There is an old saying that when you shake hands with the devil you shouldn't be surprised when you lose your hand. For Moammar Qadhafi that saying has proven devastatingly true and as it now stands he is in danger of losing far more than his hand if the hodgepodge of rebels that, with the assistance of NATO, ran him from power have their way when and if they capture him. The Wests imperial intervention in Libya, under the guise of humanitarian assistance, closes the door on the West's rehabilitation of Moammar Qadhafi.
The assassinations of Anwar Al-Awlaki, his 16 year old son, and Samir Khan, all American citizens, by a CIA drone strike in Yemen in September has ignited a debate (albeit a small one) about the legality of the President ordering the assassination of American citizens in the age of the war on terror. In theory extra judicial murder/assassination is prohibited by the constitution's due process clause that states no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law yet in practice extra judicial murder and assassination has been a common feature in American history, particularly within communities of color. Whether it was the state sponsored terrorism of the Southern states government officials murdering civil rights activists or present day police departments routinely murdering unarmed civilians with impunity. In the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police murdered 17 civilians within a one year span, many of those murdered were unarmed and under suspicious circumstances i.e. a gun mysteriously appears beside the body of the victim or the victim had a criminal record therefore he must have done something wrong to deserve being shot 20 times. Communities of color have struggled in vain to hold police accountable for these extra judicial murders but only suffer disappointment as Civilian Review Commissions, designed in theory to hold police accountable, condone these murders as justifiable homicide. When a police officer is finally prosecuted for murdering an unarmed civilian the community suffers more pain and humiliation as the accused cop is often acquitted or found guilty of a lesser degree of murder and given a slap on the wrist.
“The soldier has to be the baddest and strongest of our kind: calm, sure, self possessed and completely familiar with the fact that the only thing that stands between Blackmen and a violent death are the fast break, quick draw and snap shot.” – Comrade George L. Jackson, “Blood in My Eye”
by Robert Saleem Holbrook
"The emancipation of women is not an act of charity, the result of a humanitarian , or compassionate attitude. The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the revolution, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition for its victory. The main objective of the revolution is to destroy the system of exploitation and build a new society which releases the potentialities of human beings.
-Samora Machel
On the evening of January 25, 2011 in anticipation of a protest planned at Tahrir Square a 26 year old Egyptian women named Asmaa Mahfouz released an on-line video announcing "I, a girl, am going down to Tahrir Square, and l will stand alone. And I'll hold up a banner. Perhaps people will show some honor..." The following day on January 26 tens of thousands of Egyptians responded to her announcement by occupying Tahrir Square and in two weeks of protests, street battles and marches against government forces and thugs backed by the regime forced the ouster of the dictator Mubarak, the strongman of the Middle East. The world watched in awe as a people long oppressed by their own government took a stand against tyranny and brutality to assert their dignity and rights as free men and women. To quote Asmaa they "showed some honor" and for a moment inspired the world.
by Robert Saleem Holbrook
“Trust me,” said my attorney confidently, “you’re young with no juvenile detention record, the judge and district attorney will take that into consideration. The death penalty or life without parole is not an option for a juvenile ‘lookout’ to a homicide. You’ll be all right.” Those were my attorney’s words a couple hours before I was sentenced to life without parole for being a ‘lookout’ to a drug-related homicide. I stood there and listened as the judge dispassionately stated that he was not bound by law to take into consideration my age and immaturity in determining the sentence imposed upon me. I honestly believe I would have encountered more sympathy from a hungry pack of tigers than from the judge that sentenced me to LWOP for a crime I participated in, unknowingly at that, at the age of 16. To be straight, I’ve encountered more sympathy from mass murders, rapists and vicious psychopaths in the 18 years I’ve been imprisoned than a child offender will encounter in a Pennsylvania courtroom when charged as an “adult” for committing or participating in a homicide. He or she could not encounter a more ruthless predator than the prosecutor and judge who will stand there and argue with a straight face that the child standing in front of them is not a child but rather an “adult offender” trapped in a child’s body. Before they will even come to develop their sense of humanity and individuality a child offender will stand there and listen, vainly attempting to comprehend, as their humanity and identity as an adolescent is stripped away in a courtroom dedicated to upholding the law and preserving the rights of all people.
by Robert Saleem Holbrook
"I have slain Pharaoh" were the words of the Egyptian military officer who lead rebel army commandos that assassinated former Egyptian dictator Anwar Sadat while he was reviewing a military parade in 1981 for selling his country out to the West and abandoning the Palestinian people's struggle for independence. On February 11, 2011 Egypt's latest dictator, Hosni Mubarak, who replaced Sadat in 1982 and ruled for 30 years as a modem Egyptian Pharaoh, was pushed out of power by a people's revolt inspired by the January people's revolt of Tunisia that ended the dictatorship of Zine Ben Ali who ruled Tunisia for over 20 years. Mubarak ruled Egypt unchallenged for 30 years and was considered America’s Man in the Middle East, he was also America's partner in terror, allowing his country to be used in the C.l.A.'s rendition program the United States used to transfer so-called terrorist suspects to be tortured for information useful to the U.S. war of terror. Mubarak‘s regime relentlessly tortured and imprisoned members of the opposition in Egypt and according to a classified U.S. diplomatic cable revealed by Wikileaks torture was reported to be so widespread and epidemic that it effected every layer of Egyptian society. Under Mubarak Egypt also received over 2 Billion dollars in U.S. aid, 70% of it is allotted to the Egyptian military which the U.S. used to prop up Mubarak's corrupt regime and the military equipment was aimed not at external enemies but rather at its own people.
Throughout its brief but dramatic history the United States has employed an arsenal of myths to create the impression in the minds of its citizens and the world that it is unique and superior among nations and peoples of the world. These myths played an important role in the early expansion of the United States from a republic formed from 13 colonies to the international Goliath that new straddles the world.
For decades defenders of the Palestinian peoples right to establish a state of their own have had to face the inevitable question that is raised by defenders of the Israeli state that occupies Palestinian land. That question is: "Does Israel Have The Right To Exist"?
A philosopher once said patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. I always took that quote with a grain of salt and never gave it much thought until recent events brought the quote to the forefront of my mind. As the two ruling parties continue to contend for power within this country, the political and cultural right have adopted a battle cry of “take America back,” as if a foreigner occupies the White House.
When it comes to the two political parties in this country I’ve always identified with Malcolm’s statement that the difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is like the difference between a wolf and a fox (no disrespect to the wolf and fox). I don’t believe either party serves the interests of the people and instead are more interested in maintaining their stranglehold on electoral politics. That said I can’t help but trip out over the hypocrisy of the “ultra-conservative family values” wing of the Republican Party.
