Sunday, September 11, 2005

Articles to read for a day like today:

Teaching 9/11 Jon Wiener (The Nation)-An overview of how the event is taught in school textbooks..similar questions could be asked about how schools here are teaching the 1990-91 Invasion/War...which perspective is emphasised, and how much information is provided..
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Dusted - Kristen Lombardi (The Village Voice)-The EPA said the dust from 9/11 was safe, now people who worked cleaning up the area walk with canes and are disabled by the very same 'clean dust'..Fear about the remaining contamination and its effect on people living, working and going to school in the area is bringing more criticism down on the EPA..
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September 11: The View from the West Jonathan Raban NYRB- Can't say anything except, read it.
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Let The People Rebuild New Orleans Naomi Klein (The Nation)
Learn how after the Tsunami the coast was being given to tourist ventures by a council of businessmen who were put in charge..the victims were losing their land..A similar thing is being planned by wealthy folks in New Orleans to 'gentrify' the area, even though the money is for victims not for a handful of businessmen that want to make more money than they know what to do with..There is a group trying to get the victims and residents of New Orleans to rebuild..the article is short, but important..
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Cornel West Exiles from a city and from a nation
Professor West paints a picture of poverty and neglect in New Orleans..and America..
"They shot brother Martin dead like a dog in 1968 when the mobilisation of the black poor was just getting started. At least one of his surviving legacies was the quadrupling in the size of the black middle class. But Oprah [Winfrey] the billionaire and the black judges and chief executives and movie stars do not mean equality, or even equality of opportunity yet. Black faces in high places does not mean racism is over. Condoleezza Rice has sold her soul.
Now the black bourgeoisie have an even heavier obligation to fight for the 33 per cent of black children living in poverty - and to alleviate the spiritual crisis of hopelessness among young black men." The Guardian
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An article for bloggers and others who like their freedom
Access denied
"This is the golden age of the internet, a time of glorious anarchy where information is free and anyone, rich or poor, can blog their views to the world. But government and big business are moving in - the clampdown has started."Rafael Behr, The Guardian
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Headlines that need no introduction:
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Headlines we need more of:
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Listen to Ani's Self Evident for a day like today..

6 comments:

MBH said...

I believe that the U.S. (jews?) itself paid for terrorists to do what was done.

Otherwise, would anyone mind explaining why not a single jewish person showed up to work that day?

There's a French writer who had covered the whole consperacy. I hadn't had the honor to read that book (which I don't recall its name), but I agree with the ideas that were discussed on the internet.

kwtia said...

I'm sorry, I will have to disagree with you there, that's just not true..many Jewish people perished in those towers along with dozens of other people of different nationalities and faiths..I realise that everyone tries to make sense of something this senseless by focussing on the usual suspects one has a predisposition to suspect for whatever reason (each side in every issue has done this)..but I don't think it's fair or useful to generalise or take one point of view/theory too seriously at the expense of all the others out there..There were serious errors and criminal negligence when it came to responding to the attacks and the threats before them, and certainly conspiracies of all types are not unusual..every side has stories and alleged 'facts' about what happened and who was or was not there...and all of them conflict with each other...there is a lot that is foggy about the events..and a lot we will probably never know..but lets not point fingers at an entire people..we don't accept it when Muslims are all painted with the same brush..lets be just as fair with others..

Jewaira said...

Very interesting analysis in Access Denied of what blogging has done for people and how that is increasingly being controlled by governments and businesses. Also interesting about the Jamie McCoy blog- an previously homeless drug addict.

Keep up the good work.

kwtia said...

Hi Jewaira, Thanks, Yes isn't that a good story to hear..and of course you hope that these doors that have opened, thanks to the internet, don't close and turn into something ugly and oppressive..

MBH said...

kwtia, notice the question mark after jews in my text.

I didn't point fingers. I spoke/wrote of what many evidence showed. Those weren't guesses nor speculations. Those were records and statistics collected by government agencies and other groups investigating the event.

Many evidence and data were blocked/classified from the general public. Info that must be made public.

I don't really think that 2 men only can take over a whole plane. That's just absurd.

kwtia said...

MBH, I realise that when you read websites that list the particular conspiracy you mentioned, it makes it sound very real..we have all read the theory in its different forms ...but looking at only that aspect of it does not allow you to realise that a lot of it is actually not true..like the suggestion that Jewish people didn't turn up that day, which you made...In addition to those readings it is probably important to add opposing views, different facts...you can take a look at the official report published by the government (it has huge glaring pieces missing from it, but it's worth a look) you can pick it up in any bookstore in kwt...it will take you some time to go through it.. ..you can also take a look at other conspiracy theories...do you know that some anti Muslim groups suggest that no Arabs or Muslims turned up in the buildings that day?..again Untrue and yet people who only read that account believe it wholeheartedly..You can also read the accounts of the people who were in the buildings, families of the victims, and any article you can find that refutes your point of view..because that would create balance...and there is a wealth of articles in any of the publications in the list to the right of this page that have all kinds of opinions about the tragedy of 9/11..It is healthy to question..but not to just stick to an answer you prefer, rather than an answer that weighs all the information available..
Of course governments are capable of the most horrific acts..info is blocked, data is hidden, mistakes were made, lies were told and the public doen't know the whole truth..but that's just it isn't it...no one knows the truth..so how can missing data point to any truth? How can not knowing allow us to suggest we know? You say info is classified and yet also say that the government documents are your proof..How can something hidden be proof?
Very little about how that day played out makes any sense..but no one has the answer..not yet..that's why some people are still asking..but the questions have to be fair..
People lost their lives that day, and other people have lost their lives as a consequence of that day..the truth is important..but how are people really going to get to it if they choose to stop at only the answers they prefer?