Libya: Reforming the impossible?

The violent protests that broke out in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi in February 2006 in response to the row over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed came as no big surprise to Libya watchers. Although the demonstrations were sparked by Italian minister Roberto Calderoli's declaration that he intended to print t-shirts bearing the cartoons, they also reflected the simmering discontent and frustration that have long been building in the country's second city. Indeed, the protests were as much a means of expressing anger with the situation inside Libya as they were about the depiction of the Prophet and it wasn't long before protestors began shouting anti-regime slogans. Although Benghazi has traditionally been a rebellious region kept deliberately impoverished by the regime, the frustrations expressed by those in the incident are not unique to the eastern region. There is a groundswell of anger and despondency among much of the Libyan population at the regime's apparent inability or lack of will to improve living conditions and day-to-day life in the country.