30-minute interview with Ali Ahmida discussing Libya posted on Daily Kos

The on Jan. 13, 2012 posted a 30-minute interview with Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, Ph.D., chair of the 51品茶political science program, as part of a column on the "Current Situation in Libya." Ahmida was interviewed by Jadaliyya, an independent ezine produced by the Arab Studies Institute, just after his return from a visit to Libya during the holiday break. 

In the interview, Ahmida said he witnessed "a tremendous sense of hope" and that people are speaking freely. He noted that there are more than 100 new newspapers and 10 TV stations. "The country is remarkably functioning even though there is no central government."

He added that there are some worrying signs. People are impatient, they want quick results; they are worried about a lot of revolutionary young men with arms; and they are concerned that salaries have not been paid in two or three months. They wonder when the government will start functioning.  at the bottom of the Daily Kos webpage.

Ahmida, who was born in Libya, is the author of The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonialization and Resistance, and several other books on Libya and North Africa.  Find out more about Ahmida and read and listen to a number of his other recent interviews.

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