Noam Chomsky

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Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the Advisory Board[1] of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism and is also a member of Boston Democratic Socialists of America.[2]

Progressive International

Noam Chomsky is a former member of the Council of the Progressive International.

Progressive International Brazil gathering

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Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana MP, Vijay Prashad and Fernando Haddad.

Signed 'Faculty for Democracy' letter

Noam Chomsky signed a letter which was referenced at REFUSE FASCISM, a front group for the Revolutionary Communist Party.[3]

Faculty for Democracy is a call by members of Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT faculty to collectively respond to "…any steps taken by the Trump administration that would undermine the democratic processes, or that would slow progress towards a more just and equitable society in America." The phrase "We believe that collective acts of resistance are necessary" is also in the letter.[4]

Support of Professor George Ciccariello-Maher

Open Statement of Solidarity in Support of Professor George Ciccariello-Maher was a statement dated June 16, 2017 signed by academics in support of controversial comments made by George Ciccariello-Maher.

Signatories included Noam Chomsky.

Hashomer Hatzair

Western leftists with a Hashomer Hatzair background include Noam Chomsky. Chomsky wrote that he was fairly close to "Hashomer Hatzair, but couldn't join because it was split between Stalinists and Trotskyites."[5]

GI Civil Liberties Defense Committee

Circa 1969, Prof. Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , was listed as a sponsor of the Socialist Workers Party led GI Civil Liberties Defense Committee .[6]

Cablegram to Portugese Socialists and the M.F.A.

In 1974, after a pro-communist military coup in Portugal;

More than eighty Americans, all identified with opposition to the Vietnamese war and with various radical and liberal causes, sent on August 9 a cablegram to to the Portugese Armed Forces Movement, to Portugese president francisco da Costa Gomes and to portugese socialist leader Mario soares expressing the hope that "democratic freedoms"...will continue to grow in Portugal".

Michael Harrington, the national chairman of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, organized the effort with help from 5 "Initiators" - Lawrence Birns (writer), Sissy Farenthold (past president National Women's Political Caucus), Congressman Michael J. Harrington, Martin Peretz (chairman, editorial board New Republic), Cleveland Robinson (vice president, Distributive Workers of America), Leonard Woodcock (president United Auto Workers, Jerry Wurf (president AFSME).

Noam Chomsky signed the cablegram.[7]

Political Rights Defense Fund

As at July 22, 1975, Noam Chomsky served on the Advisory Board of the New York based Political Rights Defense Fund.[8]

In The Times Founding sponsors

In 1976 founding sponsors of the Institute for Policy Studies/New American Movement linked socialist journal were;

Palestine Human Rights Campaign

A brochure came out in early 1978 announcing "A National Organizing Conference" sponsored by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign to be held on May 20-21, 1978, at American University, with the theme of "Palestinian Human Rights and Peace".

The list of "Sponsors" was a mix of a several groupings including the Communist Party USA and its sympathizers, the World Peace Council, the Hanoi Lobby, black extremists, mainly marxists, radical Christians, and Arab/Arab-American organizations, plus a few phone-booth sized pro-Palestinian Christian groups.

Individual sponsors of the event included Noam Chomsky, MIT.

Institute for Policy Studies

Noam Chomsky was a member of the Institute for Policy Studies 20th Anniversary Committee, which organized an April 5, 1983, reception at the National Building Museum, Washington DC attended by approximately l,000 IPS staffers and former staff.[10]

New American Movement Speakers Bureau

In the 1980s Noam Chomsky was a speaker on the The Crisis of Capitalism section of the New American Movement Speakers Bureau on the subject of Intellectuals and Ideology.[11]

War Danger and the Lebanon Crisis conference

On February 11 1984, Noam Chomsky addressed "The War Danger and the Lebanon Crisis-Issues For The US Peace Movement" conference, organized by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, held at the United Methodist Building Conference Rooms, Washington, DC.

Other speakers included Dan Connell, Congressman John Conyers, Neta Crawford, Stephen Green, Robin Madrid, Rev. Paul Mayer, Jack O'Dell, Dr. Seth Tillman, Don Will, Ellen Siegel, and Dr. James Zogby.[12]

Opposing loans to Chile

In 1987, Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison and Gail Daneker, Directors, Campaign for Peace and Democracy/East and West, New York, circulated a statement Against Loans to Chile calling upon the Reagan Administration to oppose all loans to Chile.

It has been signed by leading "peace, labor, human rights, religious and cultural figures from the United States, Western Europe and Latin America." They were "joined by a large number of activists and writers from the USSR and Eastern Europe, many of whom have been persecuted in their own countries for work in independent peace and human rights movements."

Noam Chomsky endorsed the call.

The majority of signatories were affiliated with Democratic Socialists of America.[13]

New Party builder

New Party News Fall 1994 listed over 100 New Party activists-"some of the community leaders, organizers, retirees,, scholars, artists, parents, students, doctors, writers and other activists who are building the NP" the list included Noam Chomsky, MIT.Template:Cite

Peace for Cuba Appeal

In 1994 Noam Chomsky was an initiator of the International Peace for Cuba Appeal, an affiliate of the Workers World Party dominated International Action Center.

Other prominent initiators included Cuban Intelligence agent Philip Agee, Congressman John Conyers and Charles Rangel[14].

Congressional Progressive Caucus

In 1997 Chicago DSA member Bruce Bentley wrote;

There is a class struggle in process in the Congress with the Progressive Caucus around such issues as the Welfare Bill, NAFTA and Single Payer Health Care.

As a result of this DSA's Political Director Christine Riddiough organized a meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus with the purpose and cogent task as to: "How can we unite our forces on a common agenda?" Those in attendance included Richard Trumka, Noam Chomsky, Patricia Ireland, William Greider and Jesse Jackson.[15]

"The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum"

On January 9, 1997, over 600 people attended "The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum" sponsored by the House Progressive Caucus, Democratic Socialists of America, and a host of other progressive organizations.

The primary goal of this day-long "kick-off" forum was to "identify the unifying values shared by progressives at this point in US history, to help define core elements of a forward-looking progressive agenda, and to pinpoint ways to connect that agenda with the concerns of millions of disillusioned people who lack voices in present politics and policy-making."

After a welcome by Representative Bernie Sanders, an impressive array of legislators, activists, and thinkers offered their insights. Senator Paul Wellstone, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Patricia Ireland of NOW, Richard Trumka of theAFL-CIO, Noam Chomsky, William Greider of Rolling Stone, and DSA Honorary Chair Barbara Ehrenreich were among the many who spoke.

Some emphasized the importance of the conventional, if difficult, process of progressive candidates building grassroots campaigns that treat voters with intelligence and challenge prevailing wisdom regarding what values and issues motivate ordinary Americans struggling to make ends meet-as opposed to using polls and focus groups to concoct "designer" campaigns to appeal to upscale "soccer moms." Other speakers reminded those present that great changes are made by people acting outside of the corridors of power to define justice and "political reality," and the electoral and legislative processes are not the only arenas worthy of activists' attention.[16]

Communist "Manifestivity"

On October 30 and 31, 1998 the Brecht Forum presented the "Communist Manifestivity to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Communist Manifesto" at Cooper Union's Great Hall, New York.

Individual endorsers of the event included Noam Chomsky.[17]

Democratic Socialists of America

In 1987, Noam Chomsky, was a member of Democratic Socialists of America. [18]

In 1991, Boston Democratic Socialists of America ran a Spring School. Noam Chomsky spoke on "US Foreign Policy in a Changing World.[19]

In 2001, Noam Chomsky was named as a member of Boston Democratic Socialists of America.[20]

Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Awards Reception

On June 12, 2001, Noam Chomsky was a supporter of the annual Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Awards reception which is hosted by Boston Democratic Socialists of America. The Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award is presented to "leaders who fight for democracy, here at home and around the world". Ed Clark, Honorary Vice Chair of Democratic Socialists of America; and Communist Party USA-linked Dessima Williams received the Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award, while DSAer John Maher received the Michael Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award. DSAer David Knuttunen; Boston-based "social justice" organization Neighbor to Neighbor; and In These Times members Abby Rockefeller and Lee Halprin were benefactors of the reception. The reception took place at the home of DSAer Marcia Peters and her husband David Karaus in Jamaica Plain.[21]

Rutgers conference

In 1982 Rutgers Democratic Socialists of America hosted a statewide conference October 1-2 featuring Stanley Aronowitz, Noam Chomsky, Bogdan Denitch, Kate Ellis, Michael Harrington, Frances Fox Piven, Bernie Sanders and Cornel West.[22]

War Times

In January 2002, a group of San Francisco leftists, mainly involved with STORM or Committees of Correspondence, founded a national anti-Iraq War newspaper[23] War Times.

Endorsers of the project included Noam Chomsky.

Working with Seymour Melman

Seymour Melman was part of a circle of critical intellectuals with epicenters in various networks. Three were central. First, Melman was part of the Frame of Reference group led by University of Pennsylvania Professor Zellig Harris. Second, he was part of a group of critical scholars at Columbia University including Robert S. Lynd, a leading sociologist in the United States. Third, he was connected to a wide network of national and international scholars and activists concerned with disarmament, economic conversion and economic democracy, e.g. Noam Chomsky, Marcus Raskin, Harley Shaiken, John Ullmann, Lloyd J. Dumas, John Kenneth Galbraith, among many others.

Boston Social Forum

On April 4, 2004, Noam Chomsky and Michelle Shocked participated in a Boston Social Forum fundraiser at the Middle East Restaurant, 4-10 p.m., $10, 472 Mass Ave., Cambridge.[24]

MDS Board member

Original members of the 2006 Movement for a Democratic Society board included[25];

Elliott Adams, Senia Barragan (Student Representative), David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky, Carl Davidson, Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Bert Garskof, David Graeber, Tom Hayden, Gerald Horne, Mike James, Robin D G Kelley, Mike Klonsky, Ethelbert Miller, Charlene Mitchell, Michael Rossman, Mark Rudd, Howard Zinn.

On February 17, 2007, the Movement for a Democratic Society held a well attended conference[26]at New York City’s New School University.

The business portion of the meeting followed with each board nominee introducing themselves to the conference. The board, a very diverse group, was voted in by acclamation... Board nominees where were not able to attend the conference were included in the appointment by acclamation. The list included Elliott Adams, Panama Vicente Alba, Tariq Ali, Stanley Aronowitz, David Barsamian, Rosalyn Baxandall, John Bracey, Jr., John Brittain, Robb Burlage, Noam Chomsky, Jayne Cortez, Carl Davidson, Angela Davis, Bernardine Dohrn, Barbara Epstein, Gustavo Esteva, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Stephen Fleischman, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Tom Hayden, Gerald Horne, Florence Howe, Mike James, Robin D G Kelley, Alice Kessler Harris, Rashid Khalidi, Mike Klonsky, Betita Martinez, Ethelbert Miller, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Barbara Ransby, Patricia Rose, Michael Rossman, Studs Terkel, Charlene Teters, Jerry Tucker, Immanuel Wallerstein, Cornel West, Leonard Weinglass and Howard Zinn.

Open letter to Andy Stern

On May 1 2008, Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), MIT signed an open letter to SEIU president Andy Stern in protest at SEIU move to force its local United Healthcare Workers into trusteeship.

We are writing to express our deep concern about SEIU's threatened trusteeship over its third largest local, United Healthcare Workers (UHW). We believe that there must always be room within organized

labor for legitimate and principled dissent, if our movement is to survive and grow.

Putting UHW under trusteeship would send a very troubling message and be viewed, by many, as a sign that internal democracy is not valued or tolerated within SEIU. In our view, this would have negative

consequences for the workers directly affected, the SEIU itself, and the labor movement as a whole. We strongly urge you to avoid such a tragedy.

Letter to Presidents Clinton and Samper

Action on Colombia, Summer 1994

In 1994 a letter was sent to US President Bill Clinton, and Colombian President Samper, apparently from the Colombian Support Network.

It called on the US to "cut off all aid to Colombia until the violence has ended", and called for the appointment of a UN Rapporteur on human rights in Colombia.

Endorsers

CSN Advisory Board

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In the Spring of 1995 Colombia Support Network developed an Advisory Board.

Initial members were;

Colombia Support Network

As of 2009, the Colombia Support Network Advisory Board consisted of ;[27]

Chomsky and Chavez

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Opposing Israeli Policy in Gaza

In January 2009 Noam Chomsky MIT, signed a statement circulated by the Magnes Zionist Blog, opposing Israeli policy in Gaza:[29]

As human beings, we are shocked and appalled at the mass destruction unleashed by the State of Israel against the people of Gaza in its military operation, following years of Israeli occupation, siege, and deprivation.
As progressives, we reject the same justifications for the carnage that we heard ad nauseam from the supporters of the Second Iraq War: the so-called "war on terror," the "clash of civilizations," the "need to re-establish deterrence" – all of which served to justify a misguided and unnecessary war, with disastrous consequences for America and Iraq.’

Against the Current

In 2009 Noam Chomsky was listed as an advisory editor of Against the Current, bi-monthly analytical journal of U.S. Trotskyist organization Solidarity .[30]

New Politics

As of 2009 Noam Chomsky served as a sponsor of New Politics, magazine almost completely staffed and run by members of Democratic Socialists of America[31].

National Peace Conference

The National Peace Conference, took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany New York, July 2010. Many workshops are scheduled and many leaders of the peace and progressive movements will be there: Cindy Sheehan, Kathy Kelly, Medea Benjamin, Ann Wright, Dahlia Wasfi, Leila Zand, Michael McPhearson, Kevin Martin, David Swanson, Glen Ford, and many others.

Keynote speakers were Noam Chomsky and Donna DeWitt (President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO).

Social Policy

The Editorial Advisory Group of the magazine Social Policy includes[32];

Noam Chomsky, Janice Fine, S. M. Miller, Peter Olney, Frances Fox Piven, Heather Booth, Peter Dreier, Maya Wiley, Robert Fisher, Ashutosh Saxena, Ken Grossinger

Campaign for Peace and Democracy

Chomsky is listed as an endorser of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, as of March 15, 2010.[33]

Free Gaza Movement

In 2010, Chomsky served on the advisory board of the Free Gaza Movement.[34]

Opposition to the killing of Bin Laden

Quotes from his article in Znet: My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death:

It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination, multiply violating elementary norms of international law. There appears to have been no attempt to apprehend the unarmed victim, as presumably could have been done by 80 commandos facing virtually no opposition—except, they claim, from his wife, who lunged towards them.
Nothing serious has been provided since. There is much talk of bin Laden’s “confession,” but that is rather like my confession that I won the Boston Marathon. He boasted of what he regarded as a great achievement.
Less is said about Pakistani anger that the U.S. invaded their territory to carry out a political assassination. Anti-American fervor is already very high in Pakistan, and these events are likely to exacerbate it. The decision to dump the body at sea is already, predictably, provoking both anger and skepticism in much of the Muslim world.
We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s, and he is not a “suspect” but uncontroversially the “decider” who gave the orders to commit the “supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole” (quoting the Nuremberg Tribunal) for which Nazi criminals were hanged: the hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country, the bitter sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region.
Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders. It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”[35]

Publications

  • American Power and the New Mandarins
  • For Reasons of State
  • Problems of Knowledge and Freedom

External links

References

Template:War Times endorsers

  1. ↑ http://www.cc-ds.org/advisory_bd.html
  2. ↑ http://www.dsaboston.org/aboutdsa.htm
  3. ↑ Do We Act Now?, Accessed on March 20 2017
  4. ↑ Do We Act Now?, Accessed on March 20 2017
  5. ↑ [http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/261724/bernie-sanders-spent-months-marxist-stalinist-daniel-greenfield#.VrPxsICO11M.facebook Frontpage, BERNIE SANDERS SPENT MONTHS AT MARXIST-STALINIST KIBBUTZ February 4, 2016 Daniel Greenfield]
  6. ↑ Undated, GI Civil Liberties Defense Committee letterhead circa 1969
  7. ↑ Democratic Left, Sep. 1975, page 2
  8. ↑ Political Rights Defense Fund letter to supporters signed by Syd Stapleton
  9. ↑ [1] In These Times home page, accessed March 6, 2010
  10. ↑ Information Digest April l5, 1983 p77-79
  11. ↑ New American Movement Speakers Bureau booklet, 1980s
  12. ↑ Conference flyer
  13. ↑ New York review of books, Vol 34, Number 10, June 11, 1987
  14. ↑ International Peace for Cuba Appeal - letterhead, Nov. 14, 1994
  15. ↑ DSA National Director Addresses Chicago DSA Membership, New Ground 51, March-April, 1997
  16. ↑ [Democratic Left • Issue #1 1997 * page 7-8]
  17. ↑ Mail Archive website: Communist Manifestivity Conference Schedule, Oct. 28, 1998
  18. ↑ Democratic Left, Jan./Feb. 1987, page 17
  19. ↑ Democratic Left, May/June 1991, page 14
  20. ↑ [2] About Boston DSA, accessed July 19, 2010
  21. ↑ The Yankee Radical, June 2001, page 1
  22. ↑ [DEMOCRATIC LEFT, SEPT.-OcT. 1982 page 16]
  23. ↑ WAR TIMES January 29, 2002
  24. ↑ The Yankee Radical, March 2004
  25. ↑ file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/TWRF0IYM/discuss%20%282%29.htm
  26. ↑ http://antiauthoritarian.net/NLN/?p=179
  27. ↑ [http://colombiasupport.net/2009/colombian_army_csn_report_08_09.pdf, COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK P.O. BOX 1505 MADISON, WISCONSIN 53701, August 24, 2009, THE COLOMBIAN ARMY: TERRORISM, THIEVERY, BUNGLING AND MASSACRES]
  28. ↑ CSN Advisory board
  29. ↑ The Magnes Zionist website: American Jews Oppose Israeli Policy in Gaza
  30. ↑ About Against the Current
  31. ↑ http://ww3.wpunj.edu/newpol/whoweare.htm#eds
  32. ↑ http://www.socialpolicy.org/index.php?id=804
  33. ↑ Endorsers
  34. ↑ [3] Free Gaza Movement website, accessed June 2, 2010
  35. ↑ Znet: My reaction to Bin Ladens death, by Noam Chomsky(accessed May 9, 2011)
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