September 18, 2018

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Noam Chomsky opened his presentation by giving a greeting to Lula. “I can not fail to notice the absence of the person who would be by right our candidate from Brazil. I met Lula a few years ago, shortly before he took office. I was impressed and I have maintained that good impression.” he said.

The philosopher is attentive to the transformations of capitalism and concerned with the fate of democracy. While in Brazil, the 89-year-old linguist and philosopher discussed progressivism and neoliberalism alongside other foreign leaders during the Perseu Abramo Foundation’s International Seminar: “Threats to Democracy and the Multipolar Order.”

In the end, he also praised the conduct of former President and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim in foreign affairs and left a message of hope to the Brazilians.

“Brazil lived the dream of being the ‘southern colossus’ a few years ago, when it became the most respectable country in the world under the leadership of President Lula and Celso Amorim. Obstacles should not be underestimated, but neither can we minimize the ability of the human spirit to overcome and prevail. ”

Crisis of democracy
Chomsky pointed out that the recent rise of the right in democracies with long progressive history (more recently, the Swedish parliament elected almost half of the right candidates) bears some resemblance to the 1930s. “[Sweden] has reproduced a pattern of recent years, under which the centre has declined is the far right parties that gain ground. ”

He also reflected on the consequences of the neoliberal offensive that has dominated the American economy since the late 1970s, with the mission of weakening unions and undermining wage and labor guarantees. “In real terms, the average wage of workers has been falling since the 1970s, when [Margaret] Tatcher and [Ronald] Reagan’s neoliberal advance began.”

Since then, he has reckoned, conservatism has given way to an ideology that ignores social security altogether and treats rights as hindrances to economic advancement. “Before the 2008 crisis, economist Alan Greenspan was considered a ‘saint’ and was very successful saying that the growth of the economy would depend on increasing insecurity of workers,” he said. “But what we have are workers living increasingly worse and too frightened to ask for a raise.”

“When the 2008 crisis came, Congress passed two-part legislation: we will rescue the bankers and help those who have lost their homes. For most people, having a home is a source of wealth. When the bag goes up, a very small portion benefits, they benefit when the price of their houses rises. It is easy to guess which of these policies have been implemented. ”

Chomsky also pointed to the advance of financial power over politics. He says that lobbyists, whose activity is legalized in the country, even write the bills that will be presented to the candidates. Added to this are the obstacles to voting for the poorest and the astronomical funding of campaigns. “You can predict who will be elected just by looking at the volume of funding each candidate received.”

“In English, the word profit has become a dirty word, when a politician says he’s working for jobs, you have to understand that he’s working for profit.”

By Thais Reis, from PT News.