geographies of september 11th : how has the world changed?

Geographies of September 11thGeographies of September 11th::How has the world changed?How has the world changed?

Before and afterBefore and after

View from spaceView from space

Ground ZeroGround Zero

Locale: Mapping Ground Zero

Location: U.S. regions pulled together

• Attacks took place on East Coast, we did not experience them directly in our backyard.

• Yet empathy and fear spread throughout the U.S.

• No more New York jokes.

• More identification with government workers (firefighters, police, mail carriers, etc.)

Sense of place: Hallowed ground

“Sacred” sites

Shanksville,Pennsylvania

Washington, DC

New York

Reconstruction plans on 16 acres

Reactions to reconstruction plans

Reconstruction plans

Freedom Tower Freedom Tower

“Reflected Absence” fountains in footprints of Twin Towers

Rising 1,776 feet (tallest on Earth) with wind turbines on top

WTC MemorialWTC Memorial

Reconstruction priorities

Skyscrapers vulnerable, provocative target

Pentagon functional, expected target

Has September 11“changed the world”?

• The attacks affected the entire world.

• The attacks primarily changed the

United States.

• But changing the U.S. can in turn

change the world.

Distance and might no longer protect the United States

British burn White House, 1812

Japanese bomb Hawaii, 1941

Japanese fire balloons, 1944

Pancho Villa raids Columbus NM, 1916

U.S. civilians haveexperienced the pain of war

Srebrenica, Bosnia, 1995: 7,000 dead

Rwanda, Africa, 1994: 800,000 dead

United States, 2001: 3,000 dead

Victims of the attackswere from 60 countries

(including many undocumented workers)

Targeting of Muslim

immigrants and other religious

minorities

Muslims

Sikhs

Jews

“Clash of Civilizations”:Lumping of the Islamic world vs. the West

Human Rights under fire

Russians flatten capital of Chechnya

Use of Islamist terrorismto justify crackdowns

Israelis in West Bank and Gaza

Indians in Kashmir

Chinese in Xinjiang

Conflicts intensify inMuslim regions

(though not necessarily centered on religion)

Al-Qaeda as a productof globalization

(Bin Laden exploiting andmanipulating Muslims’ alienation)

Poverty

CorruptionForeign

domination

Al-Qaeda as an exampleof globalization

(Bin Laden the multinational CEO)

Translated U.S. military leaflet dropped on Afghanistan

Internet cafe Saudi bank

“The enemy of my enemyis my friend”?

• U.S. aided Islamic fundamentalists to fight Soviet Union in Afghanistan:

"What was more important in the worldview of history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? A few stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?” (President Carter’s national security advisor

Zbigniew Brzezinski, 1996).

• Who are our new friends against Al-Qaeda? Are we now risking the same backfire effect (or “blowback”) again?

War in Afghanistan• Bin Laden provoked U.S. to

launch ground invasion?

• Bin Laden thought he would “fight the last war” that the Afghans had won against the Russians.

• Taliban were easy to defeat in war, but the “peace” can become more difficult.

Complex Afghan ethnic geographyNo matter which ethnic“warlord” we support,

someone else feels we are taking sides

Caspian Basin

oil and gaspipelines

Plans forroute acrossAfghanistan

New U.S. military basesNew U.S. military bases

1. Gulf War, 1991

2. Yugoslav Wars, 1995-99

3. Afghan War, 2001

4. Iraq War, 2003

New U.S. “Sphere ofInfluence” in region.

Bases built to wage thewars, or the wars waged

to build the bases?

Current debates• Does the “War on Terror” justify a permanent role for U.S.

military bases and oil companies?

• Carries the risk of “overstaying our welcome” and causing a new “blowback”?

• Iraq War justified by linking Bin Laden, Saddam (though they hate each other)?

• Resentment/recruitment increasing since occupation of Iraq (Self-fulfilling prophecy?)

Confronting hatred at the roots

“There has been a remarkable reluctance in America to confront the more complex historical dimensions of this hatred. The inclination instead has been to rely on abstract assertions like terrorists ‘hate freedom’ or that their religious background makes them despise Western culture. To win the war on terrorism…. begin a political effort that focuses on the conditions that brought about their emergence.”

(President Carter’s national security advisorZbigniew Brzezinski, 2001).

Geographies of September 11

• Boundaries violated in attack on “homeland.”

• U.S. regions have a common grievance & experience of war.

• “Sense of place” of 9/11 attack sites.

• New phase of anti- immigrant sentiment

DOMESTIC

• Islam vs. West geopolitical simplifications.

• Al-Qaeda as a product & example of globalization.

• Ethnic complexities of Middle East/Central Asia

• Natural resources (oil).• New U.S. military bases• Shifting international

alliances

FOREIGN