Occupied New Orleans: A Brief History
New Orleans is no stranger to occupation. The swampland between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain has been occupied for nearly three centuries, beginning when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville first took the Chitimacha settlement in 1718. It was then turned over to the Spanish crown in 1763, back to the French in 1801, sold to the Americans in 1803, occupied by the north during the latter years of the Civil War, and open to exploitation by oligarchs and financiers ever since.
Given its pre-American history, New Orleans has always been more culturally complex than the country that came to contain it. This city knew Creoles, free people of color (“gens de couleur libre”), quadroons andoctoroons, while Americans saw things in terms of white and black. The latter’s dichotomous worldview was ultimately thrust upon the pre-existing system of Creole social gradation, thus threatening social instability. Meanwhile, a linguistic element of cultural cleavage was added, as the new occupiers spoke English. They
American Crisis Politics
American voters now have a clear view of who they can vote for next year, with Barack Obama as the Democrats’ certain candidate and Mitt Romney as the Republicans’. Both candidates offer much the same prescriptions for the multiple crises facing their country — more war and military spending, lower taxes (certainly no big hike for the rich), more bank bailouts, trickle-down economics for the unemployed and the disintegrating environment.
If Barack and Mitt are the best the political elite can come up with, we can only conclude that the entire American ruling class is suffering from acute paranoid schizophrenia — fearing commies-turned-Muslims under their beds, shedding tears over the odd child hit by a stray bullet in, say, Syria, while joyously bombing hapless Afghans, Iraqs and Libyans into the Stone Age, wiping out hundreds of thousands in the process.
Obama said Saturday that the US now must tackle its “greatest challenge as a nation” — rebuilding a weak
Marine Down in Police Attack on Occupy Oakland
Marine Scott Olsen made it through two tours in Iraq without an injury, but back home in the United States he was critically wounded by a police riot. Heavily-armed police injured Olsen and other unarmed citizens on October 25 when they attacked the non-violent Occupy Oakland.
Olsen, 24, had his skull fractured by a police projectile and is experiencing traumatic brain swelling. He apparently sustained the most serious injury nationwide among occupiers and is at risk for brain damage.
Olsen’s roommate and buddy Keith Shannon, who served with him in Iraq, rushed to Highland Hospital, as did other friends. The hospital described him as being in a “serious but stable” condition. He apparently had been unable to say his surname and was sedated on a respirator. “They are waiting for a neurosurgeon to examine
We Shall Not Be Moved
Until recent events proved otherwise, the hyper-commercialized surface of the corporate state gave the appearance of being too diffuse–too devoid of a center to pose a threat of totalitarian excess. Accordingly, as of late, due to the violent response to OWS protesters by local police departments in Oakland, Atlanta, Chicago, and in other U.S. cities, the repressive nature of the faux republic is beginning to be revealed.
Behind the bland face of the political establishment (purchased by the bloated profits of the plundering class) are riot cops, outfitted and armed with the accoutrements of oppression, who are ready and willing to enforce the dictates of the elitist beneficiaries of the degraded status quo. In deed and action, as of late, the police state embedded within neo-liberal economic oligarchy is showing its hyper-authoritarian proclivities to the world.
In general, existence within the present societal structure inflicts on the individual a sense of atomization and its concomitant feelings of alienation, vague unease, free floating anxiety and anomie. The coercion is implicit and