Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

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CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM Remarks such as these illustrate a failure to come to grips with the reality of contemporary society which may not be directly traceable to the newly found (or at least hopefully sought) access to power and affluence, but which is, nevertheless, what one would expect in the developing ideology of a new privileged elite. Various strands of this ideology are drawn together in a recent article by Zbigniew Brzezinski,1 4 in which a number of the conceptions and attitudes that appear in recent social thought are summarized-I am tempted ro say "parodied." Brzez;inski too sees a "profound change" taking place in the intellectual community, as "the largely humanist-oriented, occasionally ideologically-minded intellectual-dissenter, who sees his role largely in terms of proffering social critiques, is rapidly being displaced either by experts and specialists, who become involved in special governmental undertakings, or by the generalists-integrators, who become in effect house-ideologues for those in power, providing overall intellectual integration for disparate actions." He suggests that these "organisation-oriented, application-minded intellectuals" can be expected to introduce broader and more relevant concerns imo the political system-though there is, as he notes, a danger that "intellectual detachment and the disinterested search for trurh" will come to an end, given the new access of the "application-minded intellectuals" to "power, prestige, and the good life." They are a new meritocratic elite, "taking over American life, utilising the universities, exploiting the latest techniques of communications, har- 15 nessing as rapidly as possible the most recent technological devices." Presumably, their civilizing impact is revealed by the great progress that has been made, in this new "historical era" that America alone has already entered, with respect to the problems that confounded the bumbling political leaders of past eras-the problems of the cities, of pollution, of waste and destructiveness, of exploitation and poverty. Under the leadership of this "new breed of politicians-intellectuals," America has become "the creative society; the others, consciously and unconsciously, are emulative." We see this, for example, in mathematics, the biological sciences, anthropology, philosophy, cinema, music, hisrorical scholarship, and so on, where other cultures, hopelessly outdistanced, merely observe and imitate what America creates. Thus we move rowards a new world-wide "'super-culture,' strongly influenced by American life, with its own universal electronic-computer language," with an enormous and growing "psycho-cultural gap" separating America from the rest of the "developed world." It is impossible even to imagine what Brzezinski thinks a "universal electronic-computer language" may be, or what cultural values he thinks will be created by the new "technologically dominant and conditioned technetron" who, he apparendy believes, may pl"ove ro be (he true "reposirory of that indefinable quality we call human." lr would hardly be rewarding to try to disentangle Brzezinski's confusions and misunderstandings. What is interesting,
OBJECTIVITY AND LIBERAL SCHOLARSHIP Parallel (Q the assumption that all is basically well at home is the widely articulated belief that the problems of internarional society, too, would be subject to intelligent management were it not for the machinarions of the Communists. One aspect of this complacence is the belief thar the Cold War was entirely the result of Russian (later Chinese) aggressiveness. For example, Daniel Bell has described rhe origins of the Cold War in the following terms: "When the Russians began stirring up the Greek guerrilla EA1vl in what had been tacitly acknowledged at Teheran as a British sphere of influence, the Communists began their cry against Anglo-American imperialism. Following the rejection of the Marshall Plan and the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in February, 1948, the Cold War was on in earnest." I 5 Clearly, this will hardly do as a balanced and objective statement of the origins of the Cold War, but the distonion it reflects is an inherent element in Bell's optimism about the new society, since it enables him to maintain that our Cold War posture is purely reacrive, and that once Communist belligerence is tamed, the new tech- nical intelligentsia can turn its attention to the construction of a more decent socIety. i. 6 rarher, is the way his dim awareness of current developments in science and technology is used to provide an ideological justification for the "increasing role in the key decision-making institutions of individuals wirh special intellectual and scientific attainments," the new "organisation-oriented, application-minded imellectuals" based in rhe university, "the creative eye of the massive communications complex." A related element in the ideology of the liberal intellectual is the firm belief in the fundamental generosity of Western policy towards the Third World. Adam Ulam again provides a typical example: "Problems of an international society undergoing an economic and ideological revolution seem to defy . .. the generosity-granted its qualifications and errors-that has characterized the policy of the leading democraric powers of the West."!6 Even Hans Morgemhau succumbs to this illusion. He summarizes a discussion of intervention with these remarks: "We have intervened in the political, military and economic affairs of other countries to the tune of far in excess of $1 00 billion, and we are at present involved in a costly and risky war in order to build a nation in South Vietnam. Only the enemies of the United States will question the generosity of these efforts, which have no parallel in history."!7 Whatever one may think about the $100 billion, it is difficult to see why anyone should take seriously the professed "generosity" of our effort to build a nation in Somh Vietnam, any more than the similar professions of benevolence by our many forerunners in such enterprises. Generosity has never been a commodity in shon supply among powers bent on extending their hegemony. Srill another strand in the ideology of the new emerging elite is the concern for order, fo r maintaining the status quo, which is now seen to be quite favorable and essentially just. An excellent example is the statement by fourteen
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LRNGURGE FIND FREEDOM human spirit
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LRNGURGE FIND FREEDOM In every anim
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LRNGUAGE AND FREEDOM
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LRNGUAGE AND FREEDOM other facultie
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LRNGURGE FIND FREEDOM 1. 1. 4 deriv
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LRNGUAGE AND FREEDOM ty, or even in
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THREE NOTES ON ANARCHISM (1970) U8
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM through (he taki
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM 1. 22 shabby, an
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM meO( of a man, b
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM bourgeoisie. It
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM 1. 28 remarks by
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM NOTES This essay
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM 27 For discussio
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THE RElEVANCE OF ANARCHO-SYNDICALIS
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PREFACE TO ANTOLOGIJA ANARHIlMA
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PREFACE TO ANTOLOGIJA ANARHIlMA of
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CONTRINING THE THREAT OF DEMOCRACY
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CONTRINING THE THRERT OF DEMOCRACY
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SEVEN ANARCHISM , MARXISM AND HOPE
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RNRRCHISM, MRRXISM RND HOPE FOR THE
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EIGHT GOALS AND VISIONS (1996) In r
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GOALS AND VISIONS It should be adde
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GOALS AND VISIONS 1928 that "Labour
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GOALS AND VISIONS understand what l
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GOALS AND VISIONS 1. 98 assisted ma
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GOALS AND VISIONS Medicine cites th
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GOALS AND VISIONS power lies elsewh
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GOALS AND VISIONS funds that serve
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GOALS AND VISIONS Minnesota Press,
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NINE ANARCHISM, INTELLECTUALS AND T
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ANARCHISM, INTEllECTUALS FIND THE S
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ANARCHISM, INTEllECTUALS AND THE ST
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTEMRN I was
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTEMRN every
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTEMRN My son
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ELEVEN INTERVIEW WITH ZIGA VOD OVN
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INTERVIEW WITH ZIGA VODOVNIK J thin
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