Libya's Future

I assume that the future of Libya that has been on the drawing board in foreign capitals and corporate boardrooms for some time now looks like this:

1. Oil supplies guaranteed to the U.S. and Europe with the majority of oil revenues to be divided up by foreign corporations;

2. Libya's Mediterranean coastline to be "developed" as a playground for wealthy foreign nationals: golf courses, beach resorts, luxury hotels, five-star restaurants, maybe even a casino or two;

3. The people of Libya recruited to work for subsistence wages in the hospitality industry or in the oil fields.

Am I forgetting something?

Oh, yes! How could I forget?

The other opportunity for the people of Libya will be in the military and para-military police forces. After all, how else will the corporate state be able to protect visiting foreign nationals from the depredations of the poor and disenfranchised? Such militias will be important stake-holders in post-Gaddafi Libya and, consequently, will come to be seen by ordinary Libyans themselves as avenues of social and economic advancement.

Eventually, a charismatic figure (like the Colonel of 4 decades ago) will rise up through the ranks and get the idea in his head that the system as it stands is corrupt. If it is vulnerable to revolution, revolution will ensue. Then the cycle will repeat itself.

So much for the blood of the martyrs who dreamed of freedom.

Do I mean to say that I think Gaddafi should remain in power? Of course not. He is a criminal: a murderous buffoon. He should live to see his day in the ICC.

But when I think of the blood that has been shed, is being shed even now, and will continue to be shed for dreams that have already been auctioned off to the highest bidder, I cannot help but think that there has to be an alternative future--not only for Libya, but for the rest of us as well.

Unfortunately, unless and until there is a revolution in consciousness among the peoples of every nation--a consciousness that recognizes that (1) the globalizing corporate state does not have their best interests in mind and (2) they can and must do something to re-configure the present world order--I have little confidence in the outcome of any revolutionary action that is aided and abetted by the police power of established corporate states.

When Gaddafi is overthrown--an event that appears imminent--I am afraid that we will have to add Libya to the list of newly formed failed states: alongside Iraq and Afghanistan.