Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM
ful to sample some of the other views that appear in American scholarship.
Consider, for example, the proposals of Thomas R. Adam, professor of political
science at New York University. 4 4
Adam begins by outlining an "ideal solution" to American problems in the
Pacific, towards which we should bend our efforts. The ideal solution would
have the United States recognized as "the responsible military protagonist of all
Western interests in the area" with a predominant voice in a unified Western
policy. United States sovereignty over some territorial base in the area would
give us "ideal conditions for extending power over adjoining regions." Such a
base would permit the fo rmation of a regional organization, under our dominance,
that would make possible "direct intervention in Korea, Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia" without the onus of unilateral imervemion ("in the face of
brazen communist aggression, it is not the fact of intervemion as such that
constitutes the issue but rather its unilateral character").
We must understand that for the preservation of Western imerests, there is
no reasonable alternative to the construction of such a base of power in territories
over which we possess direct sovereignty. We cannot maimain the "historic
connection" between Asia and the West unless we participate in Asian
affairs "through the exercise of power and influence." We must accept "the fact
that we are engaged in a serious struggle fo r cultural survival that involves that
continuous presence of Wesrern-oriemed communities" in Asia. It is an illusion
to believe that we can retreat from Asia and leave it to its own devices, for
our own Western culture must be understood as "a minority movement of
recent date in the evolution of civilization," and it cannot be taken for granted
that Asia will remain incapable of imervening in our affairs." Thus (0
defend ourselves, we must imervene with force in the affairs of Asia. If we fail
to establish "our industrial enterprise system" universally, we will have (0
"defend our privileges and gains by means of the continuing, brutalizing, and
costly exercise of superior force in every corner of the globe."
Why are we justified in forceful imervemion in the affairs of Asia? "One
obvious justification fo r United States intervention in Asian affairs lies in our
leadership of the world struggle against communism. Communist political and
economic infiltration among a majority of the world's peoples appears to
American political leadership to be fatal to our safety and progress; this attitude
is supported almost unanimously by public opinion." Pursuing this logic
a few steps further, we will soon have the same "obvious justification" fo r taking
out China with nuclear weapons-and perhaps France as well, for good
measure.
Further justification is that the defense of our western seaboard "requires
that the North Pacific be controlled as a virtual American lake," a fan which
"provides one basis for United States intervention in power struggles throughout
the region," to preserve the security of this mare nostrum. Our "victory over
Japan left a power vacuum in Southeast Asia and the Far East that was tempt-
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