Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 28, 2011
It was hard to watch Christiane Amanpour's interview this morning with two of Gadhafi's sons. With all the money the family has and the fact that Saif has a PhD from the London School of Economics, the least one can expect is a bit of decent English, not that they've ever said anything really smart in Arabic either. Much like his father, Saif is convinced the protests are led by a small bunch (5,000 to 10,000) of unruly hooligans in that ruffian part to the east of Tripoli, while Saadi, the soccer player (please give me a break: he played only one game in the Italian league despite a 2-year contract) is worried the recent U.N. sanctions will prevent him from hunting and going on safaris. How more insensitive and painfully callous can you be in the face of massive popular revolts and of hundreds of people who died for freedom because of you? To Amanpour's point that people were protesting because they want freedom, Saadi coldly responded, "no, they have [freedom]. Everybody wants more. There is no limit. You give this and they ask for that." As his country is going through an earthquake, by his own description, Saadi will now hire a lawyer so he can travel once again. This is what matters to him. Just to get out of Libya so he can continue his lavish lifestyle by paying Beyonce $1 million to perform in his ridiculously pricey parties.
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.