Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Bristol to Benghazi

anarcho2Libya | 12.05.2011 13:55 | World

An anarchist from Bristol travels to Benghazi to join the Libyan Peoples Revolution and help what ever way he can...This is part 1 of his story so far...

As you can guess from the title I'm writing to you from Benghazi "Free Libya". I left Bristol about 20 days ago and flew to Cairo, ominously on a one way ticket. My plan was simple to join the Libyan Peoples Revolution and help what ever way I could (they don't like the words rebel or rebellion they call themselves 'revolutionaries')

My motives for joining are fairly anarcho-simple; join the revolution and help topple a dictator, an under equipped peoples militia against a totalitarian regime, a people sick of an underdeveloped neglected with a mega rich family ruling it from lavish palaces and in a small way for an adventure and excitement something you only seem to get in small amounts when it kicks off a riot or demo. I've been from Genoa to Copenhagen, Greece to Scotland and about half the European capitals in-between with the bloc and street medics in the last ten years, fighting for social change and not getting it. So when I looked at Libya and it ordinary people succeeding in liberating its second largest city (Benghazi) and then half the country there was no where else i wanted to be.


Getting there was the easy bit , I got an over night bus from Cairo to Saluum in the far West ($10) and a taxi the last 12 km to the border post. That was where it started to get real , there are about 250+ people living in the border complex carpark stuck in between Libya and Egypt all under plastic tents and tarps they are all migrant workers who left Libya when the fighting started none of them have money to go home or visas to enter Egypt. The guys I talked to were Ethiopian Christians who cant or wont go back to Ethiopia because of religious persecution they all like Libya and its people and want to go back there to live and work, apparently the money is quite good. Everyone at the border area were quite friendly, tents have been handed out,showers and toilets work (but they would remind you of ones at a squat party)

They jack free electricity off of lamp posts. The IOM (International Organisation of Migrants) hands food three times a day, the Red Cross register everyone and carry out health care clinics .But when I passed through some of the people had been there for two months with out a doubt they are still there right now. Couldn’t hardly keep from nervous laughter as I approached the Libyan side of the border, what exactly was I going to tell them? Beyond a passport I had nothing,no contacts in Libya, no one to meet me, no letter of introduction, no contract of employment. I decided at all costs not to lie because lies have a way of tripping you up later on . So I said I was a humanitarian volunteer hoping to imply that I was some sort of aid worker which I suppose I am. The production of an Irish passport seemed to calm them. They weren’t suspicious or hostile just mystified. They stamped my passport and wished me luck! So this is it, up till now it was all just theory, where to go? how to get in? Buying maps, packing bags, the torture of the two weeks notice I had to give at work. But I had done it, I got a lift to the next city Tobruk 180km away for $20. Sat in the front seat laughing , laughing at the mission ahead, laughing at the self doubt of the last three weeks, just happy to be doing it not thinking it.

I texted my main man in Bristol to keep him informed of what i was doing, before I left I bought two identical maps leaving one with him just so I would have some one in Bristol keeping an eye on me . Within 40km of the border vodafone reception gave up, that took the smile off my face.

I got dropped off at a posh hotel on the edge of Tobruk, it was going to get dark soon so I booked in ($80), big hotels are good for information , money exchange, fixers and interpretors .The next morning I changed Dollars to Dinar and got a taxi to Benghazi. Please note that there is no way to withdraw cash in this country no banks open, no cash machines working, Western Union has suspended all operations no one will accept credit or debit cards, if you don't have it in your pocket when you cross the border, your screwed.

I got to Benghazi after a 6 hour journey in a taxi, it cost me $105 which is about 3 times that of a bus but it went direct, saving me 10 hours travel time and it dropped me right to a hotel, bear in mind I have a 24 kilo rucksack (half of it is tools). He drops me at another posh hotel (my last) . This hotel is crawling with corporate media, satellite dishes on the lawn, journo only internet, Government press conference every two days etc.,I book in ($80) drop my bags and head into town to have a look around (and find a cheaper place to stay)....

(Image: Benghazi Media Centre) Original Article

anarcho2Libya
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/704479

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech