The Idea Department

In May of this year, Esther Dyson wrote a piece called ‘Illusions of democracy’, in which she detailed the differences between online action and offline reality in respect to Egypt. Though today, what are the ramifications of a rebel-lead reality and its political aftermath in Libya? Some major points in this article apply here, when considering post-Qaddafi Libya’s crucial situation. I will compare her article with a more recent piece by Christopher Hill, both to be found on project-syndicate.org.

Dyson questioned the difficulty felt by a nation during a move to democracy, quoting one Egyptian’s thoughts on the subject: ‘Once people have tasted freedom, once the oppressive leader is gone, they will naturally live as free people and build a new, democratic society without much central oversight.’ Dyson added: ‘I wish I could believe that it will all be as easy for Egyptians as running a Facebook group was.’ Though for Libya in comparison, the real challenge will be facing the aftermath of a rebellion-lead triumph, with strategic political and economic thinking. The rebel accomplishments weren’t lead by online activists, they were on the ground and now, these rebels must form parties and get organized in a democratic way. These rebels are not stumped with what to do beyond the screen, but with the task of appointing leaders and inspiring people, from where they stand now.

            Another aspect affecting Libya’s next move politically, is that ‘Libya was not a smoothly operating country before the civil war started six months ago; today, it is thoroughly broken and will require an enormous amount of rebuilding… Libya’s needs run the gamut of challenges faced by countries in transition: governance, institutional capacity building, economic reform, and security’(Hill, 2011) The reality faced here, requires the creation of political parties and the appointing of skilled leaders.

Similarly, in May, Dyson also called for the appointment of leaders who hold the ability to run a country and be listened to: ‘They need to pick leaders who can speak for them and negotiate for them. The modernizers need to form a coherent force – and most likely a political party – rather than simply relying on the wisdom (and good behavior) of the crowd to govern the country’, this is most definitively the case for Libya now, with many published articles noting the importance of charisma in a democratic leader.

Dyson wrote: ‘In centuries past, revolutionaries were farmers or blacksmiths or merchants; now they are Google executives and Facebook friends. The Internet joins the elite of the world. But it also cuts people off from the past and a sense of history… The exciting things that happen online are not the same as what happened offline in countries such as Romania and Kyrgyzstan, let alone in Libya.’

This last statement can be compared with one from Christopher R. Hill, in which he discusses the lasting effects of culture, over political change: ‘If we learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan, it is that a few years of politics, or institutional rebuilding, does not trump centuries of culture. Those centuries, not the remnants of the Qaddafi regime, are likely to be the real enemy of change in Libya’.

Visit the Project Syndicate site to view both articles:

Dyson - http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/dyson32/English

Hill - http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/dyson32/English