Climate Change and Failed Polity Have Left Thousands Dead and Multitudes Missing In Libya
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And this trend is almost certain to get worse in politically unstable regions around the world….
If you are among the 1 percent, these are the best of times.
If you are among the poorest in the world, these are the worst of times.
And if you are desperately poor and from an unstable part of the globe?
Be rest assured that you are royally fucked.
Do spare a thought for the folks in Libya, who, through no fault of their own are going through intractable difficulties, right now.
Unlike their Moroccan neighbours, who have been able to galvanize support both from within and without since Saturday’s earthquake, the Libyans have been left to go through the extraordinary situation of not having a functional government to deal with the extreme climate change emergency.
Given my background as a sub-Saharan African, I really shouldn’t care about 10,000 missing Libyans; given their countless atrocities against Black Africans in the last decade.
African migrants, who see Libya as the gateway to Europe, have had the worst time imaginable: tales of beatings, rape, starvation and being packed like sardines in egregious sanitary conditions, have made the headlines across the world.
But it must be pointed out that all this would not have happened if Muammar Gaddafi were in charge.
Prior to his ousting in 2011 by David Cameron, Nicholas Sarkozy and Barack Obama, Gaddafi’s Libya had a very high standard of living and strong internal cohesion.
While western commentators, as is their wont, can be relied upon to come out and trot their usual nonsense about the absence of human rights and freedoms in Libya, but Gaddaffi ensured that the polity was fully functional and that its citizens enjoyed the immense benefits of the country’s oil wealth.
