Editing Noam Chomsky (section)

=== Critique of propaganda and international affairs ===
{{external media
 | video1 = [https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/manufacturing-consent-noam-chomsky-and-the-media/ Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media], a 1992 documentary exploring Chomsky's work of the same name and its impact
}}
In 1985, during the [[Nicaraguan Contra War]]—in which the U.S. supported the [[Contras|contra militia]] against the [[Sandinista]] government—Chomsky traveled to [[Managua]] to meet with workers' organizations and refugees of the conflict, giving public lectures on politics and linguistics.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|pp=91, 92}} Many of these lectures were published in 1987 as ''On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures''.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=91}} In 1983 he published ''[[The Fateful Triangle]]'', which argued that the U.S. had continually used the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] for its own ends.{{sfnm|1a1=Sperlich|1y=2006|1p=99|2a1=McGilvray|2y=2014|2p=13}} In 1988, Chomsky visited the [[Palestinian territories]] to witness the impact of Israeli occupation.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=98}}

Chomsky and Herman's ''[[Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media]]'' (1988) outlines their [[propaganda model]] for understanding mainstream media. Even in countries without official censorship, they argued, the news is censored through five filters that greatly influence both what and how news is presented.{{sfnm|1a1=Barsky|1y=1997|1pp=160, 202|2a1=Sperlich|2y=2006|2pp=127–134}} The book received [[Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media|a 1992 film adaptation]].{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=136}} In 1989, Chomsky published ''Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies,'' in which he suggests that a worthwhile democracy requires that its citizens undertake intellectual self-defense against the media and elite intellectual culture that seeks to control them.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|pp=138–139}} By the 1980s, Chomsky's students had become prominent linguists who, in turn, expanded and revised his linguistic theories.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=53}}

[[File:Noam Chomsky Toronto 2011.jpg|thumb|left|Chomsky speaking in support of the [[Occupy movement]] in 2011]]

In the 1990s, Chomsky embraced political activism to a greater degree than before.{{sfn|Barsky|1997|p=214}} Retaining his commitment to the cause of East Timorese independence, in 1995 he visited Australia to talk on the issue at the behest of the East Timorese Relief Association and the National Council for East Timorese Resistance.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=104}} The lectures he gave on the subject were published as ''Powers and Prospects'' in 1996.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=104}} As a result of the international publicity Chomsky generated, his biographer Wolfgang Sperlich opined that he did more to aid the cause of East Timorese independence than anyone but the investigative journalist [[John Pilger]].{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=107}} After East Timor attained independence from Indonesia in 1999, the Australian-led [[International Force for East Timor]] arrived as a peacekeeping force; Chomsky was critical of this, believing it was designed to secure Australian access to East Timor's oil and gas reserves under the [[Timor Gap Treaty]].{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|pp=109–110}}

Chomsky was widely interviewed after the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001 as the American public attempted to make sense of the attacks.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|pp=110–111}} He argued that the ensuing [[War on Terror]] was not a new development but a continuation of U.S. foreign policy and concomitant rhetoric since at least the Reagan era.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=143}} He gave the [[D.T. Lakdawala]] Memorial Lecture in New Delhi in 2001,{{sfn|''The Hindu''|2001}} and in 2003 visited Cuba at the invitation of the Latin American Association of Social Scientists.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=120}} Chomsky's 2003 ''[[Hegemony or Survival]]'' articulated what he called the United States' "imperial [[grand strategy]]" and critiqued the [[Iraq War]] and other aspects of the War on Terror.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|pp=114–118}} Chomsky toured internationally with greater regularity during this period.{{sfn|Sperlich|2006|p=120}} 

During the [[2014 Scottish independence referendum]], Chomsky supported Scottish independence.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-independence-noam-chomsky-backing-yes-1538839|title=Scottish independence: Noam Chomsky backing Yes|date=April 24, 2014 }}</ref>