Muammar Gaddaffi's death is being widely reported in the media, and based on some self-righteous comments on Facebook, I updated,"No matter how much of a monster Gadhafi was, Libya was better under him in the last 30 years than Nigeria with our mixed military democracy. The people who killed him are the same people killing Nigerians and other black Africans with reckless abandon. Why should any Nigerian or African for that matter be happy about his death?"
Libyans who have experienced the oppression under Gaddafi are of course within their rights to rejoice. But for others, especially Africans, I think the circumstances of his death should give pause for thought. Libya until a few months ago was one of the best countries in Africa, all the development indices were comparable to some countries in Europe. Gaddafi himself had always stood for Pan-Africanism and allowed black Africans to live and work in the country. I remember seeing him once in Abuja at an African Leaders summit to campaign for solving the HIV/AIDS issue on the continent. I am saying he was a saint? Definitely not.
But what makes the situation problematic was that his ousting and death were orchestrated by NATO, an organisation whose antecedents in Africa has not particularly been without ulterior motives. They seem to only care about removing heads of state that do not bow to their wishes, to the extent of installing despots and championing them even in the face of tyranny - example Mobutu Sese Seko. If NATO is so charitable, why aren't they assisting in Sudan and Somalia? NTC are the new leaders of Libya, but what do we know of them other than their guerrilla war against the former regime and the paranoid murdering of black Aficans?
Going forward, I do wish Libyans all the best. There has been a lot of destruction in the last few months and there needs to be commensurate hard work to bring the country to a better place.
_________________
I'm not surprised Backyard Crew won, not only did they make an awesome video, they followed it up with great marketing. They left a comment on my Youtube as well as one here after I posted about them, and they also let me know to go vote for them, which I did. This drives home for me the power of hard work and reaching out for your goals. Well done Backyard Crew. Congrats to them all.
I think this is exactly why South Africa and some of the other African states were so opposed to the war against Gadaffi. I confess to not be very informed on this topic but what you say here makes absolute sense.
ReplyDeleteWe tend to jump on the band wagon sometimes without looking at the deeper issues. Like you said Ghadaffi was surely no saint but he did a lot of good for Libya. NATO 'assistance' always comes with a price I hope Libya can afford it.
ReplyDeleteBackyard crew was my fav as well I'm glad they won
You have a valid point here. It's easy to miss the whole picture just judging from the Libyan liberation POV.From statistics, he imparted the economy positively...but the people?Naa.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to backyard crew.
@Wendy, I believe there are always two sides to most situations. And having outsiders solve our problems is tricky.
ReplyDelete@Isokenalfa, thanks for your comment. I hope Libya can afford it too.
@Mike, lets bear in mind that not ALL Libyans wanted Gaddafi gone. The question is whose side of the story are we listening to?
Excellent perspective....
ReplyDeleteHmmm,this is nice.So those guys would be featured in the video,neat! Meanwhile,Gaddafi dying is actually a good thing,so congrats to Libya.
ReplyDeleteI soo concur about the Libyan situation. Wish he culd av ruled 9ja for just 10 years.
ReplyDeleteI had the same sentiments too about his death. But I think Ghaddafi went beyond his boundaries and wasted too many innocent lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with isokenalfa...(western politics) I also hope Libya can afford the price :-)
I don't love Gaddafi, but I have a childlike awe of him and totally agree that his dictatorship did more for Libya than 10 yrs of Democracy has done for us. Bearing that in mind, I was greatly saddened by his death. Looking at those young rebels hitting him, and climbing over his dead body, I wept over the shame of his death. One of the few African leaders that said f#%k off to America when everyone else was cowering...BUT then again his story reminds me of Pharoah. His pride/Ego/megalomania led him to this.
ReplyDeleteIf he really loved his country, and understood the western 'conspiracy' then he could have stepped down since and still orchestrated things from far like our Otta farmer.. The West wouldn't have been able to step in as boldly as they did.
Ben Ali stepped down and has been 'forgiven' if not 'forgotten' to spend his loot in peace.
Its such a damn shame. I just pray his lineage isn't wiped from the face of the earth..RIP Gaddafi
Yay for the Backyard Crew!!
Ive always know that theres more to it than meets the eye when it comes to leaders being outsted by world power controlled military forces. There's always a hidden agenda about it all - from saddam hussein's to Mobutu to Gadaffi.
ReplyDeleteEven the so called Al Qaeda has dealings with them. They said they killed 'Osama Bin Laden' but nobody saw his body. He was afterall a puppet. Maybe its becuz Gadaffi refused to be a puppet that they killed him...I'm like They shud spare us the BS. Theres a lot of propaganda going on all over the place.
I'm so glad The Backyard Crew won. They were my favourite too. I loved their concept of shooting the video in different parts of Lagos.
ReplyDelete