[Air-l] the september project

[ericka menchen]

In an effort not to further the silence on the
subject, my reading of the project web site lead me to
Gina's interpretation as well. Perhaps this is not
directly stated but I clearly read it between the
lines, although perhaps I'm an optimist.
-Ericka Menchen

--- air-l-request at aoir.org wrote:
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> 
> Message: 1
> From: "Gina Neff" <ginasue at panix.com>
> To: <air-l at aoir.org>
> Subject: RE: [Air-l] the september project:
> invitation to get involved
> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 17:47:55 -0700
> Reply-To: air-l at aoir.org
> 
> I'm going to respond on list with the expectation
> that several of us may
> need to move the conversation off list if it
> develops. 
> 
> I think that the conceptual work behind the
> September Project is
> actually brilliant -- the project offers a way to
> subvert the
> overwhelmingly militaristic definition of a
> historical moment that,
> frankly, resonates deeply with people inside the
> United States,
> regardless of their political tendencies. The
> September Project does
> this by refusing to continue to allow the unexamined
> association between
> Sept. 11 and a right-wing agenda, and it does so
> *without* resorting to
> a politics of contention. Within the current,
> highly-charged political
> environment here in the U.S., this dual move is
> critical to the success
> of any oppositional politics. 
> 
> What it means to be American in a globalized world
> will prove to be the
> most challenging and important question for
> progressive social movements
> within the United States. I would argue that any
> movement *within* the
> United States that attempts to be a mass, broad
> social movement must
> take on some kind of answer to that question; and
> cannot as those of you
> abroad might say, "quite enough already." Nor can
> this answer be framed
> in anti-patriotic terms if it is to be a successful
> mass movement within
> the U.S. If there's anything "sinister" in the
> September project, it is
> that is the pure subversion of dominant ideological
> paradigms within the
> United States.
> 
> I think many activists in the U.S. would agree that
> these expressions of
> re-thinking and re-defining 9/11 would necessarily
> happen in different
> ways in different countries (and might even hope
> that those expressions
> include mass protests against the behavior of the
> U.S. government). And
> different responses are to be expected given the
> cultural and historical
> differences in the dominant ideological paradigms
> within different
> countries. But frankly, the world can't afford to
> have American citizens
> to throw up their hands and cede the rhetorical
> control of 9/11 to the
> U.S. right wing. Nor can the world afford to have
> citizens in other
> countries sit idly by and watch. 
> 
> Gina Neff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:42:50 -0300
> From: Maximilian Forte <mcforte at kacike.org>
> Subject: Re: [Air-l] the september project:
> invitation to get involved
> To: air-l at aoir.org
> Reply-To: air-l at aoir.org
> 
> This is very interesting Gina, as an interpretation
> of what I said the
> original message left unspoken. When I visited the
> website, I personally got
> no sense whatsoever of anything you mentioned in
> your message. Perhaps you
> have more intimate knowledge of this project. Let me
> just say that I hope
> you are right in the interpretation you offered in
> your message.
> 
> In the event that you are correct, and that this is
> a brilliant project, I
> would be interested in learning the methods and
> means by which messages such
> as yours will be conveyed and coordinated through a
> vast network of
> libraries, and who the prime movers will be in
> ensuring that just such a
> message gets across.
> 
> As for my comment on the exact quote I extracted, I
> believe that my comment
> still stands. Anyhow, I very much appreciate your
> comments. You will be
> probably be one of the very few with the courage to
> address this topic on
> list...otherwise, as you will notice, the silence is
> deafening.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Maximilian C. Forte
> 
>