In the very early morning hours of New Year’s Day, a rented Ford pickup truck driven by a United States military veteran barreled down a crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing fourteen revelers and injuring another thirty-five. After the truck disabled itself by running into a crane on Bourbon, the driver of the vehicle, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a shootout with police next to the wreckage. Jabbar was killed before he could re-enter the truck and press an ignition switch in the cab that would have set off IED bombs planted elsewhere on Bourbon.
Having worked on Bourbon since 2005, and having been part of organizing the revolutionary left of New Orleans in all those years, this is something close to my heart.
Military service: The strongest predictor of terrorism
In a video released online just hours before the attack, Jabbar proclaimed his fidelity to the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh), and stated that the objective of his terrorist strike was to put a public spotlight on “the war between believers and disbelievers.”
There have been no serious attempts in the corporate media to explain why an army veteran would pledge his allegiance to IS and carry out a deadly terrorist attack in this country.
Other than mention of Jabbar’s proclamation of loyalty to IS, media accounts of the Bourbon Street attack generally sidestep any attempt to put this atrocity into a meaningful political context. These accounts sometimes make reference to Jabbar’s clearly troubled mental, personal, and financial state at the time of the attack. But there there have been no serious attempts in the corporate media to explain why an army veteran, who took an oath to defend the US, served eight years — including a tour in US-occupied Afghanistan — and received an honorable discharge, would decide to pledge his allegiance to IS and carry out a deadly terrorist attack in this country.
The US media is rife with Islamophobia, so much the better to justify the endless War on Terror and the Gaza genocide, and it should come as no surprise that in most news coverage Jabbar’s identity as a Muslim trumps his identity as a US veteran. This is especially glaring since US military service is increasingly the strongest predictor of domestic terrorism.
US imperialism: The driving force of Muslim radicalization
Since Jabbar considered himself a devout practitioner of Islam (which of course can be debated), it’s equally unsurprising that US imperialist intervention in the Middle East and the Muslim world in recent years would infuriate and radicalize him. This factor certainly helps explain why Jabbar would be inspired bythe Islamic State. Of all the organizations in the Muslim world, the politically reactionary IS is second to none when it comes to demonizing the non-Muslim world, including the US and the vast majority of its people.
The US’s brutal interventions in the Middle East feed into IS’s image of the US, of course. But it’s crucial to remember that IS itself is a direct result of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The dozens of US military strikes on alleged IS encampments in Syria in the days following the ouster of Bashar Assad in December may have contributed to further enraging Jabbar. In addition the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza against an overwhelmingly Muslim population no doubt captured Jabbar’s attention.
A futile attack on ordinary people
Even with everything mentioned above, from a Marxist perspective the New Year’s Day attack is worthy of condemnation. Those killed in the attack, excepting Jabbar, were overwhelmingly working-class people “guilty” of nothing more than being part of a massive New Year’s celebration. Be assured that the leaders of the US government and the US military-industrial complex are not usually counted among the ranks of Bourbon Street revelers.
The US media is rife with Islamophobia, so much the better to justify the endless War on Terror and the Gaza genocide, and it should come as no surprise that in most news coverage Jabbar’s identity as a Muslim trumps his identity as a US veteran.
On top of this, the intersection of Bourbon and Canal Street that became “ground zero” for the terror attack has been the site of many protests against US military intervention against the peoples of the Muslim world. It’s unknown whether Jabbar had any awareness of Bourbon and Canal as a historic setting for fightbacks from below against the havoc that US imperialism perpetuates in the Middle East, but it’s sadly ironic nevertheless.
It’s understandable that the people who suffer under US imperialism, and those who sympathize with them, may want to strike back. But IS and similar reactionary groups are incorrect in blaming ordinary residents of the US for the crimes of US imperialism, and their methods of individual terrorism are futile and politically misguided. When they attack and kill ordinary people — as they also did in the 9/11 attacks in 2001 — it has the unfortunate result of fostering nationalist and pro-imperialist attitudes among the US population. This makes fighting imperialism more difficult.
The need to resist imperialism and Islamophobia
Inevitably, the US ruling class will attempt to use the tragedy of the Bourbon Street massacre as a tool to help win public support for more military aggression in the Middle East and elsewhere. It will also use it as an excuse for deepening repression against its domestic opposition. US apologists for the Zionist project and the genocide in Gaza already conflate even peaceful Palestinian solidarity with terrorism. This same reactionary element can be expected to point to the Bourbon Street massacre as further “proof” that those who oppose US military, political or economic intervention on behalf of Israel are guilty of giving aid and comfort to terrorism.
From a Marxist perspective the New Year’s Day attack is worthy of condemnation. Those killed in the attack, excepting Jabbar, were overwhelmingly working-class people “guilty” of nothing more than being part of a massive New Year’s celebration.
This process has already begun: right-wing social media has gleefully equated Jabbar with “Hamas supporters” (i.e. the pro-Palestine movement in the US). These accusations are, of course, pure rubbish — but they are effective at poisoning the well in a political atmosphere characterized by Trumpism and dangerous bigotry against immigrants and Muslims.
Revolutionary socialists need to be clear that it is US imperialist persecution of oppressed people, and most certainly not resistance to that same persecution, that more than anything else fuels terrorist attacks in the capitalist core today.
However, clarity on the causes of reactionary violence under capitalism and imperialism is by itself insufficient to meet the moment. Revolutionary socialists must also actively stand with our Muslim siblings to defend them against racist demonization, and we must build a militant mass movement that confronts Islamophobia and racism as well as confronting US military intervention in the Muslim world and everywhere.
Solidarity with Muslims and with all victims of US foreign policy! Down with US imperialism!
