when I reached the First Parish Church in Harvard Sq. at about 6pm yesterday (Jun 6), I found a queue snaking from the doors of the church. I've never been for an event that early so I do not know if such a queue is normal -- I've seen people milling around our local library at least 10 mins before its opening time, when I was dropping books off on the way to work and I know Harry Potter books cause people to camp out in front of book stores -- but still I took it as proof of a certain interest in Noam Chomsky. And of course, this was Cambridge, very much the home turf of Chomsky (just across the river, of course, is his redoubt at MIT)...
Yet, the event was not a house-full, so I guess, he is not that big a draw in the area -- he has really been around long.
I'll limit myself to his speech and his responses to the questions...
Having only read some his ideas but never any of his books but having heard his name mentioned with unalloyed, gushing awe, I was among the curious in the crowd who had come for a "sighting" of a storied person...
So after the first speaker sharing the stage with Chomsky, Greg Grandin, had finished his talk, Chomsky's turn caused a minor stir -- many cameras were pressed into action and flashes "popped" almost continually, and you knew the "sightseers," and the hobbyist-paparzzi were in action ; people grew seriouser and pencils were held poised over notebooks; and there was the distinct joy of seeing the main feature of the evening.
I had purchased his book earlier and had cursorily leafed through it: it seemed quite a breathless account of many facts and incidents (yes, that i sall I gleaned...). I have known of his incisive analysis of Central American politics and the questionable US interventions. I also know he has written about US foreign policy extensively. The book seemed quite crammed with facts and arguments and I expected him, as a speaker, to rattle off facts, stories and arguments -- which he did...
He speaks slowly, a little inaudibly because of his age, but he seems to have all these ideas and incidents of US history swirling in his mind that he makes so many connections almost effortlessly. In the end, the thrust of his arguments seems the same...the US foreign policy has always been unapologetically expansionist and unilateral -- and one of supremacy, no less.
What was a little surprising to me were the questions -- some people clearly tried to corner him or bring up his omissions/dodgings. There were tense moments when very passionate men and women demanded explanations from Chomsky about his stance on different issues...
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