The Anti-Chomsky Reader by Peter Collier & David Horowitz

Author:Peter Collier & David Horowitz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

♦ ♦

Not only did Chomsky publish his Political Economy of Human Rights with Guillaume's organization; he also prepared a special booklet for Guillaume, not published anywhere else, of some of his self-justifying correspondence concerning the Faurisson affair. This publication, Reponses inedites, carries Chomsky's name as author and Guillaume's initials, “P.G.,” as editor.24 Guillaume explains that Chomsky has personally reviewed all translations from English to French.

For his part, Faurisson very frequently uses the Chomsky connection in his ceaseless pursuit of some sort of credibility. Bill Rubinstein of the University of Wales (who previously lived in Australia) reports that he originally learned of the Chomsky-Faurisson connection only when an Australian supporter of Faurisson flaunted correspondence that showed Chomsky furnishing Faurisson with information and advice.25 It is just about impossible to come across a French “revisionist” publication— be it by Guillaume, Thion or Faurisson himself—that omits the obligatory reference to Chomsky's patronage.26

What does Guillaume's movement do to deserve such warm friendship from the famous MIT linguist? The tiny movement of La Vieille Taupe, though having a history of quite different concerns that I will sketch later, is focused on Jew-baiting. Through a mini-empire of publishing enterprises, operating under its own name and others such as Spartacus and Editions de la Difference, the movement brings out a flood of “revisionist” and anti-Semitic propaganda. First and foremost, it publishes numerous writings by and about Faurisson. It also features the notorious The Myth of Auschwitz by the German neo-Nazi Wilhelm Staglich and several titles by the late “left-wing” anti-Semite Paul Rassinier.

Guillaume and his right-wing opposite number Ogmios published a very pretentiously presented quarterly journal,

Annales dhistoire revisioniste. In appearance this magazine resembles a scholarly publication, but its function is to show that the Holocaust never happened. The first two issues contain, among other items, translations of articles that previously appeared in the California neo-Nazi Journal of Historical Review.21

In the spring of 1985, when the movie Shoah was screening in Paris, Guillaume—obviously seeking more notoriety—personally handed out leaflets in front of the theater. The leaflets denounced the “political-financial” swindle by all those who claim that Jews were killed by the Nazis. As Guillaume tells the story, the incident became the basis of a defamation suit brought against him by the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism.28

Chomsky has of course been criticized for his involvement with Faurisson and the VT movement, not least within the Left. He has sought to meet all such objections by saying: a) that he does not agree with Faurisson but is merely defending freedom of speech; b) that Faurisson and the VT are being maligned by opponents; and c) that the whole affair is unimportant and should not be discussed. Of these three arguments, only the first—the civil rights argument—needs detailed examination, which we shall give it later. The other points can be dealt with more summarily.

Chomsky has persistently misrepresented the politics of Faurisson and VT. In his famous “Preface” he calls Faurisson a liberal.29 He has also seen fit to praise Faurisson's associate

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.