WESTERN and Arab countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia have pledged $1bn for the right-wing stooges of imperialism in Benghazi, at the latest ‘Contact Group’ conference in Abu Dhabi.
As well, they are now recognising the Benghazi-based gang as ‘the legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people’; in other words they remain stooges, and are merely part of an ongoing dialogue that is being conducted.
This ‘dialogue’ with the Libyan people is however a very real one. At its centre is the frantic bombing campaign on Tripoli and other Libyan towns and cities, being carried out by jet fighters, bombers and Apache helicopter gunships, an assault which is getting more desperate by the day.
The object of this dialogue is the murder of Colonel Gadaffi, his wife and children, along with thousands of Libyans, so that the oil wealth of that country can be seized and the stooges be promoted to the status of a recognised stooge government, sitting on a mountain of corpses, and being kept in power, no doubt, by an international ‘peace-keeping’ force.
The frantic bombing campaign is being combined with a poisonous propaganda campaign that the Gadaffi leadership is fleeing to the West, and that those leaders that remain are already discussing the terms for ditching their leader, whom some of the imperialists now say they will allow to live and go into exile in Senegal or somewhere else – if he surrenders.
This propaganda campaign is one big lie, worthy of Doctor Goebbels or even Lord Haw Haw. In fact, they cannot tolerate Gadaffi alive. They want to see him dead.
However, what the imperialists are now beginning to learn, the hard way, is that the defectors and their number are not the decisive issue.
In fact, they have awakened the sleeping giant of the Libyan people. Their great anti-imperialist traditions, which culminated in the 1969 revolution that nationalised the oil wealth, are now being reborn in this modern struggle. They will not allow their country to be occupied, with its wealth stolen, its leaders murdered and its people subjugated. The Libyan masses are the decisive force.
The UK workers withstood the Blitz, the German workers withstood the Dresden fire bombing. The Libyan masses, who are defending their lives and their country and their families, will become more determined, defiant and more revolutionary in response to the terror attacks.
In fact, if Gadaffi and his family were to be murdered the imperialists would learn a terrible lesson – that a dead revolutionary hero can have even more power, and be even more inspiring than when he or she was alive.
This struggle is therefore going to continue, and become more powerful.
Air attacks ‘to protect civilians’ led to the operations of the Apache gunships, and the terror raids on Tripoli, and the SAS and mercenary actions on the ground. The determination of the Libyan masses will force the imperialists to send in the ground forces.
Then, far from the costs being hundreds of millions plus the odd billion in gifts to the Benghazi gang, they will mount to tens of billions, with the working class in the UK paying the bill through more hospital, education, wage and benefit cuts.
The crux of the matter is that this is not our war. This is an imperialist war to recolonise Libya and steal its oil. The same imperialists who are attacking Libya are determined to destroy our Welfare State. A victory for the Libyan people will be our victory. The UK trade unions must oppose this dirty war and organise action to bring down the warmongering coalition and replace it with a workers government and socialism.
