On Qaddafi

He has been a dedicated revolutionary. He has been on the forefront of the liberation struggle. I am concerned about the press . I and concerned about the the attempts of the Western press to attack his administration. If the media would be more balanced perhaps the violence would subside. My concern is whether the protesters are interested in building and continuing a socialist state. If they are I believe they should be listened to. If not they should not. I am not interested in the fate of the oil companies . I am interested in the fate and well being of the working class. Muammar al Qaddafi is not liked in the western media but he did manage, with the aid of Libyan people to overthrow a corrupt monarchy and establish a socialist state. It is a nation up until the recent events that had one of the highest standards of living in Africa. It also had the lowest poverty and infant morality rates in Africa. The problem , if there is one, is that the wealth of the oil resources is not distributed equally. This is probability more the fault of the oil companies than Mr. Qaddafi. I believe that Fidel Castro was correct in Granma when he felt “The politics of plunder imposed by the United States and its NATO allies in the Middle East is in crisis. This was inevitably unleashed with the high cost of grain, the effect of which are being felt with more force in the Arab nations where , despite their enormous oil resources , the shortage of water, arid areas and generalized poverty of people contrast with the vast resources derived from oil possessed by the privileged sectors. While food prices triple,the real estate fortunes and wealth of the aristocratic minority rise to billions of dollars.” Democracy, a real democracy , is based of the equitable distribution of wealth. It cannot be attained by exploitation of the wealth of Libya by the oil industry. It can be attained under a socialist government.If one wishes to criticize Mr. Qaddafi on this point one would fail. The worse remedy would be an invasion by NATO. It would not only further impoverish Libya ,it would destabilize the entire region.