*** SNN
Martin Asser - BBC
How could adequately describe someone like Muammar Gaddafi?
During a period that spanned six decades, the Libyan leader has marched on the world scene with a style so unique and unpredictable that the words "rebel" or "eccentric" just do it justice.
Stories relacionadasLibia and the four factors conflictoGadafi promises victory as Clinton speaks of exile for the Libyan leader Gaddafi "is or is not a military target? Your government has seen him go from revolutionary hero to international pariah, the outcast valuable strategic partner again.
Gaddafi has developed its own political philosophy to write a book that is "in the eyes of its author at least, so influential, that overshadows all dreamed of by Plato, Locke or Marx.
has made numerous appearances on Arab and international meetings, in which not only known for her outrageous clothes, but also for his blunt speech and his unconventional behavior.
An Arab commentator recently called him the "Picasso of Middle East politics, but instead of periods blue, pink or cubist, Gadhafi has had a period pan-Arab, Islamic period, a pan-African and so on.
At first the heady days of 1969-when he seized power in a military coup without bloodshed, and in the decade of 1970, Muammar Gaddafi, was a young army officer, attractive and charismatic.
An enthusiastic disciple of President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, even adopted the same military rank, promoted to captain himself to colonel after the coup was initially focused on addressing the unjust legacy foreign economic domination.
focus for Nasser was the Suez Canal. To Gaddafi, oil.
significant reserves were discovered in Libya in late 1950, but the extraction was controlled by foreign oil companies set prices for the convenience of their domestic consumers and benefited from half the income.
Gaddafi called for the renegotiation of contracts, threatening to cut production if the oil companies refused.
even challenged the foreign oil company executives saying that "people who have lived without oil for 5,000 years, can live without it for a couple of years until they can get their legitimate rights ".
The tactic was successful, and Libya became the first developing country to ensure a majority stake in the income of its oil production. Other nations followed suit and Arab oil boom began in the early 1970.
Libya was in a position to reap the benefits. With an output similar to the Gulf states and one of the smallest populations in Africa (less than 3 million now), the rich black gold quickly.
Theoretical politicized instead of following the excesses of consumerism in the Gulf, or the doctrines of Arab nationalism, the volatility of Gaddafi Libya took a new path.
"Gaddafi third universal theory developed in its Green Paper"
Martin Asser, BBC
Born of Bedouin nomadic parents in 1942, Muammar Gaddafi is undoubtedly an intelligent and witty but did not receive an education that went beyond learning to read the Koran and military training.
However, from the early 1970, Qaddafi was devoted to training as a philosopher political, developing what he called the "third universal theory" described in his famous Green Book.
The theory aims to resolve the contradictions inherent in capitalism and communism (the first and second theory) to put the world on a path of political revolution, economic and social to liberate the oppressed peoples of the world.
In fact, little more than a series of diatribes foolish. It is extremely ironic that a text whose purpose is to break the chains of political interests has been used to subject an entire population.
The result of the theory of Gaddafi - amplified by the absolute intolerance of dissenting voices or alternative, has been gradually turning Libyan society, to eradicate civil society, the real political participation and any vestige of constitutionality.
The "system" Gaddafi conceived in the Green Paper.
solution to the problems of society, according to the book, it has to do with electoral representation described Gaddafi as a "dictatorship" of the largest party, or any other existing political system, but with the establishment of village committees implement all aspects of life.
This new system is presented schematically in the Green Paper, in a circular diagram in which the people's congresses are around a wheel influencing people's committees, which in turn create a true democracy in central secretariat.
The model created was actually a pyramid with the family ultrajerárquica Qadhafi and his closest allies at the top, protected by a brutal security apparatus.
In the parallel world of the Green Paper, the system is called Jamahiriyya, a neologism that plays on the Arabic word for a republic, Jumhuriyya, which means "the government of the masses."
Adventures extranjeroGadafi was able to bring its anti-imperialist worldwide, funding and supporting militant groups and resistance movements wherever they find them.
While more conventional governments were prepared to make ignored the human rights violations in his country and the persecution of dissidents abroad, agreed not to support groups that used terrorism in their own land.
A bombing of a nightclub frequented by U.S. soldiers in Berlin in 1986, attributed to Libyan agents, proved a turning point for Gaddafi.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for the two soldiers and civilian who died, although there was no definitive proof that Libya had been the perpetrator.
Revenge of the United States intended to kill the "mad dog of the Middle East as Reagan was baptized, but although there was extensive damage and an unknown number of victims, including apparently, the adopted daughter of Colonel Gaddafi, was unhurt.
The attack on Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 was the next significant escalation. The fact killed 270 people in the air and on the ground and is considered the worst act of terrorism ever happened in the UK.
Gaddafi's initial refusal to surrender the two Libyan suspects in the Scottish jurisdiction resulted in a prolonged period of negotiations and UN sanctions, which finally ended in 1999 with delivery and trial. One of the men, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, was sentenced to life imprisonment, but the other was acquitted.
Understanding and rebellion
The resolution of the Lockerbie case, along with the subsequent resignation of Gaddafi to a clandestine chemical and nuclear weapons, led to a significant increase in relations between Libya and Western powers.
removed with international sanctions, Tripoli once again became part of international political itinerary, allowing the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, among other luminaries, visit Qaddafi.
And in the years following Libya closed several businesses with oil companies and Western defense.
"When they were first called to a" day of rage "in Libya, Qaddafi promised to seriously join the popular protest, maintaining the myth of being the" brother leader revolution ", which has long had handed power to the people."
rebellion When the winds began to blow in the Arab world from Tunisia since December 2010, few people thought Libya would be "next."
Gadhafi was not widely perceived as a "lackey of the West" compared with other regional leaders.
When did the first calls for a "day of rage" in Libya, Qaddafi promised, apparently in all seriousness, join the popular protest, clinging to the myth of being the "Brother Leader of the revolution "that has long had handed power to the people.
In fact, the aroma of freedom and the lure of a possible overthrow of Colonel were temptations too strong for parts of the Libyan population, especially in the east.
Some of the first images of rebellion in Benghazi show angry young men destroying a green monolith in a public building that represented the doctrine that had enslaved, the Green Paper.
Gadhafi was probably inevitable fight with everything he had in his arsenal to stay in power.
But his days of walking around New York, European capitals and the Arab world over. He also finished the spell he once had over the Libyans with their fraudulent "universal theory."
