Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/467065
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2015 11 News 'Let Libyans settle their scores' WHAT should the West do as Lib- ya burns? Arsalan Alshinawi's answer to western governments is "not to play with history". "In Libya they have to settle their scores on their own… the French revolution took years to complete and some say that the Russian revo- lution is still unfinished. You cannot fast-track processes which take dec- ades or even centuries to complete." Foreign intervention may bring about stability in the short term but the results tend to be superficial when underlying fissures in society are likely to re-emerge some time later. But how can the West not inter- vene when ISIS, which poses a direct threat to it, is getting stronger? Alshinawi is taken aback by this question, noting how decisions tak- en by Europe and the US have affect- ed the lives of millions in the Arab world and beyond. And it is this Eu- rocentric view of international rela- tions that infuriates Alshinawi. "WWII was fought between Euro- pean countries, but we still suffered its consequences in the Arab world," he says, reminding western audi- ences of Libya's history of colonial- ism. "Gaddafi never lost an occasion to remind Libyans of the brutality of the Italians. Just imagine the reac- tions of Libyans to the return of Ital- ian troops in their country." With interventions in Iraq and Af- ghanistan having served to strength- en Islamic extremism, Alshinawi says that Arabs remain hesitant of intervening in each other's affairs. "We have no history of such inter- ventions." While Western nations were in- vited by Libyan fighters to intervene on their behalf against Gaddafi in air strikes, Alshinawi acknowledges that short-term goals may be accom- plished through intervention. "But when one intervenes to help one side to win against the other, one is bound to suffer a backlash as the los- ers are bound to seek revenge." Alshinawi warns against swift judgements on Islamic State in Libya when most of their actions remain shrouded in secrecy and information about IS is so scant even in areas un- der their control in Iraq. "IS thrives on instability. It thrived in Syria and Iraq and now has taken root in Libya where there is instabil- ity… Why Libya? Apart from the in- stability marked by factional fighting between rival militias, Libya also has a long history of Islamism." And then again, Islamism has also provided most of the resistance against secular regimes like Saddam Hussein's and Muammar Gaddafi's. "Islamic State is more of an 'ideo- logical' than military threat to the West. They do not have aeroplanes. They have no power to bomb Europe or the US. Their strength is their ap- peal to people living on the margins of society, whether they are young people with no prospect in war-torn Arab countries, or young people liv- ing in the abandoned peripheries of European cities." He warns that any misguided young men infuriated by cultural af- fronts like attacks on the Koran or the prophet Mohammed may well use the 'IS brand' to justify individual actions. But Islamism itself is not monolith- ic. IS is not the Muslim Brotherhood – which has opposed oppressive re- gimes – and also not the 'unfashion- able' Al Qaeda. "What is sure is that the best mani- festo one can have in the Muslim world is the Koran," Alshinawi says, predicting that in 10 years' time it is bound to be superseded by some other group thriving on instability and the unresolved issues eating the Islamic world from within. And it's the chaos and instability brought by every foreign interven- tion, that he says would provide the appeal for a popular reaction against 'top-down modernisation' imposed by dictators. "The reasons for this are complex, ranging from short- comings in education and scientific knowledge in the Muslim world." Economic inequality enables ex- tremist groups to position them- selves as representatives of excluded groups, like the Sunnis in Iraq. And while many Muslims are an- gry and Islam is in desperate need of reinventing itself, Alshinawi warns against trying to fast-track history by forcing the Arab world to accept Western 'modernity'. "For millions of Muslims, the Koran is the most sacred things in their lives," he adds. He remains appalled by Glenn Bedingfield – an aide of Prime Min- ister Joseph Muscat – who retweeted a quote com- paring the Koran to Mein Kampf, before apologising for doing so. "He could have compared the butchers who use Islam to perpetuate crimes to the Nazis. But it is irresponsible to compare a book cherished by billions of people to Nazism… "You can't of- fend people who live beside you with what they hold most sacred in their life. You cannot speak as if we are still living in homogeneous commu- nities, which is not the case even in Malta." And he reminds those who defend freedom of speech at all costs that these insults are not only read by university professors but by unedu- cated and marginalised people. Interview by James Debono and its airport after months of fighting against rival fighters largely from the mountain stronghold of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli. In November 2014 Libya's constitution- al court invalidated the parliament in Tobruk, giv- ing the parliament in Tripoli its own claim to legitimacy. It is led by Omar Al Hassi. General Khalifa Haftar Army strongman who as a cadet participated in Muamma Gaddafi's 1969 coup that deposed the Libyan monarchy. "He was my son and I was like his spiritual father," Gaddafi said of the gen- eral when he defected in the 1980s after Gaddafi turned his back on him when he was taken as a prisoner of war in Chad. He subsequently moved to the US and only came back to Libya in March 2011 dur- ing the uprising. He launched 'Operation Dig- nity' as Libya drifted into in- stability, pledging to purge Benghazi of "terrorists" with his self-declared Libyan National Army. He is backed by a loose coalition of eastern tribal groups eager for more autonomy, former Gaddafi army soldiers, and a number of politicians in the House of Representatives. Asked by New Yorker journalist Jon Lee Anderson whether he would be will- ing to serve as President, Haftar smiled, replying: "I would have no problem with that." Ansar al-Sharia One of the most powerful Islamist groups which gained notoriety for its alleged involvement in the 2012 at- tack on the US Consulate in Bengha- zi. It also enjoys support among many Libyans for its emphasis on charity and the services it provides to locals. It distanced itself from more moder- ate Islamist groups such as the Mus- lim Brotherhood, who have partici- pated in Libya's democratic process. They are separate from the Islamist militias that Haftar is fighting. Ansar al-Sharia include the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, described by the BBC as the "biggest and best armed militia in eastern Libya." The militias In the vacuum that followed Gadd- afi's removal, rival militias took up residence in neighbourhoods and public institutions in Tripoli. The main rivalry is between the Zintan and Misurata militias, both of them instrumental in Gaddafi's downfall. Misurata is supported by business leaders and have joined the mainstream Islam- ists, who are battling more secular forces, including the Zintan brigades and tribal units once loyal to Gadd- afi. Egypt and other foreign powers Foreign powers have sowed divi- sions by treating the Libya conflict in terms of a wider regional struggle. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are aligned against Qatar and Turkey in the latter's support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates. Egypt's involvement is an exten- sion of the Napoleonic ambitions of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to quell Islam- ists ambitions regionally. Ironically, his deposition of the democratically- elected Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, is supported by the Salafist Al Nour party. Saudi Arabia, despite practising a form of Islam not at all different from that prac- tised in the 'caliphate', wants to maintain its autocracy and rout out Islamic State troublemak- ers. Equally ambivalent are Qatar and Turkey: they support a galaxy of groups affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya and Syria which however has spilled towards more extremist groups. The immigrants Gaddafi had threatened to flood Europe with sub-Saharan refugees; Islamic State may be planning the same tactic. Up to 6,000 people are detained in severely overcrowded conditions in Libya, Human Rights Watch said in April 2014. But this is a tiny fraction of the three million undocumented migrants and refu- gees estimated to be in the country. Between 500,000 to 800,000 – most- ly from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea – are believed to be waiting to embark on the treacherous crossing. Baghdad-born Dr Arsalan Alshinawi, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Malta, insists that the West should be wary of foreign intervention, warning it risks playing with history by not letting Libyans settle scores deeply rooted in their country's economic, political and cultural realities Omar Al Hassi Khalifa Haftar Abdel FAttah Al Sisi sense of the Libyan chaos 'The French revolution took years to complete and some say that the Russian revolution is still unfinished. You cannot fast- track processes which take decades or even centuries to complete...' International relations expert Arsalan Alshinawi. Photo: Ray Attard