Thousands came out on the first anniversary of February 17 revolution of Libya , some armed, some just wearing the tricolor.

A family going for celebrations-Dahra

Are you dealing with the same persons?

A senior diplomat probed any real change in the hierarchy.

The Labour ministry officials are the same. However, they are not taking any decisions as they do not want to take any responsibility. There is uncertainty as to whether their words will be honoured by any future authority.

One official put it like this.

“ You can keep doing the work as per the contract. But do not expect anything from my side, as I do not know how things will be in future.”

Hence, though some company officials have returned, none are too eager to start their projects. Most say they are dealing with almost the same persons as before in the government departments.

My dear friend Mali -El-Hemali El Bribash.  He helped many locals and expatriates                  

during the troubled times. He was one of the “Night Watchmen“

http://www.chowk.com/Views/World/The-Night-watch-Seeking-for-Lost-Time

Are you dealing with the same mentality?

How do you motivate your subordinates to work?

A sum of 2000 dinars per Libyan family is said to have been released by the government on the occasion of February 17.

“How is the money going to be paid?”

“The mechanism is not yet well defined. Earlier grants were siphoned off by ‘Ali-Baba’” one friend smiled.

“Where is your 2000 dinars?” a few local friends asked some  expatriate workers who stayed behind. They say that foreign workers who stayed behind during the revolution should be treated as Libyans.

“I do not have the papers regarding your overtime,” one Mudir told an expatriate worker who does daily night duties with no offs. If the worker does not report for duty, the same Mudir is very quick to set off a chain of calls to see that things are in order.

She too stayed behind during the revolution.

In both these scenarios, I was left wondering –

How do you motivate your subordinates to work?

By coercion or by inducements?

Families celebrating in Suq Juma. This was the heart of the revolutionary

uprising in Tripoli along with Fashloom. As one friend put it

“The uprising started in Suq Juma and Fashloom, was crushed here, will

rise again here.” After the failed February uprising, many prepared

quietly for months. That day of reckoning came on August 20,2011

Have you seen with your eyes?

Reproducing some passages of my diary-February 2011-one year ago ( I have been a regular diarist since 1983)

“Have you seen with your eyes?” “No” was the answer many gave.

Yes, the gun shots are heard, even machine gun firing is on, especially in the night, but no one has seen the bodies on the streets, though there are blood stains. It seems that the regime is clearing up the bodies the moment they kill. Then I met a person who told that a friend’s son had been shot in the leg. This was the first direct person who corroborated that killings are going on. In the hospitals you cannot take away the bodies unless you sign that the deceased died in a car accident. It was drizzling in Tripoli through most of the day (23/2/2011).   “You have been waiting for this for a long time, since the eighties, isn’t it?” one experienced expatriate staff nurse, a Philippino who has stayed in Tripoli since 1982 asked a doctor who spent 18 years in prison as a political prisoner without any fair trial. The doctor smiled quietly. It is said that three persons were shot dead in front of our clinic, but again, no one has seen.

A poster of a Shaheed-Martyr at Bab Tajora area where the regime positioned

armored vehicles, took videos of protests and even attacked using ambulances

to carry mercenaries to attack the people.

Revising the meaning of “Murderer”

Was wondering about this meaning of “Murderer” as asked by Count Leo Tolstoy

In another pamphlet, entitled “How many Men are Necessary to Change a Crime into a Virtue?” he says: “One man may not kill. If he kills a fellow-creature, he is a murderer. If two, ten, a hundred men do so, they, too, are murderers. But a government or a nation may kill as many men as it chooses, and that will not be murder, but a great and noble action. Only gather the people together on a large scale, and a battle of ten thousand men becomes an innocent action. But precisely how many people must there be to make it so?–that is the question. One man cannot plunder and pillage, but a whole nation can. But precisely how many are needed to make it permissible? Why is it that one man, ten, a hundred, may not break the law of God, but a great number may?”

Tolstoy, Leo.The Kingdom of God is Within You.

Now we can speak freely, but are still waiting for someone responsible to listen

Hopeful and Happy..But there is a long way to go.

After around 100,000 people losing their lives, sacrifices which common Libyans readily gave there is still no responsible authority which can deliver.

But everyone is happy and hopeful.