Illegitimate Authority: Facing the Challenges of Our Time, by C. J. Polychroniou and Noam Chomsky (2023)

This book represented my introduction to Noam Chomsky and after hearing his name thrown around for years, I was keen to read some of his original work. I came into this book expecting a dissenting voice and I got one, although not the one that I was expecting.

The first thing I noticed, and was disappointed by was the format of this book. Perhaps I should have been more discerning however I was seduced by a Greek name on the cover and paid for the book before even opening it. The book format was actually a collection of interviews rather than a cohesive work, not ideal but still a lot to take from this.

In some ways this format actually helped me process things. I was able to process shorter passages, pick up repeated messages, and finished it with a clearer idea of who Chomsky was with a clear and general sense of what his views were and what his temperament was.

That temperament was calm, confident and focused. The views were largely in opposition to the corporatisation of politics and in support of working and lower classes. The series of interviews were largely written in response to trending world events but Chomsky repeatedly connected seemingly unrelated issues like the Ukraine war to the climate crises, and the struggles of the working class. In a similar vein to messaging in Yannis Varoufaki’s book The weak suffer what they must Chomsky champions what he thinks are the those who suffer at the hands of those in power, and reframes seemingly contained news items in a global context.

For someone seemingly on the left of the political aisle, I was surprised to see how critical Chomsky was of the major left leaning parties. He offered a seemingly neutral voice of dissent against the general corporatisation of politics and championed social and working causes rather than those drawn down party lines.

I think this was party due to the nature of the interviews. In responding to world events the interviews were always in reaction to a policy or action, and as such were a way of influencing public discourse. After just a few interviews I noticed that much of the content was already dated, and that I should not expect to see much supportive viewpoints – simply because items he supported did not require a interview to change their course.

In some ways this book was repetitive and frustrating. However, it also served as a lesson in media strategy and in who Chomsky is.