 According to Bearman, the revolutionary committee system became "a key—if not the main—mechanism through which [Gaddafi] exercises political control in Libya".Publishing a weekly magazine "The Green March" ("al-Zahf al-Akhdar"), in October 1980 they took control of the press.Responsible for perpetuating revolutionary fervour, they performed ideological surveillance, later adopting a significant security role, making arrests and putting people on trial according to the "law of the revolution" ("qanun al-thawra").