Jump to content
IndiaDivine.org

Global blowback

Rate this topic


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 04:34:23 +0100

E

Subject:

 

 

 

 

 

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/760/in3.htm

 

Global blowback

 

Global warming and global war come together on this anniversary of 11

September. Will people wake up, asks Lieven De Cauter*

 

Where Christmas is the day to embrace all people of good will, it

seems the anniversary of 11 September has become a day to meditate on

the state of the world. Everybody senses it somehow. The world is in a

terrible state. An awareness is beginning to dawn. It was about time.

 

Hurricane Katrina overshadows the fourth anniversary of 9/11; or one

could say that it echoes it. In newspapers and on the net, numerous

comparisons are made between the handling of 9/11 and the handling of

Katrina: no attention to clear warnings (a hurricane hitting New

Orleans was the third biggest possibility of a national disaster, as

forecast for years), a slow response followed by a covering up of what

really happened.

 

If we look at the world now, we see climate change becoming

catastrophic with a speed that even leaves pessimists baffled:

Portugal, Spain, France, Romania, Austria, Switzerland; all over

Europe, this summer has been disastrous in proportions that beggar our

memory of any previous summer in our lifetime. And now there is

Katrina, the biggest natural disaster in American history. But

everyday more so it proves to be also a manmade disaster; a disaster

of neglect and indifference to the fate of people; especially the

blacks and the poor, of course.

 

The war on terror has proved equally disastrous. It enhanced terrorist

attacks, because the war in Iraq that was linked with the war on

terror, via a web of lies, incensed sensibilities all over the world.

You don't have to be a Muslim, let alone a fundamentalist, to be

angry, but anger is a reason to radicalise, and with no real political

alternative people are seduced into fundamentalism. Just like in an

asymmetrical war, people who see thousands of their innocent

compatriots killed some day decide to bring it home to the aggressor

by killing innocent people. That is the logic of terrorism: it is the

response to overpowering military aggression (of the US in the Middle

East, Afghanistan and Iraq; of Israel in Palestine; of Russia in

Chechnya, etc). It is time we start thinking of terrorism as a

response to asymmetrical warfare, and time we call halt to this logic.

 

Shortly after 9/11, I wrote: " The war on terror is extremely

dangerous. It has the potential of thrusting us into a spiral of

violence. The logic of war, in any case, will only help terrorism to

reach a new level of magnitude. " I am almost flabbergasted myself as

to how true these words have proved since. Their truth carries names:

Istanbul, Madrid and London -- sad anniversaries in the making. So,

one thing is clear on this fourth anniversary of 9/11: terrorism

cannot be fought by a " war on terror " . It is only enhanced by it. And

to speak frankly: quite rightly so. What do they expect? That millions

of Muslims sit down and watch while tens of thousands of innocent

Iraqis, who had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 -- often women and

children -- are slaughtered for oil, geo- strategic military presence

and neo-con and Likudnik extremism? Come on. It is time to wake up.

 

Another prediction I made was that all that would come out of the war

in Iraq was the total destruction of the country and a few hundred

thousand dead Iraqis. Well, they're getting there. Trust me.

 

Unlike Katrina, the state of emergency the Bush administration brought

to the world was manmade, a " willed state of emergency " , as it were.

The war on terror is indeed, juridically speaking, a " state of

exception " . When you put together the doctrine of pre- emptive strikes

(a supreme crime against peace, for it claims the right to a war of

aggression), the non- signing of the Kyoto Agreements, the non-signing

of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the suspension of basic civil rights

by the Patriot Act, the making of extrajudicial spaces like Guantanamo

and Diego Garcia (they are concentration camps in the true sense of

the word), the systematic use of torture (not only in Guantanamo but

also in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, and it is ongoing), the secrecy, the

propaganda and lies that are becoming second nature to government, the

weeding out of " unembedded " journalists, the non-recognition of the

International Criminal Court in The Hague, one has to admit the

Bushite politics is based on exceptionalism, on the proliferation of

the state of emergency, defined as the suspension of normal law (both

of international law and of the American constitution itself). This

logic of exceptionalism will also proliferate worldwide. Even military

magazines have warned that if enemy prisoners are not treated as

prisoners of war under international law, others will treat American

soldiers likewise outside the Geneva Conventions. Instead of bringing

democracy and freedom to the world, the Bush administration is

spreading lawlessness and disorder.

 

The fact is and remains, the war in Iraq as a war of aggression has

destroyed the international legal order that was building up slowly

but steadily since World War II. Add to this war crimes like the use

of cluster bombs against civilians and the use of depleted uranium in

munitions, the slaughtering of entire cities (Falluja, Al Qaim,

Haditha -- ongoing but we don't know because Western mainstream media

doesn't bother reporting it), the practices of systematic torture,

endemic disappearances and the privatisation of warfare (thousands of

paramilitary contractors who are as much " non-legal combatants " as the

inmates of Guantanamo), and you get the picture: all this has

destroyed the international legal framework of warfare. It is proving

disastrous for the people of Iraq. It is proving disastrous for the

American troops. It will prove disastrous for many wars to come.

 

But something might change. Whether you read The International Herald

Tribune, listen to the radio or watch television, or read news via the

Internet, it grabs you by the throat: the anger in America over

Katrina is overwhelming. And the link to the war in Iraq is made in

almost every article. It is because of Bush's war plans that funds for

repairing the levee and the pumps were reduced. And it is because of

the war that the army and the National Guard were failing in numbers

and material resources. It seems that there were not enough

helicopters to fill the breach in the levee. Can you believe it?

" Imperial overstretch " in its most painful version.

 

It is as if America woke up overnight. The façade of America as a

wealthy superpower fell. It is faced with a traumatic reflection of

itself in the mirror: a deeply divided society ridden by race and

class conflict, where the poor, like on the Titanic, are the last to

be rescued. Anger in America is immense and deep. It is mingled with

shame and disgust. And the worst revelations -- like the many decaying

corpses floating in the muddy waters of New Orleans.

 

But if Katrina proves to be a turning point in American politics, then

and only then, in a sense, it might give their humiliation -- their

ugly death -- some dignity. All depends on the power of anger in the

American people, now and in the months to come. Maybe this time there

is an alarm sounding off that Bush cannot silence. Not even with all

the corporate media in this, or his world. Maybe the American people

hear it, finally, loud and clear: " This is your wake up call. " Maybe.

 

* The writer teaches at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium,

and is author of The Capsular Civilisation and On the City in the Age

of Fear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...