Libya: the fear wall broke (CNN)

27 Feb: from CNN...

LIBYA: 'The fear wall broke'
Born and raised in Libya, the man in his 40s says this is the first protest he's ever seen in his native land. With no freedom of speech, no one ever dared to utter an ill word about the government or its powerful leader, Moammar Gadhafi, lest they risk jail time, he said.

But with Friday's protests, violent clashes and dozens of deaths, something changed.  "We can speak now," he marveled from a noisy street near the protest's epicenter. "The fear wall broke. Even after the killing, nobody is getting scared. Their numbers are increasing."

 What a wonderful phrase, "the fear wall broke!" 
Decades of repression ended; now they can speak.  The rest of us should take note, thank God for the liberty in which we live, and renew our commitment to such basic freedom for our fellow man, should we not?


Public protest photos celebrate the freedom to speak openly about the government and its' leadership.  From the streets of Benghazi (above, left and right), folks have pointed things to say and have paid the price to do so.  Estimates of more than 1000 dead in Libya are deeply troubling.

From Cairo

Elsewhere in the world, sympathetic folks join the protest with public demonstrations in London, Dallas, Washington D.C., Toronto, Tokyo, Vienna, Cairo (!), Dublin, and Seattle. 

From London

From Benghazi