An Insight into The Yoshin Lecture with Noam Chomsky
Habib University Karachi invited Professor Noam Chomsky to be a part of their 6th Yoshin Lecture session on Monday, 7th December 2020.
Noam Chomsky, the world’s leading anti-imperialist intellectual, was invited to address the 6th Yoshin Lecture organized by Habib University Karachi, Pakistan. The topic for this talk was “Reflections on the future of democracy, nuclear threat and the looming environmental catastrophe in a post-Trumpian world.”
The lecture premiered yesterday on Habib University Pakistan’s official Facebook page, on Noam Chomsky’s 92nd birthday. Chomsky is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has penned over 100 books on linguistics, war, politics, and mass media.
Professor Noam Chomsky beginning his conversation that the elections in the USA were not over yet, and each day of Trump’s presidency brought us closer to destruction. He referred to his presidency as a doomsday clock that was nearing midnight as each day passed. According to him and several scientists, Trump’s regime had multiple threats such as the threat of nuclear war, the threat of environmental catastrophe, and the deterioration of democracy. The scholar added a fourth, the pandemic.
Professor Chomsky further went on to comment on Trump’s presidency that the government was indeed very careless, with Trump opening areas of fossil fuel exploration during the pandemic- it is bound to give rise to respiratory issues.
Moreover, Noam Chomsky went on to say that the world will recover from the pandemic, at a terrible and unnecessary cost though. “We will emerge from the pandemic at a terrible and needless cost. We can see that some countries have dealt with it. By Jan 10, Chinese scientists had identified the virus rapidly. By Jan 10, virologists all over the world knew what they’re facing, knew the kinds of measures that had to be taken. In some places the measures were taken, others not.
“We can see the difference. In China, life is pretty much back to normal. South Korea dealt with it expeditiously and effectively. Europe waited too long but finally, most of Europe began to take significant measures. Others didn’t. India, Brazil, France, and the US didn’t. These are the countries in the lead in facing the pandemic catastrophe.
“In the US, the government has simply given up. The public has been inundated with propaganda from the right-wing which says it’s a hoax. China has a vaccine that is in the advanced stage of testing. It hasn’t even been mentioned in the US.” Noam Chomsky says as he expresses his disappointment with the USA.
Moreover, commenting on Pakistan, Professor Noam Chomsky stated that Pakistan had an advanced scientific establishment at one point with Nobel Prize Laureates, etc. However, he believes that science has now virtually disappeared from Pakistan’s educational system.
Mr. Chomsky further concluded that Pakistan has no future if officials are going to live in a world of religious superstition. He expressed the need for science to be present in education today, especially with the threat of nuclear war and potential environmental catastrophes.
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