Regional/Cultural Day
Youm al-Jamahiriya
Under Gaddafi's 42-year rule, this date in 1970 marked the proclamation of the "People's Authority" and the launch of the Green Book ideology. After 2011, the holiday was abolished, but older Libyans still recall the mass rallies in Green Square (now Martyrs' Square), the green flags, and the speeches that lasted for hours. The Green Book, Gaddafi's political manifesto, divided power into "people's committees" and rejected representative democracy, political parties, and a free press. The memory is complicated: some recall the free education and healthcare, others remember the absence of freedom.
