The Green Book (Gaddafi)

This article is about the political book by Muammar Gaddafi. For other uses, see Green Book (disambiguation).

The Green Book
English language cover for The Green Book published January 1, 2008 by Ithaca Press
AuthorMuammar Gaddafi
Original titleالكتاب الأخضر
LanguageArabic
SubjectPolitical philosophy
PublisherPeople's Establishment for Publication, Distribution, and Advertising[1]
Publication date
1975
Publication placeLibya
Published in English
1976
Media typePrint
Pages110
ISBN978-1-54124-131-2
Politics of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi
Constitution
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
  • Supreme Court
  • Courts of Appeal
  • Courts of First Instance
  • Summary Court
Subdivisions
Foreign policy
Related
This article is part of
a series about
Muammar Gaddafi
Personal
Affiliations
Libya under Muammar Gaddafi
Military (Armed Forces)
Leadership (History)
Elections and referendums
Muammar Gaddafi's signature

The Green Book (Arabic: الكتاب الأخضر 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.[2] It is said to have been inspired in part by The Little Red Book (Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung).[3][4] Both were widely distributed both inside and outside their country of origin, and "written in a simple, understandable style with many memorable slogans".[5]

An English translation was issued by the People’s Establishment for Publication, Distribution, and Advertising, an organ of the Libyan People's Committee,[6] and a bilingual English-Arabic edition was issued in London by Martin, Brian & O'Keeffe in 1976.

During the First Libyan Civil War in 2011, during which Gaddafi himself was killed, copies of the book were burned by anti-Gaddafi demonstrators,[7] and monuments to The Green Book demolished.[8]

  1. ^ Vandewalle, Dirk (2018). Libya since Independence: Oil and State-building. Cornell University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-1501732362.
  2. ^ Dirk Vandewalle (3 March 2011). "What's In Gadhafi's Manifesto?". All Things Considered (Interview: audio/transcript). Interviewed by Melissa Block. NPR. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  3. ^ Soumiea Abushagur (2011). The Art of Uprising: The Libyan Revolution in Graffiti. Lulu.com. p. 18. ISBN 9781105155352. The Green Book was Gaddafi's political philosophies, modeled after Chairman Mao's Little Red Book...
  4. ^ Christopher H. Dalton; Richard A. Lobban Jr. (2014). Libya: History and Revolution (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 129. ISBN 978-1440828850. For information, Gaddafi's Green Book was something of a knock-off of Chairman Mao's Red Book.
  5. ^ Metz, Helen Chapin, ed. (1987). "The Green Book". Libya: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. OCLC 19122696. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  6. ^ al-Gaddafi, Muammar (1976) The Green Book People's Committee, Libya.
  7. ^ Alexander Dziadosz (2 March 2011). "East Libyans burn Gaddafi book, demand constitution". Reuters Africa. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Dinosaurs and ancient beliefs: Life in Libya's highlands". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 28 October 2024.