Thursday, April 9, 2020

Noam Chomsky: Bernie Sanders Campaign Didn’t Fail. It Energized Millions & Shifted U.S. Politics

Deeply needed wisdom of Noam Chomsky. He illuminates the extraordinary successes of Bernie Sanders — and the enormity of the mobilization of millions — who has dramatically shifted the narrative and how we will continue the fight for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.
Professor Chomsky also illuminates the extreme danger of Donald Trump related to the high risk of nuclear war and Trump’s ongoing devastating assault on the planet. Because of this level of horror emanating from the Trump presidency, Professor Chomsky clearly sees Joe Biden as someone who — although he will continue the deeply harmful neoliberal policies of Obama — is the lesser threat to us all. This is a fact that I also believe to be true. I can’t say more now because my grief related to Bernie Sanders and this great loss is so raw.
And, that said, my hurting heart is nourished by my love for Bernie and Noam Chomsky and Amy Goodman and all the courageous truth-tellers over time who’ve never given up in the fight for truth, love, justice, and a caring world that increasingly works for us all. May we all be inspired to continue to unite and never give up. The struggle for a just and caring world continues! Molly


In a new interview, world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky reflects on the significance of the Bernie Sanders campaign, calling it “an extraordinary success” that “completely shifted the arena of debate and discussion” in the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: Before we go to break, on Wednesday, just before Bernie Sanders announced, but it did look like he was about to pull out of the presidential race, I asked political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky about his assessment of the Bernie Sanders campaign in this time of the coronavirus pandemic.
NOAM CHOMSKY: If Trump is reelected, it’s a indescribable disaster. It means that the policies of the past four years, which have been extremely destructive to the American population, to the world, will be continued and probably accelerated. What this is going to mean for health is bad enough. I just mentioned the Lancet figures. It will get worse. What this means for the environment or the threat of nuclear war, which no one is talking about but is extremely serious, is indescribable.
Suppose Biden is elected. I would anticipate it would be essentially a continuation of Obama — nothing very great, but at least not totally destructive, and opportunities for an organized public to change what is being done, to impose pressures.
It’s common to say now that the Sanders campaign failed. I think that’s a mistake. I think it was an extraordinary success, completely shifted the arena of debate and discussion. Issues that were unthinkable a couple years ago are now right in the middle of attention.
The worst crime he committed, in the eyes of the establishment, is not the policy he’s proposing; it’s the fact that he was able to inspire popular movements, which had already been developing — Occupy, Black Lives Matter, many others — and turn them into an activist movement, which doesn’t just show up every couple years to push a leader and then go home, but applies constant pressure, constant activism and so on. That could affect a Biden administration.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s activist, public intellectual, world-renowned linguist, Noam Chomsky. We’ll spend the hour with him on Friday on Democracy Now!

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