Customer Reviews

An American Addiction: Drugs, Guerillas, and Counterinsurgency in US Intervention in Colombia

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Noam Chomsky is a graybeard with enormous credibility. His view of U.S. intervention in Colombia is alarming. You may or may not agree with everything said but you will agree that Chomsky forces you to think.

Chomsky examines many crucial aspects to give you the entire painting. The point of this CD is to show what the real goals or motives of the war on drugs is.

1.) lead the poor Columbians to death
2.) extract profits where possible
3.) jail our poor
4.) control the remainder of the population through fear

Noam goes into specific details and cause effect relationship analysis of our actions. Did you know our food for peace program undermined the wheat commodities market in Columbia?

Speaking of small farmers, he uses the line "Sorry there will be no food this year, but there will be some next year."

What makes these type of CDs so powerful is that he not only points out the problem, be he also offers simple solutions.

Chomsky offers an excellent introduction to the USA's increasing and significant hegemonic involvement in Colombia's internal affairs, which now runs into the multiple billions of dollars involving military aid and the widespread use of military "trainers." Chomsky discusses following:

1. The history of Colombia's 40-year civil war (which, in fact, should be dated starting with the 1940s).

2. The various government, rebel and paramilitary forces involved in the civil war.

3. The intersection of the illegal drug trade with the widespread acts of crime and terrorism in the country.

4. The policies that have allowed Colombian elites to appropriate the most productive agricultural lands and have driven peasant farmers into remote regions of Colombia suitable mostly for cultivating drug crops.

5. The Colombian government's policy (at the USA's insistence and underwriting) of fumigating drug crop areas, forcing literally millions of peasant Colombians into homelessness and exile.

6. The Colombian government's widespread repression (often murder by the paramilitaries) of dissidents.

7. Colombia's natural resources and strategic importance in Latin America, which accounts for the USA's interest in the nation.

Chomsky points out that USA tobacco production accounts for more death worldwide than Colombia's (or all other nations') coca and marijuana production. He then asks: would we think another nation has a "right" to fumigate our tobacco lands, causing widespread homelessness and exile, because our tobacco products cause people to die in that nation? Rather, wouldn't we think that nation should deal with its tobacco demand issues and not cause our people harm? Of course we would, but it is not a logic the USA applies in the case of Colombia.

This CD is quite good. However, those well acquainted with the issues involving the USA's involvement with Colombia will find most of Chomsky's presentation familiar territory. The CD is clearly intended for those not acquainted with the central issues.

In "An American Addiction", activist intellectual Noam Chomsky brilliantly examines the real objectives of Plan Colombia and the role of the US government in crushing popular movements in Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America. My only criticism of this otherwise informative cd is the fact that the plight of the U'wa people against Occidental Petroleum is never mentioned. This oversight surprised me given the importance of oil in Colombia's conflict. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this educational cd for anyone wishing to learn more about the struggle for peace and justice in Colombia and the Americas.

Mr. Chomsky presents some interesting arguements especially the parallel between narcotics and tobaco but his point of view is so one sided and cynical that it is hard to take him seriously. He makes a lot of accusations without presenting any facts, he just seems to say everyone knows this or that. He also seems to be an apologist for the FARC and ELN, the left wing rebel groups, as he ignores their well documented history of drug trafficing, kidnappings, bombings and assasination. He attributes all of Colombia's problems and human rights violations to the government and the AUC, the right wing rebels. He does mention that the FARC taxes coca production but he forgives it because they tax everything.

I think the CD is worth listening to but should not be the only source of information on the subject and definately not taken at face value as his selective use facts diminishes his credibility.