Libya - 1 year anniversary from Andy Carvin in Libya

[tabatha]

Celebration As Improv: In Libya 'We Don't Know How To Celebrate
I've spent the day in the company of Malik L, a Benghazi-based hip hop artist who seems to get stopped every 100 feet by either a friend or a fan. In between these conversations, I asked Malik about what celebrations were scheduled for tonight.

"I have no idea," he replied. "No one does. Libya has never done this before. We don't know how to celebrate an anniversary."

It's an extraordinary thought. Though Libyans came out by the hundreds of thousands to celebrate the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, today is the first time they've reached an anniversary related to the revolution. During the 42 years of Gadhafi rule, events were tightly controlled. There was no spontaneous outpouring of emotion, except if you were pro-Gadhafi. Everyone else had to keep how they really felt to themselves.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/17/147056849/celebration-as-improv-in-libya-we-dont-know-how-to-celebrate


A First Visit To Revolution Central: The Benghazi Courthouse (Audio at link)
While pretty much any corner of Benghazi is a fine place to celebrate this week, the heart of the celebrations are taking place at the courthouse and its public square, where some of the revolution's first protests took place.

As a brutally chilly rain peppered us from the Mediterranean, I wandered down there for a few hours, where at least one thousand men had begun their own celebrations. The crowd was awash in Libyan independence flags as young men in the middle pounded drums to punctuate each revolutionary chant. I think I met about half of the Libyans there, generally in one of three scenarios:

They came over to shake my hand just to say "Welcome;"

They insisted on having their picture taken, either with a friend or with me;

They wanted to know if I worked for Al Jazeera.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/17/147045936/-feb17-a-first-visit-to-revolution-central-the-benghazi-courthouse

The Libyan Art Of Honking
The streets of Benghazi have turned into the world's most joyous parking lot.

Every single vehicle, moving slower than a toddler walking, is honking its horn in a variety of patterns to celebrate the first anniversary of the revolution.

While Libyans often use certain honking patterns in everyday driving – two honks for "Hey there" and three honks to show your displeasure – the honking Thursday night can only be described as poetic. The most common horn pattern is two sets of five beeps: beep beep beep beep BEEP, beep beep beep beep BEEP. The pattern matches the beats to a common chant used during the revolution: "Hold your head up high; you are free Libyans."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/17/147041254/the-libyan-art-of-honking


Flickr photos by Andy Carvin: (nice photo of Mo Nabbous)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andycarvin/sets/72157629356589279/detail/


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The Daily Dot recognized Carvin as second only to online hacktivist group Anonymous in his influence on Twitter in the year 2011. In its writeup of Carvin, the Dot compared him to Edward R. Murrow, whose radio coverage of the London Blitz established him as a household name in the United States during World War II.

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And for those who criticize my still supporting "those people", the comments remind me of the same stuff I had to counter from Whites in South Africa after 1994. And Libya is doing better than South Africa after 1994.

Charge: The crime has increased.
Me: Whites never noticed it before 1994, because the bulk of the population was locked away in townships, and just read "Kaffir Boy" to see how much crime was perpetrated by White police on those in the townships.

Charge: The police are useless and cannot stop the crime.
Me: They are new, give them a chance. (Turned out to be true as they have learned to do better, since they are now responsible and not being initimated or mocked by Whites.)

Charge: Thousands of White farmers have been murdered.
Me: That is not what Mandela advocated, which was forgiveness.

Charge: The government is rife with corruption, everyone is on the gravy train (something repeated a number of times at the 1997 Festival I attended)
Me: The apartheid government was just as corrupt at filling their own pockets. These people are new at the job. (Since then, there have been attempts to root out corruption.)

Charge: Whites are being kicked out of jobs and replaced by Blacks who do not know what they are doing.
Me: Give them a chance.

Charge: Blacks have taken over Hillbrow in Johannesburg and trashed the place.
Me: I don't blame them moving out of the townships without electricity and running water to former White areas. And if they are messy now, give them a chance.

Eventually, I hope a similar video can be made for Libya, as the one below, which brought a sibling to tears, despite that fact that that family had suffered very badly from crime. Yep, Mandela forgiveness does happen a lot in that country.

[bvar22]

1. Revenge Killings, Torture, and Cleansing continue according to Amnesty International.

Murder and torture 'carried out by both sides' of uprising against Libyan regime
Amnesty International, September, 2011

"Amnesty also found more recent unlawful killings "perpetrated by organised groups who operate freely, openly and with impunity". Victims' families were generally unwilling to protest for fear of reprisals and to avoid the stigma of being labelled Gaddafi loyalists or "anti-revolutionary". In addition, opposition groups have detained hundreds of people in areas they control since the end of February, Amnesty says. These include people accused of "subverting the revolution," who say they were never shown an arrest warrant or any other document.

"In most cases, the manner of detention is better described as abduction rather than arrest," the report argues. "They were seized by groups of heavily-armed men, some of them masked, who did not identify themselves. They were then taken away in unmarked vehicles, usually pick-up trucks with anti-aircraft machine-guns mounted at the back."

<snip>

"No independent or credible investigations are known to have been carried out by the NTC [opposition National Transitional Council], nor effective measures taken to hold to account those responsible for these abuses."

<snip>

"The findings are largely based on Amnesty's visit to Libya between 26 February and 28 May, including to the cities of al-Bayda, Ajdabiya, Brega, Benghazi, Misrata and Ras Lanouf. The report claims foreigners have been targeted by both sides, particularly individuals with dark skin. But the report adds: The report says people with dark skin were targeted by both sides, but "the allegations about the use of mercenaries proved to be largely unfounded".



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/12/murder-torture-both-sides-libyan-regime

Trading one nightmare for another.

[UnseenUndergrad]

4. A five month old article?

Really?

And one that was written from before the war was over?

[bvar22]

5. A report from Amnesty International printed by The Guardian.

It IS from September, and I was careful to add that to the very top of the post.
I have been able to very little reliable information, including the piece from NPR posted by the OP.

IF you can find a credible source of WHAT is really happening inside Libya,
please post it here.

[ellisonz]

2. K & R

Thank you tabatha.

[catchnrelease]

3. K&R