<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<h2 class="post_name" id="post-5877">CHOMSKY IN CARDIFF | REVIEW </h2>
<div class="post_meta"> By <a
href="http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/author/admin/" title="Posts by
admin">admin</a> <span class="dot">⋅</span> March 13, 2011 <span
class="dot">⋅</span> <a
href="http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/chomsky-in-cardiff-review/#comments">Post
a comment</a> </div>
<div class="post_meta"> </div>
<div class="post_text">
<div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px;"> </div>
<p><strong>Noam Chomsky at The Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay</strong></p>
<p><strong>Fri 11 Mar</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>words:</em> MAB JONES</strong></p>
<p>Chomsky is one of those names, like Lincoln, Einstein, or
Gandhi, which garners instant recognition. You read the guy at
university; years later, having forgotten what you learned, you
buy yourself one of those ‘Guide to’ or ‘Explained’ books.
Chomsky as thinker, Chomsky as economist – a world-renowned
linguist<sub> </sub>who, by brilliance alone, seems too faraway
for most of us to ever envisage as merely mortal, when so many
immortal words and ideas have issued from the man.</p>
<p>The winner of the Erich Fromm Prize, the Orwell Award, the
Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Kyoto Prize, and voted leading
living public intellectual in a 2005 poll, Chomsy is, still,
just a guy. At 81 years old, he is as wonderfully sharp and
lucid as you would wish, with a friendly face and easy-going
conversational style that is both engaging and unpretentious. He
seems unflustered by the long list of accolades our questioner,
Jane Davidson, reads with such juicy appreciation in perfect
politician’s style. Chomsky doesn’t use long words, acronyms,
indecipherable phraseology, or elusive economic terms. He
explains things in a simple way, in a calm voice, with interest,
intelligence, and logic. You feel inclined towards him – he
might be on a stage, but he doesn’t take the thing, and he
certainly doesn’t talk down to you, not once. It was more like
having a chat than a well-documented discussion, albeit a very
intelligent one.</p>
<p>The range of topics, led by audience questions, was great – we
ran the gamut from climate change (and its deniers), religious
belief, dictatorship and democracy, to language, communication,
the control of information, and the accumulation of knowledge
itself. Particularly, Chomsky’s views on that thing we call
‘democracy’ were enlightening: making reference to Aristotle’s
‘Politics’, he pointed out that in the US, President Madison had
come to the same conclusion as Aristotle on the political model
– that democracy was a dangerous thing as, if you gave every
person the right to vote on policy, the poor and impoverished
would undoubtedly use their vote to take land from the rich in
order to re-distribute it. Madison’s solution (and the approach
favoured by the US and Europe in modern times) was to make
democracy less; whereas Aristotle’s solution was to decrease
inequality.</p>
<p>Chomsky spoke eloquently on the ways in which Western
governments sustain themselves, through the encouragement of
dictatorships in those countries which might pose a threat,
either directly or through the control of oil; and in the
suppression and distraction of its own citizens, with the
protection of information that might endanger the state, should
you or I find out about it. Security of state equals security
against us, Chomsky argued, and people like Julian Assange
should receive more of our support. The changes in UK law after
07/07 have the potential to infringe upon our freedoms – right
now, for example, a bookshop is being tried for simply allowing
Jihadist material onto its bookshelves. Freedom of speech, yes,
but freedom of information? Perhaps not.</p>
<p>When asked what advice he would give to a young democracy such
as ourselves, Chomsky replied that we should “make it a <em>real</em>
democracy”. The greater the power, the greater the potential
for its misuse. Something to bear in mind. However, I was
pleased when Jane Davidson took the time to thank the person
responsible for the great man’s visit to our country – a young
man sitting to my right. Not a politician, or an ambassador; not
one of the powerful-looking men, but a hopeful, idealistic
student. That such a modern icon should accept the invitation of
an earnest ‘nobody’, speaks volumes. A truly inspiring man, and
an event I – and Wales – won’t ever forget.<br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/chomsky-in-cardiff-review/">http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/chomsky-in-cardiff-review/</a><br>
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>