Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: AFP)
15 December 16
Linguist also says he believes a 'militant labour movement' could unseat the magnate in 2020
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Chomsky has spoken of how watching the results come in on the night of
Donald Trump's US election victory dredged up memories of his feelings
after listening to Hitler's Nuremberg rallies as a boy.
The linguist was speaking during the 20th anniversary party for online news channel Democracy Now.
He told audience members that spending November 8 in Barcelona had a
"special personal resonance" because his first published article was
about the city's fall to dictator Francisco Franco's forces during the
Spanish Civil War.
He had written about "the apparently inexorable spread of fascism over Europe and maybe the whole world", he said.
He added: "I’m old enough to have been able to listen
to Hitler’s speeches, the Nuremberg rallies, not understanding the
words, but the tone and the reaction of the crowd was enough to leave
indelible memories.
"And watching those results come in did arouse some
pretty unpleasant memories, along with what is happening in Europe now,
which, in many ways, is pretty frightening, as well."
Mr Chomsky also said he believed Donald Trump
supporters could be enticed to vote Democrat again if the Bernie Sanders
movement offered a real program for “hope and change”.
On the same evening Vice President Joe Biden said he
might run for president in 2020, Mr Chomsky told the audience that
reigniting a “militant labour movement” could swing the next election.
He said American workers have been beaten down for
decades with weakened labour unions and stagnant wage growth since
neo-liberal policies were instituted in 1979. President Obama’s
supporters in 2008 and 2012 were voting for his slogan of “hope and
change”, but were disappointed.
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