{"id":312,"date":"2025-02-04T18:03:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T00:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/?p=312"},"modified":"2025-02-04T20:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T02:24:07","slug":"mayhem-and-the-middle-finger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/mayhem-and-the-middle-finger\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayhem and the Middle Finger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The disregard for human life by the United States in the wake of natural disasters<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Ulantora M<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before floodwaters from Hurricane Helene receded from devastated mountain towns and valleys of Appalachia, the Biden administration was accused of insulting locals by offering a measly emergency cash grant of $750<\/a> for each affected household. Social media was rife with outraged voices, some pointing out that same the government that dragged its feet when it came to addressing the needs of suffering flood victims, was extremely eager to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into its proxy war in Ukraine and its enthusiastic partnership in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Palestine. Similar concerns arose after the February 2023 derailment and catastrophic chemical fire involving five carloads of toxic vinyl chloride transported on a train run by Norfolk Southern in East Palestine, Ohio. The President didn\u2019t go to East Palestine, not even for a symbolic photo-op trip, but instead made a \u2018surprise\u2019 trip to Kiev, Ukraine where he announced an additional half a billion dollars in military aid on top of the more than $50 billion already doled out for the proxy war. In August that year Maui, Hawaii was devastated by wildfires. Here, residents were offered an initial $700 \u2018critical needs assistance\u2019 payment by FEMA. Biden\u2019s motorcade found its way into Lahaina, but provoked middle fingers,<\/a> as hundreds of angry survivors continued to live in tents and temporary accommodations, resigned to a long and drawn out process of seeking compensation for their losses. Biden\u2019s middle finger to East Palestine, just as his administration\u2019s general disinterest in Appalachia may have also had to do with the fact that in the American liberal atlas, these are parts generally shunned as \u201cTrump country.\u201d It of course did not do anything to help his party\u2019s chances in the elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending FEMA? Really?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each of these instances, the federal government, and its agencies came in for well-deserved criticism, especially on the glaring disconnect between how the U.S. state treats its populations in the wake of domestic emergencies, and how efficiently and generously it attends to its imperialist interests abroad. However, malicious claims<\/a> about federal assistance being diverted to \u201cillegal immigrants\u201d also began to make their way into the social media buzz, especially after the floods in Appalachia. Similarly false claims <\/a>were made by rightwing voices about the causes of inaction by the California state government in the wake of the devastation wrought by wildfires in January 2025. In response to criticisms of the Biden administration\u2019s tepid reactions to these catastrophic events, many liberal media outlets jumped to his defense, vigorously defending FEMA.<\/a> Warning that unfounded criticisms of the agency\u2019s actions could dissuade people from seeking assistance, they pointed out that FEMA\u2019s assistance, actually extends well beyond the initial offer of \u201ccritical needs assistance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

True, FEMA does have a process for people to apply for assistance in order to rebuild shattered lives. But the liberal defense of FEMA and its actions completely overlooked the manner in which the agency has over several decades now, become deeply ensconced within a set of practices that prioritize the privatized delivery of aid, especially through the subcontracting of its operations, in effect turning the agency\u2019s disaster aid into a lucrative source of wealth for private corporations eager to make a buck in the aftermath of a disaster. This facet of FEMA has to do with its structural transformation, discussed in rich detail by several writers. In a book aptly titled Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Vincanne Adams shows how Inner City Fund (ICF)<\/a>, a major beneficiary of federal funds for housing assistance administered by FEMA, secured billions of dollars in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, effectively turning post-disaster reconstruction into a very lucrative venture. Through its \u201cRoad Home\u201d program, ICF managed to rake in impressive profits by denying thousands of applicants the funds they requested for the rebuilding of their homes. In light of this systemic critique<\/em>, the problem with FEMA and the federal government whose priorities and perspectives it represents, is not simply corruption, dishonesty, inefficiency or incompetence. The evidence clearly suggests that FEMA (like many other arms of the U.S. state) have become effective mechanisms for the general purpose of transferring wealth upwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sordid track record<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When FEMA first came in for widespread condemnation after the debacle of post-Katrina<\/a> recovery that it oversaw, it was during the administration of George W Bush. Following the general hysteria that gripped American politics in the months after 911, FEMA was reorganized as an agency under the newly formed gargantuan Department of Homeland Security, and its directorship demoted from a cabinet rank position, to one that reports to the director of Homeland Security. As has been pointed out by scholars examining the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA\u2019s reorganization may have had a lot to do with the way in which its response to disasters became increasingly linked to the ever-expanding scope of \u2018national security,\u2019 and the imperialist mechanics driving the military industrial complex. Mercenaries from the private company Blackwater and an \u201cIsraeli\u201d company with the grotesque monicker \u201cInstinctive Shooting International\u201d were deployed on the ground to \u201csecure\u201d New Orleans, while corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel, both fresh out of their involvement in the destruction, loot and plunder of Iraq, eagerly swooped into the crescent city to gobble up contracts for such activities as distributing trailers to survivors. In other words, FEMA\u2019s transformation reflected a major shift in federal disaster recovery policy, as securitization and tightened links with capitalist interests, along with the embrace of privatization by the duopoly, turned into a set of processes designed to enforce outcomes conducive to the needs and interests of capital. FEMA\u2019s actions \u2013 such as denying and delaying compensation, or the fact that much of its housing \u2018assistance\u2019 takes the form of loans rather than grants, or its penchant for favoring private contractors over directly assisting affected communities, \u2013 must be viewed in light of this shift, rather than as the outcome of inefficiency or corruption. To this one must add the general bias against working class and poorer applicants for aid, often from minority communities, notably in the volume of denied applications or undervalued compensation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missing the point? Oh hell no! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the American political context popular critiques such as those that emerged in the wake of the above disasters frequently get \u201ctranslated\u201d by liberal speak into terms that enable the singular condemnation of the right wing, and that too, on primarily moral and ethical terms, not in terms of a systemic critique that exposes the workings of capital and imperialist policies. But popular critiques of governmental action\/inaction in the wake of tragedies, sometimes shed light \u2013 albeit through the cracks \u2013 on the priorities driving the U.S. state\u2019s singular focus on sustaining and defending empire and capital over and above all else. Insofar as such condemnation of federal antipathy towards disaster victims highlighted the obscenity of funding war and genocide abroad, one can see that the popular critique was absolutely on point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of billions of dollars were poured into the war in Ukraine<\/a> and the genocide in Gaza<\/a>, while during the same period of time millions of Americans were reeling under the impact of disasters. The East Palestine train derailment and fire occurred on February 3rd<\/sup>, 2023. On that same day the U.S. announced a package of $425 million in military aid to Ukraine, that included \u201cGround Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDBs), 181 MRAP vehicles, 250 Javelin anti-armor systems, artillery rounds, 190 heavy machine guns.\u201d This \u201ccare package\u201d was in addition to $1.75 billion just given, to purchase \u201cHAWK air defense units, anti-aircraft guns, radar systems, rockets, Puma drones, mortar rounds, and other munitions.\u201d In addition to the half billion noted earlier that Biden announced during his \u201csurprise\u201d trip to Ukraine, by the end of February, the U.S. government announced up to $2 billion more in funds to purchase \u201cHIMARS munitions, Unmanned Aerial Systems, counter-UAS equipment, and critical ammunition\u201d among other weapons. Endless billions available for war abroad, but not much money afforded to compensate victims of disasters at home. Meanwhile residents of East Palestine continue to await compensation, since Norfolk Southern negotiated a settlement<\/a> that many argue is inadequate to meet costs involved in addressing ailments associated with long-term exposure to toxins. The company had a rough year in 2023 due to the accident, but its profits soared<\/a> again in 2024. Profits can rebound within a year, but the toxic effects of profit accumulation will linger on in the bodies of those with little power to fight back, killing them slowly, and conveniently out of sight of the spectacle-driven news cycle. Hurricane Helene devastated Appalachia between September 24-27, 2024. On September 26th<\/sup>, the Zionist entity announced that it had secured a $8.7 billion \u201caid package\u201d to support its genocide in Gaza, on the same day that FEMA revealed a \u201c9 billion shortfall\u201d<\/a> in funds needed for hurricane relief. This was in addition to a $20 billion package announced by Biden in August, and one for $164 million in early September. The aid package offered to multiple states affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton by the federal government was about $2 billion in total! Of this, only a minuscule portion will eventually find its way as compensation (or as loans) to ordinary people devastated by the floods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accumulation \u00fcber alles?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond funding priorities and allocations, we might also focus attention on the dynamics of capital in its incessant fervor to pursue accumulation at all costs, by exploiting humans and nature. The East Palestine accident was the direct result, not of some exceptional ethical failure, but of a company habituated to shunning safety concerns in order to \u201ccut costs,\u201d and governmental authorities deeply committed to the pursuit of deregulation, and the interests of capital over labor and the environment. In other words, the normalized ethos (and disciplining mechanism) of neoliberal capitalism. Turning to the flooding in Appalachia, we must examine another systemic dimension of contemporary capitalism, its role as the primary global driver of catastrophic climate change. The unprecedented amounts of water carried by the storm was due to warmer than usual waters in the Gulf of Mexico<\/a>, itself the result of planetary heating driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels. Warmer than usual ocean waters<\/a> and the powerful winds they produced were also the reason behind why wildfires in Maui, Hawaii were particularly destructive.\u00a0We might keep in focus what prevailed at the receiving end of these events as well. The water dumped on Appalachia fell on land that over the past two centuries witnessed widespread ecological destruction on behalf of various extractive industries including logging, mining, and hydro-electric dams, all of which led to the loss of native vegetation and soil erosion, in addition to the horrendous human costs involved. These latter include the destruction and displacement of indigenous populations and ways of life, the kidnapping, transportation and multi-generational brutalization of enslaved Africans, and the hyper exploitation of poorer European settler populations. The wildfires that devastated Lahaina were aided in no small part by the extremely dry conditions on an island where capitalist interests, whether those tied to plantations, real estate or tourism, depended and continue to depend upon the rampant exploitation and despoliation of water resources, while poorer indigenous and non-indigenous residents suffer the consequences of water distress<\/a> in addition to high rates of poverty. The Vinyl Chloride that devastated East Palestine is a key petrochemical by-product used in the production of plastics. Despite having a rate of poverty below that of the state, the tiny town epitomizes the long, drawn out decline of industry in the midwest, with its once thriving manufacturing base overshadowed by healthcare and retail companies with few union jobs. Whether we consider Lahaina, East Palestine or Appalachia, we witness behind the obfuscations of rightwing blather or liberal moral posturing, the unmistakable workings of class war, in its full, planetary scope and scale. Business as usual today means one thing: the people and the planet will be sacrificed at the altar of profits, whether these profits accrue from heating up the planet, stealing all the water, endangering entire ecosystems, or pouring untold amounts of mechanized death and suffering upon the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. Our task remains, as it was a hundred years ago: to unite the world\u2019s working, beleaguered, and oppressed peoples, to defend life and hope in the face of the planetary war that has been imposed upon us by capital and its minions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ulantora M<\/p>\n

In the American political context popular critiques such as those that emerged in the wake of recent disasters frequently get \u201ctranslated\u201d by liberal speak into terms that enable the singular condemnation of the right wing, and that too, on primarily moral and ethical terms, not in terms of a systemic critique that exposes the workings of capital and imperialist policies. But popular critiques of governmental action\/inaction in the wake of tragedies, sometimes shed light \u2013 albeit through the cracks \u2013 on the priorities driving the U.S. state\u2019s singular focus on sustaining and defending empire and capital over and above all else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-science-and-climate-change"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/helene.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepartisans.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}