By Abdullah Alkabir, a Libyan political writer and commentator
Elements of success and failure of the protests
Those who cannot read the reality that stemmed from the recent past, which sap is still ascending from the roots of this past to the stems and leaves of the present, will be taken by surprise by the outbreak of violent demonstrations in the four corners of the country at the beginning of July. This is so, despite the preparations and calls through the social media few days ago.
Indeed, those will present a traditional explanation that parallels one’s denial of such demos with long list of accusations such as; an external plot with local tools, political parties seeking to undermine their opponents by exploiting the suffering of the people, saboteurs wanted sabotage and destabilization. The long list of accusations goes on, and as far as describing the protesters as foreign intelligence agents. This is the custom of every illegitimate authority, or one losing such legitimacy, announcing directly or through its mouthpieces and media arms, at the beginning of its confrontation with the first wave of protests, its refusal to leave voluntarily, and that it will not make way for the movement for peaceful change, so the conflict could slip into the spiral of violence.
The other way for those who have learned their lessons is to avoid clashing with angry youth, ride the wave of change, and claim their backing and support, as if they are not the intended target of the movement, or that unlike other authorities, they are solely excluded, so the Lebanese movement’s demonstrations, the next day raised the slogan “All of them means all of them.” That is in response to a speech by one of the leaders in which he announced his support for the movement, granting himself and his party an exemption from the demand to leave.
The overthrow of all leading and influential entities and personalities on the political scene is the clear demand, and the explicit slogan of all demonstrations. No exception is made for anyone. Rather, the rejection sign in red broke the faces of all the leaders of the political scene, and as usual Haftar distanced himself and his militia from the demonstrations, as if they were not the intended target, so he issued a statement announcing support for the movement, prompting demonstrating youth to respond by publishing scenes of burning pictures of Haftar in more than one city.
Last Friday's movement started strong, and caused a strong shock wave to the prevailing stalemate, promising that the summer would be long and scorching for the political class, and the conflict between the two governments was crashed from the first round, in clear language. Both of you must prepare to leave, and drop the claim of the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives that they are elected and represent the people. The demonstrations also put the Presidential Council before a real test, which has so far failed to deal positively with them, and gave a great opportunity for international parties to exert more pressure to hold elections.
Some of the events, accompanied the protests as side effects, such as burning of government premises that are not concerned with the political conflict because their function is service, blocking roads, and calling for disruption of institutions, utilities and service sectors, such as airports, seaports and banks, confirm the willingness of some political parties to penetrate the movement, and work to thwart it from within, in order to achieve different goals according to the number of parties behind these sabotage operations.
This requires the leaders of the movement to organize themselves well, to notify all demonstrators of what is allowed and what is not in the demonstrations, and to cooperate with security institutions against any transgression, to show up on the various media, to comment daily on all developments, and to issue statements when developments require clarification.
It is difficult to predict the fate and outcome of the July 1st Movement, as it may move upwards with a growing momentum, to achieve its goals and impose a new reality that paves the way for elections, but also some parties may succeed in spoiling it, and the conflicting parties may put aside their differences and ally themselves to abort it. But what is certain is that the Post-Movement Phase will be different from the Pre-Movement Phase.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Libya Observer