Our Life: The Characteristics of Tyranny
Published in al-Hayat al-Gadida
(Palestine) on 2 March 2011
by Hafiz al-Barghouti (link to
original)
When Libby voiced his opposition, responding on one of the channels to an American statement that said exile was a possible option for Gadhafi, it was music to my ears. The answer we were hoping to hear from Washington was that from now on they would remain silent. Libyan leaders of the revolution said the same thing in Benghazi in response to statements made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while she was in contact with members of the opposition in Libya.
The people of Benghazi raised giant signs against foreign intervention and perhaps against American military movements in the Mediterranean Sea, which is American fanfare done to deprive the Libyans of their revolution and to include the new regime in America’s melting pot.
We all know that Gadhafi gave Americans and their companies the majority of Libyan oil and deposited $30 billion worth of investments into American banks. In addition, Gadhafi also put Libya’s nuclear reactor on a boat and shipped it to the United States. He also did the same thing with European countries in which he put investments. Therefore there was shock at the West’s denial of these facts. The West has its own interests and wants to maintain them in the present and in the future. They are not concerned with the interests of the Libyan people, which Gadhafi has denied over decades by using false promises and by governing with childishness, dispersing money, companies, oil, and control of the army to his sons.
The Libyan people are not limited to a trusteeship being imposed upon them by Washington, France and Britain. These countries insert themselves into Arab revolutions when they want to dampen them and stop a new Arab age from arising and curb total liberation.
The contrast between the rulers and the revolutionaries is the same as that between revolutions and the colonial powers themselves. Revolutions may not be left up to the goodwill of Western colonizers, because they ultimately don’t want what is best for the Arab people; they want the ability to continue to plunder and loot Arab resources for their own benefit.
American credibility has been nonexistent in the eyes of the Arabs for decades. And the current U.S. administration is the worst in history with regard to its compliance to the wishes of Israel. Therefore, the fall of the despotic Arab regimes equals the fall of the dependence on the colonial powers. The scourge that pained nations succeeded in causing subordination. The current revolutions will not achieve their goals until they gain their freedom from Western dependence.
Western governments appear to be supporting the revolutions, but in reality they want to squash them and create a new regime that will allow them to continue playing their same role. Freedom is not only about rising above tyrannical regimes but also about rising above the dependence on colonial powers.
We see that the West, especially the United States, measures their positions concerning revolutions in the Arab world based on the interests of Israel. If it expects that these interests will continue as they have, they will express their agreement with the revolution. If it doubts that there will be a change, it works on containing the revolution and might even quell it before it starts.
These are popular revolutions; they are not about a certain group of people, a handful of officers or politicians. The people are able to rise up, even if the revolutions have veered off course. The Arab people knew the way, and they will no longer consider the fate of the party leaders or the military as a reason to exercise control over their own destiny. They want radical change in the form of freedom from foreign dependence. Without that, the coups will be unable to advance.
Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi says in his book “The Nature of Despotism” that “the fear of a tyrant from the indignation of his people is far more than their fear of his harm, because he knows what he deserves from his people and their fear stems from ignorance. His fear stems out of his disability and their fear is from the illusion that they are cowards. He fears losing his life and his power, while his people only fear a miserable life. Usually a tyrant’s life ends in complete insanity. I said complete because a tyrant is always foolish and if it so happens that a tyrant is not foolish, he will quickly die or go crazy.” I could not agree more, al-Kawakibi.
The people of Benghazi raised giant signs against foreign intervention and perhaps against American military movements in the Mediterranean Sea, which is American fanfare done to deprive the Libyans of their revolution and to include the new regime in America’s melting pot.
We all know that Gadhafi gave Americans and their companies the majority of Libyan oil and deposited $30 billion worth of investments into American banks. In addition, Gadhafi also put Libya’s nuclear reactor on a boat and shipped it to the United States. He also did the same thing with European countries in which he put investments. Therefore there was shock at the West’s denial of these facts. The West has its own interests and wants to maintain them in the present and in the future. They are not concerned with the interests of the Libyan people, which Gadhafi has denied over decades by using false promises and by governing with childishness, dispersing money, companies, oil, and control of the army to his sons.
The Libyan people are not limited to a trusteeship being imposed upon them by Washington, France and Britain. These countries insert themselves into Arab revolutions when they want to dampen them and stop a new Arab age from arising and curb total liberation.
The contrast between the rulers and the revolutionaries is the same as that between revolutions and the colonial powers themselves. Revolutions may not be left up to the goodwill of Western colonizers, because they ultimately don’t want what is best for the Arab people; they want the ability to continue to plunder and loot Arab resources for their own benefit.
American credibility has been nonexistent in the eyes of the Arabs for decades. And the current U.S. administration is the worst in history with regard to its compliance to the wishes of Israel. Therefore, the fall of the despotic Arab regimes equals the fall of the dependence on the colonial powers. The scourge that pained nations succeeded in causing subordination. The current revolutions will not achieve their goals until they gain their freedom from Western dependence.
Western governments appear to be supporting the revolutions, but in reality they want to squash them and create a new regime that will allow them to continue playing their same role. Freedom is not only about rising above tyrannical regimes but also about rising above the dependence on colonial powers.
We see that the West, especially the United States, measures their positions concerning revolutions in the Arab world based on the interests of Israel. If it expects that these interests will continue as they have, they will express their agreement with the revolution. If it doubts that there will be a change, it works on containing the revolution and might even quell it before it starts.
These are popular revolutions; they are not about a certain group of people, a handful of officers or politicians. The people are able to rise up, even if the revolutions have veered off course. The Arab people knew the way, and they will no longer consider the fate of the party leaders or the military as a reason to exercise control over their own destiny. They want radical change in the form of freedom from foreign dependence. Without that, the coups will be unable to advance.
Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi says in his book “The Nature of Despotism” that “the fear of a tyrant from the indignation of his people is far more than their fear of his harm, because he knows what he deserves from his people and their fear stems from ignorance. His fear stems out of his disability and their fear is from the illusion that they are cowards. He fears losing his life and his power, while his people only fear a miserable life. Usually a tyrant’s life ends in complete insanity. I said complete because a tyrant is always foolish and if it so happens that a tyrant is not foolish, he will quickly die or go crazy.” I could not agree more, al-Kawakibi.