Friday, August 26, 2011

I am certain that the National Transitional Council (NTC), in its desperation, has agreed to sell its soul in order to save itself from Gaddafi. I won't judge, condemn or preach to them about their decision. As Libyan people who suffered the most horrific oppression under this mad colonel, it was always their own decision to make, and I respect that completely. I don't respect those pseudo-resistance types who, whilst accepting that Gaddafi has to go, drool at the mouth whenever they find evidence of the strong ties that the NTC will be having with the West. Where were these resistance types when Gaddafi's soldiers were shooting at unarmed protesters with anti-aircraft guns and mortars? For people who are self-described anti-imperialists, their behaviour towards the people they are supposed to be "anti-" for seems to lack an awful lot of compassion and empathy.


I don't mind somebody who tells me they support one camp against another, that they are after their own self-interest or that they benefit from the favours of one particular ruler: I can appreciate the motivations behind human nature. What I don't like is the self-deception these people try to convince me of as true. The devil doesn't need an advocate.

2 comments:

Jan said...

If you get of your moral high ground - all of your posts lately have an awful lot of terms like empathy, compassion, human dignity - you would see that "those pseudo-resistance types" argue that the rebels may have gotten rid of Gaddafi but at a very high price: the loss of their revolution. Independent of what actual regime will follow (parliamentary democracy, authoritarian regime, islamist state) it is now already clear that the oil companies will have full and unlimited access to Libyan oil, coupled with a pro-Western attitude in international politics. And that severely limits any future progressive or alternative policy that the Libyans might want to pursue. That is all that anti-imperialists are pointing out, that the uprising has been emptied of future political options.

But since you seem so intent on moralizing all conflicts: if the reports of mass executions by the rebels of unarmed Gaddafi soldiers turn out to be true, will you then also write a post on how horrific these acts are? Or is your compassion and empathy limited to certain people only?

Maysaloon said...

I'm sorry if I've been moralising a lot lately; governments killing their own people can have that effect on me. As for the point you made, I think the answer to your first paragraph is in the first sentence of my post:

I am certain that the National Transitional Council (NTC), in its desperation, has agreed to sell its soul in order to save itself from Gaddafi.

As for your second question, I think I can ask you the same. For some reason, that I am trying hard to understand, today you felt motivated not to talk about all those people Gaddafi and his regime killed; you didn't wish to talk about his bombing and besieging of cities like Misrata and Benghazi; nor did you think it relevant to remember the massacres that took place in cities like Zawiyah, early in the conflict.

No, you are angry because Libya's oil is going to be taken by Western oil companies. Do you realise that, like this, you are no better than the imperialism you condemn? Let go of pride and this stubborn dogma.