Libya and Col. Qaddafi- Revolutionary?

[Dr Mindbender]

A country that has fascinated me but eluded me in terms of understanding is Libya. I read that in Qaddafi's revolution he attempted to take the progressive elements of islam and combine it with communism as an alternative to capitalism. Is Quaddafi's Libya a 'progressive theocracy' or is it as reactionary as Iran?

[Dimentio]

It is a bizarre dictatorship, but neither reactionary or progressive.

[Dros]

I'm under the impression (all though this is by no means authoritative) that it is reactionary.

[jake williams]

On very little information, I should stress, I would guess that it's mixed. Partly its socialist "intentions" haven't really been met, but that could just be circumstantial - what I think is more important to recognize is that political ideas and groupings and currents can exist outside of the immediate-post-French-revolution paradigm. Which is part of Marx's whole point, if I'm correct, though that seems to have been a little skewed.

[UndergroundConnexion]

I recently read Gaddafi's Green book I ( II and III stil waiting) and it is indeed not the easy to understand to be honest.

[Xiao Banfa]

He was resonably brutal with dealing with opponents and he harboured the Abu Nidal Organisation (who were the most insane palestinian group out and who were accused frequently of being a mossad agent provacateur group).

He was good at being an anti imperialist back in the day, except for the fact he is a seriously wierd ****.

The fact that he banned alcohol kind of fucked me off.

[Red_or_Dead]

A country that has fascinated me but eluded me in terms of understanding is Libya. I read that in Qaddafi's revolution he attempted to take the progressive elements of islam and combine it with communism as an alternative to capitalism. Is Quaddafi's Libya a 'progressive theocracy' or is it as reactionary as Iran?



I would definatly say that Qaddafi is a reactionary. His tolerance of religion (alcohol banning) shows that above all.

With that said, it has to be taken into consideration that he is also anti-imperialist (or was - I think he cooperates with the US more now).

[Dr Mindbender]

I would definatly say that Qaddafi is a reactionary. His tolerance of religion (alcohol banning) shows that above all.

Lenin ordered all the vodka bars in Russia to be burned down because all the bolsheviks were too busy getting pissed rather than training to defend the revolution. Banning alcohol isnt always reactionary, sometimes it is needed.

[Red_or_Dead]

Lenin ordered all the vodka bars in Russia to be burned down because all the bolsheviks were too busy getting pissed rather than training to defend the revolution. Banning alcohol isnt always reactionary, sometimes it is needed.


In some cases, but I think that this isnt one of them. Alcohol is prohibited in Islam (tho not always obided). In any case, Ive looked up Libya a bit, and they are in some sort of a "Islamic socialism", which is in my opinion enough to call the Libyan government reactionary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Libya

This explains a lot, imo.