Another one set to bite the dust

As the uprising in Libya spreads throughout that country, the toll of protesters killed and wounded by the murderous and schizophrenic regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi continues to rise. It is reported that jets fired on protesters, including in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Fighter planes attacked demonstrators and bombed the approach roads to the city, which is home to two million people.

The masses have come out. Old rivalries and new grievances are united. Some of them are for reactionary tribal designs, and others are fulminating against the anaemic neo-liberal cloud that has engulfed Libya since the 1980s. Some quibble that why a country of 6 million with such oil wealth is not a material paradise, and others simply want to have some control of their lives. But most want release from the hidden corridors of Libyan labyrinth.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Tripoli on Sunday night in Green Square calling for the overthrow of the regime. A certain section of the security forces opened fire at them with live ammunition. Clashes went on until dawn and heavily armed mercenaries were said to be driving through the streets shooting anybody on sight and running people down.

Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, went on the state television late Sunday night to threaten civil war. He warned, "We will fight to the last minute, to the last bullet." He said there would be "rivers of blood" in Libya if the protests continued.

The massacre of civilians in the capital is the regime's answer to the escalating protests. The use of the Air Force against civilians is an indication of both the ruthlessness and the desperation of Gaddafi. The ruling clique around him has launched a civil war against the Libyan masses.

At least two fighter-jets pilots upon defying an order to fire at civilians they flew their plane to Malta, where they sought asylum. In Stockholm, China, India as well as at the United Nations, the Libyan diplomats resigned following the assault on the people in Tripoli.

It is not just the Gaddafi regime that is to blame for these crimes. The European Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting in Brussels formally condemned the use of heavy weapons against civilians. But when speaking at a press conference after the meeting, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton, called on "all parties to show restraint," as though there was a balance of forces and moral equivalence between a modern Libyan military machinery and a civilian population.

Her words express the level of collusion that exists between the European Union (EU) and the Gaddafi regime. All EU states have been eager to develop close relations with Libya since international sanctions were lifted in 2004, with Britain under Tony Blair and the former colonial power Italy, under Silvio Berlusconi, leading the way.

Britain has belatedly cancelled eight export licences for arms to Libya since the uprising. However, the military hardware exported to Libya from Britain last year included tear gas, crowd control ammunition, surveillance equipment, small arms, sniper rifles and sights, command and control vehicles, and radio jamming equipment. Britain is also involved in training the Libyan police force, which has distinguished itself by its brutality.

For Britain and the other EU states the uprising in Libya is a disaster. The UK government has cultivated links with Gaddafi as part of their efforts to win oil contracts for British firms such as BP. Some 79 percent of Libya's oil goes to the EU, making Europe Libya's biggest customer.

Libya has just overtaken Saudi Arabia as the third largest supplier of oil to Europe after Norway and Russia. Italy imports 32 percent of Libya's oil, Germany 14 percent and France 10 percent. Some 23 percent goes to the rest of Europe.

That is the reason why the British government freed the alleged Lockerbie bomber and that Berlusconi in 2008 paid over $5 billion to Libyan government as an apology for Italy colonising Libya. In his characteristic bluntness, Berlusconi said that he apologized so that Italy would get "less illegal immigrants and more oil."

Some demonstrators have alleged direct collusion by the Italian government with the repression. Berlusconi over the weekend said of Gaddafi, "No, I haven't been in contact with him. The situation is still in flux and so I will not allow myself to disturb anyone." Only days ago the Italian oil company ENI assured investors that it was "business as usual" in Libya.

However, on Monday ENI began evacuating its staff. Norway's Statoil, which operates in a consortium with France's Total and Spain's Repsol, announced that it would close down its Tripoli offices. OMV of Austria is evacuating all but essential staff.

BP has suspended its plan to begin exploratory drilling in the massive Sirte oilfield. The drilling was due to begin in earnest. Sirte is considered dangerously close to Benghazi, which is now in the hands of anti-regime protesters.

Libya has extensive investments in Europe, especially Italy. In addition, Gaddafi has amassed foreign exchange reserves estimated at over $70 billion, which he uses to exercise influence. When his youngest son, Hannibal Gaddafi, was arrested in Switzerland for abusing his domestic staff, Gaddafi cut off oil supplies and threatened a run on the Swiss banking system. He received an immediate apology from the authorities.

The popular uprising in Libya threatens to bring down a tyrant long courted by European governments and seen as a reliable partner who would ensure Europe's oil supplies and invest the riches that his family had looted from the Libyan people in European banks, and companies.

In Brussels, Baroness Ashton insisted that North Africa is within the EU's sphere of interest.
Ashton is due to visit Egypt next week, hard on the heels of UK Prime Minister David Cameron. European leaders are desperate to see friendly regimes established in North Africa that will ensure continuity of supplies and friendliness of the ousted dictatorships.

I said during the opening of AU-EU Youth Summit in Tripoli Libya as the Acting President of the Pan African Youth Union from 25 - 28 November 2010, "We should continue to know that youth has always been a vital force in the development of societies. With natural creativity, will of change, transformation and strength, the struggle of youth for freedom, peace and social transformation, for the right to education, employment, democratic rights and peace has always had a significant role in the general struggle for a fair and peaceful world."

This was demonstrated in the past, but also in the present where big demonstrations of students, of young workers and of youngsters in general are a vanguard of resistance against exploitation, withdrawal of rights, imperialist plunder of resources, racism, colonialism, fascism, military interventions and war, sexism and for the survival of the Human race.

>> Andile Lungisa is the Deputy President of the ANC Youth League. This article first appeared in ANC Today, the weekly online newsletter of the African National Congress.

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