Toronto for a Free Libya - www.libyatoronto.com - Supporting the February 17th Libyan Revolution and the Libyan people. email: info@libyatoronto.com, twitter: @libyatoronto

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A moving documentary about Mehdi Zew, the 49 year old oil company employee & father of two who, having witnessed innocent young protesters being killed by soldiers in Benghazi's hated military headquarters (the Katiba), filled his car trunk with propane tanks, and drove into the entrance of the Katiba, blowing it open.

That was the end of Gaddafi's control over Benghazi, and effectively all of eastern Libya. His sacrifice was one of the most important moments in the freeing of Libya from the terror of Gaddafi.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODBdN9MYpMA

A return to Tripoli

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16070835

"We Will Remain": A record of the Libyan events in Toronto, 2011

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

King of Kings

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.

Hisham Matar on the capture & killling of Gaddafi

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 freedom fighters enter Benghazi to celebrate Liberation

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.

No subtitles needed

A woman, who lost her son, makes it clear what she thinks of the death of Gaddafi

It's over. Gaddafi is gone. Toronto celebrates!

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).

Celebrate tonight: LIBYA IS FREE! GADDAFI IS GONE!

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Passing on a message from some of the Libyan youth in Toronto:

TO ALL LIBYANS AND FRIENDS OF LIBYANS: We are overwhelmed with joy on this day as the murderous tyrant Gaddafi has finally been captured (his body) and Sirte has at last been liberated by the freedom fighters. These historical events mark a decisive end to a long and painful 9 month battle for freedom and liberation and to the end of over 42 years of suffering!!!

Gaddafi is no more. Sirte is free. LIBYA IS FREE!!!

Join us in celebrating the BEGINNING of a prosperous and FREE Libyan nation!!!

Time and location to be confirmed;

As of now we are aiming for Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto at 6 PM. tonight

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!!BRING FLAGS (CANADIAN AND LIBYAN OR OTHERS )!!!BRING YOUR OUTDOOR VOICES!!!!!!

Libyan Youth

The Surreal Ruins of Qaddafi’s Never-Never Land

An excellent article from the New York Times Magazine, Sep. 25, 2011, by Robert F. Worth. It might help foreigners understand what is behiind the sentiments of one Libyan quoted in the article

“I want Qaddafi to die. And not just to die once, but to die every minute, every hour. Because for 42 years, he was killing us every minute, every hour.”

And, I truly hope othes around the world come to realization that one online commenter to this article did

One thing that shines clear in all this is the incredible strength and character of the ordinary people of Libya. They have shown the most outstanding examples of courage and humanity I have ever seen in my life, and I will remember this to the end of my days. They deserve peace and prosperity, and I hope they find it soon.

I first met Atiri four days later. He was standing in the yard of the prison he had escaped from, a big man in a sweaty orange polo shirt with enormous, haunted eyes. It was noon under a blazing sun, and the smell of rotting corpses was stifling. Three men lay dead on the ground at our feet, their bodies bloated, dried blood pooled around them. Acrid smoke was still rising from the dark interior of the warehouse where Atiri and his fellow prisoners had been held. I walked over to take a look. I have been to a number of war zones, but nothing prepared me for what I saw. Dozens of skulls and twisted skeletons lay in a charred mound, surrounded by bones and bits of old, burned tires. There were at least 50 human remains there, and probably many more. Atiri, standing behind me, had known these men, some of them just teenagers. One was an imam who led them in prayer, he said. Atiri’s eyes roved wildly around the prison yard, his face contorted with grief. It was only after the massacre, he told me, that he realized the significance of something he saw two hours before it all began, as the guards were moving him across the prison yard. An officer had arrived at the prison’s front gate, flanked by aides. A guard whispered to Atiri that it was Khamis el-Qaddafi, the dictator’s youngest son, a military commander known for brutality. “The guard told me, ‘Khamis is signing the orders for your final release,’ ” Atiri said as we stood by the fire-blackened warehouse. “And he laughed.”

By that time, the last great battle of the Libyan civil war was over. After 42 years, the bizarre pageant of Muammar Qaddafi’s rule had collapsed quickly, in a final spasm of senseless killing. Scores of prisoners — perhaps hundreds — were executed at makeshift holding facilities like the one I saw, for no apparent reason. Many of the victims were not even rebels, just citizens picked up in random sweeps in the final days. Even the guards were killed at some jails, perhaps to silence a witness, perhaps because they refused orders. No one could say.

The end left Tripoli in a state of giddy disbelief. On the day I arrived, Bab al Aziziya, the dictator’s high-walled stronghold, lay wide open, with Libyan families strolling through and gazing wonderingly at the ruins. Outside, the vast public square was a wasteland littered with burnt-out cars, twisted metal and rags. Rebels from across Libya rode wildly through the city, firing bursts from rifles and anti-aircraft guns. Young men fanned out to trash every picture of the man known as Brother Leader and to cover the walls with triumphant, satirical graffiti. Muammar — the name is similar to a word for “builder” — was scrawled out and replaced with the rhyming Mudammer, “destroyer.”

But the celebration was tinctured with deep unease. There was still talk of snipers, of a counterattack by Qaddafi’s men, of a fifth column of “sleeper cells” lurking inside the capital. Victory had come too easily. Only weeks earlier, the rebels seemed in disarray, and Qaddafi’s forces, having withstood more than four months of NATO air strikes, seemed poised to hold out for many more. Then, on Aug. 20, a planned uprising broke out in Tripoli, as the ragged rebel army converged on the city from various directions. The final battle, expected to last weeks, was over in two days. Qaddafi and his top lieutenants fled almost immediately. Now it was hard to know who was a killer and who a mere dupe. The rumors changed every few hours: Qaddafi and his sons, who were still issuing lurid threats by satellite phone against the rebel “rats,” were hiding in the tunnels under Tripoli, people said, and might soon flood the city with mustard gas or poison its water.

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