Thank you, Michael --- I definitely see the "old" very thoughtful measured Chomsky in this interview --
Look --- nobody's perfect --- and we can certainly credit Yassin al-Haj Saleh for calling out Chomsky's failures since ---- Nothing will change the decades of fantastic contributions to humanity's many struggles --- (and I might also add, he was always incredibly generous with people who wrote to him with questions or issues to address!) On Sun, Jun 23, 2024 at 10:56 AM Michael Karadjis via groups.io <mkaradjis= [email protected]> wrote: > I'm not sure why Dayne calls campism "ultraleft." I would suggest it is > not "left" at all. That's why it is so easily able to line up with the > global far right on issues like Syria, Ukraine, Bosnia etc. Gushing support > for other rapacious imperialist powers or capitalist tyrants that aren't > current US partners is right-wing, not ultraleft politics. > > Chomsky, of course, had this tendency as the article shows, but he was > never in the worst-case category. Yassin al-Haj Saleh, a communist > political prisoner for 16 years in Assad's torture dungeons, is quite > naturally angry about Chomsky's later horrible views on Syria. Yet in the > first few years of the Syrian revolution, his views were much better, eg in > the below 2013 interview (a few excerpts below > > https://chomsky.info/20130711/ > > > Anyway, here are the excerpts from Chomsky's 2013 interview on Syria, > where he was still able to show his better side: > > *Syrians today continue to receive blame because of the armed resistance > taking centre-stage in a revolution whose protests were peaceful and > remained so throughout its early months. Do you think that Syrians had > other options but let them slip?* > > I don't think the Syrians made a choice. It happened in the wake of the > Assad regime’s repressive response. Syrians could either have surrendered > or taken up arms. To blame them is akin to saying that the Vietnamese made > a mistake responding by force when their US-backed government started > committing massacres. Sure, the Vietnamese made a choice to arm themselves, > but the alternative was accept still more massacres. It’s not a serious > critique. > > *In your view, what is Israel’s true position regarding the Syrian > revolution?* > > Israel has done nothing to indicate that it is trying to bring down the > Assad regime. There are growing claims that the West intends to supply the > opposition with arms. I believe this is quite misleading. The fact of the > matter is, that were the United States and Israel interested in bringing > down the Syrian regime there is a whole package of measures they could take > before they came to the arms-supply option. All these other options remain > available, including, for example, America encouraging Israel to mobilize > its forces along the northern border, a move that would not produce any > objections from the international community and which would compel the > regime to withdraw its forces from a number of frontline positions and > relieve the pressure on the opposition. But this has not happened, nor will > it, so long as America and Israel remain unwilling to bring down Assad > regime. They may not like the regime, but it is nevertheless a regime that > is well practised in accommodating their demands and any unknown > alternative might prove worse in this respect. Much better, then, to watch > the Syrians fight and destroy each other. > > *Your discourse unambiguously states that America and Israel have no > desire to see the regime fall and that their actions are determined by the > “better the devil you know” principle. How do you explain a > counter-discourse, promulgated by analysts and intellectuals, especially > among Leftist circles in Europe the US and the Arab world, which is based > on the supposition of an American/Israeli/imperialist plot? For some > people, the revolution in Syria has been a conspiracy from the outset. For > others it was hijacked by the conspiracy.* > > For a long time, the Arab world and other places beside have played host > to stories and illusions about the supernatural power of the United States, > which controls everything through complex conspiracies and plots. In this > worldview, everything that takes place can be explained in terms of > imperialist conspiracies. This is an error. Without a doubt, the > UnitedStates are still a great power and capable of influencing events, but > they are not always able to manipulate them by means of complex > conspiracies: this really is beyond their capacities. Of course the > Americans do sometimes try to do this, but they fail, too. What happened in > Syria is not outside our understanding: it began as a popular and > democratic protest movement demanding democratic reforms, but instead of > responding to it in a constructive, positive manner, Assad reacted with > violent repression. The usual outcome of such a course of action is either > a successful crushing of the protests or otherwise, to see them evolve and > militarize, and this is what took place in Syria. When a protest movement > enters this phase we see new dynamics at play: usually, the rise of the > most extremist and brutal elements to the front ranks. > > >> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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