Exactly twelve years ago, the world watched in a perplexed way the collapse of the famous Twin Towers, the Word Trade Center, after the consecutive collisions of two commercial planes. This was not a mere plane crash – which many may have thought after the crash of the first plane – but rather the execution of a plan headed by Osama bin Laden. Adding up the two attacks on the Towers, the attack on the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on the same day, nearly three thousand people died. Since that morning of September 11, 2001, not just the history of the United States, but that of the entire world, would never be the same.
But to understand a little better what “September 11” was, it is necessary to consider, at least in general terms, the type of a relationship built decades earlier between East and West, a fact that would foster the hatred of radical and fundamentalists. As is well known, the 20th century was marked by the full development of capitalism in the world with its crowning as the dominant economic system with the end of the Cold War between the 80s and 90s. Thus, historically, the great world powers located in the West increasingly undertook the project of expanding their economic, political and ideological powers in the world, seeing in the East an opportunity for exploration, mainly due to regional characteristics: rich in oil reserves, in addition to a strategic position geographically. Both for the fight against the expansion of the socialist bloc in the Middle East (in the middle of the Cold War), as well as for the pretext of providing and finance economic development, the presence of Western powers – especially the United States – was becoming a reality in that region.
However, it must be said that if this objective of the Western capitalist countries in being able to exploit the East is not something new, in the same way, the repudiation and contestation of the western presence by portions of the population of various countries in this area is not new. region. Obviously, the presence of other countries reveals the weakening and loss of autonomy and sovereignty of a nation. In other words, it would be suggested that the Western presence would harm the countries of the East, since they (thus like other countries in the so-called periphery of capitalism) should submit their interests to those of foreign capital, western. In addition, naturally, in the heart of capitalism comes its cultural industry, as well as its values, which they would certainly go against the Orient's culture and religious tradition, inciting an estrangement from the point of ethnic view.
In the mid-1990s, the Persian Gulf War, waged by the United States, would be a proof of its interest in being present. Likewise, the attempt to mediate an agreement on Middle East issues between Palestinians and Israelis would be another example. However, the closer approach and support for countries like Israel would not go unnoticed. According to the website of Jornal Estadão (O Estado de São Paulo), in an article published in September 2009, Bin Laden claimed that one of the Factors that would have motivated the attack on the Twin Towers would be US support (not just political but also financial) for Israel. A country of Jewish tradition, Israel is historically an enemy of the Palestinian people (mostly Islamic), a fact that would place it as an enemy nation of Islam.
However, these issues are much more complex than what is exposed here, but in general terms they indicate what would be the raw material for the strengthening of a hatred of the West that would find its bases in a religious fundamentalism of an Islamic nature, a fundamentalism that would declare war saint. It is noteworthy that this would not necessarily translate the opinion of all the people of the East in general, but of extremist groups such as AL-Qaeda, Hezbollah, among other more radical ones. These would be the bases of a thought that, in 2001, would materialize with the attacks on the Word Trade Center. The greatest representative of this western culture and its economic system that generated exploitation and misery were the United States and thus the sumptuousness and grandeur of the two towers would be symbols of the enemy.
The US reaction to the attacks was swift, resulting in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, although the effectiveness of the motives and results of these endeavors is debated to this day. Almost schizophrenic, the United States declared a permanent war on terror, against the countries that could being part of the so-called “axis of evil”, and who could be involved directly or indirectly with terrorism, supporting Osama Bin Laden What followed was the spread of an international fear of possible attacks, in addition to prejudice. and intolerance against the Islamic community, one of the most negative consequences of all this episode.
This outburst against terrorism and the fight against an enemy of the West, personified in the figure of Osama bin Laden – to the point of Bush administration disregarding existing opinions and treaties among the international community, declaring wars and invasions as in the case of Iraq – it boils down to a decade of wars and deaths of civilians and soldiers (also Americans) in the name of a peace that is not yet guaranteed. The actions were in the name of a pre-emptive attack against possible terrorist actions (which in time should be dismantled) and, therefore, it would be interesting to create a coalition of countries. Thus, European nations like England joined the Bush administration's war plans. Such adhesion gained more sense when, over this ten-year period, some attacks (of lesser proportions) took place in important cities such as Madrid (in 2004) and London (2005).
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At first, efforts focused on Afghanistan to dismantle the Taliban regime (supporters of Bin Laden, logo of Al Qaeda), with a project, at least contradictory, to impose democracy as a political regime for that parents. Then, the United States redirected its war strategy, attacking the Iraq of the dictator Saddam Hussein with the purpose of also bringing democracy. At least in theory, the war against Iraq was due to the possible support of Saddam to the terrorist organizations, in addition to their alleged ownership and production of nuclear weapons (for mass destruction), indictment is later disproved. Thus, they were countries that made up the axis of evil.
However, looking critically not only at the result, but at the conditions for the development of these actions in the United States, experts say that between the lines of these projects against terror was a project to expand and strengthen US hegemony in the world and which had the issue of combating terrorism more as a pretext than an objective.
Ten years later, it is possible to make a brief assessment of the transformations that have taken place in the world order, relating them to these infamous attacks on a September morning in New York. Although Osama bin Laden has been dead since May 2011, and despite the fact that the United States has occupied Afghanistan and the Iraq (incidentally, with the capture of Saddam and his death sentence later), the American victory did not necessarily take the form of content.
Some trillions of dollars were (and still will be) disbursed by the US government in the name of the war, what if added to the national economic policy in recent years, made the United States substantially increase its debt. Economic crises, such as those in 2008 and 2011, faced by the country (and, obviously, the world) would contribute to the weakening of the American hegemony, which now shares space with countries with strong economic growth such as China (not to mention the strengthening of others that make up the BRICS, such as the Brazil). Thus, the madness for a hunt for terrorists, but which had as its real objective to enhance American power in the world, resulted in a great failure. In such a way, the United States came out diminished, smaller than when it entered the wars. In other words, there was a weakening of US imperialism (although it is indisputable that the US is and will be powerful for a long time, given its power war, technological and financial in the world), and a consequent re-articulation of international actors, with the emergence of new blocs and the reorientation of relations between the countries.
Furthermore, the fight against terror promoted the exacerbation of xenophobia, intolerance, persecution to Islam, as well as controversial practices by state forces in the name of security and defense nationals. Proof of this would be the regrettable mistake made by the English government in killing a Brazilian (Jean Charles de Menezes) in 2005, for confusing him with a suspected terrorist.
In fact, some points are worth mentioning: there was no other attack of the same proportions as the ones of 9/11, and al-Qaeda really weakened with the death of bin Laden. However, this does not mean, unfortunately, that other events of a terrorist nature will not occur. After all, the way the United States intervened only amplified its negative image to the East, the which may allow, for some, the discourse of radical and fundamentalist groups to make more sense than Never. Even so, one can think of a less pessimistic assessment when looking at the "Arab Spring" (Political Revolution that has transformed regimes such as Egypt and Libya), since young people in the East would be realizing the importance of political struggle, losing interest in radical measures and violence so characteristic of religious extremism, a fact that could reduce adherents to groups fundamentalists. Thus, fewer young people might be interested in becoming suicide pilots in the name of Allah and nationalism, but understanding other possibilities of struggle.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
