Estudios Irlandeses, Number 11, 2016, pp. 82-92 __________________________________________________________________________________________ AEDEI Interculturalism in Sam Najjair’s account of the battle for Tripoli: Soldier for a Summer Marie-Violaine Louvet Toulouse 1 - Capitole University, France Copyright (c) 2016 by Marie-Violaine Louvet. This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the author and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged for access. Abstract. Interculturalism is the result of an interaction between different cultures and the possibility of the emergence of a new form of cultural expression and identity. This article studies the process of conciliation or re-conciliation of two cultures in Sam Najjair’s book Soldier for a Summer. This is the diary of an Irish Libyan citizen who participated in the liberation of Tripoli from Gaddafi’s rule in the Summer of 2011, during the Libyan civil war. The reader follows the main character from Dublin to Tripoli and then back to Dublin at the end of the war. In the book, which is first and foremost targeted at the Irish public to try to gather support for the revolution, Sam Najjair outlines an intercultural space between Ireland and Libya, opening ‘an Irish angle’ on the Libyan conflict, directly connected to his dual identity of a Libyan second generation immigrant living in Ireland. Key Words. Ireland, Libya, Interculturalism, Autobiography, Tripoli Brigade, Sam Najjair. Resumen. La interculturalidad es el resultado de una interacción entre diferentes culturas y la posibilidad de la aparición de una nueva forma de expresión e identidad cultural. En este artículo se estudia el proceso de conciliación o re-conciliación de dos culturas en Los leones de la brigada de Trípoli de Sam Najjair. El libro es el diario de un ciudadano libio irlandés que participó en la liberación de Trípoli del dominio de Gaddafi en el verano del 2011, durante la guerra civil libia. El lector sigue al personaje principal de Dublín a Trípoli y luego de vuelta a Dublín, al final de la guerra. En el libro, dirigido ante todo a la población irlandesa con el propósito de conseguir su apoyo a la revolución, Sam Najjair esboza un espacio intercultural entre Irlanda y Libia, aportando una ‘perspectiva irlandesa’ al conflicto libio a través de su doble identidad de inmigrante libio de segunda generación establecido en Irlanda. Palabras clave. Irlanda, Libia, interculturalidad, autobiografía, brigada de Trípoli, Sam Najjair. We, here in our internment camp, greet the 1st September revolution and its leader, Colonel Mu’ammar al-Qhadafi. The voice of this leader reaches us despite the solitary confinement cells and the prison guards. [...] Long live the Arab-Irish struggle. Libyan radio Voice of the Arab Homeland, 22 December 1976 This message of support for Muammar It was read on the official Libyan radio Voice of Gaddafi’s pan-Arab and quasi-socialist the Arab Homeland one year later, as part of aspirations emanated in 1975 from republican the propaganda celebrating the anti-imperialist prisoners in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. convictions of the Libyan regime a few years ___________________________________ ISSN 1699-311X 83 after Gaddafi came into power following the In the case of second-generation immigrants, 1969 coup against King Idris.1 Simultaneously autobiographical narratives are written with the radio announcement, An Phoblacht, testimonies of the process of conciliation and the Irish republican newspaper, was publishing reconciliation at play in “minor literature” in extracts from Gaddafi’s Green Book promoting the words of Deleuze, that is to say emerging his model of direct popular democracy, based from a minority living among a majority on the participation of grassroots popular culture and whose main three characteristics committees.2 The striking contrast between the are the deterritorialization of the language, republicans’ enthusiasm shortly after Gaddafi the connection of the individual and the seized power in the 1970s and the general political and collective arrangement of discredit at the moment of his fall in 2011 utterance (Deleuze and Guattari 1996: 29-33). resulted from a reign associated with despotism, Such characteristics are at play in Soldier for a corruption and widespread oppression of the Summer as the reader follows the narrator from people. Dublin to Tripoli and then back to Dublin at In Soldier for a Summer, Irish Libyan Sam the end of the war. Najjair gives a detailed account of his Throughout the narrative, Sam Najjair participation in the Libyan revolution against outlines an intercultural space between Ireland Gaddafi in 2011, while making a point of and Libya, opening ‘an Irish angle’ on the explaining his motives to the general public, in Libyan conflict, directly connected to his dual particular to Irish readers. In the narrative, he identity as the son of a Libyan immigrant conjures up the memory of the republican living in Dublin. The Irish angle, which will be commitment of his Irish grandparents to anti- analysed in this paper, provides legitimacy to imperialism. After 40 years of the Gaddafi the fight in Libya while soliciting empathy and dictatorship, the republican ideal was intact but understanding from the Irish reader. It can be the old Libyan ally had become an enemy to identified as being part of what the political destroy. Comparisons between the Irish sociologists Keck and Sikkink call “framing” struggle to obtain independence from Britain the issue, that is to say shaping the narrative in and conflicts in the Arab world have been such a way that it is likely to rally support for a commonly deployed by militants since the end cause, often by making use of symbolic of the 1960s (Louvet 2016), but one striking references which are immediately identified by feature in Sam Najjair’s autobiographical work the target audience (Keck and Sikkink 1998: is the extent to which interculturalism pervades 10). There is no literary, political or academic the narrative of the man born in Ireland to an writing explaining a revolution such as the one Irish mother and a Libyan father. which took place in Libya which was not Interculturalism results from an interaction “framed” by the author. Explaining necessarily between different cultures and announces the involves defending a perspective on the one possibility of the emergence of a new form of hand and trying to engage with the target cultural expression and identity. As such, audience on the other. interculturalism can be observed in particular At the outset of this article, I will look at the as an outcome of immigration, with the second political context enveloping the end of generation of immigrants being steeped in two Gaddafi’s rule in 2011 and Irish media cultures and trying to reconcile them in the coverage of Irish participation in the Tripoli narrative of the self to build a sense of identity. brigade, the militia in which Najjair fought and _________________________ which was instrumental in the liberation of 1. King Idris was receiving medical treatment in Tripoli from Gaddafi’s army. In the second Istanbul when military officers proclaimed the part of the article, I will focus on Najjair’s republic and Gaddafi became Chairman of the work in order to analyse his framing of the Revolutionary Command Council in September Libyan conflict, with a particular emphasis on 1969. intercultural references. 2. The Green Book was published in 1975 and I Intermingled histories translated into English in 1976. See 1976. “A A) A Winter of Discontent Government by the People: Gadaffi’s vision of Direct Democracy”, An Phoblacht, 20 February, p.3. Gaddafi had been in power for 42 years when 84 Sam Najjair’s narrative started in February which started on 19 March (UNSC resolution 2011, at a time when demonstrations against n° 1973, 17 March 2011, S/RES/1973). Rebel his regime, which began in January 2011, were forces gradually gained more and more being violently suppressed, in particular in territory and strategic positions like Misrata Benghazi, the eastern epicentre of the airport in May 2011.8 At the start of July, when revolution.3 Sam Najjair joined the fight in Libya, a rebel Inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, offensive was being launched from the south of protesters from all walks of life were the country, the Nafusa Mountains, towards the progressively gaining ground against Gaddafi’s north and the capital Tripoli, a city with huge loyalist army and African mercenaries in the symbolic value.9 August witnessed the fall of east of Libya, at the cost of severe repression. Tripoli to the rebels along with Gaddafi’s On 15 February, the army violently suppressed headquarters, an action which is outlined in demonstrators on the streets of Benghazi. They detail by Najjair in his account. On 16 were protesting against the arrest of Fathi September, the UN acknowledged the official Terbil, a lawyer defending the families of status of the NTC whose President, Mustafa 1,270 convicts in Abu Salim jail who had Abdul Jalil declared later that the revolution allegedly been killed in 1996 by the regime led to 25,000 deaths over eight months.10 security forces.4 Two days later, on 17 Finally, on 20 October 2011, Gaddafi was February, which was declared a “Day of tracked down and murdered in Sirte; Libya was Anger” by protesters, the army opened fire on declared to be a liberated state by the NTC on demonstrators, killing several hundred people.5 23 October 2011. Najjair’s account ends in The violent suppression of demonstrations November, with general enthusiasm regarding increased the unpopularity of the regime within Libya’s democratic future. the population but also within the political The role of social media and internet class and ministers started to resign, including platforms such as YouTube in contemporary key figures such as the Interior Minister transnational activism is particularly well Mustafa Abdul Jalil and Justice Minister Abdul described in Najjair’s narrative.