Touring Libyan Blogs: Bloggers on Spring Break! · Global Voices
Fozia Mohamed

I am not sure, but I have the general feeling that the Libyan blogosphere has been a little quiet lately, except for the usual couple of blogs who regularly update. Maybe it is because of academic exams ? Or perhaps it's spring and people are tired ?
Anyway the topics were varied as they are always, but simply not many have been blogging.
Interestingly, if you want to penetrate or invade a country it might be easier  and more pleasant to do so economically than through warfare. This is the meaning in my opinion of foreign investment in the so called third word countries. A example of this type of peaceful invasion is highlighted by Abughilan and the story of how Banco di Roma became active in Libya.
“In its first year, the bank opened another agency in Benghazi and several others in Khoms, Zletin, Misurata, Zawara and Derna. The bank had some admirers in the local community –Libyans, Jewish and Maltese- who promoted its activity and preached its virtues and were paid handsomely for their services. The bank offered loans with a very acceptable interest rate, only up to 9 %, and encouraged its customers to obtain loans against land mortgage, and when they failed to pay back, the bank acquired the land. The bank had also a scheme of buying lands through agents for prospective Italian colonials coming to Libya at a later stage.”
Nowadays this effect is achieved by globalization, which has engulfed most of the world as we know it.
A_Akak has gone on a virtual picnic to the Lake District.
“i was unable to come up to newcastle last weekend so i decided to send a representative for me, and that rep was my Digital Camera,”
However what is more interesting than his post are the lively  commenters, who described previous picnics and how Libyans embrace the experience.
‘[..]  love it, i would wander away somewhere and make friends with the sheep.
later i would come back to the cabin to find that most of the libyan kids had nearly drowned in the mud, broken a bone, had some sort of injury or other or was lost and everyone was franticly looking for them.[…]”.
Libyano on the other hand takes us this time on Part II of his journey from Tripoli to Egypt, namely Alexandria.
“At night we decided to take a round in the streets of Alexandria with my car but we got lost, we asked for the directions to the Corniche but we found ourselves being more and more lost until we realized that some of the people we asked were giving us wrong directions and I think it was intentionally, we got into narrow streets where I was thinking this is it now they are gonna make us stop and steal the car and everything else, I drove non stop in the narrow streets and tried to use my sense of directions but we got ourselves more lost until we found ourselves going in a street full of people and their wooden carriages selling all these kind of things you see in any Egyptian movie fil 7ara (in the neighbourhood).”
The Lost -Libyano ( another Libyano) is wondering and feels indignation at  why is it that when the Western press reports a crime against some Muslim victim it never mentions the religion of a criminal, but if the criminal was Muslim we would be sure to hear about it.
“The 33-year-old woman was pushing her son in his pram through the Yoker area of the city when a group of young men threw stones at them and kicked the woman” ( note their is no mention of the men's ethnicity or religion).
I've actually wondered about this myself several times and I still have not found a convincing answer.
The 15th of April commemorates the date of the US bombing of Libyan cities exactly 21 years ago (1986). I ‘ve scoured over 60 Libyan blogs to look for any mention of that event  but the only one who brought the subject up was Besheshentra. She mentioned it in conjunction with another tragedy which took place also on the 15 of April : the Titanic!
“two tragedies happened at night in this day ..
they are related to each other only by their date
but still …
they both hold , death , fear , dark and sad memories ..
15 April : the titanic sinking 1912
15 April : American air strike on Libya 1986
So , let us just
remember …”
On this occasion I think Highlander's old post would be suitable when describing a child's view of her city under attack.
“Have you ever been in a disaster area, just before something terrible is about to take place? If you have then you would know what I’m talking about, this sense of total silence, impending doom, emptiness inside and all your body hair standing up. This eerie silence is what woke me up, and I was hearing in my head a distant thudding.”
But also for turning the page …
“In order to survive, we put behind those sad memories and try to become pragmatic about this , maybe we even follow the proverb which says wisely “when you can’t beat them ..join them”. “