Toronto for a Free Libya - www.libyatoronto.com

The first LIbyan rally in Toronto last year in support of the people of Libya was held on February 20, in Yonge-Dundas Square. Many other rallies were held there last winter, into the spring, and people also gathered there in impromptu victory celebrations when Tripoli fell in August, and again when the final victory was achieved in October.

So, it was the most appropriate place for people to meet to mark the first anniversary of the February 17th Revolution, with a small buy happy gathering on February 18th this year.

Photos are here

More photos of other evernts on the same Flickr account, and a video of most of the Toronto-area events of 2011 is posted here:

A project initiated by one Toronto teacher, linking Canadian and Libyan students together...

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.html?id=8cdc9009-d2c2-4...

I've put together a 19-minute video, capturing most of the events held in the Toronto area (plus the big Ottawa rally) in support of the Libyan Revolution this year.

From rallies in the cold of February, to the container events sending desperately needed supplies to Libyan refugees, to the impromptu celebrations, as first Tripoli fell, and then finally Sirte, this is one view of what the local Libyan community has done.

There was much more happening behind the scenes. Time spent lobbying politicians and press, fundraising (and a huge amount of money was raised, in aid of Libyans in need), and medical assistance, especially from the large Libyan-Canadian medical community.Many doctors and other volunteers went to Libya (as did some younger Canadians to join the fighting).

Everyone was involved, from those who left Libya decades ago, to recent immigrants, to those born here. There was one focus and one goal all year. Freedom for Libya.

There are three significant events not recorded in this video. The first two I was unable to attend. The third happened too late to make the cut. (An earlier version of this video was shown there).

• The March 13th press conference with the first three Libyan-Canadian doctors to visit Libya soon after the Revolution begain.
• The first Annual General Meeting (May 28)of the new Canadian Libyan Council (New, redesigned website to come soon!)
• The combined Eid al-Adhar/"Libyan Liberation" celebration held Nov. 12.

Notes on watching video:

• To watch in full High Definition, click the full screen logo in the bottom right (to right of  HD logo)
• You may want to let it buffer a bit. (Pause the display to let more of it download -- let the grey bar progress) before continuing

  It may be slow or choppy with slow internet connections (or older computers). If so try:

• Exit full screen (hit escape)
• It's possible you may need to turn off High Def. Click the HD logo near bottom right so it becomes greyed-out)

Photo collage from some of the events:

Next:
My wife and I are planning to make a small documentary about what the Revolution has meant to the local Libyan community, but for now, this video gives a small picture of what this year has looked like.

Notes on music in the video:

"I Will Remain" by Dr Adel Idris Almsheeti

The song, written in tribute to the first protesters in Benghazi who stood their ground against the gunfire and killing unleashed on them, quickly became an anthem of the Revolution. Below is a translation I found on the Internet.

We will remain here
We will remain here till the pain vanishes
we will live here

O my homeland
the land of resistance
you are inside me

Despite the enemies' plots
despite the indignation (woes)
we will aim to spread the grace
we will look forward to rise up our ambitions by walking to the to the highest Peaks

So let us all rise, holding our pens

"Ya Bladi" (My country) by Ahmed Fakroun.
Again, an Intenet translation:

Oh my country, loving you is always on my mind
Nothing in the world is more precious than you

Oh my country, you're beautiful
Oh fondness breeze and song
I'm the lover and you're the secret conversation
Living in my mind and imagination

In your eyes I see my father, mother and my love
My child of tomorrow, and my daughter's laugh
and my grand parents' soil

Oh my country, loving you is always on my mind
Nothing in the world is more precious than you

"Eyes that Bleed" by Sha3er al Sahra

"Allaho Akbar" by Dr. Abdulhafeed Ali, a Toronto-area Libyan-Canadian doctor

A good article on the end of Gaddafi in the Nov. 7 New Yorker, by Jon Lee Anderson

Excerpt:

During the long uprising in Libya, I toured the wreckage of Muammar Qaddafi’s forty-two years in power. There were the usual trappings of solipsistic authority—the armaments and ornaments—but above all there was a void, a sense that his mania had left room in the country for nothing else. Qaddafi was not the worst of the modern world’s dictators; the smallness of Libya’s population did not provide him with an adequate human canvas to compete with Saddam or Stalin. But few were as vain and capricious, and in recent times only Fidel Castro—who spent almost half a century as Cuba’s Jefe Máximo—reigned longer.

Full article here.

Some thoughts on the capture of Gaddafi by the excllent Libyan-American-British author and poet, Hisham Matar. He knows well the impact of Gaddafi on the lives of Libyans. When Matar was young, his own father, a dissident, was kidnapped while living "safely" in exile in Egypt.

He was taken to the most notorious of Libyan prisons, Abu Salim, and, other than a couple of smuggled letters years ago, was never heard from again.

First, Matar reads a poem by Khaled Mattawa, expressing forcefully the emotions Libyans feel, especially those who have family "disappeared" or impisoned.

Listen: http://soundcloud.com/rebeccakesby1/khaled-mattawa-poem-after-42

But then, Matar's own thoughts on the capture & killing of Gaddafi (these were tweeted today, the official day of Libyan liberation):

Extraordinary sacrifices made by ordinary Libyans were for a different reality, where even criminals are treated justly & humanely.

If we are to authentically replace the Libyan dictatorship, we must not surrender to the base desire for retribution.

We are not only defined by what we oppose but by what we build in this world.

Our actions express our character.

And it is in the details of action where one finds the character of a movement, the character of a nation.

The moment of capturing Qaddafi was charged, I know, but we must be vigilant. Revenge is as hollow as a grave, and just as dark.

@hishamjmatar

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hisham-Matar/150315995027007

The liberation of Libya will be offically proclaimed on Oct 23, in Benghazi where the revolution began, 2 days before the official Feb. 17 "Day of Rage" that turned out to be the beginning of the Libyan Revolution.

Peaceful citizens were killed with withering gunfire, but in the end, the dictatorship -- and the dictator -- were killed by courageous and determined citizens.

Now the hard part begins, building a country from the shell left by Gaddafi. There is little infrastructure to build on, but there is much heart, determination and spirit.

This is a very moving video.

This morning, while driving to work and trying to absorb the fact of Gaddafi being gone -- gone from Libya, gone from this life -- I turned off the radio, and pressed the CD button. There was a CD inside that I hadn't played in many years; I'd grabbed it the other day looking for something different.  It was an old Randy Newman CD, and when it spun up, it played his song "Better off Dead". 

Yes, I thought, the world, and Libya are indeeed better off that he's dead.

Tonight, the Toronto Libyan community & supporters gathered to celebrate together at Yonge-Dundas Square, which has hosted so many rallies for Libya. It was, in fact, eight months to the day after that first rally back on Feb. 20.  There was a much different feel tonight.

One photo from tonight; one from Feb. 20. (Photos from some of the earlier rallies are at www.photos.libyatoronto.com).