Reactions to 9/11

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Joyce Lewis, Friend of Victim, Southhampton, United Kingdom, Woman: “On 9/11, I was at my desk in my office.

Claude Elliot, former Mayor of Gander, Gander, Canada, Man: “I started my morning at Tim Morten’s Coffee Shop.”

Joyce Lewis, Friend of Victim, Southhampton, United Kingdom: “All of a sudden someone came running into our office and said, ‘Turn on the television!’”

Shaista Aziz, Anti-Racism Activist: “Shock. Absolute shock.”

Chidanand Rajghatta, Journalist, New Delhi, India: “I thought it was some HBO movie. Then I i saw the logo CNN.”

Joyce Lewis, Friend of Victim, Southhampton, United Kingdom: “When the first tower collapsed, I just felt completely sick.”

Chidanand Rajghatta, Journalist, New Delhi, India: “The world had changed at that moment.”

How the World Reacted to 9/11

Chidanand Rajghatta, Journalist, New Delhi, India: “As an Indian journalist, I have seen terrorism and terror attacks before — but nothing on this scale.”

Claude Elliot, former Mayor of Gander, Gander, Canada: “Little did we know at that time that the role the Gander would play for the next four or five days after.”

Shaista Aziz, Anti-Racism Activist: “For a lot of British Muslims, our entire identities were turned upside down.”

Joyce Lewis, Friend of Victim, Southhampton, United Kingdom:“You know it affected Gavin Cushny who was one of my best friends and I’d known for such a long time and had such high hopes for his future.

And that future was all gone.”

Some Mourned

Joyce Lewis, Friend of Victim, Southhampton, United Kingdom: “I watched it. I had the feeling that he would . . . he would get out. I knew he had worked on the top floor of the, uh, of the north tower. And I felt he he’ll walk downstairs — that’s what he’d do.

And in fact, his body was found on the 23rd floor staircase, so he had actually been you know doing his best to get out of the building.

People were horrified and shocked and full of disbelief that something so huge could have happened.”

Some Helped

Claude Elliot, former Mayor of Gander, Gander, Canada: “I got a call from the city manager. He said you better come into the office: the United States is going to close their airspace and Canada has agreed to take all the airplanes that’s in the air.

Well I guess the first reaction was, wow we got 7,000 people here we got 500 hotel rooms. How are we going to handle this?

The town came together and I mean the whole town; everybody that lives there. I mean it was just overwhelming, the people that was coming out offering their homes, their food.

What seemed like it was going to be a monumental task was really not.

The musical, Come from Away was created because of what happened here in Gander. And people are saying, ‘Wow! This is the way we all should be.”

Some Reported

Chidanand Rajghatta, Journalist, New Delhi, India: “I had flown on September 10 to New Delhi. I had momentarily panicked because I’m a journalist I’m a US correspondent. I was supposed to be in Washington DC, or in the US somewhere.

But I ended up going to the office that evening helping produce the edition. The headline was ‘America Attacked’. I remember that page very vividly.

It still shakes me; I mean that something like that you know could have happened. You know it’s one of those things you wake up and say, ‘Did that really happen?’

You know this whole new idea of war and terror as Bush termed it. And it was just an unending, new cycle.”

Some Worried

Shaista Aziz, Anti-Racism Activist: “So the 911 atrocities in America definitely shaped my life they made me feel like I didn’t belong anymore in my own country in the UK.

Immediately after the terrorist attacks, we’re talking about 24 hours after it happened, and my late dad was immediately attacked. And people were swearing at him calling the Taliban.

Islamophobia definitely became very much part of my daily life. It should have been a moment where we started to learn how to live together as human beings and how to create a fairer, more just world.

But it hasn’t it hasn’t led to that, sadly.”

Claude Elliot, former Mayor of Gander, Gander, Canada: “Well I think looking back over the last 20 years, I don’t think our world has gotten any safer — I think if nothing has gotten worse.

So much hatred out there. And it’s creeping in all parts of the society, even in our little country of Canada.”

Shaista Aziz, Anti-Racism Activist: “The next 20 years have to be much better. We have to work harder to find justice for everyone.”

Joyce Lewis, Friend of Victim, Southhampton, United Kingdom: I’d like to say something positive, but I’m not sure I really can.

I miss him terribly and the other thousands of people who died as well. They would have all made such a contribution to other people’s lives, just as governments have done.”

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Questions

Great Britain, United Kingdom. On 11 September 2001, was everyone expecting a terror attack? What were many people doing?

United States. How did people feel when they heard the news? What was their reaction? Why did they feel this way?

Canada. Did Shaista Aziz feel doubly concerned? Was she doubly afraid?

Australia. Some people in the video were directly connected with 9/11. Is this correct or incorrect? Joyce Lewis felt that her friend Gavin had lived a full, fulfilled life. Is this right or wrong?

France. Were the residents of Gander, Canada (directly) involved with the 9/11 attack? Was the Canadian town of Gander affected by the 9/11 event? Did only the government and relief organization help out?

Germany. Was there unity and solidarity among everyone in the US, Canada and the UK?

Russia. According to the speakers, has there been a happy ending? Is everything better now than 20 years ago?
 
 
 
China. Everyone born before 1956 knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. Do you and your friends remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news of the 9/11 attacks?

Afghanistan. What was your reaction? How did you feel?

Iraq. Has 9/11 changed your life? Has it changed your city, region and country?

Syria. What might happen in the future?

Turkey. How can people and governments move forward?