Ten years on…Future Challenges bloggers on a post-9/11 world
Ten years after the events of September 11, 2001, the Future Challenges authors reflect on the ways in which their own experiences have been altered. For some, the fallout has been strife and conflict. For others, the event always felt unnervingly irrelevant. And for some, it changed their lives in subtle but pervasive ways.
Corina Murafa in Romania: “Public opinion, from journalists and politicians to citizens at large, has simply shunned any alternative other than being America’s most faithful Eastern ally, waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq side by side with it, praising neo-conservatism and denouncing any liberal[2], often anti-American speech as socialism with a guise.”
Peter Hagen in Jordan: “The wars in Afghanistan and, most sharply, Iraq have coloured the reception of those whose governments took part in them. Whatever my complex and contradictory views on those wars, they have done more to diminish the way Americans and their close allies are seen by the rest of the world than 9/11 itself.”
Patrick Corcoran in the USA: “The post-9-11 turn toward fear-mongering was not merely the inevitable consequence of the emergence of a new threat. It was the conscious decision of the political operators around George W. Bush, a decision made with enormous cynicism and subsequently emulated by many in his party.”
Dominika Ricardi in Australia: “It is time our leaders started demonstrating the values that we are proud to call Australian, such as ‘mateship’ and giving everyone, including Muslims, ‘a fair go.’”
Maria Farooq in Pakistan: “If religion and nationalism are so detrimental to humanity that they can sway the hearts and minds of millions of people and provoke them to enmity and bloodshed, then perhaps we are better off without any such philosophies or religions that societies continuously push us to live by.”
Mayxue Ospina Posse in Brazil: “Calling every kind of ‘criminal action’ that involves the disadvantaged population an ‘act of terrorism’ has become, in Rio de Janeiro, the main resort of official speech to hide the truth about the key social issues that simmer beneath the surface of the tourist view of the city.”
Oscar Guarin in Brazil: “The political opportunity created by the international crusade against terrorism was used by the Uribe government to amplify the danger represented by the FARC.”
Bhumika Ghimire in Nepal: “Love, understanding and mutual respect is the best way to honor the victims on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.”
Artur Kacprzak in Poland: “I am afraid America is losing this ‘War on Terror’. And it is not a military, but a cultural defeat.”
Kennedy Kachwanya in Kenya: “This month as the US and the world mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, I look at the impact of an event which took place three years before that fateful day in Nairobi, Kenya.”
Delalorm Semabia in Ghana: “The fear of the unknown by way of security and a little resentment over the seemingly unjustified wars has tempered the love of ordinary Ghanaians for the US. Nevertheless, a brother remains a brother!”
Amaya Querejazu in Colombia: “We are getting used to living in a world where our innocence is not first presumed but must be proven, where the ends justify the means and where it is OK to accuse our neighbors…”
Kira Kariakin in Venezuela: “The “other” now became a menace: the other of the East, the other of the West.”
Tom Fries
Most recent Local Views on ‘Ten years on future challenges bloggers on a post 9-11 world’
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The Whole Enchilada
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on September 26, 2012. This summer I was on a flight from Australia to Japan. I took my shoes off at security, just like I always do. But this time, my gesture drew little smirks from the others nearby. I looked around: no one else had their shoes off. Someone commented to me with […]
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A Legacy of 9/11: Forced Deportation of Cambodians from the USA
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Unconcerned by 9/11? Think again!
Written by Rayna Stamboliyska
on November 11, 2011. My skin is milk-white. I am from Eastern Europe. I am a successful student in Paris, France. I have nothing from a North-African girl with her lively French punctuated by Arabic words and her curly hair, often shyly sleeping under a veil. I am everything but concerned by what happened on September 11.
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A Decade On from 9/11: A Slovakian Perspective
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on October 27, 2011. I remember that day when I came home earlier and saw the burning twin towers on TV. My thoughts at the moment were – someone crazy had his ‘dream’ come true but he’s taking many innocent people with him. I waited for the news updates hoping they would bring a […]
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How 9/11 Shaped the Outlook of an International Relations Theorist from Hungary
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on October 21, 2011. Like in a game where you have to remember where you were and what you were doing at the time of a given event, I still remember how I first heard about what happened in the US ten years ago. Due to the time difference, the tragic news reached Hungary […]
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9/11 Has Made The World a Xenophobic Place
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on October 12, 2011. For me the twin towers were a distant reality, almost a myth. There was dream shared by us middle class Indians of being there someday, of being part of the select group of global movers and shakers. Don’t be surprised if you see posters of western skylines around coaching classes […]
