TPMCafe || Three Days In Hell

TPMCafe || Three Days In Hell: "Three Days In Hell

By Pascal Riche | bio

From: Politics

I spent most of the last week downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. I will never forget what I saw there.

A friend of mine is hopefull that Katrina, and the shame associated with its terrible aftermath, is such a shock that it will trigger a new political cycle in the U.S., leading to a a 'new New Deal'. Katrina, he thinks, lays bare the deep deterioration of the American social contract.

I hope he is right, but I’m not so sure. I'm afraid that the medias, especially in this country, are also a very efficient machine to make people forget.

Yesterday, I interviewed a French tourist who was trapped in the Superdome for three days. He told me his odyssey, and I'm pleased to share it with you on TPM Café. Stéphane Ciblat, researcher in a pharmaceutical lab in Montreal spent the weekend of August 28-29 in New Orleans with a Canadian Friend, 30 year-old Yannick Rose. After leaving their hotel, the Park Place, with water already up to their chest, they wandered over to Interstate I-10 before seeking refuge in the Superdome. Here is their powerful story. (Many thanks, Kate Cambor for the excellent translation).


Sep 07, 2005 -- 02:09:56 PM EST"