MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Libya
Index
As previously noted, students have been the source of the most
visible opposition to the Qadhafi regime. They initially appeared
to support the revolution. Friction soon developed, however, when
it became clear that student organizations would lose their
autonomy within the ASU or GPC framework. The revolution
nonetheless continued to have student supporters, and many of the
first people's committees formed in the wake of the 1973 cultural
revolution were established at universities. Those committees
radically altered curricula, dismissed professors and deans, and
terminated the school term early so that students could join
volunteer projects and receive military training. Seventeen years
after the Qadhafi-led coup, students as a whole remained divided
between supporters and critics of the revolutionary regime.
A particularly serious incident occurred in January 1976 when
students at the University of Benghazi protested government
interference in student union elections. Elected students who were
not ASU members were considered officially unacceptable by the
authorities. Security forces moved onto the campus, and violence
resulted. Reports that several students were shot and killed in the
incident were adamantly denied by the government. Nonetheless,
sympathizers organized more protests. Qadhafi and Jallud, speaking
on April 6 at Tripoli University, called on revolutionaries there
to drive out the opposition. Some clashes occurred as the newly
formed people's committee undertook the purging of
nonrevolutionaries. The school was finally closed temporarily and
then renamed Al Fatah University. Since that time, there have been
intermittent reports of student rebelliousness. In April 1984, for
instance, two students at Al Fatah University were publicly hanged.
Apparently in revenge, two revolutionary committee members were
found murdered on campus. According to Amnesty International, two
more students died in 1985, allegedly under torture while in the
custody of the revolutionary committees.
Data as of 1987
|
|
