Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Fifth Freedom
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
110
“Russian threat” to prepare the way for measures to prevent “infection”
from spreading has been imitated with great efficacy since.
The prime concern throughout is that if there is one rotten apple in
the barrel, then “the rot will spread,” namely, the “rot” of successful
social and economic development of a form that would constrain the
Fifth Freedom. This might have a demonstration effect. To cite another
case, Kissinger’s aides recall that he was far more concerned over
Allende in Chile than over Castro because “Allende was a living example
of democratic social reform in Latin America,” and Allende’s success
within the democratic process might cause Latin America to become
“unraveled” with effects as far as Europe, where Eurocommunism,
operating within parliamentary democracy, “scared him” no less.
Allende’s success would send the wrong message to Italian voters,
Kissinger feared. The “contagious example” of Chile would “infect” not
only Latin America but also southern Europe, Kissinger stated, using the
conventional imagery. 58 Soon, we might find that the Grand Area is
beginning to erode.
These concerns are persistent. The CIA warned in 1964 that “Cuba’s
experiment with almost total state socialism is being watched closely by
other nations in the hemisphere and any appearance of success there
would have an extensive impact on the statist trend elsewhere in the
area,” to the detriment of the Fifth Freedom. 59 Hence the appearance of
success must be aborted by a major terrorist war including repeated
attempts to assassinate Castro, bombing of petrochemical and other
installations, sinking of fishing boats, shelling of hotels, crop and
livestock poisoning, destruction of civilian airlines in flight, etc.
We might observe that none of this counts as “terrorism,” by
definition, since the US or its associates are the perpetrators. In fact, it
is a staple of Western propaganda that the Communist bloc is immune
to terrorist acts, sure proof that they are responsible for this scourge of