Libya

John Johnson

As we go to press, I find that I have overdosed on Libya. The first day it was CNN and Al Jazeera on TV, and then live on the Net. My first emotion was to cheer for the people, overthrowing a tyrannical dictator. A revolution on live TV.

But many of the scenes were young guys shooting their guns in the air, which went on and on. Those bullets do come back and maybe land on people’s head.

Then you realize this would never have happened if NATO and the US hadn’t destroyed most of Gaddafi’s tanks, artillery and his ability to wage war. Then you wonder if NATO and the US were spending all this money and effort just to free the Libyan people. Did we kill two to four million Southeast Asians to help them out? That many in Latin America? The Iraqis and Afghans? Historically, the US goes to war to overthrow the many for the benefit of corporations and exploitation, more often to repress rather than to promote democracy.

In the Seventies and Eighties, Gaddafi had a good reputation among the left for his support of left leaning governments and movements around the world. But we did not know how he treated his own people. Was the oil wealth distributed? Turns out it was only his family, his tribe and friends that benefitted. There were no signs of a democracy in Libya.

It becomes obvious that our intentions in Lybia are to pave the way for the many major oil companies who want to extract the oil there. And install a weak government that we control.

We can hope that the Libyans are aware of this and will build a strong society that controls its own destiny and  natural resources.

The theme of his issue is an examination of The Class War. The rich, the billionaires, the corporations and their lackeys in Congress, and their constant war against the people and against real democracy.

Republicans have been especially blatant. They advocate turning over Social Security to Wall Street (where it will disappear). Raising taxes and fees on workers, lowing taxes on the rich. They have even been toying with destroying the economy. Not the economy for the rich but the one the rest of us live in. Also ruining the environment with deregulations on coal, pollution, etc.

So the other theme is that the rest of us really, really have to get organized and have to act and act again. Before it’s too late. Really.