Reply #33: Libyan activists push for more open, less homogeneous rebel administration

[tabatha]

One of the few really steady jobs in liberated eastern Libya these days is that of caricaturist, and guys such as Adil Mansur are cleaning up. The 30-year-old history student has drawn posters of dictator Moammar Gadhafi as a dog, a snake and a hanging victim. Today he is producing a large image of rebel interim-government leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil as a mellow and saintly figure.

Another growth field is TV talk-show host. While the regime’s network still broadcasts hours of Col. Gadhafi and his deputies in empty rooms staring straight at the camera and shouting for hours about the crimes of Libya’s enemies, the rebel-controlled network instead offers local celebrity Mahmoud El Warfari, who stares straight at the camera in an empty room and shouts for hours about the crimes of Col. Gadhafi.

Subtlety is in short supply here these days. So is self-criticism: Of the 126 newspapers and more than 100 civil organizations that have sprung up in rebel-held east Libya since a Feb. 17 uprising began the fight against Col. Gadhafi’s control, only one or two offer much other than variations on “Down with Gadhafi” and “Up with the revolution.”

At first, this seemed didn’t seem to be a problem. This is, after all, a country at war, and as long as this region’s young men are dying every day in a prolonged and bloody battle for the country’s freedom, a certain amount of cheerleading and patriotic vitriol seemed appropriate.

http://shabablibya.org/news/libyan-activists-push-for-more-open-less-homogeneous-rebel-administration

(Good thinking in the rest)