"Mass movements do not usually rise until the prevailing order has been discredited. The discrediting is not an automatic result of the blunders and abuses of those in power, but the deliberate work of meno of words with a grievance. Where the articulate are absent or without a grievance, the prevailing dispensation, though incompetent and corrupt, may continue in power until it falls and crumbles of itself . . . The preliminary work of undermining existing institutions, of familiarising the masses with the idea of change, and of creating a receptivity to a new faith, can be done only by men who are, first and foremost, talkers or writers and are recognised as such by all . . . The masses listen to him because they know that his words, however urgent, cannot have immediate results. The authorities either ignore him or use mild methods to muzzle him. Thus imperceptibly the man of words undermines established institutions, discredits those in power, weakens prevailing beliefs and loyalties, and sets the stage for the rise of a mass movement."

After considerable searching, I managed to locate Mark Achbar, who covered Chomsky for nearly five years across Europe, Japan and the United States. He spoke to me via the Internet from the Necessary Illusions production office in Vancouver, Canada about the film and East Timor.

"I don't know if you're aware of the latest statistics, but at the box office, the film is now Canada's most successful documentary in history. It has played commercially in over 300 cities world wide, and in over 50 film festivals where it won 15 awards. It's been aired by 15 national TV networks notably, not in the US. Having been turned down by all the US cable networks, a two-hour version will be offered this summer to all the PBS stations via satellite. It will be up to the individual stations to decide whether or not to air it. Some cities have embraced the film.

"When it opened theatrically in San Francisco it was the #2 grossing film in the city, topped only by Indecent Proposal. The impact has been tangible. Virtually every post-secondary educational institution in Canada has a copy, some have several copies. Practically every public library that carries video has a copy. I've recently moved to Vancouver and I dropped into the main public library. Out of curiosity I typed in the name of the film into the database. The video had 47 "holds" on it. This is two years after its release. We've now repackaged the film into 7 short films distributed on 6 tapes for use as "discussion starters" in classrooms and community groups.

"Jeremy Allaire is turning the film and my book into a World Wide Web application with live links to LBBS (Left On Line) etc. We're in negotiation with several groups wanting to turn the film and book and Chomsky's oevre into a CD ROM. Did you know Noam and others are giving courses online? You can read about it in the current Z Magazine.

"One of the most important impacts of the film has been around the issue of East Timor. When the film first came out, the East Timor Alert Network (Canada) and the East Timor Action Network (US) were swamped with people wanting to get involved. I remember a plea in their newsletter saying they needed extra help entering new supporters into their database because they couldn't keep up. I think the film is in part responsible for the fact that a sentence came out of Chretien's and Clinton's mouths about Indonesian human rights abuses at their last APEC meeting in Jakarta.

"When I was in Australia for the commercial opening of the film, two East Timorese refugees presented me with a ceremonial shawl and thanked Peter and I for getting their story right and for bringing it to the world. That meant more to me than any of the awards the film has won.

"Keeping the film alive still takes up a fair chunk of my time. For instance, right now we have a campaign going to get the film into Blockbuster video rental stores across the U.S.A."

Coda. A public screening of the Achbar/Wintonick film several days after Chomsky's Congress Center speech. Few audience members notice that the 165-minute film had been cut by over 45 minutes. After the film only 20 people out of the 400 or so that attended are left to discuss the film's relevance. The conversation veers from political tirades that "the CIA brought down the Whitlam government down so that we couldn't intervene in East Timor," to fierce arguments about neo-Nazism and freedom of speech.

As I left the building, it struck me that an independent voice like Chomsky's makes enemies on both sides of the political spectrum. He is aware of media packaging, the effective use of new communication mediums and sophisticated PR strategies, whilst many New Leftists are still stuck in protest marches and revolutionary rhetoric mode. The 1960s New Left has bequeathed splinter groups and nihilism to the contemporary political landscape, but Chomsky continues with a tireless, moralistic crusade against imperialism and diplomatic doubletalk. At the very least he will thoughtfully challenge your views of the world, force you to confront, and then hopefully act on the issues yourself.

ITEM: Australia Accused Over East Timor, The Age newspaper, February 31st, 1995.

"Mr Jose Manuel Servulo Correira told the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, that from 1974 Australia had deliberately impeded Portuguese attempts to work towards East Timorese self-determination. Instead it had secretly supported Indonesia's invasion."

The 1989 Timor Gap Treaty divides between them the oil and gas resources on the continental shelf between East Timor and Australia. It gave no help to Portuguese attempts in 1974-5 to end the civil war in that territory.

Mr Correira, Professor of Law at the University of Lisbon, was speaking on the first day of a case taking action against Australia for the Timor Gap Treaty. Australia is expected to defend itself in February."