2016 Harvard Trade Union Program
The lead news stories are clear: there is working-class anger, anxiety and rage. Working people have been taking it on the chin for decades. Wages have been flat for years. The Bernie Sanders campaign has highlighted the scandalous levels of income and wealth inequality. Increasingly, more and more workers understand how rigged the system is against them. The economy and politics are tilted towards powerful corporations and mega donors who use their deep pockets to promote their interests. The sustained attack on unions has left many workers without representation. If you speak out you risk getting fired and replaced by a temp. Young people, saddled with debt, will not replicate the standard of living reached by their parents. These outcomes are the result of policies and policies can be changed.
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 97, though having health setbacks, he continues to inform and inspire people all over the world. He is the author of scores of books, including Masters of Mankind, Consequences of Capitalism, Chronicles of Dissent, and Notes on Resistance. He is co-author with Edward Herman of Manufacturing Consent. His latest books are The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World and Surviving the 21st Century.
Richard Barber R.N. –
Noam speaks, I listen.