Quick Libya Links

[the_future_modernes]

Al Jazeera Libya Liveblog

Quick facts: Libyan justice minister has resigned because of the whole scale murder of protesters by Gadaffi and his sons. So have the Libyan ambassadors to China and India. Last night the second son of Gaddafi, Saif Gaddafi made a speech. Basic thing to take away: They ain't leaving except by the bullet. I've seen people write that that may be because they have no place to go. I will research why that may be at some point. The protests have hit Tripoli, the capital of Libya and have spread to other cities. Briefly took over Green Square. Tear gas and bullets greeted them cleared them out again, for the moment apparently people died but protesters are still there. This is just a fleeting taste. Will be back with more. But it looks like Gaddafi and his sons are fucked. Various key tribes are turning against them, and the more people they kill, the more pissed off the rest of the country gets.

Huh!

Guardian Live blog in Arabic!!! by Mona Mahmood

The Guardian Live Blog in English which is talking about the entire scope of protest in Western Asia and North Africa. Britain has just revoked arms license to Libya because of the violence. Which is just...wow. They were exporting to him in the first place? Of course they were! Anyway...The fear of unrest has hit Sudan, where Omar Bashir has wisely decided that he won't stand for election next time, in order to try to head of increasing unrest in his country. Whether that will help remains to be seen. Check the post Libya's vast and varied financial interests around the world. Protesters surrounded Gaddafi's compund last night Heavy gunfire drove them away again, but...


Also: In search of an African Revolution

Hinshaw is particularly troubled by the failure of the international media to pay due attention to events in Ivory Coast, where the UN estimates that at least 300 people have died and the opposition puts the figure at 500.

"With due deference to the bravery of the Egyptian demonstrators, protestors who gathered this weekend in Abidjan [in Ivory Coast] aren't up against a military that safeguards them - it shoots at them.

"The country's economy has been coughing up blood since November, with banks shutting by the day, businesses closing by the hour and thousands of families fleeing their homes," he continues. "And in all of this where is Anderson Cooper? Where is Nicolas Kristof? Why is Bahrain a front page news story while Ivory Coast is something buried at the bottom of the news stack?"

The journalist is equally as disappointed in world leaders. "This Friday, Barack Obama publicly condemned the use of violence in Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. When was the last time you saw Obama come out and make a statement on Ivory Coast? Or Eastern Congo? Or Djibouti, where 20,000 people protested this weekend according to the opposition?

"The problem is that most American media compulsively ignore everything south of the Sahara and north of Johannesburg. A demonstration has to be filmed, photographed, streamed live into the offices of foreign leaders to achieve everything Egypt's achieved."

Nanjala, a political analyst at the University of Oxford, suggests this journalistic shortcoming stems from journalists' tendency "to favour explanations that fit the whole 'failing Africa' narrative".MORE