9-11, by Noam Chomsky: on Free Trade

Noam Chomsky: Worldwide protests against corporate globalism

A: It is certainly possible, for the worldwide protests against corporate globalization, which--again--did not begin in Seattle. Such terrorist atrocities are a gift to the harshest and most repressive elements on all sides, and are sure to be exploited--already have been in fact--to accelerate the agenda of militarization, regimentation, reversal of social democratic programs, transfer of wealth to narrow sectors, and undermining democracy in any meaningful form. But that will not happen without resistance, and I doubt that it will succeed, except in the short term.

Noam Chomsky: Terrorists don't care about globalization, despite media

A: This is an extremely convenient belief for Western intellectuals. It absolves them of responsibility for the actions that actually do lie behind the choice of the World Trade Center. Was it bombed in 1993 because of concern over globalization and cultural hegemony? Was Sadat assassinated 20 years ago because of globalization?

A few days ago the "Wall Street Journal" reported attitudes of rich and privileged Egyptians who were bitterly critical of the US for objective reasons of policy, which are well-known to those who wish to know. Is that concern over "globalization," McDonald's, and jeans? Attitudes in the street are similar, but far more intense, and have nothing at all to do with these fashionable excuses. These excuses are convenient. Bin Laden himself has probably never even heard of "globalization."