[Marxism] N.Chomsky: 'War on Terror", annual Amnesty lecture, Dublin 2006-01-18

["Lüko Willms" <lueko.willms@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good speech in my view, in so far as dissection of the "war on terror"
goes.

Press release further down.

This text taken from
> http://www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/5051/
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Annual Amnesty International Lecture: Noam Chomsky, 'The War on Terror',
(full text)

Noam Chomsky

18th January 2006

Described by The New Yorker as 'one of the greatest minds of the 20th
century', Noam Chomsky gave the 2006 Amnesty Lecture, hosted by Trinity
College Dublin, on January 18th. The theme of the lecture was 'The War
on Terror'.

The full text of the lecture has now been made available.

Amnesty International has filmed the lecture and will make it available
in due course. For further details, please refer back to this web page,
which will continue to be updated.

An audio version of the lecture is now available on the Newstalk 106
website

The full text of Professor Chomsky's lecture is available to download in
PDF format below:
PDF: Noam Chomsky, 'War on Terror' (chomsky lecture 06.pdf - 156.91 kB)

http://www.amnesty.ie/user/content/download/3898/20352/file/chomsky%20le
cture%2006.pdf
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  The text had also been posted to the Netnews.

  Here is the press release on the lecture:

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Press Release: Amnesty International Annual Lecture

Noam Chomsky Speaking at the Amnesty International Annual Lecture, 18th
January 2006.

18th January 2006

Professor Noam Chomsky - ''War on Terror''
Amnesty International Annual Lecture,
Shelbourne Hall RDS Dublin, 18th January 2006,
Hosted by Trinity College Dublin.

Professor Noam Chomsky, speaking at the Annual Amnesty International
Lecture, hosted by Trinity College Dublin, addressed the issue of human
rights abuses in the context of the war on terror.

Since the end of World War II, the international community has worked to
build up a system of human rights protection based on the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. That system seeks to guarantee the rule of
law, freedom of expression and freedom from torture.

''In the context of the ''war on terror'' the international ban on
torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been
flouted and challenged by governments around the world,'' said Executive
Director of Amnesty International Irish Section, Seán Love, in Dublin
today.

''The tragedy facing us is that one of the first victims of the 'war on
terror' is that very system of human rights protection - in the name of
security,'' added Love.

Governments led by the United States have sought to justify and redefine
the use of torture, and undermine the Geneva Conventions and the
effectiveness of the International Criminal Court. ''If we tolerate the
use of torture it will be almost impossible for us to hold the line on
other human rights standards. We must resist this attempt to fight
terror using terror and challenge the international community and the
Irish government to uphold the protection of human rights as a core
value'', said Love

Speaking at the Amnesty International annual lecture at the RDS in
Dublin, Professor Noam Chomsky said, ''Facts matter, even if we do not
like them. Elementary moral principles and agreed standards of
international law matter, even if they have consequences that we would
prefer not to face.''

The US government has been at the forefront in arguing that the
internationally accepted legal framework no longer applies, and that
people rounded up in the ''war on terror'' can be denied the protection
of the Geneva Conventions. Some governments ( including China, Egypt,
Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Yemen have used the rhetoric of
the ''war on terror'' to justify or intensify old patterns of
repression. Other states ( including Australia, Jordan and the UK as
well as countries in the Gulf region) have intensified the use of
draconian laws and abusive practices.

''There are ways to deal constructively with the threat of terror,
though not those preferred by 'bin Laden's indispensable ally', or those
who try to avoid the real world by striking heroic poses about
Islamo-fascism, or who simply claim that no proposals are made when
there are quite straightforward proposals that they do not like. The
constructive ways have to begin with an honest look in the mirror, never
an easy task, always a necessary one,'' said Professor Chomsky.
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Yours,
Lüko Willms
Frankfurt, Germany
--------------------------------
visit http://www.mlwerke.de Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotzki in German

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