WEBVTT

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I have never, ever forgotten the words of my grandmother

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who died in her exile:

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"Son, resist Gaddafi. Fight him.

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But don't you ever turn

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into a Gaddafi-like revolutionary."

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Almost two years have passed

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since the Libyan Revolution broke out,

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inspired by the waves of mass mobilization

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in both the Tunisian and the Egyptian revolutions.

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I joined forces with many other Libyans inside and outside Libya

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to call for a day of rage

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and to initiate a revolution against the tyrannical regime of Gaddafi.

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And there it was, a great revolution.

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Young Libyan women and men were at the forefront

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calling for the fall of the regime,

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raising slogans of freedom, dignity, social justice.

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They have shown an exemplary bravery

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in confronting the brutal dictatorship of Gaddafi.

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They have shown a great sense of solidarity

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from the far east to the far west to the south.

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Eventually, after a period of six months of brutal war

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and a toll rate of almost 50,000 dead,

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we managed to liberate our country and to topple the tyrant.

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(Applause)

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However, Gaddafi left behind a heavy burden,

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a legacy of tyranny, corruption and seeds of diversions.

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For four decades Gaddafi's tyrannical regime

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destroyed the infrastructure as well as the culture and the moral fabric of Libyan society.

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Aware of the devastation and the challenges,

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I was keen among many other women to rebuild the Libyan civil society,

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calling for an inclusive and just transition

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to democracy and national reconciliation.

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Almost 200 organizations were established in Benghazi

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during and immediately after the fall of Gaddafi --

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almost 300 in Tripoli.

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After a period of 33 years in exile, I went back to Libya,

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and with unique enthusiasm,

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I started organizing workshops

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on capacity building, on human development of leadership skills.

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With an amazing group of women,

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I co-founded the Libyan Women's Platform for Peace,

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a movement of women, leaders, from different walks of life,

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to lobby for the sociopolitical empowerment of women

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and to lobby for our right

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for equal participation in building democracy and peace.

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I met a very difficult environment in the pre-elections,

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an environment which was increasingly polarized,

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an environment which was shaped by the selfish politics of dominance and exclusion.

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I led an initiative by the Libyan Women's Platform for Peace

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to lobby for a more inclusive electoral law,

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a law that would give every citizen, no matter what your background,

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the right to vote and run,

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and most importantly to stipulate on political parties

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the alternation of male and female candidates

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vertically and horizontally in their lists,

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creating the zipper list.

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Eventually, our initiative was adopted and successful.

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Women won 17.5 percent of the National Congress

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in the first elections ever in 52 years.

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(Applause)

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However, bit by bit, the euphoria of the elections,

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and of the revolution as a whole,

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was fading out --

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for every day we were waking up to the news of violence.

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One day we wake up to the news

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of the desecration of ancient mosques and Sufi tombs.

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On another day we wake up to the news

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of the murder of the American ambassador and the attack on the consulate.

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On another day we wake up to the news

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of the assassination of army officers.

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And every day, every day we wake up with the rule of the militias

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and their continuous violations of human rights of prisoners

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and their disrespect of the rule of law.

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Our society, shaped by a revolutionary mindset,

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became more polarized

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and has driven away from the ideals and the principles --

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freedom, dignity, social justice --

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that we first held.

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Intolerance, exclusion and revenge

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became the icons of the [aftermath] of the revolution.

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I am here today not at all to inspire you

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with our success story of the zipper list and the elections.

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I'm rather here today to confess

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that we as a nation took the wrong choice, made the wrong decision.

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We did not prioritize right.

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For elections did not bring peace and stability and security in Libya.

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Did the zipper list and the alternation between female and male candidates

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bring peace and national reconciliation?

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No, it didn't.

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What is it, then?

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Why does our society continue to be polarized and dominated

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with selfish politics of dominance and exclusion, by both men and women?

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Maybe what was missing was not the women only,

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but the feminine values of compassion, mercy and inclusion.

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Our society needs national dialogue and consensus-building

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more than it needed the elections,

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which only reinforced polarization and division.

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Our society needs the qualitative representation of the feminine

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more than it needs the numerical, quantitative representation of the feminine.

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We need to stop acting as agents of rage and calling for days of rage.

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We need to start acting as agents of compassion and mercy.

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We need to develop a feminine discourse

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that not only honors but also implements

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mercy instead of revenge, collaboration instead of competition,

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inclusion instead of exclusion.

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These are the ideals that a war-torn Libya

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needs desperately in order to achieve peace.

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For peace has an alchemy,

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and this alchemy is about the intertwining, the alternation

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between the feminine and masculine perspectives.

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That's the real zipper.

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And we need to establish that existentially

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before we do so sociopolitically.

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According to a Quranic verse

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"Salam" -- peace -- "is the word of the all-merciful God, raheem."

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In turn, the word "raheem," which is known in all Abrahamic traditions,

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has the same root in Arabic as the word "rahem" -- womb --

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symbolizing the maternal feminine encompassing all humanity

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from which the male and the female,

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from which all tribes, all peoples, have emanated from.

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And so just as the womb entirely envelopes the embryo, which grows within it,

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the divine matrix of compassion nourishes the entire existence.

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Thus we are told that "My mercy encompasses all things."

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Thus we are told that "My mercy takes precedence over my anger."

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May we all be granted a grace of mercy.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)