I have been working on a special issue of a new journal entitled Social Movements and Change, about social movements and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. Nothing too profound with this, but I received an email this morning from one of the contributors (who is based in Bulgaria) regarding some updates to her submission. Again, nothing profound here. But she did say at one point that given what has happened with the Paris attacks, that she expects in regards to the original call for papers and thematic of the journal, that I will already have rearranged my priorities. She also expressed her sympathies as she assumed I was based out of Belgium where the journal hales from (I am in the New York area).
Obviously I appreciate her sympathies, and agonize over the loss of life in Paris. But if there is one thing that I can say is that these terrorist attacks in Paris don't change my life or my world view at all. I live in Newark, NJ; one of the most violent cities in America. This past year my neighbor alone (who grew up here) had four of his friends killed, including a pillar of our community who was murdered early in the morning walking to work this summer. As many people as died in the Paris attacks will be killed this year in Newark alone (city of 277,000 people). Violence is a part of every day life here, just as anywhere through the country (and world) really. There will be over 30,000 deaths by firearm in the US alone this year, and have already been over 1000 people killed by police officers country wide since last January. And this is to say nothing of the post 9/11 world... revolutions, drones, protests, fear... etc.
I am from New York. I used to work in the world trade center, on the 74th floor of the building that was hit by a plane on the 69th floor. I flew from New York to Prague on September 10, 2011. I have watched as the US attacked Afghanistan, Iraq, and "strategically" strikes Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, and who knows how many other places. London, Madrid, Paris, New York... one after the next, we strike, they strike, we strike, etc. But this war does not exist in a vacuum. This is built upon hundreds of years of colonialism and imperialism. This global war on terror is the latest invention of the West, and offers a rationale for killing, claiming space and materials, and promoting Western ideologies. Millions have died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and others, and the US single-handedly affords Israel the right to imprison and perform genocide on Palestinians. The day before the Paris attacks nearly fifty people were killed in a terrorist attack in Beirut. And violence is not monopolized by the West or the United States, preventable death has been with us for milenia, and brought to an art form through industrial capitalism's penchant for growth, scarcity, technological advancement. so what makes Paris so profound? Just this year alone, Kenya, Nigeria (x3), Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria have all see terrorist attacks that killed more people than in Paris - yet how many of those provoked the outcry and support this attack in Paris did? In fact according to wikipedia's list of terrorist attacks in 2015, there have been over 300 terrorist attacks that have killed roughly 6582 people and injuring scores more. Now obviously, there are all sorts of issues with a list like this, but that too illuminates my point. Or as a friend of mine wrote on Facebook:
My point is, that Paris is just another day in the world. A horrible tragedy, one I will never condone, or believe is anything but an abomination. But why is it that everyone on Facebook changes their profile picture to French flags? And the US military academy's football team runs out on to the field on Saturday with a French flag - as if they are not just as much to blame as anyone for the state of the world depicted above? And we are lead to believe that war is the only answer - more killing? And of course it is worth saying that stock markets went up as France declared war on terrorism and set out on a military offensive. Because of course this is all good for business... This "solution" is just pure fantasy that we live within in the West. We claim moral ascendancy with no right to it. We blatantly value certain - usually Western or white - lives so much more than the lives of "others" - usually brown or foreign.
My heart goes out to those that died in Paris, but we in the West created this problem, created ISIS, stuck our noses, militaries, and economic imperial might in other people's homes and lives, forced them to adopt our capitalism ways, and then when we are attacked - in the same way we attack other people - we are surprised? We act like "now its a tragedy, now its so sad to see" (to quote Eminem). Just like we have long ignored black lives and deaths in the United States, wanted to push out all the "Mexicans stealing our jobs," and now want to reject the very refugees we created in Syria, we also want to believe in our heart of hearts that we are somehow better than all those places? Such a lie, such a shameful lie. But hey, "they" are whatever we say they are... they have value as much as we allow them to have value... and we can end their lives at our will, as per our justification, and in whatever manner we see fit. And we can morn our own lives lost, use them as justification to take more, just because we can. We will. Such a shameful, abominable lie and narrative that we've created...
Obviously I appreciate her sympathies, and agonize over the loss of life in Paris. But if there is one thing that I can say is that these terrorist attacks in Paris don't change my life or my world view at all. I live in Newark, NJ; one of the most violent cities in America. This past year my neighbor alone (who grew up here) had four of his friends killed, including a pillar of our community who was murdered early in the morning walking to work this summer. As many people as died in the Paris attacks will be killed this year in Newark alone (city of 277,000 people). Violence is a part of every day life here, just as anywhere through the country (and world) really. There will be over 30,000 deaths by firearm in the US alone this year, and have already been over 1000 people killed by police officers country wide since last January. And this is to say nothing of the post 9/11 world... revolutions, drones, protests, fear... etc.
I am from New York. I used to work in the world trade center, on the 74th floor of the building that was hit by a plane on the 69th floor. I flew from New York to Prague on September 10, 2011. I have watched as the US attacked Afghanistan, Iraq, and "strategically" strikes Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, and who knows how many other places. London, Madrid, Paris, New York... one after the next, we strike, they strike, we strike, etc. But this war does not exist in a vacuum. This is built upon hundreds of years of colonialism and imperialism. This global war on terror is the latest invention of the West, and offers a rationale for killing, claiming space and materials, and promoting Western ideologies. Millions have died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and others, and the US single-handedly affords Israel the right to imprison and perform genocide on Palestinians. The day before the Paris attacks nearly fifty people were killed in a terrorist attack in Beirut. And violence is not monopolized by the West or the United States, preventable death has been with us for milenia, and brought to an art form through industrial capitalism's penchant for growth, scarcity, technological advancement. so what makes Paris so profound? Just this year alone, Kenya, Nigeria (x3), Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria have all see terrorist attacks that killed more people than in Paris - yet how many of those provoked the outcry and support this attack in Paris did? In fact according to wikipedia's list of terrorist attacks in 2015, there have been over 300 terrorist attacks that have killed roughly 6582 people and injuring scores more. Now obviously, there are all sorts of issues with a list like this, but that too illuminates my point. Or as a friend of mine wrote on Facebook:
"Paris, attack on HUMANITY, they say? Thank allah that doesn't concern us, the Third world, since we are NOT part of "humanity", when we die in hundrends of thousands. We are "civilian casualties" at best, or just "tactical mistakes". Keep on body countin', more brown corpses to follow."And how is he wrong? On this terrorist attack list there are roughly 32 countries where attacks have occurred, only three are in Western Europe or North America, the rest save one incident in Australia, a couple in Ukraine, two in Macedonia, and one in China are all in the Global south (but not South America - not one incident apparently). No, this list of Global terrorist attacks is clearly agended to a specific type of "terrorism." For example, when you look at the list of perpetrators it is completely made up of Arabic names and Islamic groups. There is no mention of the US bombing of a Doctors without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, no mention of Israel, or really any other state-like actor, or even any groups aligned with Western ideologies. And its not like the US hasn't indiscriminately killed civilians. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, US drones have done this:
- Total strikes: 421
- Obama strikes: 370
- Total killed: 2,489-3,989
- Civilians killed: 423-965
- Children killed: 172-207
- Injured: 1,158-1,738
My point is, that Paris is just another day in the world. A horrible tragedy, one I will never condone, or believe is anything but an abomination. But why is it that everyone on Facebook changes their profile picture to French flags? And the US military academy's football team runs out on to the field on Saturday with a French flag - as if they are not just as much to blame as anyone for the state of the world depicted above? And we are lead to believe that war is the only answer - more killing? And of course it is worth saying that stock markets went up as France declared war on terrorism and set out on a military offensive. Because of course this is all good for business... This "solution" is just pure fantasy that we live within in the West. We claim moral ascendancy with no right to it. We blatantly value certain - usually Western or white - lives so much more than the lives of "others" - usually brown or foreign.
My heart goes out to those that died in Paris, but we in the West created this problem, created ISIS, stuck our noses, militaries, and economic imperial might in other people's homes and lives, forced them to adopt our capitalism ways, and then when we are attacked - in the same way we attack other people - we are surprised? We act like "now its a tragedy, now its so sad to see" (to quote Eminem). Just like we have long ignored black lives and deaths in the United States, wanted to push out all the "Mexicans stealing our jobs," and now want to reject the very refugees we created in Syria, we also want to believe in our heart of hearts that we are somehow better than all those places? Such a lie, such a shameful lie. But hey, "they" are whatever we say they are... they have value as much as we allow them to have value... and we can end their lives at our will, as per our justification, and in whatever manner we see fit. And we can morn our own lives lost, use them as justification to take more, just because we can. We will. Such a shameful, abominable lie and narrative that we've created...
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