Libya : People's power + vast oil reserves = ???

Interestingly enough, popular committees are running the eastern
cities of Libya and are attempting to coordinate their actions. That's
one of the many good things to come out of Gadaffi's downfall : people's
assemblies have become tools ready to be used by genuine ... people.
But to what extent will the new tribal chiefs, military officers, former ministers, jurists, imams and "intellectuals" that have recently come to prominence be ultimately accountable before and controlled by the popular assemblies in their respective localities ? And what about
Socialism in such an oil-rich country ?

For the time being, each city's local council is ensuring the arrival of food
and supplies, setting up communications, getting local electricty plants
to function normally and providing for their local defense needs by having army
units and anti-Gaddafi fighters organize themselves into a coherent
local defense militia.
Moreover, Socialism appears to be an accepted idea, as all citizens
are aware that they get their wealth from oil, and that the proceeds of
such wealth should come back to the people.
So despite all the flux of civil war, the citizens of Libya have got two
ideas clearly in mind : a) local government answerable to the people and
b) ownership of the billions of dollars of proceeds from oil.
They feel Gaddafi failed them on both a) and b). But, alas, once a new
pro-Western government comes into place, they will once again be
deprived from a) and b). But maybe that's why there is so much chaos in
Libya, as the people do have a pretty good idea of a) and b) and will
not be relinquishing their weapons soon.
Libya could become an interesting experiment in people's power. If, of course,
a new government and corrupt officials intent on stealing the oil wealth for themselves
(and foreign interests) don't step in and take charge. Let's see how the class
struggle unfolds in Libya.

Nationalistic game

The message has been scrambled. Can you help the
Nationalist/Anti-Imperialist head of state put the pieces back into
their proper sequence so that he can get the message out to the people ?

"to be convened over the coming months"
"yes, mistakes have been made,"
"the next meeting of the State Council and the proposed legislative
changes"
"we accept our part of responsibility for the mistakes"
"within the framework of the constitution"
"they will be severely punished, to the full extent of the law"
"orders were not carried out as they should have"
"and we acknowledge the seriousness of the mistakes"
"Foreign states are working behind the scenes to divide us"
"will strive to correct these mistakes"
"some high-ranking officials are guilty of corruption"
"More freedom will be granted and the legitimate demans of the masses
will be addressed"
"I would like all citizens to be patient"
"the people must not fall for these ploys mastermined by foreign
imperialist media"
"we must trust in the strength of our people, united, and to the
valiance of our armed forces, to weather this storm"
"and to return to their work duties knowing that they are helping build
a new, greater country"

Social networks and "leaderless" revolutions

Leaderless Revolution sounds amazing. Sounds like Council Communism come
true : workers organize THEIR OWN revolution, self-manage their own
affairs, take over from the bosses and run the factories in the
interests of the Working Class. The dream of so many Revolutionary
Syndicalists (IWW, CGT, CNT, ...) come true.

However, "lederless" does mean "rudderless". I mean, workers
demonstrating for bread and an end to a promised lifetime of
humiliation, powerlessness and misery, are conscious of who their enemy
is : the bourgeoisie. But they also need to be aware of their own
strength, of their capacity to organize by themselves and of their
ability to REPLACE THE BOURGEOISIE. Such a degree of class consciousness
emerges from the class struggle, is primarily fostered by union activity
empowering people in the workplace to say f*** you to the boss, and
necessitates organizing from the bottom-up throughout a whole nation.
Workers assemble, debate, get info from other localities, debate, call
for regional assemblies, debate, draw up proposals, debate, send these
proposals to the regional assemblies, etc.
Twitter can immensely assist in this task, by making the flow of
information bi-directional. A clear picture of what is going on and the
contributions of each region can rapidly enable workers to form a
picture of the global situation and further their local debates. How
many tanks ? How many weapons ? Which local lackey has fled ? Which
factories are in revolt ? What are the international reactions ? Who is
trying to betray the revolution ?
So social networks are forging the demise of Capitalism (I'm not
kidding). They are the main force driving the increased social
inter-connectedness of workers as opposed to the Capitalist forces
striving to individualize, separate, monitor, transform each worker into
an interchangeable automaton. Marx knew that the social organization
necessary for Capitalism was at the same time the ultimate limit of that
mode of production. Capitalism brings together billions of individuals,
interconnects them through production, and yet limits their dealings
with each other by mediating them through market forces. That is a
contradiction. No man is an island anymore. By providing a means for
workers to communicate INSTANTLY the world over, Capitalism is extending
the process of bringing together disparate producers into a single
factory that meant that workers became suddenly aware of their potential
in the late 19th century. The whole world has been brought into a single
factory, with manufacturing in China, retail in California, accountancy
in Bangalore, advertising in London, ... But now, workers can
communicate with each other, something Marx would have found wonderful
in the extreme.
Soon twitting will be used for precisely that purpose : to galvanize a
revolution, to bring re-enforcements where they are needed, to relay
calls for workers' councils, to express the rage and frustration of
millions, to re-kindle hope, to help a factory restart production under
workers' management, to thwart secret dealings by the bosses and the
army, to indicate which army units are defecting, where weapons are to
be found, to organize the mass encirclement of Army barracks by hundreds
of thousands of civilians...
The only card THEY can play is always the same : Nationalism. Listen to
US, trust in US, obey US. OUR trump cards are of course CLASS and
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY.

Workers of the World : Follow the Egyptian example !

Disgusted by Obama's speech on Egypt ? "We have always had a strong
relationship with Egypt" and "We will work with their [the Egyptian
people's] government for a future of freedom, justice and democracy".

Posted on Marxmail by Manuel Barrera :

Obama's and Secretary Clinton's statements are codewords for calling on Mubarak (or whomever is set up to replace Mubarak) to conduct a crackdown on the insurgent masses, especially any sectors that challenge the U.S./Egypt collaboration that maintains the Israel regime. There is a method to these seemingly innocuous statements--position oneself for supporting any military or oligarchical factions to suppress in the name of "curbing violence" the rising revolutionary tide soon to spread even further.


Solidarity actions, no matter how small are important work, right now, to register that there are supporters of the Egyptian people (and Tunisian, Yemeni, Jordanian, and other peoples of the Middle East). In the U.S., there are actions so far called for tomorrow in San Francisco ( NOON gathering at Market & Montgomery), Chicago (2 pm, Egyptian Consulate), and online petition efforts (http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_egypt/?rc=fb). There must be others (U.K., Ireland, France?) and I wonder how Cuba and the Latin American states are responding?


Here is a chance to register our support to a revolutionary upsurge that speaks to our own problems of economic crisis and of the attacks on democratic rights [in "post-industrialized"
nations"].

These are times made for us !

La khowf ba’ad al-yowm !

I certainly hope that workers' councils will evolve in Tunisia, but I don't know if they will/can come out of neighborhood watches.
The mass movement of unemployed workers must continue to push - through both daily rallies and through conscious efforts at self-organization.

Wild cat strikes have long been a favourite of Tunisian workers, who would occupy the buildings of the main UGTT buildings to force the union to take up their grievances.
In the last two decades, many wild cat strikes prompted prolonged confrontation with riot police and the mukhabarat, who always managed to cordon off and contain the unrest (kids throwing stones, workers on indefinite strike, women camping in front of ministries) to certain
sectors.
To escape from the terrible repression that inevitably followed such uprisings, many Tunisians workers were then forced to flee abroad and to try to make their way to "fortress Europe".
Those who were deported back to Tunisia were tortured by the regime.
Those who managed to remain in Europe joined the many Tunisian Socialist organizations in exile.
So there is a very strong tradition of workers' solidarity and a culture of voicing grievances in Tunisia. That's why the Ben Ali regime was so determined to stamp out any dissidence and that's why it was an extremely repressive police state. The Mukhabarat, the sinister Tunisian
secret police, was/is very skilled at containing dissidence and instilling fear. No wonder the slogan on the streets yesterday was :"No More Fear !" La khowf ba’ad al-yowm !
The tourism industry is/was a constant concern for Tunisian leaders. It is thought that 80% of Tunisian taxi drivers were/are Mukhabarat informers and a similar percentage of Hotel owners. The Mukhabarat also maintains/maintained an impressive network of informants throughout
Tunisia and extensively monitored all cell phone and internet-based communications.

The regime and the private interests that are closely intertwined with its very existence will now try to appease the crowds with promises of FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS, and by coopting a few moderate left-wing opposition figures from the many political leaders in exile.
France supported Ben Ali to the bitter end, and will now put its weight behind an "interim" government, providing Tunisian troops with weaponry and funding. France previously announced it was ready to send military advisors and special units to "help any new Tunisian government cope".
The old CDR regime will probably have to change its name, despite the presence of a few hard-core "loyalists", but the same nexus of corrupt politicians and financial interests intends to continue dominating the country, with French help.
France's role in Tunisian history has always been pivotal and will unfortunately remain so (the entire Tunisian elite was and is still being educated in Paris). I really hope Tunisian workers (either employed or unemployed) continue to push hard and manage to overthrow
the whole establishment.
So far the homes of corrupt businessmen have been set alight, those notoriously connected to the Ben Ali family. The Army now seems to have stopped such outbursts.