Issue 37: 9/11 A Decade later (9/11/2011)

A series of articles published the week of September 11th, 2011 that reflect on what's happened in the last decade in the U.S., within the South Asian, Muslim and Arab community, and in countries abroad in such places as the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.  

Articles in this Issue

On 9/11 and the War on "Terror": Names, Numbers and Events

Categories and names are often misleading, even for those of us who are often wary of the dominant rhetoric. As much as we want to escape it, dominant discourse is only there to shape our ideas and reactions, as is the case of the rhetoric surrounding 9/11; of good and evil, of war, liberation, and of spreading democracy.   Here, we write to challenge these slogans and policies hoping that one day they will go away.

Magid Shihade
A Decade of Detention: The Post 9/11 Immigrant Dragnet

Immigration law, once a set of civil administrative rules to regulate population flow – has become part of the enforcement apparatus of a government that functions increasingly as a police state. The politics of fear have changed the whole nature of the immigration system.

Silky Shah
The Decade in American Islamophobia

To me, 9/11 took a city I love and broke my heart. As a turning point in American history, this moment took the racial diversity in New York City and quickly turned that complexity into suspicion, scapegoating, and racism – heralding the Age of Terror in which Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism are widespread.

Junaid Rana
September 11th and the Future We've Built

By placing civilian law enforcement on a single continuum with military options, the government has set the stage for the (further) militarization of American society.

Ramzi Kassem
Wrestling the Dinosaur: Reflections on the Post 9/11 Decade

American imperialism is like a dinosaur fighting extinction.  There are two long term trajectories that have continuously intersected and are leading to its failure - the “super power” infrastructure of mass violence that gave rise to insurgents and the structural flaw in capitalism that will leave the current economic crisis unrecoverable.  

Biju Mathew