No support for NATO's war in Libya

Mahmoud Jibril with Clinton

by Richard Mellor

The US government has now officially recognized the National Transitional Council, the umbrella group containing the Libyan opposition forces as the " Legitimate governing authority" in Libya, the Wall Street Journal announces this weekend. So after much trepidation, US capitalism has found forces that at the very least, it deems worth supporting, forces that will, if in power, defend its interests in the region.  This recognition of the NTC as the real government of Libya will allow some of the $30 billion in frozen Libyan funds sitting in US banks to flow to the opposition, either directly or through loans using the funds as collateral.

I don't know enough about the composition of the opposition to go in to details but it is clear it is very diverse as any rising movement is.  There will be competing factions and interests within it that want to be rid of Gaddafi but there will be differences on what will replace his regime and the relationship to Wall Street and US/EU capitalism.  So which elements workers support within the NTC; which groupings we should help strengthen is important.  We know the US will not be supporting the revolutionary youth, or the most combative layers of the working class in Libya.

So let's look at who some of the dominant characters are in the NTC and who the US is promoting.

One is Mahmoud Jibril who is chairman of the NTC. He served in the Gaddafi government before defecting and was head of the  NEDB (national economic development board) His role included projects to “pave the way” for private sector development, and to create a "strategic partnership between private companies and the government." A US State Department cable released by Wikileaks said of Jibril that "With a PhD in strategic planning from the University of Pittsburgh, Jibril is a serious interlocutor who “gets” the U.S. perspective." (My added emphasis)

Vice Chairman is Dr Ali Al Issawi who is described on the NTC website as a "Holder of a Doctorate in privatisation. In 2005 he was appointed as Director General of the Ownership Expansion Program, (a government privatisation fund)."  He was Libyan Ambassador to India under Gaddafi when the revolution broke out and switched sides.  The doctorate of privatization will please Goldman Sachs and the whole Wall Street crowd.

Mahmoud Shammam

Then there is Mahmoud Shammam. Shammam is the owner of Libya Al-Ahrar TV, a Libyan TV station headquartered in Doha. It is funded by Libyan capitalists in exile.  Shamman is also the editor of the Arabic language edition of Foreign Policy magazine.  Foreign policy is  major theoretical journal of the US bourgeois and is owned by the Washington Post.

Also within the NTC are former Gaddafi military men and other former government officials.

What the US is trying to accomplish is install a regime that will allow the imperialist plunder of the region to continue unabated.  We only have to consider Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and so on to remind ourselves that US capitalism cares not about the ruthless nature of regimes or their religious affiliation as long as its interests are maintained.  Libya has the largest oil reserves on the African continent.

US capitalism also demands a regime that, like their former stooge Hosni Mubarak, will be pro-Israel.  There is no way that the forces it is promoting in the NTC have not pledged to maintain a neutral position on the Zionist regime at least and it's inconceivable the the exiled Libyan capitalist class has not built considerable ties with their Israeli colleagues as well as Zionist Jewish and Christian capitalists abroad.

US capitalism would not release funds to a group that it thought for one minute would fight for Palestinian rights, Arab workers' rights or for the unity of Arab and Israeli workers.  It would not support a regime that could or would fulfill the aspirations of the Arab masses throughout the region.  How could it?  So the US has sent in its stooges, decided that there is a force in the opposition movement that will protect its interests and is now prepared to fund it.

If this US/EU intervention in support of the Libyan bourgeois is successful the new regime will then have to deal with the Libyan workers and youth whose aspirations are of a different nature.  It is in the interests of all workers to oppose this invasion by NATO.

What's the Alternative?
It is very difficult to comment in any great detail when one is not on the ground or have forces on the ground in situations like these so I can only comment in general way.  From the limited information I have received about the situation, there has arisen in the course of the civil war neighborhood committees of self defense and other embryonic formations based on the Libyan working class, the youth and their communities.  I am sure that there have been committees of workers and youth arise also in various forms and locations perhaps around workplaces or former workplaces; I do not know for sure.  In other words, there has been some bottom up organizations that have arisen in the course of the struggle. This will not have been reported much if at all in the capitalist mass media.

The Gadaffi regime also had revolutionary committees that as far as I can see were organs of state repression and feared by the mass of the people.  Whether these can be reformed or taken over I have no idea.

The NTC talks about democratic reform but emphasizes the "rule of law"."rule of law" is being exercised as the bankers and investors exercise their rights under this "rule of law" and evict millions from their homes. After all, as a renter, the landlord owns your home and in most cases as a homeowner the moneylender does. They are simply exercising their rights a rightful owners.

So generally my alternative to supporting the pro US/EU Libyan bourgeois alliance, is that workers must support the strengthening of already existing community, workplace and youth communities that have arisen and expanding these formations.  The demand must be for a national constituent assembly to which these committees which would obviously be dominated by workers and youth , would send elected delegates for the purpose of drawing up a new constitution.  This would be a constitution that would represent different class interests than one drawn up by editors of US theoretical journals and businessmen, most who played no role in the heroism and sacrifice that the Libyan workers and youth have shown.

Obviously this is a broad general approach as not being there or part of a group that is active there, my knowledge of the facts on the ground is limited.  But one thing is clear: supporting the NATO invasion will result in disaster.

More blog posts on Libya:
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2011/06/us-britain-and-france-not-nato-fighting.html
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2011/06/united-states-of-goldman-sachs-libyan.html
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2011/06/privatizing-libya.html
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2011/05/icc-goes-after-gaddafi-what-about-bush.html
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2011/03/it-is-not-in-us-workers-interests-to.html
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2011/03/gadhafi-libya-un-need-independent.html