On Language, Democracy, and Social Justice

Using dialogues exchanged over the course of nine years, combined with heartfelt critical essays, Chomsky and Orelus analytically examine social justice issues – unbalanced relationships between dominant and subjugated languages, democratic schooling, neoliberalism, colonization, and the harmful effect of Western globalization on developing countries, and on the poor living in those countries.

Pierre W. Orelus is Assistant Professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at New Mexico State University. He is currently the co-chair of the Paulo Freire Special Interest Group at the American Educational Research Association. Professor Orelus has received several awards and fellowships, including a New Mexico State University Early Career Award for Exceptional Achievements in Creative Scholarly Activity. His most recent books include (Peter Lang, 2014). Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards and has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs, and U.S. foreign policy. Among his more recent books are y (2008); (2010); (2010); (2011); (2011); (2012); (2012); (2012); and (2014).

« provides a forum for Noam Chomsky to articulate crucial insights, while offering an uplifting narrative describing a concerned individual’s personal correspondence, and then interaction, with Chomsky himself. As such, it’s a useful book that addresses contemporary issues, most notably regarding Haiti, but it’s also a behind-the-scenes description, one of a multitude, of how Chomsky relates to people concerned with making a difference in the world, and what they (and in turn we) can learn from such intellectual, and personal, encounters.» (Robert Barsky, Professor, Vanderbilt University) « is a thoughtful and transformative book that raises crucial questions about the death of democracy and the rise of a unique form of authoritarianism in the United States. Reclaiming the connection between education and social change, it offers its readers an accessible, provocative, and insightful analysis of a number of issues that extend to social justice and the promise of a democracy to come to the savage ideologies, practices, and policies of neoliberalism. Moving lucidly between a language of critique and a discourse of possibility, the book offers a stinging critique of American-style casino capitalism and its attack on those vital public values, ideologies, and institutions that give meaning to any viable democratic society while also providing a number of suggestions about the promise of collective struggle, organized resistance, and the possibilities for a more just future.» (Henry Giroux, Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University) «Critical educators such as Pierre W. Orelus have consistently challenged the colonial matrix of power in an attempt to redress the crisis within the geoculture of the modern/ colonial world, and in doing so have challenged epistemologies of power and the social relations of production in which these epistemologies are forged. Professor Orelus is from Haiti, and his interest in learning more about the colonization of his homeland is what first led him to become interested in Noam Chomsky’s work.» (from the foreword by Peter McLaren) « … what is facilitative rather than debilitating about this new book is that it doesn’t only offer a language of critique, it simultaneously creates and encourages a collective praxis to make change in the world.» (from the afterword by Pepi Leistyna)

« provides a forum for Noam Chomsky to articulate crucial insights, while offering an uplifting narrative describing a concerned individual’s personal correspondence, and then interaction, with Chomsky himself. As such, it’s a useful book that addresses contemporary issues, most notably regarding Haiti, but it’s also a behind-the-scenes description, one of a multitude, of how Chomsky relates to people concerned with making a difference in the world, and what they (and in turn we) can learn from such intellectual, and personal, encounters.» (Robert Barsky, Professor, Vanderbilt University) « is a thoughtful and transformative book that raises crucial questions about the death of democracy and the rise of a unique form of authoritarianism in the United States. Reclaiming the connection between education and social change, it offers its readers an accessible, provocative, and insightful analysis of a number of issues that extend to social justice and the promise of a democracy to come to the savage ideologies, practices, and policies of neoliberalism. Moving lucidly between a language of critique and a discourse of possibility, the book offers a stinging critique of American-style casino capitalism and its attack on those vital public values, ideologies, and institutions that give meaning to any viable democratic society while also providing a number of suggestions about the promise of collective struggle, organized resistance, and the possibilities for a more just future.» (Henry Giroux, Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University) «Critical educators such as Pierre W. Orelus have consistently challenged the colonial matrix of power in an attempt to redress the crisis within the geoculture of the modern/ colonial world, and in doing so have challenged epistemologies of power and the social relations of production in which these epistemologies are forged. Professor Orelus is from Haiti, and his interest in learning more about the colonization of his homeland is what first led him to become interested in Noam Chomsky’s work.» (from the foreword by Peter McLaren) « … what is facilitative rather than debilitating about this new book is that it doesn’t only offer a language of critique, it simultaneously creates and encourages a collective praxis to make change in the world.» (from the afterword by Pepi Leistyna)

Contents: Professional and Personal Encounters With Noam Chomsky: A Critical Self-Reflection – Noam Chomsky and the Linguistic, Political, and Activist World: A Critical Analysis – Democracy, Schooling, and U.S. Foreign Policy - Noam Chomsky and Pierre Orelus in Dialogue – Democracy and Language Rights of Minority Groups – Neoliberalism: The Rich Over the Poor - Noam Chomsky and Pierre Orelus in Dialogue – Market Democracy in a Neoliberal Order: Doctrines and Reality – Third World Countries Under Western Siege - Noam Chomsky and Pierre Orelus in Dialogue – Re-Envisioning Social Justice - Noam Chomsky and Pierre Orelus in Dialogue – What Should Be the Role of Intellectuals in the Twenty-First Century?