By Ghazi Gheblawi
(Ghazi Gheblawi is a Libyan surgeon, essayist, and poet)
The Independent
"....When opposition forces began their operation to liberate Tripoli a few days ago, one of the first things I noticed, speaking to my family in the capital, was that for the first time they were publicly denouncing Gaddafi, his sons and his regime. Doing that had in itself become an act of liberation; a defiance of the pervasive, self-replicating and sometimes hysterical fear that anyone who has lived under the ever-watchful eyes of the "Brother Leader" has experienced daily.
But it wasn't only personal fear that began to dissipate inside us during the last six months. We began also actively reclaiming a nation that had been hijacked for more than four decades. The military fight has been accompanied by a liberation of the meaning of what exactly it is to be Libyan, with all the historical and cultural weight which that bears.
In just six months, a generation of young Libyans has begun to learn what it might mean to enjoy a life not ruled by the oppressive terror of falling foul of the rulers. Once they tasted this forbidden fruit, there was no going back......"
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