Libya

Libya: views on the Western intervention

Three more viewpoints on the Western intervention from other socialists. We print them to promote further debate. Much more contentious debate can be found on our website www.workersliberty.org. Cannot oppose if only way to prevent massacre Given the urgency of preventing the massacre... and the absence of any alternative means of achieving the protection goal, no one can reasonably oppose [the UN Security Council resolution]... The Western response, of course, smacks of oil. The West fears a long drawn out conflict. If there is a major massacre, they would have to impose an embargo on Libyan...

Libya: memories of despotism

My experience of Libya from the 1970s to the 1990s defined what would become my third-camp politics. My parents were migrant workers in Libya — working in the central oil fields region around Brega, part of a community of expatriate workers from all around the globe including Filipino, Sudanese, Palestinian and American workers. The Brega camp where both migrant and Libyan workers lived was the site of an old Italian concentration camp and there were many monuments to the old Italian occupation which was remembered with anger by many Libyans — so much so that many of the Italian migrant...

Stop the War Coalition's pro-Qaddafi demo

Today's Stop the War Coalition protest outside Downing Street, against Western military intervention in Libya, was attended by about a hundred people. It was heavily dominated by Stalinists, with a definite majority from groups including the CPB, Socialist Action, the Greek Communist Party and the CPGB-ML - the last of which was distributing a leaflet saying "Hands off Libya! Victory to Qaddafi!" This was, at least, more coherent than the SWP's oxymoronic line of "No to intervention in Libya! Victory to the Arab revolutions!" I saw a Counterfire activist with a placard listing the anti-working...

Libya: no illusions in West but “anti-intervention” opposition is abandoning rebels

On 17 March, after much procrastination, the United Nations agreed to military action against Libya’s dictator Muammar Qaddafi, whose murderous forces were advancing on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. The Stop the War Coalition immediately issued a statement condemning “a new war”, and “escalating armed intervention in Libya”. Socialist Worker headlined “No to intervention in Libya! Victory to Arab revolutions!” Much other left-wing commentary has focused on opposing intervention. But the rebel forces in Benghazi greeted the UN decision with jubilation. Benghazi is a city where Qaddafi has...

Libyan rebels in retreat

The initial successes of the uprising in the east of Libya gave comfort to those who were looking for the complete elimination of the Qaddafi regime. The taking of cities close to Tripoli gave some grounds for optimism that the uprising, backed by the defection of large parts of the military, would soon move on to take Tripoli. There are now reports that Misurata has been taken back by government forces and critically Brega may be about to be retaken. Rebel troops in Brega are apparently taking shelter in the old refinery — which Qadaffi’s forces are reluctant to bomb as it is the central oil...

Libya, solidarity and imperialist intervention

"Yes to Libya", not "no to the USA" is one of those strange articles that the AWL produce due to a confused position on imperialism. Imperialist powers, like Britain, are pushing for a no-fly zone for an obvious reason to control Libya's oil. It is absolutely clear that we as socialists should oppose this. It is also absolutely clear that we should support the Libyan rebels and working class of Benghazi and Tripoli in opposing Gaddafi. An imperialist imposed no-fly zone would certainly not be in the interests of the Libyan revolution or freedom for Libya's workers and poor- it would help an...

"Yes to Libya", not "no to the USA"

In Libya, unlike Tunisia and Egypt, the army has not pushed aside the dictator challenged by mass upheavals. Qaddafi still controls much of the army. And so Libya is moving from street uprisings into civil war. People at the chief rebel centre in Benghazi have called for military aid from the big powers, through a "no-fly zone" directed against warplanes controlled by Qaddafi. They oppose any idea of outside troops intervening on the ground. Socialists should not give a blank cheque to US or British military intervention. In such matters, positive support for US or British military...

The two 1989s in the North African revolutions

Vijay Prashad is a professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (USA) and the author of books including The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World" . He spoke to Martin Thomas of Solidarity about the uprising in Libya and the prospects for the democratic revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East. This is a longer version of the interview than printed in the paper . There's a difficulty in knowing exactly who's benefited in Libya from the last period of neo-liberal policies apart from Qaddafi and his family because there's no data. If you want to know who...

Libya: revolution and prospects

Benghazi, which consolidated itself early for the rebellion in the midst of violent tension and with astonishing speed, is already the power base of the Libyan Interim Government. Since the uprising began on 15 February, the territorial gains of the revolution have been huge. The use of mercenaries has been overplayed in the media, however: the regime still has many supporters. Qadaffi’s son has alleged that the uprising is Islamist. Certainly the demonstrations in Libya in February 2006 against the Jylland-Posten cartoons, also directed against the secular nature of the regime, had an...

Don’t give Qaddafi “anti-imperialist” cover

On 23 February, soft-left groupings in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria called for their own governments “and international authorities” to intervene in Libya to help the people against Qaddafi. Meanwhile, from the Cuban and Iranian governments, and from sections of the international left, the US and UN sanctions against the Qaddafi regime, imposed on 25 and 26 February, have triggered an outcry against “imperialist intervention in Libya”. The record both of the big powers and of the governments in the region mandates an attitude of distrust and refusal of confidence to any intervention. Whatever...

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