Thursday, December 02, 2004

A Small (anti-Chomskyite) Victory

Leftist anti-Chomskyite Paul Berman - who also happens to be one of my favorite writers - has written a wonderful short article celebrating the release of Raul Rivero, a dissident Cuban poet, from Castro's gulag. Berman believes it to be a very heartening and possibly portentious victory against one of the world's most brutal and oppressive dictatorships; and one, it should never be forgotten, for which Chomsky and his disciples have carried the torch for over forty years. Apparently, no less an expert in toppling totalitarianisms than Vaclav Havel - who Chomsky has rather unceremoniously assaulted in recent years, Chomsky's fearful contempt for genuine dissidents, whose very existence makes farce out of his own claims to the title, being well known - is optimistic on the possibility of Cuban freedom, lets hope he's right.