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All Decent Things
By Noam Chomsky
April 29, 2016
This Q&A was transcribed from the Z Video “What Went Wrong.” The questions came from the 35 ZMI student activists in a 90-minute class at Z Media Institute in Woods Hole, MA, 2010. It covers many issues relevant to 2016, particularly some of the contentious issues raised during the election campaign.
Q: What is the left and what kind of language can we use to describe our movement and our positions to others?
CHOMSKY: Well, the Left is the movement that is in favor of all decent things—freedom, justice, peace. Of course we have to define it for ourselves, but traditionally it’s the movement that’s been in favor of more freedom, more justice, more equality, more participation, more control over our own lives—all decent things. That’s the Left.
CHOMSKY: Well, the Left is the movement that is in favor of all decent things—freedom, justice, peace. Of course we have to define it for ourselves, but traditionally it’s the movement that’s been in favor of more freedom, more justice, more equality, more participation, more control over our own lives—all decent things. That’s the Left.
Q: What form of resistance can help us stop the racist anti-immigrant sentiment that seems to be growing?
Why are Mexicans coming to the U.S.? Well, there’s something called NAFTA, which was established in 1994, rammed through by the liberals over the opposition of the American public, the Mexicans, and the Canadians. There were alternatives proposed by the labor movement, but the media wouldn’t even report them. So Clinton managed to ram through the executive version of NAFTA. If you look at the background, it’s pretty clear what it was about.
When NAFTA was established, it was understood that it was going to destroy Mexican agriculture and Mexican business. Mexican agriculture couldn’t compete with U.S. agribusiness, which is massively state subsidized under NAFTA, so, of course, it devastated the economy and people began to flee. Where are they going to flee to? They’re not going to Guatemala, so they’re going to the U.S.
What do you do about it? Clinton understood exactly what to do about it. The border between Mexico and the U.S. had been a pretty open border. It was established, of course, by conquest and pretty much the same people lived on both sides so people were mainly crossing to visit their relatives.
In 1994, the year NAFTA was passed, Clinton initiated the militarization of the border—Operation Gatekeeper. Why? Because anybody could see that the impact of NAFTA was going to be harmful and was going to lead to a flow of immigrants, which would have to be stopped by force. That’s the immigrant issue, that’s the basis for it.
The fact of the matter is that when an immigrant comes in, it leads to economic growth. They do a lot of the dirty work of society for low wages and in bad conditions. They can’t complain for obvious reasons—they’re undocumented—so they are easily exploitable. They send back remittances and they spend money, so their net effect, from an economic point of view, is beneficial to the economy—and they take jobs from no one.
When NAFTA was established, it was understood that it was going to destroy Mexican agriculture and Mexican business. Mexican agriculture couldn’t compete with U.S. agribusiness, which is massively state subsidized under NAFTA, so, of course, it devastated the economy and people began to flee. Where are they going to flee to? They’re not going to Guatemala, so they’re going to the U.S.
What do you do about it? Clinton understood exactly what to do about it. The border between Mexico and the U.S. had been a pretty open border. It was established, of course, by conquest and pretty much the same people lived on both sides so people were mainly crossing to visit their relatives.
In 1994, the year NAFTA was passed, Clinton initiated the militarization of the border—Operation Gatekeeper. Why? Because anybody could see that the impact of NAFTA was going to be harmful and was going to lead to a flow of immigrants, which would have to be stopped by force. That’s the immigrant issue, that’s the basis for it.
The fact of the matter is that when an immigrant comes in, it leads to economic growth. They do a lot of the dirty work of society for low wages and in bad conditions. They can’t complain for obvious reasons—they’re undocumented—so they are easily exploitable. They send back remittances and they spend money, so their net effect, from an economic point of view, is beneficial to the economy—and they take jobs from no one.
Q: What can we expect from the situation in Iraq?
How this pans out depends on us. Do we want to spend millions a year to build cities in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan to ensure that we control the region along with military bases, torture chambers, and so on? That’s up to us—our choice. Do we give up? or do we push for more freedom, more justice, more equality, more participation, more control over our own lives—all decent things?
https://zcomm.org/zmagazine/all-decent-things/
