Friday, August 26, 2011

Libyan revolution has made democracy real and tangible idea, says novelist



Hisham Matar speaks at Edinburgh international book festival after rebel cousin shot dead in Gaddafi's compound

Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 August 2011

""The moment that the Libyan rebels entered the Gaddafi compound was astonishing: and it was also slightly eerie. You could see bullets, but no faces. And to me this was symbolic of the Gaddafi regime, of how it has surrounded itself with appearances, and stories.

"This week has been like that moment when you surface from a nightmare and realise that though the nightmare-image is terrifying, it is also incredibly fragile."

Such was the description of recent events in Libya by one of the country's leading novelists, Hisham Matar, whose cousin Izz al Arab Matar, a member of the rebel front, was shot dead in Gaddafi's compound on Tuesday....."

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