Statement, Communist Party of Australia
Triumphant reports in the media about the fall of a “dictator” in Libya and the victory of “rebel” forces mask a dramatically different reality. The US, Britain and NATO have notched up a major geo-strategic objective in the region through long-term planning, including the cultivation of opposition forces in Libya.
Military and political advisers were in the country guiding events even before the outbreak of protests in what was portrayed as the continuation of the “Arab Spring” that had previously broken out in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere.
Then came the reckless NATO bombardment of the country under the deceitful guise of the imposition of a “no fly zone”. In a piece of cynical disinformation and perverted logic it was claimed this was to “protect civilian lives”.
The people of the world should harbour no illusions about the reactionary turn of events in Libya.
Unless the favoured forces now claiming government of Libya shift allegiances and assert their country’s sovereignty against the wishes of their imperialist backers – a very unlikely scenario – Libya, its resources and strategic assets will be handed over to the former colonial and neo-colonial powers that once held them.
Syria and Iran are now squarely in the imperialists’ sights. Another extremely negative precedent has been set with this exercise that carries grave implications for anti-imperialist governments elsewhere, including Latin America.
The government of Muammar Gaddafi unquestionably had a chequered record. The protests that were hijacked and used as a pretext for a NATO-sponsored and supported military uprising had legitimate demands.
The government of President Assad is also flawed, as is that of the repressive theocracy holding power in Iran. Nobody, however, should entertain the idea that NATO forces will foster a democratic flowering in Libya or any other country that becomes subjected to its military might. The opposite is the case.
The peace movement internationally was well aware of this reality before the US and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003. But it appears, even though events have proven the movement right in the case of post-Saddam Iraq, that many have been deceived by the imperialists’ spin doctors concerning events in Libya. The peace movement must not repeat this error as the US and NATO move onto their next military objective.
There are many lessons to be learnt from events in Libya. An important one is that the people of the world must demand more of the United Nations in protecting the sovereignty of nations.
This may not happen until the UN’s structures are democratised to stop the globe’s military and economic giants calling the shots in international affairs.
Countries who reject the self-interested intervention of imperialist powers must not sit on the sidelines. An abstention on these issues is not enough.
They must join the peace movement throughout the world in rejecting the increasingly aggressive behaviour of imperialism.
Bob Briton
Secretary
International Department
Communist Party of Australia
Comments
Re: Reactionary turn of events in Libya
This reads like some sort of conspiracy theory.
What a load of crap. The people of Libya now have a chance for more freedom.
For once NATO did the right thing.
If Gaddafi is Mubarak, then Abdul-Jalil is Suleiman
The man came to power because back then everyone who fought against NATO´s doctrine of propping up local tyrants tapped unconditional public support. Over the time however, he became quite similar to what he once opposed, and in response to the African spring NATO made him a target of a proxy war meant to prevent the insurrection from spreading into Europe. Even though there now is a puppet regime in Libya, the uprising spread nevertheless, to South America as well, and NATO´s tyranny entanglements are a challenge both globally and on the streets within. If Iraq is taken as a benchmark whether military supremacy can solve the problems caused by its own existence, it is to be considered a failure at least since Bradley Manning. NATO is economically so dependent on the tyrannies it is arming that it it part of the problem not of the solution.