Libya: Pakistan left parties' statement on NATO attacks

April 8, 2011 -- ESSF -- While it is accepted that Gaddafi and his model of ruling is autocratic and repressive and cannot be supported by any progressive grouping, a few things also need to be stated about NATO and its discourse of humanitarian intervention and let us state them clearly.

After drowning Iraq and Afghanistan in blood, Western imperialism has now sunk its fangs into Libya. Like a wild beast that smells the scent of its prey from a distance, it has seized upon the rebellion in Libya as if it were the opportunity of a lifetime. Attempts by the United States, Britain and France to portray the bombardment of Libya as a humanitarian act are totally fraudulent. Saudi Arabia sent its troops to crush the protesters of Bahrain, yet here the US and NATO silently watched, or rather, covertly assisted their ally. So why the attack on Libya? The answer is oil.

The two wars in Libya

Libyan rebels.

[For more left views on Libya, click HERE.]

By Art Young

April 4, 2011 – Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal – Two wars are being waged simultaneously in Libya. One has grown out of a revolutionary struggle for democracy; the other is an attempt by imperialism to strengthen its domination of the country. Both wars appear to share the goal of “regime change” but they stand at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Debate on Bolivia: Government, social movements and revolution

[The following article is a reply to Jeffery Webber's article, “Bolivia’s reconstituted neoliberalism”, which appeared in the

Britain: Socialist Resistance adopts resolutions on Arab revolutions

April 5, 2011 -- Socialist Resistance -- The British socialist organisation Socialist Resistance held a successful and well-attended national conference over the previous weekend which adopted a comprehensive perspectives text to guide our work over the coming months. The conference also took important debates on the nature of the economic crisis and the debt as well as a session on the impact of the Arab revolutions and the imperialist intervention in Libya.

Two resolutions were adopted on the Arab revolutions which are below. The general perspectives text will be published shortly.

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Denmark: Red Green Alliance withdraws support for Libya intervention

By Red-Green Alliance, Denmark

March 30, 2011 -- ESSF -- The action in Libya is no longer just about obtaining a ceasefire and protecting civilians. Instead it is about taking part in a civil war, and that is something the Red-Green Alliance will not support.

“The direction that the action has taken is in clear opposition to the UN resolution, and there has been no serious attempts to establish a ceasefire”, saids Frank Aaen, the alliance's defence policy spokesperson.

“Since last Friday they had succeeded in stopping the attacks from Gadaffi on the civilian population. It was a correct decision to stop his attack, and we are pleased to have been part of it”, Frank Aaen states.

But lately the operation has changed its character, so now we are involved in a civil war. The last coupl of days the rebels had received air support to help them push forward, and even though we feel a great sympathy with the rebels, it is not the task of the military action to support one of the parties in a civil war.

No attempts on ceasefire

Left debates Libya: `This is Washington's war' -- Richard Seymour, 'Angry Arab' & Vijay Prashad on the rebel leadership

French president Nicholas Sarkozy greets rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril. Leaked US cables describe Jibril as being keen on a close relationship with the US and eager “to create a strategic partnership between private companies and the government”.

[For more left views on Libya, click HERE.]

Springtime for NATO in Libya

By Richard Seymour

April 4, 2011 -- Lenin's Tomb -- We now know what Washington's model is for the Middle East, in its most attractive guise. In answer to Egypt's Tahrir Square uprising, they have smoking craters filled with the charred remains of rebels, and conscript soldiers, and civilians and other blameless people who must have seen the joy in Egypt and Tunisia and wished it for themselves.

Debate: NATO in Libya: A tactical, necessary evil

[For more left views on Libya, click HERE.]

By Iggy Kim and Marce Cameron

April 3, 2011 -- The NATO intervention in Libya is a necessary evil. Evil, yes, but necessary just the same. At least for the present.

The brutal reality of the early weeks of March was the choice between the crushing of the centre of liberated Libya in Benghazi or the securing of much-needed time (and protection) for the regrouping of the revolutionary forces – however this needed to be obtained, given the urgent imperatives of the actual struggle. The ends do command the means. That is the unavoidable reality confronted by all masses in political motion, engaged in open, class warfare, and no less one that has gone over into armed struggle.

Democratic revolution based on popular power

Why George Monbiot is wrong on nuclear power

By Ricardo Sequeiros Coelho

“This is a very serious accident by all standards. And it is not yet over.” – Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

March 29, 2011 -- Cool the Earth -- George Monbiot, the well-known environmentalist and journalist, managed to surpass the nuclear power lobby in the downplaying of the Fukushima disaster. First, he wrote that the disaster should not lead to an end of nuclear power, since that would mean more coal plants, so we should build more nuclear plants (Monbiot.com). Then, he wrote that since no one died from Fukushima he is now a nuclear power advocate (Monbiot.com). Amazing.

His arguments are as far fetched as they are deceiving. It is worth discussing them in detail, going through the four strategies that he uses to make his point.

Tariq Ali: The Obama syndrome

Audio of Tariq Ali's full address (63 minutes):

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March 29, 2011 -- ABC Radio's Big Ideas -- In 2008, Obama could do no wrong. To the educated middle class, he was an intelligent and reflective writer who had penned his own insightful memoir. To the conservative elite, he was a Harvard graduate and expert in constitutional law. To the young people who came out in droves to vote for him, he liked the same TV shows, listened to the same music and "got" social networking.

Communist Workers' Party of Tunisia opposes Libya intervention, calls for completion of revolution

The Communist Workers' Party of Tunisia on Libya: "The Tunisian revolution has spread to many Arab countries. Egypt's dictator fell, while authoritarian regimes in Yemen and Bahrain are fiercely repressing popular uprisings, in Bahrain, with the help of Saudi Arabia. Our neighbour, the Libyan people, rose up against their tormentors, but events took a bad turn with the intervention of the United States and its allies, under the pretext of protecting civilians. The US administration has hardly mentioned the killing of civilians in Yemen and Bahrain, as it has also never done regarding Gaza, Lebanon or Iraq and Afghanistan, countries it occupies. And didn’t Sarkozy support the Tunisian dictator until the last moment?