Hegemony or Survival: America's quest for global dominance
By Noam Chomsky
Allen & Unwin, 2003
$24.95 (pb)
REVIEWED BY JOHN TOGNOLINI
I am lucky enough to have met Noam Chomsky when he was in Sydney, in 1995, when he was defending the East Timorese, long before it became fashionable with the Australian establishment. Some people flew the 4000 kilometres from Perth to hear him speak at his Sydney Town Hall meeting. Those individuals and many others will not be disappointed when they buy Hegemony or Survival, Chomsky's first major polemical work in 10 years.
In Hegemony or Survival, Chomsky takes apart the United States' policy of staking out the globe. Although this policy has been in place for over 50 years, US President George Bush's administration has intensified it.
Chomsky makes the choice clear to us: do we want live under the insane decisions of a powerful elite concerned with maintaining its own power? Or do we have a liveable earth and survive? Chomsky points out that there are two world superpowers, the US and world popular protest and opinion.
Chomsky also makes the case for the US to be tried for terrorism against Cuba and Nicaragua. He further explains: "Atrocities in Colombia include displacement of the population through chemical warfare(called 'fumigation') under the guise of a drug war that is hard to take seriously... And with the people gone, multinationals can strip the mountains for coal, extract oil and other resources... Informed analysts and observers describe Washington's fumigation programs as another stage in the historical process of driving poor peasants from the land for the benefit of foreign investors and Colombian elites."
Chomsky details how the US public were conned by Bush and his clique in Washington, and the US media about Hussein and the invasion of Iraq: "Some 60% of Americans came to regard Saddam Hussein as an immediate threat to the US, who must be removed quickly in self-defence. By March, almost half believed that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 9/11 attacks and that the hijackers included Iraqis. Support for the war was strongly correlated with these beliefs."
Chomsky's tenacious research skills, and analysis of the words of corporate and imperial elites, are a hallmark of his scholarship demonstrated throughout the book.
Chomsky writes, "Some puzzled notice has been taken of the change in US policy with regard to post-war Iraq. Elsewhere, Washington has been happy to transfer responsibility and costs to others, but in Iraq, it has insisted on running the show itself. There is inconsistency. 'Iraq is not East Timor, Kosovo and Afghanistan', Condoleezza Rice rightly stressed. She did not spell out the distinction. Perhaps it is too transparent: Iraq is a major prize; the others are considered basket cases."
Chomsky always includes detailed notes to his essays. For this book, he has expanded endnotes on the internet at <http://www.hegemonyorsurvival.net> and <http://www.americanempireproject.com> and an e-book with more background, discussion and sources. This small powerful work by Noam Chomsky is essential for understanding the world today.
From Green Left Weekly, March 10, 2004.
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