Libya speaks up!

Back in May and June, together with colleague Ben Moran I was lucky enough to head to rebel-held Libya to take a look at the media that was emerging. What was taking place added up to one of the most extraordinary media environments I’ve ever been lucky enough to find myself in; so much energy, so much enthusiasm and eagerness to get started, get talking, and make things happen. It was really a charge. Most of the coverage of Libya we see – for obvious reasons – is of the rebel fighters, now taking over Tripoli and rushing towards Sirte. In Benghazi in May and June, there were certainly a lot of guns about; but there was also a great surge of energy as civil society networks tried to grasp and use this new space they had, and media was a big part of that. That, too, is an extraordinary story, experienced day-to-day by every citizen who often could still hardly believe it was happening.

The report from that research came out a week or two ago; I won’t re-hash it or go into too much extra commentary here. That was for Internews, for whom I often work. There are many, many unanswered questions about what will happen in Libya now, and I don’t intend to start commenting or speculating on all those possibilities – which is beyond my capacity anyway, after such a short trip. One of the most evocative statements I heard, though, and which was mentioned by several people, was that now ‘Libyans are finding out who they are.’ After several decades under Gaddafi’s regime, unable to speak and share ideas, information, and everything else, the possibility of finally exploring what Libya and Libyan society could become appeared – at least to my eyes – both exhilarating and daunting to many.