The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
reiterates its position in support of the legitimate and genuine
struggles of the people and workers of the Middle East and North Africa
for democracy, human dignity and social justice. In doing so, however,
we seek to exercise caution in the manner Western powers claim to be
advancing the struggle for democracy in that region.
"Humanitarian" US bombs being prepared for delivery in Libya.
In their own
imaginations, military occupation can deliver democracy to the masses.
Is it not the same doctrine that failed in Iraq before, Afghanistan
recently and is it not inevitably bound to fail in Libya?
This can be
best described as helicopter democracy, which disempowers the masses in
whose name the struggle for democracy is waged and renders them
spectators as foreign powers arrogate themselves the role of liberators,
in the process, relegating the masses and their role in their own
struggle.
It is very clear that the UN resolution fitted into a
well-designed scheme by the big powers that was deliberately set to
ensure military occupation and regional reconfiguration to further
assert imperialist domination and neoliberal economic orthodoxy in the
interest of profiteering at all costs for their giant oil companies. It
was further meant to ensure stage-managed "regime change" which sought
to impose regimes that would best service their interests as was the
case with Hosni Mubarak for a long time. International solidarity does
not mean foreign occupation or undermining the sovereign rights and
territorial integrity of any country and peoples, but supporting the
struggling masses to defeat an oppressor through their own struggle.
The
abuse of the UN system to advance narrow corporatist interests of
Western countries and their big multinationals who, for too long, have
been eager to secure for themselves the huge oil and natural gas
reserves in this part of the world, discredits the standing of the UN in
the eyes of the world. In particular, the double standards of the UN
Security Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are
shocking. The world is still waiting for action in relation to the war
crimes charges against Israel following the findings of the Goldstone
Report and we have not seen anything close to that, except for
continuous US blocking of any resolution holding Israel to account with
the full support of the EU.
In this regard, we believe that the
honesty of the UN in dealing with global problems is in doubt. We also
have not seen similar determination to deal with despots in Yemen, Saudi
Arabia and Bahrain, where people are being killed and imprisoned for
marching peacefully, state of emergencies have been declared and foreign
forces have been called to reinforce against peaceful activities for
democracy. Could this be explained by the fact that US oil supplies are
guaranteed by the existence of the despots running these countries, as
with the US military bases in this part of the world?
From
Western Sahara to Palestine and Libya foreign military and political
occupation is wrong and must be fought with all the determination
necessary. Wherever it happens, it threatens and substitute the genuine
struggles and role of the people in determining the future of their
countries.
