How It's Used

“Of course, it was Capt. Qaddafi who took power in 1969 via a coup, at the impressively young age of 27. He immediately upped his rank to colonel. But he also ordered the creation of a revolutionary state in which the people would rule themselves and neither executive nor legislative branches would be needed. Presenting what he called ‘the final solution to the problem of the instrument of governing,’ Qaddafi explained the idea in his ‘Green Book’ manifesto: ‘Parliaments have been a legal barrier between the peoples and the exercise of authority. This is an obsolete theory and an outdated experience.’ As an alternative, Qaddafi offered up his ‘happy discovery of the way to direct democracy’; Libyan citizens would rule via a series of popular congresses and committees.”

—Eric Umansky, “Why Is Quaddafi Still a Colonel? Why Libya’s Leader Hasn’t Changed His Stripes,” Slate, December 23, 2003.

“Niyazoz, like Mao or Qaddafi, insists on being his people’s favorite writer.  He is the putative author of the ‘Ruhnama,’ a book that is meant to be a spiritual guide, a celebration of the Leader, and a newly contrived history of the Turkmen people.  Niyazov has suggested that if one reads the ‘Ruhnama’ one will surely go to Heaven.”

—David Remnick, “Not in Kansas:  The Land of Turkmenbashi,” The New Yorker, May 1, 2006, p. 36.

"The elder Qaddafi's vision, outlined in his famous 'Green Book,' has not worked out quite as hoped. Despite its population of only 6m and the great wealth brought by having Africa's largest crude oil reserves, Libya has not markedly progressed. Notionally free public services, plus hefty state subsidies on food and housing, scarcely mask such ills as low educational standards, dirty streets, skimpy wages and a level of youth unemployment that some put at 40%. Instead of producing good government, Libya's unique political system has created rule-by-committee on a scale so bewildering that the only effective institutions are reckoned by many weary Libyans to be the Qaddafi clan and the pervasive, nasty and capricious secret police."

—no author, "A Seif pair of hands? Libya," The Economist, September 22, 2007.

"Libyan society still looks askance at women who want to work after marriage. Gaddafi's own 'Green Book,' the collection of political musings that serves as the framework of Gaddafi's 38-year-old government, refers to day-care centers as 'rats' nests.'"

—Ellen Knickmeyer, "For Young Libyans, Old-Style Marriage Is a Dream Too Far," The Washington Post, November 14, 2007, p. A13.

"Despite this show of amity, the regime in Libya remains one of the most intolerant and arbitrary in the world. Law 71 of the Penal Code of 1972 is a piece of draconian legislation, which criminalises political parties and prohibits dissent from the tormented wisdom of Gaddafi's green book and his version of socialism with an Islamic face."

—Jeremy Seabrook, "Libya is paying the price for western repentence," The Guardian (UK), August 13, 2009.

Links

Related on eAlmanac
Chairman Mao's Little Red Book

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on the Green Book
Full Text of the Green Book