Analyzing Libya and Obama’s Hatred for Africa
By Obi Egbuna
In 1967 while addressing the Dialectics of Liberation Conference in London, England, the Pan Africanist freedom fighter Kwame Ture used a statement from the fictitious character Humpty Dumpty in the book Alice In Wonderland to hammer home the definition of power he personally embraced. During a conversation with Alice, Humpty Dumpty revealed the ultimate power was the power to define. That outlook is certainly compatible with how the US-NATO machine conducts political affairs on the world stage. When Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddaffi was murdered in cold blood approximately two miles from his place of birth, the spin doctors in the Western diplomatic and intelligence arenas, along with their cohorts in media, were already engaging in damage control to ensure their tracks were completely covered. The US-NATO alliance had a three-fold mission in Libya: the first was to put Qadaffi in a body bag at all costs; the second was to give the Zionist state of Israel some much needed breathing room; and, lastly to present the Arab spring as the first phase of 21st century popular resistance.
It must be noted that even though Qadaffi is no longer with us physically, the attempts to assassinate his name and character will be far more vicious and relentless than the manner in which he was murdered by the US-NATO machine in front of the entire planet. Because the evil empire went beyond the call of duty to present Qadaffi as a ruthless, tyrant and dictator, the court of public opinion still awaits evidence that is 100% irrefutable. Because of the atrocious track record that Western Imperialism has when it comes to supporting Africa’s most wicked rulers, we are amused that they would audaciously attempt to bark up this tree. There is no African at home or abroad who would be gullible enough to indulge in the political facelift of Qadaffi, and see him on his worst day compared to Western darlings like Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Cote Divore, Omar Bongo of Gabon and Mobutu Sese Seko of the Congo. During the time of his death Houphouet Boigny was said to be worth between $7-11 billion dollars.
They spoke of Qadaffi’s lavish lifestyle, but let us not forget that Houphouet-Boigny spent $300 million US dollars on building the church the Basilica of Our Lady Of Peace. During his 42-year neo-colonial reign Omar Bongo had an $800 million dollar Presidential palace, 33 homes and spent $2.6 million dollars towards the interior decoration of his private jet. As we know Joseph Mobutu, the godfather of military neo-colonialism in Africa and the killer of Patrice Lumumba, pretended to spark off the cultural revolutionary process in the Congo by changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. The main thing in relationship to his psyche that remained intact was his greed and appetite for destruction and at the time of his death he was worth $5 billion dollars.
The African world was truly offended when President Reagan called Mobutu a voice of good sense and good will. In fact, Bongo once said, “Gabon without France is like a car without a Driver.” We then learned a significant part of the planning to overthrow Nkrumah was done in Houphouet-Boigny’s home. What this demonstrates to the African world is working with NATO to preserve African leaders who are truly dictators could very well be an amendment of the US Constitution. The most devoted children of Africa, at home and abroad, consider our history of genuine resistance our most sacred contribution to world civilization. This is why the newest agents of neo-colonialism in North Africa hardly qualify as fighters who embrace or represent our cause. While we are still holding our noses at the decision to give US President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, and worse, the US-NATO alliance tried to use their political muscle and influence to get the leaders of Arab Spring to be the recipients of choice this year. The only thing that would rival in comparison to President Obama and the architects of Arab Spring having this award would be Dr. Marian Wright Edelman, the head of the Children’s Defense Fund, being removed from that position and being replaced by a pedophile.
The last genuine popular uprising in Libya was led by Muammar Qadaffi in September of 1969, called the Al Fateh Revolution,—-the US-NATO alliance cannot erase it from the annals of history, instead they attempted to present a group of people whose every word and action must have their approval and financial backing as voices of their peoples aspirations. The notion that the US-NATO are attempting to propagate that the leadership of Arab Spring is historically significant as Nasser was in Egypt, Ben Bella in Algeria, Yasir Arafat ,in Palestine, and of course, Qadaffi’s work and vision, is the ultimate insult to our intelligence as Africans collectively. While the feeble efforts of the imperialist media apparatus to show the beneficiaries of the Arab Slave trade and Monarchy, mainly in Benghazi, parading through the streets cheering news concerning the death of Qadaffi, we know it was the Zionist State of Israel that was more excited than children on their birthdays or women after their weddings.
When US President Barack Obama approached the podium outside the White House to share his take on Qadaffi’s death with the world watching, he appeared misled into believing the image of Qadaffi in the clutches of ruthless pro-western mercenaries is how the man will be remembered in history. Since the President functions from the understanding that the United States is heaven on earth, he doesn’t realize the international community will never embrace this fascist and genocidal outlook on history. The image of Patrice Lumumba in captivity with a rope around his neck next to Mobutu is not his lasting image; Steve Biko nude in a prison cell is not on our radar; and, Che Guevara dead with his eyes open in Bolivia surrounded by CIA trained assassins is not the picture of him used on t-shirts and posters all over the world.
The African community at home and abroad have to realize that President Obama’s decision to kill Qadaffi was a key litmus test to determine how our people would respond in the US if he decided to murder a Head of State on our beloved Mother Continent. This is why his brain trust deliberately picked a country in the Northern region of Africa. We still accept an outlook of Africa designed and constructed by our former colonial and slave masters, which fails to recognize the North of Africa as even being part of our Mother continent. One of the most unique characteristics of the Obama administration is its willingness to commit atrocities throughout the world whenever they appear overwhelmed and clueless about how to handle dilemmas, which are connected to health care, employment and a faltering economy inside US borders. This reveals that President Obama had come to the conclusion that killing Qadaffi in the streets of Libya would wash the bitter taste of the Nazi-like execution of Troy Davis in the state of Georgia out of our mouths and memory, collectively speaking. When it came to the question of Libya, the Obama administration even decided to involve First Lady Michelle Obama and their two beautiful daughters Sasha and Malia in a campaign aimed at diverting attention away from the barbaric and cowardly US-NATO led attacks on innocent women, children and all citizens of the country.
The decision for the First Lady and her two children to visit South Africa was hardly an innocent trip aimed at embracing our African roots, because after all, the First Lady told Barbara Walters in 2008 she doesn’t even consider herself a Black American. She is an American plain and simple. The two highlights of this visit were the time they spent with the Freedom Fighter and former South African President Nelson Mandela, and the family of Hector Peterson, the first student to die in the Soweto Uprising in June of 1976. We remember Mandela’s fiery condemnation of former US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the role both played in the invasion of Iraq. Mandela said all Bush wanted was Iraqi oil and Blair was no longer Prime Minister of Britain, he was functioning more as the US Secretary of State. Because of the respect Mandela had for Qadaffi, choosing to remain silent about the manner Obama and Sakorzy orchestrated a Julius Cesear like invasion of Libya, sends our people the message that he has lost the will to defend Africa’s territorial integrity. When we take into consideration the South African government voted in favor of the no fly zone in their capacity of the UN Security Council, Mandela’s voice and wisdom would have been timely.
Since the bombing of Libya was still very much underway during this visit, one wonders if the First Lady and her children had been previously informed that they were in the company of a man who told the world no country in Africa did more in the fight against Apartheid than Libya.
The Soweto Uprising was organized by the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, who were given unconditional support by Libya under Qadaffi’s leadership, while the majority of organizations in this country, only recognized the efforts of the African National Congress. This means the First Lady and her children had an unforgettable experience in an African nation, which had undergone Apartheid, arguably the most dehumanizing form of Colonialism, which was courageously defended by a man whose blood will forever be on the hands of her husband and the father of her two children. Because of Africa’s beauty and hypnotic appeal when we return home we are simply awestruck, and sometimes the lessons that history teaches us, temporarily escape us. We can’t wait for the First Lady and her children to learn about the role of Israel in Apartheid, not only in South Africa, but Zimbabwe and Namibia as well.
After the First Lady has gained exposure to this painful chapter of our history, she can have a heart-to-heart talk with her husband about why he allowed the Israelis to persuade him that invading Libya and assassinating Qadaffi was a contribution to humanity and democracy. The follow-up to that conversation can be their children going into the closet and throwing his white yamulke, that he wears to reaffirm his loyalty to Zionism and Israel, in the garbage where it belongs. The First Lady can also inform her husband that Israel never forgave Qadaffi for Libya being the host country for the formation of the Worldwide Anti Zionist Front, aimed at showing the world Zionism was also a direct enemy of African people as well as the Palestinians.
Since it’s no secret that African people’s music in many cases accurately depicts our mood, feelings and sentiments, the song “Too Little Too Late” sung by Deniece Williams and Johnny Mathis, is best suited to describe our collective response to the US-NATO invasion of Libya. We cannot hold any single person or cite any particular contradiction as the reason we were unable and unwilling to stand with the people of Libya. But, with that being said, our efforts to defend Mother Africa are weak and lack sincerity. Some of the verbal attacks aimed at Qadaffi and Libya that were voiced in our community were even worse than what the Zionists and the Obama administration had to say whenever they used the airwaves to pollute our minds heart and souls.
Some of Qadaffi’s detractors pointed to his heritage as the reason he could never be serious about African Unity and Liberation. Those who share this point of view obviously have no appreciation for our lineage and links of solidarity that we have built through the years. Some who felt attacking Qadaffi was the way to deal with the Libyan issue would have attacked the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey for embracing the National Liberation Struggle in Morocco, and Frantz Fanon for leaving Martinique and fighting with the revolution in Algeria. They would have also condemned Malcolm X for embracing Gamel Abdel Nasser and Carlos Cooks for calling the African Pioneer Nationalist Movement’s annual celebration Gamal Abdel Nasser/ Marcus Garvey Day. We had to attempt to defend Libya in this contaminated political climate, and we also were struggling with those who still believed in the counterproductive tactic of splash delegations. Unfortunately, the history of building bridges with Libya was dominated by a lot of travel to the country with inadequate follow-up and strategic planning.
Those who engaged in this practice should burn their plane ticket stubs to Libya, which they keep as souvenirs, as an act of ethical cleansing and an acknowledgement of failure to stand strong. Some were even blinded by their dislike for comrades who always defended Libya, the best way they knew how. To put it bluntly, contempt for Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was no excuse not to defend Libya. There are those amongst us who view Libya through the eyes of the Democratic Party, therefore function from the understanding that President Obama should not be confronted about Libya because this helps the Tea Party gain momentum. Some of our people were shocked when Senator John McCain warmly congratulated the President when Qadaffi’s death was officially confirmed. This shows us, in the final analysis, that President Obama killed Qadaffi to score points with right wing Republicans.
Since Washington is truly one big political circus, we may discover President Obama and Senator McCain hosting a luncheon at the White House to celebrate Qadaffi’s execution where the entree may be a piece of Jackass (the Democratic Party’s symbol) washed down with a nice cup of tea.
We say without hesitation that President Obama’s invasion of Libya is a working tribute to Reagan who bombed Libya on April 15, 1986, and while his love affair with Abraham Lincoln is on record, he might be cheating on Honest Abe with Reagan on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Because the US government claims this is the land of second opportunity, President Obama can take pride in the fact that by getting rid of Qadaffi he accomplished what Reagan could not do when he bombed Libya 25 years ago.
The African community in the US is on the verge of a collision course with the African Continent and the rest of Diaspora, and we haven’t the slightest clue why this clash is going to take place, and they don’t realize the Obama administration is the root cause. Because of our sweet tooth for the Democratic Party and white Liberals in general, we ignored Obama’s plan for Africa during his election. Today we talk about AFRICOM with such urgency, but the biggest supporter of this effort is Obama’s US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, who was also his Foreign Policy Advisor during his historic campaign. We were silent when President Obama boycotted the follow-up meeting to the UN Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and other related intolerances in Geneva, for the same reason George W. Bush boycotted the original meeting in Durban, South Africa in 2001, which was Slavery, Reparations and Palestine should be removed from the agenda as points of discussion.
What makes President Obama’s position on Reparations even more appalling is he will go to his grave knowing he killed the only North African leader who publicly apologized for Slavery and who successfully pressured Italy to give Libya Reparations in the sum of $60 million a year. For those of us who have had sleepless nights trying to determine if President Obama’s contempt for Africa is circumstantial or pathological, his choice to refuse to pardon the Honorable Marcus Garvey for the trumped up charges of mail fraud that eventually led to his deportation, by J. Edgar Hoover, should help us see the light. The disrespectful manner in which President Obama has ignored the African Union’s position on invading Libya and maintaining US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, sends a message that our former colonial and slave masters know what’s best for Africans at home and abroad. The irony of this all is that it was none other than the former Assistant Secretary of African Affairs, under President George W. Bush, Jendayi Frazier, who when speaking to the African Ambassador’s Group in Washington a few days before the 2008 election said there would be no change whatsoever in US policy on Africa if President Obama emerged victorious.
We are also extremely saddened by the fact that the governments of Nigeria, Gabon, and South Africa decided to vote in favor of the no-fly zone on Libya in their capacity as Africa’s representatives on the UN Security Council. The African world also felt that since the current Chairman of the African Union Jean Ping was once Omar Bongo’s Foreign Minister and France’s President Nicholas Sarkozy was equally as committed as President Obama’s invasion of Libya, 22 African nations were conned into recognizing the National Transitional Council as Libya’s new leadership right before the 66th UN General Assembly. During the time afforded to them at the UN, the speeches both Obama and Sarkozy were nothing than public service announcements concerning Qadaffi being ousted in Libya and undermining Palestine’s efforts to gain recognition as a Sovereign nation. The Obama administration right under the noses of the African community has assembled an unofficial Civil Rights Task Force spearheaded by the National Action Network President Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman James Clyburn and media personality Roland Martin whose aim was to completely divert attention away from Obama’s Foreign Policy agenda and the trial of blood it has left in its midst.
We also have further evidence of President Obama following Reagan’s roadmap when dealing with Libya. The late President’s brainchild, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), founded in 1983 to serve as a Cold War think tank, recently had three organizations working on the ground in Libya on their payroll. The first was the Akhbar Libya Cultural Limited whose goal was to restore and maintain US Arabic and English news oriented websites. The second was the Libya Human and Political Development Forum whose goal was to foster constructive dialogue and cooperation and raise awareness on democratic values. The last was the Transparency Libya Limited who conducted a survey on corruption and political developments. The role these forces played in the invasion of Libya must be further investigated, and the NED must be viewed in the same manner we saw the CIA when we helplessly witnessed the demise of some of the giants in our liberation struggle. If our African family at home and abroad is disappointed for the casual manner in which we responded to the raiding of Libya and death of Qadaffi, then we must acknowledge we are sleepwalking through history. When we wake out of our slumber the streets of Babylon will never look the same again. But, if we let our ancestors guide us, it will happen on the watch of the 44th US President, Barack Hussein Obama and his ivory soul sister US Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Obi Egbuna is the US correspondent to the Herald (Zimbabwe’s National Newspaper) and is a member of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association and was a member of the Worldwide Anti-Zionist Front formed in Tripoli Libya in 1990.
