The symbolic significance of New Orleans may be greater than the physical damage caused by hurricane Katrina. It not only destroyed the port city of New Orleans and exposed the seamy side of American society but may also signal the end of Americam hegemony.

History is replete with such examples. In February 1942, Singapore, called by the British the Gibraltor of the East, the Impregnable Fortress and various other equally resounding names, fell to a Japanese army less than 1/3 of the defending force. Though not recognised at the time, it signalled the dissolution of the British Empire, and eventually the end of European imperialism itself.

In 1954, the French surrender to Ho-Chi-Minh’s army at Dien Bien Phu put an end to France’s imperial pretensions. Superficially, there is no comparison between the military defeats of Singapore and Dien Bien Phu and the natural disaster that levelled New Orleans. But in their symbolic meaning in the shattering of the twin illusions of might and superiority, they bear a striking similarity.

In New Orleans, what shocked the world, was not so much the destruction, but the breakdown of civil society that followed. The looting, the rapes and the banditry, with areas of New Orleans descending into total anarchy may have shattered the American image as much as Singapore shattered Britain’s. There were frequent comparisons with the Tsunami that rocked Asia and Mumbai flood in India, which saw nature’s fury and destruction but no social breakdown.

The American hegemony today rests on its image as a nation built on freedom and equality, which is propagated as also the world’s ideal. And that illusion stands shattered.