When Muammar Al Gaddafi became Libya's head of state Europe was confronted with left-orientated students protesting against the antiquated beliefs of the older generation: they accused their grand-parents from keeping up moldy conservative principles and their parents to take this circumstance lying down. Revolutionaries like Fidel Castro or Ernesto Che Guevara were admired as icons of a new progression. Police, judges, university professors, even the press media were figured out as handymen of the political exploiters. The U.S. played in their eyes the role of the great oppressor who acted only for their egoistic advantage. Victims seemed to be all countries and societies of the socialistic second and third world.
Gaddafi's political ideas based originally on the ideas of socialism. But the fatal combination with elements of nationalism and totalitarianism turned his vision into a reign of terror. He consolidated the former multi-ethnical population with partially drastic methods; everybody who and everything what was not compatible with his ideas of islamic socialism vanished in a short term period. The national anthem 'Libya, Libya, Libya', introduced in 1951,the year of independence, was banned and replaced. The same had happened with the origin national flag, the red-black-green striped banner with the centered white crescent and star, was substituted for a universal green standard. The Berber tribes were not allowed to maintain their culture and their Tamazight language. Whoever had hold a different view had to expect a common life in exile if he didn't want to be imprisoned or sentenced to death.
The regime had believed the roots of the former Italian colony and the later constituted United Kingdom were all torn out and in the course of time forgotten due to the fact that the younger generations, born and raised in the Arab Republic Libya, had no more references to the history. Today we notice that it was a big mistake. Gaddafi has underestimated the collective memory of his own population. It's the resistance movement who recovered the forbidden signs and songs and who is now waving and chanting them, starting few months ago in Benghazi and heading irresistibly towards south and west of the country, accompanied by a strong, self confident youth identifying themselves with the ideals and values of a time they haven't witnessed.
From day to day more isolated the self-proclaimed revolution leader has to face the fact that this strategy finally has failed and that his political ambitions ended up in a dead end street. His notorious speech dated Feb 22, 2011 naming his own people 'rats' marked the irrevocable decline of his era. The ICC declared him a war criminal and in the best case he will be caught alive and brought to The Hague where he will be confronted with all the crimes against humanity he has to take the responsibility for such as appeal for mass murder and rape. The problem is indeed his never-surrender-mentality, based on a combination of narcism, infatuation, obstinacy and mainly persecution mania. He still believes devoutly in a worldwide conspiracy against his person led by the White House and Al Qaeda. And he still seems to have the necessary financial resources to pay all the mercenaries who protect his life, offer resistance against the Libyan National Liberation Army and terrorize the civil population.
Estimating Gaddafi won't be reasonable enough to give up it is to expect that he possibly could be killed by an NATO- or NLA-launched attack in the foreseeable future. The risks of an occurrence like this are a potential stigmatization and radicalization amongst his devotees acting from that moment as an underground movement and spreading terrorist assaults. So let's hope this will not happen and the people of a freed Libya can rebuild their war-shattered nation in safety.
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