Global Voices Online

Apologies to those readers who like to hear about news from the Libyan blogs.. I am back with a lot of news. While the majority of Libyan bloggers are busy with Eid greetings there are so many posts out there that I would love to share and highlight.

Ghazi has finally arrived from London and is getting re-acquainted with Libya and it's various aspects. He is nostalgically touring the “writers' club” which he used to attend between 2000-2003.

Aladdin has spent an extraordinary time in the US where he was invited on a cultural State Department-sponsored programme. He has promised to report on the event in detail soon.

Libyano recently brought up a very important topic in Libyan medical profession - namely that of medical ethics.

“I already knew the same as most of the Libyans that our hospitals filled with unethical doctors and health care staff and how in our hospitals the way the patient treated is less than a prisoner anywhere else in this world ,but it was shocking to live this fact and to see all the violation of the patients privacy and the way the doctors treat the patients , I don't know if all this because the medical ethics wasn't introduced as a studying material in Medical school until recently or is it because all the hospital staff doctors and nurses feel like they are above the law and no one will judge them when things go wrong .”

While I always wondered what is the Libyan physicians' stance on the Hippocratic Oath or even the Declaration of Geneva (last upated in 2006), I always assumed that being Muslim would immediately guarantee a certain code of conduct and moral ethics above bickering over salary and other things one misses in life. So it is disappointing to see the situation on the ground.

Hopefully the new graduates, young men and women, will learn a few things if this subject is introduced in the syllabus and if they are held responsible later on in life.

Dunia wrote a lovely blog last night about the ‘walis' which are Libyan ‘Saints' or intercessors, and how someone may unusually become a Saint, marabout or walii.

“The one constant feature, from East to West and even the desert in between, are the Maqams.
White domed buildings, built over the tomb of Wali, and all marked as such by a profusion of green banners, are just everywhere. Perched half-way up a hill in the J'bal Al-akhdar, surrounded by a rippling sea of wheat, golden in the sun light; in the middle of an almond orchard, where goats prefer it's cool shade to the trees' more patchy shadow… or on the right hand side of a much used desert highway alongside petrol stations, truckers restaurants and the occasional sheepherders' village. “

Happy Eid to you all!