +Utopian to say let's go back to the law as it was implemented before the neoliberals +It's not new. Can we go beyond that? Sure can. Let's take think for +a moment about the origins of this pandemic what why did it ever happen? +You go back to 2003 SARS epidemic scientists all over knew that it's very +likely that another coronavirus epidemic is coming now they knew how to +prepare for it but it didn't happen. Why? Knowledge isn't enough you have to +have the institutional structure so who could have worked out well there's the +drug companies enormous resources we pour money into their politics by +protectionist measures like incredible patent protection what's called +intellectual property rights huge gift to enrich the drug companies so they are +overflowing with money that we've given them they have a lot of resources could +they take this up no because of something called capitalism which says +that what you're supposed to do is follow market signals +okay market signals or you're not going to make any profit out of this you don't +make profit out of preventing a catastrophe a couple of years down the +road that you make profit by selling something tomorrow so they're out +because of capitalist logic then comes the second question why doesn't the +government step in so when I was a kid when your mother was a kid one of the +terrors of the world was +Polio was a real terror I remember. It was overcome by a +government funded program which led to the Salk vaccine which had no patent +Salk had not selected giving it away well why not do that cost of the +neoliberal plague which says the government's not allowed to help +remember Ronald Reagan government is the problem not the solution +it's corporations that are a solution of course the government is the solution +when they're in trouble and we bail them out and subsidize it well in the +populations in trouble government is not the solution okay that's the second part +of the hammer neither of those is necessary they can all be eliminated +easily. Easy to think through the measures and we can go on we can change +the institutional structures that are driving us to disaster it's all within +reach. Noam that's a great note. I cannot believe it but are we've already come to +the end of our hour that just flew by it's you're it's so amazing to hear what +you have to say what you're thinking about things and I just want to thank +you so much for your time and your expertise and I want to thank everybody +for coming tonight and today if you're out here in the West and stay safe stay +healthy see you next time. Very good to be with you. Thank you. +1 +6 +12 +15 +21 +26 +31 +37 +42 +46 +51 +57 +62 +67 +71 +77 +82 +90 +98 +104 +110 +119 +125 +130 +137 +142 +149 +156 +162 +168 +175 +180 +185 +192 +199 +204 +209 +215 +222 +228 +233 +241 +247 +252 +260 +266 +277 +284 +293 +300 +308 +315 +323 +329 +335 +340 +345 +352 +362 +371 +379 +387 +393 +401 +410 +416 +422 +437 +444 +450 +457 +464 +472 +479 +490 +500 +508 +514 +521 +528 +533 +539 +546 +556 +561 +567 +574 +585 +589 +596 +603 +610 +615 +622 +630 +636 +643 +648 +654 +660 +667 +675 +682 +689 +696 +703 +709 +716 +725 +732 +738 +744 +750 +755 +763 +771 +776 +784 +791 +798 +804 +807 +813 +819 +823 +830 +835 +839 +847 +854 +863 +871 +879 +886 +894 +900 +909 +914 +920 +926 +933 +939 +946 +957 +962 +969 +976 +983 +989 +1002 +1007 +1014 +1019 +1028 +1035 +1042 +1047 +1056 +1062 +1072 +1080 +1087 +1093 +1114 +1118 +1119 +1127 +1136 +1141 +1147 +1159 +1164 +1168 +1176 +1183 +1188 +1194 +1199 +1205 +1210 +1216 +1224 +1230 +1236 +1242 +1250 +1257 +1265 +1272 +1278 +1285 +1292 +1297 +1301 +1308 +1314 +1319 +1324 +1333 +1338 +1347 +1352 +1361 +1366 +1372 +1378 +1385 +1393 +1400 +1407 +1413 +1418 +1426 +1432 +1438 +1446 +1453 +1458 +1463 +1470 +1477 +1488 +1497 +1503 +1508 +1514 +1520 +1526 +1532 +1540 +1547 +1552 +1559 +1564 +1567 +1570 +1576 +1583 +1589 +1597 +1603 +1608 +1613 +1619 +1627 +1635 +1642 +1657 +1663 +1668 +1671 +1675 +1684 +1691 +1698 +1705 +1713 +1719 +1727 +1734 +1739 +1747 +1754 +1760 +1769 +1775 +1780 +1787 +1794 +1802 +1812 +1819 +1828 +1835 +1841 +1848 +1855 +1866 +1872 +1876 +1881 +1888 +1893 +1900 +1906 +1913 +1921 +1927 +1935 +1942 +1948 +1951 +1956 +1964 +1971 +1976 +1983 +1990 +1998 +2005 +2013 +2019 +2023 +2029 +2035 +2042 +2048 +2052 +2060 +2067 +2075 +2082 +2088 +2093 +2097 +2104 +2111 +2117 +2122 +2130 +2140 +2145 +2150 +2156 +2162 +2170 +2176 +2184 +2189 +2198 +2205 +2214 +2219 +2224 +2231 +2239 +2243 +2248 +2251 +2256 +2261 +2267 +2272 +2281 +2284 +2291 +2299 +2303 +2309 +2316 +2322 +2328 +2333 +2338 +2347 +2353 +2359 +2366 +2371 +2381 +2385 +2393 +2397 +2402 +2406 +2412 +2415 +2422 +2428 +2434 +2442 +2448 +2453 +2460 +2465 +2472 +2482 +2487 +2494 +2497 +2505 +2513 +2518 +2525 +2532 +2539 +2545 +2553 +2558 +2564 +2569 +2575 +2581 +2589 +2597 +2607 +2616 +2622 +2629 +2635 +2641 +2648 +2655 +2661 +2668 +2676 +2681 +2688 +2693 +2701 +2707 +2715 +2722 +2727 +2733 +2738 +2745 +2752 +2761 +2767 +2772 +2778 +2781 +2788 +2799 +2808 +2813 +2819 +2825 +2831 +2836 +2843 +2849 +2857 +2863 +2870 +2878 +2883 +2891 +2895 +2903 +2910 +2915 +2920 +2928 +2937 +2942 +2950 +2961 +2967 +2973 +2981 +2989 +2995 +3002 +3019 +3024 +3031 +3037 +3043 +3048 +3052 +3061 +3067 +3075 +3084 +3090 +3095 +3100 +3107 +3113 +3121 +3124 +3129 +3135 +3143 +3148 +3159 +3163 +3170 +3176 +3179 +3185 +3191 +3197 +3202 +3208 +3213 +3218 +3224 +3231 +3237 +3245 +3250 +3258 +3264 +3271 +3276 +3282 +3287 +3293 +3298 +3304 +3309 +3314 +3319 +3324 +3329 +3335 +3340 +3343 +3349 +3356 +3359 +3365 +3371 +3375 +3380 +3385 +3394 +3399 +3407 +3412 +3416 +3422 +3432 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Colonialism zujsTKJGz0s.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Colonialism zujsTKJGz0s.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f857eb --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Colonialism zujsTKJGz0s.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,206 @@ +What does colonialism mean? +well like any term of +About human affairs it covers a vast range. There's all kinds of colonialism +[I] mean the worst kind of colonialism is what's called settler colonialism? +like the United States or Australia or +Israel now through lesser extent a settler Colonialism like the United States and Australia +Means You exterminate the indigenous population +Maybe not [100%] but you know pretty close, so that's a worst kind of colonialism. That's us +There's other kinds of colonialism. Which are less extreme +So take we were talking before [about] Wilson and Haiti and Clinton and haiti as a form of colonialism in which you +effectively +Take over the country for your own benefit get as much as you can out of it and [drive] the population and to +Destroy the agricultural system drives the population in the cities all for the most benign reasons you know of great economic +Progressive reasons and you end up with the +Say the +Earthquake that just happened nothing of the kind of colonialism +other kinds are there's many other kinds and +so you know say take take the us and philippines which happen to be an innovation in +imperial history +The u.s. Invaded the Philippines in about a century ago +It killed a couple hundred thousand people +It was vicious racism none of these guys +unbelievable racism people here weren't even sure whether the filipinos were humans, or apes they were exhibited in the +international Affairs, and that's sort of +I'm going to just over in this when you look back at it +Of course all for the most noble reasons were uplifting them christianizing them you know giving them civilization the usual stuff +There were scattered +Opponents people are not unknown people like mark twain +He wrote very sardonic and cutting +[anti-imperialist] essays he wasn't hanged, he didn't have his brains blown out, but they were suppressed +The in fact I think [that] finally came [out] around +20 years ago in some scholarly edition that nobody ever read Syracuse university press +But they were there was an anti-imperialist league, but it just... What happened after you conquered it +That was at the innovation. It has just been studied in a really +magisterial book great book by Alfred McCoy whose +historian the Philippines among other achievements +He's the first person to have studied in detail how they dealt with the population after they more or less +still haven't totally conquered them, still going on but +Pretty much sort of pacified the country well it turns out there was a major innovation +In imperial history which had a lot of consequences right till today in the philippines and everywhere else +[what] was instituted was a +very sophisticated +High-Tech +Control and surveillance system now the technology of then was not the technology of [now], but it existed +Telegraph radio other surveillance techniques. Every technique was [used] that was [available] to try to control, +monitor, subdue +the +population +there were also pretty sophisticated techniques of +Undermining resistance that were used, so co-optation of elites +Spreading rumors you know using every device you had to try to undermine +the +nationalists +Done very well and of course there's a metal fist and the background is the philippine constabulary +the +Something that happens every in colonial imperial system. You have a you know kind of a power military force of +Collaborators +which should do what you tell them and they usually trained killers, so +and you can set it up, so let's say you pick people from one tribe to kill another tribe +You know use a rural population to smash the urban population. It's done in various ways +in fact we do it right now +This minute that's the way the u.s. Is hoping to run the occupied +Palestinian territories, there's a US run army that's supposed to subdue them +And it's highly praised by Obama and Kerry and the liberals and so on +Anyway this array of techniques was worked out with quite impressive detail +And applied in a very sophisticated fashion +[it] still applies, Philippines is still pretty much under this system, the +[Philippines] which remains a kind of a quasi colony is the only part of +[Eastern] Southeast Asia that has not been part of the so-called economic miracle, you know +take a look at +Taiwan, South Korea +Even indonesia, and so on has been a lot of economic [development], not the philippines, but pretty much under this system +It's the one part of the region that we still run and there was an immediate blowback +Wilson and the British during the first world war used a lot of these techniques domestically +Consciously it could apply them at home too. Now. It's extreme. So you go to Britain. It's a surveillance society +Now cameras on every street corner, you know the allegedly anti-terror devices. Here too +the Patriot Act, and the u.s. +applied them in other countries right away, so Haiti, Dominican Republic. You know Nicaragua. Well, that's another kind of Colonialism and +very +It makes a lot more sense than occupying the country it works much better. It's cheaper +It can work [very] effectively in the philippines, its 100 years +And it applies back it develops techniques to apply back home for controlling and subduing +Populations and breaking them up and so on, well that's another kind of colonialism. In any event, to get back to your question, +there's no answer to what is colonialism. It's just one form in which +Powerful systems subdue others, and they subdue their own population +There's nothing new about that +I mean, that was pointed out by Adam Smith +like +He's not a fool, I mean what he pointed out and what the international affairs specialists don't seem to understand +Is that, you want to understand how a country works you cannot ignore the domestic distribution of power +And when he said is pointed out in the wealth of nations, you want to understand England which is his concern +you have to recognize that the architects of policy are merchants and manufacturers and +they +set policy up so that their interests are very +Well dealt with even though the impact on the people of England may be grievous and of course elsewhere +it's even worse, what's called the savage injustice of the Europeans is horrible, and it's basically a +truism, enduring truth about the +power systems [Empire in india, the cost of...] +There was a cost to the British Empire by the +Population there and by the populations of England, who were also kind of colonized +Yeah, so it's a class war +[ok] that's it's true, and it's true +For just about every imperial conquest, and as I say the most extreme form it's just extermination like settler colonialism +0 +2 +6 +10 +17 +20 +27 +29 +38 +41 +49 +51 +59 +66 +70 +71 +74 +77 +83 +86 +90 +93 +98 +107 +109 +111 +118 +121 +124 +128 +135 +138 +144 +150 +155 +160 +164 +171 +175 +181 +189 +191 +193 +194 +204 +212 +215 +216 +218 +222 +227 +233 +234 +236 +241 +243 +251 +252 +257 +262 +267 +269 +274 +279 +283 +290 +294 +300 +305 +311 +313 +315 +321 +328 +336 +344 +351 +356 +364 +366 +372 +375 +381 +388 +393 +398 +400 +403 +405 +410 +417 +423 +429 +431 +434 +441 +448 +451 +456 +459 +465 +467 +470 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Democracy Oh_Zk6Da9fU.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Democracy Oh_Zk6Da9fU.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24b9d51 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Democracy Oh_Zk6Da9fU.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ +... the political system is increasingly operating independently of the people. +People do not even think their approval is important, let alone reject the decisions. +They assume that decisions are made independently of whatever they choose in the elections. +A system in which even affirming decisions is made independent of the people, is a very weak democracy. +What kind of confirmation are you talking about? +By affirming, I mean, offering me, the voter, two options. I choose one of the two. +This is a very limited form of democracy. +A meaningful democracy means that I also take a role in making those decisions and take a role in the creation of these options. +This means that these options reflect my active and creative participation. +Not just me, of course, everyone ... +This means real democracy. We are far from this. +There is a problem in capitalist democracies ... It is seen as a problem ... +... This problem is this: the general population has a method to participate in the decision making process. +They can be taken into politics. The state cannot stop them, silence them, put them in jail, or keep them away from elections. +And interestingly, this has always been seen as a problem to overcome. +It has a name: the democracy crisis. +Too many people organized and put on public stage. +This is a crisis. +Hence, as Walter Lippmann puts it in the 1920s, "production of consent" is necessary. +We need to make sure that the real decision-making power, in his words, is in the hands of the "specialized class" ... +... of cunning men. +They will make the right decisions ... +We have to put the general population aside. Because they always make mistakes. +Did you mean by "tossing over"? +Making them indifferent and obedient. +Let them take part in the political system as consumers ... +but not as a real participant. +Let them approve of decisions made by others. +But eliminate the methods by which they can train themselves, organize themselves, or take action that affects decision-making. +The idea is this: leaders control us, not us. +The doctrines of enlightenment predict that individuals should not be under the influence of the repressive regime established by focused forces. +Intentions from focused powers; church, state, feudal system, and so on. +We can imagine a more or less equal population of property white men and not controlled by these special powers. +But a new kind of power developed in the future: companies ... +... they created a very intense force on decisions and the economy. +They started to control what was produced, what was distributed, where to invest. +That is why the vice-president of the company L **** says "public opinion is cheap thought". +People's thoughts may have funny ideas about democracy, ... +... ideas like "we shouldn't be forced to hire ourselves to the owners and organizations of the country". +It is true democracy that we have our word about what these organizations are doing. +If we move towards democracy, even an 18-century democracy, ... +... we can say that there should be no inequality in the distribution of power that determines what is produced, what is distributed, where it is invested. +These should be of public interest. +My personal opinion is that if we do not go in this direction, humanity will most likely not survive. +Why? +We are now facing the biggest problems in human history. +Possible nuclear conflict between superpowers, or the proliferation of nuclear weapons, +Problems such as destroying the fragile environment, ... +... even though it was obvious that we went to disaster decades ago, we are now beginning to realize it. +Other problems like this ... +These problems have reached a more serious point than ever before, because ... +Why do you think public participation and more democracy are the solution? +Because more democracy is a value in itself, ... +... it is not necessary to defend the value of democracy, as it is not necessary to defend the value of freedom. +Being free, participating, not being under pressure is an essential part of human nature. +These are self-worth ... +What do you think will happen if we go this way? +because the only hope I can see is that other values come to the fore. +I mean, if the people are subject to the control of the personal wealth, the people will reflect it, and the only prominent human trait is greed, ... +... and maximize personal earnings for the sake of spending others. +A small people with these principles is an ugly people, but it can survive. +A global people with these principles is on the road to great destruction. +And we are the last one. +We need to have a social organizational structure that reflects other values, and I think the inherent values inherent in people. +What exactly are you talking about? +What is a human son? For example, in your family ... there is no such thing as every individual in a family, just for the sake of spending others. +If there is such a thing, this is a diseased condition. +If you and I walk on the street and see a child with sugar in his hand, we don't steal his sugar because there is no one who sees us and we're hungry. +Doing this would be diseased. +Caring for others, thinking about the needs of others, worrying about the fragile environment that will support future generations are all part of human nature. +These are parts of human nature that are suppressed by the social and cultural system designed to take care of personal interests. +I think we should try to remove this pressure. +Democracy can make this possible. +It can enable the expression of human needs and values that are suppressed under the system of personal power and personal interests. +If true democracy will come to light, if real values deep in human nature can flourish, +which I think is necessary to save us, +People can be together, share their concerns, express their opinions, get answers, ... +... it is a definite necessity to form groups where they can discover what they think, what they believe and what they value. +These cannot be loaded from above. +You have to discover for yourself by trying, trying, practicing. +And this has to be done with others. +Moreover, at the center of human nature is being in touch with others, in solidarity and cooperation. +This can, by definition, only occur with the group structure. +And if ... +Political organizations ... +Political or other ... +Civil organizations ... +All types... +Sub-class associations ... +There are many ways people can join. +And a society that I hope to see, where the voluntary organization proliferates, ... +a society where hierarchy and domination, and the property and control factors that lead to them, are eliminated as much as possible, +... and being a society where we can manage ourselves and our lives. +0 +5 +15 +19 +26 +28 +38 +42 +49 +55 +57 +59 +64 +69 +79 +83 +85 +91 +92 +99 +107 +108 +111 +116 +117 +120 +124 +126 +130 +142 +146 +153 +158 +170 +175 +181 +189 +193 +196 +204 +210 +216 +224 +230 +238 +239 +244 +251 +254 +260 +262 +265 +271 +274 +281 +289 +291 +293 +300 +317 +321 +326 +331 +333 +343 +345 +352 +356 +368 +370 +382 +391 +395 +398 +408 +419 +424 +433 +442 +444 +451 +452 +464 +467 +468 +469 +470 +471 +472 +473 +477 +487 +498 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Evolutionary Psychology wg9s749vG5M.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Evolutionary Psychology wg9s749vG5M.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6df9444 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Evolutionary Psychology wg9s749vG5M.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +One of the trends I think people should be skeptical of +It is when you read this, it is a common topic these days to discuss what evolutionary psychology is now called social biology. +As we knew it, it is a science that studies human nature, but the problem is that it teaches us nothing +It is a very difficult scientific problem to understand the nature of any living being +To transmit insects, we can make any experiments with them +But when we go into something as complex as humans +You will find almost everything you are looking for +If you want to find aggression, violence, and cruelty, you will find it +We do not need evolutionary psychology to tell us about it. We find it in the world +And if you want to find altruism, courage and honesty +And the desire to sacrifice yourself to some totally outlying college +Like wading in the winter waters of Cape Kad Island (in Massachusetts) and saving dolphins +You can find this, you can find what you are looking for, and humans have all these capabilities +Different people display themselves, different circumstances, different backgrounds, etc. +But science has not gone far enough to answer questions like this +Low merit to deserve to be seen +I mean there is an interesting work like Robert Treivers' work on mutual altruism +Which is interesting +How do! The desire for an altruistic relationship with another person can be divided as an optional stay +Yes it is. +And that probably tells you something very important about the origins of this idea. It is not a new idea by chance +The first book on this topic is called "Mutual Cooperation: A Factor in Evolution." +Written a century ago, written by "Kropotkin". +He is a thoughtful anarchist leader, who is also a natural historian +And try to show, I think this is in 1902 or something +But he found a lot of evidence, and he tried to prove that in the natural world and to humans that mutual cooperation is an obligation and a requirement for helping others and helping society +There will likely be value to stay and choose +So, Rima thinks this is kind of what we are as a living being +On one side, yes, that's who we are +We are also, unfortunately, any kind of creature that you would like to be +0 +5 +20 +28 +37 +40 +43 +46 +52 +56 +62 +69 +75 +81 +90 +95 +98 +103 +105 +117 +118 +124 +131 +135 +138 +144 +160 +164 +166 +169 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Family Separation & the U.S. Roots of Today’s Refugee Crisis WVddmEjNVm0.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Family Separation & the U.S. Roots of Today’s Refugee Crisis WVddmEjNVm0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d530c8f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Family Separation & the U.S. Roots of Today’s Refugee Crisis WVddmEjNVm0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,192 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman. +Federal officials say 711 children remain separated from their parents, despite Thursday's +court-imposed deadline for the Trump administration to reunite all migrate children separated +from their parents by immigration officials at the border. +More than 400 of the children have parents who have already been deported from the United +States. +Well, on Thursday, I spoke with world-renowned political dissident, author and linguist Noam +Chomsky. +He is a laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona +and professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught for more than +50 years. +His recent books include Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy +and Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power. +He joined us from Tucson, Arizona, and I began by asking Noam Chomsky about the Trump administration's +family separation policy. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, it's a major scandal, of course, and properly condemned throughout +the world. +Taking children away from their parents, sending them off somewhere, losing track of them, +you know, it's hard to think of a more brutal and sadistic policy. +Here in Tucson, there's a lot of--there's a good deal of activism concerned with immigrants. +There are groups that set up camps in the desert to try to help people fleeing. +And, of course, it's a very live issue. +It's not very far from the border. +In fact, when I give talks here, I often refer to the area as "occupied Mexico," which +actually is a good designation. +But the immigration policy altogether is a grotesque moral scandal here, and in Europe, +I should say. +AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to President Trump speaking earlier this month. +PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I have a solution: Tell people not to come to our country illegally. +That's the solution. +Don't come to our country illegally. +Come like other people do. +Come legally. +AMY GOODMAN: That's President Trump. +We were on the border recently in Brownsville, going back and forth over the bridge to Matamoros, +Mexico. +We saw a Guatemalan mother with her child, a Guatemalan father with his child. +The Guatemalan mother had been at the legal port of entry at the bridge for days, on two +different bridges, told that America is full, told this by the U.S. government. +The question is: Who's being legal? +Who's being illegal? +What about what the U.S. is doing and where these migrants are desperately fleeing from--Guatemala, +Honduras, El Salvador? +If you can talk about the history of U.S. involvement in these countries and what President +Trump is saying--do it legally? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, actually, these people are fleeing from the wreckage and horrors +of U.S. policies. +So, take Guatemala. +No need to go through the whole history, but back in 1954, the U.S. intervened, sponsored +a military coup, overthrew a mildly reformist elected government. +Since then, the country has been a complete horror story--hundreds of thousands of people +killed, all kinds of atrocities, every imaginable sort of torture. +It peaked in the 1980s under Reagan. +In fact, some of the places where people are fleeing from, the Mayan areas, there was literal +genocide going on, carried out by the man who Reagan called a stellar exponent of democracy, +a really good guy. +When Congress imposed some limits on direct U.S. military aid to this--to Rios Montt, +the person who was--general who was implementing the genocidal attacks, Reagan set up an international +terrorist network. +The U.S. does not hire terrorists, it hires terror states--it's much more effective--so, +Taiwan, Israel, Argentina--as long as it was under the rule of the neo-Nazi generals. +Unfortunately, they were overthrown. +They had the good news, Argentina. +The people are still fleeing from the destruction there. +It's been a horror story ever since. +Same with El Salvador, where about 70,000 people were killed during the 1980s, almost +all by the security forces, armed, trained, directed by the United States. +Again, horror story since. +In Honduras, which not long ago had the plurality of refugees, the refugee flow started to peak +after a military coup threw out the elected government, the Zelaya government, condemned +by the entire hemisphere and the world, with the usual exception of President Obama. +Hillary Clinton refused to call it a military coup, because that would have meant terminating +military aid to the junta, which the U.S. continued to do. +There had always been a severe repression and atrocities. +They mounted sharply. +Honduras became maybe the homicide capital of the world, and refugees started fleeing. +There were so-called elections, which were mocked by almost everyone except the United +States. +It continues. +You'll notice there's one--there's two countries in the region from which there +haven't been refugee flows. +One is Costa Rica, which happens to be the one country that sort of functions, and not +by accident, the one country that the United States has not--in which the United States +does not intervene militarily to overthrow the government and run a military regime. +The other is Nicaragua, which differed, which also suffered severely in the 1980s from Reagan's +assaults. +But Nicaragua was unlike the other countries of the region: It had an army to defend it. +In the other countries, the army were the terrorists. +In Nicaragua, the army could, to some extent, defend the population from Reagan's terrorist +forces. +And though there's plenty of problems in Nicaragua, it hasn't been the source of +refugee flow. +So, essentially, what President Trump is saying is, we'll destroy your countries, slaughter +you, impose brutal regimes, but if you try to get out, you're not going to come here, +because America is full. +0 +3 +5 +11 +16 +18 +23 +24 +29 +30 +34 +39 +40 +45 +50 +56 +58 +66 +68 +75 +81 +89 +98 +102 +104 +111 +114 +121 +122 +129 +141 +142 +143 +144 +145 +146 +148 +149 +155 +162 +169 +171 +174 +180 +183 +188 +191 +200 +202 +205 +213 +219 +225 +231 +235 +244 +254 +257 +265 +273 +275 +282 +291 +293 +296 +300 +302 +309 +315 +318 +327 +336 +343 +349 +354 +361 +363 +369 +376 +377 +378 +382 +384 +391 +399 +405 +412 +413 +420 +424 +432 +433 +437 +438 +444 +450 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Fascism - Could It Happen Here lFuMqJI6-Z4.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Fascism - Could It Happen Here lFuMqJI6-Z4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..708ed25 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Fascism - Could It Happen Here lFuMqJI6-Z4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,210 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you, your first article, you wrote when? +In February of 19--was it 39? +How old were you? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Ten. +AMY GOODMAN: Ten years old. +So I want to go back to this first article. +It was on the fall of-- NOAM CHOMSKY: First one I remember. +There maybe have been others. +AMY GOODMAN: The fall of Barcelona to Franco. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. +AMY GOODMAN: So you were talking about fascism and fascist forces. +NOAM CHOMSKY: [inaudible] fascism. +I remember--I'm sure it was not a very memorable article. +I hope it's been destroyed. +But-- AMY GOODMAN: Do you see-- +NOAM CHOMSKY: But if I remember, the part of it--it began by concern about the apparently +inexorable spread of fascism--Austria, Czechoslovakia, Toledo in Spain, Barcelona, which was quite +significant. +That's the end of the Spanish Revolution. +That took place in February 1939. +And it looked like it was just going to go on. +It was very frightening at the time. +AMY GOODMAN: Do you think it's accurate to use the word "fascism" or talk about the +rise of fascism in the United States? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, you know, "fascism" has become a kind of a scare word. +But many of the aspects of fascism are not far below the surface. +You go back to, say, the 1940s. +Robert Brady, great political economist, Veblenite political economist, wrote a book called Business +as a System of Power, in which he argued that in all of the state capitalist economies--so-called +capitalist economies, really state capitalist--there were developments towards some of the institutional +structures of fascism. +He was not thinking of concentration camps and crematoria, just the nature of the institutional +structures. +And that was not entirely false. +Could you move towards what Bertram Gross, around 1980, called "friendly fascism"? +So, fascist-type structures without the crematoria, which is not a core, necessary part of fascism. +It could happen. +We should recall that through the 1930s the fascist regimes had pretty favorable attitudes +towards them in the West. +Mussolini was called, by Roosevelt, "that admirable Italian gentleman," and who was +maybe misled by Hitler. +In 1932, one of the main business magazines--I think Forbes--had an article with the headline--front-page +story where the headline was "The wops are unwopping themselves." +Finally the Italians are getting their act together under Mussolini. +The trains were running on time, that sort of thing. +The business community was quite supportive. +As late as the late 1930s, the U.S. State Department was--can't actually say "supporting" +Hitler, but saying we ought to tolerate Hitler, because he's a moderate standing between +the extremes of right and left. +We've heard that before. +He's destroying the labor movement, which is a good thing; getting rid of the communists, +the socialists, fine. +There's right-wing elements, ultranationalist elements at the other extreme. +He's kind of controlling them. +So we should have a kind of a tolerant attitude toward him. +Actually, the most interesting case is George Kennan, great, revered diplomat. +He was the American consul in Berlin. +And as late as 1941, he was still writing pretty favorable comments about Hitler, saying +you shouldn't be too severe, there are some good things there. +We associate fascism now with the real horror stories of the Holocaust and so on. +But that's not the way fascism was regarded. +It was even more strongly supported by the British business community. +They could do business with them. +There was a--largely business-run regimes, which were--there was a lot of support in +Germany, because of the--it did create something like full employment through indebtedness +and military spending, and it was winning victories. +Could we move in that direction? +It's been recognized. +You can read it right now in mainstream journals, asking, "Will the--will the elements of Gross's +friendly fascism be instituted in a country like the United States?" +And it's not new. +Maybe 10 years ago, there was an interesting article in Foreign Affairs, main establishment +journal, by Fritz Stern, one of the major German historians of Germany. +It was called "Descent into Barbarism." +And he was discussing the way Germany deteriorated from what was, in fact, maybe the peak of +Western civilization in the 1920s into the utter depths of history 10 years later. +And his article was written with an eye on the United States. +This was the Bush administration, not today. +He was saying--he didn't say we're--Bush is Hitler, wasn't saying that. +But he was saying there were signs that we should pay attention to. +He said, "I sometimes have concern for the country that rescued me from fascism, when +I see what's happening." +AMY GOODMAN: And do you see the--Donald Trump's attack on the press as part of that trend +toward fascism, his calling the press the enemy of the people? +NOAM CHOMSKY: It's dangerous, but Nixon did the same thing. +You remember the--Agnew and so on. +Yes, it's dangerous, but I think it's well short of what we regard as fascism. +But it's not to be dismissed. +And I think we can easily see how a--if there had been a charismatic figure in the United +States who could mobilize fears, anger, racism, a sense of loss of the future that belongs +to us, this country could be in real danger. +We're lucky that there never has been an honest, charismatic figure. +McCarthy was too much of a thug, you know? +Nixon was too crooked. +Trump, I think, is too much of a clown. +So, we've been lucky. +But we're not going to be lucky forever necessarily. +AMY GOODMAN: MIT professor Noam Chomsky. +To see the full interview, go to democracynow.org. +I'll be doing a public interview with Noam Chomsky on Monday, April 24th, in Cambridge, +Massachusetts. +This Friday, April 7th, I'll be speaking in Denver at the Su Teatro Performing Arts +Center on Santa Fe Drive. +Then, on Saturday, April 8th, I'll be speaking in Castlegar, British Columbia in Canada. +Check our website for details. +0 +3 +5 +7 +8 +10 +12 +16 +17 +19 +20 +25 +26 +29 +30 +32 +39 +50 +51 +54 +56 +60 +62 +66 +68 +77 +83 +90 +96 +104 +111 +113 +119 +120 +124 +132 +139 +141 +154 +157 +163 +168 +175 +180 +185 +188 +190 +199 +204 +207 +209 +216 +217 +221 +223 +226 +232 +236 +244 +250 +256 +259 +263 +265 +272 +279 +285 +287 +288 +302 +307 +309 +315 +322 +325 +333 +340 +346 +349 +353 +358 +363 +364 +372 +376 +380 +383 +389 +391 +400 +413 +415 +421 +424 +426 +428 +430 +433 +436 +438 +444 +445 +449 +450 +454 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Freedom of Speech & Dissent b6IAj2MXtfo.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Freedom of Speech & Dissent b6IAj2MXtfo.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80613db --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Freedom of Speech & Dissent b6IAj2MXtfo.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +the flow rate my ups and downs and the finnish control +circular no action already with sir glenn +thoris and sola with recipes that +test a tourist circumstances dripping out of love for one +screenshot for people living 3000 always one +ranking 16 at the bosstraat there now speechify +participation in the article that led's sophia can also be a tournament +and you will see the the peak exporter factory win a player one win +about knowledge course in art and sport and the leads to people think so +has me at home and so I have a total to close +politics in the sun rise to the ideal the sound and then my setting passion +red sea coast and social media oh i am already argued from the center italy ' +towards sports danny for the game that post by beepers we can be excessive +democratic side how you see how is it as a teacher +cantina see half a dozen in social media +social media busy lina really efforts on the border of facebook and +google en google adsense url speech and early concerning this is such other +fast processor the radio controlled speech that led food chain do myself +so childlike snow globes example and the possible role in one of the rooms +pack online team cells that mobile commerce mole successfully shop though +anything like a hijack will shirley many small business can be better +clubs I certainly conglomerate showed a like and also see a cell torn +and with crow-publication switch public travel business destroy in winter +number 100 starts when there are a few us at centric it +solutions to english with this is my speech +I have a quick party coming from the center +the polo shirt is roulette starting cost +around and up to 160 pounds +extreme apple pencil extreme it is a blog with door +mary had soup of wool am normally lame +0 +12 +21 +29 +36 +43 +61 +71 +86 +103 +114 +119 +125 +129 +135 +141 +151 +163 +176 +193 +205 +215 +234 +247 +261 +271 +277 +284 +290 +300 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Google and Facebook GhpY80qR7zE.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Google and Facebook GhpY80qR7zE.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..890830c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Google and Facebook GhpY80qR7zE.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +Chest s eames bass over en better booby boa narrow swe io 1 +Which o mine cancer +erwin please cheer me up +Hugh when you write your mind, ww2, yes, oo nantes ex +Uh I think it's like that So it's a day when I take a break ou se into that stand frond tout de a write 5 a +Versus wood owned like no you a lot +Well, I'm going to give you a baby, I'm not going to be an art basque anyway, outsourcing 3 choice 4 2 Then alan big professional baseball +a man tool a button that can be added. +There is no other leak +What is it? What is it? My Principle How to Board De Silk Mike Issue Crunch by Degrees New +When you're in front of Anne Sharp's application, shake it off. That's right. Get the Resom from the snack up. The big place is nrg. +It's the energy that comes out to cure. +What's 6 pence est perl released a job ha sol er at x kitchen knife +Uh, why is this painful, why are you up here? +That's the alcohol I mean below. +I'm going to add Harry's, so there's nothing, so I'm coming out of Season 2 late, +Even if you know the emergency this year, why should you cheer for it? When the trumpet blows, what happened to Anna's man? +Ubi wants to do it so he doesn't like it and runs away, but he loses his expression and puts his power on Paul a tag. +In some cases, Serie a is usually used for a to sp. +ssul pretty well anyway, jiyun gave me over to mom table cooking +q I can do anything of my own. Take this out. Super ring 4 de a Super is intelligent. +Forve Wire Earrings Bash Sparring Must Come History Shustory Novel Farm +Air tag butter suck cloud expression 4 language steaming q paros technology upper temperature example +If you have a colic of saf herb, you can take that Paul. c +His work here in other people's post here text here +First of all, after we go back, we talk about root, especially son Goth 2 wert oh yes, to whom we +There is a main topic, by writing were saying that Dyke says nh 2 Taekyo +& 3 weeks out Toddlers like this, what's going on from that story? +Uh super yeah I have more wep +These days, I have done so many things to shoot a gun, why do I have to go up to the ball, and 100 million uncles of the steering wheel also gathered to teach Park Dae in 3rd class? +Look, this is noro, so it's like this +fiona my why +After wow fran, I try to put nationalism on the tendon. +Like there wasn't a walk in the United States where I don't use the mask campaign there 4 every day +Wow, squeeze it and then sell it with a mouse. Blood is added to my blemish sometimes. +afro cam fair cousin you kim why did you give me anyway, whatever permission you should do break news yes +frei those days already have vacation scores on this qwer o how o +It's like this all the time with a downpour 4 +The depth shawl probe talks too deeply about my mecha love dry butterfly brush ovi base pink +It could be childbirth, but your eyes +wee +222 +[Music] my uh +[music] +0 +8 +19 +26 +37 +53 +63 +74 +89 +93 +102 +111 +119 +129 +137 +144 +154 +161 +171 +183 +188 +197 +204 +214 +221 +230 +245 +254 +267 +274 +284 +291 +296 +310 +319 +329 +342 +352 +358 +367 +373 +376 +381 +390 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on How Businesses Sought to Destroy the Democratic Movements of the 1960s KenC5zBZRV4.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on How Businesses Sought to Destroy the Democratic Movements of the 1960s KenC5zBZRV4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75c0023 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on How Businesses Sought to Destroy the Democratic Movements of the 1960s KenC5zBZRV4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,234 @@ +JUAN GONZALEZ: I wanted to take a--ask you to talk about a section of your book, Requiem +for the American Dream, where you talk about this famous Powell Memorandum that Justice +Powell sent to the Chamber of Commerce and to others, major business groups, in 1971, +where he said that business is losing control over the society and that something has to +be done to counter these forces. +Now, this is a Supreme Court justice issuing something like this. +Could you talk about this effort by the business community basically to beat back the movement +of the '60s? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Actually, he was appointed Supreme Court justice a little bit after that. +He was then a corporate lawyer, I think, working for tobacco firms or something. +And he wrote an interesting memorandum. +It went to the American Chamber of Commerce. +It was supposed to be an internal memorandum, basically, to the business community. +It leaked, and--as things usually do, and it's quite interesting. +He didn't actually say that business is losing control. +What he said is, business is the--is being beaten down by the massive forces of the left, +which have taken over everything, the--even mentioned the devils who are leading the campaign: +Ralph Nader, with his consumer safety efforts, Herbert Marcuse, who's mobilizing the students +to carry out a revolution. +And he says they've taken over the media, they've taken over the universities, they're +practically in control of the whole country. +And meanwhile, the poor, embattled business community can barely survive under this incredible +assault. +It's a very interesting picture. +The rhetoric should be paid--you should pay attention to the rhetoric. +It's kind of like a spoiled 3-year-old who expects to have everything, and somebody takes +a piece of candy away from him, and they have a tantrum. +The world's ending. +That's pretty much the picture. +Of course, business was essentially running everything, but not totally. +There was--there were democratizing tendencies in the '60s. +The public became more engaged in public affairs and was considered a serious threat. +So he calls on the business community to defend theirselves from this monstrous attack. +And he says, "Look, after all, we're the ones who have the resources. +We have the funds. +You know, we're the trustees of the universities. +We should be able to protect ourselves from this assault that's wiping out the American +way, business and so on." +That's the Powell Memorandum. +And indeed, it--the lesson was understood, not just listening to him. +There was a reaction to the activism of the '60s. +The '60s are often called "the time of troubles." +They were civilizing the country. +That's extremely dangerous. +But no less interesting than the Powell Memorandum is another publication that came out from +the opposite side of the mainstream political spectrum, the book called The Crisis of Democracy, +published around the same time by the Trilateral Commission. +That's liberal internationalists from the three major capitalist centers--Europe, the +United States and Japan. +The political complexion of this group is illustrated by the fact that they almost entirely +staffed the Carter administration. +That's where they're coming from. +The American rapporteur Samuel Huntington, professor at Harvard, the well-known liberal +intellectual. +What's the crisis of democracy? +Pretty much the same as the Powell Memorandum. +They said there's too much democracy. +People who are usually passive and apathetic, the way they're supposed to be, are pressing +their demands in the public arena, and it's too much for the state to accommodate. +They didn't mention one group: corporate interests. +That's the national interest. +These are the special interests, and they called for more moderation and democracy. +Now, they were particularly concerned with what they called--this is their phrase--"the +institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young"--universities, schools, churches. +They're supposed to be indoctrinating the young, and they're not doing their job, +as you can see from all these kids running around calling for women's rights and ending +the war and so on and so forth. +So we have to have better indoctrination of the young. +They were also concerned about the media. +They said the media are becoming too adversarial. +If you look at what was happening, that's about as much of a joke as Powell. +They said, if the media don't control themselves and discipline themselves, maybe the state +will have to move in and do something about it. +This was the liberals. +This is the liberal end of the spectrum. +You take these two publications side by side. +They differ rhetorically. +The Powell Memorandum is literally a tantrum. +The Crisis of Democracy is big words, moderate, you know, intellectuals and so on. +But the message is not that very different. +It's saying we--that democracy is simply a threat. +The population has to be restored to passivity, then everything will be fine. +In fact, Huntington, the American rapporteur, says, kind of nostalgically, that Truman had +been able to run the country with the cooperation of a few corporate executives and Wall Street +lawyers. +That was the good old days, when democracy was functioning. +You didn't have all these demands and so on. +And remember, this is the liberal end of the spectrum. +Then you get the Powell Memorandum, which is the harsher end and rhetorically, literally, +kind of like a tantrum. +It's within that framework of thinking--which they didn't initiate, they articulated--that +you get the neoliberal reaction of the past generation, which, on every front, including +education, economy, undermining of the functioning of political democracy--all the factors that +have led to the disillusionment and anger of the people who end up being Trump voters, +voting for their class enemy. +It's worth remembering that these people have just concerns, very serious concerns. +It's revealed by some pretty remarkable recent revelations. +You've seen them, probably reported on the quite remarkable fact that mortality is increasing +among middle-class, lower-middle-class, working-class white Americans, middle-aged white Americans. +That's something unknown in developed societies. +Mortality keeps declining. +Here it's increasing. +And the roots of it are what are called diseases of despair. +People don't have hope for the future--and for pretty good reasons, if you look at the +facts of the matter. +Real male wages today are pretty much at the level of the '60s. +In 2007, at the time when there was a good deal of euphoria about the economy, how wonderful +it's doing, great moderation and so on, economists praising Alan Greenspan as the greatest figure +since Moses or something--"Saint Alan," he was called--right at the peak of euphoria, +right before the crash, real wages for American workers were lower than they were in 1979, +when the neoliberal experiments were just beginning. +These affect people's lives seriously. +They're not starving. +These are not the poorest people. +You know, they're kind of surviving, but without the hope for--without a sense of +dignity, of worth, of hope for the future, of some meaning in your life, and so on. +So they're reacting in often very self-destructive ways. +1 +5 +11 +19 +24 +26 +30 +36 +37 +42 +47 +49 +52 +56 +61 +65 +74 +81 +90 +92 +98 +100 +108 +109 +111 +116 +122 +125 +126 +127 +131 +135 +141 +147 +151 +152 +155 +162 +164 +167 +172 +178 +182 +183 +186 +193 +201 +205 +212 +214 +220 +221 +224 +230 +231 +235 +237 +241 +247 +253 +258 +260 +265 +271 +278 +284 +289 +292 +294 +296 +299 +305 +310 +313 +315 +317 +321 +324 +328 +335 +338 +342 +347 +355 +362 +363 +366 +369 +372 +379 +380 +387 +396 +405 +412 +414 +421 +426 +436 +442 +447 +448 +450 +455 +461 +463 +470 +476 +483 +488 +497 +501 +503 +505 +507 +514 +520 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Mass Media Obsession with Russia & the Stories Not Being Covered in the Trump Era x6qk01yq-dY.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Mass Media Obsession with Russia & the Stories Not Being Covered in the Trump Era x6qk01yq-dY.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4378b9b --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Mass Media Obsession with Russia & the Stories Not Being Covered in the Trump Era x6qk01yq-dY.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,314 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: Here on Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report, as we continue our +interview with Noam Chomsky, world-renowned dissident, linguist and author, now in Tucson +at the University of Arizona. +I asked him about a recent mix-up on Fox & Friends, in which the hosts thought they were interviewing +former Democratic congressional candidate, a current one, Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona, +who supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, but, in fact, they were +actually speaking to a Massachusetts Democratic congressional candidate, Barbara L'Italien, +who opposes ICE. +Here is how the interview started. +SEN. +BARBARA L'ITALIEN: Good morning. +I'm actually here to speak directly to Donald Trump. +I feel that what's happening at the border is wrong. +I'm a mother of four. +And I believe that separating kids from their parents is illegal and inhumane. +I'm actually Barbara L'Italien. +I'm a state senator representing a large immigrant community. +I'm running for Congress in Massachusetts. +I keep thinking about what we're putting parents through, imagining how terrifying +that must be for those families, imagining how it would feel not knowing if I'd ever +see my kids again. +We have to stop abducting children and ripping them from their parents' arms-- +ROB SCHMITT: OK-- +SEN. +BARBARA L'ITALIEN: --stop putting kids in cages-- +ROB SCHMITT: You want to-- +SEN. +BARBARA L'ITALIEN: --and stop making 3-year-olds defend themselves in court. +AMY GOODMAN: Well, Barbara L'Italien said a lot there, but she was then cut off, with +the shock of the Fox & Friends crew in the morning that they had the wrong Democratic +congressional candidate. +But this kind of media activism also just goes to the whole issue of the media, Noam +Chomsky, the issue of Fox News becoming really state media, with--you have the person who +supported the sexual harasser Roger Ailes, Bill Shine, now a top aide to President Trump +in the White House. +That's gotten little attention. +So you have Fox being a mouthpiece for Trump and a place for him to hear what people have +to say, and the other networks very much running counter to Trump, on certain issues, CNN and +MSNBC. +But your thoughts? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, my frank opinion is that--I must say I don't pay much attention to television, +so I don't know a great deal about it. +But, in general, I think the media--first of all, Fox News is, by now, basically a joke. +It's, as you said, state media. +The other media, I think, are focusing on issues which are pretty marginal. +There are much more serious issues that are being put to the side. +So, the worst of--even on the case of immigration, once again, I think the real question is dealing +with the roots of immigration, our responsibility for it, and what we can do to overcome that. +And that's almost never discussed. +But I think that's the crucial issue. +And I think we find the same across the board. +So, of all Trump's policies, the one that is the most dangerous and destructive, in +fact poses an existential threat, is his policies on climate change, on global warming. +That's really destructive. +And we're facing an imminent threat, not far removed, of enormous damage. +The effects are already visible but nothing like what's going to come. +A sea level rise of a couple of feet will be massively destructive. +It will make today's immigration issues look like trivialities. +And it's not that the administration is unaware of this. +So, Donald Trump, for example, is perfectly aware of the dangerous effects, in the short +term, of global warming. +So, for example, recently he applied to the government of Ireland for permission to build +a wall to protect his golf course in Ireland from rising sea levels. +And Rex Tillerson, who was supposed to be the adult in the room before he was thrown +out, as CEO of ExxonMobil, was devoting enormous resources to climate change denial, although +he had, sitting on his desk, the reports of ExxonMobil scientists, who, since the '70s, +in fact, were on the forefront of warning of the dire effects of this accelerating phenomenon. +I don't know what word in the language--I can't find one--that applies to people +of that kind, who are willing to sacrifice the literal--the existence of organized human +life, not in the distant future, so they can put a few more dollars in highly overstuffed +pockets. +The word "evil" doesn't begin to approach it. +These are the kinds of issues that should be under discussion. +Instead, what's being--there is a focus on what I believe are marginalia. +So, take, say, the huge issue of interference in our pristine elections. +Did the Russians interfere in our elections? +An issue of overwhelming concern in the media. +I mean, in most of the world, that's almost a joke. +First of all, if you're interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the +Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another +state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support. +Israeli intervention in U.S. elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have +done, I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes +directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with +overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president's policies--what happened +with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015. +Did Putin come to give an address to the joint sessions of Congress trying to--calling on +them to reverse U.S. policy, without even informing the president? +And that's just a tiny bit of this overwhelming influence. +So if you happen to be interested in influence of--foreign influence on elections, there +are places to look. +But even that is a joke. +I mean, one of the most elementary principles of a functioning democracy is that elected +representatives should be responsive to those who elected them. +There's nothing more elementary than that. +But we know very well that that is simply not the case in the United States. +There's ample literature in mainstream academic political science simply comparing voters' +attitudes with the policies pursued by their representatives, and it shows that for a large +majority of the population, they're basically disenfranchised. +Their own representatives pay no attention to their voices. +They listen to the voices of the famous 1 percent--the rich and the powerful, the corporate +sector. +The elections--Tom Ferguson's stellar work has demonstrated, very conclusively, that +for a long period, way back, U.S. elections have been pretty much bought. +You can predict the outcome of a presidential or congressional election with remarkable +precision by simply looking at campaign spending. +That's only one part of it. +Lobbyists practically write legislation in congressional offices. +In massive ways, the concentrated private capital, corporate sector, super wealth, intervene +in our elections, massively, overwhelmingly, to the extent that the most elementary principles +of democracy are undermined. +Now, of course, all that is technically legal, but that tells you something about the way +the society functions. +So, if you're concerned with our elections and how they operate and how they relate to +what would happen in a democratic society, taking a look at Russian hacking is absolutely +the wrong place to look. +Well, you see occasionally some attention to these matters in the media, but very minor +as compared with the extremely marginal question of Russian hacking. +And I think we find this on issue after issue, also on issues on which what Trump says, for +whatever reason, is not unreasonable. +So, he's perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia. +Being dragged through the mud for that is outlandish, makes--Russia shouldn't refuse +to deal with the United States because the U.S. carried out the worst crime of the century +in the invasion of Iraq, much worse than anything Russia has done. +But they shouldn't refuse to deal with us for that reason, and we shouldn't refuse +to deal with them for whatever infractions they may have carried out, which certainly +exist. +This is just absurd. +We have to move towards better--right at the Russian border, there are very extreme +tensions, that could blow up anytime and lead to what would in fact be a terminal nuclear +war, terminal for the species and life on Earth. +We're very close to that. +Now, we could ask why. +First of all, we should do things to ameliorate it. +Secondly, we should ask why. +Well, it's because NATO expanded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in violation +of verbal promises to Mikhail Gorbachev, mostly under Clinton, partly under first Bush, then +Clinton expanded right to the Russian border, expanded further under Obama. +The U.S. has offered to bring Ukraine into NATO. +That's the kind of a heartland of Russian geostrategic concerns. +So, yes, there's tensions at the Russian border--and not, notice, at the Mexican border. +Well, those are all issues that should be of primary concern. +The fate of--the fate of organized human society, even of the survival of the species, +depends on this. +How much attention is given to these things as compared with, you know, whether Trump +lied about something? +I think those seem to me the fundamental criticisms of the media. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, author and linguist, +now a laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, +Tucson. +He taught for 50 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. +Tune in next week when we continue our conversation with Noam Chomsky about Gaza, Israel's new +nationality law, the recent Trump-Putin summit, Iran, North Kora, the war in Yemen and more. +In December, Noam Chomsky will be celebrating his 90th birthday. +Oh, and happy birthday to Rob Young here at Democracy Now! +And Democracy Now! has a job opening for a broadcast engineer in our New York studio. +Find out more at democracynow.org. +0 +5 +10 +12 +18 +24 +29 +34 +36 +38 +39 +40 +43 +45 +47 +51 +52 +55 +57 +62 +67 +68 +71 +72 +73 +74 +75 +76 +77 +83 +90 +92 +97 +106 +114 +115 +117 +126 +133 +134 +135 +145 +148 +155 +158 +164 +169 +178 +184 +187 +189 +192 +200 +210 +212 +222 +226 +231 +237 +243 +250 +252 +260 +266 +272 +281 +289 +297 +304 +313 +321 +322 +326 +330 +338 +346 +348 +352 +358 +364 +372 +380 +388 +396 +402 +408 +414 +420 +425 +429 +435 +437 +439 +450 +455 +457 +463 +473 +480 +484 +488 +495 +498 +509 +514 +521 +525 +528 +535 +546 +552 +555 +560 +561 +570 +577 +578 +586 +592 +601 +604 +610 +618 +625 +629 +634 +640 +641 +643 +651 +659 +662 +663 +665 +668 +669 +676 +684 +690 +695 +701 +707 +712 +719 +720 +726 +729 +734 +739 +744 +745 +752 +757 +763 +768 +772 +777 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Nelson Mandela 2013 2gYssiY-rzc.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Nelson Mandela 2013 2gYssiY-rzc.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5db32e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Nelson Mandela 2013 2gYssiY-rzc.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@ +pazom alexander ivanovich other goods and on kia ray +drive out the minus. you can even, that is, St. Petersburg's growth remained so +play intensified, she gave 15 corners to the evening +growths most cost +0 +14 +24 +31 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Socialism ZBXUBYYEHhk.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Socialism ZBXUBYYEHhk.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffa44d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Socialism ZBXUBYYEHhk.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +Now, as far as 'socialism' is concerned, that term has been so evacuated of content over the last century that is hard even to use. +I mean, the Soviet Union, for example, was called a 'socialist society'. And it was called that by the two major propaganda operations in the world. +The US, the Western one, and the Soviet one. They both called it 'socialism', for opposite reasons. +The West called it 'socialism' in order to defame socialism by associating it with this miserable tyranny. +The Soviet Union called it 'socialism' in order to gain whatever... to benefit from the moral appeal that true socialism had among large parts of the general world population. +But this was about as remote from socialism as you can imagine. +I mean, the core notion of at least traditional socialism is that... what you mentioned, +that working people have to be in control of production and communities have to be in control of their own lives and so on. +And, you know, this is... this goes... +The Soviet Union was the exact opposite of that. Working people had no control over anything. They were virtual slaves. +And the collapse of the Soviet Union is in fact a small victory for socialism, in my opinion. It eliminated one of the major barriers to it, and should have been recognized as such. +But the term has been, as I said, so... become so meaningless that is hard even to use. +If we use it in the traditional sense, which you brought up, that goes -you know- that goes straight back in American history. +You read the working class press in the mid-19th century, -you know- the press published by artisans and what were called 'factory girls', +young women from the farms working in the textile mills and... Eastern Massachusetts which was center of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. +Their press was calling for... they said that their theme was that 'those who work in the mills ought to own them'. +Wage labor, which was called 'wage slavery', was regarded by most Americans as not very different from slavery. +Even the Republican Party regarded wage labor as just at best a preliminary to free labor, but intolerable. Because it's kind of servitude. +Large part of the Northern population fighting Civil War was fighting under that banner. +This goes straight through the 20th century, the idea that people should be in control of their own destinies and lives, +including the institutions in which they work, the communities in which they live and so on. +Call it what name you want, but that's traditional socialism, and there are today attempts to describe -kind of- a detailed vision of the future, based on these notions, +the most extensive and detailed one I know is by Michael Albert at ZNet, which you mentioned, that's participatory economics. +And there are others such proposals... +But I think this is deeply ingrained in people's understanding and consciousness and barely below the surface. +In fact, it's a call for, essentially, extension of democracy to the industrial sphere and to communities as well. +We should also bear in mind that the leading American social philosopher, John Dewey, who's -you know- as mainstream as apple pie, +and his main work was concentrated on democracy, +he pointed out over and over again that as long as we have what he called 'industrial feudalism', that is, a tyrannical private power controlling production and commerce, +democracy would be very limited. +We have to move to what he called 'industrial democracy' if we hope to have significant democracy. +As for politics, his position was that, until that happens, politics will be 'the shadow cast over society by big business'. +Whatever the... +And I think most of the population recognizes that and accepts it. +0 +11 +24 +31 +39 +53 +56 +63 +72 +76 +83 +94 +101 +109 +120 +128 +138 +147 +160 +165 +173 +178 +193 +202 +204 +212 +222 +236 +240 +255 +257 +263 +275 +276 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Syria, China, Capitalism, and Ferguson 5meC4Z61qGg.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Syria, China, Capitalism, and Ferguson 5meC4Z61qGg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75ac44a --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Syria, China, Capitalism, and Ferguson 5meC4Z61qGg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,422 @@ +Hi I'm Laura Flanders - this week on the show, none other than professor, author, intellectual extraordinaire Noam Chomsky +on everything from Iraq, to Ferguson, to China and trade. +And a sneak peak at a documentary on a workers' struggle that won. +It's all coming up, right here, welcome to the show +[music playing] +It's hard to find anyone on the U.S. left who hasn't been influenced by our next guest - +he's an accomplished linguist who's work has transformed his field, +he's a political theorist and the author of more than 100 books, the subject of many movies, +and he's not just a committed public intellectual, he's an activist - he shows up on campuses where the action is +and draws a crowd. Noam Chomsky is our guest in this special interview recorded in New York +Noam - welcome to the program glad to have you +President Obama picked the 10th anniversary of the U.S. battle of Fallujah +to announce the doubling of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Some of those troops are +going back to Anbar Province where Fallujah is situated. People talk about the crisis +posed by ISIS, and [the West's] lack of good options. Is this how you see it? +Noam Chomsky: It's interesting to look at it carefully. Fallujah, first of all, was +one of the worst atrocities of the 21st century. The Iraq war itself was the worst crime of +the 21st century, easily. Fallujah was probably the worst war crime carried out during that +war. +Seven thousand Marines attacked Fallujah, probably killed everyone who was there. They +called them insurgents - whatever that means. On the first day of the invasion of Fallujah, +the New York Times had a front page photograph of Marines breaking into the general hospital, +which is a war crime, and throwing all the patients and doctors on the floor and shackling +them. It was hailed as a triumph. +When the High Command was asked why they broke into the hospital, they said it was a propaganda +center for the insurgents. [They said that the hospital] was releasing casualty figures, +and therefore it's legitimate to carry out a major war crime. +Apparently pretty exotic weapons were used there, and there's evidence, which international +agencies don't want to look at, of high levels of cancer and other effects of maybe +depleted uranium, maybe something else. +It's a major atrocity, but it's hailed here as a victory. The only way it is referred +to now is as a tragedy because the Marines fought so hard to liberate Fallujah, and now +ISIS is in control of it. +LF: So what would you do if you were president? +Noam Chomsky: First of all ISIS is a monstrosity. There isn't a conceivable way of dealing +with it. It's kind of hard to imagine following the law (I say that cautiously because it's +such an outrageous idea), but there are laws, and we're bound by them. The Constitution +requires that we adhere to them, of course we never do. +One of them is the U.N. Charter. A way of dealing with ISIS following the law would +be to approach the U.N. Security Council and request that they declare a threat to peace, +which of course they would do, and organize a way to respond to it. And then follow the +will of the international community. Out of that there might come a reasonable response. +The unilateral U.S. response -- mainly to hit everything with a sledgehammer -- makes +absolutely no sense. The correspondent who's followed this most closely and has been right +all along, Patrick Cockburn, simply describes it as an Alice in Wonderland strategy. +The major ground forces that are fighting ISIS are apparently the [Kurdistan Workers' +Party] PKK and its allies in Syria. They're barred because we call them a terrorist group, +so they're under attack. Our ally, Turkey, attacks them and we bar them support. +But they're apparently the ones who saved the Yazidis and blocked the ISIS attack on +Iraqi Kurdistan. They're out. The major regional state that could confront ISIS is +Iran. In fact they could probably wipe them out. And they're influential in Iraq. In +fact, [they're] the victors of the Iraq war. They're out for ideological reasons. +A more complex case, which Patrick Cockburn has actually talked about, is what to do with +Assad. That has all kinds of complexities, but anyway they're out. +And the sledgehammer has its usual effect. The U.S. bombings, are, in the usual and predictable +way, eliciting anger from the civilians that were under attack. They don't like ISIS. +They hate it, but they don't want to be attacked by American bombs. +There was very interesting insight into this in the New York Times, maybe a week ago. The +lead article should have had the headline: "The United States declares itself to be +the world's leading terrorist state and is proud of it." That was the content of +the article, but of course it didn't have that headline. But it was very revealing. +Also the lack of response to it. +The lead story was a report of a CIA study that had just come out of U.S. intervention +and the study was concerned with when they worked and when they didn't work and why. +They quoted Obama saying that he commissioned some such studies. He was kind of disappointed +they didn't work so much. Then you take a look at the examples, first paragraph of +the story, three examples: Cuba, Angola, Nicaragua. Each one a major terrorist war carried out +by the United States, not even ambiguous. +So here we take three major terrorist wars with horrible consequences, we investigate: +did they work? Didn't they work? We're disappointed that they didn't work. And +the president says we have better ways. Again, the headline should be: "Yes, we declare +ourselves to be the world's leading terrorist state. We're proud of it." +LF: It goes to a much bigger question. You talk often about the conventional wisdom being +reality on it's head. That goes back to the founding story of the United States. +Noam Chomsky: It sure does. +LF: Can you talk about the principles on which this country is supposedly founded versus +the ones you think it might actually be founded on. I've been reading Edward Baptist's +extraordinary book, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. +Noam Chomsky: Well, take Baptist's book and compare it with the New York Times this +morning. There's a description in the New York Times of the horrible treatment of the +Yazidi by ISIS. Now go back to Baptist's book. That's what he's describing. He's +describing the treatment of the slaves for half of American history, and in fact it continues. +And it's almost identical. That's the way they were treated. +It's not just kind of bad people in Georgia, Boston financiers were involved in it. They +didn't say they were in favor of slavery but they were happy to become wealthy by exporting +commodities that were produced by the leading resource of the 19th century, which was cotton. +Cotton was kind of like oil. +So, the oil--the cotton gets exported and they make a ton of money and the banks, they +have enough money to import. The country grows and becomes rich, and in fact as Baptist says, +the economy was built on the backs of African slaves. +LF: So is capitalism- RECD as you call it - real existing capitalist democracy - in +the United States. Is it redeemable, reformable? +Chomsky: Well, this is a good illustration of how remote our system is from capitalism. +It's hard to think of any greater violation of capitalist and market principles than slavery. +But the country was based on two basic commitments: one, slavery, which was as Baptist points +out was all the source, pretty much the source of the growing economy, including the industrial +economy. The other is the extermination of the indigenous population by state power. +What''s that got to do with capitalism? +In effect, it goes right to the present. If you have an iPhone and you take a look at +the components in it, practically all of them were developed through the state sector, government +funding, research and development, often for decades. +LF: Public sector. We paid for it. +Noam Chomsky: Yea, we paid for it. And notice there is a principle of capitalism. Say we +imagine we're in a capitalist society. And you invest money in something, and it's +a risky investment, and you keep investing in it for decades. And finally, something +comes out that makes a profit--well, in a capitalist society you're supposed to get +the profit. That's not what happens here. +LF: If I'm the U.S. taxpayer... +Noam Chomsky: You pay for decades, usually under the pretext that the Russians are coming +or something. You're paying for the kind of research and development and creative work +that yields the IT revolution, computers, the Internet, your iPhone, all the rest of +it. Do you get anything back? +LF: I haven't noticed it. +Noam Chomsky: It goes to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. +LF: But, we work a lot with people these days who are interested in trying to develop work +around co-ops and cooperative regions of solidarity economics. Is that hopeless? +Noam Chomsky: No, I think that makes sense. In fact, there are interesting things happening. +The person who's done the most writing about this is Gar Alperovitz, and it's interesting +work. Throughout the Northern middle west, like in Northern Ohio, there is a spread of +worker-owned enterprises -- not huge but not small either -- which could be the basis of +a different kind of society. And notice that these could be substantial if there was enough +popular support. +So, go back a couple of years--Obama virtually nationalized the auto industry. It was collapsing, +so it had to be kind of built up by the taxpayers. So he took over most of the auto industry. +There were a few possibilities. One possibility, of course, was the one that was followed. +Bail out the owners, bail out the banks, give it back to the same people, or other people +with different faces but essentially the same roles in society, and have it continue to +produce what it had always been producing--automobiles. There was another possibility. +Give it to the work force. Subsidize them to develop and have it produce what we need. +What do we need? I can give you a personal example. +My wife and I came to New York by train from Boston. The train took only an hour and a +half longer than when I took it in 1950 for the first time. Either it was standing still +or it was going slower than the trucks on the Connecticut Turnpike. +There isn't a country in the world where this happens. And that's just a symbol of +the country. This is the richest country in the world that has incomparable advantages +and it's just falling apart. +LF: Were you encouraged by the news that was hailed as a breakthrough of the U.S.-China +accord around emissions, for the first time China committing to cap emissions? +Noam Chomsky: Look, it's better than nothing, but it doesn't really amount to much. And +it had potential dangers that we'd better keep our eye on. Notice that this a U.S.-China +agreement. It could turn out that this is going to undercut the international agreements, +and it's not impossible that that was the purpose. +When we talk about Chinese emissions, remember they're our emissions. China manufactures, +say, your iPad, and there is pollution, but that's for the American markets. So, it's +a mixed story. +LF: Well, so that goes to the questions that we received from our Facebook friends. We +invited them to pose questions for Professor Chomsky and they posed very many. They fell +into several camps: How did we get into this mess? How would you describe this mess? And +how to we get out of this mess? I think at the "how do you describe this mess?" situation. +One quick question in particular, was "How do you assess the strengths and weaknesses +of the U.S. movements for social justice, and how would you advise we try to maximize +the strengths and minimize the weaknesses?" +Noam Chomsky: The labor movement has traditionally been in the forefront of progressive social +change, and for that reason and others it's under severe attack. Partly it's the fault +of labor bureaucrats, but partly it's just fierce attack from the business world, which +pretty much runs the country. +And by now the labor movement is a shadow of what it once was. It could come back. There +have been earlier periods of American history when the labor movement was destroyed--1920s, +it was partially wiped out, 1930s it rose again, so it could happen. +But with the labor movement seriously weakened and an independent political parties almost +gone, there's a lack of, a fundamental lack of, continuity in activist politics. +So everything starts from--as if nothing ever happened before. So, if you take Occupy, which +was important but it came out of nowhere, no institutional memory, no recollection of +the history. Not even remembering how to run a demonstration. You know, all of this kind +of institutional memory is gone. There's a lot of activism, but it's very separated. +One of the things that I spend a lot of time doing is just giving talks around the country. +And one of the major positive contributions is it just brings people together in the same +community. People may be doing the same thing in different neighborhoods and don't know +each other. And that extends across the country. What's happening here nobody knows about +there. That's a serious weakness. +LF: One of the other questions we had from our Facebook page was from people asking about +the prospects for a movement growing out of the conflict in Ferguson and the role of police +and the militarization of police in our society. Do you see any prospects for a broad anti-racist +social justice movement coming out of that mobilization? +Chomsky: There are prospects, but it's going to be very hard. This is a very racist society. +I mean it's pretty shocking. What has happened in the last, roughly 30 years, with regard +to African Americans, actually is very similar to what Baptist describes in the late 19th +century. Remember what happened--the Constitutional amendments during and after the Civil War +were supposed to free African American slaves. +It did something for about 10 years then there was a North-South compact, which essentially +granted the former slave-owning states the right to do whatever they wanted. And what +they did was criminalize black life in all kinds of ways. That created a kind of a slave +force. +In fact, one of the most interesting books on it, Douglas Blackmon's Slavery by Another +Name. It threw mostly black males, but also women, into jail where they become a perfect +labor force, much better than slaves. If you're a slave owner you have keep your capital alive. +If the state does it for you, it's terrific. No strikes, no disobedience, the perfect labor +force. +A lot of the American Industrial Revolution in the late 19th, early 20th century, is based +on that. And that actually pretty much lasted until the World War II when there was a need +for what's called free labor in the war industry. After that come about two decades +in which African Americans had kind of a shot at entering this society. A black worker could +get a job at an auto plant, the unions were still functioning, maybe he could buy a small +house and send his kid to college or something. +By the 1970s or 80s, it's going back to criminalization of black life. It's called +the Drug War, which is a racist war. Ronald Reagan was an extreme racist and denied it. +And the whole Drug War is designed, from policing up to eventual release from prison to make +it impossible, for the black male community, and more and more women and more and more +Hispanics, to be part of the society. +If you look at American history, the first slaves came in 1619, and that's half a millennium. +There have been about three or four decades in which African Americans had a limited degree +of freedom, not entirely, but at least some. +And of course, for black elites there are some privileges, but I'm talking about the +mass of the population, which has been re-criminalized and also turned into a slave labor force (prison +labor for example). This is American history. To break out of that is no small trick. +If you take a look +at the elections, say the last election, in many ways it's a civil war. The red states +are the confederacy. That extent +is little bit beyond, but that's pretty much what it is. This is a real battle. These +two founding crimes, slavery and extermination of the indigenous population, are very much with +us. Take a look at Indian reservations today. It's not a pretty sight. +7 +8 +12 +16 +20 +47 +53 +56 +60 +67 +73 +77 +82 +85 +90 +94 +99 +105 +112 +114 +121 +129 +137 +142 +147 +153 +157 +163 +170 +177 +180 +187 +195 +197 +201 +208 +214 +222 +226 +233 +241 +248 +256 +261 +268 +275 +281 +290 +294 +300 +307 +312 +318 +324 +331 +340 +348 +358 +370 +377 +381 +386 +389 +401 +406 +411 +419 +425 +429 +436 +441 +448 +452 +462 +467 +468 +474 +478 +479 +483 +489 +497 +503 +507 +520 +528 +537 +538 +545 +551 +554 +561 +563 +568 +576 +586 +592 +596 +599 +605 +610 +614 +616 +623 +629 +636 +642 +643 +644 +652 +658 +663 +665 +666 +669 +674 +680 +686 +692 +701 +709 +714 +716 +725 +732 +739 +745 +751 +756 +765 +769 +776 +785 +789 +793 +800 +803 +809 +814 +824 +830 +837 +841 +847 +853 +855 +860 +865 +869 +875 +879 +886 +889 +897 +907 +914 +916 +924 +930 +935 +942 +952 +958 +965 +970 +975 +982 +989 +995 +1000 +1003 +1009 +1017 +1022 +1025 +1031 +1039 +1048 +1054 +1060 +1066 +1072 +1079 +1080 +1087 +1094 +1103 +1109 +1110 +1115 +1121 +1127 +1135 +1139 +1141 +1148 +1155 +1165 +1173 +1177 +1185 +1192 +1197 +1203 +1213 +1229 +1265 +1325 +1395 +1503 +1541 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Trump's botched coronavirus response - 'The country is simply run by sociopaths' o9QVxRCqfek.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Trump's botched coronavirus response - 'The country is simply run by sociopaths' o9QVxRCqfek.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6a937c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on Trump's botched coronavirus response - 'The country is simply run by sociopaths' o9QVxRCqfek.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +"Countries have reacted to this in many ways -- some very successfully, some +more or less successfully. +One is at the bottom +of the barrel. +That's us," says renowned linguist and political dissident Noam Chomsky of +the COVID-19 crisis sweeping the globe. +"The U.S. is the only major country that cannot even provide data to the +World Health Organization, because it's so dysfunctional." +Chomsky says the fault lies with neoliberal, capitalist logic guiding the for-profit healthcare +system, compounded by the current "sociopathic" administration at the helm in D.C. +"We have a freak show in Washington -- a totally dysfunctional government, which is +causing enormous problems." +0 +35 +41 +71 +73 +102 +153 +206 +245 +275 +289 +296 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the Spanish Revolution and the May 1968 Events in France YdsL5LtUcm0.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the Spanish Revolution and the May 1968 Events in France YdsL5LtUcm0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7d43dd --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the Spanish Revolution and the May 1968 Events in France YdsL5LtUcm0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +flora +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +[Music] +the mother +[Applause] +today [Music] +[Music] +[Music] +the brand took the +put [Applause] +[Music] [Applause] +[Music] +[Music] +5 +23 +130 +160 +217 +237 +288 +306 +351 +370 +388 +516 +518 +546 +561 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the Terror attacks in Paris yS7zD8nnjsg.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the Terror attacks in Paris yS7zD8nnjsg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b1b841 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the Terror attacks in Paris yS7zD8nnjsg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,50 @@ +Raza: Can you comment on the terrorist attack that occurred in Paris on November 13, a few days ago +And how should Europe, by that I mean the European population +and as well as European politicians at this crucial moment - react +Chomsky: Well it depends what they want to do. +Do they want to encourage further terrorism, or do they want to end that kind of terrorism? +That's the choice. If you want to end it, the first question you ask is: why did it take place? +What were the immediate causes and what were the deeper roots? And then you try to address those. +So what were the immediate causes? Well, we don't know a lot. +About the only information we have is the explanation given by ISIS. +Not only for these acts but for the blowing up of the Russian airplane +killing a couple of hundred people in the Sinai. +They say, look "if you bomb us we'll attack you" +Well, that's probably the reason. As far as we know that's the short-term cause. +The longer-term causes are the ones that we've been discussing. +Where did all this come from? The invasion of Iraq, the Wahabisation of Sunni Islam, +the brutality of the Assad regime and so on. +So if you want to reduce the possibility of further attacks, you address these causes. +If on the other hand, you want to increase the attacks, +you do exactly what President Hollande is announcing right now. +Let's bomb them more. Let's destroy ISIS by military force which is probably impossible. +But if it did happen, it's pretty likely that something worse would emerge from it. +Because the roots are not addressed and they are real. +Raza: Noam Chomsky, anarchist, political philosopher, linguist and political commentator +thank you so much for joining us! +Chomsky: Thank you. +15 +21 +27 +33 +35 +40 +48 +54 +58 +64 +69 +72 +78 +85 +89 +94 +97 +104 +106 +111 +119 +125 +130 +137 +139 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the work of Harry Fear EDg-PDY2JsI.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the work of Harry Fear EDg-PDY2JsI.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f5a67f --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on the work of Harry Fear EDg-PDY2JsI.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,14 @@ +>> CHOMSKY: I was in Gaza a few months ago, just before the last wave of killings, and +when I came back, I was able to see some of Harry Fear's journalistic work, and was very +impressed by the courage - and the necessity of this kind of work, just to break through +the silence, to give people in the United States in particular and the West in general +a direct sense of reality for which you are largely responsible. And +with regard to liability, there can be no doubt. So this direct, brave and honest portrayal +is invaluable. +8 +16 +25 +35 +42 +50 +59 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on what gives him hope in the midst of a pandemic dg5ciDyauI4.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on what gives him hope in the midst of a pandemic dg5ciDyauI4.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd37074 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on what gives him hope in the midst of a pandemic dg5ciDyauI4.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +What gives you hope? +What gives me hope is the actions that popular groups are taking all over the world, many +of them. +Some of them are -- there are some things happening that are truly inspiring. +Take the doctors and the nurses who are working overtime under extremely dangerous conditions, +lacking -- especially in the United States, lacking even minimal support, being compelled +to make these agonizing decisions about who to kill tomorrow. +But they're doing it. +It's just a -- it's an inspiring tribute to the resources of the human spirit, a model +of what can be done, along with the popular actions, the moves to create a Progressive +International. +These are all very positive signs. +But you look back in recent history, there have been times where things looked really +hopeless and desperate. +I can go back to my early childhood, the late '30s, early '40s. +It looked as though the rise of the Nazi plague was inexorable, victory after victory. +It looked like you couldn't stop it. +It was the most horrible development in human history. +Well, turns out -- I didn't know that at the time -- that U.S. planners were expecting +that the post-war world would be divided between a U.S.-controlled world and a German-controlled +world, including all of Eurasia -- a horrifying idea. +Well, it was overcome. +There have been other serious -- the civil rights movement, Young Freedom Riders going +out into Alabama to try to encourage black farmers to go to vote, despite the threat, +serious threat, of being murdered, and being murdered themselves. +These were some -- this is examples of what humans can do and have done. +And we see many signs of it today, and that's the basis for hope. +0 +2 +10 +11 +17 +27 +35 +39 +41 +50 +57 +59 +61 +69 +71 +77 +86 +88 +93 +99 +107 +113 +115 +125 +135 +141 +149 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky on why you should watch DiEM25 TV _ DiEM25 8wb6LFOYyQQ.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on why you should watch DiEM25 TV _ DiEM25 8wb6LFOYyQQ.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..040565d --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky on why you should watch DiEM25 TV _ DiEM25 8wb6LFOYyQQ.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@ +One of the +positive things that people can do right now is to use the occasion of the +coronavirus to watch the +DiEM TV to be up-to-date on what's happening and more important what we can all do. +0 +2 +7 +10 diff --git a/cnt/Noam Chomsky, Laura Turull i Beta Forn J0Pxpr64aDc.en.cnt b/cnt/Noam Chomsky, Laura Turull i Beta Forn J0Pxpr64aDc.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b438533 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Noam Chomsky, Laura Turull i Beta Forn J0Pxpr64aDc.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1014 @@ +Not here? (man) Here on camera. +Here. +(Salellas) The indictment states: +"The initiative that created the website Let catalans vote +it was crucial to achieve membership +of characters from the international scene +in the face of the judicial closure of the referendum websites. +This is the fact, the fact for which it is asked ... +such a serious penalty against Mr. Jordi Cuixart. +And what is that fact? +Seek adherence to a political referendum demand, +, well-known people like Noam Chomsky, +that we have asked that they be summoned as witnesses +in this plenary and which the Court has considered irrelevant. +But in any case, do you seek the support of those characters ... +Can a referendum demand be a criminal act? +Were they guerrilla warfare actions? +(home) War scenario and guerrilla scenario. +-Tractors, straw alpaca barricades ... +-Bottles started to rain ... -Screams, blows, kicks ... +What were the slogans heard? +- "Fascists", "sons of bitches" ... - "We will vote", "independence" ... +"Out of the forces of repression", "Out of the forces of occupation" ... +"Fascists", in Catalan, "fascists" ... +-It's a piece of square cloth that said "Omnium", with a stick ... +-It can't be. Either participated or did not participate. +-Time is relative. -Completely contradictory. +If there is only one, an email ... +urging him to act violently. +(home) No. +You have been summoned by the defense of Jordi Cuixart in this trial +as a witness, +but it has been rejected by the judges at the time of being able to express itself. +We asked Jordi Cuixart's lawyers +what questions would they have asked him, +and if you like it I'll do some for you now so you can answer them for me. +The first is: what is a political prisoner? +Jordi Cuixart is a political prisoner. +According to international standards +and taking into account the facts +that happened in Catalonia in October 2017, +Do you consider the allegations serious? +which are made about Jordi Cuixart +correspond to what happened? +You signed several manifestos +such as "Let catalans vote" or "Justice and Freedom", +who demanded the release of political prisoners +along with various international personalities +such as several Nobel Peace Prizes. +Why did you join? +It's funny, because in every prison there's always a hallway. +-Have you noticed? -There were also some in Estremera. +Yes, yes, but covered. It's like "the hallway." +They must have done it a thousand times, this hallway. So many. +It's just that it's weird to be here. +Yes, yes, a lot. +It's been many months since we came, since mid-January. +Look at. I had never seen him. Wasn't he there before? +-I do not remember. -I wasn't there. +It's just that it's weird to be here without ... knowing they're not there. +Hello. How are you? Laura. +Well. Hi, Beta. +Hello. How are you? +Well ... It's weird, being here. Strange feeling, right? +Little bit. Do we enter the speaker? +Let's go. Yes? Raul. +Had you been here? +- (Laura) I do, twice. - (Beta) I don't, ever. +That is, when you communicated, when you talked to your parents, +it was always in an open space, without glass. +Yes, in family-friendly rooms. +(Beta) Yes, I decided, when they came here, +as we were entitled to a more family visit, +that I wouldn't come to the phone booth, because I'm not really having a good time at all. +I do not like it. +Because? Because communication is hard, right, I guess? +The glass ... Yes, yes. +Does that remind you of Estremera, for example? +In Estremera you speak through the glass more than once. +In Estremera, several times, but it was different, it was darker. +In Estremera it was much colder. The space is half that. +Yes. It's very old, all very chalked ... It's not nice, to be sitting there. +If not, we usually went to family vis-a-vis, +which is a room where there is no glass. +That that's where you can touch, hug, let's say, is different. +And it's an hour and a half. Well, in Madrid there are two; here is an hour and a half. +And here are only 40 minutes. In the phone booth, 40 minutes. +Yes, and when it's over, it's over. +That is, it is cut and you do not have time to say goodbye. +And then, suddenly, the voice stops and you don't hear anything anymore, +and you are left with half an explanation. +So you can't say goodbye. No, no. +Then it all starts with gestures. Like this... +Touching the glass ... Or vocalizing a lot. +What is that image, right ?, which is always explained, +that one puts his hand up, the other puts his hand up and it's a way to say goodbye. +In fact, they're pretty clean here, +but in Estremera I remember lips stuck to the glasses. +And small, big hands ... +That's shocking, that. +Are you following the judgment, you, now, +with your student life you have? +Yes. +I haven't seen all the statements, but most have; +let's comment on them, in fact. +I set out, at first, to see it all, +but of course, now I've seen that no ... +It's just that it's hard to combine judgment with your whole life; +it's like being on trial for 24 hours, +more keep up with everything and also try not to be affected by certain things. +It is very complicated. +Sure, there are a lot of people who live it very politically, that. +You live the two facets, don't you ?, the most political facet ... +Of course, there is the human factor, and it is already beginning to take its toll on them. +I talked to my dad a couple of days ago, and they're tired, +and you see that they are losing weight ... +I mean they're ... I don't mean shattered, +but every day there and everything ... you notice them. +Then you also suffer for it. +They seem to be fine, but they are having a bad time, right now. +And you went to see the trial. You said it, that you have been to the Supreme. +And what sensation has it generated for you, that of being within the Supreme? +The first day was awful. +The first day the trial began ... We were there for a week. +Yes, we were there the first week of trial. +And the first day impacted us a lot. +Already for everything that happened to us in the morning before we entered. +But in there ... I think we were aware of that, and we said it, +that there are two realities, that in this judgment there are two realities. +Because it was our first contact with people who are from Vox; +you realize a reality I didn't know. +And you see there are two totally different stories. +People from Vox who came to talk to you? +Yes, yes, yes. And we had, not a discussion, but we were reprimanded ... +What did they tell you? Well ... +-If we repeated the words ... -A few words a little beast. +Let's say that, at the outset, +people were nice to us, both of us ... +Then, when they knew who our parents were, +They looked at us sadly and said: +"You Catalans are so wrong. +Your parents are so wrong! " +And "they will spend so many years in prison" ... +That, I remember they told us. +-But that "is what they deserve." -Because, obviously, right? +"They have broken Spain and of course ... they have to rot." +One of the things I always wonder, +when we talk about the situation of prisoners and their families, +it's about their parents. +The grandparents. +And that all this must upset them deeply. +A lot, and because they are great. +And, in my case, they are sick. I mean no ... +My father has been imprisoned, and I always say: +I will see my father come out of it; my grandparents... +Everyone thinks like this. +It makes me angry, doesn't it? +Our grandparents, who were already fighting to get out of a dictatorship ... +and they left the skin there to get it. +And now he goes and locks their son in jail. +My grandmother was small and lived in the midst of the Franco dictatorship, +and it's like all of that was a bit of a taboo subject, for her. +Her mother was locked up in prison +when she was just born, to be a Republican, to share ..., +well, because they said he was handing out Republican propaganda. +And now all these resentments have resurfaced +and it is as if he now understands even more +all for which his parents fought. +All this repression becomes much more evident to him +or this abuse by the Spanish state. +I will always remember my grandfather, +when my father was called to leave, he said: +"Whatever happens in Madrid, we will always be by your side." +And that breaks the heart ... +Sure, because I hadn't seen it that way. +But of course, my father was going to Madrid; +I didn't know if my grandfather would be able to go there, and he didn't know either. +He said, "Maybe this is the last time I'm here with you ..." +# +(Ragman) There was a time when there was a statement on our own +to tell us "we agree with what Mr. Forn says." +# America! +In the end, he is a politician, he does what he causes. +# America! +I think there was a point, and I must say so, of irresponsibility. +# You are so grand and gold, golden. +# Oh I wish I was deep in America tonight. # +(Pina) Just if I could clarify in what media ..., +the content of those statements attributed to Mr. Turull. +(Ragman) Allusions were made +which had been of Councilor Turull. +Of course, they weren't just Forn's, that's for sure. +I have in my memory that they were referring to Councilor Turull. +If I'm wrong, I apologize. +# +It amazes me that one of the most influential thinkers in the world can be fixed +in what is happening in a small place called Catalonia, +in relation to a state such as Spain. +Tell me what repression is. +For example, the police crackdown that took place on October 1, +you were not surprised, then. +Why do you think a state should act this way +in the face of a referendum, even if it has been unilateral? +Do you think it makes sense in the 21st century +raise a process of independence? +You who know the world, +because he has looked at it, he has observed it, he has analyzed it a lot, +Do you think that if this new state were economically viable +what would Catalonia be, if it had already become independent? +But the feeling is that this solidarity that you explain, +this organization, +in the end it doesn't end up changing things, does it? +He always gains power. +(man: intercom) "Revenue booth, open cell 5 and 29." +"Revenue booth, you can now close M29." +(intercom: woman) "... in modules, returns the input of the first turn." +Have you been told what a cell is like, your parents? +(Laura) Very narrow, long, +with a rather small window, I think little light enters. +A bunk bed, toilet, shower ... and a desk. +(Beta) And there's no curtain. +(Laura) Or they do it with garbage bags. +(Beta) Things as simple as this, in prison not ... +you don't have them, and that's it ... +(Laura) It's kind of like a survival. +A prison is a city, and each module is a neighborhood. +And you have to live with it. +Have you been surprised by your parents all this time? +That is, did you change the image you had of them? +Personally, yes. +I would never have imagined two years ago that my father would write me letters. +Or things we've talked about or told me. +I have talked about him on my personal issues +that I never imagined I would talk to him about it, +and less through a letter. +So, I think that despite the distance, +i think this has brought us together a little more, +and having such short communication. +But deep down, I now notice that I have him much closer to me. +So I think this is a change from these ..., +well, positive things that all this brings. +Did you reproach your father with anything? +of what you have done in recent years? +Me, now, being him in jail, no. +But I admit that when it came out, yes. +Because I did get very angry with him +when all that of the investiture debate happened. +I had a fatal day the day before, but fatal, +because I saw that, all of a sudden, one day, +my father was either president of Catalonia or he was going to prison. +And I knew that if I went to jail, I wouldn't be out in a month. +I felt it. And look, it's been a year. +Sure, I told him everything. +And I admit that I happened that day, but ... +I want it to be understood. +When I told him everything I told him, I told him to protect him, +to say "enough, it's over." +You asked him to ... Stop. +Let him leave politics now. +"I'm sick of the country always going ahead of me and my family." +I said, "Enough, stop. +Let it run, let another be put into it; you've done enough ". +Because I saw that everything was rushing. +And that day I had a really bad time. +I had ... I think I was scared that day. +I didn't know what fear really was, and that day, yes. +Because he said, "It's just that you're leaving tomorrow, and it looks like you're earning it." +But well ... It's just that the situation, in the end ... +We spoke with Xavier Domenech, +because we are preparing other programs of the "Four Cats", +and we have spoken specifically of this moment in the investiture debate. +What is the hardest moment you have experienced in Parliament? +(sighs) +As hard in brutal "plan", +and then I could go see him in prison, +it was ... it was the day before the arrest +by Carme Forcadell, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, +and of all who ended up in prison. +Because the day before there was the investiture debate +where Jordi Turull appeared in Parliament. +That was very very beastly. +That is, to have a debate with a candidate for the investiture ... +that ... that you see his face, +and that you also know or think you may end up in jail the next day, +it's one of the most beastly things I've ever experienced in parliamentary life. +I've experienced others, too. +In Madrid I have lived a lot of beasts, too. +But I would say the most shocking ... was that moment. +I don't know if at that time we all knew how to live up to it. +And when I say "all" I mean "all," eh, +of the most diverse political spaces, +we did not know how to live up to that moment. +That is, you did not rethink your vote much later. +Yes, I ... I ..., to be honest, +I, in that debate, remember that I answered Turull ... +and there was a time when the tone made me a little sour, +and it was actually because he was angry. +He was not angry with Turull, +he was angry with the situation that had brought us to that. +And he believed that someone, it can be openly said, +I don't think it should have been ... +He decided so and is very respectable, +but it shouldn't have led ... that situation to be lived +from its political space. +I think, for me, that was very strong. Is the... +If at that time it might have been worth it ... +I think we did what we thought we should do. +The next day we were reporting what had happened. +But in any case, it's a good question to ask. +And the answer? +We voted for what we voted for and I think that's what we had to do. +But I still think it's a good question to ask. +I mean, you still wonder. +I may ask, yes. +Do you have the feeling or do you have the feeling +that your parents have gone from being the converging prototype +to be people of more consensus for other parties, +like that of Domenech at the time? +Our parents are still the typical convergents, +if you mean it that way, they haven't changed anything at all. +They are just now people who made a commitment +and they promised people that they would hold a referendum and they did, +and now they are in prison. +Meanwhile, others who go from more revolutionary, look where they are. +Then I don't think they have changed anything politically. +Are you surprised, therefore, by what Xavier Domenech was saying now? +Yes, but I have to tell you that I think everyone is healthy ..., +that is, everyone knows that day was a mistake. +It bothers me in a way +that it costs so much to acknowledge the mistakes that have been made. +Exactly, yes. +And let it be so prudent to say "Well we did it wrong." +Of course. In front of them was an uncle who was going to jail the next day. +-And everyone knew it. Everyone knew that. -I everyone ... +I was hoping not, but ... +Did you meet people you didn't expect? +who have been very empathetic with you, +that they have understood the situation, that they have given you a lot of support? +Xavier Domenech. +I the next day I went to jail, +that that full investiture was made, +the most sincere and humane hug I had that day +it was his, but by far. +That is, there are things you feel when they hug you, and the looks. +And his gaze was of deep sadness and anger, +just like mine. +And I remember when we hugged, we both started crying. +I will always remember it. +That's why I told you that there is no personal reproach to him. +I would love to see him again, but I will always remember the hug. +This one was much more sincere +than that of any other Member of Parliament. +I want to be a little more critical and I think ... +Yes, I have received, I mean, all this time, +I have received a lot of support from a lot of people. +But there comes a point that ..., I really appreciate the emotional support, +but there comes a point where I may not need so much emotional support, +nor the visibility of a yellow ribbon, +but acts. +# ("Einstein on the beach, knee play 5", Philip Glass) +# +# One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six. +# One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. +# One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six. +# One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. +# One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six. +# One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. +# One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six. +# One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. +# One. +# +Tell me how many judgments you have followed throughout your life. +There are many countries in Latin America +who are in court proceedings of their political leaders, +especially from the left, who were ruling for years. +Do you think this could happen in a country like the United States? +that there was a trial clearly for a political cause? +(man) Tap? Yes. +Miquel Seguro, 1. +And how do you see it? What? +The trial. +An unwanted situation for many. +In a situation like this you can be critical, +you can empathize with a victim, +one can disagree with this victim +and, above all, what I think should be done ... +it is a global reflection, individual but also global, +of why we have not been able +to resolve the situation in another way. +Are there people who are not interested in critical thinking? +I think none of us are interested in the background. +Because it puts us in a position +of discomfort with ourselves. +In other words, Ortega y Gasset said that with convictions one lives there, +but ideas are held. +Talking about convictions is completely impossible, I think, +because everyone has their own +and therefore we can easily feel ... +mm ... attacks or not understood, or insulted. +But we can talk about ideas. +And critical thinking has to do, first of all, +with the ability to be honest with the use of these ideas. +Critical thinking can lead us to question the law, to disobey it, +for example, because we consider it unfair. +The law is one of the possible answers +in the face of complex situations +and in the face of plural societies like ours. +But probably what we should not do is sanctify this law +as the only way to interpret this situation. +This is not to say that the law is bad in itself, +or that the legal system should not be respected. +But could we say that the referendum, for example, +was it the fruit of critical thinking? +One of the possible readings is this, but not only ... +There are other readings. +And so, if the referendum was the result of critical thinking, +the referendum itself should be able to take on criticism +which from the outside can be done to him. +# ("If I Had a Heart", Fever Ray) +# +(Melero) Once you've explained all this, +the question would be whether after the exhibition +which they carried out to members of the Government +they obtained in return some recrimination, reproach or directive +to guide their activity. +(Ragman) "Do the work you have to do," +that was the President's response. +# +Do you trust, at your age, at the age of 90, +that states can change, +that is, that this power can become more citizen? +Can it be a tool for change? +Why is democracy scary? +I know he doesn't like personal questions, +but I would like to end by asking him what he aspires to in life. +I asked him for a personal aspiration +and he told me about the challenges facing the new generation. +Have you thought these days what would have happened if they had left? +Bfff ... +No ... I'd rather not think about it. +I mean, they didn't leave and that's it. +No ... I don't want to think about it. No, no. +The reality is this, and it is. No... +I think if I learned anything during that time, +is that looking back doesn't do me any good. +-Then, I look forward and that's it. -Yes. +And what he didn't do or what he did, is done, therefore ... +But those days must have been a difficult decision to make, right? +It's just that it wasn't a few days, it was a matter of minutes and hours; +I think not for hours. +Then, there was the option for them to leave, but ... +My case was, "No, I'm staying." +-My father came to leave. -Yes. +So, well, we've been taking things as they've been coming. +My father knew that our support would always have him, so ... +Whether he was out or ... +We supported his decision to return. +I imagine you must now think hard about the end, +that this trial is over, that's why you explained ... +of the sacrifice your parents make on a day-to-day basis. +But do you think about the sentence? Are you afraid it will be hard? +No, not at all. +Fear must have whoever wants to rule this country in the coming months. +Because you cannot rule a country by criminalizing its people. +Our situation will not change no matter how damning it is. +We've been going to jail every weekend for a year and a half. +So let's go with the attitude of winning. +And if we don't win here, we will win out. +To me what worries me is not how long they are in jail +because, as I said, we will face whatever comes, +but the solution is not this. +Not because they are more or less years in prison +the political problem will be solved, +because, as I said, it's a political problem, so no ... +And do you think about the day they come out? What will I do with them? +A lot. It is inevitable not to think about it. +A party. We've talked a thousand times about where we're going to party. +-We'll have a party together ... -We're looking for a house, we always say that. +We look at houses and ... +"we'll do it there, we'll do it there, yes, yes." +In fact, one day, with Junqueras' wife, I remember, in the Supreme Court, +Speaking of which ... well, that week my sister was 18, +and I remember he came and said to me: +"Laura, if necessary, we will spend a month drinking cava every day, +but we will celebrate it all "; and I thought" Of course I do ". +So ... No, no, ufff ... I want them to come out ... +I don't think everything is so easy and so happy when they leave ... +No. But to dream it, we dream it. +They will not let us celebrate it so easily. +If they don't come out at once, for sure. But think about it, yes. +-Of course. -Yes, yes, yes. +It's just that they've been closed for a long time. +Then it's like ... it's like, well, the joke could end, right? +But, well, in the end you accept it. Humans get used to everything. +But we will keep fighting until they come out. +And let them all return home. It's done. +# ("Daydreaming", Radiohead) +# +# Dreamers, +# they never learn, +# the never ... learn. +# Beyond the point +# of no return, +# of no ... return. +# And it's too late. +# The damage is done. +# The damage is done ... # +0 +2 +46 +48 +52 +55 +58 +62 +64 +67 +68 +73 +75 +78 +81 +84 +91 +93 +97 +100 +104 +105 +109 +113 +116 +120 +122 +125 +128 +131 +137 +141 +143 +147 +150 +152 +157 +160 +196 +198 +200 +202 +204 +206 +233 +235 +238 +240 +243 +245 +282 +285 +287 +302 +321 +326 +329 +343 +346 +350 +359 +361 +362 +364 +367 +369 +375 +376 +379 +383 +385 +388 +391 +395 +401 +402 +404 +407 +409 +411 +415 +420 +425 +428 +430 +432 +436 +438 +440 +443 +446 +448 +450 +453 +456 +458 +461 +463 +466 +469 +471 +473 +476 +477 +480 +482 +484 +486 +489 +493 +496 +498 +500 +503 +505 +509 +511 +513 +515 +517 +520 +524 +527 +529 +532 +535 +536 +538 +541 +544 +546 +549 +551 +553 +558 +560 +564 +566 +568 +571 +573 +575 +577 +579 +580 +583 +588 +591 +594 +597 +599 +601 +603 +606 +608 +611 +613 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+2490 +2495 +2501 +2511 +2516 +2520 +2531 +2537 +2542 diff --git a/cnt/Part 1 - Noam Chomsky on Climate Change, Nukes, Syria, WikiLeaks & More 1xrdUrNx6hg.en.cnt b/cnt/Part 1 - Noam Chomsky on Climate Change, Nukes, Syria, WikiLeaks & More 1xrdUrNx6hg.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..485f29c --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Part 1 - Noam Chomsky on Climate Change, Nukes, Syria, WikiLeaks & More 1xrdUrNx6hg.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,514 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report, I'm Amy Goodman. +In this Democracy Now! special, we spend the hour with the world-renowned linguist and +political dissident Noam Chomsky. +In a public conversation we had in April, we talked about climate change, nuclear weapons, +North Korea, Iran, the war in Syria and the Trump administration's threat to prosecute +WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. +We also talked about Noam Chomsky's new book, Requiem for the American Dream: The +10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power. +Hundreds of people packed into the First Parish Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for our +public conversation. +AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about this comment that you made that the Republican +Party, you said, is the most dangerous organization in world history. +Can you explain? +NOAM CHOMSKY: I also said that it's an extremely outrageous statement. +But the question is whether it's true. +I mean, has there ever been an organization in human history that is dedicated, with such +commitment, to the destruction of organized human life on Earth? +Not that I'm aware of. +Is the Republican organization--I hesitate to call it a party--committed to that? +Overwhelmingly. +There isn't even any question about it. +Take a look at the last primary campaign--plenty of publicity, very little comment on the most +significant fact. +Every single candidate either denied that what is happening is happening--namely, serious +move towards environmental catastrophe--or there were a couple of moderates, so-called--Jeb +Bush, who said, "Maybe it's happening. +We really don't know. +But it doesn't matter, because fracking is working fine, so we can get more fossil +fuels." +Then there was the guy who was called the adult in the room, John Kasich, the one person +who said, "Yes, it's true. +Global warming's going on. +But it doesn't matter." +He's the governor of Ohio. +"In Ohio, we're going to go on using coal for energy, and we're not going to apologize +for it." +So that's 100 percent commitment to racing towards disaster. +Then take a look at what's happened since. +The--November 8th was the election. +There was, as most of you know, I'm sure, a very important conference underway in Morocco, +Marrakech, Morocco. +Almost roughly 200 countries at the United Nations-sponsored conference, which was--the +goal of which was to put some specific commitments into the verbal agreements that were reached +at Paris in December 2015, the preceding international conference on global warming. +The Paris conference did intend to reach a verifiable treaty, but they couldn't, because +of the most dangerous organization in human history. +The Republican Congress would not accept any commitments, so therefore the world was left +with verbal promises, but no commitments. +Well, last November 8th, they were going to try to carry that forward. +On November 8th, in fact, there was a report by the World Meteorological Organization, +a very dire analysis of the state of the environment and the likely prospects, also pointed out +that we're coming perilously close to the tipping point, where--which was the goal +of the--the goal of the Paris negotiations was to keep things below that--coming very +close to it, and other ominous predictions. +At that point, the conference pretty much stopped, because the news came in about the +election. +And it turns out that the most powerful country in human history, the richest, most powerful, +most influential, the leader of the free world, has just decided not only not to support the +efforts, but actively to undermine them. +So there's the whole world on one side, literally, at least trying to do something +or other, not enough maybe, although some places are going pretty far, like Denmark, +couple of others; and on the other side, in splendid isolation, is the country led by +the most dangerous organization in human history, which is saying, "We're not part of this. +In fact, we're going to try to undermine it." +We're going to maximize the use of fossil fuels--could carry us past the tipping point. +We're not going to provide funding for--as committed in Paris, to developing countries +that are trying to do something about the climate problems. +We're going to dismantle regulations that retard the impact, the devastating impact, +of production of carbon dioxide and, in fact, other dangerous gases--methane, others. +OK. +So the conference kind of pretty much came to a halt. +The question--it continued, but the question was: Can we salvage something from this wreckage? +And pretty amazingly, the countries of the world were looking for salvation to a different +country: China. +Here we have a world looking for salvation to China, of all places, when the United States +is the wrecking machine that's threatening destruction, in--with all three branches +of government in the hands of the most dangerous organization in human history. +And I don't have to go through what's happened since, but the--in general, the +Cabinet appointments are designed to--assigned to people whose commitment and beliefs are +that it's necessary to destroy everything in their department that could be of any use +to human beings and wouldn't just increase profits and power. +And they're doing it very systematically, one after another. +EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, has been very sharply cut. +Actually, the main department that's concerned with environmental issues is the Department +of Energy, which also had very sharp cuts, particularly in the environment-related programs. +In fact, there's even a ban on posting and publishing information and material about +this. +And this is not just at the national level. +The Republican Party, whatever you want to call it, has been doing this at every level. +So, in North Carolina, a couple of years ago, where the Legislature, mostly thanks to gerrymandering, +is in the hands of the Republicans, there was a study. +They called for a study on the effect of sea level rise--on what sea level rise might +be on the North Carolina coast. +And there was a serious scientific study, which predicted, in not--I forget how many +years--not a long time, about roughly a meter rise in sea level, which could be devastating +to eastern North Carolina. +And the Legislature did react, namely, by passing legislation to ban any actions or +even discussion that might have to do with climate change. +Actually, the best comment of this--I wish I could quote it verbatim--was by Stephen +Colbert, who said, "If you have a serious problem, the way to deal with it is to legislate +that it doesn't exist. +Problem solved." +You know, this is going on all over the country. +And it's not just--it's not simply climate change. +That's bad enough. +But there's another huge specter that we're kind of trying to survive under, and that's +nuclear war. +That's a whole other story. +Here, both the Obama administration and, increasingly, Trump are radically increasing that danger. +This--the threat of the new developments is captured very effectively in the best, +simple monitor of the state of the world, established at the beginning of the nuclear +age by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. +I'm sure you all know about this, but the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists regularly brings +together a group of scientists, political analysts, other very serious people, to try +to give some kind of estimate of what the situation of the world is. +The question is: How close are we to termination of the species? +And they have a clock, the Doomsday Clock. +When it hits midnight, we're finished. +End of the human species and much else. +And the question every year is: How far is the minute hand from midnight? +Well, at the beginning, in 1947, beginning of the nuclear age, it was placed at seven +minutes to midnight. +It's been moving up and back ever since. +The closest it's come to midnight was 1953. +1953, the United States and Russia both exploded hydrogen bombs, which are extremely serious +threat to survival. +Intercontinental ballistic missiles were all being developed. +This, in fact, was the first serious threat to the security of the United States. +There's an interesting story behind that, but I'll put it aside, unless there's +time to talk about it. +But then, it came to two minutes to midnight. +And it's been moving up and back since. +Two years ago--2014, I think it was--the analysts took into account for the first time +something that had been ignored: the fact that the nuclear age--the beginning of the +nuclear age coincided with the beginning of a new geological epoch, the so-called Anthropocene. +There's been some debate about the epoch in which human activity is drastically affecting +the general environment. +There's been debate about its inception. +But the World Geological Organization has recently determined that it's about the +same time as the beginning of the nuclear age. +So we're in these two eras in which the possibility of human survival is very much +at stake, and, with us, everything else, too, of course, all living--most living things, +which are already under very severe threat. +Well, a couple of years ago--I think it was 2014--the Bulletin began to take that into +account and moved the minute hand up to three minutes to midnight, where it remained last +year. +A couple of--about a week into Trump's term, the clock was moved again, to two-and-a-half +minutes to midnight. +That's the closest it's been since 1953. +And that means extermination of the species is very much an--very much an open question. +I don't want to say it's solely the impact of the Republican Party--obviously, that's +false--but they certainly are in the lead in openly advocating and working for destruction +of the human species. +I agree that's a very outrageous statement. +So I therefore simply suggest that you take a look at the facts and see if it has any +merit or if it just should be bitterly condemned. +That's up to you. +My view, the facts are pretty clear. +AMY GOODMAN: At this point, as President Trump nears his 100th day, North Korea and Iran +have been a major focus. +Are you concerned that with the president at the lowest popularity rating, I think, +in any president's history at this point, that he will focus abroad, as he has in the +last few weeks, dropping the MOAB, the "Mother of All Bombs," in Afghanistan, bombing the +Syrian government, and yet focusing specifically on North Korea and Iran--in North Korea, +McMaster, General McMaster, the national security adviser, saying tensions with North Korea +are coming to a head. +Do you think there is a possibility that the U.S. would attack North Korea? +NOAM CHOMSKY: I mean, this administration is extremely unpredictable. +Trump probably has no idea what he's going to do five minutes from now, so you can't--literally--so +you can't really make predictions with much confidence. +But I doubt it very much. +The reason is very simple: An attack on North Korea would unleash--no matter what attack +it is, even a nuclear attack, would unleash massive artillery bombardment of Seoul, which +is the biggest city in South Korea, right near the border, which would wipe it out, +including plenty of American troops. +That doesn't--I mean, I'm no technical expert, but as far as I can--as I read and +can see, there's no defense against that. +Furthermore, North Korea could retaliate against American bases in the region, where there's +plenty of American soldiers and so on, also in Japan. +They'd be devastated. +North Korea would be finished. +You know, so would much of the region. +But if attacked, presumably, they would respond, very likely. +In fact, the responses might be automatic. +McMaster, at least, and Mattis understand this. +How much influence they have, we don't know. +So I think an attack is unlikely. +But the real question is: Is there a way of dealing with the problem? +There are a lot of proposals: sanctions; a big new missile defense system, which is a +major threat to China, it'll increase tensions there; military threats of various kinds; +sending an aircraft carrier, the Vinson, to North Korea, except by accident--it happened +to be going in the opposite direction, but we'll forget that. +But these are--those are the proposals, that kind of proposals, as to how to solve. +Actually, there's one proposal that's ignored. +I mean, you see a mention of it now and then. +It's a pretty simple proposal. +Remember, the goal is to get North Korea to freeze its weapons systems, weapons and missile +systems. +So one proposal is to accept their offer to do that. +Sounds simple. +They've made a proposal. +China and North Korea proposed to freeze the North Korean missile and nuclear weapons systems. +And the U.S. instantly rejected it. +And you can't blame that on Trump. +Obama did the same thing a couple of years ago. +Same offer was presented. +I think it was 2015. +The Obama administration instantly rejected it. +And the reason is that it calls for a quid pro quo. +It says, in return, the United States should put an end to threatening military maneuvers +on North Korea's borders, which happen to include, under Trump, sending of nuclear-capable +B-52s flying right near the border. +Now, maybe Americans don't remember very well, but North Koreans have a memory of not +too long ago, when North Korea was absolutely flattened, literally, by American bombing. +There was--there was literally no targets left. +And I really urge people who haven't done it to read the official American military +histories, the Air Quarterly Review, the military histories describing this. +They describe it very vividly and accurately. +They say, "There just weren't any targets left. +So what could we do?" +Well, we decided to attack the dams, the huge dams. +That's a major war crime. +People were hanged for it at Nuremberg. +But put that aside. +And then comes an ecstatic, gleeful description of the bombing of the dams and the huge flow +of water, which was wiping out valleys and destroying the rice crop, on which Asians +depend for survival--lots of racist comment, but all with exaltation and glee. +You really have to read it to appreciate it. +The North Koreans don't have to bother reading it. +They lived it. +So when nuclear-capable B-52s are flying on their border, along with other threatening +military maneuvers, they're kind of upset about it. +Strange people. +And they continue to develop what they see as a potential deterrent that might protect +the regime from--and the country, in fact--from destruction. +This has nothing at all to do with what you think about the government. +So maybe it's the worst government in human history. +OK. +But these are still the facts that exist. +There are similar questions to raise about Iran. +So, Iran is, you know, the--again, the adults in the room, like Mattis and so on, say it's +the greatest threat to peace, you know, the greatest sponsor of terrorism, on and on. +How is it a sponsor of terrorism? +Well, could go through that. +So, for example, in Yemen, it's claimed that they are providing some aid to rebel +tribesmen, Houthi tribesmen, in Yemen. +OK, maybe they are. +What is the United States doing in Yemen? +It's providing a huge flood of arms to its Saudi Arabian ally, who are destroying the +country, who have created a huge humanitarian crisis, huge numbers of people killed, massive +starvation. +They're threatening now to bomb a port, which is the only source of aid for surviving +people. +But Iran is the major source of terrorism. +AMY GOODMAN: MIT professor emeritus Noam Chomsky in a public conversation we recorded in April +at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. +When we come back, we'll talk about Syria, WikiLeaks and more. +0 +5 +9 +11 +17 +21 +24 +29 +33 +39 +40 +45 +50 +52 +56 +60 +68 +75 +77 +84 +85 +89 +98 +100 +109 +115 +119 +121 +126 +127 +134 +135 +137 +138 +140 +145 +147 +154 +158 +162 +169 +171 +179 +190 +199 +207 +211 +217 +221 +226 +232 +239 +248 +253 +257 +263 +264 +273 +281 +284 +289 +295 +302 +308 +310 +317 +324 +330 +338 +347 +348 +353 +359 +366 +368 +375 +383 +387 +391 +403 +408 +413 +417 +423 +432 +438 +444 +445 +448 +455 +463 +469 +476 +478 +485 +493 +495 +503 +507 +513 +520 +522 +523 +526 +533 +534 +543 +544 +546 +555 +567 +573 +576 +582 +591 +596 +600 +603 +606 +610 +615 +622 +623 +626 +631 +641 +643 +646 +653 +658 +659 +662 +667 +677 +684 +691 +699 +701 +703 +709 +712 +721 +727 +729 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+1,424 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman, as we return to my public conversation with Noam Chomsky, the acclaimed +linguist and dissident, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. +We recorded this in April at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. +Hundreds of people packed into the church. +AMY GOODMAN: I last interviewed you on April 4th, just a few weeks ago, on Democracy Now!. +It was the 50th anniversary of Dr. King giving his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, why he opposed +the war in Vietnam, where he called the U.S. "the greatest purveyor of violence in the +world." +And I wanted to turn from North Korea and Iran to Syria. +It was the day of the gas attack in Syria, so we didn't get to talk about it very much. +And I'm wondering your thoughts on what you think happened, and then the ensuing U.S. +bombing that President Trump would later talk about, saying he was having chocolate cake +with the Chinese president--very, very good chocolate cake--when they launched the Tomahawk +missiles into Iraq, he said. +And he was corrected by the interviewer--right?--who said it was actually Syria. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Bunch of "ragheads"; it's all about the same. +But, well, there are some things we know for sure. +There was a serious chemical weapons attack. +Nobody doubts that. +It's plausible that it was the Syrian government, which does raise some questions. +It's not so obvious why the Assad regime would have carried out a chemical warfare +attack at a moment when it's pretty much winning the war, and the worst danger it faces +is that a counterforce will enter to undermine its progress. +So it does raise some questions. +It also--even though maybe you can think up some reason why the Assad regime, which +is a murderous, brutal regime, might have done it, there's even another question as +to why the Russians would have allowed it. +Now, remember, this is a--the air base is a joint Russian-Syrian base. +Russia has plenty of clout in Syria. +And for them, it's a total disaster. +They have global concerns, not just local concerns in Syria. +So there are some concerns. +And there are further concerns. +There has been--the White House did put out a careful--you know, a justification, an +intelligence report, to explain and account for, showing why they had absolute confidence +that it was a Syrian government attack. +This was analyzed closely by a very serious and credible analyst, Theodore Postol, professor +at MIT, who has a long record of highly successful, credible analysis. +He's a highly regarded strategic analyst and intelligence analyst. +And he gave a pretty devastating critique of the White House report. +You might--you can pick it up online and take a look at it. +So there certainly are some questions. +That there's--that Syria is capable of a monstrous act like that, the Syrian government, +that much is not in doubt. +But one question that arises is: Before doing something, could you find out what happened? +OK? +I mean, let's have an inquiry, take a look and see what in fact actually happened. +There are plenty of cases where things--where it looked as though things happened, but they +didn't. +And remember that reporting from Syria is extremely difficult. +If reporters go into the rebel-held areas and don't do what they're told, you know, +get your head cut off. +Patrick Cockburn and others have written about this. +You just can't seriously report from those areas. +There are obvious questions when you're reporting from the government side. +So the reporters are--there are very good reporters doing a serious, courageous job, +but there's not much you can do. +So we just don't know a lot. +Well, those are the circumstances in which the 59 Tomahawk missiles were launched. +That's pretty easy. +It's easy to sit in Washington and push a button and say, "Go kill somebody." +That's considered courage, you know, macho, showing how strong we are. +What did they actually do? +Well, apparently, the Tomahawk missiles were targeting a part of the airfield that doesn't +seem to be used. +And, in fact, the next day, planes were taking off. +And, in fact, the village that was attacked by the chemical weapons has been even more +heavily attacked by straight bombing from the Assad government after the 59 Tomahawk +missiles. +So whatever they were intended to do doesn't seem to have anything to do with Syria. +I suspect that what they were intended to do was pretty much what you described, to +shore up Trump's image as--I think it was Nikki Haley at the U.N., said, "There's +a new sheriff in town." +So now we've got Wyatt Earp, you know, pulling out his gun and getting rid of the bad guys. +No more of this soft stuff. +So, it was probably an attempt to shore up that image. +Pretty much like the bomb in Afghanistan. +Nobody knows what it was for, what it had to do with. +Probably destroyed a large part of Afghanistan. +Shortly after that, there was a mass--an incredibly brutal and successful Taliban attack, +which killed a couple hundred recruits, most of them unarmed. +The young draftees didn't know what they were doing. +It was so bad, the defense minister resigned. +Doesn't seem to have any effect on--it was supposedly aimed at ISIS. +Maybe it was. +Maybe it wasn't. +They don't seem to be affected by it. +So these look like--there doesn't seem to be any strategic analysis behind any of +these actions, as far as anyone can tell. +They seem like kind of about at the level of the twitters that keep coming out: something +that kind of occurs to me, so why not do it? +It's cheap. +It may kill a lot of people, makes me look good and, you know, makes it seem as if I'm +defending the country, and so on. +It's hard to see it as anything but that. +That these things help the people of Syria and Iraq is very hard to imagine. +AMY GOODMAN: What do you think has to be done to solve the crisis, the humanitarian catastrophe, +in Syria? +NOAM CHOMSKY: In Syria, it's a terrible catastrophe. +And, you know, unfortunately, there isn't a lot that can be done about it. +There are some things that can be done. +I mean, the idea that you can send in the Marines and bomb and so on, that has a small +problem. +If you do, you probably set off a nuclear war, and not only is Syria destroyed, the +rest of Syria, but the rest of the world, too. +So there's a little difficulty in that scenario, whatever one thinks about the justification +for it. +So what can be done? +Well, one thing that can be done, which is really easy, very easy, is to take care of +the people fleeing from this disaster. +I mean, there are huge numbers of people fleeing from the disaster. +What do we do about them? +Make sure they don't come here, you know, kind of like people fleeing from--you know, +my relatives, in fact, fleeing, trying to flee from Eastern Europe under the--before +when the Nazis were coming along. +"We don't want 'em. +Not here." +You know. +So the Syrians don't come--maybe a tiny trickle, but very few come here. +Europe's not that much better--in fact, pretty horrible, too. +So one thing you could do is just take care of the people who are fleeing the disaster. +Another thing you can do is provide humanitarian aid for those in the region. +Now, there are countries who are absorbing refugees, remember, like take Lebanon. +It's not a rich country like us. +Poor country. +About 40 percent of the population are refugees, many of them fleeing from the Israeli wars +as far back as '48, many--huge number of Syrians. +Jordan, another poor country, has absorbed a huge number of refugees. +Turkey has a couple of million. +Iran has accepted refugees. +So there are very--there are poor countries that are accommodating refugees, but not the +rich countries. +The rich countries, it's not our business, certainly not us. +It's even a more serious problem with regard--for us, moral problem, with regard to Central +America, but let's keep to Syria. +So another thing you could do is provide badly needed aid and assistance for those who have +succeeded in fleeing the disaster, or who remain in parts of Syria where survival is +possible, but are living under horrible conditions. +Now, that's all cheap and easy, a tiny fraction of increasing the military budget to cause +more destruction. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam, I wanted to, before we get to your book, your latest book, ask you +about this latest development in the United States. +The director of the Central Intelligence Agency gave his first major address, and he focused +on WikiLeaks. +And it looks like now the U.S. is preparing an arrest warrant for Julian Assange, who's +been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for almost five years now. +Pompeo calling WikiLeaks a "hostile non-state intelligence service," calling Julian Assange +himself a "demon," and said he's not protected by the First Amendment. +Your thoughts? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think it speaks for itself. +WikiLeaks has released lots of information that governments don't like. +It's overwhelmingly information that citizens should have. +It's information about what their governments are doing. +And perfectly natural that systems of power don't want to be exposed, so they'll do +what they can to prevent exposure. +I think it's a disgraceful act. +In fact, I think it's disgraceful even to keep Julian Assange holed up in the Ecuadorean +Embassy. +I did visit him there once, but you can guess yourself. +It's, in many ways, worse than imprisonment. +At least if you're in prison, you can see other prisoners, and you can get out and look +at the sunshine now and then. +He's in a small apartment, where he can't go out. +You know, he can go to the balcony, but that's about it, a small--basically, a couple of +rooms inside a small apartment. +It's not a big embassy. +The embassy is like a kind of an apartment in London, surrounded by police and so on. +There's been no credible basis for any of this. +And to go on to try to raise it to the level of criminal prosecutions, I think, is, again, +one of these efforts to look tough at home, and the kind of effort that a government would +carry out that is dedicated to trying to protect itself from exposure of facts that citizens +should have, but systems of power don't want them to have. +I think that's the crucial issue. +AMY GOODMAN: The suggestions are it has to do with his aiding and abetting perhaps Chelsea +Manning and also Edward Snowden, doing that with Edward Snowden, which he openly admits, +while he's trapped in the Ecuadorean Embassy. +NOAM CHOMSKY: If the charge is true, he should be honored for it. +Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden carried out heroic, courageous acts. +They fulfilled the responsibility of somebody who takes citizenship seriously--that is, +who believes that the people of a country ought to know something about what their government +is up to. +OK? +Like if their government is carrying out murderous, brutal attacks in Iraq, people should know +about it. +Takes us back to Martin Luther King's talk in 1967. +If the government is, and corporations, too, incidentally, are listening in to your telephone +conversations and what you're doing, you know, tapping this discussion and so on, we +should know about it. +Governments have no right to do things like that. +And people should know about it. +And if they think it's OK, fine, let them decide, not do it in secret. +And I think people wouldn't agree to it. +That's why it's kept secret. +Why else keep it secret? +You know? +And these are people who exposed it at great risk to themselves. +So those are heroic, courageous acts. +If WikiLeaks was abetting them, more power to them. +That's what they should be doing. +AMY GOODMAN: I mean, President Trump endorsed WikiLeaks, right? +He said, "I love WikiLeaks," during the campaign. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, when it was releasing things that he liked, yeah. +Any system of power will do that. +"You release information that I like, it's great. +But I don't want to be exposed." +AMY GOODMAN: Professor Noam Chomsky in conversation in April at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, +Massachusetts. +When we come back, he'll talk about the media's coverage of the Trump administration, +and his new book, Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration +of Wealth & Power. +We'll be back in a minute. +0 +4 +10 +16 +22 +24 +31 +37 +43 +45 +48 +53 +60 +66 +73 +76 +80 +84 +87 +94 +96 +102 +109 +116 +124 +127 +133 +138 +140 +145 +149 +151 +156 +158 +160 +167 +175 +178 +184 +193 +199 +204 +207 +209 +216 +219 +229 +230 +234 +240 +241 +246 +253 +256 +258 +261 +266 +270 +272 +274 +281 +283 +288 +295 +296 +304 +305 +308 +315 +322 +323 +329 +334 +341 +343 +350 +351 +356 +359 +364 +367 +373 +379 +382 +385 +389 +390 +391 +393 +399 +402 +408 +410 +411 +416 +418 +422 +428 +434 +435 +438 +445 +447 +453 +454 +460 +463 +470 +471 +472 +479 +481 +485 +489 +494 +502 +503 +505 +506 +507 +511 +515 +520 +525 +532 +535 +536 +544 +548 +554 +556 +560 +566 +568 +571 +578 +581 +587 +594 +596 +604 +605 +613 +616 +622 +624 +630 +635 +642 +647 +648 +654 +661 +666 +671 +679 +683 +686 +694 +695 +700 +703 +708 +710 +713 +721 +723 +724 +731 +736 +744 +751 +761 +765 +767 +775 +784 +788 +794 +802 +808 +813 +814 +815 +820 +821 +826 +834 +842 +844 +846 +849 +852 +855 +856 +857 +859 +863 +867 +871 +872 +875 +877 +881 +883 +886 +888 +895 +896 +901 +906 +907 diff --git a/cnt/Part 3 - Noam Chomsky on Climate Change, Nukes, Syria, WikiLeaks & More Thv8al5u96A.en.cnt b/cnt/Part 3 - Noam Chomsky on Climate Change, Nukes, Syria, WikiLeaks & More Thv8al5u96A.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec546f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Part 3 - Noam Chomsky on Climate Change, Nukes, Syria, WikiLeaks & More Thv8al5u96A.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,440 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. +I'm Amy Goodman, as we return to our public conversation with the acclaimed linguist and +dissident Noam Chomsky. +It was recorded in April at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. +AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of entities that President Trump doesn't like, he calls the press the +enemy of the American people, the enemy of the people. +Can you assess, as the media assesses President Trump in his first a hundred days, the media's +behavior? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think the media has fallen over backwards to try to give him some +protection and leeway. +I mean, you know, there are things that are so ludicrous and outrageous that a reporter +simply can't keep from saying something about them, like there's one ridiculous +claim after another that comes out of the tweets--you know, 3 million illegal undocumented +refugees voted for Clinton, Obama wiretapped the Trump Tower, you know, one after another. +My sense is--this is just a guess--that this is a media strategy, that it's the +Bannon-Trump-Spicer strategy to try to keep attention focused on one or another form of +lunacy, but not look at what's actually happening. +And what's actually happening is that Paul Ryan and his associates behind the scenes +are systematically and carefully dismantling every element of government that is of any +benefit to people and that doesn't maximize corporate power and profit. +I mean, the dedication of the Republican leadership, especially the Ryan-type leadership, their +dedication to slavish servility to corporate power and wealth is just phenomenal. +I mean, read this morning's business pages. +Their latest step is to try to prevent exposure of complaints against banks that carry out +improper activities. +It is possible now, thanks to the Consumer Protection Act, for people to criticize when +they think a bank has carried out some improper activity. +But we've got to keep that silent, you know, because we have to protect corporations from +any exposure of criminal activities they might carry out. +I mean down to that level, in fact, everywhere you look. +I mean, the healthcare proposal was so shocking that, I mean, it was a proposal basically +to cut taxes for the rich and to ensure that poor and middle-class people--the people +who voted for Trump, in fact--don't get medical aid. +As you saw, of course, the Congressional Budget Office estimated 24 million additional people +uninsured. +There was an analysis of that by Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, two health specialists, +just studying the relationship between lack of insurance and deaths. +There's plenty of evidence about that. +And it turns out that would have meant about 45,000 additional deaths a year. +Well, that's OK, as long as you cut taxes for the rich. +And step by step, that's what's happening behind the facade of Trumpisms and, you know, +Spicer antics before the press. +And the press is pretty much falling for it. +That's what they focus on, not what's being carried out. +There is, of course, criticism--mild criticism--of outrageous lies, but I think that just plays +the game. +That's what the lies are for. +Then you can yell about the liberal press that is trying to undermine us. +It's all a kind of a desperate effort to keep a con game going. +Trump does have a base, a voter base. +He's kicking them in the face with abandon. +And the idea is: How do you hold onto them while you're doing this? +Not an easy trick. +And this, I think, is part of the con. +And there are people in the press who are pointing it out--Paul Krugman, for one--but +nothing like it should be. +AMY GOODMAN: Which takes us to your latest book, Requiem for the American Dream, where +you talk about the 10 principles of the concentration of power and wealth, how it's happening, +what to watch out for. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, credit for the 10 principles should go to the producers of the film. +What they did was take a lot of interviews and discussions about all sorts of things +and put them in a coherent and, I think, pretty effective form, including formulating 10 principles--that's +their contribution--and including material that discusses them. +And you can look at the film and see, or the book, but my feeling is they did a really +good job. +I'm impressed by it. +AMY GOODMAN: So the book is accompanying this film that is now out on Netflix. +But you talk about, for example, principle one, reducing democracy; principle two, shaping +ideology; and principle three, redesigning the economy. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, all of those fall together, and they're part of a pretty remarkable +development that's taking place in--actually, in human history. +Humans, in the last 60 or 70 years, have succeeded in creating a kind of a perfect storm, literally. +Two--there's a kind of a pincers movement that we've created, two major attacks on +the prospects for survival: global--global warming, nuclear weapons, the Anthropocene, +the nuclear age. +And the third is a set of socioeconomic policies designed to undermine the possibility of dealing +with the problems. +The problems could be dealt with only in a functioning democracy of engaged, informed +people, who could make decisions, who would be informed and could make decisions to deal +with the crises. +But the so-called neoliberal programs of the past generation, the sort of somewhat market-oriented +programs, designed to undermine the institutions, the governmental and popular institutions, +that might deal with these issues, it's all a unit. +One result is a very significant decline in democracy. +You can see it in the--which is almost built into the policies. +It's perfectly built--you can't carry out economic policies of the type that have +been--that have been implemented in the past generation in a functioning democracy. +That's impossible. +I mean, just take a look at the numbers. +So, the neoliberal programs were basically taking off right around 1980. +It escalated--started a little with the late Carter, escalated under Reagan, went on more +under Clinton and so on. +2007 was the peak of supposed success. +This is right before the crash. +A lot of euphoria among economists, political analysts about the great achievements of neoclassical +economics, of the great moderation, you know, the neoliberal programs, a dismantling of +regulations--all these great successes, 2007. +What was happening to American working people at that time? +In 2007, wages, real wages, were lower than they had been in 1979 when the experiment +took off. +In fact, for the majority of the population, it's a period of stagnation or decline. +Benefits have declined. +People had been--some of the reasons were explained by Alan Greenspan, head of the Federal +Reserve, who was in charge pretty much of managing the economy. +He testified to Congress that part of the success of the economy, the low inflation +and so on, was due to what he called growing worker insecurity. +Working people were insecure. +They were intimidated. +They knew that they were in a dangerous situation, precarious situation. +As a result, they didn't press for increase in wages and--for decent wages and benefits. +They were willing to accept, in fact, an effective decline in their living standards. +And Greenspan, who was a close observer of the economy, pointed out that this continued, +even when jobs were increasing in the late Clinton period. +It was deeply embedded in the nature of the policies being carried out, that working people +are intimidated, they're living precarious lives, many of them are part-time, they're +losing security, their unions are being destroyed, and their wages are declining. +So it's all great. +The economy is wonderfully healthy. +Can you carry out policies like that in a democracy? +I mean, are people going to vote for it? +Same in Europe, even worse in many ways. +The so-called austerity programs, even the economists of the International--the IMF, +International Monetary Fund, their own economists say--report that these policies make no economic +sense. +But the IMF bureaucrats, the ones who are part of the decision-making apparatus, they +vote for them. +How do you--and the effect on Europe is the same thing, as far as democracy is concerned. +Just like in the United States, there's anger, contempt for major--for centrist--you +know, for the major governing institutions. +Here, it's Congress; there, it's the political parties. +You just saw it in France yesterday: The two major parties were barely visible in the election. +And it's happening all over Europe, same kind of thing that's happening here. +I mean, here, it's happening in a way which is almost farcical because of the--you know, +the kind of actions carried out by the leadership. +In Europe, it's being--it's being pursued in a way which is really ominous. +I mean, you don't have to look far back to find a time when fascist parties actually +had power in Europe. +And we know what happened. +And now there are neofascist parties, with fascist roots often, which are pretty close +to power, even in places like Austria and Germany, which have some memories about. +France, as well, was--under the Nazis, was a very pro-Nazi country, the Vichy government. +It was rounding up Jews faster than the Germans wanted them. +A really ugly record. +And seeing these things come back, or just seeing a situation in which, according to +recent polls, a majority of Europeans think there should be no more Muslims in Europe, +I mean, that evokes some memories, not nice ones. +And a lot of--you can't attribute it all to the neoliberal economic policies, but a +lot of it does follow from that. +When you impose on people circumstances of this kind, you have to make sure that they +have no way of responding politically. +In Europe, it's done pretty straightforwardly. +The main decisions about socioeconomic policies are made by the so-called troika--IMF, European +Central Bank and the European Commission, which is unelected. +So three unelected bodies, they make the decisions. +They do listen to voices, the voices of the northern banks, mostly German banks. +And the people suffer. +And they get--they are angry, frightened, often reacting in dangerous ways. +We see similar phenomena here. +So, to go back to the pincers movement, what's happened is we've created two huge threats +to survival. +We have systematically--not you and me, but the leadership has systematically created +socioeconomic policies, which have as a consequence, almost immediate consequence, the undermining +of functioning democracy--the one thing that might deal with the disasters. +Like I said, it's a kind of perfect storm. +Real credit to the human species to have contrived something like this. +AMY GOODMAN: Principle four is shift the burden onto the poor and the middle classes. +Principle five, attack the solidarity of the people. +Six, let special interests run the regulators. +Seven, engineer election results. +Eight, use fear and power of the state to keep the rabble in line. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Is it necessary to comment? +I think you're all familiar with it. +AMY GOODMAN: Nine is manufacture consent, and principle 10 is marginalize the population. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, in fact, that's exactly what's happening. +And it's the--and there's a reason for it. +You cannot carry out the kinds of policies that have been developed in the last generation, +and have the population function democratically. +In Europe, you can't get people to vote for policies which are undermining their lives; +which are leaving especially younger people without any hopes of decent employment; which +are driving people to precarious existences; which are undermining wages, reducing benefits; +in England right now, undermining, threatening what had been the world's most--by far, +the world's most effective and efficient national health system. +You can't get people to vote for things like this. +So what you have to do is marginalize them in one way or another, turn them against each +other, aim--turn their anger against vulnerable people--that's standard technique--get +people to--don't look at the people who are really doing this to you. +Look at the ones who are more vulnerable: immigrants, the poor, you know, Muslims, blacks--anybody. +We're familiar with that, too. +There's not a slight history about it. +So, sure, that just--it's like--it's like an almost logical consequence of the +socioeconomic policies, which have been imposed and lauded, in fact, by elites, including +liberal elites. +A lot of this was done by--say, by the Clinton administration. +It was hailed, the deregulation, for example, which very quickly led to one after another +financial crisis. +That was initiated by liberal economists, who were telling us how wonderful it is. +And there's actually, you know, a theory, neoclassical economic theory, which says, +"Yeah, it's fine." +Actually, there were people who warned against it. +There were people who knew, a lot of left independent economists, but even people right +out of the mainstream, like Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate. +Back around 1995 or so, he wrote an article, actually in a World Bank research journal, +in which he warned against what he called the "religion that the market knows best." +He says that's the religion, as he put it, that's being followed by economists. +And he says you've got to take a look at that religion. +Like a lot of religions, it just doesn't work. +Economic history and even logic show us lots of things that are wrong about it. +But that was pursued with abandon on the basis of theories of efficient markets, you know, +rational behavior, rational expectations and so on--none of which had any empirical basis +or founding. +But they were the--the doctrines were accepted for the very simple reason that they were +highly beneficial to wealth and power. +That makes them acceptable. +And you get the results that you have: the undermining of the only means possible to +try to deal with the existential crises that we have created. +So, again, it's a kind of perfect storm, part--all sorts of sources, including just +socioeconomic policies of a bipartisan nature. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, speaking April 24th at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, +Massachusetts, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. +His latest book, Requiem for the American Dream. +0 +4 +9 +11 +16 +21 +25 +31 +32 +40 +42 +50 +58 +65 +75 +81 +94 +98 +106 +115 +121 +128 +136 +140 +152 +153 +161 +166 +173 +176 +180 +187 +194 +199 +206 +208 +218 +223 +225 +229 +235 +243 +246 +248 +252 +260 +261 +263 +268 +273 +277 +281 +285 +286 +291 +297 +299 +304 +310 +312 +320 +328 +340 +346 +351 +352 +353 +358 +365 +368 +374 +380 +392 +402 +410 +411 +419 +421 +431 +436 +439 +449 +456 +461 +467 +471 +478 +483 +484 +487 +494 +500 +504 +508 +511 +519 +529 +533 +538 +546 +547 +554 +556 +565 +570 +577 +584 +587 +588 +594 +601 +606 +612 +617 +623 +629 +634 +636 +638 +641 +644 +647 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name is Tariq Rakha, and as the president of this federation, I am pleased to welcome you on behalf of the members and directors of the federation. +Our goal as a student group is to be an incentive to create an alliance between Egypt and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology +We have three goals +Supporting the Egyptian economic development, technological industries, scientific progress, civil society and entrepreneurship +We also aim to represent Egyptian culture on campus and in Boston +And the formation of a community for Egyptians at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston +We support these goals through many activities +We have given you a glimpse of it through the leaflet that we gave you when you entered the hall +But we will be happier if we can communicate with you, and to always inform you about what we organize as a student union. +Therefore, we are present on all social media +For more information about us, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube +If you want to support us, we welcome your donations. Email us and we will show you more details +We promise you enjoyable and exciting activities +A small word on behalf of the Egyptian Students' Union at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology +I would like to make it clear that we, as a student group, do not belong to any political orientations +The Executive Council and the members of the Union have politically different opinions, but we maintain our friendship, and we continue to represent our country with all our heart. +On behalf of the Federation, I would also like to thank Professor Chomsky for his kind acceptance of our invitation, we are really grateful +Special thanks to Professor Nazli Shukri, which I will present in moments, and she will present Professor Chomsky, for her gracious acceptance of the Department of Dialogue and Questions. +A huge effort was made and many volunteered at this event, so allow me to thank the Executive Council and the members of the Federation +Without you, this event would not have succeeded in the way we see it now through the use of various methods of marketing or technology, and also your leadership in organizing. Thank you. +I would also like to thank members of the "Egyptians in Boston" who answered the call to help us seriously +You interviewed a lot of them as you entered the hall +We are grateful for the audiovisual sector at MIT, Campus Campus Activities, MIT Police +And the financial support from the big event fund that we got to partially support the costs of the event +Finally I must say, it is a great honor to welcome Professor Chomsky, and to present Professor Shukry, and we are very happy for your presence. +Professor Nazli Shoukry is a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology +Her research focuses on the sources and consequences of international changes with a focus on international cooperation and conflict +She is the designer and director of "Global System for Sustainable Development," the online multilingual knowledge system +She is the principal investigator of the multi-year, multi-disciplinary "International Cyber Relationships" project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. +She is also the founding editor of the Global Environmental Consensus series from Dar Ben, Massachusetts Institute of Technology for Publication, former general editor of the journal Review of Political Science. +His newest book is called "International Cyber Relations." +Please welcome Professor Shukry with me +Friends, colleagues, gentlemen, and ladies +It gives me great pleasure to present a gentleman tonight, Noam Chomsky +And the truth does not need to be presented. But the protocol will have to be presented, so I will start introducing it briefly +And I start by telling you what you already know, a prestigious scientist and political philosopher +Currently, he is Professor Fakhry (retired) in Language Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught throughout his career. +As most of you know it is famous as the theoretician of "transformational generative grammar." +In researching what I will say as his introduction, I learned a great deal about "Towards Transformational Generation." +But I will not share with you what I understood about this science in the presence of the same view here +A few important points from the MIT's view that Professor Chomsky is "Professor of the Institute," +He won this title in 1976 +This is the highest honor a professor can obtain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his professional and scientific bid. +Also for what it provided to the MIT community +He has received ten honorary university degrees from institutions around the world +He is the eighth scientist most mentioned in scientific references for a very long time +He is clearly one of the most influential opinion scholars alive in the world +Before I leave for the platform to Professor Chomsky, let me suggest what the "rules of the game" are for our evening +Please keep the questions very brief so that we can cover as many questions as possible +The second point is that the question is only one if you do not mind until we can proceed smoothly +Thank you, and I leave now the platform for Professor Chomsky +The fact that I am standing here in front of the large number of attendees in this large hall may be misleading so let me dispel any false impressions +I am here to open the dialogue +I do not claim to have a deep understanding of the notable events that have occurred in Egypt in the past few years +I follow them closely as much as I can, but I am not looking for them deeply +And most of the most important sources in Arabic have no access to them +Another reason for my personal hesitation +It is that I find myself in an amazing mismatch with some of my closest old good friends in Egypt +People who always respect their opinions, and follow their activities with great admiration +I will try to explain why in my introduction +I will first give a quick review of the most important events that I am sure you are familiar with +Beginning in January 2011, the uprising or some call it a revolution +That happened when the Tahrir Square was occupied +Which generated a series of impressive events that led to the fall of the US-backed dictator and many other accomplishments +Political life has been dynamically opened, and many opportunities have been well taken advantage of +Freedom to join organizations, exchange, speak +And one of the very important accomplishments that was not published heavily here, except in the specialized literature +Are the rights of workers +Egypt has had a militant and active labor movement for many years outside the official frameworks +There was a formal union, but it was often inclined to control the workforce rather than work for them +But outside the structure of that institution there was an active labor struggle taking place +It was almost accelerated ten years ago when the new liberal programs were established as vigorously as everywhere, the world, including them here +They had typical results +One of them was that they were praised by international financial institutions, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the US Treasury and many economists +They had numbers that looked good +But under the numbers they had typical results we have familiar with here +The sharp rise in equality +Very high concentration of affluence +Eliminate social support systems +Population decay, severe repression, unlimited corruption, usual results around the world +Which led to the uprising almost everywhere +In Latin America she led a fascinating liberating movement in South America from 500 years of Western domination +What began in the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt was partly an uprising against the imposition of the cruel neoliberal regime +Combined with the staunch opposition of the United States, which is heavily backed +And there were great achievements in workers' rights, very quickly +Initially, the labor movement was not directly involved in the uprising in the occupation of Tahrir Square +But she started to participate in a simple time +It gave her a huge fan base +The general strike was one of the most important factors that imposed on army leaders (the junta) to remove dictator Mubarak +An independent unit was created for the first time, outside the framework of Sharia frameworks +This broke the monopoly of the country's trade unions +The participation of the workers' movement in the uprising added social and economic demands to narrow political goals and made great achievements +Minimum wage hikes, new unions, and much more +The researcher who covers most of this is (Joel Penon) from Stanford University +It is strongly reviewed and illustrated as a major achievement +And that was more hidden +It is to give human dignity and a voice to people who were oppressed and marginalized and had no voice +All of this was causing concern to the United States and its allies +They do not like these developments +This was precipitated by studies of public opinion in Egypt at that time +Egypt and the rest of the Arab world +It was done through American polling agencies +Of course, they are known to the elite planners and elements who are not mentioned to the United States in the media +Or hardly mentioned +But these studies are exciting, and they help to understand the American position regarding the developments that took place +American official positions +In Egypt, at the time of Tahrir Square's occupation, polling took place through one of the major American polling agencies +They found that a large percentage of the people, approximately eighty percent, find that the greatest threat they face is the United States and Israel +They do not like Iran in the Arab world +But like elsewhere, Iran was not considered a threat. Ten percent could consider Iran a threat +In fact, the opposition to US policies was very strong in the people +So much so that the majority in Egypt believed that the region would be safer if nuclear weapons were developed in Iran to balance the power of the United States and Israel +If you have a functioning democracy, the most popular opinion will influence the policies +And it is very clear that the United States does not want to implement these policies +And, as usual, the fear of democracy has directed most of US policies in terms of suppressing information to the public here, as well as political measures +This is actually normal +There were elections, and the Islamists won, mostly the Muslim Brotherhood +They have been the best organized groups for many years +They were illegal most of the time under dictatorship +But they were effective, and the organization enabled them +One of the facts that enabled them to win was the elections +The other thing is that there were many divisions in the schism of the left-wing liberal secular coalition +Which, in fact, got the majority of votes +More than half of the Egyptians voted for the so-called revolutionary candidates +Candidates from those sectors in the presidential elections last summer +But there were six certified candidates from those groups +They were parted, so the Brotherhood won easily. And the Salafis played a big role +They imposed a very harsh regime +The junta maintained its strong role in dominating society +The government made limited efforts to share the rule, and they became unpopular +And in our year, there was a major uprising, the 30th of June +Large numbers of people flocked to the streets to protest and demand the government's resignation +Two days later, the military takeover came on the third of July +This is part of the background +My personal aspirations and sympathies, in fact also my friends, with the mass popular uprising movement on the thirtieth of June +But I think they are making a serious mistake in supporting the military coup +Or many of them denied that a coup had taken place +He put their faith in the army's commitment to defend what they call the people against the Brotherhood +This is a term to be avoided +The people are deeply divided +You almost don't like the Brotherhood or don't like their behavior, but they do exist +They are a large part of the population and cannot be eliminated +So the reference for the people indicates that there is something very misleading in the comments +And their belief that the army will move to establish a secular democratic regime is mistaken in my view +I think this is highly unlikely +Most likely, the army will do whatever the army does anywhere +And historically in Egypt as well. It will be imposed and has already imposed a brutal and cruel regime +Their goal will be to consolidate their power through the political system and also to support their control of a fundamental economic empire +They will destroy those who disagree with them, underestimate civil and human rights, and this is already happening +My unhappy expectation is that my liberal, secular, left-wing friends who welcomed the army +They will soon be their victims, just as they did in the past, and it is beginning to happen now +One of the best global correspondents with knowledge in the region, Patrick Coburn, recently wrote after returning from Egypt +Egypt is on the verge of a new dark age, with the generals setting the goal and drawing close to ending it +With ten retired generals and two police chiefs from Mubarak's era appointed as temporary governors +Egypt is effectively under military rule +Of course, there is great support from Saudi Arabia, and other elements who have appeared to react from the Islamic world +The West prefers them to the Brotherhood +The United States, like Britain before it, tilted overwhelmingly to support the most radical Islamists in opposing national secularism for understandable reasons. +They do not like the Brotherhood specifically, but that is another matter +Saudi Arabia and the Salafists are considered the most extreme side +It is possible, Coburn predicts, that this will lead to a bloody civil war +Joel Benin (Egyptian labor specialist writes that the security forces after the military takeover) +They quickly crushed my struggle, I quote him, at the Suez Canal +In the Suez Canal city area which, not by chance, was at the forefront of the revolutionary forces that forced Mubarak to step down from power +Whatever the popularity of the army at that moment, the workers are now confronting an authoritarian, empty, hostile state that is hostile to their rights and aspirations in public. +I think it is true +As I said, there are real gains, and they may be continuous, but they are in danger +And I think the danger is very serious +There are now two main hotspots of power, one is the Islamists and the other is the army +And they (the army) are now in the lead +With strong support from left-wing liberal secularists +As I said it is wrong +Two weeks ago, a new initiative was launched calling itself the Revolutionary Road Front +Al-Ahram newspaper describes them as a new initiative against the Brotherhood and against the army, which was launched to achieve the goals of the revolution +It has well-known political figures, activists, leaders of the workers and others +The speaker at the press conference in which they declared themselves was Wael Gamal, an impressive leftist economist, whom I met two months ago in Egypt. +He writes and says at the press conference: It has been two and a half years since the revolution began +The Egyptians did not realize their dreams of building a new republic that would provide them with democracy, justice and equality +Millions took to the street twice +Once in January 2011 to topple the Mubarak regime, which was based on corruption and repression +And again in June 2013, until Mohamed Morsi withdrew by force after losing legitimacy +As a result of the Brotherhood's attempt to monopolize political life and rebuild a repressive regime +Quoted from the pyramid: The goal of the front is to work to redistribute wealth and achieve social justice +Fighting the formation of a repressive regime, achieving equality between citizens +Defining the path of transitional justice and adopting foreign policies that guarantee autonomy +If this is achieved, it will ensure the United States opposes it +Is this possible? I don't know, I hope so +I think it is the best hope now to save Egypt from what could be the darkest periods of its history under military rule +Thank you +So, if you allow me, I will, stay there +One brief comment, then a question +My comment is related to the role of youth +I don't know how best to name them +Generations are much younger than those who are older +Moving, in the early stage +They are a more browsing generation, more passionate, more exposed to global thinking, and connected in many ways to communication +So the structure of that age group should be taken into account in the dynamics of events +The question I have, and depending on your response, I may have another question to follow +And is there any situations that make you think it is reasonable, or acceptable? +I will not say that it is good, but acceptable, that there will be military intervention and a military coup? +Are there any modes ... ok +You can imagine modes +But I think there will be a huge burden to prove these situations by anyone who defends a military coup anywhere +And specifically in Egypt, the ugly history with the army +And that, by chance, went on during Morsi's tenure +He also continued after that, crushing the Suez sit-in is an unhappy example of this +I will be the last to be a supporter or endorse anything good about any army +But there is an aspect that we have not really touched upon +I will just comment, and will not ask until we can proceed +It is that we have seen a steady progression of law and order and any type of police protection +Although there was not much of this, the indication here is that when a citizen carries his own weapon +And when there is secret circulation of weapons for legitimate self-defense +So (the reviewer) at least says, that this is an indication of the erosion of the social system +I consider this to be unjustified +But if there are no institutions that provide the least degree of protection to citizens other than the army +So it is difficult to reject them +But how is their situation legalized to make it a temporary matter and how are they expelled after they fulfill their role is another question +At that point we can direct questions to Professor Chomsky +thank you so much +If the criticism of the Morsi government and the Muslim Brotherhood is largely legitimate +What would be the alternative way for the people in Egypt to respond to their fears and feelings of insecurity +And is it possible that Morsi made a political and strategic error in his acceptance of the policies of the neoliberal economic system to which I have referred? +Linked to this is a mutual friend of ours who helped found "New Partners in Health" near us here in Cambridge +He is now President of the World Bank, Jim Kim. Can you comment on the role of institutions such as the World Bank in this ongoing scenario? +These are two different questions +It is a fact that the Morsi government completed the neoliberal programs +Whether or not this is wrong depends on your point of view +It was a mistake from the point of view of the people because those programs hurt them +Otherwise, if he had not taken them, the United States and its allies would have moved very quickly to support his overthrow +Because that is what they require to accept a ruling regime, and it was a weak system, and that is why it happened +As for Jim Kim, a good friend, an old friend of mine +He took the presidency of the World Bank with two cautious eyes, hoping to change his direction +We will see to what extent he will be able to achieve these goals +I don't personally criticize him for taking this position, I don't think we should do this +It is possible to say that I will be separated from all institutions because they are extremely repressive and ruthless, and this is a possible situation +But another position is to try to find a way through them to alleviate their worst actions and effects +This started to happen, and with the International Monetary Fund as well +For example, the International Monetary Fund withdrew from the trilogy, which imposed a strict austerity program, mainly in southern Europe +The International Monetary Fund has withdrawn +And it has already come up with studies that discuss and demonstrate that austerity programs under recession are the worst ever +Well, the IMF economists were hiding this, and I am not criticizing them for this +As for the first part of the question, about the alternatives available to the people +First we must take care, not the people +They are a faction of the people who oppose the Brotherhood and the Salafists +We do not know what the percentages are +One of the most knowledgeable analysts of the "Krish" estimates that maybe a third of the people support the Brotherhood and others like the Salafists and even to the most extremist parties. +But they are divided, and the question is what can others do? +Well, there are some answers +It also mentioned that in the presidential elections, last summer they were divided into six candidates +They had the majority, but they were busy fighting each other +They did not form a coalition that could have won the presidency +There were other elections after that, which were not perfect at all, and there are many problems with them +But they were relatively open elections in an appropriately open society so they could participate in this +And take a parliamentary path to topple the Morsi regime +Part of the reasons why I don't, I think +They were not sure that they were able to take this path at all +However, we do not agree with our analyzes, the army's call to do this for you does not improve security +It really drives what we have seen +First, real massacres, the Brotherhood and hundreds of those killed, crushing sit-ins in key areas, and implementing the system we expect from the army. +I am sure you have seen the newspapers this morning +A long report on the leaks of the Military Council discussions, internal discussions under Morsi +When their strengths were limited in limited measure, they were subjected to at least a public examination +The discussions led by the new leader were designed to find ways to resist the fact that they are under close scrutiny +And that their economic empire and their political power are overcome in limited and shrinking ways +I believe that the coup is an attempt to ensure that this will not happen +I hope I'm wrong, but I very doubt that it will be my friends who will suffer from their support for this act +I hope that the next question will be brief and a single question +Hello Professor Chomsky, my question is +Do you think I am what it is called (stable countries) may be satisfied with itself, and do not expect such revolutions +Do you think I am what is called stable countries may be satisfied with themselves, and do not expect such revolutions +Do you think I am what it is called (stable countries) may be satisfied with itself, and do not expect such revolutions +Can revolutions like this happen anywhere in the world? +If you mean Western governments, the countries of the world differ everywhere +Western governments are not satisfied at all +But they do not have the power they had before +There are many, and I am sure you know, there are many rumors circulating in the region +In Egypt and in fact in the entire Middle East region, about the great power of the United States +And it manages everything +In the two parts of the split in Egypt, there are accusations that the United States supports the other side +Manages and manipulates everything +And the same stories are told in Syria +And it is far from the truth +The United States, and more than its allies, have limited ability to influence what happens, some influence, but it is limited +And not as it was before when they could hold military coups and so on, this time is largely over +But they are not satisfied, they have their goals +The United States, for example, is very concerned about the interests of its major allies +Its main allies are the Saudi dictatorship and Israel +The two are strong supporters of military rule +So yes, the United States is for this and for other reasons will continue to support military rule +Not because it caused the coup, it did not, but it supports the result +Specifically, if the military government continues to establish the policies it started from attacking independent labor movements, weakening rights, etc. +This is what the United States naturally supports +The reaction to the polls you mentioned is a good example +In fact, to move on for a moment, because we have to be concerned with ourselves +It was very exciting to watch the leak of a reaction to what revealed the situation in the Arab world +WikiLeaks issued documents showing that Arab dictators +Some of them gave very strong support to the United States for Iran +If I read today's papers, they will write enthusiastically about how the Arabs support the harsh position of the United States against Iran +In fact, the reaction was so extreme that a number of leading commentators in the United States and Britain +Jacob Halpern here, and Janan Rahman from the Financial Times in London +They started joking about how it appears that the CIA is managing WikiLeaks +Because they issued information that strongly supports US policies +There is a marginal comment here, that they were referring to the positions of dictators +The attitudes of peoples are radically different +But for people who despise democracy, they find that what people think is irrelevant +The important thing is the dictators, and if they support us then everything is fine +If people think what I have told you, this has nothing to do +This is what they see inside +So yes they are watching, and they do what they can do, but what they can do has limits +Thank you Professor Chomsky for speaking today, and thank you, the Federation of Egyptian Students, for holding this event +I want to read you a quote and see how your response will be to General Hugh Shelton's ex who said +General Sissi put an end to the new Middle East project +If Morsi had not been overthrown by General Sisi, Egypt would have been another Syria, and its army would have been destroyed +This is a baseless expectation +As I mentioned, there were opportunities within the parliamentary system to continue to operate +There were, without doubt, threats, and there was repression, much of it coming from the army, from the army itself, under Morsi's rule +But they have not retreated from their cruel and authoritarian behavior +In fact, you can see it in the leaked report this morning and in their actions +So yes they were there, but there were opportunities and I did not find any indications that it was going to turn into Syria +Actually, I think it's probably the opposite +I doubt that Patrick Coburn was correct in his conclusion as I mentioned +The army's seizure and dark age foreshadows it and the harsh and strict blocking of the Brotherhood, which is a large part of the people +Or whatever you think of them, it could lead to a bloody civil war +This is what may lead to the perception of a situation like Syria or perhaps worse, but I do not think that there are real indications of that before +Sir, in the past two or three years people have seen the Muslim Brotherhood and the army in power +Based on this, do you think that we will get a break from political Islam for about ten or fifteen years? +If this is the case, is the western model of democracy the best path for Egypt and the Middle East countries to modernity and development? +Do I think democracy is the best path? +The Western model of democracy +What is ... the western model of democracy is totally counter to democracy. We should be honest about this +The anti-democratic elite in the United States is also being applied locally, and we can talk about it +But if you mean the theoretical application of the Western model represented in propaganda and thought +Yes I think this is a good model +But the axes of power in the West and elsewhere do not want this. They want it here and do not want it in Egypt +Is it the best model, yes I think so +So I always think he doesn't get the attention +I must mention that nothing is new to this +To those of you who want to know more, look at history +The United States community is very open, and therefore they have an unusual gateway to internal layouts +It is not used a lot but it is there +An example of this, more than fifty years ago, 1958 +President Eisenhower, these are articles that have long been declassified +President Eisenhower asked his staff for an internal discussion +He asked: Why is there a hatred campaign against us in the Arab world, not from the governments that support us, but from the people +This was amazing, the same time in 1958 +In a short period of time before Eisenhower, he had intervened to drive Britain, France and Israel out of Egypt +It was believed that this would lead to support from the people of the Arab world +But on the contrary there was a hatred campaign +At the same time, the highest planning bodies of the National Security Council issued an internal document detailing developments within the Arab world +And they said that there is awareness in the Arab world. These are almost quotes, perceptions in the Arab world +The United States supports strict and dictatorial dictatorships and opposes democracy and development +And we do it to make sure we control energy sources +She went on to state that this realization was accurate, and it was, and perhaps is the right thing to do for us +So yes there is a hate campaign, and this is repeated over the years +You can remember that some of the events of 9/11 were President Bush having a pathetic speech through which he asked why they hate us +He said they hate us because of freedom and so on +And some of that shortly, the Pentagon had a research study +A research institution (the Council of Science at the Pentagon) carried out Watteau's analysis of Bush's speech +They retold what the National Security Council said in 1958 +They do not hate our freedom, they hate our politics +They hate our policy that underestimates democracy, support shrinking development and support harsh and strict regimes because of our interest in controlling their resources +There is a lot of information between the two that says the same thing including polls +And if this will be a good model, yes I think it will be, not only in the Middle East, but everywhere. this too +I said in an e-mail dialogue with Austin Mckayle that there is a bill of details presented by supporters of the June 30th +Varying credibility, but I did not see anything to justify calling the army to topple the elected government +No matter how flawed the election, or whatever post-election politics are objectionable +My question is why do you think the bill of varying detail has credibility +And why cannot the people overthrow the government if the elections are defective or the post-election policies are objectionable? +Are you only against military intervention or do you think that the desire to topple the government was premature? +Let me repeat what I think I understand, that I have not heard most of the talk +If you want to topple the government, I think this is legitimate first, this is very legitimate +As I said, my sympathies and friends are with the June 30 uprising +But is the best way to do this is to summon the army to topple the government and establish a military dictatorship? +No, I don't think this is the best way, it was ... +If there is no other means at all, there is a major attack on the people +You can imagine a situation in which it might be reasonable to ask the army to intervene +But I do not think any of this was real in Egypt +Why did you say that the bill of detail has varying credibility +I have said that the bill from the details submitted by June 30 supporters has varying credibility +No, I didn't say that at all +The bill, details provided by supporters of the June 30th, was mostly very credible +I think the accusations against the Morsi government were very real +Very accurate, probability not every word, but basically correct +But the question is, if there is opposition to the government from a large portion of the people, it could be the majority +Is the correct mechanism under these conditions to support a military coup that will establish a more ruthless government? +What do you think about the alternative? +The alternative is to pursue the opportunities that were not followed from the past several months in the presidential elections +The liberal, secular, leftist force, not composed, had the majority of votes +But they were busy fighting each other until they divided the votes between six parts +This provides opportunities +They overcame the Faisalian conflicts of this sector and applied to participate seriously in the open and parliamentary system of government +Defective but open +Indeed, some of the main threats to this regime, even under Morsi, were the army, or the junta +Thanks, my name is Dan Lawrence and I work with "The Books of the Revolution" and "The Revolution Newspaper" +I wanted to read a brief quote from Bob Avakian, who was the head of the Revolutionary Communist Party and had a comment +The essence of what exists in the United States is not democracy +But the imperialist capitalist system and political structure strongly enforce the imperialist capitalist system +What the United States publishes around the world is not democracy but imperialism and political structures to implement that imperialism +It seems to me that the situation in Egypt is an ideal example, as you find it on the one hand as reactionary fundamentalists and on the other side you find the army +Which is part of the government that was supported and funded by the United States for thirty years +And I would like to explore this with you in terms of what is involved in bringing down the government +The quote from President Bob is a much harsher version than I was saying, I think it's a much harsher version +I mean, I don't think the United States, I think it is an exaggerated picture of the United States and what it does, the world +But there is a real element in it, in fact it is like what the National Security Council said in 1958 and we shouldn't go to Bob Avacian for this. +The rest of the question, if I understand it correctly, suggests that the United States was somehow responsible for establishing Morsi's ruling regime and military rule thereafter. +I don't think it's true +The United States strongly supported Mubarak until the last minute +In fact, US policy came from the accepted rules of the game +It is curious that commentators, the media and even researchers have not decided what is clear +There is case after case where the United States supports a favorite dictator +At some point it becomes impossible to continue to support +Because perhaps the army will turn against it, as was the case in Egypt +And at that point there are rules for the game +What you do is declare your love for democracy and make sure that the intellectuals repeat it +The dictator gets stuck, sends him somewhere, and in Egypt he was sent to Sharm el-Sheikh +Then you try to establish the same system +This happened so much that it became a joke +Smooze, Marcus, Deville, Soeharto, Maputo +It is a kind of routine +So yes that's what they did this time +At least there is stability in principle +Yes, it is almost permanent firming +It is a very rational way, very simple, there is no reason to be deceived +This happened so much that we should laugh when we see her again +But that was not the way it was presented +This is what intellectuals do, concealing all this, from themselves and others +But to believe that the United States brought down Mubarak is a mistake +They supported him, just like other cases +They did not impose the Brotherhood's government, they won because they were better organized, much better +They were active during the dictatorship +Let me tell you a personal story, it is a personal story so it is not a big story +I was in Egypt about 20 years ago, for a while, I studied at the American University +While I was there I spent a lot of time with educated activists, a certain group was somewhat left-wing +Really good people, good friends, Syed Ahmed and others +Good, brave people who fought hard and many of them spent years in Nasser prisons torturing, very dedicated people +These were the left. Where did we meet? We met on a boat in the Nile +If you know anything about Egypt, you will know what this is +They have those river boats in the Nile for very rich tourists +And they had a friend who owned one of them +The riverboat gave them food and we sat in a corner of this thing and ate fine food, and we talked about how to carry out a revolution in Egypt +This was the left +After that, I met a group of people who called themselves Islamic scholars +They are in fact Islam just like me. One of them was Coptic, and the other was the former editor-in-chief of the Socialist Party newspaper +But they declared themselves Islamic scholars +We met in a small room somewhere +We talked and explained what they were doing, and I think they were accurate in explaining them +They were trying to work in the slums, setting up clinics, small shops, organizing people and so on, and this is what they were doing +Left intellectuals were having a fine dinner on river boats +It was not difficult to see who would win. This happened in the whole region +This is a personal story, but in reality this is happening in the whole region +And the Muslim Brotherhood won for this reason in the first place. The United States did not do this +And the United States did not bring them down. The United States was very happy with Morsi's rule +This system was largely doing what they wanted +I think they prefer military rule, partly because major allies are very supportive of him +Also partly because it applies very strict repression, such as crushing the sit-in in Suez +But this is my assessment, we do not have internal documents about this, so it is an impression +Thanks a lot for doing this +And I just wanted, your previous comments touched a little on what I'm going to ask about +With the first revolution in January 2011, do you think the seeds of the current failure were laid in it because the revolution was not complete +They toppled Mubarak and Parliament but did not get rid of the judiciary, which was also part of the Mubarak regime +Just like the current generals, they were all part of the Mubarak regime +And you see this in Mubarak's trial +Yes, he was convicted, but everything used to convict him was disposed of in preparation for appeal +Which reveals that this system was preparing itself for a future victory in the first place, and this is what we are seeing now +They planted those seeds, they knew that the first elected president would fail largely due to countless problems +Also, because, as has been said before, a lack of security equals a lack of stability +The army was very complacent in providing security, even the police forces, the police were not doing their job +Yes, this was at a level that suggests that the downfall was institutional +They wanted security failure. Until any government fails if it came and was not part of the system +My question, then, do you think this is a delicate scenario and how Egypt is moving forward +How will the next revolution happen, overthrow all branches of government and establish a true political democracy +I think you are very correct regarding the fact that the army retained its power under Morsi, many of which +And he reduced some privileges but not many, they were very happy with the security situation +The police withdrew, and you actually saw what happened on the day of the coup +On the day of the coup, police returned to the streets, with petrol +Before that, you could not get gasoline for your car +Saudi Arabia poured tons of money, and the Gulf emirates +And it became clear, if not clear, before +There is a lot of effort from the army and the very opposing forces in the Arab world, mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE +To try to prevent any ruling regime from operating, they hate the Muslim Brotherhood +After that, they re-established stability under harsh military rule after it got rid of the parliamentary opposition +This largely happened, I think +But the answer to is not by supporting the army. This makes the situation worse +What is the answer? My impression is that, as I said before, there are many opportunities to pursue the unification of the deeply divided secular liberal forces. +This is a large group that has many differences, but they are kinda close to each other. They could have met together +When I was in Egypt two months ago, I met several political leaders of these factions +And it was very clear that they did not want to cooperate with each other +They were more interested in fighting each other than doing anything about the Morsi regime +But this could be resisted, and I hope that this front announced recently +Which I quoted at the end of my speech, and that have very good people +You may be able to solve these conflicts, and form a united movement +They will be able to advance if the parliamentary positions are still permitted by the army, and they may not be permitted +The point here is that we must remember that democracy, parliamentary participation, was called a democracy in that case +Bargaining and negotiation include surrender and otherwise and some of them behaviors +There was not much experience in Egypt's contemporary history to learn how to overcome these and other divisions +Thanks Professor Chomsky, I have a small question, about the alternative, too +In the year of Morsi's government, we saw that the Muslim Brotherhood was not different from Mubarak's rule in terms of political freedom +In terms of economic policy +The people, I think, found themselves between the former dictator and the current dictator +You must choose between a dictatorship that grows and one that actually falls +Alliance with the army would be my best choice, let me disagree with you +Because this year we saw how they used their men in all local administrative positions +As governors for almost half of Egypt's governorates, ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, this was in preparation for the upcoming elections +So they were preparing for a new dictatorship with evidence, I think +So if I could choose, I would choose to be allied with the army again +The one who actually falls, who answers to reformulate himself with force again +First, I would suggest recasting what I said, not the people that should have chosen, it is a section of the people +And who you belong to, and who I sympathize with, but it is not the people +A large part of the people support the Brotherhood, and another sector supports the Salafists, the most extremist +You cannot deny being because you don't like them +They exist, they are important, they are organized, they are rooted in the people +In fact, they were so strong that they were able to win all the parliamentary elections that took place +Partly because of the failure of the secular liberal-left opposition. But they did it and they are still there +It might have been crushed, killed, and destroyed, but they are still there. They are part of the people +So to paraphrase your question, what sectors could have +First, I do not agree with you that the ruling regime of Morsi was really a dictatorship and authoritarianism like Mubarak's dictatorship +There were real accomplishments, achieved by the intifada, which they called a revolution if you liked, I was subjected to some of them +There was greater freedom of expression, freedom of publication, meetings, group freedom +It was a very strong and active political atmosphere and was not there before +There were some real achievements. Concerning workers' rights in particular +The formation of the first independent union, and in fact many unions and this is not a simple development +The improvement was very low, and the minimum wage was very serious +Things were happening and were not happening under Mubarak, and they would not have happened +There were opportunities for political action, for example, in previous presidential elections +Which could have been achieved for the next time, if pursued +But given the real situation, what should the part of the people you belong to have done, and in reality I, we associate ourselves with it, what should they have done? +I think, what I felt was what I suggested, they should have resisted +They work hard to resist factional differences, find a way to work with each other +Participate in the opportunities that were available, and try to reach a parliamentary result that would have allowed them to implement their programs +But I think the worst thing to do is to summon an army that will crush those opportunities +Hi sir, I want to refer to 2011, when the army gained control after Mubarak, why did you not call this a coup, this is number one +When the army took over after Mubarak? +Yes, this was in 2011, the army intervened and formed a transitional government at the same time as those that are happening now, and no one called this a coup. +It is one question, please only complete as part of the sentence, from the first question, and ... etc. Otherwise, no +Can i say? It is very, very simple. Why do we sacrifice Morsi between the United States and Egypt? Why is Morsi so important to the United States? +Let me stop this, and focus on the first question. The first question is important +I'm sorry, what's the question? I've heard Part 1 - Yes, I don't understand Morsi's question but it violates the rules here +Why did not we call it a coup in 2011 +So why was this not a military coup? +Because it was similar to bringing down Marcus, or Smoze, as the army realizes at the last minute that they will not be able to preserve their dictator +They send him to a safe place, then give the government to a beloved government +This is not a military coup. It is a decision of the army that we cannot preserve our dictator +The best thing we can do at that moment is to subordinate ourselves to a civilian government. This is completely different from a military coup +Thank you for being here, Professor. My question is +What is the relationship between extremism and social repressive actions in the era of austerity +In other words, how Egyptian social action supports extremist ideas, for example, Sayyid Qutb's imprisonment has given rise to extremist ideas +Like the positions of the Salafis or the positions of the Saudis? This is what you mean by extremism? +I call them extremists too, but what is my extremism depends on your point of view +Mostly, they see us as extremists +It is not an exact term, it is a term that reflects your personal attitude +But yes, from the Arabs 'point of view, they are extremists, but what is the question? +This dictatorship ended here, okay? +On the thirtieth of June there are thirty million people on the streets +The majority of them want to bring down Mubarak and want the same results of the January 25 revolution +I do not support the military coup in any way but what you thought would have been a solution to this situation on this day +On the thirtieth of June? First I will be skeptical of the numbers, as is the case with independent viewers +But there is no doubt that there were many people on the streets. There was a massive popular uprising +The right movement at that moment, in my opinion, I'm going to repeat, is to use this driving force +To resist the destructive divisive, partisan divisions of the liberal, secular sector +And before us we place a united opposition, which will participate effectively, as the opportunities were clearly available +It is not the summons of the army that will quell all this +In fact, remember that the army itself was responsible for the crackdown under Morsi's ruling regime +Getting them is not a reasonable step +I have to say what I said in the foreground, my personal friends, good friends in Egypt, people I really respect, who differ very sharply with me. With what I said, so I say it hesitantly, but that's how it looks to me +Do you think it is possible for the leftists, the most secular part of society, to work with Islamists in the future? Or at least tolerate each other? And if not, what would be the scale of the problem? +At least at that moment, as far as I see now, there do not seem to be any opportunities available for this. Who knows what might happen in the future? +I look at Latin America, a different position, but this was taken as a model +For centuries the Catholic Church has been, in fact, since the fourth century, the Church of the Persecuted +The church that supported autocracy, power, violence, etc. +In 1962 with the Vatican 2, this changed. The Vatican 2 was an effort under Pope John XXIII +An effort to re-establish the Gospels in the Catholic Church +It was a radical act because the Bible is a radical document, and this is why Christians persecuted the first two centuries +Try to present the so-called (preferential option for the poor), the Gospel message +It was ingested in Latin America by priests, nuns, laymen, peasant organization, etc., and what happened? +The United States went to war with them. A severe war started against the church +A long series of murders and dead bodies, many of them martyrs of religion +Part of this was the overthrow of parliamentary governments and the establishment of dictatorships +Brazil, Uruguay, Chile +Massacres in Central America in the 1980s +In 1989, six leading Jesuit thinkers were killed at the university in El Salvador +By an armed battalion trained by the United States +Newly graduated from training at the John Kennedy Counterinsurgency School in North Carolina +Following the orders of the army, the highest leadership is to kill Jesuits when there is no one around them +This was a war against the church +Two days ago another step was taken +The current right-wing bishop of El Salvador +He dissolved the Total Legal, the church's legal office during the heresy period, when they tried to return the Gospels +There was a research agency of the El Salvador Total Legal Church that collected information about homicides, atrocities and so on +It was resolved two days ago by the bishop, and I trust that with US support, the war is still going on +Is this permissible in the Islamic world? Possible, and will have the same response +Professor Chomsky, thank you for joining us today, and thank you for a life full of giving for social justice and political activism. And thanks to the Union of Egyptian Students for making this event possible and opening our mind to your thoughts +My question regarding an environmental issue in Egypt +At the end of a year of Morsi's rule, he tried to unify the incision of public opinion by confronting the threat that arises from the limited use of the Nile and its entrances +What are the possibilities that future governments will face to reconcile swing public opinion on a unified issue such as the use of the Nile? +And also use it to achieve their political interests +This is a very important issue. In fact, war was imminent with Ethiopia because of the dam at the source of the Nile +This remains a living issue +I don't know, you can say something, I have no idea how this problem can be solved +I think that is a very difficult problem +There are other ways how to address these issues +One of them was suggested by a MIT student two years ago, I forgot his name +But there was a student in the mechanical engineering department here, some of you might know it +An Egyptian student worked on a project to develop a very cheap, very easy solar energy device +It is basically a small group of reflectors, made of materials that Egyptians can use to build it themselves +He did not require the import of modern technology equipment, at least according to his message +The professor who worked with him was a practical solution, Egypt, as the truth is all of North Africa +The air is clear, not badly polluted, much sunlight +He estimated that if this were to spread throughout the country and in North Africa +They can have enough energy to export to Europe, including themselves +This is another direction for development, is this doable? +Go to them, the mechanical engineering department here and ask them what they think, why would they give him doctorate degrees for this idea? +My question has more to do with the main idea, from the point of view of mobilizing young people, military coups and in addition to the veiled intervention of the West +Do you think that there are any similarities with Iran and the capabilities of the government and the resistance, or do you think this has become impossible with Egypt +Can you repeat the question, but slowly? +From the point of view of the youth crowd, the military coups and the veiled intervention of the West +Do you think that there are any similarities with Iran and the capabilities of the government and the resistance, or do you think that this idea has become impossible with Egypt +Any idea? - The idea of resistance in general - +Comparing Egypt and Iran to the resistance +It is a completely different structure +Egypt in the past two years has been somewhat open to regional standards +With the exception of Tunisia, it was the most open country, but it is now closed to military rule +Iran is another story, it is under harsh priestly rule +Egypt is not under priestly rule, it is a ruling against priesthood, but it is very cruel, but it still has opportunities +The past elections were limited, and every candidate for the Iranian elections must be examined by the Council of Religious Men +So you cannot nominate anyone, which is of course unbearable +But it should not surprise us at all, as we have a similar system +In the United States, every candidate has to be examined through his ability to focus the use of private capital +If you can't raise billions of dollars, you are not a candidate +So we do not have a council of clergy to examine the candidates, we have "Golden Sacks", "GB Morgan Chase" and "Brotherhood Cook" to examine them +This is a mistake in both cases ... but something happened here ... the people participated and the elections took place +The result was somewhat surprising +The most reformed candidate (not stiff, but the most) won very easily +There are some changes +People in Iran, or at least I can communicate with them, are very happy with them +There were more opportunities than those in Egypt, and they were pursued, or at least it could be traced +But will opportunities be available in the future? we will see. This depends on what the military council will allow +Thank you, Professor. The role of social media has been analyzed in events in Egypt, and also throughout the Arab world. What is your analysis of the impact of social media, and has its influence been amplified? +Do you want to talk about this topic? Do I answer? She is the expert in this field, so I shouldn't talk about it, +Obviously there was an effect, how much influence? This is not clear in my opinion +For example: There was a stage in which Mubarak closed the internet +In an attempt to prevent the use of the Internet to organize activities and so on, this did not stop the activity, but it took another form +In fact, it took a very impressive form, through direct communication methods +So yes, they are useful means, but I do not think they are revolutionary means +Many of the uprisings occurred without dependencies before using the Internet +It can be used in an effective way, and it can also be used in ways that we know, as a means of control and control +Take a look at what Snowton revealed +None of the power systems, companies or countries, will use any technological means that they can obtain to try to control their internal enemies ... the people. +We see it very big here +So it is a double-edged sword, and this is a reality for all technology, it can be used for repression, it can be used for editing +Many people in Egypt now think it is time for the current ruling regime to change the direction of foreign policies +And to change the path to the east, and to establish a strong relationship with Russia and China as was the case in the sixties +When there was a strong relationship between Egypt and the Soviet Union +Do you think this is happening? Will China be a great ally of Egypt in the next ten or fifteen years? +China certainly has interests in the region, but at the present time it appears to be commercial interests, and this is true, as the whole region +For example: One of the results of Qaddafi's fall in Libya is the exit of tens of thousands of Chinese engineers +Those looking for oil and others were investing there and replaced them with Westerners +Something could happen in Egypt +I do not know of any indications that China has major interests in investing substantially in Egypt +Egypt does not have major sources like it was with Libya or the Congo and so on +Thank you, Professor, 25 June 2011 The Police Day was in Egypt and it was also, we can say, that it is a turning point and the revolution, where the greatest gathering of forces opposing the regime happened +Slowly repeat the question +I wonder if you think that the sixth of October, which will be the day of the armed forces in Egypt +It represents a similar opportunity for people who are dissatisfied with the government +Not only the votes in favor of Morsi, but for everyone who does not agree with the current regime, the crowd +If you think this is a turning point, contemporary events +Within two days? - Yes, this Sunday. +I don't know about any indicators, maybe you know, if there are people who follow blogs in Egypt, or newspapers in Egypt in Arabic, they can have indicators, but I did not see anything. +My understanding is that it is through a second hand, and I could have understood it wrong, and the second side has the right to clarify +There are indications that the illegal Muslim Brotherhood could make their presence felt again by slowing down the effectiveness of the system +But I have not heard anything about violence +It is very unlikely that October 6 will pass without anyone noticing +All the indicators that I have seen are what I mentioned, the path of the revolution path, which is growing from the third field +There was an informal development before this, there were two fields +There was Tahrir Square, and it is now most of the army +And there is the Islamists field, where they organize themselves +There was a third square, and there were many of these, and now they have formed themselves into a united front +It covers a wide range of activists and groups +I don't know how far they will go +Personally, I admire their people and their politics, but I don't know how much popular support they can garner. +First I want to thank you for coming to speak on this topic +My question deals with the division of the people, and how do you see the cooperation between the Islamists and the secular left as unlikely +I am wondering if you see any way for us to start closing the gap so that we reduce the insecurity and daily violence that all Egyptians suffer regardless of their political orientation. +Is there a possibility in Egypt that competing blocs will come and cooperate? - Yes, only to reduce insecurity. +I would like to believe this, but I think the direction in which events are headed is closer to what Patrick Coburn described +On his way to a bloody civil war +What you are suggesting would have been very welcome, and there are always possibilities, but I don't see anything happening in this direction. +Can i ask you a question? Do you see anything optimistic? Absolutely? +Yes, I think the cause for optimism are the remaining achievements of the Tahrir Square uprising +Including what I mentioned, once again: a political atmosphere full of vitality, empowering the people +What Joel Benin highlighted, is giving the people a sense of dignity and having a voice +The solid achievements are mainly partly political participation, which is a real achievement +But partly the labor movement, which I think is very important +Establishing the first institutional break-up of the Mubarak regime, was the establishment of the first independent union of Egyptian trade unions, and this is important +Before this there was no officially recognized independent union, and now this monopoly has been broken +Since this event, there have been many important labor activities in the major centers +Major textile centers, industrial centers. Suez +This is why the army put them firmly on them, but they are still there +In fact, I believe that one of the most important workers leaders, Kamal Abbas, is part of the path of the revolution +I don't know how many others are involved, there isn't much evidence +But I think these are continuing achievements to date +Can you move forward from there? I think this is optimism +Thanks Professor, my question is broader +We have seen that in Libya there was a civil war to move from an autocracy to democracy +What we see today, the new regime, in Egypt the army entered, and in Syria we saw a civil war +My question: Regarding autocracy / dictatorship, is there another way to democracy that does not include civil war or military intervention? Is there an ideal way other than what we have seen so far? +Could there be a democratic uprising in the Middle East without military intervention? +And the Civil War, the dubious ways we have seen so far have brought more harm than good, is there a more perfect path? +I will put the question in a different way +Could there be a movement towards democracy with military intervention? +I guess maybe not. Military intervention will prevent him +There were steps forward without military intervention. In the original uprising in Tahrir Square +The only military intervention was to determine that they could not support their dictator for much longer +So they will send him to Sharm El-Sheikh, with support from the United States +And attempts to return a percentage of the force, this is not military intervention +Unfortunately, the army was not tamed or controlled, and now they have gained strength again +But wherever the army interferes, I think it will always be a step back +But there was progress in Egypt, and I think some of it remained, it was threatened, but it remained +Tunisia has the same story, Ennahda, the ruling Islamic party has retreated in the past two days +Actually they seem to allow open sharing, and I think that's a good thing +In Syria, what started as a democratic uprising was crushed with fierce violence +It became a malicious civil war, which is what drives the state to commit suicide +This should not happen +In dictatorships, the petroleum dictatorships of the United States and its allies +Saudi Arabia in particular, there were small efforts to pursue the Arab Spring, very small +So they called Friday, (the day of rage) but this was crushed so quickly that people in Riyadh were afraid to take to the street +In eastern Saudi Arabia, where most of the oil is found, the Shiites are also concentrated +There were continuous uprisings, severely suppressed with the support of the United States +And also in Bahrain, and not much in other countries +These are the most stable +The ruling religious-military regime was able to crush steps in the direction of the popular uprising +But this will not last forever, and this is not the only case +Indeed, the Arab Spring began in a place rarely discussed +Western Sahara, the Arab country, the last colony in Africa, is under United Nations legislation +It is supposed to go through the decolonization stage +And what happened is that when I took steps towards decolonization, I think in 1975, it was invaded by Morocco, because they want it +They began to send many Moroccans to try to flood the local population +Cruel repression and war, similar to Palestine in some way, on the other side of the Arab world +In October 2010, I think, there was an uprising in Western Sahara +The city of Khayyam and the capital are in efforts to resist imposed weapons +The Moroccans crushed them very quickly +The Sahrawis, the indigenous people, took this difference to the United Nations Security Council +He is responsible for the decolonization of the last colony +It was banned in the Security Council by France, a pro-Moroccan, with US support +But this was the first intifada, then the Arab Spring +Is this done Not necessarily, similar questions arise in Palestine, and it is also a colony +This is our last question +Thank you, Professor. My question will be regarding Hamas +Why is there a growing propaganda against Hamas in the Egyptian media recently? +It exceeds the levels that existed in the Mubarak regime +What was the role of Hamas in Egyptian politics during the period of the Morsi regime? +Propaganda against Hamas? Yes. +And publicity against Palestine in general under the current military rule - yes - +This is so amazing, it was not great under Morsi, there were some hopes and expectations +Under Morsi, there will be an openness to Gaza +Because Hamas is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood +So there was an expectation that there would be an opening to the border, but it was very little +I was there last october, and the borders were tightly closed +Somehow it opened, so it was easier for people to cross +But the requirements were very severe for the flow of humanitarian aid such as medicines +Gazans' dependence on tunnel economics was still +There is a lot of tunnel at the border +Shortly after, Morsi ruled that he went further than Mubarak to flood the tunnels with sewage, to try to block them +It was a kind of biological warfare, even Mubarak did not do this +There was very little openness, and now that the army is in power +Now what you described, fanatic propaganda has become very amazing against the Palestinians and enthusiasm +And with all the fairy tales of how Hamas was carrying out terrorist acts in Cairo and Sinai +There is no reason for this to happen, even if they did, and they cannot +I am not sure why this is happening +I doubt it is an attempt to rally the people against something +An external enemy linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, they are a branch of the Brotherhood +We would like to thank Professor Chomsky and Professor Shukry +It was our pleasure and we will see you in other events and thank you +21 +30 +35 +45 +50 +53 +62 +68 +73 +77 +83 +88 +92 +99 +106 +110 +114 +119 +129 +136 +146 +156 +170 +175 +177 +181 +184 +192 +197 +205 +214 +220 +233 +238 +255 +258 +266 +276 +288 +299 +307 +319 +327 +334 +337 +347 +353 +360 +369 +378 +388 +396 +405 +422 +438 +443 +452 +459 +467 +471 +483 +492 +497 +503 +512 +515 +530 +539 +543 +551 +554 +565 +575 +584 +598 +605 +615 +619 +623 +626 +628 +633 +642 +646 +656 +669 +677 +682 +690 +692 +695 +710 +720 +725 +743 +749 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+5622 +5631 +5635 +5637 +5642 +5652 +5673 diff --git a/cnt/Socialist Interviews - Noam Chomsky _ لقاءات الاشتراكي - نعوم تشومسكي w-wSasUe1hc.en.cnt b/cnt/Socialist Interviews - Noam Chomsky _ لقاءات الاشتراكي - نعوم تشومسكي w-wSasUe1hc.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34563d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Socialist Interviews - Noam Chomsky _ لقاءات الاشتراكي - نعوم تشومسكي w-wSasUe1hc.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,1296 @@ +Socialist Interviews April, 2020 +The world after the Coronavirus +Well .. it really depends on us +Noam Chomsky is a philosopher, historian, and philologist +The masters of the universe as they call themselves are hardworking now, as always, +To try to ensure that the outcome of the crisis is in their favor +Even, more harshly +The question is: Can other powers mobilize themselves to face this? +And triumph over him. +For example: If you look at the massive monetary easing package that +The Trump administration brought it out, and it is the largest in human history. +In the history of the United States and perhaps in the history of mankind. +It has some good aspects but for the most part +It is geared towards meeting the needs of companies, financiers, and so on, +They eat from that manger like pigs eat, +If it continues on that state +There will be nothing in it to benefit +People who are the worst victims. +Without going into details, +But this is what is going on, +At a time when the oil tycoons are extracting the largest possible profit +Before they destroy the world. And that is not in the distant future. +They are calling for more funding and legislative facilities, +And of course it is given to them +By the Trump Criminal Administration. +So, this is what is happening before our very eyes, +And we can either confront it or allow it to happen. +It could be a much better world. +This is a good opportunity for people to think of whatever world we want. +Do we want to return to recent history and its tragedies, +Or do we want to overcome it. +There are many ways to do this, different ways in different countries. +The problems in the United States are different from the problems in Egypt, +But everywhere there are ways +Let's try to move beyond the tragedies of the past and its crimes. +It is not enough to know that it is possible. it is necessary +Roll up our sleeves and work towards it. +The Arab Spring and American Intervention +United State +She naturally followed her usual policy +Whenever +Favorite dictators got into trouble +In case after case. +Like Somoza, Marcus, and Duvalier +And many others +The usual pattern is to support the dictator as long as possible +And when it becomes impossible +Perhaps the army will turn against him +The business class turns against him +And then what they usually do is claim that they were always against him +And banished him somewhere +An island in the Red Sea in this case +Then they try to re-establish the same system as possible +So here's what they tried to do +There were many serious problems inside Egypt +Which you cannot attribute to the United States +And it ended up in a fierce dictatorship +Perhaps the worst in the history of Egypt +It is strongly backed by the United States +It is strongly backed by the business world +They were flocking to Egypt +For economic conferences to find out +What they can pounds +From robbing the Egyptian people during a desperate moment +But that is to be expected +The question is whether there will be ways to counter it +It is possible +In the United States and Egypt +American Imperialism Today: Allies and Foes +It's hard to find +Coherent strategy +Amid the chaos in the Trump White House +But there is what we can notice +The most obvious thing to us is the effort +To create an international +Includes the most reactionary states +And use it as a basis +The next stage of US imperial interests +For example, in the Middle East +We find them +Egypt Sisi +And family dictatorships in the Gulf +And Israel is at the center of the matter +They are all cooperating now, almost openly +We come next +Moody in India +Fierce Hindu Dictatorship +Racial dictatorship +Which are trying to +You destroy the huge Muslim minority +And the disintegration of Indian secular democracy +We come to Europe +Countries like Hungary led by Urban +Destined for fascism +And Salvini in Italy +Builds something similar to ancient Italian fascism +And in Latin America +The most important example +Brazilian President Bolsonaro +Which, in fact, is competing with Trump +To see who will be the most evil character in the modern world +And when you mix them all together +We have a reactionary international +They can be the bedrock +To expand and maintain the strength of the United States +There are certain enemies (for the United States) +The main enemy is Iran +The reason is that Iran is an enemy +CIA explained it well enough +In its reports to Congress +The problem is that they point out that +Iran's military expenditures are extremely low +Even by the standards of the Middle East region only +Its strategic policy towards the United States is +Deterrence +It is trying to deter +The invasion happened long enough for diplomacy to intervene +If Iran is considering developing nuclear weapons +Which may be true or not +This is part of Iran's deterrent policy +Now, who would stand against the existence of a deterrent policy? +Rogue states +Countries that desire the ability to use force freely and without any hindrance +There are two of these countries +Israel and the United States +Hence, of course, they cannot tolerate a deterrent +By the way, it is worth remembering that +In the United States you cannot talk about this +Maybe you can in Egypt +There is a very simple solution +For any potential danger +Someone might think that Iran is representing him because of its weapons program +Too simple +In fact, Egypt has proposed this solution aggressively +30 years ago +It is declared a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East +Strictly applied +We know that can be done +It has already been implemented +As in the case of joint agreement +The recent agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons +Torn by Trump +He was well run and tightly watched +And American intelligence +And the International Atomic Energy Agency attest to Iran's commitment to it +So that is not a problem +A zone free of nuclear weapons could be established in the Middle East +Egypt has been at the forefront of lobbying for this since the 1990s +The idea is launched every five years +At the Nuclear Review Meetings +And every time the United States vetoed it +No one else would oppose the idea +Iran strongly supports the idea +The Arab countries led by Egypt strongly support it +Non-Aligned Countries +130 countries strongly support the idea +The United States uses its veto. Why? +And Obama was the last to do that, by the way, in 2015 +The answer is known to all: +The United States does not want the Israeli nuclear weapons system +To undergo an examination +In fact, the United States is totally in denial +It exists +The United States claims it does not know if it exists +Obviously, it is nonsense of course +There is a reason for this denial +If the United States admits that Israel has nuclear weapons +US laws will have to apply +American aid to Israel will have to be cut short +The United States cannot provide aid to countries +That develops nuclear weapons outside of a framework +Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons +Thus, in order to be able to protect Israel from the examination +The United States is ready +Because you face the real danger +To start a large war +Maybe just by chance +During its conflict with Iran +That shows us something important +It also explains why these matters cannot be discussed in the United States +Look at Google's search engine +And try +New York Times Archive +They cannot mention it +Although it is very clear in front of everyone's eyes +As I said, Egypt +It was at the forefront of lobbying for the exclusion zone +For thirty years +You can't talk about it +Consequently, the reactionary internationalism must turn against Iran +In fact, there are a lot of problems in Iran +We can spend the entire section talking about the ugliness of the Iranian government +But this is not our point +At the moment +Iran is suffering badly +Because of the Corona virus +And the United States, consciously and openly, is trying +To increase rapidly and broadly +And to kill the largest possible number of Iranians +By tightening economic sanctions +Economic sanctions are basically illegal +And the United States is the only country in the world +That can impose sanctions +It imposes penalties on about 30 percent of the world's population +The US sanctions are third-party sanctions +Other countries should stick to it even if they don't like it +Hence, Europe +Strongly rejects sanctions against Iran +Which are currently being used +And it is really expanding +To increase the torment of the Iranians in their time of need +The Europeans oppose it, but nothing can be done +Because if you oppose the US sanctions +American power will throw you out of the global economic system +Then you must follow the master +None of this is acceptable +Cuba continues to face fatal economic sanctions +Since I achieved independence +And it is not because of anything you do +But just because +According to the admission of the US internal files +Because of what they called +Its successful challenge to the United States +This cannot be accepted +The world is run by a mafia +And if you challenge the Godfather +Will be punished +OK? This is how most things in the world go +Democracy in the Middle East: An Ongoing Conflict +Israel is said to be the only democracy in the Middle East +But it is a deeply flawed thinking +I don't need to point out details +For half of the population governed by Israel +The problem is not just the absence of democracy +But in practice living in a prison +Even within Israel itself +There is extreme persecution +But if we go to the Arab world +There were democratic elections in the Arab world +In January 2006 +In Palestine +The first democratic elections in the Arab world +Watched carefully +They are recognized as fair and free elections +What was the result? +The result was that the United States +I immediately began organizing a military coup against the elected government +Israel +It increased its terrorist activity +Against Gaza +And harsh economic sanctions were imposed on it +The alignment of the European Union, to its disgrace, is behind it +The problem was that the wrong people won the election +And the elections are fair and acceptable +Only if your candidate wins +This is from the standpoint of the powerful +If the wrong candidate wins, destroy the election +This was the only free election there +Lebanon has almost free elections +The sectarian quota system that +Left by French colonialism +It severely impedes the growth of a true democracy +In other countries you find some features +Limited forms in Kuwait +Not much, often dictatorships +The Arab Spring would have changed the situation +I don't think the Arab Spring is dead +I think it has been pushed into retreat +But the forces are still there +And I think it will rise again +It is a long process +The person who might +Give the best description of this situation to the best of my knowledge +He (Gilbert) is blond +Of Lebanese origin +He teaches in +School of Oriental and African Studies, London +Which was said early during the Arab Spring +That is an important step +But it is only the first step in a long process +To smash authoritarian institutions +A culture of slavery +Many steps have to be taken, but they can be taken +You won't win in a minute +But over time it can +The recent demonstrations in Egypt are evidence of that +Labor activity is another evidence +Tunisia has avoided repression to some extent +But there are enough examples, you can even see that +In family dictatorships like Saudi Arabia +Young +They are pushing towards the end of the worst +The teachings imposed by the Wahhabi religious leaders +And they are making some progress +It is a process that can continue +Unfortunately +There is not much time left +Mankind in the Era of Coronavirus and Climate Change +Unless you take serious steps +To reflect the growing environmental disaster +Most of the area will become uninhabitable +Literally +Survival will not be possible +Likewise in South Asia +These are critical problems that must be addressed +There was not much time left +Aramco cannot continue to poison the environment +If it persists +Aramco will not be there +Nobody can live there +These threats outweigh the threat of the Corona virus +And it's bad enough +And I must say that I think we are the ones even close +From seeing its true extent +The virus has not yet hit poor countries +Where it will be a disaster +For example, in the poorest slums in Egypt +You will not be able to wash your hands every 15 minutes +Or to keep himself isolated from others +This is repeated all over the world +That would be a great disaster +And what happens +And what happens +It shows us the degree of sadism +That is difficult to describe +For example, there is a shortage of artificial respirators everywhere +All states are trying to get +What percentage +And they cannot +Poorest countries +And even relatively rich countries, such as Brazil +They can't get it +Because the richer countries overtake them in spending +Which wants to take all the devices for itself +If hundreds of millions of people die elsewhere, it is not their problem +This sadistic and anti-human behavior +And in a competitive environment +Just +It shows us that we live in a sick world +And it became more narrow +Take the example of the European Union +In the name of the union +But they now show us the extent of the union in the matter +Rich countries like Germany +She was able to control the spread of the virus +Next to her a few miles away +The epidemic is raging +Are you helping Germany? +No, it's not our problem +Germany is not content with not helping +But it also hinders attempts to issue a common European bond (Eurobond). +That might be a major component +In helping the poorest countries +No, they just pursue their own interests +Miles beyond the border +People die, it's not our problem +Fortunately, those of you can suffer +In northern Italy +To ask for help from behind the Atlantic Ocean +From Cuba +Cuba offers the only true example of international solidarity +Send doctors +And using medical supplies from China +To the most affected areas of the disease +Cuba has been doing this for many years +Cuba was largely responsible for the liberation of Africa +Africans know that +When Mandela got out of prison it was the first thing he did +He praised Castro for his contribution +In the liberation of Africa +Defeated the South African forces in Angola +Opening the door to the liberation of Namibia +And weaker apartheid South Africa +It is dedicated international solidarity and international solidarity +It cost Cuba a lot and gained nothing from it +When there were major earthquakes in Pakistan +Villages were being destroyed and people dying +Cuban doctors have come +While the Corona virus ravages Italy +Cuban doctors have come +So true international solidarity is not impossible +But it will be necessary to scale up +To the level of civilization and culture of the countries that practice it +At the same time, next to Cuba +Trump +Completely canceled aid to the Palestinians +In full +Which is sent to UNRWA hospitals in Palestine +And explain its reasons +"They don't respect me enough." +Clear my shoes and maybe I'll give you some coins +But if you don't respect me enough, I will suffocate you +This is Cuba's neighbor +Of course, there is a difference in power between Cuba and the United States +I don't think we want to have this debate +As I mentioned earlier, Cuba is subject to harsh US sanctions +Since its independence. +Deal of the century +Interesting thing +Regarding the deal of Kushner and Netanyahu century +And it was Netanyahu who had the real idea +And he gave it to this little boy +Trump's servant +The plan would look like it if it came from the United States +The big question regarding this deal is +Why do people give her any attention? +Suppose that this proposition comes from China +Or Germany or any country in the world +We wouldn't even have the time to laugh at him +It's a silly proposition +Why do you even look at him? +This is a sign of the strength of the United States +When the minus comes from American power +Whatever the degree of absurdity and ugliness +It becomes the central issue +You read the serious discussions in the newspapers +Will the offering succeed? +Is it fair? Will it have this defect or that? +But the appropriate response is laughter +Laughing and dumping away +It's not even worth laughing +If you want to know what kind of deals these are +Just look at the right wing of the Israeli Foreign Ministry +And what they usually bring up +This is the deal of the century +You don't need to look at the details +What counts for her +It is that it gives an official status to the reality of US policy in all cases +If you look at American politics +In the last 50 or so years +It's simple +For example, Israel has a specific and clear policy +It is the creation of a great Israel +Which will annex every part of the occupied territories of value to Israel +And connect it to Israel using the best infrastructure projects +And leave all areas with the largest Palestinian population concentrations +Israel does not want Nablus +They want to preserve what they call a "Jewish democratic state." +This means not to increase the number of Arabs +And thus excludes the Palestinian people +But Israel takes the rest +It divides what is left of the Palestinian people +To live in hundreds of small areas +Practically unfit for life +And the peasants are dispossessed from their lands and ambushes everywhere +Impossible life +In the hope that one day the Palestinians will leave +This was and remains the policy of all Israeli governments +Even so-called pacifists like Shimon Peres +Which was responsible for expanding settlement +To delve into the West Bank +Which Israel calls Judea and Samaria +The United States accepted and funded it +Every now and then she says, "We don't like it, please don't do it." +But they finance it anyway +Well, now things are in the open +This is their official policy +So, it counts to Trump +He revealed to us their policy +Its ugliness and extreme sadism +Which befits his personality and his worldview +And now it is exposed to all +But besides that, the deal of the century +It does not deserve the attention of the commentators even for a moment +Capitalism, China, and America +China is a growing society +But it remains a poor country +Not like the United States +If we look at the United Nations Human Development Index +It is our best measure of community health +The center of China is around 90 +And the center of India is around 130 +All this talk is about the domination of China and India over the world +It is pure paranoia +Which country can impose sanctions? +one only +United State +Which country has more than 1000 military bases around the world? +United State +which country +It can surpass practically all countries in spending with its military spending only? +United State +Which country has exceptional advantages that no other country shares? +Vast space and huge resources +A homogeneous population +Once wiped out the natives +The arena became open to European control +Was the economy +It has been based on slavery for a century +Creating the worst slavery system in history +And create the foundation of the current economy +Remember, cotton was the world's oil +Until the late nineteenth century +Britain got rich because of cotton, and so did the United States and others +Finally, now there is no other country +Get close to having the advantages that the United States has +And it happens to be a largely business-run community +To an exceptional degree +This has an impact on the nature of society +If you look at the OECD +To rich country measures of social justice +You will find the United States at the bottom of the assessment +Next to Mexico and Greece +If you look at the health system +One of the current kaleidoscopes +The American health system is catastrophic +It costs twice as much as comparable countries +It brings out the worst results +And now this system is suffering badly +Because in a neoliberal system it follows a business model +A commercial model means that the system does not have redundant capacity +You don't want to waste money buying an extra bed +For emergencies +So the business model follows what they call efficiency +No redundant potential capacity +Just enough to cover normal conditions +It doesn't go as well as many people, myself included +From my personal experience +But it works at least somehow +But if anything happens outside of the normal framework +Your luck is bad +In fact if you look closely, what happens +It's almost bewildering +Let's look at artificial respirators +Which now represents the bottleneck of the system +Doctors and nurses are forced to make painful decisions +About who will be killed today +Because there aren't enough devices for everyone +Why? +It's a long history, but let's look at Trump +In January he was known to the whole world +That there is an epidemic or pandemic and comprehensive to come +So what did the Trump administration do? +She was sending respirators, masks, and other equipment +Outside the United States +To China and other countries +And it lasted until March +When Trump finally realized +That is not a joke +They started importing the same respirators and masks from China +For manufacturers +Brokers and shipping companies +It's cool +They make money sending it and they make money back +And this is how it works +In all aspects +If you really want to see +clear picture +Of the mindset in Washington +Look at the budget for the next year +Budget project +In mid-February +While the epidemic was raging +Clearly in mid-February +Trump goes out to us with his budget +It provided for continuous spending cuts +On the CDC +And all parts of government related to health +Continue to cut spending +This is what Trump has been doing throughout his presidency +Even in the middle of a pandemic +But there are other things to spend on +Like huge subsidies to the fossil fuel industry +This is the budget +And the army of course +That tells you what the mentality of this criminal gang is +In the most powerful stage in world history +Of course, people are afraid of it +In fact, the United States is surprisingly feared and hated around the world +You can see this by reading the Arab press +You do that more than me +But from my few translations, it's amazing +I will tell a personal story that clarifies the matter +There is an online scam rampant +Crazy article +It claims that the United States started the Coronavirus +So you kill people around the world and take control of it +The article is attributed to me +Not real, of course +But I receive messages from all over the world +And even from friends and colleagues +Serious people +They say "Thanks for finally telling the truth." +Hatred of the United States is extremely high +So much so that people believe anything +But you must lie down before the force +You can't do a strong thing +So can the people of the United States themselves +From dismantling it and turning it into a more free society. +The Rise and Fall of Sanders and the Future of American Politics +Young people who worked hard for Sanders +Feel depressed +And they see that they have failed +But they are wrong +This is part of another strange fact about the United States +There is no date +There is no historical continuity +There are no political movements going on +And it has a long history +Every political movement started from scratch +They are often young +So they do not know anything about what happened before them +Take any serious social movement +Anti-slavery +Women's rights and the Arab Spring +anybody +They move forward and experience setbacks +But they don't give up +They do not give up on the first setback +They continue +In fact, Sanders' campaign was a smashing success +Success will make a mark +It completely changed the arena of debate +And even shaping politics in the United States +Very important things that were considered nonsense a few years ago +Now you are in the spotlight +Like comprehensive health insurance +Free higher education +And workers' rights +And appropriate wages +It all became the focus of attention +Mainly because of him +This is a massive success +He did something else, too +Show that you can successfully run a political campaign +Without relying on private wealth +And corporate power +This is a break with a century of American political history +These are huge successes +You can build on it +You don't have to go home and cry +I think most of this talk applies to the Arab Spring +He achieved a lot +Make people realize there is something that can be done +So let's do it despite the cruelty of the dictatorship +And it's much worse than anyone in the United States would ever face +Sanders made it clear +In his withdrawal letter +It is not the end of the political movement +The election campaign will end +Because of many circumstances +But the movement will continue +It is the responsibility of the youth +To give a tangible dimension to these words +To make it true, that is possible +And if they did it would be a much better world. +But I'm afraid I have to go now because I have another interview. 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+MICHELLE NHUCH: I know you're not clapping for me. +But anyway, on behalf of the MIT Center for International +Studies, I'm Michelle, Director of Public Programs, +and would like to welcome you to today's Starr Forum, which +I'm delighted to see that everyone got the memo. +First, however, I'd like to mention a few housekeeping +items. +We have several upcoming events that we +hope you're able to attend. +The most recent one will be on April 6th, +with the former Foreign Secretary +of the UK, Jack Straw. +He will speak on Brexit, Europe, and Trump. +Yes, we've got a whole lot of good events in store for us. +On April 11th, we have an event on Digital Innovation +and Africa, which will explore the consequences of Africa's +leap-frog into new technologies. +And on April 12th, we have a book talk +with Ambassador Celso Amorim. +He's Brazil's former Minister of Foreign Relations. +His book is entitled Acting Globally, Memoirs of Brazil's +Assertive Foreign Policy. +Details for these talks and others +are available on our website, or you can pick up +a flyer on your way out. +Today's talk will conclude with a Q&A from the audience. +For those asking questions, we really +need you to line up behind the mics. +We also ask that you are considerate of time +and of others who want to ask questions, +because this is a question and answer session, not +a personal statement session. +[applause] +Finally, it's truly an honor to introduce a man who +needs no introduction. +Please join me in welcoming Noam Chomsky. +[applause] +NOAM CHOMSKY: First question, as always, is can you hear me? +Yeah, OK. +For quite a few years, I've been intrigued +by an interesting debate that took place +about 25 years ago between two great scientists, Carl +Sagan, Ernst Mayr. +They were discussing the likelihood +of finding extraterrestrial intelligent life. +And Sagan, who looked at it from the point of view +of an astrophysicist, calculated the number of planets +more or less like Earth and concluded that the chances +are quite high. +Mayr, looking at it as a biologist, +said, look, we have only one test case, +namely Earth, which has had about 50 billion species. +And we can raise the question what +are the criteria for biological success +on Earth, with 50 billion cases to look at. +And he pointed out that there is a striking regularity. +The species that are successful, a lot of them around, +basically, are those that mutate quickly like bacteria, +or those that have a fixed niche like beetles, +and they just stay there no matter what happens. +And as you move up the scale of what we call intelligence, +biological success declines. +So there are not many mammals. +There are very few apes. +The only reason there's a lot of cows +is because we domesticate them. +But by and large, biological success +declines as intelligence increases. +Humans look like an exception, but that's a statistical blip-- +just a tiny moment of evolutionary time-- +last couple thousand years, actually. +So his conclusion is that, I'll quote him, +"The history of life on Earth refutes the claim +that it is better to be smart than to be stupid." +What it shows, in fact, is it's much better +to be stupid than smart. +That's the conclusion. +He also points out that the average lifespan of a species +is about 100,000 years. +We've doubled it. +We're about 200,000, and so we're +a little beyond the expected extinction point. +Well, that's the question I want to consider today. +Is it better to be smart than stupid? +It was addressed recently by a very good Indian writer. +Amitav Ghosh has a book called The Great Derangement, Climate +Change and the Unthinkable. +And in fact, our failure to address the most awesome +challenge of human history-- +with the possible exception of nuclear weapons-- +is indeed a true derangement, and painful evidence +for the plausibility of Mayr's thesis +that it's better to be stupid than smart. +Well, these are the two existential challenges +that overwhelm anything else, completely overshadow +all other discussions. +And their severity and their imminence +is illustrated graphically by the famous Doomsday +Clock of the Bulletin of American Scientists. +It was initiated in 1947, right at the dawn of the Nuclear Age. +In 2015, and again in 2016, the hand was moved forward. +Midnight means we're finished. +The hand was moved forward to three minutes to midnight. +That's the closest it had been to midnight +since the early 1980s, when there was a major war scare +in the early Reagan years. +The reasons that they gave were the mounting threat +of nuclear war and the failure to deal with climate change. +I'll quote-- what they said is, "At the time, +the probability of global catastrophe is very high, +and the actions needed to reduce the risks of disaster +must be taken very soon." +That was 2016. +At the outset of the Trump term, they found-- +I'm quoting-- "the danger to be even greater, +the need for action more urgent." +And they moved the clock to two and a half minutes to midnight. +The clock is ticking. +Global danger looms. +That's the closest to terminal disaster since 1953, +when the United States and Russia exploded their H-bombs. +There is an important difference between these two +existential threats. +If by some miracle, we escape nuclear disaster-- +and anyone who looks at the shocking record +will realize that it's a miracle that we've gotten this far-- +but if by some miracle, we do escape, at least +we know in principle how to end the plague, +get rid of the scourge. +Global warming is different. +It's inexorable. +We might pass a point of no return, when +the damage that we've done is simply +uncontrollable, irreversible. +And it might not be far off. +The human species is, right now, undertaking an experiment +to determine the answer to Ernst Mayr's question, +is it better to be smart than stupid? +And what I'd like to do now is to examine +the course of the experiment, just by picking a few dates. +So let's start with today-- +could be any day, but we'll start with today. +If you looked at this morning's newspapers, +you see a report on how we're dealing with the two +existential crises. +One on the nuclear threat, Christopher Ford, +the National Security Council Senior Director for Weapons +of Mass Destruction and Counter-proliferation under +the Trump Administration-- +he advises that we should reconsider the unrealistic goal +of a world without nuclear weapons that +has been advocated, among others, by extremist +peaceniks like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Sam +Nunn, and William Perry. +And the reason for abandoning this unrealistic goal +of these utopians is Russia's increased aggressiveness, +which is, incidentally, a charge that's +dismantled quite effectively in the current issue +of a radical rag that's worth reading now and then, +Foreign Affairs, the main establishment journal. +On global warming today, this morning, the National Snow +and Ice Data Center reports that the Arctic +has less sea ice at winters end now than ever before. +That means more dark ocean, hence more absorption +of solar energy, more warming. +And we're in a feedback loop. +You know what that means. +The mean temperature for November +was 23 degrees above normal. +And at some points in the last couple of months, +it went to more than 35 degrees warmer than normal. +That's today's good news. +Let's go back to yesterday, quote from The Washington Post. +Water temperatures at the surface of the Gulf +of Mexico and near south Florida are on fire. +They spurred a historically warm winter from Houston to Miami. +In the Gulf, the average sea surface temperature +never fell below 73 degrees over the winter for the first time +on record. +Galveston, Texas has tied or broken an astonishing 33 record +highs since November 1st, while neighboring Houston had +its warmest winter on record. +Both cities have witnessed precious few days +with below normal temperatures since late fall, and on and on. +I apologize if this is unfair, but I +can't refrain from quoting one of the comments +by a reader on this news report. +He says, "The Republicans have all this under control. +The plan is to have Jeff Sessions and Ted Cruz's dad +stand at the shoreline with Bibles in hand. +As the sky darkens and the water rises, +they will raise their left hand, holding the Bible, +and command the seas to settle. +And if that fails, Plan B is to run like hell, +and to blame Obama." +[applause] +Couldn't say it better. +It's a classic. +And it captures the spirit of the times very accurately. +There was a second report yesterday +in the business press, Bloomberg Businessweek. +The headline was, "The Oil Boom is Back." +And I'll quote it. +"The number of oil and gas rigs drilling in the United States +has almost doubled since bottoming out +at the lowest level in more than 75 years of records. +While two dozen nations are coordinating +to cut oil production and rein in the global supply glut, +US producers are moving in the opposite direction. +Over the last four months, output +increased by half a million barrels a day. +And if that rate of expansion continues, +the shale boom will break new production records by summer. +The US now produces 9 million barrels a day. +We are way in the lead. +This illustrates a very crucial fact of current history. +The world outside the United States is taking steps-- +halting steps, but steps-- +towards facing the existential challenge to survival. +Meanwhile, the United States, virtually alone, +is racing towards destruction with enthusiasm and dedication, +which is quite a remarkable fact. +Now of course, the oil industry has +plenty of help in helping and moving +as quickly as it can to destroy chances for survival. +The IMF reports that the fossil fuel industry extracts +a $700 billion annual taxpayer subsidy, which +is not in the crosshairs of Mike Mulvaney, I'm sure. +And the industry doesn't take chances. +In 2016, it spent $117 million in campaign contributions +while fielding 720 lobbyists in Washington +to make sure that Congress gets the message. +And apparently it does. +There's a recent Washington Post article +which reports that many Republicans in Congress +do recognize the severe threat of climate change. +But they won't talk about it because of funding pressures +from the fossil fuel industry. +That's particularly true since Citizens United opened +the floodgates even wider for a flood +of corporate political funding, which +means you toe the corporate line or you're out. +Well, that's yesterday. +These reports are quite typical of the daily fare. +Pick almost any day, you find similar things. +Let's continue to review the experiment +that humans are undertaking. +I'll just pick a few recent dates from the last few months. +So start with November 8th. +That was an important day in history for several reasons. +Several events took place on November 8th. +One of them was very important. +Second one was extremely important, +and the third was absolutely astonishing. +The very important one was the election in the United States. +Plenty of coverage of that, so I don't have to talk about it. +The extremely important one took place in Morocco. +In Morocco on November 8th, about 200 countries +were gathering in what's called COP22, the International +Conference under UN auspices, to try +to deal with the problem of global warming. +The goal of the conference was to put some teeth +into the Paris negotiations the year before, COP21, +December 2015. +That conference had aimed to establish a verifiable treaty. +But it couldn't do it for one reason-- +the Republican Congress would not +accept any binding commitments. +So therefore, the world had to settle for something less, +namely informal agreements. +And COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco was +supposed to carry this forward. +Well, on November 8th, the conference began. +On November 8th, the World Meteorological Association +delivered a report which, in their words, +confirms that 2016 was the warmest year on record-- +a remarkable 1.1 degrees Centigrade +above the pre-industrial period, sharply +above the previous record set the year before, +and in fact approaching the desired limit that +was set in Paris as the goal, and other dire reports which +I won't read. +But you can pick them up on the internet, if you want. +That was the World Meteorological Association. +But then the deliberations essentially ended. +The election results came in from the United States. +The conference essentially stopped-- +nothing more to discuss. +The only question was whether it would +be possible to salvage anything from the wreckage, +with the world's most important country-- +the richest, most powerful country in world history-- +having all three branches of government +committed to racing to destruction. +What could be done? +And there was some hope. +They looked at one country as the possible savior, namely +China. +That was November 8th, the extremely important event +on November 8th. +The conference went on, but concluded without issue. +Well, the third event was absolutely astonishing, +namely, the leader of the free world +is leading the world to disaster. +The world is looking to China to save it. +And what's the reaction? +Silence-- not a word about it. +Pick up the newspapers on November 9th, +listen to BBC on November 9th and the days that followed, +and you'll see nothing about this. +Here's one of the most astounding events in history-- +the world's most powerful country, most powerful country +in history, extraordinary advantages, +incomparable, racing to lead the world to disaster, +and the world is hoping that maybe China can somehow +save us. +Can you think of an events like that in history? +Not a word about it. +That's the astonishing fact of November 8th. +That's November 8th. +Let's move forward to March 1st, talk about both the world +and the United States. +In the world, a study was released +showing that tens of thousands of miles of permafrost +in Northwest Canada are rapidly melting, along +with accelerating decline of permafrost in Alaska, Siberia, +and Scandinavia. +And it pointed out that this could +lead to massive, huge release of greenhouse gases-- +CO2 and methane-- which is accelerated, of course, +by the unprecedented Arctic heatwave +which gets radically worse every year. +That's the world. +In the United States, the Trump administration, on March 1st, +decided to help the process along +by rescinding the so-called Methane Rule which +limits release of methane from oil and gas drilling sites +on federal lands. +So that's a way of accelerating the oil boom, +and increasing the flow of methane into the atmosphere. +Methane is a far more dangerous than CO2, +even though it's short lived. +There was also, on March 1st, announcements +of sharp cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency +staff and programs, and also an edict banning research. +We don't want to learn about these things. +That was March 1st. +Let's turn to March 16th. +The world-- a new study was released on the damage +to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world's greatest living +structures, which is damage that's quite intensifying. +And the report said that it's by far +the most widespread and damaging of recent mass bleaching +of coral reefs since 1998, with wide-ranging disastrous effects +that most of you know about. +Well, that was the world. +The United States on March 16th, the Trump budget was released. +Environmental Protection Agency is virtually dismantled. +It's now pretty much run by Senator Inhofe +and his associates. +Inhofe, for years, has been the leading climate change +denier in the Senate. +He is an extreme fundamentalist. +And his position is that if God is warming the Earth, so be it. +It would be sacrilegious to interfere with God's will. +That's the view in the most powerful, +advanced, sophisticated country in the world. +And that's the least of it. +For action and research on climate, +the EPA is actually a small actor. +Far more important is the Department of Energy. +It's now in the hands of a guy who +had decided to get rid of it a couple of years +ago, before he learned that it controls nuclear weapons. +So we'd better keep it, but not entirely. +The Office of Science, according to the budget, +in the Department of Energy, is scheduled +to lose $900 million dollars. +That's nearly 20% of its budget. +Its $300 million ARPA energy program +is eliminated completely. +That's along with deep cuts in research programs at the EPA +and the NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric +Administration, and also a 5% cut to NASA's earth science +budget. +The budget generally is of unusual savagery, +even for the Paul Ryan wing of the Republican establishment, +which is effectively running the show now +behind the Trump/Spicer/Twitter facade that's designed to grab +the headlines every day. +The budget, if you look at it, is a vicious attack +on the working class and the poor, +and lavishes even more gifts on the wealthy +and the corporate sector. +And along with a process which can only describe, +I think, as the talibanization of America +in accord with the Bannon, Sessions DeVos ideal +of a society which they've described based +on Judeo-Christian tradition of white supremacy, +destruction of the humanities, arts, public schooling, +and on the side, medical research. +That's the goal towards which we're +aiming at home while we race towards destruction +internationally. +Practically every issue of science journals +provides more grim forecasts. +Those of you who read the science journals +regularly are familiar with this. +So one recent paper in Atmospheric Chemistry +and Physics by James Hansen and 18 other scientists +carries out a comparison between today's climate +and the climate of 120,000 years ago, which +had approximately the same temperatures or slightly +warmer temperatures than today. +That led, 120,000 years ago, to a sea level +rise of 20 to 30 feet, when much of the polar ice disintegrated. +The paper predicts in the near future killer +storms stronger than any in modern times, +disintegration of large parts of the polar ice sheets +leading to melting of huge glaciers. +That's taking place rapidly, especially in the Antarctic, +where it's the most dangerous. +And they predict a rise of sea sufficient to begin +drowning the world's coastal cities +before the end of the century. +Hansen says we're in danger of handing young people +a situation that's out of their control, with precipitous rises +in sea level not too far down the road, +other dire consequences. +There are other studies that indicate that climate change is +occurring faster than at any time over the last 100 +million years, by some estimates far faster. +Last year, as you probably know, atmospheric CO2 +passed the symbolic level of 400 particles per million. +That's considered a crucial danger point. +That's the first time in four million years, +and possibly irreversible. +That's only a small sample of many such reports. +They're constantly in the major science journals, +sometimes making it to the media. +Meanwhile, the Republican wrecking machine +is systematically dismantling the institutions that offer +some hope for decent survival. +And it's not just Trump. +It's the whole Republican Party leadership +at the national level, also much of the local level. +And so in North Carolina, for example, a couple of years +ago, there was a scientific study +commissioned by the Coastal Resources Commission. +And it estimated that the sea level will rise by 39 inches +by the end of the century. +There was a response by the Republican-run state +legislature. +They passed a law that barred state and local agencies +from developing regulations or planning documents anticipating +a rise in sea level-- +rational reaction. +There was a pretty good comment on it by Stephen Colbert. +He said, this is a brilliant solution. +If your science gives you a result you don't like, +pass a law saying the result is illegal-- +problem solved. +That captures quite well the mentality of the Republican +Party leadership. +A few years ago, Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor +who succeeded in sinking Louisiana +even deeper into the abyss. +He warned Republicans that they are becoming what +he called "the stupid party." +The respected conservative political analyst Thomas Mann +and Norman Ornstein of the right-wing American Enterprise +Institute-- +they describe the party or maybe the former party +as a radical insurgency that has abandoned +parliamentary democracy. +Perhaps a simpler characterization +is the utterly outrageous charge that they +are the most dangerous organization in human history, +dedicated to the prospect to ending the prospects +for human survival. +That is outrageous, no doubt, but the more interesting +question is whether it's wrong. +I leave that to you to think about. +I already mentioned Paris 2015, COP21, Marrakesh 2016. +Those are two crucial examples. +The 2016 primary campaign was quite remarkable +in many respects, primarily those that weren't discussed, +namely the attitude of the candidates +to climate change, which barely got a word of commentary. +Every single candidate denied that what is happening +is happening, with the exception of the sensible moderates +like Jeb Bush, who said it's uncertain, +but we don't have to do anything, +because we're producing more natural gas thanks to fracking, +or John Kasich, who was supposed to be +the adult in the room, who did at least +agree that global warming is probably happening. +He's Governor of Ohio. +He said, we're going to burn coal in Ohio, +and we're not going to apologize for it. +That's the sensible guy. +As far as the media were concerned, they ignored it. +There was almost nothing mentioned about this. +After all, it's only the most important issue +in human history. +And you can't really blame the media +for this, because they're following +a concept of objectivity that's taught in journalism schools. +Objectivity means reporting accurately +what's going on within the Beltway in Washington circles. +So you got to report accurately what they're saying there. +If you talk about something else, +it's bias or opinion or something. +But it's not genuine reporting. +So since what's going on within the Beltway-- +including the Democrats, incidentally-- +is denial or ignoring, or in the case of the Republicans, +flatly denying what's happening is happening, +then you don't report it, because it's not +within the Beltway. +It's not objective. +Well, even a sea level rise that's +much more limited than what's anticipated +is going to inundate coastal cities, +and more significantly, coastal plains +like in Bangladesh, where there will soon be tens of millions +of people fleeing, probably in the fairly near future. +These are flat plains which are going to be inundated, and many +more later. +That's going to make today's refugee issue a tea party. +The chief environmental scientist in Bangladesh +says that these migrants should have the right +to move to the countries from which all these greenhouse +gases are coming. +Millions should be able to go to the United States. +That just fits the current mood in what has long +been the richest and safest country in the world, +and also the most terrified. +And those who think it's better in Europe +can turn to a recent poll showing +that a majority of Europeans want a total ban on immigration +from Muslim-majority countries. +So the idea is first, we destroy them. +Then, we punish them for trying to escape from the ruins +that we've created. +And we have a name for it. +We call it a refugee crisis. +Well, thousands of people, desperate people, +drowned in the Mediterranean fleeing +from Africa, where Europe has a certain history with which +you're not unfamiliar. +The same is true of the United States and Central America, +of course, and the Middle East. +And in fact, the so-called refugee crisis +is actually a serious, severe moral and cultural crisis +in the West. +Well, these two existential crises are related. +The Himalayan glaciers are melting. +And in the not-too-distant future, +that could threaten the water supplies +in South Asia, which are already at dangerously low levels. +So 300 million people in India are +reported to lack adequate drinking water right now. +That could very easily spark conflict +between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed states +constantly at the brink of nuclear war. +Right now, in fact, a nuclear war +would destroy India and Pakistan, +but much worse than that, could very well lead +to nuclear winter, meaning global famine, which +pretty much ends organized human life on Earth, +which is not very removed, if you think it through. +Well, that leads us to one final date +to look at, one of the most important dates +of human history, namely the end of World War II. +It was a moment of joy, but also of horror, +with the dawn of the Nuclear Age. +I can remember very well my own feelings on August 6-- +horror at the events and their constant implications, +their import, and astonishment that so few people seemed +to care about it, either about the enormity of what had just +happened, or about the fact that we had entered into what +will be the final era of human existence, +the Nuclear Age, the moment when human intelligence had +succeeded in developing the means to instantaneously +destroy us all. +1947, shortly after, the Doomsday Clock was instituted. +And the hand was set then at seven minutes to midnight. +We're now, remember, at two and a half. +Well, we have not only entered the Nuclear Age, but also +the so-called Anthropocene, a new geological epoch +in which human activity is dramatically +changing the environment. +There have been debates about the proper date +for the inception of the Anthropocene, +but the World Geological Society has made its decision. +It settled on 1950 as the beginning of the Anthropocene. +That's partly because of radioactive elements +that were dispersed across the planet +by the nuclear bomb tests and other consequences +of human action, including the sharp increase in greenhouse +emissions. +So the Nuclear Age and the Anthropocene +basically coincide. +These are epics of the post-world War II period. +We are also now well into what's called the sixth extinction. +It's expected to be similar to the fifth extinction that +was 66 million years ago, when a huge asteroid hit +the Earth, destroyed 75% of species, +ended age of the dinosaurs. +It opened a way for small mammals +to survive, and to expand, and evolve, and ultimately become +us about 200,000 years ago. +For a long time, humans had fairly limited impact. +But by now, in the post-war period, +we've succeeded in becoming the next asteroid, +destroying species at an enormous rate, +perhaps ourselves not too far in the distance. +There are careful studies of species extinction, +and they have some interesting results. +They show that this extinction is +different from its predecessors in an interesting respect. +The earlier ones were species-neutral. +Species just disappeared across the board. +This one is different. +It's mostly larger animals that are disappearing +disproportionately. +And that actually runs through the history of proto-humans, +our human ancestors, early human ancestors, +back around a million years. +As they expanded their territory, +large mammals declined. +And of the many species closely related to us, +only one survives, which raises some questions +that you might ponder. +And that includes the lingering question Ernst Mayr-- +is it better to be smart than stupid? +Now, we have a few years to answer this question-- +not many. +So how are we answering it? +Well, one step was George W Bush's abrogation +of the ABM Treaty followed now under Obama-- +Bush and now Obama-- +followed by ABM installations right near the Russian border, +allegedly for defense against non-existent Iranian nuclear +missiles. +You can believe that if you believe the tooth fairy, +which Russia doesn't. +They have good reason to regard it as a first-strike weapon. +Strategic analysts understand missile defense +to be on all sides. +The next step was offering NATO membership to Ukraine. +Ukraine is the Russian geostrategic heartland. +That was George Bush, but the efforts +have been pursued by Obama and Clinton. +The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty +would at least end nuclear tests, which would +be a considerable step forward. +But it can't go into force until it's +ratified by the few holdouts. +Three are crucial-- the nuclear weapon states that refuse +to ratify it-- +China, Israel, and the United States. +The major nuclear powers, US and Russia, +which have overwhelming preponderance +of nuclear weapons, are both expanding and modernizing +their arsenals in quite dangerous ways. +That includes tactical nukes that +can be scaled down to battlefield use +under low-level command, could easily +lead to a very rapid escalation if there were any conflict. +And any conflict between Russia and the United States +is essentially terminal for everyone. +That's pretty obvious. +The flashpoints are becoming more serious. +Right at the Russian border-- +notice, the Russian border, not the Mexican border-- +that's a fact worth considering. +And it's a result of expansion of NATO +right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. +This was in violation to verbal promises +to Mikhail Gorbachev, verbal promises +that NATO would not expand. +The phrase was "one inch to the east." +That meant East Germany. +Nobody was thinking about anything beyond-- +that NATO would not expand one inch to the east +if Gorbachev agreed to unification of Germany. +And a unified Germany joining NATO, +a hostile military alliance, is a pretty remarkable concession +in the light of the history of the past half century, when +Germany alone had practically wiped Russia out two times. +Well, that was the agreement, but verbal. +NATO at once expanded to East Germany, +then beyond under Clinton, right to the Russian border. +There is recent archival work by a University of Texas +young historian, Joshua Schifrinson, +that was published in the MIT journal International Security, +worth looking up. +He very strongly suggests that President Bush-- +number one, the statesman Bush-- +and Secretary of State James Baker, +who were the negotiators-- +strongly suggests they were consciously deceiving +Gorbachev, pretending to make an agreement which +they intended to violate, and were very careful not +to put anything on paper. +So when Gorbachev complained, he was +told it was just a gentleman's agreement. +And the unstated implication was, +if you're stupid enough to believe +in a gentleman's agreement with us, +it's your problem, not ours. +Well, Gorbachev did propose a vision +of what he called a common European home, Brussels +to Vladivostok, security system with no military alliances. +That's a fading dream. +George Kennan and other senior statesmen +had warned right away that NATO expansion is +what they called "a tragic mistake, policy +error of historic proportions." +That's Kennan. +And it's now leading to rising and serious tensions +on the traditional invasion route through which Russia +was virtually destroyed twice during the past century +by Germany alone. +The risk of terminal nuclear war is not slight. +And that's one of the two reasons +why the hand of the Doomsday Clock +is moving so close to midnight. +With some justice, European historian Richard Sakwa +writes that NATO's prime concern now +is to manage the risks created by its existence, which +is quite accurate, I think. +And it bears on Ernst Mayr's conclusions. +That's how we're dealing with one of the two crises. +What are the others? +How about global warming? +Well, we're answering Mayr's question +by unilateral withdrawal from the world's efforts +to address the crisis-- +not just withdrawal, but replacing their efforts +with a dedicated race to the precipice +even more rapidly, by sharp increases in fossil fuel use-- +that includes coal-- and refusing the promised subsidies +to poorer countries to develop renewable energy, +and dismantling the regulatory apparatus +so that profits can boom, along with threats to survival. +And we can't stress too strongly the enormity of the fact +that the United States is alone in the world +in this respect since November 8th, +and the no less astonishing fact that this extraordinary +development barely registers in the so-called information +system. +Should have regular screaming headlines, +and be the most prominent issue in +the academic and intellectual world, which +is more evidence about the great derangement. +And no less astonishing is the fact that, +while the richest and most powerful +country in world history, with incomparable advantages, +is leading the effort to intensify the likely disaster-- +while that's happening, efforts to avert the catastrophe +are being led worldwide by what we call primitive societies-- +the First Nations in Canada, tribal and aboriginal societies +elsewhere. +So for example, Ecuador, which has a large indigenous +population sought aid from European countries, +rich European countries to allow it to keep its oil reserves +underground where they ought to be, +even at a cost of considerable profit. +The aid was refused. +Ecuador revised its constitution in 2008 +to include what are called the "rights of nature +having intrinsic worth." +Same in Bolivia with an indigenous majority. +And quite generally, the countries +with large and influential indigenous +populations are well in the lead in seeking +to preserve the planet. +While the countries that have driven +indigenous populations to extinction or extreme +marginalization are racing towards destruction, +which is perhaps something more to think about. +Outside of the world center of devastation and destruction, +which is right here, some things are being done-- +not enough by any means, but not negligible, +and an indication of what can be done. +So Denmark is aiming to reach 100% renewable electricity +within 20 years, and in all sectors by 2050. +Germany, which is the most successful state capitalist +economy, has tripled renewable energy for electricity +in the past decade, aims to increase it by almost half +by 2025, more than 80% by 2050, and by then, to have +reduced greenhouse gas reductions to 80% or 90% +of 1990 levels. +China, which is still a huge polluter, +is well in the lead in production of solar panels, +and also development of advanced solar technology. +It claims to be phasing out coal plants. +In the United States, Hawaii passed a law +mandating that all the state's electricity will +come from renewable sources no later than 2045. +And right here, several Massachusetts Democrats +have filed a bill that's SD 1932 if you want to look it up, +which requires that the state use a 100% renewable +energy by 2035, and mandates elimination +of all fossil fuels in the state by 2050-- +so 100% renewables. +San Diego is the first large city +to have a plan to run on 100% renewable energy, +and cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. +And that's, incidentally, a bipartisan effort. +The Republican Mayor endorsed the climate action plan +that was unanimously approved by the Democrat-controlled city +council in December. +That's San Diego. +And in fact, at a period when the federal government +is in the hands of bulls in the china shop, +states and cities can still do quite a lot. +And the federal government could also do so, in the right hands. +So one of Hillary Clinton's programs +was to shift all households to total renewable +energy in four years. +It's quite feasible-- would create +many jobs, along with weatherization +and other forms of conservation. +And federal regulations in recent years +have had some positive effects, unfortunately, +counterbalanced by support for greater fossil fuel production. +There's a final assessment by the Obama administration +that was published in Science, the journal +Science a couple of months ago. +It reports that in 2015, total energy consumption +was 2.5% lower than it was in 2008, +while the economy grew by 10%. +Now the reduction is by no means enough, +but it does remind us that growth is not, in itself, +a menace to the environment. +It depends on what kind of growth. +So for example, development of a rational mass transportation +system, or development of renewable energy, +or growth in education and R&D-- +that's growth. +And it can all improve prospects for addressing +the crises, while also significantly improving lives. +The Obama assessment reports that about 2.2 million +Americans are employed in the design, installation, +manufacture of energy efficiency products and services, +as compared with half that number employed +in the production of fossil fuels +and their use for electric power generation. +And the current oil boom, which I mentioned earlier, +creates almost no jobs, because it's almost all automated. +Again, it's nowhere near enough, but not insignificant, +and more important, an indication of what can be done. +And there's good reason to think it can. +Harvey Michaels is Research Director of Energy Management +at Sloan School here. +He's shown, I think persuasively, +how ambitious but feasible measures beyond those now +contemplated internationally-- that's internationally apart +from the Republican US-- +such measures could meet the goal +of keeping global temperatures below 2 degrees Centigrade. +That's considered the major danger point. +Ernie Moniz, now back at MIT, has produced figures +about declining costs for clean energy technologies +that lead him to conclude, I'll quote him, +that "Climate change may have inspired the energy revolution, +but price makes it Inevitable," and maybe even in time, +at least with enough effort. +Replacing fossil fuels by renewable energy +is the major issue. +But it's not the only one. +The UN Economic Program summarizing +recent scientific studies estimates that industrial meat +production contributes about 10% to 25% +of total greenhouse gas emissions-- +not so much CO2 as methane and nitric oxide, both greenhouse +gases. +The variation in the estimates depends on +whether the figures take into account deforestation +and other land use changes associated with livestock. +Livestock is about 80% of agricultural emissions. +This is mostly industrial meat production, which +is quite vicious, as you know. +It's designed to maximize profit, +with animals treated as efficient production +elements-- awful effects on animals, +but also a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions. +Actually, pre-capitalist animal agriculture +didn't have those problems. +Quote from the UN report, "Under natural conditions, +which were maintained for thousands of years +and still widely exist around the world, +there is a closed circular system, +in which some animals feed themselves +from landscape types which would otherwise be of little use +to humans. +They thus convert energy stored in plants into food, +while at the same time fertilizing the ground +with their excrements. +Although not an intensive form of production, this coexistence +and use of marginal resources was, and still +is in some regions, an efficient symbiosis +between plant life and animal life and human needs." +But the capitalist industrial production and profit +maximization has changed all that. +I mentioned that with the federal government now turned +into a wrecking machine, states and cities can do quite a lot. +And that same is true for every one of us. +There are major issues of education and organizing +that have to be faced. +And again, some of these are unique to the United +States in the developed world. +One of them is the extraordinary power in the United States +of fundamentalist religious doctrines. +So about 40% of the population dismiss +the threat of global warming on religious grounds. +They regard it as either certain or highly probable +that within a few decades, the Second Coming +will put an end to the problem. +Well it's important to remember in this connection +that the United States is a kind of a cultural outlier +in some respects. +Prior to the Second World War, the United States +was by far the most powerful economy, +but it was not a major center of scientific or general culture. +So if you wanted to be a physicist, you'd go to Germany. +If you wanted to be a writer and artists, +go to Paris, and so on. +I had personal experience with the residue of this when +I was appointed to MIT in 1955. +One of the teaching assignments was +to help scientists and engineers fake their way through reading +exams in French and German. +That was a residue of the fact that before the war, +that's where the scientific literature was. +It took a while for this to be phased out. +By that time, it was almost all in English. +But by 1950s, it was an anachronism. +The changes are very real, but they've affected +only part of the country. +Much of the population is still pretty much +where it was pre-World War II. +And that's a major task for the educational system. +And the prospects right now, at least, +don't look good, not with the DeVos, Sessions, Bannon +conception of education. +The Trump administration has to do something +for its huge evangelical popular base. +That involves driving the United States even farther +off the spectrum of the modern world +with the talibanisation project that's now under way. +There are major challenges, no doubt. +There are also quite a few rays of hope. +I mentioned some of the measures that +are being taken by state, local governments, +even national governments around the world +to address the crises-- +not enough, but not negligible, indication of what's possible. +And there are other reasons for optimism. +One of them has just been reported by, +of all places, Fox News. +They ran a poll on popularity of political figures. +And in first place, by a huge margin, was Bernie Sanders-- +even more among the young, who are the hope of the future. +There are ample opportunities, but you have to grasp them. +And all of this takes us back to Ernst Mayr's question, +is it better to be smart than stupid? +It's a question for you to ponder, and like it +or not, for you to answer, and without too much of a delay. +Thanks. +[applause] +MICHELLE NHUCH: [inaudible] mics for your questions. +AUDIENCE: Hello. +Thank you very much, Professor Chomsky. +With all these sort of existential crises, +if you were to put yourself in the body +of a 20-something-year-old growing up today, +how would that shape your life decisions with these two +crises? +NOAM CHOMSKY: If I was 20 years old? +AUDIENCE: Yeah. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Pretty much the way +I did when I was, what was it, 16 years old +on August 6th, 1945. +I happened to be a junior counselor in a summer camp. +And the news was reported in the morning, broadcast +to everyone-- +atomic bomb wiped out Hiroshima. +Everyone went on to their next activity-- +a baseball game or whatever it was. +I didn't know how to react. +I just left, and went off into the woods, +sat there for a couple hours thinking, +what does all this mean? +And afterwards I decided, look, you just +have to devote your life to this. +And I think that we're in a worse situation now. +And there's plenty that can be done. +The opportunities are far greater +now than they were in the past, thanks +to what's been done by people like you in earlier years, +like MIT, say. +You could never get an audience like this 20 or 30 years ago. +In fact, in the 1960s, MIT was a very conservative campus. +Almost nothing was going on. +About a dozen undergraduates just +changed the place enormously, and it's +been very different ever since. +And that's happened all around the country, +which means that you have a legacy that you can build on-- +plenty of challenges, but plenty of opportunities. +And the question is, do you decide to grasp them or not? +AUDIENCE: So thank you. +I'm wondering, Noam, how much emphasis +you would place on the possibility of finding +solutions addressing the problems +you've laid out, outside the framework +of the current political system in the United States? +And how much emphasis you would give +to the necessity of taking this political system +head on and changing it? +And what do you think we need to do +to change the system to open up the possibilities +that you're talking about? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think there +are good grounds for changing the nature +of the political system pretty radically. +I mean, a system of organization of production, let's say-- +just keeping to that-- +which is geared towards profit maximization, +not use, is inherently destructive. +A system of institutional organization +in which the basic functioning institutions are totalitarian, +like a business, top-down control. +You fit somewhere in it, take orders from above. +Given below at the bottom, you rent yourself. +That's inherently, I think, humanly and socially +destructive. +So there's plenty of changes that could be made. +And we can think about them. +And in fact, you can try to build within the existing +society pieces of what might be a more democratic and humane +future society. +It's even being done. +But you can't change the political system radically +unless the great mass of the population +comes to a recognition that we're in a situation where +the changes that have to be made can't be made, +and will be resisted within the current system. +And we're nowhere near that. +So I don't think the question arises as a practical question. +It does arise as a question to have in mind in choosing +tactics and strategies. +AUDIENCE: Hi, Professor. +So as we all leave this lecture hall today, +what do you want us to take away from your talk? +I mean, I know you left us this one question to ponder +about, but beyond that? +And the reason, in the last few months, +there have been many talks on climate change +on the political climate here-- +speakers including former Secretary of State John Kerry +and also a Nobel Laureate, Mario Molina who discovered CFCs. +But beyond discussions, in terms of actions, +what do you want all of us, and also people watching +through Facebook, to do? +I came from a city called Duisburg in Germany. +And it used to be part of the heartland of the German coal +and steel industries until recent past couple of years +ago, they implemented new energy policies to basically shut down +all these factories that were harming the environment to such +a radical degree. +And even though it practically crippled the German economy +in terms of coal and steel production, ultimately, +the environment benefited a lot from that. +NOAM CHOMSKY: From benefit-- +AUDIENCE: From the energy policies +that crippled the economic force which was coming from the steel +and coal industries in Germany, in West Germany, near the Rhine +[inaudible]. +But here in America, even though we're +having so many discussions about what can +we do in terms of the economy. +NOAM CHOMSKY: What can we do? +Lots of things. +AUDIENCE: I feel like we have-- +it's more of a question of balance. +How much do we want to sacrifice of our economy +in order to save the environment? +But then some of us, it's just not a matter of action, +but more of a matter of discussing things and talking +about it. +And I just-- +I guess the question is-- +NOAM CHOMSKY: What can we do? +AUDIENCE: Exactly, what is the bigger point of your lecture? +other than to ponder this question? +NOAM CHOMSKY: So you people here, what can you do? +All sorts of things-- +I just mentioned, in fact, a number of them. +Say, for example, the bill that's +pending in the Massachusetts state legislature. +If it was passed, it could have a big impact. +It could put the state on a direction +in the near future towards a 100% renewable +energy, which San Diego's already moving towards. +And San Diego is not exactly a bastion of liberalism. +If that can be done there, it can be done here. +But it's not going to happen unless there's +plenty of pressure for it. +I think there are three legislators who put it through, +and virtually nothing is known about it. +So one thing that people can do, out of thousands, +is try to work to get measures like that +passed, not only in the state, but even in, say, +Cambridge, like San Diego. +Another thing you can do is move very directly. +Even simple things like replacing light bulbs +with LED bulbs has a pretty significant impact +on energy production. +And that can be done. +To do it on a significant scale takes +organization and activism. +But that's one thing you can do. +As I mentioned, the most popular candidate and political figure +in the country happens to be Bernie Sanders, overwhelmingly +among young people. +That popularity-- he calls his opposition a revolution. +But that's an indication of how far the country has +shifted to the right. +In fact, his policies would have been +quite acceptable to Eisenhower. +In fact, if you go back and read Eisenhower's comments +on the New Deal, he said anyone who questions +New Deal policies doesn't belong in the political system. +That's just about everybody by now, +except Sanders is calling for New Deal policies. +Eisenhower's comments on the significance +of unions, labor unions, are almost unimaginable today, +but correct. +And that's the right wing in 1950s. +So yes, we can shift the spectrum back to the days +when social democratic policies were considered legitimate, +and you can go way beyond that. +There is an election coming up in 2018. +The Democrats, among their failures, +have been essentially the Obama Democrats, +basically destroyed the party. +There's nothing, almost nothing left +except at the presidential level. +The Greens have the same fallacy. +They've focused on the presidential, +the quadrennial extravaganza, haven't built the party +at the local level-- +school boards, state legislature, city councils, +governors, the whole system, which +has to be in place if anything's going to happen. +The Koch brothers understood this. +The right wing has understood it, +and in fact, built such a system even on a minority base. +Hasn't been done on a majority base, but it certainly can be. +There's the beginnings of establishing, say, +cooperatives, or worker-owned enterprises, +run by their own members. +These are things that not only can be done, +but are being done. +There's a whole range of possibilities +that can be pursued if you choose them, +if you choose to do it. +There's just no shortage of things. +AUDIENCE: It's an immense pleasure to listen to you. +I'm a little bit off topic, but I +don't think I will have a chance ever to ask you that. +What do you think about the meddling, +the Kremlin in our election? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Sorry, I didn't hear. +Could anybody-- +AUDIENCE: The meddling of Russia, +the Kremlin, in our 2016 election. +NOAM CHOMSKY: I'm sorry, but-- +I don't-- +AUDIENCE: The meddling of Russia, +allegedly, in our election. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Oh, the meddling of Russia in our elections. +That has most of the world cracking up in laughter. +[applause] +Literally, suppose every charge is correct. +Let's say the most severe charges are correct. +That's not even a joke as compared +with what we do constantly. +[applause] +Just take a minor example-- +what we do with Russian elections. +In the early '90s, when Yeltsin was Clinton's favorite, +he was supposed to be the hope for the future. +When he destroyed the parliament and overthrew +the formal democratic system, he was strongly +supported by the United States. +In 1996, when he was extremely unpopular-- +for pretty good reasons, because the shock treatment, +the sort of free market policies imposed by American advisers, +just wiped out the economy and led to the death +of millions of people. +It was highly destructive. +It led to the rise of the oligarchs, many of them +former apparatchiks in the Communist system +who stole the resources. +It was a total disaster. +And Yeltsin was the symbol of it. +Clinton moved in quite openly. +There was nothing secret about it-- +very openly, with everything from loans to advice +to direct involvement to try to make sure +that our fair-haired boy won. +That's 1996. +And these are minor examples. +The kind of thing we do constantly +is just overthrow the government, +institute a military dictatorship, and not +in the distant past. +It just happened under Obama, 2009 in Honduras. +There was a mildly reformist government. +The tiny elite of super-rich who run the country didn't like it. +He was kicked out in a military coup. +The United States is one of the very few countries that +supported it, and claim that the election taken place +under military dictatorship was legitimate. +That's basically supporting a military coup +to overthrow a parliamentary government. +Is that meddling in the election? +You know it just goes on and on like this. +So as I say, this is just making the United States kind +of a laughingstock in the world, even if every single charge +is correct. +Most of them have no basis. +AUDIENCE: Thank you. +AUDIENCE: So the silence in the media right now +regarding climate change, an existential threat to humanity, +is pretty deafening. +And you provide an explanation for that +in your book, Manufacturing Consent-- +that there are certain filters that +limit the range of acceptable political discourse. +I'm wondering, though-- it seems like in this recent election +cycle that maybe some of those filters +are being circumnavigated by increased use of the internet +and more democratic social mass media. +Do you think that the election of Trump, +the insurgent primary of Bernie Sanders, +and the sudden outcry from major media outlets about fake news +and the end of truth are a sign that maybe this propaganda +system is breaking down? +And if so, what does that mean for the ability +to sort of break the silence regarding +these existential threats that we face? +NOAM CHOMSKY: I think that's very important. +If you take a look at the Sanders campaign, +it really hasn't been discussed as much as it should be, +but it was a pretty astonishing achievement. +I mean, for well over a century, American elections +have been pretty much bought, and the evidence +is just overwhelming. +The person who's done most of the work on this +is Tom Ferguson, political scientist at UMass, +Boston, used to be at MIT. +He's got a book called Golden Rule, which +studies the role just simply of campaign funding on outcome +of elections and policies going way back into the 19th century, +right through the New Deal, and so on. +And it's startling results. +He has a recent paper that came out a couple of months +ago looking at congressional elections from about 1980 +up to the present, and just comparing campaign funding +with electability. +It's kind of like a straight line. +You don't get results like that in the social sciences. +And it's nothing new. +I mean, back in 1895, there was a great campaign manager +then named Mark Hanna. +And he was asked once, what's necessary to run +a successful political campaign? +And he said, well, you need two things. +The first one is money, and I've forgotten +what the second one is. +That was 1895. +It's gotten way more extreme since, +and by now, it's out of sight. +After over a century of this, somebody comes along +who nobody ever heard of. +He uses a scare word, "socialist." +He has no funding, nothing from the corporate sector, +and nothing from wealthy people. +Immediate totally against him, almost either ridiculing of +or dismissing him. +He would easily have won the Democratic Party nomination, +if it hadn't been for the party shenanigans to keep him out. +That's a pretty amazing development. +And what it shows is that the institutions are-- +they look powerful, but they collapse +as soon as the population becomes engaged. +They're basically very weak. +Actually, that's an insight that goes back hundreds of years. +One of the first modern works on politics +is by David Hume, the great philosopher founder +of classical liberalism. +He has a study called First Principles of Government. +And he opens it by saying that there's a strange paradox +in governments. +He says, in every government, whether military run, +more-or-less popular like England at the time, he says, +there's a strange thing. +People obey their rulers. +And why do they? +Because power is in the hands of the governed. +And if they want, they can take it. +And he says, by what miracle is this achieved? +He says, only by control of opinion. +If you can make people feel that they're powerless, +and everything's futile, and they can't do anything, +OK, then they'll obey. +If not, they don't have to obey. +And that's much more true in pretty free countries like ours +than, say, a military dictatorship. +But the paradox is real. +And it's in people's hands to overcome it. +And the Sanders campaign is one dramatic illustration of that. +And what you say about alternative media-- +it can be, too, if it's properly done. +Also affects the major media, because they +have to respond to it. +So the institutional structure is basically quite weak, +and can easily be changed. +AUDIENCE: Thank you. +AUDIENCE: Hi. +I want to be hopeful about our major institutions, +our systems of governance, and higher education in particular, +and its ability to grapple with the immense challenge +of climate change and its like. +But sometimes I wonder if we really +need something dramatically different. +When I think about higher education, the world +that I live in, mostly, do you think that there's completely +new structures or approaches that we +should be trying to create in order to deal with this? +Because incrementalism maybe isn't doing so hot. +NOAM CHOMSKY: I think any of us could sit down at a coffee shop +and think of much better ways to run the world-- +better institutions, more democratic ones, +more just ones, and so on. +But thinking of that doesn't really help. +You have to get the great mass of the population +to be committed to creating it. +And you can do that incrementally. +You have to work within the system that exists. +You can do a lot of things within it. +You can have a vision of the future +which people can take as a guideline for further action. +And maybe, as I mentioned before, you can construct +institutions of a future society within this one, +like cooperatives, for example, like worker-owned enterprises. +If they would extend, they would change the society enormously. +And those are things that arise constantly, +if you're willing to grasp the opportunity. +So take, say, the 2008 crash. +One of the things that happened then, +which was pretty interesting, was +that the government essentially nationalized the auto +industry-- +basically just bailed it out. +It was going to disappear. +So the government, meaning the taxpayer, +bought out the auto industry. +And then there were a couple of choices +that could have been made. +One choice is the one that was made without discussion-- +namely, to turn it back to the former owners, +maybe new faces, but pretty much same banks, and so on. +So essentially turn it back to the former owners +and have it go on doing exactly what it was doing-- +producing cars. +There was another possibility-- +turn it over to the workforce. +Let them run it democratically, and have +it produce what the society needs, +which is not more cars, but rational mass transportation. +That was another possibility. +But in order for it to be implemented, +you had to have mass popular support for it. +There was essentially none, so it didn't happen. +And things like that happen even right locally +in this neighborhood. +A couple of years ago, there was a small plant +in the Taunton suburb of Boston, which +was quite successful-- a plant making sophisticated parts +for aircraft. +It wasn't making enough profit for the multinational who +owned it to keep it going, so they decided +to put it out of business. +The union, progressive union, UE, offered to buy the plant +and have it run by the workforce, which +probably would have been profitable +for the multinational. +But for class reasons, they don't like that kind of thing. +If there had been popular support, they could have won. +There wasn't any, so they didn't win. +Things like that are happening all the time. +These could lead to major changes in the society. +Are they incremental? +In a sense, but their long-term consequences +could be very, very great. +And that's true of all kinds of things. +AUDIENCE: Thank you. +Let's go grab some of those opportunities. +MICHELLE NHUCH: I think we have time for one more question. +AUDIENCE: Hi, everyone. +I have [inaudible] question for everybody +who is here, actually. +Thank you so much. +The first question is, how many of you have a car in this room? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Sorry? +AUDIENCE: How many of you have a car in this room? +And how many of you run your car at least five minutes +to warm up while you're getting ready? +How many of you use paper or plastic plates? +And how many of you replace their cell phones every year? +So being environment friendly requires being +aware of mistakes that we do. +And I would like to remind everyone here-- +change only comes in baby steps of people who care. +Let's show that we care about the environment. +And let's rethink about what we buy and what we spend on. +[applause] +NOAM CHOMSKY: I'm sorry. +MICHELLE NHUCH: There was no question, I guess, for you. +On behalf of the Center for International Studies, +I would like to thank everyone for attending this event. +And please join me in thanking Noam Chomsky. +[applause] +NOAM CHOMSKY: Thank you. +0 +6 +11 +15 +18 +23 +27 +30 +31 +34 +35 +37 +40 +42 +51 +55 +59 +63 +65 +68 +70 +74 +78 +80 +83 +85 +87 +90 +93 +96 +98 +101 +105 +112 +118 +123 +124 +127 +144 +148 +150 +154 +157 +164 +167 +170 +177 +179 +184 +188 +190 +194 +199 +204 +208 +212 +217 +222 +227 +233 +237 +240 +244 +246 +249 +252 +253 +256 +259 +264 +268 +273 +276 +280 +284 +288 +290 +293 +294 +299 +301 +304 +306 +310 +314 +317 +322 +327 +330 +335 +338 +341 +346 +350 +353 +357 +361 +363 +366 +370 +375 +381 +388 +391 +395 +397 +402 +405 +408 +412 +415 +420 +424 +427 +430 +434 +437 +440 +444 +445 +448 +453 +459 +463 +465 +470 +474 +478 +482 +486 +489 +491 +492 +496 +498 +500 +503 +510 +514 +518 +522 +527 +530 +533 +537 +541 +544 +548 +552 +555 +557 +562 +565 +570 +575 +578 +582 +587 +589 +592 +596 +601 +605 +610 +616 +620 +622 +625 +627 +631 +633 +636 +641 +644 +649 +651 +656 +662 +665 +669 +670 +676 +680 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for how it is sick or fundamental human +right people gays people would agree x 6m wide ribbon +the freedom of speech and believe you spoke about this new york is in +linguistics to content and brother is the speech +component to the subjects born this be unity argument leg wants to be confused +send block fire and or type so we t including number as much you have +you will hear the second prevent god +medet ecos about ship to the ficus irving and +effects she wants to have are comments about this +with hours including a panel form you have to judge ribery +of course we with me that many people for the introduction the horizon is a wax +it is different and we are going to speak this is mine +serious leather responder play 3 today sting me where the teams call workshop +that say here 60 euros pure normal fish farming since perching is eager +a pc second frame is the fairy tales and sectors it counts in enemy +with pepper and franklin john field to selfridges among the public are angels +marieke letters and sister control so come in +one were joking that eskabee suppressed ' +we that he drivers +this such a simple shame and trading and couples and works +she urged the racers to sit the precise hand at my will +henry interesting thing that some ideas or +I consciously agree and airport the publisher has been destroyed +and the curry sausage was also one that quit mainstream media and ICT +had fingers basic features green corinth the culture +so euro absurd cambridge +stain with it gentleman you need to die here in tiel ago +you those letters there frame my duration so he does not and he has the courage and dare +i harder corporation of legal education +golden integration or fillet it is such that they make your skin frank +centuries of men barbie coasters this is how culture performed you are me or +family members the line and dupes tomorrow complete story with pink guideline no +giant is a bubble +allegations the terraces a rollerball belly chilling working +I gave him a blacksmith stories henry again to santinge module c +we try thank you go back will be my kinetic +here was always a publicly mar in an icing +the call called perfect she has sporing me +you may have to earn a radical Islamist by bus or killing +version was the official statement evelien +cj stationed sweet and so both the operation trap official +green screen and so we are you a mountain of jedno +how i paint a chill ladder at farming work islamists +me with nick there and i agree on where we sea gulls +wanted to have russian and furniture premiums and barry filming +knife you can be shocked at this if you want your clothes +[Music] beautiful +[Music] +0 +4 +10 +13 +16 +24 +33 +37 +45 +49 +55 +62 +67 +73 +80 +89 +95 +101 +105 +108 +115 +122 +126 +132 +137 +143 +148 +153 +162 +168 +173 +181 +191 +195 +203 +210 +216 +221 +226 +233 +239 +246 +251 +256 +262 +268 +274 +282 diff --git a/cnt/The 'Class War' Speech by Prof. Noam Chomsky Subs 89hBrRGq9h0.en.cnt b/cnt/The 'Class War' Speech by Prof. Noam Chomsky Subs 89hBrRGq9h0.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf01ea2 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/The 'Class War' Speech by Prof. Noam Chomsky Subs 89hBrRGq9h0.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2270 @@ +The fact is that to an extraordinary extent +by comparative standards the United States is a business run society +which means that human rights are subordinated +to the overwhelming overriding need of +profit for investors +decisions are placed in the hands of unaccountable private tyrannies +which means that even if +formal democratic practices exist, as they do +they're of +peripheral significance. +The government, in fact, +is as John Dewey called it 50 or 60 years ago +"the shadow cast by +business over society", so that +modifications in the shadow +are not going to change the substance. +These were truisms throughout most of +American history including American working-class history until quite +recently, until the 1950's in fact +and it also means that social policy +is geared to the transfer of wealth and power +to those who already have it, and deliberately so. +Now, in more democratic societies, but that I mean societies where democratic forms +function more +there're countervailing forces +that enable the public to enter +the arena +of policy and decision. +That's only true to a +very limited extent +remarkably limited extent than the United States despite +quite impressive +democratic forms +The country was founded on the principle that +James Madison +explained in the +in the +constitutional convention +the primary role of the government is to protect +property +from the majority +and so it remains to a remarkable extent +Well, one of the most +affective democratizing forces has always been uh... +the Labor Movement +Labor Unions +The history on this has been... is completely clear. +In countries that have a strong labor movement +there is also a very strong tendency, or very strong correlation with a +real, life, +functioning social contract +that includes not only rights for working people +but for people who need help and protection +for the defenseless, for +children, for women, for families, +for people who need assistance generally +for the general public in fact, and there's also a +culture that goes along with it +a culture of of solidarity, and sympathy +and mutual aid and support +In countries where unions are weak +like ours +we tend to find what's called +'tough-love' as they call it this days +which means 'love' for the privilege and 'tough' for everybody else +We find +what are called, what we might call if we're honest; really existing +doctrine of free markets +that means market discipline +for the poor and the defenseless +but plenty of protection and subsidy +for those who really need it, the rich and the powerful +We find different +psychological and cultural values +the ones that in fact were denounced by Adam Smith +whose +motives were +very much like those of the Labor Movement that developed later and very +much opposed to those people who +distort his message +shamelessly use his name +we tend to find what he called "the vile maxim +of the masters of mankind" +all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else +now reaching +its +sharpest expression +in the 'Gingrich Contract' +to which the population is overwhelmingly opposed incidentally +point-by-point by overwhelming margins if you look at public opinion polls, but +in a country where democratic forms don't function +that's basically irrelevant +and they don't function in large part because we don't have a civil society +with +organized +elements +Unions being the central one as they have been historically that can be a +countervailing force +and that's historically been the case +here as elsewhere +Human Unions have been +a leading force, probably, the leading force for +democracy and human rights, that's true here as well, +that's exactly why such enormous efforts have been undertaken in the United +States +in a really relentless and very self-conscious class war +to undermine and destroy them +it's been going on for a long time +it peaked in the Reagan years +In the Reagan years the United States simply rescinded +'article 23' +of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights +which if you read it, guarantees elementary human rights of workers +including the right to form Unions +and this is well-known outside the United States at least +So in 1991 +the International Labor Organization (ILO) +in Geneva did something that it very rarely does, in fact so rare I can't even think of +another example, namely condemned the leading industrial +power, wanted it to pay masters which it +shrinks from doing +well almost always +the ILO +condemned the United States +in the case of Caterpillar +Caterpillar Company +for hiring skeps, what they like to call permanent replacement workers +and the ILO called upon the United States to adhere to +international labor standards +At that time there're only 2 industrial countries that violated them; +one was the United States, the other was South Africa +Well, South Africa has changed since then so we now stand in splendid +isolation on that one +The... +Every year the ILO, the International Labor Organization, comes up +with a +world Labor report +the 1995 +edition came up a couple months ago +it shows that the United States has the worst record in the western hemisphere +and in Europe +in adhering to and guaranteeing +international +conventions dealing with labor +labor rights and workers' rights, actually I am exaggerating a little. +El Salvador and Lithuania are shade worse so we're actually the third worse in +Europe, in the western hemisphere +The United States is not even recognized standard conventions on +child labor on the right to organize +Now, what's particularly interesting +for students and faculty and people like us who live in the Athens of America +is that all this passes without any awareness and any comment +try to find some commentary on these +pretty amazing facts about the United States +what you can find it is just +craze for a magnificent +as uh... you know! leading the way in every wonderful thing +Well, the methods for subverting +i don't wanna suggest that everybody is lying about it, not everybody is in the +universities and the +corporate media and so on +Sometimes the truth is told and it's very often told in the Business +press, which tends to be more honest and open about these matters much less +concerned about that their audience might get out of hand i suppose +The methods for +subverting Article 23, +during the Reagan years, were reviewed in a +cover story in 'Business Week' that I'd +really recommend to you +I've written about it and you can see other reference to it +it's a cover story in 'Business Week' just a year ago last May, very accurate +very honest, as the business press +quite often tends to be +'Business Week' points out that +I'll just quote some things to give you a flavor +they say "over the past dozen years", meaning basically since the Reagans +took over, +"over the past dozen years US industry has conducted one of the most +successful +anti-union wars ever +with a chilling effect..." +"The purpose of..." +they are very clear about the purpose. They say "management basic goal +was to undermine the rights that were guaranteed by the 1935 +Wagner Act." +which brought the United States into the civilized world, briefly. +They were very quickly undermined this time, we'll come back to that +Some of those rights are still guaranteed by law, but as "Business Week" +points out; "that's just a technicality!" +uh..commonalities just mention it +"The basic method of this successful anti-union war +was illegally..." I'm still quoting, "illegally firing thousands of workers +for exercising their rights to organize" +They point out that "illegal firings increased by a factor of six". +for organizing from the late 60's to the late 80's, mostly during +the 80's +Employers illegally fired +unlawful firings occurred in one third of all representation elections in +the late 80's +compared with 8%t in the late 60's +let me quote harvard law professor, that points out; +"even more significant than the numbers... +...is the perception of risk among workers... +...who think they'll be fired in an organizer campaign" +and that's true, any union organizer can tell you that +if the chances are that the +employers will be able to simply fire people for exercise their legal rights with +government protection +the risk of even entering into a organizing campaign, which is not small, +there is plenty of sacrifices involved, as you know, that increases enormously. In this +respect, the +this is very much like this radically mislabeled free trade +agreements +it's a lot of talk about +job flow and stuff like that, which nobody can estimate in this kind of +minor factor anyhow +the major factor is just THREAT +The threat that +jobs can move is enough +to drive down +wages and working conditions in the wealthier countries +and good behaviors meanwhile guaranteed elsewhere by terror and repression that +American taxpayers pay for +so that they can undercut their own +jobs +and harm plenty of other people +as well as by driving peasants +into the urban labor force, in third world countries +by programs to force them into agroexport for American agrobusiness and by +flooding the countries with subsidized US +farm products +what's called 'food for peace', by the more +hypocritical commentators. +Well, what all of this shows is +that the famous slogan; "Crime does not pay", is a total absurdity! +in particular when a criminal state is behind it +and that's crucial here +the Reagan state made it very clear that it simply would not enforce +the law +so that was 'carte blanche' +to employers to just carry out criminal +actions, it's a straight criminal conspiracy +I don't use the term conspiracy very often but this was a very clear and open criminal +conspiracy +between the substance; corporate america, and the shadow which was more of a +shadow than usual +and just say ; "you know? yeah! go ahead and violate the law! We won't do a thing about it!" +Well, this illegal destruction of Unions +'Business Week' +points out still +"is a major factor in lowering wages and in increasing the gap between the rich and +the poor in the United States, to depression..." +"...your levels." +... It's reduced pension and health protection +and it's contributed to a 125 fold explosion in +unlawful discharge suits +Why? Because +the union protections that are guaranteed by law are gone +similarly safety +regulations lapsed +thanks to state +employer +cooperation and crime +the OSHA, the Occupational Self Safety and Health Administration, I'm +quoting 'business week' now; "under Reagan and Bush OSHA used his hands off agency +...encouraging lawlessness" +and along with the +dismantling of Unions, that state +involvement in criminal behavior +led to an increase in days lost in injury from 58 per hundred workers in +1983 +to 86 per hundred in 1991 +which again shows that crime pays +pays very well +when criminal state is crucially involved +Well, there were +other consequences +this is one factor in the huge growth +in profits, a huge increase in profits and concentration of wealth +which is indeed reaching new heights, meanwhile real wages +which stagnated in the 70's +started a steady decline around 1980 +and they continue to decline, continued to declined right +through the latest figures right through the Clinton recovery so-called +For +people with a high school education +wages have declined +well over 20%, somewhere around 20 +25% +that's the source of this uh... angry white male phenomenon that people are +talking about +they are plenty to be angry about, unfortunately the anger is +focused on the shadow not the substance but that's the +effective +very efficient and massive corporate propaganda +but the anger is real and justified +For college students +wages didn't start dropping until 1987 when the +Reagan reforms really got in to it +high here, +and they've been dropping since... +This is noticed, the Wall Street Journal had a +big article about it in 1992, they +pointed out that from 1985... +the United States had the +highest +labor costs in the world +which you'd expect +in the richest society in the world +should have much higher ones in fact +but in 1985 as you'd expect, it would have the highest labor +cost per unit up in the world +and in 1992 +it was second lowest in the industrial world +Actually in 1990 it was the lowest than any country +but then Thatcher +succeeded in smashing down the +workforce in England even better than the Reaganized years, so the United +States slipped back into second place +in the competition to see who could harm +working people more +So from 1985 to 1992 the United States +went from +highest labor cost to the second lowest in the industrial world +and this was described by the Wall Street journal as a +"welcome development of transcendent importance" +as it is for their constituency +uh... the +business press +the rest of the business press describes other factors that are +involved in this welcome development. They Financial Times of London which is +the big international +business daily +they... +had article about the same time +about what was going on in Eastern Europe, they +described it as a horrible mess, everything's awful, but the headline said +that there's some hope +the headline was "green shoots in communism's ruins" +meaning pretty bad that there's some green shoots there, so some good things +the green shoots are what they described as the rising unemployment and +popularization of industrial workers +under the +reforms that +the West is now imposing +and those are green shoots +because it means that +you can get workers in Poland say for ten percent of the wages of the +pampered western workers +as business week +chimed in to say, that means it's a way to drive, it's another way along with +Mexico and Indonesia and so on, there's another two or more +to force western workers to abandon what business week calls the "luxurious lifestyles" +of course when GM +moves to Poland or VW moved to Czechoslovakia +they believe in the really existing free market +so they demand very high tariff protections and public subsidies to pay +them for doing this free markets, remember for the poor +that's 'toughlove' remember +not for the rich, they get state protection +but this is a tremendous weapon against +against working people by now and around the world, that's called the +'globalization of production' +you can see why Harvard +professors and Jeffrey Sachs and so on are so delighted about that +free trade, is really great for +the sector that matters +for the pampered western workers with their luxurious lifestyle might not be +so great +And this goes across the board +so uh... +Daimler-Benz Germany's biggest conglomerate +they can now move to Alabama +where they can get workers of third world standards with no labor protection +and huge subsidies from the taxpayers of Alabama of exactly the kind of a given +in third world +and you can kind of +whipsaw one labor force against another +by these methods. That's another device alongside of the +straight criminality of the state +as in the case of the Reagan years +All of this is +well understood +the... +business press +it's got a caterpillar and the +decatur strike +the business press has pointed out that "the caterpillar", i'm quoting, "is pursuing +"...a business strategy..." +"...that has nudged workers from defiance to compliance". +How have they've nudged workers from defiance to compliance? +The technique was to build excess capacity +in... +other countries +like say Brazil or Japan or Eastern Europe and so on +which means that when you have a strike indicator you can inspire markets +by overproduction elsewhere +that's alongside of hiring skeps of temporary workers and so on and so forth +same is here when the big +manufactures left here to let +and they'd have informed the business press, that they're doing exactly the +same thing, they're building excess capacity +even in germany, which has +very strong labor movement, has... +much... +better wages, much lower +working hours and more benefits and so on, so they are +willing to do that, they're not for profits but for class war +so they'd like to have an excess labor capacity and high labor +high-wage places for the +purpose of class war, because as they explain +quite frankly +if there's a strike in Boston they can supply +European and American markets from their excess capacity they've produced over +there +uh... well +there are other devices besides +'Globalization' and 'straight criminality' +to try to beat +down the pampered western workers +One of them, it was actually illustrated in headlines +in the papers, +'The Times', two or three days ago +when they said "bonds surge as unemployment..." +"...rises and growth falls" +If you read the papers you notice right in front the page, and you can see also +that the thing that is most worrisome +is when unemployment goes down and birth goes up +but when unemployment goes up and birth goes down then the bond market surges +... and that's very important! There are by now like around a +trillion dollars a day that circulate around in the currency markets speculating +against currencies +and they're looking for low growth +and uh... +low growth and low employment. They want stable currency, means no +threat to +stimulation and growth +so they're delighted when +the pampered western workers are beaten down +more and growth goes down and so on +there's a big change in the last twenty or thirty years and a huge weapon in the +hands of those who are trying to drive the world into a sort of a third +world +picture including by now leading +industrial societies like us +Back in 1970 when this process began before the deregulation of +currencies +about 90% of the +capital in international transactions was related to the real economy, it was +for +investment or trade +about 10% was speculation +Those figures have radically changed +by 1995 it was 5% +related to the +real economy and 95% in speculation, that's a huge change +besides which the amount has just +zoomed astronomically +that's why the 25% of the +corporate recruiters at MIT now +are from Wall Street +they're going after +'Hotshot... +...PhD's' in +Physics and Maths +without knowing anything about business but they just have to... +figure out clever techniques +for robbing people +with all sorts of complicated scams +so you can shift money around, you know, every micro second couple of billions +of dollars to undercut currencies here and there and so on, that's +25% of the recruiters right now for +Physics and Maths mainly +The uh... +the same things happening in England incidentaly, they're going after +Oxford and Cambridge +PhD's in Maths and Physics +It was well understood by the late 70's that this is going to be +extremely harmful to the international economy +the James Tobin, it's a YaleUniversity Nobel Prize Winning Economist +gave a +presidential address to the American Economic Association back in nineteen +seventy eight +in which he pointed out that unless something is done to slowdown these financial +transactions +it's going to drive the world into a low-wage, +low growth, and although he didn't say it, high profit equilibrium, that's +exactly what's happening +and it's being stimulated +social justice social policies +deliberately +designed to increase state criminality to crush +the efforts of working people to organize +and to make +globalization of production easier, so you can drive down wages everywhere by +just +playing one work force against another +so it's being designed to stimulate these flows +in the interest of what makes sense if you're in the top fraction of, you know, +tiny fraction of the world's population +Low growth, low wages, and very high profits +and so the caterpillar business strategy is indeed +driving people from defiance to compliance +and will continue to if it's allowed to. +There are other factors too, take say 'automation' +which is putting plenty of people out of work +Well, a lot of that actually of... someone design here machine tools and so +on +It's alleged that +automation is a +you know, results just from market forces +so, you know. i can't stop it like the force of nature +but that's complete nonsense, that +topic was studied in depth by +David Noble, here +no longer here, incidentally partly for this reason +But he... +he's teaching in Canada now, but he did the +main studies on what actually happened +in... +in developing numerical processing and other +automation techniques +and what actually happened in fact is that it was so inefficient +that couldn't be done through market forces and it had to be done through the +state system +we had a huge state industrial system in the United States called the Pentagon +MIT is a small +part of it, you know, way out of the periphery, but +it's a technique for funneling taxpayer funds to +high-technology industry +and automation was developed within the state system for decades in fact +in the navy and the air force and so on, work cost doesn't matter because +taxpayers paying for it anyway +and it was designed in very specific ways +not to be efficient! +Not for economic efficiency but for control and power +the automation technology is concerned, it could be used +to put +the decisionmaking power and control into the hands of skilled machinist and +get rid of managers +technology is perfectly happy if is that way +or it can be used to deskill machinists, and increase levels of management +technology is happy that way too, it doesn't care +that's the way it was designed +and it was designed as a weapon of class war through the state system +because it couldn't possibly be +that done through market forces because of its inefficiency! +that's true for containerization, it's true for machine tools, a fact across the board +it's even true for computers +These are +among the huge +mechanisms of social policy +that are used to ensure that the pampered western workers +have to give up their luxurious lifestyles +any effects are pretty dramatic +The one effect it's just a +vast move towards a kind of totalitarian system +in which +highly concentrated unaccountable private power +determines what yours aren't, nobody dares to say a word about it and for the +most ordinary nobody knows anything about it +and the effects are very obvious, just in the numbers +take a look at, you know, every year fortune magazine comes out with a +big going on the fortuned five hundred +This year's a particularly interesting one because this is the 14th +anniversary, so there's a big celebration of the fortuned five hundred +the May 15th issue +is worth looking at +I don't know if you recall but some years back Abbie Hoffman wrote a book called 'steal +this book' +and that's what you got to do with the fortune five hundred, don't pay +four fifty four, or whatever it costs, if you can pick it up somewhere +if you can pick it up somewhere it's worth looking at, very +big fat glossy +volume which is quite intriguing +in the last years, for 1994 they, which discussed +1993, they described 1993 as a dazzling year +for corporate profits +even those sales growth was stagnant +so you're not selling anything they're making huge amounts of money +1994 was far better +they say profits went up a stunning 54% +on a sales growth of 8% +and an employee growth of 2.6% +Just listen to those numbers and you see a lot about the world +profits up +a stunning 54% +sales growth 8%, meaning virtually no change +and employee growth 2.6% +you know, that +doesn't exist +The numbers are real and they mean something, and concentration is going up +too +Fortuned five hundred now controlle 63% of the +total US +gross domestic product +now that's a level of totalitarianism, remember this are totalitarian +institutions +as totalitarian is +human beings are ever devised +and that's a level of totalitarian control that has very rarely been +reached in the world if ever, you may check +Among the biggest gainers +are Manpower Incorporated which hires temporary workers +very important fact +...their profits were up 35% percent last year +sales up 35%, but they've got salesmen +selling people +...to undermine +pampered western workers, remember, because they're +selling temporary workers so you don't need benefits and you don't need +security, you've got a flexible labor market +so their sales are up 35%, they are now two hundred +thirty seven in the combined +industry +services +list. Services doesn't mean guys who +clean +the offices, it means +investment firms and banks and you know, those guys. +there are 237 Kelly +their sales are up twenty one percent +well that also tells you something +these are another form of the techniques for undermining the work +force +and the work force means the population +workers means +most of the population, their families, their children, and so on +Caterpillar is now number sixty one in this combined industrial service +list +its profits were up 46% from 1993 and the +earnings per share were up 46% +that's not +small +eh... +the +and this is expected to continue +the May first issue of fortune has a big article called; +"Why profits will keep booming?" +Remember! +In 1993 they were dazzling +and they were even more splendid in 1994, they put it +that's the fourth successive year of double-digit growth in profits +and expected to go on through 1996 at least +Remember, this is a period when wages are going down +and working hours are going up +okay but profits are now dazzling +earnings per share they say have doubled since 1991 +the return on capital has more than double, considerably more than double +since 1980 +profit margins are up +working hours are up +temporary workers are way up as a proportion of the work force +the only thing that is down is wages +and benefits, and working conditions +other things are up too, as i mentioned before like industrial accidents, are shot +way up +so, you know, a lot of things are doing really good +but some things aren't doing so good, namely the pampered western workers +with their luxurious lifestyle +The "Wall Street Journal" +having +held the welcome development of transcendent importance in nineteen +ninety-two noticed another one +just a few weeks ago +they said that +in 1993 +the changing unit labor cost finally reach a zero +that's always inflation remember +finally reach a zero, and that stayed there since 1993 +that's another welcome development of transcendent importance, in fact +total labor costs last year were lower than any year since 1981 +headline reads; "Economy's gains fail to increase benefits or wages", which it +kind of understates it +So, what are we suppose to do in the face of all this? Well, we can +get some information from the press too +yesterday's New York Times had a front page story +with explaining how you got to react to all that stuff +headline was... +quoting an expert +as saying, "New York is simply not wealthy enough to afford services to +the general population" +The expert was a JP Morgan executive +JP Morgan is fifth among the banks in the +five hundred listing, doing rather nicely +so New York isn't wealthy enough +In fact, the country is flooded with capital +you know, it's super wealthy! +but it's not wealthy enough for services to the +general population because you've got to +increase +those stunning, dazzling, stupendous profit levels that are shooting way up +for like +few percent +of the population +So therefore you have the 'Pataki budget' +and the 'Giuliani budget' and the rest of them,...Cut taxes for the rich +if you look at the back pages of New York Times, you'll notice that they +mentioned that +all the tax cuts +are for the benefit of business +all the tax cuts are for the benefit of business, so you cut taxes for the rich +meanwhile you increase taxes for everyone else, but here comes some advice +to +those of you wanna get into the commissar class +You don't call them 'taxes' +you call them something else, here's what he called them, here i'm quoting from The Times, you +call them "Multi-million dollar reductions in subsidies to the city's mass transit..." +"...system..." +"...and cuts in aid to education and higher education". +Well, you know, you guys are MRC students, you can figure out what that means +When you cut +what they call subsidies to mass transportation +into city schools +you are increasing taxes +to the people who pay for those things +that's what it amounts to, you don't call it a 'tax', but of course it's a 'tax'. +When the subway fares go up beyond their already astronomical level, as they do +when you cut the so-called subsidies meaning +paying for services for people +using taxpayer pump funds for the purposes of people +that's called a subsidy +when you cut those subsidies +the rates go up, the tuition rates go up for the city schools +and somebody pays those rates +mainly poor people +so it's a tax +they don't call it tax, +and a highly regressive tax +it's a good kind of tax, a tax that slams the poor +meaning most of the population, so that's the right kind +The rich guys that ride in limousines, they want to make sure that everybody's in +the subway so they can get through New York traffic +but they don't pay for it, they want somebody else pay for it, namely the +school children who now +no longer get +free, unreduced rates for rides on the subways, but you don't call that a tax +remember, you gotta understand how these words work +and this goes across the board. Social policies is geared with precision +delicate precision +to have these deliberate effects +So take the idea of +forcing +welfare recipients to work +In fact, +Welfare Programs in the United States are way below any other countries, one of the +miserly countries in the world in that +Largely because we have weak unions +correlates pretty well and what that was this decline radically AFDC, the one +they talk about +has declined about 50% since 1970 with +devastating effects on families, and children and so on, as you'd imagine +but it has to go down more +and the people on it +welfare mothers, they have to be driven to the work force, there's an +interesting assumption there which nobody seems to challenge and that is +they're not working +like if you're raising children... that's not work, right? +like your husband loses his job and you +go out to the work force, because you're not working when you're raising children +that just comes free, like everything women do +real work is the kind of stuff you get paid for, remember we live in "America- +tocracy", that's another thing we're taught +you live in 'Americatocracy' and you measure the merit of work by the amount +of +income that accrues to it +So 'real work', +is the kind of stuff that you do when you're in Wall Street +speculating against currencies to drive down growth rates +and wages +that's 'real' work and you can tell from the fact that in 'Ameritocracy' you get +very high pay for it +On the other hand, raising children let's say +that's not even work at all, you know, you don't get paid a cent for that, you've gotta be driven +into the work force +which has the extra side benefit that as everybody knows when +these people aren't doing any work, just taking care of children +when they're driven into the workforce, they're gonna have to have subsidized jobs +because there aren't any jobs around +which means taxpayer subsidized jobs at very low wages +which has been nice side effect of undermining union wages so everybody's +wages go down +at taxpayer expense +well that's another part of social policy very nicely designed, you know, i'm +not very +brilliant because it's obvious to +figured out pretty obviously, but that's the way it's working and in fact +sometimes they even come clean like +the Mayor of new york the other day +Mayor Giuliani +came clean finally, and said exactly where I knew he was up to +and all policies up to, to namely drive poor people out of New York city +he said it finally, thanks +that's pretty obvious before, but the idea is that JD New York city is for JP +Morgan executives, you know the experts wil tell you we are not +wealthy enough +to pay for people +and the Mayor was kind enough to say it in the New York Times, even had a +nice headline about it +they said "Welfare cuts provide a chance..." +"...to leave". +So it's all 'tough-love', I mean +finally we are gonna free up this poor people so they're not stuck here +we are gonna give them a chance to leave by cutting grants +and +wages and, you know +money for heating your house and feeding your kids and so on, so finally you are +liberated +thanks to 'tough-love' +'course there's no toughlove for Cobb county +Georgia where +New Gingrich comes from +or in a way there is, they're getting a seventy two billion dollar +boondoggle to build the F 22 +to defend themselves from countries to whom we are selling F 16's for +which we are also paying +because they might turn on us and so on, so that's another part of the system this +is why they get more federal subsidies than any suburban county in the country +outside the federal system +Well, that's the free market... +I mentioned before that the attacks on the +on labor during the Reagan years +were criminal as they were +this is not really the time to talk about this or go into it. It's true but it's +misleading +because, in fact, there has been a huge attack +ever since the Wagner Act. +the Wagner Act. drove +business 'perse' +they thought they had the country by the throat +Woodrow Wilson is red scared +smashed up the unions +you know, through the leading union-leader Eugene Debs into jail +for daring to raise some questions about the second world war free country +remember? +The... +independent thought, you know, independent action, labor movement was completely smashed +looked like business really had everything +under control +then along came the depression and had labor organizing and activism and so on +and so forth and finally along came the Wagner Act. +which brought to the United States +the +theoretical +the law, the benefits that were part of it, had been achieved in +Europe about half century before, in fact +US labor history is extremely violent +incomparably more so than +Europe which is so there is nothing +remember seeing thing... much worse things than when i was a kid and growing up in +Philadelphia +and before that it was hundreds of workers were getting murdered by +security forces, this went on on the late 1930's +nothing like in Europe +in fact the right wing European press was appalled by the treatment of American +workers right through the early part of the century +this is a business run society +and it shows +in 1935 the Wagner Act. was passed finally +the business went out of the minds +the +national association of manufacturers literature +warned about what they call the hazards facing industrialists +due to the +rising political power of the masses +unless we redirect their thinking +we're going to be headed to adversity +they started right off with a big campaign, you know, scientific method +strike breaking +all kind of social science frauds about +the harmony and stuff like that +was kind of put on hold for a while during the war picked up right +afterwards with an extraordinary campaign of corporate propaganda +It's not studied too much +in fact, the first academic study of it just came out. This is one of the most +important things +in modern American history, literally the first book just came out +by university released at press a couple months ago, another one in Australia +in fact, there is an australian scholar who's been writing about this for years +i've been writing about it mainly using his work I should say, but +an American study finally came out +and it's pretty interesting +Right after the second World War +the +business community, the country was social democratic +very social democratic at that time, +and they knew it +and the business leaders +said that they had to renew with a bigger, what they call "the everlasting battle...", +"...for the minds of men" +and indoctrinate citizens with the capitalist story +they said that we have three to five years to resell our preferred way of life, and +they went after with that vengence, +anti union campaigns +any unionism was +the ideal was, as they put it to sell any unionism as anti-... +...-american! +Huge campaigns were undertaken the sort of, you know, 'We' versus 'Them' +'Us' +you know, this working man and... +housewife, and the corporate executives slaving away for everyone's benefit and +'They' are those outsiders, the strikers are coming to try to disrupt their +harmony, there's huge business about this +At that time, there was a vigorous labor press +the one-dimensional press of American society is fairly recent +there're about 800 labor newspapers back in the 1950's with +tens of millions of people reading them +they were condemning the corporate media, as they put it, for damning labor at +every opportunity, while +carefully glossing over the sins of the banking and industrial magnates who +really control the nation +and that had to be destroyed, of course, and +the reason is the truth is subversive, that's anti-American +and has to be eliminated and it was destroyed +with a tremendous power play +this covered everything from the entertainment industry, the corporate media +and schools and so on +billions of dollars a year were devoted to this +taking over +schools, churches, recreational activities, anything you can think about +the corporate media of course right in the center of it... +Films were +quite important. Commercial films as well as propaganda films +Propaganda films were reaching twenty to thirty. Business propaganda was reaching +twenty to thirty million people a year in the early 50's +business was providing about a third of all school materials +this was not a small thing +On top of that is the whole commercial industry like uh... +you know, the standard depiction of unions in the movies, is sort of Marlon +Brando, 'On the Waterfront', you know... +Tough working-class Joes stands up against union bosses and, you know, +and unions, in fact, were portrayed as... +...as... +something that the workers have to fight against, just as +people have to be liberated to leave New York, workers had to be freed from +the oppression of the unions +and a huge amount of energy and effort was put into this, +it was pretty successful! +The unions tried to combat it +but they couldn't even come close, concentration of capital was so enormous that wasn't even a battle +This picked up again in the... +in the 1970's, was another absurd +foundations tried take over the +educational institutions that, you know, all on professorships and free enterprise +and +glossy +right wing student magazines, very well-funded all over the place and so on +and so forth +It's left +it had an effect +The effect has been +pretty much demolish civil society +to turn people into what is the 'ideal' +The 'ideal' is very clear +the ideal is a completely fragmented atomized society +where everyone's totally alone +doing nothing but trying to pursue +'created' wants and the ones are created +that's known that they're created, nobody want those things +You create wants, people are stuck with their television set or, you know, their +interactive, whatever it is, +and... +they're glued to this thing, and they are told what they want, and they have to +want it, they don't want any connection with anyone else, you know, you don't see anybody else, deal with +anyone else, an +atom of consumption +and then you go to work, and lower and lower wages for more and more hours and +less and less benefits in security and a flexible labor market +That's the kind of utopia that +they're looking for and it's +not very far from there +It's led a very strange effects in the country +I mean the country is like a devastated peasant society, you know +You really have to go back to Europe in the... +'black death', i think, +14th century to find anything similar.. +People are scared, +angry, +hostile, +hate everything, don't know what they hate +don't have anybody else to talk to, just +angry! +desperate! Their cults all over the place at a scale that is unknown in any other +society, +I mean, you have to...the level of religious fundamentalism alone +is probably the highest in the world +it's almost certain higher than Iran +and that's only one of them, you know +right now the malicious happen to be on the front pages but that's just a tiny +fragment of it, in which there's only not the right to live is the same, you know, +it's across the board, +it's just a dissolved society +very scary +it's... +The importance is ominous, you know, it's... the kind of the situation in which... +kind of a situation which is indeed reminiscent of Germany in the late +30's in a lot of ways, or Iran in the late 70's, you know +very frightening, it's much more frightening when it happens here. +At the same time as a kind of an +it's a kind of organizers dream +you know, people +if you look at people's attitudes they remained social democratic +like, you know, people overwhelmingly believe that +working people ought to have more influence, their don't have enough +That the government ought to help poor people, it's its job +you know, +that people are overwhelmingly opposed to things like budget-balancing, if for +example, it' going to cutdown education or health expenditures and so on across the +board +as I said it doesn't matter because it's irrelevant to policy, they do what they like +but it's a situation in which the opportunities for +organizing and rebuilding a democratic culture are very very high +and it can be done, but it's certainly not going to happen by itself +It's gonna take the same kind of energy and activism that it's taken to... +lift us out of the fuelism and slavery and every other part in the past +The Oklahoma city bombing +and so, bringing the chickens home to roost were unfortunately +there is a little more truth to that than the press is willing to make it out +turned out in this case, remember, in the beginning they're looking for some +middle east connection, and they would have bombed anybody inside if they found it +You could tell that right off... +It didn't work so you're stuck with the +angry white man +and their source of that is extra... is quite real +they have every reason to be angry +there's a lot to be angry about +I'm assuming that the current stories are correct, the +sectors from which this is coming there's plenty to be mad at, +but i don't think people know what to be angry about +what has been created by this half-century of massive corporate +propaganda +is what's called 'anti-politics' +So, anything that goes wrong, you blame the government +well okay, there's plenty to blame the government about +but the government +is the one institution +that people can change +it's the one institution you can affect +by participation without +institutional change, right? +that's exactly why all the anger and fear is directed against the government +The government has a defect +it's potentially democratic. +Corporations have no defect, they are pure tyrannies. +So therefore you wanna keep corporations invisible +and focus all anger on the government +so if you don't like something +you know, your wages are going down, blame the government! +not blame the guys in the 'fortuned 500', cos you don't read the 'fortune five +hundred' +you know, you just read what they tell you in the newspapers +So you don't read about the dazzling profits, and the stupendous this, and the wages going +down... All you know is that the bad governments is doing something, so just get +mad at the government +As i say, there's plenty to be mad about the government, but the government is +exactly what Dewey described it as; it's the shadow cast by business over society +if you wanna change something, change the substance not the shadow +and everyone contributes to this +including +the democrats +deeply committed to, you take a look at the Clinton campaign literature +it's like, you know, it's a... +I don't know what public relations firm wrote it +but whatever one did it, understands their business +The thing that they were giving out at of the drugs stories, you know, ten cents +for a mandate for change, as they called it, incidently a slogan that they +borrowed from Eisenhower, which shows how much change they contemplate. +The first chapter of it was called 'Entrepreneurial Economics' +now this is their big economic program +explained how these then. We're not old-fashioned liberals, you know, who live in +entitlements +getting children food eaten, that sort of thing +We are interested in 'Entrepreneurial Economics'. Now you wanna +describe it, +and it's very... Read it carefully! +...very interesting to see how the +mind of the commissar works +you know, the really skilled propagandist +guys that get trained in the good universities +The way it works is like this; 'Entrepreneurial Economics' involves +workers and their firms +So it's all about workers and their firms, you know, anybody who works in a firm can +tell you how much is their firms +so there's workers and their firms and then there's a government which is going +to try to help out the workers and their firms. +There's a couple words that don't appear in it +like 'prophets', you know, 'bosses' +'managers', +they're not investors +banks, they don't appear, just the workers and their firms. There are entrepreneurs +who have a kind of a shadowy existence, they're sort of nice guys +who live in the slum schools, or somewhere +and every once in a while, they come around and they sort of help out the +workers and their firms and they kind of disappear somewhere +and that's 'entrepreneurial economics' +Well, ok! You know. That's the kind of thing you're told to do in good +universities, to... +put things that way +and that's the democrats +Now, when you get that on one side, and on the other side, you get, you know, i hate the goverment +because they're responsible for everything, and its taxes and +the pointy-headed bureaucrats in Washington, but not the ones in the +insurance offices, you end up with the mood of what is called anti-politics +and anti-politics is a very scary phenomenom +it can take the form of... that it is taking, you know, +forming +what shouldn't be called malicious, because, remember, malicious are things +raised by states +these are just private armies, forming private armies +to defend the country, the people against... you know, the UN forces being +brought in on the black helicopters by the council on foreign relations to +commit genocide whoever storyline +or else it's, you know, fight against Lucifer and 'beast 66' +who's doing this, that, the other thing +and... +that's what, if you take a look across the country, that's what people are +worried about and fighting against +aliens, you know, the 'Devil', the UN forces, the Federal Reserve, +I mean +everything except what's real! 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budget there is a dominate within students +carefully grandtour the world after a few things will be very much to +us before except with morgan's for power +the levels are life motocross the population rest in peace +and writer someone wrote you fatter 0.3 so i am +john contained i cried for the taste the void or other actions or other +presents how do you see some of those and for +link the zip code we what is s no hear them +now crazy slimming smosh anthony +urged which might be nature and the once effe ring come I would rather be the +lemmer professor feel companies I help the +course recently you have to go to grips society so +with the privet of supported by the walking dead rising 3 +each after signing sustainable development google for the +autumn coaching is the spelling kiss him red +programs hi chipmunk and the Walloon fast +works like my ex military weyts to heat up the flash song +unfortunately worldly continuous oh i was crossing a knitted winter hat there +areas where little ones is clearly global and why onesies action minus sign +wars glow because ic global action ing bank +the axelle crosscup bike chain and respected by premiere +countries are competing with my mother to try de +that mountain and my ex-husband silent you have to do this by hand and kool +european union of film and what you put in your nose with a zipper +cancer is liqueur money in our cancer is charlie and refusing to produce +In the June 2014 Charlie Air-to-Air Helper reckons it short +explain what the king doctors from the crib and superpower +supported by with a real time very sunshower officially in +international is your fun submissions there are influences +hope in will for in why oldest for philips thank you will often george +and international system or should we learn corporation's third letter t ' +makes me see and silver line left in brother behind croatian uci de +permit the levels that i type globalization 1000 ft the design +the benefits there in western i know that 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b/cnt/Understanding Linguistics _ Noam Chomsky _ Talks at Google Y3PwG4UoJ0Y.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5f3311 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Understanding Linguistics _ Noam Chomsky _ Talks at Google Y3PwG4UoJ0Y.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2394 @@ +JOHN ORWANT: My name is John Orwant. +I'm with the Google Cambridge Tea Party Republicans Club. +And it's a pleasure and an honor to introduce our guest today-- +a man whose fame rises to a level of the kind that renders +the standard introduction pattern completely obsolete. +I could tell you about his 123 books. +I counted. +The seven books have been written +about him, the 38 doctoral-- honorary doctoral degrees-- +that he's been granted. +I could tell you about the species of bee +that has been named after him. +Instead, I'm actually going to talk about tenure, because it's +actually the thing I think of first +when I think about our guest today. +We tend to think of tenure today as an entitlement. +Right? +So, professors-- they work really hard +for some amount of time. +And then they're kind of granted this lifetime protection +from being fired. +And, the institution of tenure has been around +for many decades. +It really started to solidify around the time of the McCarthy +era, where a lot of professors in this country +were being asked to take oaths of loyalty +as part of the anti-communist fervor that +was sweeping the nation. +And it wasn't that the University administrations +wanted them to take those oaths. +They were worried. +The universities were worried about pressure from government. +They were worried about wealthy donors saying, +I'll give you this check for a million dollars, +but you have to fire that professor over there. +And so that's why universities kind of lept +into this institution with gusto. +And yet, when you look at professors +today, they very rarely take advantage of tenure +to speak on popular views. +But of course, our guest today, I think, +is the world's best example of doing that. +And I think that getting tenure perhaps today +should come with a mild obligation +to speak truth to power. +So anyway, with that, ladies and gentlemen, +I want to introduce a man who is to the left of Julian Assange, +but with a less restrictive-- but with fewer travel +restrictions-- Noam Chomsky. +[APPLAUSE] +INTERVIEWER: Well we're very glad to have you back. +You were here in 2008. +And now, Google's grown considerably. +You have a considerable audience. +And as was mentioned earlier, the questions +I'm about to pose to you are from Googlers. +So you guys went online and you posted questions, +and you voted on them. +All right-- so the first one. +Your early view of the potential abuse +of the internet as a political medium seem to convey a wait +and see attitude. +How has your view evolved, and where do you +think the balance of power is headed? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, the internet is obviously +a tremendous research tool. +We use it all the time. +I assume by internet, you mean more generally-- the whole kind +of IT system that's developed. +And, it's certainly useful for activists and organizers. +Almost all activist efforts and enterprises +involve intercommunication through the internet. +On the other hand, we don't have to talk about the fact +that it's a tremendous tool for power systems +to control and dominate in all sorts of ways. +I by now, hardly have to mention the NSA revelations, +Edward Snowden's revelations. +Commercial institutions, like Google, for example, +use it to undermine privacy and independence +in all kinds of ways. +So the balance of power is where it always was, and expending. +Any technology that's around is going +to be used by systems of concentrated power +to dominate and control. +And you can't open a newspaper now +without new things appearing. +Take this morning. +If you happened to look at this morning's newspaper, +there was an associated press report on some revelations +that they've dug out recently about efforts +to develop by the US government through USAID, US aid, which +is supposed to be a aid organization +to carry forward the intensive US efforts to undermine +and overthrow the government of Cuba. +Read the report. +It's interesting for what it says and what it doesn't say. +What it says is that the government through US aid +has set up-- tried to set up-- a kind of social media +inside Cuba that could be used to organize the crowds +to protest with the people, not really knowing +who they're working for what they're doing. +And the original AP report, most of which +didn't get printed, at least from what I saw, +says that this has already been used +in many other places-- Philippines, Ukraine, +and so on-- to try to organize anti-government protests, +which raises quite a few questions about what's +going on around the world. +Well this is one of the techniques that's +being used for subversion, domination, control. +This is an Obama program, incidentally. +Not Bush. +And what's said is interesting. +What isn't said is interesting. +And here, the power of the internet +looms in the background. +You can quickly find out what isn't said on the internet +if you look for it. +What isn't said is that this program-- of course, +it's not called subversion. +It's called bringing democracy and so on. +But this program of trying to subvert the Cuban government +is part of a longstanding war that the US +has been conducting against Cuba. +Longstanding. +You look at the history of the US and Cuba-- +it starts in the 1820s. +Cuba was regarded by the founding fathers +as the next conquest that we have to make. +Cuba was waiting there. +We had to take it for ourselves as we expand and become +the greatest empire in the world. +Well we couldn't do it in 1823. +There was a deterrent-- the British. +They were too powerful. +The British were the main enemy through the 19th most +of the 19th century but the big thinkers, +like John Quincy Adams-- great grand strategist-- +he recognized and said, while we can acquire Cuba now, +it will fall into our hands by the laws +of political gravitation, just as an apple +falls from the tree. +Meaning, over time, the US will become more powerful. +Britain's power will decline, And we'll be able to take Cuba. +And in fact, that's what happened. +In 1898, Cuba was liberating itself from Spain, +and the US intervened in what's called here Liberation of Cuba, +but in fact, was the prevention of the liberation of Cuba +by Cubans. +The US took over the island-- one of several. +Puerto Rico, Hawaii was stolen from its inhabitants +the same year, and Cuba became a colony-- a virtual colony. +Well, something quite interesting +happened that's highly relevant today. +Highly relevant. +But never mentioned, but you can find it on the internet +if you like. +At gun point, the US imposed a treaty +on Cuba, Platt Ammendment, it's called, +in which Cuba granted the United States control +over eastern Cuba-- so what we call Guantanamo. +Happens to include Cuba's major port-- it's +only port oriented towards Europe, +which is where its main trade would be. +Of course, the Cubans had no voice in this. +We just took it over. +And we've had it for 110 years. +Cuba's been trying to get it back, but we refuse. +The purpose has no strategic interest for us. +It's used for storage of refugees, +like if Haitians flee from monstrous dictatorships +that we support in Haiti, we're supposed to accept them +under international law's refugees. +But instead, you send them off Cuba-- to Guantanamo-- +as a storage place, of course, used as a torture chamber. +The Cubans want it back. +We won't give it to them. +Does this remind you of something +that's happening in world affairs right now? +Yeah. +Russia took over Crimea. +Just as we've taken over eastern Cuba for 110 years at gun +point. +We don't formally annex it, but we dominate it. +Russia has a much stronger case than the United States does. +Crimea is primarily Russian. +Its population overwhelmingly supports Russia. +It's got major strategic significance. +It's Russia's only warm water port. +It's the base for their fleet. +It's right on the border of Russia. +Russia's surrounded by hostile military alliance-- NATO. +And for them, it's of great strategic significance. +Cuba for us is nothing. +Guantanamo. +It's just a means of trying to undermine +Cuba-- prevent Cuban development. +And the United States, of course, +has been at war with Cuba since 1959, +when Cuba finally did liberate itself. +Immediately, the US began an attack on Cuba under Kennedy. +A massive terrorist operation was +organized "to bring the terrors of the earth to Cuba," +was Arthur Schlesinger's phrase describing it +in his biography of Robert Kennedy, who +was in charge of it. +It almost destroyed the world. +It was a major factor that led to the missile crisis. +And it's gone on. +It went on afterwards. +The terror based in Florida has gone on almost without a stop. +On top of that, there's an economic embargo +to strangle the country, opposed by the entire world. +Take a look at the votes-- annual votes in the General +Assembly, which don't get reported here. +It's 180 to two-- US and Israel sometimes. +The Marshall Islands or something. +Well, all of this is part of the background to the AP story +about today's effort to subvert the government of Cuba. +Well, coming back to the internet, what's interesting +is what is available, and what isn't readily available, +because people don't see it. +Like, you won't find a word about anything +I said in the press, or in commentary, or discussion, +although it's all extremely timely. +Very timely. +Not arcane scholarship. +But it's right in front of our eyes, but not there. +And when you come back to the power of the internet, +I think it comes back to us. +We don't use it. +We don't use the resource for the purposes for which it could +be used-- to break through the silence, oppression, +domination, terror, violence, and bring +the reality of the world to people. +So the internet, potentially, is a wonderful tool, +but only if you decide to use it. +If you decide to leave it in the hands of private power, +of power systems whether state or private, +sure-- it'll be used as a way to oppress, undermine +and dominate. +But that's a choice. +Don't have to. +INTERVIEWER: Well, on that note, we +will be posting this on YouTube. +NOAM CHOMSKY: What? +INTERVIEWER: We're going to be posting this talk on YouTube, +so your comments will be on the internet. +Happy to say. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Internet-- but they +won't be in the New York Times. +Well our channel is getting more and more popular, +so hopefully people will find this. +Switching gears a little bit, what +is the most interesting insight the science of linguistics +has revealed, but that the public at large +seems to not know about or appreciate? +Well, there are a number of dogmas about language, which +I think are being systematically refuted. +And they're held by linguists, too, I should say. +Not just in the general public, which are probably false, +which I think are being undermined by current research. +This is a minority view. +I'm not speaking for the profession. +The introductory comments said that I'm +supposed to be a contrarian, so I try to keep to that. +But for example, one general assumption +about language-- almost a dogma in philosophy. +Common understanding, the linguistics of psychology, +is that language is primarily a means of communication, +and that it evolved as a means of communication. +Probably, that's totally false. +It seems that language is evolved and is designed +as a mode of creating and interpreting thought. +It's a system of thought, basically. +It can be used to communicate. +Everything people do can be used to communicate. +You can communicate by your hairstyle, +style of walk, everything. +And yes, language can be used to communicate, +but it doesn't seem to be part of its design. +It's design seems to be radically different, +and in fact, even seems to undermine communication. +If you look carefully at the structure of language, +you find case after case, right at the core of language design, +where there are conflicts between what +would be efficient for communication, +and what is efficient for the specific biological design +of language. +And in every case that's known, communicative efficiency +is sacrificed. +It just isn't a consideration. +I think that's a conclusion that has +very widespread significance. +In order to establish it, you have to look at technical work. +It's not the kind of thing you can +explain in two minutes of exposition. +But it's not profound. +It's not quantum physics. +A half an hour would certainly suffice. +Suppliers And I think it's a pretty far-reaching +consequence. +Another general belief about language, +again, almost a dogma in all the relevant fields-- philosophy, +linguistics, and so on-- is that the meaningful, +the minimal meaningful elements in language, +sort of word-like things, pick out +entities in the extra-mental world. +So the word, say, river picks out the Charles River, +and so on-- something that a physicist could identify. +That turns out to be true for animal systems-- +animal communication systems. +The symbols that appear-- the actions that are carried out-- +do apparently have a one to one correlation +with mind independent events. +So some particular call of a monkey +will be related to leaves fluttering, +predators coming, sort of-- I'm hungry, some hormonal change. +It's just not true of language. +Linguistic elements do not have that property. +Actually, this was understood by Aristotle. +It was understood in the 17th and 18th centuries. +Interesting work on it. +The entities that we construct in our communiques, discourse, +expression, interpretation-- are largely mental-- partially, +mental object. +There are ways in which they are-- +modes in which we interpret phenomena. +But they don't pick out entities in the world +that a natural scientist could identify +without looking into our minds. +That tells us a lot about the nature of language, +and about our own nature. +Language is the core human property. +And this was understood by Darwin, +by a long tradition before him. +And it's very different from the way it's usually conceived. +I think those are among really conclusions that +have pretty widespread significance. +Let me stress again, a very minority view. +Very few linguists would agree with this. +But I think, over time, I suspect it will become clear. +OK. +In hopes and prospects, you mentioned your colleague +Kenneth Hale and his work with Native Americans. +In your opinion, how important is the problem +of language extinction? +That is, how important is it for humanity +to preserve the current level of linguistic diversity? +Well, Ken Hale, who was a friend of Anne's as well. +The teacher was a fantastic linguist and person, also. +He worked extensively with indigenous languages +all over the world. +Australia-- he was one of the founders +of Australian linguistics-- worked +with Native American languages, Central American, +African, and so on. +And he did really amazing work, but this particular aspect +of his work was something that greatly concerned +and interested him-- trying to protect. +And as he pointed out, correctly, +when a language disappears, a lot is lost. +A language is a repository of cultural wealth. +It's a way-- this actually relates +to what I was saying before-- each language is +a way of understanding and interpreting the world. +It carries the wealth of tradition +in history, oral history, which can be extremely rich. +Take the Bible, for example. +For years, that was oral history, +before anything was written down. +Homer is oral history. +And that's all over the world. +And we're losing those treasures every time +a language disappears. +And for the people themselves, they're losing their identity. +If English disappeared, we would lose our cultural identity, +and the same is true if it's a small group somewhere. +Well, one of Ken's achievements in this regard, +which was quite spectacular, was to take the language, which +was one of the major languages spoken +right here before the colonists came. +Remember, the United States is not +an ordinary form of imperialism. +The United States is a secular colonial society. +In fact, that's true of the whole-- what's +called the Anglo sphere, the countries that grew out +of Britain's imperial domination. +The United States, Canada, Australia, mostly New Zealand-- +these are countries where the settlers who came in +didn't just run the country the way the British did in India. +British in India provided the bureaucrats, +you know, the officer corps, and so on. +But Indians ran the country under British rule. +Secular colonial societies are different, like ours. +If you go back to the founders of the country-- like, +say George Washington. +He understood very well that we have to, as he put it, +extirpate the Iroquois. +They're in our way. +We have to wipe them out. +They're and advanced civilization. +They, in fact, were the basis for much +of the American constitutional system. +But we had to extirpate them. +They were in our way. +Thomas Jefferson said, we have to exterminate +the native populations because they're attacking us. +And why are they attacking us? +Well, because we're taking everything away from them. +He didn't say that. +But in general, the settler colonial societies +have to pretty much exterminate the indigenous populations, +or else marginalize them. +Well that's happened here. +So where we're sitting was a place +where the indigenous population was +close to exterminated-- pretty close to it. +There are survivors. +One of the major languages spoken was one Wampanoag. +It hadn't been spoken for a century. +The last speaker was a century ago. +Ken, and some students, and a woman from the Wampanoag tribe, +which still exists, Jessie Little Doe, +managed to reconstruct the language using +comparative evidence from other languages, +and missionary texts that were taken and preserved. +And from this, they were able to reconstruct +what the language must have been. +And it now has its first native speaker-- Jessie Little Doe's +daughter, who's a native speaker of Wampanoag. +This has revitalized the tribe. +They're now studying it. +They're reconstructing their history. +They're reviving. +It's a pretty amazing achievement. +Jessie got her Ph.D. with us, with Ken, her department, +it's the first time this has ever happened, I think. +Now there are efforts to do it In other places. +But if you can revive-- right now, +there's enormous destruction going on. +Species destruction, for example, +is taking place at a level that hasn't happened +for 65 million years, literally-- the time +when an asteroid hit the earth, apparently, +and wiped out the dinosaurs, and the majority of living species +were destroyed. +Mammals survived. +That's why we're around. +But, right now, the same thing's happening. +Species destruction is happening, about at that level. +And now, we're the asteroid, of course. +We're destroying the species at a massive rate. +Language destruction is kind of a little +like that at a cultural and human level. +You're destroying the richness of human civilization +and understanding of the world. +It's disappearing fast. +It's disappearing in Europe-- not just +in indigenous cultures. +So if you go to, say, Italy, there +are people all over the place who +can't talk to their grandmothers. +The grandmothers speak a different language. +They're called dialects, but they're actually +different languages. +The number of languages in Europe +has contracted radically over recent years +through the policies of state formation. +When states are formed, the formation of states +is an extremely violent process. +It imposes a rigid form on societies, +bringing together people who have nothing +to do with each other, and separating +people who have everything to do with each other. +That's why Europe was the most savage place +in the world for centuries while the process of state formation +was taking place. +You look around the world today, and just about +every major conflict is based on the imperial borders. +Borders were imposed by the imperial powers +for their own interests, forming states +which have no significance for most of the people. +So take, say, Pakistan and Afghanistan. +We talk about terrorists crossing Pakistan +to Afghanistan. +They are, many of them, are just Pashtun-- +moving from one part of Pashtun territory +to another part of Pashtun territory, +which is separated by a line-- that the British imposed-- +the Durand line-- which the Afghans have never accepted +and the Pashtun have never accepted. +Now that happens everywhere. +President Obama, one of his achievements +has been to break all records in deporting +undocumented immigrants-- almost two million. +They're crossing a border-- the Mexico US border-- +which, like state borders generally, +was established by brutal violence and aggression. +The US conquered half of Mexico. +President Grant described it as, who fought in it, +described it as the most wicked war in history. +Well, OK, that established the border. +It was a pretty open border. +The same kind of people living on both sides +until pretty recently. +It's been heavily militarized now. +Primarily since NAFTA. +When NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, +was instituted, President Clinton, his advisers, +understood very well that this is +going to devastate Mexican-- the Mexican economy. +And it's going to destroy Mexican agriculture. +It's going to undermine small business, and so on. +Mexican compacinos can be quite efficient, +but they can't compete with highly subsidized U.S. +Agro-business. +So there's going to be a flow of immigrants. +So we've got to militarize the border to prevent them. +Send them back. +Right now, to this day, right here near Boston-- +right around us-- there are people +fleeing from the Guatemalan highlands. +Mayan Indians, fleeing from the Guatemalan highlands. +Their languages are also being destroyed. +Why are they fleeing from the Guatemalan highlands? +Well, under Ronald Reagan, the US +supported a genocidal attacks on the highlands, and the Mayan +Indians by the military dictatorship +we were backing in Guatemala. +And the devastation was so extreme +that they're still fleeing. +Well, they're fleeing. +We deport them. +They're coming across from Mexico. +We deport them. +That's a state border. +That's the way borders work. +All over the world, that's the way it works. +Take a look at the horror stories all of the world. +Almost entirely, the result of the imposition of state +borders, which also has the consequence +of wiping out lots of languages. +When you impose a state border, it constitutes, say, +France, or Italy, or Germany, or Guatemala, +or whatever it may be, or the United States for that matter, +you're wiping out huge numbers of languages +which are internal to them. +Well, this is a kind of-- it's not species destruction, +but it's kind of analogous to it. +And it's going on all the time. +And the effort to save species, cultures, societies, languages +is a major effort. +Happening in Europe, too. +So right now there's a referendum +coming up in Catalonia. +Another one in Scotland asking about autonomy, +or independence. +That's dissolving the European state system, something +which has been going on for awhile, +and reconstructing the languages. +Actually, I visited Barcelona in the late '70s. +You couldn't hear a word of Catalan. +It was spoken, but secret, because under the dictatorship, +which the US backed, it was barred. +10 years later, if you go to Catalonia, +all you hear is Catalan. +It revived. +The Basque languages revived. +Other regional languages are reviving. +If you walk around Wales, kids walking out of school +are talking Welsh. +Things like this are happening. +Ken's achievement was unique, but it's +a kind of a natural development. +I think it should be stimulated myself. +But we should recognize that there's +enormous loss when the cultural wealth of a society disappears. +That's encapsulated crucially in its language. +INTERVIEWER: All right. +So I'm going to change gears a little bit again. +Can you comment on the contribution +of research and statistical natural language processing +to linguistics? +And that's a yes/no question, I realize, but-- OK. +[LAUGHTER] +NOAM CHOMSKY: One of the early proponents of it, +maybe the earliest in 1955, when I +was working on linguistic theory, +it seemed to me the only possible way +in which a, let's say, a child, could identify words +in continuous text-- you know, you're not hearing single words +when you live in the world. +You're hearing continuous text. +It seemed to me the only way that is could be done +was by detecting transitional probabilities of sounds +or syllables. +If you get to a word boundary, the predictability +of the next sound is lower than if you're inside a word. +Right? +For obvious reasons. +So if you check these transitional probabilities, +it looked as if you ought to be able to detect words. +That's probably the first proposal. +Maybe the first proposal of literature. +It turns out not to be accurate. +Just in the last couple of years, +there's been some really careful work +on statistical analysis of texts. +Charles Yang, who got his Ph.D. At MIT-- he's +now at Penn, a computational linguist cognitive +scientist-- he showed that if you actually +use this technique on connected text, that what you get +is syllables, not words. +So that doesn't work. +He also pointed out that if you add a linguistic principle, +you do get a better approximation to words. +Linguistic principle is that a word-- well, real words, +tend to have stress peak within them-- +stress pitch peek inside them. +So if you add that principle, and then you +do the statistical analysis, you get a better approximation. +There's subsequent work by a number of cognitive scientists +which has shown that if you add what +are called the prosodic structure-- the whole pitch +stress structure of a sentence-- it goes up and down, +but really reflecting phrases pretty much, +if you look at the pitch structure. +If you add all of that, and then you +do the statistical analysis, you get +and even better approximation. +Now this is one of the very few cases where there's +any results from statistical analysis. +There has been-- there's a kind of a industry +in computational cognitive science and computer +science trying to show that you can +get significant knowledge of a language +by statistical analysis of text. +Antecedently, that's extremely unlikely to succeed. +You do not get discoveries in the sciences +by taking huge amounts of data, throwing them into a computer, +and doing statistical analysis of them. +Try to think it through in the history of the sciences. +It just doesn't happen. +That's not the way you understand things. +You have to have theoretical insights. +You have to know what kind of experiments +to carry out-- what kind of data are worth looking at, +which kind of throw away, and so on. +That's the way the sciences have always worked. +If you wanted to, say, study the laws of motion, +you could take a huge number of videotapes +of what's happening outside the window, +and subject them to statistical analysis. +You could get a pretty good prediction +of the next thing that's going to happen outside the window-- +actually, a better prediction than what +the physics department can give. +But it's not science. +It's a way of matching data, and maybe predicting some new data. +But that's not what understanding is. +And it's very unlikely to work for language, either. +And I think the record shows that it really fails totally. +I could run through examples. +But every example that's been carefully studied, +it simply doesn't work, for pretty much the reasons +that Charles Yang and his successors discovered. +You have to have the-- have to understand the principles that +determine what underlies the system. +And then if you look around the edges of those principles, +you can find some sometimes useful statistical data. +I think that's probably the way it's going to continue, +but certainly is the way it has so far. +INTERVIEWER: We're going to change gears again. +What, in your opinion, are the most effective strategies +for building a more and just peace-- I'm sorry, +start over again-- for building a more just and peaceful world, +and in your view, what are the best-- the most significant +takeaways-- from Occupy the Arabs bring, +and the Ukrainian Euromaiden uprising. +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, those are all quite different events, +and I don't think you can consolidate them. +Over time, there has-- you know, history +doesn't just go in a straight line. +There's progress, there's regression. +And they're often in parallel. +So say, take the last say, 50, 60 years in the United States. +There's been significant progress +in developing a more peaceful and just and equitable society. +Probably the most dramatic example is women's rights. +Totally different from what it was 50 or 60 years ago. +It may be kind of hard to remember, +but if you look at US history, at the time +of the American Revolution, the women were not people. +They were property. +The United States took over British common law. +And under British common law, a woman +is the property of her father, and it's +transferred to her husband. +So for example, one of the arguments against giving women +votes was that it would be unfair to unmarried men, +because a married man would have two votes, since obviously +the property votes the way the owner votes. +That was US law. +If you look at the chipping away of this, +it literally was not until 1975 that this principle +was abandoned. +in 1975, the Supreme Court ruled that women have the right +to serve as peers in federal jury. +Peer means a person just like you. +OK, that goes back to the Magna Carta in the 13th century. +Women were accepted as peers legally in 1975. +Now that was part of a major change that's +taken place in American culture since the 1960s-- +one of the main outgrowths of '60s activism. +And there are plenty of other things like it. +So opposition to, say, violent aggression +is far above what it was 50 or 60 years ago. +Take, say, Kennedy's invasion of South Vietnam. +It's a phrase you've never heard, I suppose, +because it isn't in consciousness. +It happened in the world, but it wasn't reported +and it isn't part of American history. +In the 1962, Kennedy sent the American Air Force +to start bombing South Vietnam. +Authorized chemical warfare to destroy crops, +so to drive the people out of the countryside. +Began big programs to concentrate people, and put +them out at the concentration camps, +to prevent them from supporting the guerrilla movement, which +was overthrowing the US installed government. +That's an invasion. +It happened, but not in our consciousness. +The reason it's not in our consciousness +is there was no opposition. +It was recorded. +It was kind of known. +You know, like it wasn't a total secret, but nobody cared. +You couldn't get people to talk about it. +I mean, literally I remember trying +to give talks in the early '60s in people's living rooms. +You could get more people than that together. +Well that was the early '60s. +In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. +It's the first time in the history of the imperial world +that there have been massive protests prior to the invasion, +prior to the invasion-- huge protests all of the world. +Here, too. +My classes were called off because the students wanted +to call them off to go down to the demonstration. +That was 2003. +Well, it didn't end the war, but it limited it. +It's often believed that the demonstrations +didn't do anything. +That's a mistake. +The United States could not begin to carry out the policies +that Kennedy and Johnson could carry out +without a second thought. +It was bad enough, but it wasn't B52 bombing +of heavily populated urban centers. +It wasn't chemical warfare destroying crops. +Many of the atrocities of the Vietnam War +simply couldn't be contemplated. +Horrible enough, but not that. +OK, all of that is progress. +There's also a regression. +There's been a big backlash from power centers +against the civilizing effect of the '60s. +Now, that's the neoliberal attack +on the population which has been going on for a generation. +That's why, say, real wages, real, +for male workers-- real wages today are at the level of 1968 +for the general public. +And real wages are about the level of 30 years ago. +There's been some stagnation or decline +for the majority of the population. +Tremendous concentration of wealth in tiny number +of-- tiny sector of the population. +Mostly a fraction of 1%, which feeds politics. +Political power reflects economic power. +The Supreme Court just yesterday just struck another blow +against democracy and its committed effort +to try to undermine the functioning +of a democratic system by placing power +in the hands of those who are super rich. +OK, that's going on. +That's the McCutcheon case a couple days ago. +Well, that's regression. +And they're going on in parallel. +That's the way history works. +So what's the way to go forward? +Well, you know, as Martin Luther King +put it-- shift the arc of history +by your own efforts in activism. +That's the only way it's ever worked. +The arc of history bends the way we decide to bend it. +INTERVIEWER: In "Hopes and Prospects" +you compare Obama and Bush II. +That's four years ago. +What would you say today? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Like what I just said +about the arc of history-- both better in some ways, worse +in others. +So, for example, I mentioned Guantanamo. +Guantanamo is a major torture center. +OK, today, probably torture isn't +taking place in Guantanamo-- at least what we call torture. +Remember, the United States has a special definition of torture +which is different from the world's definition. +So for example, in the world, a solitary confinement +is considered torture. +You take a look at the torture convention-- +international torture convention. +Solitary confinement is regarded-- +and other forms of mental torture-- +are regarded as torture. +And they are. +You try to lock yourself up in a room for a couple of days, +and you'll see what happens. +So it's kind of torture. +In the United States, it's surely going on in Guantanamo. +But it's also a routine. +It goes on in the prisons all the time. +You go to the maximum security prisons, +they are torture chambers. +People are confined 23 hours a day in a small room. +It drives you insane. +So torture-- what we call torture +isn't going on in Guantanamo. +What is torture is going on, but it's +going on in the incarceration system generally. +And that system is a real international scandal +on scale [INAUDIBLE]. +So that's an improvement. +No magnificent, but an improvement. +On the other hand, there's the surveillance programs, +which are-- I don't have to talk to you about them. +You know about them. +They're mostly Obama. +The subversion of Cuba that I mentioned-- that's +a new Obama program. +The worst global terrorism campaign under way right +now is Obama's global assassination campaign. +The Drone Campaign. +Notice that there's a debate in the United States +when he decides to murder Americans. +Like, [INAUDIBLE]. +You know, is that legitimate or not? +And what about the other people? +The people that are being murdered are suspects. +Go back 800 years again to Magna Carta. +We're going to commemorate its 800th anniversary +next year-- probably morn its disappearance. +The core concept developed in Magna Carta +was what we call presumption of innocence. +What it stated is that a free man cannot be subjected +to state punishment without due process-- +without trial by a jury of peers. +OK? +Now, free man was a very limited concept in the 13th century. +Of course, it excluded women. +It excluded people who weren't free and so on. +It gradually expanded over the centuries. +So it's embedded in the Constitution +also with limits-- the 14th Amendment, other limits. +But now it's being contracted. +The Drone Campaign eliminates presumption of innocence. +The way it works is, Obama and his advisers +get together Tuesday morning and decide +who they're going to kill that day. +The concept guilty means Obama decided to murder you. +That's the meaning of the concept guilty today. +That's a regression that goes back 800 years. +That's pretty serious. +And what's even more serious is, it's not discussed. +The only thing that is discussed is the killing of Americans. +Are Americans different species? +Who says you can kill other suspects? +There's some talk about collateral damage. +What about the people who are just standing around and get +killed? +Well, yeah-- that's bad. +But what about the people you're aiming at? +They are suspects. +You haven't shown a proof of anything about them. +Just somebody the government wants to kill. +That's true of domestic law, too. +Actually, I'm one of the plaintiffs in a suit +that I'm not entirely happy about for this reason. +It's a suit about the NDAA brought by Chris Hedges. +A couple of other people are plaintiffs. +The NDAA legislation under Obama-- +he says he doesn't like it, but he signed it. +It permits indefinite detention. +It extends the principle of indefinite detention +for suspects who are, under this relatively new legislation +under Obama. +In includes-- it is written in such a way +that it could include American citizens. +It's not explicit. +That's what the suit is about. +But the concept is-- it permits indefinite detention of people +charged with providing support for enemies of the United +States. +What's support? +Well, like saying maybe they got a case, or something like that. +Is that support? +It's not a joke, incidentally. +The narrow case-- the very narrow case +is against one part-- the fact that is +might apply to American citizens. +I think it's way too narrow. +It shouldn't apply to anybody. +There should never be such a thing +as independent indefinite detention. +It's criminal. +And the idea of supporting enemies +is so meaningless, that such a concept shouldn't exist as law. +But it's a narrow case about Americans. +And that's the framework of discourse here. +You shouldn't accept it, I don't think. +In fact, take another Obama case-- one +of Obama's major attacks on civil liberties. +It's a case that probably most of you haven't heard about, +but I'd look it up if I were you. +It's a nice thing about the internet. +Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project-- case +brought by the government to the Supreme Court Government One. +Holder is the Attorney General. +Humanitarian Law Project was a group +that was giving legal advice-- legal advice-- +to a group that's on the US terrorist list. +The group happened to be the PKK-- Kurdish group. +The US government calls it a terrorist group, +so it's on the terrorist list. +Humanitarian Law Project was giving legal advice to them. +Obama's Justice Department decided +to condemn that as material assistance to terrorism. +Material assistance of terrorism used +to mean giving a gun to somebody in Al Qaeda. +But this extends it to giving legal advice +to someone on the government's terrorist list. +And if you look at the court discussion colloquy, +it could maybe apply to somebody who +has an interview with Nasrallah, you know, +the head of Hezbollah. +Or just talks to, maybe advises, a group +to turn to non-violence. +That could be regarded as material assistance +under Obama. +That's a tremendous attack on the freedom of speech, +and just ordinate elementary justice-- +passed almost without comment. +Now we might ask ourselves-- why should +we even takes the terrorist list seriously? +What's the terrorist list? +The executive branch of the government +simply determines you're a terrorist. +I put you on the list. +No review. +No judicial review. +No defense. +It's just an executive act of an authoritarian state. +And if you look at the history of the terrorist list, +it's mind-boggling. +Like, Nelson Mandela, for example, +was on the terrorist list because Reagan administration +condemned them as-- his group, the African National Congress, +as one of the more notorious terrorist groups in the world +because they were opposing apartheid, +which Reagan supported. +OK, so that's the terrorist list. +And Mandela was on until about four years ago, +when it took a special Act of Congress +to get him off the terrorist list. +On the other hand, take, say, Saddam Hussein. +He was taken off the terrorist list in 1982, +because the Reagan administration wanted +to provide arms to Iraq, so in order to be legal, +he had to be off the terrorist list. +Actually, that left a gap in the terrorist list, +so they put Cuba in. +Why? +Because Cuba has been the target of more terrorism than the rest +of the world combined in the years before it, +mostly based in Florida. +That's the terrorist list. +So apart from being kind of ludicrous in the way it +actually works, the very concept is an abomination. +Why should the state have the right +to determine unilaterally who's a terrorist? +Do they have that right? +No, they don't. +Do they have the right to murder people +who they put on the terrorist list? +No they don't. +Do they have the right to charge people with material +assistance to terrorism if they give legal aid to somebody +that they've designated as a terrorist? +This gets more and more extreme as you go on. +These are Obama innovations. +Well, history doesn't go straight line. +And I think, myself, Bush would've been worse, +but not that there's much to cheer about in this regard. +AUDIENCE: With cultures that didn't have a written language +until another culture came in that did, +and they adopted their writing system. +Is there any systematic effect on languages +that adopted someone else's writing system? +NOAM CHOMSKY: There is a systematic effect of literacy. +It's not so much adopting the writing system +as using it for reading. +So if we actually want, there's a-- Ken Hale, +same guy we talked about before-- he +did a very important study in the 1970s in which he showed +that-- an article that appeared on what's called cultural gaps. +He studied the languages that he worked on, mostly Australian, +and found that many of them had all kind of what +looked like gaps. +Like, they didn't have number words. +They didn't have color words. +Or they didn't have relative clauses. +A lot of other things they didn't have. +And what he showed was that all of this +was just totally superficial. +The people had all the concept. +They had no problem with dealing with any of them. +They used them all the time, but just in more indirect ways. +So if they didn't have number words, +they would still be able to say five, ten. +They had no problem dealing with market societies. +They may not have had the color red, +but they could say blood-like. +And the same was true even of structural things, +like embedded relative clauses. +Well, that was an important study. +Ignored, like most important studies. +But, shortly after it, somebody else in our department, Wayne +O'Neil, another friend of Anne's and mine, +who studies the history of English, +he did a study of middle English. +And he investigated, and if he was looking for something +similar, he discovered that the use of complex constructions, +which had embedded elements in them, +increased as literacy increased. +There's a natural reason for that. +When you speak, you're constrained +by short term memory, which is pretty small. +Short term memory is around seven or something like that. +The same for humans and other organisms. +And that means you can't do much. +So ordinary speech tends to be what's called para-tactic. +You just kind of tack things on one after the other, +because you can't embed. +On the other hand, once you move to literacy, +you begin to use capacities that you always had but never used. +It's like, when the people learn. +You go to school and, you say, first grade or something, +and they teach you how to multiply. +You begin to use a capacity which you always had. +It's not taught. +It's part of your intrinsic capacities +that you have the capacity for number. +Every society has it. +Every human being has it. +It's kind of a mystery that bothered Darwin and Wallace-- +the founders of evolutionary theory. +They asked, how could it evolve since it's never used? +But it's true that everyone has it. +But you can't do it in your head. +Like, you can't multiply big numbers in your head. +Right? +You'd collapse after a very short period. +But you can multiply them once you learn the technique, +because you've got the knowledge. +You just have to exhibit it. +And the same thing happens with literacy. +Once literacy spreads, you get much more complex +linguistic usage, even in speech, because it carries over +from writing to speech. +So that effect I think is real and documented. +But the effect of just using. +If you just use the letters to say, write things, +but you never read, I'd doubt if it +would have much of an effect. +AUDIENCE: I'm curious as to your thoughts, because I'm +standing now, as to your thoughts +on-- I guess some people have said +that the effect of technology on certain languages +has made us dumber. +So like, texting, LOL, or hash tags. +And if that's actually true, or if it's +just the same as any appendians, like +new words being added to languages. +NOAM CHOMSKY: I think the real question +about the, what might be the cognitive effect-- +the current kind of teenage technology-- it does +have a very superficial aspect to it. +So, that's true, for example, of Facebook. +People think they have lots of-- I +mean I know of cases, teenagers, who +think they have lots of friends, hundreds of friends. +Because if they write, I've got an exam tomorrow, +they'll get 100 letters saying, I hope you do well, and so on. +And the communication is very restricted. +A simple formula is things like that. +So does it have a dumbing down effect? +I kind of doubt it, frankly. +But, you know, it is a topic that could be studied. +It is being studied, in fact. +But as far as I know, there are no real results, +and I think it would be surprising, +because it's all kind of superficial. +It does add a kind of superficiality +to life, which may not be a good thing. +I think it's probably harmful in the long run. +But to try to-- I feel like I'm bringing coals to Newcastle. +You people know a lot more about this +than I do, because I don't use any of this stuff, +except with my grandchildren, when I have to. +Is there one last question? +We have time for a quick question. +There. +Is the-- so the diversity of languages and cultures +is wonderful, but if there is on the other side, if you would +say anything, if you would, sort of allow +that having a unified language and common culture +helps communication and may advance world peace? +Well I don't if it advances peace. +In fact, it seems to have the opposite, because you're +forcing people into situations of conflict. +And the one language that dominates +is just the most powerful state in the world. +But there's an advantage, to having, say, +a single language for science. +OK, so by now, English is pretty much the language of science. +When I got to MIT 60 years ago, I +was teaching scientific French and scientific German-- all +graduate students in every field had +to pass an exam in French and German. +It was a complete fake, but that was kind of +like a residue of the pre-second World War period. +But it was true. +You go back 70 years, a civil engineer +had to know French or German. +OK now, that's all gone. +All around most of the world, the language of science +is English. +That's helpful. +On the other hand, exactly as you say, +there's also-- if that extend from just some mode +of communication to the actual languages of life, +it would be a real loss. +We would lose cultural wealth. +Actually, if you live in the United States, +and you travel abroad, you see it very quickly. +The United States is an extremely insular society. +People don't know anything about the outside world. +Students in colleges don't know where France is. +It's just-- they don't know anything. +It's remarkably different from Europe and other countries. +And part of the reason is that, you +can go 3,000 miles in the United States, +and it looks exactly like where you came from. +Go to Boston to Los Angeles, the weather's a little different, +but everything else is the same. +The accent is slightly different. +You go 100 miles in Europe, and you're in a different society. +So you just kind of automatically +gain comprehension of the richness and complexity of life +that's missing when societies are homogeneous. +Of course American society isn't literally homogeneous. +But, comparatively speaking, it is. +And I think that's the kind of loss +you would get if, in fact, you moved +towards a universal language. +Also, I just don't think there's any possibility that's +happening. +As I said, in Europe, there's now +actually a reaction against the unifying tendencies +of the European Union-- more regionalization, +regional languages, cultures. +It's not just languages, incidentally. +So take Catalonia, which I mentioned. +Under the Franco dictatorship, Catalonian language and culture +were totally suppressed. +They could not be exhibited in public. +But, if you go to Barcelona today, +let's say, you can on Sunday morning, +if you're downtown in Barcelona, take a look at the cathedral. +There's people swarming towards the cathedral-- folk singers, +folk dances, Catalan cultures being revived. +It's a rich culture being revived. +It was kind of there, underground. +Now it's open. +And I think that's just healthy for life. +[APPLAUSE] +7 +8 +13 +18 +21 +25 +28 +29 +30 +34 +35 +38 +40 +43 +47 +50 +53 +54 +56 +58 +61 +63 +67 +68 +73 +77 +79 +81 +83 +86 +88 +89 +92 +94 +96 +100 +103 +105 +106 +109 +112 +114 +118 +121 +122 +125 +127 +132 +136 +137 +144 +146 +148 +150 +151 +153 +158 +160 +162 +164 +166 +170 +171 +173 +177 +181 +183 +185 +189 +192 +199 +204 +208 +212 +215 +220 +225 +229 +232 +235 +239 +244 +246 +250 +252 +254 +257 +258 +261 +269 +273 +279 +282 +289 +293 +294 +298 +303 +308 +315 +318 +321 +324 +326 +328 +332 +337 +340 +342 +345 +349 +351 +353 +356 +358 +362 +364 +368 +370 +375 +376 +378 +382 +387 +389 +390 +394 +397 +400 +406 +408 +412 +415 +417 +419 +421 +424 +428 +432 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+3657 +3659 +3661 +3665 +3667 +3673 +3676 +3680 +3683 +3685 +3689 +3692 +3696 +3696 +3698 +3703 +3705 +3708 +3710 +3713 +3718 +3720 +3723 +3727 +3731 +3735 +3741 +3745 +3748 +3749 +3751 +3754 diff --git a/cnt/When Scapegoating Immigrants No Longer Works, Would Trump Stage an Attack to Maintain Power kki35ePhEuU.en.cnt b/cnt/When Scapegoating Immigrants No Longer Works, Would Trump Stage an Attack to Maintain Power kki35ePhEuU.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..87d2abe --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/When Scapegoating Immigrants No Longer Works, Would Trump Stage an Attack to Maintain Power kki35ePhEuU.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +AMY GOODMAN: We've had hundreds of questions come in from every means to ask you. +One of them is Ty Williams, who asks via Twitter about Trump exploiting fear. +Ty asked, when you--"[Can] you please expand on your comments in AlterNet that Trump admin +could stage attack? +What historical parallel do you have in mind?" +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, actually, the statement I made was pretty muted. +It wasn't quite as strong as the headlines indicated. +What I pointed out--and what everyone, I think, is aware of--is that sooner or later +this con game is not going to work. +People will understand he's not bringing back jobs. +He's not going to recreate the partly illusory, partly real picture of what life was like +in the past, with manufacturing jobs and a functioning society, and you could get ahead, +and so on and so forth. +He's not going to create that. +What happens at that point? +Something has to be done to maintain control. +The obvious technique is scapegoating. +So blame it on immigrants, on Muslims, on somebody. +But that can only go so far. +The next step would be, as I said, an alleged terrorist attack, which is quite easy. +It's, in fact, almost normal to--like Condoleezza Rice's mushroom clouds. +That's easy to construct, alleged attacks. +The other possibility is a staged attack of a minor kind. +And how hard would that be? +Take the FBI technique, which they're using constantly, of creating situations of entrapment. +Well, suppose one of them goes a little too far, that you don't stop it right in time. +That wouldn't be hard to work out. +I don't particularly anticipate it, but it's a possibility. +And this is a very frightened country. +For years, this has been probably the most frightened country in the world. +It's also the safest country in the world. +It's very easy to terrify people. +AMY GOODMAN: Noam-- +0 +7 +13 +18 +20 +22 +27 +31 +38 +41 +45 +53 +60 +61 +63 +65 +70 +73 +78 +81 +88 +96 +101 +107 +109 +120 +127 +128 +133 +136 +140 +143 +145 diff --git a/cnt/Why Does U.S. Consider Iran the Greatest Threat to Peace, When Rest of World Agrees It's the U.S. nLNHF_iKl8g.en.cnt b/cnt/Why Does U.S. Consider Iran the Greatest Threat to Peace, When Rest of World Agrees It's the U.S. nLNHF_iKl8g.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aef01c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/Why Does U.S. Consider Iran the Greatest Threat to Peace, When Rest of World Agrees It's the U.S. nLNHF_iKl8g.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,100 @@ +JUAN GONZALEZ: I wanted to ask you another question that came in, from Melbourne, Australia, +Aaron Bryla. +He said, "Defense Secretary James Mattis this week described Iran as the greatest threat +to the United States. +My question: Why does the U.S. insist on setting the potential grounds for war with Iran?" +NOAM CHOMSKY: That's been going on for years. +Right through the Obama years, Iran was regarded as the greatest threat to world peace. +And that's repeated over and over. +"All options are open," Obama's phrase, meaning, if we want to use nuclear weapons, +we can, because of this terrible danger to peace. +Actually, we have--there's a few interesting comments that should be made about this. +One is, there also is something called world opinion. +What does the world think is the greatest threat to world peace? +Well, we know that, from U.S.-run polls, Gallup polls: United States. +Nobody even close, far ahead of any other threat. +Pakistan, second, much lower. +Iran, hardly mentioned. +Why is Iran regarded here as the greatest threat to world peace? +Well, we have an authoritative answer to that from the intelligence community, which provides +regular assessments to Congress on the global strategic situation. +And a couple of years ago, their report--of course, they always discuss Iran. +And the reports are pretty consistent. +They say Iran has very low military spending, even by the standards of the region, much +lower than Saudi Arabia, Israel, others. +Its strategy is defensive. +They want to deter attacks long enough for diplomacy to be entertained. +The conclusion, intelligence conclusion--this is a couple years ago--is: If they are developing +nuclear weapons, which we don't know, but if they are, it would be part of their deterrent +strategy. +Now, why is the United States and Israel even more so concerned about a deterrent? +Who's concerned about a deterrent? +Those who want to use force. +Those who want to be free to use force are deeply concerned about a potential deterrent. +So, yes, Iran is the greatest threat to world peace, might deter our use of force. +AMY GOODMAN: Today is the 50th anniversary of Dr. King giving his "Beyond Vietnam" speech +at Riverside Church, where he said the United States is "the greatest purveyor of violence +on Earth." +Your thoughts today, as we wrap up, and if--in the last 30 seconds? +NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, that speech by King was very important, also other speeches he gave +at the same time, which have, at the time, seriously harmed his reputation among liberal +Northerners. +He sharply condemned the war in Vietnam, which was the worst crime since the Second World +War. +AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds. +NOAM CHOMSKY: The other thing he was doing was trying to create a poor people's movement, +a non-racially separated poor people's movement. +AMY GOODMAN: And we're going to do Part 2 of this discussion and post it at democracynow.org. +Our guest, Noam Chomsky. +I'll be with him at the First Parish church in Cambridge on April 24th, and then to Denver +this weekend, as well as British Columbia. +0 +4 +5 +10 +11 +17 +20 +25 +28 +34 +38 +43 +47 +51 +58 +61 +64 +67 +71 +78 +82 +88 +91 +99 +103 +107 +116 +122 +128 +129 +136 +139 +141 +147 +152 +157 +162 +163 +168 +175 +183 +186 +194 +195 +196 +201 +204 +208 +209 +214 diff --git a/cnt/WoWFEST - Lockdown presents Noam Chomsky ''A Letter from America'' hCdGvWuF1d8.en.cnt b/cnt/WoWFEST - Lockdown presents Noam Chomsky ''A Letter from America'' hCdGvWuF1d8.en.cnt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c44df74 --- /dev/null +++ b/cnt/WoWFEST - Lockdown presents Noam Chomsky ''A Letter from America'' hCdGvWuF1d8.en.cnt @@ -0,0 +1,2414 @@ +Hello, my name is Mike Morris +I'm one of the co-directors at Writing on the Wall an arts organisation and festival based in Liverpool +I'd like to welcome you all to WOWFest Lockdown - our 20th annual and first-ever online festival. Which runs throughout May +Tomorrow at 3 o'clock +We've got Life of Grime - a showcase of a work of a new generation of spoken word poets +Rappers and grime artists . At 6 o'clock tomorrow in partnership with La Violette Societa: +we present A Barely Believable Bout of Beautiful Avoidance - a night of poetry +storytelling from one of the gems of the liberal arts scene. +Future guests include Nikesh Shukla, Rosie Jones, Stuart Maconie, Sharna Jackson, Phil Scraton +Francesca Martinez, Levi Tafari and to end the festival a +Special call to the arts from the former Labour Party leader +Jeremy Corbyn +All events are free +but donations are welcome and they'll be split between Fans Supporting Food Banks, the South Liverpool Domestic Abuse Services and +Writing on the Wall +Tonight, we have a very special guest who first appeared at WoWFest back in +2003 +Noam Chomsky's interests writings +Academic work and activism are wide-ranging +He's written over 100 books, is regarded as the father of modern linguistics +was voted in 2005 as the world's leading public intellectual and in +2011 was the most cited academic in the world +Booker Prize winner and activist Arundhati Roy called him one of the greatest, most radical public thinkers of our time +He was in the news again this week when speaking at a launch of the Progressive International +Which aims to unite +progressive forces around the world +Noam Chomsky said that Donald Trump was culpable in the deaths of Americans due to the coronavirus +With the rise in populist governments and the antics of Donald Trump and as the U.S. Remains the dominant global power +We feel there's no one better place to shed some light on the current situation +If you have any questions, please post them in the comments box and we'll aim to get through as many of them as possible +When we contacted Noam to appear at WoWFest Lockdown +He said that he'd been turning down hundreds of requests for interviews and appearances +but felt that this one was special and +Therefore it is with a great sense of pride +That I welcome Noam Chomsky to WoWFest Lockdown to present 'A Letter from America' + + +Do I exist? t I can't tell +You exist? Hello. Noam +okay, so I'm very +pleased to +More or less be with you. I +Wish it was in person. Of course, that's quite different. But this is the world in which we live +I'd like to +begin by saying a few words about +current crises +if there's time we could move on to broader issues that +are taking shape +will remain +Will have to be dealt with even after we +overcome the current critical +circumstances +Right now, of course +Attention is very naturally focused on the pandemic. It's very serious +costs will be +severe +but there's a +Few things to remember about it. We will recover +a +terrible cost +How serious a cost depends on how governments react +Need not be as serious as it is in +Countries like the yours and mine which are particularly bad +Others much better, but we will recover +Butt we're not going to recover from other things that are happening right now +so as we speak the +Polar ice caps are melting +The melting is accelerating +Nobody's exactly certain how it'll work, but it could be that within decades +Much of the world will simply start becoming uninhabitable +the, one of the latest +scientific studies predicted that +- this is the first study to +carefully investigate +human +habitation +over the millennia +That's in a pretty narrow band of the world surface where the temperatures are +Relatively moderate - that's changing visibly. In fact, the prediction of this study is that +If we honor our current course in about 50 years +much of the +World, much of the world in which people now live, will become uninhabitable +South Asia, Middle East, large parts of Africa +large sections of China +parts of the United States +and major changes everywhere else - organized human life will +probably collapse or +Turn into some form which we can scarcely imagine +the melting of the ice caps, it carries with it the +threat of a +very significant +rise in +sea level - We +take a longer view, we're now +approaching the +warming of the global heat of about +125,000 years ago +And we're of course approaching it much more rapidly than at that time +which has consequences that aren't understood. But at that time the +The oceans were about six to nine meters +Higher than they are today +You can't even imagine a world like that +So that's happening while we speak +other things as well. Now the threat of nuclear war is being +escalated +It's very severe +It's getting worse. In the next couple of months may get much worse - if there's time, I could talk about that +So that's in the background. You should not forget it, while we're +focusing on the +pandemic that +Now, quite naturally, occupies attention. So let's take a look at the pandemic +First thing to bear in mind is that +After it is mitigated and declined it will very likely +Recur.A few years down the road, there'll probably be another one. That's the prediction of +Scientists who've +been studying these things for years. It's +Overwhelming consensus on this. So if we want to prevent the next pandemic +we have to start now and +It's known what we should do to start now, if we don't do it, there'll be another one +more severe than this one because the effects will be +Exacerbated by global warming. So how do we figure out what to do? +It's not Quantum physics +We ask how did this one come about? +Obvious question. Well, let's take a look - go back to +2003 +when there was another major coronavirus epidemic +SARS epidemic +Coronavirus very similar to this one, but that one, fortunately, was contained, barely +At that point scientists warned right away that other +Likely, coronavirus pandemics are coming +Here's what we have to do to deal with it - +work on +explore the nature of corona viruses +And work on the background for vaccines and treatments and so on; if we do that +we'll be in shape, in shape when the next ... when the next one comes +well, it's not enough to have the knowledge - somebody has to pick up the ball and run with it +Who could do it? +Well the most obvious +Candidate is the huge pharmaceutical corporations +they've got +profits +overflowing +thanks to +the neoliberal programmes, the +so-called free trade +agreements, which are in fact very remote from free trades +and have highly protectionist +elements designed to provide +essentially monopoly pricing rights to major corporations +Drug corporations and media corporations and others, so the drug companies are given exorbitant patents +Way beyond anything that existed in the past? +If they had existed in earlier years the ...England the United States, other countries would never have developed +but +Now they're there to make sure that the major corporations are +overflowing with profits +So they have plenty of funds +They have laboratories. They have resources. They could have gotten the work right away and +Prevented this pandemic, but there's a barrier +The barrier has a simple name. It's called capitalism +the drug corporations respond to market signals +How can you make profit? Ok, you can't make profit by working on preventing a +catastrophe that'll come down the road in several years and if you have a vaccine +Doesn't amount to much anyway something that people take once, maybe the next year, but you don't make a lot of profit on +What you want to do is other things - drugs that people are constantly using +That rich people use so they can pay for them. That's where profit is. So they're out +Drug companies couldn't do it +Can anybody else pick up the ball? +Well in principle, yes +there's something called government. If you look at the history of development of +vaccines drugs so on +That's... almost all the serious work is done under the public funding in the public sector. I won't go through the details, but +most vaccines +They may be +finally marketed by private corporations, but the basic research is +typically difficult creative work - it's almost always done in government institutions +That then hand it over to private corporations to modify for +marketing and profits +so the government could easily take over. In the United States the National Institute of Health has +very sophisticated labs; there were research laboratories in +universities - the University +where I spent most of my life - MIT +has wonderful +laboratories. The drug companies know it +Take MIT or any other big research institution - take a look at the buildings around it. +The buildings around it are Pfizer +Novartis +Genetic engineering corporations. Why are they there? +Basically to ripoff research that's done under public funding at the research institutions +Like MIT +So the government could easily take over but there's a barrier +In England, it's called Thatcher in the United States, It's called Reagan +It's 40 years of a savage +version of capitalism +Neoliberalism, it's called +magnified in +the UK and the continent by +austerity programs which had no economic basis, but +Were derivatives of the neoliberal savagery. And the this particular +savage form of capitalism has a principle +It was in fact enunciated by +Thatcher and Reagan right at the beginning in Reagan's words +Government is the problem not the solution +Translated into English, that means that +Decisions should be taken out of the hands of government +which has a flaw it's +Partially at least - under public influence. So we overcome that flaw and transfer +decisions, planning to private +tyrannies +Huge Business Corporations +Tyrannies, basically, which are unaccountable to the public - so we transfer +decisions over to them but that's called... That's the meaning of +Government is the problem not the solution +So government is ruled out +That leaves nobody +So we're left unprepared. +Then comes +the question of how... +individual governments respond. That varies quite a lot +so +Take the United States... they're the most +important country in the world - by far the most powerful +Europe just follows behind it, whether it likes it or not, +What happened in the United States? Well... +first came the Obama years +Obama made some slight efforts to try to do something. So it was known that there's a +shortage of ventilators - now it's a severe crisis, but it was +pretty common knowledge in the healthcare circles. So Obama did +Contract with a small company in California that was producing the high-quality, low-cost +ventilators +The company that was bought up by a bigger company +to standard property of +neoliberalism's leading to an +virtual monopolization in sector after sector of the economy +The big fish swallow the small fish. That's the way it works under +Savage capitalism with no antitrust regulations. So this small company was bought up by a bigger... +a bigger company - Covidien - which makes +High-quality ventilators, but very high cost +So the first thing they did of course was put the small company out of business +Now they don't want +competition from low-cost +ventilators - so that one's done. Now, there were a couple of other efforts and for example +The United States at the time - it did have programs ... government programs which were working with Chinese +scientists to try to +determine the nature of +coronaviruses . Most coronaviruses come from bats - a +bat may bite a mammal the mammal gets in touch with +The human then it's transferred and it happens that there's a huge +concentration of bats the deep in caves around the Wuhan, the +region in China +So there are Chinese scientists who were venturing into these caves. It's quite dangerous some have died +collecting coronaviruses +the Wuhan Institute of +Virology is the main center for the virus... for coronavirus research and there were American scientists working with them +Carrying out programs they had collected +thousands of +Coronaviruses to try to determine which ones could be harmful what you could do about them. So what was done with that? +Donald Trump came into office - the program was cancelled +Okay +We don't want to waste money on that ... businesses don't make any money out of that +The Trump administration is.. has one major +constituency +extreme wealth - corporate power +That's its prime +Constituency. For the Republican Party generally, that's true. But with Trump, that's extreme. He does wave some +populist banners and rhetorics, but that's for show +You look at the programs, the legislative programs +it's +Every single one is devoted to that. So he canceled the program ... of working with Chinese scientists +We know - it means we know less about what's likely to come +Every year that Trump was in office he +defunded the +Center for Disease Control +the main government institution concerned with potential health hazards +so every year cut it back- no profit for private business. I mean , it happens to +Benefit the public but who cares about them? They're of no significance? +The... er... in fact this continues even after the pandemic +right now as you can see +Trump is +clawing around desperately to try to find some scapegoat to cover up the +Serious crimes he's committed against American people +Tens of thousands have died because of the way he's been handling. So you gotta blame somebody +Now the main idea is let's blame China. Okay. So a lot of Yellow Peril hysteria +There is a program that... there was a government program +Continuing to work with the Wuhan Institute. This is after the pandemic broke +Working with them to try to find ways to mitigate it and control it +Trump canceled that because we have to hate China. So therefore American scientists aren't allowed to work with China. Okay +That's +Now, let's see what there were plenty of warnings. In fact, you know, you know in ...last October October +There was a major +Simulation of what would happen if a coronavirus came? +nobody paid attention +Okay, finally comes last December, December 31st +China +informed the World Health Organization that their doctors are finding +pneumonia like symptoms with unknown aetiology +about a week later Chinese scientists had identified the source of the +Epidemic that was then growing +Coronavirus. A couple days later they had sequenced the genome +handed over to the World Health Organization - distributed to the world. By mid-january every +Serious virologist in the world knew exactly what it was +Then comes the question of how governments react. It varied. In East Asia in +Oceania, Australia, +New Zealand they reacted very quickly +They now pretty much have the virus under control +If you look look the way it was done, it's very interesting +But take South Korea which happened to be hit first by a very serious outbreak of +Covid19 epidemic. They reacted instantly -they didn't have a lockdown +They had massive +Testing and then they carefully traced each individual who had symptoms +checked their contacts +quarantined those who were contacted - the rest of the society continued +They continued to do this. This was assisted by civil society +the unions played a major role in ensuring that it +proceeded properly +NGOs +in South Korea participated and the community organizations formed +To try to make sure that in their own communities the proper procedures were followed +with this vast +civil society participation +And a government that cared about its citizens that was contained in the most dangerous place +Other countries in the region did pretty much the same - Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam +New Zealand's practically eradicated with a lockdown in that case - Australia. Well, what about Europe? +Europe didn't pay much attention to what these Asians are talking about, so Europe dithered +Finally the European countries kind of got their act together +one way or another +UK enough to talk about wasn't very brilliant +United States is at the bottom of the barrel. It has the most extreme business oriented +government that exists and +furthermore I will not mince words ... the White House happens to be in the hands of a +sociopathic +megalomaniac who cares about nothing but himself and +What's of benefit to him - if people get killed +doesn't matter - this we see every day +So in in the case of the US intelligence +agencies were +banging at the door of the White House all through +January and February +Trying to get somebody to pay attention to the fact that there's a major +epidemic coming +Couldn't break through - that Trump has... is preoccupied with his +TV ratings and the stock market which he believes may help him +Win the election if it's fight well in March the stock market did take a deep full Trump noticed it +finally noticed, you know, something's happening then come a series of +Extremely erratic actions - I won't run through them +But they're basically designed to deflect attention from his criminality +so the latest one a couple of weeks ago is to tell the governors of the states that +We, the federal government, can't help you +We have all the resources that we have the capacity to deal with other countries for needed +Goods, and so on but we can't help you +You have to do it, even though you're... you have balanced budgets +You're not allowed to go in debt, you don't have any resources, but you do... do it +It's a very clever campaign tactic. If things go wrong, and they ... will +Trump can blame the governors - your fault +Particularly democratic state - it's your fault +... if anything happens to work by accident, Trump can make a speech about +Oh, he's the greatest genius who ever +Appeared on earth - take a look at the success and it'll be echoed by the Fox News echo chamber +They'll say yes the greatest +Thinker in world history and so on... and a lot of the population and almost all the Republicans in the country +That's what they tune to +one day and so there's a +Beyond that what else do you do? If you're trying to find a scapegoat? +China's an easy one the Yellow Peril - easy to arouse people about that for over a century +but +international institutions are +disliked by much of the +More nationalistic +Xenophobic part of the population which happens to be Trump's voting constituency. +So let's blame an international institution the World Health Organization +So let's defund the World Health Organization and move to destroy it +As they've already announced that they want to do +Is there an effect? Yeah, a lot of effect. It's interesting that they're not talking about +So this place called Yemen? +Which is the worst humanitarian? +catastrophe in the world +The United States and Britain have a very large share of the responsibility in that +they've turned the place to... helped Saudi Arabia turn the place into a +humanitarian catastrophe +but there are +medical services functioning that are +Helping people saving lives - the World Health Organization +So let's pull them out and kill the people of Yemen. It's much worse in Africa. In Africa +There's many diseases; when the corona virus hits hard, as it will that'll just be another one +There are doctors +medical workers, health services in Africa dealing with the +Epidemics - the World Health Organization, so let's force them to pull out and kill unknown numbers of Africans +It's perfectly fine because it might improve my electoral prospects +What we're witnessing is a kind of +sadism +Megolmanic sadism +That is very hard to describe ... +hard to find words for it and +This is a small part of what's happening +Let's go back to the coming +environmental crisis +If you're not living under a rock, you know, it's serious and severe. Now, we don't have much time to deal with it - +Couple of decades maybe- after that things become irreversible +May be hitting tipping points in the near future where it becomes essentially irreversible +We're toast essentially +Every country in the world is doing something about it +Not enough but something +That includes the United States, which is also doing something about it under Trump. Namely +dedicating massive efforts to make it worse +Okay, the United States and Brazil +That's the other one are working hard to ensure that we go over the cliff sooner and more +dangerously +The United... the Trump administration is greatly encouraging the use of fossil fuels +opening up new territories for exploration +subsidizing the industries +Removing the +regulatory apparatus that provides some +mitigation for the lethal effects of fossil fuel use +Perfectly conscious of what they're doing - easy to demonstrate that but it's understandable +But an extreme form of savage capitalism and megalomania +That increases profits for a major part +of trumps +corporate constituency +Okay +It'll destroy +civilization +Coupla generations down the road, but it's not a concern. Okay +nothing, if you want the clear illustration of the thinking if you can call it that that guides the +administration +Take a look at Trump's budget. Every year the president presents to Congress a budget for the coming year - +That's February +So this February - February 10th Trump... sent +Congress his budget - the pandemic is raging but Trump is still saying +Oh, it's just the common cold but health +Specialists at hospitals, every one know it's raging +What's in the budget? Well? +Funding is cut back in some areas - funding is increased in other areas +Funding is cut back for the Center for Disease Control +Let's cut it back even further than in the past four years +And other health related parts of the government +Funding is increased for subsidies for fossil fuel +Industries - the ones that are laboring to destroy prospects for organized human life +That's in the midst of the pandemic. Okay tells us about the mentality +I'll just say a last word about +International planning, it doesn't stop, you know continues through the pandemic +Those who run the world +They continued to try to ensure that +The world that emerges from the pandemic will be in their interests +so out of the chaos of the Trump administration +You can discern a geopolitical strategy +It's not deeply hidden +the basic idea is to construct a +reactionary +international +International of the most reactionary harsh states run by the White House +Who were the candidates? Well Bolsonaro's Brazil is an obvious one +demolishing what's left of Brazilian democracy? +Racing to destroy the Amazon +The pandemic response +Is captured in a word when Bolsonaro was +informed by +health officers - who he then fired right away - +informed that +His policies of doing nothing are causing enormous damage. Lots of people are dying +His answer was so what? +They're poor people mostly +Dark-skinned, indigenous, black +So; so what? +The rich will make it. So he'll be a member. Well, he moved to the Middle East +a leading member is +el-Sisi's Egypt - as Trump puts it, his favourite dictator - the worst dictatorship in +Egypt's history. That's there. +The family dictatorships of the Gulf, of course, they joined. Then MBS and Saudi Arabia and the rest +A core element of it is Israel, which is moving very far to the right +it's had kind of tacit connections with the +Oil dictatorships in the past - they're coming to the surface. So they'll be integrated into it +moving farther east +Modi's India is a perfect candidate. Modi is working hard to dismantle +Indian secular democracy +The instituted ultra right +Hindu nationalist regime, crushing Kashmir +Suppressing the rights of couple hundred million Muslims. He's an obvious candidate - he'll join. Now move to Europe +Orban's Hungary +turning what's left of Hungarian democracy into a dictatorship. He's a member +in Italy +people like Marius Salvini - +perfect member... +His chief joy and life is helping +Miserable refugees fleeing from Africa make them die in the Mediterranean. So he's a candidate +nearer to home for you people like Nigel Farage +is a fellow who would obviously join but in general make a +reactionary international - the most reactionary forces you can find in the world now there is a counter force a +Couple of days ago, that's my commission a couple of days ago. There was the first +Announcement of a progressive international which is being organized to try to counter these +tendencies. That moves the world in a different direction +It was initiated by Bernie Sanders in the United States +Yanis Varoufakis in Europe has organized the +DM25 +movement - Europe -wide movement, which is seeking to +salvage +what is valuable in the European Union -there are valuable elements and to overcome the +serious deep flaws in... Europe-wide +That the Progressive International is bringing in as much as they can of the global self +leading figures in India and +Africa and Latin America and they're trying to forge - to become a +people's +Organization for the world to try to +Make sure that what emerges from this pandemic will not be what the +Powerful forces are trying to create but will be designed in the interests of people not profit +not private power, not state power, not massive surveillance; not controlled but rather in the interests of +Populations. Well, this looks like a pretty unequal constant - contest - at the level of state , certainly,at the level of people +Not so certain.. ah.. people are very different. They want something else +and I think the... what emerges from this pandemic +will +substantially be determined by how these +competing forces which are kind of +Symbolized by these organizations. There's much more how these competing forces +How the conflict between them emerges in very simple terms. It's a kind of class war +Class war goes on all the time +One side is always +Bitterly ... relentlessly fighting the other side sits there passively and watches +We're finished. That's the message that we're facing +Noam,thanks very much that was absolutely fascinating you've covered a huge amount of ground there and +I'm going to kind of pick up on a couple of questions +From people that they've submitted to try and get through quite a few of those if possible +To say to people that our time would run until about half 7:00 and we'll do what we can to +Try and answer all of your questions. One of the first ones that came in, Noam was +and I know you've talked about this in the past and +recently in relation to +how we've been lucky to avoid the dangers of nuclear war and one thing that +You said there which is you know, Trump has to hate somebody and at the moment, it's China +So a question was do you think that Trump will go to war with China? +Either before or after he's re-elected in November - if indeed he is re-elected +Well, there's one prediction that it's possible to make +with +Certainty that it won't be disproven. So I'll make that one. He won't go to war. I +Can't be wrong. I can't be refuted +Because if I'm wrong there won't be anyone around to care. Okay, so I'm sure to be right +That's nuclear war - +a nuclear war between two nuclear powers is essentially terminal +even if only one of them strikes +So say suppose the United States carries out a massive strike against China and China doesn't retaliate +The US is finished +just because of the effects of nuclear winter - now the +effects of a massive nuclear strike essentially destroy everything +Including the ones who carried it out. No, the people are in the business, you know, the +strategic analysts planners they know all this +Then, doesn't mean they won't do it. You know, that's a separate question +But they understand very well that the the threat is very great to them +We know that they take enormous risks +It's kind of amazing for me and many others who +almost everyone in the arms control community that people aren't +terrified about this +William Perry former Secretary of Defense +a couple of months ago said he's doubly terrified +Terrified by the increasing threat of nuclear war and by the fact that nobody's concerned +you take a look at the +Campaigns in Britain and the United States, political campaigns, in the United States was never mentioned +As far as I know it wasn't in Britain either +It's just not on the agenda.If you look at the... except for people concerned with arms control +Terrified - the threat is rapidly ... the threat is extremely severe - if you look over the record +Seventy-five years. It's kind of a miracle that we escaped +We've come within minutes of nuclear war - often by accident, a failure of computer systems +reckless acts by government +Last-minute intervention by some humans to stop it. If there was time I'd talk about some of the cases which are mind-boggling +It's kind of a miraculous. We've gotten this far +The Trump administration is dedicated to making it much worse +what they're doing is +step-by-step +Dismantling the arms control regime which has +limited the +threat of nuclear war. So last August they +dismantled the +INF treaty +The Reagan Gorbachev treaty, which +Significantly lessened the threat of war in Europe which would immediately explode the global war +Next on the chopping block is the Open Skies treaty +It's an initiative of President Eisenhower +Which has given both sides information about the other, which +Reduces the danger that there might be some, you know +Mistaken first strike because of bad information. So let's get rid of that +The next one - the last one is the New START treaty +Which has sharply cutback +missile ... nuclear weapons in Russia and the United States the two main countries -China's way behind +the +That's coming up from... for renewal early next year +the Russians have been pleading with the United States to +negotiate a renewal +Trump administration is not interested. It's getting to the point where it's probably too late +So that'll..one'll go. That just opens the doors +If you look at the ... military industry +publications they're delighted +Euphoric, they're getting huge government contracts to build weapons that can destroy everything even more +Rapidly, and they understand that a little bit down the road +They get more contracts to try to develop a hopeless means to defend against +The weapons that we're encouraging the Russians and others to produce +That's part of the world in which we live and you can't get people to pay attention +So going back to the immediate question +There are +There's a lot of ... provocative acts going on in the periphery of China. Some are by China +building up the +Islands in the South China Sea to arm them with +Defensive weapons and so on. The United States doesn't want that. +They want control of all the oceans. Notice that this is not happening in the Caribbean +It's not happening off the coast of California +it's happening off the coast of China and that tells you something about who rules the world, but those could +into dangerous +Confrontations, it's not the most dangerous +most dangerous ones probably in the Middle East +when Trump +tore to shreds the +joint agreement with Iran which was working extremely well to contain any +Possible Iranian nuclear programs - the US intelligence confirms, everyone concerned that it was working perfectly +Trump dismantled it. Europe doesn't like it +They hate it +But Europe doesn't take a stand against the United States - could but it doesn't +It has to observe what the master wants - another part of the world +so Europe +abides by the +US sanctions that they hate them, they ... keep talking about ways around them but never implement them +That could be very dangerous +some like Trump's murder of Soleimani +Second top figure in Iran now. That's as if Iran had +Murdered Mike Pompeo the Secretary of State at an airport in Mexico ... now, we'd have had a nuclear war +But when we do it to them, it's fine. It's the right thing to do because we're the masters of the world +We're The Godfather +everyone else is +Subsidiary, but any of those things could blow up +confrontation Gulf of +Hormuz could blow up suddenly so that's +extremely dangerous with all kind of +Terrible consequences. There are these dangers all over the world and if we don't do something about them +they're very likely to blow up and +remember a nuclear war - a major nuclear war is terminal. +I should say - I'm talking too long, but one last thing about this to keep in mind +The glaciers are melting all over the world +They're melting in the Himalayas +That's the source of the rivers, the main rivers for India and Pakistan +Not in the great, in the distant future +It will be seriously affecting water supplies in Pakistan and India +Pakistan already has droughts. In India. There are hundreds of millions of people who don't have potable water +But this is going to escalate - these are two nuclear powers +They're not going to sit by quietly while the water ... while one or the other takes the water by building dams and so on. +Something like that is happening in Africa between Ethiopia and +Egypt, they don't have nuclear weapons, but these things are happening - all +exacerbated by global warming. All of these threats are interrelated +We have to deal with all of them +They can't be allowed to continue or human society is +essentially finished +I've got a question which, erm... +The question is how can we explain to the privileged that a pandemic is not a leveler but instead affects the marginalized +Disproportionately, but I just wanted to add to that that I remember what the the hole in the ozone layer +Opened up probably about 20-25 years ago now because of the CFCs +That we're in a lot of fridges and freezers and stuff like that and the world +Finally moved as one really to ban CFCs and to try and close the ozone layer because it realized it +was an existential threat, you know, but it +Rich or poor you're going to be affected by this and you might think the same +about this pandemic +There's no doubt that the poor as you've explained and, you know, +We're seeing here, a lot of BAME communities +- the most marginalized, are being affected +adversely by it, but it is something that travels, you know, it doesn't respect boundaries +So the question was, how can we explain +You know +to the privileged that the pandemic is not a leveler but instead affects the marginalised disproportionately - +and I'd kind of add to that - why is it with something like this that even though it affects the, erm... the marginalized +disproportionately +It inevitably affects all classes +why is it that they're not prepared to move on this and, and maybe to sit back and let the likes of Trump and +Boris Johnson in this country kind of rule the roost at this stage, even though in the long term it could also threaten their interests +Very crucial question, actually, I +Don't want to self advertise, but my latest book is called +internationalism or extinction +And I think that's exactly +What you're raising those are the choices +and in fact, the world is moving towards extinction and +Undermining +Internationalism, it's very striking to watch. I think a lot of it can be traced to the +Extremely harmful effect of the neoliberal programs in the last 40 years +which have had a very harshing impact on +individual societies and global societies +You can talk about England much better than I can but it's a much coarser +Harsher society than it was 50 years ago +There's a reason for that and it's all over the world, so let's take a look at what's happening +You're absolutely right. There has to be an international response to this +What is the Godfather doing in Washington? +Tearing to shreds +Every international institution. Okay. We don't want any of +Pull out of the joint agreement and pull out of the - destroy the World Health Organization and on and on +We're just going to run the world ourselves. We don't need any of your institutions +Okay, there's something called the European Union that has the word Union in it +Has a number of countries +the powerhouse of the European Union is Germany, +the richest country - it kind of delayed in responding to the pandemic but finally acted +got its act in order as +It wasn't super neoliberal like the United States +so it didn't run the hospitals on a strict business mall like the United States where you can't have an extra bed because +It's not profitable +So Germany still had some extra capacity in the health system diagnostic capacity. They used it +They now have quite a low death rate +comparatively, so they're in pretty good shape a +few kilometers +South of Germany. There's another country. It's called Italy +northern Italy +Happened to be a hot spot for a severe pandemic +Do you see German doctors in northern Italy? Is Germany helping northern Italy? +Not as far as I can tell +That's the Union - well fortunately +Italy could turn somewhere else +to the powerhouse across the Atlantic +Cuba. okay, a country that's been crushed by US terror +economic warfare for 60 years - +a poor country sending doctors all over the world - not for the first time. They've been doing it for years. So there's +Cuban doctors helping out in Italy with the support of +China which is providing materials. So there are some examples of internationalism. Where are they? +Not in the rich centers of power +they're +looking - they're not even looking after themselves +as countries they're looking after the rich and powerful among themselves +mostly ok +Somebody else's job to carry out internationalism - we'll let the poor do it - the people in poor communities +Who are forming mutual aid groups to try to overcome the, the threats that the government isn't meeting. That's +happening all over the world +poor countries like one of the worst +Countries dealing with this is Brazil because of this +lunatic Bolsonaro, who's a kind of +clone of Trump, but in poor communities +People are organizing +Community groups to try to do something. Some of it is almost surreal +Also in Brazil now there's a huge +... very poor population in Rio they live in these favelas +They're very poor slums; crammed together, you know, no water +and of course no health - no health support from the +The state or federal government +But a group did move in to try to provide some +Assistance in the favelas - the crime gangs - the crime gangs that have been terrorizing +the poor communities +That are so strong that police are afraid to go - in they moved in +Organizing social services - +That's the kind of world we live in. Okay, do we want to let it persist like this? +And we have the power, we have the choice. We have the opportunities +Within our own country. I don't know the statistics for England but in the United States +over... the deaths, +Overwhelmingly, they're elderly but that's everywhere but aside from the elderly it's a people in nursing homes. It's +People in... it's the poor +black and Hispanic, not only are they the most deaths but they are the ones who are being forced to +work under +harsh conditions +So take the executive order of the government federal government to open the meat packing plants +You know +Absolutely needed for survival. How am I gonna get by without my +sirloin beef but +Who works in that ... the meatpacking plants are horror shows +extremely dangerous +terrible working conditions +people crammed together +mostly black, Hispanic, Porto Rican +So let's force them back to work so they can die - doesn't matter much like Bolsonaro said - +so what there's plenty of them, that we can bring in more. Gets even crazier +Mexico is trying to close the +Maquiladoras, you know the factories up in the northern Mexico, which supply the US market +because of health conditions +bad, you, know again, poor safety conditions and so on they want to close them +The Trump administration is trying to force Mexico to keep them open +'course American car manufacturers need leather seats +We can't stop that. So that's the Mexican workers died. This is much like the +World Health... destroying the World Health Organization because it only saves +hundreds of thousands of Africans +I mean we're living in a world that has turned into +Astonishing savagery. No this didn't happen as you said at the time of the +the ozone layer problem, then there was still a residue of +humanity +the neoliberal +Savage breed had not yet sunk; in it now has. We see it in human relations we +See it International affairs. It's a +Speaking of a virus. It's a kind of a virus. That's +destroying the basis of society and +Consciously. You remember Margaret Thatcher. Ok,- there is no society only +Doesn't exist. There's only +individuals thrown into the marketplace +To survive somehow +Thatcher probably didn't know it but she was paraphrasing Karl Marx +mid 19th century he was +Condemning the autocrat... autocratic governments of Europe +Because they want to turn the population into a a sack of potatoes +Isolated, atomized, disorganized - subject to the will of +concentrated power +That's 'there was no society'. We see the consequences +it's a large part of the basis for the +anger and resentment +A hatred of institutions that's all over the place - a very fertile territory for demagogues +Who can say yeah, you're right. It's those, it's those guys who were responsible +the immigrants, the Chinese, the World Health Organization - it's them. +Now that we're seeing a lot of that and a lot of it is the direct result of the neoliberal plague +The forces that created that are working very hard right now. They were relentless +To ensure that what comes out of the pandemic will be a harsher version of that +Very much the same but with harsher controls that more surveillance more control of people +Harsher regulations and so on. +They don't have to win but if there's no counter force, they will +In recent years we've seen an alarming rise in the popularity +of far-right parties and sentimentalities +We've seen opinions being considered just as good or better than facts +I remember I think was Kellyanne Conway who said well I've got +alternative facts +Which was just basied simply +Her opinion. So one question that we've had around that is how do we combat collective ignorance? +This is something that seems to be on the rise here, you know with +Reports in the papers of +Leaflets coming out for ... mass gatherings in parks this weekend, which have been now linked to the far-right again +which will always try and bowl in with their own agenda +But does seem to be +you know, this is kind of +These sentiments rising - is it possible.? How do we... +what role can we playing in combating ... what's been termed in this question as collective ignorance? +We know this and you know it very well from your own experiences +From the first time we met and what preceded +You know, there's a way to do it +organization and if you look through modern history +There's one particular kind of organization which has been in the lead in overcoming ignorance bringing people together +Getting the work for positive ends. It's called unions +Thatcher and Reagan knew it too - their first acts - right away- was to try to destroy the unions +Thatcher +intelligent woman, she probably understood it, Reagan was just following the script handed to him by his corporate masters +But they, first in England, first, act, let's try to destroy the Union movement +Especially the more militant parts - the United States first act of Reagan +Let's break a strike with scabs +Scabs were illegal all over the world except for South Africa. Reagan opened the door to bring in scabs +To break up a union +Corporations got the idea very quickly - caterpillar big strikes. They brought in scabs to break it +Clinton came in with a brilliant idea. It's called NAFTA that gives +Businesses the ability to break strikes by putting up a big sign saying: +Transfer operation Mexico, meaning if you go on strike, we're going to move to Mexico +happens to be illegal +But law it doesn't matter when you have a criminal state +They don't enforce it +And in fact a study undertaken under NAFTA rules found that about 50 percent of organized +Activities were broken up this way +illegally, of course +It continues - the union movement is very significantly weakened +One of the latest acts by the most reactionary Supreme Court in living history is to +allow... +What's called the +refusal to... of +It's called... +Forget the exact word, but what it means is that workers can say we'll get union protection +But we won't pay for it. Okay +That allowed under the latest rules +Well, you can imagine what that does to unions and what Trump is trying to do right now +It's extremely interesting +They're working hard to destroy the post office +It's one of the biggest +unionized forces in the country - the post office provides enormous services but to people not to the rich +the rich do other things but for the general population, its +enormously important. And not only does it reach +everybody +But it sets up human context +You get to know the guy who delivers the mail and become friends; you go to the post office - +You meet your friends, you talk to human beings - over much of the country. I've seen that all over - that happens +So it's just the wrong kind of institution +It also is terrible for another reason +It's extremely efficient, and you don't want to get into people's heads the idea +That something can be efficient that's run by the public - by the government. It's a terrible idea +Government is the problem +it's private tyrannies that have to run everything where you have no say at all not a +government that might +Unimaginably be for the people. We don't want anything like that. In fact take a look at South Korea, which I mentioned before +How's the epidemic controlled in one of the worst hotspots? +unions +popular organizations +Community groups. They're the ones that are doing it. That's the way you overcome ignorance and atomization +We've seen it throughout history +All the time - so take the United States. The United States now +It's kind of like the 1920s ; there were, in the nineteen twenties +The - there had been a vibrant militant union movement. It was crushed by state corporate force +Woodrow Wilson +Gave the final blow with his Red Scare - wiped out the unions - so in the nineteen twenties, they were essentially gone - +the Depression hit +Took a while but within about four or five years the labor movement was reconstituting. This is my childhood +I remembered very well my family working-class +the union movement +Began to develop CIO was organized +militant strikes got as far as +sit-down strikes +Which are terrifying to business - a sit-down strike is just one millimeter away from saying +We don't need you +Bosses get lost. We'll run the place ourselves. Which happens to be correct? +But if that idea gets into people's, heads system collapses +So at that point you started getting New Deal measures. There was a sympathetic +administration, you know +immediate if that measure is very important one that kind of +Softened the harsh edges of the Coppola system, gave people plenty of benefits in the neoliberal +Period there's a strong effort to try to dismantle them, but they've still existed +well +That's the answer to the question +it's always going back to the, I mean just my own childhood memories and my +Family were first-generation +Working-clas,s the Union was their life.- It wasn't just a way to +You know, get better wages. It was cultural activities educational +activities +concerts +My aunt's were seamstresses unemployed, but they were in the ... +Garment workers union +They even got a week in the countryside over the summer. It was life. That was the union's +That's why Thatcher's and the Reagan want to destroy them. People shouldn't have a life +They should be subject to private power. +- atomised - sack of potatoes +that's the right way for people to be - none of this business of +Cultural activities and so on. In fact, you take a look at the neoliberal gurus +The thinkers behind all this - Ludwig von Mises Friedrich, Hayek and so on they hated unions +They supported +Vicious dictators because they simply destroyed unions I +Give the background if you like. It's one of the reasons why von Mises praised fascism. He said it destroyed unions +Same with Hayek, same with all of them.... That's why they love Pinochet's Chile +Destroyed the working class was terrific. So let's go in there and +enjoy it. This is the heart of +neoliberalism +There's a lot of nice talk about Liberty and all that stuff, but spell it out +Liberty means the liberty of the rich and powerful to crush everyone else +We've seen it. If you can't figure it out from the doctrines. We now have 40 years of experience +See it right in front of your eyes. +Talking about Liberty +one of the things that has come up in America and it's coming up in the UK now is + +The, the groups and the right-wing group ends +As they would class and libertarians - but that would be completely different from the real understanding of that, I suppose, in many senses, +But is this thing about the lockdown is an attack upon +Personal liberties and therefore their attitude is we should have the right to simply go out +you know to mix to do all - all the things that +We're doing - how do you answer that in relation to this +Discussion around liberties and personal liberties that have been expressed by many of these groups +Well, there are a lot of controls on liberties +You're supposed to stop at a red light when you're driving. That's an infringement on Liberty. Okay, we could say okay, that's +Let's get rid of it. Let's everybody kill each other. Okay be much more free +This kind of Liberty. That's the lockdown - is a way to keep people from killing each other. Okay +Is it worth it - you can debate +You know, you can have a debate about whether that's the best tactic +So for example in a civilized country like South Korea +They didn't have lockdowns because they moved in time +So that to prevent the need for lockdowns in the manner that I described. They didn't have to have a lockdown +New Zealand they did have a lockdown +It worked +Diseases have almost gone +You have to ask then when does the society +... how does it react to the epidemic and when? Countries like Britain and the United States, just +wasted months +Got way past the point where you could carry out +civilized measures like South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand others +So the lockdown is almost eccentric if you don't have it, it'll be a huge +I'm just going by the scientific consensus, which I think is plausible. You'll have a huge disaster +So sure. It's a limit on freedom +because of the... +Pick the word... +Failures or criminality whatever you like to say of the government's which has left us with few options - if we want to save people +We're going to have to face the fact that +Freedom has to be cut back just like it's cut back in traffic laws to try to save people +the call about talk about Liberty is as +Makes as much sense as saying 'I don't want to stop at traffic lights +cuts back my freedom' +Yeah, sometimes if you live in an organized society where concern about others is a criterion you +accept +constraints on your personal freedom +Okay. Otherwise, you just say the strongest guy with the most guns wins - +But you want that society, okay +There's a question here, which I think's very interesting +We are talking now online. Whereas back in 2003 we were live +This pandemic has forced everybody indoors and there seems to have been a leap, if you like... +in our use of the technologies even though obviously we're fairly used to them now +And we have these huge +organizations Facebook, Google etc +That we use on a daily basis. Well, there's a very interesting piece by Naomi Klein +around the issue of the tech giants and particularly in New York and Google and +their positioning of themselves to take advantage of the pandemic +I doubt that that's much of a surprise in in many ways, but the question is is should we or how can we +Control or dismantle the power of the non-governmental organizations such as Facebook, Google, Amazon +Etc that are now +they are now absolute giants in terms of the amounts of money that they make and +The control that they appear to to wield. Can we and should we address that? +Sure... +They were theoretically, like - take, say +Any one of them- picture - take your choice; take Apple's the major corporation and the +Biggest corporation in the world. Now, they're very profitable. Why? - They use +virtual slave labor in China +They work through Foxconn +Taiwanese company who organizes it - a very little of their profit goes to China +More goes to Foxconn. Most goes to the Apple headquarters in the United States, but they don't have to pay taxes +They have a very simple way out +They set up a room in Ireland +Which is about the size of the room I'm in, I suppose and they say we're an Irish company +So we don't have to... we pay very low taxes. We don't pay taxes to the United States. Is that possible to control? +Well, let's go back before +neoliberalism +Before Reagan it was illegal +You couldn't have tax havens +You couldn't have stock buybacks which are ways to enrich management and enrich shareholders +impose the cost and everyone else. It was all illegal +Treasury Department enforced the laws - it didn't happen. Okay +Is it utopian to say that we can go back to +capitalism before the days of Thatcher and Reagan? +Well, it doesn't sound like it's pie-in-the-sky +There were antitrust laws that were enforced then +The new principle is no you don't do that let them grow as much as they want - want that's Liberty +Do you have to have huge corporations like that? +There's another question in the background. Do you have to have corporations at all? +And is there any reason why +private power ...you should have private tyrannies in which people +spend +almost there are whole waking hours +under +totalitarian conditions that go way beyond what any totalitarian state ever thought of +So if you're you have a job say in +a factory +You're getting orders from the totalitarian leader +Saying you're allowed to go to the bathroom for five minutes at 3 p.m +You're allowed to talk to a friend for 30 seconds at +10 a.m +Stalin never dreamed of anything like that +That's called... now... that's most of your work your waking life - +Do we really have to accept that? +You go back to the early Industrial Revolution +Workers bitterly struggled against that.. I mean, the idea that you would be dependent on someone else +Was such an attack on basic human dignity +That the working class just regarded that as slavery +It was called in fact wage slavery, you know, it was common beliefs +That was the slogan of the Republican Party in the mid 19th century +Lincoln's Republican Party +that wage labor is the same as slavery except that it's temporary until you become free or take over - the slogan of the +Workforce at that time was those who work in the mills should own them +We'll run them ourselves. It's taken a long time to beat this out of people's heads. I don't think it's far below the surface +As I said with sit-down strikes, you're getting pretty close to it +self +worker owned industries which are proliferating +Another way. So there's this big question in the background, but the smaller question is can these +institutions +At least be brought under public control? +Well, they can in lots of ways .... take say +Exorbitant drug prices, which is a real problem. In the United States it's horrible... well, most countries... +It's horrible... erm... there's a new drug that might offer some help for coronavirus +Remdesivir, owned by the Gilead corporation - they want to charge +Incredible prices which makes it out of reach for anyone +The government put some pressure on them, but there's a law on the books in the United States - a law +Which says the government must act - not may, but must - act to ensure +The drugs are available at reasonable prices if there has been any +public involvement in producing the drug - +every drug +largely based on large-scale government involvement +That means every government since Reagan has been violating the law +Consciously. It's sitting right there. It's not Utopian to say maybe we can have a government that follows the laws. I mean is that +wildly leftist +In fact, it's kind of interesting to look at the way these things are +considered . So take Bernie Sanders in the United States +he's described as way out on the left, you know a +Revolutionary - wants to overthrow the society. But what are his programs ? He has two main programs - +One is universal health care ... +Have you heard of a country that has +Universal health care. I mean, can you think of one that doesn't have it? +Okay, that's so radical, we can't even think about it. His other the proposal is free higher education +Practically every country has that the Germany, Finland, France and Mexico +It's all over the place. In fact, the United States had it back in the 1950s. It was called the GI Bill +That meant that if you'd been in the army - huge number of people - you not only get free education but subsidized education +Even if he went to a private college +-fee paying - ...I went to the University of Pennsylvania in 1945. It's a Ivy League college +Fees were a hundred dollars a year +And you could get a scholarship like that. So we had essentially free education - very valuable to the country; very valuable to the people +It was a much poorer country, then. Is there any economic reason why we can't do it now? +So Sanders's programs basically are saying let's see if we can rise to the level of the rest of the world +that even +on the mainstream +The left of the mainstream, the most left columnists say 'good idea. The country isn't ready for it. It's too revolutionary' +I mean, that's the effect of 40 years of +neoliberal fanaticism +Saying let's just have what's on the book law books? Let's do what +We've had ;which everybody else does, which is easy. Can't... +Can't do that. It's just the country's not ready for it. Can we make the country ready for it? I think so. +I don't follow British politics as closely as I'd like to but my understanding is - correct me if I'm wrong - +that the Corbyn programs won a major victory in +2017 - biggest in Labour's history and that if you look at, that looking at some of the YouGov polls +Seems that the policies are still very popular... a lot +of reasons why it didn't happen, you know better than I - I don't have to go into them, but that means that +Britain... just the same polls in the United States... +... the population is ready to become a civilized society +But it's going to have to be +organized; active +Unions are a crucial element +other +social +political +organizations are +important- but if civil society is +Reconstructed around the Union base which has always been the source, then I think you can overcome this plague. +I think +there's a number of questions around this and I think +You know, obviously we can talk about the U.S. and the UK and I'm aware that time is creeping upon us +So I'll keep this brief and maybe, you know +If you can answer this one there, please Noam +Someone said another five years of Conservative rule in the UK +This could apply to America in terms of dependent upon the November election or four years +How can we influence +Change quickly to ensure there's something left at the other side of the pandemic? And I think just an addition to that is +We're all locked down even when it eases there's going to be social and physical distancing measures in place +Which, you know, makes it if you like it feels a bit difficult to organize in the traditional way +Somebody said, you know, how can you keep going despite setbacks? So maybe to sum that up: what can people do +You know, that's positive and meaningful +And has a legacy at this stage? +Well, you know organizing isn't the same as when you're talking to somebody face-to-face +obviously +You can do it the way we're doing +That's possible to carry on organizing activities +planning the future +with whatever contacts are available ...some or... +direct people can get into groups where they stand, you know, a couple of metres apart or they can do it +virtually +But it can be done and the forces that are trying to create a harsh +brutal future they are doing it +Right now - they're not stopping - they go on +Everybody else can do it too and it's very critical. In the United States +There's an election coming up. If Trump wins another four years +We may be finished. +Another four years of destroying the environment, +increasing the threat of nuclear war, +destroying international organizations, +crushing the poor, +Staffing the judiciary ... one of the main +tasks of the Republican administration. This is Mitch McConnell the Senate ... +The Senate Majority Leader's in charge of this ... is trying to pack the entire judiciary top to bottom +with young +ultra-right +Mostly incompetent lawyers who will make sure that whatever the public wants will be blocked +It'll never get through the judiciary +Republicans understand that they're a minority party they have to resort to one or another +tactic to try to steal elections or to make sure that nothing can be implemented if they +Win an election - a lot to say about this +but one of the devices is to +Pack the judiciary so nothing will ever happen, but we're facing a real +really dangerous moments in the United States and +Unfortunately, it's not a - it's not a simple matter, in fact, +to my distress, +parts of the left or helping to elect Trump +Now there's a movement among +Former Sanders supporters saying that both sides are so rotten I'm not gonna vote +Against Trump. I'm not gonna vote for Biden. I'm gonna vote by my conscience +What does that mean? If you understand arithmetic, that means I'm going to give an extra vote to Trump +Take a vote away from the opposition +Puts Trump one higher +We've been through this before in my lifetime many times +1968 in the United States a choice between Humphrey and Nixon +Was a big difference - the difference you could count in several million corpses in Indochina +to take one +a lot of the young people on the Left said I'm not gonna vote for Humphrey. Not for me. He's a corporate Democrat +I can't sully my hands on that so I won't vote +Which means I'll help Nixon win, which means I'll kill a couple million people in Indochina plus a lot of other things +It's happened before +Go back to my child.... my young childhood... I was born in 1928 +Germany was a flourishing democracy at the time the Nazis got about 3% of the vote +Totally marginal party. The next election was 1932 +they were +Happened to be the largest party, but if the Social Democrats and the Communist Party had gotten together +They would have won the election +We wouldn't have had Hitler +Couldn't do it +Communist Party line handed down by Stalin at the time is - they're all social fascists - can't co-operate with them +Social Democrats weren't that much better. So you break up the labour movement +They undermine the opposition you get Hitler. I mean can't we learn? +If you can't think can you at least learn? +It's very frustrating +This is constantly happening +But it doesn't mean you always ...sometimes it makes perfect sense not to vote .. +They're both so terrible it doesn't make any difference, but sometimes it does - sometimes +there's a... in this case....here's a colossal difference +Pressure from the left from these activists young groups has moved the official Democratic +Party - the Sanders movement and others had a big impact +Now you take a look at the official program now, it's not my program +It's not your program, but it's far to the left of any democratic program since Franklin Delano Roosevelt +That's public pressure. It's not that they suddenly had a conversion +It's because people are constantly at them - that can continue +but not if you say I'm gonna go away and sulk +All right, Noam, +I think we've come to the end of our time there. So many questions and +you'd be here all night answering them +I want to say it's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks so much for a thorough and enlightening +talk and for your responses to the questions as well +And obviously thank you a million for agreeing to take part in this lockdown +festival.The feedback that we've had, just in general to the festival but to yourself coming on has been phenomenal and +you know, people are looking for and enjoying listening to an alternative to the narratives that we tend to hear day in and day out +You've obviously got Fox News. We've got Sky News, but even the +you know, a lot of criticisms of the BBC and others for not really representing an alternative +narrative to what is taking place at the moment and +I feel that your talk has played a key role and I can see from the responses +We're getting already how much people have enjoyed it. So, thank you very, very much for taking part +you are always welcome back at the +Festival and who knows once all the lock downs have eased, we might even get you on a plane over here +But either way, we want to thank you and wish you all the very best +for the future and we always pay attention and will continue to do so +Of the... of your writings and your appearances and your commentary on the current situation. Thanks very much Noam +Okay, I've obviously said thanks to Noam and like to say thanks to you our audience for taking part in this event and for supporing +Writing on the Wall. Thanks to all those who submitted questions +Really sorry +they can't all be answered and the event will be posted on Facebook and YouTube in the coming days and +We at Writing on the Wall are more than happy to be taking part in that discussion and to try and... +with everybody, else find some answers to the questions +that Noam has addressed - all the ones that he was able to address in the time that he was given +I want to thank everybody who made a donation. If you'd like to donate and support +Writing on the Wall, Fans Supporting Food Banks and the South Liverpool Domestic Abuse Services +You can go to our website writingonthewall.org.uk or follow the link in the comment section below this on Facebook +You'll also find a link to a feedback form and we're always very interested in what our audiences +have got to say - it helps us to shape our festival and other events as well +Special thanks to our sponsors +And our funders the Institute of Creative Enterprise at Edgehill University +Unison Northwest, The School of Writing at Liverpool John Moores University, +Arts Council England, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Granada +Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. If you'd like to be one of our sponsors our contact details are on the website. +As I said earlier +We have a full program which runs right until the 31st of May and you can see that at WoWFest.uk +Huge. Thanks again for taking part. Please stay safe, but keep connected. 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