Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest, as well as maritime borders with Greece, Italy and Malta to the north. Libya comprises three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million km2 (700,000 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the 16th-largest in the world. Libya claims 32,000 square kilometres of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat. The country's official religion is Islam, with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims. The official language of Libya is Arabic, with vernacular Libyan Arabic being spoken most widely. The majority of Libya's population is Arab. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in northwestern Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people.
The politics of Libya has been in an uncertain state since the collapse of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 2011 and a recent civil war and various jihadists and tribal elements controlling parts of the country.
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was a Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until his assassination by rebel forces in 2011. He came to power through a military coup, first becoming Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the 'Brotherly Leader' of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. Initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Nasserism, Gaddafi later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.
Mohammed Siad Barre was a Somali military officer, politician and revolutionary who served as the third president of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 January 1991.
The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in the United States. It was established in January 1962 as the Progressive Labor Movement following a split in the Communist Party USA, adopting its new name at a convention held in the spring of 1965. It was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s and early 1970s through its Worker Student Alliance faction of Students for a Democratic Society.
The Third International Theory, also known as the Third Universal Theory and Gaddafism, was the style of government proposed by Muammar Gaddafi on 15 April 1973 in his Zuwara speech, on which his government, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, was officially based. It combined elements of Arab nationalism, Nasserism, Anti-imperialism, Islamic socialism, left-wing populism, African nationalism, Pan-Arabism, and it was partly influenced by the principles of direct democracy. Another source that the Gaddafi draws from is Islamic fundamentalism; he opposed formal instruction in the meaning of the Qur'an as blasphemous and argued that Muslims had strayed too far from God and the Qur'an. However, Gaddafi's regime has been described as Islamist, rather than fundamentalist, for he opposed Salafism, and many Islamic fundamentalists were imprisoned during his rule.
FROLINAT was an insurgent rebel group active in Chad between 1966 and 1993.
Human rights in Libya is the record of human rights upheld and violated in various stages of Libya's history. The Kingdom of Libya, from 1951 to 1969, was heavily influenced by the British and Y.R.K companies. Under the King, Libya had a constitution. The kingdom, however, was marked by a feudal regime. Due to the previous colonial regime, Libya had a low literacy rate of 10%, a low life expectancy of 57 years, with many people living in shanties and tents. Illiteracy and homelessness were chronic problems during this era, when iron shacks dotted many urban centres in the country.
Muammar Gaddafi became the de facto leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. When Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment, the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchy and the old constitution and established the Libyan Arab Republic, with the motto "freedom, socialism and unity". The name of Libya was changed several times during Gaddafi's tenure as leader. From 1969 to 1977, the name was the Libyan Arab Republic. In 1977, the name was changed to Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Jamahiriya was a term coined by Gaddafi, usually translated as "state of the masses". The country was renamed again in 1986 as the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, after the United States bombing that year.
Abdessalam Jalloud is a Libyan former politician and military officer who served as the Prime Minister of Libya from 16 July 1972 to 2 March 1977, under the government of Muammar Gaddafi. He was also Minister of Treasury from 1970 until 1972.
The Revolutionary Command Council was a twelve-member governing body that ruled the Libyan Arab Republic after the 1969 Libyan coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement, which overthrew the Senussi monarchy of King Idris I. The council's chairman was Muammar Gaddafi, who had the most influence and served as Libya's de facto head of state as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It was ideologically Arab nationalist, republican, anti-imperialist and pan-Arabist.
The General People's Committee, often abbreviated as the GPCO, was the executive branch of the government of Libya, during the existence of Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. It served as the intermediary between the masses and government leadership and was composed of the Secretary-General and twenty secretaries of some 600 local Basic People's Congresses (BPC), GPCO members were elected by the country's parliament, the General People's Congress (GPC), and had no fixed terms.
The overall status of women in Libya has improved since the efforts of the Gaddafi government in the 1969 revolution. The same government has been held responsible for various human rights violations, including on women.Equal pay for equal work, universal healthcare, and the right to education have become state policy. Women have gained the right to vote, run for political office, and participate in national institutions. However, cultural biases against women in the workplace and resistance to change from traditional sectors of society have posed obstacles to process. Moreover, the political upheaval of the 2011 revolution has led to both gains and setbacks for women's rights. Nonetheless, the continued involvement and engagement of women in public life and government have emphasized the importance of female emancipation for the progress and development of Libya as a whole.
Education in Libya begins with primary education, which is both free and compulsory. Children in Libya between the ages of 6 and 15 attend primary school and then attend secondary school for three additional years. About 60 percent of students are assigned to a vocational secondary program, while the remaining 40 percent are assigned to a more academic-focused secondary program, based on test scores and interests. Under Gaddafi, primary and secondary education focused on his treatise on political philosophy, the Green Book, with older students studying "Jamahiriya studies".
Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation (LJBC) was the state-run broadcasting organization in Libya under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. It distributed news in coordination with the Jamahiriya News Agency in accordance with state laws controlling Libya media.
The Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was a title held by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who claimed to be merely a symbolic figurehead of the country's official governance structure. However, critics long described him as a dictator, referring to his position as the de facto former political office, despite the Libyan state's denial of him holding any power.
From 1969 to 2011, the politics of Libya were determined de facto by Muammar Gaddafi, who had been in power since his overthrow of the Kingdom of Libya in 1969.
The 1969 Libyan revolution, also known as the al-Fateh Revolution or 1 September Revolution, was a coup d'état and revolution carried out by the Free Officers Movement, a group of Arab nationalist and Nasserist officers in the Libyan Army, which overthrew the Senussi monarchy of King Idris I and resulted in the formation of the Libyan Arab Republic. The Free Officers Movement was led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Having taken power in a coup three months earlier, Muammar Gaddafi faced a mutiny by army and interior ministers Moussa Ahmed and Adam Hawaz, both from the eastern Barqa region. The pair were routed and imprisoned in the first of Gaddafi's many survivals.
Socialism in Libya has been created by the ideologies and policies of Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the country from 1969 until 2011. His political philosophy was largely written in "The Green Book", which presents a third universal theory alternative to capitalism and communism.
