It was 50 years ago when King Idris the First of Libya was overthrown by a group known as the Free Officers Movement.
On September 1, 1969, a group of 70 Libyan army officials calling themselves the “Free Officers Movement” and led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi launched a coup d’état against the monarchical government of King Idris I. The coup established the rule of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) as the official governing body of Libya, with Gaddafi as chairman.
An eager disciple of President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt (he even adopted the same military rank, promoting himself from captain to colonel after the coup), Gaddafi first set about tackling the unfair economic legacy of foreign domination.
For Nasser, it was the Suez Canal. For Gaddafi, it was oil.
Significant reserves had been discovered in Libya in the late 1950s, but the extraction was controlled by foreign petroleum companies, which set prices to the advantage of their own domestic consumers and benefited from a half share in the revenue.
Gaddafi demanded renegotiation of the contracts, threatening to shut off production if the oil companies refused.
He memorably challenged foreign oil executives by telling them “people who have lived without oil for 5,000 years can live without it again for a few years in order to attain their legitimate rights”.
The gambit succeeded and Libya became the first developing country to secure a majority share of the revenues from its own oil production. Other nations soon followed this precedent and the 1970s Arab petro-boom began.
Al Jazeera reports “Ten years earlier, significant oil reserves were discovered in Libya and resentment was building over the concentration of wealth in the hands of the monarch.
With the same iron fist with which he ruled Libya, 27-year-old Gaddafi kicked out British and American forces from the country and nationalised the oil industry.”
BBC had analysed Gaddafi’s rule as one which saw him go from revolutionary hero to international pariah, to valued strategic partner and back to pariah again.
“Gaddafi developed his own political philosophy, writing a book so influential – in the eyes of its author, at least – that it eclipsed anything dreamt up by Plato, Locke or Marx.
He made countless show-stopping appearances at Arab and international gatherings, standing out not just with his outlandish clothing, but also his blunt speeches and unconventional behaviour.
But even Gaddafi was not able to withstand the tide of popular feeling that had already swept away his two authoritarian neighbours in a momentous year for the Arab world.”
