The UNSC resolution was passed 10-0 with 5 abstentions with India abstaining in the vote. The Ministry of External Affairs has come out with a predictably weak statement that it regrets the attacks and is hopeful that diplomacy will be successful. The pusillanimous attitude of the Manmohan Singh Government must be condemned by all justice and people loving people of India. The people of India demand that there be no external interference in the internal affairs of Libya, which is sovereign country and a member state of the United Nations. Libya does not have any history of aggression, threats to neighbours or world peace. That is should be a victim of vicious attacks by international hegemons should be soundly condemned by all. The fact that a UNSC resolution has been passed sanctioning military action by external forces to tackle internal problems of a country is unprecedented and has the portent for grave danger for all the countries and peoples of the world.
The British Prime Minister Mr. David Cameron has said that the military strikes are necessary to prevent Mr. Qadaffi from slaughtering his own people. His solution is the slaughter of the people of Libya at the hands of the imperialists!
The language of Mr. Barack Obama is strikingly simiarly to that of Mr. George W. Bush at the time of the launch of the Second Gulf War. He has spoken the language that there would be no negotiation and only that of military action. What has been different is the enthusiasm of the French President Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy who has proved that he would not disappoint his Atlanticist masters. Thus, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
The events have come at a time of great tumult in North Africa and parts of the Arabian peninsula and its environs. One of the great pillars of US and British interests has fallen with the unseating of the Hosni Mubarak regime, and the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime in Tunisia. For the first time in decades the long oppressed peoples of the region have sensed that things can be changed in their favour. These events have caught the imagination of the peoples in these and neighbouring countries and there have been popular uprisings in Bahrain and Yemen, in addition to the rebellion in Libya.
The point of principle is that the people of these countries alone have a right to decide who is to rule and how their countries are to be ruled. Such a state of affairs is one that is feared by the rulers and the imperialists alike. There are efforts afoot to stymie these nascent movements. The use of violence is one that is likely to pave the path to disaster. It is not one that will change the winds in favour of the people.
The regime of Col. Qadaffi has had a long history of confrontation and conciliation with imperialist powers. It is not the first time that Libya has been bombed by the USA. The Ronald Regan administration had tried its level best to isolate and hound the regime. More recently, the regime had gained favour with the western powers and was taken off the radar screen. However, sensing opportunities for intervention and possible direct control of the vast oil reserves of Libya the imperialist powers have now brought the regime back into its cross wires.
The events have come at a time of unprecedented economic worries and political fallout in the domestic sphere in the imperialist countries themselves. A massive strike of unimaginable magnitude some months ago brought virtually all of France to a standstill. Mr. Sarkozy’s ratings had reached a historic low. Not much later, students in the UK had come out in vast numbers of protest against cut backs to education and had clearly identified Mr. Cameron’s politics are being responsible for endangering their future. In the recent weeks, the state of Wisconsin has witnessed a practical breakdown of constitutional machinery and order, with the Governor calling for major cuts to collective bargaining rights of public workers.
In all these struggles, the working peoples of all these countries have realized that the cutbacks to their safety and the need to wage war are intimately related. It is to preserve an unjust domestic and world order. There is a growing consciousness that world over, domestic and foreign policy is dictated by big money, banking oligarchs, and oil conglomerates to name a few principal players. This recognition is growing into an upsurge that threatens to unseat those in power.
Thus, a war against Libya would serve to distract the public attention from these domestic problems, spur a war economy and also serve to increase world oil prices to ensure even higher rates of return for oil conglomerates. A war that would result in a regime favourable to them would also ensure decades of reliable oil supply that would be directly under their control.
The events leading up to the UNSC resolution on Libya and the subsequent bombing must be seen in this light. The bombing of Libya by France, Britan and USA cannot by stretch be in the interests of the people of Libya and must be condemned in the strongest terms.
CONDEMN THE BOMBING OF LIBYA!
IMPERIALISTS — HANDS OFF LIBYA!
OPPOSE WAR AT ALL COST!
CALL ON THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO CONDEMN THE ACTIONS!
By B. Ananthanarayan
