[ssf] comment on katrina

[dave thompson]

hello

just forwarding a very good if (polemical article) on
the implications of katrina

dt


'The New Orleans Disaster: The Real Face of
“Capitalism of the 21st Century”
"Hurricanes may be “natural”, but the lack of advance
planning for prevention, evacuation, and relief are an
entirely human-made disaster."
by: John Peterson on: 5th Sep, 05

“And here it becomes evident, that the bourgeoisie is
unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society,
and to impose its conditions of existence upon society
as an over-riding law. It is unfit to rule because it
is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave
within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him
sink into such a state, that it has to feed him,
instead of being fed by him. Society can no longer
live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, its
existence is no longer compatible with society.” - 
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist
Manifesto

Nearly 100 years ago, V.I. Lenin explained that under
capitalism, life for the vast majority of humanity is
“horror without end”. Misery, degradation, squalor,
hunger, lack of clean water, electricity, and housing
– let alone access to jobs, health care, and education
- is the wretched fate of literally billions of people
on this planet. Until recently for most Americans,
this grim reality existed only in places “far, far
away, about which we know very little” - and in the
American inner cities where the media’s cameras never
shine.

Literally overnight, this has all changed. Now, images
of unimaginable devastation and anguish are splashed
across our TV screens, beamed in not from Bangladesh
or Sri Lanka, but from the historic home of Mardi Gras
and Bourbon Street: New Orleans.

In nature and in society, seemingly routine,
insignificant incidents can set off chains of events
with profound, far-reaching consequences out of all
proportion to their beginnings. In an unstable
situation, in a “system on the edge of chaos”, even
the smallest shock or change can unleash tremendous
forces further down the line. Under certain
conditions, all it takes is one flake of snow or a
single cough to set off an avalanche on a snow-covered
mountain – the proverbial “straw that broke the
camel’s back”.

In the science of Chaos Theory, this is often referred
to as sensitive dependence on initial conditions, or
the “butterfly effect”. Under certain conditions, the
normally insignificant airflow generated by a
butterfly’s wings could in theory let loose
tremendously powerful forces; in other words, this
small amount of energy can push the system “over the
edge”. How much more so a category 4 super storm with
winds exceeding 100 miles an hour? Hurricane Katrina,
which at first appeared to be “just another storm”,
will prove to be just such a “push over the edge”.

The full implications of Katrina’s devastation cannot
be quantified at this point in time. The 2000
election, the attacks of September 11, the collapse of
Enron, and the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq all shook
the consciousness of the American working class. The
accumulated cobwebs of decades of relative lethargy
and indifference to U.S. and world politics were
violently shaken out. Millions of Americans began to
open their eyes to the realities of the world, and
took an increased interest in politics, both local and
global.

Now Katrina, a non-economic, non-political,
non-social, non-military disaster will have vast
economic, political, social, and military
consequences. This force of nature has only just begun
to send the whole decrepit system of U.S. capitalism
reeling. Hurricanes may be “natural”, but the lack of
advance planning for prevention, evacuation, and
relief are an entirely human-made disaster. The full
responsibility for this calamity rests with the
government of G.W. Bush and the entire class he
represents. Every person killed by hurricane Katrina
and its aftermath must be considered a direct casualty
of the war and occupation of Iraq.'

http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=5165



	
		
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