Monday, August 29, 2011

Mixed Up!

The link below shows that President Obama has created more jobs in 2010 than Bush did in 8 years, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics.  So why are Black unemployment rates at depression level?  Is it true that we are just plain lazy, unqualified, inefficient? Or are there other factors involved such as racism/white supremacy, or the "last hired/first fired" syndrome that prevents Obama from specifically addressing our chronic joblessness?  Or is it as I said before, that we don't own any damn boats to benefit from the rising tide? Why is it that a John Kennedy can proudly wear his Irish ethnicity on his sleeve and a Obama carefully avoids being seen as pro-Black?  We should all know the answers, don't we? 
 
Obama has to be portrayed as being "presidential" or color neutral when it comes to Black people of whom he says he is one of, because he, as all politicians are, wants to get re-elected, and he knows that Black people are not going to desert him at the next presidential election!  So he steers clear of doing anything that will 'color' him Black.  Which explains why, perhaps, that he declined to issue an executive pardon for the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey ( see story below).
 
Is this what you expected when you voted for Obama and his "change" platform?  Seems to me, we got this kind of treatment from all of the pale presidents!
 
Kwasi
 
 
 
 

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Sent: 8/27/2011 5:22:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: This week: Obama denies Garvey pardon
 

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Obama admin: Pardoning Garvey a waste of time and resources

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSBAkZClNSGAcJB1VT

The Obama administration has rejected a call for a posthumous presidential pardon for Marcus Garvey, calling it a waste of time and resources. Full Story

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSAwAZClNSGAcJB1VT

Joining the Uhuru Movement: A look back six months on

It's been about six months now since I took the plunge and officially joined the Uhuru Movem... Full Story

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSAwEZClNSGAcJB1VT

Famine in Somalia caused by imperialism!

The crisis in the Horn of Africa is an imperialist-imposed crisis that began long before the curre... Full Story

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSAwIZClNSGAcJB1VT

Video clips and pictures from August 20 actions around the globe

View video and photos from the August 20 International Day of Action Against Wars on Africa and African People. Full Story

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSAwMZClNSGAcJB1VT

videoIn Bahamas: International Day of Action Against Wars on Africa and African People

Alex Morley gives a presentation here in Nassau, Bahamas at a Panel Discussion on the International ... Full Story

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSAwQZClNSGAcJB1VT

videoDiop Olugbala slams Nutter's curfew; announces run for Philly mayor seat

In a press conference held on August 11, 2011, longtime activist and organizer Diop Olugbala announc... Full Story

http://uhurulists.org/lists2/lt.php?id=fRgNBwRSAwUZClNSGAcJB1VT

Philly August 20 mobilization takes on curfew and war on African youth

PHILADELPHIA — On Saturday, August 20, at 8:30pm, the Black is Back Coalition (BIBC) for Soc... Full Story


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Thursday, August 25, 2011

MLK- Who Are We Honoring?

Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy lays it on the line about the King monument and the statement therein which MLK "Chief" Architect Ed Jackson, Jr said that they couldn't find a qualified Black sculptor has been vehemently denied by celebrated Black artist, Gilbert Young on satellite radio this morning. Young also said that there was no "open" competition to select a sculptor, which flies in the face of Dr. King's position of equal access.  It turns out that Jackson is not even certified as a "master" architect, so how could he  have been integral in choosing a sculptor?
 
Further, columnist Jared Bell, link below, tells us that the whole deal was bought and paid for by the very corporate elites that Dr. King was trying to get to open their doors to Black people.  Lastly, I'm not even going to get into the Black frat/soros "Greek" letter groups and their historical penchant for crediting other cultures for traditional Afrikan intellectual prowess and accomplishments.  But, I believe, that predisposition plays a part in this issue.
 
Kwasi
 
 

Full Coverage: The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Courtland Milloy
Courtland Milloy
Local Columnist

Having a black sculptor for King would have been nice

Let's face it: There really is something peculiar about having an artist from communist China sculpt the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial statue. And, yes, it would have been fantastic had an African American sculptor been chosen instead.

I do not believe that such sentiments are racist, as some have charged. They are deeply rooted in America's racial past and ought not be so easily dismissed.

Courtland Milloy

Writes a weekly local column

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Much has been made of how King's memorial, which opened to the public Monday, is situated between Lincoln's and Jefferson's, as if they are inviting us into a three-way conversation about the nation's ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality. Ingenious, to be sure.

Overlooked, however, is the White House to the north and the U.S. Capitol to the east — which were built using extensive black slave labor.

Last year in June, congressional leaders unveiled two bronze plaques commemorating the estimated 400 to 600 slaves from Maryland, Virginia and the District who helped build the Capitol.

"We've come here this afternoon to tell the rest of the story. To acknowledge the profound indignity that the slaves who helped clear this land and lay these stones must have suffered in building this great monument to freedom," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during that ceremony.

Must have suffered, indeed.

Surely, having a black sculptor of a black civil rights icon — working on ground once toiled by black slaves, on the National Mall, designed and surveyed with the help of a black mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker — would have added to the King memorial's symbolic power.

So, yes, it stings when, centuries later, creators of the King memorial say they couldn't find a qualified black sculptor.

"Not only did we need an artist, we needed someone with the means and methods of putting those large stones together," Ed Jackson Jr., executive architect of the project, told me recently. "We don't do this in America. We don't handle stones of this size."

Who gets the job? A Chinese national with an apparent preference for the heroic and authoritarian.

The sculpture is based on a 1966 photograph of King taken in his office in Atlanta, standing at his desk, with a picture of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi on a wall in the background. In it, King has soft eyes and an open face that conveys the blessed assurance of a man who walks by faith.

Lei Yixin has turned those eyes into something of a steely squint.

The result is a stern colossus, dressed no less in a style of suit similar to ones found on many statues of Stalin. In America's militaristic culture, King's take-no-prisoners personae will surely resonate — especially among many in the black middle class, which places a premium on order and discipline. King's expression reminds me of a parent or teacher about to administer some tough love with a belt.

Nostalgia notwithstanding, the fact remains that Lei hails from a country that oppresses ethnic minorities, exploits its workers, and jails human-rights activists and the attorneys who try to defend them. In their day, King and civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall would likely have been taken by the Red Guard and never heard from again.

Now, I recognize that without the inspired leadership of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, there would be no King Memorial to speak of. And those who say now ought to be a time for celebration and not complaining have a point.

The distinguished fraternity of Alpha men, who count both King and Marshall among its members, certainly deserve all of the accolades they are sure to receive in the coming days — especially Jackson, foundation president Harry E. Johnson and the late Adrian Wallace, who as president of the organization in 2000 green-lighted the King project with an admonition to its members: "Failure is not an option."

But I also recall the words of a Chinese artisan who worked on the memorial with Lei. Asked why he was so delighted with being chosen for the job, the man told The Washington Post that he was in it for "national honor" and wanted to "bring glory to the Chinese people."

It just would have been kinda nice to hear an African American sculptor say something like that about this country.

MLK Memorial Dedication Will be Televised!

For those of you wise enough not to challenge the eternal forces of Shu (wind) & Tefnut (moisture), otherwise known as hurricane Irene which is expected to arrive in the DC area this weekend, just to see the communist chinese-made statuary of Dr. King, the entire  ceremony will be broadcast on TV One, the Black alternative, beginning Sunday at 9am, weather permitting!
 
Kwasi

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

"Mr. President, You're Fired" - Herman Cain



Sent:                           

Herman's Weekly Commentary: "Mr. President, You're Fired"

Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011

Having served on the Board of Directors of several major corporations over the last twenty years, I have had the responsibility of voting to hire a new CEO, and voting to fire a current CEO many times. In both instances the decision was based on assessed potential and performance.

Directors hold CEOs responsible for results, and the prudent use of company resources such as cash, equity and human resources. Specific metrics are established for both annual and multi-year performance, which are evaluated in making the hire or fire decision.

If a CEO is underperforming and on the brink of being fired, then we look to see if he or she has identified the right problem, and, has established a plan of action to get things back on track. If the plan is convincing and the performance metrics were missed by a reasonable amount, then he or she would be given a specific amount of time to get back on track.

The Board has to decide what's convincing, what's reasonable and how much time should be allowed for a course correction. Then take action.

President Obama's economic policies have failed unreasonably. He has no plan for a course correction. He has promised a plan for focusing on job creation since he has been in office. He has had over two and a half years to get it right, and now he wants a month to write another speech, following a three day bus tour that produced nothing but a bunch of photo-ops. We are not convinced we will hear anything new. A Board's action would be unanimous.

Mr. President, you're fired.

I realize that only the voters can fire President Barack Obama in November of 2012. But his performance and his potential plan for serious economic growth are not likely to change anything. The Board of Directors would have no choice.

But America has a choice. Elect Herman Cain president in 2012.

Here's Phase 1 of my economic growth plan. It's called the 9-9-9 plan.
         
  • A 9% business flat tax         
Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses,
and all dividends paid to shareholders.
  • A 9% individual income flat tax                       
Gross income less charitable deductions
  • A 9% national sales tax                       
This significantly expands the tax base which helps everybody.

This plan has the following advantages:
  • It is fair, revenue neutral, transparent and efficient
  • Zero tax on capital gains and repatriated profits
  • Replaces the payroll tax
  • Will aid capital availability for small businesses
  • Saves taxpayers $430 billion in annual compliance costs
  • It eliminates the uncertainty holding this economy down

Current economic conditions call for bold moves to boost and supercharge this economy. If we are in an economic recovery as the administration claims, this economy is still 6 million jobs below the worst recovery since the Great Depression. The latest evidence shows that we are still in economic decline.

This plan is bold and doable. It has been developed and analyzed by some of the best economic minds in the nation. Remember, I surround myself with good people. That's the key to my success and it will continue to be.

I offer this plan to the president, the Congress and the "super committee". I could wait until after I am elected president, but America can't keep waiting.

Struggling businesses and fifteen million unemployed people can't wait.

We need serious economic growth NOW! Please Mr. President, just do it!  

###
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Cherokee Nation expels members with African ancestry

Second-largest U.S. Indian tribe expels slave descendants

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The nation's second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more than 170 years ago by Native American owners.
The Cherokee nation voted after the Civil War to admit the slave descendants to the tribe.
But on Monday, the Cherokee nation Supreme Court ruled that a 2007 tribal decision to kick the so-called "Freedmen" out of the tribe was proper.
 
The controversy stems from a footnote in the brutal history of U.S. treatment of Native Americans. When many Indians were forced to move to what later became Oklahoma from the eastern U.S. in 1838, some who had owned plantations in the South brought along their slaves.
 
Some 4,000 Indians died during the forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears."
"And our ancestors carried the baggage," said Marilyn Vann, the Freedman leader who is a plaintiff in the legal battle.
 
Officially, there are about 2,800 Freedmen, but another 3,500 have tribal membership applications pending, and there could be as many as 25,000 eligible to enter the tribe, according to Vann.
The tribal court decision was announced one day before absentee ballots were to be mailed in the election of the Cherokee Principal Chief.
 
"This is racism and apartheid in the 21st Century," said Vann, an engineer who lives in Oklahoma City.
Spokesmen for the tribe did not respond when asked to comment.
 
The move to exclude the Freedmen has rankled some African American members of Congress, which has jurisdiction over all Native American tribes in the country.
 
A lawsuit challenging the Freedman's removal from the tribe has been pending in federal court in Washington, for about six years.
 
As a sovereign nation, Cherokee Nation officials maintain that the tribe has the right to amend its constitutional membership requirements.
 
Removal from the membership rolls means the Freedmen will no longer be eligible for free health care and other benefits such as education concessions.
 
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Greg McCune)

Now What in Libya?

So those who wanted the US to help the euros to overthrow Gaddai may be on the verge of getting their wish. Now what did they get for the almost $1 BILLION US war cost in Libya?  Are gas prices going to drop back to pre-war days? Not likely! Most of Libya's oil goes to the euros. Is western style 'democracy' coming to Libya? Not likely again. With Gaddafi out of the way, who's going to harmonize the vast ethical differences in Libya's multi-tribal country? What's to stop tribal civil wars?

More importantly to people of Afrikan descent, what happens to the Africa Union's base of support in Libya?  Much has been made of Gaddafi's financial generosity on behalf of the AU in it's attempt to bring the disparate Afrikan countries together into a federated state that would be the catalyst for Afrika resuming it's traditional ascendancy in the world.
While Libya was the AU's largest Afrikan-based financial contributor, loss of that funding source will be a blow to Afrika's aspirations.  However, that Libyan money masked the real need for Afrika to get really serious about it's future and to get the other Afrikan states to pay their fair share.  Afrika is not as impoverished as it is usually depicted.  Countries  such as South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco and the new oil rich countries can do a better job of taking up the slack.  Even with Gadaffi's monetary assistance, the AU was heavily dependent on euro countries such as France, Britain and others for a healthy portion of it's AU funding, according to
Dr. Molefi Asante wjo was an advisor  to the AU!

It is axiomatic that Afrika can't expect their former and current euro exploiters to help them to rid themselves of the western gripe on Afrika!  The revolution may now be televised, but it still ain't free.  If we want Afrika to rise again (and by extension we also will rise again), WE gotta help!  Don't know where to start? Contact Dr. Asante. Join pro-afrika groups such as Afrocentricity International, and the many others.

Just talking about it, or just thinking about it keeps us as Malcolm said "a part of the problem!"

Kwasi


 

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Libya: Getting it Right from a Pan-AfRAkan Perspective

Hotep All,

Take time to read this from a different perspective. This brother really breaks it down and it really makes you think and look at how the world is handling this Libya incident differently from the other uprisings.

It's a little long, but it's a good read.

Amani
Asar Gary

---------------------------

Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective
counter-revolution in Libya

by Gerald A. Perreira

The conflict in Libya is not a revolution, but a counter-revolution. The struggle "is fundamentally a battle between Pan-African forces on the one hand, who are dedicated to the realization of Qaddafi's vision of a united Africa, and reactionary racist Libyan Arab forces who reject Qaddafi's vision of Libya as part of a united Africa." The so-called Black African "mercenaries" are misnamed. "As a result of Libya's support for liberation movements throughout Africa and the world, international battalions were formed" which are part of the Libyan armed forces.

"The media and their selected commentators have done their best to manufacture an opinion that Libya is essentially the same as Egypt and Tunisia."

Thousands of Indians, Egyptians, Chinese, Filipinos, Turks, Germans, English, Italians, Malaysians, Koreans and a host of other nationalities are lining up at the borders and the airport to leave Libya. It begs the question: What were they doing in Libya in the first place? Unemployment figures, according to the Western media and Al Jazeera, are at 30%. If this is so, then why all these foreign workers?

For those of us who have lived and worked in Libya, there are many complexities to the current situation that have been completely overlooked by the Western media and 'Westoxicated' analysts, who have nothing other than a Eurocentric perspective to draw on. Let us be clear - there is no possibility of understanding what is happening in Libya within a Eurocentric framework. Westerners are incapable of understanding a system unless the system emanates from or is attached in some way to the West. Libya's system and the battle now taking place on its soil, stands completely outside of the Western imagination.News coverage by the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera has been oversimplified and misleading. An array of anti-Qaddafi spokespersons, most living outside Libya, have been paraded in front of us – each one clearly a counter-revolutionary and less credible than the last. Despite the clear and irrefutable evidence from the beginning of these protests that Muammar Qaddafi had considerable support both inside Libya and internationally, not one pro-Qaddafi voice has been allowed to air. The media and their selected commentators have done their best to manufacture an opinion that Libya is essentially the same as Egypt and Tunisia and that Qaddafi is just another tyrant amassing large sums of money in Swiss bank accounts. But no matter how hard they try, they cannot make Qaddafi into a Mubarak or Libya into Egypt.

"Libya's system and the battle now taking place on its soil, stands completely outside of the Western imagination."

The first question is: Is the revolt taking place in Libya fuelled by a concern over economic issues such as poverty and unemployment as the media would have us believe? Let us examine the facts.

Under the revolutionary leadership of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has attained the highest standard of living in Africa. In 2007, in an article which appeared in the African Executive Magazine, Norah Owaraga noted that Libya, "unlike other oil producing countries such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, utilized the revenue from its oil to develop its country. The standard of living of the people of Libya is one of the highest in Africa, falling in the category of countries with a GNP per capita of between USD 2,200 and 6,000."

This is all the more remarkable when we consider that in 1951 Libya was officially the poorest country in the world. According to the World Bank, the per capita income was less than $50 a year - even lower than India. Today, all Libyans own their own homes and cars. Two Fleet Street journalists, David Blundy and Andrew Lycett, who are by no means supporters of the Libyan revolution, had this to say:

"The young people are well dressed, well fed and well educated. Libyans now earn more per capita than the British. The disparity in annual incomes... is smaller than in most countries. Libya's wealth has been fairly spread throughout society. Every Libyan gets free, and often excellent, education, medical and health services. New colleges and hospitals are impressive by any international standard. All Libyans have a house or a flat, a car and most have televisions, video recorders and telephones. Compared with most citizens of the Third World countries, and with many in the First World, Libyans have it very good indeed."(Source: Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution)Large scale housing construction has taken place right across the country. Every citizen has been given a decent house or apartment to live in rent-free. In Qaddafi's Green Book it states: "The house is a basic need of both the individual and the family, therefore it should not be owned by others." This dictum has now become a reality for the Libyan people.
Large scale agricultural projects have been implemented in an effort to "make the desert bloom" and achieve self-sufficiency in food production. Any Libyan who wants to become a farmer is given free use of land, a house, farm equipment, some livestock and seed.

"The standard of living of the people of Libya is one of the highest in Africa."

Today, Libya can boast one of the finest health care systems in the Arab and African World. All people have access to doctors, hospitals, clinics and medicines, completely free of all charges. The fact is that the Libyan revolution has achieved such a high standard of living for its people that they import labor from other parts of the world to do the jobs that the unemployed Libyans refuse to do. Libya has been called by many observers inside and out, "a nation of shop keepers." It is part of the Libyan Arab psyche to own your own small business and this type of small scale private enterprise flourishes in Libya. We can draw on many examples of Libyans with young sons who expressed the idea that it would be shameful for the family if these same young men were to seek menial work and instead preferred for them to remain at home supported by the extended family.

No system is perfect, and Libya is no exception. They suffered nine years of economic sanctions and this caused huge problems for the Libyan economy. Also, there is nowhere on planet earth that has escaped the monumental crisis of neo-liberal capitalism. It has impacted everywhere – even on post revolutionary societies that have rejected "free market" capitalism. However, what we are saying is that severe economic injustice is not at the heart of this conflict. So then, what is?

A Battle for Africa

The battle that is being waged in Libya is fundamentally a battle between Pan-African forces on the one hand, who are dedicated to the realization of Qaddafi's vision of a united Africa, and reactionary racist Libyan Arab forces who reject Qaddafi's vision of Libya as part of a united Africa and want to ally themselves instead with the EU and look toward Europe and the Arab World for Libya's future.

One of Muammar Qaddafi's most controversial and difficult moves in the eyes of many Libyans was his championing of Africa and his determined drive to unite Africa with one currency, one army and a shared vision regarding the true independence and liberation of the entire continent. He has contributed large amounts of his time and energy and large sums of money to this project and like Kwame Nkrumah, he has paid a high price.

Many of the Libyan people did not approve of this move. They wanted their leader to look towards Europe. Of course, Libya has extensive investments and commercial ties with Europe but the Libyans know that Qaddafi's heart is in Africa.

Many years ago, Qaddafi told a large gathering, which included Libyans and revolutionaries from many parts of the world, that the Black Africans were the true owners of Libya long before the Arab incursion into North Africa, and that Libyans need to acknowledge and pay tribute to their ancient African roots. He ended by saying, as is proclaimed in his Green Book, that "the Black race shall prevail throughout the world." This is not what many Libyans wanted to hear. As with all fair skinned Arabs, prejudice against Black Africans is endemic.

Brother Leader, Guide of the Revolution and King of Kings are some of the titles that have been bestowed on Qaddafi by Africans. Only last month Qaddafi called for the creation of a Secretariat of traditional African Chiefs and Kings, with whom he has excellent ties, to co-ordinate efforts to build African unity at the grassroots level throughout the continent, a bottom up approach, as opposed to trying to build unity at the government/state level, an approach which has failed the African unification project since the days of Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure. This bottom up approach is widely supported by many Pan Africanists worldwide.

African Mercenaries or Freedom Fighters?

In the past week, the phrase "African mercenaries" has been repeated over and over by the media and the selected Libyan citizens they choose to speak to have, as one commentator put it, "spat the word 'African' with a venomous hatred."

The media has assumed, without any research or understanding of the situation because they are refusing to give any air time to pro-Qaddafi forces, that the many Africans in military uniform fighting alongside the pro-Qaddafi Libyan forces are mercenaries.

However, it is a myth that the Africans fighting to defend the Jamahiriya and Muammar Qaddafi are mercenaries being paid a few dollars and this assumption is based solely on the usual racist and contemptuous view of Black Africans.

Actually, in truth, there are people all over Africa and the African Diaspora who support and respect Muammar Qaddafi as a result of his invaluable contribution to the worldwide struggle for African emancipation.

"It is a myth that the Africans fighting to defend the Jamahiriya and Muammar Qaddafi are mercenaries being paid a few dollars."

Over the past two decades, thousands of Africans from all over the continent were provided with education, work and military training – many of them coming from liberation movements. As a result of Libya's support for liberation movements throughout Africa and the world, international battalions were formed. These battalions saw themselves as a part of the Libyan revolution, and took it upon themselves to defend the revolution against attacks from within its borders or outside.

These are the Africans who are fighting to defend Qaddafi and the gains of the Libyan revolution to their death if need be. It is not unlike what happened when internationalist battalions came to the aid of the revolutionary forces against Franco's fascist forces in Spain.

Malian political analyst, Adam Thiam, notes that "thousands of Tuaregs who were enrolled in the Islamic Legion established by the Libyan revolution remained in Libya and they are enrolled in the Libyan security forces."

African Migrants under Attack

As African fighters from Chad, Niger, Mali, Ghana, Kenya and Southern Sudan (it should be noted that Libya supported the Sudanese People's Liberation Army under John Garang in their war of liberation against Arab hegemonists in Khartoum, while all other Arab leaders backed the Khartoum regime) fight to defend this African revolution, a million African refugees and thousands of African migrant workers stand the risk of being murdered as a result of their perceived support for Qaddafi.

One Turkish construction worker described a massacre: "We had 70-80 people from Chad working for our company. They were cut dead with pruning shears and axes, attackers saying: 'You are providing troops for Qaddafi. The Sudanese were also massacred. We saw it for ourselves."

This is a far cry from what is being portrayed in the media as "peaceful protesters" being set upon by pro-Qaddafi forces. In fact, footage of the Benghazi revolt shows men with machetes, AK 47s and RPGs. In the Green Book, Qaddafi argues for the transfer of all power, wealth and arms directly into the hands of the people themselves. No one can deny that the Libyan populace is heavily armed. This is part of Qaddafi's philosophy of arms not being monopolised by any section of the society, including the armed forces. It must be said that it is not usual practice for tyrants and dictators to arm their population.
Qaddafi has also been very vocal regarding the plight of Africans who migrate to Europe, where they are met with racism, more poverty, violence at the hands of extreme right wing groups and in many cases death, when the un-seaworthy boats they travel in sink.

"Qaddafi has also been very vocal regarding the plight of Africans who migrate to Europe."

Moved by their plight, a conference was held in Libya in January this year, to address their needs and concerns. More than 500 delegates and speakers from around the world attended the conference titled "A Decent Life in Europe or a Welcome Return to Africa."

"We should live in Europe with decency and dignity," Qaddafi told participants. "We need a good relationship with Europe not a relationship of master and slave. There should be a strong relationship between Africa and Europe. Our presence should be strong, tangible and good. It's up to you as the Africans in the Diaspora. We have to continue more and more until the unity of Africa is achieved.

From now on, by the will of God, I will assign teams to search, investigate and liaise with the Africans in Europe and to check their situations...this is my duty and role towards the sons of Africa; I am a soldier for Africa. I am here for you and I work for you; therefore, I will not leave you and I will follow up on your conditions."

Joint committees of African migrants, the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and international organizations present at the conference discussed the need to coordinate the implementation of many of the conference's recommendations.

Statements are appearing all over the internet from Africans who have a different view to that being perpetuated by those intent on discrediting Qaddafi and the Libyan revolution.

One African commented:
"When I was growing up I first read a comic book of his revolution at the age of ten. Since then, as dictators came and went, Colonel Qaddafi has made an impression on me as a man who truly loves Africa! Libyans could complain that he spent their wealth on other Africans! But those Africans he helped put in power, built schools and mosques and brought in many forms of development showing that Africans can do for themselves. If those Africans would abandon him to be swallowed by Western Imperialism and their lies and just let him go as a dictator in the name of so-called democracy...if they could do that...they should receive the names and fate that the Western press gives our beloved leader. If there is any one person who was half as generous as he is, let them step forward."

And another African comments:
"This man has been accused of many things and listening to the West who just recently were happy to accept his generous hospitality, you will think that he is worse than Hitler. The racism and contemptuous attitudes of Arabs towards Black Africans has made me a natural sceptic of any overtures from them to forge a closer link with Black Africa but Qaddafi was an exception."

Opportunistic Revolt

This counter-revolutionary revolt caught everyone, including the Libyan authorities, by surprise. They knew what the media is not reporting: that unlike Egypt and Tunisia and other countries in the region, where there is tremendous poverty, unemployment and repressive pro-Western regimes, the Libyan dynamic was entirely different. However, an array of opportunistic forces, ranging from so-called Islamists, Arab-Supremacists, including some of those who have recently defected from Qaddafi's inner circle, have used the events in neighbouring countries as a pretext to stage a coup and to advance their own agenda for the Libyan nation. Many of these former officials were the authors of, and covertly fuelled the anti-African pogrom in Libya a few years ago when many Africans lost their lives in street battles between Africans and Arab Libyans. This was a deliberate attempt to embarrass Qaddafi and to undermine his efforts in Africa.

Qaddafi has long been a thorn in the Islamists side. In his recent address to the Libyan people, broadcast from the ruins of the Bab al-Azizia compound bombed by Reagan in 1986, he asked the "bearded ones" in Benghazi and Jabal al Akhdar where they were when Reagan bombed his compound in Tripoli, killing hundreds of Libyans, including his daughter. He said they were hiding in their homes applauding the US and he vowed that he would never allow the country to be returned to the grip of them and their colonial masters.

Al Qaeda is in the Sahara on his borders and the International Union of Muslim Scholars is calling for him to be tried in a court. One asks why are they calling for Qaddafi's blood? Why not Mubarak who closed the Rafah Border Crossing while the Israeli's slaughtered the Palestinians in Gaza. Why not Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Blair who are responsible for the murder of millions of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan?

"An array of opportunistic forces, ranging from so-called Islamists, Arab-Supremacists, including some of those who have recently defected from Qaddafi's inner circle, have used the events in neighbouring countries as a pretext to stage a coup."

The answer is simple - because Qaddafi committed some "cardinal sins." He dared to challenge their reactionary and feudal notions of Islam. He has upheld the idea that every Muslim is a ruler (Caliph) and does not need the Ulema to interpret the Quran for them. He has questioned the Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda from a Quranic/theological perspective and is one of the few political leaders equipped to do so. Qaddafi has been called a Mujaddid (this term refers to a person who appears to revive Islam and to purge it of alien elements, restoring it to its authentic form) and he comes in the tradition of Jamaludeen Afghani and the late Iranian revolutionary, Ali Shariati.

Libya is a deeply traditional society, plagued with some outmoded and bankrupt ideas that continue to surface to this day. In many ways, Qaddafi has had to struggle against the same reactionary aspects of Arab culture and tradition that the holy prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was struggling against in 7th century Arabia – Arab supremacy/racism, supremacy of family and tribe, historical feuding tribe against tribe and the marginalisation of women. Benghazi has always been at the heart of counter-revolution in Libya, fostering reactionary Islamic movements such as the Wahhabis and Salafists. It is these people who founded the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group based in Benghazi which allies itself with Al Qaeda and who have, over the years, been responsible for the assassination of leading members of the Libyan revolutionary committees.

These forces hate Qaddafi's revolutionary reading of the Quran. They foster an Islam concerned with outward trappings and mere religiosity, in the form of rituals, which at the same time is feudal and repressive, while rejecting the liberatory spirituality of Islam. While these so-called Islamists are opposed to Western occupation of Muslim lands, they have no concrete programmatic platform for meaningful socio-economic and political transformation to advance their societies beyond semi-feudal and capitalist systems which reinforce the most backward and reactionary ideas and traditions. Qaddafi's political philosophy, as outlined in the Green Book, rejects unfettered capitalism in all its manifestations, including the "State capitalism" of the former communist countries and the neo-liberal capitalist model that has been imposed at a global level. The idea that capitalism is not compatible with Islam and the Quran is not palatable to many Arabs and so-called Islamists because they hold onto the fallacious notion that business and trade is synonymous with capitalism.

Getting it Right

Whatever the mistakes made by Qaddafi and the Libyan revolution, its gains and its huge contribution to the struggle of oppressed peoples worldwide cannot and must not be ignored. Saif Qaddafi, when asked about the position of his father and family, said this battle is not about one man and his family, it is about Libya and the direction it will take.

That direction has always been controversial. In 1982, The World Mathaba was established in Libya. Mathaba means a gathering place for people with a common purpose. The World Mathaba brought together revolutionaries and freedom fighters from every corner of the globe to share ideas and develop their revolutionary knowledge. Many liberation groups throughout the world received education, training and support from Muammar Qaddafi and the Libyan revolution including ANC, AZAPO, PAC and BCM of Azania (South Africa), SWAPO of Namibia, MPLA of Angola, The Sandinistas of Nicaragua, The Polisario of the Sahara, the PLO, The Native American Movements throughout the Americas, The Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan to name but a few. Nelson Mandela called Muammar Qaddafi one of this century's greatest freedom fighters, and insisted that the eventual collapse of the apartheid system owed much to Qaddafi and Libyan support. Mandela said that in the darkest moments of their struggle, when their backs were to the wall, it was Muammar Qaddafi who stood with them. The late African freedom fighter, Kwame Ture, referred to Qaddafi as "a diamond in a cesspool of African misleaders."

"Nelson Mandela called Muammar Qaddafi one of this century's greatest freedom fighters."

The hideous notion being perpetuated by the media and reactionary forces, inside and outside of Libya, that this is just another story of a bloated dictatorship that has run its course is mis-information and deliberate distortion. Whatever one's opinions of Qaddafi the man, no one can deny his invaluable contribution to human emancipation and the universal truths outlined in his Green Book.

Progressive scholars in many parts of the world, including the West, have acclaimed The Green Book as an incisive critique of capitalism and the Western Parliamentary model of multi-party democracy. In addition, there is no denying that the system of direct democracy posited by Qaddafi in The Green Book offers an alternative model and solution for Africa and the Third World, where multi-party so-called democracy has been a dismal failure, resulting in poverty, ethnic and tribal conflict and chaos.

Every revolution, since the beginning of time, has defended itself against those who would want to roll back its gains. Europeans should look back into their own bloody history to see that this includes the American, French and Bolshevik revolutions. Marxists speak of Trotsky and Lenin's brutal suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion by the Red Army as being a "tragic necessity."

Let's get it right: The battle in Libya is not about peaceful protestors versus an armed and hostile State. All sides are heavily armed and hostile. The battle being waged in Libya is essentially a battle between those who want to see a united and liberated Libya and Africa, free of neo-colonialism and neo-liberal capitalism and free to construct their own system of governance compatible with the African and Arab personalities and cultures and those who find this entire notion repugnant. And both sides are willing to pay the ultimate price to defend their positions.

Make no mistake, if Qaddafi and the Libyan revolution are defeated by this opportunistic conglomerate of reactionaries and racists, then progressive forces worldwide and the Pan African project will suffer a huge defeat and set back.

Gerald A. Perreira has lived in Libya for many years and was an executive member of the World Mathaba.

He can be contacted at mojadi94@gmail.com [5].


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