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Within the days after a lot of the coastal metropolis of Derna, Libya, was washed away by devastating floods, Mahbuba Khalifa wrote a poem to honor her hometown, identified by Libyans because the “metropolis of poets.”
I used to hold your nice legacy in my conscience and on my shoulders, and I walked with boastful satisfaction and I had a sure satisfaction that I didn’t deny.
Whoever sees me and sees the radiance of sunshine that I bear as a mark on my options should know — with out asking me the place I’m from — that I’m your daughter.
For Ms. Khalifa, a Libyan author and poet, it was essentially the most poignant technique to mourn a metropolis with a historical past as an mental and cultural hub — and a protracted custom of revolt in opposition to occupation and authoritarian powers.
Just like the getting old dams on Derna’s outskirts that burst on Sept. 11, sending a torrent of storm water into the town and sweeping whole neighborhoods into the ocean, the town had been uncared for by the Libyan authorities for many years, residents and specialists mentioned.
That remedy was punishment from the varied authorities who’ve managed the world for the penchant of residents to withstand management, they mentioned.
The flood not solely wiped away massive elements of the town, ripping it in two with a wall of water and earth and killing 1000’s of its inhabitants, however it additionally destroyed a cradle of Libyan tradition.
Derna, a once-lush seaside city on Libya’s northeastern coast, was constructed on the ruins of an historic Greek colony within the late fifteenth century by Muslims fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. They introduced with them the tradition and structure of Al-Andalus Spain, and the town grew to become a spot for various religions and nationalities to combine.
It was the positioning of Libya’s first theater and included cultural facilities, cafes for discussions and debate, and bookshops, retaining the mental streak alive even in troublesome occasions.
However the flood destroyed lots of the cultural and spiritual buildings that represented these traditions — like a cultural middle the place residents debated problems with the day, in addition to mosques, church buildings and a synagogue, residents mentioned.
Islam Azouz, an assist employee from Derna, lamented the destruction of what he referred to as the Derna legacy. “The Previous Metropolis, its streets, its church buildings, its homes of worship, its mosques,” he mentioned, “all of it has gone within the flood.”
Ms. Khalifa mentioned the mental and cultural traditions of the town, reflecting the rebellious nature of its inhabitants, had survived repeated crackdowns by the authorities — till the flood washed a lot of them away.
“As a result of Derna folks had been at all times rebellious, they don’t settle for what’s unsuitable,” she mentioned. “And one of many issues that leaders have finished was to crack down on Derna.”
That custom of talking out was on show Monday when lots of of Derna residents gathered for a protest within the devastated metropolis, demanding the removing of these chargeable for the collapse of the dams.
Many stood on the muddy, rocky earth that the floods carried by way of the town middle, whereas others perched on the roof of a mosque that was nonetheless standing. Some seemed to be a part of aid and rescue efforts, wearing white biohazard fits and reflective vests.
“Aguila, out, out,” they yelled, referring to Aguila Saleh, the speaker of Libya’s Parliament, who has deflected blame for the catastrophe although Libyans have mentioned the disaster and its huge scale had been rooted in authorities neglect and mismanagement. After which, “Libya, Libya,” they chanted.
Within the wake of the protest, communications to the town had been lower off for a lot of hours, and the authorities arrested protesters and activists who had been demanding accountability.
“Town, no matter its situation, it at all times rejected oppression,” mentioned Jawhar Ali, 28, a Derna native who lives in Turkey.
Throughout the 32-year Italian occupation of Libya that resulted in 1943, the Inexperienced Mountains above Derna had been a haven for armed resisters, mentioned Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow within the Center East Program on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace and the writer of the e book “The Burning Shores: Contained in the Battle for the New Libya.”
Many years later within the Nineties, some within the metropolis took up arms in opposition to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s dictatorial rule, utilizing the identical mountains as a base. Colonel el-Qaddafi’s authorities responded with much more heavy-handed repression in opposition to the town and its folks, Mr. Wehrey mentioned.
Within the 2000s, some younger males from Derna went to Iraq to affix the insurgency in opposition to the American army occupation there.
When the Arab Spring revolution got here to Libya in February 2011, Derna was one of many first cities to affix and got here out strongly for the removing of Colonel el-Qaddafi.
Years of management by numerous armed teams adopted Colonel el-Qaddafi’s ouster by rebels in 2011, aided by a NATO-led army intervention.
In 2015, native fighters defeated and expelled a neighborhood department of the Islamic State terrorist group in Derna.
For some time, Derna remained the one metropolis in japanese Libya that was not underneath the management of Khalifa Hifter, the renegade commander and former C.I.A. asset.
Below the guise of preventing the Islamic State, Mr. Hifter tried to defeat the forces that managed Derna, laying siege to the town and pummeling it with artillery and airstrikes. After years of battle, Mr. Hifter’s Libyan Nationwide Military seized it in 2018.
Stephanie Williams, the previous United Nations appearing particular envoy, mentioned she remembered visiting Derna afterward. She mentioned what she noticed reminded her of the destruction she had seen within the Iraqi metropolis of Mosul, elements of which had been left in destroy in 2017 after a virtually nine-month marketing campaign to defeat the Islamic State there.
Since then, Mr. Hifter has sought to punish Derna for its resistance. His military has stored a decent grip on the town, appointing a mayor who’s the nephew of Mr. Saleh, the Parliament speaker.
Ms. Khalifa, the author from Derna, remembers how as a baby the town’s identities as a spot of tradition and resistance intertwined.
Within the Nineteen Sixties she attended a play on the metropolis’s theater with outstanding feminine actresses, she mentioned. The proceeds of the play went to help the Algerian resistance to the French occupation.
That theater was demolished by the assaults of Mr. Hifter’s forces, she mentioned.
Simply days earlier than the floods, Mostafa Trablsi, a poet from Derna, attended a gathering on the Derna Cultural Home, a hub for mental debates and the humanities, concerning the dams looming outdoors the town, their neglect and the chance of collapse.
On Sept. 10, he posted a poem on his Fb web page titled “The Rain” that appeared to emphasise his fears concerning the dam and warning of an “alarm.”
Exposing the moist streets;
And the dishonest contractor;
And the failed state.
Mr. Trablsi died within the flood that surged by way of the town a day later.
The Derna Cultural Home was destroyed.
“Town shouldn’t be referred to as the town of poets for nothing,” mentioned Mr. Ali, the previous resident who lives in Turkey, referring to the verses Mr. Trablsi posted on Fb. “Even in our disaster, poetry performed a task.”
Because the seek for flood victims continues underneath the rubble and within the sea, some residents say that tradition will rise once more in a metropolis that has survived a lot.
Ms. Khalifa mentioned she deliberate to jot down a e book about notable folks from Derna, together with mental and cultural luminaries, however that should wait till this mourning interval is over. Every day brings information of extra family and friends whom she has misplaced.
No less than 49 family members died within the flood, together with a number of cousins and their households, she mentioned. On Wednesday she came upon that two of her lecturers had died.
Her poem displays her deep sorrow. It ends:
“However you might be bored with the injustice of historical past and the injustice of tampering with you and your metropolis’s legacy,
So that you selected to depart when the water met the water to cover within the depth of the ocean, pure and pure.”
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