MARCH 17, 2011


Yet again the United Nations Security Council, this criminal tool of the US war machine, decided to bring another sovereign country to the bloodbath. Today, Thursday, March 17th, the UN Security Council passed a resolution (10 for, and 5 abstaining), that not only imposes a no-fly zone over Libya, but in detail gives all possible options for imperialist countries to attack Libya with whatever they may see fit. With resolution 1973, the US, UK, Canada, France and all other imperialist countries declared war on the people of Libya. The United States of war, destruction and killing successfully brought together a coalition of war mongers under the shameless new fake term of the “International Community.” Immediately after passing resolution 1973, the United States, France, UK, Italy and NATO announced that they are ready to act and impose a no-fly zone and whatever necessary measure needed to be taken against Gaddhafi and the Libyan government. Here in Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, not lagging behind, instantaneously announced that Canada will send 8 CF-18s fighter jets to help enforce the UN resolution of a no-fly zone over Libya. Furthermore, Canada's foreign affairs minister, Lawrence Cannon, stated “Canada is open to all options”, and when asked if this means deploying troops on the ground he responded, “protecting citizens that are being literally murdered by Gaddhafi, is what the resolution calls for."

We need to remind ourselves that resolution 1973 is not to bring democracy and human rights to the Libyan people. There is no saving of human lives or any humanitarian intervention on behalf of the Libyan people that can be performed by imperialist powers. Indeed, this is such an obvious hypocrisy by these war mongers because none of those precious human values mean anything to them. One, we haven’t forgotten the killings of millions of people in Vietnam, more than a million people in Rwanda, killings of more than one million people in Iraq just from 2003 until now, as well as hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Congo, Nigeria, Sudan , Somalia and many other poor and sovereign countries by the very same imperial powers. These crocodile tears are not for human lives in Libya but it is for the oil and gas of Libya, which has the proven largest underground reserves in Africa. Two, how ironic and preposterous it is that the so-called international community includes the backing of the Arab League which in its latest meeting only 11 out of 22 countries participated with 2 against a no-fly zone. How credible would be the support of the Arab League for the no-fly zone when only 40% are in agreement. However there has been almost no mention of the African Union (AU), with 53 countries and the Organizations of Islamic Countries (OIC), with 57 members, where both organizations utterly rejected any foreign interference or intervention in Libya. “The African Union last Friday [March 11] meeting in Addis Ababa rejected any military intervention in Libya urging the international community to observe the rules of international laws and find a non military intervention strategy to end the crisis”, and “The meeting [OIC, March 8] emphasized the imperative of respecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity of Libya and non-interference in its internal affairs stressing the principled and firm position of the OIC against any form of military intervention to Libya.” How preposterous it is that the two Arab countries which are so far participating in the no-fly zone, United Arab Emirate and Qatar, are both participating as mercenary forces in killing people and supporters of the opposition in Bahrain. How credible are these and Arab countries like Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other s that while they are killing their own opposition members or helping other countries to suppress their opposition, now are so concerned about the opposition in Libya. Why are these countries and their imperial masters conducting such a huge campaign against the Libyan government and advocating a no-fly zone, military attack and sanctions while they are completely silent on the violence being perpetuated on millions of people in North Africa and the Middle East, namely the suppression and massacring of people and protesters in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Furthermore, in the case of Bahrain, the security and special forces from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE, are acting as merciless mercenaries to suppress the growing opposition.

Third and not least important is that the new war drive in the Middle East and North Africa which is unfolding against Libya, is a very important strategic move by the United States and other colonial powers. The mass revolutionary movement that started in late December 2010 in North Africa and the Middle East has changed the balance of forces further in favour of the working and oppressed people of this region. It definitely slowed down the US war preparation against Iran and sank them more deeply in the quagmire of Iraq and especially Afghanistan. This mass movement is in its early stages of development. With the US attacking Libya, they are clearly attempting to roll back the powerful revolutionary movement started more than two months ago. By defeating the government of Libya, it reinforces the army and police against protesters everywhere in North Africa and the Middle East. Of course the defeat of government forces in Libya also means a great opportunity for imperialist forces to either influence the opposition forces more or to get rid of them altogether. All progressive and peace-loving people and organizations must strongly condemn this new war drive. We must come together as a real international community to stop this new madness by the US and other colonial powers.

Needless to say, in this critical time our unity is essential to defend the people of Libya, the people of the Middle East and North Africa and to build an effective antiwar movement. This is the time that all antiwar and anti-occupation organizations come together under one clear strategy against all US and other imperialists military interventions. This is a time to abandon all illusions that there might be anything progressive and human to overthrowing the Libyan government or helping the opposition in Libya through imperialist intervention such as sanctions, a no-fly zone or military attacks. It is clear as sunshine that an imperialist military attack is imminent and the consequences of this attack will be catastrophic for humanity. The unfolding mass revolutionary movement and ousting of Mubarak and Ben Ali in Egypt and Tunisia have been a fresh struggle for anti-imperialist movements in the region. It certainly reversed the setback imposed on the working and poor people of the world through the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. What the great masses of North Africa and the Middle East need to see is not another Iraq but rather another Egypt. Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO), strongly condemns the UNSC resolution 1973, the imposing of a no-fly zone on Libya, and the undermining with any justification of the self-determination and sovereignty of the Libyan people. We demand: