View source for The Green Book (Gaddafi)

{{Short description|1975 political philosophy book by Muammar Gaddafi}}
{{about|the political book by Muammar Gaddafi||Green Book (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = The Green Book
| orig_lang_code    = ar
| title_orig        = الكتاب الأخضر
| translator        = 
| image_size        = 
| caption           = English language cover for ''The Green Book'' published January 1, 2008 by Ithaca Press
| author            = [[Muammar Gaddafi]]
| country           = Libya
| language          = Arabic
| series            = 
| subject           = [[Political philosophy]]
| publisher         = [[People's Establishment for Publication, Distribution, and Advertising]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Vandewalle |first=Dirk |author-link= |date=2018 |title=Libya since Independence: Oil and State-building |url= |location= |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=200 |isbn= 978-1501732362}}</ref>
| pub_date          = 1975
| english_pub_date  = 1976
| media_type        = Print
| pages             = 110
| isbn              = 978-1-54124-131-2
| image             = File:The_Green_Book_(Gaddafi).jpg
}}
{{Politics of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi}}
{{Muammar Gaddafi series}}
'''''The Green Book''''' ({{langx|ar|الكتاب الأخضر}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|al-Kitāb al-Aḫḍar}}'') is a short book setting out the [[political philosophy]] of Libyan leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]]. The book was first published in 1975.<ref name="NPR">{{cite interview | subject=Dirk Vandewalle | interviewer=Melissa Block | title=What's In Gadhafi's Manifesto? | url=https://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134239733/Whats-In-Gadhafis-Manifesto | type=Interview: audio/transcript | work=All Things Considered| publisher=NPR | date=3 March 2011 | access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref> It is said to have been inspired in part by ''The Little Red Book'' (''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'').<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AKl7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18 |title = The Art of Uprising: The Libyan Revolution in Graffiti |quote = "The Green Book was Gaddafi's political philosophies, modeled after Chairman Mao's Little Red Book..." |author = Soumiea Abushagur |publisher = Lulu.com |date = 2011 |page=18|isbn = 9781105155352 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=h2mEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |title = Libya: History and Revolution |page = 129 |quote = For ''information'', Gaddafi's ''Green Book'' was something of a knock-off of Chairman Mao's ''Red Book''. |author1 = Christopher H. Dalton |author2 = Richard A. Lobban Jr. |edition = illustrated |publisher = ABC-CLIO |date = 2014 |isbn = 978-1440828850}}</ref> Both were widely distributed both inside and outside their country of origin, and "written in a simple, understandable style with many memorable slogans".<ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Metz| editor-first=Helen Chapin | editor-link=Helen Chapin Metz | chapter=The Green Book | title=Libya: A Country Study | location=Washington, D.C.| publisher=Library of Congress | year=1987 | chapter-url=http://countrystudies.us/libya/80.htm | oclc=19122696 | access-date=2 August 2011}}</ref>

An English translation was issued by the [[People’s Establishment for Publication, Distribution, and Advertising]], an organ of the Libyan [[General People's Committee|People's Committee]],<ref>al-Gaddafi, Muammar (1976) [https://archive.org/details/TheGreenBook_848 ''The Green Book''] People's Committee, Libya.</ref> and a bilingual [[English language|English]]-[[Arabic]] edition was issued in [[London]] by Martin, Brian & O'Keeffe in 1976.

During the [[Libyan civil war (2011)|First Libyan Civil War]] in 2011, during which Gaddafi himself was killed, copies of the book were burned by anti-Gaddafi demonstrators,<ref name="reuters">{{cite news | author=Alexander Dziadosz | title=East Libyans burn Gaddafi book, demand constitution | url=https://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE72127720110302 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305064309/http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE72127720110302 | url-status=dead | archive-date=5 March 2011 | work=Reuters Africa | date=2 March 2011 | access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref> and monuments to ''The Green Book'' demolished.<ref name="mee">{{cite web |title=Dinosaurs and ancient beliefs: Life in Libya's highlands |url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/dinosaurs-and-ancient-beliefs-life-libya-s-highlands-1605705151 |access-date=28 October 2024 |publisher=Middle East Eye}}</ref>

==Influence==

=== In Libya ===
According to British author and former [[Greater London Council]] member [[George Tremlett]], Libyan children spent two hours a week studying the book as part of their curriculum.<ref name="Tremlett1993">{{cite book | last=Tremlett | first=George | pages=[https://archive.org/details/gadaffidesertmys00trem/page/208 208, 210, 214, 217, 220] | title=Gadaffi: The Desert Mystic | edition=First | location=New York | publisher=Carroll & Graf | year=1993 | isbn=978-0-88184-934-9 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/gadaffidesertmys00trem/page/208 }}</ref> Extracts were broadcast every day on [[Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation|television]] and radio.<ref name="Tremlett1993"/> Its slogans were also found on billboards and painted on buildings in Libya.<ref name="Tremlett1993"/>

=== International ===
By 1993 lectures and seminars on ''The Green Book'' had been held at [[universities]] and [[colleges]] in [[France]], [[Eastern Europe]], [[Colombia]], and [[Venezuela]].<ref name="Tremlett1993"/>

On a state visit to Libya in 2008, socialist [[Bolivia]]n President [[Evo Morales]] cited the Green Book as a major influence on his political beliefs and policies.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20201113095108/https://uk.reuters.com/article/libya-bolivia-idUKLU56962720080830 Reuters]</ref>

==Contents==
''The Green Book'' consists of three parts and has 110 pages:<ref name="Tremlett1993"/>
* The Solution of the Problem of Democracy: The [[Third International Theory|Authority of the People]] (published in late 1975)
* The Solution of the Economic Problem: [[Islamic socialism|Socialism]] (published in early 1977)
* The Social Basis of the [[Third International Theory]] (published in September 1981)

=== Views ===
''The Green Book'' rejects both [[capitalism]] and [[communism]], as well as [[representative democracy]]. Instead, it proposes a type of [[direct democracy]] overseen by the [[General People's Committee]] which allows direct [[Participatory democracy|political participation]] for all adult citizens.<ref name="Tremlett1993"/><ref>{{cite book | last=Vandewalle | first=Dirk J. | title=A history of modern Libya | location=Cambridge| publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-521-85048-3| url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernl0000vand| url-access=registration | quote=revoutionary committees. | access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref>

The book states that "[[Freedom of expression]] is the natural right of every person, even if they choose to behave irrationally, to express his or her insanity."<ref name="bbc_gaddafi">{{cite news | author=Martin Asser | title=The Muammar Gaddafi story | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12688033 | work=BBC News| date=26 March 2011| access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref> ''The Green Book'' states that [[freedom of speech]] is based upon [[public ownership]] of book publishers, newspapers, television, and radio stations, on the grounds that [[private ownership]] would be undemocratic.<ref name="Tremlett1993"/>

A paragraph in the book about abolishing money is similar to a paragraph in [[Friedrich Engels]]' ''[[Principles of Communism]]''.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm ''Principles of Communism''], Frederick Engels, 1847, Section 18. "Finally, when all capital, all production, all exchange have been brought together in the hands of the nation, private property will disappear of its own accord, money will become superfluous, and production will so expand and man so change that society will be able to slough off whatever of its old economic habits may remain."</ref> Gaddafi wrote: "The final step is when the new socialist society reaches the stage where profit and money disappear. It is through transforming society into a fully productive society, and through reaching in production a level where the material needs of the members of society are satisfied. On that final stage, profit will automatically disappear and there will be no need for money."<ref>al-Gaddafi, Muammar (1976) [https://archive.org/details/TheGreenBook_848 ''The Green Book, The Solution of the Economic Problem: Socialism''] People's Committee, Libya.</ref>

==Summary==

The following table gives a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book.

{| class="wikitable"
! Part !! Chapter !! Title !! Summary
|-
|rowspan="10"|I
|1
|The Instrument of Government
|The most important political question is "what form of government should be established?" Such a government should be a direct democracy, but what usually occurs is that representative democracies are established, which usurp the will of large populations who did not vote for existing governments, using [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] electoral systems.
|-
|2
|Parliaments
|The basic feature of a representative democracy is its [[parliament]], or assembly.  Once elected, members usurp the authority of their constituents for their term of service. 
|-
|3
|The Party
|[[Political party|Political parties]] themselves also usurp the people's authority, and focus on maintaining power instead of improving society for all, the proper object of government.  Worse, political parties are susceptible to corruption.
|-
|4
|Class
|Society is furthermore split into [[Social class|classes]]: political, social, or tribal groups.  A class which acquires political power, also inherits the society in which that power is gained.  A former working class eventually becomes the new ruling class.  The problem of a plurality or minority ruling the entire society persists.
|-
|5
|Plebiscites
|[[Referendum|Plebiscites]] or referendums are not an appropriate solution to the political problem.  One's political opinion does not reduce to a yes-or-no vote.
|-
|6
|Popular Conferences and People's Committees
|The solution to the problem of democracy is to establish a series of Popular Conferences (or, Congresses) and People's Committees, which collectively consist of the entire society, and all of its sectors.  Working together, these groups supplant government administration, with the participation of all.  These groups are also not parliaments in which authority is delegated.
|-
|7
|The Law of Society
|The basis of law is in custom and religion, the authentic source of social regulation, and not in written [[constitution]]s.  The very fact that constitutions are regularly amended is a proof of their weakness and transience as an instrument of government.
|-
|8
|Who Supervises the Conduct of Society?
|Just as political power should not be delegated to representatives, policing power also should not be delegated away from the entire society.  Again, the structure of Conferences and Committees is the solution.  The Whole is the legislature for the Whole, and the Whole is the law enforcement for the Whole.
|-
|9
|How can Society Redirect its Course when Deviations from its Laws occur?
|In the case where a minority runs a government, another minority with initiative may seize power through revolution, with the end result being the same: minority rule.  The solution to this cycle is again the system of Conferences and Committees: the entire society organically governing itself.  When this occurs, there is only a Whole, and thus no exterior enemy to fight.
|-
|10
|The Press
|While individuals and companies have the right to express themselves in a private capacity, "[[News media|the press]]" as a means of expression for society must be issued by the Conferences and Committees.  Otherwise, individuals would again usurp power away from others in the realm of ideas.
|-
|rowspan="7"|II
|11
|The Economic Basis of the Third Universal Theory
|Recent developments in working life such as [[Trade union|unions]] and [[minimum wage]] do not go far enough in achieving equality for all workers.  What is needed is the abolition of wage-earning in favor of a "partnering" process of an individual worker with a given industry.  Yields must be shared equally not only among individuals, but among all components of a production process.
|-
|12
|Need
|[[Need]] is a central economic problem.  The needs of some may be preyed upon by those who have the means to provide, and thus exploit.  Government should eliminate such exploitation.
|-
|13
|Housing
|The rental of housing, for example, is exploitation, and infringes the freedom of the renter.  Ideally, everyone should have only one house, because if a given party has more than one property, they will be inclined to rent it, thereby exploiting their renters.
|-
|14
|Income
|Individual income is essential to an economy.  Again, such income should not be realized as wages paid by an owner, but as the result of partnership in an industry.
|-
|15
|Means of Transportation
|Transportation should also be available to all, and at the same time not owned by some only to be rented to others, as in the case of [[Taxicab|taxi]] services.
|-
|16
|Land
|Land, like all of the aforementioned categories, should be equally available to all.  In general, the economy is a [[zero-sum game]], and components of the economy should therefore be distributed equally among all, to produce [[equality of outcome]].  No one has the right to save for themselves beyond their own needs, except up to their own arithmetic share of a given good among the whole population.
|-
|17
|Domestic Servants
|Like goods-producing wage earners, service-rendering [[Domestic worker|domestic servants]] are effectively slaves.  The economic model already sketched can also be applied to their situation.
|-
|rowspan="11"|III
|18
|The Social Basis of the Third Universal Theory
|Individuals, families, [[tribe]]s and [[nation]]s are social units, and their social ties drive the process of history.  Of these, the nation is a central unit, held together by [[nationalism]].  Just as the sun would dissipate without gravity, nations dissipate without national unity.
|-
|19
|The Family
|Families, individuals and nations (in the sense of ethnic [[nation state]]s) are natural, objective human social categories, on a continuum.  Opposed to these is the artificial modern construct of the [[State (polity)|state]], distinct from a nation.
|-
|20
|The Tribe
|Past the family, the next largest human group level is the tribe.  The various human social units are decreasingly important to individuals on a personal level, as their size increases.
|-
|21
|The Merits of the Tribe
|Tribes are rooted in [[Consanguinity|blood]], provide social cohesion, able to internally monitor themselves due to their numbers.  They also ensure the [[socialization]] of their individuals, an education more useful than a school education.
|-
|22
|The Nation
|Again, nationalism is a central social category, one closely related to but distinct from other large-scale social categories: religions, states, and empires.  The reason why states and empires change and fall is because of their incongruence with authentic nations.
|-
|23
|Woman
|Women and men are equal as human beings, in the sense that they have the same physiological needs, and are thinking and feeling beings.  However, [[sexual dimorphism]] gives rise to [[gender role]]s which are natural and appropriate to the differences between the sexes.  Freedom consists in following nature, specifically in women having the ability to raise families without being forced by society to seek work which is suitable only for men.
|-
|24
|Minorities
|Minorities are of two types: those already having a nation, and those having none, making their own.  Either way, their rights must be protected.
|-
|25
|Black People will Prevail in the World
|Black people are poised to dominate the human population because their culture includes [[polygamy]] and shuns [[birth control]], and because they live in a climate which is "continuously hot", with the result that work is less important for them than in other cultures.
|-
|26
|Education
|Formal school education is dictatorial, another tyranny like those listed above.  Education should be made available in whatever fashion people wish to engage with it.  
|-
|27
|Music and Art
|Humans should eventually speak one language.  Artistic and cultural tastes are influenced by differences in language, and the former imprint themselves "on the [[gene]]s" of the individual.
|-
|28
|Sport, Horsemanship and the Stage
|[[Spectator sport|Spectatorship]] in sports, theater and other entertainments is foolish.  People should engage in sports directly, deriving the benefits of athletics for themselves, rather than standing by and watching others perform.
|}

==Reception==
{{globalize|section|US and European academics|date=May 2015}}
[[File:The Green Book center after fire.JPG|thumb|Burned-out ''The Green Book'' centre in [[Benghazi]]'s downtown during the [[2011 Libyan Civil War]]]]
George Tremlett has called the resulting media dull and lacking in a clash of ideas.<ref name="Tremlett1993"/> [[Dartmouth College]] Professor Dirk Vandewalle describes the book as more a collection of [[aphorism]]s than a systematic argument.<ref name="NPR"/> U.S. Ambassador David Mack called the book quite jumbled, with various ideas including "a fair amount of xenophobia" wrapped up in "strange mixture".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/134128567/moammar-gadhafi-ruled-libya-with-an-iron-fist |title=Moammar Gadhafi Ruled Libya With An Iron Fist |author=Jackie Northam |date=20 October 2011 |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=24 June 2013}}</ref>

Writing for the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]], the journalist Martin Asser described the book as follows: "The theory claims to solve the contradictions inherent in capitalism and communism... In fact, it is little more than a series of fatuous diatribes, and it is bitterly ironic that a text whose professed objective is to break the shackles... has been used instead to subjugate an entire population."<ref name="bbc_gaddafi"/>

The book caused a scandal in 1987, when [[West Germany|West German]] [[ice hockey]] club [[Iserlohn Roosters|ECD Iserlohn]], led by [[Heinz Weifenbach]], signed a US$900,000 advertising deal for the book.<ref>{{cite news | author=Serge Schmemann | title=Qaddafi Foiled as an Ice Hockey Patron | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/18/sports/qaddafi-foiled-as-an-ice-hockey-patron.html | work=The New York Times | date=18 December 1987 | access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref>

On a 2008 visit to Libya, it was reported by Libyan state media that Bolivian President [[Evo Morales]] remarked "I read the Green Book, studied it and I am enthusiastic about the thinking spelled out in the Green Book".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pfeiffer|first=Tom|date=30 August 2008|title=Bolivia's Morales in Libya for energy cooperation|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/libya-bolivia-idINLU56962720080830|access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Arab socialism]]
*[[Islamic socialism]]
*[[Jamahiriya]]
*[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]
*[[Ruhnama]]
*[[Secular religion]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*''[[WorldCat]]:'' [http://www.worldcat.org/title/green-book-the-solution-to-the-problem-of-democracy-the-solution-to-the-economic-problem-the-social-basis-of-the-third-universal-theory/oclc/63134505/editions?sd=desc&referer=di&se=yr&editionsView=true&fq= Formats and editions of ''The Green Book'']
*[http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf OpenAnthropology.org: The Green Book (pdf file)]
*[http://trella.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/qaddafi_GreenBook.pdf The Green Book in the original Arabic (pdf file)]

{{Islamism}}
{{Muammar Gaddafi}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Book, The}}
[[Category:1975 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books by Muammar Gaddafi]]
[[Category:Libyan books]]
[[Category:History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi]]
[[Category:Islamism in Libya]]
[[Category:Islamist works]]
[[Category:Political books]]
[[Category:Political manifestos]]
[[Category:Politics of Libya]]
[[Category:Propaganda books and pamphlets]]
[[Category:Socialism in Libya]]