[lbo-talk] Axis of Logic: Noam Chomsky and 'Left' Apologetics for Injustice in Palestine

[Joseph Catron]

"It’s particularly interesting in the case of Palestine to see where
US intellectuals and progressives decide that it’s necessary to be
'realistic' and where 'principled;' where they choose to accept more
or less the general media consensus about 'the boundaries of
acceptable discourse' and where they reject it. In the case of
Palestine, people who are generally on record as calling for
forthrightness and honesty in the demand for justice in political
discourse, who criticize a false 'pragmatism' oriented toward the
corporate media and academic political consultants and who question
generalizing statements about popular consensus, suddenly become
believers in pragmatism and the limits of what the discourse will
allow. An interview with Noam Chomsky published on Znet under the
title 'Justice for Palestine?' (Znet, March 30, 2004) is an exemplary
contribution to this genre of left apologetics. Since it contains so
many of the arguments generally advanced to legitimize some form of
continued existence for an Israeli system of colonialism and
Apartheid—and to shore up rear-guard support for it among US
progressives—it is worth examining in full."

The opening's a little dry, but the rest improves quickly (and packs a
serious punch):

http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20040823.htm

Here's Z's interview of Chomsky:

http://www.zcommunications.org/justice-for-palestine-by-noam-chomsky

-- 
"Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure
mægen lytlað."