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From 1969 to 2011, Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011) was the Brotherly Leader of Libya. He began his political journey as a relative unknown, preempting others’ coup attempts and gaining power in a relatively bloodless, but quick, manner. He overthrew Libya’s King Idris, a largely Western-controlled ruler who, in the opinion of Gaddafi and many other Libyan citizens, did not have the best interests of Libya in mind, hoarding the profits from Libya’s oil for himself and his foreign allies. Gaddafi made himself the face of the new government, hiding the identities of other government officials. He named himself the commander in chief of the Libyan Armed Forces and head of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC).
Gaddafi’s rule was based on intense anti-colonial sentiment, spurred by his hatred of the Italians who had occupied Libya for decades and committed genocide against his Bedouin people. Because of this, he focused his efforts on expelling Italians and Jews as well as promoting cultural unity in Libya by making Bedouin language, dress, and ideals the new standard in Libya, discriminating against all other tribes. He used oil money to fund not only social programs for Libyans, including housing and education (which also served as a vehicle for propaganda), but also to feed his own personal greed for money and women. While his reign was already outwardly violent, as seen in the televised executions of dissenters and his dogged pursuit of exiles, it was privately even more so, with thousands of women, regardless of age, being imprisoned, abused, and raped in his compound.
Despite both his violence and his hatred for Western influence, he made deals with western powers post-9/11 in order to maintain his position. However, this would only last a decade or so, and he was executed by his own people during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
