ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines Noam Chomsky's account of why intellectuals behave the way they do, and his views about how society should be changed to end the cynical abuses of power that he documents so well. A programme for social change has to include two things: a model of a just society, and a strategy for bringing it about. Chomsky's idea of what a just society would be like derives in large part from a political current called libertarian socialism or (equivalently) anarchism. Chomsky has long been an advocate of non-violent tactics aimed at social change. Only a mass movement has any chance of changing or removing the powerful social institutions and structures which stand in the way of genuine freedom and democracy. The issue of civil disobedience is a difficult and uncomfortable one. It forces each individual to make hard choices which affect their personal lives. Those who condemn civil disobedience often do so out of unworthy motives.
