Summary
Our conversation is wide-ranging and "The Leader", as he is universally known in Libya, makes many intelligent and perceptive points. He continually reverts to the ideas of The Green Book, but makes it clear that he wants to adapt and update them. Over the past three or four years, Gaddafi has come in from the cold internationally. He has renounced his support for terrorism and Libya has paid compensation to the families of those killed in the Lockerbie attack.
Libya has terminated its nuclear and chemical weapons programmes. Yet these could be complemented by direct forms of citizen involvement, making use of information technology, such as citizens' juries, and national "discussion days", as pioneered in Scandinavia, in which important initiatives are debated. Such investment will emerge if it is clear that social and economic reform are for real.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Colonel and His Third Way
It isn't so much a tent as an awning, open to the desert at the edges. Inside, there are some white plastic chairs, a plastic table and two easy chairs. I am sitting in one of them, waiting for Colonel Gaddafi. To get here, I flew to Tripoli and then took another plane up the coast, followed by an hour and a half's car ride into the desert scrubland. Gaddafi moves around a lot, like the nomadic groups he comes from, and no doubt also for security reasons. This evening he is camped at a small oasis, replete with camels and some tired-looking palm trees. I...
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