The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
23 Feb 2011
Libya is on a knife's edge with many predicting the imminent ousting of the country's dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled over the country for 42 years, as high-level diplomats desert Libya's autocratic regime. In a desperate bid to cling to power, the Gaddafi regime has cracked down on anti-government demonstrators in the most brutal manner, killing an unconfirmed number of protestors.
The unrest has reached the capitol city of Tripoli and reports have emerged that protestors have seized military bases, weapons and tanks. Al Jazeera reports that soldiers in the Eastern Libyan city of Tobruk have said that they no longer support the regime.
Gaddafi's son is threatening civil war to keep his father in power.
For more on developments in Libya as they unfold, follow the Guardian newspaper's live blog updates here.
The call for democracy and citizens' actions against autocratic regimes in the Middle East is growing. Watch a pictorial essay - from the Christian Science Monitor - of protests on the island nation of Bahrain here.
Meanwhile, as the winds of change blow through the region, writing in Asia Times, Pepe Escobar ponders the future of the House of Saud.
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