In Memory of Tanya Reinhart by N Chomsky

[Pierre PICA]

In  Memory of Tanya Reinhart

By NOAM CHOMSKY

Editors' note: We have lost  an outstanding intellect and one of the
bravest voices from Israel  with the death of Tanya Reinhart. Last
October, on this site,  we published Eric Hazan's interview  with Tanya
Reinhart on the occasion of the publication of  her latest book,
Roadmap to Nowhere. In conclusion Haas asked her,

Despite the grim events  described in the book, the overall feeling
that comes through  is that of hope. Why?

Reinhart: "I argue that  the reason that the U.S. exerted even limited
pressure on Israel,  for the first time in recent history, was because
at that moment  in history it was no longer possible to ignore world
discontent  over its policy of blind support of Israel. This shows that
persistent struggle can have an effect, and can lead governments to
act.  Such struggle begins with the Palestinian people, who have
withstood years of brutal oppression, and who, through their spirit of
zumud--sticking to their land - and daily endurance, organizing  and
resistance, have managed to keep the Palestinian cause alive,
something that not all oppressed nations have managed to do.  It
continues with international struggle--solidarity movements that send
their people to the occupied territories and stand  in vigils at home,
professors signing boycott petitions, subjecting themselves to daily
harassment, a few courageous journalists  that insist on covering the
truth, against the pressure of acquiescent media and pro-Israel
lobbies. Often this struggle for justice  seems futile. Nevertheless,
it has penetrated global consciousness.  It is this collective
consciousness that eventually forced the  U.S. to pressure Israel into
some, albeit limited, concessions.  . The Palestinian cause can be
silenced for a while, as is happening  now, but it will resurface."

Tanya Reinhart was one of those  whose determined voice and writings
did just that: change global  consciousness. AC / JSC

It is painful, and hard, to write about  the loss of an old and
cherished friend. Tanya Reinhart was  just that.

Tanya was a brilliant and creative  scientist. I can express my own
evaluation of her work most  concisely by recalling that years ago,
when I was thinking about  the future of my own department after my
retirement, I tried  to arrange to offer Tanya the invitation to be my
eventual replacement, plans that did not work out, much to my regret,
mostly for bureaucratic  reasons.

I will not try to review her  remarkable contributions to virtually
every major area of linguistic  studies. Included among them are
original and highly influential investigations of syntactic structure
and operations, referential  dependence, principles of lexical
semantics and their implications  for






syntactic organization, unified  approaches to cross-linguistic
semantic interpretation of complex structures that appear superficially
to vary widely, the theory  of stress and intonation, efficient parsing
systems, the interaction  of internal computations with thought and
sensorimotor systems,  optimal design as a core principle of language,
and much else.  Her academic work extended well beyond, to literary
theory,  mass media and propaganda, and other core elements of
intellectual  culture.

But Tanya's outstanding professional  work was only one part of her
life, and of our long and intimate  friendship. She was one of the most
courageous and honorable  defenders of human rights whom I have ever
been privileged to  meet. As all honest people should, she focused her
attention  and energy on the actions of her own state and society, for
which  she shared responsibility  including the responsibility,  which
she never shirked, to expose crimes of state and to defend  the victims
of repression, violence, and conquest.

Her numerous articles and books  drew away the veil that concealed
criminal and outrageous actions,  and shone a searing light on the
reality that was obscured, all  of immense value to those who sought to
understand and to react  in a decent way. Her activism was not limited
to words, important  as these were. She was on the front line of direct
resistance  to intolerable actions, an organizer and a participant, a
stance  that one cannot respect too highly. She will be remembered not
only as a resolute and honorable defender of the rights of
Palestinians,  but also as one of those who have struggled to defend
the moral integrity of her own Israeli society, and its hope for decent
survival.

Tanya's passing is a terrible  loss, not only to her family and those
fortunate enough to come  to know her personally, and to those she
defended and protected  with such dedication and courage, but to
everyone concerned with  freedom, justice, and an honorable peace.

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