Campus Debate Societies Now Active in Libya

Photo of 2007 debate: Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, second left holds a copy of the Green Book during a debate that was moderated by David Frost, left and is to be aired by the British Broadcast Corp. and hosted also American political theorist Benjamin Barber, second right and British social scientist Anthony Giddens, right, on the sidelines of celebrations marking the 30-year anniversary of the declaration of the "jamahiriya," or "rule of the masses, in Sabha, Libya Friday, March 2, 2007

From http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnAMA755746.html

Libyan media, campus clubs start governance debate
Thu 26 Jun 2008, 8:14 GMT

By Lamine Ghanmi

TRIPOLI, June 26 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi has peeled back another layer of state control in Libya, for the first time tolerating cautious public debate about how the OPEC member country should be governed as it rebuilds after sanctions.

In a system that criminalises dissent and bans political parties, only the economy had been up for genuine public discussion in recent years.

Political change in the north African state of six million is firmly off the agenda, and no one doubts the underlying levers of control remain firmly in the hands of Gaddafi, now just over a year away from his 40th anniversary in power.

But in plush offices in a middle class suburb of Tripoli, journalists working for a new newspaper started by a prominent reformist son of Gaddafi are writing of ideas directly relevant to politics, such as tolerance, free speech and good governance.

Aicha al Tawargui, a Tripoli university teacher, sees a new boldness in many newspapers, including Oea, which was started last year by Gaddafi's influential son Saif al-Islam.

"The press is reporting extensively about social issues ranging from corruption, drugs and lack of culture and entertainment opportunities for youth, to abuses of children and violence in prisons," said Tawargui, who also writes in Oea.

Oea's appearance is one of a string of reformist measures in the last year that have stirred interest among Libyans long used to the idea that the economy is the only arena for reform.

In April Libya freed 90 al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels from prison, and over the past year has allowed the return of several liberal opponents from exile in Europe and the United States.

"STRAY DOGS"

Also, debating societies on governance have sprung up at universities, some attended by former Islamist or secular dissidents once reviled as "stray dogs" or "heretics".

The state has allowed rights activists to set up groups with names like Democracy Centre and Justice Association -- something that would have been impossible not long ago due to the official dogma that Libya's rule-by-the-masses system makes no mistakes.

The media is the most generally visible sign of change. For years, only two men were allowed to wonder out loud about the political implications of Libya's opening to the world after years of Western sanctions - Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam.

Now others can, albeit cautiously, join in the discussion, a huge change in a society where civic and voluntary associations of all kinds have been stunted by years of heavy-handed statism.

Oea editor-in-chief Mahmoud Bousifi said the Oea experience was part of a broader vision to reform Libya.

"Our press work is different from the state media which sides with the state and could not help cure the state's flaws and failures," he said, speaking in an office equipped with gleaming state-of-the-art computers.

"Oea was born to expand freedom of expression and opinion, to fight corruption -- and there is a lot of corruption in Libya," said Bousifi, a leading writer.

Oea, together with another newspaper, a television station and a radio station, are published by Tomorrow Company, sponsored by Saif al Islam.

It tackles a range of themes - corruption, mismanagement, violence in prisons, abuses of teenage workers and other social woes. Amine al Cherif, another Oea journalist, said several managers at state firms and bodies were fired while others were under investigation due to Oea reports.

"The hands of officials which had been used to crack down on freedom have been neutralised," he said.

Not everyone is happy. Asmaa Ben Said, a veteran journalist who joined Oea, said it was hardly a beacon of independence.

"The symbols of the old press joined Oea. There is no difference with other Libyan press groups, only journalist salaries are more than 80 percent higher in Oea," she said.

"WE HAVE TO BE COURAGEOUS"

Ismail Bouaichi, an independent journalist, sees the press opening as timid, with no guarantees it will last.

"The situation is not clear yet. The vision is not clear yet either for the media or the economy or politics," he said.

The campus debating societies are also stirring up ideas.

A frequent topic is Saif al-Islam's 2007 call for a written constitution enshrining an independent media, central bank and high court in order to build a stable, tolerant society.

He says the current Jamahiriya system of rule by popular committees, set up in 1977 and mixing Islamic ideas with socialism, was good on paper but had flaws in practice.

Independent analysts say Saif al-Islam's targets include corrupt apparatchiks who have thrived under statist policies and have a record of opposing greater state accountability.

At one recent debate at Tripoli university debating club, participants heard a stirring defence of Jamahiriya and the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power.

"We will take up weapons to defend the gains people won under the revolution," said a top official from the Revolutionary Committees, Libya's de facto ruling organisation of hardline Gaddafi enthusiasts, alarming reformers who want more individual rights for Libyans.

The next meeting proved to be a pleasant surprise for the reformers, when another Committees man blamed the organisation for unspecified failings he said now required correction.

"Who made the constitution an urgent demand today? The Revolutionary Committees are the cause," this official told the meeting, attendees who declined to be identified said.

"We have to be courageous and criticise ourselves and tell the truth." (Editing by William Maclean edited by Richard Meares)