Why Libyas revolution didnt work and what might Zahra Langhi

I have never ever forgotten the words of

my grandmother who died and her exile

son resists Gaddafi fight him but don’t

you ever turn into I get there feel like

revolutionary almost two years have

passed since the Libyan Revolution broke

out

inspired by the waves of mass

mobilization in both the Tunisian and

the Egyptian revolution I joined forces

with many other Libyans inside and

outside Libya to call for a Day of Rage

and to initiate a revolution against the

tyrannical regime of Gaddafi and there

it was a great revolution young Libyan

women and men were at the forefront

calling for the fall of the regime

raising slogans of freedom dignity

social justice they have shown an

exemplary bravery in confronting the

brutal dictatorship of Gaddafi they have

shown a great sense of solidarity from

the Far East to the Far West to the

South eventually after a period of six

months of brutal war and a toll rate of

almost 50,000 dead we managed to

liberate our country and to the topple

the tyrant

however Gaddafi left behind a heavy

burden a legacy of tyranny corruption

and feeds of diversions for four decades

Gaddafi’s tyrannical regime destroyed

the infrastructure as well as the

culture and the more of fabric of Libyan

society aware of the devastation and the

challenges I was keen among many other

woman to rebuild the Libyan civil

society calling for an inclusive and

just transition to democracy and

national reconciliation almost two

hundred organizations were established

in Benghazi during and immediately after

the fall of Gaddafi almost 300 in

Tripoli after a period of 33 years in

exile I went back to Libya and with

unique enthusiasm I started organizing

workshops on capacity building on human

development of leadership skills with

amazing group of women I co-founded the

Libyan women’s platform for peace a

movement of women leaders from different

walks of life to lobby for the

socio-political empowerment of women and

to lobby for our right for equal

participation in building democracy and

peace I made a very difficult

environment in the pre elections an

environment which was increasingly

polarized an environment which was

shaped by the selfish politics of

dominance and exclusion I led an

initiative by the Libyan women’s

platform for peace to lobby for a more

inclusive electoral law a law that would

give every citizen no matter what your

background the right to vote and run and

most importantly to stipulate on

political parties the alternation of

male and female candidates vertically

and horizontally in their lists creating

the zipper list eventually our

initiative was adopted and successful

woman one 17.5% of the national congress

in the first elections ever in 52 years

however bit by bit the euphoria of the

elections and of the revolution as a

whole was fading out for every day we

were waking up on the news of violence

one day we wake up on the news of the

desecration of ancient mosques and Sufi

tombs on another day we wake up on the

news of the murder of the American

ambassador and the attack on the

consulate on another day we wake up on

the news of the assassination of army

officers and every day every day we wake

up with the rule of the militias and

their continuous violations of human

rights of prisoners and their disrespect

of the rule of law our society shaped by

a revolutionary mindset became more

polarized and has driven away from the

ideals and the principles freedom

dignity social justice that we first

held in Tolerance exclusion and revenge

became the icons of the post mass of the

revolution I am here today not at all to

inspire you with our success story of

the zipper list in the elections I’m

rather here today to confess that we as

a nation took the wrong choice made the

wrong decision we did not prioritize

right for elections did not bring peace

and stability and security in Libya did

the zipper list and the alternation

between female and male candidates bring

peace and national reconciliation no it

didn’t

what is it then why does our society

continue to be polarized and dominated

with selfish politics of dominance and

exclusion by both men and women maybe

what’s missing were not the woman only

but this

feminine values of compassion mercy and

inclusion our society needs national

dialogue a consensus building more than

it needed the elections which only

reinforce polarization and divided nough

society needs the qualitative

representation of the feminine more than

it needs the numerical quantitative

representation of the feminine we need

to stop acting as agents of rage and

calling for days of Rage we need to

start acting as agents of compassion and

mercy we need to develop a disc

effeminate discourse that not only

honors but also implements mercy instead

of revenge collaboration instead of

competition inclusion instead of

exclusion these are the ideals that a

war-torn Libya needs desperately in

order to achieve peace for peace has an

alchemy and this alchemy is about the

intertwining the alternation between the

feminine and masculine perspective

that’s the real zipper and we need to

establish that existential II before we

do so socio-politically according to a

Quranic verse Salam peace is the word of

the old merciful God Rahim in turn the

word Rahim which is known in all the

brahmic traditions has the same root in

Arabic as the word rahem group

symbolizing the maternal feminine

encompassing all humanity from which the

male and the female from which all

tribes all peoples have emanated from

and so just as the womb entirely

envelopes the Ambria which grows within

it the divine matrix of

compassion nourishes the entire

existence thus we are told that my mercy

encompasses all things thus we are told

that my mercy takes precedence over my

anger may we all be granted a grace of

mercy

thank you