Arabeyes: 1001 Tales from Libyan Taxi Rides · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Can taking a taxi be an eye-opening experience to the society you live in? Libyan blogger Libyano** takes us on a ride of a lifetime in the following translation, which gives him the chance to contemplate on his society, the behaviour of young men and the antics of some taxi drivers.
It all started when his car decided to take a break from its normal activities.
I cannot start to describe all the guys standing in a crowd as if they were in a football stadium. I just don't understand what they see standing there like that. This is just a good example of how these men were raised because I see them standing there with no shame and the sad part of all this is that I sometimes see men the same age as my father, standing in front of a girls’ high school, checking out the girls there. I really don't know what the solution for this problem is but I usually avoid driving by any girls’ high school when I am taking my mother around town to avoid embarrassment as I fear I would see an undesirable scene of sexual harassment.
It really hurts to see such young men and how shallow they can be. Everything is so superficial, all they care about is their hair cut, sun glasses and some are so young that they still don't even have any facial hair. Yet you see them smoking and making clouds of smoke from their mouths. And of course, we can't forget those that just love to show off with their cars, drifting, twirling and doing all these crazy moves – guys cruising around the neighborhoods with music banging out of their cars. Some men even listen to Zemzamat, which are old ladies singing and are usually performed in weddings.
If it was up to me, I would whip them with a green stick and make them look like zebras so next time they pass by any girls’ high school, they would lower their head and carry on their way and none of these shameful acts would happen.
** Libyano was kind enough to translate the Libyan phrases I couldn't understand.