LIBYA FINALLY LIBERATED After being freed from 42 years under the ruling of megalomaniac madman Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, Libya can finally achieve its long-awaited freedom. A long period of continuous protests, just over 8 months, has spread the news worldwide like wildfire. After continuous protests, the involvement of the United Nations, United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the assassination of their leader finally occurred, bringing Libya to a new era; to freedom.
“THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PROTESTORS AND GADDAFI: THEY ARE WILLING TO DIE SO THAT LIBYA CAN LIVE, WHILE HE IS WILLING TO LET LIBYA DIE SO THAT HE CAN LIVE!” - Sarakenos (protestor)
The road to achieving this, however, is quite gruesome and we must remember in our hearts the tens of thousands being killed for the freedom of Libya. Some say it’s a blessing in disguise because through the hatred being expressed to Gaddafi alone, the nation was able to achieve the unity that was long gone.
Inspired by major protests in Tunisia and Egypt through social media, Libya too have fallen with the domino, known as the Arab Spring. However, unlike Tunisia and Egypt Libya took a different approach as they weren’t given the freedom of speech of utilizing social media. Apparently, Gaddafi thinks that social media is a weapon, and he isn’t wrong!
When Egypt and Tunisia come to maintain order, in Libya orders were given for the army to deploy against protestors. In Libya, those who refuse orders were burned alive and executed and not to mention the fact that no one came out and pretended that they ‘understood’ the protestors. According to Tasnim, the situation in Libya is much worse.
THROUGH A LIBYAN’S EYES Joining the protests in Libya, Tasnim projected her anger through words, very much upset of what is happening in Libya. Written on March 2011, not long after the Day of Rage, a lot of gruesome details were portrayed in her blog post.
While the government kept insisting that they didn’t put any force into it, Tasnim argued that tear gas and rubber bullets don’t kill 400 people in 5 days and that force were put into controlling the people. Bombs were also being planted and though the fingers are pointed on Al’Qaeda, Tasnim strongly argues that this is all the doing of the government.
The Day of Rage was scheduled to be on the 17th February 2011, exactly 5 years after a protest against an Italian minister who wore a t-shirt satirizing prophet Mohammad. Two days before that, a demonstration in Benghazi occurred. An estimated number of 1200 prisoners in the Abu Sleem prison were slaughtered. There were cycles of protests, deaths, shootings, burning buildings and throwing grenades. According to Tasnim, the protests in Libya and the ones in Tunisia and Egypt are very different.
Having no constitutions, the rights of the citizens aren’t being protected. The physical force isn’t a surprise as it has been executed a fair amount of time in Libya. PreGaddafi flags can be seen everywhere during the protests as it is a symbolic way of erasing the Gaddafi era and serves as a representation for the country’s unity. Being divided into several parts such as Eastern, Western and Southern parts of the country, they don’t have much opportunities to