Somalilandsun- On this day Africa lost Muammar al-Gaddafi, a true Son of Africa, revolutionary, and Pan-Africanist. Born in a Bedouin tent 20 miles south of Sirte in the spring of 1942 Muammar Gaddafi from a young age championed socialist ideas, after graduating from military academy in Benghazi, Gaddafi, now a captain, established the Libyan Arab Republic by overthrowing a western backed Monarch in 1969 in a bloodless and popularly supported Coup.
Gaddafi carried out a large-scale campaign against Western Imperialism. All US and British military bases in Libya were shut down and Western oil companies, including British Petroleum in Libya were immediately nationalized. Gaddafi would further eliminate corruption, and bring about remarkable changes in the political, economic, and social life of the Libyan people.
In 1977, the largest direct democracy project the world had ever known was announced. Colonel Gaddafi, who would be referred to by his people as the Brother Leader, handed over power to the people through directly democratic institutions. These institutions respected the integrity of tribal systems while allowing large-scale development projects to be pursued by the central government. This period marked the rapid construction of public housing, schools, hospitals, and roads, and the development of women’s rights continued after the 1969 revolution declaring that “There is no difference between men and women in all that
concerns humanity”.
While many of the projects pursued under the Jamahiriya government, like the Great Manmade River, were only made possible because of Gaddafi’s revolution, Gaddafi’s key achievement was empowering the Libyan people to control their own destinies and reach their full potential. In 2011, the literacy rate was higher than 80% with 99% literacy for those born after 1969. Libya’s development index was far higher than any other country in Africa, including Egypt and South Africa.
Muammar Gaddafi was assassinated on this day, 20th October, 5 years ago by the US and its NATO allies to prevent Gaddafi pursuing the establishment of the ‘African Dinar’ a Pan-African currency that would give many of the Mineral rich nations of Africa power over their own resources.
