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Libya: The Present & Future
Celebrating the Revolution’s 2nd anniversary in Tripoli. Feb. 15, 2011. Libya Herald
Shortly after returning, I wrote some thoughts about Libya’s present, and hopes — and fears — for its future. We felt that it had a potentially great future, but despite the bloodshed and destruction it had experienced during 2011, the really hard part was still to come.
Winning a war & overthrowing a dictator was easier, we thought, than it would be for a people to build a society from scratch. The country had no real institutions beyond what Gaddafi created and owned, all of which controlled the country in his own grip. There were no institutions of independent government or justice; no experience of public or political debate and discussion; schools and health care were weak; business never allowed to develop or flourish. Military and police services were there to threaten, and not protect the people.
It took other countries centuries to develop functioning institutions like these, and also most countries decades or longer to recover from bruising, bloody, and hate-filled civil wars or dictatorship.
How could Libya turn things around instantly? Could one election build a democracy? Obviously not.
One Libyan I spoke with on election day recognized the great challenges the country will face now and in the future. “We must take it step by step”, he said “but with love”
Since that time, we have seen many signs of hope, and many — more than we want to — signs of trouble. Many of our Libyan friends there and in Canada often express dismay and bitter frustration with the lack of progress, the lack of security, the often poorly functioning initial government.
Two years after revolt, Libya faces a host of problems”. New York Times
But others, as we do, are still optimistic. There are indeed signs of progress. We see signs of a freedom that could never have existed prior to February, 2011. We know that most Libyans want to build a free society, one with one that provides safety and security, and with a truly just justice system. They want decent health care, a good education system for their children. I believe they will build a strong and democratic system; what form it will take, I only hope, will be what they want. That was what the February 17th Revolution was about, and what those many thousands died for.
One thing I truly hope for is that other countries make a real commitment to help Libya build this society. NATO countries did contribute bombs, without which, I believe the Libyan Revolution would have been crushed. However, we owe it to the Libyans to help that chance for freedom survive. There are so many areas that are needed.
Even during the election, we were very disappointed that Canada did nothing to help that process. Canada has however provided medical assistance, helping treat injured Libyan freedom fighters here (a project initiated by the Canadian Libyan Council).
Libya could truly become the great success of the Arab Spring: a country with a moderate, educated people, with great national wealth from oil and a small population… or it could fail. Those institutions needed might not stand up to conflict, and small, but extremist and violent factions could destroy a bright future. The world has much to benefit from a strong Libya.
Joy and Hope – election night
Preserving Ambassador Stevens’ legacy
Today, we came across a story that emphasizes this point. It concerns Anne Stevens, the sister of slain American ambassador Chris Stevens, and a medical doctor. She is not in the U.S. joining the calls for investigations into that attack… she is living in Benghazi. She rejects the words Hilary Clinton told her, that “justice would be done” for her brother’s death.
Instead, she thought the most fitting tribute to her older brother’s life was to complete the work he had started in Benghazi, helping Libyans improve emergency care in the troubled and dangerous city.
She discovered that one of the reasons her brother was in Benghazi at the time was to help initiate a collaborative medical project involving the Benghazi Medical Center, and Massachusettes General Hospital in Boston. Subsequently, she involved her hosptial (Seattle Children’s), and went to Benghazi herself.
The collaboration, his sister says, is “exactly what my brother wanted to help support … it’s not telling them to do anything, or giving them stuff, but collaborating with them.” Dr. Thomas Burke, of Massachusettes General says in another article, that Libya “really is a new country, at a tipping point”.
These are remarkable people who have endured a lot, some of it because of our own government’s (on and off) support of Gaddafi,. With programs like this we have an opportunity to help them build a new, stable society.
Stevens said that,
My brother really believed in Libya’s future. I don’t think we knew how bold he was being, or how dangerous it was. But he was passionate about the country’s possibilities after the revolution. He was excited to be a part of history in the making…. We want to keep that going.
A great example for the rest of the world.
In a similar vein, an article published Feb. 15, in The Hill, a US Congressional blog, is titled, “Libya needs international assistance, not drone attacks“. The authors argue that
Libya urgently needs international assistance in building its institutions, especially the basic machinery of government and security. The Libyans have a friendly government, infinite money to spend on infrastructure projects, and they are actively soliciting Western assistance. Clearly, nation building – which the Libyans are even able and willing to fund themselves – would be far more effective than drone strikes at eliminating terrorist safe havens. It would be more cost effective as well.
More About Libya
A couple of other links, with information and thoughts about Libya’s past and future…
While flying to Libya, and while we were there, I read the then just-published book Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution, by Lindsey Hilsum, a correspondent with Britain’s Channel 4, who spent a great deal of time in Libya in 2011. I strongly recommend the book, and agree with this comment in a New Statesman review “Hilsum’s account is essential (and accessible) reading for anyone who seeks to understand where Libya has come from and what the future might hold”
Late last year, I came across an interview with Dirk Vandewalle, an American professor who wrote A History of Modern Libya and numerous articles about the country. This interview concerned an article published in Foreign Affairs, “After Qaddafi: The Surprising Success of the New Libya”, which argued that the pessimism about Libya following Ambaassador Stevens death, and the apparent lawlessness and corruption so often reported by western media was understandable, but,
None of this, however, should obscure the fact that the larger story about the new Libya is surprisingly positive. The worst-case scenarios commonly predicted a year ago have not emerged, and there are actually grounds for guarded optimism about the future.
Watch an interview with him:
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And finally, as this is written on the 2nd anniversary of the Libyan Revolution, here is a great slideshow, from NBC News, of dramatic photos taken between February and October of 2011, bringing back so many memories of hope and fear from that time.
For ongoing news coverage of Libya, visit the Libya Herald or Tripoli Post
For anyone interested in travelling to Libya, for tourism, business, or any other reason; for travel, visa or other help, we highly recommend contacting Bilgasem Shlebk of Ain Mizrag Travel Agency who will be extremely helpful.
We have no doubt that our Libyan story is not finished yet…