https://the.ink/p/noam-chomsky-wants-you-to-vote-for
When Biden’s revised climate policy was unveiled, it was celebrated by many progressives as a real shift. Noam Chomsky declared Biden on climate as “farther to the left than any Democratic candidate in memory,” because, he said, the agenda was “largely written by the Sunrise Movement and strongly endorsed by the leading activists on climate change.”
Noam Chomsky wants you to vote for Joe Biden and then haunt his dreams
By Anand Giridharadas
Noam Chomsky is a linguist, a philosopher, a cognitive scientist, a social critic, and an intellectual godfather of the left…
Today, at 91 years old, Chomsky shows few signs of relinquishing his zindabadassery. He is as incisive and curious and well-read as ever, and in more than an hour of talk, we covered everything from the political choices created by the pandemic to the power of Black Lives Matter, from Joe Biden’s surprisingly progressive platform to finding love for a country you relentlessly criticize.
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Take Biden’s campaign positions. Farther to the left than any Democratic candidate in memory on things like climate. It’s far better than anything that preceded it. Not because Biden had a personal conversion or the DNC had some great insight, but because they’re being hammered on by activists coming out of the Sanders movement and others. The climate program, a $2 trillion commitment to dealing with the extreme threat of environmental catastrophe, was largely written by the Sunrise Movement and strongly endorsed by the leading activists on climate change, the ones who managed to get the Green New Deal on the legislative agenda. That’s real politics.
ANAND
This is interesting coming from you. Your support for Biden is more than merely grudging. You actually seem to think that the platform is surprisingly good given who he is and given where we are.
NOAM
This is not support for Biden. It is support for the activists who have been at work constantly, creating the background within the party in which the shifts took place, and who have followed Sanders in actually entering the campaign and influencing it. Support for them. Support for real politics.
The left position is you rarely support anyone. You vote against the worst. You keep the pressure and activism going.
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Because of the changes in consciousness that have taken place over the past several years. They manifest themselves in many ways.
They manifest themselves in the climate strike last year, for example. Mostly young people, very dedicated. The Sunrise Movement succeeded. Got to the point of occupying congressional offices. Getting the support of a couple of the young congressional representatives who came in on the Sanders wave, especially Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Picked up support from Ed Markey, Massachusetts senator who’s been deeply concerned with the environment. Managed to put the Green New Deal on the legislative agenda.
It’s not a small point. We can debate what form it should take, but some form of Green New Deal is absolutely essential for the survival of organized human society. That’s part of it. There are many other things.
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I’m not much interested in his personality. I don’t have any opinion. I’m interested in how things get done. And the way things get done is not by Biden having a religious conversion and saying, “Oh, we’ve got to really work on the climate.” That’s not what happened. The DNC probably hates the program, but they have no choice, because their popular base is not only demanding it, but is working constantly, hard, to force them to do it. That’s politics. Not the personality of leaders. I don’t know what’s in his mind. I don’t care, frankly.
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Related:
Climate change skeptic, author and publisher of ClimateDepot.com Marc Morano agrees: “Given Biden’s general detachment and befuddlement on most issues these days, AOC and Sanders will have a huge influence on any Biden administration.” Morano, who is a producer of the upcoming film Climate Hustle 2, told American Wire that Ocasio-Cortez brings some heavy baggage to the campaign trail. “AOC has pushed for American workers to refuse to go back to work to protest the American economic system,” Morano said.
Democrats agree with Ocasio-Cortez; they see the COVID-19 economic shutdown as an opportunity to change the American way of life permanently. If that seems far-fetched, consider what Washington state governor Jay Inslee said in a video addressing Sanders followers:
“We should not be intimidated when people say, ‘Oh you can’t use this COVID crisis to peddle a solution to climate change’ — no we have to recognize the necessity of this moment.”
Morano points out that Ocasio-Cortez also sees the COVID-19 crisis as an open backdoor for environmental extremists: “But the greatest threat to America from AOC’s influence with Biden may be to extend and expand government lockdowns to deal with the alleged ‘climate emergency.’”
Noam Chomsky: President Trump and the Republicans are ‘Criminally Insane’ Because Climate Change
‘Every country in the world is taking at least halting steps toward trying to do something about [AGW]. The US is also taking steps, namely to accelerate the threat’
Noam Chomsky Proposes Fascism As A Solution To Global [email protected]
Chomsky warns that if ‘catastrophic effects’ of warming were due in 10 years ‘we’d probably have a fascist takeover-with everybody agreeing to it, because that would be the only method for survival that anyone could think of. I’d even agree to it, because there’s just no other alternatives right now’
Flashback: Noam Chomsky: GOP election victory amounts to ‘death knell for the human species’
![UPDATE: Chomsky now attempts to retract his ‘death knell’ comment! ‘If I said the [GOP] elections are a death knell, I went too far. But I think it’s fair to say that they do threaten that outcome’](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_V9Jagb528cY/TTvV51xtF0I/AAAAAAAAFKI/0bMnO4P5_DY/s144/chomsky.jpg)
Climate Depot Response to Chomsky: ‘If’ you said it? You clearly did say it on video. You now admit you ‘went too far?’ But we all thought you were a brilliant ‘linguist’! How could you say what you don’t mean? Aren’t you at least supposed to be the expert at using language? Note: Chomsky is reading and responding to emails([email protected])
Noam Chomsky on skeptics: ‘It is important to bear in mind that those who orchestrate the campaigns know as well as the rest of us that the ‘hoax’ is real and ominous…’
‘…but they are pursuing their institutional role: maximizing short-term profit and putting aside ‘externalities,’ in this case the fate of the species’ (Note: Chomsky is reading and responding to emails: [email protected])
Noam Chomsky: GOP election victory amounts to ‘death knell for the human species’
GOP’s rejection of man-made climate fears means ‘we’re essentially saying — let’s kiss each other goodbye’
