“A study of the inter-American system published by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London concluded that, while the US pays lip service to democracy, the real commitment is to "private, capitalist enterprise." When the rights of investors are threatened, democracy has to go; if these rights are safeguarded, killers and torturers will do just fine.”

—  Noam Chomsky

" Our Commitment to Democracy https://chomsky.info/unclesam02/," p. 19
Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994, What Uncle Sam Really Wants, 1993

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A study of the inter-American system published by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London concluded that…" by Noam Chomsky?
Noam Chomsky photo
Noam Chomsky 334
american linguist, philosopher and activist 1928

Related quotes

Ludwig von Mises photo

“The capitalist system of production is an economic democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote.”

Ludwig von Mises book Bureaucracy

The consumers are the sovereign people. The capitalists, the entrepreneurs, and the farmers are the people’s mandatories. If they do not obey, if they fail to produce, at the lowest possible cost, what the consumers are asking for, they lose their office. Their task is service to the consumer. Profit and loss are the instruments by means of which the consumers keep a tight rein on all business activities.
Source: Bureaucracy (1944), Chapter I: Profit Management, § 1: The Operation of The Market Mechanism

João Goulart photo

“What threatens democracy is hunger, it is misery, it is the disease of those who have no resources to face it. These are the evils that can threaten democracy, but never the people in the public square in the use of their legitimate and democratic rights.”

João Goulart (1918–1976) 24th President of Brazil

Source: João Goulart: Uma Biografia. Jorge Ferreira. 2011. Page 411. ISBN 978-85-200-1056-3

Gary Locke photo

“The virus of hate threatens our safety, our institutions, our democracy, our freedoms, and not least, our common humanity. Let us commit ourselves to working together for a more peaceful, just, and loving world.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Gary Locke keynotes anti-hate summit" in Northwest Asian Weekly https://nwasianweekly.com/2021/10/gary-locke-keynotes-anti-hate-summit/ (29 October 2021)

Cornel West photo

“Of course, the aim of a constitutional democracy is to safeguard the rights of the minority and avoid the tyranny of the majority. (p. 102)”

Cornel West book Race Matters

Source: Race Matters

Douglass C. North photo

“International specialization and division of labor requires institutions and organizations to safeguard property rights across international boundaries so that capital markets as well as other kinds of exchange can take place with credible commitment on the part of the players.”

Douglass C. North (1920–2015) American Economist

Source: Institutions (1990), p. 121

Kenan Evren photo

“All freedoms provided by democracy are for those who believe in it. Can the rights and freedoms of millions of virtuous people who believe in democracy be safeguarded if those who seek to destroy it abuse rights and freedoms to achieve their goals?”

Kenan Evren (1917–2015) Turkish general

An Uneasy Honeymoon, Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952783-2,00.html (Sep. 29, 1980)
Said Evren in defense of the decision to take power after the 1980 military coup.

Vandana Shiva photo

“I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you.”

Vandana Shiva (1952) Indian philosopher

As quoted in " In the Footsteps of Gandhi: An Interview with Vandana Shiva http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/shiva.html" by Scott London
Context: I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred. To me, those are the real freedoms on the basis of which good human societies are based.

Jair Bolsonaro photo

“Should democracy really have to coexist with someone who threatens it [...]? He uses his immunity to explicitly threaten ending democracy in the country while defending heinous crimes.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

Journalist Míriam Leitão https://blogs.oglobo.globo.com/miriam-leitao/post/democracia-brasileira-e-ameacada-por-bolsonaro.html on 18 April 2016. Conservative’s Star Rises in Brazil as Polarizing Views Tap Into Discontent https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/world/americas/conservatives-star-rises-in-brazil-as-polarizing-views-tap-into-discontent.html. The New York Times (7 May 2016).

Enver Hoxha photo

“I know about your [British] system of democracy, but in that system the workers 'hold keys of straw', as an expression of ours puts it. It is democracy for the capitalists, for the lords, but not for the workers. When we win we shall establish democracy, but not like that democracy of yours. In our country there will be democracy only for the people, while the 'keys of straw' will be in the hands of the beys, aghas and the bajraktars who have always opressed and betrayed the people.”

Enver Hoxha (1908–1985) the Communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of L…

Writings, The Artful Albanian

Related topics