From: Subject: Monthly Review September 2002 Gilbert Achcar Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 11:00:17 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0051_01C25982.69C84BB0"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0051_01C25982.69C84BB0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0902achcar.htm Monthly Review September 2002 Gilbert Achcar

Volume 54, Number 4


Dear = Reader,

We place=20 these articles at no charge on our website to serve all the people = who=20 cannot afford Monthly Review, or who cannot get access to = it where=20 they live. Many of our most devoted readers are outside of the = United=20 States. If you read our articles online and you can afford a = subscription=20 to our print edition, we would very much appreciate it if you = would=20 consider taking one. Please click here to subscribe. Thank = you very=20 much.

Harry Magdoff, = John Bellamy=20 Foster, Robert W. McChesney, Paul Sweezy

September 2002

The Clash of Barbarisms =
by=20 Gilbert Achcar

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ANNOUNCING A = UNIQUE MONTHLY=20 REVIEW TOUR


=20 Notes From
the=20 Editors

=20 I. Capitalism=92s = Twin Crises:=20 Economic and Environmental
by Fred = Magdoff

=20 II. Capitalism and = Ecology:
The Nature of the Contradiction
by John Bellamy=20 Foster

=20 A Student-Worker = Alliance is=20 Born
by=20 Michael D. Yates

This=20 essay is adapted from The = Clash of=20 Barbarisms: September 11 and the Making of the New World = Disorder,=20 to be published in November 2002 by Monthly Review = Press.

Every attempt to explain the descent into terrorism that = culminated in=20 the suicide attacks of September 11, 2001, as a consequence of the = deplorable state of the world we live in has run up against a = barrage of=20 vicious polemical artillery. In a climate of intellectual = intimidation=20 bearing a certain resemblance to the dark hours of the Cold War, = the=20 intimidation relied on two deliberate amalgams.

Anti-Americanism and =91Values=92

First, according to the censors, any systematic critique of the = U.S.=20 government=92s actions is evidence of an ignominious = =93anti-Americanism.=94 The=20 recrudescence of the use of this term, particularly since the = Kosovo War,=20 in order to discredit criticism of Washington=92s policies = inevitably evokes=20 the memory of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which = became=20 notorious not that many years ago in the run-up to McCarthyism. = This=20 =93paranoid=94 logic always ends up devouring its own children, as = it did in=20 the past when Republican Senator Joe McCarthy went so far as to = take on=20 Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower.1 In keeping with this same logic, = accusations of=20 anti-Americanism have already been leveled against Washington=92s = most loyal=20 allies as soon as they dared express the slightest reservation = about the=20 Bush Administration=92s actions.

Accordingly, following criticisms of the treatment of the = prisoners=20 transferred to the U.S. base at Guant=E1namo in Cuba, the European = edition=20 of the Wall Street Journal opened its columns to a certain = Stephen=20 Pollard, who explained that the European media=92s =93quite = grotesque=94=20 commentaries showed that =93European anti-Americanism is not the = exclusive=20 preserve of the left, nor of Continentals.=942 Naturally the European =93left,=94 = allegedly=20 represented by the Guardian and Le Monde, hates = Americans,=20 wrote Pollard; these two dailies =93were filled with articles = protesting=20 Je ne suis pas americain!=94 (Like Hermione in Racine=92s=20 Andromaque, Le Monde could rightly complain in this case of = its=20 =93love repaid with black ingratitude.=94) But the European right = and center=20 are just as anti-American, Pollard continued, and include =93many = of the=20 real enemies=97some might say the most vitriolic.=94 Besides, = =93the=20 anti-Americanism of the British establishment is as deep as that=20 elsewhere,=94 as the articles in the very conservative Daily=20 Telegraph or the Thatcherian Matthew Paris=92 articles in the=20 Times show. All these anti-Americans had been concealing = their=20 perfidy, but the GuantE1namo affair =93revealed them in their true = colors.=94=20

The second amalgam that the censors have used to intimidate the = U.S.=20 government=92s critics amounts to dismissing any explanation of = September 11=20 that mentions the existence of injustice in the world as = equivalent to a=20 justification of mass murder=97as if it were inconceivable for one = form of=20 barbarism to engender another, equally reprehensible form of = barbarism.=20

Salman Rushdie himself=97though he of all people ought to be = particularly=20 allergic to anything resembling excommunication=97joined the fray = with all=20 the zeal of a neophyte. (He became a New Yorker himself quite = recently.)=20 In the Washington Post he violently took on the = =93sanctimonious=20 moral relativism=94 of those who think that the United States = ought to=20 change its own conduct, accusing them of carrying out a=20 =93bien-pensant anti-American onslaught.=94 He treated them = to this=20 devastating and original moral lesson=97without any sanctimony, of = course:=20 =93Terrorism is the murder of the innocent; this time, it was mass = murder.=20 To excuse such an atrocity by blaming U.S. government policies is = to deny=20 the basic idea of all morality: that individuals are responsible = for their=20 actions.=943 One quite simple = idea did not=20 occur to the author of the Satanic Verses: that without in = any way=20 =93excusing=94 mass terrorism, one can hold the government of the = United=20 States responsible for its own actions and the hatred that they = call=20 forth. It thus bears a share of the responsibility for what = happens to its=20 citizens when they end up being used as targets by those who = commit=20 the=97unquestionably reprehensible and unjustifiable=97crime of = taking revenge=20 for oppression carried out from Washington by murdering U.S. = civilians.=20

In any event, hasn=92t the U.S. government indirectly = acknowledged its=20 own responsibility by indemnifying the victims=92 families, and = asking them=20 in return to agree in writing to take no legal action against it = for what=20 happened on September 11?4 A = banker whose=20 father died in a 1975 attack emphasized this same point in an = article in=20 Wall Street Journal: =93By creating a first-of-its-kind = fund with an=20 estimated $4.6 billion of taxpayer money (in addition to providing = full=20 federal tax amnesty for 2000 and 2001), the federal government is=20 implicitly accepting blame for the September attacks.=945 The author proceeded to cite many other = attacks=20 after which the government did not compensate the victims=92 = families at=20 all. This was the case for example with all those killed in the = Oklahoma=20 City bombing who were not federal employees: =93cafeteria workers, = parents=20 of the children killed in the day-care center, and those who died = visiting=20 the building received no federal benefits whatsoever.=946

In a country where everything has a price tag, we can in any = case see a=20 prosaic, monetary motive in the government=92s haggling with some = of the=20 September 11 victims=92 families. This at least supplements the = political=20 motives that lead the White House to deny categorically and = virulently, in=20 the teeth of the evidence, any cause-and-effect relationship = between the=20 United States=92 foreign policy and the attacks that targeted it. = Thus,=20 whereas the forty-first president, George H. W. Bush, tacitly = acknowledged=20 the link between =93the threat of terror=94 and injustice in the = world in his=20 speech of September 11, 1990, his son George W. Bush, the = forty-third=20 president, quickly exerted himself to rule any explanation of the = kind out=20 of court. According to presidential ukase, the crimes of September = 11,=20 2001, could not be conceived of as a reaction to any legitimately=20 questionable aspects of U.S. policy in the Middle East or anywhere = else.=20 They could only be the product of a visceral rejection of the = noblest=20 =93values=94 of the United States and the West. According to Bush = junior=97in=20 his speech on September 20, 2001, delivered like his father=92s to = a joint=20 session of Congress=97the terrorists had to have acted out of = hatred of=20 democracy and freedom.

Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate = what we=20 see right here in this chamber=97a democratically elected = government.=20 Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms=97our = freedom of=20 religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and = assemble and=20 disagree with each other.7 =

Addressing both the U.S. people and its elected = representatives, George=20 W. Bush thus took them all for the kind of simpletons who could = believe=20 that the September 11 terrorist hijackers hated the United States = enough=20 to die killing as many people as possible on its soil simply out = of=20 abhorrence for democratic institutions and civil liberties. The = argument=20 is all the more mind-boggling inasmuch as it is followed directly = by=20 the=97in this case undeniable=97statement that the attackers aimed = at=20 overthrowing the governments of their own countries: = =93They want to=20 overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries, such as = Egypt,=20 Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.=94 Could Bush have thought that these = three=20 countries have democratically elected governments too?

As if to illustrate the frankness that is the benefit of a = certain=20 degree of =93realism,=94 Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon = Center,=20 countered allegations of this kind with a good dose of common = sense:

Al-Qaeda may have originated in the Wahhabi branch of=20 radical Islam=97which rejects Western civilization=97but it has = not attacked=20 targets in the Western world at random. Nor has it concentrated = its=20 efforts against the most secular and permissive Western nations, = which=20 are in Europe, not North America.
On the contrary, bin Laden=92s terrorist network has = been=20 obsessively focused on the United States. The reason is that = specific=20 U.S. policies are unacceptable to Al-Qaeda and threaten its = perceived=20 core interests and beliefs.8 =

Absolute and Relative Evil

However, the most effective and intimidating obstacle of all to = critical thought about the meaning of September 11 has been the = tendency=20 to treat the event itself as something absolute and unparalleled. = Is there=20 anything that has not been said or written about September = 11,=20 2001?! Just one example among many, admittedly a particularly=20 grandiloquent one: =93We will live, and our children will live on, = in a=20 history in which the explosion of the Towers is redrawing the map = of the=20 world and tracing the unreachable horizon of a terrorist twilight = of=20 humanity.=949 In a somewhat more sober key, innumerable = commentators have=20 proffered the supposed insight that September 11 was a major, = historic=20 turning point in world history comparable to the surprise attack = on Pearl=20 Harbor on December 7, 1941. The latter had been mythologized not = long=20 before the attacks by a Hollywood mega production serving the = cause, dear=20 to George W. Bush, of a missile shield. The =93new Pearl Harbor=94 = of=20 September 11, which the president declared the next day to be an = act of=20 =93war=94 even more than of =93terrorism,=94 was immediately = elevated to the rank=20 of the opening shots of a new war, baptized unhesitatingly by many = =93World=20 War III.=94 The banner title under CNN=92s special broadcasts was = quickly=20 changed from =93America Under Attack=94 to =93America at = War.=94

The 1991 Gulf War in its day was already called a =93CNN = war.=94 But the=20 September 11 attacks undeniably marked a new peak in media = globalization.=20 No event has ever been watched by as many people as the attack on=20 Manhattan=92s Twin Towers, either live or in replay. It has been = rebroadcast=20 on television stations around the world in continuous loops and = made=20 available in the form of videos and stills on an incalculable = number of=20 websites, without even mentioning what are now called =93paper = supports.=94=20 The corollary to this historic record is that no event has ever = been as=20 massively, preeminently subject to the magnifying effect of TV = broadcasts=20 on its perception. A magnifying effect which is also a deforming = effect,=20 of course. As Naomi Klein wrote in a clever reaction, =93[V]iewed = through=20 the U.S. television networks, Tuesday=92s [September 11] attack = seemed to=20 come less from another country than another planet.=9410=20

Yet to the extent that September 11, and its aftermath are = thought to=20 be crucial events with implications for the future of humanity, = critical=20 reflection on their meaning should be considered all the more = essential to=20 the public interest. A true critical effort is therefore called = for, first=20 of all so as to dissipate the prevailing impressionism that has = turned=20 these horrible attacks into an absolute incarnation of evil. As it = happens, we are not dealing with a simple metaphor. George W. Bush = has=20 invoked the metaphysical notion of =93evil=94 on several = occasions, as we know=20 too well, deliberately using the term that Ronald Reagan once = applied to=20 the Soviet Union. At that time the United States was backing = today=92s=20 =93evil,=94 the shock troops of Islamic fundamentalism, against = yesterday=92s=20 =93Evil Empire,=94 the Soviet Union. The United States, as is only = proper,=20 still incarnates =93good=94=97should it perhaps be called =93the = Good=20 Empire=94?11

Washington is calling on the imagery of the Second World War = for the=20 third time since the end of the Cold War, after having = resuscitated Hitler=20 successively in the shape of Saddam Hussein and then Slobodan = Milosevic.=20 Continuing down the road of these playground ethics, George W. = Bush has=20 designated three of the =93rogue states=94 (as they are called in=20 Washingtonese), Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, along with their = =93terrorist=20 allies,=94 as an =93Axis of Evil.=94 The phrase originated in his = first State of=20 the Union speech to Congress on January 29, 2002, in which the = president=20 used the term =93evil=94 five times. A study of all the = occurrences of this=20 word and its various derivatives in public speeches in the United = States=20 since September 11 would certainly come up with staggering = results.

Evil, in its metaphysical, absolute sense, is a notion common = to the=20 fundamentalist, reactionary religious worldview that Bush and bin = Laden=20 share. To use the apt formula of the celebrated German TV = presenter Ulrich=20 Wickert, the two men share similar =93mental structures=94=20 (=93Denkstrukturen=94).12 George W. Bush actually stands = today at the=20 head of the Protestant fundamentalist movement in the United = States, as a=20 recent Washington Post article explained:

For the first time since religious conservatives = became a=20 modern political movement, the president of the United States = has become=20 the movement=92s de facto leader=97a status even Ronald Reagan, = though=20 admired by religious conservatives, never earned. Christian=20 publications, radio and television shower Bush with praise, = while=20 preachers from the pulpit treat his leadership as an act of = providence.=20 A procession of religious leaders who have met with him testify = to his=20 faith, while Web sites encourage people to fast and pray for the = president.13

The president=92s speech, after the manner of all religious = discourse,=20 has even become a topic of theological discussion. To top it off, = there=20 are even criticisms of George W. Bush=92s intransigence based on = Christian=20 forgiveness, which parallel moderate Islamic criticisms of the = religious=20 exhortations by the head of the al-Qaeda network. As the New = York Times=20 reported:

=93The evil one=94: Mr. Bush has regularly used this = phrase to=20 describe Osama bin Laden. Among evangelical Christians, it is an = obvious=20 reference to Satan, and appears throughout the Bible. (From = Matthew, in=20 the New American Standard Bible: =93When anyone hears the = word of=20 the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and = snatches=20 away what has been sown in his heart.=94)
Mr. Bush was raised an Episcopalian, became a = Methodist=20 after his marriage and then in 1986 said he was recommitting his = heart=20 to Jesus Christ=97a born-again experience, at least in the words = of=20 evangelicals, although the president has not used that term to = describe=20 himself. Still, evangelicals recognize the terminology of =93the = evil one=94=20 as their own.
But some in the evangelical movement have questioned = the=20 phrase.=93The problem with =91the evil one=92 is that in = Christian thought,=20 the only one who is totally, hopelessly evil is Satan,=94 said = Richard J.=20 Mouw, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, = Calif.,=20 the largest seminary in North America for the mainstream = evangelical=20 movement. =93We don=92t really believe that anybody is beyond = redemption=20 until their dying breath, if they reject Christ.=94 Calling Mr. = bin Laden=20 =93the evil one=94 supernaturalizes him, Dr. Mouw said. He added = that saying=20 Mr. bin Laden was wanted dead or alive, as the president had = done,=20 trivializes human life.14

The Uniqueness of September 11

Criticizing the way the terrorist horror of September 11 has = been=20 treated as an absolute is all the more indispensable since the = event has=20 been buried under a particularly dense layer of superlative = epithets. It=20 is thus necessary to put this event in proportion, situating it in = the=20 context where it belongs, without giving in to intimidating = accusations=20 that any such effort amounts to trivializing the atrocity. No one = has a=20 monopoly on moral indignation. Putting a vile act in the context = of acts=20 of the same kind does not trivialize it, still less justify it,=20 particularly since its authors or inspirers themselves evoked this = same=20 context as their motivation, explicitly and from the beginning. = Rather, to=20 put the act in context is to reject selective indignation.

So what was so truly extraordinary about the terrorism of mass=20 destruction that took about 3300 lives on September 11 (according = to the=20 last adjusted figure)? On the scale of carnage for which the U.S.=20 government is directly responsible, and has never expressed the = least=20 regret for, it was all in all a pretty ordinary massacre. Is it = forbidden=20 to mention the 200,000 civilian victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, = on the=20 pretext that Osama bin Laden himself has made clever use of the = argument?=20 What about the three million Indochinese civilians who were = victims of=20 U.S. aggression=97whom bin Laden has mentioned much less, by = contrast,=20 because as the good anticommunist fighter he was for so long he = had to=20 approve of that war? Do we also need to keep silent, just because = bin=20 Laden has constantly referred to them, about the 90,000 = people=9740,000=20 children under five years old and 50,000 other civilians=97who = according to=20 UN agency estimates have died each year for the last ten years = from the=20 effects of the embargo against Iraq?

Even in so prestigious a journal as Foreign Affairs, = chief=20 publication of the U.S. foreign policy think tank the Council on = Foreign=20 Relations, the sanctions imposed on Iraq have been called = =93sanctions of=20 mass destruction.=94 In an article in Foreign Affairs in = 1999, two=20 U.S. professors, John Mueller and Karl Mueller, estimated that = weapons of=20 mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, and biological, not counting = the Nazi=20 gas chambers) have caused 400,000 deaths over the course of = history. They=20 concluded=97taking care to use the conditional tense so as to = soften the=20 impact of their statement:

If the U.N. estimates of the human damage in Iraq are = even=20 roughly correct, therefore, it would appear that=97in a so far = futile=20 effort to remove Saddam [Hussein] from power and a somewhat more = successful effort to constrain him militarily=97economic = sanctions may=20 well have been a necessary cause of the deaths of more people in = Iraq=20 than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass = destruction=20 throughout history.15 =

In a passage that is very relevant to our own topic, the = Muellers=20 continued:

It is interesting that this loss of human life has = failed to=20 make a great impression in the United States. Americans clearly = do not=20 blame the people of Iraq for that country=92s actions: even at = the height=20 of the Gulf War, 60 percent said they held the Iraqi people = innocent of=20 responsibility for Saddam=92s policies. Yet the massive death = toll among=20 Iraqi civilians has stirred little public protest, and hardly = any=20 notice.

Some of the inattention may derive from a lack of concern about = foreign=20 lives. Although Americans are extremely sensitive to American = casualties,=20 they=97like others=97often seem quite insensitive to casualties = suffered by=20 those on the opposing side, whether military or civilian. Some of = the=20 inattention may also be due to the fact that, in contrast to = deaths caused=20 by terrorist bombs, those inflicted by sanctions are dispersed = rather than=20 concentrated, and statistical rather than dramatic.16

Here we have two fundamental factors that help explain what is = unique=20 about September 11. The first thing that was extraordinary about = the mass=20 murder in Manhattan and Washington, in fact, was that it killed = Americans=20 in the heart of U.S. metropolises. As Noam Chomsky rightly = remarked, =93the=20 crimes of September 11 are indeed a historic turning point=97but = not because=20 of the scale, rather because of the choice of target.=9417 To realize the singular impact of this=20 particularly painful blow to =93American exceptionalism,=94 one = need only pose=20 the questions that one commentator, remaining carefully objective, = formulated on this point:

Our feelings are unleashed, not in proportion to the = gravity=20 of the facts, but in proportion to the meaning that is assigned = to them;=20 not so much in function of the real human cost, as of our = sympathy for=20 the victims. Would the (obviously fully justified) emotions = called forth=20 by the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center towers in = New York=20 and part of the Pentagon in September 2001 have been on such a = scale if=20 this murderous devastation had been perpetrated somewhere in the = Third=20 World? Would the images of the disasters have received quite so = much=20 attention in the media?18 =

What in fact would have been the reaction around the = world if a=20 mass murder of this kind had been committed in a country other = than the=20 U.S.=97say an African country=97or if for example the targets of = the attacks=20 had been the two giant Petrona Towers in Kuala Lumpur? We need = only=20 compare media coverage of the Twin Towers razed to the ground in = Manhattan=20 with the coverage of Grozny, Chechnya, an entire city that Russian = army=20 bombing reduced to the equivalent of =93Ground Zero.=94

The fact that the September 11 attacks struck New York and = Washington,=20 the two capitals of =93globalization=94=97which means first and = foremost=20 =93Americanization,=94 in the sense of the spread of the U.S. = socioeconomic=20 and cultural model=97explains not only why Americans were so = deeply shocked=20 and moved, but also why the rest of the world was as well to such = a=20 degree. Absolute U.S. hegemony over the media universe of fiction = and=20 information results in a strong tendency for consumers of images = the world=20 over to identify with U.S. citizens. This is also why people = identify=20 above all with the metropolises of the U.S. empire, since they are = familiar to TV viewers and moviegoers around the planet.

In this sense, attacks as deadly as the ones on September 11 = would have=20 generated much less attention and emotion if they had happened=20 anywhere else, not just if they had hit some third world = country.=20 The same would hold true if European or Japanese cities or even = less=20 central U.S. cities (like Oklahoma City) had been hit. As a rule, = the=20 intensity of emotion is directly proportional to the proximity of = the=20 scene of the crime to the nerve center of the world system and the = privileged stage of global spectacle. The perpetrators of = September 11=20 chose their targets very purposefully when they picked New York = and=20 Washington.

Globalization and Narcissistic Compassion

For obvious reasons of affinity, those who identify the most = with North=20 Americans either live in the Western world or belong to the = transnational=20 social layers that share the same way of life, characteristic = above all of=20 New York yuppies. We could call it the =93cosmopolitan bourgeois = way of=20 life,=94 an elite, updated, globalized version of the =93American = way of life=94=20 of the 1950s. Thomas Friedman, well-known New York Times = columnist=20 and bard of globalization/Americanization, is a prominent exponent = of this=20 way of life.19 In his = characteristically=20 swaggering and ingenuous style, he recounted how he spent his = weekend two=20 weeks after September 11:

I went to the ballgame Friday night, took in = Dvorak=92s =93New=20 World=94 Symphony at the Kennedy Center Saturday, took my girls = out to=20 breakfast in Washington Sunday morning, and then flew to the = University=20 of Michigan. Heck, I even went out yesterday [Monday] and bought = some=20 stock. What a great country.

I wonder what Osama bin Laden did in his cave in Afghanistan=20 yesterday?20

It is a safe bet that many fewer people in the world are = familiar with=20 a schedule like Thomas Friedman=92s than with a life rather like = bin Laden=92s=20 in his cave. Striking the same note but in a more precious style, = Peruvian=20 writer and former presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa was = bent on=20 singing the praises of the elite cosmopolitanism of the age of=20 globalization/Americanization by telling everyone in the Madrid = daily=20 El PaEDs how exalting he always finds it to be in New York: = a city=20 where he =93always felt [he] was at the center of the world,=94 = where=20 fortunately =93the eggs Benedict and the Bloody Mary are still = delights in=20 the brick shrine P. J. Clarke=92s on Third Avenue.=9421 Touched, the New York Times = published an=20 abridged translation of the article.

In reality, the exceptional intensity of the emotions elicited=20 worldwide by the destruction of Manhattan=92s Twin Towers is due = primarily=20 to what we can call =93narcissistic compassion.=94 It is a form of = compassion=20 evoked much more by calamities striking =93people like us,=94 much = less by=20 calamities affecting people unlike us. The fate of New Yorkers (in = this=20 case) elicits far more of it than the fate of Iraqis or Rwandans = ever=20 could, to say nothing of Afghans. Located at the very heart of the = premier=20 metropolis of capitalist cosmopolitanism, the towers of the World = Trade=20 Center constituted in a certain sense the totem poles of the = globalized=20 category of adepts of the =93cosmopolitan bourgeois way of = life=94=97a category=20 that massively felt hurt at their destruction.

Only this narcissistic compassion=97going beyond legitimate = compassion=20 for any human being victimized by a barbaric act=97makes it = possible to=20 understand the formidable, absolutely exceptional intensity of the = emotions and passions that seized hold of =93public opinion,=94 = beginning with=20 opinion-makers, in Western countries and the metropolises of the=20 globalized economy in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Only this narcissistic compassion enables us to understand how = in a=20 country like France, supposedly in the grip of virulent=20 =93anti-Americanism,=94 the most prestigious daily newspaper could = have gone=20 so far as to headline its front-page editorial the day after the = attacks,=20 =93We are all Americans.=9422 = This phrase had=20 a double meaning. On the one hand, it expressed compassion; on the = other=20 hand, pride in showing solidarity with the dominant country, the=20 =93godfather=94 of the family that Le Monde is very happy = to belong to=20 (particularly at the moment when he is about to burst out in one = of his=20 rages) and that not everyone is lucky enough to belong to. This is = what=20 Freud called the =93narcissistic satisfaction provided by the = cultural=20 ideal,=94 which he explained as follows: =93No doubt one is a = wretched=20 plebeian, harassed by debts and military service; but, to make up = for it,=20 one is a Roman citizen, one has one=92s share in the task of = ruling other=20 nations and dictating their laws.=9423

Admittedly, narcissistic compassion is one of the most common = features=20 in the world. It is far from restricted to the emotions felt in = some=20 countries and by some categories of people about the victims of = September=20 11. True; but the uniqueness of the narcissistic compassion shown = by=20 opinion-makers and other =93elites=94 in Western metropolises is = that they=20 camouflage it as an oceanic humanism indifferent to skin color or=20 religion. Their pretension towers even above the former World = Trade Center=20 towers themselves. From this exalted height Western elites = condescendingly=20 summon other human groups and demand that they share the elites=92 = own=20 feelings, in the name of the humanism that they assume to be their = monopoly. Too often their =93humanism=94 is nothing more than a = masked=20 expression of their own ethnocentrism.

This narcissistic compassion, added to a servile desire to show = its=20 zealous solidarity with its =93godfather,=94 explains why the = European Union=20 decreed a European-wide day of mourning and three minutes of = silence for=20 the 6,000 victims in the United States (according to the then = current=20 estimates). This same European Union did not observe a single = minute of=20 silence for the 7,000 people massacred in Srebrenica, presumably=20 =93Europeans=94 all. It ended up finding a silver lining in = Russia=92s dirty war=20 in Chechnya. The hundreds of thousands of people massacred in = Rwanda=20 scarcely troubled it, and the tens of thousands of victims dying = each year=20 in Iraq hardly at all=97restricting ourselves to examples in = Europe=92s own=20 geographical periphery.

This European Union, together with the United States and the = other big=20 powers, has organized a veritable conspiracy of silence around = another war=20 in its former colonial empire, which has led to a humanitarian = catastrophe=20 of genocidal proportions. The number of deaths caused directly or=20 indirectly by the war in progress in Congo-Kinshasa since August = 1998 was=20 close to 3 million by spring 2001=97yes, three million people in = less than=20 three years!=97according to a study carried out by a very credible = source,=20 the International Rescue Committee, headquartered in New = York.24

The same European Union shares responsibility with the United = States=20 and the other rich countries for failing to help populations = threatened by=20 one of the worst =93biogenocides=94 in history. The AIDS pandemic = already=20 affects more than 28 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, fewer = than one=20 per 1,000 of whom are receiving adequate treatment. The result was = 2,300,000 deaths due to AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa during the = course of=20 the year 2001 alone, the first year of the twenty-first = century=97meaning=20 more than two September 11s each day!

=93At current levels of intervention, the number of Africans = dead of AIDS=20 in 10 years will probably surpass the population of = France.=9425 On a scale like this, failure to help = the=20 populations in danger constitutes in itself an immense crime = against=20 humanity. How is it possible not to see something deeply indecent, = something deeply revolting, in the spectacle of the white world = thrown=20 into convulsions of distress over the =936,000=94 victims in the = United=20 States, while it hardly gives a thought to black Africa in its = horrible=20 agony?26

The Media and the Logic of War

The unavoidable consequence of this first way in which the = attacks on=20 Washington and New York were unique, due to the very nature of = their=20 targets, is the extraordinary media attention they received. This=20 constitutes the second way in which they were unique. Media = attention was=20 not just the natural result of the =93concentrated,=94 = =93dramatic=94 character of=20 the mass murder in Manhattan, as contrasted with the = =93dispersed,=94=20 =93statistical=94 character of the scourges that have struck = Africa or the=20 Iraqi victims of the U.N.-U.S. embargo, to use the expressions = from the=20 Foreign Affairs article cited above. Overdramatization of = the=20 September 11 attacks was also, and above all, the result of = deliberate=20 action by the media in the society of the =93world spectacle,=94 a = corollary=20 of the world market recognized by Guy Debord.27

From early on, a political logic=97=93the logic of war,=94 to = use a well-worn=20 expression=97dictated this media overdramatization. It was = necessary to keep=20 imperial atrocities and global poverty under wraps, the better to=20 highlight the =93absolute evil=94 that manifested itself on = September 11,=20 along the lines that George W. Bush had laid out. Even after the = historic=20 record level of live media coverage devoted to the attacks on New = York and=20 Washington, the attacks continued to be referred to and broadcast=20 incessantly, and will be for some time to come, so as to cover up = and=20 justify new atrocities committed by the United States and its = allies in=20 the guise of reprisals. Tony Blair reminded the media of this rule = at a=20 moment when the polls were showing a clear reduction in support = for=20 bombing Afghanistan on the part of British public opinion: =93In = every part,=20 we have justice and right on our side, and a strategy to deliver. = It is=20 important we never forget why we are doing it. Important we never = forget=20 how we felt watching the planes fly into the twin = towers.=9428

So that no one can ever forget it, the media have = massively=20 joined the =93war effort.=94 Even a journalist supposedly carrying = on his=20 trade as a TV critic on the French side of the Channel unashamedly = hailed=20 the =93war effort,=94 as if echoing the British prime minister. =

What does taking part in the war effort mean for the = media?=20 Certainly not closing our eyes to the mistakes, the groping = about, the=20 glitches in the U.S. reprisals. We must keep our eyes open. But = keep=20 them open day-by-day, enduringly [sic], without ever forgetting = the=20 original image of the September 11 aggression.29

Among a plethora of other examples, we can also cite these, = recounted=20 in a Washington Post article about the way in which = inflated=20 estimates of the number of victims of September 11 continued to be = used=20 despite substantial downward adjustments (at that point down to = barely=20 4,000). The examples bear witness to a vengeful logic that is much = more=20 serious than the simple exaggeration of figures that the article = was meant=20 to be about:

At a news conference on Oct. 29, a reporter asked for = the=20 =93tactical rationale=94 for using cluster bombs, which human = rights groups=20 say can indiscriminately kill large numbers of = civilians.
=93Yes, this is very simple,=94 replied Air Force Gen. = Richard=20 B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. =93On September = 11, we=20 lost over 5,000 people to an intentional act. We are now = prosecuting a=20 global war on terrorism.=94
In cautioning correspondents not to turn reports of = civilian=20 casualties in Afghanistan into propaganda for the Taliban, CNN = Chairman=20 Walter Isaacson said: =93We must talk about how the = Taliban85have harbored=20 the terrorists responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent=20 people.=9430

The prevalent code of ethics is more flexible than ever since = Western=20 warmongers began to lay claim to =93humanitarian=94 concerns. = According to=20 this twisted morality it is thus highly immoral to try to put the = crime of=20 September 11 in proportion by referring to the long list of crimes = committed by the U.S. government and cited in part by those who = planned=20 the attacks. Yet by contrast it is supposed to be a moral = imperative,=20 according to the same code of ethics, to put the criminal bombing = of=20 Afghanistan in proportion by incessantly referring to the crime = that it is=20 supposedly a response to. A double standard is at work here. This = is the=20 never-ending iniquity of every form of egocentrism, whether ethnic = or=20 social.

Notes

  1. See Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American = Politics=20 and Other Essays (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, = 1996).=20
  2. Stephen Pollard, =93America-Haters Revert to Type,=94 = Wall Street=20 Journal Europe, January 25=9626, 2002.=20
  3. Salman Rushdie, =93Fighting the Forces of = Invisibility,=94 Washington=20 Post, October 2, 2001.=20
  4. Elissa Gootman, =93In Last Days for Comment, Victim=92s Fund = Is Under=20 Fire,=94 New York Times, January 7, 2002.=20
  5. Thomas Connor, =93Terror Victims Aren=92t Entitled to = Compensation,=94=20 Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2002.=20
  6. Ibid. =93The families of federal employees received $100,000 = approximately each.=94=20
  7. George W. Bush, =93Address to a Joint Session of Congress = and the=20 American People,=94 White House Office of the Press Secretary, = Washington,=20 September 20, 2001.=20
  8. Dimitri Simes, =93What War Means,=94 The National = Interest, no.=20 65-S (special issue), Thanksgiving 2001, pp. 35=9636.=20
  9. AndrE9 Glucksmann, DostoEFevski E0 Manhattan (Paris: = Robert=20 Laffont, 2002), 15=9616.=20
  10. Naomi Klein, =93Game Over,=94 The Nation Online, = September 15,=20 2001.=20
  11. Robert Worth, =93A Nation Defined by Its Enemies,=94 New = York=20 Times, February 24, 2002.=20
  12. Wickert made the remark in an article published in early = October=20 2001 in the magazine Max. It brought down solemn reproofs = on his=20 head from the German =93political class,=94 and nearly cost him = his job. He=20 was obliged to give a humiliating display of public contrition.=20
  13. Dana Milbank, =93Religious Right Finds Its Center in Oval = Office,=94=20 Washington Post, December 24, 2001.=20
  14. Elisabeth Bumiller, =93Recent Bushisms Call for a Primer,=94 = New York=20 Times, January 7, 2002.=20
  15. John Mueller and Karl Mueller, =93Sanctions of Mass = Destruction,=94=20 Foreign Affairs 78, no. 3 (May/June 1999): 51.=20
  16. Ibid., 51=9652.=20
  17. Noam Chomsky, =93September 11 and Its Aftermath: Where is = the World=20 Heading?=94 Public Lecture at the Music Academy, Chennai = (Madras, India),=20 November 10, 2001=20 = <http://www.infoshop.org/news6/chomsky_india_lecture.html>.=20
  18. Andr=E9 Versaille, =93Retour sur le territoire des = Autres,=94=20 foreword to GE9rard Chaliand and Jean Lacouture, Voyage dans = le=20 demi-siE8cle: Entretiens croisE9s avec AndrE9 Versaille = (Brussels:=20 Complexe, 2001), 12. The two last questions are in parentheses = in the=20 original.=20
  19. Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: = Understanding=20 Globalization, revised and expanded edition (New York: = Anchor Books,=20 2000).=20
  20. Friedman, =93Terrorism Game Theory,=94 New York = Times, September=20 25, 2001.=20
  21. Mario Vargas Llosa, =93Novelista en New York,=94 El = PaEDs,=20 November 25, 2001. [=93Out of Many, New York,=94 New York = Times,=20 December 11, 2001].=20
  22. Editorial by Jean-Marie Colombani, Le Monde, = September 13,=20 2001 (actually published on September 12).=20
  23. Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, James = Strachey=20 trans. and ed., (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1961), 13.=20
  24. The results of the study are available on the International = Rescue=20 Committee=92s website <www.theirc.org>.=20
  25. Barton Gellman, =93An Unequal Calculus of Life and Death,=94 = Washington Post, December 27, 2000.=20
  26. Glucksmann, Dosto=EFevski =E0 Manhattan, 184.=20
  27. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, trans. = Donald=20 Nicholson-Smith (New York: Zone, 1995), 145.=20
  28. Tony Blair, =93Prime Minister=92s Speech on the Conflict in = Afghanistan=94=20 to the Welsh assembly, October 30, 2001.=20
  29. Daniel Schneidermann, =93Effort de guerre,=94 Le = Monde, editorial=20 in the TV supplement, November 4=965, 2001.=20
  30. Shankar Vedantam, =93Discourse Does Not Match Falling Sept. = 11 Death=20 Toll,=94 Washington Post, November 22, 2001.

GILBERT = ACHCAR=20 teaches politics and international relations at the University of=20 Paris-VIII, and is a frequent contibutor to Le Monde = Diplomatique.=20 He is author of several books on contemporary politics = published in=20 French, and editor of The Legacy of Ernest Mandel (Verso,=20 2000).

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All material copyright =A92002 by Monthly=20 Review

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