Muammar al-Gaddafi

I've been reading about the Libyan leader recently, as it occurred to me that I knew very little about him. I recall vaguely that my socialist grandmother was quite fond of Gaddafi, if for no other reason than the benefits he brought to the Libyan people. Apart from his frankly awesome and outlandish outfits (I wish I could pull off robes like his with sunglasses and not look utterly ridiculous), I'm not sure what to make of him. He seems to be a Pan Africanist, that much is sure, and also an Islamic Socialist.

The fact that he's been the target of so much flak from the media certainly makes me feel sympathetic towards him. Thoughts?

I really do love his outfits... I saw where he tried to set up his tent at Donald Trump's house for the UN meeting this year. So, is he considered a Communist or just a general wako?

At best he's a socialist and that seems to be more part of the past. But he's certainly not a marxist.

He's the kind of guy we could support against a pro-American leader. But not the kind of guy we would want in charge in principle.

Hmm, well, better him than the Ayatollah at any rate...

Still, those celebrations at the airport when Megrahi returned made me lol. The Scottish flags reminded me of another african dictator...

I get the impression he is very arrogant and is not used to people confronting him or saying no to him. All the signs of a dictator. I'm sure some of his policies have helped the Libyan people but if he does not allow much internal discussion then he is fundamentally flawed in my eyes.

If he's not a marxist communist then he is flawed.

There have been more than enough Marxist communist leaders who didn't take internal discussion seriously.

Sure. But the point is that if he isn't one, he's already disqualified. Regardless of his stance on internal discussion.

Actually I'd prefer Chavez over Ceausescu or Hoxha at any time.

Comrade al-Gaddafi is definitely a beacon in the struggle against imperialism.

I've read the Green Book, it's available online (in English) here.

It basically outlines the social/cultural, economic and political basis for Jamahiriya socialism.

@Besoshvili, thanks for the link. I've actually been meaning to read that book for some time now. Hopefully I'll get around to it over winter break. I never realized it was online.

Gaddafi funded many armed groups throughout the 1970s and 1980s as well as a good part of the 1990s. More recently though, he has mellowed and become quite friendly with many western leaders. Was he not in Europe recently with Sarkozy and did he also not recently meet Blair? My view on the Megrahi incident is that Gaddafi, judging his warmed relations with the west, was able to gain some leverage and pull off a manuevre such as that. It would have been more damning around ten years ago. Gaddafi realises that unlike Saddam Hussein, if you want to stay in power as a dictator you have to be willing to befriend and align yourself with anyone who could depose you. By 2003 it did not pay for him to be railing against America or the UK.

Political Interest wrote:

Gaddafi funded many armed groups throughout the 1970s and 1980s as well as a good part of the 1990s. More recently though, he has mellowed and become quite friendly with many western leaders. Was he not in Europe recently with Sarkozy and did he also not recently meet Blair? My view on the Megrahi incident is that Gaddafi, judging his warmed relations with the west, was able to gain some leverage and pull off a manuevre such as that. It would have been more damning around ten years ago. Gaddafi realises that unlike Saddam Hussein, if you want to stay in power as a dictator you have to be willing to befriend and align yourself with anyone who could depose you. By 2003 it did not pay for him to be railing against America or the UK.

Right now, he seriously does need to. Chances are that if he had continued as he was, the West would've declared he was funding Al-Qaeda and either invaded by now, or would be eyeing them up like Iran.

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Right now, he seriously does need to. Chances are that if he had continued as he was, the West would've declared he was funding Al-Qaeda and either invaded by now, or would be eyeing them up like Iran.

Apparently he is not very good to his own people, however. From what I hear, while Libya does have a state run economy, most of it goes to the government and the people see little of its fruit. George Galloway said that when he was in Libya, there were parts of the country without street lighting. I think that being an ally of the west helps Gaddafi because it allows him to crack down on the group you mentioned and also not be the target of another oil crusade.

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most of it goes to the government and the people see little of its fruit.

I don't know about that, one of the few things you can give Libya is that it has one of the highest standards of living in Africa.

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there were parts of the country without street lighting.

In Africa there are countries without street lighting. Compared to that I gotta say Libya's not that bad.

Did Gaddafi design the flag? I know that green is an Islamist color but their flag is a little borring.

necroposter! but funny anyway. the red flag is boring too then.