Last night’s NATO rocket attack on Tripoli is inexplicable. A civilian metropolitan area of around 2 million people, Tripoli sustained 22 to 25 bombings last night, rattling and breaking windows and glass and shaking the foundation of my hotel. The sky flashed red with explosions and more rockets from NATO jets cut through low clouds before exploding. I could taste the thick dust stirred up by the exploded bombs. I immediately thought about the depleted uranium munitions reportedly being used here – along with white phosphorus.

It was Gaddafi’s Libya that offered all of Africa its first revolution in modern times – connecting the entire continent by telephone, television, radio broadcasting and several other technological applications such as telemedicine and distance teaching. And thanks to the WMAX radio bridge, a low cost connection was made available across the continent, including in rural areas.

One of the unforeseen effects of the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe is that this country is now more independent and outspoken against racism and imperialism than other countries who depend on the white West for huge percentages of their budgets.

Worse still, those who still depend on Western aid have also become more vulnerable to the so-called global financial crisis which is also primarily a western problem. So it is the illegally sanctioned Zimbabwe which has been outspoken on Libya and Côte d’Ivoire.

It is amazing to see how those in the mainstream press simply ignore anybody who leaves the ‘official frame’ set by the ‘respected authorities’. Every time I left the ‘acceptable box’ during a debate in France on 24 Friday , the others came back where they had left off as if I had said nothing. The limits of debate are narrow and ‘official speak’ is full of new euphemisms and phraseology with meaningless content destined to join ‘collateral damage’ in the dustbin of used spin. Let us look at some examples.
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Northern Africa is not the only part of Africa where uprisings are taking place. In countries like Swaziland, Gabon, Cameroon, Djibouti, and Burkina Faso we’ve seen massive student uprisings and worker demonstrations brutally suppressed in most cases. Editor-in-chief of Pambazuka News Firoze Manji talks to the Real News Network about what’s happening in Southern Africa.

The opposition forces in Libya attempting to march on Tripoli with the assistance of American, French and British bombs are far removed from the image of innocent civilians fighting for freedom and democracy promoted by the media and political circles.

Shortly after the popular uprising started in Libya, the situation quickly turned violent. At first rumors, then confirmed reports talked about mercenaries wreaking havoc in different cities in Libya. Eyewitnesses report that ‘African’ mercenaries have been killing unarmed civilians. Media outlets showed passports of alleged mercenaries coming from neighboring African countries. According to diverging reports, their numbers range from 6,000 to 30,000 armed men. Resorting to, guns for hire, mercenaries, or ‘private contractors’ in violent conflicts is not the issue here.

The political culture of dynasties is very much alive in Africa even where there are no kingdoms.

In Uganda the opposition has claimed that President Yoweri Museveni is grooming his eldest son Lieutenant Colonel Kaneirugaba Muhoozi, 36, to succeed him.

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Uri Rosenthal reacted to the Libyan crisis with two goals:

“Let’s get Dutch citizens out of Libya safely, and, make sure no more immigrants reach Europe.”

Meanwhile, the Italian government’s reaction, yesterday, focused on the “threat of massive immigration from Libya.”

The UN recently published a report on racism in Libya against the two million Sub-Saharan migrant workers.

While many have hailed the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule in Libya as symptomatic of a nationalistic desire for freedom and equality, there is a dark side to this revolution.
Many African migrant workers report that they have been attacked by anti-government protesters, after having been mistaken for mercenaries hired by Gaddafi.
They say that their businesses have been attacked, and residents of Benghazi, an opposition stronghold say they are too afraid to even venture out of their houses.

Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reports from Benghazi, in eastern Libya.