“That government is best which governs least” is a line in Henry David Thoreau’s famous essay ‘Civil Disobedience’. He then goes on to say that the best government is that which governs not at all.
Perhaps Thoreau might have changed some of his world-views if he saw what Libya under Gadhafi was like. It certainly wasn’t governed by any discernable administration. Gadhafi had suspended the laws and the constitution, announcing that Libya would be “ruled by the people”. But he didn’t mean all the people. And he was by no means out of the political picture. The country slowly regressed into a backwards police state, or more accurately, a ‘leejan thoria’ (Revolutionary Committee) state. Corruption was present at every social level. The population was exploited to a degree they were unaware of, and any dissent was met with immediate suppression.
It was this totalitarianism that ultimately brought about Gadhafi’s demise, and proved that you can’t completely suppress a nation’s humanity.
But with Libya starting over, there is a sort of latent, pressing need to fit Libyans collectively under one identity, perhaps to keep together the unity which helped propagate the revolution. Libya is 100% Sunni Muslim, they say, so we must all want the same thing, right?
Some things are of course unanimously agreed up. Freedom of speech, the right to a proper education and healthcare system, we all want the basic necessities which are taken for granted in developed countries and which had long been abandoned as lost causes under the dictatorship. But what about politics? The role of women? It’s here that things aren’t as obvious, and which fuels the desire to find a niche into which all Libyans can fit.
And it’s not just a longing to be on the same wavelength, but also apprehension and even fear of different opinions and beliefs. This can largely be blamed on the Gadhafi regime, where your decisions were made for you and no one was ever given an opportunity to voice their thoughts. Concepts like diversity, or individualism, were alien, and it’s necessary to reintroduce them.
This is an issue that Libyans must tackle head-on. The drafting of the constitution will help establish the direction Libya will be headed, which is why it needs to be a top priority for the NTC. Once we know and agree upon what future we want for the country, we can start working towards it. Whether you’re religious or secular, we all want a better Libya. Keeping an open mind will go a long way towards making this a reality.