At 09:00am on 23rd Mar 2011, Mussy wrote: 83. At 09:04am on 23rd Mar 2011, Maria Ashot wrote: LucyJ, No. 12:
Libya has a population of about 6.5 million people. That is a population of about one medium-sized bigger city today. This population controls a very sizable territory that needs more than three million able-bodied, educated adults to administer it and develop it efficiently.
For 42 years, the wealth of this land has been draining into the pockets, vaults and bank accounts of just one family: The Q clan. The name for such "rule" is looting and it has now officially ended.
While it is true that in the past Western powers have struggled and blundered by attempting to impose new values on old societies, the biggest reason for the difficulties encountered in those efforts was that they were brought about in misguided fashion. Consider Iraq. A much bigger population, living in a fairly secular Islamic society under a brutal leader is thrown into a prolonger period of bloody war (beginning with the dreadful bloodletting of a decade fighting Iran, in a war that where the US leadership vigorously backed and encouraged the same Saddam Hussein they later promptly demonised, alleging he had something to do with 9/11 and WMD, when he did not); the culmination of all that violence is the US-led invasion which is brutal, poorly planned, haphazardly executed, etc. etc. -- one huge mess from start to finish -- and which brings in the exact opposite of what they had -- a far more intolerant (from the point of view of religious zealotry) government that is to this day struggling to provide basic services, and leading reconstruction.
But a very significant part of the difficulty in Iraq has to do with the fact that the population of Iraq is 33 or so million (five times bigger than Libya) and that there are stark divisions, and now deep hatred, between the two main branches of Islam. To make it more complicated, the side that went along with the US-led programme is also the side that is closer culturally to Iran -- currently America's greatest sworn enemy. All these factors create dysfunctionality.
Yet, even so, with all these aspects working against success, there is a slow steady movement forward in Iraq. The natural human reaction to trauma is to rebuild systems and heal, if only out of self-preservation instincts. People get up, look at the children in their lives, and are inspired to carry on and to deliver what every adult wants for the kid they love: a better future.
But in Libya the challenges are not nearly so daunting. We have a population that is small, and that is very much united in its opposition to a common enemy. Even though much is always made of the effects of "tribalism" in communities that exist on the African continent, anyone with experience in tribes know that every tribe always has two sets of people who chafe under the "system": women and the young.
Because tribalism is bad for women and limits the aspirations of young people.
One of the phenomena that has not been discussed alongside the Facebook & YouTube effect, in the description of factors contributing the current tide of unrest and rage across the ME, is something demographers have spoken about amongst themselves for quite a number of decades. As bigger and bigger portions of the populations in these countries consist of under-30s, the pressure for an end to tribalism increases.
In a way, tribalism + polygamy create that dangerous cocktail, of too many unemployed young people (especially testosterone-rich young men) with not enough opportunities to shine, that finally has exploded in the part of the planet most committed to this untenable proposition of polygamy and huge families.
I think we are seeing the rapid winding down of tribalism as a form of social organisation for Africa. The technology that all young people crave and so many already possess encourages individuality and the pursuit of personal aspirations -- and that flies in the face of the idea that "I must today obey the elders of my clan, who by the way will tell me whom to have sex with, when and how, and how to bring up my babies, but will not give me a job that pays well, because they don't have one for me."
Anyone who breathes knows (if they believe in God at all) that God did not give them life to be slaves and to be denied the basic pleasures of freedom and youth and enterpreneurship and self-determination.
Therefore, given that the population of Libya is united, that they have this shared experience now forging even greater attachments between them, that there are so many young eager to have a decent future, that there are so many people who are capable and have been for 42 years denied the right to exert themselves on their own behalf, under a just system, I do not think it will be very difficult to persuade them that a government modeled on the kinds of systems that worked for the people who came to free them -- at great risk and as they can now see in defiance of considerable objections from those who would prefer to see Libyans and indeed Arabs slaves forever: slaves to tribalism, to ignorance, to the oppressive regimes that allow no equality for girls or women, that deny young people the right to dance, for example, or to travel and educate themselves and embrace the exact same life the children of privileged, wealthy Arab families are allowed to enjoy freely in Paris, London, Berlin, New York, Rome, Los Angeles, Ibiza etc. etc. -- would be a good kind of government to have for themselves.
Setting one up for a six million population is not hard. I could do it, even by myself, with two score people and a tiny budget. And I am sure the people I trust and admire in the UK, France, the EU, the US even -- the ones who did not botch the job in Iraq, I mean -- have much bigger resources than I do, not to mention expertise and infrastructure.
This Is Not Hard. Really, Truly, Not Hard.
Had the Chinese or Indian governments had the foresight to join the Coalition instead of criticising it, they could not be getting ready to showcase their superior organisational skills. Oh, indeed, they are superb administrators (they need to work on some other stuff though).
And so it will fall to the Europeans, with some Americans besides (who can use the chance for some redemption given the bad rep US skills got thanks to Bush-Cheney arrogant, know-little, neocon-driven sloppiness in Iraq), to help the Libyans -- who do trust them; and are dismayed to see how few Arab leaders actually came to their support, and did not have the courage to stand up the the Q Clan when Libyans were trapped in their darkest hour -- forge for themselves the nation they deserve: a free, democratic, state-of-the-art, moderate, tolerant, model Muslim state for the 21st century.
That should be the target and I fully believe it is achievable, because of the small population, considerable resources, high motivation and proven unity of all Libyans today.
And I think they will become an example for the future. With the hope that, of course, in the future bad leaders will simply resign when called upon, instead of waiting for the people with the rockets to come and push them out of the palaces where they are no longer welcome occupants.
The message to every leader on earth today, Arab as well as any other, is: People on the ground -- ordinary people who work and struggle -- pay your salaries and give you your prerogatives. You are their Employee, not their Boss. And they can fire you At Any Time.
So do your job well, and don't steal.
Even billionaires are vulnerable in the end, and can be held to account, both for how they obtained their riches, and how they spend them.
Libya has a population of about 6.5 million people. That is a population of about one medium-sized bigger city today. This population controls a very sizable territory that needs more than three million able-bodied, educated adults to administer it and develop it efficiently.
For 42 years, the wealth of this land has been draining into the pockets, vaults and bank accounts of just one family: The Q clan. The name for such "rule" is looting and it has now officially ended.
While it is true that in the past Western powers have struggled and blundered by attempting to impose new values on old societies, the biggest reason for the difficulties encountered in those efforts was that they were brought about in misguided fashion. Consider Iraq. A much bigger population, living in a fairly secular Islamic society under a brutal leader is thrown into a prolonger period of bloody war (beginning with the dreadful bloodletting of a decade fighting Iran, in a war that where the US leadership vigorously backed and encouraged the same Saddam Hussein they later promptly demonised, alleging he had something to do with 9/11 and WMD, when he did not); the culmination of all that violence is the US-led invasion which is brutal, poorly planned, haphazardly executed, etc. etc. -- one huge mess from start to finish -- and which brings in the exact opposite of what they had -- a far more intolerant (from the point of view of religious zealotry) government that is to this day struggling to provide basic services, and leading reconstruction.
But a very significant part of the difficulty in Iraq has to do with the fact that the population of Iraq is 33 or so million (five times bigger than Libya) and that there are stark divisions, and now deep hatred, between the two main branches of Islam. To make it more complicated, the side that went along with the US-led programme is also the side that is closer culturally to Iran -- currently America's greatest sworn enemy. All these factors create dysfunctionality.
Yet, even so, with all these aspects working against success, there is a slow steady movement forward in Iraq. The natural human reaction to trauma is to rebuild systems and heal, if only out of self-preservation instincts. People get up, look at the children in their lives, and are inspired to carry on and to deliver what every adult wants for the kid they love: a better future.
But in Libya the challenges are not nearly so daunting. We have a population that is small, and that is very much united in its opposition to a common enemy. Even though much is always made of the effects of "tribalism" in communities that exist on the African continent, anyone with experience in tribes know that every tribe always has two sets of people who chafe under the "system": women and the young.
Because tribalism is bad for women and limits the aspirations of young people.
One of the phenomena that has not been discussed alongside the Facebook & YouTube effect, in the description of factors contributing the current tide of unrest and rage across the ME, is something demographers have spoken about amongst themselves for quite a number of decades. As bigger and bigger portions of the populations in these countries consist of under-30s, the pressure for an end to tribalism increases.
In a way, tribalism + polygamy create that dangerous cocktail, of too many unemployed young people (especially testosterone-rich young men) with not enough opportunities to shine, that finally has exploded in the part of the planet most committed to this untenable proposition of polygamy and huge families.
I think we are seeing the rapid winding down of tribalism as a form of social organisation for Africa. The technology that all young people crave and so many already possess encourages individuality and the pursuit of personal aspirations -- and that flies in the face of the idea that "I must today obey the elders of my clan, who by the way will tell me whom to have sex with, when and how, and how to bring up my babies, but will not give me a job that pays well, because they don't have one for me."
Anyone who breathes knows (if they believe in God at all) that God did not give them life to be slaves and to be denied the basic pleasures of freedom and youth and enterpreneurship and self-determination.
Therefore, given that the population of Libya is united, that they have this shared experience now forging even greater attachments between them, that there are so many young eager to have a decent future, that there are so many people who are capable and have been for 42 years denied the right to exert themselves on their own behalf, under a just system, I do not think it will be very difficult to persuade them that a government modeled on the kinds of systems that worked for the people who came to free them -- at great risk and as they can now see in defiance of considerable objections from those who would prefer to see Libyans and indeed Arabs slaves forever: slaves to tribalism, to ignorance, to the oppressive regimes that allow no equality for girls or women, that deny young people the right to dance, for example, or to travel and educate themselves and embrace the exact same life the children of privileged, wealthy Arab families are allowed to enjoy freely in Paris, London, Berlin, New York, Rome, Los Angeles, Ibiza etc. etc. -- would be a good kind of government to have for themselves.
Setting one up for a six million population is not hard. I could do it, even by myself, with two score people and a tiny budget. And I am sure the people I trust and admire in the UK, France, the EU, the US even -- the ones who did not botch the job in Iraq, I mean -- have much bigger resources than I do, not to mention expertise and infrastructure.
This Is Not Hard. Really, Truly, Not Hard.
Had the Chinese or Indian governments had the foresight to join the Coalition instead of criticising it, they could not be getting ready to showcase their superior organisational skills. Oh, indeed, they are superb administrators (they need to work on some other stuff though).
And so it will fall to the Europeans, with some Americans besides (who can use the chance for some redemption given the bad rep US skills got thanks to Bush-Cheney arrogant, know-little, neocon-driven sloppiness in Iraq), to help the Libyans -- who do trust them; and are dismayed to see how few Arab leaders actually came to their support, and did not have the courage to stand up the the Q Clan when Libyans were trapped in their darkest hour -- forge for themselves the nation they deserve: a free, democratic, state-of-the-art, moderate, tolerant, model Muslim state for the 21st century.
That should be the target and I fully believe it is achievable, because of the small population, considerable resources, high motivation and proven unity of all Libyans today.
And I think they will become an example for the future. With the hope that, of course, in the future bad leaders will simply resign when called upon, instead of waiting for the people with the rockets to come and push them out of the palaces where they are no longer welcome occupants.
The message to every leader on earth today, Arab as well as any other, is: People on the ground -- ordinary people who work and struggle -- pay your salaries and give you your prerogatives. You are their Employee, not their Boss. And they can fire you At Any Time.
So do your job well, and don't steal.
Even billionaires are vulnerable in the end, and can be held to account, both for how they obtained their riches, and how they spend them.
Good luck