A WARNING that a national movement in Scotland could turn into an

oppressive force was given yesterday by Professor Noam Chomsky.

The American philosopher and political activist made his remarks

following his speech on Self-determination: A Life Task, and a Political

Task, at the Self-Determination and Power event in Govan which is being

organised by two magazines, Scottish Child and the Edinburgh Review, and

also by the Free University of Glasgow.

An audience of more than 300, about a third of whom were unwaged,

packed the hall of the Pearce Institute, Govan, to hear the charismatic

speaker whose stance on the Vietnam War brought him into conflict with

the American authorities and who continues to denounce some of his

country's domestic and foreign policies.

Part of Professor Chomsky's theme was a response to the eighteenth

century Scottish philosopher David Hume's perplexed query as to why

people submit to government, when force is on their side, and not on the

side of the governors.

''Hume was wrong in one respect. It simply isn't true that force is on

the side of the government, it often isn't. But in societies like ours

it basically is.''

He felt that Hume's thoughts in this respect still had relevance to

America and Britain today.

Professor Chomsky cautioned that in the shift of the balance of power

in Europe following the turmoil in the Soviet Union, countries such as

Scotland and Poland could become part of the Third World for

Europe-based capital.

At a news conference the Glasgow writer, James Kelman, said that the

two- day event, which had attracted people from all over the world, was

not about nationalism, but about self-determination in a broad sense.

However, asked later about his attitude to Scottish nationalism,

Professor Chomsky said: ''The history of Europe is the history of a

violent imposition of a national state system which has very little

interest in the needs and opinions of the people who are being

organised.

''But I would support the right of people to do things which in my

view are crazy. Is a movement for Scottish nationalism crazy? It depends

what form it takes. If it takes the form of expressing cultural values

and integrating people in a more full life, that's fine. Nationalism has

a way of oppressing others.''

Professor Chomsky said that separation from England made sense, in

that any move towards the collapse of centralised power makes sense.

''On the other hand you want to make sure that a move towards devolution

doesn't lead to more pressure, which it could very well do.''

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