Special Focus on Libya
Understanding the Arab Spring
from the Inside
Arab American
Community Coalition
Global
Classroom
Workshops
made possible
by:
THE
NORCLIFFE
FOUNDATION
A Resource Packet for Educators
COMPILED BY:
And World
Affairs Council
Members
Giavana Margo
Brittany Bonning & Tese Wintz Neighbor
WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL
February 29, 2012
Photos: http://www.takepart.com/photos/year-end-arab-spring, http://sexualviolenceinconflict.blogspot.com/2012/01/support-women-of-libya-sign-women4libya.html
and http://theelectionreview.com/youths-come-forward-arab-spring-enters-into-winter/
SPECIAL FOCUS ON LIBYA: UNDERSTANDING THE ARAB
SPRING FROM THE INSIDE
Table of Contents
THE ARAB SPRING ..................................................................... 2
Background Information .......................................................... 2
Country Profiles........................................................................ 3
Articles & Lesson Plans ............................................................. 4
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA .................................... 9
Country Profile ......................................................................... 9
Map ........................................................................................ 10
Basic Facts ...............................................................................11
Timeline ................................................................................. 12
Background Resources........................................................... 15
Environmental Issues............................................................... 17
LIBYA AND THE REVOLUTION .................................................. 19
Articles & Educational Resources ........................................... 19
Economic Effects .................................................................... 27
WOMEN IN THE REVOLUTION .................................................. 28
Articles & Lesson Plans ........................................................... 28
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA .................................................... 30
Freedom of the Press in Libya ................................................ 30
Articles & Lesson Plans ............................................................31
General Resources on Journalism ........................................... 36
Media Literacy.........................................................................37
Libyan News Sources.............................................................. 39
LOOKING AHEAD ..................................................................... 40
Articles & Lesson Plans ........................................................... 40
Models of Democracy ............................................................. 41
BOOKS / LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES / VOLUNTEER
PROGRAMS ............................................................................. 42
Books ..................................................................................... 42
Local Resources...................................................................... 44
NGOs, IGOs and Non-Profits in Libya ..................................... 45
Journalism Volunteer/Action Programs .................................. 46
INTEGRATING STEM TOPICS INTO YOUR TEACHING ................. 48
Resources & Articles ............................................................... 48
ED STEPS: GLOBAL COMPETENCE MATRIX ............................... 51
Chronology
5
Profile 8
28
THE DAY AFTER
“The Day After” refers to a new category which highlights teaching ideas
that can easily be adapted to “the day after” a workshop presentation.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ARAB SPRING
RESOURCES – BACKGROUND
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-215_162-57318104/obamas-mideast-mess/
The Guardian: Arab Spring: An Interactive Timeline of Middle East Protests (1/5/2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline
This interactive timeline traces key events of the revolutions across the Middle East and Africa.
Washington Post: Middle East and North Africa in Turmoil
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/middle-east-protests/
Anti-government protests are spreading rapidly through the Middle East and North Africa. Use this chart to
keep up with all of the demonstrations, day by day. Click a country on the map or the tabs below to read more.
INKLINGS OF THE ARAB SPRING
Hoover Institution: An Arab Spring? (4/30/2005)
http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/7361
Last year in these pages I wrote about the idea of democratic realism, the foreign policy that is associated
with neoconservatives and the president’s promotion of democracy globally, particularly in the Middle
East. It went to the popular test last November and passed.
Hoover Institution: The Strange Survival of the Arab Autocracies (12/13/2010)
http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/58836
Five or six years ago, it felt like the springtime of the Arabs. The Iraqi experiment had survived the assault
on it by the jihadists, the media, and the rulers of the neighboring Arab states. Much as Arabs discounted
the new order in Iraq as the imposition of an American imperium, much as they spoke of a despotic Iraqi
culture that knew no middle ground between anarchy on one side and tyranny on the other, a democratic
example was putting down roots in the most arid of soil.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ARAB SPRING
COUNTRY PROFILES
International Crisis Group
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about.aspx
The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to
preventing and resolving deadly conflict.
International Crisis Group: Algeria
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/algeria.aspx
International Crisis Group: Egypt
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/egypt-syria-lebanon/egypt.aspx
International Crisis Group: Iran
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/iran.aspx
International Crisis Group: Iraq
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/iraq.aspx
International Crisis Group: Jordan
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/jordan.aspx
International Crisis Group: Bahrain
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/bahrain.aspx
International Crisis Group: Lebanon
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/egypt-syria-lebanon/lebanon.aspx
International Crisis Group: Western Sahara
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/western-sahara.aspx
International Crisis Group: Tunisia
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/tunisia.aspx
International Crisis Group: Yemen
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/yemen.aspx
Stay Updated on What is Happening in Syria
NYT: Syria
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
International Crisis Group: Syria
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/egypt-syria-lebanon/syria.aspx
Freedom House: Syria
http://www.freedomhouse.org/country/syria
Carnegie Endowment: Syria
http://carnegieendowment.org/regions/?fa=list&id=187
Caravan-Serai Tours
http://www.caravan-serai.com/about.html
Through Caravan-Serai, Rita Zawaideh unveils the Middle East—uncovering the region from preconceived notions and
sharing its cultural riches and people. Rita is a highly successful tour operator, consultant and public speaker who
knows the Middle East. She is a global citizen, who was raised in the U.S. and has lived abroad in Europe and the Arab
World.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ARAB SPRING
ARTICLES & LESSON PLANS
PBS: Arab Spring
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/tag/arab-spring/
This page acts as a growing resource of articles, videos, and breaking news regarding the Arab Spring.
USIP: Through a Glass Darkly? The Middle East in 2012 (1/13/2012)
http://www.usip.org/publications/through-glass-darkly-the-middle-east-in-2012
This past year offered fresh proof that the world we live in is ever dynamic. Fundamental change can come from
something as extraordinary as a fruit vendor’s act of defiance in Tunisia to popular revolts by reform movements
across the Middle East. At the same time, a decade of war and the weak U.S. economy dictate that there must be
new ways to think about the role the U.S. will play in the world in the coming years.
Carnegie Endowment: A League of Their Own (1/11/2012)
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/01/11/league-of-their-own/8yrf
With observers on the ground in Syria to monitor whether President Bashar al-Assad’s regime will end its
crackdown, the Arab League is leading the international response to the simmering violence. That doesn’t mean it’s
all gone smoothly. Arab League observers have been attacked and have been accompanied by regime security
forces, preventing them from independently engaging with demonstrators.
Discover: Scientists of the Arab Spring (1/3/2012)
http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jan-feb/11
When Ahmed Zewail first heard of the popular revolt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on January 25,
2011, he immediately left for Cairo. “It was a very emotional time. I have family in Egypt, and I owe the country my
early education,” says Zewail, who is a professor of chemistry at Caltech. “I knew I had to take action.”
ICAN: What the Women Say: The Arab Spring & Implications for Women (12/2011)
http://www.icanpeacework.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ICAN17.pdf
As the Arab world rumbles and shakes, women in the region are experiencing the good, the bad, and the ugly that
comes with instability, transition, and crisis. From Tunisia and Egypt to Syria, Libya, and Bahrain, women have been
present and vocal in the street protest movements, standing shoulder to shoulder with the men, resisting the batons
and tear gas, and being killed.
The Guardian: The ‘Arab Spring’ and the West: Seven Lessons from History (12/19/2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/19/arab-spring-seven-lessons-from-history
If the Arab revolutions are going to take control of their future, then, they’ll need to have to keep an eye on their
recent past. So here are seven lessons from the history of western Middle East meddling, courtesy of the archive of
Pathé News, colonial-era voice of Perfidious Albion itself.
Center for American Progress: Rape and the Arab Spring – The Dark Side of the Popular Uprisings in the Middle
East (12/20/2011)
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/12/arab_spring_women.html
Despite the prominent role played by women in organizing the popular movements that have overthrown and
challenged authoritarian regimes across the region, the early results on the treatment of women in three key
countries – Egypt, Yemen, and Libya – raise serious concerns about the future of democracy and human rights in the
Middle East as the region experiences tectonic political change.
Huffington Post: The Arab Spring: A New Era in a Transforming Globe (11/8/2011)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/the-arab-spring-a-new-era_b_1082577.html
The Arab uprising must be seen as an integral part of a world in transformation. The technological and informational
revolutions that have spurred (and continue to spur) globalization and interconnectedness between cultures make it
impossible for tyrants to rule for the entirety of their lifetimes while mercilessly subjugating their peoples to lives of
servitude with no prospect of ever tasting the true meaning of freedom.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ARAB SPRING
Pulitzer Center: Lesson Plan: Writing About the “Arab Spring” (7/1/2011)
http://pulitzercenter.org/education/lesson-plan/lesson-plan-writing-about-arab-spring
During the winter of 2010 and the spring of 2011, the world watched as pro-democracy protesters across North
Africa and the Middle East rose up against the dictatorial regimes that had ruled their home countries for years. The
long-term political, social, and economic ramifications of these revolutions remain to be seen, but there is much to
study in the factors that led to these large-scale people’s movements, and the intended and unintended
consequences as countries across the region seek democratic reforms.
Canadian International Council: Are Social Media Driving the Arab Spring (6/20/2011)
http://www.opencanada.org/features/the-think-tank/the-arab-spring/
A first major report on the use of social media in by Arab Spring protesters has been released by the Dubai School of
Government. It is now clearer than ever that social network usage trends and impacts are growing across the MENA
[Middle East and North Africa]. To examine the role of social media in the Arab Spring, we also interview Sarah
Abdurrahman, Sonia Verma, Brian Stewart, and Jillian York – all participants in the Munk School’s panel discussion,
“Tweeting The Arab Revolution.” And Ben Rowswell introduces a lecture on the use of technology in the promotion
of democracy.
New York Times: Mapping Discord – Creating a Primer on the Arab World (1/18/2011)
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/mapping-discord-creating-a-primer-on-the-arab-world/
Why is there much turmoil in the Arab world right now? What are the key issues facing the nations in that part of the
globe? In this lesson, students create an annotated map of the Middle East and North Africa that includes
information about five countries in the Arab world and then synthesize what they discover.
Center for Middle Eastern Studies – Harvard: Understanding the Arab Spring
http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/files/Lesson%20Plan_1_boardgame_%20Overview%20Understanding%20the%
20Arab%20Spring_August%202011,%20Amy%20Sanders.pdf
There are common threads that tie these transformational protest movements together, and yet there are distinct
differences. It is important for students to begin to explore each country’s unique population, economic conditions
and government. The path that each country has taken is different, as will be the road forward.
Carnegie Endowment: The Importance of Education in the Arab World (12/1/2011)
http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/01/importance-of-education-in-arab-world/8kpl
Almost a year after the start of the Arab Awakening, the region is in many ways deadlocked. Popular calls for the
reform of corrupt and stagnant political systems have fallen prey to the realities of bureaucracy and the difficulties
of changing deep-rooted institutions.
Carnegie Endowment: Washington’s Bow to Mideast Monarchs (2/3/2012)
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/02/03/washington-s-bow-to-mideast-monarchs/9g4h
Just after the first anniversary of the onset of the Arab Spring, the Obama administration announced in December
an enormous arms sale to Saudi Arabia, with a price tag greater than the annual gross domestic product of more
than half the countries in the world. The administration hailed the sale as a “historic achievement” that “reinforces
the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.” The close juxtaposition of the
anniversary and the apparent repair of the temporary rough patch in U.S.-Saudi relations highlights crucial
overlooked realities about the Arab Spring and the U.S. response.
The queen of Jordan, Queen Rania also has her own YouTube site where you can watch interviews and clips
of her activities and humanitarian efforts. http://www.youtube.com/user/queenrania?blend=1&ob=4
These video clips are two examples that we highly recommend for lessons on breaking stereotypes:
1) Don’t Call Me That! http://www.youtube.com/queenrania#p/f/23/W_1hYyV7tes
2) I am a Muslim http://www.youtube.com/queenrania#p/f/27/OoQbMlcK3Pk
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ARAB SPRING
THE DAY AFTER
Analyzing Editorial Cartoons
Content originally appeared on CartoonADay.com (http://www.CartoonADay.com), and is made available through a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license.
Have the class read the article “The Arab Spring: A New Era in a Transforming Globe” by the Huffington Post
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/the-arab-spring-a-new-era_b_1082577.html) and discuss the unique
role that social media played in the Arab Spring. Next, provide a handout of this editorial cartoon for each student.
Divide students into small groups and ask them to discuss the following questions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Describe what is going on in this picture.
Describe the symbolism you find in the image.
How does this relate to the events of Arab Spring?
What message is the artist trying to convey?
Have each group share their findings with the class.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ARAB SPRING
PBS: Peaceful Protests (10/5/2011)
This lesson plan overview is excerpted from the PBS educational activity “Peaceful Protests.” To
view the complete lesson plan and other resources, visit the webpage:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/for-educators/peaceful-protests-lessonoverview/
Time allotment: three to four 45-minute class periods
Overview
Students learn about nonviolent resistance movements that have taken place around the world and, using segments
from the PBS program Women, War & Peace: “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” explore how women’s nonviolent protests
helped bring about the end of a bloody civil war in Liberia in 2003. In the introductory activity, students learn about
nonviolent resistance, conduct research about nonviolent protest leaders in different countries and time periods,
discuss the goals and impact of their actions, and place them on a timeline. In learning activity 1, students learn about
actions that Leymah Gbowee and the women of Liberia took to protest the civil war in their country. In learning activity
2, students explore different methods of nonviolent action and read and discuss the letter Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
wrote from jail in Birmingham, Alabama, as well as the statement from Alabama clergymen which prompted him to
write the letter. In the culminating activity, students examine nonviolent protest movements throughout history and
discuss the goals and impact of those efforts. The lesson concludes with students writing and discussing reflection
essays about the use of nonviolent resistance, citing examples studied in this lesson.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
· Define “nonviolent resistance” and “civil disobedience.”
· Discuss who Leymah Gbowee is and what her role was in ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003.
· Describe nonviolent actions the women of Liberia took to protest the war.
· Name at least three leaders of nonviolent protests around the world and discuss the goals and impact of their
actions.
· Describe the role women have played in nonviolent protest movements in at least three countries.
· Explain the points raised by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his letter from the Birmingham jail and apply them to
Leymah Gbowee’s situation.
· Discuss at least one major nonviolent resistance movement in the United States or another country, the
nonviolent actions its leaders took, and the impact of the movement.
· Discuss how nonviolent strategies have been used to achieve various goals in different regions of the world,
citing at least three specific examples.
Connect the history and nature of peaceful protests around the world to the work of
Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman, winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Karman was
awarded the prize along with Leymah Gbowee, who is featured in this lesson plan. How
might the success of Gbowee and the women of Liberia act as an example for the continued
efforts of Karman and other activists in Yemen. How is their situation and their work
different?
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
COUNTRY PROFILE
The Italians supplanted the Ottoman Turks in the area around Tripoli in 1911 and did not relinquish their hold
until 1943 when defeated in World War II. Libya then passed to UN administration and achieved
independence in 1951. Following a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi began to
espouse his own political system, the Third Universal Theory. The system was a combination of socialism and
Islam derived in part from tribal practices and was supposed to be implemented by the Libyan people
themselves in a unique form of “direct democracy.” Qadhafi used oil funds during the 1970s and 1980s to
promote his ideology outside Libya, supporting subversives and terrorists abroad to hasten the end of
Marxism and capitalism. In addition, beginning in 1973, he engaged in military operations in northern Chad’s
Aozou Strip – to gain access to minerals and to use as a base of influence in Chadian politics – but was forced
to retreat in 1987.
UN sanctions in 1992 isolated Qadhafi politically following the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland. During the 1990s, Qadhafi began to rebuild his relationships with Europe. UN sanctions were
suspended in April 1999 and finally lifted in September 2003 after Libya accepted responsibility for the
Lockerbie bombing. In December 2003, Libya announced that it had agreed to reveal and end its programs to
develop weapons of mass destruction and to renounce terrorism. Qadhafi subsequently made significant
strides in normalizing relations with Western nations. The US rescinded Libya’s designation as a state
sponsor of terrorism in June 2006. In August 2008, the US and Libya signed a bilateral comprehensive claims
settlement agreement to compensate claimants in both countries who allege injury or death at the hands of
the other country, including the Lockerbie bombing, the LaBelle disco bombing, and the UTA 772 bombing.
In October 2008, the US Government received $1.5 billion pursuant to the agreement to distribute to US
national claimants, and as a result effectively normalized its bilateral relationship with Libya. The two
countries then exchanged ambassadors for the first time since 1973 in January 2009.
Libya in May 2010 was elected to its first three-year seat on the UN Human Rights Council, prompting
protests from international non-governmental organizations and human rights campaigners. Unrest that
began in several Near Eastern and North African countries in late December 2010 spread to several Libyan
cities in early 2011. In March 2011, a Transitional National Council (TNC) was formed in Benghazi with the
stated aim of overthrowing the Qadhafi regime and guiding the country to democracy. In response to
Qadhafi’s harsh military crackdown on protesters, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1973, which
demanded an immediate ceasefire and authorized the international community to establish a no-fly zone
over Libya. After several months of see-saw fighting, anti-Qadhafi forces in August 2011 captured the capital,
Tripoli. In mid-September, the UN General Assembly voted to recognize the TNC as the legitimate interim
governing body of Libya. The TNC on 23 October officially declared the country liberated following the
defeat of the last remaining pro-Qadhafi stronghold and Qadhafi’s death, and plans to transition toward
elections, the formation of a constitution, and a new government.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ly.html
BBC: Libya Profile
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13754897
Library of Congress: A Country Study – Libya
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/lytoc.html
The Libyan Interim National Council
http://www.ntclibya.org/english/
U.S. Department of State’s Background Notes on Libya
http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/ly/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/ly.html
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
http://english.freemap.jp/africa_e/libya.html
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
BASIC FACTS
Geography
Location: North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, southern border
with Chad, Niger, and Sudan.
Area: 1,759,540 sq. km.
Cities: Tripoli (capital), Benghazi.
Terrain: Mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus, depressions.
Climate: Mediterranean along coast; dry, extreme desert interior.
Land use: Arable land – 1.03%; permanent crops – 0.19%; other – 98.78%.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective – Libyan(s).
Population (July 2010 est.): 6,461,454.
Annual population growth rate (2010 est.): 2.117%. Birth rate (2010 est.) – 24.58 births/1,000 population. Death rate
(2010 est.) – 3.45 deaths/1,000 population.
Ethnic groups: Berber and Arab 97%; other 3% (includes Greeks, Maltese, Italians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Turks,
Indians, and Tunisians).
Religion: Sunni Muslim 97%, other 3%.
Languages: Arabic is the primary language. English and Italian are understood in major cities.
Education: Years compulsory – 9. Attendance – 90%. Literacy (age 15 and over who can read and write) – total
population 82.6%; male 92.4%; female 72% (2003 est.).
Health (2010 est.): Infant mortality rate – 20.87 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy – total population 77.47 yrs.;
male 75.18 yrs.; female 79.88 yrs.
Work force (2010 est.): 1.686 million.
Government
Type: Operates under a transitional government.
Constitution: Following the September 1969 military overthrow of the Libyan government, the Revolutionary
Command Council replaced the existing constitution with the Constitutional Proclamation in December 1969; in
March 1977, Libya adopted the Declaration of the Establishment of the People's Authority. The Transitional National
Council, recognized by the UN in September 2011 as the legitimate interim government, operates under a
temporary constitution.
Political System: The UN in September 2011 recognized the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC) as the
legitimate governing authority for Libya until an interim government is in place; the TNC on 22 November 2011
established a new transitional government.
Economy
Real GDP (2009 est.): $85.04 billion.
GDP per capita (PPP, 2009 est.): $13,400.
Real GDP growth rate (2009 est.): -0.7%.
Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, gypsum.
Agriculture: Products–wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, vegetables, peanuts, soybeans; cattle; approximately 75%
of Libya’s food is imported.
Industry: Types – petroleum, food processing, textiles, handicrafts, cement.
Trade: Exports (2009 est.) – $34.24 billion: crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas, chemicals. Imports
(2009 est.) – $22.11 billion: machinery, transport equipment, food, manufactured goods, consumer products, semifinished goods.
Sources: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5425.htm and https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ly.html.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
TIMELINE
7th century BC – Phoenicians settle in Tripolitania in western Libya.
4th century BC – Greeks colonize Cyrenaica in the east of the country, which they call Libya.
74 BC – Romans conquer Libya.
AD 643 – Arabs under Amr Ibn al-As conquer Libya and spread Islam.
16th century – Libya becomes part of the Ottoman Empire, which joins the three provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica,
and Fezzan into one regency in Tripoli.
1911-12 – Italy conquers Libya. Omar al-Mukhtar begins 20-year insurgency against Italian rule.
1931 – Italy breaks resistance through combination of major armed operations and concentration camps for rebel
population. Al-Mukhtar is captured and executed.
1934 – Italy unites the provinces as the colony of Libya and steps up Italian migration as part of an eventual plan for
the incorporation of Libya into a Greater Italy.
1942 – Allies oust Italians from Libya, which is then divided between the French, who administer Fezzan, and the
British, who control Cyrenaica and Tripolitania.
1951 – Libya becomes independent under King Idris al-Sanusi.
1961 – King Idris opens a 104-mile pipeline, which links important oil fields in the interior to the Mediterranean Sea
and makes it possible to export Libyan oil for the first time.
The Gaddafi era
1969 – King Idris deposed in military coup led by Col Muammar Gaddafi, who pursues a pan-Arab agenda by
attempting to form mergers with several Arab countries, and introduces state socialism by nationalizing most
economic activity, including the oil industry.
1973 – Col Gaddafi declares a “cultural revolution”, which includes the formation of “people’s committees” in schools,
hospitals, universities, workplaces and administrative districts; Libyan forces occupy Aozou Strip in northern Chad.
1977 – Col Gaddafi declares a “people’s revolution”, changing the country’s official name from the Libyan Arab
Republic to the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah and setting up “revolutionary committees” –
heralding the start of institutionalized chaos, economic decline and general arbitrariness.
Confrontation with the US
1981 – US shoots down two Libyan aircraft which challenged its warplanes over the Gulf of Sirte, claimed by Libya as
its territorial water.
1984 – UK breaks off diplomatic relations with Libya after a British policewoman is shot dead outside the Libyan
People’s Bureau, or embassy, in London, while anti-Gaddafi protests were taking place.
1986 – US bombs Libyan military facilities, residential areas of Tripoli and Benghazi, killing 101 people, and Gaddafi’s
house, killing his adopted daughter. Ussays raids were in response to alleged Libyan involvement in bombing of Berlin
disco frequented by US military personnel.
1988 – Gaddafi orders the release of some political prisoners and embarks on limited economic liberalization.
1989 – Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia form the Arab Maghreb Union. Lockerbie plane bombing.
1992 – UN imposes sanctions on Libya in an effort to force it to hand over for trial two of its citizens suspected of
involvement in the blowing up of a PanAm airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988.
1995 – Gaddafi expels some 30,000 Palestinians in protest at the Oslo accords between the Palestine Liberation
Organisation and Israel.
1999 – Lockerbie suspects handed over for trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law; UN sanctions suspended;
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
diplomatic relations with UK restored.
2001 31 January – Special Scottish court in the Netherlands finds one of the two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie
bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, guilty and sentences him to life imprisonment. Megrahi’s co-accused,
Al-Amin Khalifa Fahimah, is found not guilty and freed.
2001 May – Libyan troops help to quell a coup attempt against President Ange-Felix Patasse of the Central African
Republic.
2002 January – Libya and the US say they have held talks to mend relations after years of hostility over what the
Americans termed Libya’s sponsorship of terrorism.
2002 14 March – The Libyan man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, loses
his appeal against the conviction and begins a life sentence of at least 20 years.
2003 January – Libya is elected chairman of the UN Human Rights Commission despite opposition from the US and
human rights groups.
2003 August – Libya signs a deal worth $2.7bn to compensate families of the Lockerbie bombing victims. Libya takes
responsibility for the bombing in a letter to the UN Security Council.
2003 September – UN Security Council votes to lift sanctions.
2003 December – Libya says will abandon programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction.
2004 January – Libya agrees to compensate families of victims of 1989 bombing of French passenger aircraft over
Sahara.
2004 March – British Prime Minister Tony Blair visits, the first such visit since 1943.
2004 May – Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are sentenced to death having been accused of deliberately
infecting some 400 Libyan children with HIV. Their case goes to appeal.
2004 August – Libya agrees to pay $35m to compensate victims of the bombing of a Berlin nightclub in 1986.
2005 January – Libya’s first auction of oil and gas exploration licences heralds the return of US energy companies for
the first time in more than 20 years.
2005 December – Supreme Court overturns death penalties imposed on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor
convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV. A retrial is ordered.
2006 February – At least 10 people are killed in clashes with police in Benghazi, part of a wave of international protests
by Muslims who are angered by a Danish newspaper’s cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
2006 May – The US says it is restoring full diplomatic ties with Libya.
2006 September – Human Rights Watch accuses Libya of abusing the human rights of African migrants trying to enter
the EU by forcibly repatriating them. Some of the migrants face possible persecution or torture at home, according to
the report.
2006 December – At the end of a retrial, a court finds five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor guilty of
deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV. All six are sentenced to death.
2007 January – Prime minister announces plan to make redundant 400,000 government workers – more than a third
of the total workforce – to stimulate the private sector and ease public spending.
2007 July – The death sentences of the six foreign medical workers in the HIV case are commuted to life in prison.
Shortly after they are freed under a deal with the European Union.
2008 January – Libya takes over one-month rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in a step back to
respectability after decades as a pariah of the West.
2008 August – Libya and US sign agreement committing each side to compensate all victims of bombing attacks on
the other’s citizens.
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2008 September – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes historic visit – the highest-level US visit to Libya
since 1953. Ms Rice says relations between the US and Libya have entered a “new phase”.
2008 November – US Lockerbie victims’ group says Libya has paid them full compensation. Possibility of restoration
of diplomatic relations with United States.
2009 February – Gaddafi elected chairman of the African Union by leaders meeting in Ethiopia. Sets out ambition of
“United States of Africa” even embracing the Caribbean.
2009 June – Gaddafi pays first state visit to Italy, Libya’s former colonial ruler and now its main trading partner.
2009 August – Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is freed from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds
and returned to Libya. His release and return to a hero’s welcome causes a storm of controversy.
2009 December – Diplomatic row with Switzerland and European Union after one of Gaddafi’s sons is held in
Switzerland on charges of mistreating domestic workers.
2010 January – Russia agrees to sell Libya weapons in a deal worth $1.8bn. The deal is thought to include fighter jets,
tanks and air defence systems.
2010 June – UN refugee agency UNHCR expelled.
2010 July – US senators push for inquiry into claims that oil giant BP lobbied for Lockerbie bomber’s release. BP
confirms it is about to begin drilling off Libyan coast.
2010 October – European Union and Libya sign agreement designed to slow illegal migration.
2010 December – US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks indicate that Gaddafi threatened to cut trade with
Britain if Lockerbie bomber died in prison. Anti-Gaddafi uprising.
2011 February – Arrest of human rights campaigner sparks violent protests in eastern city of Benghazi that rapidly
spread to other cities. Authorities use aircraft to attack protestors. Gaddafi insists that he will not quit, and remains in
control of the capital, Tripoli.
2011 March – UN Security Council authorizes a no-fly zone over Libya and air strikes to protect civilians, over which
NATO assumes command.
Backed by extensive NATO air raids, Libyan rebels initially capture territory but are then forced back by better-armed
pro-Gaddafi forces. Rebels ask West for arms.
2011 July – The international Contact Group on Libya formally recognizes the main opposition group, the National
Transitional Council (NTC), as the legitimate government of Libya.
2011 August – Rebels swarm into Col Gaddafi’s fortress compound in Tripoli, six months after the uprising began.
With only a few remaining strongholds under his control, Col Gaddafi goes into hiding. His wife and three of his
children flee to neighbouring Algeria.
2011 August-September – African Union joins 60 countries which have recognized the NTC as the new Libyan
authority.
2011 20 October – Col Gaddafi is killed. Three days later, the NTC declares Libya to be officially “liberated” and
announces plans to hold elections within eight months.
2011 November – Saif al-Islam, the fugitive son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, is captured, becoming the
last key Gaddafi family member to be seized or killed. The transitional government says he will be put on trial.
2012 January – Clashes erupt between former rebel forces in Benghazi in sign of discontent with the pace and nature
of change under the governing NTC. The deputy head of the NTC, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, resigns in attempt to draw
some of the criticism. Later in the month, clashes break out between NTC militiamen and armed locals in the former
Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13755445
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND RESOURCES
History World: History of Libya
With the decline of the local Berber dynasties in the 15th and 16th centuries, the valuable coastal strip of North Africa
(known because of the Berbers as the Barbary Coast) attracts the attention of the two most powerful Mediterranean
states of the time – Spain in the west, Turkey in the east.
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa83
Temehu: Brief History & Prehistory of Libya
http://www.temehu.com/History-of-Libya.htm
The ancient history of Libya, the “undiscovered country”, is mainly known to us through a few scattered ancient
Egyptian references and loose Greek and Roman descriptions, such as those of Herodotus, Diodorus and Sallust,
who impolitely, in his Jugurthine War, said that: “Africa was in the beginning peopled by the Gaetulians and
Libyans, rude and uncivilized tribes, who subsisted on the flesh of wild animals, or on the herbage of the soil like
cattle.”
Yaden Africa: Libya
http://yaden-africa.com/libya
Libya is situated on the coast of North Africa and is the fourth largest country on the continent. It borders with Egypt
in the east, Sudan in the southeast, Chad and Niger in the south, Algeria to the west and Tunisia in the northwest
and the Mediterranean Sea in the north.
PBS: Middle East and North Africa Geography (1/25/2011)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/world/jan-june11/Geography_02-25.html
This lesson plan gives students an overview of the region’s geographical past, while exposing students to the
complexity and diversity of the region. It also ensures a basic geographical starting point for any unit plan about the
region, or for any mini-unit delving into Middle Eastern current affairs.
All Hands on Deck: To the Shores of Tripoli
http://www.allhandsondeck.org/courage/index.php
Ask students if they have ever had the experience of being bullied or pushed around. Tell them that countries test
their strength too, just as people do. At some point, one needs to draw the line. America came to that point in its
dealings with the Barbary states in the early 1800s.
National Geographic: Lost Lords of the Sahara (9/2011)
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/sahara-tuareg/gwin-text
The rebel commander, his face hidden behind a dark turban, leads the way over the soft sand, scorched black in
places by exploded mortar shells and littered with detritus from a series of battles waged here, on a children’s soccer
field. With nearly every stride, our feet crunch spent rifle cartridges. “Step in my steps,” he cautions, noting that the
Niger army had mined the area, where there had been a school for Tuareg. His men removed some of the devices;
others remained lost in the shifting sands. “Maybe they are buried too deep to explode if you step on one.”
PBS: Life in the Sahara (1/25/2009)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/world/sahara.html
In the world today, 1/6 of the population is being affected by desertification that is forcing people to relocate to
other regions and change their lifestyles. For those unable to move away from deserts, such as residents of the
Sahara and Sahel regions of northern Africa, the effects can be devastating. Countries such as Mali, Mauritania,
Niger, Sudan and many others are suffering the effects of long-term drought and devastating famine. In the world
today, 5 million children are dying of hunger each year. Many of these are from the Sahara and Sahel regions of
northern Africa. Continued desertification will only cause these numbers to grow. World organizations are working
to develop plans to stop desertification and to tap into underground aquifers that could offer people in these areas
relief from the drought and famine they have been experiencing.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
Temehu: The Sahara
http://www.temehu.com/Cities_sites/sahara.htm
The awesome Sahara is the largest desert on the planet earth, with an estimated size of between seven and nine
million square kilometres (9,000,000 sq km). Its shortest distance from north to south is about 1000 miles. To
imagine the scale of this gigantic size, the Sahara occupies a third of Africa and is as large as the continent of
Europe. It is made of a number of smaller deserts including the Libyan desert in Libya and Egypt, the Central Sahara
in Libya and Algeria (including the Ahoggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Air Mountains, and Tenere), and
the Western Sahara; stretching across the whole of North Africa, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and from
the Mediterranean to Chad and the Sudan; with Tibesti’s Emi Koussi being its highest peak (3,415 m/11,200 ft). In
fact, from the image below, the Sahara seems to extend beyond the Red Sea to claim the entire Arabia, in Asia.
Exploring Africa: Regional Perspectives – North Africa
http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m16/activity4.php
In Learning Activity 1 you learned how people survive in the various climate regions of North Africa. Today, North
Africans are active in a variety of economic systems: they raise food, produce goods, export minerals, and work in
services industries.
Maummar Qaddafi
Throughout this resource packet you may see many variations of the spelling of former Libyan leader Maummar
Qaddafi. These variations include Gadhafi, el-Qaddafi, Kadafi, Gaddafi, and Qadhafi’s name. For an explanation on
these many spellings, please read the article by PBS Newshour “Gadhafi, Kaddafi or Gathafi? Libyan Leader’s Name
Gets a New Twist”: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/08/gadhafi-kaddafi-or-gathafi-libyan-leadersname-game-gets-a-new-twist.html.
Biography: Muammar al-Qaddafi
http://www.biography.com/people/muammar-al-qaddafi-39014
Muammar al-Qaddafi was born in a Bedouin tent in 1942. He joined the military and staged a coup to seize control of
Libya in 1969, ousting King Idris. Though his Arab nationalist rhetoric and socialist-style policies gained him support in
the early days of his rule, his corruption, military interference in Africa, and record of human rights abuses turned
much of the Libyan population against him.
New York Times: Timeline – Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi (10/20/2011)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/24/world/middleeast/20110224_qaddafi_timeline.html
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi ruled Libya with an iron hand for 42 years. His regime was toppled in August after six
months of fierce fighting by anti-Qaddafi forces and a NATO airstrike campaign. He was killed on Oct. 20 as rebel
forces took control of his hometown, Surt.
BBC: The Muammar Gaddafi Story (10/21/2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12688033
How can you adequately describe someone like Col Muammar Gaddafi? During a period that spanned six decades,
the Libyan leader paraded on the world stage with a style so unique and unpredictable that the words "maverick" or
"eccentric" scarcely did him justice.
New York Times: Wanted – Qaddafi (6/28/2011)
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/wanted-qaddafi/
The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants on Monday for Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar
el-Qaddafi, one of his sons and his intelligence chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the first two
weeks of the uprising in Libya that led to a NATO bombing campaign.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
UNDP: Libya—Energy and the Environment
http://www.undp-libya.org/energyenvironment.php
Environmental sustainability and socio-economic development are today recognized as interdependent, integral
components of sustainable human development and poverty reduction. The poor are disproportionately affected
by environmental degradation and lack of access to clean affordable energy services. Climate change, loss of
biodiversity and ozone layer depletion are issues that hold global importance and therefore cannot be addressed by
countries acting alone. UNDP helps countries strengthen their capacity to address these challenges at global,
national and community levels.
The Telegraph via Wikileaks: Oil- And Gas-Related Pollution in Libya (1/31/2011)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/libya-wikileaks/8294826/OIL-AND-GAS-RELATEDPOLLUTION-IN-LIBYA.html
Libya is slowly acknowledging the need to address the environmental impact of its oil and gas production.
Environmental issues are becoming more central to the Libyan oil and gas industry, particularly with the influx of
foreign companies, which often have a corporate mandate to operate in an environmentally-conscious manner, and
the drive to expand production. In practical terms, though, the GOL's involvement in and concern about
environmental issues remain marginal.
Asia Times Online: A Chinese Vision Begins to Emerge (2/25/2012)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NB25Ad01.html
The dominant stereotype of Chinese foreign policy in the Middle East is "amoral oil grubbing mercantilists who
never met a dictator they didn't like". Perhaps. But the job of an amoral, oil-grubbing mercantilist has been made
much more complicated and challenging as tensions rise in the region and heightened demands are placed on the
People's Republic of China (PRC).
NeoK12: Educational Videos, Lessons and Games for K-12 School Kids
http://www.neok12.com/Energy-Sources.htm
Site contains links to images, quizzes and videos aimed at educating students about the oil industry.
World Without Oil
http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/
World Without Oil is an alternate reality event, a serious game for the public good. It invites everyone to help
simulate a global oil shock. People participate by contributing original online stories, created as though the oil shock
were really happening. The game’s masters rank the participants (“players”) according to their contributions to our
realistic portrayal of the oil shock. The game also places value on player-created communities, collaborative stories,
and collective efforts.
NAAEE: Lesson Plans (Grades 9-12)
http://eelink.net/pages/Lesson+Plans+-+Grades+9-12
Green Teacher compiled "best of" collection of activities targeted toward the 'High School Years' for both formal
and non-formal settings.
National Environmental Education Foundation: Energy Curricula
http://www.eeweek.org/resources/energycurricula.htm
Site provides links to over 25 lesson plans for grades K-4, 5-8 and 9-12.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LIBYA
Climate Challenge: Earth’s Future is in Your Hands
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/
A game where you are president of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough
with the voters to remain in office.
Oil & Gas: Free Games and Activities
http://www.wartgames.com/themes/science/oil-gas.html
Site links to games, PowerPoint presentations, and lessons concerning oil, biofuels and ecology.
Serious Games As Oil Drilling 3D Simulators (09/07/2010)
http://seriousgamesmarket.blogspot.com/2010/09/serious-games-as-oil-drilling-3d.html
Interactive 3D simulators are essential components of a training curriculum when it comes to complex systems like
Oil & Gas rigs - where a small mistake can lead to a catastrophic accident.
Oil God Wreaks Havoc
http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/oilgod.jsp
Welcome! You are an Oil God! Wreak havoc on the world’s oil supplies by unleashing war and disaster. Bend
governments and economies to your will to alter trade practices.
PBS: EcoChallenges—Africa
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/tools/eco/activities2.html#4
Through a variety of activities, students will explore the connection between war and the scarcity of environmental
resources.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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LIBYA & THE REVOLUTION
ARTICLES AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
The Guardian – Arab Spring: An Interactive Timeline of Middle East Protests (1/5/2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline
This interactive timeline traces key events of the revolutions across the Middle East and Africa.
Brookings Institute: Libya
http://www.brookings.edu/topics/libya.aspx
Libya is one of the largest countries in Africa geographically but has just over six million in population with a huge
sector of its economy reliant on oil exports. In 2011, Libyan rebels ousted the regime of Muammar Qaddafi after a
fierce civil war. News reports confirm that he was killed after the fall of his hometown. Brookings experts have
examined the conflict and post-Qaddafi Libya plus the challenges and opportunities for U.S. and global foreign
policy.
USIP: Libya
http://www.usip.org/countries-continents/africa/libya
USIP has been working on the ground in Libya since early in the uprising that unseated the former regime, engaging
with the burgeoning civil society sector and serving in an advisory role to the Libya Stabilization Team formed by the
National Transitional Council (NTC). As Libya emerges from conflict, USIP will continue to broaden its engagement
with the new government and other local stakeholders to support those working to promote a peaceful transition.
New York Times: Libya – Revolution and Aftermath (1/27/2012)
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/libya/index.html?scp=1spot&sq=libya&st=cse
Libya, an oil-rich nation in North Africa, spent more than 40 years under the erratic leadership of Col. Muammar elQaddafi before a revolt pushed him from power in August 2011 after a six-month struggle. On Oct. 20, Colonel
Qaddafi was killed as fighters battling the vestiges of his fallen regime finally wrested control of his hometown of
Surt. The country was formally declared liberated three days later, setting in motion the process of creating a new
constitution and an elected government.
UN – Department of Political Affairs
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/undpa/main/activities_by_region/africa/libya
Following six months of armed conflict in the North African country of Libya, the United Nations in September 2011
established a political mission to support the country’s new transitional authorities in their post-conflict efforts.
NPR: For A Libya In Flux – A Theme Song (12/24/2011)
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/24/144219468/for-a-libya-in-flux-a-theme-song
New York Times: Violent End to an Era as Qaddafi Dies in Libya (10/20/2011)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/qaddafi-is-killed-as-libyan-forces-takesurt.html?_r=1&ref=libya
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s last moments Thursday were as violent as the uprising that overthrew him. In a
cellphone video that went viral on the Internet, the deposed Libyan leader is seen splayed on the hood of a truck and
then stumbling amid a frenzied crowd, seemingly begging for mercy.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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LIBYA & THE REVOLUTION
IN THE NEWS – UW PROFESSOR ALI TARHOUNI
Seattle Times: UW Lecturer Tells of Leading Role in Libyan Revolution (12/20/2011)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017058055_tarhouni21m.html
Before this year, Ali Tarhouni was known as a popular and effective microeconomics lecturer at the University of
Washington. Today, he is better known for helping to lead the revolution in his Libyan homeland. On Tuesday, Tarhouni
returned to the UW campus for a news conference to reflect on his months as oil and finance minister of Libya's
transitional rebel government. He talked about the remarkable revolutions that took place during the Arab Spring, and
the importance of remaining idealistic even in the face of oppression.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Former Libyan National Transitional Council Finance Minister Ali
Tarhouni (1/5/12)
http://carnegieendowment.org/files/010512_transcript_Libya1.pdf
Dr. Tarhouni was minister of finance for the Libyan National Transitional Council. He is the man who succeeded in
essentially keeping the company financially afloat in the early days – in the early days of the uprising…Dr. Tarhouni was
exiled – was forced into exile by Gadhafi early on in his career when he was still a student. He came to the United States
where he studied and then he pursued a successful career as a professor of economics at the University of Washington in
Seattle. But when the uprising started in Libya, he decided to go back and played a very important role in that uprising.
YouTube: Ali Tarhouni Press Conference at the University of Washington (12/22/11)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmWwpCDRgSU
New York Times: Violent End to an Era as Qaddafi Dies in Libya (10/20/2011)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/qaddafi-is-killed-as-libyan-forces-takesurt.html?_r=1&ref=libya
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s last moments Thursday were as violent as the uprising that overthrew him. In a
cellphone video that went viral on the Internet, the deposed Libyan leader is seen splayed on the hood of a truck and
then stumbling amid a frenzied crowd, seemingly begging for mercy.
Brookings Institute: Why Qaddafi’s Death is Significant (10/20/2011)
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/1020_qaddafi_sharqieh.aspx
The death of Qaddafi will have implications on many levels. Firstly in terms of operations, and the future efforts to
rebuild Libya, it will mean an end of the major military campaign in the north of the country—particularly after the
fall of Sirte and Bani Walid. The morale of the remaining loyalists will likely crumble following the demise of their
figurehead.
Hoover Institute: Lessons of the Libya War (10/13/2011)
http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/96531
The leaders of the Free World must have heaved sighs of relief when Tripoli fell to rebel forces. Despite the
involvement of the world’s premier military alliance and the three most formidable militaries in the world, it took
more than five months of NATO air strikes to assist the rebels to victory over a third-rate despot. Their success in
overthrowing the Ghadafi regime is good for the people of Libya, but what might it portend for other rebellions and
for the United States?
NPR: President Obama Praises Libya’s Political Transition (9/20/2011)
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140642290/president-obama-praises-libyas-political-transition
British Red Cross: Libya Violence
http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Teaching-resources/Lesson-plans/Libya-violence
Time: Libya’s Revolution Produces a New Hybrid: Pro-Western Islamists (9/16/2011)
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2093518,00.html
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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LIBYA & THE REVOLUTION
The Libyan rebels chuckle when they find a child-size T-shirt featuring a cartoon of Osama bin Laden amid the
surveillance files, tapes and photos in one of the buildings abandoned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's internal
security forces. Sporting thick, bushy beards in a fresh show of religiosity they say never would have been tolerated
under the old regime, they have mixed feelings about the man on the T-shirt.
Mercy Corps Psychiatrist in Libya Warns of Emotional Trauma (09/12/11)
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/mercy-corps-psychiatrist-in-libya-warns-of-emotional-trauma-in-childrenand-leads-launch-of-comfort-for-kids
Mercy Corps psycho-social experts have conducted psychological assessments of thousands of Libyan children who
have endured months of violence in the city of Misrata, the epicenter of the conflict, and found that children are
suffering from significant emotional and mental stress. In response, Mercy Corps is implementing Comfort for Kids,
a program developed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that promotes resilience in children who have witnessed or
lived through disasters or traumatic events.
Hoover Institution: From Baghdad to Tripoli (8/31/2011)
http://www.hoover.org/news/daily-report/91176
On the face of it, the similarities of the undoing of the terrible regimes of Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi
are striking. The spectacles of joy in Tripoli today recall the delirious scenes in Baghdad's Firdos Square in 2003—the
statues pulled down, the palaces of faux grandeur and kitsch ransacked by people awakening to their own sense of
violation and power, the man at the helm who had been full of might and bravado making a run for it, exposed as a
paranoid and pretender, living in fear of his day of reckoning.
New York Times: Libyan Rebels Arrive in Tripoli (8/22/2011)
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/libyan-rebels-arrive-in-tripoli/
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s grip on power dissolved with astonishing speed on Monday as rebels marched into the
capital and arrested two of his sons, while residents raucously celebrated the prospective end of his four-decade-old
rule.
New York Times: Using Reporting and Multimedia to Understand News (4/22/2011)
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/the-events-in-libya-using-reporting-and-multimedia-tounderstand-news/
What is happening in Libya, and how is it significant in global affairs? Why did the United States and other nations
initiate a military operation? In this lesson, students learn about the events unfolding in Libya and the international
implications by exploring traditional reporting and multimedia, graphics, videos and photographs in The Times and
explaining to one another what they learned from these materials.
New York Times: Setting the Limits in Libya (3/29/2011)
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/setting-the-limits-in-libya/
President Obama defended the American-led military assault in Libya on Monday, saying it was in the national
interest of the United States to stop a potential massacre that would have “stained the conscience of the world.” In
his first major address since ordering American airstrikes on the forces and artillery of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi
nine days ago, Mr. Obama emphasized that the United States's role in the assault would be limited, but said that
America had the responsibility and the international backing to stop what he characterized as a looming genocide in
the Libyan city of Benghazi.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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LIBYA & THE REVOLUTION
THE DAY AFTER
Pro & Con: Should Obama have Sought a War Declaration in Libya? (4/28/2011)
Have students explore the revolution in Libya and the involvement of the United States. Consider the contrasting views
provided by Mark Weisbrot and James Jay Carafano. Set up a class debate based on these contrasting views allowing
students to gain a deep understanding of both perspectives regarding the role of the United States in Libya’s transitioning
political regime. Students can use the ideas of Mark Weisbrot and James Jay Carafano as foundations for their ideas and
arguments. In addition, encourage them to do independent research to develop new points and statements.
Congress — the people’s representatives — must have a
The Constitution gives the president the power as
say in the process.
commander in chief.
By Mark Weisbrot
By Jay Carafano
“The president does not have power under the Constitution
to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that
does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to
the nation.” That was Sen. Barack Obama on Dec. 20, 2007,
opposing the idea that President George W. Bush could
bomb Iran without congressional approval. But now he is
doing exactly what he opposed when he was not yet
representing the U.S. foreign policy establishment – in
other words, an empire.
Not since World War II has any nation declared war on
another — with the possible exception of a 1967 declaration
against Israel by five Arab countries. While fighting remains
as common as ever, the practice of issuing formal
declarations has gone out of style.
The people who founded this country were not interested
in ruling the whole world, and that is why they wrote a
constitution that gave the people’s representatives in
Congress the authority to declare war. The typical
American, contrary to popular mythology, lives a lot closer
to those principles than does the foreign policy elite. To
support going to war anywhere, he or she generally has
been lied to for years and persuaded that there is a serious
threat to our own security.
Iraq is just the most blatant and recent example, where 70
percent of the people were convinced that Saddam Hussein
was involved in the massacres of Sept. 11, 2001. And still
most Americans were against the invasion of Iraq before it
happened. For the foreign policy elite, despite their
differences over Iraq, war is just an extension of politics by
other means. Their kids don’t have to fight in them or come
home dead or disabled, and they don’t bear the economic
costs.
This difference in attitude is why this administration went
to war in Libya without consulting the Congress, despite
working the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League.
There are serious reasons for an elected official to think
twice about supporting U.S. involvement in yet another
war in a far-away Muslim country that has little or nothing
to do with our national security. We do not know how long
Formal declarations of war fell out of fashion during the
17th century, too. Our Founding Fathers thought that was
wrong, and so they stuck a requirement in the Constitution
saying Congress must approve a declaration before the
nation went to war. But that provision was never intended
as an absolute check on executive power. Not all military
operations constitute wars. Nor is a war declaration the
only legitimate way Congress can signal support for
military operations.
As “The Heritage Guide to the Constitution” points out,
there have been only five declared wars in our nation’s
history, but numerous other hostilities “have been
specifically authorized by Congress through instruments
other than formal declarations.” The framers of the
Constitution, however, did think there was something
important about “formal” declarations. Democracies, they
felt, were fundamentally different from other states and
ought to be as open and transparent as possible about what
they were doing.
War declarations are part of that transparency regimen.
When you declare war, you specify your grievances and
how you expect to resolve them. That is a good practice,
and it is too bad democracies have gotten away from it.
Yet, clearly, President Obama has the authority to order
the operations in Libya. The Constitution divides the
powers of initiating military actions between the executive
and Congress to foster deliberation and consultation to the
extent possible under the circumstances. But the president
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this war is going to last; it could go on for years. History
shows that it is a lot easier to get involved in a war than to
get out; there are still 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
after nine years, despite a recent Washington Post poll
showing nearly two-thirds of Americans think that the war
is not worth fighting. In just a few days of bombing Libya
we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars and this will
surely escalate into the billions.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., spoke for millions of
Americans when he said that this military action was a
“fiscal issue,” and that some Americans were going to die
because we were laying off firefighters and police. But
somehow there are always some extra billions for war.
Americans are understandably skeptical that our
involvement in yet another war in an oil state is motivated
by humanitarian concerns. Our leaders have shown little
concern for the people of Yemen as dozens of peaceful
protesters have been massacred by a U.S.-backed
government.
Also, if Washington and its allies were really just trying to
prevent bloodshed in Libya, there would be a serious effort
to find a negotiated solution to the conflict — which is
lacking. Foreign intervention in a civil war often makes
things worse by inflaming ethnic conflicts. More than a
million Iraqis are dead as a result of the U.S. invasion there,
which among other things promoted a bloody civil war. The
invasion of Afghanistan also greatly worsened the civil war
there.
A number of members of Congress have demanded that
President Obama seek congressional approval for this war.
Let’s hope that more have the courage to join them.
Otherwise, the next president may decide that they have
the right to decide to bomb Iran.
Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and
Policy Research.
is still the commander in chief. He alone bears the legal and
moral responsibility for ordering U.S. armed forces into
action.
What rankles most about the president’s decision on Libya
is the lack of open deliberation and discussion. Certainly he
had time to consult Congress and the American people
about military options, yet he spent much more time
consulting with the U.N. Security Council.
It is discomforting to see an American president seemingly
defer to the United Nations rather than lead the country.
Moreover, the U.N. resolution he got does not help much.
The United Nations is not sovereign, nor do we need its
permission to act in the world. Furthermore, the resolution
is vague and open-ended. And President Obama so far has
done little to provide clarity about our objectives and our
commitment.
Helping “protect civilians” is an aspiration, not a mission.
Promising to put no boots on the ground just tells us what
tactics are off the table. Stating the U.S. will not pursue
“regime change” declares what the mission is not, not what
it is.
These are serious concerns. The lack of congressional
consultation and the vagueness of the mission deny
Americans what the Constitution intended: a clear
statement of purpose about U.S. military action. It is vital
to avoid “mission creep” and perpetual fighting.
All that said, a declaration of war against Libya would be a
bad idea, because going to war in Libya is a bad idea. That
is not to say that the United States should do nothing, but
Libya does not merit significant, protracted operations by
U.S. forces. The U.S. has legitimate interests in the
outcome of the Libyan turmoil: seeing Gadhafi brought to
justice, and not seeing a new terrorist haven established, a
humanitarian crisis, a wave of refugees overwhelming our
European allies or civil war spreading to nearby nations. But
these concerns fall short of being vital national interests
and can be addressed through measures short of war.
James Jay Carafano is director of the Allison Center for
Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-obama-889211.html
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The Guardian: Data Blog—NATO Operations in Libya
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/may/22/nato-libya-data-journalism-operations-country#
Data journalism breaks down which country does what: How many NATO attacks took place over Libya – and what
did they hit? Here’s the most comprehensive analysis yet of who did what.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE DAY AFTER
Analyzing Political Cartoons: Libya
Content originally appeared on CartoonADay.com (http://www.CartoonADay.com), and is made available through a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/).
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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LIBYA & THE REVOLUTION
Analyzing Political Cartoons: Libyan Comparison to Syria
Content originally appeared on CartoonADay.com (http://www.CartoonADay.com), and is made available through a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/).
Excerpt from “Teaching Tolerance: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach Social Justice”:
An editorial cartoon uses pictures and text to make a statement about something. Editorial cartoons are a way to
express opinions about a wide range of topics, such as politics or culture. Cartoonists often use images of wellknown people, places and things to send a message. Editorial cartoons can be challenging because you often need
background knowledge to understand them.
When you are trying to interpret any editorial cartoon, just remember to: look at the picture; then, look at the
BIGGER picture!
1. Look at the picture. First, take a look at the images and text in the cartoon, and describe what you see. Is
there anything that looks familiar?
2. Look at the BIGGER picture. What past and/or present event is shown here? What is the artist trying to say?
Below are several excellent lesson plans for teaching historical analysis through political cartoons:
Analyzing the Purpose and Meaning of Political Cartoons
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/analyzing-purpose-meaning-political794.html?tab=1#tabs
Teaching Tolerance: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach Social Justice
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/using-editorial-cartoons-teach-social-justice
The Dirksen Congressional Center: Political Cartoon Analysis
http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_politicalcartoonanalysis.htm
Library of Congress: Congress in the Public Eye—A Look at American Political Cartoons
http://tpsnva.sonjara.com/teaching_materials/learning_experience/all.php?experiences_key=3932
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ECONOMIC EFFECTS
BBC: Libya Economy Banks on Cash for Recovery (1/10/2012)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16472009
In Martyrs' Square in Tripoli, the symbolic centre of Libya's uprising, the facade of the National Commercial Bank
still bears the marks of fighting. The bullet holes are a stark reminder of Libya's recent conflict. But inside, queues
emphasise the impact the fighting is still having on the country's economy. One customer waits patiently at the
broken counter window to withdraw his salary. Queuing behind him, there are close to 100 people, all trying to do
the same thing.
Heritage: Libya
http://www.heritage.org/index/country/libya
Libya’s economic freedom score is 35.9, making its economy the 176th freest in the 2012 Index. Its score has
decreased by 2.7 points, reflecting declines in freedom from corruption and control of government spending. Libya
is ranked last in the Middle East/North Africa region, and its overall score is well below the world and regional
averages. It also recorded one of the 10 largest score declines in the 2012 Index.
NPR: Libya’s Economy Faces New Tests After Gadhafi Era (11/14/2011)
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/14/142289603/libyas-economy-faces-new-tests-after-gadhafi-era
Bloomsberg Businessweek: Libyan Economy to Contract More than 50% This Year, IMF Says (10/26/2011)
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-26/libyan-economy-to-contract-more-than-50-this-year-imfsays.html
Libya’s economy will contract more than 50 percent in 2011 after eight months of fighting that paralyzed its oil
industry, the International Monetary Fund said. “The conflict has had a severe impact on economic activity heavily
dependent on hydrocarbons,” which account for more than 70 percent of output and 95 percent of exports, the fund
said today in its Regional Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia. “International sanctions and consequent
denial of access to foreign exchange have limited the ability to finance imports of goods and services, resulting in
severe disruptions in the non-hydrocarbon sectors.”
Hoover Institution: The Road to Serfdom and the Arab Revolut (6/8/2011)
http://www.hoover.org/news/daily-report/84966
The late great Austrian economist F.A. Hayek would have seen the Arab Spring for the economic revolt it was right
from the start. For generations the Arab populations had bartered away their political freedom for economic
protection. They rose in rebellion when it dawned on them that the bargain had not worked, that the system of
subsidies, and the promise of equality held out by the autocrats, had proven a colossal failure.
Economic Times: After Gaddafi, Will Libya Wither? (10/22/2011)
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-10-22/news/30309883_1_gaddafi-new-libyan-governmentnato
The problematic war to unseat one of the world's longest-ruling autocrats cannot be simplistically situated within
the category of the 'Arab Spring' revolutions that have ushered in a democratic fever across the Middle East. The
orchestration of the rhythm, pace, and tactics of the anti-Gaddafi upheaval by Britain, France, and the US – which
'led from behind' – has robbed Libya of the indigenousness and spontaneity that informed the grassroots-based
overthrows of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.
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ARTICLES & LESSON PLANS
New York Times: With New Hope, Women Activists Keep Focus on Libya (10/20/2011)
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/with-new-hope-women-activists-keep-focus-on-libya/?ref=libya
Libyan exile Shahrazad Kablan was teaching school in Cincinnati when the uprising against Col. Muammar elQaddafi began in her hometown, Benghazi. She put her house on the market and within weeks had moved to Qatar,
where she hosted a taboo-busting show on the pro-rebel Libya TV.
NPR: Post-Revolution, Libyan Women Seek Expanded Roles (10/4/2011)
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/04/141037471/post-revolution-libyan-women-seek-expanded-roles
Washington Post: Libyan Women Savor New Freedoms After Revolution (11/4/2011)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/libyan-women-savor-new-freedoms-afterrevolution/2011/11/03/gIQAhgB9lM_story.html
Like many Libyan women, Siham el-Zentani was consumed by family responsibilities, staying at home to care for
her four teenage children. But when she saw the TV images of Libyan refugees fleeing Moammar Gaddafi’s troops
this year, she announced to her husband that she had a new mission. “I want to go,” she said. Within weeks, the 54year-old Benghazi resident recalled, she was hiking into the western mountains with two female friends, their
backpacks stuffed with cash they had collected to help displaced Libyans and anti-Gaddafi rebels.
The Guardian: Libyan Women – It’s Our Revolution Too
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/16/libyan-women-our-revolution-too
They smuggled bullets in handbags, tended wounded fighters, cooked meals for frontline units, sold their jewellery
to buy combat jeeps and sewed the flags that fly in liberated cities. But with the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi
almost complete, many Libyan women are asking whether it's their revolution too. This week Mustafa Abdul Jalil,
chairman of the governing National Transitional Council, announced before cheering crowds in Tripoli's Martyrs'
Square that "women will be ambassadors, women will be ministers".
BBC: Libyan Women Battle for Empowerment (12/13/2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16160671
They helped smuggle weapons and ammunition to fighters during the revolution. Now, Libyan women have their
own battle to fight – for empowerment.
New York Times: For Women in Libya, a Long Road to Rights (9/22/2011)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/world/middleeast/23iht-letter23.html?pagewanted=all
The women of Libya are at a stage between hopes for more rights and fears about the possibility of civil war. After
the overthrow of the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, women are voicing their hopes for bigger roles in politics
and society. In Tripoli, meetings are held weekly — either in private households or some of the bigger hotels — to
discuss strategies to be heard.
Huffington Post: Libyan Women Active Force in Revolution (8/19/2011)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yusra-tekbali/libyan-women-active-force_b_930995.html
Last year, during the holy month of Ramadan, I was in Tripoli researching the status of women in Libya's society,
along with journalist and author Natalie Moore. We interviewed women across the spectrum: artists, housewives,
teachers, government officials, university students and businesswomen. The stories were later aired on Chicago
Public Radio.
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WOMEN & THE REVOLUTION
New York Times: Libya’s War-Tested Women Hope to Keep New Power (9/12/2011)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/world/africa/13women.html?pagewanted=all
Aisha Gdour, a school psychologist, smuggled bullets in her brown leather handbag. Fatima Bredan, a hairdresser,
tended wounded rebels. Hweida Shibadi, a family lawyer, helped NATO find airstrike targets. And Amal Bashir, an
art teacher, used a secret code to collect orders for munitions: Small-caliber rounds were called “pins,” larger rounds
were “nails.” A “bottle of milk” meant a Kalashnikov.
Freedom House: As Reforms Sweep the Middle East, the Role of Women is Crucial
http://www.freedomhouse.org/article/reforms-sweep-middle-east-role-women-crucial
On the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, Freedom House recognizes the equal rights of women
globally and particularly calls upon governments in the Middle East and North Africa, where women experience the
lowest levels of fundamental rights, to fulfill their commitments to gender equality.
New York Times: A Woman on Libya’s Front Lines (9/12/2011)
The rebel fighter, in a billowing white “Free Libya” T-shirt, jeans, scarf and camouflage cap, was leaning against a
car, talking in a businesslike manner with other rebels. It took a few long stares to realize that this fighter was a
woman, the only Libyan woman in sight. She was one of hundreds of rebels at this roadside outpost — a mosque,
clinic and store dwarfed by the desert landscape massing for a possible assault on the pro-Qaddafi stronghold of
Bani Walid. They had been there for days, and the sleeves of her shirt were brown with desert dust. Her name was
Miriam Talyeb. She was 32 years old, a dentist and seven months pregnant with her first child. Her husband was part
of the brigade of fighters who carried assault rifles and drove trucks mounted with rocket launchers. “I don’t care if I
get shot or if I die,” she said. “I want to do this for God and for Libya. I want to be free. You must fight to take your
freedom, especially here in Libya.”
Women have played a large part in Libya’s revolution, buying and delivering arms, sheltering fighters,
demonstrating, cooking and spying on the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Since the colonel’s forces fled
Tripoli, it has been common to see women posing for pictures with guns in the newly renamed Martyrs’ Square. But
in carrying her own weapon into battle, Ms. Talyeb is unusual, as is her husband, for supporting her decision to fight.
“He’s proud of me, I’m sure,” she said. She said she knows a few other women who have fought with weapons, but
that most stayed in support roles. “Maybe they don’t have inner strength like me,” she said in English.
She began her revolutionary work like other women — going to protests, and later cooking and cleaning for the
fighters. In February, as the revolution began, she and her husband were arrested in Tripoli. She was in custody for
about nine hours, she said. A security officer told her that if she didn’t stop demonstrating, “I will rape you.” It was
particularly painful, she said, that he made the threat in front of her husband. But she did not stop demonstrating.
When she saw that security forces kept using force against unarmed protesters, she said, she decided she wanted a
rifle “to protect myself and to protect my people.” She did not use it, though, until fighting came to Tripoli. She was
with rebel battalions from the rebel stronghold cities of Misurata and Zintan as they clashed with pro-Qaddafi forces
in the neighborhoods of Bab al-Aziziya and Abu Salim. She was driving an ambulance, she said, but came under fire
and fired back. “So from these days I know what the fighting is like,” she said. Now, she said, she hopes negotiations
for Bani Walid’s surrender bear fruit, because she is from there and has relatives inside the city. But she is ready to
fight if necessary.
Being pregnant does not slow her down.“I have to be strong for what I believe in,” she said. She said she was not
afraid of being hurt, but she was afraid of harm to her unborn daughter. Still, she said, “it’s for her freedom too.”
“My daughter,” she added, “will be called Misurata.”
Educational use authorization pending from http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/a-woman-on-libyas-front-lines/
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN LIBYA
Freedom House: Freedom House Joins Middle East Journalists’ Call for Greater Press Freedom
http://www.freedomhouse.org/article/freedom-house-joins-middle-east-journalists%E2%80%99-call-greaterpress-freedom
Freedom House supports recent demands by local journalists and freedom of expression advocates in the Middle
East and North African region for reform of state media organizations as well as the repeal of restrictive media laws
and condemns increased crackdowns on journalists during the current political turmoil.
The Guardian: Libyan People – ‘What We Need Now is Free Speech and Free Thought’ (8/26/2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/26/libya-democracy-gaddafi-retribution-tripoli
The mood was festive. The crowd included women in hijabs wearing rebel shawls, an elderly man in a dapper suit
and a group of traffic policemen sporting their white, colonial-style uniforms. After Friday prayers several hundred
people poured out on to the marble steps of the Jamal Abdul Nasser mosque, Tripoli's biggest.
UNHCR: Freedom of the Press 2011 – Libya (9/23/2011)
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,FREEHOU,,LBY,4e7c84ed36,0.html
Libyan media remained among the most tightly controlled in the world in 2010. While the law provides for freedoms
of speech and the press within the confines of "the principles of the Revolution," other legislation, including the 1972
Publication Act, contains provisions banning libel and slander and broadly restricts critical speech. In July 2010, three
journalists were investigated for defamation because of their report on financial and administrative corruption. The
government severely limits the rights of the media in practice, and journalists who violate the harsh press codes can
be imprisoned or sentenced to death. As with other forms of abuse, Libyan security forces enjoy virtually complete
impunity for acts of violence against journalists.
CBS News: Freedom of the Press? Libya Says ‘Not Ready’ (6/24/2011)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20074031-503543.html
Gunfire erupts almost nightly in front of the hotel western journalists are required to stay at while reporting here. It
is not aimed at anyone in particular; rather, it is usually AK-47's pointed up in the air in a show of both defiance and
warning. Defiance of the continual bombing raids from NATO, and a warning to the journalists reporting on them Muammar Qaddafi's regime keeps a tight lid on what can be seen and heard by outsiders, and that lid is enforced by
both official government minders and armed citizens sympathetic to Qaddafi's cause.
Reuters: Newspapers Multiply as Libya Enjoys Press Freedom (8/23/2011)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/23/us-libya-press-freedoms-idUSTRE79M0P320111023
Some 200 independent publications have sprung up in Libya since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, and newsagents
say clients leave their shops with armfuls of papers to ensure they do not miss any news. It is a small price to pay for
freedom, they say. "Customers are buying all the newspapers in front of them, and then deciding what to read," said
Rajab Al-Waheishi, a newsagent since 1956. Business is booming, he said, thanks to the wide range of content and
the sheer number of publications on offer.
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
ARTICLES & LESSON PLANS
Huffington Post: The Genesis of the Libyan Revolutionary Media (11/19/2011)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/libyan-revolution-media_b_1102646.html
Suleiman al Kabaili sits in an office that has clearly been rearranged to convert it into a makeshift studio. The wall
behind the desk has a naked nail that used to hold a framed photo of the Libyan dictator. Suleiman, a radio studio
director, dates the genesis of the current crop of media to an event exactly one year before the launch of the
February 17 revolution.
PBS: Getting Around Gadhafi – Rethinking Revolution Coverage From Libya (1/25/2011)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/02/getting-around-gadhafi-rethinking-revolution-coveragefrom-libya.html
One of our segments on Friday's PBS NewsHour was not like the other ones, in that it came together in a slightly
different manner than what has been standard operating procedure here. While we can count on our partners at ITN
to deliver excellent video from the scenes of where their reporters are, we turned to social media in order to gain
access to primary sources on the ground in Tripoli, on what could have been one of the darker days of their
revolution.
USIP: Media and Peacebuilding – Trends in 2011 and Looking Ahead to 2012 (1/4/2012)
http://www.usip.org/publications/media-and-peacebuilding-trends-in-2011-and-looking-ahead-2012
How has crowdsourced data pulled from sources like SMS texts, twitter, mobile phone calls and combined with
mapping and geospatial information systems (GIS) changed the peacebuilding field in 2011?
USIP: USIP Conference Assesses Social Media’s Role in Conflict (9/22/2011)
http://www.usip.org/publications/usip-conference-assesses-social-media-s-role-in-conflict
The new role of social media in popular revolutions and other political change is not the inevitable force for good
some commentators portray it as, but its complicated effects are promoting a wider transfer of geopolitical power
from traditional nation-states to individuals and institutions…
New York Times: Using Reporting and Multimedia to Understand News (4/22/2011)
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/the-events-in-libya-using-reporting-and-multimedia-tounderstand-news/
What is happening in Libya, and how is it significant in global affairs? Why did the United States and other nations
initiate a military operation? In this lesson, students learn about the events unfolding in Libya and the international
implications by exploring traditional reporting and multimedia, graphics, videos and photographs in The Times and
explaining to one another what they learned from these materials.
BBC: Libyan Social Media Jubilation (10/21/2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15402273
Libyan social media users were jubilant at the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the ousted Libyan leader. Supporters of
the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) posted in their hundreds on Facebook and Twitter as the news of the
former leader's death emerged.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
THE DAY AFTER
Getting the Story from Libya
By Marieke van Woerkom
Students will:
· Listen to a radio segment on events in Libya and the difficulties associated with reporting on this story
· Go online to explore an interactive timeline about events in the Middle East over the past few months, by
country
· Follow the Libyan "Feb17Voices" twitter feed online to look at events in Libya as they unfold
· Explore and discuss recent events in Libya
Social and Emotional Skills:
· Explore feelings that come up when listening to the personal story of a Libyan dissident in the US
· Media literacy (specifically exploring the idea of the neutral and dispassionate reporter and the idea of accuracy
in reporting)
Materials needed:
· Today's agenda on chart paper or on the board
· Online access to NPR's On The Media segment "Inside the Libyan Diaspora's Resistance Movement" from
February 25, 2011 at: http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2011/02/25/01
· Online access to the Wall Street Journal interactive timeline at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703842004576162884012981142.html
· Handout with Twitter messages from the "Feb17Voices" Twitter feed at:
http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/libya.html
Gathering (5 minutes)
Ask students what kind of media they use to follow news about their friends. Ask them what kind of media they use to
follow news of their community and also beyond their community. Ask if any students have been following the news
that has been coming out of the Middle East and North Africa in recent months? If so, what media have they turned to?
Introduction (1 minute)
Explain that in today's lesson you'll be looking at different media used to report on events in Libya and some of the
difficulties associated with that reporting.
Inside the Libyan Diaspora Resistance Movement (19 minutes)
Read the following introduction before asking students to listen to the On The Media (OTM) segment "Inside the Libyan
Diaspora's Resistance Movement" from February 25, 2011:
"Protesters in Libya [have been] … calling for the end of Muammar al-Qaddafi's regime - a regime that has kept the
country under an information black out for years. That's why some in the Libyan diaspora feel a special responsibility to
aid the flow of information in and out of the country. One member of that diaspora is OTM producer Sarah
Abdurrahman. Sarah … spent the week [following the start of the uprising in Libya], not as a disinterested journalist, but
rather, as a part of the movement. She describes how she, along with friends and family, have been trying to bring
about change in Libya from laptops in Washington DC."
Play your students the 11:32 minute OTM audio clip at: http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2011/02/25/01
Having listened to the clip ask students some or all of the following questions:
· What did students think of the clip? What did they learn?
· What dual role has radio producer Sarah Abdurrahman played since the start of the uprising in Libya? Why did
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
·
·
·
·
·
she play this dual role?
Journalists are expected to be neutral and dispassionate when covering stories. Do you think this is always
possible? Why? Why not?
What has Sarah done since the start of the uprising in Libya to get the story out?
How does Sarah get around the limitations imposed on journalists in Libya?
How does Sarah try to make sure that the story she gets out is accurate? Why does she say accuracy is
important?
Towards the end of the interview, Sarah is asked a personal question about her family history. How do you think
she's feeling as she shares this story? How does it make you feel listening to the story?
Besides Sarah and her friends and family, many people in Libya and beyond, have gone to great lengths to get out the
story about what's been happening in their country since February 17th using a variety of different media. How do
students think these media stories have impacted most recent events in Libya? If students don't know what happened in
Libya this past week, continue on to the next activity in which students explore the unfolding events in Libya since
February 17, 2011.
From Tunisia to Egypt and Beyond (20 min)
Ask half of your students to explore online the Wall Street Journal's "Middle East turmoil" interactive timeline, providing
summary information about the events as they have unfolded in the Middle East and North Africa over the past few
months. Ask the other half of your students to explore the hand out below with tweets from the "Feb17Voices" twitter
feed mentioned in the earlier radio piece.
Assignment 1: Wall Street Journal Website
In small groups of three ask students to get on a computer and go online to the Wall Street Journal website at
www.wsj.com. Ask them to type "Middle East turmoil - timeline" into the search box at the top right corner of the page
and find the Libya time line to explore. Instruct students to read up on the events in Libya by clicking on the different
dates and in their small groups, ask them to discuss what's been happening in this country since February 17, 2011.
Assignment 2: "Feb17Voices" Tweets Hand Out
In small groups of three, ask students to explore the handout below with tweets from the "Feb17Voices" twitter feed
mentioned in the earlier radio piece. Discuss what's been happening in Libya since Sarah Abdurrahman shared her story
on NPR.
Debrief Questions:
As students come back to the full group, ask them, if need be, the same question as before about people having gone to
great lengths to get out the story of what's been happening in Libya since February 17, 2011:
·
·
·
·
·
·
How do you think these media stories have impacted most recent events in Libya?
What were some of the other things that stood out for you from work in your small groups?
What are your thoughts about the events as they've unfolded in Libya?
What are your thoughts about the international community getting involved?
How do you think Sarah feels about this?
Did it help to hear Sarah Abdulrahman's story before doing some of the small group work? Why? Why not?
How?
Closing (5 minutes)
Give students a few minutes to think "if you were to write a tweet to Sarah Abdulrahman or any of the other dissident
Libyan Americans at this time, what would it say?" Ask several volunteers to share.
http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/libya.html
TeachableMoment.Org provides educators with timely teaching ideas to encourage critical thinking on issues of the day and foster a positive classroom
environment. It is a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility (formerly Educators for Social Responsibility Metropolitan Area).
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
GENERAL RESOURCES ON JOURNALISM
Freedom House
http://www.freedomhouse.org/
Freedom House supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights
around the world. We support nonviolent civic initiatives in societies where freedom is denied or under threat and
we stand in opposition to ideas and forces that challenge the right of all people to be free. Freedom House amplifies
the voices of those fighting for freedom in repressive societies. We work directly with democracy and human rights
advocates in their own countries and regions. These reformers include human rights defenders, civil society leaders
and members of the media. Freedom House’s programs provide these advocates with resources that include
training, expert advice, grants and exchange opportunities. We press the United States, other governments,
international institutions and regional bodies to adopt consistent policies that advance human rights and democracy
around the world.
Pew Research Center
http://pewresearch.org/about/
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends
shaping America and the world. The center conducts public opinion polling, demographic studies, media content
analysis and other empirical social science research. It does not take positions on policy issues.
The International Center for Journalists
http://www.icfj.org/
The International Center for Journalists, a non-profit, professional organization, promotes quality journalism
worldwide in the belief that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition.
Global Voices
http://globalvoicesonline.org/
Global Voices is a community of more than 500 bloggers and translators around the world who work together to
bring you reports from blogs and citizen media everywhere, with emphasis on voices that are not ordinarily heard in
international mainstream media.
EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/
EurekAlert! is an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society. EurekAlert! provides a central
place through which universities, medical centers, journals, government agencies, corporations and other
organizations engaged in research can bring their news to the media. EurekAlert! also offers its news and resources
to the public. EurekAlert! features news and resources focused on all areas of science, medicine and technology.
I Want Media
http://www.iwantmedia.com/
I Want Media is a website, weekday email newsletter, and Twitter feed focusing on diversified media news and
resources. It provides quick access to timely media news and industry data, updated daily.
Teacher Vision - Basic Journalism
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/journalism/resource/6042.html
Think of journalistic writing as an inverted pyramid. The top contains only one or two sentences with the most
important information first; this is called the lead (pronounced leed and sometimes spelled "lede"). Next, a little
more information is given about the story, and so on, until all of the information has been given.
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Citizen Media Law Project
http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/journalism-skills-and-principles
Whether you are just starting out with your first website or blog, or you've been publishing your work for years, it's
never too late to to think about the standards and principles you want to uphold in the content that you publish. The
Knight Citizen News Network sets out "the bedrock foundations of sound journalism to help citizen reporters master
the fundamentals of the craft in a networked age." These five principles – accuracy, thoroughness, fairness,
transparency, and independence – serve as useful guidelines to good journalistic practice.
CyberJournalist.net
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/about/
CyberJournalist.net is the premier news and resource site about how the digital technology is transforming the
media. The site offers tips, news and commentary about the future of media, social media, mobile trends,
innovation in media, online journalism and digital storytelling.
MEDIA LITERACY
The Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding
http://www.usip.org/programs/centers/media-conflict-and-peacebuilding
This Center of Innovation focuses on harnessing the power of the media for peacebuilding, and on developing new
strategies for countering the abuse of media during conflict. Media have been both targets and weapons in violent
conflict. Seizing the airwaves, broadcasting divisive messages, blocking Internet access and intimidating journalists
are just some of the well-known tactics used to ensure control over information and promote violence. Less well
developed is the capacity of the media for building peace.
The Peace Media Clearinghouse
http://peacemedia.usip.org/
Media's power is no secret. Its consumption around the world grows every day, for better or for worse. This site
provides a vast collection of media resources that we believe help promote peace. Our database is extensive, and
continues to grow every day. Within seconds, you might find a heartfelt documentary on Afghan and Iraq war
veterans saved by flyfishing, poignant and telling photos of conflicts across the world, or a challenging game that
places you in the role of African subsistence farmer. So take a look at our collection. There are resources that raise
awareness, arouse empathy and inspire action, and help us to better understand the drivers of current conflicts. Our
goal is to share media that inspires and enables viewers to promote peace and mutual understanding across the
globe.
PBS: Citizen Journalism
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/media/citizen_journalism.html
There have been numerous surveys, recently conducted, that report on teens' and early twenty-somethings' use of
the Internet as a vehicle to express their creative thoughts. At the same time, other surveys have reported a
disturbing lack of student understanding of the First Amendment, specifically the freedom of the press. This lesson
explores the first concept - students as citizen journalists - and its relationship to a free press, by examining the
rights and responsibilities of those who participate in citizen journalism. This lesson contains an opening activity and
two main activities. Extension activities are also provided. Assessment can be done on student participation in
discussions and papers or projects produced.
The Common Language Project (CLP)
http://www.commonlanguageproject.net/
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The mission of the Common Language Project is to engage, educate and inform Americans of all ages on the crucial
human issues of our time through innovative and accessible journalism.
Common Language Project Media Education
http://www.commonlanguageproject.net/education.php
The CLP believes that a journalist's first duty is to educate, and that media education is the key to fostering a diverse
media landscape and encouraging informed and engaged global media consumers. We offer digital news literacy
and multimedia journalism production opportunities for young people in the Puget Sound region through our work
at the University of Washington's Department of Communication and through our Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative.
Center for Media Literacy
http://www.medialit.org/
The Center for Media Literacy (CML) is an educational organization that provides leadership, public education,
professional development and educational resources nationally and internationally. Dedicated to promoting and
supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating and participating
with media content, CML works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media
production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture.
Center for Media & Democracy
http://www.prwatch.org/
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a non-profit investigative reporting group. Our reporting and analysis
focus on exposing corporate spin and government propaganda. We publish PRWatch, SourceWatch, and
BanksterUSA. Our newest investigative site is ALECexposed.org.
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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
LIBYAN NEWS SOURCES
The Tripoli Post
http://www.tripolipost.com/
The Tripoli Post first appeared in 1999. It is meant to be a newspaper of substance. Its objective is to communicate
Libya’s news and views to the rest of the world. The Tripoli Post and The Tripoli Post Online focuses on serving
readers by making information available with regard to Libya’s politics, business, culture, sports, history and the
country’s dynamic growing population. This is in addition to covering world events. The Tripoli Post is about men,
women, youth, children and the elderly. It is about business, arts, theater, products, inventions, education, health
and the environment. It holds high the principles of social and ethical responsibility. By doing so, it contributes to the
efforts of promoting a better, prosperous and peaceful world.
Libya TV
http://english.libya.tv/
A multi-media news website focusing on events and updates within Libya.
The Libyan Youth Movement – Feb 17th
http://feb17.info/
A multi-media news website produced by the Libyan Youth Movement
Aljazeera
http://www.aljazeera.com/
English version of the Arabic-language news network. Breaking news and features plus background material
including profiles and global reactions.
All Africa – Libya
http://allafrica.com/libya/
All Africa is a voice of, by and about Africa – aggregating, producing and distributing 2000 news and information
items daily from over 130 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public.
Al Bawaba
http://www.albawaba.com/en/
Al Bawaba is the largest independent producer and distributor of content in the Middle East. Al Bawaba News prides
itself on providing first-rate coverage of the Middle East from a local perspective. Al Bawaba has a full-time staff of
journalists and editors covering the Middle East and North Africa region’s events and news. We invest heavily in
employing the best journalists, researchers, editors and developers, and aspire to the highest international
standards.
Zawaya
http://www.zawya.com/
Zawya (pronounced Za-wee-ya, Arabic for 'angle') is the leading online business intelligence platform focusing on
the Middle East & North Africa, enabling nearly 1 million professionals to find and connect to the right business and
investment opportunities in the region. Our wide range of unique content and tools include detailed profiles on the
top companies in the Middle East and North Africa, Zawya Dow Jones live news, comprehensive industry and asset
class research, as well as an exclusive online network for professionals focusing on the region. Headquartered in the
UAE, Zawya has physical presence in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and the USA.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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LOOKING AHEAD
ARTICLES & LESSON PLANS
Brookings Institute: Imperatives for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Libya (12/2011)
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/articles/2011/1231_libya_sharqieh/12_libya%20reconstruction_shar
qieh.pdf
Having endured for four decades, the political system of Jamahiriya – or ‘state of the masses’ – created by Colonel
Muammar al-Qaddafi, has resulted in Libya having a unique political dynamic. Its growth has been stunted in many
ways, as it lacks political parties, civil society organisations, trade unions, economic associations and even a unified
army. When he led the coup that brought him to power in 1969, Qaddafi exploited the fact that the country had two
capitals, Tripoli and Benghazi, claiming that he wanted to take power from King Idris al-Sanousi, who was accused
of favouring the eastern part of Libya. Ironically, Qaddafi himself meant to marginalise that same region,
particularly Benghazi, hoping to centralise his power and government in Tripoli. It is not surprising, therefore, that
this year’s uprising began in the east, with its hub in Benghazi.
USIP: A New and Optimistic Libya, Struggling to its Feet (1/10/2012)
http://www.usip.org/in-the-field/new-and-optimistic-libya-struggling-its-feet
“The moment I learned the gun battle erupted down the street from my hotel, my mind started racing with the
implications it could have on Libya’s tentative steps toward democracy. I was just wrapping up a trip to the newly
dictator-free North African country. My colleague Vivienne O’Connor and I had been in the country to work with our
Libyan colleague Najla Elmangoush and Lebanese colleague Ali Chahine and offer our assistance and experiences
working in transition countries. We were also there to conduct workshops on rule of law and justice in the country
where — until so very recently— both were foreign concepts.”
USIP: Libyan Official Calls for Libyan Lead in Transition (9/29/2011)
http://www.usip.org/publications/libyan-official-calls-libyan-lead-in-transition
Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), the immediate successor to the ousted regime of Col. Moammar alQaddafi, needs significant international help to prepare the North African nation for a democratic future, but
Libyans themselves must be in the lead, and outside governments and institutions must show patience as Libya tries
to address its many challenges, a key senior official in Libya’s new government told an audience at the United States
Institute of Peace (USIP) on September 23.
NPR: Libya Suspends Transitional Government Members (1/22/2012)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=145598772
Carnegie Endowment: Transition in Libya – The Next Steps (2/2/2012)
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/02/02/balancing-political-powers-in-libya-s-transition/968b
The Libyan transition has entered the difficult phase of creating a new political system. This system will be shaped
by elections, the writing of a constitution, and the balance of political power among the many groups that
participated in the uprising and still hold sway in the country. To examine current developments and challenges in
Libya’s transition process, Carnegie hosted a panel discussion with Azza Kamel Maghur, a Libyan lawyer and
democracy advocate, and the American-Libyan Council's Fadel Lamen. Carnegie's Marina Ottaway moderated.
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LOOKING AHEAD
MODELS OF DEMOCRACY
The Guardian: Libya Needs True People Power (10/20/2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/20/libya-gaddafi-direct-democracy
As the NTC [National Transitional Council] claims to have defeated the final remnants of Muammar Gaddafi's forces
in Sirte, many Libyans are upbeat about the future, despite decades of autocratic rule and months of war. "There is
now an excellent opportunity to build a government from scratch and, after 42 years of one-man rule, Libyans want
democracy," Yusra Tekbali, a Libyan-American journalist told me. "I think Libya can be the first real democracy in
the region."
Daily Star: Turkey is a Model for Democracy and New Relations with the West (10/18/2011)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2011/Oct-18/151554-turkey-is-a-model-for-democracy-andnew-relations-with-the-west.ashx#axzz1mNuOB2f8
In the changing contours of the Middle East, swept along by the Arab Spring, nothing has perhaps been as dramatic
as the rise of Turkey. Several factors, both domestic and foreign, have coalesced to lift the nation’s standing in the
region to new heights. Turkey’s rising trajectory was highlighted by the rock-star reception accorded to Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his recent tour of the Arab Spring states of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya and his
high-profile meetings during the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.
BBC: Turkey – A Model of Democracy for the Arab World? (11/18/2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2011/11/turkey_a_model_of_democracy_fo.html
Do you think Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, having deposed their autocratic leaders, are about to join Iran as Islamist
republics? Do you think that after elections are held (the first have already taken place in Tunisia), Islamist parties
will take power and install theocratic systems of government in which Western liberal ideas of freedom and
tolerance have no place?
Carnegie Endowment: Can the Turkish Model Gain Traction in the New Middle East? (12/19/2011)
http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/19/can-turkish-model-gain-traction-in-new-middle-east/8geb
Turkey has a potentially valuable role to play in supporting democracy and state-building in the Arab world, but
questions about that role abound. Will Turkey work with the United States and Western Europe in this endeavor?
What elements of the Turkish model of governance are most relevant to the Arab context? How will Turkey’s
ambitions to contribute to Arab democracy fit with other Turkish interests in the region, and how will Arab societies
react to a more active Turkish political role?
PBS: What Political Models Might Shape the New Libya, Tunisia?
http://video.pbs.org/video/2159590836
Hisham Melhem, the Washington bureau chief of Al Arabiya News, Michele Dunne, director of the Rafik Hariri
Center for Middle East Peace at the Atlantic Council, and Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace speak with Gwen Ifill about the next steps for the Arab spring in Libya, Tunisia and Syria.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BOOKS/LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES/
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
BOOKS – FICTION & POETRY
Anatomy of a Disappearance (Hisham Matar, 2011)
Nuri is a young boy when his mother dies. It seems that nothing will fill the emptiness that her strange death leaves
behind in the Cairo apartment he shares with his father. Until they meet Mona, sitting in her yellow swimsuit by the
pool of the Magda Marina hotel. As soon as Nuri sees her, the rest of the world vanishes. But it is Nuri’s father with
whom Mona falls in love and whom she eventually marries. And their happiness consumes Nuri to the point where
he wishes his father would disappear.
http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Disappearance-Novel-Hisham-Matar/dp/0385340443
Tocqueville (Khaled Mattawa, 2010)
Kahled Mattawa was born in Libya in 1964 and immigrated to the U.S. in his teens. In his masterful fourth collection,
Khaled Mattawa is concerned, above all, with the ramifications of a new global culture that most American poets
have thus far ignored and neglected, partly out of incomprehension, partly out of fear. By setting himself against
such timidity, Mattawa offers his most sustained and experimental reckoning with matters of cultural and social
witness.
http://www.amazon.com/Tocqueville-New-Issues-Poetry-Prose/dp/1930974906
The Seven Veils of Seth: A Modern Arabic Novel from Libya ( Ibrahim Al-Koni, 2010)
In the ancient Egyptian religion, Seth is the evil god who out of jealousy slays his brother Osiris, the good god of
agriculture, to seize the throne. Seth is, however, also the god of the desert and therefore a benevolent champion of
desert dwellers like the traditionally nomadic Kel Tamasheq, better known as the Tuareg. In The Seven Veils of Seth,
the world-renowned, Libyan, Tuareg author Ibrahim al-Koni draws on the tension between these two opposing
visions of Seth to create a novel that also provides a vivid account of daily life in a Tuareg oasis.
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Veils-Seth-Translation-ebook/dp/B004GXAY2G/ref=sr_1_4?s=digitaltext&ie=UTF8&qid=1330106450&sr=1-4#_
In the Country of Men (Hisham Matar, 2007)
Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleiman's days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins
surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun, exotic gifts from his father's constant
business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve around his mother's increasingly disturbing bedside
stories full of old family bitterness. And then one day Suleiman sees his father across the square of a busy
marketplace, his face wrapped in a pair of dark sunglasses. Wasn't he supposed to be away on business yet again?
http://books.google.com/books?id=tvUzU2W3KXMC&dq=in+the+country+of+men&source=gbs_navlinks_s
The Shadows of Ghadames (Joelle Stolz, 2004)
Grade Level: 5-8
In the Libyan city of Ghadames, Malika watches her merchant father depart on one of his caravan expeditions. She
too yearns to travel to distant cities, and longs to learn to read like her younger brother. But nearly 12 years old, and
soon to be of marriagable age, Malika knows that – like all Muslim women – she must be content with a more
secluded, more limited life. Then one night a stranger enters her home…Someone who disrupts the traditional order
of things – and who affects Malika in unexpected ways. A Mildred L. Batchelder award winner.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Ghadames-Mildred-Batchelder-Awards/dp/0385731043
A Visa for Ahmad: Escape from Libya (Charles Gustafson, 2000)
Libya's Muammar Qaddafi is known to have "hit squads" in the major cities of Europe--trained assassins assigned to
keep young Libyans in line and eliminate defectors. Despite being seriously threatened by pro-Qaddafi Arabs, an
American couple vacationing in France attempts to help a young Libyan escape to the U.S.
http://www.amazon.com/Visa-Ahmad-Escape-Libya-ebook/dp/B007BXRISG/ref=sr_1_7?s=digitaltext&ie=UTF8&qid=1330106450&sr=1-7
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BOOKS/LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES/
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
REGIONAL HISTORY & NON-FICTION
Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (Vijay Prashad, 2012)
The Arab Spring captivated the planet. Mass action overthrew Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. The
revolutionary wave spread to the far corners of the Arab world, from Morocco to Bahrain. It seemed as if all the
authoritarian states would finally be freed, even those of the Arabian Peninsula. People’s power had produced this
wave, and continued to ride it out. In Libya, though, the new world order had different ideas. Social forces opposed
to Muammar Qaddafi had begun to rebel, but they were weak. In came the French and the United States, with
promises of glory. A deal followed with the Saudis, who then sent in their own forces to cut down the Bahraini
revolution, and NATO began its assault, ushering in a Libyan Winter that cast its shadow over the Arab Spring.
http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Libyan-Winter-Vijay-Prashad/dp/1849351120
The Middle East Revolutions: A Framework for Analysis (Catherine Claxton-Dong, Ph.D.; 2011)
When you were contemplating the events that might occur in the Middle East in 2011: Did you expect that Tunisians
would have a revolution and throw out their president of 23 years?... The Middle East has changed overnight. Libya,
Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, Djibouti...these are just some of the countries that are also now
facing working class revolts.These demonstrations by the people have all taken us by surprise, and yet — they’ve
happened before.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B004R1Q69M/ref=dp_readdesc_e?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XW
C2&s=digital-text
The New Arab Revolt: What Happened, What it Means, and What Comes Next (The Council on Foreign
Relations, 2011)
The New Arab Revolt: What Happened, What It Means, and What Comes Next sets the intellectual stage for
understanding the revolutions in the Middle East.This collection brings together more than sixty articles, interviews,
congressional testimony, and op-eds from experts and thought leaders, including Bernard Lewis, Fouad Ajami,
Richard Haass, Lisa Anderson, Martin Indyk, Isobel Coleman, Aluf Benn, Dirk Vandewalle, and Nassim Nicholas
Taleb. The volume includes seminal pieces from Foreign Affairs, ForeignAffairs.com, and CFR.org. In addition, major
public statements by Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hosni Mubarak, Muammar al-Qaddafi, and others are
joined by Egyptian opposition writings and relevant primary source documents.
http://www.amazon.com/New-Arab-Revolt-Happened-Means/dp/0876095007
Libyan Sands: Travel in a Dead World (Ralph A. Bagnold, 2011)
Ralph Bagnold was among a group of eccentric British explorers who in the 1930's explored the deserts of North
Africa using Model T Fords. This book describes his journeys into the region known as the Western Desert of Egypt
or the Libyan Sahara. He is a central character in the group of explorers who would be later fictionalized in Michael
Ondaatje's The English Patient. Libyan Sands is an exploration of the Egyptian western desert and the Libyan
Sahara on the eve of the Second World War.
http://www.amazon.com/Libyan-Sands-Travel-DeadWorld/dp/1906011338/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330104495&sr=1-1
Libya – Continuity and Change (Ronald Bruce St John, 2011)
Following a brief look at pre-independence Libya, the author explores the way in which the fragility of the postindependence state, unable to contain rising Arab nationalist struggles and growing economic expectations, opened
the way for the Free Unionist Officers led by Muammar al-Qaddafi to seize power. He then traces the progressive
development of the revolutionary state through four stages: the consolidation of power to 1973, the projection of
power to 1986, withdrawal and retrenchment to 1999, and the redefinition of the state after 1999.
http://www.amazon.com/Libya-Continuity-Change-ContemporaryMiddle/dp/0415779774/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330104876&sr=1-4
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BOOKS/LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES/
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
Sandstorm: A Leaderless Revolution in the Digital Age (Shehervar Sardar, et. Al.; 2011)
Sandstorm delves into the complex nature of the uprising in Egypt and the Arab Spring. The authors assess the role
of social media, the Global Generation, and the world wide economic crises in bringing the world together to
support the 2011 revolution in Egypt. This book is not about the glorification of technology or the greatness of
democracy.
http://www.amazon.com/Sandstorm-leaderless-revolution-digitalebook/dp/B005AQ484I/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
In the Land of the Brother Leader (Michael Totten, 2011)
Libya's Moammar Qaddafi ran one of the most terrifying police states in the world before an armed rebel movement
tore his repressive regime apart. In the Land of the Brother Leader is award-winning foreign correspondent Michael
J. Totten's alterately humorous, creepy, and occasionally touching portrait of a brutalized nation just a few short
years before the end of an era.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B005Y6DFDY/ref=dp_readdesc_e?ie=UTF8&s=books
A History of Libya (John Wright, 2010)
John Wright begins his history of Libya as far back as prehistoric times and concludes with the fortieth anniversary of
the Gadafi revolution. Wright's modern history centers on the Italian era (1911-1943), addressing the harshness of
Italy's long conquest yet giving credit to the material achievements of Air Marshal Italo Balbo. His fair and
comprehensive overview enables a clearer understanding of subsequent events, which are covered in three
chapters: Libya's largely passive role in the Second World War; 1951's fairly smooth transition to an early,
internationally-brokered independence; the Sanussi monarchy, which reigned for eighteen years; the discovery and
exploitation of oil in the 1950s and 1960s; and the post-1969 Gadafi phenomenon.
http://www.amazon.com/History-Libya-ColumbiaHurst/dp/0231701667/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330104876&sr=1-3
LOCAL RESOURCES
Libyan Association of the Northwest
http://lanw.webs.com/
Arab American Community Coalition of Washington State
http://www.theaacc.org/index.php
The AACC seeks to:
· Actively reach out to institutions in the Greater Puget Sound area to build partnerships.
· Represent the Arab American community in the State of Washington when meeting with public officials and
other personnel in positions of authority
· Provide speakers and resources that will highlight the Arab and Arab American culture in the Greater
puget Sound area
· Provide an avenue for members of the Arab American community to communicate their concerns about
their personal safety, report attacks and harassment, and to obtain information about their options for
dealing with such incidents
Arab Center of Washington
http://arabcenterwa.org/
Founded in 1992, the Arab Center of Washington (ACW) is a non-profit organization working in Washington State to
foster deeper understanding of and appreciation for the richness and vibrancy of Arab culture and its contributions,
through educational programs and community outreach events. ACW is a cooperative of community organizations,
associations, and individuals – Arab and non-Arab alike – who share a passion for Arab culture and a desire to see it
accurately represented and holistically reflected.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BOOKS/LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES/
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
NGOs, IGOs & NONPROFITS WORKING IN LIBYA
Mercy Corps
http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/libya
Mercy Corps has provided humanitarian assistance in Libya since March, shortly after the rebellion began. In several
key areas outside the capital, including Misrata and Benghazi, our efforts are focused on providing relief and
protection to displaced populations, helping children recover from the psychological effects of the conflict, and
nurturing the country's nascent civil society.
Red Cross
http://www.icrc.org/eng/where-we-work/africa/libya/index.jsp
The ICRC in Libya is focusing its activities on monitoring the situation of detainees held by various authorities in the
country, clearing unexploded ordnance and assisting people displaced by the 2011 conflict. The ICRC is also training
Libya Red Crescent and other community volunteers to raise awareness among the population about the danger of
handling explosive remnants of war.
Islamic Relief USA
http://www.irusa.org/emergencies/libya-humanitarian-relief/?gclid=CPTIvZOjt64CFeQbQgodFDPHpA
Islamic Relief USA has been assisting in efforts to help provide vital services to Libyans who fled the country during
the violence and to those who remained inside.
World Vision
http://www.prx.org/pieces/59672-wvr-show-372-one-hour-libya-and-foreign-aid
The fires of revolution continue to spread across North Africa. First Tunisia, then Egypt, and now Libya deals with
demands from its people for change. This week the World Vision Report takes you to a small island off the coast of
Tunisia where refugees are fleeing the turmoil back home. Despite drug violence, volunteers still build homes for the
poor in Mexico and a former Republican Congressman defends the need for foreign aid.
Libya El Hurra Charity (LHC)
http://www.libyaelhurra.org/node/613
“The refugee crisis in Tunisia is deeply concerning. Every day, countless refugees cross the Libyan Tunisian border in
search of security from these egregious violations of international law, and in search of everyone’s most cherished
possession, our freedoms.” – Hassan Tatanaki, Founder and Chairman of LHC
UNIC Tripoli: Liaison with [Libyan] NGOs
http://unic.un.org/imucms/tripoli/74/683/liaison-with-ngos.aspx
DPI and NGOs work together as strategic partners to provide accurate, impartial, comprehensive, timely and
relevant information to the peoples of the world on the aims and activities of the United Nations in accordance with
the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. NGOs have a partnership with the Economic and Social Council.
USIP: Libya
http://www.usip.org/countries-continents/africa/libya
USIP has been working on the ground in Libya since early in the uprising that unseated the former regime, engaging
with the burgeoning civil society sector and serving in an advisory role to the Libya Stabilization Team formed by the
National Transitional Council (NTC). As Libya emerges from conflict, USIP will continue to broaden its engagement
with the new government and other local stakeholders to support those working to promote a peaceful transition.
UN – Department of Political Affairs
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/undpa/main/activities_by_region/africa/libya
Following six months of armed conflict in the North African country of Libya, the United Nations in September 2011
established a political mission to support the country’s new transitional authorities in their post-conflict efforts.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BOOKS/LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES/
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
JOURNALISM VOLUNTEER/ACTION PROGRAMS
Reel Grrls
http://www.reelgrrls.org/
Reel Grrls empowers young women from diverse communities to realize their power, talent and influence through
media production. Our mission is to cultivate voice and leadership in girls at a vulnerable age in their development.
What distinguishes our program is the high-level of support that our female mentors offer and the high level of
commitment that we ask for in return. Our participants don't just drop into a computer lab after school — they
develop lasting relationships with women filmmakers and learn skills that propel them to leadership roles in their
community, college scholarships, and careers in the media industry. 93% of our participants state that they feel
more confident being a leader after participating in our program.
DoSomething.org
http://www.dosomething.org/
It is our aim to inspire, support, and celebrate a generation of doers: people who see the need to do something,
believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. At DoSomething.org we provide the tools and resources
for you to convert your ideas and energy into positive action.
Puget Sound Off
http://www.pugetsoundoff.org/
The mission of the Puget Sound Off (PSO) is to provide youth with a forum for discussion, artistic expression, and
action as a way to empower and encourage youth to have a strong voice. The project aims be a catalyst for
increasing youth involvement and engagement within the community while encouraging expression of one's beliefs,
respect for others, and commitment to public service.
PEARL World Youth News from iEARN
http://www.pearl.iearn.org/pearlnews/
An online international news service managed by secondary school students from around the world. Adhering to the
highest journalistic standards, students select the issues they want to report on, and write, edit, and publish their
articles on the web-based news service. School publications can reprint articles from PEARL World Youth News to
add a global component to their news. Any secondary school student can join the news service as a PEARL
Reporter after successfully completing a (no-cost) online training and certification course.
Youth Noise: Find, Explore, and Network a Cause
http://www.youthnoise.com/
YN is a social networking site for people under the age of twenty-seven who like to connect based on deeper
interests than Paris Hilton's wardrobe and want to get engaged within a cause. Find a cause, join the discussion and
get involved. Whatever your cause-from human rights and education to clean water and sports for social goodpromote it here.
Changemakers (Ashoka)
http://www.changemakers.com/
Changemakers is a community of action where we all collaborate on solutions. Read stories of people developing
innovative solutions to real problems all over the world. View entries in competitions where changemakers compete
for seed money to fund their projects. Start thinking about your own project!
Change.org
http://www.change.org/
Change.org raises awareness about important causes and empowers people to take action with leading non-profits.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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BOOKS/LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES/
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
Loyola Sponsors Media Literacy Camp for Middle-schoolers
http://www.loyola.edu/newsroom/news/09/0721_media_literacy.html
Sojourner Truth, set to open in fall 2010, will focus on teaching middle school students how to critically analyze
elements of media and popular culture as well as produce their own media content. The camp is designed to raise
awareness of the school’s focus in the months leading up to the school’s launch. Campers will participate in
discussions of the purposes of media, both beneficial and otherwise; receive training from Critical Exposure, a nonprofit that works to support young people in developing skills as documentary photographers and advocates; use
software to create original public service announcements; and take a field trip to the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
Shameless for Girls Who Get It
http://www.shamelessmag.com/blog/2009/05/media-literacy-camp-this-saturday/
This year, we’ve started a program called Making Noise which is a media literacy initiative for young women in this
city to connect the negative portrayals of women in the media with the gender violence women face on our bodies,
in our neighborhoods in our homes. We want to talk about the politics of media ownership but also give spaces for
young women to create their own media, with the sole goal of launching a summer campaign against street
harassment.
Eat the State (ETS)
http://www.eatthestate.org/
A forum for anti-authoritarian political opinion, research and humor. We're always looking for shorts for Eat These
Shorts!, One Planet, etc. If you're ambitious, write a whole article. We're all experts in something—here's a chance to
share the wealth of information. Drop off 10, 20, 50, 100—whatever you have time for—copies of dead-tree Eat the
State! around your Seattle neighborhood. We need people who can do it reliably every week, but you don't hafta do
many. You can pick 'em up from University Baptist Church Have fun-raising ideas? Contacts for hosting benefits?
Design skills to create ETS! merchandise Business meetings to talk about gossip, the state of the world, and ETS!
content, fundraising, and, well, business, are the second Wednesday of each month The paper version of ETS! needs
ads to raise money to kill more trees! (which we distribute around Seattle every week).
Association of College Unions International
http://acui.org/
Research opportunities for how you can impact local policies and development in your community. A list of national
civic engagement organizations can be found here.
National Issues Forums
http://nifi.org/
Organize an issues forum to discuss contemporary social or policies with others in your community. Learn more
about how to organize a forum at the website.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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INTEGRATING STEM TOPICS INTO YOUR TEACHING
INTEGRATING STEM TOPICS INTO YOUR TEACHING
Global Classroom supports the Washington STEM Initiative which seeks to improve student achievement and
opportunity in areas critical to our state’s economic prosperity: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM). The Initiative aims to catalyze innovation in the state’s K-12 education system, increase teacher
effectiveness and student learning, and dramatically raise the number of Washington students graduating ready for
college and work and succeeding in STEM degree programs. These efforts are intended to benefit every student in
the state, with a particular emphasis on accelerating the achievement of low-income and minority students.
Below are resources that might help you integrate STEM into your into your humanities/social studies classroom.
We encourage you to pass these suggestions on to your colleagues in other subject areas. All of the resources below
incorporate STEM into their lesson plans.
Discover: Scientists of the Arab Spring (1/3/2012)
http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jan-feb/11
When Ahmed Zewail first heard of the popular revolt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on January 25,
2011, he immediately left for Cairo. “It was a very emotional time. I have family in Egypt, and I owe the country my
early education,” says Zewail, who is a professor of chemistry at Caltech. “I knew I had to take action.”
Huffington Post: The Arab Spring: A New Era in a Transforming Globe (11/8/2011)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/the-arab-spring-a-new-era_b_1082577.html
The Arab uprising must be seen as an integral part of a world in transformation. The technological and informational
revolutions that have spurred (and continue to spur) globalization and interconnectedness between cultures make it
impossible for tyrants to rule for the entirety of their lifetimes while mercilessly subjugating their peoples to lives of
servitude with no prospect of ever tasting the true meaning of freedom.
Canadian International Council: Are Social Media Driving the Arab Spring (6/20/2011)
http://www.opencanada.org/features/the-think-tank/the-arab-spring/
A first major report on the use of social media in by Arab Spring protesters has been released by the Dubai School of
Government. It is now clearer than ever that social network usage trends and impacts are growing across the MENA
[Middle East and North Africa]. To examine the role of social media in the Arab Spring, we also interview Sarah
Abdurrahman, Sonia Verma, Brian Stewart, and Jillian York – all participants in the Munk School’s panel discussion,
“Tweeting The Arab Revolution.” And Ben Rowswell introduces a lecture on the use of technology in the promotion
of democracy.
PBS: Life in the Sahara (1/25/2009)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/world/sahara.html
In the world today, 1/6 of the population is being affected by desertification that is forcing people to relocate to
other regions and change their lifestyles. For those unable to move away from deserts, such as residents of the
Sahara and Sahel regions of northern Africa, the effects can be devastating. Countries such as Mali, Mauritania,
Niger, Sudan and many others are suffering the effects of long-term drought and devastating famine. In the world
today, 5 million children are dying of hunger each year. Many of these are from the Sahara and Sahel regions of
northern Africa. Continued desertification will only cause these numbers to grow. World organizations are working
to develop plans to stop desertification and to tap into underground aquifers that could offer people in these areas
relief from the drought and famine they have been experiencing.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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INTEGRATING STEM TOPICS INTO YOUR TEACHING
Exploring Africa: Regional Perspectives – North Africa
http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m16/activity4.php
In Learning Activity 1 you learned how people survive in the various climate regions of North Africa. Today, North
Africans are active in a variety of economic systems: they raise food, produce goods, export minerals, and work in
services industries.
UNDP: Libya—Energy and the Environment
http://www.undp-libya.org/energyenvironment.php
Environmental sustainability and socio-economic development are today recognized as interdependent, integral
components of sustainable human development and poverty reduction. The poor are disproportionately affected
by environmental degradation and lack of access to clean affordable energy services. Climate change, loss of
biodiversity and ozone layer depletion are issues that hold global importance and therefore cannot be addressed by
countries acting alone. UNDP helps countries strengthen their capacity to address these challenges at global,
national and community levels.
The Telegraph via Wikileaks: Oil- And Gas-Related Pollution in Libya
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/libya-wikileaks/8294826/OIL-AND-GAS-RELATEDPOLLUTION-IN-LIBYA.html
Libya is slowly acknowledging the need to address the environmental impact of its oil and gas production.
Environmental issues are becoming more central to the Libyan oil and gas industry, particularly with the influx of
foreign companies, which often have a corporate mandate to operate in an environmentally-conscious manner, and
the drive to expand production. In practical terms, though, the GOL's involvement in and concern about
environmental issues remain marginal.
Asia Times Online: A Chinese Vision Begins to Emerge
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NB25Ad01.html
The dominant stereotype of Chinese foreign policy in the Middle East is "amoral oil grubbing mercantilists who
never met a dictator they didn't like". Perhaps. But the job of an amoral, oil-grubbing mercantilist has been made
much more complicated and challenging as tensions rise in the region and heightened demands are placed on the
People's Republic of China (PRC).
NeoK12: Educational Videos, Lessons and Games for K-12 School Kids
http://www.neok12.com/Energy-Sources.htm
Site contains links to images, quizzes and videos aimed at educating students about the oil industry.
World Without Oil
http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/
World Without Oil is an alternate reality event, a serious game for the public good. It invites everyone to help
simulate a global oil shock. People participate by contributing original online stories, created as though the oil shock
were really happening. The game’s masters rank the participants (“players”) according to their contributions to our
realistic portrayal of the oil shock. The game also places value on player-created communities, collaborative stories,
and collective efforts.
NAAEE: Lesson Plans (Grades 9-12)
http://eelink.net/pages/Lesson+Plans+-+Grades+9-12
Green Teacher compiled "best of" collection of activities targeted toward the 'High School Years' for both formal
and non-formal settings.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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INTEGRATING STEM TOPICS INTO YOUR TEACHING
National Environmental Education Foundation: Energy Curricula
http://www.eeweek.org/resources/energycurricula.htm
Site provides links to over 25 lesson plans for grades K-4, 5-8 and 9-12.
Climate Challenge: Earth’s Future Is In Your Hands
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/
A game where you are president of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough
with the voters to remain in office.
Oil & Gas: Free Games and Activities
http://www.wartgames.com/themes/science/oil-gas.html
Site links to games, PowerPoint presentations, and lessons concerning oil, biofuels and ecology.
Serious Games As Oil Drilling 3D Simulators (09/07/2010)
http://seriousgamesmarket.blogspot.com/2010/09/serious-games-as-oil-drilling-3d.html
Interactive 3D simulators are essential components of a training curriculum when it comes to complex systems like
Oil & Gas rigs - where a small mistake can lead to a catastrophic accident.
Oil God Wreaks Havoc
http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/oilgod.jsp
Welcome! You are an Oil God! Wreak havoc on the world’s oil supplies by unleashing war and disaster. Bend
governments and economies to your will to alter trade practices.
PBS: EcoChallenges—Africa
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/tools/eco/activities2.html#4
Through a variety of activities, students will explore the connection between war and the scarcity of environmental
resources.
Mercy Corps Psychiatrist in Libya Warns of Emotional Trauma… (09/12/11)
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/mercy-corps-psychiatrist-in-libya-warns-of-emotional-trauma-in-childrenand-leads-launch-of-comfort-for-kids
Mercy Corps psycho-social experts have conducted psychological assessments of thousands of Libyan children who
have endured months of violence in the city of Misrata, the epicenter of the conflict, and found that children are
suffering from significant emotional and mental stress. In response, Mercy Corps is implementing Comfort for Kids,
a program developed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that promotes resilience in children who have witnessed or
lived through disasters or traumatic events.
EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/
EurekAlert! is an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society. EurekAlert! provides a central
place through which universities, medical centers, journals, government agencies, corporations and other
organizations engaged in research can bring their news to the media. EurekAlert! also offers its news and resources
to the public. EurekAlert! features news and resources focused on all areas of science, medicine and technology.
World Affairs Council Resource Packet: Special Focus on Libya – Understanding the Arab Spring from the Inside February 29, 2012
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GLOBAL COMPETENCE MATRIX
Global Competence is the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance.
INVESTIGATE
THE WORLD
RECOGNIZE
PERSPECTIVES
COMMUNICATE
IDEAS
TAKE
ACTION
Students investigate the
world beyond their immediate environment.
Students recognize
their own and others’
perspectives.
Students communicate
their ideas effectively with
diverse audiences.
Students translate their
ideas and findings into
appropriate actions to
improve conditions.
Students:
Students:
Students:
Students:
■■ Identify an issue, gener-
■■ Recognize and express
■■ Recognize and express
■■ Identify and create
ate a question, and
explain the significance
of locally, regionally,
or globally focused
researchable questions.
■■ Use a variety of lan-
guages and domestic and international
sources and media
to identify and weigh
relevant evidence to
address a globally
significant researchable
question.
■■ Analyze, integrate, and
synthesize evidence
collected to construct
coherent responses
to globally significant
researchable questions.
■■ Develop an argument
based on compelling
evidence that considers
multiple perspectives
and draws defensible
conclusions.
their own perspective
on situations, events,
issues, or phenomena and identify the
influences on that
perspective.
■■ Examine perspec-
tives of other people,
groups, or schools of
thought and identify
the influences on those
perspectives.
■■ Explain how cultural
interactions influence
situations, events,
issues, or phenomena,
including the development of knowledge.
■■ Articulate how differ-
ential access to knowledge, technology, and
resources affects quality
of life and perspectives.
how diverse audiences
may perceive different meanings from
the same information
and how that affects
communication.
■■ Listen to and commu-
nicate effectively with
diverse people, using
appropriate verbal and
nonverbal behavior, languages, and strategies.
■■ Select and use appro-
priate technology and
media to communicate
with diverse audiences.
■■ Reflect on how effec-
tive communication
affects understanding
and collaboration in an
interdependent world.
opportunities for personal or collaborative
action to address situations, events, issues,
or phenomena in ways
that improve conditions.
■■ Assess options and plan
actions based on evidence and the potential for impact, taking
into account previous
approaches, varied perspectives, and potential
consequences.
■■ Act, personally or col-
laboratively, in creative
and ethical ways to contribute to improvement
locally, regionally, or
globally and assess the
impact of the actions
taken.
■■ Reflect on their capac-
ity to advocate for and
contribute to improvement locally, regionally,
or globally.
The Global Competence Matrix was created as part of the Council of Chief State School Officers’ EdSteps Project
in partnership with the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning.
Copyright 2011
www.edsteps.org