Revolution in Lybia
Text by Mark Vertreese | May 2011
With Liberty and Justice for All
I searched the (standard) major online news outlets today for the latest articles on the Libyan rebellion, only to find a curiously dry well. Months ago, you couldn’t have escaped an article or opinion piece or the de rigeur sound bite-ready pronouncement of someone’s official stance on Libya. However, this evening I found only a smattering of stories bent toward the dictator and the unimaginable turmoil gripping his beloved country. Newsweek.com ran a story about Col. Gaddafi’s nurse escaping Tripoli – not exactly Withering Heights. I scrolled almost to the bottom of CNN.com only to find ‘Libya’ listed among their “Hot Topics” – at number 5. And USAToday.com all but passed the story over in favor of exploring the pros and cons of why smart cars aren’t selling, given the price of oil (and, reading in between the lines, due to the conflicts sweeping across Northern Africa and the Middle East).
Frankly, the prospect of uncovering meaningful stories about the region has been hit or miss for me. Our gnat-size attention spans are placing the citizenry of the world – and not just the United States - in danger of trivializing and sweeping under the rug one of the most explosive social eruptions of the century. And if the Libyan rebels have anything to say about it, we’re a long way from the end. This time the revolution will most certainly be televised.
“I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag…
When thinking about everything that has happened in Libya over the last several months, it’s important that we understand from whence this country was born (and borne, as it were). No man is an island unto himself, and although Gaddafi would have us believe that he is the end all, and be all of everything Libyan, their culture and history is much more complex and wondrous than most of us realize at first glance. The things we had previously most often associated with Libya were: terrorism, dictatorial rule, staggering oil reserves, Pan Am 103 and Lockerbie. Today, we often think of oppression, air strikes, rebellion and bravery.
There is a long, intimidating history of war and struggle woven into the tapestry of what we now know as Libya. It is interesting to note that this region of North Africa was long fought over by the Spanish and the Turks for a very large part of the sixteenth century. In a somewhat underhanded fashion, it was the Corsairs (essentially Turkish pirates) who seized and controlled specific territories along the valuable North African coast, and eventually turned those areas over to the Ottoman Empire as official protectorates. Quite an inauspicious beginning.
The Libya with which we have since become familiar is ranked as the fourth largest country (based on land mass) on the African continent – 17th among the world – and is situated between Egypt and Tunisia, sister countries with violent pasts of their own. From the very first known inhabitants around the 7th century B.C., Libya has been at times under the control of the Berbers, Spain, Turkey, and Italy. It wasn’t until 1912 following the concession by Turkey from the Italo-Turkish war (1911-1912) that modern-day Libya began to take shape.
The occupation by, and forced allegiance to so many nations early in its history may very well have been foreshadowing; giving credence to today’s rebels who are merely acting on the centuries-old influences of their ancestors to take back what they feel is theirs, and theirs alone. They hope to fly a bright, new standard of liberation over their country. With the winds of history and growing (yet feeble) international support at their backs, it might just be possible.
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