This article was first published by Global Research in November 2014. Today Libya as a Nation State has been destroyed by US-NATO.

What do you think of when you hear the name Colonel Gaddafi? Tyrant? Dictator? Terrorist? Well, a national citizen of Libya may disagree but we want you to decide.

For 41 years until his demise in October 2011, Muammar Gaddafi did some truly amazing things for his country and repeatedly tried to unite and empower the whole of Africa.

So despite what you’ve heard on the radio, seen in the media or on the TV, Gaddafi did some powerful things that are not characteristic of a “vicious dictator” as portrayed by the western media.

Here are ten things Gaddafi did for Libya that you may not know about…

1. In Libya, a home is considered a natural human right

In Gaddafi’s Green Book it states:

“Whoever possesses the house in which you dwell, the vehicle in which you ride or the income on which you live, possesses your freedom, or part of it. Freedom is indivisible. For people to be happy, they must be free, and to be free, they must possess the possibility of satisfying their own needs. Whoever possesses the means of fulfilling your needs controls or exploits you, and may enslave you despite any legislation to the contrary.

The material needs of people that are basic and personal start with food, housing, clothing and transport and must be regulated as private and sacred and their satisfaction should not depend on hire. To satisfy these material needs through rent, gives the original owner the right to interfere in your personal life and to control your imperative needs, even if the original owner be the society in general. The original owner can usurp your freedom and take away your happiness. The interference of the original owner may include repossessing your clothes, even leaving you naked on the street. Likewise, the owner of your means of transportation may leave you stranded on the sidewalk, and the owner of your house may make you homeless.

People’s imperative needs cannot be regulated by legal or administrative procedures. They must be fundamentally implanted into the society in accordance with natural rules.”

2. Education was free

Gaddafi’s view on education is something that seems to resonate with many. He believed that education had nothing to do with a routinized curriculum. He pointed to the fact that the western world has forced their youth to learn during specified hours while sitting in rows of desks, and that this type of education now prevails all over the world and goes against human freedom.

“State controlled education, which governments boast of whenever they are able to force it on their youths, is a method of suppressing freedom. It is a compulsory obliteration of a human being’s talent, as well as a coercive directing of a human being’s choices. It is an act of dictatorship destructive of freedom because it deprives people of their free choice, creativity and brilliance. To force a human being to learn according to a set curriculum is a dictatorial act. To impose certain subjects upon people is also a dictatorial act.

He strongly believed that state controlled/standardized education is again, a “forced stultification” of the masses. He believed that all governments who set courses of education in terms of a formal curriculum and force people to learn them are coercing and manipulating their citizens.

“All methods of education prevailing in the world should be destroyed through a universal cultural evolution that frees the human mind from curricula of fanaticism which dictate a process of deliberate distortion of man’s tastes, conceptual ability and mentality.”

He did not mean that schools should be closed, in fact he believed that education was important and that society should provide all types of education that gives the individual the chance to choose freely.

“Knowledge is a natural right of every human being of which no one has the right to deprive him or her under any pretext, except in a case where a person does something which deprives him or her of that right.”

3. Medical treatment was free

It’s beyond me as to why medical care is not free in all countries. This should be basic human right and we’ve drifted far from it. Are we not capable of creating something better as to where medical treatment could be free for everyone in all countries? Gaddafi strongly believed in this, and created it for his people.

4. There were no electricity bills in Libya, electricity was free

The western world wants to put a meter on everything. It’s just another way, out of many, to enslave us. Basic human rights are not met in the western world, and what’s even more discouraging is the fact that most of us sit back and accept it, or don’t even realize it.

5. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great ManMade River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country

6. All newlyweds in Libya would receive 60,000 Dinar ($50,000 USD) by the government to buy their first apartment to help start a family

7. A portion of Libyan oil sales is or was credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens

8. Libya had it’s own state bank

Libya had its own State bank, which provided loans to citizens at zero percent interest by law and they had no external debt.

9. A bursary was given to mothers with newborn babies

When a Libyan woman gave birth she was given the equivalent to $5000 USD for herself and the child.

10. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government would fund them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US $2,300/month accommodation and car allowance.

So, was Muammar Gaddafi a Terrorist?

Few can answer this question fairly, but if anyone can, it’s a Libyan citizen who has lived under his reign? Whatever the case, it seems rather apparent that he did some positive things for his country despite the infamous notoriety surrounding his name. And that’s something you should try to remember when judging in future.

This quirky video documentary spells out an interesting, if rather different, story from the one we think we know.