When accused of overstepping his legislative authority, Mohammed Magariaf, President of the General National Congress (GNC), defended his actions by saying: “Under the Constitutional Declaration, the Congressional President is conferred with sovereign powers, which makes him equal to the head of state.” When accused of overstepping his legislative authority, Mohammed Magariaf, President of the General […]

Aisha Abdurrahman lives in downtown Tripoli and when she went into labour, she and her husband lost no time driving to the nearest hospital. However, wherever the couple went, they were turned away. Each hospital they arrived at told the couple that they would not be able to admit them or deliver their baby in […]

Two children sit on opposite sides of a room in Benghazi, Libya. Both are nine years old. One is Hamza Jawish, a boy from Syria, and the other is Waad Anwar, a girl from Libya. And they are both refugees.  “This is the first time I have been outside Syria,” says Jawish, who comes from […]

Contrary to the stereotype, federalism advocates in eastern Libya are trying to renew their active presence on the political scene through a more passive discourse and less provocative slogans. In a response to accusations leveled against them as disunion supporters, federalists – or unionists as they have come to call themselves – staged a demonstration […]

“Zorro is doing a great job, ” exclaimed 29-year-old Salah, raising his fist in the air as if his favorite football player had just scored a goal. Had Salah not heard a loud explosion rocking the house of a revolution returnee in a nearby neighborhood, he would not have stopped talking to his friends to […]

Because they are neighbours, the fates of the Libyan and the Egyptian people have always been intertwined. In ancient times, thousands fled the Libyan desert and settled nearer the River Nile. Today millions of people of Libyan descent live in Egypt and in fact, the Libyan dialect is almost more common than Egyptian ones in […]

Despite the many attempts of the popular Libyan football player, Tareq Al-Taeb, to apologize for his antagonism towards the Libyan revolution, his dreams of returning to the national team are still blocked by official rejection.    Despite the many attempts of the popular Libyan football player, Tareq Al-Taeb, to apologize for his antagonism towards the […]

The Libyan sector of planning was established in 1951 by an externally funded United Nations supervisory committee but later done away with under Gaddafi. In 2008, there were attempts to reform the planning body, however, it was tainted by corruption and slow implementation. Issa Twaijr, the former Minister of Planning, talks about the reality of […]

Despite the ambiguity surrounding herbal therapy clinics and the high cost of treatment, the number of patients they receive increases almost daily, especially with the collapse of the healthcare system in Libya. Herbal medicine clinics, pushed by a popular belief in the magic of its medications extracted from herbs and unknown formulas, are not new; […]

A group of female civil activists and intellectuals has established a movement called “Women Are Coming,” which is preparing a draft of women’s basic rights to be included in the constitution, an appeal considered the bravest of its kind in Libya. Libyan poet and Professor of Aesthetic Philosophy, Aisha al-Maghriby is a co-founder with other […]