Photograph Source: Leilani Xicotencatl – CC BY 4.0

Noam Chomsky, Richard Falk, and Edward Said were born in 1928, 1930, and 1935, respectively. Each in his own way dominated a different academic field, while at the same time becoming influential global political critics. Whether through opposition to the Vietnam War, warnings about the dangers of nuclear proliferation, or challenges to the West’s understanding of the Arab world, each left a prominent legacy in academia and beyond.

The brief summaries of their careers that follow cannot do justice to the range of their scholarship and political engagement. My purpose here is not to survey all they wrote and accomplished but to ask what their careers tell us about what we are now missing.

What happens to a country when its universities no longer produce, tolerate, or give a public platform to intellectuals who challenge its prevailing political assumptions? Where are the Chomskys, Saids, and Falks today? Who now offers the same combination of intellectual authority, political independence, and public outreach?

Each of the trio combined academic success with influence far beyond the classroom. Chomsky, for example, was a world-famous linguist who became a prominent critic of American foreign policy. At MIT, his principal academic appointment was in linguistics, not political science. Although he taught courses on social and political issues, including Intellectuals and Social Change, he was never a member of the MIT Political Science Department.

Edward Said occupied a similar position in two different worlds. He taught English and Comparative Literature at Columbia for over forty years. Yet, he was also a major force in debates about Palestine, Middle Eastern politics, colonialism, and Western representations of the Arab world. Politically, from 1977 to 1991, he........

© CounterPunch