http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=49621
Within
the media today, an expression common in the political world, ‘Libyan
oppositions’, is a term for one of the various gaffes most analysts were
warned against at the start of the Libyan war. To get a sense of the
conflict, one must stop and wonder: Who are the Libyan opposition? What
construct is unifying their recognized debunking? has the victory
changed their tendency to oppose?
Obviously, a war of
oppositions is what’s occurring in Libya. Each stumbling stride both
opposition and government forces take, they deeper find themselves
barraged in a quagmire none of them comprehend making it more probable
that this conflict will end in forced and pragmatic unions on both
sides. However, for the opposition, it will bring into being precisely
the state it set out to destroy; the undeniable incompetency of a
government whose most notable attribute is its inability to rule.
At
the beginning, many in the west were betting on an end scenario to
Libya’s crisis as justification for what is taking place now. This
teleological notion is based on sporadic, frequent occurrence of
sequence of objective, and goal setting adaptive nature, in order to
reach desirable conclusions is far from reality when it comes to
Libyans.
One cannot appreciate what has transpired without
being entrenched deep in the Libyan psyche, where many have been left
feeling ignored by their own government and regarded as an
after-thought. The government in Libya has systematically pursued a
policy of indifference to legitimate voices of dissent and critical
thoughts. In fact, the political organism was based on a demagogic
notion that people will prosper under a prevalent democratic medium that
works as a single umbrella for all political activities. Let alone the
fact that this notion is a loose hypothesis that is wide open to
interpretation; it conveys a built-in oxymoronic implication. This
failed belief has made it intricate for other voices to advocate their
views and political inspiration. After all, why would anyone look beyond
the paradigm of people’s will? One can argue that the main malfunction
was not due to the discourse but the overtly practiced antithesis.
People would meet and make decisions but none see the light of day.
Again,
this has presented the Libyan case as an odd one. Unlike what had
transpired in Tunisia and Egypt, many people in the eastern part of
Libya, For example, went out to dislodge any reference to the governing
state. For decades, they were estranged to the government that they
thought of it as an occupation, and therefore, their protest,
transformed soon after to a form of a militant liberation movement. This
just further lauds the size of anger and discontent between people and
their ruling entity. Regardless of what we think of the conflict, it has
unveiled many of the laminated flagrant failures by government policies
and inability to connect with the significantly impacted demographic,
throughout the years. Government institutions, for the lack of a better
word, embraced all the ingredients of your usual Arabic political and
financial corruption. On top of that, its executive body lacked
political and social intelligence, governing skills, and aptitude to
lead. For about 20 years the helm of the People’s Parliament was led by
one of Gadaffi’s cousins, who systematically fought any progressive
movement, and brutally denied all voices of change.
These
politically intolerable practices were always criticized by many of the
society intellectuals and young Revolutionary Committee Movement (RCM)
members, the lone loosely constructed political forum in the country,
and for decades, these within-dissident voices were silenced, banished,
or prevented from taking governmental posts. When Saif El Islam came
about in 2006, to call for reform, these young intellectuals saw a
glimpse of hope. Saif, called for political, societal, and economic
reforms. His emergence was just perfect and messiah-like, or that is
what we all thought. Many of the change-thirsty young intellectuals
empowered: Ghadaffi’s son is on our side, now we can wage a war on all
corruption, fatcats, or soon to be one, political rats, tribal
proponents, et. al. Well, not so fast, this was just not meant to be.
Little did we know. Saif ‘s cronies had worked very hard to stifle any
meaningful dialogue. In fact, he and his friends joined forces with the
very corrupt to marginalize the role and efforts put together by many of
the young RCM leadership group. He, stemming from an unbelievable sense
of arrogance towards local professional capital, political or
otherwise, went overseas and looked for a so-called opposition voices
and gave them high paid official posts. These newly imported officials,
and in less than year, became the Libyan New-money. Back in January of
this year I had a long conversation with the Minister of Tourism. He
told me, when pressed him about unlocking the industry, that the
industry is already unlocked, but no one except Saif al Islam’s friends
would receive a business license. It was a pattern of cronyism that was
repeated time and again. According to the WSJ, one of Saif’s college
friends, who conveniently later defected, Mustafa Zerti, the de facto
executive of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) was directly
responsible for the unexplainable losses of 98% of options related
investments, a total of 1.3B, in a Goldman Sachs conveyed financial bet.
Mr. ElEsawi, who has since switched sides, is now traveling on private
jets between capitals, paid for by Libyan money, and acts as the TNC
foreign minister, was once one of Saif’s made man.
Many of us
who kept on speaking out were harshly treated, mocked continuously, and
negatively labeled as “New Liberals”, and once more were forced to stay
away or take on another voluntary banishment.
Now, came these new
events, and although they were inevitable and reasons behind them are
real and very legitimate, the fragile union we see between those corrupt
fixtures rebranded as dissidents in the umbrella of TNC body is far
from natural. This coupling of spectrums is boundless and
counterproductive to Libya’s future. Many of its members are the ones
befriended Saif El Ghadaffi in an effort to inflate and manufacture
their political personas. In fact, an argument can be made about them
being behind the unfair practices that led Libyan youth to revolt in the
first place. Moreover, most of the defected diplomats were a byproduct
of corrupt administrative policies and nepotism. It is ironic to see Mr.
Shelgum, Tripoli’s former UN ambassador, defecting from Gadaffi’s
government, where he was one the symbols of its administrative
corruption at the Libyan foreign office, which he led for more than 15
years. I recall an incident in 2008, when I sternly criticized the
Libyan diplomatic body in an interview by Al Arab newspaper, Shelgum
refused to even entertain some of my concerns and other’s. There are
many unfavorable stories told in Libyan corners about most of the
defectors to the Transitional National Council (TNC) proclaimed
position. The TNC position of taking in any one who feels like
ship-jumping is in itself a call for concern and renders a lack of
sincerity and understanding of the state we are in.
On one hand we
have a well-documented incompetent government, and on the other, we are
faced with an emergence of an opposition entity that lacks cohesiveness
and dedication to basic liberty, as we know it. They are driven by a
sense of entitlement and enticed by a long deep revenge. We may be
witnessing the dawn of new guards honed by old ghosts’ tactics and
inheritance. According to an inquiry by UN Human Rights Council, rebel
forces has, as well as government ones, committed acts that constituted
as war crimes.
The question that is persisting today, and tomorrow
will polarized people even further when the dust settles is: Who are
these Libyan opposition really? Who can put a claim over this elusive
content? Is Libyan opposition being hijacked? The notion that this newly
constructed version of opposition voices, we see on the airwaves, is
representative of dignified political legitimacy is a laughable concept,
to say the least.
Most intellectuals and academics in the country
are with change that is long overdue. However, much of the tactics used
by the TNC, who now has a west-sponsored claim over the term, does not
resemble or reflect Libyan sentiments. Real and well-rooted opposition
is somewhere in the middle and will eventually prevail. The TNC has
forcibly taking ownership of the Libyan opposition state, but many
Libyans feel otherwise. The future of Libya will heavily depends on
those who you may call independents, who in turn, will hold the cards to
sway the nation to its core competency: Free and viable society that
is. Until then, Libyans believe that this conflict and loss of Libyan
lives on both sides is far from finished, as many hidden and voiced
political interests, in their present intertwining, may eventually
collide and by that further prolong the “statu quo”.
After the
dust settles, Libyan people will choose neither loathsome and will hold
both accountable for what has transpired in Libya. This conflict is far
from over, so will there be a third view? An opposition to both!
