Video Interview (#2) with Ali Ahmida on Libya and Intervention

[This interview was conducted by Jadaliyya Co-Editor, Noura Erakat, on March 24, 2011]

In this second interview, Ali Ahmida (bio here) discusses the balance of power on the ground in Libya.

On March 18th, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973 and effectively imposed a no-fly zone over Libya's airspace in response to what many anticipated would be a bloodbath in Benghazi. The next day, French and British air forces began aerial bombardment of Libya with broad international support including from the Arab League, and  particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. The intervention has sparked heated debate amongst advocates, scholars, and lawmakers about the virtues and ills of intervention as well as meaning of solidarity with the Libyan people. In this interview, Professor Ali Ahmida engages these topics and provides an insightful analysis of the shifting balance of power on the ground.

Notable quotes:

8:57: In summary, the Western region is rebelling but the regime is counting on using brutality and physical force to subdue the uprising.

19:57: In Libya, and in Algeria for that matter, the French still refuse to recognize the horrors and the brutalities of the colonial period...all these regimes may try to impose their own agendas on the Libyan people and I worry about a post-Qaddafi Libya where the new system will be influenced or manipulated or the revolution will be appropriated for others peoples' agendas. And let's remember for heaven's sakes the lessons of Iraq.

31: 57 The language, the slogans, the program of the Council is really terrific because it's not regional,  it's not secessionist, it's not separatist, it's a program that calls for the integrity of the Libyan soil, Libya as a unified state, Tripoli as a capital of Libya." 

Interview (#2) with Ali Ahmida on Libya and Intervention from Jadaliyya on Vimeo.

Click here for Noura Erekat's first interview with Ali Ahmida.

For more Jadaliyya interviews, visit our Interviews Page.