Noam Chomsky - Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours
On June 12, 2009, Noam Chomsky gave a historic address at the Riverside Church in New York City. More than 2,000 people attended this historic lecture, captured here, in which Chomsky offers a powerful analysis of the current economic crisis and its structural roots, the continuity in U.S. foreign policy under the Barack Obama administration, and the class interests driving U.S. domestic and foreign policy. He discusses at length the traditions of worker self-management as a concrete alternative to the business-as-usual approach of corporations and the government during the current crisis. The recording includes an introduction by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, and is released in partnership with PM Press.
“The notion of workers’ control is as American as apple pie. It’s kind of been suppressed, but it’s there. In the early days of the Industrial Revolution in New England, working people just took it for granted that those who work in the mills should own them. And they also regarded wage labor as different from slavery, only in that it was temporary… There have been immense efforts to drive these thoughts out of peoples heads, to win what the business world calls ‘the everlasting battle for the minds of men.’ On the surface, they may appear to have succeeded, but I don’t think you have to dig too deeply to find out that they’re latent and they can be revived.” – Noam Chomsky, excerpt from the recording
Track Listing:
- Amy Goodman: Introduction
- Crisis and Hope: "A Couple of Words About the Title…"
- The Food Crisis: Bangladesh and Haiti
- Neoliberalism and the Inherent Deficiency of Markets
- State Capitalism and the Military Industrial Complex
- U.S. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
- American Democracy: The "Endgame of the Human Race?"
- Global Warming and the Environment
- Workers's Control: "As American As Apple Pie"
- Conclusion: Short and Long Term Strategies to Build/Resurrect Democracy
Catalog Number: ROOT-CD-0012
UPC: 877746001222