Annie Spence
Since World War 11 the United States has used its immense power to bring freedom and prosperity to the rest of the world. It is a nation that is magnanimous, noble and altruistic. Standing in the way of the evil communists, the U.S. has protected the free world. Having defeated the communists, the U.S. now stands against the wicked terrorists who are inexplicably attacking the innocent and the just. The United States does not have and has never had belligerent objectives but has used violence only as a final recourse in the moral defence of liberty and justice. And so say all of us!
Or most of us… Noam Chomsky has spent much of his long life arguing that this mindset bears little resemblance to reality. The United States has in fact behaved like every other imperialist power in history. It has steadfastly defended and extended its privileged position. It has cold-bloodedly used its enormous economic and military power to exploit other countries. The strategies of United States foreign policy include "diplomatic pressure, economic boycotts, subversion, political interference, assassination, terrorism, backing for military coups and direct invasion by the most powerful military force in history" (Salkie, 1990:125).
Power and terror: Post 9/11 talks and interviews is a collection of excerpts from lectures and interviews given by Chomsky in early 2002. The book is an "outgrowth" of a documentary by John Junkerman and Takei Masakazu who were inspired by the book 9-11 to disseminate Chomsky's message to a wider audience.
As Power and terror is a compilation of several discourses, it is a little disjointed and repetitive, however it is still a valuable book. Noam Chomsky has always operated on a tight schedule and since September 11 this has apparently become frenetic. Given Chomsky's time constraints it is important that the ideas expressed in his talks and interviews reach as many people as possible. Collections such as Power and terror accomplish this objective. Access to Chomsky's work is essential as his arguments are an important and unique contribution to the debate on terrorism.
Power and terror is significant and well worth reading. Its slight lack of
cogency is overcome by the fact that the conversational language in many ways
makes the book accessible and undemanding. An enjoyable aspect of Power and terror is Chomsky's sardonic humour: "Q- How do you explain the recent
shift in US policy to support Palestine? Chomsky- I explain it the same way
I explain the US shift in policy to dismantle the military system and hand it
over to Andorra. Since it didn't happen there is nothing to explain. There is
no shift in policy whatsoever. It is a total farce" (p.115).
This humour makes the book not only illuminating but also entertaining.
Power and terror provides a good introduction to Chomsky's arguments. It is a further instalment in Chomsky's endeavour to reveal and document an alternative narrative of U.S. foreign policy. The importance of Chomsky's work is that he seeks to clarify the real face of terror in the world. He acknowledges the September 11 attacks as an appalling crime but he is among the very few to point out that for much of the world this is nothing new. According to Chomsky the significance of 9/11 is not the level of atrocity but the fact that Americans were the victims. September 11 was "a terrible atrocity, but unless you're in Europe or the United States or Japan, I guess, you know its nothing new. That's the way the imperial powers have treated the rest of the world for hundreds of years" (p.13).
In Power and terror Chomsky provides compelling and well-documented evidence
to support his position. The United States has carried out or supported acts
of terror all over the world, in the Middle East, Central America, Asia and
Africa. In this book Chomsky reveals the substantial evidence that suggests
a conspicuous relationship between U.S. military aid and human rights violations.
He also discusses the terrible consequences of U.S. economic warfare.
The book also elucidates another of Chomsky's major objectives. This is to expose
the unquestioned acceptance of the official line. Chomsky explains the powerful
combination of propaganda, value internalisation, enculturation, vested interests,
ignorance and confusion that has allowed an authorised version of reality to
be not only almost unquestioned but often applauded by the general population
and the media. Chomsky is particularly scathing about the role and responsibilities
of intellectuals who in his opinion should use "the greater freedom enjoyed
by the privileged in the West…to tell the truth and expose lies". Chomsky
believes that this is the "primary responsibility of intellectuals"
(Smith, 1999:192).
However, as Chomsky reveals, most intellectuals have managed to ignore the realities of Western aggression and state terror. Many western nations, on the "right" side of the "War on Terror", are in fact guilty of terrorist atrocities. Chomsky remarks: "The fact that Western intellectuals can look at this and not say anything is a real impressive testimonial to the discipline of educated people" (p.19). Chomsky suggests that the current debate on terrorism is filled with double standards. As a result, the "entire commentary and discussion of the so-called War on Terror is pure hypocrisy, virtually without exception" (p.29).
In Power and terror Chomsky points out that there is a western definition of terror that is based on "us and them". If they do it to us it is terror, if we do it to them it is not. Acts of terror by the United States and its allies "don't count as terror. They do not enter into the annals of terror in the scholarly literature. They do enter, but not as terror. They enter as "counterterror" or as a "just war". And the principle is that if somebody carries out terror against us or against our allies, it's terror, but if we carry out terror or our allies do, maybe much worse terror, against someone else, it's not terror, it's counterterror or it's a just war" (p.60).
Correspondingly, the crimes of the United States and its allies are ignored, only the crimes of the enemy count: "They're the ones that we deplore and agonise about, and so on. Our own which may be monstrously worse, they just don't enter into our field of vision. You don't study them, you don't read about them, you don't think about them, nobody writes about them. We're just not allowed to think about them, and if we agree to that, that's our choice" (p.80).
In Power and terror, as he has done throughout his career, Noam Chomsky uses his immense knowledge, thought provoking insights, balanced perceptions and sardonic wit to provide the reader with the means to make another choice; to view the world from a wider and more just perspective.
References
Chomsky, N. Power and terror: Post 9/11 talks and interviews, edited by J. Junkerman and T. Masakazu, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2003.
Salkie, R. The Chomsky update, Unwin Hyman, London, 1990.
Smith, N. Chomsky: ideas and ideals, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999.