Lula Visits Chomsky Recovering from Stroke: "You Are One of the Most Influential People in My Life"

The world-renowned linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky was discharged from a São Paulo hospital in Brazil last month as he continues to recover from a stroke last year that impacted his ability to speak. His wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, told a Brazilian newspaper he still follows the news and raises his left arm in anger when he sees images of Israel’s war on Gaza. False reports that Chomsky had died went viral online in June. We speak with historian Vijay Prashad, who co-authored his latest book with Chomsky, The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power, and was able to visit him twice while in Brazil. He describes Chomsky as “a beloved friend, adviser, confidant, in some ways the one who helped explain what was happening in the world for decades.” When Prashad was with Chomsky, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also stopped by.