Katrina, again

Talking to Nigerians about Katrina, I find my instincts were right on three counts. People are shocked by the images of seeing so many poor desperate people in the US. They are shocked that 99% of the desperate people are black. Finally, they are shocked that these poor black people are so fat. Whether America realises it or not, Katrina has punctured the myth of America-the-great to foreigners for good.

In these days of online everything, it’s interesting to compare European media accounts and analysis of Katrina vs. American. Although some American papers (notably, the New York Times), point to the race/class divides the storm exposes, nowhere will you read about relating Katrina to climate change/Kyoto etc. This is a stark contrast to European analysis, which focuses mainly on this.