David Degner » Photographer

Libya, Another Look » Beida, Libya

The main square in Beida is filled each night with soccer games, music, and plays commemorating the revolution.

The main square in Beida is filled each night with soccer games, music, and plays commemorating the revolution.

The Friday market in Shehat is divided into sections for livestock, fruits, vegetables, equipment and pigeons. Pigeons are a surprisingly popular hobby with the market, rivaling Cairo's in size, even though the local area has only a small fraction of Cairo's population. Many other hobbies such as soccer, music and movies were systematically suppressed by the government out of fear of any cult of personality that could rival Gaddafi. Soccer games were announced using just numbers, songs had to include references to Gaddafi, and artists that became too successful were given posts overseas.
At a house on the edge of Shehat neighbors the doors often stay open and neighbors constantly visit and help each other. Electricity is cut for a few hours every day, water deliveries have stopped giving credit, and hard currency has stopped circulating. The former government payed monthly sums to unemployed and underemployed.