{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"46 - Arab Uprisings: Libya | The First Civil War","description":"On the 14th of January, 2011, Tunisia \u2014 Libya\u2019s neighbor to the northwest \u2014 toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and vowed to establish a democracy in the small country. Less than a month later \u2014 on the 11th of February, 2011, Egypt \u2014 Libya\u2019s neighbor to the east \u2014 overthrew its authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak. A few days later, protests began in Benghazi, Libya, attempting to oust Libya\u2019s longtime ruler, Muammar Gaddafi. But despite being sandwiched between Tunisia and Egypt, Libya\u2019s revolt and its consequences bear significant distinctions from the previous uprisings we\u2019ve covered \u2014 most notably NATO\u2019s intervention and the country\u2019s descent into two civil wars as a direct result of these events. To this day, Libya remains in crisis; this past week, for instance, 43 men from West Africa drowned off the Libyan coast while trying to depart for Europe. The case of Libya forces us to examine the \u2018just war\u2019 theory often purported by Western governments to justify foreign intervention. How did Libya go from one of the most prosperous African nations to a land of chaos in such a short time? How is it similar to and notably different from the uprisings we\u2019ve already discussed \u2014 Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain? And how can we take a nuanced approach to international solidarity and critical support without enabling imperialist intervention? Patreon: http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/DasCriminal Sources: https:\/\/bit.ly\/3bhoMVw ","author_name":"Das Criminal","author_url":"http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/dascriminal","html":"