[PAA-Discuss] FW: a little light on the Libyan situation

[Lee Loe]

Good info. Hope the US keeps its hands in its own pockets! Lee

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From: Joanne P Gavin [mailto:joanne_p_gavin at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 11:19 PM
To: sncc-list at list.mail.virginia.edu
Subject: a little light on the Libyan situation


 If you have been as confused as I have by the developments in Libya, here
is the first reasonable analysis I have found.  
 
Solidarity,  Joanne
 
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EDITORIAL 

Libya and imperialism

Published Feb 23, 2011 4:32 PM 
 
 

Of all the struggles going on in North Africa and the Middle East right now,
the most difficult to unravel is the one in Libya.

 

What is the character of the opposition to the Gadhafi regime, which
reportedly now controls the eastern city of Benghazi?

 

Is it just coincidence that the rebellion started in Benghazi, which is
north of Libya's richest oil fields as well as close to most of its oil and
gas pipelines, refineries and its LNG port? Is there a plan to partition the
country?

 

What is the risk of imperialist military intervention, which poses the
gravest danger for the people of the entire region?

 

Libya is not like Egypt. Its leader, Moammar al-Gadhafi, has not been an
imperialist puppet like Hosni Mubarak. For many years, Gadhafi was allied to
countries and movements fighting imperialism. On taking power in 1969
through a military coup, he nationalized Libya's oil and used much of that
money to develop the Libyan economy. Conditions of life improved
dramatically for the people.

 

For that, the imperialists were determined to grind Libya down. The U.S.
actually launched air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986 that killed 60
people, including Gadhafi's infant daughter - which is rarely mentioned by
the corporate media. Devastating sanctions were imposed by both the U.S. and
the U.N. to wreck the Libyan economy.

 

After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and leveled much of Baghdad with a
bombing campaign that the Pentagon exultantly called "shock and awe,"
Gadhafi tried to ward off further threatened aggression on Libya by making
big political and economic concessions to the imperialists. He opened the
economy to foreign banks and corporations; he agreed to IMF demands for
"structural adjustment," privatizing many state-owned enterprises and
cutting state subsidies on necessities like food and fuel.

 

The Libyan people are suffering from the same high prices and unemployment
that underlie the rebellions elsewhere and that flow from the worldwide
capitalist economic crisis.

There can be no doubt that the struggle sweeping the Arab world for
political freedom and economic justice has also struck a chord in Libya.
There can be no doubt that discontent with the Gadhafi regime is motivating
a significant section of the population.

 

However, it is important for progressives to know that many of the people
being promoted in the West as leaders of the opposition are long-time agents
of imperialism. The BBC on Feb. 22 showed footage of crowds in Benghazi
pulling down the green flag of the republic and replacing it with the flag
of the overthrown monarch King Idris - who had been a puppet of U.S. and
British imperialism.

 

The Western media are basing a great deal of their reporting on supposed
facts provided by the exile group National Front for the Salvation of Libya,
which was trained and financed by the U.S. CIA. Google the front's name plus
CIA and you will find hundreds of references.

 

The Wall Street Journal in a Feb. 23 editorial wrote that "The U.S. and
Europe should help Libyans overthrow the Gadhafi regime." There is no talk
in the board rooms or the corridors of Washington about intervening to help
the people of Kuwait or Saudi Arabia or Bahrain overthrow their dictatorial
rulers. Even with all the lip service being paid to the mass struggles
rocking the region right now, that would be unthinkable. As for Egypt and
Tunisia, the imperialists are pulling every string they can to get the
masses off the streets.

 

There was no talk of U.S. intervention to help the Palestinian people of
Gaza when thousands died from being blockaded, bombed and invaded by Israel.
Just the opposite. The U.S. intervened to prevent condemnation of the
Zionist settler state.

 

Imperialism's interest in Libya is not hard to find. Bloomberg.com wrote on
Feb. 22 that while Libya is Africa's third-largest producer of oil, it has
the continent's largest proven reserves - 44.3 billion barrels. It is a
country with a relatively small population but the potential to produce huge
profits for the giant oil companies. That's how the super-rich look at it,
and that's what underlies their professed concern for the people's
democratic rights in Libya.

 

Getting concessions out of Gadhafi is not enough for the imperialist oil
barons. They want a government that they can own outright, lock, stock and
barrel. They have never forgiven Gadhafi for overthrowing the monarchy and
nationalizing the oil. Fidel Castro of Cuba in his column "Reflections"
takes note of imperialism's hunger for oil and warns that the U.S. is laying
the basis for military intervention in Libya.

 

In the U.S., some forces are trying to mobilize a street-level campaign
promoting such U.S. intervention. We should oppose this outright and remind
any well-intentioned people of the millions killed and displaced by U.S.
intervention in Iraq.

 

Progressive people are in sympathy with what they see as a popular movement
in Libya. We can help such a movement most by supporting its just demands
while rejecting imperialist intervention, in whatever form it may take. It
is the people of Libya who must decide their future.

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Articles copyright 1995-2011 Workers World. Verbatim copying and
distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved. 

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011  Email:  <mailto:ww at workers.org>
ww at workers.org
 
www.workers.org 
 
 
 

 

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