September 1 would normally have marked Muammar Gaddafi’s 42nd year in power but a six-month bloody conflict has relegated the anniversary to the history books. Kurt Sansone reports.

The lavish celebrations that would normally fill Tripoli’s Green Square will not be held as Libyans fete a new revolution.

Foreign dignitaries will not be there to witness Col Gaddafi’s narrative of a Libya transformed by the bloodless coup in 1969 that saw him seize power from King Idris.

Col Gaddafi had named his revolution Al-Fateh, the opening, since it meant to restore a nation’s dignity by ousting the western powers that still had a foothold in Libya and transform the country from a backwater state to an oil-rich country that allowed its people to prosper.

It was a narrative that culminated in Col Gaddafi’s political theory enshrined in the Green Book, which spoke of a radical democracy that functioned through popular committees.

According to anthropologist Ranier Fsadni, who lectures in contemporary Arab world studies at the University of Malta, Col Gaddafi had always insisted his bloodless coup was a social and political revolution.

The Al-Fateh revolution’s identity changed considerably several times over four decades, Mr Fsadni says, but the event that brought Col Gaddafi to power can be considered historically significant for two principal reasons.

The first is Col Gaddafi’s political longevity. “His duration in power means that he oversaw the population of Libya grow from about 2.5 million to some six million with a political order that has shaped several generations of Libyans, including those who resented him bitterly,” Mr Fsadni says.

The second aspect is the unique political order Col Gaddafi shaped, which combined political radicalism with an economy deriving over 90 per cent of its wealth from petroleum revenues. This, Mr Fsadni insists, already distinguished Libya from all other such economies, which have conservative regimes. But Col Gaddafi’s brand was also characterised by a strong anti-colonial sentiment and, according to Mr Fsadni, a certain kind of reformist Islam that challenged traditional religious authorities.

“Part of the significance is that although oil wealth permitted considerable arbitrariness, experiments and adventures, the system increasingly began to be suffocated by its internal contradictions,” he says.

And Col Gaddafi’s strongman role was the most glaring contradiction in light of the democratic political theory he espoused. Opponents and dissidents were mowed down in a brutal repression the extent of which is only coming clear now that the regime is no longer in place.

All that remains of the Al-Fateh revolution today are burnt out effigies of a dictator on the run. Even the Green Square has been renamed Martyrs’ Square and the green Libyan flag adopted by Col Gaddafi is no more.

But for ordinary Libyans it will be no love lost as Youssef Lamlum, 47, admits: “September 1 does not mean anything to me and it never has.”

In Malta for the past 20 years, Mr Lamlum escaped the repression in his country but, meaningless as Al-Fateh was, he does not forget the pain suffered by ordinary Libyans around September each year for 42 years.

“September 1 was a day of huge sorrow. Gaddafi was scared of a coup d’etat and feared for his security, so his men would start arresting activists a fortnight before the anniversary,” he says.

Enemies of the revolution would be hanged and described as traitors even if their only crime would be voicing an opinion contrary to the regime’s, Mr Lamlum says. “God forbid if you didn’t join the celebrations.”

But this has changed now with Libyans cherishing their new-found freedom as the final stages of the six-month conflict unfold.

Mr Lamlum says that from now on Libyans will be celebrating February 17, which marks the day when this revolt started. “Our problem was fear but February 17 marks the day that Libyans reached out and overcame that fear. There is no going back.”

Magda Koukab, 35, a lawyer originally from Az-Zawiyah, has been in Malta for eight years and today she will be waiting for Col Gaddafi’s broadcast like she has been doing for all her adult life. Only this time she will not be biting her nails in anticipation of some frivolous promise or wild idea.

“All we’re expecting from this year’s September 1 is a good laugh when Gaddafi broadcasts his message over the phone, just like a rat living underground,” she says.

It will be a complete contrast to the almost daily television appearances by Col Gaddafi from three months in advance when the regime prepped up the country for the Al-Fateh celebrations.

On February 17, she adds, Libyans will celebrate the revolution that rid them of September 1.

Joe Cordina, who has been involved in Libyan-Maltese affairs for the past 36 years, says the Libyan people have regained their country for themselves “just as they had done 42 years ago”.

They are words that recall the anti-colonialist rhetoric of Col Gaddafi and Mr Cordina urges Libyans not to endanger their “hard-earned freedom by tying themselves to one or two particular countries”.

He regrets the bloodshed that characterised the regime’s overthrow but urges Libyans to strive for national reconciliation and overcome personal recriminations.

They are feelings that characterise the new Libya as it totters on the brink of an uncertain future and innumerable challenges.

For Mr Fsadni the most important immediate challenge is “military and human security” as significant settlements like Sirte and Bani Walid have not yet embraced the new order.

“One reason is suspicion of Nato’s role, a belief that a new colonialism is under way,” Mr Fsadni says, adding the National Transitional Council has to win comprehensive political trust.

A more medium-term challenge will be the start of oil production, which will help generate money and jobs.

But it is the longer term vision outlined by the NTC to build a fully fledged democratic system that will possibly be the biggest challenge of all.

Mr Fsadni believes it will take time, not least because a democratic system in a major oil-producing country is unprecedented. “There is no textbook model of transition to follow.”

Whatever direction Libya will take, September 1 already seems to be a forgotten anniversary for a people still coming to grips with the massive change written in blood and tears over the past six months.