Noam Chomsky - Biography
Noam Chomsky is the most prominent and profoundly influential intellectual in America, if not the world. It may be a dubious commendation, but Bono from U2 has called Chomsky the “Elvis of academia,” which isn’t too far from the truth. An Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chomsky first gained international recognition in the 1950s as a cognitive scientist. He revolutionized the field of modern linguistics, by taking the very sentences we speak, snatching them in midair, and using them as a line, a rope, to climb into the very mechanisms within the human mind that allow for syntax; by arguing that human beings possess an innate, universal grammar, he set off a theoretical bomb that not only transformed the study of language, but reverberated through the fields of philosophy, psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, and even computer programming. However, Chomsky rose to greater heights of fame in the 1960s, when he vocally opposed the Vietnam War. Since then, he has taken a firm position as a libertarian socialist with strong anarchist sympathies, publishing numerous books in which he rationally yet passionately addresses issues including but not limited to: the failures of US foreign policy; the illegitimate use of power by the state; workers’ rights; the role of the media in perpetuating propaganda; the oppressive nature of big business and the free-market system; and the urgent necessity to preserve free speech.
A highly prolific author and lecturer, Chomsky also appears on numerous audio recordings. Taped immediately after the re-election of George W. Bush, Imperial Presidency: Sovereignty Terror (1995 G-7 Welcome Committee) is a straightforward indictment of US foreign policy, and a needle-sharp analysis of the government’s true agendas and the American mindset of “messianic democracy.” Alternately, Chomsky is equally critical of the other side of the aisle, viewing both political parties as two sides of the same grimy coin. The Clinton Vision: Old Wine, New Bottles (1997 Epitaph) was recorded in 1994, at the very beginning of Bill Clinton’s administration, and it puts forth a scathing critique of Clinton’s relationship with labor and the North America Free Trade agreement; Chomsky also takes Clinton to task for his business practices, his failed health-care proposal, and his anti-crime package. Class War: The Attack on Working People (1998 Epitaph) finds Chomsky railing against globalization and the injustices inherent in a free-market economy; he continues these themes in Free Market Fantasies: Capitalism in the Real World (1999 Alternative Tentacles), notably produced and released by Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys.
Chomsky takes considerable umbrage with the reactions by the corporate media and political oligarchy to the events of September 11, 2001. The New War on Terrorism: Fact & Fiction (2002 Alternative Tentacles) contains lengthy discussions about the dubious US invasion of Afghanistan, as well as our previous involvements there; he directly posits that Osama bin Laden and his contemporaries were trained by the CIA during the Soviet invasion. He also denounces US policies directed at Central America in the 1970s and 1980s, policies Chomsky has described as being akin to Nazism. Ultimately, he makes a fierce argument against the preposterous notion that any people of any nation simply “hate our freedom”; instead, he elucidates on the toxic blowback of the United States’ global hegemony. He further extends his analysis of 9/11 in The Emerging Framework of World Power (2003 AK Press), in which he offers alternate subjectivities, evaluating the American tragedy from the perspectives of other nations, in particular those that have bourn the brunt of belligerent US military actions, both overt and covert. War Crimes & Imperial Fantasies (2004 Important Records), finds Chomsky in discussion with Alternative Radio's David Barsamian, as the former contextualizes George W. Bush’s presidency and the Iraq War.
Chomsky’s influence is broad enough that it seeps into the fringes of popular culture, and he has no qualms about building alliances and aesthetic bridges with like-minded individuals in the arts; it should come as no surprise that his strident individualism, anarchistic and libertarian leanings and thirst for political self-determination and global justice all resonate with a variety of younger artists and musicians with similar impassioned concerns. For example: For Free Humanity: For Anarchy (1997 Allied Recordings) pairs Chomsky with the legendary agit-prop, punk rockers Chumbawumba; and, as noted, Chomsky has a consistently reliable patron in Jello Biafra. He has also collaborated with Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, appearing in the DVD of that band’s performance documentary, Rage Against the Machine: The Battle of Mexico City (2001 Sony).
In the film This Is What Democracy Looks Like (2005 Blank Stare), Chomsky is front and center, alongside the actress Susan Sarandon, Rage Against the Machine, and Michael Franti, from the groups Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Spearhead. The movie documents the massive protests that confronted the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, and the subsequent use of overwhelming violence by the police. As always, Chomsky conveys the fundamental truths of the situation with unflappably calm clarity and persistence of vision. It’s fitting that activists continue to revere Chomsky for his relentless efforts to bring supreme rationality to an often frighteningly irrational and harrowingly unjust world. Now in his eighties, Noam Chomsky shows no signs of slowing down; he continues to travel, lecture, and author books, and he remains a formidable voice for popular resistance and a beacon of hope for any individual who seeks to confront and challenge authority.
