In response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center 22 years ago, the US showed that there is no tragedy that government can't make worse.

Neoconservatives led a bipartisan push to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Congress passed the Patriot Act. The FBI stepped up operations targeting Muslims, but also environmental activists. Politicians militarized the police.

The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan cost nearly a million lives, driving more people to join the jihadists. The rise of the Islamic State a decade later showed that the invasions had only strengthened the forces that neoconservatives claimed to be attacking. The Taliban recapturing Afghanistan in 2021 confirmed the pointlessness of the invasions.

By any metric, the stability of the US government has eroded since 2001. Every time the authorities escalate the conflicts they expose us to and the control they hope to wield over us, they are taking a risk.

For a more detailed analysis:

https://crimethinc.com/texts/french911

One year ago today, the Iranian Guidance Patrol police arrested Jina Mahsa Amini. Allegedly, she was not wearing the hijab in accordance with Iranian state policy. After Jina died at their hands, people across Iran took to the streets, confronting the police and opening up spaces of ungovernable freedom.

https://crimethinc.com/Jina

Today, our thoughts are with those who were killed or imprisoned as a consequence of that uprising, and with all who continue to fight today—in Iran and all around the world. Let's make a world without patriarchal violence. 🏴