Chomsky's a Columnist, Too, and He's Discussing Latin America
By E&P Staff
Friday, September 29 2006
Friday, September 29 2006
Published on AllBusiness.com
Noam Chomsky was all over the news last week when one of his books was praised during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's United Nations speech. The book -- "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" -- shot up best-seller lists.
But it's not widely known that Chomsky also does a monthly column for the New York Times Syndicate. His latest NYTS piece happens to have the title: "Latin American Declares Its Independence."
One thing Chomsky does in that column is compare the most recent presidential contests in the United States and Bolivia. He writes: "In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, voters had a choice between two men born to wealth and privilege, who attended the same elite university, joined the same secret society where privileged young men are trained to join the ruling class, and were able to run in the election because they were supported by pretty much the same conglomerations of private power."
In Bolivia, added Chomsky, voters "chose someone from their own ranks, not a representative of narrow sectors of privilege."
This contrast, he concluded dryly, "raises some questions about where programs of 'democracy promotion' are needed."
But it's not widely known that Chomsky also does a monthly column for the New York Times Syndicate. His latest NYTS piece happens to have the title: "Latin American Declares Its Independence."
One thing Chomsky does in that column is compare the most recent presidential contests in the United States and Bolivia. He writes: "In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, voters had a choice between two men born to wealth and privilege, who attended the same elite university, joined the same secret society where privileged young men are trained to join the ruling class, and were able to run in the election because they were supported by pretty much the same conglomerations of private power."
In Bolivia, added Chomsky, voters "chose someone from their own ranks, not a representative of narrow sectors of privilege."
This contrast, he concluded dryly, "raises some questions about where programs of 'democracy promotion' are needed."
