Noam Chomsky Quotes About Enemies

• Governments will use whatever technology is available to combat their primary enemy - their own population.

  Noam Chomsky

  Technology, Government, Enemy

  "NSA surveillance is an attack on American citizens, says Noam Chomsky" by Fiona Harvey, www.theguardian.com. June 19, 2013.

• Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless. In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine participatory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.

  Noam Chomsky

  Shopping, Community, Enemy

  Noam Chomsky (2011). “Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order”, p.8, Seven Stories Press

• Control of thought is more important for governments that are free and popular than for despotic and military states. The logic is straightforward: a despotic state can control its domestic enemies by force, but as the state loses this weapon, other devices are required to prevent the ignorant masses from interfering with public affairs, which are none of their business… the public are to be observers, not participants, consumers of ideology as well as products.

  Noam Chomsky

  Military, Government, Ignorant Masses

  "Force and Opinion". Article by Noam Chomsky, chomsky.info. July, 1991.

• Anyone who studies declassified documents soon becomes aware that government secrecy is largely an effort to protect policy makers from scrutiny by citizens, not to protect the country from enemies.

  Noam Chomsky

  Country, Government, Effort

• US wars are going to be against much weaker enemies. And they have to be won quickly and decisively before a popular reaction develops.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Enemy, Reactions

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• American imperialism has suffered a stunning defeat in Indochina. But the same forces are engaged In another war against a much less resilient enemy, the American people. Here, the prospects for success are much greater. The battleground is ideological, not military. At stake are the lessons to be drawn from the American war in Indochina; the outcome will determine the course and character of new imperial ventures.

  Noam Chomsky

  Military, War, Character

  Source: chomsky.info

• To use the terms that are reserved for official enemies, it is the commissars and apparatchiks, not the dissidents, who are respected and privileged within their own societies.

  Noam Chomsky

  Enemy, Use, Term

  Source: www.publicanthropology.org

• How many educated Americans can even remember the names of the assassinated Jesuit intellectuals of El Salvador, or would know where to find a word they wrote? The answers are revealing, particularly when we draw the striking - and historically typical - contrast to the attitudes towards their counterparts in enemy domains.

  Noam Chomsky

  Attitude, Names, Enemy

  Source: www.publicanthropology.org

• My memory - faded, as I say - is that Paul Johnson was trying to vilify all intellectuals who were at all critical of the states he worships, and of power generally (except, of course, the power of enemies, which we must denounce, imitating the commissars who are his models, though he doesn't understand it).

  Noam Chomsky

  Memories, Enemy, Trying

  Source: thefifthcolumnnews.com

• Why should Iran have a deterrent strategy? Well, it's surrounded by hostile enemies. Both of its borders have been under occupation by a hostile superpower, the United States, which is constantly violating the U.N. charter by leaving open what they call the saying, 'all options are open' - meaning the threat of war.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Iran, Leaving

• The prescription for endless war poses a far greater danger to Americans than perceived enemies do, for reasons the terrorist organisations understand very well.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Enemy, Reason

  "Drain the swamp and there will be no more mosquitoes" by Noam Chomsky, www.theguardian.com. September 8, 2002.

• Arab public opinion does not regard Iran as a hostile entity. In fact it's so supportive of Iran that a majority would think the place would be better off if Iran had nuclear weapons. The main enemies are the United States and Isreal, in the 80, 90 percent range.

  Noam Chomsky

  Thinking, Iran, Enemy

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• France has not been able to come to terms with the fact that it's not a major power anymore. I mean even before the Second World War Paris was one of the main centers of intellectual and cultural life. But now Paris is a kind of subsidiary of Germany, their traditional enemy and they can't come to terms with it.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Mean, Paris

  "Anti-Intellectualism, Terrorism, and Elections in Contemporary Education: a Discussion with Noam Chomsky". Interview with Dan Falcone, www.counterpunch.org. June 3, 2016.

• In fact, it was stated early in the first Bush [presidency], Bush I, in one of their documents they pointed out in the future, US wars are going to be against much weaker enemies. And they have to be won quickly and decisively before a popular reaction develops. And Iif you take a look, that's what's done. Look at Panama, for instance, over a couple of days; and Kosovo, no American troops.

  Noam Chomsky

  Couple, War, Enemy

  Source: www.salon.com

• Long before the technology revolution there was declassification of documents and I've spent quite a lot of time studying declassified internal documents and written a lot about them. In fact, anybody who's worked through the declassified record can see very clearly that the reason for classification is very rarely to protect the state or the society from enemies. Most of the time it is to protect the state from its citizens, so they don't know what the government is doing.

  Noam Chomsky

  Technology, Government, Long

  Interview with Jegan Vincent de Paul, chomsky.info. August 15, 2012.

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