<nettime> We must build social power, not pretend we can hold the powerful to account. (on 9/11)

[Dmytri Kleiner <dk@telekommunisten.net>]

The day after the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks a discusion

broke out on the theory list of the wonderful "Philadelphia Socialists"[1]

group, triggered by a CunterPunch article that critiques 9/11 conspiracy 
theory[2].

Cockburn's article includes this important point:

"These days a dwindling number of leftists learn their political economy 
from Marx. Into the theoretical and strategic void has crept a diffuse, 
peripatic conspiracist view of the world that tends to locate ruling class

devilry not in the crises of capital accumulation, or the falling rate of 
profit, or inter-imperial competition, but in locale (the Bohemian Grove, 
Bilderberg, Ditchley, Davos) or supposedly ârogueâ agencies, with the CIA 
still at the head of the list."

This is quite well said! Other than perhaps recommending a few other 
critics of political economy to go along with Marx, I couldn't agree more 
with Mr Cockburn!

However, rather than continue this line of reasoning and give us a 
materialist analysis of the events of September 11, Cockburn instead dives

head first into the Conspiracy theory muck. Cockburn unleashes a 
bewildering number of arguments rooted in demolition logistics, air
defense 
and flight control procedures and the capacity and competency of 
intelligence agencies, the military and the United States Government, 
because unlike the wild-eyed Truthers, Mr. Cockburn, apparently, really 
does knows what happened. Really. He does.

Not only are Cockburn's claims just as much riddled with bias and fallacy 
as those of the Truthers, but they also require us to make judgements 
based on subjects most of us can not possibly be very literate in. 

But even worse, he misses his own point, as quoted above.

The trouble with Truthers is not that they are wrong, it is, exactly 
as Cockburn writes, that they locate class conflict as being a consequence

of some bad-apple politicians and organisations, and not in the crisis of 
capital accumulation.

Let's be clear here, "Conspiracy Theory" is a bit of a misnomer. The 
official version of events is that an underground network of Islamists 
planed and carried out these attacks in secret.

Isn't that a conspiracy?

So, the issue is not so much whether or not there was a conspiracy, but
who was involved in it. Given the well documented inter-connections between
intelligence agencies and terror networks it is clear that we can not
possibly know how far or wide the network spreads. Certainly, whether by
plot or blowback, the events of 9/11 must be connected to anti-Soviet
geostrategy during the cold war. And clearly, governments world-wide have
seized the opportunity to impose counter-insurrectionist police states and
to justify interventions and wars.

Should we really be blaming the masses for being suspicious of the whole 
thing? Should we really be berating the masses about the malleability of
steel at 
1000 degrees centigrade, the ideal timing of demolition charges relative
to 
aircraft impact, and disputing how long it really ought to take air 
defense to intercept rogue aircraft? WTF? Can't we just stick to politics 
and leave the make-believe popular science posturing alone?

The botom line is even if we could know "The Truth," we can't hold the 
powerful to account. They are not accountable to us. The illegal and 
immoral is commonplace in the administration of class war and empire. 
Knowing the incriminating details will not help us overthrow the class 
structure. The Truth will not set us free.

Why should I care if the events of 9/11 where planned in Tora Bora, Camp 
David or a Starbucks on Madison Avenue? They are clearly the consequence
of 
the struggle for Capital accumulation, regardless of the operational
details.

In order to prevent such events we need to build social power and abolish 
class. Instead of wasting our time telling people they are wrong about
what 
"really happened" how about we argue that such conflicts would not happen 
in a society without classes, and that getting at "The Truth" is not so 
important as building this new society?

In any case, we will certainly get to the bottom of it and figure out the 
"Real Truth" tonight at Cafe Buchhandlung[3]. Personally, I'm convinced it

was Colonel Mustard with the Candlestick in the Billiard Room.

I'll be there at 9pm as usual.


[1] http://phillysocialists.org/ 
[2]
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/02/the-911-conspiracists-vindicated-after...

[3] http://j.mp/buchhandlung

-- 
Dmyri Kleiner
Venture Communist

http://dmytri.info


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