US, UK and France: supporting dictatorships, free fire zones & no fly zones
"Their sympathy for the Libyan people is entirely false; they are driven mainly by a lust for Libyan oil. The record of these governments in opposing the aspirations of the Palestinian people for freedom, democracy and independence fits entirely with their long-term record of opposition to the massive struggles of Arab people to shake off Western domination of the region and its resources."
In Yemen, the pro-Western dictatorship of Ali Abdullah Saleh has carried out another massacre, this time of over fifty democracy demonstrators, in the capital, Sanaa. The US Government condemned 'the violence' and called for 'dialogue'.
Israeli violence and land theft against the Palestinian Arab people continues with US Government support for Israel. The people of Palestine, both in Gaza and the West Bank, continue under a brutal US-backed Israeli blockade/occupation, imposed after Palestinians voted in democratic elections.
Determined mass resistance continues in both Yemen and Bahrain, despite the bloody violence of the regimes. Despite a fight-back by those who benefitted from the old regimes, the democratic revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia are moving forward, cleansing the society of the corrupt old ruling parties and secret police networks. Public opposition is growing across the Arab world. Palestinians continue to resist Israeli crimes committed against them daily.
The US, UK and France backed the Egyptian and Tunisian dictators until the last minute before their fall to democratic revolutions; they now present themselves to their own people as friends of 'democracy' in Libya.
These same powers authorised and supplied Israel during its massacres in Gaza, in Lebanon in 2006, and prevented UN Security Council resolutions criticising Israel's massacres. They even supported Israel's massacre of Turkish aid workers on the high seas.
They now claim that 'humanitarian' concerns are behind moves to intervene militarily in Libya against Gaddafi's military thugs. We are asked to forget the mass killings of Iraqis and devastation of that bleeding country, where they invaded to secure control of oil, under the guise of protecting the Iraqi people from another brute, Saddam Hussein.
The Libyan dictatorship is attacking the centres of the democratic uprising in Libya, using the vast stockpiles of weapons previously supplied by European companies. A people fighting for democracy and freedom against a thug such as Gaddafi has the right to accept help from any source they choose. The fact remains, as the record from Sykes-Picot to Obama will show, that the UK and France, together with the US, have always been determined opponents of democracy in the Middle East and North Africa, and long-term supporters of cruel dictatorships.
Their sympathy for the Libyan people is entirely false; they are driven mainly by a lust for Libyan oil. The record of these governments in opposing the aspirations of the Palestinian people for freedom, democracy and independence fits entirely with their long-term record of opposition to the massive struggles of Arab people to shake off Western domination of the region and its resources.
Mick Napier, Chair & Jan Benvie, Vice Chair
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
19 March 2011