“I have a parrot. It can say 'sovereignty to all the people' in Portuguese.”

—  Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky: Coronavirus - What is at stake? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-N3In2rLI4 | Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) Mar 28, 2020
Quotes 2010s, 2020, Coronavirus - What is at stake?

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Do you have more details about the quote "I have a parrot. It can say 'sovereignty to all the people' in Portuguese." by Noam Chomsky?
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Noam Chomsky 334
american linguist, philosopher and activist 1928

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“I had a parrot. The parrot talked, but it did not say "I'm hungry", so it died.”

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“That made the portuguese this type that we are. We don't have any race. There can be no talk about a portuguese race. If there was a race, we would be an anti-race. Composed of the people coming from all over during millions of years.”

José Hermano Saraiva (1919–2012) Historian, Jurist, Politician

Original: (pt) Isso fez do português este tipo que nós somos. Nós não temos raça nenhuma. Não se pode falar na raça portuguesa. Se houvesse uma raça, nós éramos uma anti-raça. Feita com gente vinda de toda a parte ao longo de milhões de anos.
Source: "História Essencial de Portugal", episode 1

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“If the people are sovereign, they must themselves exercise as much as they can of the sovereignty.”

François-Noël Babeuf (1760–1797) French political agitator and journalist of the French Revolutionary period

Si le peuple est souverain, il doit exercer lui-même tout le plus qu'il peut de souveraineté.
[Gracchus Babeuf avec les Egaux, Jean-Marc Shiappa, Les éditions ouvrières, 1991, 31, 27082 2892-7, ; Journal de la confédération, 1790]
The people and the citizens

“I asked all kinds of people of every age, "You know the 'I pledge allegiance…'" but before I could finish, at once they would all parrot it, the words almost always equally blurred.”

Afterword to his short story "The Children's Story" (1963).
The Children's Story (1982)
Context: I asked all kinds of people of every age, "You know the 'I pledge allegiance…'" but before I could finish, at once they would all parrot it, the words almost always equally blurred. In every case discovered that not one teacher, ever — or anyone — had ever explained the words to any one of them. Everyone just had to learn it to say it. The Children's Story came into being that day. It was then that I realized how completely vulnerable my child's mind was — any mind for that matter — under controlled circumstances. Normally I write and rewrite and re-rewrite, but this story came quickly — almost by itself. Barely three words were changed. It pleases me greatly because it keeps asking me questions … Questions like what's the use of "I pledge allegiance" without understanding? Like why is it so easy to divert thoughts and implant others? Like what is freedom and why is it so hard to explain? The Children's Story keeps asking me all sorts of questions I cannot answer. Perhaps you can — then your children will…

Anselme Bellegarrigue photo

“Who says anarchy, says negation of government;
Who says negation of government, says affirmation of the people;
Who says affirmation of the people, says individual liberty;
Who says individual liberty, says sovereignty of each”

Anarchist Manifesto (1850)
Context: Indeed:
Who says anarchy, says negation of government;
Who says negation of government, says affirmation of the people;
Who says affirmation of the people, says individual liberty;
Who says individual liberty, says sovereignty of each;
Who says sovereignty of each, says equality;
Who says equality, says solidarity or fraternity;
Who says fraternity, says social order;
By contrast:
Who says government, says negation of the people;
Who says negation of the people, says affirmation of political authority;
Who says affirmation of political authority, says individual dependency;
Who says individual dependency, says class supremacy;
Who says class supremacy, says inequality;
Who says inequality, says antagonism;
Who says antagonism, says civil war;
From which it follows that who says government, says civil war.

Matthew Arnold photo

“People think that I can teach them style. What stuff it all is! Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

G.W.E. Russell, Collections and Recollections, ch. XIV, Harper & brothers, 1898, p. 136 https://archive.org/details/collectionsandr02russgoog/page/n152. Russell states that was said to him by Arnold himself.
Attributed

Walter Reuther photo

“We have to reassert the sovereignty of people above profits in America.”

Walter Reuther (1907–1970) Labor union leader

Opening address of the twelfth constitutional convention of the UAW, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 10, 1949, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 43
1940s, Opening address of the twelfth constitutional convention of the UAW (1949)

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