DeepSummary
In this episode of Strength and Solidarity, host Akweyamosu interviews Libyan human rights lawyer Ilham Saudi about the challenges of building a regime of rights and justice in post-Gaddafi Libya. Saudi discusses the findings of consultations carried out by her organization, Lawyers for Justice in Libya, to understand Libyans' expectations for justice, reconciliation, and their rights.
Saudi explains the obstacles faced by civil society in Libya, including threats, harassment, and a crackdown on their activities. She talks about her own experience of being forced into exile due to threats against her life and the challenges of continuing advocacy work from abroad while facing systematic online harassment.
Despite the difficulties, Saudi expresses optimism about the potential for creating a new framework that respects human rights in Libya. She emphasizes the importance of holding accountable both Libyan actors and the international community, which she believes has contributed to the culture of impunity in the country.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Building a regime of rights and justice in post-Gaddafi Libya faces significant obstacles, including a lack of stable governance, a culture of impunity, and threats against civil society.
- Consultations revealed that Libyans have a nuanced understanding of justice, reconciliation, and their rights, and a strong desire for a permanent solution to the conflict.
- Civil society in Libya has faced severe crackdowns, including physical threats, assassinations, and suppression of their activities, forcing many to operate from exile.
- Despite the challenges, advocates like Ilham Saudi remain optimistic about the potential for creating a new framework that respects human rights in Libya.
- Saudi criticizes the international community for contributing to the culture of impunity in Libya and calls for accountability for both domestic and foreign actors.
- Systematic online harassment and threats, particularly against women, have become a significant challenge for human rights defenders operating from exile.
- Building a strong civil society capable of holding authorities accountable is seen as crucial for advancing human rights and justice in Libya.
- The personal cost of advocacy work, including threats and exile, is a reality for human rights defenders like Saudi, yet they remain committed to their cause.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “If you want to be really optimistic, you can say, well, in the long term, we have the privilege of creating a new country. And I think that's kind of what motivates deeply a lot of us is if we just stick this out, then we will be able to build a good constitution, we'll be able to build a new framework that respects these things.“ by Ilham Saudi
- “I don't think that it's despite of this conflict that people demand these rights still, it's because of this conflict that people have understood why their rights are so much more important.“ by Ilham Saudi
- “The international community that's heavily involved in Libya has become a key component of enshrining this culture of impunity and culture of absolute lack of responsibility.“ by Ilham Saudi
- “We've seen civil society targeted physically with quite a number assassinated. We've seen people who've been kidnapped, who've been disappeared, who've had allegations put to them that are false, who've had their offices shut, all sorts of measures to suppress them.“ by Ilham Saudi
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Episode Information
Strength & Solidarity
Strength & Solidarity
4/21/22
With the fall of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 ,four decades of tyranny came to an end and Libya experienced an all too brief period of optimism–its own Arab Spring. But the hopes were overwritten by a lawless and violent competition for power and resources, egged on by foreign actorskeen to access the country’s mineral wealth. If you were an advocate of justice and human rights in a democratic state of laws, where did that leave you? How could you advance your vision in such conditions? Human rights lawyer Elham Saudi was eventually forced into exile by hostile militias but she tells host Akwe Amosu how she and the rest of civil society are keeping the flame alive, albeit at great personal cost. And in the Coda, Guatemalan activist Gabriel Wer shares a haunting poem by Argentinian poet Juan Gelman on keeping faith with the country and culture that made you, even if you have to leave.
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