Libya under Gaddafi was not entirely hellish as the
world has been made to believe. The citizens did not have the luxury of
voting but Gaddafi made sure they had a high standard of living to
compensate for curtailed freedoms....
Was this enough? That is a moot point but the fact remains: Libya was a great place to stay under Gaddafi (provided one did not try to usurp power).
Was this enough? That is a moot point but the fact remains: Libya was a great place to stay under Gaddafi (provided one did not try to usurp power).
Education and medical treatment were free
Under Gaddafi, education and health care were free for all. A response to this claim by Masareef Edareeya,
a Libyan citizen claimed the quality of education and health was
appalling but that does nothing to the fact that it was free. No system
is perfect but most are imperfect and still expensive. Gaddafi made sure
his system was subsidised and even Mercy Corps attested to the fact in
its Beyond Gaddafi: Libya’s Governance Context. That is more than the so-called “democratic leaders” can say for their countries.
Newlyweds received U.S $50,000 from the government
Gaddafi’s
government had legislation providing for a grant to newlyweds to buy
their first apartment so as to help start a family. Claims are that the
process was tedious and bureaucratic to the extent that not many people
bothered to follow it through but the $50,000 was there if one followed
through. Again Mercy Corps confirmed Gaddafi
provided housing for newlyweds. Criticising the grant on grounds of
tedious processes is a vindictive trial at attacking every good Gaddafi
stood for. It is a personal attack rather than an attack on policy.
Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project
The Gaddafi regime embarked on one of modern man’s edifices of development: the Great Man-Made River Project
to make water available to the whole country. As is known, Libya is in a
desert region and Gaddafi’s plan to ascertain every citizen of access
was the Great Man-Made River Project.
Libya had no external debt and had reserves of $150 billion most of which were frozen globally
Libya was a well-endowed state. To put this into perspective, the self-acclaimed champion of democracy and capitalism, the USA has a debt of over $18 trillion. Libya had none. Enough said.
The price of petrol was $0,14 per litre
In
2011, Staveley Head, a UK-based provider of insurance products compiled
a list of countries with the lowest petrol prices in the world. China.org.cn reported the listing which put Libya at third position with its low $0,14.
Having a home was considered a human right
Gaddafi’s Green Book
categorically stated, “The house is a basic need of both the individual
and the family, therefore it should not be owned by others.” The Green
Book was Gaddafi’s bible of political philosophy and had first been
published in 1975. He vowed that he would not secure a house for his own
parents until every citizen had one.
Gender equality actually a reality
Women in Libya were free to work and dress as they liked,
subject to family constraints. The “dictator” did not impose any
particular repressive canon on women and considering the sensitivities
of the Arab community to gender roles, this was a big feat. Universal
access to primary education was achieved in a relatively short space of
time under Gaddafi.
The Human Development Index was better than two-thirds of the countries reported on
The Human Development Report
has been published since 1990 and it is in the report that the HDI is
found. The last time the report was released with Gaddafi in power, Libya was ranked 53 of 163 countries
with comparable data. The HDI of Arab states was 0,641 while Libya’s
was 0,760. Libya was therefore better off than most Arab States. The HDI
provides a composite measure of health, education and income. Does
being placed above the Arab States average mean all was rosy? By no
means! It simply means there were worse countries that the Western
“whistle-blowers” did not “rescue”. In 2009, Libya was reported to be on
track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
People had enough food
This does not need to be qualified. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) confirmed
that undernourishment was less than 5% with a daily calorie intake of
3144. This was one “oppressor” whose subjects had enough. With the Great
Man-Made River Project, Gaddafi was securing an even brighter
agricultural future to feed his nation. Pessimists can be claimed he was
feeding citizens for the slaughter.
Privatization of all Libyan oil to every citizen
On
21 February 2011, Gaddafi launched a programme to privatize all Libyan
oil to every citizen of Libya. This would initially provide $21,000 to
every citizen from a total of $32 billion in 2011 and effectively lead
to the dissolution of the ministries of health, education and others to
eliminate corruption, theft of oil by foreign companies and to
decentralise power.
Was Gaddafi a dictator? Yes. Did he violate the human rights of some citizens? Yes. Did he keep his dead victims in coolers as trophies of his macabre exploits?
So they say! However, he also had a heart for his country and the world
conveniently skips that part every time. How one man could be such a
paradoxical figure is a wonder.
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