by Sean Jobst
May 18, 2011
There was a genuine Libyan revolution with authentic revolutionary forces. I consciously use the past tense, because this revolution has nevertheless been co-opted and taken over by the public face of the rebels at Benghazi. The leaders of the rebel regime – Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, Mahmoud Jebri, Ali Aziz al-Eisawa, Omar Hariri, General Abdul-Fattah Younis, etc. – are former members of the Qadhafi regime who were willing participants of human rights abuses.(1) Yet we are supposed to believe they suddenly grew a conscience rather than simply opportunists who found a new chance for power.
There are certainly legitimate grievances against Qadhafi and his regime. But these grievances are beset by the actions of these rebel leaders. They wasted no time in establishing a new central bank and signing new lucrative oil contracts with Qatar and Western corporations, even at a time when their military situation is abysmal. One can only question their actual motives given their apparent motives. Why not concentrate on building up those institutions that would truly benefit the Libyan people in a fundamental way?
Their concern for human rights is sectarian and tribal; other races and tribes unfortunate to find themselves in rebel-controlled area need not apply.(2) There have already been pogroms of sub-saharan black African workers in Benghazi and other cities of the rebel-controlled east.(3) Even indigenous blacks from Fezzan have been at the brunt of this race-based pogrom.(4) Racism is a reality and the Arab tribes of Libya are certainly not immune from feelings of superiority towards the darker-skinned blacks. In this same region of Libya, these pogroms also occurred 11 years ago.(5) We see that now in Darfur with the Janjaweed massacres, aided by the complicity of the Sudanese regime and the silence of the Western and Arab worlds.(6)
Authentic Libyan revolutionaries are to be found in those individuals whose concern for the liberty of their country was born from their being, and is part of their internal spirit, rather than one suddenly discovered in the heat of conflict. Such authentic revolutionaries are opposed to the Qadhafi regime, but they likewise raise their furor against any foreign intervention. They recognize that any authentic revolution must stir from an internal yearning of the people themselves and not imposed from without by foreigners.
“I call on all the peoples to support us,” writes the Libyan anarchist Saoud Salem on his blog(7). “We welcome their support and sympathy.” The support he welcomed was to be a moral support and not foreigners inteferring in Libyan affairs and violating its natural rights as a sovereign country.
“We condemn this international resolution,” he continued. “And we totally reject any foreign intervention in Libya, whatever shape it may take, especially a French one. France, that sold Qaddafi weapons worth billions, weapons that he is using today to blow up Libyans, the same France that didn’t stop such deals until 3 weeks back.
“We condemn this intervention that will transform Libya into a real hell, even more than now. That intervention will also steal the revolution from the Libyans, a revolution that has cost them thousands of dead women and men so far. An intervention that will also divide the Libyan resistance.”
The result? “To be liberated from Qaddafi just to become slaves to those who armed him and empowered him during all those years of authoritarian violence and repression. After the first mistake – the militarization of the popular revolution – here we are committing our second mistake – the establishment of a new leadership of figures arising out of the remnants of the Libyan Jamahiriya regime. And our third mistake is coming inevitably, which will be to ask for help from our enemies. I only hope we will not reach the fourth one: that is, occupation and the arrival of the marines.”
“Bombs will not differentiate between those who are pro-Qaddafi and who are against him. Colonialist bombs, as you know, have only one objective: to defend the interests of arms traders. They sold Qaddafi arms worth billions and then we ask them to destroy them now….Then we will buy new arms through the new government – it is an old, well-known story.”
What was a revolution has been turned into a civil war, as two sides fight for control over the resources. There will be no fundamental social change within Libya; its about one political elite seeking to displace another political elite. War is a profitable business for international banks, through debt. The multi-trillion-dollar armaments trade is certainly getting a boost from the conflict, as are the “reconstruction” companies eager to sweep across Libya like vultures and make money off the resultant misery as surely as the arms traders made it through the killing.
“I call on all Libyans, all intellectuals, artists, university graduates, everyone, those who can write and those who cannot, every female and male citizen, to reject this military intervention by the US, France and Britain, and the Arab regimes that they support.
“At the same time, I call on all the peoples to support us,” Salem concluded. “All the peoples of the world, we welcome their support and sympathy. But as for governments, whatever government, we will not ask anything from them, but to leave us alone, to let us finish the problem of Qaddafi by ourselves.”
NOTES:
(1) David D. Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim, “Hopes for a Qaddafi Exit, and Worries of What Comes Next,” The New York Times, March, 22, 2011, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E3D91531F931A15750C0A9679D8B63.
(2) Glen Ford, “No Tahrir in Benghazi: A Racist Pogrom Rages On against Black Africans in Libya,” Monthly Review Zine, March 3, 2011, http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ford030311.html.
(3) Abbas Al Lawati, “Black Africans targeted on the streets of Benghazi,” Gulf News, March 9, 2011, http://gulfnews.com/news/region/libya/black-africans-targeted-on-the-streets-of-benghazi-1.773623.
(4) Peter R. Fay, “Gaddafi’s ‘African Mercenaries’ – Or Are They Libyans From Fezzan?,” TheClearView, March 4, 2011, http://theclearview.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/gaddafis-african-mercenaries-or-are-they-libyans-from-fezzan/.
(5) “Pogrom,” The Economist, October 12, 2000, http://www.economist.com/node/392844.
(6) “Arab League SG a “racist” says Darfur JEM, demands public apology,” Sudanese Online, March 16, 2011, http://sudaneseonline.org/cs/blogs/english/archive/2011/03/16/arab-league-sg-a-quot-racist-quot-says-darfur-jem-demands-public-apology.aspx.
(7) Saoud Salem, “The signs of the defeat of the Libyan revolution – Statement by a Libyan anarchist,” 17 March 2011, <http://saoudsalem.maktoobblog.com/1619397>. It was also translated into English: <http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos24901.html>.