PIDATO KOL. MUAMMAR GADDAFI

Leader of the Revolution speaks on wealth distribution program, rebuilding people's authority in a new manner

Tripoli, 14.02.2009

The Leader of the Revolution met Saturday morning with Secretaries of the Basic People's Congresses, secretaries of People's Congresses for the Shabias, Coordinators of the Social Popular Leadership, Comrades representatives, supporters of Al-Fatah revolution companions of the revolution and some revolutionary work teams.
The leader addressed two issues on directly distribution wealth to Libyans, and rebuilding the people's authority in a new fashion.
Secretaries of the Basic People's Congresses will clarify what was mentioned in the speech on the two issues to masses of the congresses during a meeting that will follow this meeting.
The following is the text of the leader's speech:

(This meeting is with Secretaries of the Basic People's Congresses, secretaries of People's Congresses for the Shabias, Coordinators of the Social Popular Leadership, Comrades representatives, supporters of Al-Fatah revolution companions of the revolution and some revolutionary work teams.

What's needed is to understand the speech well and convey it to the people's congresses.

The meeting is basically with the Secretaries of the Basic People's Congresses, so that every Secretary of the basic people's congress understands the speech and present it to his congress, and we will see what the congress says, then - as it is known - we will gather the all of the opinion of the basic people's congresses and their decisions, then it will drafted by the General People's Congress in a decision.




Now, it is as we are laying the schedule of the Basic People's Congresses with regards to two issues, wealth distribution and the people's authority.

When we say the people's authority, I don't mean the basic congresses and communes...this is established and exists, but, the mechanism that executes decisions of the people's congresses such as the people's committees.

For those who followed the revolution since its establishment and until now, they would find that I've always addressed and presented two issues...for forty years I've been behind them and I will never relax until they are accomplished, since these two issues were our dream before the revolution, these issues along with other factors motivated us to establish the revolution.

One is the people's authority...the people's authority...people's freedom, we dream that one day the masses will be free, no injustice, no oppression, no restriction and no dictatorship, meaning we were dreaming how could the masses will triumph.

We use to always say:
"Masses have recovered from slumber* What you see filled horizon with their resonance".

These were flaming sentiments at the time.
Now, we want to see the masses coming out from everywhere and dominate.

It began since the establishment of the revolution, where people's congresses were established automatically when we declared that monarchy has ended and that the Libyan people are free and equal, the people's congresses were established automatically in every region and began writing their decision and sending them to the revolution leadership council.

Then came Zwara speech, then came students, laborers and so on escalated operation, all were thrusts towards the people's authority.

Even the congresses that occurred...differences that raised with some comrades, most of it was about this issue...there were those who wanted to govern...there were those who joined me in the revolution since they did not want to govern, while I believed that the revolution would empower the people's governance.
There are a lot of superficial things...if someone were to come and say I will organize the revolution if you name me a minister, an ambassador or something of that sort, we would laugh at him and leave him.
Nevertheless, the people who joined the revolution and accompanied it, they were trying to govern and not the people.
This caused a lot of conspiracies by military people as well as civilians.


The second issue is the only wealth, Libya's petroleum...all the Libyan people should enjoy it - and this is not the first time I tell you oil revenues should be distributed directly to the Libyan families, people's congresses convened when I presented this years ago, they rejected it, they said no, leave the situation as it is-.
Since the only wealth for this country is petroleum, we cannot be reckless while benefiting from the wealth.

If there were other revenues and incomes for the Libyan people and petroleum being one of them, petroleum wouldn't have been of such importance, so as long as it is the only resource...the only revenue, the only wealth - unfortunately or fortunately, I don't know - ...the important thing is that it is the only thing, this is the Libyans living...we purchase arms with petroleum and defend our country and homes, with it we make an administration to provide us with services, it is with petroleum that we make food, agriculture, industry, transportation and the homes we live in...all of it is from petroleum.

Hence petroleum...oil, is an issue that we should not neglect.
In a country such as Libya or Algeria, petroleum is owned by the state - of course petroleum in Arab countries is owned by the ruling families...ruling families that own the land and what's on it, they own petroleum and everything, manages it and gives charity to the people what they think is fair, they gave charity to the people and tell them "it is the property of the ruling family" just as how it used to be in Congo, the personal property of King Leopold of Belgium-.

IN a country like Libya, petroleum is owned by the state, we have tested it...this long time and we are not satisfied with the state's management of this wealth, it is not the fault of individuals, because a lot people have passed through the popular administration, if it were the fault of an individual we would have changed him...and we would have been satisfied with the next one, however, despite we changed him...changed...and changed, and how many people's committees have followed on the administration, we were never satisfied with the administration.

Oil came and once it reached $ 150 a barrel, it became very precious, to an extent that in other countries that had this wealth and people did not enjoy it thought about burning it...thinking about a revolution to take this precious commodity from the hands of the rulers and foreign companies, to posses it since it became very precious, $ 150 a barrel, which was one day 40 cents, less than a half dollar.
Oil price climbed to this extent, and this is what motivated me that it should be distributed directly to the Libyans, however, unfortunately, what we started to think about - this is your misfortune - oil price dropped, then came the financial crisis, $ 30 a barrel from $ 150 a barrel.

Nowadays it is averaging $ 40, and sometimes it drops or climbs, of course we used to think $ 40 or $30 was expensive in the past since we used to sell it for $ 8 until it reached $40 and we considered it an oil revolution.

However, the world is not what it used to be with regards to prices, everything has increased, the problem when oil prices climbed, other commodities climbed as well, and when oil prices suddenly dropped, commodity prices did not, they began dropping but gradually.
There are prices that climbed and will never drop such as gold, it used always range around 400 and could reach 500 an once...it reached 1000 or 1200, and however gold price might drop now, it ranged at about 800, this double the first price, what will bring down?

However, the financial crisis will bring down prices, and eventually prices will come down to level of oil prices, in spite of $ 150 seem to be very expensive superficially, yet it is not, because the dollar dropped at the same time, $150 is not $ 150 it could equal $ 90, prices have increased and oil which we say is $150 a barrel, in fact it is not so...it is as if it were $60, $70 or $80.

We Libyans must have a serious stand regarding this matter.
Firstly: We must have this wealth in our own hands and not to leave it to anybody.
In Libya we all know each other ,, criticize each other and envy each other . You hear those who say this person has become rich because he used wrong means to become that rich . From where and how did he get that ?

Because there is one wealth, namely , Oil the property of all Libyans , Whenever a Libyan show up to be rich and other Libyans envy him because the rich who has no source other than oil and this oil is belongs to all of us . How come you become rich and we are no so like you?

This is the cause of envy and hatred among Libyans.
Is there any rich person in Libya likeable ? Not at all ... All hate him .
If you build a nice house or duplex .. Other Libyans start calling you bad names and wonder how did he do that and from where did he get all that money.. There are some who are illiterate and forms a company though he is known to be poor in the past then become rich fast. How did he become rich that fast , unless he stole that money ? From where did he get that money?
We know what we have .. We have one wealth fund that comes from oil . ... Any Libyan becomes rich in this manner means that he took from this fun one way or another. even if that is a high salary , that salary came from oil.

But if you look at someone rich in Italy or in Spain ; people would not say that .. They do not say this siphoned money because he gained that by other means . They may say he exploited workers , he raised prices and became rich from the high priced goods he sells us . But they do not envy him the way we do .
They do not say Have you ever see that this Italian has become rich from oil .. No, because Italy has no oil and he became rich by other means , the door is open to become like me and in turn they do not envy each other.

They may have workers demanding wage increase from their employers , but they do not say where did you get this . They do not have this notion , but we are the ones who must say where did you get this from ?

The answer is quite clear : '' From oil ''.
This is not permitted , it is not permitted to one rich and one poor in a country depending only on one source , namely , oil which belongs to all . Since oil belongs to all Libyans , Libyans must share this wealth equally.

I have struggled a long time for this matter. You Libyans in people's congresses who practice authority .. are able to hate and criticize each other , but you are unable to be serious in your life.
We want to make the start from oil , we failed , this means the management that we gave it the money did not succeed .
Not the individuals but the administration in general , the state .. the committee is run by individuals change and are different , but the committee is the same.

The matter may be very simple if we govern ourselves by ourselves and received the wealth made from oil and we manage our living without depending on anyone else.

Now, no one wants to run a people's committee , people who respect themselves would say we do not want to be selected to run a people committee , then you start insulting me and accusing me of '' stealing ''.

You take your money and keep it in your pockets , so if you steal from each other , then that is your own business , but not through profession.

This is really taking place in the state management that controls public money spending ; otherwise how come such differences occur among Libyans where you find one living in a tin house while another one lives in a villa. Where did he got that ? There is only one source and that is oil money.

This is the result of depending on the state to do everything and that is done from oil money , we do not want to give this task to the state because I think it failed , public sector has failed.
Hence, get your share of money and mind your own affairs.

What difference is there between the elected people's committees and the committees which people will voluntarily elect tomorrow?, all are Libyans ..we are not afraid that people feel free in every street to elect whoever they want..to make associations and companies and partnerships..to set up cooperatives and import and export..and to set up committees for education, services and communications..what's wrong if people became free..this is your country and you should be free.

Now, if we draw a charter, we will find very big differences , one is in the 5% category and the other is in the 100% category .
Why should I be in the 5% and you in the 100% ? That came from oil and not through personal effort . All of us did not make effort .
Who is that one who became rich through his own effort?
On the other hand, when we give you a dinar , and another and another . and leave you alone , you dinar becomes ten .. and you becomes two and one becomes zero then we say one benefited from his share and the other did not ; but when we give one ten dinars and another one dinar that means the difference occurred from the beginning and this is what has happened. In other words , one gets a share from oil which is not his , so he becomes rich while that one who did not get a similar share remains poor and that is how it started and this is what we have to investigate.

Now you said if it was a stat's project..someone would have obtained a million or so from it, it's true because the state did it..these houses are yours ..they are built from oil money ..someone made money out of them and moved the money abroad..because the state made contracts with foreign companies and the state's employees sign contracts with these companies who give them commissions..this inevitable, even if substituted one for another, he will do the same.
If we bring Muftah to the board of steel factory, a state-owned plant with a salary of 500, and we put him on the board of the cement factory and on board the another companies because he is a friend of ours..we found that one person is receiving so many salaries because he my friend ..these are the state-owned businesses ..
Take up these businesses ..own them and run them ..we discovered that thousands of people receive more than one salary..they were discovered by the General People's Committee, the Secretariat of the General People's Congress and the People's Audit Office ..how come some people take five salaries..where they get them from? this is not acceptable..whatever you do you are not going to end commission, bribery and tricks.
So long as the state owns oil and make contracts with companies ..run education and healthcare and all these projects ,all this will happen.

The solution to get rid of corruption , dissatisfaction and even hatred amongst each other and puts an end to individual inequality and not class inequality , is that we keep oil money in our hands and seek a mechanism to operate that and not to be imposed on us by anyone.
This is Great Jamahiriya . This is the new society , the Jamahiri society and whoever wants to come to monitor that can do so .. The UN and the United States can come and other countries as well as international organizations, so they can see on their own that wealth is in the hands of the people.
All other peoples fight for the sake of wealth .. In Darfur all the fighting where 250.000 were killed was for the sake of what they call ''wealth sharing '' or sharing wealth. .This is not the case in Darfur only, but the '' wealth sharing '' demand spread in many parts in the world since people want to get their share of the country's wealth . They are right , since wealth belongs to all population in society and on equal base.

After sharing wealth everyone minds his own affairs .. he can benefit from that otherwise it is his own responsibility if one misspends his share of wealth.

THey can actually see that there are people who own the wealth where others die to achieve that . They can see that each Libyan gets his share of the public wealth and they can see how people freely create a mechanism for governance , not a ministry imposing to do so and so nor a ruling government and subjects , but all Libyans are equal masters who run their affairs by themselves with full freedom.

Of course the present people's committees are to continue temporarily until people .. people's congresses create an alternative committees without no intervention by anyone because the current committees will hand in to the people everything such as hospitals, schools, institutes, universities, factories, public agricultural projects, public companies and oil money.

After that , we would like to see how you, the Libyan people replace those committees.

Every secretary of people's congress must say this and make it understandable by the masses of Basic People's Congresses, tell them that the present committees will hand in everything they have to the people , but they will remain temporarily until we find the replacement .

This oil money you use it to teach your children and for medical treatment or use it for building a house or whatever you want that will be beneficial , you are free.

For example, in education you receive schools, institutes and universities , those people working in them receive salaries from the state and they too get their share of oil money and they do without the state and its salary.

Of course the present people's committees are to continue temporarily until people .. people's congresses create an alternative committees without no intervention by anyone because the current committees will hand in to the people everything such as hospitals, schools, institutes, universities, factories, public agricultural projects, public companies and oil money. After that , we would like to see how you, the Libyan people replace those committees.

Every secretary of people's congress must say this and make it understandable by the masses of Basic People's Congresses, tell them that the present committees will hand in everything they have to the people , but they will remain temporarily until we find the replacement .

This oil money you use it to teach your children and for medical treatment or use it for building a house or whatever you want that will be beneficial , you are free.
For example, in education you receive schools, institutes and universities , those people working in them receive salaries from the state and they too get their share of oil money and they do without the state and its salary.