A Brave New World

1. "Gadaffi was one of those Arab Potentates for whom the moniker "crazy" was fitting, yet who spoke a kind of sanity."
2. "The fear has now gone - we must not be scared of the future, of learning from our mistakes and moving forward."

The Independent, Friday 21st October, Quotation 1 from Robert Fisk. Quotation 2 from Libyan academic, Molly Tarhuni

One could have scarcely turned a blind eye to the events taking place last Thursday. Like the deaths of Mussolini, Saddam Hussein and even the hapless Charles I, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi's sudden and bloody execution has already divided the opinion of worried Human Rights groups and the Libyans who shoot gunfire into the open air as their fallen dictator barely warrants a tear to any of their eyes. On the day after the Transitional National Council (TNC) declare the liberation of Libya, can real freedom really be achieved? It's possible, I believe. After years of Italian colonization and the rule of the monarchy of Libya, Gadaffi looks set to be, quoting from Trotsky, another piece to fill the "dustbin of history". Saying that, communism in Russia is not highly spoken of nowadays. Moreover, it is a thankful sign that even after almost half a century, Machiavelli's Prince and Hobbes's preference of an absolute monarchy have been once more unfounded by the strength of numbers alone. The majority overpower the minority. And doesn't that make Syria and Barhain quake in their boots...

WARNING: Gruesome images below.

Perhaps not the most honourable of deaths, also not very nice to witness either. Indeed, Aristotle was wrong when he said there was no measure too great when preserving a tyranny, including the use of religion. Machiavelli's conception that men who took power by force without "legitimacy" was also wrong in this case. The point that can be expressed is that Russell is in many ways correct when he says that when an international government is created, principles such as those of Locke's (though I would rather equate his politics with those of the worst in capitalism itself), the world still remains in some sort of state of nature. People protect their own needs and a dictator who withholds those needs, then they must be stopped. To me, this remains the ethos still in the 21st century. The Arab League couldn't stop the fall of Gadaffi, and not those of Ben Ali's or Mubarak's. Let the dominoes roll on I say!

But does the US speak for the world! HA! The Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton, seems to be always 5 steps backwards when things in the Arab countries seem to be threatened with the rise of Islamic fundamentalists like those in Iran. The people are doing the talking now. The Western world must look to its own problems. The Eurozone in jeopardy, Greece in turmoil, Berlusconi turning Italy into a farce upon a farce and, finally, the debt ceiling in the US which at any moment could bring the markets crashing down into another worldwide depression. Gaddaffi was what many called in his time a "maverick" and, in the words of Regan, "the mad dog of the Middle East". Nobody quite knew how to play politics like Gadaffi, as this image shows:

On a final note, to the democratic elections of Libya, I hope that they will be able to have an honest state which the people will always play a role in. If the leader is a despot, follow Locke's example, and overthrow them by any means. There is nothing quite like the removal of fear itself and, in the words of Roosevelt on the four human freedoms: "The fourth is freedom from fear...anywhere in the world." I only hope this can be said for the Syrians and those in Yemen by the end of the year...