With the bombing of the presidential residence in Cote d’Ivoire by French forces for over a week, followed by the arrest of president Laurent Gbagbo, with the current intense bombing of Libya by NATO for the past 6 months, I cannot help but try to answer some of the same justifications used by Africans to approve the bombings by foreign troops on their neighbors’s countries, and ultimately on African soil. Any African who claimed and accepted that Cote d’Ivoire should be bombed by the French, shame on you! Any African who thought that the bombing of Libya was correct… shame on you! Any African who uses the same stupid phrase used by the West to abuse us: “… well Gbagbo had his day, he was in power for 10 years!… or Kadhafi was there 42 years!” Well my friend… Shame on you! Should democracy be imposed using bombs? Should democracy be imposed using warplanes, and Apache helicopters? Is it democracy to bomb the people you plan to help? Is it democracy to deliberately bomb civilian targets, hospitals, state televisions, homes, etc… to, like NATO said “protect civilians”? Was there not a peaceful solution? Was it so hard to re-count the votes in Cote d’Ivoire? Was it so hard to organize elections as Kadhafi asked? Why bomb? Why bomb? Why bomb?…

Somebody told me “Kadhafi was in power 42 years!” First Kadhafi is the Guide of the Revolution, and thus is not a president.  Moreover,… did you know the queen of England has been on the throne for 59 years? Well, you might argue that ‘she does not really exert any power’… well why do the people have to pay for the lavish wedding of her grandchildren then? Why do the countries of the Commonwealth have to pay for her to maintain her lavish style of living, and her palaces in Buckingham and so on?

It is interesting, I have not seen anywhere that the definition of democracy was “government imposed by external forces, for external forces, to crush the people of a country!” I am tired of this stupid debate the media-lies (CNN, BBC, France24, etc) always bring and which Africans always fall to: “this one is a democrat, and the other one is a dictator.” Please stop bothering people with the same rhetoric, and stop bothering people with your pseudo-democracies where nobody has the right to say anything. Frankly every other year when elections come around, don’t you ever wonder how come with all the bright politicians coming out of top schools, how come we always end up with only 2 (and somehow the worst of all)?

I am against imposing democracy with bombs! I am against the kind of civilian protection which involves missile deployment, and the latest warfare technology. What is this kind of democracy which is barbaric? What is this kind of democracy where someone else’s child is being killed in my name? I bet you if Christopher Colombus was to be here today, he will tell the Native Americans that he is bringing them democracy… no wait ‘civilization’! Stop the excuses! Why is it that all the worst atrocities are always committed on our soil and we just stand there and look? When Rwanda happened where were you? You probably agreed to the genocide, and did not ask the foreign powers to intervene! Oh that’s the other nasty excuse being used by the west “we don’t want anymore Rwanda.” Is that why 64 bombs should be dropped on Bab Al Aziziyah in a few hours? Is that why hospitals, homes, have to be bombed? I bet you that person you are currently calling dictator never committed such atrocities! How should NATO be called: dictator or democrat? I was told that if someone committed a crime, he should be taken to court, and justice will prevail… what are we seeing today: some sort of John Wayne movie where ‘shoot everything you see’ is the norm… what kind of justice is this which kills people? What kind of justice is it which bombards civilians? What is this justice which lies day-in and day-out? I thought justice was fairness… where is the fairness in bombing Libyans and Ivorians who showed their support for their leaders? Where is the justice when 42 countries allied together to bomb one country?

I prefer the government of the masses as installed in Libya, at least I have free education, free healthcare, and I even get some of the oil revenue in my account (as a matter of fact, I wonder if my African brothers who like this kind of intervention receive bonuses at Christmas from Exxon or Total). Plus, I can even dream of a better world without the weight of debts! I say it again, and again, I am for the government of the masses (isn’t that the definition of democracy after all?). I am sure that the government of the masses, and the true will of the Libyan and Ivorian people will ultimately overcome. It took several years to the Vietnamese people, but they defeated France, and the US! Viva the Libyan Jamahiriya! Viva all the oppressed people of the world! Thomas Sankara, the great African revolutionary said “La patrie ou la mort, nous vaincrons!”… and Agostinho Neto added “A luta Continua… e Victoria e certa!“