Libya; Just One Moment.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in consensus reality that we forget to think. Coming home tired after work, dinner with the family, our favorite news cast, and we have confirmation that the good old world, as much as it´seems to be plagued by exiting intrigue is still the same good old world. Active in advocacy, politics or news in a time of war, how easy is it to forget the most fundamental truth when we get caught up in the detail. If you have a moment, would you mind considering Libya? Dr. Christof Lehmann

French President with Colonial Headache

When the African Union receives one third of it´s funding from the European Union, then what function is it most likely to have? See the problem is, that every member state of the African Union, before making any decision at it, will have to consider what the economical and political consequences would be with respect to A.U./E.U. sponsored projects in their country. Wait a moment, could it really be that the African Frank, used in Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bisau, Mali, Niger, Senagal and Togo is both printed and having it´s value regulated, read devalued, in France? Could it be that the CFA is the economic back bone of French Economy, just as the old colonies were the backbone of the French Economy. Wait a moment, these are all members of the United Nations, right? Sovereign countries. They can print their own money can´t they? Well, in Zimbabwe they do! And then look at what Zimbabwe has been suffering for it. President Gbagbo in Ivory Coast had caught up with Mugabe´s and Ghadafi´s thinking, and courage, and integrity, and look what happened.

Laurent Gbagbo - An African leader with Visions of Independence

See the trouble is, that our good old world, and our good old news cast that we consume over our dinner, after a long day at work, is still as colonial minded, and as racist as it has been for a hundred years. What happened to President Gbagbo, remember? Right, you probably saw news that he lost the elections, and that he and his “regime” a nice word always used for discrediting governments, tried to cling to power at all costs, and regardless what “the people of Ivory Coast” wanted. I mean, that “is” a bad thing to do, right?

 

 

Do African States have a Supreme Court ?

The trouble is, that the western people are so used to racist condescending reporting that we don´t even consider, that Ivory Coast has a Supreme Court, and that it is the Supreme Court that certifies an election, and not the electoral commission. Remember when Bush and Gore and the entire USA were in trouble? Who had the last word? The Supreme Court of the United States of America. But in Africa, you know, in the old colonies, we just accept that “the electoral commission said”. Soon after we hear, that “the army of the President Elect” is trying to get Gbagbo out of his “bunker”. Wait a moment, can you imagine Al Gore and his “Army” getting Bush out of his “bunker”? Where did Al get the army from., I mean we now the guy is a crook, but an “army” ?

Right, there were 2500 French soldiers in Ivory Coast, and UN soldiers too, and the fact that one massacre occurred after the other, slaying entire villages “must” have something to do “with the savagery of those uncivilized black men; in Africa”.

Libyan Rebels Killing Black Africans

And when you began hearing about the Arab Spring having arrived in Libya, I know you probably have been tired and a nice evening with your loved ones on the mind rather than Arab and African “savages” when you heard the news, but can you remember that you heard something about ” Ghadafi is hiring black African mercenaries to murder his own people”? See the problem is, we are so used to condescending racism, that we have a hard time imagining, that most of the Libyan people are black. After all, it´s a country that can measure it self in terms of development with every “civilized nation in Europe and America”. Has your news program shown you reports about an entire city with twenty thousand mainly black Libyans being literally wiped out? I know you are basically a really good person, other wise you probably had stopped reading long before you go to this point here, but could it be you, and I and a hole lot of our friends should really try to get rid of these residual racism ? The trouble is, if we like it or not, it kills people in the thousands.

Can You Imagine 100 Missiles

Lets think about a “No Fly Zone” for a moment. The first night of the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1973, meant to protect civilian lives from the villain Ghadafi and his black monsters, NATO shot some 100 missiles into Tripoli. Where do you live? Can you imagine what would happen if Paris, London, Berlin, Belfast, New York or Washington were hit by 100 Missiles during one night? Just think about it; the panic, the destruction of 100 missiles fired into a densely populated city with over one million people. Throwing a 100 missiles into Tripoli for protecting civilian lives makes about as much sense as making love to preserve virginity. But then who cares if an African Nation is raped, we are used to it. The strangest of all things is the thought that it is the “African American” President of the United States of America, who is commander in Chief and that the first African American President has command responsibility for the murder of tens of thousands of Black Libyans. “That” really manifests a “Change” and I am sure it was not “that change” you had in mind when you voted for him, if you did.

What a Change

Sirte is holding out, so is Bani Walid, so is most of Tripoli. In all of those places there were clashes and fighting, and in spite of their best efforts, neither NATO nor their political and military hirelings have so far succeeded to break the Libyan peoples will and ability to resist. Who knows, may be the soldiers, the tribal fighters, the women, the youth who are giving the invading NATO mercenaries all the resistance they have got in them are all “Black African Mercenaries imported by Ghadafi to kill Libyans”. African mercenaries in “drag” on the roof tops of Bani Walid ?  See, the truth, and decency, and honesty resonate deep inside every single one of us. All it takes to find out is just to give yourself and Libya one moment, and you know.

Dr. Christof Lehmann

12.10.2011