Saif al-Islam Alqadhafi or Why the HD Should Have Brought his own Bodyguards to School
Tonight’s “lecture” brought out a star-studded cast of scholarly travelers and last Goliaths to the New Academic Building on the London School of Economics’ campus. Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s son extolled the virtues of Libyan democracy and even argued that Libya was the most democratic country in the world (in theory)! The HD has eaten cake that was richer than that.
However, the real action was outside (and inside before the talk) the lecture hall where brawling and constant shouting matches took place. Now the HD loves a festive argument as much as the next guy, but apparently a 57 year old man was roughed up outside during the talk. A close friend and colleague, the Ayatollah Grahambini, witnessed and recapped with this picture and these tweets here, here, and here.
In addition, via portable surveillance and tracking device (mobile phone), the HD received another eyewitness account from a most trusted source: “There are about 4 police vans and 12 police cars and at least two dozen officers outside the NAB…. Never seen so much security here. There’s only bout 9 protesters!”
Shocking times. But, if you are interested in democracy in the Middle East, the HD encourages you to read the best piece on the subject by the Doctor of Democracy himself, Professor Larry Diamond of Stanford University.
Coincidentally, the HD shared the same facial expression as the Colonel throughout much of his kid’s lecture. Anyway, be sure to check the event link in a few days time for the full audio/video as “podcasts are normally available 1-2 working days after the event”. However, for some reason the HD is willing to predict that either the LSE will not “receive permission from the speaker to do this” or there will be “technical problems with the recording of the event”.
[...] I think the only reason that I left the lecture feeling kind of okay about it was because a) I went in with fairly low expectations, just wanting to hear him speak on the topic at hand; and b) I wasn’t too familiar with the situation in Libya. While many IR and Middle Eastern studies kids were a bit put off by the whole lecture, I was only mildly disconcerted. If you want to read another account of the lecture, the Hybrid Diplomat, who was also at the lecture, has written about it at his blog. [...]
So many lectures, so little time!
May 26, 2010 at 08:14
[...] as I arrived with my good friend the Hybrid Diplomat (who has his own account of the madness inside), there appeared to be a fight in progress outside. From what little I could [...]
Libyan Thugs « Automatic Ballpoint
May 26, 2010 at 14:40
The London School of Economics had received a 1.5 million pounds prior to Seif Al Islam Gaddafi’s invitation to give his recent speech, the money was the incentive rather than the academic qualities of the speaker. When Seif Ál Islam Gaddafi came to give his talk, he was accompanied by his father’s Libyan security agents, which evidently shows that the son is following in his father’s footsteps, belying any suggestion of potential democratic change in Libya.
mohamed bugaighis
May 30, 2010 at 02:01
[...] week. In addition to my writing, they made sure to credit my good friend the Hybrid Diplomat for his coverage of the event. The email also included links to a number of photo galleries that ‘their’ [...]
Libyan Thugs in the Heart of London, Cont’d Again « Automatic Ballpoint
June 3, 2010 at 17:13