"Spring" or "Summer" in Tripoli?

"Spring" or "Summer" in Tripoli? No matter what happens to Gaddafi himself, Libya has entered the "post-Gaddafi era"...

Tripoli "Spring" or "Summer"? Wen Yang Regardless of the outcome of Gaddafi himself, Libya has entered the "post-Gaddafi era." In the orthodox narrative of the so-called "Arab Spring", Libya has become the third North African country to achieve a successful "people's revolution" after Tunisia and Egypt. This narrative is grand. The regime change sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East is far from over. Where the torrent of people's revolution is heading and pointing its finger, there are also the counter-revolutionary fortresses of the governments of Syria, Yemen, Morocco and other countries that are still stubbornly resisting. In the cartoon version of the political picture, this is the latest progress of the world's democratic revolution, the final battle to eliminate the authoritarian regime, and the final arrival of universal freedom and democracy. It is a picture of prosperity as winter snow melts and spring fills the earth. Although cartoon pictures are beautiful and fascinating, they are not accurate descriptions of the real world because too many parts are simplified, omitted, and intentionally obscured. Fortunately, there are still people who are not so forgetful and still remember that Mr. Gaddafi was the people's leader of the previous Libyan revolution 42 years ago. In the 1969 military coup, Gaddafi took advantage of the king's medical treatment abroad to occupy Tripoli without bloodshed and imprisoned members of the royal family. The people's hero Gaddafi ended the ancient monarchy in Libya and established the People's Republic. From this point of view, the people's revolution he led was actually more "people" and more "revolutionary", and the name change was justified. Therefore, strictly speaking, this year's revolution cannot be regarded as having the same nature as the 1969 revolution. If Gaddafi is indeed a true revolutionary, then this time it should be a re-revolution by the revolutionary people against the revolutionary leader, or a revolution by the new revolutionary leader against the old revolutionary leader, rather than a revolution by the revolutionary people against the counter-revolutionary rulers. In other words, if we admit that the 1969 revolution was also a "Tripoli Spring", then this time it should be a "Tripoli Summer" that ended a spring, rather than another "Tripoli Spring" that ended another winter. Although this distinction is significant, many people are not willing to sacrifice their preference for cartoonish political illustrations to make it. A generally accepted theory is that Gaddafi was indeed a revolutionary back then, and he has been promoting the revolution, but he eventually deteriorated and turned into a counter-revolutionary dictator who was no different from the old king. Spring turned back to winter, and the people had no choice but to revolution again. Therefore, this time the revolution was still the "Tripoli Spring" of modern democracy versus feudal autocracy, not the "Tripoli Summer" of new democracy versus old democracy. No matter how many progressive reforms that were in line with the interests of the people and the country, and how many results Gaddafi achieved during his administration, such as expelling colonists, popularizing education, liberating women, and developing the economy, once he was politically recognized as an enemy of the West, he was destined to become a symbol of winter, and the revolutionary wave of the "Tripoli Spring" would sweep over at any time. The benefits of this statement are obvious. Spring always brings joy, inspiration, reverie, and romance. Any riot that overthrows the government, no matter who overthrows whom, whether it is legitimate or improper, once it is defined as the end of spring and the end of winter, it will automatically have the color of justice, and gain legitimacy and even legitimacy. But wishful thinking of the "Spring complex" cannot replace reality. Logically speaking, it is impossible to describe all anti-government mass riots as "Spring"; it is also impossible to describe all the second revolutions that are committed to overthrowing the leaders of the first "Spring" revolution as "Spring". As we all know, the recent London riots, the 2005 Paris riots, and the 1992 Los Angeles riots were not referred to as the "London Spring", "Paris Spring" and "Los Angeles Spring" respectively. It can be seen that it is not that people do not understand the differences and logical relationships among them, but the application varies from country to country and from situation to situation. In the past few days, news has been coming out from Libya that anti-government armed forces are killing innocent people indiscriminately. However, since this was violence in the name of "Spring" and not riots in the nature of "Summer", they will not be held accountable. It is a pity that I cannot hear the voices of Libyans thinking independently, and I do not know how they themselves explain the relationship between the two "springs" in the country's modern history. ▊ August 29, 2011