Libyan National Movement

Not to be confused with the Libyan Popular National Movement


Libyan National Movement
الحركة الوطنية الليبية
Secretary-GeneralMuftah Lamlum
FoundedDecember 1980; 43 years ago (1980-12)
Preceded byLibyan Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
NewspaperSawt at-Talia (discontinued)
IdeologyArab nationalism
Ba'athism
Left-wing nationalism
National affiliationNational Conference for the Libyan Opposition
Website
sawt-altalea.com

The Libyan National Movement (Arabic: الحركة الوطنية الليبية, al-Ḥarakah al-Waṭanīyah al-Lībīyah) is a Libyan political organization. The Libyan National Movement was established in December 1980, by opponents of Muammar Gaddafi's government.[1] The founder of the organization was the Ba'athist lawyer Umran Burweiss.[2] Muftah Lamlum is the general secretary of the Libyan National Movement.[3] Politically, the Libyan National Movement has a left-wing nationalist agenda with a Ba'athist orientation.[4] The organization operates in exile, primarily amongst Libyans in Europe, during the mid-1980s it was active amongst students abroad.[2][4] The publication of the organization was called Sawt at-Talia ('Voice of the Vanguard'). The magazine was later discontinued and substituted by a website.[1][4]

The organization was originally financed by Iraqi Ba'athists.[5] which enabled it to produce relatively high-quality propaganda materials. For example, it issued audio cassettes, which were smuggled into Libya, alongside Sawt at-Talia during the 1980s.[6] The organization also ran radio broadcasts over Radio Baghdad.[6]

In January 1987, the Libyan National Movement and seven other opposition groups (such as the Libyan National Struggle Movement and the Libyan Liberation Organization) agreed to form a working group headed by Major Abd al Munim al Huni, a former RCC member who had been living in Cairo since the 1975 coup attempt.[7]

In July 2005, the Libyan National Movement took part in a foundation of the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition in London, which signed a joint 'national accord' calling for the removal of Gaddafi from power and the establishment of a transitional government.[8][9]

  1. ^ a b من نحــن [About] (in Arabic), Libyan National Movement, archived from the original on 2007-10-24.
  2. ^ a b Tachau, Frank. Political Parties of the Middle East and North Africa. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1994. p. 375
  3. ^ We have defeated fear and we're not going back now, Times of Malta, 2011-02-26.
  4. ^ a b c Ray, Donald I. Dictionary of the African Left: Parties, Movements and Groups. Aldershot, Hants u.a: Dartmouth, 1989. p. 79
  5. ^ The Middle East, Volumes 111–12. London: IC Magazines, etc., 1984. p. 20
  6. ^ a b Shaked, Haim and Daniel Dishon (eds.). Middle East Contemporary Survey, Vol. 8, 1983–84. p. 583
  7. ^ "Libya", Opposition to Qadhafi, USA: Country Studies.
  8. ^ The Gulf Today. Hichem Karoui: Leader of mercenaries and slaves
  9. ^ Eurasia Review. Libya: Political Dynamics And Profiles – Analysis Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine