Malaysian socialists: 'Imperialist powers hands off Libya! Solidarity with people’s uprising in Libya and Arab states!

Statement by the Socialist Party of Malaysia (Parti Sosialis Malaysia)

March 26, 2011

1. The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) strongly denounces the imperialist military intervention in Libya. The so-called “humanitarian” intervention serves nothing to protect civilians or prevent loss of lives or support democracy in Libya, but only the effort of Western imperialist powers to secure their interests in the oil-rich country as well as to contain the spread of Arab revolutions. The bombardment on Libya has an ultimate aim by the imperialists to destroy and derail the revolutionary waves in the Arab world.

2. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 passed on March 17, 2011, has authorised the United States, United Kingdom, France and other imperialist powers and their allies to enforce a “no-fly zone” by launching air strikes on Libya, during the eighth anniversary of US-led invasion on Iraq.

3. The attack on Libya has demonstrated again the double standard and hypocrisy of the Western imperialist powers, as the US never intervened to stop the Bahrain government from brutally crushing the people’s uprising in Bahrain, where US Fifth Fleet is based. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia, the main US ally in the Arab World, has sent troops to Bahrain not to prevent loss of lives, but to help the brutal repression against Bahraini people. Zionist Israel, another close ally of US, has never been punished by any UN-sanctioned attack for its bloody repression against the Palestinian people.

4. The 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime was never socialist nor “government by the masses”, but an increasingly dictatorial rule of an oligarchic family. The brutal repression without hesitation of the mass protests that broke out in February has unveiled the true nature of Gaddafi regime.

5. Gaddafi though had followed the footsteps of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and pursued an anti-imperialist line in his early days, by breaking ties with US and introducing program of nationalisations. Yet for the last decade, Gaddafi regime has increasingly taken the neoliberal line in its policies. Gaddafi has opened up Libya’s economy for foreign investment and forged close relationships with the Berlusconi regime of Italy, the former colonial master of Libya. One of the champions of military intervention in Libya recently, Britain, was a major arms supplier for Gaddafi regime. The economic liberalisation policies pursued by Gaddafi regime in the last decade has increasingly destroyed the Libyan state economy, removed subsidies from basic foodstuffs and introduced more privatisation, [all of ] which have contributed to the decline of living standards of ordinary Libyan people and fueled social discontent that led to the current uprising.

6. The uprising of the people of Libya, which located is between Tunisia and Egypt, is part of the revolutionary waves that swept across the Arab world recently. These uprisings are against the dictatorial regimes in respective countries as well as challenging the global capitalist system that enriches the tiny filthy rich through the impoverishment of the majority poor.

7. The Libyan people have shown their courage, determination and persistence in fighting the repressive Gaddafi regime. The heroic fight of the Libyan people has roost in the tradition of Libyan resistance against Italian rule. The recent struggle of the Libyan people is a just cause, but the military intervention by imperialist powers is unjustified and poses a danger to the Libyan revolution. Any military assault by imperialist forces, whether from air, land or sea, is definitely an attempt to gain control over oil interests in the region and to contain revolutionary process in the Arab world, while the military-industrial complex is reaping huge profits for every bombs dropped on the Libyan soil.

8. The PSM demands:

• Stop the military intervention in Libya immediately.

• The people of Libya have the right to decide their future and oust Gaddafi.

• Immediate withdrawal of Arab Saudi and UAE troops from Bahrain, and stop repression of people’s uprising in Bahrain, Yemen and other Arab states.

9. The PSM expresses solidarity with the peoples of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and other countries in the Arab world in their struggle for self-liberation from repressive regimes and imperialist control. These struggles have added weight to the worldwide resistance against global capitalism.

Released by Choo Chon Kai, International Bureau, Socialist Party of Malaysia/Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)