Libya - 2011 pt 1: “What is Libya?”

It has now been almost two months since the situation in Libya began. To understand an issue like this, we must, as always, have some background. Thankfully, I have my own sources and reserves of information on Libya that far exceed those of Wikipedia, and therefore I am not dependant upon the Wiki for my info!
Let us begin in the 1969. Libya is one of many shit-holes in northern Africa. The decades preceding this year were fraught with globe-spanning wars that originated in Europe. Libya is quite literally on Europe’s doorstep. Once the land of the Carthaginians and Hannibal, Libya may have been a prosperous place. Seated upon the northern edge of the great Sahara, there was any monumental potential for imperial development like there was across the Mediterranean in Rome. Indeed, The ancient Roman empire hobbled Carthage in the Punic Wars; and after predecessors like the Phoenicians and the Greeks, Rome became the master of what we now call Libya.
In the Middle Ages, Rome’s power vanished, and Italy itself was divided into many small principalities and kingdoms. But once the 20th century finally rolled around again, Italy, wearing a loose-fitting disguise of industry thanks to the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini, assumed control over the Libyan territory again.
But it’s not that simple.

When most people think “Africa”, they think Rwanda, South Africa, or any other nation that has had genocidal/extremely racist tendencies in the last one hundred years. Traditionally, the races involved have been the black natives of Africa, and the white imperialists of the European empires. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, all states in Europe took their turn in biting chunks out of Africa. South Africa was England, Angola was Portuguese, the entire western side of the continent was French. It is only natural that the Italians would land on the piece of Africa closets to them, and then attempt, as fascists do, to act like everyone else and commit a little genocide and/or racially-based violence and domination if the chance presents itself.

But when we see Libya today, and indeed the other states of northern Africa, we see Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, etc. and they are all peoples of Arab descent. What are Arabs doing in Africa? Why aren’t they black?
Well, after the Roman Empire split into the Western Empire and the Byzantine, the Byzantines continued their characteristic rule by negligence and forwent the inland territories of Libya. They chose to only keep the coastal fortresses like Tripoli, which today, in 2011, still bears a Roman name, apparently holds Roman architecture, and is the only really prosperous part of the country.
As the Byzantines grew weak, the Arabian horsemen riding in from Arabia in the east ploughed across the deserts, and set up their camps all over Libya. This began in the middle of the first millennium AD, and accounts for the demographic situation we see in Libya today. Like most European colonies, the colonial masters were forced to leave after WWII with their tails between their legs, all the Italians in Libya sought refuge in the motherland. There is little to show for their legacy, since the politics of the last several decades has been focused on wiping out all traces of them.

And there is one more element to Libya:
After the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Ottomans, and the Italians, there was a brief ray of light for Libya. In 1951, whilst the victorious powers of World War II were assembling the UN and seeking to straighten out the world they had just destroyed, there was passed a Resolution by the UN that Libya should become a free and independent state. A man named Idris, who represented the people’s interests at the UN after the war, became the King of the ‘Uited Kingdom of Libya”. Why the place should be called a “united” kingdom should by now be apparent to you - having suffered so many masters over the millennia, the land we called Libya was now home to several different kinds of people, minorities all over the place. The Kingdom was brought into being as a constitutional monarchy, and even represented some sort of enshrinement of the rights of the people. Sounds good, no?

Enter the Colonel.
Coming back to 1969: On September 1, a colonel in the Libyan army, Muammar al-Gaddafi, launched a coup d’etat that toppled King Idris. His ensuing consolidation of power saw the promising future of Libya squandered as Gaddafi cancelled the laws and constitution of the country, and enacted sharia law. Claiming to be a hardline Muslim, Gaddafi capitalised on the political clout his claims gave him and sought to unify the country under his own leadership as a “Brother-Leader” of the people.

Colonel Gaddafi was quite popular in his early days. He had taken power when he was only 27, and it is likely that back in the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s he would have had youthful charisma and charm enough to hold the hearts of all the people of Libya.
And who could blame them, really?
In all the centuries of hand-passing and neglect by European and outside powers, the rule of Gaddafi, in 1969, would have presented the first truly indigenous leadership for their country. He said he was a Muslim, and about 99% of the country would have appreciated that fact. Gaddafi had ousted a puppet of the UN and the western powers. Regardless of the sweetness of his words, these facts alone would be enough for most Libyans who lived through WWII and Italian colonialism.

Colonel Gaddafi has been in power in Libya, by now in 2011, for 42 years. But the Colonel has grown old, he acts stranger and crazier, and his grip on the country has weakened as a result of these factors. Technology, always the road-maker for human dreams to drive by, has also opened the minds of the people of Libya.
What we have in Libya, by March of 2011, is an extremely interesting social and political situation, with a leader who needs to topple, but will do anything and everything he can to fight the momentum of history.

Another Hiatus.

Before I delve into this big issue, I must apologise to my esteemed readers - there have been several developments in my own life, all of ongoing natures, that have prevented my mind from contemplating this blog, let alone composing anything worthy of your time spent in reading it. But now, once again, The Tominator is BACK!