Sunday, August 12, 2012

Freedom for whom in Libya?

There is so much to be optimistic about in Libya but more and more incidents are cause for concern.
Once you start feeling that you cannot criticize anymore then there is something wrong.

There is some debate about the role of Libyan women .. their role during the  Feb 17 revolution was appreciated as long as they cooked and did first aid and volunteered as medics or to wash clothes. However, once the war was over and women wanted to start wanting to put legal framework for their activity and citizenship they find that even some of the actions widely applauded during the revolution are now turned against them. They are arrested or kidnapped for having a voice and this makes them fear the rape weapon or the loss of reputation weapon which was allegedly wielded during the conflict last year. The rumour mill is very thick but working with an NGO  or being outspoken could get you in trouble  it seems.

Human rights have been 'lacking' in Libya during the colonial period, during the monarchy and  during the Gaddafi era while in post Gaddafi have proven to be disappointing and Libyans have been patient thinking that this is new to us  and we are learning. But there is nothing 'new' about ethics and morality Libyans either have it or don't - if we only acted according to the precepts of the Muslim religion that would be sufficient  but no one has acted according to these precepts since the death of Prophet Mohamed PBUH. The situation in Libya has become  kind of scary because with Gaddafi we knew the red lines and there were some society red lines as well but now all lines are confused.

Male and female have a long fight ahead but in a patriarchal society females will have it tougher because many males will take a shortcut and say 'we told you so - keep to women related topics only,  now is not the time for women to assert their rights (even those provided by Sharia? ) now is the time to rebuild the country don't mix the message and let us men get on with i't.

But how can you  alone rebuild the country if women are more than 1/2 the population and they have the higher percentage in higher education ?How can we rebuild a country without our sisters, mothers, daughters, cousins, grandmothers ?

To get back to my question at the start of this post.. who are Libyans afraid of now ?

1 comment:

Maya M said...

It is sad to me to see that the Arab Spring so far hasn't benefited women.
"...If we only acted according to the precepts of the Muslim religion that would be sufficient but no one has acted according to these precepts since the death of Prophet Mohamed PBUH."
Which, in my humble opinion, only shows that they do not seem to work. And while I am sure that you can defend your opinion based on the Quran and other Islamic Scriptures, I am also sure that those who oppress women can defend their actions, citing other verses from the same sources. So I think it would be better just to define decent norms without resorting to religious (or other) authority. Of course, such a process isn't easy and absolutely requires free speech. So if, as you wrote some time ago, freedom of speech deafens many Libyans, for the sake of their country they should improve their auditory processing :-) !