Interview with Ali Ahmida, Gilbert Achcar, and David Smith on Libya by Jadaliyya

The fall of Qaddafi's Tripoli to Libyan rebels has raised a host of new questions and intensified existing debates about the nature and fate of the Libyan uprising. As the peaceful uprising in Libya shifted towards an open rebellion in the face of a violent response by Qaddafi's regime, various calls for intervention by the Libyan people mobilized and polarized world powers, solidarity activists, and everyday observers as to the nature and legitimacy of the Transitional National Council (TNC), the UN Security Council resolutions, and the NATO intervention. Khalil Bendib spoke to professorsAli Ahmida (New England University) andGilbert Achcar (School of Oriental and African Studies), while Malihe Razazan spoke to Africa Correspondent David Smith (The Guardian). Some of the issues discussed include the build to up to the collapse of Qaddafi's hold on Tripoli as well as the tensions resulting from an indigenous movement against authoritarian rule calling on former colonial powers to intervene on its behalf.

This interview was conducted as part of KPFA's Voices in the Middle East and North Africa Show. 

Libyan-born Ali Abdullatif Ahmida teaches political science at the University of New England. His books include Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya (2005) and The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance 1830-1932 (2nd edition,2000).  

Gilbert Achcar grew up in Lebanon, and is currently Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London. His books include The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder, published in 13 languages, Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy, co-authored with Noam Chomsky, and most recently The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives.  

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