By Mark Bashore, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-965250.mp3
EAST LANSING, MI –
Around the world, people of Libyan descent anxiously keep tabs on the battle raging back home. In East Lansing--5,000 miles from the turmoil--59 Michigan State University students are native Libyans. WKAR found some of these students and asked them to share their thoughts and feelings during this upheaval in their country.
MUATAZ BOKER: "My name is Muataz Boker. I come from Benghazi. Honestly, I was dreaming for this moment my whole life. This moment where Libyan people can express their desire for [a] democratic country in a peaceful way. However, also I am saddened that they were dragged in[to] this military struggle, where they were forced to take up arms and fight a dictator and his thugs."
AMBARAK EL-ATRASH: "My name is Ambarak El-Atrash and I am from Benghazi. I'm not with the plot. Why didn't we just like sit and talk to each other? Our government was opening to everything, but no one, just, tried to do that."
FAEIROUZ EL-BERGWA: "My name is Faeirouz El-Bergwa. I am from Benghazi, Libya. I hate the word they use [to] describe people in Libya: rebels. We are not rebels, we are freedom fighters, you know? And our revolution is different. Yes, we suffer from poor and bad economy and bad, a lot of bad things in Libya. However, our revolution is for respect, dignity. It's not a revolution over bread. [To] live in our country, with our head held high. This is something people should know."
SALIM MOHAMED: "My name is Salim Mohamed. I am a graduate student. My hometown city is Sirt. It's one of the cities, I mean, under attack by NATO almost every day. If no Gadhafi in power, there will be no Libya, to be honest with you. They love him, they will fight [for] him until they die. That's what they said and I guarantee this Libya will be in a bloodbath if this NATO [action] continues. I do not support NATO at all because I have seen what they did in Afghanistan."
MUATAZ BOKER: "They have tasted freedom. This is what my family [is] telling me about from Benghazi, when I call them, when I phone them. They tell me they have tasted freedom. And they know now what freedom is like and they will never, never surrender this. They will never, never give up this, this uh, right."
AMBARAK EL-ATRASH: "When people just like to start to take guns and go against everyone, there's not going to be any kind of revolution. We are in the 21st century. By just taking guns, you are taking the whole country into a mystery. You just destroyed the whole thing. It's not humanity in any way."
FAEIROUZ EL-BERGWA: "What Gadhafi [says] about us -- he [supports] like terrorist action around the world and we have been punished for his action. The whole world should recognize we are different from him."
SALIM MOHAMED: "In the name of Allah I pray to everyone, to every family there [who] has lost [someone]. I lost friends as well. I lost relatives as well, in this crisis. Many, not one or two. So it's really sad for me to be under this pressure and concentrate on my [studies]."
music: 'Saharan Caravan," Thom Jayne and the Nomads. used with permission.