iconofliberation

Icon of Liberation...
Noam Chomsky
Mashhood Rizvi

Despair, poverty and human sufferings are increasingly becoming a part of the text of daily life. And yet underlying such pain and suffering are memories of conflict and resistance by individuals whose spirit remained bolstered by the imperatives of hope, justice and liberation. It is in this tension between a social reality plagued by oppression and the narratives of historical and contemporary struggles that the terrain of resistance is both produced and acted upon. This section is dedicated to those who have had the courage to take risks, to rise against injustice committed against anyone anywhere in the world and to fight for liberation of human values. This section also commends those who are struggling to embody similar values and qualities and who indeed create a sense of liberation for the oppressed of the world…

There have been some extraordinary times of deceit and falsehood in human history. Pharaoh Ramses blanketing the reality of absolute cruelty under the guise of his godliness, the forces of pathological greed, racist and fascist ideals emerging from ‘the renaissance of the white continent' to plunder the world, are just a few examples of the deceit which have occurred in the name of advancing ‘civilization'. The last fifty years have witnessed episodes of continued fraud and treachery and the ascendancy of bloodthirsty despotic forces, thinly veiled under the seductive slogans of development, modernization, globalization, democracy and peace.

In the current times, these forces are equipped with the sophisticated tools of global media and technological gimmickry. It is no longer a spectacle of injustice, which may spark a Moses to challenge and topple the brutal might of a heartless and soulless ruler. It takes a mind of almost divine inspiration to scythe through today’s blatant lies and relentless propaganda. Fortunately, we have been blessed with one such ‘greater man to restore us’ in the person of Noam Chomsky.

Through his outstanding works, Chomsky has unraveled hidden portions of history and has consistently and courageously continued to speak the truth, especially to those in power. In this era of so-called democratization of values, globalization of cultures and economies, no one's writings have been more unsettling and disturbing than Noam Chomsky's. His incredible authority over almost all of the social sciences makes his writing indispensable. Such a breadth of knowledge makes it impossible to place him under any particular ideology or tradition; he seeks truth and spells it out without any fear of the consequences. Such courage is increasingly becoming a rare commodity; many have lapsed into despair (or their insights have become too painful). But Noam Chomsky refuses to give in. His quest for global justice continues in a relentless and uncompromising manner that is unparallel in spirit and impact.

Chomsky was born on 7 December 1928. From the age of two, he spent ten years in Progressive Deweyite School in Philadelphia, where there was a congenial emphasis on individual creativity and a strong stress on collective and shared learning. From there he moved on to a "regimented" and "stifling" high school, about which he claims to remember "virtually nothing". Thereafter, he attended the University of Pennsylvania where he met Zellig Harris, a leading linguist and political theorist, who had a profound influence on his life. He graduated in 1949, with an undergraduate thesis in Modern Hebrew that was later revised and extended as his Master's thesis. That same year he married Carol Schatz, a fellow student who has made a significant contribution to language and linguistics in her own right. He entered graduate school later the same year and in 1951 became a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard, from where he moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1955. He has been there ever since, although a large part of each year is devoted to traveling around the world giving countless lectures and interviews.

Apart from his revolutionizing influence on linguistics, philosophy, and psychology, Chomsky has had a significant effect on a range of disciplines from anthropology to mathematics, education to literary criticism. His works in these areas have been systematically innovative and controversial - but then ‘truth' and 'controversy' go hand-in-hand. Chomsky's intellectual struggle against imperial forces can easily be compared with the Palestinians’ ongoing fight against brutal occupying forces. For the past four decades, he has been at war with the most powerful and dehumanizing colonial and imperial forces in the world. He has rejected almost all of the theories of human behavior that were clearly racist in nature and malicious in application. He, with supreme scientific analysis, challenged the nonscientific basis of such theories. He has revived the true spirit of human nature through his remarkable work on inherent human knowledge and capacity to live and function in a cooperative and collective manner. He has de-legitimized all legitimizing acts of brutality and oppression by providing irrefutable evidences of imperial atrocities.

Chomsky has accomplished all of this in a time when poverty and hunger are recognized as development; plundering of resources is seen as globalization; annihilation of cultural and moral values is perceived as modernization; oppression and subjugation come in the guise of liberty and democracy; and dehumanizing war crimes are accepted as peace efforts. He has taught us that such strategically manufactured acts of legitimization have stifled any meaningful challenges of these social evils. He believes that we live in a world that suffers from a strangulating control over people's minds and allows serious social illnesses to be accepted as societal norms. This, according to him, has been the biggest success of the imperial forces - the ‘re-colonization' of the world in the name of global justice, economic equality and universal peace. Chomsky argues that colonialism was exceedingly destructive, explicit in nature and overtly brutal in approach. However, Imperialism obliterates by exploiting or co-opting so that at the end of the day we (the oppressed) have only ourselves to blame for being weak, oppressed and mutilated.

It must be borne in mind that this article is neither a mindless homage nor a display of mere hero-worship. The task of paying homage to someone like Chomsky is daunting, and I am fully conscious of my severe intellectual limitations. Nevertheless, I am happy to admit that Chomsky is a hero of mine. It does not follow that I always agree with him, although if I did not agree with him on most issues, I almost certainly would not have written this piece. I believe that Chomsky has created a legacy that will be a source of empowerment to many who find themselves in the doldrums of disillusionment and despair. His work will act as an enlightening force for those who linger for a glimmer of hope. Most importantly, his lifelong struggle will keep the quest for global justice alive as long as global injustice prevails. I hope that this effort will compel the readers to explore the work and lifelong effort of Chomsky and to decide for themselves whether he actually is an advocate for truth.

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This section is dedicated to those who have had the courage to take risks, to rise against injustice committed against anyone anywhere in the world and to fight for liberation of human values. This section also commends those who are struggling to embody similar values and qualities and who indeed create a sense of liberation for the oppressed of the world… There have been some extraordinary times of deceit and falsehood in human history. Pharaoh Ramses blanketing the reality of absolute cruelty under the guise of his godliness, the forces of pathological greed, racist and fascist ideals emerging from ‘the renaissance of the white continent' to plunder the world, are just a few examples of the deceit which have occurred in the name of advancing ‘civilization'. The last fifty years have witnessed episodes of continued fraud and treachery and the ascendancy of bloodthirsty despotic forces, thinly veiled under the seductive slogans of development, modernization, globalization, democracy and peace. In the current times, these forces are equipped with the sophisticated tools of global media and technological gimmickry. It is no longer a spectacle of injustice, which may spark a Moses to challenge and topple the brutal might of a heartless and soulless ruler. It takes a mind of almost divine inspiration to scythe through today’s blatant lies and relentless propaganda. Fortunately, we have been blessed with one such ‘greater man to restore us’ in the person of Noam Chomsky. Through his outstanding works, Chomsky has unraveled hidden portions of history and has consistently and courageously continued to speak the truth, especially to those in power. In this era of so-called democratization of values, globalization of cultures and economies, no one's writings have been more unsettling and disturbing than Noam Chomsky's. His incredible authority over almost all of the social sciences makes his writing indispensable. Such a breadth of knowledge makes it impossible to place him under any particular ideology or tradition; he seeks truth and spells it out without any fear of the consequences. Such courage is increasingly becoming a rare commodity; many have lapsed into despair (or their insights have become too painful). But Noam Chomsky refuses to give in. His quest for global justice continues in a relentless and uncompromising manner that is unparallel in spirit and impact. Chomsky was born on 7 December 1928. From the age of two, he spent ten years in Progressive Deweyite School in Philadelphia, where there was a congenial emphasis on individual creativity and a strong stress on collective and shared learning. From there he moved on to a "regimented" and "stifling" high school, about which he claims to remember "virtually nothing". Thereafter, he attended the University of Pennsylvania where he met Zellig Harris, a leading linguist and political theorist, who had a profound influence on his life. He graduated in 1949, with an undergraduate thesis in Modern Hebrew that was later revised and extended as his Master's thesis. That same year he married Carol Schatz, a fellow student who has made a significant contribution to language and linguistics in her own right. He entered graduate school later the same year and in 1951 became a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard, from where he moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1955. He has been there ever since, although a large part of each year is devoted to traveling around the world giving countless lectures and interviews. Apart from his revolutionizing influence on linguistics, philosophy, and psychology, Chomsky has had a significant effect on a range of disciplines from anthropology to mathematics, education to literary criticism. His works in these areas have been systematically innovative and controversial - but then ‘truth' and 'controversy' go hand-in-hand. Chomsky's intellectual struggle against imperial forces can easily be compared with the Palestinians’ ongoing fight against brutal occupying forces. For the past four decades, he has been at war with the most powerful and dehumanizing colonial and imperial forces in the world. He has rejected almost all of the theories of human behavior that were clearly racist in nature and malicious in application. He, with supreme scientific analysis, challenged the nonscientific basis of such theories. He has revived the true spirit of human nature through his remarkable work on inherent human knowledge and capacity to live and function in a cooperative and collective manner. He has de-legitimized all legitimizing acts of brutality and oppression by providing irrefutable evidences of imperial atrocities. Chomsky has accomplished all of this in a time when poverty and hunger are recognized as development; plundering of resources is seen as globalization; annihilation of cultural and moral values is perceived as modernization; oppression and subjugation come in the guise of liberty and democracy; and dehumanizing war crimes are accepted as peace efforts. He has taught us that such strategically manufactured acts of legitimization have stifled any meaningful challenges of these social evils. He believes that we live in a world that suffers from a strangulating control over people's minds and allows serious social illnesses to be accepted as societal norms. This, according to him, has been the biggest success of the imperial forces - the ‘re-colonization' of the world in the name of global justice, economic equality and universal peace. Chomsky argues that colonialism was exceedingly destructive, explicit in nature and overtly brutal in approach. However, Imperialism obliterates by exploiting or co-opting so that at the end of the day we (the oppressed) have only ourselves to blame for being weak, oppressed and mutilated. It must be borne in mind that this article is neither a mindless homage nor a display of mere hero-worship. The task of paying homage to someone like Chomsky is daunting, and I am fully conscious of my severe intellectual limitations. Nevertheless, I am happy to admit that Chomsky is a hero of mine. It does not follow that I always agree with him, although if I did not agree with him on most issues, I almost certainly would not have written this piece. I believe that Chomsky has created a legacy that will be a source of empowerment to many who find themselves in the doldrums of disillusionment and despair. His work will act as an enlightening force for those who linger for a glimmer of hope. Most importantly, his lifelong struggle will keep the quest for global justice alive as long as global injustice prevails. I hope that this effort will compel the readers to explore the work and lifelong effort of Chomsky and to decide for themselves whether he actually is an advocate for truth.