The Umbrella of Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradiction of U.S. Policy (Open Media Pamphlet) [Paperback]

Noam Chomsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999 | Series: Open Media Pamphlet

Chomsky observes the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a''Path to a Better World,'' while chronicling how far off the trail the United States is with respect to actual political practice and conduct. Analysing the contradictions of U.S. power while illustrating the real progress won by sustained popular struggle, Chomsky cuts through official political rhetoric to examine how the United States not only violates the UD, but at times uses it as a weapon to weild against designated enemies

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The United States government often invokes a moral imperative to honor human rights as justification for its foreign-policy decisions. But, according to Noam Chomsky, America's actual track record falls far short of the principles iterated in 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights--the accepted international standard. This slim but passionate volume lists case after case in which the United States has provided aid to grossly abusive regimes--among which Chomsky includes Israel and Indonesia--and examples of how the American government seeks to limit the human rights of its own citizens. With equal criticism for Democrat and Republican administrations, The Umbrella of U.S. Power refuses to remain silent about "the things it 'wouldn't do' to mention" as it works to expose the contradictions between what government leaders tell their people and what they actually do. --Ron Hogan

About the Author

Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Noam Chomsky is widely regarded to be the foremost critic of U.S. foreign policy in the world. He has published a multitude of books, articles and essays on global politics, history, and linguistics. Among his recent books includes ''Hegemony or Survival,'' published by Haymarket Books in audiobook format, with Brian Jones reading. Eduardo Galeano is one of Latin America's most admired writers. He is the author of the Memory of Fire trilogy (for which he won the 1989 American Book Award) and Open Veins of Latin America. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press; 1st edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888363851
• ISBN-13: 978-1888363852
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,193,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Law > Current Affairs

More About the Author

Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. A member of the American Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. His books include At War with Asia, Towards a New Cold War, Fateful Triangle: The U. S., Israel and the Palestinians, Necessary Illusions, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy, Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exposes US hypocrisy, November 27, 2000

By 

egalitarian ethos - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Umbrella of Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradiction of U.S. Policy (Open Media Pamphlet) (Paperback)

As is so lucidly shown by Noam Chomsky in "The Umbrella of US Power", the US cynically uses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights only when it serves the purpose of attaining US foreign policy goals. Chomsky's analysis clearly shows how the US has selectively used the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when the need arises and how the US has ignored it when the need arises. One of the more essential aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the US prefers to ignore is the language about economic rights:

Article 23 of the UD declares that "Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment," along with "remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection." "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."

With the complete approval of the US Gov't., US industry has conducted one of the most successful antiunion wars ever, illegally firing thousands of workers for exercising their rights to organize, prompting the International Labor Organizationto issue a recommendation that the US conform to international standards.

Chomsky documents how US officials continually complain about goods made by prison labour in China, yet remain silent concerning the same practices in the US. Prison labour is a violation of the UD.

"The Umbrella of U.S. Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradictions of U.S. Policy" is a powerful and important work that exposes US hypocrisy and its total lack of respect for international law and humanitarian principles.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Money Buys Poverty and Kills, Citizens Being Looted, March 10, 2002

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Umbrella of Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradiction of U.S. Policy (Open Media Pamphlet) (Paperback)

This is one of Noam Chomsky's most interesting pamphlets (actually a quarter-size booklet of 78 pages). It has a special relevance and importance to citizens in the aftermath of 9-11 because he directly links our corporate criminality ("Justice Department estimates the cost of corporate crime as 7 to 25 times as high as street crime") to our national policies against human rights (poverty pays, for the corporate class that strives to liquidate Third World nations in their predatory roving of the planet).

He pointedly identifies the U.S. arms industry as being among the worst violators, but even more importantly, points out that U.S. policies favoring our arms dealers are opposed by 96% of the U.S. population. While that number might be high, I believe there is no question but that Washington is being instructed by corporations rather than its citizens on this vital point of policy. It is time for citizens to take the power back.

Chomsky notes that in 1996 the World Health Organization characterized extreme poverty as the world's most ruthless killer and the greatest cause of suffering on earth. This ties in with the United Nations finding that human suffering is now a legitimate basis for intervention, and with George Soro's observation in The Washington Post of 24 February 2002, that "We can't be successful in fighting terrorism, unless we fight that other axis of evil--poverty, disease and ignorance."

This little gem of a book also includes well-footnoted observations about how nations seek to carry out trade negotiations in secrecy, in part because they are agreeing to overlook if not actively participate in the looting of poor countries as a condition for prosperous trade among the already developed nations.

The book begins and ends with thoughts from Chomsky on the intellectual discipline he founded, the relationship between linguistics, ethics, and action. He begins with pointed observations on how the most horrible crimes are allowed to go without comment because of *self* censorship, and ends by noting that our citizens do not need to be forbidden to speak of these monstrous deeds that our corporations and government are secretly agreeing to perpetuate, because we have chosen to remain ignorant and silent.

U.S. policy today is *not* founded on moral values, and it is *not* representative of the will of the people in so far as it is carried out in secret collaboration with major corporations and in opposition to the minimal mandatory needs of developing nations for water, food, disease, and economic security.

This is not about political ideology--Ralph Nader, the ultimate spoiler, has one thing right: the parties are irrelevant, this is now about the people versus the corporations. Absent a huge popular turn-out *prior* to each election, to make it clear to candidates that they will be held accountable by the people for keeping all trade and other negotiations in the public domain, and for voting on issues mindful of the will of the people rather than their corporate Enron-like paymasters, then we are the ones ultimately responsible for U.S. policy's misdirection.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He never fails, April 12, 2001

By 

Elham A. Alshejni (Cairo, Egypt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Umbrella of Power: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Contradiction of U.S. Policy (Open Media Pamphlet) (Paperback)

As all his writings, thoroughly researched and well documented. The master has the skill of analyizing and putting the pieces together. Anyone who wants to know the Truth about US foreign policy should read Chomsky's books. That is if he has the courage to face the facts.