Libyan rebels accused of targeting and killing innocent black workers

[ejbr]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

ADDIS ABABA: Libyan rebels may be indiscriminately killing black people because they have confused innocent migrant workers with mercenaries, the African Union says.

''The NTC seems to confuse black people with mercenaries,'' the African Union chairman, Jean Ping, said.

He said this could be a reason the African Union has not recognised opposition forces as Libya's interim government. One third of the population is black, he said. ''They are killing people, normal workers, mistreating them.''

Mr Ping speculated that the killings could be the work of ''looters or uncontrolled forces''.




Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/libyan-rebels-accused-of-ta...

[BNJMN]

1. It sucks, but...it's their country.

Not condoning what is happening, mind you, just wondering if we are supposed to go and slap the hand of every human rights abuse all over the world? Or just the ones we are trying to get a better deal on oil from?

[diveguy]

12. Your joking right?

You realize we played a major role in slapping the hands of libya

[pennylane100]

13. I am not quite sure what you are trying to say.

It definitely sucked that Germany decided to get rid of all the Jews and that Rwanda decided to eliminate all the Tutsis, to name a few. But what does the fact that it was their country have to do with anything.

[sudopod]

14. I guess the 1/3 of the country who are black don't count?

1/3 is not an auspicious fraction for black folks apparently.

[Bosonic]

17. heh

Either such a concentration of ironic snark in so few words it's almost another state of matter, or goldfish-memory foreign analysis. I don't think I want to know which (keepin' hope alive).

[iamthebandfanman]

2. i was mocked for suggestiong

that there were racial under tones to the revolution by some people on DU.


they resented ghaddafi proclaiming himself the king of africa. most libyans consider themselves arabic and part of the middle east, not africa.

[Harmony Blue]

3. I am not sure why you would be mocked

because there are some obvious cultural differences.

[joshcryer]

5. Gaddafi's own Green Book denigrated Black Africans.

It was always a show. Gaddafi befriended other African states because he shared a tyrannical commonality with them. Gaddafi's Libya paid most of the AU dues and gave out a lot of money to quite a few African states to keep their tyrants in power (paid armed forces, etc). I can see this causing resentment. I think the AU is really burning bridges here. If the bridge burns though the AU will collapse, as the new Libyan government can just pull away from the table.

[PurityOfEssence]

9. Citations, please.

He seems, to the casual observer, to have a much more tolerant view of the darker races than the Cyranaicans and the Berbers.

Please present your evidence.

[joshcryer]

10. So you want me to do all the work for the casual observer?

Which you'll just dismiss out of hand anyway?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/19/1007296/-Helte...

I'm not going down this road with you.

[No Elephants]

11. Posters are often asked to back up claims they make.

It's not another poster's job to prove what you posted is true.

[joshcryer]

15. It's easy enough to confirm what I posted.

Simply searching Google for what I posted confirms it quickly.

Meanwhile I have no desire to get into an argument with a poster who has insulted me highly in the past.

[trud]

16. you'll wait a long time for any substantiation

from that poster, who never met an opponent of Israel he didn't try to diss.

Qaddafi has sent tons of money to African states to build schools, hospitals, provide food, etc. as well as providing for Libya. And need we ask after reading the following why the US is after him?

"The 1969 coup changed that. The new Libyan government forged a profound global change in the relationship between the major oil companies and the producing countries, forcing the oil giants to cede majority stakes in exchange for continued access to Libya’s oilfields. Libya also demanded a higher share of the profits. The pattern was emulated across the oil-producing states. With the increased revenue, Colonel Qaddafi set about building roads, hospitals, schools and housing. Life expectancy, which was 51 in 1969, is now over 74. Literacy leapt to 88 percent."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/africa/25assess...

And, of course, there was a giant leap forward in women's rights, with education and jobs open to them. One guess if the "rebels" will continue that policy.

I love this quote in his April 23, 2011 letter:
"never realizing that in America, there was no free medicine, no free hospitals, no free housing, no free education and no free food, except when people had to beg or go to long lines to get soup."
(With reference to the education claim, college is free and tuition and a living stipend is paid to Libyans studying abroad.)

[joshcryer]

4. AU has no credibility, they didn't condemn Gaddafi putting migrants on overloaded ships at gunpoint.

Meanwhile in both Tripoli and Misrata migrant workers were protected by the rebels.

I am not excusing any behavior by the rebels with regards to crimes, but let's be honest, both sides have done some really sucky shit and the AU has only been critical of the rebels.

Probably because it sends a strong signal that tyrants (which the AU is mostly composed of) can't keep pulling their shit.

[Starry Messenger]

6. stockholmer's excellent post with many more links in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[joshcryer]

8. mathaba.net and al Queada.

Yeah. Not credible. I'm not even going to waste my time.

[webDude]

7. So, have they found a new boogeyman? No one wants to think that your...

..."own kind" would kill you, kill someone else.

[Township75]

18. Must be the Tea Party.

.

[pampango]

19. The murder of black men...speaks of a society deeply divided for decades by Gaddafi.

The murder of black men in the aftermath of the rebellion speaks of a society deeply divided for decades by Muammar Gaddafi

How did it come to this? A spectacular revolution, speaking the language of democracy and showing tremendous courage in the face of brutal repression, has been disgraced. Racism did not begin with the rebellion – Gaddafi's regime exploited 2 million migrant workers while discriminating against them – but it has suffused the rebels' hatred of the violently authoritarian regime they have just replaced.

But the trouble was that the movement was almost emerging from nowhere. Unlike in Egypt, where a decade of activism and labour insurgency had cultivated networks of activists and trade unionists capable of outfoxing the dictatorship, Libya was not permitted a minimal space for civil society opposition. As a result, there was no institutional structure able to express this movement, no independent trade union movement, and certainly little in the way of an organised left. Into this space stepped those who had the greatest resources – the former regime notables, businessmen and professionals, as well as exiles. It was they who formed the National Transitional Council (NTC).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/lib...