Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, and the Left’s False Anti-Imperialist Crusade

“Through rallying anti-war movements and opposing any Western intervention (including humanitarian missions), many Western socialist intellectuals have, in fact, turned themselves into foot soldiers for authoritarian and undemocratic regimes.”

Western socialist intellectuals have encountered a formidable difficulty in articulating their views on the Left’s approaches to foreign and international policy issues. Challenging imperialism and rejecting oppressive regimes have historically been claimed as the two cardinal principles of left-oriented movements and organizations. However, these very left-oriented organizations and intellectuals have failed to adhere to their simultaneous commitment to challenging the perceived threat of Western imperialism and condemning authoritarian regimes. Due to an excessive fixation on (and preoccupation with) unmasking and excoriating U.S. foreign policy across the globe, many leftist intellectuals have advertently or inadvertently condoned the oppressive and reactionary proclivities of authoritarian (and undemocratic) regimes that have wrapped themselves with the flag of anti-imperialism.

Fiercely opposing U.S. foreign policy—but ignoring anti-democratic tendencies in the so-called anti-imperialist regimes—tends to trivialize socialists’ commitment to promoting democracy and, in fact, lends credence to the arguments by those who have questioned socialism’s compatibility with democratic principles. Due to their ingrained obsession and hostility to U.S. foreign policy, many leftist intellectuals have become ardent apologists for authoritarian regimes, which have utilized nationalism and anti-imperialism slogans to smash and suppress democratic forces in their nations, as well as marginalize minority groups. Through rallying anti-war movements and opposing any Western intervention (including humanitarian missions), many Western socialist intellectuals have, in fact, turned themselves into foot soldiers for authoritarian and undemocratic regimes.

For the Left as a whole, reconciling anti-imperialism with criticizing oppressive and undemocratic regimes has historically proven to be a challenging task. The 1917 triumph of revolutionary Communist forces in Russia (and the ensuing rise of the Soviet Union as the stronghold of communism) engendered a perplexing climate for socialist and progressive intellectuals in the West. Despite the egregious encroachment into civil political liberty in the Soviet Union, so many of these intellectuals did not conceal their sympathy for the Soviet Union and its satellite allies during the Cold War era. However, these intellectuals did have to face an incisive castigation for condoning the undemocratic and repressive nature of the Soviet state.