As you know today is 10 years since a horrific tragedy occurred in New York City, one in which thousands of lives were snuffed out and led to many more tragedies and atrocities. As is the custom today we will see the emotional services as those who lost their lives in that event are remembered and rightly so.
But
As Caribbean people, we always need to be looking at things differently and asking -- and answering -- the questions others in the metropole are not. Of course, that's a tall order; I always am amazed at the way in which many of us in spite of the knowledge of history, in spite of the colonial legacy, in spite of experiencing Cold War politics and then the ravages of the IMF, simply accept the narratives of others almost without any kind of critical analyses let alone the asking of some very important questions. For instance, look at how Patrick Manning implored people and the CARICOM 'leaders' to just "move on" from asking about the manner in which Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from office by the West, specifically Washington, in flagrant violation of International Law. We are seeing it again right before we eye with the actions of the West in removing Muammar Qaddafi (who admittedly is no paragon of virtue by any standard, but that's another issue) and it's like we are blinded by the magic words "democracy," "human rights" etc, uttered by powers who have abysmal track records in all of the above when it comes to their dealings with the peoples of the Americas including the Caribbean, Africa, SouthEast Asia, and Palestine.
So
As you look at the footage below, at the images that affected me profoundly and will always do so for the rest of my life, I hope you at least ask yourself the question I asked myself when I first saw it on the night of the destruction of the towers (notice up to now I have NOT used the word "attack," the standard term used to describe it), what would make people react this way? What are the things we were/are not being told?
Oh and one, one other thing, Sept 11 is the anniversary of a major atrocity that cost thousands of lives over the years following...hole up dey, not THAT one, I'm referring to the one on September 11 1973 when the democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown and murdered in a coup. Now guess which champion of democracy orchestrated that one?
