Nostalgia For Gaddafi
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Libya has been marking an anniversary of sorts this week: ten years since the dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was killed, having been toppled from power as part of the Arab Spring. Since then, elections have been held, and a much-delayed election for a new President is due at the end of this year. But few have much faith in this process. Whole swathes of Libya are beyond the control of the national government in Tripoli. So it’s perhaps not surprising in these circumstances that some Libyans are nostalgic for the days of Gaddafi’s rule, despite the human rights abuses which took place. Among those who remain loyal is the man who was once Gaddafi’s advisor, and sometime interpreter. Tim Whewell has been talking to him.
Democracy in Libya may be very much a work in progress, but here in Europe, there are some who feel that long-standing democracies are also being threatened. The murder in Britain of the MP, David Amess was described by many as an attack on democracy itself. And that suggestion had echoes from a recent killing in the
Peter De Vries was famous as an investigative reporter in the Netherlands. He ignored repeated threats to his life, while he bravely uncovered the power of international criminals. This week, two men went on trial in Amsterdam, accused of murdering him. It was an act the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, said was “an attack on the free journalism so essential for our democracy". But then Mr Rutte has himself had to change his habit of cycling alone through Holland’s streets, because he too has received death threats. Anna Holligan reports.
During its twenty year presence in Afghanistan, American troops brought in billions of dollars’ worth of gear, and quite a lot of it seems to have found its way into the hands of smugglers, who brought it across the border to neighbouring Pakistan. Some of it is still sold furtively in small towns, but one Lahore shopkeeper is making a good living by selling very openly this stolen US Army equipment. Ironically, he considers himself an implacable enemy of all things American, and a supporter of the Taleban. Ali Kazmi went to meet him.
With just days to go until the COP26 summit on climate change, there’s ever more pressure being applied to countries to explain how they propose to get to net zero or in other words, how to reach the point where they do not contribute any net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. They’re being encouraged both to set targets, and to outline what measures they will introduce to reach them. But there’s an island in Denmark which has already gone one stage further and become “carbon positive.” Ritula Shah went to Samsoe to find out how they've done it.
When you think of ancient mummies, you might think of Egypt, with its famously preserved pharoes and other leading lights of that ancient civilisation. In fact, the oldest mummies in the world were discovered in Chile. They were discovered in 1917 by a German archaeologist, but it took decades for the mummies to be correctly dated, and identified as part of the Chinchorro civilisation. And they’re still not on the tourist map, the way that the pyramids and their long dead occupants are. Jane Chambers travelled into the heart of what was once Chinchorro country, to see the mummies for herself.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts |
| 0:05.2 | Today we hear about a criminal trial in the Netherlands for a murder which many there |
| 0:10.4 | saw as an attack on democracy itself. There's a visit to the shop in Pakistan where you |
| 0:16.0 | can buy all kinds of stolen American military equipment, though you may have to tread on |
| 0:21.2 | the stars and stripes to get it. Hoping for an environmental lesson, our correspondent |
| 0:27.6 | travels to the Danish island which is not just carbon neutral but carbon positive. And |
| 0:33.7 | we hear about an extraordinary collection of ancient preserved mummies, not in Egypt, |
| 0:38.8 | but Chile. First Alibia, which has been marking an anniversary of sorts this week, 10 |
| 0:44.8 | years since the dictator Colonel Moore Markadafi was killed, having been toppled from power |
| 0:50.3 | as part of the Arab Spring in 2011. Since then, elections have been held, indeed a much |
| 0:56.7 | delayed election for a new president is due at the end of this year, but few have much faith |
| 1:01.8 | in this process. Whole swathes of Libya are beyond the control of the national government in |
| 1:07.1 | Tripoli, and there it's armed militia which hold power rather than elected politicians. |
| 1:13.2 | So it's perhaps not surprising in these circumstances that some Libyans are nostalgic for the days |
| 1:19.2 | of Gaddafi's rule, despite the massive human rights abuses which took place. Many of the |
| 1:24.6 | Colonel's opponents were imprisoned and tortured, thousands killed. But among his diehard fans is |
| 1:31.1 | the man who was once Gaddafi's foreign advisor and occasional interpreter. He shared with Tim Hule the |
| 1:37.5 | reasons for his enduring loyalty. If things had turned out differently, very differently, |
| 1:43.8 | the tourists who raps and eyes about atmospheric old Mediterranean port towns like Rhodes or Palermo |
| 1:50.9 | or Dubrovnik would also be raving about Durna. Durna? Durna, of the sweet night ballooning |
| 1:58.5 | Jasmine, with its ancient suks and graceful 42-domed old mosque. Durna, vibrant and cosmopolitan, |
| 2:07.5 | molded by Andalusian and other emigres, captured by the Americans in 1805 in the first Barbary War. |
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