Reasons for Revolution

an uprising against the four-decade rule of Muammar al-Qaddafi led to civil war
and international military intervention
over 2/3 of the population of most Middle Eastern nations is under 30
The youth in many of these nations felt like they had no future,
and they have never known any other leaders
On February 15, 2011, antigovernment rallies were held in Banghz by
protesters angered by the arrest of a human rights lawyer
protesters called for Qaddafi to step down and for the release of
political prisoners
governments sudden escalation of violence against protesters and other civilians
causing a number of high-level officialsincluding the minister of
justice and a number of senior Libyan diplomats, including the Libyan
ambassador to the United Nationsto resign
Quaddafi repeatedly vowed to use violence to remain in power
Qaddafis hold on power weakened as Libyan military units increasingly sided
with the opposition against the regime
The Libyan Civil War started in 2011 and is still going on today, although their corrupt leader,
Gaddafi has been captured and killed, the fighting has not stopped.
Discrimination and oppression were two of the main causes of a rebellion against Gaddafi. For
example, he favored groups of people or certain tribes over the rest of the population. Political
corruption became apparent to people. Unfair distribution- tribes that Gaddafi favored got more
resources. No opportunities for jobs or to have a political voice.
Youth activists introduced ideas of better political system. The youth took vital roles in the
protests, armed militias, and the media. Most of population was under 30 so.
The youth had important leadership roles in the revolution about ways to get their message
across effectively and encouraging people to join the revolt
a revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests,
riots, coups and civil wars in the Arab world that began on 17 December 2010 in Tunisia
with the Tunisian Revolution, and spread throughout the countries of the Arab League
and its surroundings
have been instigated by dissatisfaction with the rule of local governments,
particularly by youth and unions,
The general purpose of the arab spring is to fight back against the unnecesary
violent security and the corrupt government-no longer would stand for dictatorships
The problem was that most countries had no idea what to do next
social media, have the immense power to support a collective action such as
foment a political change
Share news and develop political agenda
Social media during this time was widely used to make people aware of the
things going on and why they should support the rebels
Gov shut down social media, this shows that it was effectively
getting the rebels message across
The Libyan revolution began as did most revolutions in the Arab world, with protests against a
cruel dictator. But the protests quickly escalated to a civil war because of the Government's
violent response to the countrys cry for help. Quote by reporter who entered Lybia during
revolution.
Way, way, way back Libya used to be under Italian control. Italy took control of them from the
Ottomans before World War 1. Then, around World War 2, the Libyans decided to revolt
because the Italians were really terrible. They revolted under Omar al-Mukhtar, but that didnt
work out because then the Italians took a page out of Hitlers book and made a bunch of
concentration camps for the rebels and basically committed genocide, so that was subpar.
Eventually, in the early 40s, allies oust the Italians and divide the country into pieces for each
other. However, in 1951, it all works out because Libya becomes independent under King Idris.
Yay. So everything was pretty peaceful until this guy, Muammar al-Qaddafi, had to come along
and ruin it. He and a bunch of other people say King Idris is too conservative and not focused
enough on uniting the Middle East as a whole. So, they overthrew in King Idris in 1969 and
Gaddafi became dictator. This was called the 1969 Coup dEtat.
Overall, Gaddafi was a very terrible and strange dictator. He supported all of the terrorist groups
popular at the time, ranging from the Irish Republican Army to Palestinian militias. Sometimes,
he would switch which side of a war he was supporting halfway through. He was super
nationalistic and hated the West and its culture more than anything. Gaddafi enforced Sharia
Law on the entire country, so night clubs, churches, alcohol, and signs that werent in Arabic
were illegal. Obviously things like being gay were illegal as well. He was known for things like
spontaneously purging the army in 1975 and then subsequently requiring national service for
young people. He also was known for being a big proponent of Islam. For example, in 2010, he
paid a modelling agency for 200 Italian women and then gave them a lecture about converting
to Islam. Gaddafi ran his country in a really weird way, all the way down to his personal guard.
His bodyguards were all virgin women because he thought Arab gunmen wouldnt shoot at girls
(also because he probably just wanted to surround himself with women). He hated the US a lot.
He was overall not a very good leader.
February 2011 was really a catalyst for the revolution. Many people were kind of getting fed up
with Gaddafi at this point, so anti-government protesters started to use the internet to spread the
idea of protests. These protests were going to be in Benghazi, which is just a city in Libya, on
the 17th. The idea got so far on social media that Al Jazeera actually reported on it on February
3rd, so 14 days before they said the protests were going to start. Well, the demonstrations
actually started on the 15th because these two people were arrested. Fathi Terbil and Farag
Sharany were both activists against the Abu Salim Prison Massacre, which is where over 1200
people were killed in the Abu Salim prison for seemingly no reason. So these two activists were
arrested, and the protests started two days early. And these were relatively peaceful
demonstrations until the police tried to forcefully break up the demonstrations with tear gas and
batons, which ended up injuring over 40 people. Then the protests turned violent. In Zintan and
Al-Quba, protesters set fire to the police stations. As these protests continued, pro-government
protesters showed up to fight the anti-government protesters. From there, the protests just
escalated. The regime did a lot of questionable stuff to try to quell the protests, like releasing
prisoners and paying them on the ground that they would kill protesters. Whats also important
is that now is the time that protests spread to Tripoli, the capital.
He also said that the people were influenced by Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden
On February 25th, the US evacuated all Americans from Libya, froze their assets, and shut
down the embassy. Many other countries followed suit. Shortly after, the UN Security Council
froze all of Libyas assets and placed an arms embargo on Libya. Peru severed all diplomatic
ties with Libya. The UN Security Council established a No-Fly Zone over Libya. Then a coalition
of countries came together to command Operation Odyssey Dawn, which was an operation
where the US launched more than 100 missiles at Libya and France used fighter jets to enforce
the no-fly zone. Gaddafi called the countries involved with Operation Odyssey Dawn terrorists
and the new Nazis, because he really does have such a way with words. Eventually enforcing
the no-fly zone was taken over by NATO.
Okay so this revolution actually has some sort of system of leadership to it, in the form of the
National Transitional Council. This was a bunch of politicians, tribal leaders, academics, former
military officers, and business people formed together into a council for the revolution. This
council was officially recognized as the legitimate representative of Libya in early May by a
bunch of countries. The Libya Contact Group, which was formed by the U.S., France, Great
Britain, Italy, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, sets up a fund to help the rebels in Libya in May. Slightly
after, the EU announces that its going to open an office in Benghazi to help the rebel forces.
Things seem to be looking up for the rebels, right? WRONG. Gaddafis regime still sucks (a lot).
All of these protests, as you can probably guess, have escalated to a full blown civil war now.
Gaddafis regime starts to target hospitals where wounded rebel fighters are. Soldiers under the
regime are reported to have gone into hospitals and ripped out rebel fighters oxygen masks, IV
drips, and monitor wires. Shortly after, NATO, which was on 24-hour patrol of Libyas airspace,
kills Gaddafis son and grandchildren in an airstrike. Another airstrike hits a compound with
Gaddafi inside, but he doesnt die. However, 3 other people are killed and he flees the country.
Overall the war just goes back and forth for a while. Most countries recognize the National
Transitional Council as the official government, and Gaddafi and his regime are denounced by
most. The Prosecutor of International Criminal Law requests arrest warrants for Gaddafi in May.
On October 20th, Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebel forces. The National
Transitional Council declared that Libya was officially liberated on October 20th. Later in
November, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was killed as well, marking the final major Gaddafi family
member to die. On October 27th, the UN Security Council voted to stop all military operations in
Libya. In November, Abdurrahim El-Keib was elected Prime Minister. In December, the UN
Security Council lifted sanctions on Libya. Libya was on its way to becoming an independent
nation.
In between the First and Second Libyan Civil Wars, violent protests erupted between semi-legal
militias still loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from the First Civil War and the government. This was
called Factional Violence and it led to the Second Civil War. It started in January 2012, and
continued until August 2012, at which point the transitional government resigned power to the
General National Congress of Libya.
So maybe some of you are thinking about what you think personally about Benghazi. For those
of you who dont what that is, on September 11, 2012, Islamic militants stormed the US
consulate in Benghazi and killed 4 Americans, including the ambassador. This is one of the
most polarizing issues in recent history, which is why I thought Id mention it. However, in
relation to the actual Libyan civil war, its not reallllly a big deal. Like, it kind of mattered, but far
less than it matters in America. So if some of you were sitting there wondering where the whole
Benghazi controversy came it, there it is.
So Ive been trying to find a reason for why the Second Civil War happened other than general
unrest because that seems like kind of a cop-out answer. The best description Ive found online
is that when a revolution ends and the corrupt government has been overthrown and all has
been revolted, what results is a sort of power vacuum where a lot of groups are trying to claim
the place that the former government left. This often results in general unrest because although
there may have been many groups united against a common enemy, that does not necessarily
mean that they remain consistently united after that enemy is defeated. Thats what happened
in Libya--after the former corrupt regime was overthrown, many forces previously united were
divided in the search for power. And as youll see in the next slide, there were A LOT of forces
that were divided in Libya.
So theres 5 groups that are really warring right now. Lets start off with the General National
Congress, which was elected in July of 2012. Where we left off, they had taken over the
government and everyone was generally happy about that because it meant that Gaddafis
awful regime was gone and that there was more stable government in place than the transitional
government. However, they became slightly controversial when the public began to believe that
they were majority Islam, which is not true. The GNC also was accused of removing
inconvenient questions and debate from the congressional agenda, attempting to enact Sharia
law, and giving money to Islamic groups to use for kidnappings and assassinations.
Next is the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries. They are the really, really, very Islamic
forces. Theyre the combination of a bunch of Islamic forces coming together into one mega-
group. Part of this group is Ansar al-Sharia, which is the group that claims responsibility for the
attacks on the American Consulate in Benghazi. The Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries
is a mostly Eastern Libya thing--in Western Libya, they remain a bunch of separate groups
which cover everything from former al-Qaeda jihadists to Libyas branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood to the Libya Shield Force. They are considered terrorists by most other groups.
Like I said, this covers almost of the radical Islamists except for one part.
That brings me to my next group--the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, aka ISIL, aka ISIS.
Im fairly certain that everyone here knows who they are. They kind of swooped in because they
saw that Libya was unstable and realized that they could take control. This is more part of their
attempt to conquer the Middle East than anything else.
Next is the Council of Deputies. This is basically Libyas version of congress. It has 200 elected
seats, an elected chairman, and 2 elected vice chairmen. Its a House of Representatives that
took power in 2014 after there was discontent with the General National Congress. For Libya,
thats coming a long way if you consider that 3 years before they still had Gaddafi. Theyre fairly
secular.
Finally, theres the Government of National Accord, and this is where it gets a little complex.
Basically the General National Congress and the Government of National Accord kind of
combined to make a mutant Frankensteins monster government with a lot of really complex
rules that I dont think anyone really cares about but if you do you can ask me about them after
class.
So in general all of these groups or parties are warring over control of Libya. The Government of
National Accord, which is the weird mash up government I was just talking about, is what has
the most control right now, really. Thats because its backed by the support of the UN and a
bunch of other countries.
i. The demands of the Libyan people began much
 like those of their neighbors in North Africa and the Middle East. They
wanted the protection of their universal rights, greater political freedom
and representative government, as well as justice and opportunity
ii. (2011) Inspired by revolts in other Arab countries,
especially neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, violent protests break out in
Benghazi, spread to other cities, leading to escalating clashes between
security forces and anti-Gaddafi rebels.
1. Enlightenment by other countries are
revolting successfully
2. People had ongoing frustrations with the way their country was being run: People
had ongoing frustrations with the way their country was being run, and so a main event
occurs which forces people into action.
a. Tension with other countries
i. US bombs Libyan military facilities, residential
areas of Tripoli and Benghazi, killing 101 people. US says raids were in
response to alleged Libyan involvement in bombing of Berlin disco
frequented by US military personnel.
ii. UN imposes sanctions on Libya in an effort to force
it to hand over for trial two of its citizens suspected of involvement in the
blowing up of a PanAm airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in
December 1988.
iii. Dictatorship= oppression, limited to no protection of
rights, no political freedom, no equality and no justice/opportunity
As a result, the protests start:
Anti government rallies were held in Banghz by angry protesters
Libyan government began using lethal force against demonstrators. Security
forces and squads of mercenaries fired live ammunition into crowds of demonstrators
People who are hurt, or oppressed by the way things are run in society take a
stand against the oppressors, or the people who have limited their rights and freedoms.
Crowds of protesters threw rocks at billboards of Gaddafi, and
troops attacked them with tear gas and live fire.
24 rebels had been killed during a single day of protesting.
This caused rebels to realize that protests werent
enough, so they engaged in battles
Loyalists and Military defended their grounds after
demonstrations, usually resulting with little losses of people on their side
The battles always resulted in more of a loss for the rebels than
the loyalists. For example, one battle beginning with airstrikes and a fierce
mortar, artillery, rocket, anti-aircraft, and heavy machine gun barrage, attacked
an outskirt city from two sides, and managed to push into the city towards the city
center. This resulted in the rebels losing 50 dead and about 300 wounded, while
the loyalists lost 2 dead.
Other countries, such as the UN, become involved in the civil war
Allies are made
Fighting continues, becoming more brutal and tactical
For example, the loyalists cut off rebel water supply, and the
rebels now have airforce as a result of allies
 Rebel forces begin to succeed in their attacks
Killings include but are not limited to Gaddafis youngest son, and
3 of his grandchildren
After the first Libyan civil war, violence occurred involving various militias and the
new state security forces. The combatants included Islamists and militias who fought
against Gaddafi but refused to lay down their arms when the war ended in October 2011
According to some civilian leaders, these latter militias shifted from merely
delaying the surrender of their weapons to actively asserting a continuing role as
"guardians of the revolution". Some of the largest and best-equipped militias were
associated with Islamist groups forming political parties. Before the official end of
hostilities between loyalist and opposition forces, there were reports of sporadic clashes
between rival militias, and vigilante revenge killings.
The Inter-Civil War violence eventually lead to a radical phase.
A radical phase in a revolution is when certain people/sides have
extreme views about the subject at hand. They are really rash and witty with their
decisions and actions
Fighting intensified and roads became more dangerous. If possible, war tactics
and actions became even more drastic
The violence eventually escalated into the second Libyan civil war.
The second Libyan Civil War is still going on, but as a result of the civil war so far following the
Steps of a Revolution, we can make predictions about what will happen next.

At this point, we cant really honestly say we know where the revolution is headed. All we can do
is hope that the Government of National Accord can gain control and take over the country in a
way that makes the Islamic population feel represented, the secular government functional, and
keeps away other forces trying to gain control. As it turns out, thats kind of a lot to ask.
However, with support from other nations, theres hope that Libya can eventually stabilize itself.
I can predict that while in the midst of fighting, more and more people believe that the civil war is
going out of control. At this point, people who will have stood against civil war all along will
become stronger and try to bring things back to the way they were much earlier. This is
considered a time to restore order and stop the reforms of a revolution. After this occurs, the
revolution will reach one of the following conclusions:

These outcomes will probably take many years to come true, if they do at all. Considering how
long this war has gone on, and how it had actually technically ended but then started back up
again, I believe this will take a long time to come to a treaty, and more and more countries will
become involved.

a. The people who had been oppressed early gain all or most of the
main rights and power they have fought for. As a result, the people who used to
have power in society are now weakened. OR
b. The civil war will fail, and the oppressed are still suffering by the
power of rulers, or civil war.
~It's hard to determine which of these two will happen. On the one hand, the rebels are
constantly fighting, and it seems unlikely that tat will end anytime soon. As it is, when the first
war ended, a second one started up not long after that because of the dissatisfaction of the
rebels, and their yearn for battle. On the other hand, the loyalists and government in itself are
very good at both defense and offense. The first war failed as the rebels were incompetent in
making progress in the outcome of the war. Because of their many losses, I am lead to believe
that they will yet again lose this one too, but keep fighting still. It seems to me like it will be a
never ending cycle, until the rebel forces do take over.
2. People who survive the civil will remember it years later. Historians will record the
events of the civil war. The way in which people have memories of the revolution and
the changes it had on society will have an impact on the way people think and act in the
future, especially during later changes and revolutions in society.