Making Sense of the Week That Was: “20 Years Post 9/11 and Beyond”
Grey Swan Guild News Wrap Edition #34 of Volume 1 | 11 September 2021
Editor: Louise Mowbray
This week, we explore how the events of 9/11 and the ensuing years have shaped our world, and how we think about and design for a future we want to live in.
With the events of the last couple of weeks fresh in our minds, we’re struck by the realisation that we will never again be able to think about 9/11 without connecting the dots to the US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August.
It’s a strange dichotomy. The visceral memories and images of unthinkable terror and destruction of lives, dreams, and ideals of freedom in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, juxtaposed with the utter desperation of men, women and children trying to get out of Kabul, abandoned by the west to the unconscionable terrors of once again living under the Taliban.
We are witnessing the unravelling of a narrative that held us all captive and sparked trajectories in how we fight wars, the rise of the surveillance state and our trust in governments and institutions to make the right decisions, for the right reasons, at the right time.
And all of this, in the middle of a global pandemic.
We cannot begin to explore the events of the last couple of decades and their impact on our futures without thinking about human nature. We’re hugely aware of the array of ills and ‘isms, from sexism and racism to nationalism and terrorism, lurking in the darkest corners of our psyches, perpetuating unfathomably inhumane realities.
And with it, the opposing push of altruism, optimism and collectivism, deepened by our common, intensely human experience of a global pandemic.
Do we still have faith in human nature to create a world we want to live in? Somehow, amidst the heaviness of it all, hope springs eternal, illuminating the extraordinary grace inherent in people everywhere. Unsung heroes working tirelessly, often behind the scenes and in great danger to ease the plight of others. Abba’s new song “I still have faith in you”, provides a much-needed anthem to buoy us all at this time.
Today, I was privileged to hear someone’s first-hand account of surviving the attack on the Twin Towers. It was a harrowing, heartwrenching tale and I was both humbled and grateful to be offered a glimpse of the world through their eyes on that fateful day. Where were you, who were you with and what were you doing?
We’d love to hear your thoughts — why not join us on Clubhouse this Sunday the 12th September 2021 at 8am PST | 11am EST | 4pm BST | 5pm SAST to make sense of it all, have your say and engage with your favourite Grey Swan Guild Wrap Editors: Doyle Buehler, Sylvia Gallusser, Sean Moffitt, Agustín Borrazás, Rob Tyrie, Ben Thurman Antonia Nicols and now new additions to our team Esmee Wilcox, Geeta Dhir, Gina Clifford, Su McVey with Clubhouse Captains Howard Fields, Scott Phares and Lindsay Fraser.
Let’s Wrap.
The Great 😇
- Imagine all the people. The ‘Afghan Dreamers’ begin a new life in Doha. A group of young female scientists endured an agonising wait before finally escaping Kabul at the end of August. The girls, aged 15 to 19, managed to get on a flight organised by Qatar’s government, flying to Doha alongside their team members and all without their families. Established by Afghan tech entrepreneur and DCF founder Roya Mahboob in 2017, the team has been widely praised as a shining example of the potential of women’s education in Afghanistan. They participate in competitions around the world helping and inspiring young Afghan women to develop skills in STEM.
- We‘re not going to take it. Generation Z are calling on brands, governments and leaders to help them build a better normal. Over the last five years, Gen Z have come into their own, stepping into adulthood amid a global pandemic and they are “seething with anger at the world they’re inheriting”. Meet the geniunfluencer, who garners followers by being relatable rather than aspirational and sharing public health information instead of ‘sponcon’ (that’s sponsored content— and yes, I had to look it up). This shift follows the 2020’s rise of the everyday hero, in tandem with what the New York Times called “a swift dismantling of the cult of celebrity.” Brands and marketers, take note: “being too aspirational is repellant now.”
- School was in. Over the last two decades, life for many people in Afghanistan has improved and women and girls have seen some of the biggest changes. In 1999, not a single girl was enrolled in a secondary school and only 9,000 were at primary schools. In August there were 3.5 million girls in school and a third of students at public and private universities were women. Women have also been participating in public life, holding political office and pursuing business opportunities. More than 1,000 Afghan women had started their own businesses by 2019 and in July 2021, women held 69 of the 249 seats in the lower house of parliament. What impact will this have on the future of Afghanistan?
The Good 🤩
- Leave no one behind. Twenty years on and two more 9/11 victims have been identified using forensic technology. Forensic scientists are using new DNA technology to test and retest more than 22,000 body parts (mostly bone fragments the size of a Tic Tac), which were recovered from the World Trade Center site. It’s the first positive ID in two years and there are still more than 1,100 victims (at least 40% of those who died on 9/11) that remain unidentified.
- The 9/11 attacks have led to a raft of new inventions and futuristic tech. Some of the innovations stemmed directly from the terrorist attacks, whilst others would have emerged over time if their development hadn’t been escalated by 9/11. A raft of new robots are able to work in precarious positions that are dangerous to humans, enabling both safer and smarter disaster recovery — think earthquakes and other natural disasters, oil spills and nuclear sites. We also have better translation software, skyscraper design, CT scanners, and wireless tech, which has given rise to instant news via citizen reporters. And the more controversial lasers, drones, exoskeletons, crowd surveillance and bio-monitoring. All disruptions create disruptors.
- Fly me to the moon. The first commercial flight left Kabul for Doha on Thursday. More than 100 passengers arrived in Doha, Qatar after flying from Kabul airport on the first flight ferrying foreigners out since the US-led evacuation ended. Hot on its wings, a second flight left on Friday carrying 158 passengers including US, German, Canadian, French, Dutch, British, Belgian and Mauritanian nationals. Numerous countries, including the UK and the US, have relocated their embassies from Kabul to Doha in the aftermath of the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan last month making obtaining visas and travel documents really tricky.
The Bad 😬
- 1984. The post-9/11 surveillance state has become de rigueur the world over. China and India are the countries with the highest densities of CCTV surveillance cameras in urban areas and facial recognition is on the rise. Not to mention our online lives where we are tracked and traced 24/7. Surveillance has clearly become a way of life — all under the original auspices of protecting us from terrorism and bad actors. And today, in the midst of a pandemic, we have an additional common enemy in the form of a virus, making bio-metric surveillance increasingly acceptable. If we think we can fly under the wire, we need to think again.
- I spy. The head of the UK’s MI5, Ken McCallum has warned of a ‘morale boost’ for extremists in the wake of the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan. McCallum revealed the number of terrorist plots the UK Security Service has to deal with has grown since the September 11 attacks on the US twenty years ago, but they are generally smaller and less sophisticated. He also revealed his officers and the police have foiled six “late-stage” plots during the pandemic and are preparing for the possibility of a greater security risk to the UK flowing from Afghanistan following the exit of all US, British and other allied forces.
- 9/11 Changed travel forever. Twenty years ago, 19 hijackers were able to board four different domestic flights in the northeastern US in a series of coordinated terror attacks that claimed almost 3,000 lives. Flying in America and the rest of the world would never be the same again. It had been nearly 30 years since the Palestinian terrorist attacks at Rome airport in 1973, which killed 34 people and demonstrated that air travel was vulnerable to international terrorism. This changed the whole security structure in Europe and in the Middle East in a way that didn’t really have an impact on the US until 9/11.
The Ugly 😱
- Taliban fighters have killed four people during recent protests. Demonstrations demanding respect for women’s rights and greater freedoms have taken place across Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul on the 15th of August. A women-led march in Kabul on Tuesday was put down violently, with the regime’s fighters firing into the air and using whips, batons and rifle butts on marchers and detaining and beating journalists who were covering the protests. On Wednesday they banned unauthorised gatherings and a day later they ordered telecommunications companies to shut off mobile internet in Kabul. Despite their rhetoric, this is, without doubt, the Taliban we remember. However, the people of Afghanistan have changed over the last twenty years and we are watching to see how this will unfold. Beyond ugly.
- Fighting from afar has far-reaching ramifications. In October 2001, nearly one month after the September 11 attacks, a US Air Force pilot made history as the first person to conduct a lethal strike with a modern drone — the Predator. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that since 2015, the US has conducted more than 14,000 drone strikes in Afghanistan alone. Whilst distance from a target may appear to make this type of warfare less risky and more precise, the impact on all concerned tells a very different story. Large numbers of Drone pilots experience PTSD, victims are killed indiscriminately without trial and collateral damage is always inhumanely high, fostering life-long, deeply seated hatred and a quest for revenge. Unimaginably ugly.
- If you want to get a no-holds-barred perspective on the last couple of decades, watch Netflix’s “Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror”. The series documents the 9/11 terrorist attacks, from Al Qaeda’s roots in the 1980s to America’s response, both at home and abroad. It’s raw and real taking the viewer through five episodes and countless iterations of unquestionably bad judgement, human rights injustices, misleading public narratives, systemic corruption and the stark reality on the ground for Afghans as they grapple with new/old realities. It’s definitely ugly.
The Grey Zone of Uncertainty 🧐
- Cyberspace and Outerspace — our new frontiers for war? Cyberspace and outer space enhance our defence and national security capabilities, however, our increasing dependence on continuous access to both makes us vulnerable. These domains can be a source of unity and vision for humanity, but they can also be a source of tension and discord — and could easily be misused in the conduct of war. The world’s dependence on the internet has outpaced efforts at effective cybersecurity, which creates serious vulnerabilities for defence and national security. In space, the satellite network that encircles the globe is an essential part of modern life, however, armed forces have also become reliant on space assets for military operations and they provide the eyes and ears that enable nuclear verification. Watch this space.
- Nature abhors a vacuum. China has been quick to step in with emergency aid to Afghanistan. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged 200 million yuan ($31m /£22m) worth of aid at a meeting this Wednesday, with counterparts from several of Afghanistan’s neighbours — Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. He called on these countries to cooperate in helping Afghanistan, adding that China would also provide 3 million vaccine doses to the country. However, Beijing has struggled to sell this cautious alliance to some parts of the Chinese public that are repulsed by the Taliban. China has also been vocally critical about the US withdrawal, saying its troops had “wreaked havoc” in Afghanistan.
- Are Americans weary of war? A sizable majority of Americans believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were “not worth fighting,” according to an AP-NORC poll released this week. 62% Of respondents told pollsters that the war in Afghanistan had not been worth it, while 63% said the same about the war in Iraq. Top of the list of worries was “the spread of misinformation” (75%) followed by “cyberattacks” (67%), “the spread of infectious diseases” and “the danger of extremists in the U.S.” (65%), “China’s influence around the world” (57%), “climate change” (53%), “the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea” (48%) and “illegal immigration” (45%).
Map of the Week:
In its most benign form, facial recognition technology is a convenient way to unlock your smartphone. However, at the state level, facial recognition is a key component of mass surveillance and it already touches half the global population on a regular basis.
Data of the Week:
How has life changed for women and girls in Afghanistan in the last 20 years?
Chart of the Week:
Meme of the Week:
Photo of the Week:
A polar bear rests on the ice off Russia’s Franz Josef Land archipelago. Scientists report that the arctic sea ice is melting faster than previously thought.
About Us:
This week is edition #34 of a compendium of stories and headlines we’re tracking in the Grey Swan Guild’s Global League of Sensemakers’ Newsroom. Imagine a newsroom that went deeper, had little bias and didn’t have to get their points across in 40-second sound bytes or linkbait headlines. That’s us.
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This month our Feature Guild City of the month is Seattle. If you know of passionate leaders, thinkers or change agents from Emerald City, release the Kraken and have them join our Guild and our Seattle Guild Town Hall September 22.
We have opened up another Medium and Clubhouse flank to the Grey Swan. Based on the pioneering successes of our Grey Swan News Wrap effort we have created “The Futures & Sensemaking” Series with an array of articles forthcoming about the why and how of making sense of the world. Our first well-attended session happened this last Friday on “Why Futures and Foresights Matter?” Next up Episode #2 is “Why Sensemaking & Critical Thinking Matter?” on Friday, September 24th. Join us as we peel back the curtain on how the best among us make sense of the world.
Next week is Grey Swan News Wrap #35 — “Making Sense of the Week that Was” authored by lead editor Rob Tyrie and supported by editor Antonia Nicols with the theme of Hybrid Work — The Future Flexibility of Work, Winners & Losers.
