Message to Noam Chomsky by Steady Drips of Water: Activism and Social Change

For the last question I'd like to talk a little about providing alternatives, for people trying to figure out things, searching for answers, seeing through propaganda, developing solidarity, initiating movements. Here's a good quote I came across that might be a good starting point, from the notable novelist E.M. Forster, writing at the beginning stages of the Second World War, in 1939, in his essay "What I Believe":

"I do not believe in Belief. But this is an age of faith, and there are so many militant creeds that, in self-defense, one has to formulate a creed of one's own. Tolerance, good temper and sympathy...in a world rent by religious and racial persecution, in a world where ignorance rules, and science, who ought to have ruled, plays the subservient pimp." He repeats: "Tolerance, good temper and sympathy—they are what matter really, and if the human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long."

What are some of the things he's getting at here that we can discuss in terms of alternatives for the future, and social organization?

Noam Chomsky: I'm often asked questions like that, in maybe a dozen emails a night or in talks and so on, and I'm always at a loss to answer. Not because I can't think of an answer, but because I think we all know the answer. There aren't any magic keys here; there are no mysterious ways of approaching things. What it takes is just what has led to progress and success in the past. We live in a much more civilized world than we did even when Forster was writing, in many respects.

Say, women's rights, or opposition to torture—or even opposition to aggression—environmental concerns, recognition of some of the crimes of our own history, like what happened to the indigenous population. We can go on and on. There's been much improvement in those areas. How? Well, because people like those working in alternative media, or those we never hear about who are doing social organizing, community building, political action, etc., engage themselves in trying to do something about it.

And the modes of engagement are not mysterious. You have to try and develop a critical, open mind, and you have to be willing to evaluate and challenge conventional beliefs—accept them if they turn out to be valid, but reject them if—as is so often the case—they turn out to just reflect power structures. And then proceed with educational and organizing activities, actions as appropriate to circumstances.? There is no simple formula; rather, lots of options. And gradually over time, things improve. I mean, even the hardest rock will be eroded by steady drips of water. That's what social change comes to and there are no mysterious modes of proceeding. They're hard ones, demanding ones, challenging, often costly. But that's what it takes to get a better world.




In an interview from jail Chief Donny Morris said, "When you think of when the settlers first came, they tried to slaughter us. Why? For the mineral riches on our land like gold and now it is happening again. . I have been thinking about what it means that non-Indians are organizing all this support for us. I am thinking about that a lot here. I haven't seen this kind of thing in the past. It's like all of you are becoming Indians. The Canadian government tried to assimilate us for generations and now it is the opposite that is happening. You are all starting to think like us about the earth."