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Monday, September 10, 2012

Libya Today

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Ms Ann Marlowe gives us an assessment of Libya, one year one form the revolution that overthrew Dictator Muammar Gadhafi (or Gaddafi).  Here is the beginning of the article.
Nearly a year after the fall of the hated Gadhafi regime, this city and much of Libya seems caught in a post-revolutionary malaise.  Indeed, the situation here evokes the dreaded words "failed state."  Security is weak at best, and nonexistent in places.  The economy is hardly better than it was during the war.  There are burnt-out cars in the central business district, and trash everywhere.

Two months since the election of a new government—notable for its rejection of Islamic extremists—sectarian clashes are on the rise.  Two of Libya's oldest and most revered Sufi shrines were destroyed last month in broad daylight—one on Aug. 25, just outside my hotel room in Tripoli; the other, a 500-year-old shrine and library housing thousands of early Islamic texts, the day before in Zilten, a town 90 miles east of the capital.  The extremists believe it's sinful to locate a Sufi saint's tomb inside a mosque.

After the attacks, a special session of the newly elected National Assembly resulted in the minister of the interior, Fawzi Abdelal, admitting in a statement that the new government is weaker than the fanatics.  He later resigned.

Little would seem to stand in the way of the Salafis moving on to destroy Libya's classical antiquities, if they target them.  Already some Roman statues in Sabratha's great archeological site had to be removed from public display to protect them from attack.

Sadly, the issues bedeviling Libyans as they go about trying, largely with great goodwill, to set up a functioning country run deeper and broader than religious extremism.  Four decades of dictatorship have resulted in widespread indolence and a lack of a sense of ownership of the public sphere.  It's a toxic mix common in the Islamic world. Often Libya seems able to rise above it, as in its largely free and fair July 7 national elections.  But it is glaringly obvious in Libya's treatment of the history of its recent revolution.
One of the things I noted was the tension between the Sufi (inner, mystical dimension of Islam) and the Salafi (literalist, strict and puritanical approaches to Islam).  These two groups mix like oil and water.  On the other hand, this is all Sunni Islam and doesn't include the Shia branch.  We should note that al-Qaeda is a Salafist oriented group.

All very interesting, and cautionary.  As we contemplate Syria we need to ask ourselves what we expect to be the situation a year on.  I remember a quote attributed to Herbert Marcuse, "Destroy the Weimar Republic.  Whatever follows has to be better."  What followed was The Third Reich and its leader, Adolph Hitler.

Regards  —  Cliff

7 comments:

Jack Mitchell said...

Read this: "Sadly, the issues bedeviling Libyans as they go about trying, largely with great goodwill, to set up a functioning country run deeper and broader than religious extremism. Four decades of dictatorship have resulted in widespread indolence and a lack of a sense of ownership of the public sphere."

Then tweak the specifics to bring it home to America. Insert radical Tea Party dogma's and extremists like we see in NH's "Free State Project," and you will see why you want to claw back "Rotary Club Republicanism."

If this account is accurate, it is Tragedy of the Commons 101

The political activists that scream for litmus test outcomes seek to purge the public square of opponents. That is exactly how America could be lost and our own ugly version of "Libya" erected.

Craig H said...

We most often fail to reflect that universal public education (all hail Horace Mann) was and remains our most effective bulwark against extremism of all sorts. (Which is why rejection of science-based curriculum is such a deadly threat to our democracy). The combination of widespread education and effective rule of law (which is NOT the same thing as the rule of force) enables better outcomes than Libyans have endured without both. We need to keep our eyes on our two prizes here, both of which are under serious attack today. (R's seem to want to dismantle education and D's seem to want to double-up on the jack boots--not a good recipe on either count).

C R Krieger said...

Jack—I kind of lost the thread on that.

Kad—I would be more impressed with the "science-based curriculum" issue if I thought science wasn't being politically influenced.  Why again did Larry Summers get canned from that college down county?  He asked if the data might suggest some non-PC conclusion?  Does science exist in three part?  First there is the laughable things those idiots believed last century.  Second is what we know to be true, today.  Third are those idiots with weird ideas who may be the true scientists of tomorrow; people we, today, know to be whacked.

Regards  —  Cliff the Cynic

Jack Mitchell said...

My point: Don't give oxygen to the rantings of wingnuts.

You drive me crazy with this type of salve: .. those idiots with weird ideas who may be the true scientists of tomorrow ..

In the gaps of your "I'm OK.You're OK," zealots are shoving the fantasy that humans and dinosaurs walked the Earth together down children's mind gullets.

This is your biggest sin, as a person and as a party.

C R Krieger said...

I think on a recent blog post I mentioned that humans, as humans, had been around for 50,000 years.  I accept that the evidence shows the Universe has been around 15 billion years, give or take.  And, that the evidence points to evolution as how we got to where we are.  That said, a lot of bad things have been done in the name of science—like Darwin's Cousin, who was pushing eugenics, which a lot of folks in this nation adopted, including SCOTUS.

I am just saying that I want to see science as science out there and not science as PC thinking.

As for those who go for the young earth view, at some level I don't care.  I am more worried about Larry Summer's getting the bum's rush over asking a legit question.  There are folks out there who think Lord Keynes explicated economics.

I will say that because I believe in God, I believe all things are possible.  The question re science is, what does the evidence show us.  God's evidence.

Regards  —  Cliff

Jack Mitchell said...

I, too, believe in God. I also except the possibility that the creation could include a false fossil record. However, the deception would let us use our minds to develop science.

I don't think the creation has a false fossil record. I reject the accounting in the Bible as literal.

Regardless, our Constituion has already thought ahead for us, so let's just tell the flat-earthers to STFU. Hmmmm...

I know they donate a lot and will picket at tea party rallies until the cows come home, but you,as a party, have to say, "No Thanks."

Until that happens, conservatism is in the crapper.

Jack Mitchell said...

"I also accept the possibility ..."

Freudian? Pray tell?