by Ramsey Kincannon, Senior Staff Writer
The uprisings that occurred in Tunisia and Egypt were the inspiration for Libyan revolution started on Feb. 15, four days after Hosni Mubarak stepped down as the president of Egypt. What was initially planned to be a similarly peaceful revolution has turned into what some political commentators such as Richard Engel† are calling “an open revolution [and] a war,” or a “crisis,” according to Melissa Flemming of the United Nations. The Economist is to it as an “uprising…[to] reclaim Libya.”
In a similar plot line to Egypt’s successful attempts to liberate itself from the rights-oppressing Mubarak, Libyans wanted to overthrow Muammar Gaadafi, who has ruled Libya since 1969.† While Gaadafi’s reign hasn’t been completely awful Libya’s GDP is better than both Egypt and Tunisia and the literacy rate is at 87 percent the unemployment rate is at 22 percent, the corruption rate is higher than Egypt and Tunisia, and his recent years have been marked by significant human rights violations.† What sparked this year’s revolution was the arrest of Jamaal al-Hajji, a political commentator who had advocated for a Youtube, Twitter and Facebook led revolution.
As protests started in front of police headquarters in Benghazi, one of the largest cities in Libya, Gaadafi and the police started hiring mercenaries in order to suppress the protestors.† This only led to increased protests across the country, stretching all the way to Tripoli, the capital.† Gaadafi initially blamed the youth, whom he claimed were under the influence of “hallucinogenic drugs,”† and tried to calm the people, saying that he had met with the protestors and that their demands would be taken into consideration.
Soon after, the situation developed into what could be described as a civil war.† Members of Gaadafi’s family, along with other officials, joined the protestors in the riots.† In response, Gaadafi ordered members of the police and the army to start using fatal methods of halting the revolution, shifting his language to describe the protestors as “rats,” and threatened that he would cleanse Libya “from house to house until the last drop of [the revolutionaries’] blood had been spilt.”
On an international stage, however, Gaadafi attempted to uphold his sovereignty, claiming that the people of Libya still love him despite their protests.
Since then, while fighting for control of cities across Libya, an estimated 3,000 people have died.† Members of the opposition have asked for international intervention, and there has been increasing pressure on both the United Nations and the United States to provide it.† Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated, “the stakes are high…and a strong and strategic American response will be essential.”
The U.S. has already frozen $30 billion in Libyan assets in an attempt to aid the protestors.† According to the Washington Post, The U.N. has asked for Gaadafi to step down, as well, and while waiting for a Security Council approved plan to assist the people, the U.N. has provided assistance for those in need of food, water, and shelter, and those attempting to flee Libya.