The Popular Revolution (1973–1977) On 16 April 1973, Gaddafi proclaimed the start of a Popular Revolution in a Zuwara speech.[102] He initiated this with a 5-point plan, the first point of which dissolved all existing laws, to be replaced by revolutionary enactments. The second point proclaimed that all opponents of the revolution had to be removed, while the third initiated an administrative revolution that Gaddafi proclaimed would remove all traces of bureaucracy and the bourgeoisie. The fourth point announced that the population must form Peoples Committees and be armed to defend the revolution, while the fifth proclaimed the beginning of a cultural revolution to expunge Libya of poisonous foreign influences.[103] He began to lecture on this new phase of the revolution in Libya, Egypt, and France.[104] As part of this Popular Revolution, Gaddafi invited Libyas people to found General Peoples Committees as conduits for raising political consciousness. Although offering little guidance for how to set up these councils, Gaddafi claimed that they would offer a form of direct political participation that was more democratic than a traditional party-based representative system. He hoped that the councils would mobilize the people behind the RCC, erode the power of the traditional leaders and the bureaucracy, and allow for a new legal system chosen by the people.[105] The Peoples Committees led to a high percentage of public involvement in decision making, within the limits permitted by the RCC,[106] but exacerbated tribal divisions.[107] They also served as a surveillance system, aiding the security services in locating individuals with views critical of the RCC, leading to the arrest of Baathists, Marxists and Islamists.[108] Operating in a pyramid structure, the base form of these Committees were local working groups, who sent elected representatives to the district level, and from there to the national level, divided between the General Peoples Congress and the General Peoples Committee.[109] Above these remained Gaddafi and the RCC, who remained responsible for all major decisions
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:36:04 +0000
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