Monday, March 14, 2011
The character of the opposition in Libya
Most people on the left (and, it goes without saying, most of the rest of the American and "Western" public) take it as a matter of faith that what is happening in Libya is a "revolution." Personally I have an open mind on the subject; my only clear conviction is a firm opposition to outside intervention. But I must say that some facts that are now coming out do shed some light on the subject. The man who has just been revealed as the military commander of the rebellion? Libya's just-resigned Interior Minister. And the rest of the Transitional Council? A collection of other former ministers in the government, and a number of other seemingly very bourgeois figures. A lot of things that indicate that what is happening is an internal struggle for power, and not much to indicate that what is happening is any kind of "revolution."
