In today's America, only the wealthy will be saved from natural disasters
- From: Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names <PopUlist349@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:35:04 -0700
Rapture Rescue 911: Disaster Response for the Chosen
By Naomi Klein, The Nation
Posted on November 3, 2007, Printed on November 3, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/66743/
I used to worry that the United States was in the grip of extremists
who sincerely believed that the Apocalypse was coming and that they
and their friends would be airlifted to heavenly safety. I have since
reconsidered. The country is indeed in the grip of extremists who are
determined to act out the biblical climax -- the saving of the chosen
and the burning of the masses -- but without any divine intervention.
Heaven can wait. Thanks to the booming business of privatized disaster
services, we're getting the Rapture right here on earth.
Just look at what is happening in Southern California. Even as
wildfires devoured whole swaths of the region, some homes in the heart
of the inferno were left intact, as if saved by a higher power. But it
wasn't the hand of God; in several cases it was the handiwork of
Firebreak Spray Systems. Firebreak is a special service offered to
customers of insurance giant American International Group -- but only
if they happen to live in the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country.
Members of the company's Private Client Group pay an average of
$19,000 to have their homes sprayed with fire retardant. During the
wildfires, the "mobile units" -- racing around in red fire-trucks --
even extinguished fires for their clients.
One customer described a scene of modern-day Revelation. "Just picture
it. Here you are in that raging wildfire. Smoke everywhere. Flames
everywhere. Plumes of smoke coming up over the hills," he told the Los
Angeles Times. "Here's a couple guys showing up in what looks like a
firetruck who are experts trained in fighting wildfire and they're
there specifically to protect your home."
And your home alone. "There were a few instances," one of the private
firefighters told Bloomberg News, "where we were spraying and the
neighbor's house went up like a candle." With public fire departments
cut to the bone, gone are the days of Rapid Response, when everyone
was entitled to equal protection. Now, increasingly intense natural
disasters will be met with the new model: Rapture Response.
During last year's hurricane season, Florida homeowners were offered
similarly high-priced salvation by HelpJet, a travel agency launched
with promises to turn "a hurricane evacuation into a jet-setter
vacation." For an annual fee, a company concierge takes care of
everything: transport to the air terminal, luxurious travel, bookings
at five-star resorts. Most of all, HelpJet is an escape hatch from the
kind of government failure on display during Katrina. "No standing in
lines, no hassle with crowds, just a first class experience."
HelpJet is about to get some serious competition from some much larger
players. In northern Michigan, during the same week that the
California fires raged, the rural community of Pellston was in the
grip of an intense public debate. The village is about to become the
headquarters for the first fully privatized national disaster response
center. The plan is the brainchild of Sovereign Deed, a little-known
start-up with links to the mercenary firm Triple Canopy. Like HelpJet,
Sovereign Deed works on a "country-club type membership fee,"
according to the company's vice president, retired Brig. Gen. Richard
Mills. In exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000 followed by annual
dues of $15,000, members receive "comprehensive catastrophe response
services" should their city be hit by a manmade disaster that can
"cause severe threats to public health and/or well-being" (read: a
terrorist attack), a disease outbreak or a natural disaster. Basic
membership includes access to medicine, water and food, while those
who pay for "premium tiered services" will be eligible for VIP rescue
missions.
Like so many private disaster companies, Sovereign Deed is selling
escape from climate change and the failed state -- by touting the
security clearance and connections its executives amassed while
working for that same state. So Mills, speaking recently in Pellston,
explained, "The reality of FEMA is that it has no infrastructure, and
a lot of our National Guard is elsewhere." Sovereign Deed, on the
other hand, claims to have "direct access and special arrangements
with several national and international information centers. These
proprietary arrangements allow our Emergency Operations Center
to...give our Members that critical head start in times of crisis." In
this secular version of the Rapture, God's hand is unnecessary. Not
when you have retired ex-CIA agents and ex-Special Forces lifting the
chosen to safety -- no need to pray, just pay. And who needs a
celestial New Jerusalem when you can have Pellston, with its flexible
local politicians and its surprisingly modern regional airport?
Sovereign Deed could soon find itself competing with Blackwater USA,
whose CEO, Erik Prince, wrote recently of his plans to offer "full
spectrum" services, including humanitarian aid in disasters. When
fires broke out in San Diego County, near the proposed site of the
controversial Blackwater West base, the company immediately seized the
opportunity to make its case. Blackwater could have been the "tactical
operation center for East County fires," said company vice president
Brian Bonfiglio. "Can you imagine how much of a benefit it would be if
we were operational now?" To show off its capacity, Blackwater has
been distributing badly needed food and blankets to people of Potrero,
California. "This is something we've always done," Bonfiglio said.
"This is what we do." Actually, what Blackwater does, as Iraqis have
painfully learned, is not protect entire communities or countries but
"protect the principal" -- the principal being whoever has paid
Blackwater for its guns and gear.
The same pay-to-be-saved logic governs this entire new sector of
country club disaster management. There is, of course, another
principle that could guide our collective responses in a disaster-
prone world: the simple conviction that every life is of equal value.
For anyone out there who still believes in that wild idea, the time
has urgently arrived to protect the principle.
Naomi Klein is the author of Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster
Capitalism.
© 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/66743/
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