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Slavery In Libya A Surprise? You Weren't Reading Black Agenda Report
Bruce A. Dixon, BAR managing editor
07 Dec 2017

If the news that black Libyans and black migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were being sold as slaves in Libya was a surprise to you, then you were not reading Black Agenda Report during the 2011-2012 NATO intervention in that country. We covered it. Almost everybody refused to question US foreign policy in Africa during the reign of our first black president. Many US news outlets, many otherwise reasonable people with access to foreign news, and countless others around the world averted their eyes and their ears to the anguish of hunted, lynched and massacred black Africans in Benghazi, in Tripoli, in Sirte and Bani Walid. But as the US Navy and US Air Force unleashed thousands of tons of bombs and missiles on innocent civilians and the military forces of the Libyan government, without which Uncle Sam’s and Barack Obama’s racist rebels could never have toppled Muammar Gadaffi, you heard and read about it each week in Black Agenda Report.

That is, if you were listening to or reading Black Agenda Report.

This kind of unflinching coverage is the reason Black Agenda Report has been targeted by Google, which now suppresses the appearance of our content in its search results alleging that we are so-called “fake news" or tools of the Russians. Of the roughly two dozen leftist publications singled out in this manner Black Agenda Report is the only one owned by blacks or oriented toward a black audience. There are slicker and prettier web sites with far larger audiences peddling other kinds of black experience and consciousness, profitably delivering black eyeballs to corporate marketers. These outlets do not challenge cherished beliefs. They neither question nor contradict the lies our corporate masters tell us, lies which some of us repeat to each other.

During the bloodletting in Libya Black Agenda Report carried accounts of responsible journalists and our own commentary in print, audio and video on the lynchings, the massacres and the politics behind them. Though many of these events were covered elsewhere on the African continent they were almost completely absent from US coverage of the Libyan crisis. Even DemocracyNow!, which had a correspondent on the ground and ran two, three or more Libya stories weekly for more than a year, only reported on the persecution of black Africans in Libya a handful of times with no followup. But Black Agenda Report helped give our audience a coherent picture of the US sponsored catastrophe that befell Libya in 2011 and 2012.

Since early 2011, Black Agenda Report has run about 60 articles on the Libyan crisis. You can find a list of their dates and authors and links to all these at the end of the print version of this article at BlackAgendaReport.com. They include audio coverage of a July 2011 Atlanta public report back in which former US Atty. General Ramsey Clark, former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Rev. Derrick Rice of Atlanta's Sankofa Church of God and others who recently returned from Libya recounted their experiences in that unhappy country, and richly sourced accounts of the reasons the US and NATO overthrew what was once the most prosperous nation on the African continent.

Apparently that’s what you do if you want the Washington Post and Google to name you as a purveyor of "fake news" and a tool of the Russians. You tell the truth without fear or favor. Frankly, it can be a bad business model.

In the face of suppression by the corporate owners of social media, Black Agenda Report needs your help to keep on delivering news, commentary and analysis from the black left. There are three ways you can help.

Number one is to share the content of Black Agenda Report via email and social media with your friends.

Number two is to click the "subscribe" button at the top of each page, so Black Agenda Report will be delivered to your email each week. Google, Twitter and Facebook cannot determine what’s emailed directly to you. And number three is by clicking the donate button at the top of each page. Your one time or monthly donation will enable Black Agenda Report to keep delivering news, commentary and analysis from the black left as we have since 2006.

For Black Agenda Radio I'm Bruce Dixon. Find us on the web at www.blackagendareport.com and on Soundcloud at Black Agenda Radio and Black Agenda Radio Commentaries.

 

 

DATE TITLE AUTHOR
Mar 2, 2011 African Migrants Targeted in Libya Al Jazeera
Mar 2, 2011 Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective Gerald A. Perreira
Mar 2, 2011 US Prepares to Make Its Lunge At Libya’s Oil Fields Glen Ford
Mar 9, 2011 Race and Arab Nationalism in Libya Glen Ford
Mar 17, 2011 UPDATE: The American Dilemma in Libya: To Bomb, Invade, Partition, Or All of the Above Glen Ford
Mar 23, 2011 Coalition of Crusaders Join with al Qaeda to Oust Qaddafi and Roll Back Libyan Revolution Gerald A. Perreira
Mar 23, 2011 Obama’s Imperial Twist: “Humanitarian” Regime Change in Libya Glen Ford
Mar 23, 2011 Freedom Rider: Obama’s War in Libya Margaret Kimberley
Apr 6, 2011 Lynch Law and Summary Executions in Rebel-Held Libya Glen Ford
Apr 13, 2011 Libyan Rebels: Dependent Minions of US and Europe Glen Ford
Apr 20, 2011 Euro-American Land Invasion of Libya Imminent Glen Ford
Jun 15, 2011 The West's Obscene Demonization of Gaddafi Glen Ford
Jun 29, 2011 U.S. Media Imagine Nonexistent Mass Rape in Libya But are Blind to Mass Murder of Black Africans Glen Ford
Jul 20, 2011 A Defining Moment for Africa: North Atlantic Terrorists Will Be Defeated in Libya Gerald A. Perreira
Jul 25, 2011 Eye Witness Libya's Atlanta Report Back, July 24, 2011 With Cynthia McKinney Part 1 of 7 The Editors 
Jul 25, 2011 EyeWitness Libya, Atlanta Report Back, 2 of 7 Diane Mathowitz Speaks The Editors 
Jul 25, 2011 EyeWitness Libya, Atlanta Report Back, Part 3 of 7, Hon. Akbar Muhammad of the Nation of Islam The Editors 
Jul 25, 2011 EyeWitness Libya, Atlanta Report Back, Part 4 of 7; Rev. Derrick Rice of Atlanta's Sankofa United Church of Christ The Editors 
Jul 25, 2011 EyeWitness Libya, Atlanta Report Back, part 5 of 7, Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark The Editors 
Jul 25, 2011 Eyewitness Libya, Atlanta Report Back, Part 6 of 7; Atlanta's Lucy Greider-Bradley The Editors 
Jul 25, 2011 Eye Witness Libya's Atlanta Report Back, July 24, 2011 With Cynthia McKinney Part 7 of7 The Editors 
Aug 17, 2011 Black Libya City Said to Fall to Rebel Siege Glen Ford
Aug 24, 2011 The Libyan soldier: The True Heroes of NATO’s War Glen Ford
Sep 14, 2011 Fauntroy's Libya Massacres Story: No Time for Teasing Glen Ford
Sep 21, 2011 Obama Hosts International Debut for Libya’s Racist and Thoroughly Non-Revolutionary Regime Glen Ford
Oct 5, 2011 Are Democracy Now!'s Libyan Correspondents Feeding Us the State Department and Pentagon Line on Libya? Bruce A. Dixon
Oct 11, 2011 Black Libyans Make Their Stand in Sirte and Bani Walid Glen Ford
Oct 25, 2011 Africa Open for Plunder Now that Libya Has Fallen John Pilger
 
Nov 1, 2011 UN, NATO War Crimes in Libya Sparks Anger and Continuing Resistance Abayomi Azikiwe
Nov 1, 2011 Western Mercenaries and Corporations Pouring Into Libya Glen Ford
Dec 6, 2011 Demons Unleashed in Libya: NATO’s Islamists Continue Program of Ethnic and Ideological Cleansing Gerald A. Perreira
Dec 6, 2011 Libya Still A Killing Zone Glen Ford
Dec 21, 2011 NATO’s Depraved Disregard For Libyan Civilian Casualties Glen Ford
Jan 24, 2012 12,000 US Troops Poised to Move From Malta to Libya? Cynthia McKinney
Jan 26, 2012 South African President Attacks United Nations Over War Against Libya Abayomi Azikiwe
Mar 12, 2012 US and NATO-supported Libyan "Rebels" Continue Persecution of Blacks in Libya The Editors 
May 30, 2012 Libya, Africa and AFICOM: The Ongoing Disaster Dan Glazebrook
Oct 9, 2012 Libyan City Under Siege by Militias Lizzie Phelan
Oct 23, 2012 A Year Later, the War in Libya is Far from Over Horace G. Campbell
Jan 8, 2013 Book Review: Obama’s War Against Libya Stephen Gowans
Jun 4, 2013 Libyan Rebels and International Criminal Court Battle Over Gaddafi’s Son Abayomi Azikiwe
Jun 24, 2014 Iraq, Libya, Syria: Three reasons African Americans should oppose U.S. intervention in Africa Ajamu Baraka
Dec 3, 2014 The Lessons of Libya Dan Glazebrook
Feb 25, 2015 Freedom Rider: Media Silence on Libya Margaret Kimberley
May 13, 2015 Britain, Libya and the Mediterranean: The Creation of a Humanitarian Emergency Dan Glazebrook
Jun 15, 2015 U.S. Sets Stage for Libya-Like Regime Change in Eritrea, “Africa’s Cuba” Glen Ford
Nov 3, 2015 Benghazi Smokescreen: Hiding Western War Crimes in Libya Thomas C. Mountain
Jan 12, 2016 Clinton Email Shows that Oil and Gold Were Behind Regime Change In Libya Washington's Blog
Apr 13, 2016 Freedom Rider: Barack, Hillary and the Libya Crime Margaret Kimberley
Apr 19, 2016 Was Libya a Mistake or a Planned Imperialist Catastrophe? Danny Haiphong
Apr 19, 2016 Libya: Hillary’s War, the Empire’s Mistake Farooque Chowdhury
Jul 5, 2016 Whitewashing Libya: House Report on Benghazi Reveals Nothing, Hides Everything Eric Draitser
Jul 29, 2016 The Obama Legacy Part VI: The Destruction of Libya and the US military Invasion of Africa Danny Haiphong
Aug 9, 2016 The Façade of “Humanitarian Intentions” in Libya: A Review of Paolo Sensini’s Book Edward Curtin
Mar 30, 2017 Why Obama Attacked Libya Cynthia McKinney
Apr 19, 2017 Freedom Rider: Obama and Clinton Brought Slavery to Libya Margaret Kimberley
Jul 24, 2017 Hiding US Lies About Libyan Invasion Joe Lauria
Oct 24, 2017 Remembering Muammar Qaddafi and the Great Libyan Jamahiriya Gerald A. Perreira
Nov 28, 2017 Thank CNN for the Slave Auctions in Libya Danny Haiphong
Libya

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