Turkey and the Middle East
Turkey threatens and jails journalists and dissidents. It bombs the Kurds. Chomsky has sharp criticisms of the autocratic regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Despite grotesque human rights violations, Ankara has been given a free pass by Washington for years. Why? NATO ally Turkey is a key part of U.S. plans for ongoing intervention in the Mideast.
Recorded at MIT.
Speaker
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato and Freud. His contributions to modern linguistics are legendary. In addition to his pioneering work in that field, he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is “America’s greatest intellectual” who “makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.” The New Statesman calls him “the conscience of the American people.” He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics and Haury Chair in the Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. At 94, he is still active, writing and giving interviews to the media all over the world. He is the author of scores of books, his latest are Consequences of Capitalism, Chronicles of Dissent and Notes on Resistance.
george beres –
If we could waken our leaders to the importance of how they use language, they might be able to revive our nation’s merit by using Noam Chomsky as the conscience of our people. For years he has evaluated– better than anyone else– what is right and what is wrong about our behavior.
A few might argue with some of his views. But all would recognize that his perspectives are honest and have a deep insight into who we are and what it is we need in order to become more than we are. Most often his focus is on pursuit of peace and of how misguided priorities sometimes interfere with achieving it nationally and internationally.
He is not alone in that pursuit. But he gives it a unique identity by stressing how a meaningful peace demands a commitment to the way we communicate our view of social justice. He has had a dominant influence in making us aware that language can either enhance or diminish justice. As an authority on how words are tools for achieving it, he can be turned to for an awareness of how we might best use them for our security and for that of the world. We are best served when Noam Chomsky speaks to us. – George Beres