As the U.S./NATO war on Libya enters
its fifth month, resistance to the intervention has intensified. The
thousands of bombs dropped by Western governments on Libya have
proved to be no deterrent to massive street demonstrations defending
the Libyan government.
As of July 14,
NATO air strikes have killed 1,110 civilians and wounded 4,500. The
sanctions imposed on Libya by western powers have resulted in
shortages of fuel, foodstuffs and water. On July 22,
NATO bombed an essential pipeline that carries 70 percent of the
population’s water supply. NATO
announced July 30 that it had bombed three Libyan state TV satellite
transmitters in Tripoli overnight.
The bombing of vital infrastructure,
schools, warehouses and hospitals is routine. Far from weakening the
government’s support, these attacks have served to galvanize the
Libyan masses.
In Tripoli, nearly 2 million people,
one-third of the Libyan population, took to the streets July 1 to
oppose the NATO bombings in one of the largest rallies in world
history. At the rally, protesters rolled out a huge 6 km-long
(3.2-mile) Libyan flag.
The protests have been ongoing and have
spread to cities and towns throughout the country. In
al-Aziziyah, nearly every one of the town’s
4,000 residents came out July 19 to support the Libyan government.
Pro-government protests have even taken place in Eastern Libya,
including in the rebel-stronghold of Benghazi.
Libyan
government arms the masses
The Gaddafi
government has distributed 1.2
million weapons and provided combat training to civilian volunteers,
many of them women, in preparation for the possibility of a ground
invasion by NATO forces. One volunteer, Azia Abu al-Qasem, a
43-year-old mother of eight, told the Washington Post that although
she had never fired a weapon, she is ready to defend her country.
“The colonialists came to us. We didn’t come to them,” she
said. (Washington Post, July 1)
The colonial
nature of the war has been crystal clear for some time. Intervening
in March, as the rebels were on the verge of defeat, NATO stated that
the objective of the massive bombing campaign was to “protect
civilians.” The imperialist forces soon admitted that the goal was
in fact regime change, to overthrow the sovereign government of
Libya.
Their arrogance
led them to believe that they could topple Gaddafi quickly. The war,
however, has been at a stalemate for months. The mass mobilization of
the Libyan population was not anticipated.
Recently, NATO
member-states recognized the rebel National Transition Council as the
sole legitimate government in Libya. On July 27, Britain announced
the expulsion of all remaining Libyan diplomats, invited the TNC to
run the embassy there and unfroze €91
million ($131 million) in Libyan assets to fund the TNC.
The imperialists
are not achieving their objectives. As a result, they are changing
their position. Britain, France and the U.S. have
recently stated that if Gaddafi steps down from power they will
“allow” him to stay in the country. The idea that these
countries, the former colonizers of Africa, want to dictate who will
lead an African country and where African leaders can live removes
any doubt that this is a colonial war.
In the face of this war, the people of
Libya are continuing to demonstrate an extraordinary and enduring
unity in defense of their country. Progressive forces in the U.S.
must follow suit and unequivocally demand an immediate end to the
imperialist sanctions and bombing of Libya.
