Voices for Peace: War, Resistance, and America’s Quest for Full-spectrum Dominance

by Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Ilan Pappé

The United Statesmilitary doctrine, as proclaimed by the Department of Defense, is to attain “full-spectrumdominance...in the air, land, maritime and space domains, and informationenvironment...without effective opposition or prohibitive interference.” Thisis an agenda for global conquest―for anever-expanding US empire. As America prepares for conflict withRussia and China, wars continue in the Middle East and North Africa, tens ofmillions are exiled from their homes while many others face famine. But thereis not only hope for change in the air; there is also active resistance. Peopleall over the world are challenging the status quo by taking nonviolent action. Voicesfor Peace features some of the world’s leading thinkers, journalists and activists,offering insight, inspiration and solutions to the world’s most criticalproblems―nuclear war, environmental destruction, and refugee flows. In the wealth of materialpresented here, Kathy Kelly talks about the Afghan Peace Volunteers andStanding Rock protesters in the U.S., calling for global unity. Bruce K.Gagnon’s piece on space weapons discusses South Korean activist opposition toAmerican weapons in their country. Brian Terrell challenges the legality ofdrone warfare and outlines the grassroots links being forged between U.S. andRussian citizens. Noam Chomsky discusses U.S. policies toward Russia and Syria,as well as toward South America, trade, ISIS, and Ukraine. John Pilger talksabout the Trump–Obama naval buildup around China, and exposes Britain’s “deepstate” connections to the Manchester terror attack. Former U.S. CongresswomanCynthia McKinney analyzes the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the deep state inrecent U.S. history. Ilan Pappé offers an exclusive analysis of Israel’sactions to ethnically cleanse Israel of Palestinians. Finally, Robin Ramsayexposes the unconditional support given to the U.S. by successive U.K.governments. Seeking to informand educate, this penetrating anthology is edited and introduced by author T.J. Coles, who gives a broader framework and context to the individual articles.

Genres: Politics

134 pages, Paperback

Published October 30, 2017

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Peggy Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Mimi Wolske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without giving a review as long as the book itself, I'll not provide an in-depth review. The notable contributors, along with an editorial by Dr. Coles, of this thematic collection of short essays have received doctorates from various universities (not all in only the U.S.) and two authors are writers and editors; one is an activist. Coles spends about 13 pages expressing his personal views on the Israeli-Palestinian crises, spends a little bit of time describing how the book is organized (and whether the arrangement of the individual essays facilitates and contributes to an understanding of the subject -- e.g., do all of the selected authors hold the same point of view as the editor or are there any varying/opposing POVs) and he adds he wanted to bring together various other persons who would provide their thoughts focusing on one theme: peace and why we don't have it.

The authors are indeed very notable and Dr. Coles provides super brief bios of each of the eight other authors (at the back of the book).

The goal of the citizens of the world should be peace, but we are thwarted by powerful individuals with state power or access to it. I highly recommend this book to everyone, but strongly suggest each reads the essays with an open mind while not being persuaded by the persuasive techniques (appeal from some authority, appeal to reason, appeal to emotion, appeal to trust, rhetoric, ethos, or pathos) employed by the author. The insight by the authors is meaningful and it certainly can be powerful. But, in my opinion, it also seems prejudicial by a few, and one essay seemed (to me) to be written from some feelings of antagonism because the author was jailed for six months and another author, Ilan Pappe, an expatriate, has been referred to as "At best, ... one of the world’s sloppiest historians; at worst, one of the most dishonest. In truth, he probably merits a place somewhere between the two" by an author who does live in Israel.

I'd like to think each reader has read more than just this book; that s/he has read other pieces by these and other authors, thinkers, activists worldwide.

[Steve Lawless · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book of short articles. Something of a curates egg. The Pilger and Pappe articles are well researched and written as you would expect. A number of the others were rather anecdotal.