The Great Libyan Distraction

[Demeter]

http://www.iwallerstein.com/great-libyan-distraction/

The entire Libyan conflict of the last month – the civil war in Libya, the U.S.-led military action against Gaddafi – is neither about humanitarian intervention nor about the immediate supply of world oil. It is in fact one big distraction – a deliberate distraction – from the principal political struggle in the Arab world. There is one thing on which Gaddafi and Western leaders of all political views are in total accord. They all want to slow down, channel, co-opt, limit the second Arab revolt and prevent it from changing the basic political realities of the Arab world and its role in the geopolitics of the world-system.

To appreciate this, one has to follow what has been happening in chronological sequence. Although political rumblings in the various Arab states and the attempts by various outside forces to support one or another element within various states have been a constant for a long time, the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi on Dec. 17, 2010 launched a very different process.

It was in my view the continuation of the spirit of the world revolution of 1968. In 1968, as in the last few months in the Arab world, the group that had the courage and the will to launch the protest against instituted authority were young people. They were motivated by many things: the arbitrariness and cruelty and corruption of those in authority, their own worsening economic situation, and above all the insistence on their moral and political right to be a major part of determining their own political and cultural destiny. They have also been protesting against the whole structure of the world-system and the ways in which their leaders have been subordinated to the pressures of outside forces.

These young people were not organized, at least at first. And they were not always totally cognizant of the political scene. But they have been courageous. And, as in 1968, their actions were contagious. Very soon, in virtually every Arab state, without distinction as to foreign policy, they have threatened the established order. When they showed their strength in Egypt, still the key Arab state, everyone began to take them seriously. There are two ways of taking such a revolt seriously. One is to join it and try thereby to control it. And one is to take strong measures to quash it. Both have been tried....

REMEMBER THAT IN THE US, A STRING OF ASSASSINATIONS PUT A STOP TO THE LOCAL REVOLUTION...ALTHOUGH THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT DID PREVAIL.

[Uncle Joe]

1. I'm more optimistic about the long term outcome of Libya and

if this is an attempted distraction by the Saudis, et al to take away from the Arab People's Renaissance/Revolution in those nations, it won't work, at least not for long.

The world is different now than it was during the centralized 60s when movements could so easily be hijacked or diverted by eliminating small groups of key players at the top, message control is not as manipulable anymore.

There is an awakening taking place and there isn't any gong back.

Thanks for the thread, Demeter.

[Demeter]

2. My Pleasure, Uncle Joe

I, on the other hand, have no optimism about anything. Even Spring. This may be another "Year without a Summer", at least in Michigan.

The times have changed, but the goals and game plans of the Obscenely Wealthy and their mercenaries have not. It will take overwhelming force: social, political, economic, and even military, to overcome the old, bad habits of a few. I am hopeful that in South America, the Middle East, and Africa, those forces have arisen. At least for the sake of the people there.

[formercia]

4. Decentralization of power in the protest community

When there are no 'Leaders', as what happened in Egypt, the PTB does not know how to respond. How do you attack a non-violent movement without losing credibility?
A person with nothing to lose, has nothing to lose.

[DemReadingDU]

3. I thought it was distracting us from Japan

and the consequences of the tsunami knocking out its tech exports, and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

Also a distraction from the ongoing bankster shenanigans.

[bemildred]

5. Fear and loathing in the House of Saud

Early last week, US President Barack Obama sent a letter to Saudi King Abdullah, delivered in person in Riyadh by US National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon. This happened less than a week after Pentagon head Robert Gates spent a full 90 minutes face to face with the king.

These two moves represented the final seal of approval of a deal struck between Washington and Riyadh even before the voting of UN Security Council resolution 1973 (see Exposed: the Saudi-US Libya deal, Apr 1, Asia Times Online). Essentially, the Obama administration will not say a word about how the House of Saud conducts its ruthless repression of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain and across the Persian Gulf. No ''humanitarian'' operations. No R2P (''responsibility to protect''). No no-fly or no-drive zones.

Progressives of the world take note: the US-Saudi counter-revolution against the Great 2011 Arab Revolt is now official.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD21Ak01.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. What was achieved in 1968 outside the US?

If anything, I'd say the US was the only country in which demonstrations in 1968 achieved something - a strong anti-Vietnam war movement. The Prague Spring was quashed by the USSR; nothing much changed in France; if Wallerstein thinks the events in Arab countries this year are comparable, then he seems pretty pessimistic.

[KoKo]

7. Interesting. k&r.