Noam Chomsky On Migrant Caravan: ‘People Are Fleeing From The Misery And Horrors For Which We Are Responsible’
There is “not much difference” between a rock and a firearm, according to President Donald Trump, who said that the U.S. military will consider any rock a migrant throws at an American soldier a weapon, according to NPR.
Trump’s alarmist and threatening rhetoric is merely a continuation of relentless immigration hardlining.
In a speech Thursday, National Security Adviser John Bolton used the words “troika of tyranny” to describe Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, and — without hesitation — praised Brazil’s president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right proponent of military dictatorship, calling him an ally, according to the Guardian.
Noam Chomsky, a world-renowned philosopher, cognitive scientist, linguist, political activist, and author, talked Trump and Bolton’s fear-mongering and inflammatory rhetoric with Democracy Now today.
According to Chomsky, Bolton’s “troika of tyranny” speech is reminiscent of George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” address, which was de-facto an announcement of the Iraq invasion.
Furthermore, Chomsky said that migrants are mainly from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and not from Venezuela, Cuba, or Nicaragua.
According to the famous linguist, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s terror wars with South and Central America devastated the region, causing it to descend into poverty and dictatorship. Decades later, Chomsky noted, Honduras elected reformist Mel Zelaya for president.
A military coup took place, however. Condemned by the international community — except by the United States — the coup subsequently resulted in death and poverty, turning Honduras into the murder capital of the world.
“The Obama administration refused to call it a military coup, because if they had, they would have been compelled by law to withdraw military funding from the military regime, which was imposing a regime of brutal terror,” Chomsky explained.
“Now people are fleeing from the misery and horrors for which we are responsible,” Chomsky said. “The troops being sent to the border outnumber the children who are fleeing.”
In reaction to this, the Trump administration is sending troops to the border, and “frightening much of the country into believing that we’re just on the verge of an invasion.”
Drawing a parallel between Ronald Reagan’s 1985 insistence to call a national emergency claiming that Nicaragua is about to invade the United States, Chomsky concluded that Donald Trump is doing the same with the migrant caravan in 2018, while spreading baseless conspiracy theories about philanthropists like George Soros financing and filling it with Middle Easterners.
According to the Independent, thousands of migrants are currently walking toward the Mexico-U.S. border. Two thousand are thought to be children.
View the caravan from a different perspective as drone footage shows migrants making their way through Mexico toward the U.S. border. See our full coverage of immigration issues here: https://t.co/LiZiyRHP0h pic.twitter.com/Kquj7DIrgL
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 2, 2018
This is unfolding as the United States prepares for midterm elections, so critics are accusing President Donald Trump of sharpening his immigration rhetoric and creating panic in an effort to galvanize his loyal base.
