The New Libya

Back when I was on Twitter I read some commentary from the Black Intelligentsia [sic] in support of NATO *cough* US *cough* intervention in Libya. Some said such things as "if that is what they want..." It was to me an example of just how low black folks sense of morality had dropped since 2008 and The Event.

In what are now lost comments by The Ghost because I'm no longer on Twitter and did not save my tweets, I mentioned the economic situation in that country prior to the invasion. I noted the high value of the Libyan Dinar, the relatively high rate of employment, the relatively high income and things like state paid education. Libya was not indebted to the IMF. That Libya had been funding various projects in Africa at costs far less onerous than Western "lenders" [sic].

Still though, these folks continued to actually defend US imperial actions IN Africa. Something many thought would never happen from the so called "black left". It reminds me of that old Hip Hop track: What People Do For Money. Except we could change the words to What Black People [will] Do For [the] Presidency.

Anyway. Two years out we can see the fallout of the Coup of Ghadaffi:

Once independent, wealthy, and powerfully defiant, today Libyan resources are almost being given away to foreign powers that “mentored” Libya’s revolution. Foreign investors in Libya’s oil sector are being given years of tax exemption, as if they need it; specifically aimed at encouraging Gulf state investors, Libya grants the investor 65% from a project’s value;...

Then there is the IMF, in its newly acquired role of dictating to Libya, another reality permitted by the “street revolution” (Arabian Business, 6/2/2013). After all, as the IMF’s Christine Lagarde herself has recently said, the “Arab Spring” must be followed by a “Private Sector Spring” (IMF, 9/1/2013). Libya, formerly a significant actor in international investment, buying up properties and shares of lucrative enterprises across Europe, is now the target of investors (IMF, 9/1/2013).

The IMF knows when it can take advantage of a situation smelling of ripe disaster: “The budget deficit was 27.0 percent of GDP in 2011, compared to a budget surplus of 16.2 percent in 2010. Similarly, the current account surplus narrowed from 19.8 percent of GDP in 2010 to 1.3 percent in 2011″ (IMF, 4/5/2012). Thus the IMF can now instruct Libya to eliminate universal price subsidies, to reduce public sector wages, and to eliminate incentives for individuals to seek employment in the public sector: “the recent surge in the public sector payroll to 1.5 million (80 percent of the labor force) will need to be unwound” (IMF, 4/5/2012). The IMF has had its sights on Libya from before Gaddafi was overthrown by NATO and NATO’s local neocolonial dependents: days before Gaddafi was murdered, the IMF had a mission on the ground in Libya (IMF, 20/10/2011) and had previously decreed its recognition of the rebel National Transitional Council as the government of Libya, thrashing international law as the Libyan government under Gaddafi still existed (IMF, 10/9/2011).

Gotta love it when a plan comes together, no?

I wonder how many of the black cheerleaders of the Coup D'tat in Libya will be called to account?