The scars of terror
Yesterday, a year after the terrorist attacks on the US, Americans grieved for their dead and honored them with dignified and humane reports across the media. But, beyond the human pain sown by the events of last September 11, how have our lives changed since then? There is certainly more fear. The anxiety that the person next to us could be a terrorist, contriving plots and intrigues at any given moment, has not been placated. Even in our domestic affairs, if you dig deep enough into in our grotesque pursuit of terrorists, in the enlisting of «civilian agents» to trail fellow-citizens in the hope of digging some dirt on November 17 frontman Dimitris Koufodinas, you will find the same worldwide fear. This is exactly what Noam Chomsky meant when he said that terrorist atrocities laid the ideal groundwork for the acceleration of militarism, the reversal of social democratic programs, the restriction of wealth to ever-smaller spheres and the manipulation of democracy. This fear has corroded the sturdy foundations of our resistance, the resolute «no» of the citizen, the consumer, the taxpayer. The distinctions between victim and predator are blurred as never before; we even reached the stage of organizing a joint consumer boycott with the government… And this fear has sown the seeds of an obdurate suspicion – from now on, we are all guilty until proven innocent.
