The young Muammar Gaddafi with his mentor, the late Gamal Abdel Nasser
The reports from exactly one week ago that the NTC rebels captured libyan revolutionary leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi shook the world. Not only the libyan people’s reaction, wheter they cheered for or mourned his death, but also the mainstream media – the maybe most important tool to demonize him and turn this aggressive & illegal war on Libya into a legitimate revolution – was all over it. But what does the martyrdom of the libyan leader mean for Libya, the Global South & especially Africa?
Re-Colonization of Libya planned a long time ago
On February 15th an armed & brutal rebellion arised in the city of Benghazi. Only six days later, libyan justice minister Mustafa Abdul-Jalil resigned to set up his own government. Later on February 27th he set up the Transitional National Council, and on March 5th the TNC declared itself as the “sole representative of all Libya” with – of course – Mustafa Abdul-Jalil as its head. France & Britain didnt need more than a few days to recognize them as the legitimate government of Libya. The west’s democracy promotion in other regions only counts when everything has been prepared to be able to set up a “democratic leader”, meaning a western puppet president through “democratic elections”. Not only do the United States directly fund opposition movements as the NTC in Libya, the Green Movement in Iran, the venezuelan oligarchy opposed to Chavez etc but the leading figures of those movements have always had a history that ties them closely to the corporate or political body of empire. When they tried to topple Chavez, only a few hours later Pedro Carmona, head of Venezuela’s largest business owners’ association, was named president, also without a people’s election or revolutionary movement that would legitimize his presidency. So their methods aren’t new to the Global South.
In Libya, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil led the release program of the anti-Gaddafi fighters, the LIFG (Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – the libyan branch of Al-Qaeda) along with Muammar’s son Saif al-Islam, who now deeply regrets what he had done then. The same people that have been released were now paving the way for this armed rebellion in Libya. Yet we hear voices calling the imprisonments of those fighters unjust and an act of authoritarian dictatorship, wanting to silence its enemies. Now imagine the United States released all Black Panthers, members of the Black Liberation Army and all other political prisoners. Again something no western government can equal, yet they’re pointing the finger at others.
To understand more about the role of Mustafa Abdul-Jalil & Mahmoud Jibril please go on reading this article.
Libya & the media
“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing” – Malcolm X
The media was playing the major role from the beginning. Not only by showing the world a false one sided story of the events in Libya but whenever reliable reports of NATO or/and “rebel” atrocities against the civilian polulation showed up, the media blackout exceeded even their parallel blocking of the #Occupy movement. Now it is pretty clear that this war on Libya, which many people ironically still put in context of a so called “arab spring” was carefully planned a long time ago and has absolutely nothing to do with a revolution.
The american and european corporate owned media were closely working together, if not giving direct orders (as Wikileaks revealed) with/to Qatar-based Al-Jazeera and Saudi-owned, US-funded and UAE-based Al-Arabiyah in their campaign to distract people from the events and eventually falsifying and manipulating reports, so that their illegal war on Libya gained the wide acceptancy not only in the west, but also in the arab world, as their media monopolies cooperated with the western ones.
We saw falsified reports, such as news that Gaddafi had fled to Venezuela, as british foreign minister William Hague lied to his citizens. We saw Al-Jazeera montaging footage, falsify reports that Gaddafi troops had bombed a civilian area, when in fact it was the shelling of a farm, most likely by NATO bombs of course. On one occasion a video where they claimed Gaddafi troops were raping women, it later turned out to be the audio source of a libyan porno movie, which means that they were actually montaging footage & audio reports they claim to be original sources. The news channels reached a new stage of bias reporting when they only showed armed rebel groups demonstrating against Gaddafi, but when on July 1st, 700.000 – 1.3 million people in and around Tripoli demonstrated in support for their leader Muammar Gaddafi and their system, the Jamahiriyah there was absolutely no equal, if no reporting about it. Those channels were also the first ones to report about african mercenaries hired by Gaddafi with no factual evidence, that led to the rounding up, beating, torturing and lynching of black africans in Libya. ITN reporters witnessed this at first hand. The population of the black down of Tawerga completely disappeared from libyan soil. Several thousand africans disappeared and to date, there is no investigation on it. Al-Jazeera played a major role selling this never proven story and thereby participated in a genocide. Yet where there is no investigation there is no justification. Those channels reported the death of Khamis Gaddafi several times, always just a few days before Khamis Gaddafi was filmed being alive. I checked his Wikipedia page and before anyone could even prove his death, Wikipedia announced him as dead – and later changed the status again.
To read more about the media role in Libya, especially by the left go on reading this article.
Supporting TNC means supporting neo-colonialism & racism
The people of Benghazi in 1911 and 2011 welcoming the colonialists
The media role is very clear now but there is another very important geopolitical issue to the events in Libya & now the death of Muammar Gaddafi that has been kept dead quiet. Libya is in Africa.
Before Muammar Gaddafi led the al-Fatah revolution in 1969 to overthrow western puppet King Idris, Libya was among the poorest countries on the whole planet. In 2011, before NATO bombed their infrastructure & key cities Libya has had the highest HDI (Human Development Index) in all of Africa. There was free healthcare, free education at home or abroad, government funded housing, just to name a few threats to western understanding of democracy. The life expectancy grew by a remarkable amount of years, the illiteracy rates decreased drastically and his “Great Man Made River” project provided water to build cities & agricultural facilities in the Sahara. Gaddafi successfully proved to the world that his third universal theory works and his african country had a higher living standard than Portugal for example. Tell anyone in Europe that there is an african country that has a higher living standard than a country in western europe and wait for the reaction. The United Nations were working on a report that would have honored and rewarded the religious, social & human rights standards in Libya. The report can still be read, but unfortunately the events in Benghazi started just some days before they were set to being awarded by the international community.
So what has he done for Africa? He was the one calling for a United States of Africa and also a great Arab Nation. He, himself is an arab, born in a tent in Sirte, but he always understood that his country is on african soil. He set up an african satellite so that Europe lost 500 million dollars a year and people could directly call Africa without paying extra money the EU. He gave african countries & institutions money at no interest rates so that they didn’t have to beg the economical terrorists IMF or World Bank for money at high interest rates plus having to accept structural adjustment programs (that include privatization of your countries wealth/natural resources). In 2009 he called for a million strong pan-african army to defend any african country from a fate that he and his country have now faced. He also invited thousands of african guest workers to Libya in order to work there. Whenever, wherever he could, he promoted african unity & funded steps towards it.
With the not only arab but african leader, Muammar Gaddafi being chased down and lynched by racist arabs, that were so happy and comfortable to be the slaves of NATO and doing their dirty work on the ground, the west did not only manage to get rid of key personalities of the Gaddafi family, but they can factually pretend to be innocent of the serial killing of a whole family. They also did not only manage to create friction between black africans and arabs, but they initiated a civil & tribal war in Libya. Tribes were now forced to choose on which side they are on, when under the Jamahiriyah dozens of major tribes could live peacefully and didn’t even have to get involved in other tribes businesses.
The NTC rebels’ (which me and others referred to as “NATO slaves”) only common ground is opposing Gaddafi. Today, the best evidence so far for the correctness of using the term “NATO slaves” appeared when british defence secretary Hammond said “It’s certainly not the way we do things” referring to the lynching of Muammar and Moutassim Gaddafi. This could be the first of many betrayals that the NTC rebels will have to face. They have done the dirty job for the west and their only reward will be immunity before international law. Who else could chase down a whole family, shoot at them, torture them, lynch them and then parade with their and other black africans dying/dead bodies on a pick-up truck while the whole word prints pictures of those atrocities on the front page of the major newspapers and calling it a victory for Libya or a victory for democracy?
British MC Akala pointed out the west’s racism best when he tweeted “If South Africa executed all those still alive who murdered and raped under Apartheid would there be this cheering?”. Think about it. Racism is not just the N-word or acting hostile towards coloured people, racism is also silently and sometimes comfortably accepting the racism that other people are practising. Desmond Tutu once said “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.
The death of Muammar Gaddafi is clearly a defeat for Africa. He knew he was dying a martyr. “Now, I am under attack by the biggest force in military history, my little African son, Obama wants to kill me, to take away the freedom of our country, to take away our free housing, our free medicine, our free education, our free food, and replace it with American style thievery, called “capitalism”, but all of us in the Third World know what that means, it means corporations run the countries, run the world, and the people suffer.”, that’s what he said when the war on Libya started.
He held strong ties to anti-imperialist resistance groups & governments all over the world. Before Burkina Faso’s president, General Thomas Sankara faced a pro-empire conspiracy that led to his death (by the same people that conspired against Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivoire earlier this year btw. Look it up) Gaddafi called his system the world’s second real Jamahiriyah. He held strong ties to several other african leaders, that have been the west’s enemies for many years. Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe has been the west’s enemy for many years because of his strong stand and his unwillingness to compromise with people that impose sanctions on his country that – at the end of the day – only reach the civilian population. When Sarkozy came to Algeria in 2007 Bouteflika demanded an apology for what the french had done to Algerians in 132 years of colonial rule and especially between 1954-1962 in their war of independence. Sarokzy refused to do so but that’s another story. Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser was Gaddafi’s mentor and his vision, the vision of Kwame Nkrumah, the vision of Marcus Garvey was started to be taken into action by Libya under Gaddafi’s Jamahiriyah. Gaddafi already set up an african development bank to prevent many african states to be enslaved by the IMF or World Bank debt. He also urged african leaders to not give their resources to the west, whose products that were made out of that resources, were then sent back to Africa and sold at exorbitant prices.
In 2002, John Bolton handed over a plan to France and Britain, that considered the parallel overthrowing of Libya’s and Syria’s legitimate governments. The third country that fulfilled his vision of what the “axis of evil” is was North Korea. Now, what’s the difference between North Korea and Libya/Syria? Nuclear Weapons. As much as i am against the right of any country to possess or build nuclear weapons i must recognize that these weapons are the only vaccine to prevent an invasion or military coup against your sovereign nation. So Ali Abunimah was on point when he tweeted that “Kim Jong Il would be a fool to ever give up his nuclear weapons”. The reason they didn’t attack Iran yet, and in my opinion won’t do by military force in the future, is that one the one hand they know very well about their military power and strategic partners in the region and on the other hand, in order to keep the myth of Iran seeking nuclear weapons alive they must portray themselves as the victims that are hated and directly threatened by Iran, so that similar to the preparation of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasion following 9/11, the facts lose priority in the people’s judgment once they fell for the government’s agenda to spread fear among them.
So what future for Libya & Africa?
TNC rebels tearing down pictures of great african anti-colonialist leaders as Gamal Abdel Nasser or Kwame Nkrumah
In his interview with Russia Today’s Libya correspondent Maria Finoshina, Voltaire Network founder Thierry Meyssan, who has been working on & investigating the events in Libya provided a different story of the events in Libya this year, when he said:
“First of all, it’s quite obvious that the USA wanted to enter the war at the same time with Libya and Syria. That wish was made public by John Bolton in 2002. The plan was passed over to France and Britain who decided to bring it to life in November last year.
Secondly, it was neccessary to verify wheter an attempt to a coup had been made before that. A coup that could be organized by France or Britain. The attempt failed in October. After this failed attempt, another coup was planned. It envisaged killing all the heads of the libyan National Congress if they got together all in a place for a big celebration. That changed tho, after situation in the region changed, after the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. At that moment, France and Britain decided to carry out a PR operation and present this coup attempt as a people’s rebellion.”
He went on saying that “However, in terms of basic goals (of the coup in Libya) it is worth noting changes that have started in Africa like those that began in large areas of the middle east. There are already two zones being created. First of all it was decided to create a westafrican zone with Ivory Coast as its centre.” … “block. In case all states are divided … a conflict will have to be created. Not between Shiites and Sunnis as was attempted in the Middle East but between Arabs and Berbers. This is where the real source of the events in Benghazi is.”
“The initial goal of this strategy was to overthrow the people’s government that was in power and to establish western authoritarianism in that country. I believe tho, that they had actually given up the plan because the military resistance proved stronger. Therefor it was decided to act in a different direction. We saw its western TV channels don’t speak of repression and rebellion anymore but it was still a war. Thus trying to prepare public opinion for a declaration that there is a need to divide the country into two parts. Cyrenaica on one side and Tripolitania on the other, with UN forces in between to separate the conflicting parties. They will say the were protecting the civilian population and that is enough and now they are deploying forces to separate the conflicting sides. Then they will declare Cyrenaica ‘s independence, set up the biggest regional U.S. military base, saying it is neccessary, you know, because they decided to start conquering Africa. They are planning to set up a military base in Benghazi to land and deploy their troops there and in about ten years to start conquering Africa. The reason even more serious problem NATO has begun a campaign on destroying the psychological resistance of the countries leaders.”
“What is interesting in this affair is to see that the operation in Syria and the operation in Libya had been designed exactly the same way and should normally have ended with the same war on both sides, but they let go off Syria and i think that some states, Russia included, thought better of it and prevented the course of those operations. So that is why, at the moment, there is no war in Syria. Even if some western leaders repeat almost every day that neccessary to go to war, one of the characteristics of the system is to have islamistic extremists on this part. Let us see networks, known as being those of Al-Qaeda, and i use this term on purpose as there are some chiefs of those units we see here for having fought in Afghanistan, in Bosnia-Herzegowina, in Chechnya, in Iraq, now in Syria or Libya. Some of them in the meantime had been detained for years in Guantanamo, freed by the United States and brought on spot to continue the fight.”
Now that’s a very important point because when Gaddafi gave an interview to the BBC right after the events started where he was accusing those “rebels” as being Al-Qaeda and the world started laughing and calling him insane. The english language Al-Qaeda newspaper “Inspire” painted him as a clown and tributed a whole page of demonization to him. They claim to be the west’s enemy but what is it worth when the facts are exposing you as a worthy servant to them. In nearly November now, we know that Gaddafi was right and those laughing were wrong. As wrong as ICC chief prosecutor Esteban Moreno-Ocampo (about whom there is actually a complaint from 2007 that accuses him of rape) when he claimed that Gaddafi’s troops had killed 6000 people, which had a significant influence on the agreement of UN Resolution 1973. “Later he was building up his evidence on 208 victims instead of 6000. Several more inspections will turn out that there were no victims at all. What happened in Benghazi is quite different from what we were told. In fact it was a staged event.” as Professor Thierry Meyssan found out. Now the TNC announced that there will be the “sharia law” in Libya once they hold official power over internal affairs. What’s interesting is, that the main character in the destruction of Libya & the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, french president Nicolas Sarkozy was fighting domestically against the sharia in his own country. He criminalized not only those still dressing under the rule of sharia but also the Sinti and the Roma and other religious/social/cultural minorities, which led to a hatred towards him that doesn’t allow him to go to the “slums” around Paris anymore because in some areas the people were even calling for his head. Now the same man that is radically fighting the sharia in France is supporting, funding and promoting a libyan government that imposes the sharia on its women?
All African People's Revolutionary Party's solidarity march for the Libyan Jamahiriyah on Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's birthday in Accra, Ghana.
Thierry Meyssan was not the only one pointing out that the war on Libya is actually a war on Africa and a direct message to China. Award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger said – in context of Obama’s announcement that the U.S. will now sent U.S. special forces to Uganda and later to South Sudan, Congo & the Central African Republic – that “with Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way.”
“However,” he went on pointing out “the main reason the US is invading Africa is no different from that which ignited the Vietnam war. It is China. Where the Americans bring drones and destabilisation, the Chinese bring roads, bridges and dams. What they want is resources, especially fossil fuels. With Africa’s greatest oil reserves, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was one of China’s most important sources of fuel. When the civil war broke out and NATO backed the “rebels” with a fabricated story about Gaddafi planning “genocide” in Benghazi, China evacuated its 30.000 workers in Libya.”
“For more than a decade the US has tried to establish a command on the continent of Africa, AFRICOM, but has been rebuffed by governments fearful of the regional tensions this would cause. Libya and now Uganda, South Sudan and Congo, provide the main chance.” he wrote.
When they tried to continue their crusade in Syria and wanted to achieve the same there as with UN Resolution 1973 in Libya, the russian and chinese governments used their veto in the United Nations Security Council. After not using their veto for UN Resolution 1973, they have now witnessed with their own eyes, that on what they agreed in the Security Council, “protecting civilians” did not match at all with the reality that happened to Libya and its civilian population after the west’s “humanitarian intervention” started, so blaming Russia or China for not being loyal to the Global South by not vetoing the resolution on Libya has very little reliability because if actually the UN Resolution would have been respected, the “rebels” and NATO would now face trial at The Haugue. Once again the west betrayed not only its own people but it comitted Genocide, Serial Killing, destruction of civilian homes and institutions, they violated the UN Resolution by not protecting but targeting civilians and they paved the rebel’s way to chase down, overthrow and legitimate government officials, including the widely known and accepted targeted murder of several grandchildren of Muammar Gaddafi, innocent little girls. Even Human Rights Watch, which shut its eyes and ears whenever they could during the war on Libya, reported a few days ago, that 53 pro-Jamahiriyah civilians had been executed in a hotel in Tripoli. This happened right after the pro-NATO slaves tortured Moutassim and later lynched him and his father, Muammar. They even filmed their lynching and parading of the dying body in a manner the Ku-Klux-Klan in the 30′s would have been deeply in awe. This brutal, disrespecting as criminal footage was shamelessly printed on the front page of nearly every major newspaper and yet most likely nobody will ever have to justify, let alone standing trial for this lynching.
Meanwhile, in the “civilized world”, Troy Davis had been executed with no evidence, right before police and special forces were attacking peaceful protestors that occupied the main locations of the world’s corporate and banking leadership that oppresses the working class and non-white races at home to have more investment money to fund wars in their ancestors foreign homelands. It’s about time to deeply re-think about what we are being sold as “democracy”. It takes some courage to acknowledge that the western needs and values that have been indictrinated into us for decades, if not centuries always brought enslavement, barbarism, destruction, death and misery to nearly all other places on this planet. It takes courage to accept that our white race carries more racism than we are willing to acknowledge. It takes courage to accept that being silent when we know about our government’s crimes makes us to an important part of the oppression. It takes some courage to point the finger at yourself and start with the man/woman in the mirror. And it takes a lot more courage to engage in the struggle to end this racist, destructive empire which robs and kills the 99% to serve the 1%.
Have some courage!
Abgelegt unter: Black Power, France, IMF, Imperialism, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, My Articles, Propaganda, Racism, Social Injustice, Socialism, Syria, U.S. Invasions, Zimbabwe/Robert Mugabe | Mit Tag(s) versehen: africa, Al-Arabiyah, Al-Jazeera, anti-imperialism, anti-NATO resistance, bani walid, British Civilians for Peace in Libya, Counterrevolution, Empire, Gaddafi, Global Civilians for Peace in Libya, Global South Unity, Imperialism, libya, Libyan Resistance, Lizzie Phelan Gaddafi death, Malcolm X, Mathaba, Muammar Gaddafi, nato, Occupy Wallstreet, Police Brutality Occupy Wallstreet, Resistance, Russia Today, Sirtre, Sukant Chandan, Syria, Tawerga, Thierry Meyssan, United States Of Africa, Voltaire Network, War on Africa, War on Libya, War on Libya targets China, War Propaganda | 8 Kommentare »
