[Peace-discuss] State & anarchism

[C. G. Estabrook]

QUESTION: Your ultimate political goal is anarchistic, the erosion of  
state institutions and any form of authoritarian control. But you have  
also recognised the need to defend some forms of state regulation as  
protection against a wholly unregulated market. Can you say more on  
how you view this two-edged process of possible political  
transformation?

CHOMSKY: I'm not in favour of people being in cages. On the other hand  
I think people ought to be in cages if there's a sabre-toothed tiger  
wandering around outside and if they go out of the cage the sabre- 
toothed tiger will kill them. So sometimes there's a justification for  
cages. That doesn't mean cages are good things. State power is a good  
example of a necessary cage. There are sabre-toothed tigers outside;  
they are called transnational corporations which are among the most  
tyrannical totalitarian institutions that human society has devised.  
And there is a cage, namely the state, which to some extent is under  
popular control. The cage is protecting people from predatory  
tyrannies so there is a temporary need to maintain the cage, and even  
to extend the cage.

[Interview by Kate Soper, Red Pepper, August, 1998]
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