In Libya, people are fighting against their tyrannical government. This is not a civil war. Rather, it is a fight against the government that is supposed to ensure their safety.
But instead, for 42 years, the government has ensured their silence, and the Libyan people have been pushed to the limit.
Today, these people are fighting for their lives and freedom. Many no longer fear death as much as they fear falling prey to the monstrosity of tyranny.
In order to best understand what the Libyan people are truly fighting for, it is necessary to understand the events that led up to this uprising.
Before 1911, Libya was a part of the vast Ottoman Empire, which stretched across Africa and Asia. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Libya became an Italian colony from 1911 to 1945.
The native Libyans fought their occupiers, and following the end of the World War II, the country was split into the territories of British Tripolitania and French Fezzan.
In 1951 Libya gained its independence through a U.N. resolution, establishing the Kingdom of Libya.
This kingdom was Libya at its finest: a constitutional monarchy with open parliamentary elections, a free press, free market and an impeccable economy. King Idris I had no real ruling power — most of the power was in the hands of the people.
One man saw it fit to destroy what the Libyans had worked so hard to gain. First Lt. Muammar Gaddafi and his gang of “Revolutionary Commanders” overthrew King Idris I in a coup while the king was in Turkey for medical treatment.
Gaddafi immediately promoted himself to the rank of colonel and proclaimed that Libya was now truly “free.”
In 1973, Gaddafi gave a speech in the town of Zwara, Libya claiming that all laws that were currently being used to rule the country were null and void.
Even though he wrote a guidebook, reality set in — what Gaddafi said was law. At this point the Libyan people truly began to panic.
In January of 1976, students and teachers in Benghazi protested against Gaddafi’s regime.
Gaddafi immediately retaliated with what became known as the atrocities of April. Teachers were hung at the university in Benghazi in 1977.
From then on, secret police and security forces were on guard for those who spoke out against the government in Libya. Political activists were imprisoned; many met their fate in 1996 during the Abu-Salim prison massacre, when 1,200 innocent political prisoners were murdered.
In the meantime, Gaddafi’s regime grew in power, as he funded terrorism ranging from the IRA in Ireland to the Lockerbie and La Belle bombings, both of which claimed American lives.
It is imperative for the revolutionaries in Libya to succeed in their attempt to rid themselves of the Gaddafi regime.
If they do not, dire consequences could come from the hands of the man who remains one of the most brutal tyrannical leaders in the world.
And it is imperative for the world’s powers to do their best to ensure their success, so that the people will be silenced no longer and can return to the Libya that once allowed them to speak freely.
