Ayat Mneina has always campaigned for human rights.
Her first protest was against the Iraq War when it first broke out over 20 years ago, mobilising students against Israel’s 22-day onslaught in 2008 and battling the word ‘apartheid’ during her time in university.
“It’s really hard not to be aware and alert about what happens around the world, especially to people who look like us and move around in the world looking like us,” Ayat tells The New Arab.
“Unfortunately, there’s always stuff happening. But it was just something that couldn’t shake, I couldn’t just go on, not doing anything.”
“Libya was always kind of like this obscure country that was really much overshadowed by its dictator”
As soon as the Arab Spring began, Ayat was primed to engage, knowing that the people in her home country, Libya, had a history of four decades of repression from the Gaddafi regime, which impacted her and her family’s lives.
“Everybody practised self-censorship when it came to the regime, there was no outward criticism,” Ayat says.
“You had to really be careful in terms of who you socialised with, or who you spoke to whenever it came to Libya because you could have consequences, even if just like saying any kind of flippant remarks.”
As a result, the activist explains that for decades, people were self-policing because they had been used to the repression of the regime.
Leading up to the protests, Ayat says there was a back and forth on whether people in Libya would speak out. And while four decades of tyranny was enough, many also thought its dictator would be succeeded by his sons.
While Ayat was living five thousand miles away in Canada, social media allowed her to be involved. She was already in touch with her cousins in the country on the then-newly launched Facebook.
During the initial protests, people shared information fast on Twitter (now X), able to share their own narrative as opposed to what mainstream media was putting out.
“I feel like the challenges that Libya is facing right now are inevitable because we’ve not had real stability”
Ayat decided that if Libya joined, she would use social media to share what was happening with the international community.
“Libya was always kind of like this obscure country that was really much overshadowed by its dictator,” Ayat says.
“Nobody really understood or knew what was on the ground and what reality was for people.”
By February, Libya joined the revolution, and that’s when ShababLibya was made.
Also known as the ‘Youth of Libya,’ Ayat and a group of people she had known over the years created a platform using nearly every social media platform available to coordinate with sources on the ground and report on what was happening in the country.
“We used Twitter, and we used Facebook, and we used Skype and Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and any other messaging platform you could imagine, an email,” Ayat says.
ShababLibya helped counter the media blackout imposed in Libya and became a reliable source of information. The media came to them for sources and people they could talk to.
“It just turned into this constant 24-hour news feed,” Ayat says.
It was not just the protests, things also turned violent after soldiers were instructed to open fire on protesters, which was keeping ShababLibya going.
“Real consequences were happening to people on the ground, and we needed attention on it,” she says.
Following the end of the Gaddafi regime, the group knew they couldn’t just stop. They needed to continue what was happening in the country and wanted the world to know.
“We felt like there was more that needed to be done in the vacuum that was left over after the regime was gone,” says Ayat.
Over 10 years later, what everyone thought would be the start of democracy and a new Libya came the rise of transitional and illegal governments, leading to political divisions in the country.
The East of Libya is governed by the internationally recognised House of Representatives, which refuses to disband.
Meanwhile, the West has a competing parliament, the Government of National Unity, with Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh as its Prime Minister, backed by some foreign powers but is heavily impacted by local militias.
Ayat explains the systemic issues that Libya will continue to face regardless of who’s put in power.
From the floods in Derna that carved out a whole city into the sea to the recent central bank crisis, the divisions continue to expose the shortcomings of the government that continue to affect Libya and its people.
“I feel like the challenges that Libya is facing right now are inevitable because we’ve not had real stability,” Ayat says.
The activist says the country is currently in a “really messy disaster” on top of infrastructure issues and borders contributing to smuggling routes.
The recent oil and financial crisis might further isolate Libya from the world financially and economically, making day-to-day life for the average Libyan harder.
While the United Nations stepped in to address the recent oil shutdown, this shows that international institutions only care when a country’s resources are affected, which in turn will affect them.
“Whenever it comes to Libya, it feels like it’s a monetary calculation that’s been happening because of the resources that exist, and that the pull to ensure that those resources are protected,” says Ayat.
“It’s not necessarily to ensure that their country is stable because we’ve demonstrated that we can continue to pump oil even if the country is on fire.”
The activist thinks there really is no beacon of hope in terms of these international institutions stepping in because they’ve demonstrated their hypocrisy when it comes to Israel’s war on Gaza, a war that continues to affect the Middle East.
“There needs to be the inclusion of various voices, and there needs to be a sincere effort to bring people together”
“It just seems like things are a lot more pessimistic, it’s a lot more dark,” Ayat says.
“It’s not that we were ignorant to imperialism or colonialism or what motivates those Western powers, but to see it on such callous display, it shakes you. It’s been difficult. It just feels like everything else is a farce like everything next to it feels like we’re all just pretending.”
Along with the demilitarisation of the country, Ayat says Libya needs genuine, sincere engagement.
“There needs to be the inclusion of various voices, and there needs to be a sincere effort to bring people together,” Ayat says.
“It might mean that that has to be like Libyan led and driven, and completely not reliant on the UN or the various power brokers that swoop in every time to secure their interests.”
While Ayat does not see another revolution like Libya saw in 2011, Ayat thinks there might be another boiling point, where people are forced to break the silence again, believing that it might have to be a long game.
Ayat notes that Libyans have been violently silenced for over a decade, crushed by those in charge, ensuring that no one can demonstrate in that way again.
In turn, its people surrender their quality of life, their experience, and the standards of living they have to endure.
“They sacrifice every day in terms of the quality of life that they experience and the standards of living that they have to put up with,” Ayat says.
“You’re not going to see these huge movements in the street because people don’t feel safe to speak, don’t feel safe to demonstrate, and frankly, are tired… That’s the ultimate sacrifice.”
Anam Alam is a staff journalist at The New Arab. She frequently writes about human rights and social issues, including women’s rights and sex education
Follow her on X:Â @itsanamalam
