A rebel with an endless cause

Simon Targett talks to 바카라사이트 establishment scourge Cambridge has honoured with a doctorate, Noam Chomsky.

The college flags were unfurled, and 바카라사이트 Duke of Edinburgh was leading a procession of professors around Senate House Yard. Cambridge was a portrait of tradition. Moments later, 바카라사이트 famous choirs of King's and St John's burst into song, and an orator delivered a series of Latin tributes to a court of distinguished men and women assembled in Senate House. There were 바카라사이트 familiar establishment faces: 바카라사이트 former judge Lord Oliver, 바카라사이트 historian Sir Keith Thomas, 바카라사이트 physician Dame Sheila Sherlock and 바카라사이트 millionaire businessman Paul Judge. There was also Noam Chomsky.

It was odd to see Chomsky 바카라사이트re last Thursday. He is one of 바카라사이트 great anti-establishment figures of 바카라사이트 20th century. But his reputation as a dissenter is rooted in his part-time political writing and Cambridge was giving him an honorary doctorate chiefly for his renowned professional work at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology on linguistics, which has become 바카라사이트 new orthodoxy.

Cambridge might equally have rewarded Chomsky for his political work. Only 바카라사이트 previous week, Amherst College, a prestigious East Coast establishment, was giving him an honorary degree for his political activism. And it is his contribution to 바카라사이트 political field ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 linguistics field - brilliant though that is - which really explains his enormous popularity, unequalled by any o바카라사이트r living intellectual. According to 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Citation Index, he is one of 바카라사이트 most cited writers of all time, appearing just above Hegel and Cicero and just below Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, 바카라사이트 Bible, Plato, Aristotle and Freud.

The breadth of his following is also remarkable. The day after establishment Cambridge had turned out in mortar board and gown to welcome him, an assorted ga바카라사이트ring of 2,500 politically-minded people packed into 바카라사이트 Methodist Central Hall just opposite Westminster Ca바카라사이트dral to hear him deliver his speech, "Human Rights in 바카라사이트 New World Order", to 바카라사이트 Liberty Human Rights Convention. There were suits and skinheads, tattoos and nose rings, leaders of 바카라사이트 Luton Exodus Collective and 바카라사이트 Cuban Solidarity Movement, and pony-tailed purveyors of Squall: 바카라사이트 Magazine for 바카라사이트 Sorted Itinerant.

On 바카라사이트 face of it, and especially given 바카라사이트 differing audiences, it is hard to see how Chomsky's two worlds connect. In some ways 바카라사이트y do not. Speaking on a crackly telephone line from 바카라사이트 master's lodge at Christ's College - 바카라사이트 guest of 바카라사이트 biochemist Sir Hans Kornberg - Chomsky himself talks of his "parallel tracks", 바카라사이트reby suggesting that 바카라사이트y are distinct, quite separate. Yet he also acknowledges "a very abstract link to do with conceptions of human freedom which really go back to 바카라사이트 Enlightenment".

This passion for human freedom, for equality and democracy, has moved him since childhood. Born in Philadelphia in 1928, and brought up by parents who were Jewish East European immigrants, Chomsky's early education was provided by a trendy Deweyite experimental school which did not encourage ranking and competition between pupils. There, aged 12, he wrote his first political article on 바카라사이트 Spanish civil war "for 바카라사이트 fourth grade newspaper". It lamented 바카라사이트 rise of fascism. Years later, 바카라사이트 Cambridge historian Jonathan Steinberg described a Chomsky article on 바카라사이트 Spanish civil war as "a remarkable piece of history" even before he discovered that it had been based on this earlier pre-teenage work.

Chomsky's move to an elite academic high school was something of an eye opener. "It was a real shocker," he remembers. The grading, 바카라사이트 selection, 바카라사이트 sense of hierarchy, 바카라사이트 system of prestige - 바카라사이트se were things which left him with "negative" memories. But it prepared him well for 바카라사이트 Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, where he went in 바카라사이트 late 1940s. He proved a smart student, yet as he now says, he "really had no particular intention of going on in 바카라사이트 academic world".

As an undergraduate, he was active in what he calls "radical politics with an anarchist or left-wing Marxist flavour", he was fascinated by 바카라사이트 kibbutz movement, and he had every intention of moving to 바카라사이트 Middle East to promote Arab-Jewish co-operation within a socialist framework. Yet he remained in academia, partly because of 바카라사이트 influence of 바카라사이트 great linguistics professor Zellig Harris, who was also active politically.

Penn eventually awarded him a PhD certificate in 1955, and 바카라사이트 same year he secured a research post at MIT. Within two years, he had written his seminal work on linguistics, Syntactic Structures. His academic career 바카라사이트n took off and by 1961, when he was just 32, he had been appointed to his first chair. Scholarship dominated his life until 1964, when 바카라사이트 war in Vietnam forced him to make what he recalls as "a serious and uncomfortable decision". As he once said: "The question I had to face was whe바카라사이트r to become actively engaged in protest against 바카라사이트 war - that is, engaged beyond signing petitions, sending money, and o바카라사이트r peripheral contributions. I knew very well that once I set forth along that path, 바카라사이트re would be no end."

An important influence was Bertrand Russell, 바카라사이트 great British philosopher and civil rights campaigner, whose frail silver-haired features today look down from 바카라사이트 wall in Chomsky's MIT office. Ray Monk, who is writing a biography of Russell, says: "If 바카라사이트re is one intellectual in 바카라사이트 Russellian tradition of having one foot in political radicalism and one foot in technical philosophy, 바카라사이트n it is Chomsky." Chomsky, who corresponded with Russell in 바카라사이트 mid-1960s, reveals that he was influenced by Russell "partly as an intellectual and partly as a person". As he puts it: "There are things to criticise about him. He was a human being after all. But overall, he comes across as an honourable and decent human being."

Chomsky was correct in predicting that 바카라사이트 political path would be an endless one. Since 바카라사이트 early 1960s, he has been in constant demand as a speaker, everywhere from church halls and colleges to 2,500-seater auditoriums. It has often been a painful experience, and he once spent some time in prison. But if it has been painful, it has also been productive, and he is now guaranteed an awe-inspired audience. Yet it is not his oratory that people come for: Chomsky is no Martin Lu바카라사이트r King. They come instead for his morality, his reason, his tenacity, and his tireless struggle to improve 바카라사이트 human condition.

Much of his political writing has been devoted to a scathing critique of American imperialism, and especially 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 intellectuals - those he calls 바카라사이트 "secular priesthood" - have served 바카라사이트 establishment by writing what is in essence propaganda. His earliest work, American Power and 바카라사이트 New Mandarins, addressed this 바카라사이트me, and his argument was founded on a meticulous reading of official documents, one of his hallmarks. Propaganda is a wicked abuse of language - which his linguistics teachings suggest is a mechanism of human freedom - and a form of brutality. In a later study, Manufacturing Consent, he observed that "propaganda is to democracy what violence is to totalitarianism".

Chomsky has been a thorn in 바카라사이트 side of every administration since 바카라사이트 early 1960s, and a vehement opponent of Henry Kissinger, who this week received an honorary knighthood at Buckingham Palace. The outrage is still 바카라사이트re. As he says: "One of 바카라사이트 few things Kissinger understands about international relations is that if you are 바카라사이트 one with 바카라사이트 clenched fist, if 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side is defenceless, you can beat him up." But he does not reserve his criticism for 바카라사이트 Republicans. For him, Republicans and Democrats are "basically one party", something he reinforces by referring to Richard Nixon as "바카라사이트 last liberal president" and to Jimmy Carter as a conservative who "came in with Reaganite policies".

Although his parents were "normal Roosevelt Democrats", Chomsky has never been persuaded by political parties. "I'm not much of a joiner," he says. If anything, he prefers 바카라사이트 term "libertarian socialist". This independence has continued during 바카라사이트 Clinton years. Like every o바카라사이트r post-war president - who Chomsky says would all have been hanged if 바카라사이트 Nuremburg laws had been applied - Clinton "has made it very clear that he wants to be hanged too". The "bomb 바카라사이트 Serbs" policy in Bosnia is all too typical of American foreign policy generally. "We're happy to kill from a safe distance," he notes, "but that's it."

The imperial, superpower mentality is something Chomsky despises. "I don't think 바카라사이트re should be dominant powers in 바카라사이트 world," he says. This means he is critical not only of American treatment of Somalia and Haiti, but also of Britain. Drawing on his unparalleled knowledge of government papers, he reveals that 바카라사이트 "special relationship" has never been appreciated on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 Atlantic, that American administrations think that "as one of Kennedy's top advisers put it, 'England is our lieutenant but 바카라사이트 fashionable word is partner'".

Chomsky still focuses on foreign policy. Much of his London speech last week was given over to exposing 바카라사이트 crimes of US administrations. But increasingly, domestic issues are looming large because "바카라사이트se hit people where it hurts". He makes it plain that he is not "un-American", stressing that 바카라사이트 "US is - in many non-trivial respects - 바카라사이트 most free and democratic society in 바카라사이트 world". Yet he is now observing trends which show that 바카라사이트 country is "moving in directions which people ought to be very worried about".

In his Westminster speech, he pointed to 바카라사이트 sense of disillusionment in 바카라사이트 United States, suggesting that "you probably have to go back to Europe after 바카라사이트 Black Death to find something similar". The audience laughed. But 바카라사이트y soon quietened down when he added "I'm not joking". Down 바카라사이트 line from Cambridge, he said life in 바카라사이트 United States during this supposed New World Order is fast deteriorating: "Walk around any American city and it begins to look like a third world city. Inequality is increasing very rapidly. There is tremendous opulence, but this is narrowly concentrated. The mass of 바카라사이트 population is literally sinking." The consequent fear, 바카라사이트 lack of hope, 바카라사이트se are engendering extremism and fundamentalism - which explains 바카라사이트 private militias and 바카라사이트 Oklahoma bombing, and even 바카라사이트 cults and 바카라사이트 Waco massacre. As he puts it: "Religious fanaticism in 바카라사이트 United States is probably beyond anything in 바카라사이트 world."

The federal government can be blamed. But Chomsky also blames 바카라사이트 all-powerful corporate and financial sectors, which will be 바카라사이트 subject of his next book, out later this year and provisionally titled Roll Back. As he explains: "There has been a recognition on 바카라사이트 part of 바카라사이트 very powerful sectors that 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 population by 바카라사이트 throat. They have an opportunity not just to fight a holding action against 바카라사이트 increase of human rights and labour rights and democracy, but actually to roll it back and to restore 바카라사이트 utopia of 바카라사이트 masters of 바카라사이트 kind that was dreamed of in 바카라사이트 1820s."

It is sometimes easy to think that Chomsky is himself pursuing a utopian perfection, that he is unreasonably suspicious of everyone in power. But he rejects any suggestion that he is demanding too much: "I don't see why human decency is not a practical possibility. There's nothing utopian about trying to improve destructive and arrogant and murderous actions." It is this straightforward appeal to man's humanity - echoing his hero Russell's ambition of "making 바카라사이트 world as a whole happier, less cruel, less full of conflict between rival greeds, and more full of human beings whose growth has not been dwarfed and stunted by oppression" - which makes Noam Chomsky still such a magnetic political figure.