I tuned into Al Jazeera completely at random last night, and I saw that the rebels were launching an attack against the capital. I checked it out today, and watched as the reports slowly came in.
A Libyan government official said on Sunday that 376 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in a rebel assault on the capital.
"There are 376 dead and more than 1,000 wounded" since the attacks were launched late on Saturday, the official told foreign journalists, asking not to be named.
- Libyan opposition fighters say they have entered the Green Square in central Tripoli. They said they entered the capital from the west and are about eight kilometres from the centre of the city.
Hundreds of euphoric Libyan rebels have overrun a major military base defending the capital, carting away truckloads of weapons and racing to the outskirts of Tripoli with virtually no resistance.
The rebels' surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a few dramatic hours.
By nightfall, they had advanced more than 20 miles to the edge of Gaddafi's last major bastion of support, entering the city's Green Square.
Along the way, they freed several hundred prisoners from a regime lockup.
Watching a live picture of crowds celebrating in Benghazi as reporters were continuously updating, was really fucking exciting. At the moment, two of Gadaffi's sons have been captured, and Gadaffi is rumored to have fled the country. Tripoli's "Green Square" is being renamed to "Martyr's Square." Since the war began, everyone had been saying the capital was incredibly loyal to Gadaffi, but they rose up and ran into the streets as soon as the rebels arrived.
Here's an Al Jazeera correspondant reporting from Tripoli only half an hour ago:
NATO undoubtedly got involved because of Libya's massive oil reserves. Syria, on the other hand, has been massacring people. Syrian gunboats have fired directly into the coastal city of Latakia, and 25 people are confirmed dead. Syria's oil exports in recent months have been outstripping its domestic need. So we don't help the people of Syria.
That said, I can't really sit here and condemn NATO. This revolution wouldn't have been won without them, and Libyans did overwhelmingly want their help. Sure, Libyans may soon be forced to become pawns for the west, but it's sure as hell a much better arrangement than what they've had. Back in March, a Libyan woman interrupted a press conference with western journalists, and screamed that Gadaffi's men had gang raped her in a secret prison. She was dragged away by armed guards as journalists struggled to help her, and went missing for three days.
NATO also likely got involved because of Libya's geographic position. Libya is in between Tunisia and Egypt, and now half of northern Africa is welcoming of democratic governments.
Libya's society is very tribal, and it will be extremely difficult forming a new government that satisfies everybody. We may see more violence. But as arabist said on twitter, "For those worrying about #Libya’s future: it might get worse, but it has never had a better chance to get better."
American media was once again a failure. I noticed American news didn't jump on the train until the battle for Tripoli was already well under way, and practically won. Fox earlier was bordering on outright racism, as a correspondent suggested that the Libyans just weren't competent enough to form a government on their own, and they'll need help. NATO will likely nudge its way in and give their help whether they want it or not.
The primary concern of American media is profits, and so they naturally aren't going to give a shit about things like this. An alternate media is essential if you want to be a somewhat informed citizen, so here are the sources I depend on the most:
Al Jazeera was kicked off American airwaves in the wake of 9/11, largely due to a mix of racism, and censorship. Al Jazeera is not based in the United States, so it's not going to be afraid to be critical of American policy when criticism is needed. Now, you'll find most right wingers are convinced it's run by terrorists, when Al Jazeera English really isn't all that different from the BBC. A live feed is up online, and can be watched at any time. You should watch it right now in fact, the celebrations are incredibly moving.
Aside from MSNBC's prime time, Democracy Now! is probably the only news source in the country that can be called "liberal." I don't like MSNBC because it mostly just turns into shouting matches where nothing is accomplished, but Democracy Now! moves past all the partisan dick waving and actually tries to inform you of what's happening. It clearly separates fact from opinion, where that line is always blurred in the mainstream press. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and get the full one-hour episode downloaded straight to your computer daily.
Tumblr. No, really. It's not all stupid hipster pictures, there are actually really informed people on there if you know where to look. If you do a search for a specific topic, you'll find people who are much more obsessed over this stuff than I am. I guess you could replace "tumblr" with "twitter" if you're on that, but I'm not.
And of course, there's reddit. Worldnews is great for this stuff.
Congratulations to Libya for ousting a murderous shithead. I hope he's caught, tried, and executed. In closing, I think I'm going to post this spectacular video again, because I always look for excuses to do so.
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