The Country is Beautiful

Libyan novelist Mohammad al-Asfar is in the grip of revolutionary fever:

Our revolution is a revolution of the people, people who can no longer stand the stench of tyranny, who cannot be healed by handouts. The pressure reached its limit. So the people erupted and proclaimed their desire for a better life.

And they were met with the murderous glare of a tyrant, and not with mere tear gas but with live bullets and tanks and aircraft and missile fire. So we called ourselves the “grandchildren of Omar al-Mukhtar,” in homage to the resistance leader who was martyred in 1931 for telling the Italian occupiers that the Libyan people would not surrender, and would either win or die. And we persevered, we endured and we won.

Now, it seems, the country is beautiful. Its women are lovelier than ever, their smiles are sweeter and their hearts are full of song. Even the sick have been healed; their disease was caused by the blight of dictatorship. . . . We will transform Libya into a beacon of civilization and science and culture, a meritocracy where each person will earn his or her position, regardless of ideology or tribe. We will work as transparently as we can, and we will make the world trust us, and help us. Everyone here is convinced that Libya’s liberty has already been won, and that now we must work toward its safety. The revolution now needs talent, not loyalty.