Monday, February 28, 2011
Pambazuka - Would Africa miss Gaddafi if he went?
For full article visit :
Pambazuka - Would Africa miss Gaddafi if he went?
Extract from article :
“Their main concern is the rough treatment – often amounting to brutality – meted to Africans who have tried to live and work in Libya. No-one denies the fact that Libya has the right to expect Africans to obtain visas before travelling to Libya, or that they should obtain work permits before working in Libya, and that once there, they should act lawfully.
But as this report in the Ghana Daily Graphic of 17 December 2004, shows, the methods adopted by the Libyan authorities in dealing with the citizens of other African states who fall short of the behaviour expected of them while they are on Libyan territory, is often deplorable:
‘The Libyan Government has deported another batch of 132 Ghanaians living in that country.
‘This brings to 6,027, the total number of such deportees since the Libyan Government began the exercise… The deportees had been coming in on regular intervals of between two weeks and one month. They were brought in “aboard a cargo flight”.
‘Airport sources said that “apart from the first batch, which was brought in aboard a passenger plane, the rest had always been on cargo planes which had no seats… In an interview, some of the deportees alleged that the conditions at the camp had been dehumanising, since there were no sleeping places. ‘’There were only canopies stretched across a vast area of land and we were not fed regularly. We had to stay without water for over a day or two,” the deportees said, adding that there was overcrowding at the camp… “The source said that a particular batch had been kept at the camp for 17 days and so they were very exhausted.”’
Now, which Ghanaian patriot does Gaddafi think can condone such ‘dehumanising treatment” by a country that purports to have the interests of other African states so much at heart that it wants to unite with them? Only those who benefit from Libyan petrodollars can close their eyes to such inhumanity”.
“The latest news from Tripoli – that Gaddafi is using African mercenaries recruited from Chad, Darfur, Niger, Burkina Faso and other black African countries – to kill Gaddafi’s Libyan opponents in Tripoli and other cities – will, of course, constitute the death-knell of any pretence he ever had of leading Africa into unity. Indeed, he is contributing enormously towards the entrenchment of racial hatred between Africans ands Arabs”.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Arabs are democracy's new pioneers - The leaderless Middle East uprisings can inspire freedom movements as Latin America did before
by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
Democracy and Class Struggle does not accept the analysis of Hardt and Negri concerning the multitude but we feel this article does raise some questions about what is new in these 21st century uprisings has they are not mere repetitions of the past and hence we publish it for discussion..
One challenge facing observers of the uprisings spreading across north Africa and the Middle East is to read them as not so many repetitions of the past but as original experiments that open new political possibilities, relevant well beyond the region, for freedom and democracy. Indeed, our hope is that through this cycle of struggles the Arab world becomes for the next decade what Latin America was for the last – that is, a laboratory of political experimentation between powerful social movements and progressive governments from Argentina to Venezuela, and from Brazil to Bolivia.
These revolts have immediately performed a kind of ideological house-cleaning, sweeping away the racist conceptions of a clash of civilisations that consign Arab politics to the past. The multitudes in Tunis, Cairo and Benghazi shatter the political stereotypes that Arabs are constrained to the choice between secular dictatorships and fanatical theocracies, or that Muslims are somehow incapable of freedom and democracy. Even calling these struggles "revolutions" seems to mislead commentators who assume the progression of events must obey the logic of 1789 or 1917, or some other past European rebellion against kings and czars.
These Arab revolts ignited around the issue of unemployment, and at their centre have been highly educated youth with frustrated ambitions – a population that has much in common with protesting students in London and Rome. Although the primary demand throughout the Arab world focuses on the end to tyranny and authoritarian governments, behind this single cry stands a series of social demands about work and life not only to end dependency and poverty but to give power and autonomy to an intelligent, highly capable population. That Zine al-Avidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak or Muammar Gaddafi leave power is only the first step.
New Transitional Administration for Libya formed by anti Gaddafy forces
Picture : Mustafa Abdel Jalil
Meanwhile, Libya's former justice minister announced he was forming a "transitional government" to replace Gaddafi's crumbling regime, which now controls only some western areas around the capital and a few long-time bastions in the arid south, reporters and witnesses say.
In al-Baida, Mustafa Abdel Jalil said the new administration would include commanders of the regular army, many of who defected to the opposition, and would pave the way for free and fair elections in three months' time.
"Our national government has military and civilian personalities. It will lead for no more than three months, and then there will be fair elections and the people will choose their leader," Abdel Jalil said.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Benghazi, said people in the city "realise that at the end of the day, they are going to be responsible for the liberation of their entire country and they are taking steps to do that".
"There was a big meeting of the former justice minister who is leading this process and the tribal elders," our correspondent said.
Tunisian PM Mohammed Ghannouchi resigns over protests
Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has announced on state TV that he is resigning - a key demand of demonstrators.
He was speaking at a news conference in Tunis, after making a lengthy speech defending his record in government.
Mr Ghannouchi is seen as being too close to former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who was toppled in an uprising last month
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The People of Libya and Tripoli will decide the future of their country - no to Imperialist intervention !
Democracy and Class Struggle: After a week of arduous struggle the Libyan people are winning and Gaddafy is isolated, his army, his diplomats, the tribes are all are abandoning him, even his corrupt business partner Berlusconi has said he has lost control of Libya.
Let the Libyan people consolidate their victory over Gaddafy and pre-empt any Imperialist intervention under whatever guise it may come. We salute the brave Libyan People and their victories to date.
We know that there is a long road to travel from this rebellion to revolution.The bureaucrat capitalists of Libya will try to reassert control with a friendlier face than that of the butcher Gaddafy.
Now awakened to their power the Libyan people can open up the road to better future for their country and if bravery were the sole judge they should win it.
We salute the Libyan People.
Let the Libyan people consolidate their victory over Gaddafy and pre-empt any Imperialist intervention under whatever guise it may come. We salute the brave Libyan People and their victories to date.
We know that there is a long road to travel from this rebellion to revolution.The bureaucrat capitalists of Libya will try to reassert control with a friendlier face than that of the butcher Gaddafy.
Now awakened to their power the Libyan people can open up the road to better future for their country and if bravery were the sole judge they should win it.
We salute the Libyan People.
Tajoura a working class district of Tripoli under control of its residents not Gaddafy
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Poor neighbourhoods of the Libyan capital Tripoli openly defied Muammar Gaddafi on Saturday as his grip on power after 41 years of rule looked increasingly tenuous in the face of nationwide revolt.
Security forces had abandoned the working-class Tajoura district after five days of anti-government demonstrations, residents told foreign correspondents who visited the area.
The residents said troops opened fire on demonstrators who tried to march from Tajoura to central Green Square overnight, killing at least five people. The number could not be independently confirmed.
A funeral on Saturday morning for one of the victims turned into another show of defiance against Gaddafy.
"Everyone in Tajoura came out against the government. We saw them killing our people here and everywhere in Libya," a man who identified himself as Ali, aged 25, told Reuters.
"We will demonstrate again and again, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow until they change."
The scene in Tajoura contradicted statements by Gaddafy's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who told reporters on Friday night that peace was returning to Libya.
Libya: Popular democratic uprising in favour of the West?
Picture Arundhati Roy
Willi Langthaler
Published:
Feb 25th 2011Yes to people’s power in Benghazi, no to sanctions or military intervention
Arundhati Roy is an intellectual icon of the resistance against globalisation. Recently we asked her what she thinks about the democratic movements in the Arab world. Her answer was that the support those rebellions enjoy in the western media makes her rather anxious. How this fact can be interpreted?
The Egyptian movement was quite a challenge for the regimes of the west, as Mubarak was one of the most important pro-western dictators. His regime protected Israel and in return received billions of military aid each year. In the true spirit of neoliberalism, Washington also outsourced torture to Cairo. At the same time, the lords of the world have continued to as the keepers of the Holy Grail they call democracy.
The Tunisian movement was so powerful that it forced the US regime to back down from its support, while the former colonial power—France—still supported their torture interrogator Ben Ali.
In Libya on the other hand, the world seems to be alright again. The hacks are dancing again to the tune pattern employed against Saddam–Milošević–Ahmadinejad. It doesn’t help Qaddhafi that the west has been doing good business with him for many years, while he in turn keeps the African have-nots out of sight for the EU fortress and supports French colonial policy in Chad. For his people and for the Arab world, the ageing leader of the revolution has been continuing to mime the anti-imperialist, increasingly clownish and devoid of contents. On the other side of the Mediterranean, they are now propping up this faded anti-imperialist as an enemy for quasi-posthumous revenge against the old Qaddhafi.
The present bear hug is the worst burden to weigh down the democratic movement. If it wants to be democratic, it has to reject western support, otherwise Qaddhafi could regain legitimacy. Those who really want to support the popular movement have to resolutely oppose sanctions (let’s not forget the slow genocides in Iraq in the name of “democracy” and in Gaza right now); of course we also have to fight any military intervention.
However, support by the western media machinery won’t automatically create a pro-western movement. Of course there are forces in Libya—as well as in Egypt and in Tunisia—who seek salvation in the west, but the main forces of the rebellion are the middle and lower classes, and they combine democratic demands with social and anti-imperialist demands. This also seems to be the case in Libya, where the average standard of living is much higher than in other Maghreb countries, but just as in the oil monarchies of the Gulf, the oil rent is distributed in a very unequal way and political power is monopolised. The rebellion is thus absolutely legitimate, even though it is not motivated by hunger as it is in Egypt.
There is on the other hand a decisive difference. It seems that at least parts of the army stick to Qaddhafi. Without reliable information, we can only conjecture that this fact is due to a somewhat broader distribution of the oil income and to tribal loyalties that still have some importance in Libya. However, it is quite possible that the Libyan army will split and the conflict might lead to a civil war. An alternative power seems to take shape in and around Benghazi, the second-largest city of the country. In contrast to the neighbouring countries, that power is not based on a recycled military regime, but seems to be something radically new, and it is faced with the enormous problem that there is no organised and articulate opposition to fill the vacuum. There is a chance to experiment with people’s power, and we have to support that.
So far, only the media generals are talking about a military intervention. They would like to turn their keyboards and mice into cruise missiles of democracy. The capitalist oligarchy on the other hand will think very carefully which forces to support, before they take action. They’d rather see people’s power in Benghazi crushed in a bloody civil war.
The jubilations of the western media are very myopic and misplaced indeed, maybe delusional. They are hoping for a colour revolution like those staged in eastern Europe, but the Arab world has been the victim of 150 years of brutal colonialism and neo-colonialism, permanent Israeli aggression, numerous US-led wars, neoliberal pillage decorated with pro-western oil princes who flaunt a Disney Arabia to the starving masses. A few rabid liberal democracy criers won’t be enough to turn around the legitimate hatred of the masses against the west which has been nurtured for generations.
In the Middle East and in the Arab world, democracy means anti-imperialism. As soon as the dream of gentle regime change wears off and reality sets in, when the masses demand social justice and national sovereignty, which clash with western and Israeli interests, the party will be over in the starry-eyed liberal editorial offices. In a flash, the Arabs will be a primitive mass again who only deserve the stick, as they had until just a few weeks ago. It isn’t a coincidence that Israel is once more pointing out the direction: democracy is reserved for the white master race. The Israeli regime is beating its chest as “the only democracy in the Middle East”, and they are determined to keep things just like that.
The western bear hug of the democratic revolution is doomed to failure.
Source:
http://www.antiimperialista.org/
Source:
http://www.antiimperialista.org/
Appeal to some Leftist comrades supporting Gaddafy by Dyab Abou Jahjah
I will always hold high regard of Chavez and Castro but they are making a huge and fatal mistake and so are you. You know me for years, and you know how anti-imperialist I am, at least trust us, trust our people.
The revolt in Libya is popular and not ran by the filthy opposition that we know are there and are stooges of Empire. Our people in Libya are revolting, Arab nationalists, Islamists, Socialists but above all regular Lybians are revolting, this is not a velvet revolution the level of sacrifice is huge, you are insulting the blood of thousands of martyrs by standing behind the butcher.... This is is heartbreaking...
What happens in Libya is a direct result of Tunisia and Egypt, Lybia is squeezed by a genuine Arab revolutionary fever... It might even happen in Syria and we will support it too despite all the positive aspects of the regime there, because if it is massive and genuine, it is good, and liberating. Empire will always try to turn any event to its favor, but the people won't allow that to happen! and remember Gaddafy is for years now a stooge of Empire. The Americans want to move in because they are afraid for the oil and for a possible Alqaeda new safe haven. Gaddafy is inviting them in by talking all the time about that Al Qaeda is behind the revolt, a total absurd claim. This revolt is genuine and popular, and this man is a butcher and he is crazy. Sure he payed some Sam rockets for the IRA in his far forsaken revolutionary past, and that is great, but would that make you blind to his pro imperialist make-over the last decade? or to the fact that his son is even close to the Zionists or at least to the fact that he is butchering his people....
Dear friends, trust our people and its revolutionary instinct. the Arab street don't get things wrong , it is always anti-imperialist, and the Arab street is standing as one man, behind the revolution.
Power to the Libyian people,
Long Live the Pan-Arab revolution
Democracy and Class Struggle endorses this call by Dyab Abou Jahjah even if we have some differences with him about Political Islam - he is comrade in the Anti- Imperialist Struggle and he is contact with the reality of the Libyan Peoples Struggle and his appeal should be listened to and supported.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Interior Minister Gen Abdul Fatteh Younis says Col Gaddafi's regime is collapsing, and forecasts that he will last only a few more days.
One of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's most powerful and longest-serving associates has called on him to end his resistance to the uprising against him in Libya.
In a BBC interview, Interior Minister Gen Abdul Fatteh Younis says Col Gaddafi's regime is collapsing, and forecasts that he will last only a few more days.
Having known the colonel for 47 years, Gen Younis says he will not surrender.
"Either he will commit suicide or he will resist till he falls," he says.
Gen Younis was sent to Benghazi at the end of last week to oversee the suppression of the demonstrations here.
Instead, he rang Col Gaddafi and persuaded him not to use warplanes to crush the protesters.
After this evidence that he was changing sides, there seems to have been an attempt to assassinate him.
Col Gaddafi actually announced the general's death in a speech on Libyan television, but it was a bodyguard who died instead, in a shooting incident in Benghazi.
All this persuaded the general to come over to the uprising. At present he is living in a secret house on the outskirts of Benghazi. I was taken there to meet him.
He appealed to Colonel Gaddafi to stop fighting the uprising.
"My dear brother," he said, "when Benghazi fell you should have realised that the end had come. I hoped you would leave for Venezuela or somewhere else."
"May God show you the righteous way, and stop the annihilation of our people."
Source: BBC NEWS
Libya is the richest North African Country with highest unemployment rate, 20% illiteracy rate
Libya is the richest North African country. Counted in GDP per capita, Libya indeed is on an Eastern European level.
But that does not reflect the real economy of the average Libyan, with around half the population falling outside the oil-driven economy.
The unemployment rate is at a surprising 30 percent, with youth unemployment estimated at between 40 and 50 percent. This is the highest in North Africa.
Also other development indicators reveal that little of the petrodollars have been invested in the welfare of Libya's 6.5 million inhabitants. Education levels are lower than in neighbouring Tunisia, which has little oil, and a surprising 20 percent of Libyans remain illiterate.
Also, decent housing is unavailable to most of the disadvantaged half of the population. A generally high price level in Libya puts even more strains on these households.
source:
White supporters of African liberation denounce police occupation of black community in St. Petersburg, Florida
UHURU SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
PRESS CONFERENCE STATEMENT
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011
On Wednesday February 23 2011, Uhuru Solidarity Movement held a press conference to address the recent shooting of a police officer and subsequent military occupation of the black community in St. Petersburg, FL. The Uhuru Solidarity Movement is an organization of white Euro-Americans who organize under the leadership of the African-led Uhuru Movement to build reparations and material solidarity with the struggle for African liberation. Below is the statement delivered at the press conference by Penny Hess, chairperson of the African People's Solidarity Committee.
Last night the St. Petersburg police announced the “surrender” of an African youth, barely 16 years old, in the murder of a policeman in this city on Feb. 22. In violation of their longstanding policy, the police released the young person’s name and showed his picture on TV.
Instead of examining the reasons why a young teenager would take such an action, the police and the city of St. Petersburg have successfully demonized this young man and the whole African community in a city and a country that have already criminalized African people as threats to US white society.
We have to look at the reality that this is a teenager from a deeply impoverished African community growing up in a city that has in the recent period seen the police murders of several unarmed black teenaged men. This young man faced a bleak future in a community without jobs and economic development, with a mere 21 percent graduation rate for black males, and with 50 percent unemployment rates for African youth. The fact is 75 percent of black men in this country will be arrested and jailed before the age of 36, regardless of their actions, in a system that arrests black men 6 times more often than white men. This is a young man who grew up in a community that the mayor and city government invested millions of dollars into in order to gentrify, moving in white people while dispersing the African community.
PRESS CONFERENCE STATEMENT
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011
On Wednesday February 23 2011, Uhuru Solidarity Movement held a press conference to address the recent shooting of a police officer and subsequent military occupation of the black community in St. Petersburg, FL. The Uhuru Solidarity Movement is an organization of white Euro-Americans who organize under the leadership of the African-led Uhuru Movement to build reparations and material solidarity with the struggle for African liberation. Below is the statement delivered at the press conference by Penny Hess, chairperson of the African People's Solidarity Committee.
Last night the St. Petersburg police announced the “surrender” of an African youth, barely 16 years old, in the murder of a policeman in this city on Feb. 22. In violation of their longstanding policy, the police released the young person’s name and showed his picture on TV.
Instead of examining the reasons why a young teenager would take such an action, the police and the city of St. Petersburg have successfully demonized this young man and the whole African community in a city and a country that have already criminalized African people as threats to US white society.
We have to look at the reality that this is a teenager from a deeply impoverished African community growing up in a city that has in the recent period seen the police murders of several unarmed black teenaged men. This young man faced a bleak future in a community without jobs and economic development, with a mere 21 percent graduation rate for black males, and with 50 percent unemployment rates for African youth. The fact is 75 percent of black men in this country will be arrested and jailed before the age of 36, regardless of their actions, in a system that arrests black men 6 times more often than white men. This is a young man who grew up in a community that the mayor and city government invested millions of dollars into in order to gentrify, moving in white people while dispersing the African community.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
1.6 Million Children In The UK Living In Severe Poverty Says Save The Children - Welsh Children Most Affected Among UK Nations
Source: eGov monitor - A Policy Dialogue Platform
Published Wednesday, 23 February, 2011 - 09:31
1..6 Million children are living in abject poverty in the UK and the numbers could rise with the looming public sector spending cuts and welfare reforms, the charity Save the Children has reported calling it a "national scandal". Welsh children are more likely to live in poverty than their counterparts in other parts of the UK.
Wales has the highest proportion of children (14%) living in severe poverty followed by England (13%). Scotland and Northern Ireland each have 9% of children living in abject poverty. The figures compiled by the charity also shows that in 29 local authority areas more than 20% of children are affected by severe poverty. Children living in Manchester and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are most affected where child poverty numbers are as high as 27%.
Newham in London has child poverty rate of 25% followed by London Borough of Westminster (the richest council in the country) and Leicester with 24%. In cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham 23% children are growing up in very poor households.
Save the Children urged the UK government to take immediate steps to support low income families to tackle this national crisis. The charity is also critical of the government's proposals to replace anti-poverty measures based on income levels. ""You cannot ignore incomes when tackling child poverty," the charity has said. However, the government has defended the move saying it is attempting to tackle the root causes of poverty and disadvantage.
"Over the last decade vast sums of money has been poured into the benefits system in an attempt to address poverty, this approach has failed," a DWP spokesperson said. ""Our radical welfare reforms will benefit the poorest in society, helping 350,000 children out of poverty, and targeting support at those who need it most to make work pay and break the benefits trap."
The government says it is "fully committed to the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020." However, Save the Children believes that government policy could push more families into poverty and they need help now.
"Children up and down the country are going to sleep at night in homes with no heating, without eating a proper meal and without proper school uniforms to put on in the morning," said Sally Copley, Save the Children's head of UK policy.
"No child should be born without a chance. It is a national scandal that 1.6 million children are growing up in severe poverty," she added as she called for urgent "government help towards them."
Kate Green the Labour MP and anti poverty campaigner expressed concern that the progress made under the previous government on child poverty is now being "reversed by the Conservative-led government's decision to go too far and too fast with deficit reduction".
": "George Osborne promised at his budget and spending review that his tough approach to cutting the deficit would not increase child poverty," she added. "But Save the Children is right to warn about the impact of rising unemployment, the VAT increase and unfair cuts to welfare."
Anti Government Protests in Cameroon inspired by North Afrikan Rebellions
Yesterday Cameroonian activists held protests against President Paul Biya, but according to one report security forces quickly suppressed the demonstrations. Cameroon saw widespread protests against Biya in 2008.
Cameroonian activist Kah Walla describes her own experience over at Dibussi Tande’s blog.
Lambeth Council Meeting stopped by Protestors against Cuts
Lambeth Council has slashed 79 million pounds from services despite protests from the local community.Salute to the protestors from Democracy and Class Struggle.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
While Gaddafi has relied on empty revolutionary slogans to maintain power, his son treats Oil money has his own by Lamis Andoni
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The sheer brutality of the Libyan suppression of anti-government protests has exposed the fallacy of the post-colonial Arab dictatorships, which have relied on revolutionary slogans as their source of legitimacy.
Ever since his ascension to power, through a military coup, in 1969, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has used every piece of revolutionary rhetoric in the book to justify his actions, which include consolidating power in the hands of his relatives and close associates and creating a network of security forces and militias to coerce Libyans into conforming to the whims of his cruel regime.
Through his support for revolutionary movements in different parts of the world - ones, of course, which did not endanger his own rule - he has sought to portray himself as the 'defender of the oppressed', earning the wrath of the West in the process. But the people now courageously defying his regime's savage suppression are sending the message that anti-Western slogans, even if occasionally backed up by support for just causes, can no longer sustain oppressive regimes in the region.
A new era is underway in which leaders will be judged on their ability to represent the aspirations of the people and in which they will be held accountable for their actions. Issuing rallying cries against a foreign enemy, even when that enemy is very real, while inflicting injustice on one's own people will no longer be permitted.
Post-colonial Arab regimes, including those that rode the waves of or even at one point genuinely represented anti-colonial resistance, have had to resort to a reliance on secret police and draconian laws to subordinate their subjects. The lesson is clear: Without a representative democracy, Arab republics have metamorphosed into ugly hereditary dynasties that treat their countries like their own private companies.
While trampling over the interests of his own people, Gaddafi has modeled himself as the champion of the Palestinian cause, reverting to the most fiery verbal attacks on Israel. But this is a recurring theme in a region where leaders must pay lip service to the plight of the Palestinians in order to give their regime the stamp of 'legitimacy'. Gaddafi's 'support', however, did not prevent him from deporting Palestinians living in Libya, leaving them stranded in the dessert, when he sought to "punish the Palestinian leadership" for negotiating with Israel.
But even more cynical than his "pro-Palestinian" stand is his exploitation of the plight of the African people by anointing himself the leader of the continent. It is tragic, if reports prove to be true, that he used migrant sub-Saharan African labourers against the Libyan protesters. But it is, sadly, very believable that a ruthless dictator, driven hysterical by the prospect of losing his wealth and power, might pit the poor and marginalised against the poor and oppressed.
The darling of the West
Seif al-Islam, Gaddafi's son who appeared on Libyan state television to warn that the demonstrators threatened to sink Libya into civil war, unlike his father, does not need to pretend to endorse the world's underprivileged. For his power derives from something altogether different.
When Seif warned that "rivers of blood" would flow if the protests did not stop, he was giving himself the right, merely by virtue of being his father's son, to dismiss the grievances of millions of people and to issue outrageous threats.
Seif may look and sound more sophisticated than his erratic father, but his performance was one of a feudal lord unable to fathom why his serfs would defy his authority.
He has no need to employ his father's tactic of invoking vacuous revolutionary rhetoric, for Gaddafi has successfully used the country's Revolutionary Command Council and Revolutionary Committees - which are supposed to represent the interests of the people - to cement the power of his family and as tools with which to subjugate the masses.
But Seif's role has been secured not only by his power within the country. According to Vivienne Walt, a writer forTime Magazine, since the lifting of Western sanctions against Libya in 2005, Seif has acted "as an assurance" to the oil companies that have poured millions of dollars into the country.
"In interviews with oil executives, all say that Seif is the person whom they would most like to see running Libya. He has made occasional appearances at the World Economic Forum. And during two visits to Libya, I've seen countless corporate executives from the US and Europe line up for appointments with Seif," she recently wrote.
It is little wonder Seif feels confident enough to make threats against the Libyan people without possessing so much as an official title. His position as the darling of the West, he clearly believes, entitles him to trample on the lives of others. And it may also explain the West's hesitation over unequivocally condemning the sheer brutality of the Libyan regime.
Thus, while the father ensured his grip on power by building a dictatorship with a claim to "revolutionary legitimacy," Seif has been expected to secure the Western stamp of legitimacy by keeping the door to the country's main source of wealth open for the oil companies to exploit.
The father's repression in the name of the revolution and the son's status as an agent for the oil companies has created an oil-rich country where one-third of the population live below the poverty line and 30 per cent are unemployed. This is Gaddafi's Libya.
But the Libyan people are now shouting a loud goodbye to the Libya of Gaddafi and his family and, with great sacrifices, are building a new, freer country.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Democracy and Class Struggle calls for urgent removal of Gaddafy
Gaddafy has completely lost the plot in his tv speech below - every word of his speech is a dead Libyan - the sooner he goes the more lives will be saved.
We are still surprised that some comrades do not understand both sides of the contradiction between Libya and Imperialism - the collusion and the contention.
The collusion has been the dominant aspect of the contradiction for a decade now whilst in the early years it was more contention with imperialism.
Today Gaddafy's anti-imperialism is pure rhetoric and does not fool the Libyan people and neither should it fool us.
PFLP condemns Gaddafi regime's massacres against Libyan people
The PFLP demanded the protection of the Libyan people and thei rights, and emphasized its support for the demands of the people of Libya and the Arab masses for freedom, human and national dignity, democracy, social justice, and the fight against corruption and dictatorship.
The Front demanded an immediate end to the bloody aggression and oppression and called upon all forces for rights and human dignity in the Arab world and relevant international institutions to act immediately to stop the shedding of Arab blood in the fields and streets of Libya, saying that the criminal regime cares for nothing but its own rule and livelihood at the expense of the enslavement of the homeland and its people.
The Front called for broad humanitarian and national solidarity with the people of Libya, calling upon all to participate in the rally callled for by the Network of NGOs and National and Islamic Forces in Manara Square, calling for an end to occupation and division and solidarity with the Arabs in Libya and the Arab masses in all countries.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Military Aircraft fired live ammunition at crowds in Libya
TRIPOLI — Military aircraft fired live ammunition at crowds of anti-government protesters in Tripoli, Al-Jazeera television reported Monday.
A Libyan man, Soula al-Balaazi, who said he was an opposition activist, told the network by telephone that Libyan air force warplanes had bombed "some locations in Tripoli."
A Libyan man, Soula al-Balaazi, who said he was an opposition activist, told the network by telephone that Libyan air force warplanes had bombed "some locations in Tripoli."
Libyan Pilots refuse to strafe Benghazi civilians on Libyan Government orders
VALLETTA, Malta — Two Libyan air force jets have arrived in Malta and military officials say their pilots have asked for political asylum .
The pilots refused to bomb and strafe civilians in the Libyan City of Benghazi - this is further confirmation of the shoot to kill poicy on civilian protests in Libya.
The pilots refused to bomb and strafe civilians in the Libyan City of Benghazi - this is further confirmation of the shoot to kill poicy on civilian protests in Libya.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Nepal Peace Process, Internal Affair of our Country - CP Gajurel
THIS INTERVIEW WAS BEFORE THE FORMATION OF THE LATEST GOVERNMENT LED BY KHANAL OF UML IN NEPAL
CP Gajurel `Guarav' is Secretary of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the single largest party in Nepal. Despite the fact that it is the largest party, a champion of national agenda at present and a party to the overall peace process, the other parties are against supporting it to lead the new government.
The party is also undergoing a two-line struggle. Given this, Editor of The Red Star, Kumar Shah, talked with Maoist Secretary Guarav.
Interview with Comrade Guarav:
How is the possibility of the formation of the new government in your party leadership accepting all the preconditions set by Nepali Congress asnd CPN-UML?
Our party's standing committee meeting has already discussed the matter and concluded that it is illogical to deal with the issues related to army integration in such a way that means an exchange of the government leadership with the integration of the two armies. Our party has decided to reject any such conditions for securing support from NC or UML for our party to lead the new government
India claims to be the guardian of Nepalese peace process. Will the peace process reach its logical end without `give and take' with the South Block?
India claims to be the guardian of Nepalese peace process. Will the peace process reach its logical end without `give and take' with the South Block?
Definitely, India is trying to play a role of a Big brother and, in this sense, a guardian. India has its hegemonic attitude toward Nepal, which is unacceptable for us. In peace process, there is incessant interference from our southern neighbor. Due to this, the peace process is not moving smoothly. We neither expect nor accept any bossy role of the foreign powers because the peace process is the internal affair of our country, a homegrown process. Political parties of Nepal will decide its course and no external forces should try to play an unwelcome role.
PLA has been brought under the Special Committee. However, NC and UML, seem to be unwilling to build on the latest development and move ahead. How do you assess it?
T
Saif Islam Gaddafy speaks on Libyan TV carried by Al Jazeera - No indication that father has left
Saif Islam Gaddafy, son of Gaddafy speaks on Libyan TV of the danger of Civil War and break up of Libya into three parts. He says there are 84 deaths in Libya not over 200 has in world media. He acknowledges that opposition forces are also armed not just with guns but tanks.
He calls for peoples conference and constitution.
No indication that his father has left the country.
Statement of (New) Italian Communist Party on North Afrikan and Middle East Uprisings - call to the Italian Working Class
(new) Italian Communist Party
Site: http://www.nuovopci.it
e.mail: lavocenpci40@yahoo.it
Delegation:
BP3 4, rue Lénine 93451 L'Île St Denis (Francia)
e.mail: delegazionecpnpci@yahoo.it
12 February 2011
Tens, hundreds Egypt! Tens, hundreds Nepal!
Long live the great victory of the Egyptian people!
An example, a signal and a boost to other Arab and Muslim countries!
After the victory in Tunisia, another step forward in the new democratic, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist revolution, in the Arab and Muslim countries!
The struggle against imperialism and Zionism rages from Tunisia, to Egypt, to Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon! Other countries will be on fire!
The teachings for the oppressed and the exploited classes from all over the world!
Finally, the puppet of US imperialism and of Israeli Zionist gave up. Hosni Mubarak has left the power. The Egyptian people, 85 million people strong and with a large working class, won a first major victory, took a major step forward in the new democratic anti-feudal and imperialist revolution they need.
The Communists wish new great successes to the Egyptian people on behalf of the working class and of the other exploited and oppressed classes of our country.
The imperialists of the whole world, the International Community of the imperialist powers headed by the US government, the Israeli Zionists, are shaking and trying to salvage whatever possible. At present, they sacrificed another their servile puppet, partner of business and intrigues for many years, a traitor to his people: Hosni Mubarak. All the puppets who in many countries oppressed crush the masses to serve the imperialist powers and groups are trembling. After the former cases of the Shah of Persia (1979) and of Manuel Noriega of Panama (1989), the miserable fate of Ben Ali on 14th January and yesterday 11th February Hosni Mubarak, come to disturb the sleep of the persecutor and dictators on International Community’s account: who is next ?
The protection by imperialists and Zionists do not reassure anymore. Nethaniau and Abu Mazen are trembling and plot in the shadow: will the US imperialists be able to hold in their hands the Egypt now after Mubarak has left? The heads of Government of the European Union, Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Luis Zapatero, Silvio Berlusconi and the rest of the company, are mobilized to support Barak Obama in the maneuvers of US Federal Administration, of Pentagon and NATO to hold the revolutionary forces of Egypt at bay, to ensure that the handover, in countries where it is inevitable, happens in the “order”, that is to say under the control of imperialist groups and powers and of the Zionists. Now they admit that the regimes that until recently were their protégés, were not “democratic regimes”; now they must be quickly repainted, and the masses must be induced to elect any of the men trusted by imperialists and Zionists.
The Three Waves from the Uprisings in North Afrika and the Middle East
Democracy and Class Struggle has been pointing for some time the three waves that have been created by the Uprisings in North Africa and The Middle East and they are still in full flow.
The Pan Arab wave, the affect on the Arab World of the resurgence of Pan Arabism of the masses at its most progressive in the ideas of George Habash aka Al Hakim founder of the PFLP rather than Nasserism and the Pan Arabism of the elites.
The Islamic wave, the affect on Islam and how the Muslim Brotherhood's Islam in Egypt is becoming less undemocratic, a Turkish rather than Saudi fundamentalist version of Islam is on the political agenda in Egypt. While listening respectively to the warnings of Samir Amin we recognise changes in Political Islam, it is not static under the pressure of recent mass popular upsurges.
The Afrikan wave the affect on Afrika where comprador elites are beginning to feel the fear that they ruled the people by, may now become their achilles heel. The people gather courage in the towns and villages and the elites live in fear in their palaces. Look at Gabon, Cameron and Ivory Coast.
All these developments are positive developments in the real world of the North African and Middle East Uprisings and should provide knowledge and courage to take developments to a higher stage the struggle for Socialism.
However the real current weaknesses are obvious, Mao's three magic weapons of new democratic and socialist transformation - the revolutionary Communist Party, The United Front, the Peoples Army are at present missing from this mass upsurge in North Afrika and Middle East. A combination of revisionism and repression has denied space to these revolutionary formations in many countries.
However, we know these are the times when people learn more in weeks than they do in years, and they expressly do not wish to substitute one compradore elite for another and hence will to driven towards the scientific socialist ideology that will lead them out of the bondage of neo liberal capitalism towards scientific socialism in the 21st Century - Marxism Leninism Maoism.
Signed by Nickglais
African dreams of Egypt-like revolt
Logo of African Socialist International
Publishing this Article by Democracy and Class Struggle does not imply endorsement. We publish this article to focus on the African dimension of the North African and Middle East Uprisings.
All over Africa, the dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt are followed, with opposition groups and dissidents hoping the same could happen in their country. Mostly, these are only dreams, but some could come true.
The first sub-Saharan copycat of the North African wave of revolution has already had his try. Gabon's opposition leader André Mba Obame in January tried to stage a revolution inspired by Tunisia by declaring he had indeed won the August 2009 (!) presidential election in the country.
After a swearing-in ceremony, broadcasted by a private TV channel owned by himself, self-declared "President" Obame called for mass demonstrations to force President Ali Bongo out of office. Gabonese police forces had a relatively easy job dispersing the hundreds of protesters supporting Mr Obame.
It is noteworthy that the most widespread talk of Tunisia-like revolutions in African countries is registered in the Central African region and in the Horn of Africa. But the differences are great, with the Diaspora shouting loudest for revolution on the Horn and the local opposition being most active in Central Africa.
The sociology of fear
After a swearing-in ceremony, broadcasted by a private TV channel owned by himself, self-declared "President" Obame called for mass demonstrations to force President Ali Bongo out of office. Gabonese police forces had a relatively easy job dispersing the hundreds of protesters supporting Mr Obame.
It is noteworthy that the most widespread talk of Tunisia-like revolutions in African countries is registered in the Central African region and in the Horn of Africa. But the differences are great, with the Diaspora shouting loudest for revolution on the Horn and the local opposition being most active in Central Africa.
The sociology of fear
Among analysts, these differences are put in connection with the sociology of fear. In Tunisia and Egypt, the discontent populace was gripped with fear for decades, but as the fear let loose, there was nothing stopping them from pouring into the streets and demand regime change.
Thousands join Morocco protest rallies
RABAT — Several thousand people rallied in Moroccan cities on Sunday demanding political reform and limits on the powers of the king, the latest protests demanding change to have rocked the region.
Over 2,000 people took to the streets of the capital Rabat, 4,000 according to the organisers, shouting: "The people want change."
In Casablanca, the North African nation's biggest city, over 1,000 people came out demanding: "Freedom, dignity, justice," an AFP correspondent reported.
The demonstrations were peaceful as of midday.
"I want a Morocco that's more fair and with less corruption," said a student demonstrator in Casablanca who asked not to be named.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Benghazi - Libyan Government opens fires on demonstrators - confirmed reports of massacre
A Massacre has been reported in Libya's second city, Benghazi, with troops said to have opened fire again on anti-government protesters.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the army shot dead countless people.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos as army snipers shot dead a number of people and protesters fought back.
120 reported dead according to Sky News
There are unconfirmed report of 7000 injured from Arabic Sources
Also confirmation of mercenaries being used against the people
There are unconfirmed report of 7000 injured from Arabic Sources
Also confirmation of mercenaries being used against the people