Pirates and Emperors, Old and New: International Terrorism in the Real World

Noam Chomsky

South End Press, 2002 - History - 233 pages

This updated edition of Noam Chomsky's classic dis-section of terrorism explores the role of the U.S. in the Middle East, and reveals how the media manipulates -public opinion about what constitutes "terrorism."

This edition includes new chapters covering the second Palestinian intifada that began in October 2000; an analysis of the impact of September 11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; a deconstruction of depictions and perceptions of terrorism since that date; as well as the original sections on Iran and the U.S. bombing of Libya.

Chomsky starts by tracing the changing meaning of "terrorism," examining how it originally referred to violent acts by "governments designed to ensure popular submission." He calls its current application "retail terrorism," practiced by "thieves who molest the powerful." Chomsky argues that appreciating the differences between state terror and nongovernmental terror is crucial to stopping terrorism, and understanding why atrocities like the bombing of the World Trade Center happen.

In comparing the "war on terror" launched by George W. Bush to that of his father and Ronald Reagan's administrations, Chomsky recalls Winston Churchill's summation of the terror by the powerful: "The rich and powerful have every right to demand that they be left in peace to enjoy what they have gained, often by violence and terror; the rest can be ignored as long as they suffer in silence, but if they interfere with the lives of those who rule the world by right, the 'terrors of the earth' will be visited upon them with righteous wrath, unless power is constrained from within."

Pirates and Emperors is a brilliant account of the workings of state terrorism by the world's foremost critic of U.S. imperialism.

An internationally acclaimed philosopher, linguist, and political activist, Noam Chomsky teaches at MIT.

Contents

• The Case of the Middle East: 19
• Middle East Terrorism and the American Ideological System: 38
• Libya in U S Demonology: 81
• The U S Role in the Middle East: 104
• Image and Reality: 119
• The World after September 11: 144
• U S IsraelPalestine: 160
• Notes: 181

About the author

Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 7, 1928. Son of a Russian emigrant who was a Hebrew scholar, Chomsky was exposed at a young age to the study of language and principles of grammar. During the 1940s, he began developing socialist political leanings through his encounters with the New York Jewish intellectual community. Chomsky received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. He conducted much of his research at Harvard University. In 1955, he began teaching at MIT, eventually holding the Ferrari P. Ward Chair of Modern Language and Linguistics. Today Chomsky is highly regarded as both one of America's most prominent linguists and most notorious social critics and political activists. His academic reputation began with the publication of Syntactic Structures in 1957. Within a decade, he became known as an outspoken intellectual opponent of the Vietnam War. Chomsky has written many books on the links between language, human creativity, and intelligence, including Language and Mind (1967) and Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use (1985). He also has written dozens of political analyses, including Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), Chronicles of Dissent (1992), and The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many (1993).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Pirates and Emperors, Old and New: International Terrorism in the Real World
• Author: Noam Chomsky
• Publisher: South End Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0896086852, 9780896086852
• Length: 233 pages
• Subjects: History / Middle East / General; History / United States / 20th Century; Political Science / General; Political Science / International Relations / General; Political Science / Terrorism