Libya- Breaking the Silence

Muammar Gaddafi is facing a messy time right now. Never in his almost 42 year rule has he been shaken like he now is.

The North African Revolts

When the North African uprisings began in Tunisia, I followed it closely, step by step, day by day, right from December 2010 till today. An uprising was coming and all the progressives and Socialists were excited, and many Marxists, using scientific methods, had predicted the fall of Ben Ali as early as late December (the U.S and France realized that Ben Ali was going just three days before he left!)

As the regimes kept falling, Socialists all over the world had asked where the women of Tunisia were, and most importantly, where the workers were. Soon after, photos began circulating in the internet showing women leading in songs, and many of them participating in the demonstrations. Then we all knew that it was done when the workers from the mine fields, in the factories, the nurses, those in transportation, the street cleaners, the teachers, the doctors, the lawyers, the journalists and many other workers joined in. Ben Ali was ready to kill the unemployed youths, he had already killed many students but he couldn’t stop the combined force of the Unemployed Youths, University Students and the workers. He had to run, run very fast.

As this was happening in Tunisia, Youths across North Africa were now awakened, huge tensions were reported from Morocco to Algeria, from Sudan to Egypt, and small disturbances were also reported in Libya. Tensions also erupted in the Middle East, from Jordan to Syria, from Saudi to Kuwait, from Lebanon to Iran. I was so excited, excited that I was living in these historic times, (I actually wondered if this is how those who were alive in the mid 50s to the mid 60s felt: They witnessed the anti-colonial uprisings in Africa, they saw how each colonial state fell giving rise to liberated states, they witnessed the Cuban Revolution and its derivatives, the saw how the oppressed Black people in the U.S fearlessly organized and challenged the racist regimes, they witnessed how the revolutionary Vietnamese people rose against the most powerful country in the world and many other important events) I was also excited since I knew that these waves of change would soon blow Southwards, in a short time to come. The Tunisians had just written history (and they still are, they have the people’s committees, government officials are forced to resign by the day), history that will be studied and written about for years, and probably centuries to come. Tunisian reference will always be made with respect to the falling of the Kingdoms of the Middle East, Bahrain and Morocco. As we speak about Egypt, we will have to mention Tunisia. Tunisia will replace France as a reference point with respect to people’s uprisings.

But Gaddafi was a sad man, he was sad that his long time friend was being kicked out of power. He had even opened Libya’s borders so that unemployed Youths from Tunisia would go into Libya and get some jobs to do. When this failed, and it was clear that Ben Ali was going, it is believed that he was flown out of Tunisia aboard Libyan jets, into Saudi Arabia (after being denied access in Italy and France, where Ben Ali’s best friends, Nicholas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi run things.) Gaddafi then went ahead to mourn Ben Ali’s departure on Libyan state television, telling Tunisians that they had “lost the best president that they could ever have.” So when Africans and progressives were drinking to the people’s victory, Gaddafi was sad.

The martyrs and the revolutionary people of Tunisia had given hope to all the oppressed people in the world, and had instilled fear into all the oppressors and exploiters, and hence immediately after January 14^th, all eyes shifted to Morocco and the Middle East. Many people didn’t see any feasibility in Egypt, since Hosni Mubarak (Ben Ali’s look-a-like) headed one of the most repressive police states in Africa, and probably in the world. It was also reasoned that the U.S would not allow Egypt to fall, since it is of highest strategic importance with respect to the Fascist State of Israel, but the courageous people of Egypt were to prove the world wrong, and on January 25^th, all roads were leading to Tahrir Square.

In the meantime, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the whole U.S administration were unequivocally and unambiguously expressing support and solidarity to their long time puppet, just like they had earlier done in Tunisia. The Egyptian Police (totaling 300,000) was busy rounding up all the tweeps and facebook organizers, and killing many of them and torturing thousands. They were beating up the ground mobilisers, and arresting the Socialist organizers on the ground. And just like in Tunisia, the reactionary Workers’ Trade Union leadership supported Mubarak, even the usually militant Muslim Brotherhood distanced itself away from the uprising. But the people of Egypt, Young and Old, Men and Women (and children too) students and workers stood their ground, and vowed to fight on to the last man. It was at this point that Mubarak replaced the police with the Military (also over 300, 000 strong) in full combat gear, complete with tanks and jet fighters in order to beat (or kill?) the masses into submission. This too, failed, even after killing over 300 people, and thousands of people disappearing. All of us, the progressives, were in full solidarity with the Egyptian people, and encouraged them through the Social Networking sites, through articles in the internet, through prayers (for those who believe.)Fidel Castro was among the first people to conclusively predict the fall Mubarak, and by doing that, he pumped up the morale of the Egyptian people.

Mubarak, an Air Chief Marshal in the Egyptian Air force, and a President who had garnered 89% of the total votes cast in the last elections, was not to be budged by two million people in some liberation square,,,,so he came out on state television, and gave those protesting Egyptians a heavy tongue lash, and asked his supporters “to go out in their millions and defend the country.” The next thing we saw were plain clothed policemen on Camel backs whipping the civilians in Tahrir square, raping the women and causing utmost terror to the demonstrators. In the meantime, MuBarack Obama was quite proud of his guy, and was continuously urging him on. At was at this point that it was reported that the MB came and fought the police and their camels off (then tried to Islamize the revolt by shouting ‘Allah Akbar!’ chants, but they were overshadowed by chants of ‘Muslims, Christians, we are all Egyptians!’)

The Egyptian workers then stage a general strike, circumventing their union, and this marked the final blow to Mubarak. The country was losing money, the military was losing business and everything was at a standstill (except in Tahrir Square, where it was business as usual)

Then came 10^th February, when concerned people from all over the world were glued to their TVs and the internet, waiting for Mubarak to resign, he kept us waiting (past mid night, here in Kenya) and then appeared on TV, with a lot of anti-interference(anti-imperialist)talk, thinking that that would sway the African people to his side and giving the people his last lecture on how he still intended to buried in Egypt (he was so out of touch with the ground, that he seemingly didn’t realize that millions of Egyptians were actually ready to bury him…….in Egypt, or wherever else he wanted!)

And finally, Mubarak fell the following day. Mubarak’s fall was good not just for the Egyptians, but for the rest of Africans and for the colonized and occupied Palestinian people.

Revolts in Sub-Saharan Africa

We then went to square one again, wondering which country would be next. In the meantime, reactionaries in Kenya began saying that the upheavals in North Africa could not happen in sub-Saharan Africa, due tribalism. They further stated that the Islam religion is very strong, and it was what gave the North Africans the courage against threats of death. They had forgotten that just four weeks before the Egyptian uprising, there were fatal tensions between the Muslims and the Coptics, where churches were burnt, demonstrations held and curfews imposed: but during the uprising, they sang and chanted together, and even the Christians watched over their Muslim brothers as they did their Friday prayers. These reactionaries had also forgotten that the Muslims in Tunisia, Egypt and the Middle East have always been Muslims for the many years that Ben Ali, Mubarak and the Kings oppressed them.

What most people do not understand, is that we have revolutionary events, and revolutions. Revolutionary events are not brought about by tribes or religious beliefs. Revolutions do not respect borders, neither do they respect the Sahara. Sooner or later, they will happen throughout Africa, as long as oppression and exploitation continue to exist. Before the current revolts took place, there were several uprisings in both countries. Workers in Tunisian mines had on several occasions gone on system shaking strikes. The Tunisian jails were filled with members of the Tunisian Workers Communist Party, human rights activists and people from other progressive parties, who were a constant threat to the Ben Ali regime, and who were constantly organizing against the regime. Many Socialists and pro-people activists were either exiled, under close surveillance, in prisons or six feet under. In Egypt, there were big solidarity demos in support of the second Intifada, the same treatment used against the Socialists and anti government workers in Tunisia was used against them in Egypt, in the April 6^th of 2008, Egyptian had tried to remove the rotten system through the April 6^th movement, and again in the 6^th of April the following year, and small revolts continued throughout 2010, with severe consequences for the organizers. We have had intifadas in Bahrain, in Iraq and in Morocco. When people are under pressure, it always reaches a point where they have to blow out.

After 11^th April, It appeared as if the wave would jump into Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain or Iran. Then the shocker came. Libya was next.

Libya and Gaddafi

Gaddafi has been quite a controversial person. Taking over power at 27 is not a joke. Staying in power for over 40 years is serious stuff.

He has done some negative things, some which have made the people angry, and others which one just laughs off.

It was bad when he lectured Tunisians for overthrowing Ben Ali. His threats for a civil war (and saying that Libya, unlike Egypt, is made up of tribes) were very irresponsible comments coming from a leader. When he said that Nigeria should be divided along religious lines, I was saddened. When he thinks that the best way to bring African unity is by creating some Kings, and him becoming their king, I question his strategy. When he makes a deal with the Italians, to arrest Africans and prevent them from entering Italy illegally, I am disappointed (Not that those Africans should be allowed to go to Italy, but it should be Italy’s business to stop them from entering Italy, not Libya working harder to prevent them from leaving Libya.….. but I have never understood why some Africans risk their lives so much, to get  European citizenships)

He is also suspected of having trained Charles Taylor in the late 80s. Taylor ended up making a bloody battle in Liberia, and he is now in the ICC for war crime charges in Sierra Leone. But the propagandists who bring this story up, never tell us that in the 80s, Samuel Doe was a brutal Liberian dictator, and any idea of removing him would pass as noble. They also ‘forget’ to tell us that the current Liberian president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was one of the main funders of Taylor’s war (NPFL), and she raised most of the money in the U.S. Ellen Sirleaf, at the TRC, said that she  “apologized for being fooled into supporting Taylor.” I agree with her, many people were fooled into supporting Taylor, against Samuel Doe, the only difference is that unlike Gaddafi and the rest, Johnson was fooled several years into the bloody war, even when she was well aware that child soldiers were being used.

Assuming that the late John Garang became a brutal dictator of Southern Sudan, would we blame Gaddafi for supporting him? When Yoweri Museveni misrules Uganda, do we blame Gaddafi for supporting him? If Gaddafi supported a leader to liberate the people of Saharawi or Palestine, and then that leader fucks up, would we blame Gaddafi?

Unlike the U.S and France, who support rebels in Africa countries to topple good African leaders (when they do not succeed in assassinating them), Gaddafi’s support to Taylor was different. It was to topple a murderous dictator, by a seemingly good Liberian.

Some claim that Gaddafi is bad, since Libya was secretly developing Weapons of Mass Destruction, which Gaddafi abandoned in 2003. We all agree, that Nuclear weapons, and all these other weapons used to kill people are bad, but who said that the U.S, Russia, France and a handful of other countries(Including Israel) have the unquestionable right to own these weapons?

On the more positive side, Libya under Gaddafi, has the highest Human Development Index in Africa, and ranks highly in the world. This means that in Africa, Libyans have the highest quality of life. This is how COSATU, while condemning the Libyan government, said of Libyan living standards:

“COSATU appreciates that Libya…….has a far better record in promoting prosperity among its 6.6 million people than other North African countries where there have been popular revolts.

It has the lowest infant mortality rate in Africa -- 18 per thousand, compared to South Africa's 44 per thousand, and the highest life expectancy in Africa -- 74 years compared to South Africa's 49 years. The literacy rate is 90%. Less than 5% of the population is undernourished, and in response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished all taxes on food on January 12, 2011.

Libya has the highest gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita of all of African countries -- around US$13,000 relative to South Africa's $10,000. A lower percentage of people (7%) live below the poverty line than in the Netherlands. The South African figure is about 50%......”

This high literacy rate was not achieved through some magic, it was due to deliberate efforts by the Libyan leadership, by building schools, training teachers and making education free, upto the university level. These Libyans are not only literate, but have schooled to tertiary levels. The U.S, which is the richest country in the world, and the world’s superpower, has over 40 million totally illiterate adults, people who cannot decipher words written on a piece of paper. It has another 50 million adults who have basic literacy. I have to add here something that I always say: These oppressed Americans need global solidarity in order to liberate themselves from the control of greedy capital. The American people are always kept in ignorance, especially through their powerful media, so that they may not rise against this oppressive Capitalist system. We have seen in the past that once the ordinary American gets the right information, they will always fight for the oppressed. They rose against slavery, they rose against the Vietnam War, they rose against the Iraqi invasion and they should be helped to rise against their system, after which most of the problems in the world will be solved.

When it comes to health, Libya has well equipped hospitals, and all health care is free. Food is cheap, and most of it is grown by the Libyan state. Libya has invested a lot in pumping water from the sea, to irrigate some of these farms.

Unemployment is low, and that’s why when the uprisings erupted in Tunisia, he went ahead to open up the borders so that Tunisian Youths could be employed in Libya.

Planting trees and taking care of the environment is one task that Gaddafi has ensured throughout his rule in this desert climate country.

Gaddafi has surely made Libya to be one of the best countries in Africa, and one of the best in the world.

Some people say that Gaddafi has done nothing, and the Oil has done everything. But the question I pose to them is, if Oil is everything, why don’t we have the same HDI in Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Sudan or Egypt? If they argue that Libya has a small population of 6.5million, what about Equatorial Guinea, with a population of 0.5million and is on Africa’s top seven Oil producer list? Hasn’t oil and other resources always brought misery and war in many African regions? Had a leader like Gaddafi taken over the DR Congo in 1969, would it be in the condition that it is in today? Wouldn’t Congo be a developed country in the world?

Gaddafi has also been a courageous world leader, and he was among the first (and few) leaders to say that Bush should be tried for war crimes in Iraq. He has courageously pushed for a one state solution in Palestine. He has openly criticized Obama for getting it wrong on the Palestinian question.

Gaddafi, despite living in a country where the most of the citizenry live in good houses, he resides in a tent, something that the western media depicts as shady, absurd and backwards. Gaddafi, despite being a Muslim, a religion that segregates women to second class citizens, has always had female body guards in a male dominated field.

African Unity

But for me, the greatest respect that I have for Gaddafi lies in his push for African Unity. From my days in primary school, it is Gaddafi’s sole voice that has been calling for the Unity of Africa. Those of my generation might not know of great and vocal pan-Africanist leaders like Kwame Nkurmah, Sekou Toure, Julius Nyerere, Abdel Nasser and the rest, but they surely know, and identify African Unity with Muammar Gaddafi.

It was Gaddafi who inspired the formation of the African Union, which is a great improvement from the O.A.U. Gaddafi /Libya is one of the biggest funders of the A.U, and also heavily funds the ADB and many other A.U functions.

Libya as a government has invested heavily, without conditionalities, across all of Africa, and has always offers aid to disaster stricken countries throughout Africa. Libya’s Nasser University is an international institution dedicated to poor African students, so they may get the knowledge and the skills they need to transform their countries. Most students in this institution are on full scholarships.

Should Africa lose Gaddafi today (through the uprising, assassination or natural death), won’t it be a big blow to African Unity?

I would expect the A.U to vehemently and militantly oppose foreign attack on African soil, but instead, they are doing what they like to do best, dilly-dallying. I would also expect our government to come out clearly, and support Libya against the Imperialist Invasion. I expected the many people who have been praising Gaddafi, and receiving goodies from him, to come out and make a clear statement. Where is Raila Odinga? Where is Mwai Kibaki? Where is Kalonzo Musyoka? Where is Njuri Njeke? Where is the Luo council of elders? Where are the students who’ve benefited from Libya? Where are all these Libyan beneficiaries? Other people can sit back and watch, but these people have to make a stand, in favor, or out of favor with Gaddafi. They cannot sit on the fence.

Hugo Chavez’s Proposal

They could have at least support Hugo Chavez’s idea, which forms the best way forward, in averting the imminent invasion. Chavez even proposed that former U.S president jimmy Carter could chair the talks! Why are they quiet? This just shows the hypocrisy of our Kenyan leaders and the parasitic nature of the Africans beneficiaries.

Many people have done the analysis, and I have also written about the implications of African Unity to the African people, and to humanity at large, from ending of poverty, to ending of food problems, to the use and exportation of cheap and very clean energy, to the ending of wars and misery among many things which I won’t point out here. Once Africa unites, then it will be much easier to fight oppression and exploitation. In fact, this problem of having leaders for life would come to an end, since African will be one, with common systems and structures. Africa would become extremely powerful, and she shall export African values of hospitality, generosity, and free nature to the rest of the world.

Rebel Flag-A return of the Monarchy?

The first question that came up during the start of the uprising was why the rebels were using some other flag, rather than the green Libyan flag/  In Tunisia, the masses were proud of their beautiful Red flag. In Egypt, the masses carried their country’s flag, and also carried the Tunisian flag with them. But why were the Libyans not carrying their flag with them?

Libya has had three flags in the recent past, one of the Monarch (used by King Idris Al-Sanusi from 1951), another used after the overthrow of the monarch in September 1969, and the current green one used since 1977. The flag that the rebels are carrying around is the monarchy flag. Some people have been calling them revolutionaries, but since when did a revolution take a society back to the Kings? The people in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and other countries are struggling to remove monarchies, yet the Libyans are using the King’s flag! If they hated Gaddafi’s flags, they should have created a new flag, or better still, use the Tunisian and Egyptian flags!

In a book called ‘Libya and Gaddafi’ written by Don Lawson (who is very anti Gaddafi,) he states:

“Today (1987) there are some 50,000 Libyans living outside the country. Among these Libyan expatriates are many former business and political associates of King Idris whom Gaddafi deposed. Many of these exiles in Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Great Britain still have close ties with friends in Libya. Although these exiled members of the former elite could scarcely hope for a return of the monarchy, it is quite conceivable that they may support a military coup that would enable them to return to Libya under a new regime”

The fact that these rebels are using this flag leaves one suspecting that the above analysis is actually taking place in Libya today.

Ministers turn into “revolutionaries” overnight

The other extremely disturbing thing is the leadership of the uprising. In Tunisia, no government official would dare near the revolutionaries. They could not do so in Egypt. In Tunisia, they are still telling the RCD remnants to leave. Same in Egypt. But in Libya, it is the same old fellows who have now become “Revolutionaries” and want to overthrow the “Bad” dictator. Which moral ground does Mustafa Abdul Jalil have, for him to head the National Transitional Council? For heaven’s sake, the fellow resigned from the government just a few days ago!

Misconception-All killings are made by Gaddafi forces

Less than one week into the uprising, it was reported that Gaddafi’s Military Jets were bombing civilians and that two pilots flew their jets to Malta and defected. Within this time, the rebels had taken over several cities in the east, including Benghazi. It was then reported that Gaddafi had killed around 1000 civilians. What these media report assumed was that all the people who died were killed by Gaddafi. Does it mean that these rebels, who were armed with guns, took all these cities peacefully? How many Gaddafi soldiers have been killed by these rebels? How many civilians have fallen to the rebel bullet? How many? Though I may not know a lot about Jets throwing bombs in civilian populated areas, i think bombs dropped at civilian populations would have killed more than a thousand people, unless those pilots decided to voluntarily miss their targets. It is because of this that I believed Gaddafi when in the first instance he said that no bomb had been thrown at civilians. The Russians confirmed that no bombs were dropped at that first instance. These monarchists, together with the international media were just taking advantage of Gaddafi’s son threat of a civil war, and a fight to the last man.

In Tunisia and in Egypt, the civilians were unarmed. It had reached a point where the police and the military could not kill any other protester, since their conscious was haunting them, and the whole world was watching. In Libya, the rebels attacked police stations and armed themselves. The defecting soldiers came with more weapons, experience and tactics. They even have anti-air artillery. With these weapons, they are taking one town after another. This to me is war. For us who love peace, we can only hope that it somehow ends, but as long as it continues, let us stop blaming one side, for killing the other side in a war. We can at best blame both sides or keep quite.

The International Criminal Court

The ICC is constantly losing any goodwill that it currently has in Africa. It is being perceived as an imperialist tool at a very fast rate. People have not forgotten that Bush and Blair should be seated somewhere in The Hague listening to their cases, but that is not the issue here. The issue here is, why is Moreno Ocampo threatening Gaddafi with arrests when he did not do the same for Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak? Why is he not taking action on the Bahrain King who is butchering people by the hour, including sick people in the hospitals? Why Gaddafi? Don’t we have foreign armies in Bahrain killing innocent unarmed civilians unabated? Are the lives of Bahrain people not as important as those of the Libyans? Why is the ICC condemning what the Imperialists have condemned, and keeping quite where the imperialists have remained mum?

Xenophobia and “Where are the workers?” Question

In the Tunisian and the Egyptian analysis, we had seen the active participation of women and workers, and hence the success in these two countries. In Libya, I have no idea on where the women are, but I surely know where the workers are.

Of the 6.5 million people living in Libya, 1.5 million are immigrant workers, with the majority coming from other African countries, notably Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Cameroon, Guinea Chad and Sudan. Unlike the Tunisian and the Egyptian revolts which were inspired by love, love for human life, love for all people, the Libyan revolt is inspired by hate, hate for Africans from other countries, hate for “darker” people. Some people will claim that these xenophobic acts came about after Gaddafi hired some Black mercenaries. This is an absolute lie. As I noted earlier, it is the tensions that simmer from below that blow up. Cases of selected xenophobia (selected since it only affects Blacks, not Brown, not white)have been reported on several occasions in the past, and I will quote the one that happened in October 2000, where it was alleged that a football match “sparked” wide spread violence against black immigrants. Human rights organisations reported that 500 immigrants were killed in the skirmishes, but the official reports gave 50-100 as the number. Many immigrants fled to their countries of origin and reported of the harrowing experiences that they had, which include the slaughters, beatings, robbery and burning down of their homes.

A Ghanain Worker-Victim of Xenophibia

With this kind of background, it is obvious that those rebels hate Gaddafi because of opening Libya up for other Africans. It is not true that they attacked the Blacks because of the mercenary story. In the Libyan army, some of the officials are pretty dark. And even If it was true, then they would have attacked Italians and Serbians too (whites,) this is because it was reported that alongside those mercenaries from other African countries (just call them blacks, we won’t be offended) there were white ones, probably Italians. It was also reported that some of the pilots who were bombing civilians were Serbians. Furthermore, why would anyone burn houses belonging to black immigrants, just because Black mercenaries are in town? Are these the people that “progressives” are supporting? Is the removal of Gaddafi so important, that nobody minds when “a few” black people are killed? I say SHAME on any progressive who has had the stupidity to call say that pointing out to these killings is “a diversionary tactic by supporters of Gaddafi.”

Some analysts are busy saying that the reason as to why the “revolution” in Libya may not succeed is because the working class is not organised, due to Gaddafi’s repressiveness. This is a very narrow minded view. They must know that the working class was the first to be attacked by the monarchists, and that those refugee camps are filled with working class, and not just African working class, but working people from all over the southern hemisphere.

Imperialist invasion, Africom and Isreal

Unlike in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain where the U.S said that everything was okay, and continued changing their foreign policies by the hour until when they said that ‘the people’s will should be followed,’ the U.S did not waste time in Libya, no sooner had the monarchists arisen, than the USS Ponce and USS Kearsage (which are nuclear carrying battleships) were sent to the Mediterranean. Britain even sent its elite military personnel to “evacuate” its citizens (and they telling us about mercenaries!)The enthusiasm with which our former colonialists, France and Britain are supporting this no-fly zone shit cannot go unquestioned. Even the usually quite Canada and Germany were pushing for an attack.

Arab Union has finally gotten the chance to settle their score with Gaddafi. In their statement, they said that they opposed any foreign intervention, and then said that a no-fly zone should be put in place……this just proves how these Arab Kings are empty headed! It is as if a no-fly zone is a non-foreign intervention! No wonder our comrades in the Middle East want these buggers out! These same suckers have invaded Bahrain, and they are having a killing orgy in that country. Last week, the Saudi royal family announced that anybody who dares raise a finger against the monarch, the finger will be cut off, (which can be extended to mean that any head raised, will also be chopped off)and here they are, saying that Gaddafi is killing the armed rebels.

The U.S has for a long time wanted to set up AFRICOM posts in strategic corners of this continent, but the idea has been strongly opposed by the African people. They have now think that they have found the perfect occasion to set it up. After losing their puppets in Tunisia and especially in Egypt, fascist Israel has been exposed, Bahrain will not stay for long, it will definitely fall and probably the U.S 5^th fleet will have to move to another base, imperialism will have to be taken to another level. The U.S government takes people for fools. Gaddafi was very clear, in his speech tonight, that an attack to Libya, which is a sovereign state, will mean a full scale war. There will be no peace in the Mediterranean. I would like to state here that I fully support this statement.  Just because Libya is an African country does not mean that her sovereignty should be played around with. The imperialist plan is to attack Libya from the air, just like they did in Iraq and in Afghanistan, then find some other excuse for a full scale invasion.

What we must not forget is that Moroccans will also rise, and so will Algeria, and in these uprisings, just like in Tunisia and Egypt, blood will be shed, the question is: What will prevent Colonialist France, Colonialist Britain and the U.S from imposing the no-fly zones, and eventually invading and occupying these African countries? And since the revolts will move downwards, what will stop these imperialist dogs from coming southwards too?

We will not sit back!

What everyone must not forget, what our fathers and grandmothers have not forgotten, is the terror that these colonialists caused unto this great continent in the last five centuries. Millions of innocent lives were lost due to Slavery, forced hard labor, random killings, group rapes and unspeakable torture. Millions more lost their lives defending mother Africa, fighting for land and freedom. Just because we do not speak about these things does not mean that we have forgotten them. Just because we are quite does not mean that we will just sit back and watch them attack our continent. A few hours from now, the UN Security Council will vote on the invasion. Russia and China will oppose it, but the allied forces will just do what it did in Iraq. But this is not Iraq, this is not Afghanistan: This is Africa. Gaddafi does not need to pay Africans to fight for Africa, no, this was a duty passed down to us by our forefathers, it will be a duty that I have to do for my grandchildren.

The spirit of Kimathi Waciuri and the MauMau will cry, the moment those imperialists set foot in Africa. The spirit of Che Guevara will be with those who are ready to defend our motherland. Frantz Fanon will urge us forward, Amilcar Cabral will be will us, Oliver Tambo will show us the way, Thomas Sankara will be with us and Julius Nyerere will be our guiding wisdom. So let us meet, and organise.

Down with the Monarchists!

Down with the Arab Union!!

Down with the imminent invasion!!!

Long live Africa!!!!

Benedict Wachira

18^th March 2011

01:55am

Chairperson, Bureau of Young Social Democrats

Secretary, Kenya Cuba friendship Society

Member, Revolutionary Committees Movement