Muammar Ghadafi has been murdered. The message is upsetting every one with respect for civilized behavior, for the civilized settling of disputes and respect for international law; it is upsetting for every one who understood Muammar Ghadafi and the most direct form of participatory government ever designed for a national state. It is upsetting every one with hopes for a free and just Africa, and it is upsetting for every Libyan with love and respect for his country and his people. Muammar Ghadafi has been murdered. By Dr. Christof Lehmann
Today is one of the days where I am desperately looking for words. There is no measure of eloquence that could cover over the fact that the message of the murder of Muammar Ghadafi and his son Mutassim is one more outrage of the inhumanity of a war based on the betrayal of all who believe in humanitarian principles and humanity.
Africa has once again lost one of it´s great leaders. From Lumumba to Rwanda, to the outrages in Darfur, to the manufacturing of hunger that murders millions, to Gbagbo, and Ghadafi, the footprint of European and US Colonialism and aggression is written in the blood, sweat and tears of millions.
I will make this article short because it takes time to grasp the full implications of the murder and the loss. One thing I will say though, and say with absolute confidence. The murder of Muammar Ghadafi was the greatest blunder the war mongers behind the war on Libya have committed. His death has elevated Muammar Ghadafi to the level he had deserved for decades; that of one of the greatest revolutionaries the world has seen. By murdering Muammar Ghadafi, NATO has succeeded in eliciting the fact that he is larger than life. He will be remembered along side with other giants like Yassir Arafat, Fidel Castro Ruz, Mao Tse Dung, Lenin, Che Guevara.
Rather than having murdered him and his ideas, his death will be the seed that is planting the idea of direct participatory government and revolution into the hearts of a new generation of young Africans, Europeans, Asians, Americans, Australians. Ghadafi, his philosophy and thinking is being understood by millions who would never have known that it is possible to have a government by the people, for the people, and to their benefit. The death of Muammar Ghadafi will be the seed and inspiration for a new phase of the international struggle for liberty, equality and justice. His undoing may well prove to become the seed of the undoing of those who reside in the heart of darkness.
As far as I understand, a counsel of tribal leaders has elected Saif Islam Ghadafi as the new leader of the Libyan Resistance. Fighting in Sabah, Bani Walid, Sirte, Bengazi, Tripoli and cities throughout Libya today are the best evidence for the fact that NATO may have succeeded in murdering the man Muammar Ghadafi, but that he is alive in the heart of millions of Libyans and people throughout the world. If anything, it will strengthen the resolve of those who resist the aggression of a murderous cabale of colonialists. By murdering the man Muammar Ghadafi, he and his path to liberation, equality and justice have become larger than life.
Christof Lehmann
23.10.2011