By Gerald A. PerreiraUnlike so many ‘Third World' nation-states, Libya, under the leadership of Muammar Gadhafi, has been a surrogate of neither the East nor the West. The first thing that hits you when you step off the plane at Tripoli International Airport is that Libyans are firmly in control of their country. Libya is a power unto herself and Libyans are not taking kindly to NATO's attempts at re-colonization.
What has developed in Libya is a conundrum for NATO. They may have imagined that with such vicious ongoing bombing raids, Gadhafi's forces would have crumbled.
Instead, they have witnessed the opposite. In the face of this all out aggression, over 10,000 bombing raids and into its fifth month, the Libyan patriotic and revolutionary armed forces and the vast majority of Libyans have remained steadfast and loyal, defending their revolution and its leader.
There are even pro-Gadhafi rallies in Benghazi, and constant gun battles between pro-Gadhafi forces and the rebels in Benghazi and Misurata. In villages and towns, reportedly under rebel control, the green flag of the Al Fateh revolution can be seen flying from homes and public buildings. One thing is clear, if Gadhafi did not have mass support he could not be resisting this barbaric onslaught so effectively.
Every day the rebels reveal themselves to be mere surrogates of an imperialist plot to overthrow the Libyan revolution. They cannot call for health-care, housing, free education, subsidized food and a share in the oil wealth because they have all of that.
Residents in areas where the NATO backed rebels are in control, have reported that the rebels are looting stores and removing goods and food at gunpoint. There are also numerous reports of torture, rape and execution of captured pro-Gadhafi soldiers, Black Libyans and migrant workers from neighboring African countries.
The nature of the Benghazi rebels is best illustrated by events that occurred after rebels took control of the mountain village of Qawalish in Western Libya. Many of the villagers were forced to evacuate the area since, according to a report carried on July 10th, in the New York Times:
“All of the shops in the town had been ransacked, several homes were burned, and the town's gas station, in fine condition when Qawalish fell, had been vandalized to the point of being dismantled. In building after building furniture was flipped over, dishes and mirrors shattered, and everything torn apart. Except for a few rebels roaming the streets in cars and trucks, the town was deserted – a shattered, emptied ghost town decorated with broken glass.”
There is no doubt that ‘the Coalition of Demons', as Minister Louis Farrakhan has called them, has realized their grave mistake – if not out in the open, certainly behind closed doors. Having finally understood that the Benghazi rebels are not now, nor would they ever be in a position to take power in Libya, the ‘Coalition of Demons' is crumbling, with major differences surfacing amongst members on how to proceed with this ill-fated mission impossible.
After spending billions of dollars at a time when their economies are in deep crisis and reeling from the cost of years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Europe and the US are now scrambling for a solution which will allow them to save face.
The truth behind the U.S./NATO war on Libya
The French, who were the driving force behind the invasion of Libya, are now pressing for dialogue with Tripoli. On July 11th, in a report carried in Flash News Today, French Defense Minister, Gerard Longuet stated: “We'll stop the bombing when the Libyans talk to each other and the military forces on all sides return to their barracks. They can talk to each other because we provide the proof that there is no solution by force”.
The truth is that the French, British and Americans, in their arrogance and ignorance, believed that toppling Gadhafi and rolling back the Libyan revolution would be a push over and now they are trying everything to avoid admitting an all out defeat.
In addition to the death and destruction caused by this French, British and US barbaric adventurism, an estimated 150,000 people have been forced to flee Libya, many of them African migrant workers. These refugees, who were working in Libya and supporting their families in other parts of Africa, now find themselves sleeping in parks in Italy and France.With an estimated 23 million men and women unemployed in Europe, a figure that is expected to increase in the coming months as the capitalist crisis deepens, the situation for these refugees is disastrous.
NATO picked on a country that has experienced a profound political and social revolution for the past 40 plus years. The majority of Libyans only know life in the Jamahiriya and have lived in its dignity, comfort and calm all their lives, causing many of them to perhaps become complacent, taking much of what they had for granted.
However, there is no doubt that their revolutionary spirit has been reignited by NATO's bombs and they are standing behind the Al Fateh revolution. As one female student from Al Fateh University put it, “Libya is our mother and Gadhafi is our father.”
NATO – North Atlantic Terrorist Organization
NATO is a terrorist organization. Originally created to check the spread of Soviet Communism into Western Europe, this European organization has now reinvented itself as an enforcer and defender of White supremacy. On a global crusade, NATO brutally enforces neo-colonialism worldwide under the guise of ‘spreading democracy' and ‘humanitarian intervention'.Since the onset of colonialism, hundreds of years ago, West Europeans have carried out a policy of genocide and plunder throughout the world. NATO comprises these same old tribes of Europe organized under a modern day umbrella.
Gadhafi – African Hero
Only leaders who are determined to live for their people are prepared to die fortheir people. Young Libyans from the Student Revolutionary Committees in the streets of Tripoli chant ‘Allah, Gadhafi, Libya'. The overwhelming majority of Libyans – young and old – love him. And then there is the massive outpouring of love and support that has come from every corner of the globe, where people, organizations and liberation movements, all of whom have received assistance from him at one time or other, have raised their voices against NATO's unprovoked aggression.
But nowhere is Gadhafi loved more than in Africa. His genuine commitment to our liberation is known to all Africans. African youth support his vision. Rappers have called him ‘African Hero'.
Tuaregs and freedom fighters from all over the continent have joined with the Libyan people to defend Tripoli. The Pan-African movement has been re-energized. It is no accident that it took an attack on the man who said ‘The Black race shall prevail throughout the world', to galvanize the movement which is capable of bringing about the dream of Garvey and Nkrumah, a dream which Muammar Gadhafi has pursued at his own peril.
Tingba Muhammad, in an excellent article in The Final Call, made the following indisputable points:
“Since he came to leadership in that oil-rich nation in 1969, Col. Gadhafi has amassed a record of accomplishment for Black Africa unmatched in modern history.
Using his nation's oil revenues, he has set the exploited former Italian colony firmly on the road to true independence… those who take the time to look past the litany of white lies about Gadhafi will be introduced to a man whose progressive record of accomplishments very well may be unmatched by ANYONE who has ever led a nation in modern times.
The women of Libya are taking a leading role in defending the gains of the revolution. Under the leadership of Muammar Gadhafi they have been able to realize their own emancipation, which is uniquely Libyan and not based on the Eurocentric notions of Western feminism.
They are amongst the most highly educated female population in Africa and the Arab world. They are free to dress with or without the headscarf, because Gadhafi understands that Islam cannot be enforced by a ‘moral police force', harassing and beating people in the streets for not dressing in hijab and not praying on time.
Adhering to the edict articulated by Prophet Muhammad, stating that ‘there can be no compulsion in religion', Gadhafi knows that the only way forward is to raise the consciousness of the people.
What protects the Islamic tradition and way of life in Libya is that their very liberation is derived from the true emancipatory spirit of Islam. They have been able to hold onto their traditions, while shedding the reactionary pre-Islamic residue that permeates so much of the Muslim world. No one is clearer than the women of Libya about what to expect from the backward, al-Qaeda inspired Benghazi counter-revolutionaries, and they are having none of it.
Sarkozy – the Wicked Pied PiperNATO is arming and fighting alongside al Qaeda in Libya after telling the world for years that al Qaeda is the single largest threat to their national security.
At the same time, they continue to claim that they are fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia. This might seem like a contradictory and confused foreign policy however, it is classical Machiavellian policy at play and nobody plays Machiavellian politics better than Europeans.
War criminal, Henry Kissinger, summed it up many years ago when he said: “We do not have permanent friends or permanent enemies – we only have permanent interests.”
Obama, Cameron, Berlusconi and other European leaders were led on a merry dance by French president and white supremacist, Nicholas Sarkozy.
His real reason for France's frantic move against Libya was his government's embarrassing failure to save their minion, Zinedine Ben Ali in Tunisia, in an election year. We know this man Sarkozy by his actions and his words. He is on record as saying, in true Hegelian spirit, that:
“The tragedy of Africa is that the African man has never really entered history. The African peasant has known only the eternal renewal of time via the endless repetition of the same actions and the same words. In this mentality, where everything always starts over again, there is no place for human adventure or for any idea of progress.” He added: “Africa's problem is that its present is permeated with nostalgia for the paradise of its lost childhood….”
They call it Democracy – we know it as Hypocrisy
Could Sarkozy, Cameron, Obama, or for that matter the Sheikdoms in the Arab world who have lined up against Gadhafi, hand out kalashnikovs like pancakes to their populace under the same circumstances? I think not.
In fact, in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia was called on to invade and brutally suppress the rebellion. The Bahraini ruling family is certainly not arming the people.
When the Saudis brutally suppressed the uprising in Bahrain, not a word was uttered from the ‘international community' – international community being a euphemism for the US and Western Europe. And if a few words were uttered by Hillary Clinton, it was done for the sake of protocol and meant nothing.
Kwame Ture Speaks
The great Pan-African revolutionary, Kwame Ture, was a frequent visitor to Libya. He was a member of the World Mathaba based in Tripoli and a vocal supporter of the Al Fateh revolution. He led a worldwide campaign to break the unjust sanctions placed on Libya in the 90s and worked tirelessly to promote Nkrumah and Gadhafi's vision of a united and truly independent Africa.
He observed that when sections of society in Europe or the United States disagree, even violently disagree, it is called pluralism and this is said to be a vital ingredient of their democracy.
It is never said that the US is undemocratic because they disagree–on the contrary it is, according to them, what makes it democratic. Our people on the other hand are not allowed to have differences or disagreements. When we do, it is called disunity and dissent, never pluralism.
The Libyan rebels make up an estimated 2 percent of the entire Libyan population. What is the percentage of people who disagreed with George W. Bush or who now disagree with Barak Obama? In fact, Bush only received 50.7 percent of the US citizens' vote and Obama only 52.9 percent. There is a great deal of dissent there.
In the Green Book, Muammar Gadhafi has this to say:
“Political struggle which culminates in the victory of a candidate obtaining 51 percent of the total votes of the electorate, establishes a dictatorship in the seat of power garbed in the guise of democracy. It is in fact, a dictatorship because 49 percent of the electorate would then be governed by an instrument of government they did not vote for, and which has been imposed upon them. This is the essence of dictatorship…under such systems the people are the victims whose votes are vied for by exploitative competing factions, who dupe the people into political circuses that are outwardly noisy and frantic, but inwardly powerless and irrelevant.”
Western Fallacies
Let us put one fallacy to rest forever – Europeans do not have a monopoly on the theory and practice of democracy. It is not my intention here to enter into what is a huge discussion of what constitutes democracy. Suffice to say, that Western Europe and the US, which continue to this day to brutally enforce their undemocratic systems of colonialism, neo-colonialism and capitalism worldwide, are not in either a moral or historical position to lecture the world on what is or is not democratic.
However fallacious the Western notion of democracy may be, the only thing that matters from an African perspective is that the West is prevented from continuing to impose this fallacious notion on us. They can, as far as we are concerned, have whatever political system they choose. The point is, so can we as Africans. This is what we are fighting for – our inalienable right to self-determination – to freely decide our own destiny.
That is what it means to finally throw off the yoke of colonialism and imperialism, and that is what Libya dared to do under the leadership of Muammar Gadhafi. And Gadhafi dared to extend this vision to the entire African continent.
In the words of the Afrocentric intellectual warrior, Dr Molefi Kete Asante:
The battle for African self-determination did not start in Libya or with Gadhafi – it is a very long battle stretching back to the earliest incursions into Africa. And it is not the first time that Africans have faced such a sophisticated and deadly European attack – we can look way back at the battle of Isandlwana in 1879, where the arrogant British army, one of the most technologically advanced in the world at that time, was humbled by the Zulu fighters under the leadership of the great African king, Cetshwayo.
What this ‘Coalition of Demons' currently attacking Libya, armed with the most sophisticated weaponry known to humankind, is slowly coming to realize, is that they could well be defeated by the will of the Libyan people armed with their faith, revolutionary consciousness and kalashnikovs.
Fear of a Black Planet
‘Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will' – Marcus Garvey
‘The Black race shall prevail throughout the world' – Muammar Gadhafi
This is a defining moment for Africa and Africans all over the world. It is a moment in history that we must seize.
Africans on the continent and throughout the Diaspora were recently given a tiny glimpse of the kind of power that Africa can possess, when Jean Ping, speaking on behalf of the African Union, directed all member states to ignore the ICC's (International Colonial Court) call for Gadhafi's arrest. Jean Ping stated that “the ICC is discriminatory because it only pursues Africans. The Hague-based court ignores crimes committed by Western powers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Thank you, Jean Ping.
However, it is the African youth on the continent and in the Diaspora that are leading and inspiring us towards true independence. Tendai Wenyika, Deputy General Secretary of the Pan-African Youth Union, addressing the recent AU Heads of State summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea called on African leaders to:
“demand the arrest of the likes of Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy, who through their unprovoked war have violated the supreme tenets of the Nuremburg Principles and committed the crime of all crimes…We call for the suspension of all engagements with NATO, and Africa must begin to strengthen its internal ties, security and trade mechanisms in order for us to prosper.”
As I have stated in previous articles, there is nothing that White Power fears more than a united Africa. They know that a united Africa would completely alter the balance of power globally. The well-documented fact is that if Africa stopped the flow of all resources and raw materials to the Western nations for just one week, the United States and Europe would grind to a halt.
“Whenever I ask people about Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola people immediately say it's an American or European drink. This is not true. The kola is African. They have taken the cheap raw material from us, they've made it into a drink, and they sell it back to us for a high price. We should be producing it ourselves and selling it to them.”
If only Africa could realize its immense power. Realizing this power is primarily a psychological transition, since the material facts are overwhelmingly clear. Almost every known natural resource needed to run the contemporary industrial economies—such as uranium, gold, copper, cobalt, coltan (for cell phones, video games, laptops), platinum, diamonds, bauxite, and especially large reserves of oil are located in Africa. Azania (South Africa) alone contains half the world's gold reserves. Democratic Republic of Congo contains half of the world's cobalt and 80 percent of the world's known coltan reserves. One quarter of the world's aluminum ore is found in the coastal belt of West Africa and the continent is awash in petroleum reserves.
Time for ‘us' to put sanctions on ‘them'
It is time to stop the flow of these strategic resources to the Western capitals until they meet our demands. Yes, it is time for us to sanction the Western capitals. The Global Pan-African Movement and the African masses are crying out for it – the time is now. Africans everywhere must exert maximum pressure on their leaders to realize this power, as Muammar Gadhafi dared to, or move aside.
But how would we survive if we were to sanction these Western capitals? I can hear the detractors cry. Answer: there are huge emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil who will be only too happy to pick up the slack.
Already this is the West's greatest fear: In an article titled, ‘Wen calls for more Access for Africa', which appeared in 2007 in the Financial Times, W. Wallis and G. Dyer, wrote:
“Western powers real concern is that African States will opt for Chinese deals to free themselves from the punitive conditions of IMF/ World Bank loans and other forms of financial dependence on Europe and the Unites States. As the second largest source of oil in Africa, Angola is now in such a strong position that it is rejecting IMF loans completely. As one consultant put it, with all their oil revenue, they don't need the IMF or the World Bank. They can play the Chinese off the Americans.”In another article, ‘China and the USA in a new cold war over Africa's oil riches: Darfur? It's the oil, stupid…' William Engdahl points out:
“Today China draws an estimated 30% of its crude oil from Africa. That explains an extraordinary series of diplomatic initiatives which have left Washington furious. China is using no-strings-attached dollar credits to gain access to Africa's vast raw material wealth, leaving Washington's typical control game via the World Bank and IMF out in the cold. Who needs the painful medicine of the IMF when China gives easy terms and builds roads and schools to boot?”
What does all this mean for Africa? Quite simply it means that we now have a choice in trading partners, and although all trading partners drive a hard bargain – some are giving better deals than others.
Black Power – African Power!
This is the moment to put all our efforts into the realization of Nkrumah and Gadhafi's grand plan for a United States of Africa. A strong and truly independent Africa, with one government, one defense force and one currency based on our African gold standard as Gadhafi has proposed. Only when we can achieve this level of unity and power, will we be able to take our rightful place in the world. Only then can we say that the time is finally over when Africa must run from one power broker to another to do our bidding. At last we will be able to do our own bidding on our own terms. Backed by a population of 1 billion people, Africa will then be able to make demands that cannot be ignored.In 2009, at a meeting of the AU in Addis Ababa, Gadhafi, commenting on European and US attitudes to Africa, had this to say: ‘If they do not want to live with us fairly, then they should know it is our planet and they can go to another planet.'
Fair and just is all we are seeking – only the unfair and unjust have anything to fear from a Black planet.
Only when we can achieve this level of unity and power, will we be able to take our rightful place in the world. Only then can we say that the time is finally over when Africa must run from one power broker to another to do our bidding. At last we will be able to do our own bidding on our own terms. Backed by a population of 1 billion people, Africa will then be able to make demands that cannot be ignored.
Gerald A. Perreira is a founding member of the Guyanese organizations, Joint Initiative for Human Advancement and Dignity and Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG). He lived in Libya for many years, served in the Green March, an international battalion for the defense of the Libyan revolution and was an executive member of the World Mathaba based in Tripoli.
Over the years, Burger King has tried to steal some of McDonald’s thunder by developing an ever smiling King, who humorously pops up unexpectedly during NFL games intercepting passes and running the ball in the end zone.
We need to set limits and expectations. We need to replace that video game with a book and make sure that homework gets done. We need to say to our daughters,Don't ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for your goals. We need to tell our sons, Those songs on the radio may glorify violence but in our house, we find glory in achievement, self-respect, and hard work.
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Yes, this was the inflammatory language used by the US government after 9/11, and the gruesome "reality" Osama bin Laden faced last Sunday on the day of his potential demise.
Despite the Native American's outrage over the code name controversy, truefully, they shouldn't be surprised. Let's not forget, the US Military Apache and Blackhawk helicopters used to slaughter people in Somalia as well as in Iraqi.
