Dear Editor,
Gaddafi is dead. Some are happy, some are not. Why was Libya invaded in the first place? Why did NATO bomb Libya? Why have there been NATO assaults in so many African, Muslim countries? History repeats itself time and time again. When Bush bombed Iraq, the justification was that he had weapons of mass destruction. So far, in 2011, not even a water gun of mass destruction has been found. When will we wake up and smell the ink on the policies of white supremacy?
The justification in the case of the latest victim, Muammar Gaddafi the ‘Lion of Africa,‘ is that he was a brutal dictator, murderer, etc. The Western media – BBC, CNN, NBC – and Hollywood play a major role in shaping our minds against our eastern family. This was the second attempt to kill Gaddafi; the first was labelled as one of the most expensive assassination attempts ever. They show images, tell stories and make movies that always portray eastern people in a negative way. They have a field day showing poor African children. Just look at Haiti? Where is all that money they collected?
The media, however, did not tell us about the casualties of the NATO bombings in Libya. They did not tell us about Gaddafi’s “Man-made river project,” that got water from the desert for Africans. They did not tell us about his vision for a United States of Africa or about Libya’s investment in African development over the years. I never saw a story about how the people of Libya benefited directly from the sale of their oil. There are no homeless in Libya and the literacy rate is over 80%. Libya also has one of the highest living standards in Africa. What is the crime rate in Libya? We should not take the word of the BBC. Read the works of Gerald A Pereira, a Guyanese journalist who lived and worked in Libya.
Finally, how is it that these western nations have the moral authority to judge the world? The crimes against humanity committed by America and Europe far outweigh anything Gaddafi could have done in his 40 years. Where are the International Criminal Court charges against the governments for their crimes against Africans during and after slavery? Where was the invasion of South Africa when blacks were suffering at the hands of whites? Let not forget the British and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in India. It seems the murderers of African, Indian and native peoples are not treated with the contempt they should be. Why?
Gaddafi told the Arabs in Libya that the country belonged to the black Africans who were there first. He also said: “The black race shall prevail throughout the world.”
Yours faithfully,
Montgomery A Chester