BBC World Service Have Your Say: A Response

On Wednesday afternoon, I was invited to take part in a debate on the BBC World Service’s ‘Have Your Say’ programme, on the escalating NATO aggression in Libya.  Unfortunately, I was not allowed to have my say at all.

We first heard from Jenna, an Iraqi girl from Tripoli.  She told us that her neighbour had had a miscarriage the night before and, as she couldn’t get petrol, she wasn’t able to drive her to the hospital.  Instead, she said, her neighbour bled until six in the morning.  Jenna asked why NATO was bombing Tripoli if it wanted to protect civilians.

We then heard from Ali, a Libyan man from Benghazi.  He immediately attacked Jenna’s Iraqi heritage which, despite the fact she had lived in Tripoli for many years, apparently disqualified her from having an opinion.  He then questioned her decision to use a pseudonym to protect her identity, which made her a ‘paid member of the Gaddafi regime’.  He praised the NATO bombing, which he claimed, without one shred of evidence, had ‘saved’ the lives of 100,000 Libyans.  That would be over seventy times the massacre of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.  It is of no doubt that civilians died during the uprising in Libya, but where he plucked this figure from, we will never know.

Ali praised the NATO bombing, which he claimed had the support of the ‘international community’.  In fact, the UN resolution on Libya recieved abstentions from the most populated countries on the planet; China, India, Brazil and Russia.  Germany also abstained.  Abstained on a resolution not to bomb and kill Libyan civilians in the west and in the east of the country, but to enforce a ‘no-fly zone’.

Ali claimed that NATO were only targeting military bases, and not, in fact, civilians.  Libya; the first ever imperialist aggression where civilians have not been killed.  Libya; the first ever use of NATO bombs that discriminate between people’s political views.  No mention of the depleted uranium, however.

If I thought Ali’s tone was offensive, it was child’s play compared to the delusional rhetoric of the next guest.  The moment I heard that Noman, a Libyan man originally from Tripoli, but now residing in the UK, worked for the formerly government funded Quilliam Foundation, an ‘anti-extremist think-tank’, alarm bells were ringing.  Quilliam was funded by the government to the tune of £1 million and I wasn’t surprised when the government line on Libya was towed.  Now, it was tens of thousands that had been killed during the uprising.  Again, not a shred of evidence was presented.  Jenna’s name, according to Noman, was an abbreviation of the Libyan state television company.  Not a very well disguised ‘Gaddafi agent’ then.  What did surprise me was Noman’s rudeness, and the fact that he shouted over me every time I tried to speak.  When I brought up the occupation of Afghanistan, Noman reassured me by shouting that he had served with the US-backed mujahideen in fighting against the Soviet Union.

I felt it was a calculated move.  He did not want the points I was raising to enter the narrative.  The point that much of the rebel leadership were working for Gaddafi’s government last time Noman was in the country.  The point of the racist attacks against black Libyans and migrants from other African countries in the east of Libya.  The point of the privatisation of the oil fields in eastern Libya, all the easier for foreign corporations to access.  The point of the bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which serve as precursors for the war in Libya.  The point of similar crackdowns by the Bahraini and Saudi regimes, both of which are our close allies.  The point of the brutal treatment of demonstrators in our own country.  The point of the Libyan uprising being an armed uprising.  I wonder how troops loyal to David Cameron would react if a group of rebels from Glasgow began the trip down to London, waving Kalashnikovs in the air?

Before the NATO-supporters reply with the usual accusations; no, I am not a ‘Gaddafi agent’, and no, I am not ‘paid by the regime’.  No, man.

Recent Posts on Notebook - A selection of Independent views -

• Growing out of anorexia
• Top of the posts: Breastfeeding, vegetarians and photography
• The age old classic of a drunken rant - immortalised on the internet
• Beer: the mistake that beat the world
• Are you Mom Enough? Putting parenting choices under the microscope