THE forty-year-old Libyan revolution is being celebrated with enthusiasm this week by the Libyan masses in Tripoli.
The revolution, led by Colonel Gadaffi, put an end to the rule of the British stooge King Idris and nationalised the oil industry.
It laid the basis for the modern, independent Libyan state, whose people benefit from the oil wealth instead of being robbed of it.
The nature of the blow that was delivered to imperialism by this nationalist revolution is being demonstrated today by the determination of the British and other governments, now ‘reconciled’ with Colonel Gadaffi but in a deep economic crisis, to do everything and anything to win access to Libyan oil.
This is being illustrated by the current Brown farce, being played out in front of the whole world, depicting the recent release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the alleged ‘Lockerbie bomber’ as a ‘humanitarian’ act of the local Scottish administration in which the Brown government played no part.
The British government is now allegedly publishing all of its correspondence to try to support its contention that no business deals were done with Libya to secure Megrahi’s release.
This contradicts the statements of Gadaffi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, that the issue was on the table at every meeting with the British government to discuss vital oil and gas deals.
In fact, such is the bankruptcy of British capitalism, the cabinet would collectively sell all of their grandmothers into white slavery, for just one sniff of a Libyan gas or oil contract.
For the moment, Colonel Gadaffi has got the British toothless lion by the tail, and is making use of Libya’s far superior economic position, compared to the British economic catastrophe, to give its tail a good tug, to the point where the British ruling class is risking a serious breach with the US.
An alarmed David Cameron, who would have done exactly the same as Brown if he was premier, has told the Times: ‘Decisions concerning the fate of criminals, not least those responsible for mass murder, often provoke widespread public anger.
‘But the outrage at this one has crossed continents and damaged our relationship with our closest ally, America. It has been a fiasco.’
More humiliations and outrages are however on the way.
In 1996, before ‘reconciliation’, British intelligence organised right-wing Islamic Libyan exiles, who were based in the UK, to murder Gadaffi. The Colonel escaped but a number of Libyans were killed.
The Libyan government has stated that it is cooperating with the UK in investigating who was responsible for the death of PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in 1984, alongside discussions with the UK government over the failed assassination attempt on Gadaffi.
The UK government may be forced by economic necessity to admit to terrorism.
In fact, the US and the UK have had a deadly and murderous relationship with the Libyan revolution.
In 1986, US planes attacked Libya after being given permission by the Thatcher government to fly from US bases in East Anglia. Tripoli was bombed and amongst those killed was Colonel Gadaffi’s adopted daughter.
It was after this that Gadaffi began to arm the IRA against British imperialism. We are told that discussions are being held on this issue. No doubt they will be in parallel with talks on compensation for the US-UK bombing raids on Tripoli.
However, the essence of the situation is that any ‘reconciliation’ between imperialism and the Libyan revolution is temporary.
Imperialism will not rest until it once again has Libya’s oil in its hands.
The only policy that can deal with this threat, that springs from the very nature of imperialism, is the struggle for the victory of the world socialist revolution to smash capitalism and imperialism worldwide.
