On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Brett Murphy wrote:
> I would sooner participate in the capitalist system because that way I
> have a better chance of making an impact.It is not selling out.It is
> commonsense.You cannot fight the establishment with welded together
> scraps of metal.
Chomsky, 2/26/98:
Suppose we focus on "the root of the problem," not the suffering
and travail of innumerable human beings here and abroad, and what
we might try to do about it. They'll really thank us, while we are
contemplating our navels.
There is no such thing as "the root of the problem." There are
lots of problems, and lots of roots. "The root of the problem"
can't be "capitalism," because nothing remotely resembling that
exists, as the CATO Institute will be happy to explain
(correctly). Nor could it exist (as they won't explain). We can
say, if we like, that "the root of the problem" is the
socioeconomic system, or the structure of illegitimate power, or
other formulas, and we can even sketch these out with more or less
perception. But for people who live in this world, and want to do
something useful in this world, such abstract analyses do not
suffice unless they lead to concrete action, and that brings us
back where we were: in the present case, what do we do about the
fact that the US/UK are likely to bomb Iraq, that hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis are dying from sanctions (that do not affect,
perhaps even strengthen, Washington's old friend Saddam Hussein),
etc. More to the point, we can analyze the background of the
current crisis, so as better to understand what is at stake and
what we can do. There's also nothing wrong with investigating "the
root of the problem." Last night I gave a talk to an huge audience
at MIT on "corporations and democracy," which gets closer to the
root of the problem, and indeed has implications for just about
every current crisis. But isn't it the case that we really know
all this already?
To say that the current crisis is "perpetuated by
Trans-National-Corporations" is, in my opinion, false. It is true
that in the background lie questions of state capitalist power
about control over Middle East oil reserves, but I'd be willing to
wager that the CEOs of TNCs are more opposed to the use of force
in this case than liberal congressmen/women and journalists. In
fact, some of the most sensible reactions have come from the far
right, even the "Wall Street Journal." Formulas for any occasion
are easy, but should be regarded with caution.
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