THE PRICE LIBYA PAID FOR DEFYING THE IMF

In this clip, Moussa Ibrahim, the last spokesperson for assassinated Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011), explained how Libya under Gaddafi resisted Western neo-colonial bullying in its quest to develop a sovereign African currency to end the continent's dependence on the dollar or euro. The revolutionary leader also explored the possibility of establishing a Libyan-led investment bank to finance African infrastructure, thereby avoiding the pitfalls of Western debt.

Libya had zero foreign debt when NATO invaded in 2011. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had attempted to convince Gaddafi to take on a structural adjustment loan in exchange for privatising and deregulating the Libyan economy. Gaddafi refused because he saw the debt it placed on other African countries as a neocolonial tool of enslaving people to Western dependence.

When the ‘Arab Spring’ rebellions kicked off in 2011, the West seized the moment to impose regime change on Libya. NATO-supported rebels overthrew Gaddafi, and anarchy ensued. Slave markets emerged in Libya. Public infrastructure has collapsed. Once controlled by the Libyan state, oil revenues are now generating profits for foreign corporations and local militias.

Libya's example is a warning to Africans. Debt crises are spreading far too often under the guise of foreign-debt ‘assistance.' Pan-African pioneers understood this, but coups, sanctions and assassinations thwarted their efforts toward economic independence.

Video credit: @_moussa_ibrahim (X)