Sarah Elliott

Women of the Libyan Revolution

In the Libyan rebels’ unlikely victory over Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, women did far more than send sons and husbands to the front. They hid fighters and cooked them meals. They sewed flags, collected money, contacted journalists. They ran guns and, in a few cases, used them. The six-month uprising against Gaddafi has propelled women in this traditional society into roles they never imagined. Much as Rosie the Riveter irreversibly changed the lives of American women after World War II, Libyan women say their war effort established facts on the ground that cannot be easily undone. - Anne Barnard

Rima Alzaroug, 29, (center wearing badge) is a pediatrician at Tripoli Children's Hospital. Today doctors, nurses and technicians celebrated the raising of the National Flag at the hospital. A local florist observed the celebration and gave them all roses. Rima has worked at the hospital since 2008, "I suffered a lot the past six months, all the nurses who I worked with supported Gaddafi. They listened to the tv and would bring me false news. I couldn't speak out against them and would cry at night. The last two months the hospital never closed, but we didn't have enough medicine or equipment, but we kept working. I can't describe the happiness I feel, no one can stop us from speaking our minds now. We are all free. I have seen people's behavior change, no one cared or helped each other before, now the social bonding is so strong. I only saw this after the revolution. In Tripoli Medical Center where I was volunteering, I saw doctors cleaning, people brought food and clothes for the rebels. I saw a man take off his shirt and give it to a rebel.”
   
Salma Taghdi 22, Aseel Tajuri, 22 and Maysam Shebani, 22 started a weekly Newspaper titled " Men Trabuls- From Tripoli" in June of this year. “We couldn’t be in the fighting, we couldn’t take the guns. People were scared for women to go out and fight because of the raping and kidnapping, so we decided to do something different,” Maysam said. Their goal was to get revolution news to local citizens. Sections of the paper included revolutions updates, and security and safety advice. Aseel went out in Tajura on the 18th of June “to take part in a peaceful woman’s demonstration to show the world we’re against Gaddafi. We covered our faces when we went out, so nobody knew who we were. We did it because everybody was frustrated here in Tripoli. My name was on the list that Gaddafi’s forces had of who they wanted to catch. I knew someone who took me off of the list. Salma explains, “We were trying to let the world know what was going on here in Tripoli. At the beginning, I was trying to call the media, to give them updates about Tripoli. But of course it wasn’t safe to do that because everything was monitored and controlled. The media themselves told me to stop calling them because they were afraid for my safety. Nobody actually knew what was going on here. I had contact with some of the rebels, I also had contact with sources here and there, so I felt like I could do something out of it. A lot of people were dying; a lot of people were missing, no one knew, so we started this paper. It was basically news, about what was happening here in Tripoli. Maybe women were not involved in the fighting but we were a big part, a big supporter. Of course men needed support, they got it from their moms, their wives, their sisters, their friends. We used to talk, we used codes like, “Is the cheesecake ready?” We used cakes and sweet names.” Aseel adds, “We used to transfer flash drives rolled in our jeans and in our shoes. It was scary, but we didn’t think about how scary it was, we focused on how to do it every week. In the last two days, I went to a special UN meeting for women; I was surprised with how many educated, active women we have. They actually wanted to be apart of the political process in Tripoli, and Libya. We had lawyers, doctors, teachers, students, all kinds of women. I don’t want them to just give us a chair there to say that, ok, we gave one woman a chair. We want it to be based on not just women and men; we want it to be based on of what you are, of what you can do. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman, it matters what you can do for Libya. This is what we want. We don’t want to be in there just to prove that we are equal, we want to earn to be there, just like men need to earn to be there.”
  
Women gathered by the thousands in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square (formerly known as Green Square) to celebrate the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. A sea of head scarves, national flags and victory signs filled the square where women sang songs and chanted in celebration. Women for the most part have been out of the public eye during the revolution, but many have been working behind the scenes to liberate the country from the 42 year oppressive regime.
     
  
Marwa Enaas, 24, lives on Tripoli Street in Misrata. Tripoli Street saw the heaviest fighting in all of Misrata. “The first day of the fighting, there was heavy bombing. I sat in the hallway of my house with my family for a long time. My brother who is a rebel came to our house to tell us that the apartment above us was on fire. We heard the walls falling down.” Marwa and her family stayed with relatives for ten days before returning to their house. “There was no water and no electricity. I never thought they would use tanks and grad missiles against us, I never thought I would see those here in Misrata. AK’s yes. After his first speech when he said "rats" I really thought he would do anything. We became scared of a nuclear bomb. We stayed in Misrata the entire time. When we saw these things, we had to leave it to god. We win or we die, we will not surrender. The most important to me is education to be better. I’m studying computer science. With democracy and justice and education better, everything will be better.”
   
Nadia El Bergli, 28, is the manager of "Grains of Hope" which was created on the 1st of July. The group is comprised predominantly of women who make food for the rebels on the front line, approximately 300 meals a day. In addition, they also collect money and clothes for families whose houses were destroyed during the intense fighting in Misrata.Nadia's younger brother Abdel Adem was detained by troops loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on April 4th. She holds a collage that she made depicting her brothers time in detention. "I used photos from Misrata to tell the story. I made the walls of the prison, and the green grass in the corner is his hope, like seeing beyond the walls. These are photos of him taken before he was captured, we remembered him with these pictures." Nadia's brother was released on August 20th after rebels entered Tripoli. "He liked the painting so much. He was surprised to see it and had a large smile on his face. He said it was like a precious gift."
   
A drawing hangs on the wall in the "grains of hope" office in Misrata. The group is comprised predominantly of women who make food for the rebels on the front line, approximately 300 meals a day. In addition, they also collect money and clothes for families whose houses were destroyed during the intense fighting in Misrata. The drawing, created by group member Fatima El Jamal, tells the story of women raped in Misrata. A Libya National Flag now officially adopted by The National Transitional Council is draped over one of the women depicted to symbolize protection.
     
  
Psychologist Aisha Mohammed Gdour, 44, collected money from people in her community to help families in Tripoli with little means before the revolution began. Aisha, along with a network of trusted female friends also helped to financially support orphans. During the revolution Aisha collected money for guns and smuggled bullets in her purse. In addition, she volunteered at Matiga Military Hospital the last five days of Ramadan.
   
Libyan women volunteer in the kitchen at Matiga military hospital in Tripoli by making food for patients, and cleaning.
   
Hweida Mahmoud Shibadi, 40 and Nabila Abdelrahman Abu Ras, 40, are both lawyers in Tripoli. Hweida passed along information regarding Gaddafi's military movements to a family member who is apart of the NTC, which resulted in NATO airstrikes. Nabila helped organize Tripoli's first lawyers' demonstration in February and then, late in pregnancy, printed revolutionary leaflets that woman tossed from speeding cars. "Even if they don't give us our rights, we have the right to go out and demand them."
     
  
Eyadea Elspaie, 50, visits the grave of her son at Ali Hensheri Cemetery, which is named after on old martyr. Tarea Elspaie, 34 was killed by African mercenaries on August 27th in El Hadba.
   
A family drove into the Capitol for a day of sightseeing at Bab al-Azizia, Muammar Gaddafi's compound that has now turned into a "tourist" site for Libyans who never thought they'd have the chance to see behind the high, guarded walls. They then headed to Tajoura for a day at the beach.
   
Velichka Petkova, 52, is Bulgarian and has lived in Libya for the last 17 years. Today she is working as a nurse at a clinic, which is positioned, at the last rebel checkpoint before the besieged town of Bani Walid, one of the last strongholds of Gaddafi loyalists. "When the rebels took Tripoli I was working at Tripoli Central Hospital. We prepared medicine and hospital supplies for them. I was working 12 hours a day. No one knows what will happen here, if we will die."
     
  
Nisreen Mansour al Forgani, 19, volunteered for Gaddafi’s all-female militia a year ago, she spent most of her time commanding road blocks. In the female section of the Popular Guards Nisreen was trained to use firearms, specifically trained as a sniper. Over the course of her time in the Guards Nisreen says she was raped on multiple occasions by Mansour Dau, who was the commander of 77 Brigade, his son and other senior men. As rebels closed in on the capitol Nisreen says she was taken to the Bosleem district of Tripoli where she was forced at gunpoint to execute suspected rebels. She does not know how many men she killed that day. After trying to escape by jumping out of a window anti- Gaddafi men found her, wrapped her in a blanket and took her to a Mosque before taking her to Matiga Military Hospital for treatment. In the hospital Dr. Rabia Gajum head of department of behavior and psychology looked after Nisreen. Today she is being held at Tripoli's Jdaida Prison, “I never in my life thought I’d be in prison. When I arrived many people yelled at me because they had heard about what I have done. They are treating me well here, and even let me talk to my mom on the phone. Being here is better than being with Gaddafi’s people. My mom tells me that the people here are my brothers and my family, and to be patient, that the revolution was good for the country. I want to know what will happen to me, but no one tells me. I have lost hope. I just want to know my fate.”
   
Nisreen Mansour al Forgani, 19, volunteered for Gaddafi’s all-female militia a year ago, she spent most of her time commanding road blocks. In the female section of the Popular Guards Nisreen was trained to use firearms, specifically trained as a sniper. Over the course of her time in the Guards Nisreen says Mansour Dau, who was the commander of 77 Brigade, his son and other senior men, raped her on multiple occasions. As rebels closed in on the capitol Nisreen says she was taken to the Bosleem district of Tripoli where she was forced at gunpoint to execute suspected rebels. She does not know how many men she killed that day. After trying to escape by jumping out of a window anti- Gaddafi men found her, wrapped her in a blanket and took her to a Mosque before taking her to Matiga Military Hospital for treatment. In the hospital Dr. Rabia Gajum head of department of behavior and psychology looked after Nisreen. Today she is being held at Tripoli's Jdaida Prison, “I never in my life thought I’d be in prison. When I arrived many people yelled at me because they had heard about what I have done. They are treating me well here, and even let me talk to my mom on the phone. Being here is better than being with Gaddafi’s people. My mom tells me that the people here are my brothers and my family, and to be patient, that the revolution was good for the country. I want to know what will happen to me, but no one tells me. I have lost hope. I just want to know my fate.”
   
Margaret Asante, 37, is originally from Ghana and has been living in Libya for the past 27 years. She owns three import/export shops in Tripoli, bringing African items to migrants in Libya. When the fighting came to Tripoli at the end of August “the environment totally changed, African migrants were being robbed in town,” says Margaret. “People came here because they thought it would be safer, but men came at night. They took people’s money, cell phones, they took my car.” Margaret brought items from her stores in Tripoli and set up a shop at Janzour Port for Migrants. “If I didn’t come, people weren’t going to eat.” Margaret is pictured with her two-year-old son Joshua Bafo Asante.
     
  
Weded Elbede, 52, stand in the bridal store that she has owned for the past six years. She has supported the revolution from the beginning, and all five of her sons fought to liberate Tripoli. After the revolution began in February, men working for Muammar Gaddafi would stop by her store, threatening to keep it open or else they would take it from her. "They wanted things to look normal," she explains. In April she closed her store "I grew tired of what was happening in the country and I wanted to show the world everything was not ok. I kept the shop closed until Tripoli was liberated." They opened the store again on the last day of Ramadan to show that things were going back to normal. One night during the revolution men supporting the rebels created a roadblock in front of her store, and raised the national flag. A father and son supporting Gaddafi lowered the flag and burned it, then called troops loyal to the repressive leader. "African’s showed up wearing green flags on their head, there was heavy machine gun fire. I live above my store, and many bullets broke the windows in my house." On August 23rd her youngest son was fixing his bike outside her store when a man in a taxi drove by spraying the street with bullets. He was shot four times in the back, along with other children who were playing outside. "A lot of taxi's were involved in drive by shootings as many were secretly working for internal intelligence. Leading up to the revolution I heard some taxis were working for free so they could speak to more people and gather information, they were targeting the youth."
   
Bridget, 24, who is 6 months pregnant and originally from Nigeria has lived in Libya for the past four years. She came to Libya because she explained “there was no money in my country. I came here and sold clothes. There is better money here in Libya. I don’t want to go home to Nigeria, I would like to go to Italy.” Currently, Bridget is living at Janzour Port underneath a dry docked boat and relying on the kindness and generosity of locals donating food and water. “I hope I leave before I have my baby, this is not a good place to be born.”
   
As Tripoli slowly returns to normal, woman and children begin to venture out of the house, where many have been in hidding since mid February. A family spends a day at the beach in Tajura in a new and free Libya.
     
  
Women gathered by the thousands in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square (formerly known as Green Square) to celebrate the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. A sea of head scarves, national flags and victory signs filled the square where women sang songs and chanted in celebration. Women for the most part have been out of the public eye during the revolution, but many have been working behind the scenes to liberate the country from the 42 year oppressive regime.
   
Salma Taghdi aka Asma Trabulsi, 22, stands at her family’s house with the radio that her and her father used to listen in on the movements of Qaddafi’s troops movements since the start of the Libyan Revolution in February. They recorded everything they heard in a desk calendar, writing the specific date and time. They notified Universities that they were going to searched and people who were going to be detained. Salma also participated in a demonstration, but didn’t return after unarmed protestors were being shot at with live rounds and being detained. Instead she created a Revolutionary Newspaper with two of her friends to inform the citizens in Tripoli of daily updates with the information she gathered from the radio.
   
After students gathered at Tripoli University to cleanup the campus in preperation for classes to resume, an impromptu group of women began singing revolutionary songs in support of the end of Gaddafi's regime.
     
  
Dr. Mariam Talyeb, 32, stands at the final rebel check-point from the besieged city of Bani Walid, one of ousted leader Moammar Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds in Libya. Talyeb is a rebel fighter and seven months pregnant with her first child. On February 16th, Dr. Talyeb was detained by Gaddafi forces in Abu Salim in Tripoli and held for eight hours. “They said bad words to me and said they would rape me if I don’t stop demonstrating. They said this in front of my husband. But I didn’t stop calling rebels; I asked them not to stop demonstrating. Now, many men want to marry me, they say they don’t know anyone like me. I don’t care if I get shot, I don’t care if I die. I want to do this for Libya. I want to be free. You must fight to take your freedom. My husband is here with me, he’s proud of me I’m sure. I think there are other women fighters, but they are shy. It’s traditional. Maybe they don’t have a strong heart like I do. I feel better to be pregnant, I have to be strong for what I believe in. My daughter will be called Misrata."
   
Women gathered by the thousands in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square (formerly known as Green Square) to celebrate the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. A sea of head scarves, national flags and victory signs filled the square where women sang songs and chanted in celebration. Women for the most part have been out of the public eye during the revolution, but many have been working behind the scenes to liberate the country from the 42 year oppressive regime.
   
A "Revolutionary" Dress at a fabric store in Tripoli, Libya weeks after the Capitol fell to NTC Rebels.