Apocalypse Now

There8217;s a woman in a wheelchair, her head against the wall. She8217;s not asleep, she8217;s dead. Someone rests on the floor behind h...

There8217;s a woman in a wheelchair, her head against the wall. She8217;s not asleep, she8217;s dead. Someone rests on the floor behind her. Everlasting sleep. People lined streets with their backs. Dead. At the local hospital, they spread out like human carpets. Dead. Surrounded by others who will die or who are critical. The Convention Centre is packed: 45,000 with no place to go. 8216;8216;It is suffocating in here, there is the smell of faeces, urine8230; there8217;s no electricity or water and food8230; people are dying8230; this is not even a fit place for animals,,,8217;8217; gasped CNN8217;s correspondent.

For once, the international news channels were politically incorrect. In normal times, they wouldn8217;t dare speak so of animals! In normal times, this is how they would relay third world disasters: countless dead, human chaos: 8216;8216;We want help8230; we are in hell8230; we are slowly dying8230;8217;8217;, helpless mothers, missing children, injured men, sick babies, old people in tatters, and near total anarchy with shooting, looting, lawlesslness 8211; destitution, hunger, filth8230; Appalled reporters rail against the lack of preparedness, and government measures which are 8216;8216;too little too late8217;8217;.

So when CNN proclaims 8216;8216;State of Emergency8217;8217; we expect to see Africa or Asia because that8217;s where states of emergency occur, right? But when it describes 8216;8216;a first world, highly materialistic society8217;8217; as jazz singer Lillian Boutte called the United States of America on BBC, you don8217;t know what to think.

Not even after the catastrophic 9/11 did CNN expose the human toll of the attack; during the recent bomb blasts in London, BBC paraded the calm efficiency of London services. Little damage, no criticism. Conversely, for years, the international media has covered natural disasters or even terrorism and insurgency in our part of the world, highlighting the misery of the local population and the shortcomings of relief operations. We8217;re accustomed to this media projection of 8216;dark8217; continents where chaos reigns. Whereas, Europe and USA, in moments of crisis are projected as orderly, efficient and caring. You know, 8216;8216;All things bright and beautiful/All creatures great and small/All things wise and wonderful8217;8217; the Lord God gave them all to the western world.

When Katrina swept Mississippi and Louisiana off their feet, suddenly, everything was altered: we see disorder, chaos, suffering and yes, dead bodies in flooded New Orleans. 8216;8216;No more press conferences,8217;8217; screamed the Mayor of the city, 8216;8216;8230;this is the worst crisis ever8230; everything is doggone too late. Where are the 40,000 troopers? We don8217;t see them8230;8217;8217; Everyone the camera encounters cries out tales of woe; each correspondents looks like he8217;s been hit by a minor tsunami. Like 9/11, coverage of Hurricane Katrina has changed the way we perceive America.

Into the fourth day, the media confronted an issue it doesn8217;t usually publicise but, in this case was impossible to ignore: those bundled into the Convention Centre, were poor, Afro-Americans. CNN talked about 8216;8216;race8217;8217; and acknowledged the vast disparities in the world8217;s most democratic, egalitarian society. Sad but at least, it got talked about.

Until, Friday, when he was seen hugging local residents in New Orleans, President Bush seemed out of place in his dark suits and plush White House surroundings. Appearing in robust good health he behaved, on air, as he is his wont: pugnacious and ready for battle. But this was no Iraq, so he8217;d picked the wrong script for the wrong occasion.