THE Libyan leader on July 1 addressed many tens of thousands of people in Tripoli’s main square and in the sidestreets around it.
Colonel Gadaffi began ‘Today is a great day! It is a great day of defiance! A day to display the pride of the great Libyan people! A day to show courage!
‘This for you to know – you Berlusconi, Sarkozy, Cameron and others – to find out that you are ploughing in the sea, that you are ploughing in the sand! You are wrong!
‘You have been involved in a battle without realising its outcome. Back away! I advise you it is better for you to go back home. You will be destroyed because one day these people are capable of taking the battle to the Mediterranean Sea, and are capable of taking it to Europe.
‘They may violate the sanctity of your homes. Your homes, offices and families may all become legitimate military targets in the same way you made our offices, homes and children legitimate military targets.
‘This will be reciprocity: A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, a child for a child, a family for a family, a home for a home and an office for an office. If we decide we are capable! We are capable of moving to Europe like locusts and bees.
‘However, I advise you to back away before you suffer a catastrophe. First look at the Libyan people! Are these people ruled by a dictator? Are these people oppressed? These people came from everywhere without being ordered by Mu’ammar al-Gadaffi.
‘I am personally surprised by this flood of the masses of the Libyan people: Men, women, families and children! Look at the children! Look! Look! Look! Look at the families! Look at women! Who brought them here! Was it Mu’ammar al- Gadaffi who brought them? They came by the force of defiance. This is courage and defiance.
‘Today is a historic day on which the Libyan people send a historic message to the world. The history will record that after 100 days of continuous air strikes – day and night – the families, children, men and women throng the squares and streets not only in Tripoli, but in all the towns, villages and oases of the Al-Jamahiriyah.
‘You cannot confront the Libya people. The first time you confront the armed people you will lose the battle. The masses you are watching are armed. They have rifles, machine guns, knives and battle-axes.
‘Therefore, I advise you! If you want peace and if you want things to go back to the way they were 100 days ago, you need to speak to the Libyan people not to Mu’ammar al-Gadaffi. Mu’ammar al-Gadaffi does not represent them! Mu’ammar al- Gadaffi is a symbol for the Libyan people! Look at the people! These are the people! You need to speak to the Libyan people!
‘You need to speak to these people who are organised in Basic People’s Congresses! These people are organised in 2,000 tribes! You can go and speak to tribal chiefs! You can go and speak to the tribes of the Libyan people in their historic conference! Go and speak with the Basic People’s Congresses! Go and speak to the People’s Social Leadership which represents the tribes. . .
‘So, go and speak to the Libyan people about oil. You want to (occupy) the Libyan land, but the Libyan people will not surrender their land. Come and speak to the people.
‘Do you want democracy? Come and speak to the Libyan people. Anything you want you can go and speak to the Libyan people. You may tell me how can we reach the Libyan people? I tell you that you can reach them through the Basic People’s Congresses which include all Libyans, men and women. This is a direct people’s democracy. This is not the system of Mu’ammar al-Gadaffi, it is the system of the Libyan people.
‘The political system in Libya is that of the Libyan people and, therefore, it will not collapse. Even if there are some who ran away and some who were scared this is nothing. If a hundred ambassadors run away, the Libyan people will find one thousand ambassadors the next day. It is your governments which collapse. . .
‘Your people stage demonstrations against you. Can you see what the Libyan people are doing for Mu’ammar al-Gadaffi in squares and streets! Look! Compare demonstrations in Europe to the demonstrations in Libya!
‘Your people cannot carry your portraits because they are against you! They smash your portraits! They want to topple you! There are demonstrators everywhere demanding ‘real democracy’…
‘I advise you to stop your aircraft… I advise you to reach an understanding with the Libyan people as from tomorrow, particularly after the resolutions issued by the African Union summit. The first resolution issued by the whole of Africa was to reject the decision taken by the so-called International Criminal Court as void and as one of the tools of colonialism. Africa has rejected this decision. . .
‘If you find a way out of this stalemate which is of your making, go and speak to the Libyan people. Do not rely on the traitors whom you have fabricated. These traitors have no place in Libya. No street or alley in Benghazi will accept them…
‘Watch the Libyan TV! I advise you my friends to watch the Libyan TV. Air strikes have not achieved their purpose. What your aircraft are doing is useless. Air-dropping weapons for traitors, the fifth column and mercenaries in the Al-Jabal al-Gharbi will not benefit you. Your air strikes will lead to nothing! Your psychological warfare will lead nowhere! You have lied, lied and lied, but you get nothing useful from lying. So, look for a way out of this stalemate.
‘I am helping you and presenting you with a way out. Look at how the streets are crowded with the masses. Europe’s streets are crowded with the masses who are against their rulers. I defy you! Look at my people! Look at the streets which are packed with Al-Gadaffi’s portraits! . .
‘From tomorrow morning come and speak to the Libyan people to disburden you and disburden the world from this conspiracy, from this dirty game which you have created and for which you are unable to find a way out. . .
‘As for you my brothers, I tell you if you want to end this crisis, the solution is in your hands. As you thronged the Tripoli Green Square and streets and came from everywhere, you can march on the Al-Jabal al-Gharbi to seize from them the weapons which were air-dropped to them by the French.
‘You are free to forgive or not to forgive them. One million must march on the Al-Jabal al-Gharbi and purge it until you reach the Dhehiba and bring the problem to an end.
‘Our families fled to Tunisia, our women fled to Tunisia to escape the traitors and the fifth column who act as if they are French soldiers. They are French mercenaries. They are traitors exactly like the traitors who collaborated with the Italians.
‘Now it is clear that they are working with the French army. It is as if you are fighting French soldiers in the Al-Jabal al-Gharbi. Our victims will go to heaven and their victims will go to hell…’ Their women are in Tunisia working for Tunisian women.
He concluded: ‘Men and women, get ready for mobilisation in front of the world, in the same way you rallied today, do it tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and all the coming days. Take on any place where the traitors, the fifth column and the mercenaries, who are killing your children on a daily basis with NATO aircraft, are based. Disarm them, take their weapons quickly. All the tribes are fighting. All the masses, men and women, are fighting.
‘We are carrying out our duty before history. We will not betray our glorious past and our ancestors. We will not betray our children and families. We will not betray the future. We will not betray the past.
‘We have the right on our side. We are on our land, the land of our ancestors. This is our duty.
Glory to you, the Libyans! This is the glory. This is the courage.
Forward march! Forward march!
The fight will continue until victory is achieved!’