Essay Pirates and Emperors by Noam Chomsky - 2692 Words

Pirates and Emperors by Noam Chomsky â€Å"St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. How dare you molest the sea? asked Alexander. How dare you molest the whole world? the pirate replied. Because I do it with a little ship only, I am called a thief; you, doing it with a great navy, are called an emperor.[1] This extract from Noam Chomsky’s book ‘Pirates and Emperors’ highlights the relativity of terms and labels, showing how different viewpoints result in different interpretations of the same incident. Chomsky uses the passage to discuss terrorism in its most literal sense as referring â€Å"†¦to the†¦show more content†¦The aims and conduct of Palestinian groups will be compared briefly with pre – 1948 Jewish groups - guerrilla fighters in the eyes of Jews, terrorists in British eyes. An ironic reversal has placed the guerrilla fighters/ terrorists onto the role of ‘Emperor’, facing the mammoth task of maintaining an order that effectively promotes and gives rise to guerrilla fighters/ terrorists. The two main issues to be discussed in this section are the Al Aqsa Intifada and the israeli response. Secondly, the use of suicide bombings by Palestinians as a political and military tool by the Palestinians will be examined. The core of the debate can be summed up by phrases such as â€Å"one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter† or â€Å"Terrorism, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder†.[3] The formulations are far too simple however, to account for complex situations. Complexities, that stretch the boundaries of suffering and the Human capability of cruelty, in so doing stretching the moral constraints on what is legitimate and what is not. At the end of The Second Great War of Europe for example, after the horrific suffering faced by the Jewish race amongst others, the Zionist aim of establishing a Jewish state had further justification for attaining its objective. The primary issue in 1945 was of Jewish immigration to Palestine, the British opposed theShow MoreRelatedIslamophobia in Britain2477 Words   |  10 PagesMuslims in Britain, (August 2002) 4. London’s Quality Newspaper â€Å"Evening Standard†, Published: Monday 05/02/07 5. Michael Connolly, Townshend-Smith on Discrimination Law:Text, Cases and Materials, 2th ed, (Great Britain,2004) 6. . Noam Chomsky, Pirates and Emperors, Old and New. International Terrorism in the Real World, (London,2002) 7. Wolfgang Bedenek and Alice Yotopoulos-Maragopoulos(Eds), Anti-Terrorist Measures and Human Rights, (Leiden,The Netherlands,2004)