Libya

“I’ve never witnessedsuch rain in all my life!” that’s what most Libyans will tell you when talkingabout the amount of rain the country has seen in the last few weeks sinceGaddafi was toppled. Libyans consider rain a good omen, in a country where 90%of its land is a dry desert; it’s not surprising that any drop of rain will be cherishedand interpreted as a blessing from heavens, especially when many will admit thatthe evilness of Gaddafi kept rain away from falling on the country. And I mustadmit that I myself have never witnessed such rain in my life! During the […]

If you walk along thenorthern edge of Tripoli old town, close to the ancient roman Marcus Aurelius arch,you are most likely going to meet many of the Libyan artists that have beenoccupying small studios in the old European consulates that used to be based inthis area of town. Radwan Abushwisha was walking under the afternoon sun withhis shoulder bag, a bearded middle aged man, with lines of a hard life carvedon his face. Radwan is a poet, writer and painter, who lived for many years inIreland in the 1970’s and 1980’s, is a unique example of the Libyanintelligentsia, that suffered […]

Just across the streetfrom the United Nations mission headquarters in Tripoli’s Baladiya Street, stands al-Safwa hotel.A decade ago, young and upcoming Libyan writers and intellectuals used to meetup at its small cafe, where it became during the years a centre for Libyanintelligentsia in Tripoli to meet, and discuss and read their latest literaryworks. I used to visit the place every time I visited Libya, but during theyears this group that often visited the cafe stopped coming back, some weresucked into the pressure of the daily hardships of life, others found newplaces, as public places in the city grew in number, […]

Waking up in the old room,adjusting to the new reality of the place, recalling the details of the housethat used to be and still is home, after long and eventful weeks and months, Irealised that I am back in Libya. I didn’t have a plan for thisvisit, besides spending good time with the family and listening to themnarrating their account of the past months, their hopes and fears, I decided tolet my plans loose, and to reflect on the dramatic change the country is goingthrough. I found a stack of new Libyannewspapers; my brother got me before I arrived, so […]

The way to Libya started in Tunisia, as it all began during this year of revolutions. I took the plane from Tunis to Djerba around six o’clock in the evening. The Tunisair express plane was full of Libyan families, with children mostly wearing t-shirts brandishing the images and symbols of the Libyan revolution. A lone young man with crutches hopping on the plane stairs, his left arm bandaged, which I assumed was one of the injured and wounded young Libyans crushed in this bloody war for liberation. Arriving at Djerba in the after seven in the evening, I took a […]