Noam Chomsky: You Ask The Questions
The Independent
28 August 2006
28 August 2006
How did you feel about the lack of a swift UN intervention in the recent Lebanon crisis?
The first requirement was an immediate cease-fire. That was blocked by Washington, presumably to allow maximal destruction by the invasion - the US-Israeli invasion, according to the (accurate) perception of 90 per cent of Lebanese. That call should have been accompanied by a demand for withdrawal of the invading army and reparations, unthinkable given the distribution of power. The resolution that was passed is deeply flawed, a separate matter.
Can Israelis and Palestinians ever live peacefully together in one state?
Perhaps, but it would have to be approached in stages. Since the 1970s, an international consensus has crystallised on the first stage: a two-state settlement on the internationally recognised borders, with minor and mutual adjustments. That has been barred by the US and Israel, with inconsequential departures. The US-Israeli alliance is now working to undermine the option by their programs of "convergence": annexation, dismemberment, and imprisonment (by takeover of the Jordan Valley), cynically described as "courageous withdrawal". If these policies can be reversed, and the first stage achieved, then further steps are possible.
Surely the US, UK and Israel are guilty of war crimes?
In the case of Lebanon, there is little doubt. Ample reasons have been given by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and that's a bare beginning. But guilt extends far beyond. The Bush-Blair invasion of Iraq, for example, is a clear example of what the Nuremberg Tribunal determined to be "the supreme international crime", which encompasses all the evil that follows. We would do well to recall the eloquent words of Nuremberg chief counsel Justice Robert Jackson: "We are handing the defendants a 'poisoned chalice', and if we sip from it, we must accept the same judgement." The conclusions seem clear enough.
After all the lies about the "war on terror", why has nobody in America started procedures to impeach George Bush?
There are several efforts, but there is unlikely to be any outcome in the absence of a genuine opposition party.
Do you believe Israel should exist, why and in what form?
As a Zionist youth leader in the 1940s, I was among those who called for a binational state in Mandatory Palestine. When a Jewish state was declared, I felt that it should have the rights of other states - no more, no less.
Why should the US exist, sitting on half of Mexico, including Florida, conquered in a violent racist war carried out in violation of the Constitution?
And we can ask much the same about other states. State formation has been a brutal project, with many hideous consequences. But the results exist, and their pernicious aspects should be overcome.
Where do you find the courage?
For people as lucky as we are, it takes no courage.
read the rest here
posted by Laila K at
15:17
21 Comments:
It seems to me the media wishes for people here to forget about the issues of last month. They are keeping them busy with Ernesto, JonBenet, and the daily scares from airplanes being diverted. Moreover, the wonderful PM of Israel today refused a state investigation for the Israeli failure against HA. He accepted a smaller investigation headed by the chief of the Mosad (Check the CNN website). Hmmm, I wonder what the results of that investigation will be...
The problem with Chomsky is that he is a dishonest intellectual. I learned a lot from him once, but when I caught him in distortions he replied that it was all "part of the game". That's the reason why many campuses in the U.S. won't give him a classroom for his lectures. Sometimes, all he gets is a table in the campus coffee shop.
mr. n., absolutely. it's just amazing how good they are in manipulating their own people.about the Israeli PM, what's new?
solomon2, funny, i find it hard to believe that Chomsky took the time to reply to you personally given what i know about your umm..'logic' in analyzing israeli-american policies.
and 'a table in the campus coffee shop' is way more honorable than prostituting for the lobby, dont you think?
Chomsky is a brilliant man. I've seen him live, I even have his signature. This is a man who revolutionized cognitive linguistics in the 50s, and while I do not agree with him on his theories of linguistics, like in all sciences each theory has its own time and age, I admire him for his enormous knowledge and integrity. I very much doubt he would intentionally make false claims in order to make an easy point, it's not his style. Read a few of his books and you'll see. Please try and forget your preconceptions and judgments for a second and see where his chain of reasoning leads, it's not about opinion or assumptions, it's about conclusions based on actual evidence.
"prostituting for the lobby"? Yes, we once started in the lobby and moved to the coffee shop, but "prostituting"?
He's a brilliant man but not an intellectually honest one. He usually doesn't expect to be caught out in a deceit. This was a subtle lingual one where the same word meant a different thing to different cultures, so that one culture would think one thing and the other culture the opposite - and the article he authored was intended for both. (A simple example of this would be an English woman walking into a Vancouver supermarket and asking a clerk where she could "find a few fags." The response would depend on the clerk's cultural background.) He of all people knew that this wasn't any innocent mistake but something he was doing on purpose, except he wasn't talking about a couple of cigarettes, but war and peace between different peoples.
No wonder his ex-friends from childhood shake their heads when they talk about what has happened to him.
Princess, did u read about Chomsky here?
http://www.voltairenet.org/fr
Surprising...
anny, you have? you never told me!
anon, tell us more, do u have any particular book in mind?
solomon, what i meant is how the american media and even some intellectuals prostitute themselves in favor of the goals of the israeli lobby, you know, prostitution is a very broad term
ostfen,umm.. you know my french (it sucks) :) give me mokhtasar mofeed
J. i was discussing that here (http://mirvat.blogspot.com/2006/08/new-worlds-map-whos-calling-shots-read.html) after his response to the mearsheimer/walt article on the israel lobby. i find him to be critical of the occupation but when it came to the lebanon issue, he was getting more and more 'moderate'.. he doesn't want to attack AIPAC straight out.
what i meant is how the american media and even some intellectuals prostitute themselves in favor of the goals of the israeli lobby
I don't think that happens. But there are plenty of examples of such folk behaving that way to vacuum up petrodollars. Just look at what CAIR was up to today...
ok M, I didn't see that. I will though.
Princess, the summary is that Chomsky is still proIsraeli in major ways, and the author does a good job with arguments. Anyway, for what it's worth.
By the way, the word that I have to spell to enter this comment is, incredibly: 'aztozwz'.
solomon2: "I don't think that happens" please! you dont think that there is complete control over most of the media here in the US?? take a look at an article published recently by Mearsheimer and Walt..
thanks ostfen, i wouldnt say pro-israeli, but he does believe in its right to exist theoretically, but he has always acknowledged that their policies are absurd. i mean if Israel was not totally screwing up with its neighbors, then maybe we too would be fine with Israel setting its borders next to us
[toz 3leik :P]
The media is extremely biased Mr. Solomon2, and this is one of the roots to the never-ending crises in the middle east; mis-representation. This my friend is "as clear as bread is bread, and wine is wine".
"Complete control"? No, or at least not by Israel or the over-vaunted "Jewish lobby". The influence of the "Arab lobby" has exceeded that of the "Jewish lobby" since 1981, when AIPAC lost a battle to prevent AWACS aircraft from being sold to Saudi Arabia.
On the other hand, various Arab countries have set up the means to indirectly compensate U.S. news organizations, or deny them archived video without pre-approval, but they do not exercise complete control over the U.S. news media. It is enough, however, to establish and maintain a near constant anti-Israel bias.
The Mearsheimer and Walt stuff you cite is a good example of this. Their joint report was thoroughly rubbished by bloggers and the academic community but it doesn't make a difference because they are more than adequately compensated for this by the international "hate-Israel" community. Many Westerners aren't fooled like this but non-Westerners like yourself are.
It's a kind of cheat - you'd expect these guys to have academic credibility, but they gave that up for the rewards of faking it instead. I don't think that even Chomsky goes that far.
"...The influence of the "Arab lobby" has exceeded that of the "Jewish lobby" since 1981..."
Are you kidding me!
When 1200 INNOCENT civilians get butchered for no reason in Lebanon; 1/3 of which are children. Lebanons infrastructure is completely destroyed in 4 weeks of heavy bombardement. Cluster bomblets littering the fields in Southern Lebanon; some of which have killed a dozen innocent civilians already since the so-called cease fire (BET YOU DID NOT FIND THAT IN THE NEWS HERE!). And, all you hear about in the US is burnt forrests in Galilee, and poor Israeli civilians running to the bomb shelters in tears because of air-raid sirens going off. You mean to tell me that your "academic mind" does not stop for a minute and say, wait a second, that doesn't seem right?
Bro, this is a major problem for the world today; especially if the "superpower" has misinformed voters.
Mr N., dont bother, he's too brainwashed there's no way back. he really believes that the Israelis have no control over CNN and Fox. sad.
mr. n., that's a gross distortion of the preponderance of coverage here in the U.S. If you don't believe me, check out Michael Totten's or Lisa's blogs and you'll see how these reporters remark that almost all the coverage was on Lebanon, and very little of it on the devastation and casualties in Israel.
As for answering the specific issues you bring up: it is good commenting etiquette to stay focused on the topic of a blog post and not jump at distractions. The Professor Chomsky I used to know would certainly point out that you have not refuted any of my comments.
Lisa and Michael detail the sort of wartime censorship that Israel imposed on reporters - a far different sort than the creative fictions that Hezbollah imposed on the journalists they controlled.
If you have more specific info on Israeli "control" of CNN or Fox, I'd like to read it. If you don't, well how am I to conclude anything but the fact that such allegations are full of crap?
Sol, have you ever heard of Rupert Murdoch?
because if you want to stay as *eham* obtuse as you are without knowing that there's a world beyond the post, Fox or the Sun, is one thing.. but it's another when you say that even these didn't report enough from Israel...
and I am surprised you didn't say Chomsky is self-hating jew yet, because this is how he's usually labeled... but dishonest intellectual is not far, after all depends on your interlocutors, right.
ghassan, perhaps I should have mentioned that I don't watch CNN or Fox, I read the NY Sun rarely and the international section of the W. Post doesn't influence me much any more. I did look at CBS' TV coverage and stuff available on the Web. As I consider my experience atypical, I cited Lisa & Michael for support.
I do not find it necessary to invoke the self-hating-Jew-argument as a cause for Chomsky's conduct.
(Yeah, I have issues with Murdoch: one of his co's overcharged me for a bad textbook - a key chapter listed in the table of contents was missing - then dinked me for a re-stocking fee when I returned it for a refund, with the excuse that the author was fault, not the publisher! American Express wouldn't take up the issue and they got away with it.)
Enjoy solomon2...
What happens if an insect falls in a cup of coffee ?
The French: would throw the cup and leave the coffee shop.
The American: would get the insect out and drink the coffee.
The Chinese : would eat the insect and drink the coffee.
The Israeli would :
Sell the coffee to the American and the insect to the Chinese.
Cry on all media channels
Accuse Hizballah, Syria and Iran of using germ-weapons.
Ask the Palestinian President to stop everyone from planting insects in the cup of coffee. Re-occupy the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ask the United States for urgent loans.
Ask the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution to make the coffee-shop owner offer him free coffee for life.
Accuse the whole world of watching and not sympathizing with his cause.
did you know that nasa wants to get to mars only so israel can colonize it and turn it into a massive "jews only" planet? too much al-jazeera, folks. i suppose the fact israel gave the gaza strip away and they're still firing rockets at little babies in kindergarten makes peace possible. but we'll ignore that fact for now. and if israel wanted to ethnically cleanse lebanon - i think the shias are accomplishing that much more quickly - they would have carpet-bombed it into oblivilion. and if jews or ahem "zionists" wanted to control the world, they wouldn't have such a small country with a shaky economy, corrupt politics, terrorism, and wars. i mean, if israel controls the media along with many things in the USA, they are powerful enough to rid israel of such pathetic little problems. israel should take up half of the globe and be the richest country on earth, according to your analysis. also, jews have had a presence in israel for thousands of years - they were still always there in some form. so i guess it's ok for muslims to have their own states - which got rid of jews the second israel was created - jewish refugees numbered 800 000, palestinians 600 000 at the time - many of whom left to destroy israel.
not to mention jews were always second class in those nations - the treatment of jews in arab lands has always been precarious, to anyone who has read history. jordan bars jews from even owning land to this day - and it is 60% palestinian! and it's also ok for christian nations to have crosses on their flags, but its bad when jews do it? maybe if arabs didn't attempt to utterly destroy israel after the UN voted on its existence, they would have had a much, much larger state than is possible now. and it's a shame because palestinians need their own state, the children need to grow up in peace on both sides. and having 14 kids in refugee camps isn't helping their situation. ever hear of birth control, people? the billions of dollars that have been handed over to the PA ended up in arafat's bank account, but yeah you're right, that is also israel's fault. therefore, the palestinians can never achieve a decent stand of living and will continue to attack israel, just as the arab nations want - to use these people as a bone in israel's throat. it's really too bad jews and palestinians can't live in one state - but since the jews - not only zionists - are baby-killers and the sons of pigs and monkeys -according to many arab media outlets, a one-state " solution" would indeed become "the final solution" for the jews. so it would be the end of 6 million jews - does this number sound familar to anyone? israel is the big evil in the world, yep, even though muslims are the ones who riot, scream, and murder whenever someone as much as whispers something againist islam. israel is the only country in the entire middle east with a growing christian population. and the christians who live under PA rule tend to want to get out of there ASAP, similar to what is occuring in lebanon. but yeah, you know, lebanon has no human rights issues, especially with the way they treat palestinians - they are barred from almost all jobs, universities, and therefore have even less of a chance at ever living decently than they do in the west bank and gaza. right, lebanon is so much better than israel. i suppose al-manar is also israeli-controlled, too.
- T.
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