The Socialist Menace Piercing the corporate veil of deception

Gaddafi killed, Libyans enter new era

Libyan officials reported that Colonel Gaddafi has been killed after months of fighting as he attempted, without success, to put down a revolution in his country.  This marks a new epoch in Libyan history.

The announcement comes from Mahmoud Shammam, the chief spokesman of the Transitional National Council, which is the interim government that replaced Gaddafi’s regime after he fled Tripoli in late August.

Shammam noted, "We were serious about giving him a fair trial.  It seems God has some other wish."

Libya joins the noble ranks of England, France, Russia, and - very recently - Tunisia and Egypt, among other nations, in deposing a corrupt and aristocratic ruler, laying the groundwork for (potentially) a new and more democratic society.

The "Arab Spring" actually has a great deal in common with the workers' struggles earlier this year in Wisconsin and the Occupy Wall Street movement currently  spreading across the US.  It remains to be seen, however, whether any of them will remain independent, or whether they will be co-opted by reactionary powers and repressed.  In America, this is the Democratic Party's role:  channeling popular anger into the mainstream political system, ensuring that it's kept under control and doesn't develop into a a truly independent movement against the establishment.

This can also be seen in Egypt, where a anti-democratic military junta has taken power, crushing any possibility of dramatic reform or radical progress.  Unless the Egyptian people remain vigilant and overthrow the junta, they will face the same situation as under Mubarak.  In Libya, as in Egypt, the working people must be wary of those who hold power, and must continue the struggle for permanent revolution.