Resistance grows to US-led neoliberalism

GLOBAL resistance to the US-led neoliberal empire has intensified over the last few days.

Although the protests in the Islamic world have been sparked by controversy over an anti-Muslim film, the roots are clearly much deeper.

And the momentum caused by the unprecedented wave of fury at the USA and allies like Israel, the UK and Germany, is unlikely to fade fast.

On September 11, an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, left the US ambassador dead, while an attack on the American embassy in Cairo saw the Stars and Stripes torn down and an Islamist banner hoisted in its place.

On September 13 protesters broke into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, and the next day protesters stormed the US embassy complex in Tunis.  There were seven deaths at protests worldwide, following Muslim Friday Prayers.

Monday's protests included 3,000 protesters in the Philippines burning US and Israeli flags in the southern city of Marawi, and hundreds of protesters facing off with police in Jakarta, Indonesia, throwing stones and petrol bombs. There have been other protests in Lebanon, Kashmir and Pakistan.

Angry demonstrators in the Afghan capital, Kabul, fired guns, torched police cars and shouted anti-US slogans. And 15 Taliban fighters who fought their way on to Helmand's main airbase destroyed six jets worth millions of pounds in an assault that was the start of a bloody weekend for NATO forces – in 48 hours six US and UK troops were killed by Aghan "allies".

And meanwhile the Occupy Wall Street protests are back with a vengeance, with dozens of arrests in New York on Monday, #S17.

 

Libyan protesters storm government offices

LIBYANS are rising up against the new western-backed regime and moving towards a real grassroots revolution.

Protesters ransacked the Transitional National Council's offices in Benghazi on Sunday, with a crowd of mostly young men throwing a grenade, smashing windows and forcing their way into the building while the council’s chairman, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, was inside.

Reports the New York Times: "For months, youth groups with a range of complaints have been protesting against the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, the eastern city whose protests sparked the nine-month revolt and which once served as the rebel capital.

"Protests have cropped up elsewhere, too, including in Tripoli, the capital, where activists have erected a small tent city across from the prime minister’s office.

"Seeking to contain the fallout from the attack, Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the transitional council’s deputy chief, resigned Sunday, telling the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera, 'My resignation is for the benefit of the nation and is required at this stage.'

"Speaking to reporters in Benghazi on Sunday, Mr. Abdel-Jalil warned that continued protests could lead the country down a perilous path and pleaded with protesters to give the government more time."

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Libyans protest against new regime

PEOPLE in Libya are rising up against the regime foisted on them by foreign powers following the overthrowal of Gaddafi.

In the words of Twitter user Dima Khatib: "Revolutionary Friday is back in #Libya .. Yes #Feb17 is alive and  kickin till the people get what they fought for."

There are reports of tens of thousands of Libyans protesting in Benghazi and Tripoli accusing the National Transitional Council of "stealing the revolution."

The protesters demand transparency, accountability and payment of wages in a movement that connects democratic and economic demands.

Business Week says they feel the ruling National Transitional Council is being too secretive about its membership structure and finances.

“We sacrificed a lot in this war,” Salwa Bugaighis, a lawyer in Benghazi and a former member of the NTC before she resigned in August over a lack of transparency in its decision- making process, said in an interview.

“We want democracy.” Bugaighis said protesters set up a tented encampment today at Benghazi’s Maidan al-Shagera, or Tree Square, and will not leave until the NTC enacts new rules on transparency and releases the names and resumes of all its members.
 
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Arab drive for freedom cannot be stopped

CRACKDOWNS on protest merely postpone the day of reckoning – Arabs now have a shared, unstoppable drive for freedom.

That's the message from blogger and journalist Brian Whitaker in an article on the Guardian website.

He writes: "The fact that autocratic regimes in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen are fighting back with lethal force should surprise no one.

"The more surprising thing is that Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt – two leaders previously regarded as firmly entrenched – were toppled after such a short struggle.

"Nor does the fightback mean that the outlook for democracy is dimming across much of the Middle East. Looking at the region as a whole, the prospects have never been brighter.

"Even if Gaddafi does succeed in quelling the Libyan uprising, it will be no more than a temporary setback for the wider Arab revolution: battles are being fought in too many places and on too many different fronts for anyone to stop it now.

"An important factor in this is Arabs' sense of a common identity: they are aware of what is happening in neighbouring countries and draw inspiration from it with regard to their own situation.

"The sight of grandees from the old regimes in Tunisia and Egypt being arrested on sundry charges of corruption, money laundering and murder gives them hope and encouragement.

"Similarly, the opening up of free media in those countries is having an effect elsewhere: in Jordan last week, 600 journalists demonstrated against government interference and censorship.

"This kind of cross-fertilisation (or infection, as the regimes see it) is happening in many areas.

"Toppling two of the Middle East's tyrants in little more than two months is no mean achievement, and all the other regimes have been severely shaken – even those that claim to be secure.

"Initially, that raised hopes extraordinarily high and the regimes' fightback has injected a dose of realism. It does not mean the revolution is failing or fizzling out but it does show that many people were expecting too much too soon.

"The far-reaching changes that the Arab countries need are social as much as political – and that will take time. Even in Tunisia and Egypt there are protracted struggles ahead.

"But the old regimes cannot survive indefinitely. A few years from now most of them will be gone or transformed beyond recognition."

Stay out of Libya, USA is warned

LIBYAN revolutionary Muhammad min Libya has written on the Guardian website that Libya is united in popular revolution and the USA and its allies should not interfere.

He says: “We welcome a no-fly zone, but the blood of Libya’s dead will be wasted if the west curses our uprising with failed intervention”

Despite all the violence and bloodshed, Libyans have high hopes. Gaddafi and Saif’s threats, he says, backfired as everyone across Libya went out to assert national unity. All Libyans feel it is only a matter of time before Gaddafi regime is gone.

“This happy ending, however, is marred by a fear shared by all Libyans; that of a possible western military intervention to end the crisis,” he says.

“So as the calls for foreign intervention grow, I’d like to send a message to western leaders: Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy.

"This is a priceless opportunity that has fallen into your laps, it’s a chance for you to improve your image in the eyes of Arabs and Muslims. Don’t mess it up.

"All your previous programmes to bring the east and the west closer have failed, and some of them have made things even worse. Don’t start something you cannot finish, don’t turn a people’s pure revolution into some curse that will befall everyone.”

Extraordinary battle for a free Libya

LIBYA today stands on the brink of freedom, with its extraordinary popular uprising on the brink of defeating the corrupt and murderous Colonel Gaddafi.

Large parts of the North African country have already liberated themselves from state control, with UK anarchist blogger Ian Bone suggesting Benghazi, in particular, resembles revolutionary Barcelona in 1936.

But Gaddafi retains control of his capital and before Tripoli falls, nobody can be sure that the Libyan revolution will match the success of those in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

This is the bloodiest revolt yet, with those troops and mercenaries still loyal to Gaddafi - a close friend of Berlusconi just across the Mediterranean - not hesitating to mow down protesters in the streets.

The courage of those Libyan revolutionaries prepared to fight bullets with rocks must surely be an inspiration to the whole world for years to come.

For latest news see live coverage from Al Jazeera English, the February 17 website and the feb17 hashtag on Twitter.

Protests spread to Libya and Jordan

RIOTING has broken out in Libya, as ripples from the Tunisia Revolution spread out across the Arab world.

The confrontation, posted on YouTube, was sparked by anger over lack of housing under the authoritarian Gaddafy regime.

Gaddafy showed his fear of revolt spreading, when he declared in a speech: "I am very pained by what is happening in Tunisia.

"Tunisia now lives in fear ... Families could be raided and slaughtered in their bedrooms and the citizens in the street killed as if it was the Bolshevik or the American revolution."

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 people staged protests across Jordan in "a day of rage" to protest against escalating food prices and unemployment, reports The Guardian.

And Ahram Online adds: "Jordanians will protest Sunday, at 4:00pm in front of the House of Representatives against high prices, the secretary of the Jordanian News Agency, Hala Al-Hadidi, told Ahram Online.

"The protest is organised by the High Coordinating Committee for the parties of the national opposition and call for the resignation of the Prime minister, Samir Al-Refai, according to an opposition website, JFRA news."