May 12, 2011
The Wisdom Fund

Qaddafi Launched Program to Privatize Libya's Oil to Every Citizen of Libya

Insurgents in eastern Libya do not support plan. Why?

by Dr. Robert D. Crane

On February 21, 2011, five days after the Arab Spring broke out in Libya, Qaddafi launched a new program to privatize all Libyan oil to every citizen of Libya, initially providing $21,000 to every Libyan from a total of $32,000,000,000 in the Year 2011, so that the health, education, transport, and some other ministries could be abolished and individual Libyans could use the profits of their own investments, including from oil ownership, to obtain the relevant services.

This, he said, is the best way to eliminate corruption, including the theft of Libyan oil by foreign oil companies, and to decentralize governmental power.

This had been discussed before, but on February 21st, Qaddafi announced that this new plan must be implemented immediately. The only question was how to accomplish this with a minimum of disruption. On March 1st, the General Public Congress voted to support the devolution of economic power in principle but to delay implementation until preparatory measures could be completed.

The question arises why the insurgent government in the former Ottoman and Italian protectorate of Cyrenaica does not support the oil privatization planned for both the eastern protectorate and the western protectorate of Tripolitania, which together now make up the State of Libya.

In his message on February 21st, inaugurating the five-day annual round of meetings by Libya's Basic Peoples Congresses and in celebration of the Fortieth Year of the Libyan Revolution, Colonal Qaddafi explained, "This is your historic opportunity to take your oil wealth, power, and full freedom".

This could provide a model for Iraq, Bahrain, and a number of other countries with multiple identities, and even for alliances or confederations such as in the former artificial State of the Sudan and in an Abrahamic Federation of the Holy Land.

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Philip Pank, "Gaddafi Offers Oil and Power to People," Sunday Times, February 21, 2009

"Libya delays Gaddafi oil plan: Politicians shelve plan aimed at distributing oil revenues directly to people," Al Jazeera, March 3, 2009

Enver Masud, "Libya Oil Grab Disguised As Humanitarian Assistance," The Wisdom Fund, March 8, 2011

Pepe Escobar, "Libya Endgame: Divide, Rule And Get The Oil," Asia Times, March 25, 2011

Curtis Doebbler, "Why the Attack on Libya is Illegal," counterpunch.org, March 28, 2011

Stephen Goodson, "The Truth About Libya," Rense.com, April 1, 2011

Jean-Paul Pougala, "The Lies Behind the West's War on Libya," pambazuka.org, April 14, 2011

Kevin G. Hall, "WikiLeaks cables show that it was all about the oil," mcclatchydc.com, May 16, 2011

[ . . . the real purpose of the aggression against Libya was not acknowledged, but it became clear that the war's purpose was to evict China from its oil investments in eastern Libya. Unlike the previous Arab protests, the Libyan rebellion was an armed uprising in which some saw the CIA's hand.--Paul Craig Roberts, "More War! The Road to Armageddon," counterpunch.org, August 1, 2011]

Clifford Krauss, "The Scramble for Access to Libya's Oil Wealth Begins," nytimes.com, August 22, 2011

Robert D. Crane, "Libya's Glorious Dawn: A Model or a Warning for the Arab Spring," theamericanmuslim.org, August 25, 2011

[French daily Liberation published on its website a letter written only 17 days after UN Resolution 1973. In the letter, the TNC ratifies an agreement ceding no less than 35% of Libya's total crude oil production to France in exchange of Sarko's "humanitarian" support.

The letter is addressed to the office of the emir of Qatar (the go-between for the TNC and France from the beginning) - with a copy to then-Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa. The letterhead is supplied by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya.--Pepe Escobar, "It's a TOTAL war, monsieur," atimes.com, September 3, 2011]

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, "Eni CEO says Libya can be the next oil and gas paradise," cnbc.com, October 18, 2013

Hanan Razek, "What's behind the fight for Libya?," bbc.com, January 17, 2020