[Marxism] LH Special: Interview with Noam Chomsky - Civilizationversus Barb

[Calvin Broadbent]

Hi,

Thanks for posting that interview, M. Junaid. I have heard Chomsky come out 
with this statement about the IRA and terrorism before (I think in the 
collection of interviews *Class Warfare*, for example). What evidence does 
Chomsky have to support these claims? Wasn't NORAID (a major medium by which 
money was collected in the US for the Irish Republican causein the 1970s and 
1980s) under quite strict Federal intelligence supervision? The central 
committee of NORAID were, I thought, very careful to ensure that their 
members could not be implicated in any criminal activities. Secondly, in 
what ways (and how, when, and why) does Chomsky believe that the British 
Govt. responded in a non-violent and politically considerate fashion to the 
grievances of Northern nationalists?

cheers.


NOAM CHOMSKY SAID:

Furthermore that's true of what's called terrorism in general - I mean, it 
doesn't come out of nowhere. Take say the IRA - which the US was pretty much 
supporting, it was being funded - IRA terrorism, which was pretty serious - 
was being funded from the United States including church collections, FBI 
knew about it, wouldn't do anything about it. It was pretty awful, but it 
was not without reasons, it did draw on a reservoir of sympathy among the 
population, who understood the grievances that they were talking about were 
real...In fact when the British finally responded not by greater violence, 
but by paying some attention to the grievances, it led to significant 
improvements. In fact, big improvements. Of course, Belfast is not heaven, 
but it's enormously improved over what it was ten years ago.

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