Language switcher

Noam Chomsky

Re-examining History with Noam Chomsky: US Elite’s view of European Fascism before WW2

30. September 2016

Reexamining History with Noam Chomsky: US Elite’s view of European Fascism before WW2


This is the beginning of a new series called “Reexamining History” in which we explore history and surface facts that are usually suppressed and/or ignored in mainstream historical literature.

In this part of Reexaming History, we talk to Prof. Noam Chomsky about the time period before World War II and what perceptions the United States maintained during it. These questions and many more will be addressed in this video.

  • How did the US establishment view fascist figures such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini before the global war began?
  • Was the US complicit or did it actively support fascism in Europe?

VIDEO: Reexamining History with Noam Chomsky


To read the interview transcript click here.


To watch acTVism Munich’s video playlist on Noam Chomsky, click here.


Notable excerpts from the video:

Noam Chomsky on Roosevelt’s view of Mussolini’s fascism:

“Well it was a mixed story. Roosevelt himself had a mixed attitude. For example: he was pretty supportive of Mussolini’s fascism, in fact described Mussolini as that admirable Italian gentleman. He later concluded that Mussolini had been mislead by his association with Hitler and had been lead kind of down the wrong path. But the American business community, the power systems in the United States were highly supportive of Mussolini. In fact even parts of the labor bureaucracy were. Fortune Magazine for example, the major business journal, I think in 1932, had an issue with the headline, I’m quoting it: ‘The wops are unwopping themselves.'”

Noam Chomsky on the US-Elite’s view after Hitler’s rise to power:

“When Germany, when Hitler took over, the attitude was more mixed. There was a concern for a potential threat but nevertheless the general approach of the U.S., the British even more so, was fairly supportive. So, for example in 1937 the State Department described Hitler as a kind of a moderate, fending off the dangerous forces of the right (and left)”


About Noam Chomsky:

Noam ChomskyNoam Chomsky is a world-renowned political dissident, anarchist, linguist, author and institute professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he’s taught for more than half a century. Chomsky has written more than 100 books, his latest being “Because We Say So“.  Chomsky has been a highly influential academic figure throughout his career, and was cited within the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992. His work has influenced a wide range of domains, including artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, logic, mathematics, music theory and analysis, psychology and immunology. Chomsky also developed the propaganda model of media criticism with Edward S. Herman which they presented in their book “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media“. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, neoliberal capitalism, and mainstream news media.


Donate today to support independent, non-profit and investigative journalism!

Click here or on the picture below: Banner Spende Webseite_E


 Investigative & Whistleblower projects that require your support

Greenwald Chomsky
Edward Snowden, Noam Chomsky and Glenn Greenwald

acTVism Munich plans to continue translating the event organized by the University of Arizona, “A Conversation to Privacy” that hosted Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Noam Chomsky. We Munich believe that privacy is a central ingredient to democracy and creating awareness on it on a global scale is of utmost important for the future of human freedom and liberty. We will also continue to translate an event organized by the New York Public Library (NYPL) that hosted Yanis Varoufakis and Noam Chomsky. This event took place on the 26th of April, 2016, and focused, amongst other issues, on the state of European democracy; the underlying problems confronting it and the solutions required for meaningful change.

Saal der Bundespressekonferen Berlin
Federal Press Conference, Berlin

Secondly, acTVism Munich will gain full access to the German government’s national press conference in Berlin in the fall of 2016. This will provide us an opportunity to pose critical questions directly to the German government which will foster awareness on a host of issues seldom discussed in the mainstream media. The attempt is to translate and synchronize the question and answers in English as well.

We lack technical and financial resources to translate the events and press conference mentioned. Furthermore, we will only be able to attend the press conference once in 3 months due to the high costs of travelling and lodging.

Pardon Snowden
NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden

Lastly, acTVism Munich received Edward Snowden’s confirmation about participating in a future event known as “Freedom & Democracy: Global Issues – Connecting the Dots”. This Event is planned for 15. January 2017 and plans to bring leading experts together to discuss the connections between various issues and reveal the system at work. We believe that we can only arrive at viable solutions by increasing public awareness of the principal and structural faults of our system.

We lack the necessary financial and technical resources to execute the projects, trips and events mentioned above. Since we are a non-profit and independent media outlet that has a strict policy against accepting advertisements, government or corporate support – we depend only on you, the public.

These projects depend only on you – please support us today by donating via PayPal or Bank transfer by clicking here!


 

 

 


11 replies on “Re-examining History with Noam Chomsky: US Elite’s view of European Fascism before WW2”

I think Professor Chomsky is one of the most important thinkers of the world. Thanks a lot, AcTVism, by the both parties of this interview. I am proud to donate to you and contribute with the progress of the great job you are doing for the jornalism and for the world. Regards!

Interesting topic, thank you for presenting it. I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Chomsky’s views of America’s relationship with the Axis powers between the two world wars.
Great work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *