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HUMANITY, LIBYA, REVOLUTION, QUADHAFI, KILLING, BLAIR by Ted Honderich You
can try to think consistently about right and wrong in Libya only by
way of a principle. One is the Principle of Humanity
-- in short that
all rational steps and no others are to be taken to the end of getting
and keeping
people out of bad lives, these being lives deprived of decent
length,
bodily well-being, freedom and power, respect and
self-respect, the goods of relationship, the goods of culture. You can
ask to what extents the revolutionaries in Libya and what is called the
Quadhafi
regime will or would serve the end of the Principle of Humanity. You
can ask to what extent what is
properly called the Quadhafi government has in the past served this
end. You can
ask, certainly, about the humanity of the revolution being attempted
and being resisted. You can ask about
the economic and social loyalties and commitments of revolutionaries
and government.
You can ask about
the weight to be given in reflection here as elsewhere to freedom and power -- and in
particular
to democratic freedom -- in comparison with the others of the six listed
great goods of the Principle of Humanity, the great desires of human
nature. You can and must ask about
killing. You can ask, in particular, about Quadhafi in Libya and Blair
in Iraq, and the intentional because foreseen killing by these two men
of combatants
and innocents, innumerably more in Iraq. The comparison must be
instructive. I
do not have ready answers to
these questions. Far from it. I do have an idea you must share if you
resist the
conventions of moral and other stupidity to which our political classes
and those to whom they defer seek to lead our own English and American
societies -- and to a terrible extent have led them. That idea, certainly
elementary, is
that answers to the questions require facts as well as a principle. Judging
the facts is harder. Below you will find
a snapshot of Libya and its
history, an encyclopedia entry. It is from The World Guide, 2007, from
New Internationalist Publications, in Oxford, as good a source of such
snapshots as I know. It aspires to truth, which goes
together with humanity. It is not owed to the motivations at home and abroad of our political classes. It consists in a history of Libya, a profile of
environment, society and state, and a short section In Focus. HISTORY Libya has
long been torn between the different political and economic centers of North Africa.
The border with Egypt - where two Libyan dynasties ruled between the 10th and 8th centuries BC
- permitted cultural contact, but
did not lead to a unified state. The establishment of the Carthaginian
and
then the Roman empires on the western border further stressed this
division. After the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Tunisia and
Morocco on one side, and Egypt on the other, became the new centers of
power, which left Libya's
border situation unchanged.
2 The development of maritime trade and the ensuing piracy turned Tripoli
(Tarabulus) into one of the major Mediterranean ports, leading to European and Turkish
interventions . In 1551, Suleiman the Magnificent annexed the region to the
Ottoman Empire . However, a weakened central authority gave increasing autonomy to the governors, precipitating independence movements.
Piracy was used as a pretext to bomb Tripoli in 1804 (the first US foreign military
intervention).
3
In 1837, Muhammad al-Sanussi
founded a clandestine Muslim brotherhood (the Sanussi
religious sect) which promoted resistance to Turkish domination, and was also active in Egypt.
With the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Italy declared war on Turkey in 1911 and seized the Libyan coast, the
last
Turkish possession in North
Africa. With the outbreak of World War I ,
Italy occupied the ports of
Tripoli and Homs (Al-Khums) while the rest of the territory remained autonomous. At the end of the
war, Italy faced the
resistance led
by Sidi Omar al-Mukhtar , which finally ended in
1931, when al-Mukhtar was
captured and executed, and Libya was annexed by the Italian Empire.
4
From Egypt and Tunisia, the Sanussi brotherhood remained active and co-operated with the Allies in
World War II
. Muhammad Idris al-Sanussi
, leader of the brotherhood, was recognized as Emir of Cyrenaica by the British. At the end of the
war, the country was divided into a
British zone (Tripolitania and Cyrenaica) and a French zone
(Fezzan) governed from Chad. In 1949, a UN
resolution restored legitimate union to the region and established the independent nation of Libya, with Idris al-Sanussi on the throne.
5
Idris based his power on religious authority and the
support of
powerful Turkish-Libyan families from the US and
Britain (both holding military bases in the country)
and transnational oil companies that had
settled in the country, as the oil began to flow in great quantities in 1960.
6
In 1966, Muammar al-Qadhafi, the son of Bedouin
nomads, founded the Union of Free Officers while studying
in London. (He had joined the army as a young nationalist). He returned
to Libya and on 1 September 1969 he led an
insurrection in Sabha that swiftly overthrew
the King.
7 Qadhafi's Revolutionary Council proclaimed itself Muslim, Nasserist and
socialist; it eliminated all US and British military bases in Libya, and imposed severe limitations on
the almost 60 transnational corporations operating in the country. The production of petroleum and its
by-products was placed under state control, although the
Government did not totally sever ties
with the foreign corporations.
8
Qadhafi launched
an ambitious development
program, with special emphasis on agriculture.
Each rural family was allotted 10 hectares of land, a tractor, a house,
tools, and irrigation facilities. Over 1,500 artesian wells were
drilled and two million hectares of desert
began to be artificially
irrigated.
9 Due to its rapid growth, Libya drew
workers from other Arab countries and technicians from all over the world.
In 1973,
following publication of Qadhafi's Green Book - in which he expounds his ethical and political theories,
rejecting capitalism and Marxism - he created
a complex structure of popular participation through people's committees and a People's General Congress.
10 Qadhafi created
a social security system in the cities providing free medical services and
incentives to encourage large families.
He gave industrial workers a 25 per cent share in company
profits. After five years Libya was no longer the poorest nation in
North Africa and had
the highest per capita income on the continent, $4,000 a year.
11
In 1977, the country changed its name to the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
(meaning mass state in Arabic). But while Qadhafi achieved ample positive results internally,
similar fruits were not achieved in the field of diplomacy.
Attempts at integration
with Syria,
Egypt and Tunisia
met with failure. Qadhafi criticized
the rapprochement between Egypt and Israel, which led to friction
with the Saudi monarchy,
the Emirates and
Morocco.
12
From 1980, Libyan diplomacy and foreign relations focused on sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The
Government supported the Polisario Front
in Western Sahara and participated directly in the civil war in Chad, defending the
Transitional Government of National Union, led by Goukouni
Oueddei.
13 The US linked Qadhafi to international terrorism and in August 1981 shot down two Libyan planes in the Gulf of
Sidra. Qadhafi avoided any violent response thus gaining the political support of conservative Arab regimes
previously hostile to Tripoli.
14 In
addition to imposing an economic embargo
, the US
bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986, in an attempt to eliminate Qadhafi.
15
In November 1991 US and British courts found the Libyan Government responsible for two terrorist attacks against commercial
flights in 1988, one involving a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, which left 270
dead including
189 Americans and the other a UTA plane over Nigeria, with a death toll of
170. In January 1992 Libya announced that it was willing to cooperate with the UN
to determine where responsibility for these attacks lay.
16 Despite his vow to cooperate, Qadhafi
rejected a UN request for the extradition of Libyan agents linked to the
attacks and unsuccessfully proposed that their trial take place in Tripoli. The UN gave an
ultimatum demanding that Qadhafi explicitly
renounce ‘terrorism’ by 15
April 1992. When this deadline expired the EC
and G7 imposed economic sanctions.
Qadhafi unsuccessfully appealed against these at the International Court of Justice
. In 1994, the UN tightened the embargo.
17 The isolation, however, did not impede the growth of the private sector or foreign investment, mainly in
oil projects. One section of the pipeline designed to bring water to remote desert communities
began to function in 1996.
18 In 1998, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and the
Organization of African Unity backed a Libyan request to try the
two Lockerbie
attack suspects in a neutral country.
The UK and the US proposed that they be tried in The Hague by Scottish judges under Scottish law.
19
In September 1999, more than 20 African and Arab leaders gathered in
Tripoli to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Libyan revolution.
Fifteen years after having severed diplomatic relations, London sent
its ambassador to Tripoli in December.
20
Libya took advantage of this to launch a diplomatic offensive in the
region, offering itself as mediator in the Sudan conflict and resuming
relations with Chad. In March 2000, Washington sent a high level
delegation to study the lifting
of obstacles to investments and trips to Libya, banned since 1981.
21
After the foiled coup
in Central African Republic (CAR) in May 2001, the Qadhafi Government dispatched
troops in
order to protect President Patassé. In November, Patassé once again requested Libya's help. Once peace was restored, CAR demanded the withdrawal of Libyan
soldiers.
22 In April 2002, one Palestinian and six Bulgarian doctors
were awaiting the verdict after being accused of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV
in 1999 as part of a CIA conspiracy against Libya. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to
death. They claimed to have confessed under torture.
23 In January 2003, Libya assumed the
chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, despite US opposition.
24
After acknowledging its responsibility
for the Lockerbie attacks in a letter to the UN Security Council in
August 2002 the Libyan Government established a $2.7 billion
indemnification fund
for the victims' families. In September, the UN lifted sanctions
against Libya.
25
In December 2003, the Qadhafi Government announced that it would abandon its programs to develop
weapons of mass destruction.
26 In January 2004, Libya agreed to compensate the victims of a French aircraft
shot down in the desert in 1989. In March, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair went to Libya. It was the first visit by a British leader since 1943.
27
Continuing with its new policy, in August Libya paid $35 million in
compensations to the victims of a bomb attack on a night club in
Berlin, Germany,
in 1986.
28
In
January 2005,
the greatest beneficiaries of the first gas and oil exploration license tender
in four decades were American companies returning to the country after
an absence of more than 20 years. In the second tender, in October, most of the contracts were
given to Asian and European companies. In December the Supreme Court overruled the death penalty imposed
on those accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV/AIDS and a new trial
began.
29
In February 2006 cartoons published in a
Danish journal satirizing the Prophet Muhammad provoked violent protests and police repression that left at least
10 dead.
30
By May 2006 diplomatic relations with the US had greatly improved. External
Affairs Minister, Abdel Rahman Shalgham, said that the normalization of relations between
the two countries served not only bilateral interests but also international political
stability.
PROFILE Environment Most of the country is covered by desert. The only fertile lands are located along the temperate
Mediterranean coast, where most of the population live. There
are no perennial rivers and rain is scarce. The country has significant
oil deposits. Water is scarce and most of it is pumped from underground
deposits. One of the largest hydraulic development projects in the
world has partially solved this problem. Atmospheric pollution is
caused by gases from oil refining. Desertification and erosion are
growing.
Peoples: The indigenous population was Berber. Today, Arabs account for 90 per cent of the population.
There is a Berber minority that maintains its traditions. Key immigrant communities:
Egyptian, Sudanese, Chadian, Italian, Greek, Pakistani, Turk, Korean and others.
Religions: Islam (official), Sunni. There is a small Christian minority.
Languages: Arabic (official); regional variations of Berber; languages of the immigrant communities; Italian and English.
Main Political Parties: The Socialist Party of Libya is in power. Other
parties are banned.
According to Qadhafi's 'Green Book', Libya is headed toward a direct
democracy, in which there are no intermediaries. The new political
organization is
based on the Basic People's Congresses, directly elected, which elect
the members of the 46 People's Congresses. These, in turn,
select the members of the General People's Congress, the highest
government body.
Main Social Organizations: Mass organizations of workers, peasants, students and women.
The State
Official Name: Jamahiriya Al-Arabiya Al-Libiya Al-Shabiya
Al-Ishtirakiya Al-Uzma (The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya).
Administrative divisions: 3 provinces, 10 counties and 1,500 communes.
Capital: Tripoli
(Tarabulus) 2,006,000 people (2003). In January 1987, Qadhafi appointed
Hun, a village 650 Km to the southeast of Tripoli, as the
administrative capital of the country.
Other Cities: Benghazi 1,041,000 people; Misratah 179,100; az-Zawiyah 175,100 (2000).
Government: Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi, leader of the Revolution and commander-in-chief of the People’s Armed Forces, has been
Head of State since September 1969. Mubarak al-Shamikh
has been Secretary of the
People's Committee since 2000. Single-chamber legislature: the General People's Congress is the highest
Government body, with 2,700 representatives of the People's Congresses.
National Holiday: 1 September, Revolution Day (1969).
Armed Forces: 65,000 actives (1996); 40,000 reservists, popular militia (1993). Other: Revolutionary Guards 3,000.
IN FOCUSEnvironmental
Challenges
Desertification
and the
scarcity of natural sources
of drinking water
are the most pressing problems to be dealt with. The
Great Man-Made River Project, the first phase of which was inaugurated in August 1991 and
involves
more than 1,300 wells, will supply 6.5 million cubic meters
of fresh water to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and Sirt. Colonel Qadhafi calls
this project 'the eighth wonder of the world'.
Women’s
rights
Women have been able to vote and run for office since 1964. In
2003 women held 5 per cent of parliamentary seats and made up 25 per cent of the
two-million-strong labor force. In 2004 maternal mortality was 77 per 100,000 births.
In the same year 81 per cent of pregnant women
received prenatal care and 94 per cent of births were attended by qualified
personnel. Mistreatment
of women is still a major problem. However, few complaints are filed,
among other reasons because tradition exercises
strong pressure to keep
family affairs private. Some
groups located far from
urban areas
continue to practice female genital mutilation on girls. Although
the 1969 constitution ensures equal
conditions for women, discrimination persists. For example,
women need permission from their husband or another male relative
to leave the country. Female
emancipation is a generational phenomenon: women
under 35 tend to have modern attitudes toward family and work,
something not observed in older
women. In 1979 a military academy
for women was created and
women play an active role in the army.
ChildrenBetween
1990 and 2004
both infant and under-five mortality fell by 50 per
cent. The former dropped from 35 to 18 per thousand
live births and the latter from 41 to 20 per thousand live births. Some 15 per
cent of under-fives measured moderately or severely below height norms. Military
service is compulsory for
adults over 18, and all teenagers over 14 receive pre-military
training at school.
Indigenous
peoples/Ethnic minorities
The
largest minority is the Berber, divided in three groups: Luata,
Nefusa and Adassa. They live in the northeastern part of Libya,
near the Mediterranean Sea; some live among the Jebel
Nefusa plateaus and hills, as well as in the Fezzan Oasis
in the southwest of Libya. The Government manipulates the clans, who are in need of funds
and are keen on gaining government posts. It also tries
to keep the groups separated from each other. There
have been frequent allegations of discrimination, especially against the Tuareg
and Tamazight.
Migrants/Refugees
There
are around 2.5 million foreign workers in Libya.
Africans, especially, have been object of resentment and violence.
The
law does not grant
asylum or refugee status. However, there are an
estimated 30,000 Palestinians and 3,000 Somalis in Libya. At the end of 2005
UNHCR was still trying to get the Libyan Government
to sign a memorandum of understanding on refugees and asylum seekers. This
organization has registered and provides humanitarian assistance to some 12,000 refugees.
Death
penalty
Libya
retains the death penalty.
Death sentences
are
still handed
down, although
there have been no recent reports of executions.
* Latest data available in The State of the World's Children and Childinfo database, UNICEF,
2006.
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