The War Against Libya

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT3

INTRODUCTION4

Overview4

Purpose of the research4

LITERATURE REVIEW5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY6

Research Philosophy6

Research methodology6

RESEARCH DISCUSSION7

Role of Media7

Secularization9

Impact on women's rights9

CONCLUSION11

References12

ABSTRACT

Libya is yet another country that was being tormented by dictatorship and the regime of rulers who were not considering the thoughts and desires of the population and instead, only sought to do what was best in their own interests. This led to another war for freedom and democracy: the Libyan Revolution (also known as the Libyan Civil War) of 2011. The war initiated and occurred in the North African state of Libya between the rebels and the governing forces of Colonel Gaddafi. This paper studies the role of media in the Libyan War, 2011.

The War Against Libya

INTRODUCTION

Overview

The war started with protests in Benghazi on the 15th of February 2011 and then clashes grew to the point where Gaddafi's forces started to fire openly on the rebels. This invoked further anger and caused more people to team up with the rebels to get Gaddafi off the ruling throne. The rebels formed their own body called the 'National Transitional Council'.

In the follow-up of the war, the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) passed a resolution on the 26th of February 2012 to freeze the assets of Colonel Gaddafi and his immediate supporters. Their travel was restricted and the ICC (International Criminal Court) was involved to conduct a full scale investigation on the matter. In early March, the forces of Gaddafi pushed further eastwards and recaptured several cities before they reached Benghazi. Furthermore, a no-fly zone was declared over entire Libya and all measures to suppress the war were enforced. The governing body of Gaddafi open fired on the rebels but the rebels did not give up their cause and finally, Gaddafi's government tumbled and fell.

Purpose of the research

This war would not have been possible for the rebels of Libya, had they not had the support of the country's media. The media played a significant role in the development and outcome of this war and that is what shall be discussed in this paper that follows.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The media has played an equally important role in the revolutions witnessed in other Middle Eastern countries like Egypt. In an article entitled Arab Media: The Web 2.0 Revolution, Anne Nelson discusses how the Internet has created a new public space for political activism and participation in the Middle East, as a means to counter highly government censored media. This article explored how this issue was addressed in an April 2008 Arab media conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A panel discussion at the conference entitled Freedom: The New Battlefront for Arab Cyber-Media demonstrated the power of cyber-dissent and its influence on domestic politics through the discussion of the Facebook launched Egyptian protest and national strike in April 6, 2008 against the government decision to raise food prices on subsidies. The Facebook group is called April 6th Youth Movement. The panel discussion opened by showing a compelling and gut-wrenching YouTube video that was placed in the Facebook strike page of ...