Libre Liliany!

By James Brittain

The previous issue of People's Voice reported that Colombian filmmaker, women's rights proponent, labour solidarity activist, and sociologist Liliany Patricia Obando Villota was arrested on August 8 by a special wing of the Anti-Terrorism Unit (Unidad Antiterrorismo) of the Colombian National Police and the Criminal Investigation Directorate, under the direction of the National Prosecutors Office, on charges of "rebellion" and "managing resources related to terrorist Activities". The arrest severs long established relations between the Colombian labour movement and Canadian unions, faith-based communities, Latin American solidarity networks, and social justice organizations.

     The primary grounds for Liliany's incarceration is that she allegedly worked to obtain funding earmarked for Colombia's largest rural-based labour organization (FENSUAGRO), but utilized the collected finances for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) - a movement listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

     The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia has announced that the reason for the arrest was that Liliany worked for a non-governmental organization entitled FENSUAGRO and indirectly rallied funds for the FARC-EP through said association. In actual fact, FENSUAGRO is not an NGO, but a structured labour organization in its 32nd year of existence, which organizes and consolidates the many unions, labour associations, and voices of those in the countryside. If the state cannot obtain intelligence of this simplistic nature, any information related to the charges against Liliany are likely erroneous.

     In addition, no material evidence has been found to support the charge against Liliany. The only "proof" presented by the state is purely speculative, as it was allegedly retrieved from FARC-EP computers captured following an illegal raid at an insurgent encampment on March 1, 2008 in Ecuador. Interpol has confirmed that agents connected to the Anti-Terrorism Unit manipulated tens of thousands of files from the seized FARC-EP databases. In their report, Interpol published that "using their forensic tools, specialists found a total of 48,055 files for which the timestamps indicated that they had either been created, accessed, modified or deleted as a result of the direct access to the eight seized exhibits by Colombian authorities between the time of their seizure on 1 March 2008 and 3 March 2008 at 11:45 am."

     Over the past several years, Liliany has visited Canada many times to speak with various civil society groups, development agencies, members of religious organizations, unionists, and university students on issues of human rights abuses and anti-labour activities under the Presidency of Alvaro Uribe Velez. During this period Liliany also worked for FENSUAGRO's international relations commission, and was heavily involved in fundraising in Canada, the European Union, the UK, and Australia.

     As a direct result of her efforts, some of Canada's most important unions provided funding to projects across Colombia: the creation of socioeconomic infrastructure for small and medium agricultural producers, human rights education and data collection, and an experimental farming and educational facility called La Esmeralda, which assists displaced rural families in areas of agriculture, gender equity, reading, and writing.

     Why has the Colombian state targeted Liliany Obando and FENSUAGRO?

     Since its inception, as many as 1500 persons associated with FENSUAGRO have been killed or disappeared by right-wing paramilitaries or state forces, while five thousand members have experienced some form of state-based abuse or human rights violation. In 2007, twenty percent of all known unionists murdered in Colombia belonged to this one labour organization. It is clear that the Colombian state is attempting to silence any and all measures of international solidarity with Colombian labour and social movements.

     Liliany was one of FENSUAGRO's most important contacts outside Colombia. Her work as a filmmaker and a scholar within the National University of Colombia has been widely recognized for its insight. Her analysis on Colombia's political economy has been heard and applauded at countless conferences. Her achievements in raising awareness of the trials and tribulations of Colombia have spanned many countries. It is clear that the state is taking steps to silence this important proponent for social justice, and to block the important efforts made by Canadians to support the struggle of Colombia's rural and urban working classes.

     Retrieving information related to Liliany's condition and the case at hand has been very difficult. Nevertheless, contact has been made with Liliany's legal counsel, who say that she has received messages of solidarity from all over the world. Her legal counsel has forwarded a statement of how emotionally touched and tremendously encouraged Liliany is by such broad support for her and all Colombians subjugated to such treatment at this troubling time.

     It was hoped that Liliany would be able to obtain a reprieve from her formal incarceration at the women's prison (Buen Pastor) in Bogota. Her legal counsel applied for home detention so that she could care for her two children. The Australian-based Peace and Justice for Colombia (PJFC) has argued that Liliany's detention is a negation of her two young children's basic human rights, as she is a single mother and principal provider for the family. However, the court denied this request. The PJFC also reported that during the August 8 raid on Liliany's residence in Modelia, Bogota state forces "seized passports, photos and other personal belongings of her children and Mother". Arguing that such items have nothing to due with the formal allegations, the legal counsel requested that the family's possessions be returned. The courts also refused this request.

     Targeting Liliany and other social justice activists is a structured tactic on the part of the Colombian state. Canada is in the final stages of a controversial bilateral free-trade agreement with Colombia, where the administration is embroiled in a scandal involving links between top politicians and the paramilitary forces. Liliany was on the cusp of finalizing a significant solidarity project involving several Canadian unions and FENSUAGRO. In conjunction with labour, agronomists, farmers, and researchers, she was working on an expanded development program to further assist rural workers at La Esmeralda.

     It is critical for individuals, unions, community and civil society groups, development agencies, members of faith communities, academics, students, and concerned citizens to show their solidarity for Liliany. We must express our opposition to the unjust detention of this important Colombian activist, scholar, and worker. Please demand that Liliany Patricia Obando Villota be released, have all charges withdrawn, and be treated as a democratic citizen.

     Free Liliany Obando! Libre Liliany Obando!


(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Liliany`s three years in jail

By Kimball Cariou

     A Colombian trade union activist well-known to many Canadians has passed the three-year mark in a Bogota prison. Liliany Obando, who has toured several countries to speak out against human rights abuses in her homeland, has yet to face trial, and the "evidence" against her is utterly discredited. But she and 7500 other political prisoners remain jailed by a regime with close ties to Canada's Conservative government.

     In a powerful statement released on August 8, the third anniversary of her imprisonment, Liliany Obando vividly describes her ordeal: "I am a woman among more than 7,500 Colombian political prisoners, both men and women, who suffer and resist with dignity the harshness of a judicial system, prisons and a state that denies us and disqualifies us, calling us `terrorists' and which seeks to annul us as individuals and break us as social and political activists."

     Obando is one target of the so-called "FARC-politics" legal assault, which accused a wide range of democratic and labour activists of being supporters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

     "This personal nightmare", as Obando describes it, began on March 1, 2008, when the armed forces of Colombia unleashed Operation Phoenix on Ecuadorian territory. This operation, in violation of international law and the sovereignty of Ecuador, massacred insurgents including a leading FARC member, Raul Reyes, as well as several Mexican students.

     Computers, removable hard drives and USB sticks were seized by the Colombian soldiers. These materials were turned over to prosecutors, but only after thousands of electronic files were manipulated. The files became the basis for the "FARC-politics" charges.

     As Obando writes, "To my surprise, I heard my name on the lips of prosecutor Iguaron next to those of renowned personalities from politics, academia and journalism. Among those mentioned were Polo Democratico Alternativo [Democratic Pole] congress members Gloria Ines Ramirez and Wilson Borja, Liberal Party Senator Piedad Cordoba, former minister Alvaro Leyva Duran, journalists Carlos Lozano Guillen, William Parra and Lazaro Viveros, the American academic James Jones and the Venezuelan parliamentarian Amilcar Figueroa... The common factor among those who were included in this line was the commitment taken up in the different areas of work of each one of us, some of us from the political opposition, to the defence of human rights, the search for scenarios of peace and humanitarian accords.

     "...My life until then had passed between my professional work as a sociologist, my commitment to defending human rights, women's and labour rights, my membership in the left as a political option; my academic pursuits in the Masters in Political Studies at the National University of Colombia (I was preparing my graduate thesis), and raising my children (4 and 15 years) as a single mother...

     "On August 8, 2008, while reading news online one item caught my complete attention ‑ it was regarding the arrest warrant issued against me. Hours later my home was raided and I was led into the cells of the DIJIN and then to the Women's Prison in Bogota where I remain still, 36 months later, with the status of CHARGED, waiting for justice to be done in my case and a clear abuse of pre‑trial detention.

     "In the raid, heavily armed police (DIJIN) succeeded in intimidating my elderly mother and my little children. At the site, they seized documents, including some belonging to my mother and children, which are among the evidence being used against me.

     "Leading the raid was the same captain of the DIJIN, Ronald Hayden Coy Ortiz, who had participated in Operation Phoenix. He sarcastically said to me among other things, it would make me famous, nationally and internationally, while other police filmed everything around me, including my family members and myself from all angles...

     "The prosecutor laid charges of rebellion and managing resources for terrorist purposes against me, based on the alleged information obtained from the computing devices of the late leader of FARC, Raul Reyes. Charges I did not accept and consciously I prepared to subject myself to a trial to prove my innocence. The prosecutor then decided to issue a security measure against me by placing me in a prison facility. I was denied the benefit of home detention despite having fully demonstrated my status as a single mother. Later I would be denied the benefit a further nine times, being considered a `danger to society' ‑ something that does not happen to white collar criminals who are granted this benefit without any obstacle..."

     On May 18, 2011, Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice (Criminal Division) issued a writ in the case against former congressman Wilson Borja, declaring that the physical evidence obtained in Operation Phoenix has no legal validity in any of these cases. On August 1, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice unanimously upheld the May 18 ruling.

     Based on the ruling, Prof. Miguel Angel Beltran was released on June 3, and the extradition to Colombia of communist leader Manuel Olate was stopped. But judges have rejected applications for Obando's release.

     As she writes, "Fortunately, since many people unfairly linked to this process have been acquitted, only Joaquin Becerra and I are still deprived of our freedom. Meanwhile my days are spent in a high security cell isolated from the rest of my fellow political prisoners, but with dignity, high morale and standing tall. We continue to fight for the freedom of all Colombian political prisoners. Someday it will be possible, and I will continue working freely once more for a truly democratic country enjoying political inclusion, social justice and peace."

     She concludes by thanking "each and every one" of her supporters and members of her family, signing off as "Liliany Obando, political prisoner; survivor of the genocide against the Patriotic Union."

     (To read the full text of Liliany Obando's statement, visit the website of the International Network in Solidarity with Colombian Political Prisoners, www.inspp.org.)

(The above article is from the September 1-15, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

Cancel the dance show and cheat a child. Nice

By John Doyle,
Reprinted from The Globe and Mail
Thursday, Sep. 15
 
The cancelling of a mainstream pop culture show may seem another gurgle from the sewer of corporate culture to some progressive youth and all those who reject TV in general, but it matters for the young people involved in the arts and also represents a more general, anti-democratic and anti-Canadian trend in the presentation of Canadian culture by the big TV transnationals.

The latest SYTYCDC star, Jordan Clark

On Sunday, the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I spent the evening at the broadcast of the finale of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Brought my neighbour’s boy Lucas, as I’ve done for each of the show’s four seasons.

It was a fine time. The finale was flashy, fevered and adored by the excited audience in the studio. Much screaming with joy, constant applause and cheering as the final six contestants danced and their time on the show was celebrated.

Host Leah Miller wore an astonishing dress that, she told us, weighed 20 pounds. The winners of the second and third series turned up and danced. Even Brian Williams, the veteran sports broadcaster and face of CTV’s Olympics coverage, was coaxed out of his seat and danced.

The best dancer won – Jordan Clark, a 19-year-old genius from Tottenham, Ont. About 1.6 million people voted in the final round. The runners-up leapt in the air and pumped their fists. It was over, the mad, summer-long ride of endless days of dance, training and rehearsing.

Afterward, backstage, while Lucas got his photo taken with the judges and dancers, the mood was oddly subdued. I knew that everyone knew what I’d been told, off the record, that So You Think You Can Dance Canada had been cancelled by CTV. There would be no fifth season. It didn’t matter how many people had voted or would watch the finale on TV.

It turned out that just under a million did – 930, 000 viewers. That news was officially announced on Tuesday, and it’s more than a shame. No matter how anyone spins the numbers, the dance show was far from over.  It aired twice a week this summer. The SYTYCDC performance shows averaged 1.06 million viewers and the results show 969,000. Those are more than respectable numbers for Canadian TV at any time of the year, but in the summer when there are fewer viewers, they are solid hit numbers.

CTV says the viewer numbers for the finale were down from last year, when 1.2 million watched. Yeah sure, but last year’s finale aired in late October when many more people are watching TV. Sunday’s finale also clashed with countless tenth anniversary of 9/11 specials.

 I can only suspect, but I do, that the truth is even more mundane even than the spinning of ratings numbers. The new owners of CTV, Bell Media, want to clear the decks of Canadian productions created by the old regime. The cancellation of SYTYCDC was revealed days after the cancellation of the Canadian comedy Dan For Mayor and weeks after Bravo! (another Bell Media channel) cancelled both Arts&Minds and Bravo!News, its flagship culture programs. There are no plans to replace the Bravo! programs or So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

In that context, the cancellation of SYTYCDC is decidedly more than a too-bad, the-show-is-over situation. A pattern emerges and the pattern is that of an assault on the culture. Broadcasting in Canada is not a right, it is a privilege. Giving back to the culture is a requirement of doing business. In this case it’s a matter of crunch the numbers with an agenda and crush the culture.

 So You Think you Can Dance Canada was not in the same category as the karaoke shows Canadian Idol and the upcoming Cover Me Canada. Nor was it a mirror image of the cheesy Battle of the Blades. It celebrated the art of dance. It encouraged young people, especially young men, to becomes professional dancers. As the National Ballet School told me on Wednesday, “From a broader perspective, the SYTYCD productions can only help normalize/popularize the image of boys in dance. We also believe that this show and other dance-reality shows have encouraged recreational dancers to join our Adult Ballet program.”

 Little Lucas, now 11, became not only a huge fan of the show but also of dance. SYTYCDC mattered in a manner that television rarely does. Now it’s gone. One child I know feels he has been cheated.

Nice work, TV bosses.

International Communist Review published

The second issue of the International Communist Review is published in a particularly crucial period of a deep capitalist economic crisis.

It is published in a period when the bourgeois attack on people’s rights escalates, the competition between monopolies and the inter-imperialist contradictions intensify. Under these conditions the discussion about socialism published in the following pages becomes particularly significant.

The historical era of transition from capitalism to socialism which was signaled by the great October Revolution in 1917 has not come to an end with the temporary defeat in the USSR and the other former socialist states in Europe. The October Socialist Revolution realised by the working class of Russia, under the guidance of the Bolshevik party, which was headed by Lenin, has been the greatest event in the 20th century and marked its beginning.

Capitalism in its imperialist stage, despite the immense wealth it accumulates in the hands of a small minority, cannot solve even a single problem of humanity. The necessity of socialism emerges from the very irreconcilable contradictions of the capitalist system, as a product of social development.

This revolutionary transition, which is necessary for the abolition of capitalist exploitation, cannot be accomplished through a series of reforms but though the revolutionary overthrow of capital’s power and the conquest of power by the working class in alliance with other popular strata; through the socialization of the concentrated means of production which are in the hands of monopolies. That is to say with the abolition of the private ownership of the concentrated means of production, the extension of socialist relations of production and of central planning in all the sectors of the economy begins, in this way the boundaries which capitalism imposed on the forces of production are successfully overcome.

Thus, the ground is prepared for a social development which meets the interests of the workers, who are the majority in society and for the scientific-technical achievements to serve the majority of the people. The construction of the new society will be based on the mobilization of the masses through the organs of the people’s state power and their various organizations. The vanguard action of the Communist Party will contribute to this direction. This historical process will pave the way for the full abolition of classes through the final elimination of the exploitation of man by man, the elimination of every form of social inequality and contradiction in the advanced communist society.

Read more by visiting http://www.iccr.gr/site/

Canadian Labour Congress join CFS, MPs and other voices in supports Cuban Five

Following Resolution GR-39 "Solidarity with Cubans on Trial," The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has agreed joined with a number of other Canadian organizations calling for Justice for the Cuban Five.

The CLC's resolution, passed at their 2011 convention, calls to "express our solidarity with the Cuban 5; and write to the United States' (US) President Obama asking him to allow visitation rights for the families of the Cuban 5 and urging him to immediately release the Cuban 5." Their letter is reprinted below.

The CLC joins with a number of other voices in support of the Five, from Canada. On Dec. 12th 2007, forty Bloc Québécois deputies and sixteen NDP Members of Parliament in Canada sent a letter to Canada's Foreign Minister speaking out in favour of the Cuban Five.

Shortly before he died in August, Jack Layton, leader of the NDP spoke at a solidarity event for the Cuban Five and said: "Hundreds of thousands of Canadians go to Cuba, but are not sufficiently aware of what faces the Cuban Five and their families. [...] This is the beginning of a campaign, and our Party will be part of it. How moved I am by your stories."

In addition to the labour movement the Canadian Federation of Students has called for the Five's immediate release. In a 2008 letter their National Chairperson wrote that "The ruling of the United Nations and Amnesty International confirms that the case of the Cuban 5 is a highly political trial that was thoroughly unfair and unjust. As such, we urge you to act immediately to allow visitation rights to the family of the Cuban Five and to release them from jail without delay."

Dear President Obama,

On behalf of 3.3 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), I am writing to protest the continued imprisonment of the Cuban 5 and to ask you to intervene so as to procure their release from prison and be allowed to return to their families in Cuba.

Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, and René Gonzalez have been imprisoned since 1998. René Gonzalez was released from prison last October but must carry out three years supervised probation in Miami. He was recently denied permission on humanitarian grounds to return to his country for at least two weeks to see his dying brother, Roberto.

These men were charged with multiple offences including conspiracy to commit espionage. In truth, they were in the United States unarmed and never posed a threat of any kind to U.S. national security.

They were in the United States to monitor the activities of Cuban exiles who, operating from bases in Miami, were planning violent actions against innocent people in Cuba. In fact they were trying to prevent more brutal acts against their country and save innocent lives. The continued incarceration of these Cuban patriots is morally indefensible.

I urge you to exercise the power of your office and grant a pardon to the Cuban Five, allowing them to return to their families in Cuba.

Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Libya lies: Armed gangs, oil and imperial gain

Nato bombing in Libya

Reprinted from rabble.ca

When the U.S. invaded Iraq, riding a pack of lies and monstrous manipulation of the entire U.S. elite, major news services, academics, and politicians from both "sides" of the spectrum lined up in a shameful cheerleading line and off they went to war. It was one of the most shameful chapters in the long history of shameful acts of U.S. imperial foreign policy.

It actually didn't take too long for dissenting voices to come out of the woodwork. The lies were exposed, the liars identified, the manipulation denounced.

But watching the sorry spectacle of media coverage of the tragic farce unfolding around Libya, one has to wonder if anyone will ever expose the lies and hubris that have run throughout this faux Arab spring.

To be sure as more journalists, aid workers and human rights representatives arrive in the country the more some of the obvious facts trickle out. The "freedom fighters" -- more like soccer hooligans with guns -- have looted dozens of arms depots of the Libyan military. According to Peter Bouckaert, of Human Rights Watch, "Every time a city falls, they end up being looted... Every facility we go to where there were surface-to-air missiles, they're gone."  

Just what will these lovers of democracy do with these weapons? The U.S. and EU might just start to worry that whoever buys them on the black market, they will eventually end up in the hands of al Qaeda or other militant groups. As NATO knows full well, some of the so-called rebels have ties to al Qaeda. Or perhaps the missiles will end up in the hands of the Taliban where they will be used to shoot down U.S. helicopters. Talk about blowback. Too bad the Americans have never quite grasped the meaning of irony.

The photos of the revolutionaries tell it all -- or at least enough to give any thoughtful observer pause. Virtually every photo of the victorious rebels show aggressive, undisciplined, young men armed to the teeth holding their guns high in the air (often firing randomly). I haven't seen a single photo or video clip with even one woman portrayed -- and hardly any men over 25.  

And while the western media repeatedly imply that the Nation Transitional Council is in control of these dangerous thugs and thieves the truth lies elsewhere. Several rebel groups have denounced the NTC and said they don't recognize its authority. So not only does the council not represent anyone, it doesn't even control its own "army." The NTC is little more than a group of greedy opportunists salivating at the thought of getting its hands on the billions in state funds that NATO is now handing over to them. Only with the constant disciplinary efforts of its NATO handlers does the council manage to maintain a semblance of decorum and credibility.

No one in the media mentions that Gadhafi didn't have billions of dollars stashed in vaults around the world for his personal use as others such as Mubarak did. To be sure Gadhafi and his family and closest associates lived in luxury. But the tens of billions illegally seized by Western countries was money belonging to the Libyan state and its national bank. NATO has effectively destroyed the Libyan government -- not just Gadhafi's regime. Tens of thousands of foreign workers have left the country -- many of whom were critical to the running of the country. Rebels have been accused of randomly executing black Africans, many of them students and workers. The contributions of these foreign workers are likely gone forever.

But none of this bothers the Canadian political elite and its intellectual hired guns. One of the most shameful examples -- there are countless -- is Lloyd Axworthy, the "highly respected" former foreign affairs minister under Jean Chretien. He penned an op- ed forThe Globe and Mail which could have been written on contract for the cabal now in power in Tripoli. A more simplistic and deliberately obfuscating piece is hard to imagine. Axworthy's article waxes on romantically about how the NATO (including Canada) bombing of Libya is a huge advance for the principle of Responsibility to Protect. This principle is NATO's ideological weapon that permits it to do whatever it likes. Axworthy was a key figure in getting it established at the United Nations in 1999-2000.

According to Axworthy, "We are seriously engaged in a resetting of the international order toward a more humane, just world." I predict that NATO's grotesque manipulation of the UN mandate to impose a no-fly zone to protect "civilians" (a violation Axworthy doesn't even mention) will in fact do more damage to the responsibility-to-protect principle than any similar action to date. It will tarnish the UN, too, which has allowed its mandate to be used for imperial gain. The unseemly rush by France, Britain and Italy in particular, to get their hands on Libyan oil, will soon be too obvious to cover up. The revolutionaries are no doubt busy signing deals handing over that previously nationalized resource to the neo-colonialists who put them in power -- robbing the real civilians of their birthright.

Who will take the "Responsibility to protect" Libyans from this new gang? Who will protect the people of Libya so that they continue to enjoy a literacy rate above 90 per cent, the lowest infant mortality rate and highest life expectancy of all of Africa, free medicare and education and the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent? Do the boys firing their guns in the air even have a clue that their living standards -- subsidized by nationalized oil -- were among the highest in Africa? Who will they blame when medical care disappears and their kids have to pay to go to school? Western, free-market democracy will come to Libya at a very high price when designed and delivered by the neo-colonial powers.

It's hard to know if the brain trust at NATO actually believed this whole thing would be over in a few weeks but what they did know, and what the Canadian media refuses to tell us, is that Libya was the biggest obstacle to the continued super-exploitation of Africa and its vast resources. On a whole number of fronts, Libya was using its oil wealth to gradually close the doors to the IMF, World Bank and the hegemony of the U.S. dollar in the economic domination of Africa.

If you want to paint a picture of the backrooms of NATO before the genuine Arab spring burst forth, imagine the power brokers sitting around oak tables trying to figure out a way to stop Gaddafi from ruining their decades long -- centuries, actually -- bonanza. Then imagine the surprise arrival Arab spring. What a gift and delivered just in time.

Africa's role as a giant pool of cheap resources was being threatened just as the U.S. and E.U. faced economic catastrophe because of their own financial deregulation policies. And China is investing billions in Africa -- but not just in resource extraction. It is helping African countries industrialize, the surest way to economic independence.

There's nothing NATO can do about China. But the other side of the independence coin was Gaddafi's determination to sever Africa's oppressive ties with Western financial institutions. Gaddafi was not only in the process of creating the African Investment Bank (providing interest-free loans) and the African Monetary Fund (to be centered in Cameroon) eliminating the role of the IMF, it was also in the planning stages of creating a single, gold currency for all of Africa seriously weakening the US by undermining the dollar. All the Libyan funds set aside for these pan-African projects were frozen by NATO and will now be handed over -- carefully, no doubt -- to the neo-colonial puppets installed in Tripoli. Gaddafi was also instrumental in killing AFRICOM, a new U.S. military command and control base intended to add military intimidation to American economic domination. Look for that initiative to be revived.

The implications of the conflict in Libya are thus just beginning to unfold. NATO will be mired in Libya for years to come to ensure its oil objectives are met and to manipulate "democratic elections" so its friends on the NTC can maintain control. While there has been a muted response so far from African countries and the African Union it will come sooner or later. They cannot fail to recognize that regime change in Libya was all about sabotaging pan-African unity.

Murray Dobbin is a guest senior contributing editor for rabble.ca, and has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for 40 years. He writes rabble's bi-weekly State of the Nation column, which is also found at The Tyee.