The events of 11th September 2001 changed the course of history. As last week’s leader puts it: “Everyone of a certain age can remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the al-Qaeda attacks on the Pentagon and Pennsylvania and the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.” The sheer scale and audacity of the attack presented a new kind of threat for the globalised age, as did the shock of something happening on American soil, previously seen as untouchable.
In the New Statesman‘s 9/11 special, we asked writers, politicians, and activists to remember where they were when they heard the news. Here are their responses. Please feel free to share your own memories in the comment box below.
Elizabeth Turner, author of The Blue Skies of Autumn
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Jonathon Powell, former chief of staff at 10 Downing Street
Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief, AOL Huffington Post Media Group
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Stephen Evans, BBC journalist
Omar Bin Laden, son of Osama
Louis Susman, US ambassador to the UK, 2009 to date
Kay Burley, Sky News presenter
Ken Livingstone, former mayor of London
Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and The Border
Moazzam Begg, former Guantanamo Bay detainee
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Libery
Abdel Bari Atwan, editor, al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper
Joan Bakewell, broadcaster
Clive Stafford Smith, human rights lawyer and director of Reprieve
Jason Burke, journalist
Sherard Cowper-Coles, former UK ambassador to Afghanistan
Amira Hass, journalist, Haaretz
David Blunkett, former home secretary
George Galloway, former MP
Jarvis Cocker, musician
Tariq Ramadan, professor of contemporary Islamic studies, Oxford University