The Second Battle Of New Orleans
By Prorev.com Editor Sam Smith
THE SECOND BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS is already underway: a struggle over how to respond to the greatest natural disaster of
our history. It is far too early to draw conclusions but soon enough for a few questions:
- What will be the iconographic role of this disaster? Will it - as it should - eclipse 9/11 as the central moment of
contemporary history, or will it be subtly reduced to second place so the business at hand in Washington - i.e. whatever
war it is conducting - can continue to retain semiotic hegemony? What is the relative importance of 16 acres in New York
City versus tens of thousands in Louisiana?
- How much will we be willing to pay to restore one of our major cities and its citizens compared to what we have paid
to create a manmade disaster in Iraq or to end constitutional government in the wake of 9/11? Current estimates of
pending special appropriations set the number at something less than 10% of what we are spending annually in Iraq. If
that how we value ourselves?
- Will the meaning of this disaster, like 9/11, be repeatedly distorted by various parties of interest in a manner that
blasphemes the memory of its victims and perverts its history?
- What effect will the fact that many of the victims of 9/11 were white and powerful while many of the victims of New
Orleans' disaster were black and so poor they couldn't get out of town alter the story we come to tell of the event?
Does the mayor's decision to remove police from search and rescue so they could fight looting suggest a demographic
subtext? Is the marketplace worth more than life itself? In what ways would the response to this disaster have been
different if it its major victims had been lighter and wealthier? If the stranded had been in Palm Beach, what would we
have done?
- If FEMA put a Category 5 hurricane in New Orleans on the same level as a terrorist attack in New York City or an
earthquake in San Francisco, why did the White House and the Department of Homeland Security only show substantial
interest in, and fund remedies for, the New York version of potential catastrophe? Does this qualify as criminal
negligence?
- If everyone knew that New Orleans was an accident waiting to happen why were so few precautions taken? As just one
example, why were not residents encouraged to have or provided inflatable rafts and life jackets in their homes along
with the sort of food supplies promoted following 9/11?
- Why does the government and the media persist in the notion that a major disaster requires centralized control - if
not martial law - imposed from Washington? It is clear already that the most competent response to this disaster came at
the local and state level and that the feds weren't even able to provide food, water, shelter and other logistical
supplies in a timely matter. Both common sense and the 10th Amendment dictate that in a major disaster control should
devolve to the governors, not to some covertly selected cabal in Washington. It is interesting to note that while FEMA
and the Pentagon were still trying to get their act together, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell called the governor of
Mississippi to say that 2,500 of his National Guard troops were on their way. In other words, a Democratic and a GOP
governor from vastly different states got matters coordinated even as the monolithically incompetent Bush regime was
still figuring out what to do.
- What lessons can be learn from the fact that the Coast Guard was the best organized federal agency - rescuing 2600
people in few days with only 4,000 personnel? As Jim Ridgeway notes in the Village Voice, "it was the Coast Guard
commander in New York who organized one of the most extraordinary operations maritime rescues since Dunkirk on 9-11,
pulling together, ferries, tugs, yachts, and all sorts of other boats to evacuate half a million people from downtown
New York." One explanation: the Coast Guard is highly decentralized (like local fire departments) with a lot of
authority vested at the local level. It also places a high emphasis on competence, again like fire departments. When you
are in a disaster your best friends are highly qualified rescuers who can make decisions without waiting for
headquarters to tell them what to do.
- Will we finally learn from this experience that we - despite our invasions and our Ipods - are still part of nature,
and must respect and work with it rather than ignoring and exploiting it? Or will we continue to view nature as just
another problem for FEMA and the Corps of Engineers to solve?
- Will we finally suppress the pathological arrogance that has gotten us into such trouble in recent years and try a
little well-founded humility for a change?
- Will it matter? The first Battle of New Orleans was fought several weeks after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. Maybe
this battle will prove too late as well.
FROM UNDERNEWS
FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
EDITED BY SAM SMITH
Since 1964, Washington's most unofficial source
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