Blogging Benghazi from Belfast
Malachi O’Doherty has a direct line to Benghazi, interviewing “an activist in Benghazi who was witness to the protests and the progress of the revolution there”.
“Last night, for instance, he told me that he was recommending to protesters that they return the weapons they had captured from the army and trust the local commandos to protect them. Some were following this advice, others were holding onto the weapons, anxious that an army leader who had joined them the previous day now seemed to have disappeared.”
The raw interviews illustrate a crucial difference between blogging and mainstream journalism.
Listen to the three interviews here:
Region: Global
Watching Gaddafi’s speech on the BBC News Channel reminded me disburbingly of Bruno Ganz’s portrayal of Hitler in Downfall. I fear this time though the mad dictator may win in the end.
No in the end he will lose . The Libyan people are too educated
just like the Tunisians . Once the edifice starts to crumble that’s it . Sanctions will be enforced -the UN has already intervened and Libyan diplomats have and are resigning.
The fact that Ghadaffi has silenced , jailed or slaughtered all opposition during his reign just makes his toppling a little more difficult as the ‘overthrowers’ have to find an alternative focus for their ‘revolt ‘ But he will go . Libya is not Zimbabwe nor is it Egypt but Ghadaffi’s credibility has been dealt a mortal blow .
Qadaffi certainly has a way with words, calling democracy protesters “Greasy cats and rats” acusing them of being on “LSD tablets”
He would probably make an excellent local councillor.
Poor Mr Al Megrahi being sent home to Libya into this mess.
Perhaps we should seek to repatriate him back to his safe comfy cell in Scotland to serve the rest of his sentence where his human rights will be respected?
Good point Cynic…………..his lawyers will probably sue us for sending the poor chap back to …home ??
LibyanYouthMovement (@ShababLibya)
26/02/2011 20:29
BREAKING: there will be a new interim government set up in the East of Libya, and Benghazi is capital until Tripoli liberated #Libya #Feb17
I was amazed that in all the interviews with Gerry Adams no-one asked him if he had sympathy for his old pal Ghaddaffi in his predicament – surely SF would give the Colonel asylum at Stormont?
Is there an equivilant word for Godwin’s law but relating to outstanding parochialism on a world story?
I think the fact that much of the weapons and armoured veihicles used against the people of North Africa are British produce is more the story.
Of course when it was pointed out the the tear gas used in Bahrain the defence was that it was sold for national defence (it is illegal to sell arms etc. to countries to use on their own citizens) which would be a strange use for tear gas.