In their book titled "Demonstration
Elections," Edward Herman and Frank Broadhead described US-staged elections.
They're manipulated to consolidate American power and influence public
opinion to believe sham processes are legitimate.
Herman and Broadhead defined what goes on as:
"A circus held in a client state to assure the population of the home
country that their intrusion is well received."
"The results are guaranteed by an adequate supply of bullets provided
in advance." They're freely used to achieve desired outcomes.
The authors' main theme was that "elections held under conditions of
military occupation and extensive pre-election 'pacification' " aren't
free.
They're conducted to install client regimes. Those in charge are pro-Western
puppets, not legitimate leaders.
US-style democracy is engineered. It's illusory, not real. Force backs
it to assert control.
Elections are instruments of US dominance. Selling deception is crucial.
Media scoundrels regurgitate the Big Lie. Herman says "the media leopard
never changes its spots."
Managed news substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Readers and
viewers are deceived and betrayed. It happens repeatedly at home and
abroad.
Libya's July 7 sham elections are the latest example. Democracy was
absent from the ballot. Puppet National Transitional Council (NTC) leaders
manipulated the process. On Tuesday, votes were still being counted.
It hardly matters who wins. Washington engineered its own victory whether
Islamists or secularists take charge separately or in coalition government.
They'll serve as proxies for power, privilege, and neoliberalism's death
grip. Ordinary Libyans want to live free. Liberation depends on fighting
for it.
Protracted struggle continues. Libya remains a cauldron of violence
and instability. Washington needs these conditions to justify its presence.
US and perhaps other NATO forces guard Libyan oil installations and
other strategic sites.
Media scoundrels say nothing. Instead, they hailed Libya's first democratic
election. Fiction substituted for fact. Democracy was nowhere in sight.
A Wall Street Journal editorial said Libyans "joyously voted....The
vote for a new legislative body wasn't perfect but went off better than
expected."
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Most Libyans have a different
view. Media scoundrels excluded them from those quoted.
They downplayed a nation in shambles, millions impoverished on their
own, extreme human misery, protracted conflict, and liberation struggles
likely continuing for years.
On July 9, a New York Times editorial headlined "Libya's Election,"
saying:
"Freed from (Gaddafi's) repression, (Libyans) cast ballots Saturday
in the country's first free election in decades."
"This is a heartening outcome because the election of a national assembly,
judged by independent observers to be reasonably free and fair, was
not a given."
Thus spake the Newspaper of Record. It represents power and privilege.
It supports corporate interests. It cheerleads imperial wars. It backs
US client regimes. It endorses sham elections pretending to be legitimate
ones.
On Tuesday, Reuters headlined "Wartime PM (Mustafa Abdul) Jalil takes
early lead in Libya vote," saying:
Initial tallies suggest Islamist parties did worse than expected. Jabril
says "his multi-party alliance is neither secular nor liberal and includes
sharia Islamic law among its core values."
It hardly matters. At issue only is who pulls the strings and controls
things. Libya's government is headquartered in Washington. Other countries
America destroyed are dominated the same way.
"Democratic transitions are invariably long and messy," said The Times.
Ignored was that America spurns democracy at home and abroad. Money
power runs things. People have no say.
Nonetheless, The Times called Libya's election "a huge step away from
the Qaddafi nightmare."
In fact, most Libyans supported Gaddafi. The longer war raged, the more
it grew. Near the end of conflict it was overwhelming. It likely still
is given what Libyans lost.
His 1999 Decision No. 111 afforded all Libyans free healthcare, education,
training, rehabilitation, housing assistance, disability and old-age
benefits, interest-free state loans, subsidies to study abroad and for
couples when they marry, and practically free gasoline.
Libyans also got free use of land for agriculture. The idea was to foster
self-sufficiency in food production. Moreover, all basic food items
were subsidized. They were sold through a network of "people's shops."
Until NATO arrived, Libyans had Africa's highest standard of living.
Oil revenues provided them. They also stimulated economic development.
According to "Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution," authors David Blundy
and Andrew Lycett said:
"The young people are well dressed, well fed and well educated."
"Every Libyan gets free, and often excellent, education, medical and
health services."
"New colleges and hospitals are impressive by any international standard."
"All Libyans have a house or a flat, a car, and most have televisions"
and other conveniences.
"Compared with most citizens of Third World countries, and with many
(others), Libyans have it very good indeed."
Gaddafi's Green Book explained Jamahiriya benefits, saying:
"The house is a basic need of both the individual and the family, therefore
it should not be owned by others."
"Women, like men, are human beings."
They could vote and participate politically. They could also own and
sell property independently of their husbands. Under the 1969 Constitutional
Proclamation, Clause 5, they got equal status with men. Education and
employment were included even though men played a leading role in society.
"(A)ll individuals have a natural right to self-expression by any means...."
"In a socialist society, no person may own a private means of transportation
for the purpose of renting to others, because this represents controlling
the needs of others."
"The democratic system is a cohesive structure whose foundation stones
are firmly laid above the other (through People's Conferences and Committees).
There is absolutely no conception of democratic society other than this."
"No representation of the people - representation is a falsehood. The
existence of parliaments underlies the absence of the people, for democracy
can only exist with the presence of the people and not in the presence
of representatives of the people."
Green Book ideology rejected Western democracy and exploitive capitalism.
It was one among other reasons why Washington wanted Gaddafi ousted.
On January 4, 2011, the Human Rights Council (HRC) prepared its "Report
of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Libya Arab Jamahiriya."
It said Gaddafi's government protected "not only political rights, but
also economic, educational, social and cultural rights." It also praised
his treatment of religious minorities, and "human rights training" of
its security forces.
Washington's intervention prevented its expected overwhelming approval.
Instead it was postponed. Now it's buried. It's little more than a little
known footnote about Libya under Gaddafi.
According to The Times, Libya's transition will be "long and messy"
because it has "almost no government institutions to build on."
At the same time, Saturday's elections represent "a huge step away from
the Qaddafi nightmare."
So much for truth and full disclosure. Times editorials exclude it.
The view from the Washington Post matches its deception and disingenuousness.
On July 9, its editorial headlined "Libya's all-important post-election
steps," saying:
Gaddafi "left (Libya) with no recognizable political institutions, no
rule of law and no established political parties."
The Post, like all other US scoundrel media, excludes "recognizable"
truths in its commentaries.
After decades under Gaddafi, it said, "Saturday's general election was
a remarkable achievement."
At most, it was "remarkable" deception. Legitimacy was entirely excluded.
Libya's new government will succeed, said the Post, if its leaders can
"impose(e) its authority across the country, including disarming militias
or integrating them with official security forces...."
"NATO's intervention....paved the way for Saturday's landmark election.
Now the Obama administration and its allies should help the new authorities
attain their goal of a democratic Libya."
In fact, Libya is colonized and occupied. Carving up its corpse for
profit began last year. Ordinary Libyans are entirely excluded.
What Gaddafi gave, Washington-led NATO destroyed. New puppet leaders
will replace interim ones. Exploitive neoliberalism's death grip stays
in charge. The new Libya resembles a level of hell Dante forgot, not
liberation.
For Libyans, their protracted struggle to live free continues. It won't
end until America's imperial scourge is vanquished.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
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