The Green Book (Gaddafi): Difference between revisions
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<blockquote> "[[Women]], like men, are human beings. This is an incontestable truth... Women are different from men in form because they are females, just as all females in the kingdom of plants and animals differ from the male of their species... According to [[gynecologist]]s women, unlike men, menstruate each month... Since men cannot be impregnated they do not experience the ailments that women do. She breastfeeds for nearly two years."<ref name="top10"/></blockquote> |
<blockquote> "[[Women]], like men, are human beings. This is an incontestable truth... Women are different from men in form because they are females, just as all females in the kingdom of plants and animals differ from the male of their species... According to [[gynecologist]]s women, unlike men, menstruate each month... Since men cannot be impregnated they do not experience the ailments that women do. She breastfeeds for nearly two years."<ref name="top10"/></blockquote> |
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to the relation of mourning customs on human genetics, |
to the relation of mourning customs on human genetics, |
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<blockquote> "If one group of people wears white clothes in mourning and another group puts on black, the sentiment of each group will be adjusted according to these two colours, i.e., one group rejects the black colour on such an occasion while the other one prefers it, and vice versa. Such a sentiment leaves its physical effect on the cells as well as on the genes in the body. This adaptation, will be transmitted by inheritance. The inheritors automatically reject the colour rejected by the legator as a result of inheriting the sentiment of their legator. Consequently, people are only harmonious with their own arts and heritage. They are not harmonious with the arts of others because of heredity, even though those people, who differ in heritage, speak a single common language."<ref |
<blockquote> "If one group of people wears white clothes in mourning and another group puts on black, the sentiment of each group will be adjusted according to these two colours, i.e., one group rejects the black colour on such an occasion while the other one prefers it, and vice versa. Such a sentiment leaves its physical effect on the cells as well as on the genes in the body. This adaptation, will be transmitted by inheritance. The inheritors automatically reject the colour rejected by the legator as a result of inheriting the sentiment of their legator. Consequently, people are only harmonious with their own arts and heritage. They are not harmonious with the arts of others because of heredity, even though those people, who differ in heritage, speak a single common language."<ref>The Green Book. [http://www.mathaba.net/gci/theory/gb3.htm The Green Book translation to English.]</ref></blockquote> |
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One scholar of Libya (Dirk Vandewalle) has described the following passage from the book as encapsulating Gaddafi thought best<ref name="NPR">[http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134239733/Whats-In-Gadhafis-Manifesto What's In Gadhafi's Manifesto?], NPR, 3 March 2011. accessed: 3 March 2011</ref>: |
One scholar of Libya (Dirk Vandewalle) has described the following passage from the book as encapsulating Gaddafi thought best<ref name="NPR">[http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134239733/Whats-In-Gadhafis-Manifesto What's In Gadhafi's Manifesto?], NPR, 3 March 2011. accessed: 3 March 2011</ref>: |
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Revision as of 16:53, 20 March 2011
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2007) |
| File:Green book.jpg | |
| Author | Muammar al-Gaddafi |
|---|---|
| Language | Arabic |
| Subject | Political theory |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Publication place | Libya |
Published in English | 1976 |
| Media type | |
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|---|
|
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 Libya portal |
The Green Book (Arabic: الكتاب الأخضر al-Kitāb al-Aḫḍar) is a short book setting out the political philosophy of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. Although nominally by Gaddafi himself, its authorship is disputed. The book was first published in 1975. It was "intended to be required reading for all Libyans".[1] It is said to have been inspired in part by the Little Red Book (Quotations from Chairman Mao).[2] Both were widely distributed both inside and outside their country of origin and "written in a simple, understandable style with many memorable slogans."[3] Since the February-March 2011 uprisings there have been reports of the book being burned by demonstrators.[4]
The book has been said to have been translated into "every conceivable language."[5] An English translation is available from the Libyan government, [citation needed] and a bilingual (English and Arabic) edition was issued in London by Martin, Brian & O'Keeffe in 1976.
The book caused a scandal in 1987, when West German ice hockey club ECD Iserlohn signed a US$900,000 advertising deal for the book.[6]
Influence
According to British author and former MP George Tremlett, Libyan children "spend two hours a week studying the book" as part of their curriculum; extracts are broadcast every day on television and radio; its slogans are found on billboards and painted on buildings in Libya; and as of 1993 lectures and seminars on it at universities and colleges have been held in France, Eastern Europe, Columbia, and Venezuela.[7]
Contents
The book is quite small, made up of 110 pages with 200 words or less on each page.[8]
Themes
It consists of three parts:
- The Solution of the Problem of Democracy: 'The Authority of the People' (published in late 1975[8])
- The Solution of the Economic Problem: 'Socialism' (published in early 1977[8])
- The Social Basis of the Third International Theory (published in September 1981[8])
- Shaddy Khalid Asad Alkhatib [November 7th, 1987]
The Green Book rejects modern liberal democracy, "free press", and capitalism. Democracy in Libya is based on direct democracy in the form of popular committees. (However this system is limited by the fact that Gadaffi himself appoints a cabinet and departamental ministers, and the influence of unelected revolutionary committees throughout the government.[9][10]) Freedom of speech is based on state ownership of all book publishers, newspapers, television and radio stations, on the grounds that private ownership would be undemocratic. (At least one observer has called the resulting media "dull" and lacking in a "clash" of ideas.)[11] Libya's economic system is based on the premise that all employees must be "partners not wage-workers", and forbids paying employees a wage in return for labor.[12]
Excerpts
Another source (Dirk Vandewalle, professor at Dartmouth College) describes the book as more a collection of aphorisms rather than a systematic argument.[1] The book deals with an assortment of topics ranging from the nature of women ...
"Women, like men, are human beings. This is an incontestable truth... Women are different from men in form because they are females, just as all females in the kingdom of plants and animals differ from the male of their species... According to gynecologists women, unlike men, menstruate each month... Since men cannot be impregnated they do not experience the ailments that women do. She breastfeeds for nearly two years."[2]
to the relation of mourning customs on human genetics,
"If one group of people wears white clothes in mourning and another group puts on black, the sentiment of each group will be adjusted according to these two colours, i.e., one group rejects the black colour on such an occasion while the other one prefers it, and vice versa. Such a sentiment leaves its physical effect on the cells as well as on the genes in the body. This adaptation, will be transmitted by inheritance. The inheritors automatically reject the colour rejected by the legator as a result of inheriting the sentiment of their legator. Consequently, people are only harmonious with their own arts and heritage. They are not harmonious with the arts of others because of heredity, even though those people, who differ in heritage, speak a single common language."[13]
One scholar of Libya (Dirk Vandewalle) has described the following passage from the book as encapsulating Gaddafi thought best[1]:
"While it is democratically not permissible for an individual to own any information or publishing medium, all individuals have a natural right to self-expression by any means, even if such means were insane and meant to prove a person's insanity."[2]
References
- ^ a b c What's In Gadhafi's Manifesto?, NPR, 3 March 2011. accessed: 3 March 2011
- ^ a b c The Top 10 Quotes from Gaddafi's Green Book, Andrew Roberts, msnbc, accessed: 3 March 2011
- ^ The Green Book, Country Studies, Libya. accessed: 3 March 2011
- ^ East Libyans burn Gaddafi book, demand constitution, Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters Africa, 2 March 2011, accessed: 4 March 2011
- ^ Tremlett, George, Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic, Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (November 1993), p.209
- ^ Qaddafi Foiled as an Ice Hockey Patron The New York Times, 18 December 1987, accessed: 3 March 2011
- ^ Tremlett, George, Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic, Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (November 1993), p.208
- ^ a b c d Tremlett, George, Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic, Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (November 1993), p.210
- ^ A history of modern Libya By Dirk J. Vandewalle
- ^ Tremlett, George, Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic, Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (November 1993), p.214
- ^ Tremlett, George, Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic, Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (November 1993), p.217
- ^ Tremlett, George, Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic, Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (November 1993), p.220
- ^ The Green Book. The Green Book translation to English.
External links
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- original text, at greenbookstudies.com
- The Green Book, online English translation at mathaba.net