The Libyan revolution has been tough on rebel fighter and guitarist Massoud Abu Assir’s rock band. His bass player was captured by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces and his drummer is off fighting on the front line.
However, those setbacks haven’t stopped the 38-year-old amateur musician from composing songs in support of the revolution and performing them for rebels on the battlefield. He made an appearance on Saturday on the outskirts of the front line city of Ajdabiya as fierce fighting raged about 40km away.
“My homeland will be strong. My homeland will be free. We will take our homeland up high,” he sang in folksy Arabic verse, reminiscent of Bob Dylan.
Several dozen rebels crowded around as he sang, clapping their hands and joining in. One rebel enthusiastically fired his AK-47 in the air.
Abu Assir’s own gun was slung over his shoulder and midway through the impromptu performance, someone draped a red, black and green rebel flag on his shoulders. He was dressed in a green camouflage uniform like many of the other rebels, but his floppy curls showed his love for rock stars like Bob Marley and Santana.
“We are rebels. We come from the east. We are determined to do what we want,” he sang in another song.
Residents of eastern Libya rose up against Qaddafi in mid-February and demanded he leave so they could set up a democratic government. Qaddafi, who has held power for more than 40 years, responded with deadly force and was only stopped from crushing the rebellion by NATO aircraft enforcing a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone over the country.
Abu Assir, who is from Benghazi, joined the fight against Qaddafi from the very beginning, but had to take a few days off recently because his wife is five months pregnant. Besides playing music, Abu Assir owns a small restaurant and coffee shop.
He said he is not only fighting for democracy, but also for the right to perform his music. His band — originally called Libya Tomorrow, but now known as Free Libya — tried to perform on Libyan television in the past, but was told they must sing songs praising Qaddafi.
“That’s why I didn’t sing,” Abu Assir said. “I didn’t want to be a hypocrite.”
The battle between the rebels and Qaddafi’s forces has settled into costly stalemate. The rebels lack the organization and firepower to advance west toward Tripoli and NATO has clearly demonstrated with punishing airstrikes that it will not let Qaddafi march on the rebel-held capital Benghazi.
Rebel fighters, including Abu Assir’s drummer, Omar Enazay, pushed west from Ajdabiya toward the oil town of Brega on Saturday, but were met with fierce shelling from Qaddafi’s forces that killed six rebels and wounded more than 20 others. Abu Assir’s bass player, Faisal Fakran, was captured in Brega during an earlier battle there.
Like many of the rebels, Abu Assir is desperate for NATO countries, including the US, to intensify airstrikes against Qaddafi’s forces and ship the rebels new weapons that will help them counter their opponents’ firepower.
The newest song he is working on is a plea to US President Barack Obama to intensify US support.
It’s called We are coming. Obama is coming.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese