The Spanish newspaper El País reports that Noam Chomsky visited Caracas to witness how “Chávez is making another world possible.” Indeed. Hugo Chávez, if the world hasn’t realized it yet, is building a different, better world, according to Chomsky, who stated: “…what is more difficult is creating a better world, not to mention that. And what is so exciting, finally visiting Venezuela, I can see how a better world is being created and I can speak with the person who inspired it.”
Where have we heard this argument about a possible better world before? The Colombian narcoterrorist group FARC believes the time for that other world is near.
But what makes this other world different? Well, it’s a place where freedom of expression must be limited, where freedom of conscience and religion is violated by the state, where political opponents are harassed, tortured, and forbidden from running for public office when they are not exiled or assassinated, where women have no rights, where the people cannot freely choose their representatives, where private property is expropriated without due process, and where a clique of criminals governs. Disagreeing with Chomsky here, that world already exists and can be experienced, not just in Venezuela, but in any place where an irresponsible individual gets to decide the nation’s fate, like in Cuba, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Russia, Equatorial Guinea, and so on.
Chávez’s attempt is worthy of Noam Chomsky’s admiration. Thanks for the excellent lesson, professor Chomsky. From now on, you are not only a wandering seller of baseless accusations, but your detractors could point out your sycophantic apology for a militaristic leader, completely capitalist and imperialistic, to discredit your political views. They might say: “Chomsky on Obama’s foreign policy… Isn’t he the one who went to embrace that dictator in Venezuela and claimed, without a shred of evidence, that the Obama administration overthrew the president of Honduras?”
Oh, and by the way, who funded and arranged Chomsky’s visit? Have his handlers registered with the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Unit? The image of the tracks…