Noam Chomsky Delivers Inaugural Front Line Defenders’ Lecture

Posted on: 09 April 2013

US political activist and theorist Noam Chomsky delivered the inaugural Front Line Defenders’ annual lecture in the RDS in partnership with Trinity College’s Policy Institute and UCD’s School of Philosophy last week.

In a wide-ranging lecture entitled Solidarity and Responsibility to Protect delivered on Wednesday, April 3rd, Professor Chomsky explored the issues faced by human rights defenders and activists trying to make their independent voices heard among the competing agendas of state, media and political interests.

The Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also reflected upon his lifelong support of human rights activists in the Global South. In the two-hour address, he also offered a detailed critique of the use of the term “responsibility to protect” as a justification for military intervention. 

In a Q&A session, chaired by RTÉ’s Bryan Dobson, Professor Chomsky also offered his thoughts on the Obama administration in the US, drone technology and the consequences of economic austerity on the European social contract.