AMY GOODMAN: Became a news reader.
RUSSELL BRAND: Yeah, in, I thought, a professional way.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of the U.S. media? I mean, you're there a lot.
RUSSELL BRAND: Some of it's good, because this is U.S. media, isn't it? So this is going well. I'm enjoying this. I don't even think that there's a national distinction. I think that what there is is media that's dominated by corporate interests, whether it's in Britain or France or America. So, like, when I've been there, I went on like -- and I've been on some media, and everyone's really lovely and friendly and open-minded. But I think that -- I think it's a commonly held view, and that is true, that debate is held within very narrow parameters, and if you try to stray outside them, you get into trouble. And that's why I think it's good to do it comedically and lightheartedly, not to respect the parameters of debate and not to stay -- not to accept the frame of, "Oh, well, you can vote for this person, or you can vote for that person, but you can't take money out of politics and have ordinary people represented." Look, we can't just say aloud that we live under a feudal system, we live under an oligarchy, and we have no political purchase. We have no purchase. We have no impact on power. America and Great Britain are not run for ordinary people; it's run for corporations. But this time is coming to an end, so that's a good thing.
Is it true your dad went to summer camp with Chomsky? And if it is true, I bet Chomsky was boring on summer camp: "OK, I'm not doing that. That's childish. No, come on, sit down. This summer camp is corrupt. I refuse to abide by this system, while it's quite clear that this summer camp is run by the interests of the leaders there, and we, the children, are not given any time to be free." What about spring break with Chomsky? "Spring break!" "No, well, that's -- you've revealed there the truth there, the manufacture of the nipple consent."
AMY GOODMAN: I actually think Chomsky was pretty playful at camp.
RUSSELL BRAND: Was he? Playful Chomsky?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let's go for a moment to Noam Chomsky. Let's go to Noam Chomsky --
RUSSELL BRAND: Segue.
AMY GOODMAN: -- just a couple weeks ago. I had this interesting experience of being able to do a public interview with him at the U.N. General Assembly.
RUSSELL BRAND: Was it good?
AMY GOODMAN: Eight hundred people packed in -- ambassadors, people from the public all over the world. And I want to get your comment on what he has to say.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think is the most -- the single most important action the United States can take? And what about its role over the years? What is its interest here?
NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, one important action that the United States could take is to live up to its own laws. Of course, it would be nice if it lived up to international law, but maybe that's too much to ask, but live up to its own laws. And there are several. And here, incidentally, I have in mind advice to activists also, who I think ought to be organizing and educating in this direction. There are two crucial cases.
One of them is what's called the Leahy Law. Patrick Leahy, Senator Leahy, introduced legislation called the Leahy Law, which bars sending weapons to any military units which are involved in consistent human rights violations. There isn't the slightest doubt that the Israeli army is involved in massive human rights violations, which means that all dispatch of U.S. arms to Israel is in violation of U.S. law. I think that's significant. The U.S. should be called upon by its own citizens to -- and by others, to adhere to U.S. law, which also happens to conform to international law in this case, as Amnesty International, for example, for years has been calling for an arms embargo against Israel for this reason. These are all steps that can be taken.
The second is the tax-exempt status that is given to organizations in the United States which are directly involved in the occupation and in significant attacks on human and civil rights within Israel itself, like the Jewish National Fund. Take a look at its charter with the state of Israel, which commits it to acting for the benefit of people of Jewish race, religion and origin within Israel. One of the consequences of that is that by a complex array of laws and administrative practices, the fund pretty much administers about 90 percent of the land of the country, with real consequences.
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