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