CELEBRATING 36 YEARS OF QADHAFI

C O N F I D E N T I A L TRIPOLI 000224


E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/3/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV LY
SUBJECT: CELEBRATING 36 YEARS OF QADHAFI

CLASSIFIED BY: Gregory L. Berry, COM, USLO, Tripoli.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



1. (C) Summary: A hundred thousand or more Libyans gathered on
Martyrs Square in Tripoli August 31 to commemorate the 1969
revolution which brought Colonel Qadhafi to power. Qadhafi
passed up the opportunity to address the multitude, but he
appeared on the reviewing stand for half an hour to receive the
adulation of the crowd and to study a written "declaration of
loyalty from all Libyans." Apart from a cheering section
supplied by the revolutionary committees, the crowd seemed
mostly to have its mind elsewhere; the reaction to a spectacular
fireworks display in particular was astonishingly tepid.
Generally, outside observers saw in the event what they expected
to see; to take one example, an Arab Ambassador who is
disdainful of Qadhafi and all his works claimed that the crowd's
indifference was a measure of the regime's isolation. End
Summary.


2. (C) The government did whatever was necessary to get tens of
thousands of supporters into the center of Tripoli for
Revolution Day celebrations on August 31. Reportedly,
government officials in the outlying areas of Libya were told to
be in Tripoli for the celebration or risk losing their jobs. We
heard rumors that each "shabbiat" (district) official was
ordered to be at the cermony along with a minimum of two other
attendees. Universities and other institutions sent busloads of
participants. USLO LES staff relayed rumors that the
government would hand out 200 dinars to everyone in Green Square
the afternoon of August 31. Transportation was a special
challenge; there were many reports of security officers
arbitrarily commandeering private vans and busses in the larger
national interest. In the end, the regime got what it needed --
a large enough crowd to look impressive on television, but not
so large as to overwhelm the carefully choreographed program.
To judge from the result, officials had more trouble lining up
the groups that were to parade in front of the reviewing stand;
some of the noisier groups circulated through two or three times
in a great circle to fill out the three-hour event.


3. (C) The centerpiece of the celebration was a spectacular
fireworks display produced by a French company. (In a typically
Libyan moment, the French coordinator of the show was visited by
Libyan security on the morning of the event and told that the
fireworks had been canceled because explosives were too
dangerous. That edict was later reversed, and the show went
ahead as planned.) Interestingly, while Western observers went
to some lengths to find places to see the show, the Libyan crowd
was largely indifferent. Many Libyans ignored the bright lights
altogether, turning their backs on the display and chatting with
friends. Cameramen from state television, who spent most of the
evening broadcasting pictures of smiling children and solemn
tribesmen, had trouble finding suitable shots during the
fireworks. One young woman in particular was shown holding her
ears and staring about in confusion when the explosions were at
their loudest.


4. (C) Qadhafi appeared for about half an hour near the end of
the event. When his face popped up on the video screens around
the square, the security cordons dissolved, giving the
impression that the tightly packed crowd was surging forward to
be close to the leader. The cameras eventually zoomed in on
Qadhafi, showing him studying a short document entitled "Pledge
of Loyalty from the Libyan People" and containing what appeared
to be a few pages of signatures. (One sardonic soul noted that,
given the size of the document, there must be about a million
signatures per page.) To the surprise of everyone, Qadhafi said
nothing at all to the crowd; he was smiling and apparently
relaxed, but gave the impression of someone who had done it all
many, many times before.

COMMENT
--------------


5. (C) Outsiders generally saw what they expected to see. The
Egyptian Ambassador -- bored, cranky, and no admirer of the
regime in any event -- claimed the indifference of the crowd to
the parade and spectacle was a sign of how feeble and out of
touch the regime had become. Asked by a slightly startled
colleague whether he was predicting that the regime was
tottering, the Egyptian spread his hands wide and said, "Why
knows? Something like this can glide for a long time before it
crashes."

BERRY