======================================================================
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
======================================================================
Workers World editorial: Libya and imperialism
Feb. 23--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 Libyas 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 Libyas 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
Gadhafis 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 fronts
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.
Imperialisms interest in Libya is not hard to find.
Bloomberg.com wrote on Feb. 22 that while Libya is
Africas third-largest producer of oil, it has the
continents 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. Thats how the super-rich look at
it, and thats what underlies their professed concern for
the peoples 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 imperialisms 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.
Issued by Workers World newspaper. Go to www.workers.org
________________________________________________
Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
Set your options at:
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com