Professor Chomsky,

- because of you I found a role model.
- because of you i have seen that one man can make a difference

- My greatest respect

You and your work will always inspire me.

Many thanks and happy birthday from Oslo

John Vinneng

Dear Professor Chomsky,

On your 80th birthday and on this tribute site I wanted to express my gratitude for the work and volunteerism you've committed toward social justice and activism. I came from a background in rural Arizona that didn't have access to the perspectives you and others articulate. It wasn't until my first years in community college, listening to your talks on Pacifica Radio, along with the journalism of Democracy Now! and others, that my conscience was turned toward struggles and difficulties in the world and how my actions might bear on them.

Like many on this site I gravitated toward your voice in particular because it was the most reasoned, knowledgeable and accessible of commenters of U.S. foreign policy. The way in which you intellectually approached polemic and politicized issues otherwise clouded in rhetoric than in logic or thought inspired many of us to approach these issues in the same way. Thanks for giving us a sense of direction and some methods with which we might tackle these difficult but pressing questions.

Dear Noam,

I remember being at the World Social Forum in 2002 and sitting in on a meeting that you were having with the delegation from East Timor. Many people in the room were clearly in awe of you and in any case felt enormous appreciation because you had been someone who brought attention to their cause when it was being mostly ignored. At this point, East Timor was on the verge of independence after a long struggle against a brutal U.S.-suppored dictorship. The East Timorese in the room asked you for advice on the new challenges they were facing. You responded by pointing out that they were in the best position to know what they should do. After all, they were the ones who had fought so diligently and courageously for so many years and had finally won. They were the ones who knew the history and the current situation better than anyone.

I like how you turned the focus back on them and what *they* knew. You weren't trying to offer praise or be "empowering." You were just saying what you knew to be true. And they preceived that as well, and it brought about a change in the room. There was less awe in your direction and more a sense of the room being full of heroes who had struggled against enormous odds and who would continue to do so.

Thank you for essentially holding up a mirror for people to see themselves more clearly and bring their own best minds and abilities to the conditions they face.

I wish you a very happy birthday.

Cynthia

That was Happy Birthday! in finnish in case you didn't know it. We (all the family, four sons) feel ourselves very thankful for what you have been doing these last decades. I came to know your linguistical thinking in sixties (a part of me is classical scholar) and political thinking much later. One feature strikes me in your thinking time and again. You don't take on your shoulders too many, too complicated nor too heavy theoretical structures. You have succeeded to show that some of the most important principles are amazingly simple. (I know what I am talking about because I am translating with my wife Guattari's Chaosmose in finnish) One more thing that I can say as father: Not only is it a miracle how kids learn to use the language at a very early age, but the miracle is repeated at teenage by the quick and natural acquisition of critical thinking, especially if they live in an environment which favors it. And in this last thing you have been a good guide. One final comment about language and old age, I don't mean you, you are still young, but my mother who passed away at the age of almost 102 years. All her life she read books and when she lost her sight, she kept on listening taped books and we also read her a lot. I am convinced that her constant being "in" the language contributed to her clear thinking and good memory - she could tell thing about the finnish civil war in 1918! She died "communist" (which had a very special meaning in her case).
We wish you lots of active years!
Heikki, Mariaana, Harri, Bruno, Zachris and Albert

Noam Chomsky is the one person I can attribute to changing the direction of my life. He introduced me to the truth about international relations.

Before 9/11/01 I was basically clueless about how the world *really* works. I don't remember how, but I somehow stumbled upon Chomsky's work. I can't say I got instantly hooked. That doesn't happen when your world-view is questioned. But after studying things more carefully, I soon learnt to deeply appreciate his analyses and thoughts. I would love nothing more than to sit down with him and have a talk. Okay, that's not true. I'd love a fair world more.

I am now involved in the social justice movement, in the cancel the debt campaign (We have even gotten concrete results here in Norway). I most likely wouldn't be if it wasn't for Noam.

Last semester I was going to Palestine to study the conflict, and wrote an email to Noam asking for advice about contacts. I was stunned to see a reply within hours. The help I got was valuable - even though we had to re-direct our study to Syria due to the University closing all doors in front of us...

It is odd, that even after reading countless books and articles by Chomsky, I still learn something new in each article and book I read. The man is a walking encyclopaedia on world affairs.

Congratulations on your 80th birthday Noam. We salute you!

-Warm well-wishes from the cold winter in Norway.

Dear M. Chomsky,
I've had the opportunity to be introduced to your work while studying in a Montreal univerity a few years ago. The books you have written and the intervews you have given have been so inspirational. It's very reassuring to know that people like you will voice the opinion of the portion of the people that is against the mainstream ideology.

A very happy birthy and long and healthy life to you M. Chomsky. We need you.

From french canada
Nathalie

Vancouver's StopWar.ca Coalition was honoured to have Noam Chomsky as our keynote speaker at our rally in March 2004 protesting the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Noam's participation in our event helped bring out a big crowd. At least 15,000 people listened attentively, as Noam spent half an hour outlining the machinations of empire. It was one small example of the invaluable work he has been doing for nearly half a century - articulating penetrating and honest dissent by exposing the crimes of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, East Timor, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

If more academics and intellectuals followed Chomsky's trailblazing commitment to activism and social justice, we would be living in a better world. As for the dangerous and troubled world we do live in, we need Chomsky's insights more than ever.

The members of our coalition wish Noam and his family all the best on his 80th birthday.

Dear Noam,

A very happy birthday from Aotearoa/New Zealand!

I tried to think about all the innumerable articles, chapters, books, speeches of yours that I have read. What has been most significant to me?
I think perhaps it was the raft of urgent articles and interviews from the that terrible time in 1999 when East Timor was in flames. You talked about the leverage that the US and its major allies have over the Indonesian government and how this leverage could have been used to stop the atrocities in East Timor at any point since the ivasion was contemplated. And of how pressure can force a positive course of action when the social costs of not doing so can be raised.
That is a good reminder for all of us who live in the rich nations!
Thanks for your enormous contribution to a more just world and for your wonderful visit here a few years back,
Maire Leadbeater

Dear Noam,
On your 80th birthday, I wanted to send you this note to express how major and positive an influence you have been in my life; and to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the consistency and persistence of your insightful and strong criticisms of U.S. imperialist and capitalist power, and your belief in the possibility that another world is possible.

40 years ago, in spring 1968, I took the class you co-taught with Louie Kampf, The Responsibility of Intellectuals, and I also had the fortune of you being my seminar leader. Your criticism of the cold war liberals and their lies in their advocacy and execution of the Vietnam War, your introducing me to the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, and the libertarian socialists during the Spanish Civil War. Together with the events going on in the world
in winter and spring 1968 such as the Tet Offensive, the assassination of Martin Luther King, I was forever changed and have been active in anti-war, solidarity and movements for economic and social justice ever since. You have been a moral and intellectual compass for me and so many others.

I also learned from you then and I totally appreciate your contempt for the rulers and their apologists while you respect the intelligence of everyday people and their ability to understand the economic and social system and work for a better world. I remember once when I introduced you in Olympia, you criticized me when I said that Noam Chomsky is a person who speaks truth to power. You immediately said to the 1800 people in attendance that you believed in speaking truth to those that don't have power, not to those with power as the truth does not influence the actions of the rich and powerful.

You have continued to address the leading issues of the day with a strong moral compass, clear analysis, and a disdain for hypocrisy and double standards, where most U.S. intellectuals and the media apply a different standard to U.S. behavior than other countries.

On my first maternity leave I was hungry for intellectual stimulation and discovered a lecture in my local library about the American involvement in Colombia. I listened to it while washing dishes and found myself repeatedly stopping what I was doing to exclaim out loud in excitement. Having grown up as an American in Peru, I had definite misgivings about what I saw, but never had I heard anyone articulate my thoughts regarding the US in Latin America.
Ever since then I have clung to Chomsky and his clear perspective as a way of keeping my sanity in this world. Thank you, Noam, for continued inspiration and enlightenment.

Dear Noam,
You have helped me gain a much better understanding of the world and power and for that I am grateful. I also very much appreciated your thoughtful response to my e-mail. Thanks for your work and thanks for speaking out for the unpeople of the world.

happy birthday,

I don't even really remember how I discovered Professor Chomsky's work, but I know it was shortly after 9/11 when I decided to look into why the attacks happened beyond terrorists hating freedom. Since then my worldview and my personal studies have been heavily informed by Professor Chomsky's writings. He has inspired me to strive for truth and justice in all aspects of life, and to never take things at face value.

Thank you Professor Chomsky, for your activim, your writings, and your inspiration. The world needs people like you, and we can all learn a lot from your lifetime.

Happy birthday.

My first acquaintance with Noam Chomsky came in the early 1980's at the University of Toronto, when I studied his contributions to linguistics as part of my Ph.D. program in second language education. After I had become somewhat familiar with his professional work, I became aware of his writings on political and social affairs. I was dumbfounded then, and remain so today, at how one person could find the time to have his finger in so many pies. Well, to keep this brief, during the space of one year I had the good luck to hear Noam speak three times on the Toronto campus. I read most of his books, and sent him the occasional letter (he always responded!). I don't know what my subsequent intellectual life would have been like without the doors he opened for me. He has truly been a guide like no other. Thanks for everything, Noam.

Thanks for all your work that has been so informative and empowering to me and I am sure many like me. It is always a bit suspect to give too much emphasis to one event that changes ones mind about issues, but, for me reading "Understanding Power" was a really life changing moment where I literally felt that my eyes had been opened and I was able to finally apply a critical analysis to what was going on in the world. Also, reading this book got me out of hierarchical SWP politics and into anarchism (and for that I am forever grateful!!).