anand giridharadas
News of Chomsky's Ill Health Prompts Outpouring of Gratitude for 'Lion of the Left'
"So many thousands of people have stories about how he has changed their lives," said one admirer. "He certainly changed mine."
News that renowned American linguist, dissident, and author Noam Chomsky is hospitalized in Brazil following a massive stroke he suffered last year was met with an avalanche of accolades and well wishes from members of the international left on Wednesday.
Valeria Chomsky toldThe Associated Press that her 95-year-old husband—a laureate professor at the University of Arizona and professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—is currently in a São Paulo hospital. She took him there on an ambulance jet with two nurses after he was able to travel from the United States following his June 2023 stroke.
Chomsky toldFolha de São Paulo that although her husband has difficulty speaking and the right side of his body is numb from the stroke, he follows the news and "when he sees images of the war in Gaza, he raises his left arm in a gesture of lament and anger." She said his condition has improved significantly, and he is seeing a neurologist, speech therapist, and pulmonologist daily.
However, people close to Chomsky say he is unlikely to return to public life.
"Noam is the most influential U.S. intellectual ever. Period," Rutgers School of Communications Professor Andrew Kennis—whose book Digital Age Resistance contains a foreword co-authored by Chomsky—told Common Dreams.
"He has been the largest influence on my life in any way, personal or professional" Kennis added. "As for movements, no other thinker helped positively shape and mold anti-imperialsm analysis and criticism of the U.S. bullying the world on behalf of Wall Street and Silicon Valley better and more effectively than him."
"His work has defined the terms of countless debates and he's been a tireless advocate for—and guide on the path to—a better future."
U.S. journalist and political analyst Anand Giridharadas hailed Chomsky—whom he interviewed in 2020—as a "lion of the left."
"It would be difficult to overestimate the impact Chomsky's work has had," Giridharadas wrote for The.Ink Wednsday. "Beyond the total transformation of his academic field (he's widely acknowledged as the father of modern linguistics and the main force behind the cognitive turn in the sciences), his political impact has been immeasurable."
"As a writer, activist, analyst, and critic of power, and likely the most visible left public intellectual of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, his work has defined the terms of countless debates and he's been a tireless advocate for—and guide on the path to—a better future," he added.
Of the more than 100 books published by Chomsky—who was once voted the world's top public intellectual in an international poll—four are specifically about Israel and Palestine. He has been conspicuously absent from the debate over Israel's current assault on Gaza, which is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
Current Affairs founder and editor Nathan Robinson—who is the co-author of Chomsky's forthcoming book, The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World—said earlier this week on social media that "Chomsky has been unbelievably kind over the years I've known him."
"He treats everyone as an equal. Doesn't care who you are," he continued. "He would give as much of his time to a high school student as some celebrity or New York Times reporter. And devoted himself to attacking cruelty and injustice."
"When I started a tiny lefty magazine with only a few subscribers, he bought a subscription, blurbed us, and would email if his copy didn't show up," Robinson recalled. "He provided countless generous blurbs to authors publishing with tiny presses, giving them a boost that could really help them."
"So many thousands of people have stories about how he has changed their lives," he added. "He certainly changed mine."
During Speech on Fascism and 'Creepy' GOP, a Direct Appeal to Texas Governor's Wife in the Audience
"If you're more offended by a speech than by the theft of fundamental rights from women, that's on you," said author Anand Giridharadas.
After he said what he had to say, that's when "it got wild."
Author and political commentator Anand Giridharadas was about to deliver a speech touching on the ideas of democracy, freedom, and fascism at a gala event during the Texas Book Festival on Friday night when he learned that Cecilia Abbott, wife of the state's Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, was in the audience.
"There is a word for a movement that seeks to steal vital freedoms, spread lies, fuel violence, and sabotage free elections. That word is fascism."
Just days before the high-stakes midterm elections, Giridharadas--at the event in part to discuss his latest book, The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy--decided to add remarks with a direct appeal to the governor's wife, specifically on the issue of abortion and women's choice.
Stating that the word "freedom" was something he "thought was revered in Texas," Giridharadas argued that the very idea of freedom was "under threat today from small-hearted, cynical, and frankly, creepy leaders in this state who want to control your body and mind."
Following applause, he continued by telling the Texas audience that "at the top of that list" of leaders was "your governor, Greg Abbott."
Giridharadas then acknowledged he knew that Cecilia Abbott was in the banquet room, telling her it was "an honor to have you here," and that maybe she could convince her husband "to leave other women's bodies alone."
With that, larger applause and hollers rose up and a standing ovation ensued after he asked those in the room if they would "like that message to be passed on to the governor's residence tonight?" Watch:
"Leave other women's bodies alone!" Giridharadas repeated as people in the crowd could be heard loudly clapping and yelling "Amen! Amen!"
It was after this, he explained as he retold the story and shared video of the event in a Twitter thread on Saturday, that some fallout began when one donor in particular who supported the book festival financially accosted him for being out of line.
"A big donor who had invited Cecilia Abbott came up and berated me in front of a crowd for five minutes, even as virtually everyone else was so nice about it," he described. "The donor said she was pulling her donations to the festival. And that I was therefore hurting kids."
While Giridharadas said he pushed back against the donor who contended he wasn't "supposed to be political at galas and literacy events" by saying "I'm always political" and that maybe it was not what he said but someone pulling donations that might end up "hurting kids"--he also explained that most of the people in attendance said they welcomed what he had done.
"I want to thank each and every Texan who came up to me afterward last night and said, 'No one does this in polite society in Texas, but we need to,'" Giridharadas said in his post. "There were more than I can remember... [more] aging white guys than I can count thanked me for standing up for women."
To anyone who suggests that, even if right, he broke an unwritten "code of civility" for speaking out and putting Cecilia Abbott and Gov. Abbott on the spot, Giridharadas said he wanted to be clear: "I reject that code."
"If you're more offended by a speech than by the theft of fundamental rights from women, that's on you," he said.
"Above all," he concluded, "thank you to the women in the room, and the men who love them, who stood and made me not alone as I sent my message to Gov. Abbott. None of us is alone. So if you see something, say something, even if it wasn't in your original script."
Though not captured in the video, the text of the prepared speech posted online by Giridharadas states, "There is a word for a movement that seeks to steal vital freedoms, spread lies, fuel violence, and sabotage free elections"--all a clear reference to Gov. Abbott and his Republican Party.
"That word," it says, "is fascism."