So much for apathy…
Anarchy rules OK Chomsky tells Australia, AAP, November 3, 2011. (And for those with a slightly longer historical perspective, see : Harold Barclay, People Without Government: An Anthropology Of Anarchy, Kahn & Averill, 1990.)
Uncle Noam done come and gone. I saw him speak in Sydney. His Sydney Peace Prize lecture (November 2), to be exact, which will be broadcast on the ABC’s Big Ideas on November 30. You can watch the actual presentation (by Patrick Dodson) on the Sydney Peace Foundation website. His lecture in Melbourne on the ‘Changing Contours of Global Order’ (November 4) will be available via the Deakin University website later in the week.
Inter alia, Chomsky spent a few moments talking with some of the members of Occupy Sydney prior to his lecture, tho’ his enthusiastic support for the Occupy movement is not one shared by authorities in Melbourne or Sydney–or many other places it seems.
Most recently (November 9), Occupy Sydney protesters have been arrested for briefly occupying/squatting one of the estimated 120,000+ properties standing empty in Sydney, allegedly the ‘seventh most expensive city’ in the world (see also : UBS Wealth Management Research Prices and Earnings study, August 2011 update).
The eviction follows closely upon another eviction of squatters in Sydney in September, this time from Church property (Sydney squatters’ rooftop protest over cost of housing, Stephanie Gardiner, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 16, 2011).
As for Chomsky, he also done talked to ABC’s Radio National (Part One | Part Two), SBS World News (Part One | Part Two) and 2SER’s Razors Edge.
Otherwise, in response to his visit, semi-professional UK trollumnist Brendan O’Neill has a crack in Peace Prize winner more of a patrician than people’s champion (The Australian, November 5, 2011), in which he turns Chomsky on his head, while Philip Mendes laments aspects of Chomsky’s position on Israel/Palestine in Why Noam Chomsky is not a suitable candidate for the Sydney Peace Prize (The Australian, November 2, 2011).
Nice work if you can get it.
A passing reference to former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans during the course of Uncle Noam’s Peace Prize lecture provoked a response by the man dubbed ‘Professor Genocide’ in East Timor and me: A response to Noam Chomsky (November 3, 2011); an attempt at historical revisionism which Clinton Fernandes examines in ‘Gareth Evans and the Responsibility to Protect’ [PDF].
Finally, the University of Sydney is hosting a public discussion of the Occupy movement on Wednesday, November 16 (the political agenda of Occupy Sydney, based on a survey of participants in a November 5 rally, is briefly discussed in a news release of November 7, 2011). In Melbourne, the New International bookshop is hosting a panel discussion on Left Politics and Strategy inre OM tomorrow night (Thursday, November 10) from 6.30pm.
Shout outs to Alex, Alex, Brian, Damian, Eleven, Jenny, Jeremy, Jura, Mutiny, Phil, Shaun, Sunil, Tim and Occupy Sydney. Mad props to Uncle Noam for being a righteous d00d.
See also : Chomsky in Australia (August 28, 2011) | Noam Chomsky : Sydney Peace Prize winner and/or ‘ethical pervert’ (June 17, 2011).
If you don’t want to fuck around with Youtube, you can find the transcript (and download audio) of the RN Sunday Profile from the 6th Nov @ http://www.abc.net.au/rn/sundayprofile/stories/2011/3355217.htm
The actual Peace Prize thing from the 2nd is @ http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2011/3353704.htm
Well, now that Noam is *aware* of the “hoi polloi”, I’m sure he’d be happy to investigate it. Far be it from him to ignore such a respectable segment of the community. I’m talking about upstanding, hard-workers like Joe Sixpack.
Though his new book “9-11: Come and Have a Go If You Think You’re Hard Enough” does actually cross some of the class barriers that Brendan mentions, with special chapters on “Glassing Dumb Cunts” and “America: What a Bunch of Poofs”. One wonders if Brendan will read it?
Think I asked you this before but are you a Chomskyite/ist? What’s your stance on the great Noam?
1. No.
2. E’s alright.
Thank you for collating all these links and for this post. It’s a very good summary of Chomsky’s visit to Australia.