News broke today that Muammar Al Qaddafi has been killed, leaving behind a violent and complicated legacy in Libya. On the Morning Media Menu today, we looked at coverage of his death around the globe.
In 1975, the Libyan leader published The Green Book, a political manifesto with three parts: “The Solution of the Problem of Democracy: ‘The Authority of the People,'” “The Solution of the Economic Problem: ‘Socialism,'” and “The Social Basis of the Third Universal Theory.”
Here is an excerpt from the online translation of Qaddafi’s The Green Book: “In summary, the era of the masses, which follows the age of the republics, excites the feelings and dazzles the eyes. But even though the vision of this era denotes genuine freedom of the masses and their happy emancipation from the bonds of external authoritarian structures, it warns also of the dangers of a period of chaos and demagoguery, and the threat of a return to the authority of the individual, the sect and party, instead of the authority of the people. Theoretically, this is genuine democracy but, realistically, the strong always rules, i.e., the stronger party in the society is the one that rules.”