Right now, Libya is hurting. But she is also healing, slowly but surely. Forty two years of autocratic/dictatorship rule cannot be erased overnight. Whether the Islamists take hold in Libya as they have done or are threatening to do in other countries of the Arab Spring remains to be seen. But out of the countries that had revolutions, I do believe Libya is the best off. Their plan for government recognizes the need for political parties, and for keeping religion and government somewhat separate.
I have always believed that mixing religion and politics is a MISTAKE. If a government is bound by religion, it cannot function as freely as one not likewise bound. Invariably, some sort of rights get suppressed. Yes, it would be hard for "new" Libya to be more repressive than the old guard, but if sharia takes hold, another Taliban-style takeover may take place. I doubt Libyan women would let that happen, but then, nobody thought it could happen in Afghanistan either. The Taliban were seen as saviors who would bring peace and stability to the country after a decade and a half of wars, both internal and external. In their defense, in the early days, they did so. But then they began suppressing the women of the country, denying them access to schooling, to jobs, to anything besides being under the foot of their men, and before very long, the country went downhill and was destroying things like the Bamayan Buddha statues.
I would hate to see that in Libya, for her to have a taste of freedom, and then to slide back into the Dark Ages where women are treated as second class citizens, where they're only useful in two rooms of the house-- the kitchen and the bedroom. True men listen to the women in their lives, and they allow them a role in society other than being daughters, wives, and mothers. I have met Libyan men who are like this, I have also met Libyan men who are not like this. It only goes to show one thing a very wise man (a geologist with NOC) told me, that humanity is the same the world over. We feel the same emotions, we bleed the same color red. We are one in the beginning and end. And we can choose either friendship or hatred, though the most beautiful path is friendship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWf-eARnf6U&ob=av2n
I have always believed that mixing religion and politics is a MISTAKE. If a government is bound by religion, it cannot function as freely as one not likewise bound. Invariably, some sort of rights get suppressed. Yes, it would be hard for "new" Libya to be more repressive than the old guard, but if sharia takes hold, another Taliban-style takeover may take place. I doubt Libyan women would let that happen, but then, nobody thought it could happen in Afghanistan either. The Taliban were seen as saviors who would bring peace and stability to the country after a decade and a half of wars, both internal and external. In their defense, in the early days, they did so. But then they began suppressing the women of the country, denying them access to schooling, to jobs, to anything besides being under the foot of their men, and before very long, the country went downhill and was destroying things like the Bamayan Buddha statues.
I would hate to see that in Libya, for her to have a taste of freedom, and then to slide back into the Dark Ages where women are treated as second class citizens, where they're only useful in two rooms of the house-- the kitchen and the bedroom. True men listen to the women in their lives, and they allow them a role in society other than being daughters, wives, and mothers. I have met Libyan men who are like this, I have also met Libyan men who are not like this. It only goes to show one thing a very wise man (a geologist with NOC) told me, that humanity is the same the world over. We feel the same emotions, we bleed the same color red. We are one in the beginning and end. And we can choose either friendship or hatred, though the most beautiful path is friendship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWf-eARnf6U&ob=av2n
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