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Multilateral Foreign Policy > Published by Seph Brown, February 22nd 2011 at 5:17 pm

The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi

Libyan despot Colonel Gaddafi made a quite extraordinary speech this afternoon, saying the protesters against his regime were “serving the devil” and vowing to stay on and “die a martyr”; here, Left Foot Forward’s Seph Brown looks at the British left’s questionable relationship with the tyrant

Colonel-Gaddafi-speech
Before discussing the rapidly deteriorating situation in Libya, the Labour Party and the wider British left should engage in serious self-reflection. From Tony Blair to Ken Livingstone, from Alex Salmond to George Galloway, we on the left have often had questionable relationships with Gaddafi’s brutal dictatorship.

It is equally important to remember that ‘brutal’ is not a word which applies only to recent days.

Before strafing their own citizens from the air this week, Gaddafi’s regime had supplied and given haven to the IRA, was responsible for the 1984 murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher in London, has been implicated in the Lockerbie bombing and in 1996 massacred 1,200 political prisoners at Tripoli’s Abu Salim Prison.

This is the measure of the man the left has never got to grips with.

The favourite target for criticism over Britain’s links with Libya is clearly Tony Blair. After all, he was essentially responsible for the international rehabilitation and rearming of Gaddafi’s regime. There is no way of knowing if the men opening fire on protesters were those trained by the UK under Blair’s deal.

Some are keen to defend Blair’s role as a pragmatic, necessary and ultimately sensible trade-off. Michael White at the Guardian calls on commentators to:

“Blame Libya for what is does with its weapons – not Blair or Britain.”

Appealing to the messy and complicated nature of international diplomacy.

Likewise, John Rentoul argues that Blair’s strategy resulted in a state giving up its WMDs, opening avenues for investigation into PC Fletcher’s murder and new beneficial trade links.

However true the benefits of Libya’s reintegration into the global community, the fact remains that Blair never appeared to predicate any part of it on improvements in human rights and domestic freedoms in Libya. While Rentoul and others may argue that trade and communication ties acted as a liberating driver – aiding the emergence of democratic forces – the ruthless response to the protests is as much a part of the Labour government’s timidity in pressing for reform earlier on.

But before we single out the former prime minster, we should recognise that few main players on the British left have avoided some connection with the Libyan regime.

Ken Livingstone raised eyebrows through his connection with friend and colleague Gerry Healy, the head of the Workers’ Revolutionary Party of the 1970s-80s. The WRP is said to have taken £500,000 from Libya and as one splinter group recalls:

A draft resolution adopted by the WRP Political Committee on July 28, 1980 declared that:

“The Workers Revolutionary Party salutes the courageous and tireless struggle of Colonel Gaddafi whose Green Book has guided the struggle to introduce workers’ control of factories, government offices and the diplomatic service, and in exposing the reactionary maneuvers of Sadat, Beigin and Carter…

“We stand ready to mobilize the British workers in defense of the Libyan Jamahiriya and explain the teachings of the Green Book as part of the anti-imperialist struggle.”

Naturally Livingstone dismissed this link as a smear campaign, and it could be that the former mayor was being treated guilty by association, but he and the WRP are not the only left-wingers to be implicated in a Libyan connection.

Scottish first-minister and nationalist Alex Salmond is on the record opposing the inclusion of the Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi in the Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Libya. In a letter to the US Senate committee on foreign relations he wrote:

“The Scottish government rejected the application for transfer of al-Megrahi under the PTA specifically on the basis that the US government and families of victims in the United States had been led to believe that such a prisoner transfer would not be possible for anyone convicted of the Lockerbie atrocity.”

His governing party then released the convicted terrorist on ‘compassionate grounds’.

Earlier this month Jack Straw accused the SNP of having “selective amnesia” over their willingness to negotiate concessions from Westminster in return for the release of al-Megrahi. It would also seem unlikely that a June 2009 visit from Qatar’s acting minister of business and trade, Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah, did not weigh on Salmond when he suggested that investment in Scotland may depend on al-Megrahi’s release. The SNP deny any deal was done.

Moreover, former Labour MP and Respect leader George Galloway should also be viewed with suspicion when he openly admits that he once viewed Gaddafi as an Arab leader who “made a stand” for the Arab world.

He now says he views him as just another dictator, which may seem reasonable until we note that he accepted a donation of 100 supply trucks from the Gaddafi Foundation to join his humanitarian ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy to Gaza.

It cannot be argued that Tony Blair is free from culpability with regards to Libya, but it is also clear that he is not the only one. The curious reality of the left’s involvement with Gaddafi is that of the various motivations which inevitably lead to the same place. While Blair was driven by realpolitik, Livingstone fell prey to gesture radicalism standing by his hard left long-time friend; Salmond wanted to advance his government’s bargaining position; while Galloway wanted to advance himself.

All of these rationales, to varying degrees, make one thing clear: the left missed the implications of putting certain motivations before the brutality of dictatorship. Whether through action or inaction, each of these figures played a part in normalising the Gaddafi regime.

The British left must develop a more consistent stance on engagement with Libya and dictators around the world. We cannot pick and choose which dictators are tolerable and at what price engagement should be bought.

Engagement with authoritarian regimes must come with human and civil rights guarantees at the very least, something the left, from Blair to Galloway, has never demanded of Libya.

http://twitter.com/geo8/status/40098415220097024 Geo8

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/freiahill/status/40098706636275713 freiahill

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/marcusaroberts/status/40098736680091648 Marcus A. Roberts

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/heavencrawley/status/40098862907662336 Heaven Crawley

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/sephrbrown/status/40098965558923264 Joseph Brown

RT @leftfootfwd The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over #Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/hitchinengland/status/40099393591967744 Hitchin England

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/shellyasquith/status/40099860648689665 Shelly Asquith

RT @SephRBrown: RT @leftfootfwd The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over #Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @Se …
http://twitter.com/ravensrod/status/40100270021152768 Ferret Dave

RT @HitchinEngland: RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes …
http://twitter.com/rattlecans/status/40100383833595906 Ma

RT @HitchinEngland: RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes …
http://twitter.com/dnsnow/status/40100499122425856 David Snow

RT @SephRBrown: RT @leftfootfwd The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over #Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRB
http://twitter.com/patsrants/status/40101726727966720 Patrick Osgood

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/niruratnam/status/40102671796932608 niruratnam

Good piece on Left Foot Forward about Blair, Livingstone, Salmond and Galloway all bigging up Gaddafi in past http://bit.ly/hKuydm
http://twitter.com/joluni68/status/40102862700675072 joluni68

RT @leftfootfwd The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
Persian Cat

You mention Ken Livingstone in your article. What Livingstone cannot wriggle out of is the fact the he has been working for Press TV which is funded and controlled by another cruel and despotic regime, Iran !
http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/40103925583577088 shamikdas

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/tombrookspolloc/status/40104283730878464 Tom Brooks-Pollock

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://bit.ly/fzNYuF
http://twitter.com/ukpolitik/status/40106557433716736 ukpolitik

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/jessica_asato/status/40108019291262976 Jessica Asato

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/unitonehifi/status/40109518373265409 chris star

The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi
http://j.mp/ibkOyB
#Libya #demo2011
http://twitter.com/bencooper86/status/40109703337869312 Ben Cooper

RT @leftfootfwd The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/welshbeard/status/40110907140997120 Glyn

RT @BenCooper86: RT @leftfootfwd The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @Se …
http://twitter.com/artijabz/status/40111059893231616 artijabz

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
Paul Gardner

Er, speak for yourself. I have never had any illusions in Gaddafi or any similar dictator who mouthed left-sounding platitudes while brutally oppressing their own people.
Richard

The same Press TV that Boris Johnson has done work for then. And don’t even bother trying to argue that two wrongs make a right.
http://twitter.com/paul_burgin/status/40114782686281728 Paul Burgin

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
Anon E Mouse

Richard – This article is about the way the left engages with dictators.

Do you have no opinion on that?

By trying to argue with Persion Cat that Boris Johnson works for them is doing exactly what you ask him not to do…
Mike Thomas

As the people fight for self-determination from a despot, the fetid stench of Labour’s dealing are exposed as all the more tawdry.

Forget WMDs, this the rank hypocrisy of prosecuting a war against one tyrant after the first justification was a sham and then turning a blind eye to another in exchange for an oil deal.

Shabby, mucky dirty dealing by a government with the morals of sewer rats.

The best thing the likes of David Milliband and the Labour Party can do is belt up and show some contrition as Gaddafi orders in the gunships to strafe his own people.
http://twitter.com/johnrentoul/status/40156365175394304 John Rentoul

RT @leftfootfwd: Seph Brown http://bit.ly/fzNYuF >>quite sensible on Gaddafi, but does not say how else to have thwarted his WMD ambitions
David Mullen

That was New Labours ethical foreign policy which was just an extension of “liberal Intervention” the favoured policy of the US neo cons.

I opined on Alex Salmond yesterday somewhat unfavourably. However i think the decision to release Al Megrahi was in my view the right one as the evidence was barely credible. How can one man organise plan an execute an operation such as the blowing up of an aircraft all on his own?

In any case the original suspects were Syria, however this was not pursued and was later dropped as a political expedient in prosecuting the 1981 gulf war. Although many people have had questionable relationships with all sorts of questionable people. But hey that’s what politicians do. I don’t recall any of the people you criticise selling weapons to any of these dictators.

Finally why single out the IRA when Gaddafi also sold weapons to the UDA who were also aided and abetted in a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the British security services.

I would also like to know why you are so enthusiastically buying into the idea of America being able to bully and harangue countries that refuse to do their bidding.
Fabian

Not sure that Galloway could really be looked on as representative of the British left in any way, considering that he’s fawned on the likes of Nasrallah, Assad and Ahmadinejad, characterised the Taliban as freedom fighters and advocated jihad against coalition troops in iraq (for which he was thrown out of the labour party).
Mark Stevo

“I opined on Alex Salmond yesterday somewhat unfavourably. However i think the decision to release Al Megrahi was in my view the right one as the evidence was barely credible. How can one man organise plan an execute an operation such as the blowing up of an aircraft all on his own?”

That’s not for Salmond to decide.
http://twitter.com/annoula64/status/40351529315606528 Ann Markström

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/mustberead/status/40353026648711168 MustBeRead

On @LeftFoodFwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://j.mp/hKuydm
http://twitter.com/nikdarlington/status/40353661477601280 Nik Darlington

RT @MustBeRead: On @LeftFoodFwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://j.mp/hKuydm
http://twitter.com/getlabourout/status/40354602624753664 Get Labour Out

RT @MustBeRead: On @LeftFoodFwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://j.mp/hKuydm
http://thecentreleft.blogspot.com Rob Marchant

Seph, surely you cannot lump in Blair’s attempt to stop Gadaffi making nuclear weapons using diplomacy rather than bloodshed – an approach originally initiated by that, er, evil fascist, Nelson Mandela – with Livingston’s (yet again) foolish association with another dictator on the grounds that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”? The two are just nothing to do with each other.
http://atoryblog.blogspot.com Man in a Shed

Its worth asking why the left was so soft on the terrorism from Libya that killed people within the UK. I suspect if the Labour party conference had been bombed you’d take a different line.

Still its healthy to have the debate. You might like to try the left’s appeasement of Islamic extremism next.
http://womenlongdress.fabulouswomen.biz/2011/02/23/women-long-dress-12-self-adhesive-fake-moustaches-halloween-costume-party-gag-assorted-shapes-and-sizes/ Women Long Dress: 12 Self Adhesive Fake Moustaches Halloween Costume Party Gag-Assorted Shapes and Sizes

[...] The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over … [...]
http://twitter.com/hatelairs/status/40430812092567552 hatelairs

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/frzhGe writes @SephRBrown #Libya
http://twitter.com/meastnews/status/40431390638088194 meastnews

Maybe it is true what they say. Some people are not so much pro-Peace as anti-Jew? http://bit.ly/eyJ6Cv
Anon E Mouse

Fabian – And Labour can be considered on the left because….
http://twitter.com/khoshkeledoc/status/40443967594172416 Khoshkeledoc

Ex-London Mayor! v @MEastNews: Ken Livingstone been working for the Iranian fascist funded Press TV #Iranelection http://bit.ly/eyJ6Cv
http://twitter.com/struzzina/status/40459889444659200 Erika Salzeck

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://bit.ly/fzNYuF #TonyBlair #JohnRentoul
http://twitter.com/struzzina/status/40462433873035264 Erika Salzeck

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://bit.ly/fzNYuF
Paul

Seph,

Can you explain how George Galloway taking badly needed humanitarian aid for Gazans advanced himself?

Quite an idiotic conclusion to come to.
http://twitter.com/fubarrossi/status/40493480711032833 fubarrossi

RT @leftfootfwd: The British left should engage in serious self-reflection over Gaddafi http://bit.ly/fzNYuF
Henry

Did the Tories oppose the rapprochement with Gaddafi? I think not. The entire establishment was complicit in the shabby deal to suck up to the man responsible for Lockerbie. THe shenanigans of a jerk like Galloway are a sideshow.
Anon E Mouse

Henry – No the Labour Party and the SNP were complicit not the Tories or the Lib Dem’s.

Stop rewriting history please. And while you’re at it you may want to mention the fact that Labour got involved in more offensive wars than any other government in UK history…

We know the truth Henry and you know we know…
Henry

Anon – I’m certainly not going to defend the Labour Party over Iraq. It was a disgrace.

But my point stands about Libya: it’s not a party political thing, it’s the Establishment. Just back in November, the current government approved the sale of sniper rifles to Libya & the LSE accepted a £1.5 million donation from Gaddafi’s son. They were all at it, sucking up to a murderous dictator who had blown up a 747 over Scotland because there was money in it.
Anon E Mouse

Henry – The Lib Dem’s and the Tories were not in government and the Tories were certainly vocal against the release of the Lockerbie bomber – Cameron pressed the point at PMQ’s several times. I’d go along with you in spirit except:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8308169/Lockerbie-documents-Labour-did-all-it-could-to-secure-bombers-release.html

http://www.channel4.com/news/labour-government-aided-lockerbie-bombers-release

Which are the first two hits in Google.

You are doing what all Labour supporters try to do which is blame everyone hoping the actions are diluted.

The current sale of arms are perfectly legal and a different thing entirely to the release of a mass murderer – by that standard you’ll say Blair shouldn’t have sold arms to the Saudi’s in 2006.

What worries me more about Labour supporters is a contributor to this fine blog, (Kevin Meagher) and SPAD to the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary considers the IRA were fighting a “Guerilla War”and not engaged in acts of terrorism:

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/01/gerry-adams-david-cameron-departure-from-commons/

Labour have behaved very badly towards terrorist organisations Henry but to try to say the Tories and Lib Dem’s went along with the release of the Lockerbie bomber is simply untrue…
Anon E Mouse

Henry – The Lib Dem’s and the Tories were not in government and the Tories were certainly vocal against the release of the Lockerbie bomber – Cameron pressed the point at PMQ’s several times. I’d go along with you in spirit except:

(At www) telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8308169/Lockerbie-documents-Labour-did-all-it-could-to-secure-bombers-release.html

(At www) channel4.com/news/labour-government-aided-lockerbie-bombers-release

Which are the first two hits in Google.

You are doing what all Labour supporters try to do which is blame everyone hoping the actions are diluted.

The current sale of arms are perfectly legal and a different thing entirely to the release of a mass murderer – by that standard you’ll say Blair shouldn’t have sold arms to the Saudi’s in 2006.

What worries me more about Labour supporters is a contributor to this fine blog, (Kevin Meagher) and SPAD to the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary considers the IRA were fighting a “Guerilla War”and not engaged in acts of terrorism:

(At www) leftfootforward.org/2011/01/gerry-adams-david-cameron-departure-from-commons/

Labour have behaved very badly towards terrorist organisations Henry but to try to say the Tories and Lib Dem’s went along with the release of the Lockerbie bomber is simply untrue…
http://inplaceoffear.blogspot.com Duncan McFarlane

What a lot of false claims, double standards, bias and illogical arguments to pack into one blog post.

You condemn Ken Livingstone for saying he “once” viewed Gaddafi positively and bring up a *draft* (not passed) resolution that he never supported backing Gaddafi written 16 years before the prisoners’ massacre in Libya and on that basis condemn Ken Livingstone and “the left” in general.

You also join Michael White as an apologist for Blair selling arms to Gaddafi and talk as though having people having viewed Gaddafi positively was much worse than having provided him with arms to help him kill people with.

You talk as though Megrahi was convicted in a fair trial on sound evidence. In fact as Scots Law Professor Robert Black, UN trial observer Dr. Hans Koechler, witness Edwin Bollier and Dr. Jim Swire among any others have said it was a sham from start to finish, with key evidence tampered with, key witness Tony Gauci paid money and coached and shown evidence in advance, heavy political pressure on the judges and no jury.

Our only other “evidence” that Gaddafi was even involved in Lockerbie comes from Libyan defectors who also claim Gaddafi has lots of chemical and biological weapons and may use them. Do you remember a thing called the Iraq war? And all the propaganda from Iraqi defectors? Ring any bells?

Given the unreliability of claims by defectors you might want to treat their other claims with some scepticism too.

As for your claim that Gaddafi ordered the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher that is also highly dubious. If you google the wikipedia entry for Yvonne Fletcher and read it and the sources for it you’ll see why. The evidence suggests the shots did not come from the Libyan embassy and were not fired by any of Gaddafi’s people.

You do realise that protesters are still being shot with British supplied arms and ammunition in Bahrain too – and were shot by the hundred by Mubarak – and that the British government is still arming Mubarak’s cronies (suleiman, Ahmed Shafiq etc and the Generals) who are the new dictatorship at the moment?

Have you considered why they consider Gaddafi murdering his people “horrifying” and requiring action, while they’re merely “concerned” and do nothing when it happens in Egypt or Bahrain?

The answer is the same as it was in Iraq – oil profits. Saddam refused oil contracts to US and British firms since 1991. Gaddafi has allowed them oil contracts, but has demanded a higher share of profits and talked about nationalisation. When Mossadeq did the same in Iran in 1953 he wasn;t having anyone shot – and he was elected – there was a CIA-MI6 backed coup against him. When Chavez was elected President of Venezuela and began planning demanding increased royalties from foreign firms there was a US backed military coup attempt against him. That’s why they want rid of him – that’s why you’re hearing all this propaganda for intervention in Libya to get rid of the “brutal dictator” that you don’t get on Egypt or Bahrain or Saudi.

Gaddafi is a dictator and killing his own people – he’s no worse than all the ones our governments still back and arm though. Why is your criticism against “the left” instead of against the hypocrites still arming and backing dictatorships that are or will use those weapons to kill their people?
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/09/tony-blair-indian-tv-interview-september-2011/ Blair: “The money is just a way of funding the rest of the things I do” | Left Foot Forward

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http://www.littlerichardjohhn.blogspot.com Little Richardjohn

After ignoring this appeal for 7 months, the ‘British Left’ is now snuggled up cosily in bed with Jean Marie Le Pen, Serbian Fascists ‘NASI 1389′, Glenn Beck, The Tea Party, Kelvin McKenzie, and every White Supremacist Islamophobe on the planet. Congratulations.
Instead of seizing a golden opportunity to ride the wave of a popular revolution, it has again decided to play the Purity Game, outlawing all actions backed by any traditional enemy. Whatever the cost in Libyan life. This pernicious pseudo-pacifism is a cancer at the heart of Progressive thought. Its acolytes being totally prepared to scrifice the people of Benghazi on the altar of their cosy superstition.
As Orwell says somewhere.
“It’s hard not to believe that pacifism is inspired by an admiration for power and successful cruelty”