Communist Party of India (Maoist) – Statement on Libya

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

March 31, 2011

Condemn the war of occupation on Libya by US-France-Britain!

Express solidarity to the people of countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco and Jordan
who are fighting for democracy and independence!

Oppose the intervention of imperialists, particularly of US, Britain and France in the internal matters of Arab countries!

For the past few weeks, the people’s upsurges in Arab world are shaking the imperialists, particularly US imperialists while at the same time greatly influencing the people of the world. Starting from Tunisia this spread to many Arab countries. Ben Ali, the President of Tunisia who has been suppressing the people of Tunisia since 23 years and Hosni Mubarak, who was ruling Egypt since 30 years had to step down and run away dreading these mass upsurges. The mass movements in countries like Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan etc are ongoing in the same vein. The Arab population is demanding with one voice that their rulers who have been carrying on dictatorial rules since decades colluding with the imperialists should step down. Lakhs of Arab people, particularly the youth are defying ban orders and are pouring into the streets. Streets and squares have become seas of masses for weeks together. Hundreds have laid down their lives and thousands were injured in the crackdown by the governments. But now with the war on Libya by NATO countries led by US, the entire Arab world phenomena took a crucial turn.

In the name of stopping Libya from using its armed forces to suppress the rebels opposing Qaddafi’s rule, the Security Council made the ‘No fly zone’ resolution. The NATO countries led by US voted in favor of the resolution while Russia, China, Germany, Brazil and India abstained from voting. Nor did the ones with Veto power use it to stop this resolution. Obviously these countries had indirectly condoned the military action by not opposing the resolution. The Manmohan Singh government is deceiving the people of India and the world by shedding crocodile tears in the aftermath of the attacks without even caring to condemn the attacks formally. US which had never condemned the arbitrary killings of Palestinians carried out by the Zionist Israel umpteen number of times by confining dozens of UN resolutions to the dustbin and which had used its Veto power for Israel most indiscriminately and other western powers have immediately started bombing Libya as soon as the UN resolution was made. On the very first day of this attack which is said to be part of an international campaign, 18 bomber jets belonging to France had rained at least 40 bombs on several targets. The US and Britain navies have targeted the security systems in Libya and have launched missiles. 18 Air Force B-2 war planes of US launched more than a hundred missiles on Libya and bombed several targets. In this war launched in the name of preventing massacres that could be perpetuated by Qaddafi forces, hundreds of civilians have lost their lives. Nothing could be more callous than asking the world people to believe that the value of the lives (deaths) of the Libyans change according to which bombs took their lives! The very media houses which have been relaying badly twisted news items supporting this NATO war on Libya hiding the facts on the ground had to admit that in the first attacks many children had died. They have once again nakedly displayed their class nature in the reportage of this one-sided war.

The UN which calls itself a neutral organization has once again proved itself to be a puppet in the hands of imperialist countries like US, Britain, France etc. Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon is behaving like their poodle. In the inhuman attacks on Gaza launched by Israel in December 2008, nearly 1,417 Palestinians (most of them women and children) lost their lives and many thousands of them were injured; Israel illegally used white phosphorus on the Gaza people and many of them became cancer patients due to this; it used F-16 bombers and resorted to ‘targeted killings’ and virtually made 15 lakhs of Gaza people live in conditions of an open jail without even drinking water or electricity – but all these were not enough for the UN to make a no-fly-zone resolution. The neo-Nazi Rajpakse government launched a genocidal war on Tamils to decimate LTTE and rained tonnes of bombs on residential areas and civilian targets and had killed 20,000 Tamils just in the last two days of the war; the atrocities committed by the Sinhala chauvinist army on the captured women tigers not sparing even their dead bodies have horrified the world – but the UN did nothing. In the past quarter of a century the Indian government through its army had crushed to death more than 80,000 Kashmiris under its iron heel – but the UN could not be woken from its slumber. And now the UN wants the world people to believe that this war on Libya is indeed being fought to protect the Libyans from Qaddafi forces. Shame on it! There is not even one instance where it had acted for the interests of the oppressed nations or the people while we can quote dozens of instances where it had jumped to save the US, Israel or other western countries’ interests even if there is so much of a scratch.

The war on Libya defies the very spirit of the no-fly-zone resolution of the UN too. In the name of implementing the UN resolution made to prevent Libyan planes from bombing the rebels US, Britain and France are indiscriminately bombing Libya. This is nothing but a war of occupation. The real motive is to oust Qaddafi and replace him with their favorable ruling clique and loot the oil resources there. Nobody is so innocent as to believe that Obama is bombing Libya to protect Libyan rebels while he had sent Saudi Arabian troops into Bahrain through the back door to suppress the people’s rebellion there. This blood-thirsty ‘Nobel Peace Prize Laureate’ who is killing hundreds of innocents in drone attacks in Afghanistan and western Pakistan has no moral right to utter even the words ‘lives of innocents’. The western countries which never bothered about the lives of people when the armed forces of the dictators of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan etc, whom they had been supporting all these years, fired upon people killing them in scores are now bent upon dethroning Qaddafi – mind you, not for any selfish interests but ‘to save the Libyans’. Unadulterated imperialist hypocrisy!

Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, Isa Al Khalipha of Bahrain and King Abdullah of Jordan are the dictatorial rulers who have been suppressing the people of their countries since decades colluding with the western imperialists, particularly the US imperialists. The façade of democracy and elections in these countries can be gauged from the fantastic statistics that Ben Ali always got 97 to 99 percent of the votes?! There was no semblance of any democratic or civil rights. The police and intelligence departments were developed to monstrous proportions and they had been controlling the lives of people suppressing even an iota of dissent. Unemployment is on the rampage. Yemen alone has 40% unemployment. On the other hand the rulers are amassing immense wealth due to the rich oil resources there. Countless billions of dollars are stashed away in foreign banks. The world was astonished to find that Ben Ali had actually carried one and half tonne of gold physically with him while running away. Tip of an ‘oilberg’? The ill-effects of the worldwide financial crises on the Arab people since 2008 are as severe as in any other part of the world. More than half the population there is living on less than two dollars a day. These dictators are spending people’s money indiscriminately in the ‘War on terror’ launched by US in the name of suppressing Al Qaeda. Yemen started a counter-terrorist training programme with 750 millions of dollars. Such misuse of people’s exchequer while cutting subsidies on essential services etc earned the wrath of the people. All these years the imperialists have stood in support of all the exploitation, oppression and repressive measures of these dictatorships on the people of their countries and have been cashing in on the several contradictions between various religions, tribes, nationalities and between sects like Shias and Sunnis. Now seeing the scale of the upsurges the imperialists have decided to trade new horses getting rid of the old ones. They made Ben Ali and Mubarak step down and had the power transferred to the military generals. In other countries the western powers are still supporting the dictators. The 22 nation Arab League is behaving like a stooge of the western powers in this entire episode and is neither displaying any shades of Arab nationalism nor giving voice to the anti-imperialist aspirations of the Arab people.

Only those rulers who fulfill the democratic aspirations of the people and unite them and oppose imperialism unequivocally can defend and preserve the independence and sovereignty of their countries. Any ruler, whether it is Qaddafi or any other, who resorts to autocratic rule over his people can never fight imperialism uncompromisingly. He can never unite people against imperialism.

The imperialists have been resorting to many conspiracies and scheming right from the beginning to establish their authority in West Asia and North Africa which are home to immense oil resources. They have stood in support of the dictators who bent their knees and preserved imperialist interests. If they think that he is a hindrance to their interests they are not hesitating to ‘use and throw’.

Call of CPI (Maoist) to the Arab people

The Arab people should continue their agitations against dictators and imperialists with great determination. They should firmly oppose the attempts of imperialists, particularly US, Britain and France to hijack their movements. They should stay alert towards the military councils which came to power in place of the dictators. We are cautioning the whole Arab population not to get deceived by believing that the military generals who had all along supported the dictators would now guarantee democracy. All the anti-imperialist, democratic, patriotic sections including workers, peasants and middle classes should unite. The only path before the Arab population is to fight uncompromisingly with imperialism under the leadership of the proletariat. The recent phenomena in the Arab world has once again proven clearly that guidance of Marxist ideology and leadership of the vanguard of the proletariat, i.e. of a revolutionary communist party are inevitable for the true liberation of the oppressed masses. The namesake independences won by these countries from colonialism has given way to neo-colonial exploitation resulting in unbearable living conditions and the Arab people are direct victims of this since the past 40-50 years. If the Arab people have to win real independence then they have to stand on their own legs, destroy neo-colonialism and fight imperialism firmly. They should fight a united war against US, Britain and France imperialists who are waging an unjust war on Libya. CPI (Maoist) is hopeful that the struggles against the comprador bureaucratic rulers supported by the imperialists would definitely grow into determined resistance struggles against imperialists, against their intervention and against the unjust wars imposed by them. Only then could the Arab world be liberated from the clutches of dictators and imperialists.

Call of the CPI (Maoist) to the people of India and the world

The upsurges of the Arab people for freedom and democracy are entirely just struggles. Though there are some reactionaries like religious chauvinists among the agitators, these movements are democratic and progressive. Express solidarity to these movements. Condemn with one voice the unjust war imposed on Libya by the Western imperialists and the intervention of the imperialists in the Arab world.

·         Stop immediately the unjust war on Libya by NATO forces led by US!

·         The imperialists have no right to intervene in the internal matters of Libya!

·         Expose the interventionist policies of imperialists, particularly of US, Britain and France in the Arab world!

·         Support the just people’s movements in the Arab countries!

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)

Maoist Communist Party of Italy second document : Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communists support the revolts of Arab masses

Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communists
support the revolts of Arab masses

In the revolt of the Arab masses, is especially seen the role as the protagonist of youth masses. The horizon of the ongoing uprisings is the overthrow of the regime in power, democratic freedoms, the improvement of living conditions. Workers are involved and share the objectives of these uprisings, they support them with strikes for their own demands, but they still neither express an autonomous overall position nor play a leading role. This means that the uprising  are currently led by two lines: one of the bourgeois-democratic forces, often pro-Western, one of opposition Islamist forces.
The partial victories they won with the fall of the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia and the weakening of other regimes in the Arab world, the Middle East and Persian Gulf, have been achieved thanks to the strength and the magnitude of the peoples movement and, on the other hand, thanks to the rift it has caused within the army and parts of regimes themselves. Yet, we see a change in the form of the ruling regimes, not of substance, or, in some cases, a temporary setback to prepare a restorer counter-offensive. The conservation and restoration of such regimes is the aim of Islamic fundamentalism as well as the intervention of imperialism of U.S., Europe and, within this, of Italy, which want to contibute, with the political action and the military intervention, to drive the transition in the furrow of imperialist interests in the region.
In this situation, the current uprisings will be not able to achieve their goals until they get rid of such hegemony and any illusion on those forces, internal to regimes, which passed on their side, i.e. the forces of Islamic fundamentalism, the forces that just want more Western-style democracy, and the U.S., French, Italian imperialists etc.
This is the real task of the communists and the labour movement, in order to transform the current democratic uprisings into New Democratic Revolutions in all the Arab world, North Africa and Persian Gulf. The new democratic revolutions in led by the communists and proletariat are the real alternative, the real enemy of all reactionary and imperialist forces. The uprisings brought a favourable condition for this development, starting from the workers struggles, that are growing in strength, finding a even more favourable ground.
There are similarities and differences between the regimes in the different countries, concerning the development of the rebellion and the participation of workers, as well as the way regimes are responding. These are issues that the Communists and progressive forces have to take into account, in their strategy, but also in their tactics. In particular, we have to look at the situation in Egypt and Libyan.
In Egypt we see a still solid regime, despite the important downfall of Mubarak. The power is in the hands of the army, that grants a continuity of rulers interests, security of imperialistic interests, the alliance with Israel, etc.. The democracy and social fairness promised by the military hierarchies in power will be never realized. On the contrary, the new rulers are preparing to prevent the revolt from resuming and developing. An underground war already goes on for this purpose, first against the forces of rebel youth and workers struggles. The new prop of the regime, “the party of conciliators”, is basically represented by Islamic fundamentalists, who have played a minor role in the uprising, but now, in the new space that the regime gives them, aims to play a stabilizing role. These forces are not and cannot be part of a united front aimed to realize the democratic and social demands put forward by the uprising.
In Libya, the regime relies on a full militarization of ideological and charismatic type. From being a positive factor, in the early colonial phase, long time ago it turned into a fascist dictatorship, subjected to and integrant part of the imperialist domination. Libya is a particular country: richest, with a centralized economy and massive use of immigrant labour. It is quite clear, therefore, that in this country, and the characteristics of the uprising, and the degree of participation of workers, and the solidity and the reaction of the regime, have taken different shapes and developments. Gaddafi responded to the uprising by turning it into a civil war. The Libyan masses should unite to defeat and topple the regime, but part of them relied on imperialists. First by interfering, then with the military intervention, imperialists play a direct role in resolving the ongoing civil war. Needed, now more than ever, a anti-imperialist patriotic united front.

Proletari comunisti supports the uprisings of people and youth and supports the struggling efforts of the working class, the reorganization in autonomous forms, trade union and political. We support the communists who in these countries, in the fire of class struggle and close link with the masses, will carry forward the New Democratic anti-imperialist revolution, by fighting imperialism, social-chauvinism and opportunism, false communist and false anti-imperialist positions in our country. Our task now is to give voice and information of the uprising, the youth, the workers, the communists and progressive people, and in particular of those are engaged for a new democratic revolution. We must oppose any “humanitarian”, military intervention of Italian, European, U.S. imperialism, because, anyway it looks like, it serves oil multinationals, the merchants of war, the geo-strategic control of the region and aims to suppress the rebellion and keep in power regimes against people.

Maoist Communist Party of Italy on Libya – First Document

No to war against Libya!
proletarian internationalist national mobilization

Communist Workers – Pcm Italy denounces the imperialist intervention by the UN decision authorizing the bombing of Libya by the U.S., France, Great Britain, with a role in the forefront of Italy, with the provision of military bases, air and soldiers.
The reactionary regime, Gaddafi’s neocolonial can only be overthrown by the masses with the Libyan revolt, not imperialism which has so far claimed the first of Italian imperialism.
Those parts of the revolt against Gaddafi who have asked and now welcome the imperialist armed intervention, are at the service of imperialist interests in Libya is a tragic illusion that imperialism can bring freedom and democracy. Imperialism is always exploitation, robbery and oppression, and when reactionary supports dictators, and when he speaks of “democracy.”
The masses need a Libyan national united front for the anti-imperialist and anti Gaddafi autoderminazione national and social, for a Republic of New Democracy in the hands of the masses.
The Italian imperialism wants to ensure his involvement with the interests of the Italian masters, the multinational energy, the merchants of war, so far backed by Gaddafi and now want to defend with the direct intervention, whatever the outcome of the civil war in progress.
Once again, the Italian government and parliament under the auspices of Napolitano in the climate of the ‘Patriotic National Unity “in breach of Article 11 of the Constitution and participate in a reactionary and neo-colonial war.
The costs of this military intervention will once again be downloaded over the workers and the masses Italian. The South, and in particular the Puglia, Taranto and Gioia del Colle, and Sicily is used as a base and a war zone.
Workers Communist appeals to the workers, the masses, young people and the entire antiwar movement to the streets to say NO to imperialist intervention in Libya, to overthrow the government and every government of the belligerent parties supporting the intervention imperialist military, to reaffirm support for the Arab masses in revolt from the Persian Gulf to Libya, against reactionary regimes, dictatorial and unpopular – in Libya, represented by Gaddafi.

Communist Party of the Philippines denounces US-led war against Libya

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP denounces US-led war against LibyaMarch 20, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today denounced the US-led coalition of imperialist forces for launching missile attacks against the people and government of Libya, calling it “a barefaced act of armed intervention against a sovereign nation.”

Following a resolution by the UN Security Council to enforce a “no-fly zone” over Libyan airspace, imperialist countries such as the United Kingdom, France and the US launched rockets into Libya with the aim of crippling the military strength of the Libyan government of Mohamar Gadaffi. The attacks were carried out against the Libyan government in an effort to help the US-supported armed rebels which launched armed uprisings in the last weeks of February.

“The imperialists are arrogantly imposing their will against a government that has stood for their people’s right to self-determination,” said the CPP.

“The Gadaffi government has long been a target of US attacks since the early 1980s,” the CPP pointed out. In 1982, the US imposed an economic embargo against Libya in an effort to force the overthrow of the government. This was followed by an assassination attampt against Gadaffi in 1984 and the aerial bombing of the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986. Economic sanctions were further imposed by the UN in 1992 and were eased only around 2004 after Libya complied with UN conditions regarding arms control and the surrender of suspects in the 1997 bombing of a commercial plane over Scotland.

“The US imperialists have long wanted to overthrow the Gadaffi government since it carried out the nationalization of banks and the oil industry,” said the CPP. “The Gadaffi government has steadfastly stood against the imperialist policy of neoliberal globalization and has carried out populist policies ensuring the welfare of the Libyan people.”

The CPP denounced the “hypocrisy” of US President Obama “who is now launching a large-scale war following mere declarations of ‘no-mercy’ by the anti-US Gadaffi. Yet, Obama and his imperialist coterie never lifted a finger in January even after their Egyptian puppet Mubarrak attacked peaceful demonstrators with armed thugs and state police personnel.”

“The armed attacks against Libya are bound to blow up in the face of the US-led imperialists forces,” said the CPP. “The US-led bombing of Libya can only succeed in inflaming the patriotic aspirations of the Libyan people and will militate them into uniting to defend their country’s right to self-determination.”

“Majority of the American people will not accept another interventionist war,” said the CPP. “Like their wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, the US-led imperialists are risking involvement in another protracted war of intervention that they can never win.”

The Imperialist Intrigues Against Libya – Revolutionary Initiative (Canada) Statement from the General Secretary

The Imperialist Intrigues Against Libya
Expose and oppose all designs against the Libyan People

http://revintcan.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/the-imperialist-intrigues-against-libya/

Revolutionary Initiative (Canada)
Statement from the General Secretary
March 13, 2011

The Imperialist Intrigues Against Libya
Expose and oppose all designs against the Libyan People

Gaddafi’s relationship to imperialism

In stark contrast to the manner in which the Western imperialists have
responded to developments across North Africa and the Middle East over
the last two months, for the armed opposition in Libya they have been
only too ready to support the anti-Gaddafi movement. For all their
clamoring about the necessity for “peaceful transitions” where the
masses threatened their clients in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere, the
imperialists have abandoned their pacifist demagogy when it has come
to Libya. NATO is pushing for a military assault against Libya that
could range in devastation anywhere from NATO’s operation against
Kosovo in 1999 to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

To be sure, the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya is neither
anti-imperialist nor or a defender of the interests of the Libyan
masses. Despite Gaddafi’s support to national liberation movements
throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, from the late 1990s onwards the Gaddafi
regime took the road of capitulation and collaboration, negotiating
its détente with imperialism and sharing in the spoils of a
structurally adjusted Libya. UN sanctions were lifted in 1999 and by
2006 the US lifted its own sanctions and normalized relations as it
looked to get in on the massive investments opportunities that
European corporations were availing themselves of.

In the 2000s, the Gaddafi regime consolidated its status as a strong
ally of imperialism, becoming a partner in the ‘War on Terror’ and
rigorously implementing neoliberal structural adjustment programs in
Libya. The amount of foreign direct investments from the Western
imperialists – especially France, U.K., Germany, Britain, Italy, and
Canada – have sky-rocketed in the past decade. According to an April
2010 report from the Libyan government, over the past ten years 110
state-owned companies have been privatized and the same report
promised to privatize 100% of the Libyan economy over time.

The Canadian imperialists, for their part, have made substantial
investments in Libya in the past few years and want to ensure the
protection of those investments. Among the top companies working out
of Libya include Canada’s largest oil company, Suncor and the
Quebec-based engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin. Amongst
SNC-Lavalin’s contracts include the construction of the Benghazi
airport, a prison in Tripoli, and the massive Great Man-Made River
Project.

For his opening up to the forces of imperialist globalization in the
2000s the Gaddafi regime became tolerable, even celebrated – or at
least so long as his rule was secure. But in the second half of
February 2011, Gaddafi has lost all support from the imperialists.

The emergence of opposition forces in Libya has provided the
imperialists with the opportunity to reclaim the initiative in the
region’s ongoing developments; restore their image as apparent
defenders of justice, democracy and progress; and re-legitimize the
logic of imperialist meddling in the region. There’s no doubt that
they view Libya as strategically significant and recognize that there
is a greater share of spoils to be seized.

As the popular rebellions of the Middle East and North Africa unfolded
throughout January and February 2011, the Western imperialists
desperately struggled to save face in the midst of popular movements
that revealed just how hated imperialism’s comprador front men really
were. The toppling of Mubarak served as a huge embarrassment for U.S.
policy in the region. Mubarak’s Egypt was second only to Israel as the
staunchest defender of American imperialist interests in the Middle
East.

At first, the imperialists cautioned the masses to exercise restraint
and ensure that their resistance would remain peaceful. As the
people’s movements in various countries advanced and threatened to
topple imperialism’s clients, especially in Egypt, the imperialists
saved face by feigning neutrality. When the strength of the people’s
struggles melted away the support for Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes,
some of the imperialists even celebrated these developments
“Revolutions” (with the subtle implication that it was time to go home
and let the “transition to democracy” work its magic).

The Libyan Exception

Yet, the chorus sung by the imperialists when it came to Libya
contrasts sharply with their positions in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and
all the other popular struggles. The imperialists have made no effort
to temper the opposition forces brandishing RPGs and Kalashnikovs
against Gaddafi, capturing city by city by force of arms. Certainly,
the people have a right to struggle by any means necessary. But had
any of the recent mass movements in the region (except for in Iran,
perhaps) taken up this level of armed resistance, the West would have
immediately labeled them as “terrorist” and provided direct assistance
in a merciless military assault.

The opposite has been the case with Libya. The imperialists are
supporting wholeheartedly the anti-Gaddafi forces. Every diplomatic
maneuver taken by the imperialists has been aimed at isolating Gaddafi
and supporting the opposition forces.

The development of an opposition movement against Gaddafi in the
broader context of the protest movements sweeping the region has
allowed the imperialists to conflate what’s happening in Libya with
everything else. The Western press has given top priority to the cause
of the anti-Gaddafi forces, eclipsing all other developments across
the Middle East and North Africa, many of which still pose a threat to
imperialism’s interests in the region. The diplomatic moves and
military maneuvers of the Western imperialists against Libya in the
past two weeks signal that they are actively working to steer the
popular anti-dictator sentiments in the region and around the world to
pursue their own imperialist interests in Libya.

Imperialism’s Intrigues Against Libya

The maneuvers of the Western imperialists must be exposed and opposed.
Any type of meddling or interference by the imperialists will prove
disastrous to the interests of the Libyan masses. Whether the
imperialists resolve upon stricter economic sanctions, NATO aerial
strikes, or outright military occupation, each and every move being
contemplated by the imperialists will only intensify the misery felt
by the masses under Gaddafi. All we have to do is look to the examples
of the Iraq sanctions regime throughout the 1990s, NATO’s aerial war
against the former Yugoslavia in 1999, or the occupations of
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Haiti in the 2000s to see what bloody
catastrophes imperialism has caused in the past decade. The combined
effect of these U.S. or NATO-led campaigns has left millions upon
millions dead, and tens of millions languishing.

On February 26, the U.N Security Council voted unanimously in favour
of limited sanctions against Gaddafi and his close associates. The
following day, Stephen Harper announced that Canada would take the
sanctions one step further by blocking all transactions with the
government of Libya, its institutions and agencies, including the
Libyan central bank.

On March 1, the General Assembly suspended Libya from the UN Human
Rights Council. The International Criminal Court has announced that it
will investigate Gaddafi for “crimes against humanity” for the
regime’s actions from February 15, 2011 onwards. Such charges are
never hurled at the clients of the Western imperialists fighting
counter-insurgency campaigns far more ferocious than what’s being seen
in Libya. Colombia’s decades-long war on its people and the armed
revolutionary forces, claiming tens of thousands of lives; Sri Lanka’s
genocidal assault against tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in
2009; the Philippine state’s notorious disappearance campaign against
thousands of mass activists amidst its own anti-Maoist
counter-insurgency campaign; India’s anti-Maoist ‘Operation Green
Hunt’, the largest military exercise against the Indian people in that
country’s history; and Israel’s invasions and sieges against Lebanon
in 2006 and Gaza in 2009 – none of these anti-people offensives led to
charges of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”. These cases do
not diminish Gaddafi’s crimes against the Libyan people; they only
reveal the great terror that will befall the Libyan people if the
imperialist’s intervene.

All diplomatic moves taken against Libya have been aimed at
delegitimizing Gaddafi while strengthening the hand of the
anti-Gaddafi forces. However, with the position of the opposition
forces being beat back and incapable of immediate success – a piece of
military intelligence that the U.S. imperialists began to admit openly
by March 10 – the only option left to the imperialists is to secure
the support they need from the “international community” to impose a
no-fly zone (which would be followed by air strikes). According to the
“international law” of the imperialists, the only legal way to do this
is through approval from the United Nations Security Council. However,
two of its veto-wielding members, the imperialists to the east, Russia
and China, have expressed their opposition to and will likely block
any attempt to legally sanction an intervention in Libya. Hence, the
imperialists are side-stepping China and Russia by taking their
campaign outside UN framework, encouraging the Arab League and the
African Union to sanction imperialist intervention.

On Saturday, March 12, the Arab League, which has suspended Libya,
called on the Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya,
while paying lip service to being opposed to foreign occupation: “The
Arab League has officially requested the UN Security Council to impose
a no-fly zone against any military action against the Libyan people”,
said the Secretary-General of the League, Amr Moussa.

The African Union has thus far rejected military intervention in
Libya, not wanting a strike against Gaddafi to set a precedent that
would threaten other African heads of state. The AU has insisted that
Libya is in a state of civil war and should be treated as such.
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe said: “We took exception to interference by Western
powers … and we absolutely reject their intervention.”

Preparing themselves for this possibility, NATO forces have been
accumulating in the Mediterranean since early March, amassing aircraft
carriers and rapid strike forces. The challenge confronting the
western imperialists, however, is that while they do not want to see
the opposition get thoroughly crushed and are military positioned for
intervention, they fear making any hasty moves that will turn the
Libyan masses and the masses of the whole region and the world against
them.

U.S. imperialism is already incredibly overstretched and there may not
be another set of powers willing to lead up any major operations. But
these restraints do not necessarily limit the dangers that remain for
the Libyan people.

Hence, the imperialist press is working furiously to foster public
opinion against Gaddafi in favour of some sort of military
intervention.

The Libyan masses do not need to replace one set of reactionaries with
another set. Any forces in Libya calling on NATO to bomb Libya are
opportunists at best, if not reactionaries. The Libyan revolution does
not need a NATO campaign of aerial bombing. The overthrow of Gaddafi
remains the right of the Libyan people alone and can only come through
the fruits of their own struggle. An imperialist intervention will
only stem the tide of the revolution and foreclose the possibility of
an expansion of people’s power.

There are a number of forces claiming to have played a role in
initiating the anti-Gaddafi uprisings, including the National
Transitional Council, which declared itself the “sole representative
of all Libya” on March 5, 2011; and there is the National Conference
for the Libya Opposition (NCLO), which is claiming to have played a
role as well. Amongst these forces are military men, judges, lawyers,
academics – and in the case of the NCLO, the royalist Libyan
Constitutional Union led by the pretender to the Libyan throne,
Muhammad as-Senussi.

That certain imperialists have been quick to extend diplomatic
recognition to “the opposition” in Libya does not suggest that what we
have observed unfolding is simply a plan hatched in Washington. The
Libyan masses have sufficient reason to seek Gaddafi’s removal. In a
country with 30% unemployment and 50% youth unemployment, Gaddafi and
the bureaucrat capitalists and compradors have become richer and
richer through the period of neoliberal reforms, while the masses have
suffered immensely. The meddling of the imperialists is merely their
attempt to exploit the class contradictions that characterize the
opposition to arrive at an outcome even more preferable to
imperialism.

Revolutionaries in the imperialist countries have the duty to expose
and oppose the role of their own imperialist bourgeoisies in Libya,
and the people in the Middle East and North Africa have already
demonstrated that the assistance of imperialism is not required to do
away with reactionaries like Mubarak and Ben Ali. As Mao Zedong once
said, “All reactionaries are paper tigers”. Mao’s certainty in the
triumph of the people stemmed from his recognition that all
reactionaries are divorced or divorceable from the interests of the
people.

The growing waves of protests, strikes, and uprisings by workers and
the broad masses all across the world, conditioned by the general
crisis of the imperialist world system, reveal that the position of
imperialism is in strategic decline, while that of the proletariat is
strategically improving. Today’s People’s Wars in India and the
Philippines demonstrate that, when led by a genuine communist Party,
the will of the people for liberation is inexhaustible. In the coming
years, new People’s Wars will emerge all across the world. Out of the
uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, new and revolutionary
communist Parties can and must emerge. The imperialists and all their
clients can and must be crushed.

Support the people of Libya in smashing Gaddafi and all deals with imperialism!

No to imperialist meddling! No to NATO intervention!

Support the struggles of the masses in the Middle East and North
Africa for New Democracy and Socialism!

Revolutionary Initiative
March 13, 2011.