Chomsky's
take on his title question can be reduced to this: Nation-states rule
the world but who rules nation states? The 1%. He persuasively
demonstrates this, and how even in so-called democracies it holds.
For example, in the U.S., when 70% of the population favor a certain
policy, like diplomacy over war, or health care, the population is
ignored, the minority position prevails, the majority position “not
feasible”. The policy-makers, the over-seers, do not put the
interests of the people as their prime concern but rather the
interests of that minority who put them, and keep them, where they
are, in positions of power and prestige. This is certainly at odds
with the patriotic narrative woven into our lives from birth, in
school, church, hell, sports events where the national anthem is
played before every game as if it were the most natural thing. No,
the population's function is spectator, and consumer, or, they'd
like you blind yes boss your mind no thought sleepin at the tube
feelin no pain*. The important actors will take care of
business.
But
there must be a narrative to placate anyone paying attention. In
foreign policy for example, Iran is a “destabilizing” actor in
the mid-east whereas the U.S., “...illegally invading Iraq,
resulting in hundreds of thousands killed, millions of refugees along
with barbarous torture and destruction.... igniting sectarian
conflict that is tearing the region to shreds and laying the basis
for the ISIS monstrosity, – that is stabilization.” In 1970s
Chile, a freely elected government must be overthrown because we seek
the “stabilization” of General Pinochet's dictatorship. In 1953
Iran, we must overturn a democratically elected parliament, replacing
it with a brutal dictatorship, with all the trappings – torture,
secret police etc; in order to create “stability”. In Central
America “stability” requires the support of more dictators, death
squads etc; attacks on any signs of democracy brave enough to show
themselves and, when those policies produce refugees fleeing
violence, why we must create more stability with, say a nice border
wall. Trade agreements, like NAFTA and GATT, which are actually
investor protection agreements, also have their “stabilizing”
effects, undermining local food production, sending rural people to
sweat shops or the border where, once in the “belly of the beast”
there is some opportunity for a bare living. One constant in this
desire for “stability” is that the boss must be in charge,
capitalism must not be questioned, no alternatives need apply.
One
area where the boss is clearly not pursuing the interests of the
general population is nuclear weapons. Proposals for a nuclear-free
middle-east, supported by all area governments except Israel and its,
ah, U.S. Patron, are shot down by those two governments. Hair-trigger
nuclear warheads remain on alert in both Russia and the U.S., and
nuclear plans for massive retaliation which would annihilate the life
system and civilization remain locked in, violating treaties,
international law and common sense. Plans for expansion of nuclear
weapons, in the trillion-dollar range, routinely sail through the
system despite the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) which, if
honored, might give our species a shot at survival. There is no cry
of, “How ever can we afford such projects?!” That is saved for
proposals like health care and a minimum, livable wage.
Climate
change, Naomi Klein asserts, is resisted so vehemently because the 1%
and its minions recognize, or intuite, that capitalism, as currently
practiced, is incompatible with what is needed to address that
crisis. Denial at all costs! the order of the day. Apparently
sea-level rise will be turned away at gated communities and elite
mansions. The Republican party, Chomsky claims, is the most dangerous
organization in history, committed as it is to the destruction of
democracy and civilization. Via the bribery system known as campaign
contributions, many democrats are also roped in as enablers.
It
is clear to any serious student of history, or perhaps I should say,
of Chomsky, that the narratives put forth by the ruling class have
been shown to be false, on capitalism, Vietnam, the Middle-east,
Central America, Latin America, U.S. History, Socialism, Cuba,
Israel-Palestine... that the U.S., far from the benevolent,
democracy-promoting, “exceptionalist” state, is the most
murderous, plundering national entity on the planet. The current
narrative, repeated constantly in the institutions and media, is
difficult to shake off. The horrifying truth is immensely
discouraging but, exactly where resistance must begin.
*from
Power's Your Angel, a song by the author
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