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Farrakhan Shares Some Thoughts On Gadhafi Visit to America

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi addresses the 64th session of the General Assembly at UN headquarters, Sept. 23. Photo: AP World Wide Photos

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, who is also president of the African Union, recently visited the United States for the first time in his 40 year rule of the North African country. During his visit he met with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam and publisher of The Final Call newspaper, in New York. In a brief Sept. 28 interview, the Minister shared some thoughts about the Gadhafi visit and related topics with Final Call editor Richard B. Muhammad.

Richard B. Muhammad (FCN): Dear Minister thank you for this interview. Much has been said about the style and manner of Bro. Gadhafi’s Sept. 23 address to the UN General Assembly. But little has been said about the substance of his remarks. What do you think of the substance of what was said?

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The Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan (MLF): They did not wish to deal with the substance of his wide ranging message. He talked concerning the preamble of the charter that was written and voted on in 1945 at the inception of the United Nations in San Francisco. He mentioned that preamble said that all nations great and small were equal and he said, of course, we weren’t involved in forming the United Nations. It was four powers that had worked against Germany in the second World War, and against Japan, and they gave themselves veto power. He talked about all these nations that have come into the United Nations, now about 196 nations. These nations are subjected to 10 members of the Security Council and how the Security Council makes decisions against smaller nations.

The International Criminal Court makes decisions against leaders of smaller nations but they never bring charges against those with veto power and those under the protection of those with veto power. Bro. Gadhafi talked about the Security Council as a “terror council” that is terrorizing smaller nations into accepting to do what the Security Council says. If the 193 nations of the General Assembly were the world legal body, the world parliament, the Security Council could act an executive council on the votes of the General Assembly.

Bro. Gadhafi talked about moving the United Nations from New York. If America is a target of Al-Qaeda and if they may attack the United Nations at some point, why not move it to someplace more centrally located so that people would not have to travel 20 and 30 hours and be in the United Nations General Assembly very tired and sleepy–not able to listen attentively to the various speeches of the various leaders. He wanted to reopen the files on the killings of Congo’s First Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bro. Gadhafi talked about this body being set up to avoid war, but since this body was set-up to avoid war, 65 wars have taken place, and the preamble of the charter of the United Nations says when one nation is aggressor nation all of the nations would act in concert against that nation to bring about peace and justice. It should be in the interest of the whole United Nations when the membership of the United Nations decides to go to war.

I have asked for a full English translation of his speech so that we can dissect it in The Final Call point by point; so that the American readers, or the readers of the Final Call newspaper and online, will not fall victim to the slander, the mockery of Bro. Gadhafi’s way or style rather then deal with the substance of his message.

FCN: Brother Minister how important is it in particular for Black America to have the willingness to look at this kind of message and dissect it and really see what is in it and what it means for us?

MLF: I think it is very important because if the United Nations General Assembly becomes the real power, the Security Council becomes the actor that acts on the will of the majority, which Brother Gadhafi said is real democracy. Then the youngsters in these nations wouldn’t be carted off to war to die in foreign lands; if there is a new arrangement other than the arrangement that presently guides the Security Council. I think that it would be good for Black people in America to see the wisdom of what Muammar Gadhafi is really advocating for the United Nations. In the event that they do adopt this idea, the 53 Nations in Africa should have a permanent seat on the Security Council as the African Union.

FCN: You were of course able to meet with Brother Gadhafi during his visit. Can you share something of what that meeting was like? And how relevant are such relationships, when as you have previously noted, there has always been an attempt to cut-off the Black man and woman in America from our brothers and sisters on the continent or from anyone whose power the U.S. government does not control?

MLF: Brother Gadhafi’s long journey to the United States caused me to think that maybe when he first got to America he would want to rest. He would want to meet with his staff; he would want to learn what he needed to learn. But when Brother Gadhafi arrived at the Libyan Mission it is my understanding that he asked for me. So I was blessed in New York to have a police escort everywhere I went. The police escort sped me quickly to the Libyan Mission to the United Nations where I met with Brother Gadhafi, and brother Leader said he didn’t want to greet anyone in the United States before he greeted me as representative of the Nation of Islam.

We welcomed him to America and we, of course, told him that we were here and whatever we could do to facilitate his first visit to the United States we were here for him. Thousands of our people came welcome him and hundreds of Fruit of Islam along with Libyan students were outside of the Libyan Mission. The brothers were on four corners stacked by the hundreds. We pledged our support to him in his effort to move the African Union speedily toward the United States of Africa.

FCN: You mentioned Brother Minister earlier the mockery and the disrespect that was accorded this head of state and someone who has been cooperating with the U.S. government in trying to build a better relationship. What do you see as the root of such disrespect? I certainly could not imagine anyone showing such disrespect to the president of the United States without a serious backlash.

MLF: You have to remember that Libya took responsibility for any actions of any of its citizens that led to the bombing of Pan Am 103 and the killing of 270 persons. Once Brother Abdel-baset Ali al-Megrahi was released from prison to return to Libya to die and was accorded a warm welcome, this was played up in the American media in a way that altered the path that Brother leader Muammar Gadhafi was traveling with the West and with the United States of America–this unfortunately injured that movement and set it back. This is what caused the outcry against him and so it is unfortunate, but I am sure with the help of Allah and the guidance of wise helpers of Brother Gadhafi, they will put the relationship back on track.

FCN: Brother Minister one last question. Are there any other observations or any other analysis that you would like to present to our readers regarding President Gadhafi’s visit to America and what it potentially means in the future? Is there anything about the need for us to pay attention to international affairs so that we are more up to speed on conditions in the world and why things are happening?

MLF: All we have to do is keep reading The Final Call newspaper because if we read our own paper we will be up to speed on international affairs as they relate to the struggle of our people here and abroad. I personally want to thank Brother Akbar Muhammad, Brother Keith Hopps and Brother Leonard Farrakhan Muhammad for the work that they did–along with the F.O.I. captain in New York Brother Richard Muhammad, Brother Majied Muhammad and others–to turn out the wonderful crowd that came to welcome Brother Gadhafi and to watch his address and President Barack Obama’s address by wide screen satellite at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York.

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