Did Al Gaddafi Mismanage Libya's Oil Wealth?

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis Tuesday June 04, 2013 14:08 by An Draigneán Donn

Answering the claim, by a certain Liberal, that Muammar al-Gaddafi wasted Libya's oil wealth.

Did Al Gaddafi mismanage Libya's oil wealth?

In relation to your question, we have to consider the criteria by which these commentators are judging mismanagement. These commentators are Neo-Liberals. As far as they are concerned, profits from oil should be used to push up share prices in multi-national corporations. To spend oil profits on feeding hungry children, or giving them free housing or free food is gross mismanagement. Such dastardly behaviour pushed down property prices, and makes it very difficult for property speculators to make a quick buck.

Another case of gross mismanagement was when Al-Gaddafi decided to spend 40 billion of oil revenues on building the Great Man Made River. Sure, it gives Africa as much water as the Nile flowing for 200 years. Sure its, by far, the biggest engineering project of all time. Sure, it's, by far, the greatest humanitarian project of all time. But, where is the profit for private investors??? Al-Gaddafi was giving the water to poor farmers at discount prices. No profit at all. He was giving the water to people to drink for free. The damned scoundrel. And the worst part of it all - he built the entire project without borrowing one single penny from the international banksters. How can you build anything without giving the banksters their cut??? This man was a dangerous terrorist. He had to be stopped.

And, as if that wasn't enough insanity, Al-Gaddafi stock piled 140 tons of gold in Tripoli to be the basis of an African Central Bank, with a pan-African currency, the Gold Dinar. No longer would the USA be able to buy African oil and mineral resources with Monopoly Money - that is simply printed at will. Africa would have to be paid with real value. The IMF and World Bank vultures would be kicked out, and the 25,000 children, who die every single day from drinking dirty water, would have clean, fresh water to drink, and food to eat. Can you imagine more obscene mismanagement of Libya's oil money?

It's on a much smaller scale of mismanagement, but, Al-Gaddafi also used Libyan oil money to support freedom struggles in places like Ireland, the Basque Country, and Palestine. Al-Gaddafi, the fool that he was, didn't understand that freedom only means the freedom of the rich to profit. He had silly ideas about nations having dignity and honour and sovereignty.

Not only that, but, instead of putting the oil money into the hands of a tiny Libyan elite, along with Anglo-Saxon oil companies, as King Idris had done, Al-Gaddafi built roads and hospitals and mosques in many African countries. This was money that rightfully belonged to the Libyan business and landowner class.

We see that Ireland is an excellent example of good management. When times are good, the rich become incredibly rich. When the greed of the rich destroys the whole economy, the poor pay for the crimes of the rich. That's what these commentators consider to be good management, and that's what their "revolution" has now brought to Libya.