[Peace-discuss] Appreciation of Chomsky by a Welsh student

[C. G. Estabrook]

    CHOMSKY IN CARDIFF | REVIEW

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*Noam Chomsky at The Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay*

*Fri 11 Mar*

*/words:/ MAB JONES*

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_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.

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.

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.

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.

When asked what advice he would give to a young democracy such as ourselves, 
Chomsky replied that we should "make it a /real/ 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.

http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/chomsky-in-cardiff-review/

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