Posted: 2 August 2012
By Milica Pesic, MDI Executive Director
Of all the revolutions in the Arab Spring the Libyan uprising against the regime of Muammar Gadaffi last year is providing some of the toughest challenges for democrats inside the country.
Libya’s historic 7 July elections were a huge success, but the legacy of Gadaffi, a political genius with a gift for polarising and controlling his people, has left its mark on the political culture.
In particular, the emerging community of journalists faces a tough battle to shake-off years of state control and to establish a genuinely pluralist media system.
A major challenge is to encourage people and institutions to embrace the reality of peace and nation-building. Few people are under any illusion that this will be easy.
In the post-election environment there has been much lawlessness with extrajudicial killings, torture and kidnappings.
A key task facing media is to convince the people working in the industry to make their own revolution, embracing a totally new independent culture that abandons the notion of journalism as propaganda.
They may take some comfort and inspiration from the example set by some of the armed militia, many of whom after the revolution were reluctant to lay down their arms.
After the revolution some militia were blamed for continuing violence, but now a recent study of more than 200,000 of them by the Warriors Affairs commission, has revealed that 70 per cent want to get back to civilian life.
An encouraging and fascinating example of this in practice is revealed by the Abshar Foundation, set up by a local businessman, which helped 200 militia members to give up the fighting and to become election monitors and trainers to help citizens understand the democratic process.
In a society where there is as yet no functioning police force, no established army, and no satisfactory system of government either at local or national level, it is a startling example of what can be done.
Now media have to play their role play to help others build a new political and democratic culture. And there is no time to lose.
The Media Diversity Institute is one of the groups aiming to help Libyan media play its part in rebuilding the country.
In my recent visit to the country I found that painful divisions remain. There are stark differences between communities according to tribe, race and gender.
These differences were exploited in the past, but now there are opportunities for such sensitive issues to be openly discussed.
Crucially the debate needs to be part of a process to build cohesion and better understanding without resorting to the manipulative politics of divide-and-rule practised by Gadaffi.
Many young people also need to be brought into the debate, particularly as I found that some of them feel side-lined by the new leaders despite the key role they played in the revolution.
Other groups need to have their say as well – the rights of people with disabilities is emerging as an issue – but other questions, such as sexual orientation, are just too controversial to be discussed as yet.
At the same time problems of migration involving refugees and people displaced during the turmoil of the revolution remain to be solved. Libya is a country which has used thousands of undocumented people from abroad to work in the service sector.
Like so many other vulnerable groups, migrants have no-one to speak for them given that there is no recognisable civil society in Libya.
A report last month supported by the European Union revealed the enormity of the task to embed notions of democracy in media and to protect vulnerable and marginalised groups.
There is a desperate need to upgrade the skills of journalists and not only in their technical expertise, but to introduce them to the ethical basics of truth-telling, independence, fairness and accountability.
Although media are expanding – some 600 newspapers and 12 television stations have launched in the past year – media routinely launch political attacks and make unsubstantiated allegations in a media environment that is anything but professional.
There will be no short-term fix. To instil principles of sensitivity and inclusion in a community of journalists ruthlessly used as frontline propagandists by Gadaffi media will require commitment to long-term programmes of media support.
However, there are signs of change and the influence of foreign media such as Aljazeera, Al Arabia, and the BBC Arabic network indicates that there are models of independent reporting for national newsmakers to follow.
Now that the votes have been cast media and journalism need to play their role in making the revolution work for democracy. With goodwill at home and international solidarity behind them they have every chance of success.