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| Libya-Dr. Atani and Dr. Mansour |
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| Dr. Mansour and Dr. Atani made many a friend among participants outside of the lectures, always to be found bridging the culture and communication gap |
Our two onboard guests from Libya introduced the
country and system of government and society of which many of us know
so little. In only two lectures, a basic description of Libya in the
first and on the country's unique system of governance and society
in the second, Dr. Atani, a professor in Tripoli, and Dr. Mansour,
a pharmaceutical scientist, did as best they could to answer our basic
question of what is Libya? After three-plus decades of Italian colonization
ending in WWII and followed by inept government, the Libyan state
as we know it was born through revolution in 1969 led by the country's
de facto leader, Colonel Gaddafi. The system established was given
the name Jamahiriya,"meaning state of the masses"and is
in theory a more pure, just and equitable system of democratic governance,
which tries to do away with political parties, than current systems
of democracy or socialism. Participants were spirited in their questioning
of how much freedom of speech the average Libyan has, on the position
of women in society, the question of terrorism and on the existence
of Israel. The message in their answers, which were fairly un-controversial,
was that Libya is a country which deserves more credit for having
a decent way of life, level of freedom and equality and outlook on
the world than it gets. The lectures and daily interactions with our
extremely pleasant and enjoyable guests helped us come closer to understanding
a people and government that, right or wrong, gets a pretty bad rap
in the international press, and helping us to truly grow roots of
friendship in a new country. |
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| Peace Boat's 37th Voyage |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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