On September 11, 2001 the world changed with the attack on the World Trade Center towers. Now on the 20th anniversary of that fateful day, Vijay Prashad and Medea Benjamin discuss the international and domestic consequences of that fateful day. It immediately led to the War on Terror and the further militarization of the imperial role of the United States and the destabilization of the Middle East. At the same time it promoted a fortress America mentality and fear of Moslems (later extended by Trump to Mexican and Central American immigrants). It led to a surveillance state and limitation of civil liberties. It fed a growing military-industrial-Congressional- media complex. And on and on to where we find ourselves today.Yet, much of this was not that new. It was a continuation and acceleration of trends that had long been underway.
Vijay Prashad is Executive-Director of Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. He is author of The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, Washington Bullets, and nearly 30 other books. Prashad has taught at Trinity College in the U.S., the American University in Beirut and currently is a senior non-resident fellow at the Renmin University of China. He is Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, correspondent for Globetrotter Media and columnist for Frontline. His webinar for the Center for Global Justice last May on President Biden’s foreign policy went viral with over 10,000 views on YouTube.
Medea Benjamin is founder of Code Pink and familiar activist for her protests at the U.S. Congress and around Washington. In 2013 Benjamin repeatedly interrupted a speech by President Obama on the War on Terror. After she was removed he said "The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to," although he disagreed with her. In addition to being a tireless activist on many fronts, she has found the time to write several books, among them Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control and Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection.