Opinion Polls - Libyan Style

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Muammar Ghadaffi was a romantic at heart. There are still some signs of this: When he travels to other countries, he holds official meetings in a tent and is guarded by a troop of virgin female soldiers. However, his romantic side was even more obvious back when we lived in Libya. Here's one example of it.

Like most Arabs, Ghadaffi had read and was captivated by the stories Scheherezade told in the “Arabian Nights”. He was particularly struck by the story in which she tells how the Caliph of Baghdad used to travel around the city in disguise to find out what people were thinking and saying about him and his government.

So in the early 1970s Ghadaffi started appearing in cafes and restaurants, completely wrapped up in a cloak. He would sit quietly in a corner, listening to what people were saying. He thought he was incognito but, in reality, he was fooling nobody. This gave rise to lots of scenes that played out along these lines.

Ali: Salaam aleikum. I'll have a Kitty Cola. So what’s new then?

Barman: Aleikum salaam. Oh, nothing much.

Ali: Is that Muammar sitting over there in the corner?

Barman: Yes. Third time this week.

Ali: What does he want?”

Barman: The usual. Wants to know what people think about that new law he’s going to introduce.

Ali: The one saying all schoolchildren will have to wear only traditional Libyan clothes?

Barman: That’s the one.

Ali: Bloody stupid idea. (Raising his voice.) Bloody stupid idea, if you ask me.

The man in the cloak gets up and walks out, writing in a small notebook and mumbling, “So that’s 227 against and …”

The next day Ghadaffi would appear on TV. If his research showed that people liked the new law he was considering, he would say, "Hello, my brothers and sisters. As you've probably heard by now, I have decided to pass a law requiring all children to wear traditional Libyan clothes when they attend school."

Of course, if he had heard a lot of criticism of his proposal, he would give a very different speech. “Hello, my brothers and sisters. I have heard that some people are saying I want to make all of our schoolchildren wear traditional clothes. What a crazy idea! I would never do such a stupid thing. This is just another filthy lie spread by the Zionist warmongers and their imperialist masters in Washington and London ...”