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.
100,000 gather in Cairo to protest military junta in “Save the Revolution Day”
Save the Revolution Day protests in Egypt
jun·ta [hoon-tuh]
–noun
1. a small group ruling a country, especially immediately after a coup d'état and before a legally constituted government has been instituted.
On Friday, an estimated 100,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo to protest the military junta that has assumed power since Hosni Mubarak stepped down. Tens of thousands gathered in other cities across Egypt, as well; more than 10,000 marched in Alexandria, for example.
On March 23, the military banned all strikes and protests that interfere with the economy or public life (so essentially, they banned all strikes and protests). Anyone who defies this edict is severely punished. This is no empty threat: since the military junta assumed power, it has arrested hundreds and brought them before military courts, sentencing them to prison.
The huge protests on Friday were dubbed "Save the Revolution Day," expressing anger at the reactionary policies of the junta. The people of Egypt are not passively accepting new tyrants in place of an old one - they are demanding that the revolution continue.
As for the supposed democratic vote on a new constitution that took place recently, only 9 out of a total 62 articles of the constitution were submitted to the people for a vote. Article 2 of the old constitution declares Egypt an Islamic state and requires Sharia law as the basis for all legislation. This article was simply re-established unchanged.
How can you have democracy when the military is calling all the shots - and, moreover, demanding that your country be declared Islamic and that all laws must derive from Islam? Where is the individual freedom?
It is obviously impossible for a military junta to take control and establish anything but a reactionary, anti-democratic government. The people of Egypt cannot turn to the military leaders as their saviors from Mubarak; it is merely a superficial change in who wields power. They are continuing the revolution with active participation such as protests and strikes, defying the military's repressive laws. The only path to democracy in Egypt lies in the workers overthrowing the newly established military dictatorship and taking power themselves.
Poll
Loading ...Archives
- December 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
Recent Posts
- US threatens war with Iran
- Obama blocks morning-after pill for minors
- Egyptians show solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, including Oakland
- Gaddafi killed, Libyans enter new era
- Steve Jobs was no Thomas Edison
Categories
- civil liberties
- death penalty
- economy
- health care
- history
- inequality
- japan
- libya
- middle east
- occupy wall street
- religion
- science
- supreme court
- terrorism
- U.S. politics
- wisconsin protests