The 10 year anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centre is fast approaching and already the imperialist media is blathering about commemorating this "tragic" date. But with the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the coups in Haiti and Honduras, the recent NATO intervention in Libya, and even the most current deployment of US forces to Egypt, the centres of world capitalism have already been extremely busy commemorating this decade of imperialism.
The PCR-RCP have called for a mass demonstration in response to this bullshit commemoration, arguing that: "While the victims of the attacks would join the other millions of direct and indirect victims of the policies and actions of U.S. imperialism, the future was in preparation, under the auspices of the war against terrorism [the US response] would turn out to really be a full-scale war against the dominated nations of the world because imperialism is domination and the drive to war." The demonstration should be understood as a counterpoint to every imperialist homage, every candle-lit vigil, that will mourn the attacks on September 11th with patriotic fervour––a self-righteous mournfulness that is also a celebration of imperialism, of bombing them over there.
The overall idea is to begin a tradition, like revolutionary May Day, of detourning September 11th into a day of anti-imperialism. And maybe next year there will be similar demonstrations organized on this date in other cities. When the reactionaries mark this day with patriotic mourning, we should mark it with anti-imperialist defiance.
The demonstration will take place in Montreal, in Square Cabot at 2pm, so if anyone who is reading this lives nearby, will be in or around Montreal on the 11th, or possesses the means and interest to travel, you should join the action. If you need more details about the event (such as directions, accommodations, etc.), email the PCR-RCP at the address in the image below.
Why "tragic"? People died, so it is tragic with no quotation marks. These deaths are neither more nor less tragic than any other violent death anywhere. Being dismissive about the sufferings of these people makes your concern for the victims of imperialist violence elsewhere sound just a tad fake.
ReplyDeleteYes, but it was treated as if it possessed an ontological level of tragedy that was greater than any other tragedy... And this was especially problematic in that it was an act of violence visited upon an oppressor nation on behalf of the oppressed. Even still, the scare quotes were mainly there for polemical reasons.
ReplyDelete"They’re talking about the end of time, because finally they look up and they see that their security is not what they thought it was. Here they are on somebody’s land, built off of genocide and slavery, riches that were stolen, not only from Africans and the indigenous population here but from poor people all around the world, and their buildings come crumbling down! It must be the end of time! September 11th must be something like the end of time to white people who’ve lived so comfortably, so secure, watching everybody on the Earth die to enrich them. Die to enrich them and they could never talk about the end of time! It’s not the end of time because of all these Africans in Congo died! It’s not the end of time. It’s not the end of time because 98% of the so-called Indians died throughout the Americas. But bring down the buildings here you have a beginning of a discussion about the end of time. Apocalypse now! Armageddon must be before us. Isn’t that something?” – Chairman Omali Yeshitela, The End of Time for Whom?"
ReplyDelete9/11 is a political symbol for Imperialism, and it's good to see people organizing to criticize those politics.
Good quote... I remember hearing this before, but it's nice to be reminded.
ReplyDeleteI would like to be there, at this demo... Because it's a real step forward on the cultural level, against mainstream imperialist culture, its commemorations, its wars, its heroes and nemesis. And that's not the culture of the people.
ReplyDeleteDemo for me too!
Keep up the good work & long live the RCP.