Global Voices Online ｻ Blog Archive ｻ Five years on from 9/11, the world remembers
I am half American, half English, which makes me somewhat bi-polar.
I posted nothing on 9/11 because I figured it was a day for quite reflection, and certainly not any kind of criticism of the way the last five years have played out.
I have made a few trenchant delicious posts the last few days though.
Many of you posted your own rememberances, which I read and sympathised with.
After all, there has really only been one day in my entire lfe that I had no doubt at all that I truly am an American. I felt like I had just been branded – no more doubts.
But then Le Monde had caught the global mood perfectly: Nous Sommes Tous Americains.
Did I want to kick some ass as I watched the second tower fall? Oh yes. As much as anyone I wanted that. But I wanted the guilty punished, not just a scapegoat.
It seems to me that we should probably take a moment to think about how others view the world, five years after 9/11. It seems we are all Americans no longer. Global voices has a roundup.
Why pay attention to what “foreigners” think? This is the context for the Long War, the battle for hearts and minds that will surely define the next couple of decades. We can’t escape the World.
We should also not lose sight of the fact the attack was on the World Trade Center, not just America. Many nations lost their own. America has no monopoly on mourning or grievance.
You may not like what is being said outside America’s borders, but it may not hurt to read it. Thus the link above.
Indonesian blogger Asri Wijayanti caught my eye though:
Many people condemn when they mourn
Many people are in enormous anger when they are in grieve
Some people plan to revenge when they cry
Some people can turn into a cruel creature when their hearts are broken
Many people gain their unpredictable power when they feel powerless
The survivors always remember how it felt to be the victims,
murders took place in the name of the deceased,
and many wars start just right after the funerals..
/pd says:
September 14, 2006 at 5:36 pm
War does not determine whose “right” – rather whose left !!!
Sun Tzu once said, “the true purpose of war is peace” ( circa 250BC). Humanity will continue to distroy itself.. and thats the reason why aliens refuse to land on earth !! :)-
ok, I throw that in for fun.. but in all seriousness, its only when humans truely ack tolerence will there sustianable life !!
Aouregween says:
March 29, 2007 at 1:36 am
Follow the Dollar, Rupee, lbs, or whatever to find the answer. War is a big money maker- always has been.
Get rid of the Banksters and see the change!!!
Let people rule communities! There will be no war! Remove media, & school, propoganda .Public servants need to be servants, not rule makers! We all need to be servants to our neighbors, brothers, sisters,–thus we become servant to our true self, God within all. There is only one God, and he lives everywhere. Remove the Economy, and serve one another, is the simple answer?