91 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
91 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
Interview with Noam Chomsky
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[Excerpts from Feb 14, 1992 appearance on _Pozner/Donahue_]
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CHOMSKY: ...that's why if you look at the *ideology* of the founding
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fathers -- not what they actually *believed* -- but at the doctrines
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that they professed, which is something quite different, they were
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opposed to centers of power and authority. In the 18th century that
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meant they were opposed to the feudal system, and the absolutist state
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and the church and so on.
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Now those *very* same doctrines apply to the 19th century and the 20th
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century and they *should*, if we take them seriously, make *us*
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opposed to the patterns of authority and domination that exist *now*
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-- like for example *corporate capitalism*, which is a system of
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authoritarian control that Jefferson never *dreamt* of. Or the
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powerful 20th century state *linked* to the corporate elite, which,
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again, is a system of power and domination on a scale that, say,
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Jefferson couldn't have *imagined*. But the same *principles* would
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lead us to be opposed to *them*.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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| From CALL-IN section: |
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QUESTION: ...What's the difference between your [Anarchist] views and
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the Libertarian Party?
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[This, among four other back-to-back call-in quations (see below)]
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CHOMSKY: Well let me begin with the question about the Libertarian Party.
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The Libertarian Party is familiar here -- unknown elsewhere. There's a
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*long* tradition of Anarchism, Libertarian thought outside the United
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States, which is *diametrically* opposed to the positions of the
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Libertarian Party -- but it's unknown here.
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That's the *dominant* position of what's always been considered
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Socialist Anarchism. Now, the Libertarian Party, is a *Capitalist*
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Party. It's in favor of what *I* would regard a *particular form* of
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authoritarian control. Namely, the kind that comes through private
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ownership and control, which is an *extremely* rigid system of
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domination -- people have to.. people can survive, by renting
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themselves to it, and basically in no other way.
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So while I share a lot of..there's a lot of shared ground with the
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special, U.S. right-wing anarchism, which really exists only here (and
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in fact have plenty of friends, and so on), I do disagree with them
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*very* sharply, and I think that they are not..understanding the
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*fundamental* doctrine, that you should be free from domination and
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control, including the control of the manager and the owner.
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(Another caller asked in response to Chomksy' subscribing to Anarchy,
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that sure there are abuses but wouldn't Anarchism be furtile ground
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for dictatorship?)
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CHOMSKY: ..As to whether Anarchism could lead to dictatorship -- first
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of all, let's distinguish Anarchism from "anarchy"; I'm not in favor
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of everybody doing anything they feel like -- Anarchism as *I
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understand it* is a highly democratic system, it's a system -- and in
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fact a highly organized, and structured system -- it's just structured
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and organized *from the bottom up*. It's organized through voluntary
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association, agreement, federation, up to the world [level] if you
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like -- it could be a highly structured system. But's it's going to
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have to come out of popular involvement. *Could* it lead to
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dictatorship, well, you know --
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Pozner: Is it a system in which people are truly responsible, as you
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understand it?
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NC: It would have to be --
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Pozner(?): Because otherwise you'd have "anarchy" --
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NC: I mean if people do *not* want -- It's based on an assumption:
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that assumption is that human beings want to be *free*. Now if that's
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wrong, if human being want to be slaves, there's no hope in
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Anarchism...
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[...]
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[The number on the screen, may or may not still be vaild, for
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transcripts: 1-800-777-TEXT (note date of Chomsky's appearance on
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_Pozner/Donahue_ at top)]
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[Chomsky's address: Prof Noam Chomsky, Dept of Linguistics and
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Philosophy, MIT, Cambrige, Mass]
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