While the rest of the Arab World is also facing dictators and fighting for change, it is probably safe to say that Gaddafi represents the worst of the bunch. Not only has he been a model for ruthlessness and excessive terror, but he also suffers from a large dose of megalomania and self-worship. Worse still, in his bid to cling to power, he has dedicated his long and heavy-handed rule to establishing a system feeding on terror, corruption, poverty and tribalism.
Early on in his dictatorial rule, Gaddafi adopted a strategy of mass terror, as an effective instrument to secure his grip on power. Students and activists alike were persecuted and public hangings of regime opponents were orchestrated and televised on numerous occasions to promote a climate of fear across Libya. Civil society in all its forms was always discouraged and the forming of political parties, NGOs and trade unions was banned.
Promoting corruption went hand in hand with promoting fear to serve the regime. Loyalty replaced competence as a prerequisite for high-level government jobs, favors and scholarships. Education was systematically destroyed to promote ignorance. Early on in his rule, Gaddafi understood that the overly-simplistic political and voodoo economic thoughts laid down in his tiny Green Book would appear more convincing to an illiterate or semi-literate youth than to someone with a good education. English as a foreign language was dropped from school curricula for many years and books were banned.
Fueling corruption was an economy solely based on the oil curse, which was grossly abused by the regime. A strategy of buying loyalty for cash was put in place. Vast sums were vainly spent on grand schemes and failing military and political ambitions. The rest was diverted to personal gain benefiting the regime and those who supported it. There was absolutely no accountability and no government oversight. Worse, there was neither the capacity nor the interest on the part of Gaddafi to modernize the economy and diversify it away from its vulnerable commodity-base state, which persists to this day. As a result, unemployment has skyrocketed, the infrastructure is in shambles and poverty is strikingly prevalent in the oil-rich country.
For Gaddafi, tribalism also went hand in hand as a useful tool, conveniently used to divide and rule. Even as people were striving to rise above old tribal lines and aspiring to build a modern civil society, Gaddafi was working hard to recreate old and when necessary invent new tribal divisions.
Once Gaddafi disappears from the scene, the New Libya will have to undo all negative ills entrenched by the dictator and embark on the difficult task of rebuilding whatever he had destroyed. The new Libya I dream of is one where fear is replaced by freedom and respect for basic rights, where all citizens feel their country belongs to them and where justice is balanced with national reconciliation. The Libya I dream of is a modern, civil and secular state, where religious freedom and freedom of expression are cherished concepts and racism is not tolerated. The Libya I dream of is one which elects its government based on competence and integrity rather than tribalism and cronyism, a government with a credible program to eradicate poverty, stamp out corruption and reduce bureaucracy, a government able to diversify our economy away from the oil curse and assure a fair distribution of wealth, a government which is held accountable and can be dismissed by the people when it does not deliver. The new Libya would be one where separation of powers, transparency, equal opportunities and a neutral military are assured. The new Libya would be one, which aligns itself with the young revolutions of the Arab World, integrates its development programs with theirs and learns from the experience of the rest of the world. The new Libya I dream of is a country where good education, science and technology, vocational training, youth programs and gender equality are valued and taken seriously and where self-expression, creativity, diversity and culture are cherished.
In his first speech after becoming war prime minister, Winston Churchill said that he had “nothing to offer but blood, toll, tears and sweat”. By all accounts, this was a bold statement by a visionary, which came in the darkest hour of Britain when Europe and other parts of the world were facing a ferocious war campaign by Hitler and his allies. Seventy years later, Libya is finding itself in a similar situation. Its own dictator, in a bid for power and personal glory, has unleashed his military machinery, paid for by the Libyan people, to crush their genuine aspirations for freedom and democracy. The immediate goal for the Libyan revolution is of course to achieve victory against this tyrant, serve justice and heal the country. Granted, this is still work in progress and in itself a difficult and daunting task. It has cost Libyan blood and suffering and engaged concerted international efforts that Libyans gracefully acknowledge. However, defeating the dictator and uprooting his rotten regime will only be a partial victory. Building a New Libya from the ruins of the old one is an even more difficult and daunting task, but nevertheless essential to achieve full victory. This will call not only for more toll, tears and sweat but also for a demonstration of unity and wisdom by no other than the Libyans themselves.
