Local Gaddafi bashing parrots

CRITIC'S CRITIC
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/7-13/2011



Members of Philippine mainstream media are into Gaddafi bashing galore. Noli de Castro, Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon mock him as a bloodthirsty “delusional dictator;” Randy David described Gaddafi’s statements in a recent interview with the Western press where he said, “My people, they love me all; they would die to protect me” as “pathetic;” while Marlen Ronquillo in The Manila Times wrote, “Qaddafi? You recall much about this supposed great Pan-Arabic leader who proclaimed himself as the heir to Nasser . You can compare him to a cheap Pinoy politician--one who looks better in the photos.”

Listening to or reading these Gaddafi bashers, you’d think the guy is the pits; but when you examine the reality from the other side, realization comes that these local pundits really know very little about Libya and Gaddafi, echoing only what emanate from Western propaganda, which is a real disservice to their audience. Here we bring to OpinYon readers views of international observers from the other side of CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera et al.

From Libya’s Mustafa Fetouri, a top prize awardee of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press 2010 and a regular contributor to The National, The Tripoli Post, the Qurya and the London-based Middle East Online news website, as well as a frequent resource person on the BBC, France 24 and Al Jazeera, and director at the Academy of Graduate Studies in Tripoli, Libya, and international lecturer, comes this recent article in The National, entitled, “Libya’s toxic tribal divisions are greater than Qaddafi:”

“Col. Qaddafi’s main support comes from three major sources: the Warfalla, based 180 km southwest of Tripoli , the largest tribe in the country… (comprising) a majority of well-educated Libyans. Qaddafi’s own tribe, centered in Sirte, 500 km east of Tripoli , is another pillar… The allegiance between Qaddafi’s tribe, Gaddafa, and the Warfalla has been described as a ‘blood link’… Prejudice against other tribes in Libya , particularly against the Misrata, (makes) many Warfalla more hard line than Col. Qaddafi himself. Sizeable support for Col. Qaddafi still exists within these two tribes, which form a triangle with the Mediterranean as its base that points deep into Libya ’s south, where Col. Qaddafi also draws sizable support. Sebha, the capital of Libya ’s southern region, has not seen any demonstrations so far. This tribal landscape must be understood… the country has not had political parties for more than four decades. Civil society does not exist, nor does the idea of loyalty to the ‘state.’ There is not a constitution… no practical mechanisms to guide the country in the event of a power vacuum at the top.”

When Gaddafi says “his people love him and would die to protect him,” there indeed are such “blood ties” that he can count on. Maybe Randy David reacted too soon. One can see in recent days that support for Gaddafi has consolidated after the tribes recovered from the initial disarray. The tribal milieu Gaddafi and Libyan society find themselves in explains why, despite these intractable fault lines, Gaddafi in his 41 years has managed startling achievements. We highlight some of these from David Rothscum’s “The World Cheers as the CIA Plunges Libya into Chaos” on the Centre for Research on Globalization’s website:

“How was Libya doing under the rule of Gadaffi? …Before the chaos erupted, Libya had a lower incarceration rate than the Czech republic … the lowest infant mortality rate (and)… the highest life expectancy (in) all of Africa ... Less than 5 percent of the population was undernourished. In response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished ALL taxes on food… (Libyans had) the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita… the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent... (where) a lower percentage of people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands . How does Libya get so rich? The answer is oil… (It) does not allow foreign corporations to steal the resources while the population starves, unlike… Nigeria … that is basically run by Shell. Like any country, Libya suffers from… corrupt bureaucrats… (Still) Gadaffi called for the oil revenue(s) to be distributed directly to the people...

“Gadaffi is not the president of Libya . In fact he holds no official position in the government. This is the big mistake that people make. They claim that Gadaffi rules over Libya when in fact… his position is more or less ceremonial… The current prime-minister is Baghdadi Mahmudi. Calling Gadaffi the leader of Libya is comparable to calling Akihito the leader of Japan . Are the protesters in Libya comparable to the protesters in Egypt and Tunisia ? Not at all. The building of the parliament of Libya was put on fire by angry protestors. This is comparable to protesters putting the United States Capitol on fire. Do you think that for even a moment the US government would sit idly by as protesters (do so)? The riots erupting now are not secular youth desiring change… A group calling itself ‘Islamic Emirate of Barka,’ the former name of the North-Western part of Libya , has taken numerous hostages, and killed two policemen… On Friday, the 18th of February, the group stole 70 military vehicles after attacking a port and killing four soldiers…

“A group recently arrested in Libya consisted of dozens of foreign nationals that were involved in numerous acts of looting and sabotage. The Libyan government could not rule out links to Israel . Great Britain funded an Al Qaeda cell in Libya , in an attempt to assassinate Gadaffi. The main opposition group in Libya now is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya … (Funded) by Saudi Arabia , the CIA, and French Intelligence… (this) group unified… with other opposition groups to become the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition. It was this organization that called for the ‘Day of Rage’ that plunged Libya into chaos on February 17 of this year… The tribal system that is still strong in Libya is useful (for exploiting) such a war since Libya has historically been divided into various tribal groups. This is also why the Libyan government responds by importing mercenaries…”

Furthermore, we have to take note that Russia Today has already reported on various stories that are being suppressed by Western media, such as the presence of US Special Forces very early on in the turmoil in Libya . Likewise, people should know that Russian satellites monitoring Libyan air space are finding no such attacks by Gaddafi’s jets on protesters, as claimed by the West. In fact, the disinformation has been so blatant right from the get-go that Al Jazeera, the UK ’s Telegraph, and many Western media previously claimed that Gaddafi had flown to Venezuela , even when this was nothing but a lie.

Philippine mainstream media should not just parrot their Western counterparts’ demonization of Gaddafi and justify imperial invasion for oil. They should gather and report the whole picture to liberate the Filipino mind and culture.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, with the Cuban and Venezuelan Ambassadors as guests on the Libyan situation; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)