Libyans Mark Anniversary of Uprising

Libyans are marking the one-year anniversary of the uprising that eventually took down long time ruler Moammar Gaddafi.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks to reporter Marine Olivesi, who is observing the celebrations where it all began, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. There is a great deal of celebration today in Banghazi, Libya. It’s been a year since rebels in that eastern city kicked off an uprising that eventually overthrew the dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. At the time, the idea of a Libya without Gaddafi, who had ruled for more than four decades, was just a pipedream. These men in Benghazi spoke of their joy at the events of the past year and their hopes for Libya’s future.

Man 1: We’re glad that the revolution finally came to an end. It’s been one year now, from here in Banghazi, starting from Banghazi, and we hope that things will be better and the country will go forward, and everything will be free again.

Man 2: [Speaking Arabic]
Translator: ‘Thank God we are happy, we are very happy, honestly, with this great day and this day, the 17th of February. We’ve waited so long for this, to be free from the injustice that we suffered during the reign of the tyrant, Muammar Gaddafi. Thank God for this.’

Werman: It took months of deadly fighting and NATO’s air bombing assistance to topple the dictator and his regime, but it all started in Benghazi, which is where reporter, Marine Olivesi, is.

Marine Olivesi: I’m standing in one of the corners of Liberty Square, the newly named square. The square of the former tribunal where the uprising started exactly a year ago in Benghazi. There are right now thousands of people converging towards Liberty Square, many of them families with young children waving the Libyan flag, chanting.

Werman: So what was the mood among all of these people who have been arriving at the square? Were they kind of, ‘this is our new country.’ Was that their attitude?

Olivesi: Yes, the mood was very, the mood is very festive. There’s a sense of pride in being in Benghazi just because the uprising started here. There’s a famous song that keeps playing that celebrates Banghazi and celebrating the one year anniversary here. It’s just the realization that what a difference a year makes. They started here in a very unlikely uprising, and a year later, they’re here and celebrating the end of a 42 years old dictatorship, so there’s a sense of pride, especially for the town of Banghazi, for the people of Banghazi who started it and took it all the way to the end of the revolution.

Werman: Remind us why Benghazi is considered the heart of the Libyan uprising.

Olivesi: The uprising started with a few demonstrations that were related to the arrest of the lawyer of families whose relatives had been killed during the Abuseley Massacre, so it started with the lawyer was representing some of those families, had just been arrested in Banghazi, and some of the families were protesting against this arrest, and those protests are the ones that triggered the larger protests against Gaddafi leadership, and the town of Benghazi was one of the very first ones in eastern Libya to liberate itself, and that’s where the rebels secured a stronghold from which they, little by little, took over the whole country. It also can be reminded that a lot of Banghazi fighters fought in that revolution until the very end, until [inaudible] the battle for Sirte was fought by Misrati fighters, but also a lot of armed groups from Benghazi participated in the downfall of Sirte that marked the final chapter of the revolution.

Werman: So Marine, in one year what progress has the new government in Libya made in embracing democratic reforms?

Olivesi: Their paths towards the next elections have been set and last week the electoral law that is supposed to regulate the next election in June was published, and that electoral law has been very well received, both by the general population, but also by the international community and diplomats who appreciated some of the provisions. For instance, one of the provisions says that at least 20 percent of the 200 seats will be at play, will have to go to women, so at least 20 percent of those seats which has been seen as a very good progress on the part of the Libyan society to ensure that women will be represented in the next assembly, but there are definitely some challenges and one of them, probably the most critical, relates to the militias. Amnesty International earlier this week published a report that said the militias are still in control of big segments of this society including the detention centers, which is a critical problem because in those detention centers there’s been, Amnesty International says there’s a pattern of abuse and torture going on and, of course, these detention centers, because they’re run by militias, they’re out of control of the National Provisional Council. So the National Provisional Council has been struggling to reign in those hundreds of militias who fought the revolution but don’t want to give up their weapons, and this is still the top priority for the NPC right now as the country marks it’s first year anniversary.

Werman: The singing and the prayers that we heard in Benghazi today, were they strictly about the first anniversary or were they also singing about something else?

Olivesi: The singings were taken from the main hit songs from the revolution, but it’s interesting to note that some of the lyrics have been changed so that they fit into the Syrian context and refer to the Syrian revolution, and some of the lyrics, instead of having the name, Gaddafi, in there, they change it with Bashir al Assad, so singing as a solidarity to the Syrian people in their fight against the dictatorship in Syria as a sign of solidarity and as a sign, shall we say, of larger community in the Arab world because the people in Benghazi feel like they’ve started the revolution in their country and today they’re passing along the message and they hope that the Syrian people have strength to continue their own uprising.

Werman: Okay, Reporter Marine Olivesi, we’re going to leave it there. Thank you very much indeed.

Olivesi: You’re welcome.

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