Imperialists, Hands Off Libya!
By Mazdoor Ekta Lehar
09 March, 2011
Countercurrents.org
In the wake of people’s uprisings in North Africa and West Asia, the Anglo-American imperialists are using the civil war in Libya as a pretext to intervene militarily. Towards this end, they have launched a campaign full of hypocrisy and exaggeration about the situation in Libya, to justify the ongoing military intervention.
US president Obama has talked about the violence in Libya being "unacceptable", as a justification for military intervention. Coming from the leadership of US imperialism, which has massacred tens of thousands of people in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq, amongst other places, this is nothing but downright hypocrisy to cover up sinister aims. Pushed by the US, the UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Libya. It has pushed through a Security Council resolution to try Libyan leader Col Gaddafi for war crimes in the International Court of Justice at the Hague. It is pushing through its plans for invasion under the guise of "humanitarian assistance". NATO warships, armed with most sophisticated planes and weapons, are covering the coast of Libya, and NATO warplanes have been tracking the Libyan Air Force, preparing to destroy it and take control of Libyan air space in the name of creating a "no fly zone".
The aim of the Anglo-American imperialists is to establish control over the oil wealth of Libya, and establish a military staging post in North Africa. While Libyan leader Gaddafi has since 2003 built relations with the Anglo-American imperialists, the oil industry of Libya has historically been dominated by the Italian imperialists, the former colonial power. There is contention between the Anglo-American imperialists and the Europeans over control of oil. At the same time, the imperialists have a common aim of using intervention in Libya to quell the people of the region who are rising in revolt against their conditions.
Eight British secret service agents who entered the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi to “assist the rebels”, have been arrested by the very same rebels. According to news reports, the secret agents had landed in Benghazi to contact the rebels and offer military hardware and other support. The rebels have sternly declared that they are opposed to foreign military intervention and that they would fight their own battles.
Anglo-American imperialism is deliberately fanning the flames of civil war in Libya. It is openly as well as secretly encouraging its agents within the ranks of the opposition in Libya to call for foreign intervention. The aim is to get legitimacy for intervention. The voices of those forces who are declaring that the people of Libya will themselves decide what kind of political system and government they want, free from foreign interference, are deliberately sought to be drowned. Similarly, the voices of forces across the world who want a solution of the civil war in Libya in favour of the peoples, without outside interference, are also sought to be drowned.
All over North Africa and West Asia, the peoples have risen up against their conditions, and are fighting for empowerment, beginning with Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and so on. Millions of people have been participating in these uprisings. The people are fighting against their exploitation at the hands of capitalism and imperialism, and in defence of their livelihood and rights. They are fighting to decide their own destiny. These uprisings of the peoples have dealt a blow to the interests of the Anglo-American-Zionist axis headed by US imperialism in the region.
In these conditions, the Anglo-American imperialists and Zionists are trying to block, divert or nullify these uprisings. They are trying to use the Libyan situation to reverse the advances made by the peoples of the region. The imperialists are talking a lot about “democracy”, and about “regime change”. They deny that the peoples of North Africa and West Asia are fighting for real empowerment, as opposed to the Anglo-American prescriptions for multi-party democracy. They cover up that it is they who have all along propped up anti-people regimes in the region, with the aim of exploiting the rich resources of the region while keeping the peoples backward and oppressed.
The struggles of the peoples of the region for political change which results in empowerment of the people are entirely just. Theirs is a struggle directed against imperialism and its agency Zionism, and against the local bourgeoisie which collaborates with these enemies of the peoples.
The people of Libya will have the wisdom to sort out their internal problems while consistently opposing and blocking outside imperialist interference. The proletariat and people of our country, like those of other countries, support the struggle of the Libyan people. We therefore unequivocally oppose all foreign imperialist intervention in Libya, by the Anglo American imperialists as well as others, no matter under what guise it is carried out.
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