For the triumph of the resistance in Libya! Down with Gadafi! Muamar Gadafi is responding with military violence against the insurrection against his 42-year old dictatorship. The unleashed civil war has already claimed thousands of casualties. Gadafi is using heavy gunfire and air force against cities where he has lost all control and against the neighbourhoods of the capital city, which still remains under his control, where demonstrations against him have erupted. Gadafi is using his military machinery not only against the masses who got armed in order to topple him, but also against the unarmed population, in the best of Hitler-like style. He has threatened several cities with air-raids unless they show unconditional support to himself. Hundreds of thousands of Tunisian, and immigrant workers from other countries flee by land evading the massacre that the dictator is unleashing. In spite of the brutality of his response, the insurrection has the upper hand in vast regions of the country and popular militias are getting trained and heading for Tripoli to topple the dictator. Gadafi is still carrying out ruthless counterattacks and nothing is quite defined so far even if it looks like Gadafi is losing the war. When the insurrection had just begun, imperialism kept silent for several days and then, seeing that Gadafi was unable to stop the insurrection, they decided to request that Gadafi should use violence no more and to try and negotiate with the opposition. And only now that they envisage the likelihood of the triumph of the insurrection have they decided to pose that Gadafi should leave the office and be tried in court. Libya is an important exporter of oil and gas, mainly to Europe and USA. We must also remember that imperialism – particularly European, supported Gadafi in these last years. Gadafi and his family are part of the European bourgeoisie to which they are linked by numerous businesses and properties. In all these years they have never demanded any steps towards democratization not even told him to stop repressing and torturing as he was so prone to do. Faced by the power of the insurrection, imperialism has had to differentiate themselves from Gadafi hoping for a negotiated solution. In Egypt, imperialism’s direct pawns in the army which remains unhurt and by means of which attempts are being made to demobilize so that pacts that link Egypt to imperialism and to ensure the existence of Israel. Since the main institution of the Bourgeois State, the army, for years now financed by the USA, is intact – imperialism has found no need to get involved in any armed intervention in Egypt. Furthermore imperialism is together with an opposition to the regime in Egypt that at no time has posed the destruction of the army. This is the opposite of what is happening in Libya. In Libya, the army is destroyed: some of the soldiers and officers desert and join the insurrection. This is not a division in the army where the two parts remain intact, one of them consisting mainly of well-paid foreign mercenaries, is there to defend the dictator, the other dissolved, joining the opposite band, and whose headquarters had collapsed. On the side of the insurrection, thousands of people have taken up arms and are getting organized to put an end to the dictatorship. It is these armed militiamen that the deserting soldiers and officers are joining. Neither are the politicians, government officials and diplomats in the leadership of the revolution. Many of them have spent their lives in the service of Gadafi and only abandoned him when they realized that the brutality of their boss’s reaction was useless to end the insurrection. When they try to put up a provisional government, which is what Kadafi’s former Minister of Justice did, they are soon disclaimed by he resistance. This is the nub of the problem for imperialism: the revolution can overthrow Gadafi after destroying his army, with people up in arms and without any clear bourgeois and pro-imperialist leadership to take over: a revolution in Libya that takes place in the midst of the Arab revolution underway. In such conditions, a victory of the masses would jeopardise imperialist control over the region. That is why imperialism has initiated intervention. And then, this must be made very clear: if imperialism wanted to help the resistance, they would give weapon to the insurgents. But what they really want is to impede the triumph of the Libyan masses and to keep the control for themselves. The massacre unleashed by Gadafi and the international repudiation they have met is being used by imperialism to justify an armed intervention. This armed intervention has already started: American warships are finding their way to the Libyan shores. Obama and Clinton are planning to close air transport in the name of the UN. This could mean that the NATO airplanes would be able to penetrate Libya to destroy Libyan aviation with the alibi that it should not be used to bomb civilian population. Imperialism – mainly American – has already started stating that the international community must intervene in order to avoid more bloodshed and do so in the name of peace. They are also wagging the ghost of Al Qaeda trying to get in so as to control parts of Libya. That is precisely what Gadafi is saying. Imperialism makes this kind of statements in order to – also by means of the UN – to justify the sending of the “blue helmets” to “guarantee peace and, of course, reconstruct the semi-colonial State or turn it directly into a colony. Occupation of Libya cannot be discarded. Especially when the rumour is being spread that there may be a long civil war or that, when Gadafi falls the vacuum of power will ensue. If imperialism manages to carry out the occupation, we may find that we have a new colony like Haiti controlled by troops in the service of imperialism. Fidel Castro, Chavez or Daniel Ortega intends to justify their support to Gadafi saying that imperialism is against Gadafi, and if they invade, it will be against him. But what is happening is exactly the contrary: imperialism has sustained Gadafi and if they do invade, it will be to defend the agreements they have with him and so try and control the country. It is disgraceful that these leaders, who insist on being seen as the representatives of the left, should keep on defending a butcher who used to be a friend of imperialism. The truth is that Gadafi is the Somoza (dictator in Nicaragua, toppled by the Sandinista revolution) or the Batista (dictator toppled by the Cuban revolution) in Libya. Faced with an imperialist military intervention in Libya, we greet the resistance that has made it very clear that they are accepting any type of imperialist intervention, As soon as Hilary Clinton’s statements became known in Benghazi, huge posters cropped up saying they did not want USA to intervene. In order to oust Gadafi, Libyan people can and should rely on help from all the Arab peoples before Imperialism can actually intervene to prevent the victory of the people. We have already seen solidarity cropping up in Tunisia and Egypt. At present, what the insurrection needs most is that – apart from food and medicines – weapons and ammunitions should also accrue and that armed Arab militias should be organized from Egypt and Tunisia and that they should come and fight at the side of their Libyan brothers. The triumph of the revolution in Libya will spell a great triumph of the Arab revolution and is sure to spawn new demonstrations in other countries. What is more, because of the specific features of the Libyan revolution – having destroyed the army is now much deeper, it may lead the remaining revolutions Arab revolutions, challenging the imperialist control in the region and especially the governments and regimes that strive to stabilize their countries after the fall of their dictators: Egypt and Tunisia. The workers and peoples of the world are bound to back Libyan revolution against the Gadafi and prevent imperialism from invading Libya. In the imperialist countries let us strip down
the campaign they are launching to justify their military invasion. Let us mobilize against the governments that are spawning occupations plans. Let us move in all the countries against imperialist plans of defeating the revolution if the Libyan people! For the triumph of the resistance! Long live the Libyan revolution! International Secretariat of the IWL (FI) Sao Paulo, March 1st, 2011 |