we can read this story of libya in many ways, to be sure. no one has the monopoly on the truth, and this story of liberation can also be read as "liberation."
maybe tomorrow i will learn better, and decide i had been wrong in supporting the rebels' claim that they were fighting for freedom, freedom for all the libyans.
but for today, i prefer to believe that narrative, and to find inspiration in their courage to face ghaddafi and risk death. i prefer to believe that despite nato's involvement, there was sufficient evidence of a real popular uprising, one that couldn't have withstood the full force of libya's armed forces to repress them, because an unarmed population can't always free itself from armed oppressive regimes.
here is what i read today that reinforced the story i prefer to believe: it came from the AP reprinted in the NY Times
"In a mosque near the city's central square, an imam at Friday noon prayers praised the rebels for taking up arms against Gadhafi. He said they had "liberated the land inch by inch, house by house, alley by alley," mimicking an infamous Gadhafi speech early in the uprising threatening those who opposed him.
At the end of the prayers, hundreds of worshippers marched outside chanting "Hold your head high! You are a free Libyan" — borrowing a cry heard in Cairo's Tahrir Square in the days after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in the Egyptian uprising."
ken
On 8/26/11 4:33 PM, Abdul Bangura wrote:
E-Mail This So it that Italy's reason for joining the bombing of Afrikan Libyans and other Afrikans in Libya to smithereens? Does Italy hate Afrikans that much?------- Original Message -----From: kenneth harrowSent: 8/26/2011 3:12:23 PMSubject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: NYTimes.com: Gaddafi Wanted toCreate Immigrant 'Inferno'- Italyfyi
This page was sent to you by: harrow@msu.edu
WORLD | August 26, 2011
Gaddafi Wanted to Create Immigrant 'Inferno'- Italy
By REUTERS
Italy has proof that Muammar Gaddafi planned to turn its tiny island of Lampedusa into an "inferno" by sending thousands of desperate African migrants there by boat, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.
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