The following article By Milton Allimadi appears on Black Star News.com. This is very very disturbing and leaves me wondering what the future holds for Libya under the guidance of its new regime.
United Nations Says “No Comment” On Ethnic Cleansing Of Black Libyans
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Black people have been emptied from the City of Tawergha in Libya, their homes razed, and that the words “slaves” and “negroes” are scribbled on their abandoned buildings in the now ghost town by the NATO-backed rebels. The chilling account of ethnic-cleansing of Black people in Libya, occurring right before our eyes, appears under the headline “Revenge Feeds Instability in Libya.”
These are the “liberators” that President Barack Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron helped install in Libya to replace Maummar al-Quathafi? They all rejected an African Union proposal that would have brought a ceasefire and the warring parties to a table to create a constitution and to hold elections.
Meanwhile, the so-called “prime minister” of the “rebels” Mahmoud Jibril, is quoted in the Journal, with respect to the fate of the Black citizens of Tawergha, saying: “Regarding Tawergha my own viewpoint is that nobody has the right to interfere in this matter except the people of Misurata,” who are actually the ones doing the cleansing. Surely Jibril knows that he’s inciting to further ethnic cleansing.
An earlier Wall Street Journal article had reported that the Misurata unit carrying out the deed is called “The Brigade for Purging Slaves, black Skin.” So we are witnessing genocide of Black people in Africa again and doing nothing. Simply because Washington, London, and Paris happen to support the “rebels” who are committing the targeted killings.
“Now, rebels have been torching homes in the abandoned city 25 miles to the south,” of Misurata, reports the Journal. The Journal’s reporter also witnessed the burning of “more than a dozen homes,” and adds, “On the gates of many vandalized homes in the country’s only coastal city dominated by dark-skinned people, light-skinned rebels scrawled the words ‘slaves’ and ‘negroes.'”
The White House has yet to issue a single statement condemning this ethnic cleansing of Black people. Hillary Clinton’s Department of State remains mute. The leaders of organizations that profess to protect the rights of Black people, such as the NAACP’s Ben Jealous and the National Urban League’s Marc Morial, have yet to make statements. Surely, someone must read The Wall Street Journal.
This is the second article detailing the specific campaign to wipe out Black Libyans that The Journal has reported on; the first article was on June 21, 2011.
Other major corporate media, such as The New York Times, CNN, and BBC, all of which to varying degrees surrendered pretense at “objectivity” and openly supported the NATO bombardments are now in a bind. They have yet to report major stories on the ethnic cleansing in Misurata and Tawergha. Rather than concede that the side they supported in the civil war is carrying out war crimes they would rather suppress the story.
Welcome to the 21st Century; the Newspeak George Orwell feared.
Had it not been for The Wall Street Journal breaking ranks with other corporate media, this genocide might well have been concealed and attributed to a figment of al-Quathafi’s imagination.
Even the United Nations was unable to respond today to the ethnic cleansing reports when contacted by The Black Star News, and after the Journal’s reports were forwarded. A spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was asked whether: the targeted actions qualified as ethnic cleansing; whether they qualified as war crimes, and; whether the United Nations is demanding for an investigation.
The spokesman, Eduardo del Buey, ignored the specific questions and responded with a statement from the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, which in part states that “In situations of transition or unrest, restraint must be observed.” Small comfort to the now depleted citizenry of Tawergha.
“We are not commenting on media reports. The High Commissioner speaks to the issue of human rights, and this is what she has said to date in Libya,” Eduardo del Buey added.
When contacted for reaction, Brenda Jones, a spokesperson for Congressman John Lewis, stressed that Rep. Lewis, the civil rights hero, as a matter of principle, opposes warfare as solutions for resolving disputes even though there might
have been legitimate human rights concerns. “He does not agree with war because of its ramifications, because it leads to these moral compromises,” she said. “It puts you in a difficult position, where you have to commit the same crimes that you are intending to stop.”
More U.S. elected officials and ordinary Americans of all races should read The Wall Street Journal’s accounts and weigh in on the reported crimes being committed by the rebels. They are, after all, in power due in part to American support.
The Journal articles also quotes a Misratan rebel leader, Mohammed Ben Ras Ali, saying, “Tawergha is no more.”
How many times does the world have to keep saying “never again”?
Editor’s Note: Readers are not obliged to stand by and watch the ethnic cleansing of Black people in Libya. Please call The New York Times at (212) 556-1234 and ask Foreign editor Joe Kahn why the Times hasn’t done major stories on the Tawergha and Misurata war crimes. Also pose the same question to Times Publisher Sulzberger.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7623/2011-09-13.html
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