Having as its backdrop the Tunis and Egypt overthrow of dictators in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring,’ the Libyan Revolution was unlike any other. The rest as they say is history as Libya descended into an armed revolution, heavily supported by NATO forces from the air.

The ride to democracy has been quite bumpy, though we have had three governments without bloodshed in less than two years. Also against all odds, Libya held a model election in July 2012, which carried with it a message of hope having been won by non-Islamist parties as Asma from @LibyanBentBladi says:

@LibyanBentBladi: Trend setters, that's what we Libyans have always been.Election Results in Libya Break an Islamist Wave http://nyti.ms/Mc1Tk2

Benghazi celebrates the second anniversary of the Libyan revolution. Photo credit: Libyan Youth Movement Facebook page

However, on the second anniversary of the February 17 Revolution as it is now known, the promises of the revolution of turning New Libya into a prosperous democracy have not been achieved. The Libyan government, shunning external aid, has failed to secure the borders and arms stockpiles, making the country the largest smuggling place on earth and Libyans the biggest arms dealers.

Mishandled priorities, the continued shunning of justice and reconciliation and evident gross corruption has put a damper on the euphoria, exacerbating the grievances from various groups and regions. Exiled in Libya's sorrowful rendering of his/her experience as a displaced person is a prime example of unresolved issues:

“Farewell my beloved home,
someday I will return
abode of my happiness – my dignity
solace of my white-haired years
sanctuary of my weary body
will my hand ever turn the key in your door again?
Will my bare feet walk in your fields
sinking into the cool soil once more?
Shall I find the carob tree standing strong
in defiance of the wild winds?
The roses I nurtured against the odds,
the jasmine fluttering in the breeze,
will they be there to welcome me?
the hoopoe at my window- will it remember me?
“I miss you! I miss you,” I cry
The knowing , the belonging
the beauty of the morning lights
the azure of the early nights
I am bereaved, I have lost my home
Uprooted and exiled,
how long must I wander?
How far must I roam?”

Libyans, like Sarah from @LibyafromFrance, were also shocked for example to see that the Supreme Court was able to speed through a law allowing Libyan men to take a second wife without the permission of the first thus repelling the Gaddafi era law which controlled polygamy, yet we are still waiting for a transitional justice law.

@LibyaFromFrance: What a title “@AlArabiya_Eng: Time for men in #Libya to look for a second wife: Supreme Court http://goo.gl/ruqkn “

The growing take over of the Islamists in public spheres and their pandering to militias allowed them to pontificate more and more culminating in the assassination of the US Ambassador to Libya in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. This marked a turning point with increased political kidnappings and killings in Libya, anchoring firmly the view that the elected government was impotent, slow and disconnected from the real Libyan problems. The voices calling for federalism were now stronger till they reached their crescendo a couple of months ago with a planned second revolution on February 15 in Benghazi with the logic that they started it and so could do it again to correct the wrong. The list of demands ranged from the resignation of political figures to installing a federalist system.

Having foreigners warned from traveling to Libya was the last straw it seemed as expressed by Highlander here.

The latest travel advice to Libya makes even me who live there to be scared to travel in Libya

All these negative emotions and disappointments and the increasing security fears from Gaddafi loyalists succeeding in hijacking this planned protest for their own counter revolution had an enormous toll on Libyans with many like Hanan Saeed from Romana writes not feeling very celebratory.

“What exactly are we celebrating? Seriously?
Chaos maybe?
I do not know, let's see, lack of law and order?
Or perhaps new instilled terror and not being able to leave our houses after Margreb prayers?
Profound hatred for anyone publicly holding a gun?
Or better yet, the new norm of seeing guns in broad daylight?
hmmm I struggle at finding things to add to this list….[...] Until then, for me at least, the 17th of February is nothing but a sad reminder of what we were hoping to be, not what really is.”

Libyans were wondering where had that special mood of unity and victory over evil gone in the run up to the anniversary of the revolution which will be stretching over a long weekend? But somehow preparation for celebrations started earlier than anticipated and moved to proper celebrations in Tripoli in various districts.

As Ruwida Ashour from Omar Almokhtar's Daughter has posted:

“everyone without any alarm remembered how we acted those days 2 years back and trying to make their best to make the city safe and happy, I was really a bit worried about my city , not from anything but from those who tries to make the black picture about Benghazi , but with today I'm not just happy , i'm hyper , and again not worried about the great heroes (Benghazi Citizens ) “

Hundreds of young men rose up to the occasion across Libya ensuring security of the cities during in anticipation of the anniversary and earned the gratitude of the population like here from Maimuna of @fcukruna who tweeted:

@fcukruna: Hats off to all shabab bladi [young men of my country] standing at checkpoints on this cold night, all my love and appreciation to you <3! #Libya

It seems that only when the Federalist Party confirmed they would not be joining the February 15 planned demonstration in Benghazi that the country heaved a collective sigh of relief and went crazy as witnessed by the Libyan Youth Movement @Shabablibya in this tweet:

@ShababLibya: Just Skype'd in to our admin in #Benghazi Shara3 Jamal Street; crazy celebrations!! #libya #feb17 RT

“In a surprise announcement on Al-Ro’ya TV last night, Wednesday, the Cyrenaica federalist block announced that it would not be taking part in demonstrations tomorrow that it had originally instigated. It called on its supporters not to turn up. It had made the decision, it said, “for the safety of our communities, the preservation of national unity, our social harmony and to avoid the public getting involved in conflicts at the behest of various political entities and groups.”
The last point refers to concerns that other groups either opposed to the revolution or with different agendas might try to use the occasion for violence”

I will conclude that yes we are still a long way from human rights for men and women, freedom of speech, reconciliation, justice in all its forms and economic prosperity, but so far we have managed to stave off civil war despite being flooded with arms and kept the unity of the land pulling off a last minute show of solidarity regaining that special adrenaline charged feeling post revolution when all dreams were possible. Could this be the real second revolution?

Written by Fozia Mohamed · comments (0)
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In January 2011, while Egypt was going through the throes of the Arab Spring, Highlander was one of the rare netizens on the Libyan blogosphere to subtly speculate if the ‘West’ would allow former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to be toppled by what was increasingly looking like a no going back popular revolution.

She blogged:

Leave Mubarak alone as he is keeping us safe we don't really care about anybody or anything else :P

It was as far as one could get into, in a Libya under Muammar Gaddafi's strong rule.

By February, Libya was engulfed in it’s own uprising. The feeling before Tripoli was crushed was that anything was possible; so some bloggers ventured into bolder territory either reporting directly about what was happening, for example the battle for survival going on in Benghazi and how all cities had begun to rise with the sense of urgency so well expressed by PH:

• Libyanna ( mobile company ) sent a message to all the citizens of Benghazi telling them to go home; as it is their job to defend Benghazi.
• Weapons and soldiers arrived from Bieda and its surrounding area.
• The 64th battalion and Abdulfath Younis's ( عبدالفتاح يونس) special forces battalion attacking the main revolutionary guard garrison in Benghazi ( الفضيل بوعمر). Fighting is ongoing.
• General Population of Benghazi arming up with everything in their grasp.
• People chanting Muammer here we come for you, death is coming.
• Crowds are larger than ever seen ( they were nearly 100,000 ) three days ago.
• Helicopter shot down by the people of Benghazi.

And the more ‘Morse’ code like missive by Khaijateri about Gaddafi’s infamous and terrifying Zenga Zenga speech, where we were all called rats – and addicts:

We watched, we snacked. We had mixed feelings: disbelief, horror, amazement, among other feelings, but mostly just disgust.

March was immortalised by the burning the Green Book, which contains Gaddafi's governing philosophy, as Anglo-Libyan said:

For the first time in my life I agree with the burning of a book, the idiotic green book of Gaddafi the murderer, the brave people of the city of Misrata stand as one and send a message to gaddafi, until when this mad dictator is going to claim that these brave people are drunks and drug addicts![sic]

The Internet was cut in March and our voices were silenced except for those who had Thuraya phones or VSAT connections. This meant that we relied on smuggled videos broadcast on Arab satellite TVs. City after city was muzzled and Libyans outside the country or those in the liberated East took it upon themselves to amplify our voices while the rest of Libya was waiting for the no fly zone.

Whiteafrican, in Manchester, UK, said:

i am so proud of the Libyan men, they have proven to the world that they are indeed lions of the dessert, the men of benghazi, bayda, derna, tobrok, breyga, ras lanuf, ajdabeeya, the men of zawia, zintan and misrata.

standing in only their sandals and in many cases, there fists in front of tanks, missiles, RPG's and the latest in weapons, so that Libya will be free is courageous and this courage has not been seen in a long time.[sic]

Meanwhile Ruwida Ashour pleaded in Benghazi:

i cant write more words & what has happened & happening now in Libya is unbelievable ………………please support Libyans with any thing you could do even with just a smile , profile picture or any thing ………we still have money but we need moral support .[sic]

This is also the month when Eman Al Obaidi escaped her rapists and a worldwide petition was started to bring attention to her plight. It was the month of the late Hannu’s last post too.

The Libyan blogosphere will miss Hannu very much as her humour and honesty were a role model.

In April, while the NATO bombing campaign was continuing, Libyans were being traumatised by the alleged mass rape stories which were coming out and many like Soad were trying to share their desperation with the world:

Young girls and women, who were virgins, were subjected to brutal gang rape and torture; many of the incidents were filmed on mobile phones and were circulated to increase the humiliation of these victims and their families. Many victims were infected with HIV and some got pregnant; it is a huge problem and needs to be tackled head-on, no beating around the bush.

As spring turned to summer, we had the siege of Misrata and the ongoing fighting in the Western Mountains. We had the back and front battles for the coastal oil towns of Brega, Ajdabia and Ras Lanuf; and we had the fear that Libya will be partitioned and the increasing numbers of internally and externally displaced Libyan families. This is so hauntingly evoked by Noureddin [ar] when he is packing to leave in May:

Lebeeya’s post in June aptly entitled Freedom, embodied our dreams in a war that had been dragging on for months.

Meanwhile, in July, pro–Gaddafi electronic teams are also not silent and since this is a war all is fair and their bloggers on SOS Libya were telling a story that made me feel on another planet. Here is a sample post:

NATO is not bombing the rebels in the East. NATO is working for the rebels.People don’t dare complain about the rebels. They are scared for their lives and their family lives. We have met many people who have escaped these place with their lives, but most don’t want their names out because they have family left there and if they show their face or publicly speak about the rebel atrocities then the members of their families that are left will be killed. We know this from first hand, one of our group had this exact problem and could not be filmed, his father called him and said the rebels saw him on TV and if he spoke out one more time against them they would kill his brother one by one and then begin with his other family members.[…]
we have never heard of oppression by Ghadafi, the people have great respect and love for him. They all wear green and wear photos of him around their necks, believe me the Western news is so far from the truth they are on another planet.
We have never seen anybody beaten, harassed, in prison, in fact we have been days and never even seen a policeman.[sic]

With the fighting continuing, Brega changed hands every 24 hrs and the death of the rebel General Abdulfattah Younis, the hope for an end to the war was fading and this is what blogger Hana S tried to explain:

Last Saturday I dreamt that Libya was finally liberated. In the dream, it was a Friday and a Friday that preceded the beginning of Ramadan. Get it? Ramadan this year is either this coming weekend or the beginning of next week. And this Friday is the last one before the holy month!

I woke up excited and full of hope. It felt great in the dream. How would it be like in real life!?

As the days of July dragged on, Tripoli was getting more and more restless and people were all thinking that the final showdown was going to be brutal. Fears were running high about what will exactly happen thoughts of genocide such like the ones expressed by Displaced Libyan were not too far:

It was going to be literally the ‘wild west’ with everyone with a grudge and their brother participating in a mess that would take years and hundreds of thousands of lives, refugees and billions of losses. Basically the image in my head was a bloodbath from which I could not see any exit.

All the patience and suffering in Tripoli culminated in August during the long awaited second uprising and operation Mermaid Dawn. After all the agonizing moments, the lighting liberation of Tripoli was short of miraculous and with Internet restored Violet sighed with relief :

it is beautiful to see how much change there has been in the Libyan psyche, the wall of fear has been broken. Freedom is priceless.

Libyans were euphoric at the liberation of their capital Tripoli even though Gaddafi had fled. The celebration continued for weeks despite the war still raging on other fronts. Meanwhile, for the first time in months, media was covering the majority of Libyan territories, help associations were coming in and the rest of the country was catching up with their Eastern brothers and by September, blogs were shifting to reporting more on life returning to normal. On the Edge was just pleased to find pizza again:

Fast food is making it's appearance again around town in Tripoli. Moe and I went to a little mall on Friday. We hadn't gone there since before Ramadan. We found a coffee cafe open that had been closed. They had cheese cake, pastries, the best Italian coffee , and best of all for me , PIZZA'S! OMG !!! Fully loaded with all sorts of yummy stuff.

In October, many of the resisting cities started falling and the highlight of that month for Libya and the world was the death of Gaddafi. The most evocative post illustrating this was NassimLibya [ar] who said:

With Gaddafi and his son Mutassim dead, Sirte fell and the liberation of all the Libyan territory was declared three days later on 23 October.

In November, the Libyans had another stroke of luck with the capture of Saif Al Islam Gaddafi alive.

Again Lebeeya's post about this event summarized what most of the people felt:

Saif's capture is equivalent to removing the last disease in the country. I hope the handful of Gaddafi loyalists in the country snap out of their bubble and join hands with everyone else for a better Libya. Inshallah (By the will of God) the fitna stops after this.
My thoughts on Saif's cut fingers: although Reuters confirms that he lost his fingers from a previous injury a month ago. I hope that's just a cover story for what really happened! The thuwar (rebels) found him and chopped his fingers off slowly and painfully!

By now all Libya was one country once again, the phone lines between East and West were restored, the banking system and other systems were reunited, the interim government had moved mostly to Tripoli. Thus Libyans ended what had been a tumultuous year by celebrating on 24 December the historical Independence Day. Happymoi could not help reminding the readers that

It is a day that has been suppressed by the former regime for so long. It just feels good to say happy independence day Libya!

It is a suitable conclusion to an unusual year: 2011 …. awaiting Libyans was a long arduous road to rebuild the country and to build democracy at the same time. Mistakes are expected but 2012 was sure to prove interesting with all these challenges.

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

Written by Fozia Mohamed · comments (0)
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On August 20, 2011, Operation Mermaid Dawn for the liberation of Tripoli started with calls of Allahu Akbar (God is Great!) from the hundreds of mosques scattered around the city. This was the agreed signal that the residents of Tripoli were waiting for to rise as one person in the face of evil. From that call, the events precipitated so fast it was breathtaking.

The ensuing epic turmoil has been well covered by international media, especially when they entered Tripoli the following day.

Libyans fight to free Tripoli. Image by Patriots of Misrata, copyright Demotix (23/04/11).

But the most striking turning point in the battle for Tripoli for a blogger is seeing my Twitter timeline lighting up on the evening of August 21 with a tweet from A.Adam (Flyingbirdies). A.Adam used to have a blog called Flying Birds, this has now unfortunately disappeared but his user account is still online.

Seeing his message up meant that the Internet was back in Tripoli, and rightly so as Al Jazeera was prompt to announce it as breaking news.

A.Adam's first tweets from Tripoli

This was an incredible feeling that Tripoli residents were once again connected to the world after so many months and could voice their emotions, thoughts and also their opinions. That is what I think the world is waiting for; to hear from the Tripolitanians.

Amazingly soon after, the bloggers started to come out with Highlander publishing the first post after a long silence.

Totally bewildered and happy that the nightmare is ending but sad at the loss of life in Libya and among family members.

Blogger Ema could only muster:

No words are enough No words can describe what we feel
FREEDOM

Khadijateri was incredulous :

It's been a long hard six months but I made it. The internet has been turned on and I'm slowly sifting through over 2000 emails.

Blogger Pudding of Kilmanibbbi [ar]:

In his/her first post after the fall of Tripoli, Pudding is discussing a previous post regarding a Quranic verse which basically his readers were assuming that it was posted because the blogger was against foreign intervention in Libya.

This could be something we could see more and more of once we start hearing Libyan opinions and depending on what NATOs plans are in Libya.

It is good to see the Libyans talking freely.

And to conclude, we wrap up this quick tour of the Libyan blogs with Libyan Violet saying:

It is not all over yet, some parts of our Great country ( and the adjective here is absolutely fitting still need help to be liberated, where complete safety still needs to be restored, where martyrs still need to be buried, prisoners released, injured treated and children reassured! But for sure the hardest part in the fight is over I hope.

The kaleidoscope of emotions was fantastic and we expect more as people to start blogging after taking stock of what had just unfolded.

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

Written by Fozia Mohamed · comments (0)
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It's been six months since the Libyan uprising began. How was the Libyan blogging scene before the February 17 revolution, and how has it evolved over the last few months?

Sometime in 2009 and way before the Feb 17 Revolution as it is now known, a large number of the Libyan blogging community members had shifted their conversations to Facebook and later on to Twitter, which they felt was more interactive and ‘immediate'. In this regard, the different English and Arabic blogs were a bit like an empty house with occasional updates on what seemed to be very important events in their life or when ‘guilt’ would prevail. However, this did not mean that the scene was empty but simply that it was somehow less spicy – apart from the usual suspects or hardcore earliest bloggers such as Khadijateri and Imtidad, as well as those who actually loved to write long prose, which was more than 140 characters.

Khalid Al Jorni, a Libyan blogger who had since closed shop, had deployed a great effort in aggregating a large number of the Libyan blogs and Libyan related blogs in one place called All Libyan Blogs. He even classified them in English and Arabic and whoever was administering the site kept doing so until February 2011 at least. Khalid's writing from inside Libya bordered on what could be considered acceptable criticism of the government and its economic policy and the social situation in Libya. The only reason I could think for him to stop blogging and delete his blog because he was very popular with the younger generation. He once wrote, and I am here paraphrasing, that talking about Libya's rich past and ancient ruins was nice, but that the youth wanted to see a modern Libya with functioning metropolises. I'm sure that if he could he would be online now.

In previous posts we had shared with you on Global Voices the various topics discussed on the Libyan blogosphere. This community is divided into three main groups: (1) Libyans residing in Libya (these also include foreigners married to Libyans), (2) Libyans temporarily residing abroad for various reasons and (3) Diaspora Libyans. The majority started blogging in English, some moved to Arabic , while others only blogged in Arabic.

Touring the Libyan blogs now, we notice that the percentage of Arabic language blogs seems to be higher, but they are less well known on the non-Libyan non Arabic speaking sphere because they have less exposure. Their voices too need to be heard as they bring up a complementary aspect of Libya. While they both have a personal theme and do speak about society, culture and politics, their audience and background would be different except for the dual language individuals who are straddling both sides.

The Arabic language bloggers seem to focus more on stories, poetry, Libyan society themes, essays etc… while theEnglish speaking bloggers have a slightly higher individualistic trait treating the blog as a diary to reveal their personalities, lives and aspirations.

It is in joining both conversations that we are able to get a fuller picture about Libya, which has been and remains largely a mystery to the outside world.

The third category of bloggers, i.e. those living in the Diaspora, were the only Libyans to openly criticize and ridicule the Libyan government and even their compatriots back home. They were safe and established abroad.

Category 2, Libyans temporary living overseas, spoke a lot about what they did bringing up family stories and very general things about Libya unless they had decided to join the opposition and so they stopped being shy of saying their opinion loudly.

Category 1, people blogging directly from the homeland, were the ones taking the most physical risk and so were being careful in wording their sentences in a way that would not be threatening to the regime but that would still convey the image. Their blogs ranged from the diary type of “I did this and that today and passed my exams, met friends, went shopping, got engaged” to other more serious issues like environment, pollution, rubbish collection, economic projects and corruption. I think any criticism that they managed to dish out was an exercise in subtlety and understatement. Here is an example by Khadijateri:

This is just getting ridiculous. It's like when you step in chewing gum, or even worse, dog poo, and it gets stuck on the bottom of your shib-shib [ar] (slipper) and you can't get it off. No matter how hard you try; you rub your shib-shib on the ground, on the grass, on the edge of the street curb, or you get a stick and try to push it off. But it just doesn't want to go. The solution: It's time to throw those shib-shib away! [sic]

Even the now infamous Hala Misrati had a soapy blog called Nazf or bleeding about romance and lost love which was actually quite a daring and bold blog.

Blogger Ghida was also one of the subtly outspoken ones with journalistic types of reports until she ended up exposed after the Feb 17 Revolution on national TV in the talk show of Hala Misrati with her private life and phone calls to be heard by all the Libyans or anyone watching satellite TV. It was rumoured that she and Hala were colleagues and friends.

Her old blog is gone and only the one with poetry is left up.

Six months on and it is heartbreaking to look at how eerie the Libyan blogosphere is, row upon row of bloggers in Libya are silent because of the on-going war. From the silent ones you realize that they are in the cities under Gaddafi control and therefore have no access to the internet.

The Libyan war though has brought some of the bloggers out of the woodwork at least those that had left the country for studying. Like Happymoi who says:

I watch the news and my heart is full of pain. I feel everything inside of me is broken to pieces. So many people are dying. Libya is famous now, everyone knows of it, everyone. It is the tragic situation that made it so well known. I wish things were different. I wake up every morning thinking about Libya. I wake up every morning wishing things were different.

But you realize that any one blogging from the old crowd is either abroad now or in Benghazi such as Starlit who laments: ” ive been through stuff ive never thought I would experience.[sic]“
or Benghazicitizen who writes :

I close my eyes ,I see those who were killed ..
I see the tired face of my mother..
The shocked face of my sister..
The anger in my brother eyes..
The determination in my father's..
And I see faces from my life…
My friends..some of them will never come back..

I can see a nucleus of what freedom has brought to Libyans in the posts coming from what the media is calling the liberated territories. The evolution is palpable most notably in Omar Al Muktar's daughter. In March she was still anonymous and fresh from the shock of the liberation of Benghazi:

what happened in Benghazi & libya was really a new page & an impossible mission we never believed that Libyan young men could do it ………….& they did it [sic]

But by June she was confident to put her real name and surname (Ruwida Ashour) and that is something not many Libyan bloggers inside Libya dared to do before.

So if you are in the liberated parts of Libya you can expect to express yourself freely against the Gaddafi government which PH just did by putting up a carpet with a Gaddafi photo used as a doormat.

I don't know yet if you can criticize the National Transitional Council though!

The last posts from Tripoli were made by Khadijateri and Highlander four months ago. They carried some hope when the Internet was very briefly reinstated.

But there are also some new bloggers on the scene and which describe the Libyan's perspective from a fresh angle. The Harimna Notes is a blog in Arabic which chronicles the events of the Feb 17 revolution from day one. It consists of the stories collected by a Libyan individual who wishes to remain anonymous and repackaged by famous opposition writer Ashur Shamis.

The chronicler was inside Libya and left about two months ago, so now his diary consists of daily opinions on the current events in Libya.

There is also the war blog of the Displaced Libyan who is unable to return home.

I’m not sure how to start as it’s now going to be almost two months since the wall of silence broke. I have kept a diary with some notes, I’ll be using that as skeleton plan and flesh it out along the way. I also have a lot of comments about what I’m reading in the media. I realize that many may feel out of their comfort zone when reading me , but that is just who I am… Never one to comply or follow blindly. Beware I’m very opinionated but don’t take it personally.

If you are tired of propaganda from both the pro Gaddafi and the anti Gaddafi camps then you will find the blog ‘refreshing’ though the posts are quite long.

Another Libyan blog chronicling the war is Libya SOS. It is one of the few blogs which is not with the rebels.

If posting from Libya then it must be manned by Gaddafi's electronic army because ordinary Libyans in Tripoli do not have access to internet unless they got hold of a VSAT or Thuraya phone. However, obviously the person running the blog is putting a lot of effort into finding news, links and photos that aim to counteract the news in the MSM about rebel gains. It shows us another aspect of this war and makes one stop to think about everything that we hear or read about. Regardless of our stand in this war it is good for us to see the other side of the conflict, which is why it is featured in this article.

The blogger is wondering why his or her voice is not featured in the media:

Very interesting LibyaSOS can not be on CNN, BBC, AlArabiya, Al Jazeera, SkyNews, France24… Twitter list ? WHY?! Why not ?!? Because I don't speak English very well like @Sbhafreedom @FreeLibya @FreeBenghazi … Is it reason ? or.. because I am not so fancy like NATO-led rebels [sic]

Whatever the result of the Libyan war of 2011, it has allowed all Libyans to find their voices once again and if their voice was silenced before, it is now more confident and definitely very opinionated. They will no longer be muzzled.

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

Written by Fozia Mohamed · comments (10)
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After exploring several Libyan blogs, Highlander who was
posting about Arab/Libyan writers and bloggers thinks that with
regards to writing it is preferable to use the blogosphere as a practicing space. There was no need to inform all to avoid trouble with the male half.

“I don't think that the Libyan males are against their sisters, mothers, wives etc. writing but more as social pressure and the 3ayb [ shame - dishonour] part – as in what cannot be seen then does not exist… or that the precious females maybe recognised and their ideas misinterpreted and God forbid their reputation ruined because Libyan dudes would be trolling their website/blog .[ref]

An oft forgotten aspect is that living outside Libya is not a guarantee of a different or similar attitude for that matter. Check what happened at the same event in London and Washington DC. Anglo Libyan who attended the London one is so frustrated he asks men to respect women.

“as I walked in the hotel I found most of the invited people standing outside the hall where the film was going to be screened as the doors were still closed, I noticed very few ladies there, they were standing with their partners, about 20 minutes later I saw a member of staff open one of the hall's doors slightly then suddenly from no where I saw a group of Libyan ladies, about 15 or 20 run past us and straight into the hall, it really was like a flash then the member of staff closed the door, obviously they were hidden somewhere out of sight until some body asked the organisers to open the door for them to keep them away from prying male Libyan eyes!!!! after the doors were open for the rest of us to go in the event hall, the first thing I noticed was how all the ladies were seated right at the back all in one group in a segregated section, I immediately looked at the few ladies I saw in the beginning who were standing with their partners, they all looked puzzled and confused, I am sure they wanted to sit with their families but eventually decided to segregate from their families and sat at back with the other ladies and they really did not look very happy” [source]

On the edge had a very controversial post about foreign women who marry Libyans and how some of them have unfortunately been treated. She says:

” I am constantly reading Libyan bloggers writing about how EASY my life as a foreigner married to a Libyan is here in Libya . [...] What I do know for a fact is this …. our lives are dam hard . Real hard , harder than you can imagine at times . We don't have our mothers and fathers to protect us when our husbands and/ or their families decide to mistreat us like a Libyan woman would . Nor do we have a safe harbor to run to when things get bad or ugly . No place or no one there for us to go to , to listen to us and our problems . No helping hand to reach out in love , like a Libyan woman does . No , we just tough it out .We stick to it . We don't run away . We stand and fight for ourselves and our children for all we are worth , in whatever manner we have to defend ourselves by .
We do this because of love . Love , yes love . We love our husbands , even when we want to kill him . We love our kids , even when they disrespect us or are ashamed of us because we aren't Libyans , because we are different .Yes that happens to some of us . Love of our adopted home , Libya and all Her crazy , strange ,beautiful, wondrous , people , places ,and things .”

Needless to say this topic created such a hot debate that it prompted a follow up post.

On the other hand and on the topic of Libyan writers, Ghazi from Imtidad constantly astonishes us with translations of short stories by Libyan writers ( male and female). A published writer himself I think that Ghazi has good future before him. His latest translation is Omar Kikli's ” While drinking tea” which sent chills down my spine.

Shahrazad always the one to plug interesting Libyan things has put up a number of photos of paintings by a budding Libyan female artist.

” Here are a few paintings my sister took at a friends house. The painter is still in her beginning and has never had an exhibition. So I told her Id blog her paintings and see what the feedback would be.”

Personally I would buy one of the paintings if she can arrange a vernissage.

I'll conclude by posting Lostdubliner's experience as an Irish expat female in Libya. She has been here for about two months.

“armed with my camera I leave the hotel room in the hope of catching a bit of the local culture – this however turns from a fantastic idea to a disappointing reality. Practically every car that comes by with men in it horns or stops! I have numerous offers of a lift, phone numbers and friendship! Nervous and frustrated, halfway down the road I quickly turn on my heels and head straight back to the hotel.[...] Back at the hotel the staff are all extremely friendly and hospitable, everyone either knows my name or calls me “sister”. In general the Libyan people come across as a lot more warmer than in the West – they eminate a strong element of goodness and kindness which is very refreshing!” [source]

The above just shows that some Libyan lads are total losers and that others are lovely gentlemen.

Women in Libyan society are loved, respected and cared for as mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters and wives. The state guarantees freedom and equality between men and women but it still runs across cultural norms and traditions and here I don't mean religion. This post is not about feminism, it's just observations about anomalies plaguing our society and a reflection on how to deal with them.

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This is because many of the more known bloggers have been on a bit of Winter hiatus. However, the good thing about the Libyan blogs is despite its relevant modesty, there is always a new crop coming out. As a reader, it takes me a bit of time to adjust but then I learn to appreciate the new blogs and the fresh perspectives.

In this regard, I've been touring the Libyan blogs for the last couple of weeks hunting for those voices and stories of interest. The only common line sometimes would be that the author is Libyan or lives in Libya.

American (living in Libya) blogger On the Edge recently wrote about miscellaneous events but the most heart wrenching part from her post was the passing away of the family cousin as a result of medical malpractice in Libya.

“The second funeral was for a well loved cousin .This was over the week end and up until today it continues .She had asthma and was ill with it off and on but we all knew this . Sometimes she would have to be hospitalized for treatment but never for long .On days like we had last week when it was so dusty , it was hard for her to breath. Sometimes this lead to a chest infection , which is what had happened to her last week .
She was feeling bad and having breathing difficulty's and felt the need to go see the doctor . She did and he told her she had a chest infection that needed a injection of anti biotic”s to give her immediate relief , along with a breathing treatment . She said ok , but I can't have penicillin . I am allergic to it . When the injection came she asked what the medicine was and was told it was penicillin . She told them not to give it to her because of her allergies and they told her not to worry about it . She argued with them over it but they gave it to her anyway .[sic]“

Khadijateri, another American blogger married to a Libyan, is asking for feedback on the newly released WiMax internet service. She received a lot of tips in the comment section.

“I ‘ve been watching the news about Libya's Wimax Internet. It opened to the general public a few months ago but I only know one person that paid for a subscription and modem only to find that there was no reception where they lived (not far from Tripoli's city centre).”

It is worth noting Libya is another country which has taken the step to deploy WiMax to provide internet users with another choice and bypass infrastructure difficulties.

Shahrazad is a new female Libyan blogger, who has been working as a tour guide but is looking into changing her profession. Shahrazad has two blogs Shahrazad's Blahs and Shahrazad's secret recipes, which is self explanatory.

In her latest post Shahrazad takes us on a tour of the souk [market] in Tripoli and we are regaled by her photos, which trigger a trip down memory lane for her readers.

“The souk is a favourite place of mine and I enjoy shopping for old Libyan and Italian silver things-from trays to jewelery. “

Anglolibyan has been invited to a screening of a documentary Autumn Thunder about Libya by Prince Mohammed Alsenussi, a son of the nephew of the deposed late King Idris of Libya. During the event which took place in London he managed to meet up not only with the dashing prince and some friends but also with another Libyan blogger going by the name of Braveheart.

Though Autumn Thunder as described deals with the usual issues presented by exiled monarchies it made a good launchpad for discussion about the various merits of changes undertaken in Libya since independence.

The recent celebration of Mother's Day ( March 21) in the MENA region and especially in the Arab speaking world has brought its spate of posts for the occasion. This is especially true for Libya since we celebrate Children's Day on March 20 and so the two events are always linked.

While there were numerous posts for the occasion the most touching is again by one new member of the Libyan blogosphere. Lolita from Lolita's Corner writes:

” The mother in me
Tried all I could
But to no avail
To hear little footsteps
Running and giggling away
Dreams and wishes are just that
But reality is a different showcase
Which I have to face and hopefully accept”

Lolita's melancholic poetry style goes straight to the heart and seems to be a coping mechanism to help with the loss of her parents and also to exorcise lost love. Additionally we learn that she is unable to have children, which is of course doubly sad on mother's day.

Safia's latest reincarnation on the blogs goes by the name of LadyCroc's Lounge. Her posts on any topic, including the latest one, are always questioning, quasi metaphysical with a sprinkling of sufism denote an inner search for the truth and for peace.

“There are indeed moments of bliss. During such moments I can truly feel the rainbow touching my heart. Those are the moments of mercy.
A few days ago I felt such a moment. My biggest wish in such a moment is to have the ability to kill time instantly, or just to freeze everything, continuing forever and ever in that short moment. These are moments of strenght for me, reviving my soul like hot spring rain reviving frozen buds buried in the cold soil of winter.
Allahs mercy, even if just short of an eyedrop, is truly eternal!”

Luna also is a recent addition to the Libyan family, she is giving away her two daughters in marriage very soon and has stepped into a hornet nest recently with her topic on relationships between Libyan men and educated smart Libyan women.

“When discussing this issue with my girlfriends many which are multicultural ,some married to Libyans others divorced, we came to a conclusion that men in general , but especially Libyan men, seem to thoughroghly enjoy the intelligence of women ,in everyday co working relationships, while discussing current or past issues- but at the end of the day, that they settle for the stupid ones when marrying , to make them feel grand machos! [sic]“.

This were just a few of the varied topics being discussed in the Libyan space.

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What drew my attention was the blood and scenes of people crying. The sound was not on which is why I had not noticed the programme in the first place. I upped the volume and drowned in breaking news from Occupied Territories. It was a Gaza special coverage from Al-Jazeera. The horror dawned on me and I realized that this had been going on for the last two days at least. I left the hairdresser soon after and headed straight back home all the while thinking how come I did not hear about this ? Yet this is what happens when you don't go online or watch TV for a few days: the world crashes.

The discussion on the Libyan blogs covered many angles but mainly focused on sadness and solidarity with the Palestinians, feelings of powerlessness- in addition to outrage, and infuriation at Israel's action and the joint Arab inaction.

The post title “Gaza Burning” is in black bold font from Tasnim ,who is usually more voluble in her commentary, and has only added a black poster to go with the statement.

Other bloggers seem to have lost their ability to speak and instead chose to post photos and cartoons of the utter chaos and the senseless cruelty perpetrated in Gaza of which they are witnessing all over the media.

“Isreal is striking Gaza- A New year blitz, Opss! Presents[sic]“, cries Naohama as this air campaign coincides with the Islamic New Year and the upcoming Gregorian new year.

Nasim Libya is asking “what else????” and the cartoon she has up refers to what is in store now for Gaza.

Bloggers Musa and Julia, a couple cycling the Mediterranean sound resigned to the inevitable.

“You may have wondered why I haven't posted anything about Ghaza.The reason is that it is an inescapable presence and source of pain shared by all to such an extent that the news are largely watched in a thick, loaded silence.”

[ref]

Libyan mom My Being Days encompasses the helplessness many are feeling.

“My thoughts are with you people of Gaza…
I feel sorry that I can not do much but pray for you…
I feel ashamed that as Arabs our leaders are not lifting a finger to help…”

On the other hand, when her mom calls her to switch Al-Jazeera on, White African takes her gloves off in order to “tell it like it is”.

“forgot about being politically correct, you cant with isreal, they just seem to have no human qualities what so ever, western news doesn't seem to help either, there coming up with titles such as ‘Israeli warplanes demolished dozens of Hamas security compounds across Gaza’ what complete utter lies, they put in the word ‘Hamas security compounds’ to make the reader excuse isreal for their actions.
truth is since opening the tv all I've seen is civilians, children on their way to SCHOOL, even a donkey amongst the dead, so what kind of security compound are they talking about.
and as for the Egyptian government, well frankly I'm disgusted by hussni mubarak, sorry excuse for a man…
first thing he decides to do is place tanks on the border to prevent ‘flocks’ of Palestinians entering into egypt!!.
you watch the other arab channels and all you see is musalsalat ‘soaps', chat shows, music, concerts blah blah[..] [sic]“

Fragola informs us that the Libyan Red Crescent has undertaken a campaign for blood donations in order to help the wounded in Palestine.

Other bloggers wonder about how to talk about the news to their children when the children's channels are filled with heartbreaking poetry about Palestine.
Anglo Libyan is at loss to explain to his son the reality and he noticed that they figure it out anyway.

“the children are learning on their own from watching the news and not Arab news but mainly BBC News that there is a bad monster called “The Israeli Army” killing people that they kept under siege and treated worse that caged animals for over a year[sic]“

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Today’s post is therefore very much a spur of the moment thing. It has no plan nor structure but I like to think that those are usually the best, don’t you?

We are in the first day of Eid, and on a day like this my household is usually very busy with cooking and barbecuing and whatever else Libyan families usually do over the big Eid. Usually I also dread the preparations that precede it and the whole process until the house is clean and tidy because it involves a lot of hard work and diplomacy in negotiating around the various personalities involved. Yet at the same time I love the fact that we are all together, children, aunts and uncles, siblings, grandparents and parents and the house is resonating with laughter and fights.

However, this year, unlike any other year, the happiness is subdued which I feel is reflected in the very brief posts published by most of the Libyan bloggers. For example:

Tasnim,
Leila,
Mr Madi,
Nasimlibya,
LovelyH
and even uncharacteristically Highlander all barely manage a classical greeting and/or card.

A few elements have I believe contributed to this general feeling of melancholy floating around. The first is the global economic crunch.

Even though Libya has no credit card economy or mortgage problem to speak of, I think a copycat syndrome is at play here and market prices on commodities have risen astronomically.
The second factor is the high level of influenza activity this winter season. In my opinion this year’s strain is lethal with many cases in hospital. Why am I so sure? It’s because our entire household ( like most Libyan families) is bedridden and this has never happened before, usually it is the most immuno-compromised only that fall ill but this time all did and we have a self imposed quarantine at home.
Thirdly there’s an ongoing mini epidemic of ‘blue tongue’ disease in domestic cattle/sheep which has driven the price of sheep beyond the reach of ordinary Libyans at least in this side of the country. Basically many of us could not afford to buy a sheep this year. AngloLibyan speaks for many when he says :

“Speaking to my family back in Libya last night, they told me that they along with many people this year decided not to get a sheep because of two reasons, the news of the blue tongue disease that is apparently affecting many sheep in Libya at the moment and the other reason is because of the greed of people selling the sheep who have increased their prices much higher than usual,[ref]”

On the other hand Khalid Jorni as usual has a unique approach and he reminds us what this Eid is about also in his post ‘Hajj’.

“I’ve been following the day of Arafah on television today. The pictures are so beyond description, they just grab you by the front of your shirt and say: “hey inattentive!, are you ever coming? Here everyone has come, the Asian, the Caucasian, the Arab, the African… What is taking you so long? Making and saving money? Is that what you worship now?”

Between wondering about the price of meat and the human and animal diseases we almost forgot the annual pilgrimage to Mecca…

Despite the slightly passive attitude, I find that the Libyan voices are still there, warm and affectionate in the various comment sections, where they are all still interacting, in addition to wishing each other Eid Mubarak (a happy Eid).

So here I am joining my voice in wishing everyone a Happy Eid Adha inshallah and to get well soon too and here is hoping that the ice that’s been gripping the blogs melts a bit and we hear from everyone more often. The world is after all listening to ALL the voices!

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The Libyan blogosphere is being populated by Ramadan posts and while most of them are of a congratulatory nature such as this example from the Alwafy blog run by the duo Hassen and Hana, others have a different flavour.

WEDA 4 All revives the beautiful Libyan traditions of her Benghazi city and she takes us on a virtual tour of the Fish Market (Soug al hoot) which she used to visit with her parents.

“you can't be in Benghazi in ramadn & u don't go there…..really you'll miss alot…..as you go there you'll see the crowed which starts at abut 2pm..alot of home made libyan bread “tanoor”, harrisa, emsaer, boreek, olives, knafaa,…etc..& of course fireworks.[sic]“

There is another touching part to her post but you'll need to go read to understand.

Then there is PH from My Personal Space who highlights several negative societal aspects in the Arab world associated with Ramadan and which apply to Libya as well. These come as a result of – in my opinion – the very fast loss of values which is plaguing our region lately. I cannot pinpoint what brought it and when it began exactly but I admit it is forming a part of the mosaic of our society and culture. So the extensive number of cartoons he has posted reflects: preoccupation with Ramadan TV programmes, extreme socialising of youth instead of spiritual quests, hypocrisy and addictions, bad timekeeping and other bad practices at the office, greed and lust, soaring prices, conspiracy theories from satellite providers and the ‘West', and not forgetting that it would not be PH without the odd political insinuation and so we have the Arab street looking the other way at Arab hot topics and my personal favourite is the cartoon with the US military arresting the Mesaharati (aka the person who traditionally wakes up Muslims so they can have their suhour i.e the Ramadan breakfast before sunrise) and accusing him of terrorism intention.

On the edge, an American married to a Libyan is counting down to Ramadan. She shares with us her Ramadan preparations while her husband went to the beach:

“[...]stayed home to spend the day in the kitchen cooking food to freeze ahead for Ramadan. Ramadan is only a little more than a week away [.]I am hoping that by cooking as much as possible before hand, I won't be spending ALL my time in the kitchen this year [.] Today I did some more cooking by preparing all the pickled veggies by setting them to start marinating. Tomorrow I hope to finish up with baking the pizzas. I also cooked up the soups too. All this goes into the freezer to be taken out as needed for dinners. Next I have to tackle the house cleaning …ugh ! I hate that part more than the cooking .Ramadan is 90% preparation and 10% doing what needs to be done. This isn't the correct way to celebrate Ramadan but it helps to get these things out of the way so you can devote your time to prayer, charitable acts, good deeds, good thoughts, and being good. Behaving well, being the operative words here. That's why prayer is so good, it keeps you on track [..]“

The humour notwithstanding she does manage to remind us that Ramadan is about tapping into your spirituality and connection with God which is Ramadan's message and blessing.

And while we are on the subject of 3ibadah (tenets of worshipping God) and spirituality, another Ramadan related post is by White African , a Libyan in Britain. She recently returned from Umrah and is sharing with us the beautiful spirit of Mecca and Medinah from her clandestine mobile phone camera.

“seeing the haram again was amazing, the whole place takes over you and you forget about all your problems, life, bills, application forms etc… its simply serenity…obviously i took pictures but the ones inside the haram where from my mobile as my camera is too big to hide [...] its always weird to come back after visiting mecca and madina, you kinda get absorbed by the life style of praying in the haram and listening to the adhan and generally having more ibadah in your life[..]mecca and madina is filling up pretty fast with people who are coming especially for ramadan, by the time we left it was choca block…”

Another facet is expressed by Khadijateri, an American living in Tripoli and married to a Libyan. Like On the edge, she is making her own Ramadan preparations.

“I've spent the weekend relaxing and getting things ready for Ramadan[...]The shopping part was the pleasant part. I got a new blender and a microwave oven. Also some stuff for the kitchen; plastic containers and soup spoons. I have plenty of everything for the kitchen already. I also picked up some curtains for my bedroom and a small furniture dealie with three drawers in it that fits nicely under my desk. I didn't need those but I wanted them and cash was in my pocket so I got them. I decided that for the groceries I'm not going to go shopping for anything special. There's a shop around the corner that always has just about everything I need.”

She also hits Libyans under the belt:

I can't understand why Libyans go berserk at the grocery store right before Ramadan starts. You would think that all the food was going to disappear or something.

To be fair Ramadan has been increasingly commercialized in the Arab world at least and even in Libya shopping for groceries and cooking utensils and renovating kitchens has become a major aspect in pre-Ramadan planning. Also the ills of modernization and globalization are increasingly catching up with us and eroding some of the more innocent aspects of our culture making us more materialistic. Yet I would like to think that most Libyans were not shopping because they are gluttons or stupid enough to think that food would disappear soon but rather perhaps the simple reason is like on the edge implied i.e. early preparations in order to save more time for religious contemplation?

Ramadan Mabrouk to you all!

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As expected there were a few summer related posts on the Libyan blogosphere. After all with approximately 2000 km of coastline it would have been strange if despite the relative continuing quietness of Libyan bloggers no one mentioned swimming or the beach in relation to Libya.

“[T]he typical Libyan day at the beach” says Khalid Jorni

“[..]would start at eight o'clock Friday morning, when the whole family would get up, load the car with everything but the kitchen sink, and head to Garaboulli beach, we would arrive at noon because we had to stop several times to buy fruits, corns, bread, meat, etc
The first nightmare would be unloading the car in the mid of a baking-hot day, carrying the fridge, gallons of water, big watermelons, etc, along the way from the parking to the hut through the burning sands would make you hate your life altogether.
Then starts the process of eating, each time you think you could escape to the water you would be called back to share a meal, until you feel nine months pregnant, then you would realize that the time of reloading the car and going back home has come.”

This humorous description is self critical but so true and runs perfectly in agreement with my favourite Libyan cartoonist Elzwawi. His renderings of the Libyan social scene are uber-famous. You can check his day at the beach caricature among other things here.

Beach time fun unfortunately brings also its share of victims. Khadijateri, who is married to a Libyan and has been living in Libya for close to twenty years, has chosen this as the theme for her Libyan summer activities post.

“Every summer you hear of people drowning, usually because the person was swept out to sea by a strong current called a riptide. Most of these tragic events could be prevented if people were educated on how to save themselves from these powerful water currents.”

Both Anglo-Libyan and Khalid Jorni mentioned that dual citizenship holder Mercedes Farhat who recently took the name of Asmahan will be donning the Libyan colours at the upcoming Olympics.

However while Khalid Jorni was wondering ” will the Libyan fathers who live in Libya allow their daughters to be seen half naked in public?!”
Anglo-Libyan correctly highlighted that although we are proud that Libya's flag will be represented by someone but Mercedes was NOT the first female ever – as press releases have been shouting over the rooftops – who will compete in the Olympics swimming category for Libya.
On the other hand to add to Anglo's list and answer Khalid's conjectures I would like to mention as an example the 2007 Special Olympics Libyan aquatics competitors Fathia Saad and Radia Wadi along with their coach Nabila Taguri. There are probably others it's just that the PR in Libya is not as good as in America. I'll wait for someone to dig up more info.

At this point the first part of my Libya round up is completed. However the posts I brought up have controversial multiple facets as well which were further developed in their comment sections. The next paragraphs I hope will be taken as constructive criticism and learning points. So apologies in advance to you all and do not take it personally.

(1) Khalidjorni’s cracking representation of a day at the beach was a narrative comparison between western and Libyan typical beach outings.

“This weekly trip to Janzour will soon be replaced by one, involving the whole family, to Garaboulli beach, [..] where I won't have to close my eyes while performing Friday noon prayer. I found it rather outlandish that those Caucasians at Janzour beach don’t get hungry! […] food is not a basic part of those people's vacation, they spend the whole day staring at a novel or a magazine while tossing and turning on the sand, I think that’s what they are really hungry for, sunlight, they don’t even spend much time swimming!”

This immediately divided the comments into several broad camps: the you- are -retarded -if –you- don’t- act -like -the –westerners, the expected (Libyan) women-are-oppressed –cooking-all –day –at –the beach line and the this-is-our culture camp.

(2) Then he put up several photos of the relaxing tourists. Now, if I'm at the beach abroad I'd rather be asked before someone decides to immortalize me for posterity. I mean it is OK to be accidentally part of a photo when you are visiting museums, famous buildings and such because most people will be shooting the same thing. And even at the beach if a group of friends are taking a photo together and a stranger gets in the frame is fine but having a gallery full of strangers does not seem right it kind of infringes on their privacy. I would not like a photo of me and my family at the Garabouli to appear on a blog unless I permitted it.

This reminded me of another great post by Khalidjorni which also gave me some concern. He spoke about the gigantic construction field that Tripoli has become. But he also broached the Gargaresh sewage polluted beach which was obviously still used carelessly by Libyan children.
Raising civil awareness is fantastic and needed and pictures are certainly better than a thousand words but posting some of the children's photos even with their own consent does not seem right to me. The numerous photos of the scantily clad tourists and the close ups of the children constitute a clear encroach on privacy. I'm surprised no one mentioned that.

(3) Khadijateri's post though full of useful information about the riptides that endanger Libyans annually and probably good intentions also stirred up the same kind of trouble pitting Libyan vs foreigners.

“I always have found it weird that most Libyans have no idea how to swim, especially since Libya has such a long coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. Many will tell you ‘I know how to swim!’ and you find out that their idea of swimming is moving their arms and splashing about, all the while their feet are still firmly planted on the bottom. That is NOT swimming.”

In response to the above intro a snippet from a commenter was “Stop being so derogatory of our people“.

Yes we Libyans do not like criticism but the message could have been conveyed differently rising above pettiness to achieve greater impact and save more Libyan lives.

In my opinion diplomacy, tact and avoiding stereotypes is more productive both when blogging about Libyans and non-Libyans.

On the other hand I don't really know what the status on data protection and privacy laws is in Libya but there must be a way to market Libya without those types of photos and there must be a way to show social defects without compromising children identities. That is the next step I hope to see in internet journalism.

Obviously from comments and posts we have seen that many Libyans in Libya (female and male) do know how to swim and enjoy swimming, belying statements to the contrary and despite formal swimming lessons not yet being part of the national school physical education curriculum.

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Anglolibyan lamented that Libyans do not feel proud about their country. He complained especially that the Libyan flag as it stands has no rallying power.

“[...]as with many things in our country, this flag was forced on the population,[…] the problem in the long run is that many Libyans have lost the sense of pride for their country, unlike most other countries in the world, we do not have a Libyan national anthem or a proper flag to make us feel proud”.

For those of you who do not know what the current Libyan flag adopted in the 70s looks like, it simply consists of one colour: bright green or what I call Islamic green.

The resulting debate ranged from love, anticipation, disregard, plain disdain and surprisingly enough acrimony. Samples of comments from various Libyan bloggers follows [source]:

‘for my generation (at least) we do identify with the “all green” and nothing cries out “Libya” to us like the “All Green” ” A.Akak.

” Green ,yellow,white ,with a crescent or a star or with out them ,with an original Libyan anthem or not …It doesn't make a difference as long as LIBYANS doesn't feel LIBYANS..and believe me,what makes us feel this way is not a flag or an anthem..It is the pride that comes with respect…[sic]” Benghazi Citizen

“i am waiting for the day that a libyan sports player or sports team wins a gold medal, and i bet with you that every libyan will stand up for the national anthem and look it his flag, and it will not make a difference how this flag will look alike, you just will feel proud, we all will feel proud[sic]” Libyan

” I think, the green rag is no more representative of Libya than the Nazi flag is of Germany. Suliman.

This discussion brought out to light a set of differences between Libyan generations, including a further classification which I have been expecting yet wishing that it would not happen. This subset, no less important than the generation gap can be summarized in whether you were living inside or outside Libya.

The next topic that recently griped the Libyan blogosphere began by a post on Flying Birds, related to a frustrated love that resulted in this comment (now deleted) from reader Music Lover who said:

“If you are in love, then the best solution is ask for her hand, Boyfriend & Girlfriend relationship they do not work in the Arab world. Arab women they do not want bullshit talk, either marriage or get lost.”

Blogger UT (formerly Trabilisia, found it inflammatory enough to warrant a retaliatory post called “Arab women vs western” where she says :

” many men in general classify us, Arab women, as no easy conquest which is nice in a way but shows that western ladies are preferable for an easy ride and wont ask for marriage which I believe is outrageous ,untrue and really gets me mad.[sic]“.

This resulted in a barrage of comments again about Libyan women, Arab women, foreign women, sexuality, honour, pride, chauvinism, feminism and freedom. It is a pity that UT has disabled the comment section just while I was writing this post, as the comments are an invaluable part of the debate and relevant to the idea hinted at above between those Libyans living inside vs those living outside Libya. I would like to urge UT to release the comments again and hope that this post will encourage her to do so.

Khalid Jorni's post a day later seemed to pour ‘fuel’ as we say over a dying fire. But I say ‘seemed’ because that was not the intention I think. However, he brought up to light a thorny topic in Libya : the ‘ajnabia’ wife.

Ajnabia in Arabic means a foreign woman but in Libya and most Arab countries it has gained an additional subtle connotation namely ‘Western woman’ and more specifically, American, British and on a smaller scale northern European. The rest of Europe does not count much. The Arab wife is just that, Arab or designated by her country of origin and so are Asian women.

Khalid Jorni picked up on a recurrent situation which because of the small population of Libya (5.5 million) and the large number of such cases has become noticeable: Libyan men divorced from their foreign wives leaving everything they built over a decade or more, including their children, and returning to Libya to marry a '100%’ Libyan woman.

“as we all know after a period of time love has to fade out, and when it does, the Libyan guy would never think of a separation, he believes that he is the only salvation of his kids in a Godless land, he always wanted them to have the good part of the two worlds, so even if he hates his wife's guts, he would rather die than leaving her alone with his kids, specially if they were females..[...] While the Ajnabiyia, when love disappears, starts to link everything her husband does with his Libyan background, even if the guy was so open-minded and tolerant all his deeds would be considered retrograde and somehow related to the place he comes from.”

His advice is :” you got to choose either to live in Libya with a non-Libyan wife, or to stay abroad with a Libyan wife, but to live abroad with a non-Libyan wife, that is the definition of catastrophe”. Yet he concludes his post with this appeal to expatriate Libyans “Why don’t they come back to Libya, sacrifice some advantages and give up their high life style in order to make a valid contribution to the evolution of their country[..]“.

58 comments later and the war is still raging on! Some answers are surprising as they come from readers and bloggers who have themselves said they have an ajnabia mother or grandmother or others who have an Arab mother. We even heard from foreign female bloggers, but the only voice we have not heard is that of children with non ajnabia /non Arab /non Libyan mother. A Libyan with an Indian mother for example.

The ulcer has exploded bringing out a torrent of pus and long pent up feelings most of them off topic: the race card, sexual frustration, Islam, stereotypes, politics, pride, nationalism and treason. The genie was officially out of the bottle!

” Unfortunately many Libyans living in Libya think that many of us live in the west because of a better life style and that we do not participate in the building of our country […]from most of these comments I can see the Libyan mentality has not changed much, people there still look down on people that have non Libyan mothers” Anglolibyan.

Blogger Ph's reply runs like a post – the most important part which in my opinion illustrates the undercurrent between the three posts is this excerpt :

“there is a sick cowardly segment of our society that always runs away from Libya when it needs them the most, during times of hardship, like after the Italian invasion, and after the revolution taking the money and knowledge they gained from the country they lived in and its people. They , then return after the hardship ends like after the Italian occupation and after the recent Lifting of the sanctions with their education and money, some of which was stolen from Libya and some of which was paid for by the current Libyan government and then they claim to be better than they average Libyan, and look down on them as if they aren't Libyan themselves and as if they are better simply because they studied abroad or learnt English, forgetting of course that whatever education they earned they earned from the money that was spent on them by the Libyan government and forgetting that the only reason they are in a better state is because they didn't stand by their country when it needed them the most and that makes them think, ignorantly may I add, that their treachery makes them better people !
Not only that; but after returning to Libya this sick segment isn't satisfied with their country not holding them accountable for their actions; but they actually want them to greet them with flowers and treat them like kings simply because they know English ! Then they start whining and crying when they aren't treated as the aristocrats they think they are claiming that the Libyans are racist and backward thinking [...] Of course a prominent feature among this cowardly segment is the support of American values forgetting that the American value that made America the country it is today is their loyalty to their country and their ability to make a distinction between their country, its people and those who rule it. Instead of blaming a whole population for the ill actions of a few; but I guess its true those who live abroad usually only pick up on the bad values they see and rarely pick up something good.”

There is a fine thread that runs through these seemingly unrelated posts. It's not the first time Libyan bloggers get into a hard argument but it's the first time I see such bitterness.

So I ask are Libyan men and women patriotic? Are they proud of Libya? What is the essence of being Libyan? Does a western female spouse negatively affect a relationship because she will pass her culture to the half Libyan children and in a post 9/11 world there is a threat that this might even endanger the Libyan/Muslim composition of the child? Do Libyans react to this issue differently depending on where they live? Is the foreign woman simply seen as pretty easy catch, while the Libyan woman is hard to get?

Is there a gap betweenLibyans who remained in Libya, expatriate Libyans and self –exiled Libyans. What constitutes treason?

So many questions lying below the surface, waiting for the opportunity to be unleashed on an unsuspecting audience… Libyans will one day have to resolve these hot issues, but hopefully not with the help of foreign intervention.
With any luck the fact that we are Libyans will prevail to heal any rift.

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Let's start by Romana, a lively young woman. Now when you click on her link this is the message that greats you ” this blog is open to invited readers only”. This to me means that she is in the process of waiting before taking the drastic action of deleting her blog.

Next on the list is A. Adam from Flying Birds, who too has been missing in action after a series of poems about love and broken hearts.

A.Akak, is asking ‘how much does pain really hurt?”.

Libyan Violet has started a story called “Love is hard“, in which she seems to struggle with betrayal :

” Then she let out a primeval wail, breaking the dams in her heart, her eyes overflowed and she thought she would die from the pain that racked her in waves. Her whole body started shaking and she was immediately drenched in sweat. She wanted to crawl under a rock to die, but she died inside one more time” .

PH, from My Personal Space, has a mysterious title “open your heart”. Here are excerpts from the lyrics of the song he is sharing:

“Am I happy today,
Am I lonely tomorrow
Everything depends on you
And Ive been waitin
For the angels to knock on my door
Ive been hopin
That everything could be like before
Open your heart
And tell me whats wrong”

Although he starts his post with a joke about Libyan employees, it looks more like a deterring strategy that does not succeed in hiding the overwhelming sadness of the message.

Safia Speaks has gone suddenly silent as a black and blue colour theme with the sentence “there will be no more blogging” ( indicative of a very serious issue) has replaced her bright green wallpaper.

The Libyan blogosphere has lost a lot, and we wish her good luck and hope she and the others will come back soon.

Lastly, Highlander latest post called “desperation” is very worrying especially when she asks whether “death is the only exit”.

” You pray and dream that you have died everynight you go to bed only to wake up to the same reality: that of the thorns that started to encircle your heart and the ice that is creeping in..”

Indeed the atmosphere is quite sad.

Libyan bloggers please cheer up – tomorrow is another day!

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In a recent event at the Faculty of Law ( El-Fateh University) where being the bookworm that I was, I made sure to attend their book exhibition for the opportunity to buy at subsidised prices, I came across a novel called “Hunger has many other faces” (unofficial translation). Neither the quality of the paper nor the artwork did really catch my eye, but the fact it was by a female author did. She was an unknown quantity ( at least to me) but I decided to buy it nevertheless. I was more so encouraged since it was not too thick. Being among the first buyers the salesman had no change to give back, so he asked me to return in an hour's time when business would have picked up. An hour later to the dot, I'm happily back with a heavy load of books only to be greeted by an indifferent gaze from the guy. It was sold out!

What surprised me next was that this little novella by an obscure Libyan author seems to have raised quite a storm in the blogosphere on the one hand and in some Libyan regions on the other even warranting a mention in Aljazeera which elicited six pages of comments.

Let's give the word to the Libyan bloggers. The debate unfolds first over at CNNLibya, where Khalid Jorni writes :

“Because she has been a trial lawyer for ten years, and because she knew the weak points and the gabs of the Libyan law, she refrained from attacking Islam by her own identity, she preferred to create an imaginary character, and to make it compare between Islam and Christianity in a prejudged unjust way, and as it has been already planned and expected, the book was unintentionally advertised by the spiritual leaders who fell into the trap by criticizing it in their Friday Sermons, subsequently demonstrations took place, petitions were signed, and shraga people of Benghazi went mad at the writer and her tale, thus and overnight she became a national celebrity, all libraries ran out of the book, and Libya's greatest religious scholars were brought to courts, just as criminals or thieves, to pay the price of messing with a law expert, and to be an example for whoever allows himself to defend the greatest and the world's fastest growing religion!”

Ghazi over at Imtidad , took up the issue from another point of view, loudly asking ‘why don't we read? ‘ in which he explains the relationship between reading and being civilised and able to form critical opinions.

البعض سيتحدث عن الالتزام في الكتابة بقيم المجتمع وعاداته وتقاليده، وهو أمر مقبول ومريح، ولكن أين هي هذه العادات والقيم والتقاليد عند معايشتنا للواقع، البعض يقول لا يجوز السماح بنشر روايات تضم أقوال على لسان ابطالها يسبون أو يشتمون، ونحن نسمع كل يوم في شارعنا سباباً وشتماً بشكل معتاد، البعض يقول أن الكتاب الذين يتناولون الدين وتمظهراته الاجتماعية في كتاباتهم الروائية أو الشعرية يسعون بذلك إلى الشهرة السريعة من خلال ذلك، ولكنهم لا يتذكرون هذا الكتاب أو ذاك الكاتب إلا بعد عدة سنوات من صدور الكتاب أو بعد أن تسقط نسخة منه بالصدفة في حجر أحد مبتدئي القراءة والكتابة، فتقوم الدنيا على الكتاب ومؤلفه، ويصبح في يوم وليلة من المشاهير فمن يا ترى سعى للتشهير وللأشهار والدعاية للكتاب والمؤلف.

Translation : Some will talk about the non-commitment to the traditions and mores of a society when writing, which is something acceptable and one should feel comfortable with. However, where are these morals, principles and traditions in reality. Some said it is not permitted to publish novels that include insulting statements by the heroes, yet we hear insults on daily basis on our streets. Some say that writers that talk about religion and its social aspects in their fiction work or poetry are running after quick fame yet they only recall this or that book after several years of its issue or when a copy falls by chance in the hands of a beginner to the world of reading and writing. It is only then that heaven and earth are moved about this book and its writer and the author becomes a star overnight. Who is then striving for libel or publicity and advertisement for the book and its author.

Tasnim from Epiphanies, has a concise summary of Wafa Buessa's book:

” The novel, written in the first-person for “dramatic effect” as the writer says, tells the story of a girl who is forced by “living circumstances” to leave a stereotypically cloistered Libya and go live with her uncle's family in Egypt. Here, the protagonist begins to broadcast her rejection of and hate for Islam in no uncertain terms, seeing an alternative in the Coptic Church because the “doors are always open.”‘

Morever Tasnim argues that ” Because, when a lawyer who has just released her debut novel decides to take legal action against those who denounce her heroine, it does seem to indicate a slight jumbling of job descriptions. The words Publicity and Stunt also cross the conspiracy-addled mind.”

While I'm still waiting for my own copy almost regretting not paying the five extra Dinars to the guy who had no change I can already partially speculate that from her interview replies Wafa is pulling a stunt a la Ayaan Hirsi Ali or acting like her trailblazing namesake Wafa Sultan, or the Bangladeshi Tasleema Nesreen.. Salman Rushdie's classic ” Satanic verses” comes to mind, but also the 2006 Danish cartoon crisis which earned fame to a number of unscrupulous bloggers who banked on their anti-Islamic sentiments.

This controversial novel has brought up a storm of protests and words in the comment sections and Tasnim's post reprinted on the Mideast Youth website has raised further debates about the truly interesting nature of this case. But it's not about literary critique nor religious freedom, what is striking and different than Ayaan, Wafa and the usual anti-Islamic sentiments is made clear by Tasnim when she says that “it is like an inversion of the usual freedom of speech issue. It’s not the author but the critics who are in court for expressing their opinion[...]There’s no censorship involved here. No fatwas, no death threats and no apostates. The power, in this equation, is with the attorney turned author. “

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However, the good news is that Ghazi and his blog Imtidad won the BOBs User Award 2007. I think this is a first for a Libyan blogger and we are proud of him.

Whilst we are on the topic of awards, Braveheart has kept his promise and is introducing his 2007 Libyan Bloggers Award.

“”i have the pleasure to announce my Award for the best blogger for 2007 and all of you are invited to participate in this award. as u dont know i'm big fan of football, thats why i take FIFA system to select best player of the year and use it in my award. the way is very easy each one of you can nominate his best five bloggers which he/she believes they are the best.( i know u'll all of u nominate me :-P) it's totally depends on ur views and ideas and i think most of us have open minds and will not feel offended cos she/he dont select him in his/ her list. this mean this award totally depend on selective thinking and not objective one. it's depand on ur thinking and how u can rate the other which point u think it's more important than the other.
ur list it will be 5 names and list it from 1 to 5, number 1 will have 5 marks and the number2 will have 4 and so on . at the end of the month will see which one got the highest marks to take his award [sic]“.

Let's count the date until the results are announced.

Tasnim has an interesting post about Libyans in the diaspora who make the so-called back -to -our -roots -journey.

“Laila Al-Taiba’s one page ‘Story’ of her trip to Libya is just a little note on a non-Arabic-speaking Arab’s journey to her roots, and her pride in and gratitude for her American passport. It’s hardly intended as a biography. But I still find myself a little disgruntled by the clichés involved in being swept swiftly past 100 warm and loving faceless relatives in 5 days and half a sentence, for a paragraph detailing the eating of ice-cream and the dipping of toes in the Mediterannean and finally, a note on the uselessness of three years studying Arabic at university level in deciphering the Libyan dialect.” [more

]

Personally, I imagined this happened to other people or in movies but never to Libyans.

On the other hand rumours are a powerful weapon and sometimes create chaos. This is was obvious last week with the gasoline/fuel shortage crisis that was reported by a couple of bloggers in Tripoli.

On December 6, Hibo stated that she noticed something strange at the gas stations near her house since December 4 with more and more cars crowding her street at all times. At one point the police was interfering to regulate the flow. Her post is a blow by blow account of the situation. Apparently, the rumours mentioned rising gasoline prices and shortage of fuel.

Khadijateri then mentions in ” Who's got gas ” that “there's a gasoline shortage in Tripoli. That's hard to believe since Libya is an oil producing country. But it's true. The gas stations have no gasoline, though there is diesel.”

An excellent comment on Hibo's blog by Enlightened spirit sheds a good light and explains the whole situation:

“let me put my analysis for this problem here, at wensday evening a problem in gas supply happened in Tripoli and ppl couldn't find gas at some stations, the coz of the shortage was't declared officially, and here the mass panic started and with the rumors and gossip the problem inflated , the supply problem was solved quickly the next day earlly morning, but ppl conitinue their panic, coz of lack of clarity and trust, and they rush out to gas stations even if they don't really need the gas I mean with full half tank, some even bring extra barrel with them and fill it (as a consequences of many gossips like the price of the gas will increase, and the gas supply will be cut off for days, …etc), so the usual supply of the stations did't cover the extra need and the problem exagerated, but it will be solved out gradually within the next days as ppl will realise that the supply is really there and was't cutted off.[sic]“

Khadijateri reports that all is back to normal :

“The gasoline situation seems to be sorting itself out. Last night I went out to find long, long lines at some of the gas stations in my area and other places were completely closed. I didn't bother to get in line. Today I went out and found the gas stations busier than usual but not too bad.”

Basically half a day of fuel shortage resulted in two days of panic but what is the full story here, away from the speculations?

It is climate change, the modern plague and boogeyman which is affecting the weather global. Among other things it caused some unexpected weather changes as a result of which ships could not offload their cargo of refined oil (for local consumption) for half a day and the rumour mill began. But what this incident brought to the surface is the need for investment in oil refinery infrastructure in Libya. The heavily subsidized local prices and increasing consumption over the last decade as a result of a dramatic tripling of the number of cars in Libya combined with the limited capacity for production of refined fuels since no new refineries have be built to supply the local market, has lead to the need to ironically enough import slightly more than half the local need in gasoline from abroad and consequently to the threat of shortage. It does not mean we do not have oil, it means that the years of sanctions which have affected everything in Libya, especially technology and industry. This has stopped the country from investing in modern oil technology. Still this is not an excuse as sanctions have been lifted a few years ago and maybe some sort of planning should have been in place to increase Libya's capability in refining it's oil products. After all ” Libyan crude oil is particularly attractive due to its very low sulphur content; it requires much less refining than higher sulphur oil. It is extremely high quality crude, whose characteristics are not easily found elsewhere”. [source]; which means it should be easier to refine and less expensive.

Thank God the crisis was averted and people should not listen to rumours! Have you be affected by the 48 hrs situation? If yes, please share with us your experience in the comments section.

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“Hopefully the new graduates, young men and women, will learn a few things if this subject [medical ethics] is introduced in the syllabus and if they are held responsible later on in life.”

I've stumbled onto a new Libyan blogger who calls herself Enlightened Spirit and she and her colleagues at the hospital are doing a great job!

“[Abdallah] was grown up in our pediatric department , we were there to witness his first smile , laugh , his first dadada , and we were there to attend and enjoy his first step in walking , and one of my colleague was kind enough to take care of him with the help of all the others ( all the staff doctors, nurses, helpers, cleaners, & even some of our patient ) to bring him what ever he needed (water ,milk ,food ,clothes , games, …etc) , he even arrange with pediatric surgery department to circumcise him ,and made a big party after that , we call that doctor Baba Abdallah , and others also act to assure that Abdallah received all his needed vaccines on time so he will miss nothing , so every member in the department is feeling in some way or another as if Abdallah was part of his family [sic]” [more]

What a lovely story; moral conduct and code of honour all rolled into one. A very big round of applause to the Libyan doctors out there who take care of our beloved ones. Enlightened Spirit you have restored my faith in them.

Khadijateri is upset that prostitutes or “businesswomen” as she calls them are in plain view in some public places such as the zoo which should be for families to enjoy and although she and her family had a great time at the amusement park without the unsavoury people.

Her post prompted Rosebud a blogger whom I don't think I've featured before in my roundups to further elaborate on this topic.

“It is nothing new that there are a lot of unsavory men and women hanging out in public places in Libya, and a bunch of sleazy looking men following after ANY women like a pack of dogs. This becomes an issue because it is hard to tell who is who sometimes.

Even if a respectable women is out with her family or alone, they followed around and harassed. This makes families angry, and in turn causes men to now not allow their families to go out. It is a vicious circle.[…] We ignore the obvious and turn on the innocent.[…] When Libyans see something wrong, they try to protect their children from it (natural), but instead they should explain to the children what they are seeing and what causes people to be like that.[..] I am not talking about just saying “haram” in a disgusted way and leaving it at that, but explain in depth. Explain to them what it is, what causes it and how it would make you feel if that was them.[sic]“

So a simple story about prostitutes in Libya being able to ply their trade freely while ordinary families choose /are forced to stop going out to avoid being exposed to depravity, turns into a heart to heart and the debate may rage on, shall we act like the ostrich or fight for our public places ?

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