Libya and the Left

This article represents a minority position within MHI. For MHI’s position, see the editorial above.

Libya and the Left*
by Seth Weiss

The Libyan uprising and subsequent NATO intervention have already, much in the manner of the conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s, precipitated considerable debate and acrimony, along with disorientation and paralysis, within the Left. Some opposed to intervention, displaying a narrow and reflexive anti-imperialism, lend support, tacitly or otherwise, to Qaddafi’s forces. Others opposed to intervention endeavor a principled “neither/nor” position, neither Qaddafi nor NATO. Here, committed to opposing both Western imperialism and the Qaddafi regime, we ask if a strict anti-interventionist position — specifically, opposition to the rebels’ call for a “no-fly zone” — is consistent with a commitment to protecting civilian populations and supporting freedom struggles in Libya and throughout the region.

The Arab Spring Reaches Libya

On February 15th, four days after Hosni Mubarak was toppled in Egypt, Fathi Terbil, a prominent Libyan human rights advocate and attorney, was arrested by security agents at his home in Benghazi, an eastern port city and the country’s second largest. With Terbil’s arrest, the Arab Spring, which began in Tunisia and Egypt and has now spread to Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen, reached Libya. Terbil, along with a handful of other lawyers, was representing the families of the more than 1200 political prisoners murdered at Benghazi’s Abu Salim prison in 1996. According to the New York Times, “a crowd armed with gasoline bombs and rocks” gathered in Benghazi to demanded Terbil’s release, and “demonstrators, estimated at several hundred to several thousand, marched to the city’s central square, where they clashed with riot police officers” (“Protests Take Aim at Leader of Libya,” February 16, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17libya.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all). Read More

Support Libyan Rebels While Opposing U.S./NATO Intervention

MHI here discusses the reasons for its opposition to the U.S./NATO bombing of Libya, as well as discussing our support for the rebels there and in the other ongoing revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. We think it is important to take a position on the difficult and contentious issue of military intervention; waffling, as many Left groups have done by failing to take a firm stand on U.S./NATO intervention, hinders the development of both theory and activity that can actually aid revolutions. Our position rejects the false alternatives of “taking sides” and attempts instead to sharpen and develop the dimension of liberatory ideas and action. For a minority position within MHI on these issues, see Libya and the Left in the Forces of Revolution section below.

Whereas mass movements in Tunisia and Egypt, at the beginning of this year, won their revolutions to overthrow entrenched dictatorships relatively quickly, other Middle Eastern and North African countries are locked in longer struggles marked by much bloodshed and many reversals of fortune. Thousands have been slaughtered in mass demonstrations and rebellions in some 19 countries, and the struggles continue.

In Libya in particular, the rebels have sometimes appeared to be on the brink of success and at other times on the brink of being eradicated. Libya’s dictator for 42 years, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has vowed to kill every rebel, and is doing so wherever he is able. Much of the rebel movement asked the UN to establish a “no-fly” zone in order to stop Qaddafi from bombing his own people and from flying in mercenaries and supplies. The UN passed a resolution in support and NATO proceeded to implement a “no-fly” zone; it has been bombing Qaddafi forces since March 19. Government-held and rebel-held areas of the country keep changing hands, while more and more civilians and rebels are killed. Read More

Audio: Kliman on “The ‘Stagnant Pay’ Myth & Capitalist Production”

Geoffrey McDonald and Andrew Kliman gave presentations during the “Dimensions of the Crisis and Labor” panel that took place on May 8 at the Historical Materialism NYC conference. This audio recording includes their presentations as well as the stimulating and spirited discussion that followed.

Since only two papers were presented, the discussion period lasted more than an hour. The bulk of it concerned Kliman’s presentation. During his replies to questions and comments, he displayed a quotation, several graphs, and a table from his forthcoming book. The discussion period begins approximately fifty minutes after the start of the recording.

Click here to listen to the audio recording.

McDonald’s presentation was entitled “The Cry for Jobs: An Absurd and Brutal Affirmation of Labor’s Subordination to Capital.” Kliman’s presentation was entitled “The ‘Stagnant Pay’ Myth and the Persistent Frailty of Capitalist Production.” For video recordings of similar presentations by Kliman, click here or here.