Protests against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule of Libya have left an unknown number of people dead and injured since the16th of February.
Colonel Gaddafi is the longest-serving ruler in Africa and the Middle East, and also one of the most autocratic.
Benghazi, the country's second city, has seen the worst of the violence, with security forces reportedly using machine-guns and heavy weapons on crowds.
And Colonel Gaddafi's not the only dictator in the region facing unrest .
It looks like the middle east is in for some kind of revolution . They've had protests in 11 countries including Egypt , Iran an Libya .
They say at this point the people want democracy, and you'd think its about time they tried it out .
Most of the countries in the area have had the same dictator or supreme leader for 30+ years and the protesters say enough's enough.
The problem is going to be that the depth of corruption in the middle east an Africa is so deep, the only real way to change is to tear down the whole system an build a new government . And because of the huge amounts of money these dictators pull in for there oil, they have plenty of cash to fight a civil war using private armies and security contractors. There will be no help from the west because of fear Gaddafi could use any evidence of western military interference to rally patriotic support for his regime.
An even if the protesters do manage to kick out the ageing figureheads of there governments the alternative may prove to be no better an just as corrupt . The most likely outcome without help from the international community (which they don't want) would probably end up with slightly different leaders an everyone will celebrate a huge victory, this may cause people to feel so invested in the new regimes that they will probably be around for another 30+ years, and have absolutely nothing changing.
So what's the moral of the story, why is this happening an why dos any of it matter to us?
The fact is, the worlds getting smaller an we don't live in a bubble any more .
Whatever happens to these people, were going to have to deal with them in one way or another.
They see through the internet what western democracy has given us , but once you let corruption and power go unchecked for too long Colonel Gaddafi and dictators like him will do anything to keep it. The only way to stop any form of government from getting to powerful is to be continuously changing and evolving.
In the end change is inevitable, the shit people have to walk through to make it happen is pointless when all you end up with is a devil with a different name.
Peace out foolz!
