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