Chomsky Endorses Anti-War Group

At the Miller Theater on Monday night, Noam Chomsky, the noted linguistics scholar widely known for his liberal political views, voiced cautious support for a Feb. 15 strike and rally protesting the Iraq war.

Chomsky took the stage at Miller Theatre in a question-and-answer session following the airing of Harold Pinter's 2005 acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He cited Pinter's criticism of the lack of organized movement against American actions and called the proposed strike, in which the newly-formed Columbia Coalition Against the War will be joining with colleges across the country, "a step towards such organized opposition."

While Chomsky said such protests are powerful, he urged protesters to learn from the protests against an American campaign in Cambodia during the 1970s. "There are precedents for it which were partially effective. We should bear them in mind," he said. "Although Nixon withdrew the forces, he extended the bombing."

The speech at Miller was the second of two events Monday sponsored by the Heyman Center for the Humanities headlined by Chomsky. Earlier, Chomsky gave a lecture at the Italian Academy entitled "The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?" focusing on the nature of human consciousness and his work in linguistics.

Pinter, a British playwright and political activist, has berated American post-World War II foreign policy. He and Chomsky have been characterized as being on the same side of the political spectrum, voicing strong opposition to American military action in Iraq and elsewhere. "The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," Pinter said in his Nobel speech.

Responding to a question regarding the current policy toward Iran, Chomsky said that the United States is headed toward a conflict similar to the Iraq war and that a diplomatic solution regarding the country and its nuclear program could be reached if the Bush administration pays attention to worldwide opinion.

"The White House is in a desperate position," Chomsky said. "Everything they've done has turned into a major catastrophe."

Hitesh Manglani, CC '06, called the speech "a classic Chomsky event," saying that Chomsky raised several points he has made before, while offering new information like pointing out the illegality of American actions with detainees in Guantánamo Bay. "It's always enlightening. It's always things that you didn't know," he said.

Manglani said seeing Chomsky inspired him to be more active politically. "I think his calls for anti-war responses are timely and I'm definitely going to participate in more," he said.

The speech was packed, with several people trying to buy scalped tickets as the speech began.

Some said they felt shortchanged by the event, which was ended after four questions from the audience. "It was excellent but I expected a little more," said Stan Viner, a dual-enrolled student in the School of Social Work and a second-year SIPA student. "I've heard all of this before. ... I was waiting for something beyond reiterating the same points."

Though he was not present at the event, Chris Kulawik, CC '08 and president of the Columbia University College Republicans, said that he and others fliered the campus as part of a "passive" protest of Chomsky's views. The signs, which called Chomsky "Always Anti-American," had a photo of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holding a copy of Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, saying, "I would very much like to shake hands with Chomsky. ... I admire him enormously."

Kulawik said that, while he did not object to Chomsky visiting campus, he did object to his beliefs.

"It was just to let them know we're not all big Chomsky fans on campus," he said.

Tom Faure contributed to this article.