Statement of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy-University of the Philippines (CONTEND-UP)*
March 23, 2011
The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy call on our colleagues and students to take a unified stand on the United States-lead war of aggression against the people of Libya . U.S. President Barrack Obama’s military operations in Libya “to prevent human catastrophe” is a worn-out imperialist ruse to convince the whole world that the United States and its imperialist allies are all out to export democracy to places where it does not exist.
First of all, any democratic regime can only be spawned by the people’s struggle for national sovereignty. Freedom from imperialist control of all forms is a necessary condition for the construction of genuine democracy. In the case of Libya , President Obama merely re-enacts the fatal schemes of former President Bush in the well-directed slaughter of the people of Iraq soon after 9-11. Clearly, the current US president who talked about change is now the architect of intransigent foreign policy that is poised to claim human lives and enforce the worst kind of societal destruction.
Second, America ’s interest in oil is no longer a secret agenda in its imperialist engagement with “war against terror.” Imperialism’s strategy of accumulation requires wars to be launched against nations like Libya whose profitable oil resource potentially serves America ’s own economic crisis due to its expansionist interests and methods. Imperialist America ’s economic interests and its obstinate drive to realize these have caused the nation to be locked up in a vicious cycle of its own drive for profit accumulation that leads to imperialist expansion, and which inevitably leads to deeper crisis. And the cycle repeats itself at the expense of thousands upon thousands of peoples who are supposed to assimilate America ’s brand of democracy. The cost of which is nothing less than peoples’ lives.
Third, the U.S. maintains its power over its semi-colonies and control over the United Nations through its preservation, expansion and assertion of military power. To this day, it finances its own military forces scattered strategically around the globe. Apart from the billions that it allocates for its military forces in the home front, the Obama regime, no different from its predecessors, drowns its semi-colonies with foreign debt dedicated to military servicing to ensure that military operations in strategic nations are in line with imperialist schemes. This is why at a moment when people in Libya are being bombed to death, no head of state nor any branch of government outside of Mission Creep’s direct victim has released a statement against the human slaughter that is happening in Libya as we speak. Imperialist America has led the world to a situation where military power reigns supreme over a democratic claim to civilian supremacy.
Ghadafi is no saint for his country. But that can never justify all forms of imperialist attacks against the people of Libya . They, like all non-westerns, deserve the right to struggle against all forms of corruption and dictatorship in their own land as a free people. In the spirit of international solidarity with all progressive and anti-imperialist movements around the world, we call for the immediate ceasefire on the attacks of the Western coalition against Libya .
Down with fascism that hides behind western liberal democracy!
Down with Imperialism!
Down with Imperialist Wars!
Stop the War in Libya !
Justice for the Libyan People!
The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy call on our colleagues and students to take a unified stand on the United States-lead war of aggression against the people of Libya . U.S. President Barrack Obama’s military operations in Libya “to prevent human catastrophe” is a worn-out imperialist ruse to convince the whole world that the United States and its imperialist allies are all out to export democracy to places where it does not exist.
First of all, any democratic regime can only be spawned by the people’s struggle for national sovereignty. Freedom from imperialist control of all forms is a necessary condition for the construction of genuine democracy. In the case of Libya , President Obama merely re-enacts the fatal schemes of former President Bush in the well-directed slaughter of the people of Iraq soon after 9-11. Clearly, the current US president who talked about change is now the architect of intransigent foreign policy that is poised to claim human lives and enforce the worst kind of societal destruction.
Second, America ’s interest in oil is no longer a secret agenda in its imperialist engagement with “war against terror.” Imperialism’s strategy of accumulation requires wars to be launched against nations like Libya whose profitable oil resource potentially serves America ’s own economic crisis due to its expansionist interests and methods. Imperialist America ’s economic interests and its obstinate drive to realize these have caused the nation to be locked up in a vicious cycle of its own drive for profit accumulation that leads to imperialist expansion, and which inevitably leads to deeper crisis. And the cycle repeats itself at the expense of thousands upon thousands of peoples who are supposed to assimilate America ’s brand of democracy. The cost of which is nothing less than peoples’ lives.
Third, the U.S. maintains its power over its semi-colonies and control over the United Nations through its preservation, expansion and assertion of military power. To this day, it finances its own military forces scattered strategically around the globe. Apart from the billions that it allocates for its military forces in the home front, the Obama regime, no different from its predecessors, drowns its semi-colonies with foreign debt dedicated to military servicing to ensure that military operations in strategic nations are in line with imperialist schemes. This is why at a moment when people in Libya are being bombed to death, no head of state nor any branch of government outside of Mission Creep’s direct victim has released a statement against the human slaughter that is happening in Libya as we speak. Imperialist America has led the world to a situation where military power reigns supreme over a democratic claim to civilian supremacy.
Ghadafi is no saint for his country. But that can never justify all forms of imperialist attacks against the people of Libya . They, like all non-westerns, deserve the right to struggle against all forms of corruption and dictatorship in their own land as a free people. In the spirit of international solidarity with all progressive and anti-imperialist movements around the world, we call for the immediate ceasefire on the attacks of the Western coalition against Libya .
Down with fascism that hides behind western liberal democracy!
Down with Imperialism!
Down with Imperialist Wars!
Stop the War in Libya !
Justice for the Libyan People!
*CONTEND-UP is a member of UP Kilos Na, an alliance of student, faculty, staff, community organizations in the University of the Philippines .
The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy or CONTEND is a progressive organization of academics based in the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
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