for what it is worth, exactly what you ask about could be said to have happened in zimbabwe, or more recently, in senegal. the people took to the streets in zimbabwe, and were met by guns. they took to the streets in dakar, and wade backed down.
wade, of course, was not cancelling but manipulating elections; ditto for mugabe, with military intimidation added in.
i repeat, from my nice safe house in michigan, concerning those who have gone into the streets with the courage to stand against the armed power of a state that was stonewalling or that chose to use force to repress them, they represent the greatest hope of our times.
we read the diverse opinions on this list about whether or not ghaddafi was bad, or the rebels bad, and it seems almost tragic that the uprising of an oppressed people will be read/misread by those whose ideological commitments impose meanings regardless of what is actually happening.
and what is "actually happening" is only something we can know by reading news accounts, and again we can all find accounts to support our preconceived opinions.
i hope that your question is not simply a rhetorical question, but an honest one. if it is, then you know that many on the list are discomforted by the nato intervention, but see it as the lesser of two evils.
it remains to be "proven" for many of us that it is the greater of the two evils. but for me, still, i prefer to see ghaddafi out and the rebels take charge. i hope that they will hold accountable any of their own soldiers who committed crimes in the act of opposing ghaddafi. war may be hell, but there are still such things as war crimes for which those responsible must be held accountable. it does seem to be the case that neither side was immune from the temptation to commit such acts.
ken
On 8/30/11 6:21 PM, Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng wrote:
A couple of weeks ago I asked a question for which I am still looking for an answer.--
I am against NATO bombing of Libya but here is the question:
If you were a Libyan who did not like Gaddafi's rule
and the grooming of his son's to continue his dictatorship,
what would you do, especially as there were no prospects for elections or change in any form?
Answers please....
Kwasi
Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng,
Journalist & Communications Consultant
Accra
President,
Ghana Association of Writers
PAWA House, Accra
From: theai@earthlink.net
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [From: kenneth harrow] Libya'sspectacular revolution has been disgraced by racism
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:54:14 -0400
No, no, no, Mwalimu Kenneth Harrow, do not try to minimize the Satanic acts of the racist Benghazi Arab Libyans by equating them with a myth. This is not new. It was Gadhaffi that helped to minimize the murder and victimization of poor Black Afrikans in Libya. That is one reason they hate him so much. As I told you some time ago, all that nonsense about Black Afrikan mercenaries, as if there are no Black Libyans, is just that: nonsense.----- Original Message -----From: kenneth harrowSent: 8/30/2011 3:19:38 PMSubject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [From: kenneth harrow] Libya'sspectacular revolution has been disgraced by racismtroubling report.
i do remember a similar report that castigated both sides for their racism, earlier on.
ken
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [From: kenneth harrow] Libya's spectacular revolution has been disgraced by racism Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:07:30 +0100 (BST) From: guardian.co.uk <noreply@guardian.co.uk> To: harrow@msu.edu
kenneth harrow spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/libya-spectacular-revolution-disgraced-racism Libya's spectacular revolution has been disgraced by racism The murder of black men in the aftermath of the rebellion speaks of a society deeply divided for decades by Muammar Gaddafi Richard Seymour Wednesday August 31 2011 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/libya-spectacular-revolution-disgraced-racism "This is a bad time to be a black man in Libya," reported Alex Thomson [http://youtu.be/EhshGX4x3rY" title="] on Channel 4 News on Sunday. Elsewhere, Kim Sengupta reported for the Independent [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/rebels-settle-scores-in-libyan-capital-2344671.html" title="] on the 30 bodies lying decomposing in Tripoli. The majority of them, allegedly mercenaries for Muammar Gaddafi, were black. They had been killed at a makeshift hospital, some on stretchers, some in an ambulance. "Libyan people don't like people with dark skins," a militiaman explained [http://www.independent.c o.uk/news/world/africa/libyans-dont-like-people-with-dark-skin-but-some-are-innocent-2345859.html" title="] in reference to the arrests of black men. The basis of this is rumours, disseminated early in the rebellion, of African mercenaries being unleashed on the opposition. Amnesty International's Donatella Rivera was among researchers who examined this allegation and found no evidence for it. Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch similarly had not "identified one mercenary" [http://www.theage.com.au/world/africans-targeted-as-rebels-hunt-mercenaries-20110305-1bivv.html" title="">"identified one mercenary] among the scores of men being arrested and falsely labelled by journalists as such. Lurking behind this is racism. Libya is an African nation ? however, the term "Africans" is used in Libya to reference the country's black minority. The Amnesty International researcher Diana Eltahawy [http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0829/In-Tripoli-African-mercenaries-at-risk" title="] says that the rebels taking control of Libya have tapped into "existing xenophobia". The New York Times refers to "racist overtones" [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/world/africa/24fog.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all" title="">refers to "racist overtones], but sometimes the racism is explicit. A rebel slogan [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304887904576395143328336026.html" title="] painted in Misrata during the fighting salutes "the brigade for purging slaves, black skin". A consequence of this racism has been mass arrests [http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/24/world/la-fg-libya-prisoners-20110324" title="] of black men [http://www.theage.com.au/world/africans-targeted-as-rebels-hunt-mercenaries-20110305-1bivv.html" title="], and gruesome killings [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iguwImnkLDagEFqL5wmghAzQYxsA?docId=9 6d60e2881b7421ba4c6214324af1170" title="] ? just some of the various [http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jSpsLoDHEaqekqcHUHKBzA5YGaZQ?docId=CNG.c12c140bd2e4fc0a6a87ad853c05ac1c.3f1" title="] atrocities that human rights organisations blame rebels for. [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/world/africa/13libya.html" title="] The racialisation of this conflict does not end with hatred of "Africans". Graffiti [http://www.npr. org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/04/17/135435354/gadhafi-graffiti-in-libya?ft=1&f=1009" title="] by rebels frequently depi cted Gaddafi as a demonic Jew. How did it come to this? A spectacular revolution, speaking the language of democracy and showing tremendous courage in the face of brutal repression, has been disgraced. Racism did not begin with the rebellion ? Gaddafi's regime exploited 2 million migrant workers while discriminating against them [http://www.alternet.org/world/150350/libyan_uprising_fueling_racism_against_black_africans/" title="] ? but it has suffused the rebels' hatred of the violently authoritarian regime they have just replaced. An explanation for this can be found in the weaknesses of the revolt itself. The upsurge beginning on 17 February hinged on an alliance between middle class human rights activists and the working classes in eastern cities such as Benghazi. Rather than wilting under repression, the rebellion spread to new towns and cities. Elements of the regime, seeing the writing on the wall, began to defect. Military leaders, politicians and sections of business and academia sided with the rebels. But the trouble was that the movement was almost emerging from nowhere. Unlike in Egypt, where a decade of activism and labour insurgency had cultivated networks of activists and trade unionists capable of outfoxing the dictatorship, Libya was not permitted a minimal space for civil society opposition. As a result, there was no institutional structure able to express this movement, no independent trade union movement, and certainly little in the way of an organised left. Into this space stepped those who had the greatest resources ? the former regime notables, businessmen and professionals, as well as exiles. It was they who formed the National Transitional Council (NTC). The dominance of relatively conservative elites and the absence of countervailing pressures skewed the politics of the rebellion. We hear of "the masses", and "solidarity". But masses can be addressed on many grounds ? some reactionary. There are also many bases for solidarity ? some exclusionary. The scapegoating of black workers makes sense from the perspective of elites. For them, Libya was not a society divided on class lines from which many of them had profited. It was united against a usurper inhabiting an alien compound and surviving through foreign power. Instead, the more success Gaddafi had in stabilising his regime, the more the explanation for this relied on the claim that "Gaddafi is killing us with his Africans [http://tomathon.com/mphp/2011/02/libyas-african-mercenary-problem/" title="] ". A further, unavoidable twist is the alliance with Nato. The February revolt involved hundreds of thousands of people across Libya. By early March the movement was in retreat, overseas special forces were entering Libya, and senior figures in the rebellion called for external intervention. Initially isolated, they gained credibility as Gaddafi gained ground. As a result, the initiative passed from a very large popular base to a relatively small number of armed fighters under the direction of the NTC and Nato. It was the rebel army that subsequently took the lead in persecuting black workers. Under different conditions, perhaps, unity between the oppressed was possible. But this would probably have required a more radical alliance, one as potentially perilous for those now grooming themselves for office as for Gaddafi. As it is, the success of the rebels contains a tragic defeat. The original emancipatory impulse of February 17 lies, for now, among the corpses of "Africans" in Tripoli. If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk. guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011 Registered in England and Wales No. 908396 Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP Please consider the environment before printing this email. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Visit guardian.co.uk - newspaper of the year www.guardian.co.uk www.observer.co.uk On your mobile, visit m.guardian.co.uk or download the Guardian iPhone app www.guardian.co.uk/iphone To save up to 30% when you subscribe to the Guardian and the Observer visit www.guardian.co.uk/subscriber --------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail and all attachments are confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the named recipient, please notify the sender and delete the e-mail and all attachments immediately. Do not disclose the contents to another person. You may not use the information for any purpose, or store, or copy, it in any way. Guardian News & Media Limited is not liable for any computer viruses or other material transmitted with or as part of this e-mail. You should employ virus checking software. Guardian News & Media Limited A member of Guardian Media Group plc Registered Office PO Box 68164 Kings Place 90 York Way London N1P 2AP Registered in England Number 908396
-- kenneth w. harrow professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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-- kenneth w. harrow professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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