February 17th Revolution

Students hold placards and flowers during a sit-in protest in Beirut January 17, 2011, organized by Lebanese activists and Tunisians living in Lebanon to show solidarity and support for the people in Tunisia. Reuters/Jamal Saidi.

Breaking news on the evening of February 25, 2011, notes that Twitter video shows men said to be Libyan Navy members in Benghazi declaring solidarity with the "Feb. 17th Revolution."

What is the "February 17th Revolution"? It appears to be the name of the group or uprising in Libya that dates to the public actions commencing on that date, which resulted in the severe violent reactions from Gadhafi's henchmen.


Fox News from St. Paul-Minneapolis issued a report on Feb. 22, saying, in part: 

Libyan-Americans living in Minnesota spoke with FOX 9 News about the news coming out of their home country.

“What can I do?” asked one man, who asked only to be identified as Ali. “It’s very shocking.”

Ali is a real estate broker living in Hugo, Minn., but he was born in Libya and still has close family their. He said he is afraid that the crumbling regime may retaliate against his family if his comments were seen.

“Gadhafi is insane,” Ali said. “I don’t think any human being in his right mind would kill his own people.”

Ali said he is keeping up on the latest developments using Arabic media and social networking sites. He said he believes a cousin of his was killed on the first day of what’s coming to be known as the Feb. 17th Revolution. Another few relatives of his are also missing.

Zawya News noted, on Feb. 23,

Libyan officials continued to announce resignations. Following Kadhafi's speech, Interior Minister Abdul-Fatah Younis resigned and voiced support to the uprising, which he described as the "February 17th revolution". According to Aljazeera, a video statement by Younis urged the army to join the people and their "legitimate demands". 

Islam Online asked, on Feb. 23,  

Who exactly is Muammar Gaddafi after his “faults” have been revealed in front of the “Facebook” public in the February 17th revolution?

The Libyan link to February 17th goes back to at least 2006. According to the Los Angeles Times:

For Libyan anti-government activists, Feb. 17 is a symbolic date.

Security forces killed at least a dozen protesters during a peaceful demonstration in Tripoli on Feb. 17, 2006.

The following year, security forces detained 14 anti-government activists after they published an online appeal for a peaceful protest on Feb. 17. The men were initially sentenced to six to 25 years in prison, but were eventually released after the Gaddafi Foundation, headed by the son of longtime Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, intervened.

One of the men, Jamal al-Haji, was arrested again earlier this month after he called for another demonstration Feb. 17. 

Within synchromystic thought (e.g. etemenanki), the number 17 has taken on some importance. Within the Tunisian revolution, the dates of Dec. 17, 2010 (the beginning) and Jan. 17, 2011 (the spread), were of milestone symbolism.

Christopher Knowles has written extensively of the significance of the number 17 on his blog, The Secret Sun, in "At the Edge of 17."

In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was killed on the 17th day of Athyr, the third month of the ancient calendar. 

The first officially acknowledged Masonic body, the Grand Lodge of England, was established on the Feast Day of John the Baptist in 1717. 

The last manned mission to the Moon was the Apollo 17 mission. The next is the Orion 17.

3/17 is also the date of a Masonically-created holiday, St. Patrick’s Day. The story has it that the holiday was established by high level Freemason, George Washington, allegedly to reward Irish soldiers in the Continental Army.... Considering that the day has become America’s defacto Bacchanal (which takes us back to Osiris) it’s worth noting some of the parallels of this day with Solar mythology.

The 17th card of the Tarot is the Star Trump, which features the water-bearer, associated with the constellation of Aquarius. 

Osiris was believed to be the source of barley, which was used for brewing beer in Egypt.

It’s customary to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and Osiris was known as the “Green Man”

Look to March 17th this year to be a date linked to much turmoil. Perhaps a major incident of great impact will occur.

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Update: March 15, 2011:

The above was written before I was aware of the "supermoon" event tied to March 19th.

For more details and thoughts, see here.