Review: Chomsky's Politics

Milan Rai Chomsky's Politics Verso 1995, £10.95. Reviewed by JENNY PEARCE.

<*> Noam Chomsky was interviewed during his June 1995 visit to Britain by the Financial Times. The last paragraph of the interview reflects the perplexity of a cynical world trying to come to terms with the Chomsky phenomenon:

Chomsky is a kinder, more humorous man than his grim polemic makes him sound. As I left him at the airport I wondered: can a man so brilliant be so deluded? Or will we be forced one day to admit that he was right all along?

But many on the intellectual left are also uncertain about where to place Chomsky. Most would acknowledge the importance of his consistent and persistent critique of US foreign policy, but would not cast him as one of the major political theorists or thinkers of our time. Perhaps he might be thought of as a radical populist of some kind, bringing an important message to the people but hardly helping them construct a strategy to do anything about the horrors they hear. Milan Rai's book is important because for the first time Chomsky and his work are located, and what appear to be somewhat disparate and issue-based books full of detailed critique and information can be seen as part of a broader vision and purpose. And through Rai's book, Chomsky emerges as a man of real stature, intellectual, political and personal.

The book is not in any sense adulatory; however, neither is it critical. It is a fairly straightforward attempt to help us understand Chomsky and his work. Chomsky has focused his intellectual energies on a particular task, helping us to uncover what the media does not say and why, precisely how successive US governments have got away with the most tremendous assault on freedom in the name of liberty, and documenting the appalling human suffering for which the US government has been directly or indirectly responsible. He reminds us that while sophisticated intellectual arguments can be constructed by left thinkers about the structural features of capitalism, we need also to understand what governments do and how they do it. More than ever we need to be reminded of this today, as the mass media obscure and distort the actual violence, poverty and injustice of most people's lives on this planet.

The book systematically responds to the confusions and controversies around Chomsky's work, many of which arise, in the author's opinion, from systematic distortions, but some of which come from Chomsky's own decision to concentrate on the "superficial phenomena", the atrocities, the hypocrisy, the lies around US foreign policy where a greater public awareness might make a difference. However, Rai seeks to show that Chomsky does have a social vision, originating from a libertarian socialism. In fact, Chomsky emerges from this book as both a visionary and a very practical man. He is capable of seeing an alternative kind of society, but believes it can best be built by the daily struggles of ordinary people. He sees his role as an intellectual as one of being a resource, offering information and analysis so that people can make their own decisions: "I'm not trying to convert, but to inform," he states. "I feel that I've achieved something if people are encouraged to take up this challenge and learn for themselves." Chomsky is clearly not out to emphasise his individual role and contribution. It is fortunate that Rai has nevertheless sought to explain him to us and help us appreciate the importance, not just of the individual, but of the particular task this individual has set out to do.