Dear Editor:
As a member of the Tufts Coalition to Oppose War on Iraq (TCOWI) I would like to make several corrections/additions to your headline article about the Noam Chomsky talk at Tufts which appeared in the Sept. 30 issue.
Contributing writer Seif-Eldeine Och reported that Chomsky depicted the "four major crises facing the world" as "nuclear war, environmental disaster, the indifference of the superpowers to the first two problems, and the failure of the superpowers to make amends for past mistakes." In fact, he listed the fourth crisis as a crisis in democracy that is the degeneration, destruction, and repression of virtually all of the influential popular "bottom-up" institutions and organizations within the US.
The writer ought to have credited TCOWI as organizer of the event, and noted that Prof. Chomsky explicitly endorsed from the podium TCOWI's call, in concert with antiwar forces nationally, for a Day of Action against the war on Nov. 2.
The article might have pointed out that about 400 persons crowded into Pearson 104. It was standing room only for many from 7:30, and the room was still full when the event concluded around 10:00.
Gary P. Leupp
Professor, History
