Libya: What happened, and why?

By Luka Vlaskilic

After the populist anti-government movements in Tunisia and Egypt, often referred to as the Arab Spring, the people of Libya took to the streets in Tripoli and Benghazi. As we saw countless times before last year, the peaceful protests were met with violence, and soon Gaddafi had a revolution on his hands. Although there were a few clashes and a few activists who spoke out in January, it was not until 15th February that the unrest and confrontation began. By 27th February the NTC (National Transition Council) was formed with the former justice minister Mustafa Abdul Jalil, as its steward.

From then until the 17th March, when the UN Resolution 1973 was passed, the Libyan rebels/freedom fighters protested and fought alone against Gaddafi. Many people still supported Gaddafi, members of his tribe and many of those in power; this led to conflicts between pro and anti Gaddafi forces. Much of the army seemed to abandon the government and Gaddafi very quickly, especially when it looked like the international community would intervene. On 19th March the NTC was no longer fighting alone, with French jets flying over Libyan Airspace. From then onwards it was a long fight for freedom, with the ‘liberation’ of Tripoli on the 22nd August and that of Libya on 23rd October. Libya’s so called ‘Arab Spring’ had ended in autumn, exactly 250 days from when the protests began. The death toll reached about 30,000 from both sides of the conflict, thousands of civilians died and although the revolution will be remembered as a victory it was paid for by the blood of its inhabitants.

Now we come to why the revolution happened. Gaddafi was once on the other end of a revolution; he ‘liberated’ Libya from King Idris and formed an Arab Republic. He pumped funds into healthcare, and promoted free education for both boys and girls. By the 1980s Libya had one of the best HDI (Human Development Index) scores in Africa, and in November 2010 was rated in the same category as Mexico, Portugal and Argentina. Yet we have seen no revolutions in these countries. What changed, you ask? Well, I think the best explanation is that the people of Libya were fed up, and after seeing the success and bravery of their neighbours in Tunisia and Egypt they decided it was their turn. Gaddafi had been oppressing his critics and in many occasions ordered their assassinations. The people of Libya wanted reform and greater freedom, and when Gaddafi responded to protest with violence his beloved people turned on him. I believe that some reforms would have reduced the support for a revolution and Gaddafi may well have still been in power on 25th January 2012.

An alternative view was put forward by Gaddafi: "They give them pills at night; they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe," he also told his poeple 'not [to] be swayed by bin Laden." But I’ll let you come to your own conclusions about why the revolution happened…