Gaddafi and the Middle Classes

[bailey_187]

interesting paragraph from the The Economists:


The poor do not, on the whole, seem to love the colonel. But in middle-class districts of Tripoli the mood is more mixed. In Abu Salim, a business area (and site of a jail where 1,260 political prisoners were killed in one night in 1996), many people have benefited from the colonel’s rule. “I own a comfortable house and two cars and it is safe to leave them on the street,” says a 26-year-old trader. “What more do I want?”
http://www.economist.com/node/18897605?story_id=18897605

both sides of the debate on Libya talk of making a class analysis and accuse the others of not. So heres a little info on classes, hope it helps. Or maybe its just imperialist lies

(btw this isnt me saying the rebel movement is a proletarian movement, its clear from their leadership they are not.)

[Kenco Smooth]

It's died down now but when the conflict kicked off there were a lot of people who seemed to think 'class analysis' entailed arbitrarily labeling one side workers and the other capitalist and then continued cheering them on like you would a football team. Both sides were guilty of this and it drowned out most sensible and tentative attempts to genuinely understand the situation.

Interesting to see this but not entirely surprising. It'd be interesting to see if the opinions of the middle class have become any more pro-Gadaffi since the conflict started given they suddenly find themselves with something to loose (stability, wealth, etc.) rather than being in a situation which afforded them a somewhat comfortably critical attitude to the regime.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Middle class loving the bourgeoisie...hardly surprising. :sleep:

[jake williams]

Judging from the Economist's clear, materialist understanding of class, they could just be arbitrarily declaring anyone who does well under Gaddafi "middle class" and anyone who does poorly "poor".

That said, since everyone serious clearly recognizes that Libya is not a socialist state, there are business people who do better there than others, and the ones who do well are going to appreciate the regime more than those who don't. But we have zero reason to trust the Economist about the extent or relevance of this.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I dont think anyone here has claimed libya as a socialist state.

redardless of that. The "middle" class in Libya has its origins in the 69 revolution. Probably wouldnt have been as big had it still been a neo-colony.