Qaddafi and Libya: A Self-Criticism.

I am writing this post to do a self-criticism of sorts because as a Maoist I see it as most important to be able to point out when you are wrong or when you have made mistakes on an issue or when you have given a false analogy.

When this conflict started Libyan leader Qaddafi was no less guilty then the so called rebels of being imperialism's friend with his connections to the UK and the Italians. But since the conflict has started and even more so recently, the battle lines have been drawn. All of Qaddafi's imperialist friends have turned their back on him, leaving him to fight off a NATO intervention.

The rebels on the other hand have used prejudice persecution of any African immigrants suspected of being a mercenary. Also the rebels dedication has even been brought into question. One has to wonder if the rebels would still be around if not for the NATO intervention. John Lee Anderson says of his first hand account that some rebels are offended when the Libyan army uses live ammo(1). How can we take any armed group seriously when they don't think live ammo should be used in a war? We can not take them seriously.

Not to mention there is no clear ideology among the rebels. This coupled with the fact the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Qaddafi I think the battle lines are even more clear(2). It is now all to obvious that the rebels will allow imperialist free reign in their nation if their side is the victors. The ICC will only issue arrest warrants for people who are not imperialist running dogs. Notice how no warrants have been issued for Uribe the ex-Colombian "president" or any leaders who have had their citizens murdered.

This is to say that the battle lines are more clear today than when this conflict started. Today it is clear what side the communist and anti-imperialist should be on. We should now be clearly on the side of Qaddafi. To where earlier on the battle lines were fuzzy (though I'm sure that some groups that jumped the gun with supporting Qaddafi just because he has an anti-US history will claim they knew and were right all along no matter how big of a lie that would be) because both sides had imperialist interest invested in them, and the rebels at the beginning wanted only supply aid and opposed intervention. Today the rebels want ground troop (probably because they are afraid of and offended by the use of live ammo) intervention and have even sold some oil to their imperialist masters, including the US.(3)

As an anti-imperialist my first desire for all nations is the right to self determination. The Libyan people have directly stood up in favor of their leader Qaddafi. There is no question in my mind that if had NATO never intervened that the rebels would have lost this fight months ago. There for my desire for the self determination of the Libyan people has left me with no other group to support than that of the Qaddafi regime.

I believe that in light of recent events and in light of recent information it is the duty of all revolutionaries and anti-imperialist to support the Qaddafi regime.

Death to imperialism, and all of their running dogs!
Self-determination for the masses of Libya!



Written by: Dustin Slagle




(1)Anderson John Lee. Who are the rebels. The New Yorker. 4/4/2011. Web. 06/05/2011
(2)Schreck Adam, Corder Mike. Gaddafi Arrest Warrant Issued by International Criminal Court. Huffington Post. AP. 06/27/2011. Web. 07/06/2011
(3)Crawford Jamie. Libyan rebel group sells first oil to U.S. CNN. 06/08/2011. Web. 07/01/2011

Why Dialects Take Time:2 ( a follow up on the follow up of "The Libyan Question")

This is a follow up of this post that was originally a follow up to this post on another blog I write for.


Dialects (especially material dialects) take time because it is important to know the material situation before taking a side or defending one side over another. Nothing discredits a group or person more than someone who comes out in-favor of one side over another in a conflict then has to back-peddle because they jumped to a conclusion that was later proven the wrong choice. It is also important to acknowledge when you are wrong in an analogy.


In Libya it was easy to see why the rebels who had no air force would want a no-fly zone. But it became perfectly clear what was happening with in one hour of the French and US enforcement of a no-fly zone. A no-fly zone is where nations will shoot down air crafts over a area that is designated where no air craft is allowed to be in the air.


With in little to no time the imperialist (French, US etc) started bombing air fields (as long as the air craft is grounded there is no violation) and air defense guns that belonged to the Libyan state. This could be justified by some imperialist apologist as all part of enforcing and ensuring the continuance of the no fly zone.


But then we started to see the real goal of this imperialist backed attack under the disguise of a no-fly zone. The imperialist started attacking ground troops and tank divisions of the Libyan military to keep them from smashing the rebels in the town of Benghazi. After parroting over and over that NATO is "protecting civilians" the people in imperialist nations threw their complete support behind western attacks on the Libyan government.


Although the origins of the rebels are unknown and it seems as though they vary in ideology and background the fact of the matter is; that they asked for imperialist intervention and are grateful to their imperialist friends for handing them a victory over government forces. Let's be honest, the Libyan government won't be able to defeat the imperialist powers coupled with the rebellion with out use of their air force. No matter what we communist wish to happen it is almost inevitable that the Qaddafi regime is going to fall.


We should expect and embrace this change seeing as Qaddafi has ordered executions of un-armed people which is completely unacceptable just as much as the rebels parading around black immigrant workers is. It is hard to chose a side when both sides are being assholes to the masses and minority races. So this is the side I take;


I hope that the government throws out Qaddafi seeing as he is crazy and ordered un-armed people shot. But I hope they can then negotiate a peace deal with the rebels that keeps any imperialist benefits from this conflict to nothing. It is not realistic at this point to say "I hope the army defeats the imperialist and long live Qaddafi!" All that is realistic is to hope for the current government to keep power with out Qaddafi and to hope that the government goes back to being anti-imperialist like it used to be before Qaddafi started kissing up to the UK and Italian imperialist.


If this was a world where I could control the outcome of every conflict then all I would hope for was the self determination of the masses of Libya and I would wish to see this play out with out imperialist control of the outcome.


Written by: Dustin Slagle