It seems as it seems, 2023 and 2024 were the main years of Libyan rap. Political instability in the country, economic difficulties, continuous conflicts, corruption, and devastating flood in the city of Dina, and not the real hope in a common government that presented many materials for new songs.
The Libyan rap flourished as the authorities were somewhat easy. Last August, Eastern Administration under the year successor HIFTAR gave his approval to the first Benghazi Summer Festival in 15 years. For the rapper born in Benghazi MC Mansour is unknownIt was the first opportunity on the stage in his hometown.
Since then, rap concerts and other rap events have attracted larger fans than ever. Last week, MC victorious An unknown performance with the Libyan rap star Ka7la in Dina at a concert.
However, it seems that this could have been the last time. This week, the Western authorities first, then picked up the Western authorities on this type of popular music. A statement issued by the Eastern Administration said: “The spread of rap songs, some of which contain obscene words, violates the moral values of the Libyan Islamic community.”
From now on, rap musicians in the East must obtain permission from the Benghazi Ministry of Interior, while artists in the West must obtain this from the Ministry of Culture, which is based in Tripoli. Both entities review whether the content of the songs encourages crime, sexual work, suicide, or rebellion against family or society. Without this permission, offers will be strictly banned throughout the country.
The same rule also applies to “theatrical performances, acting, musical plays, dance or singing anywhere or through any means.” According to the Eastern Ministry of Interior, the new rule is in line with the country’s constitution, which states that freedom of expression ends when it violates public morals and conflict with religion.
“Eastern authorities framing these restrictions as Islamic societal rules,” Virgin Colombier, Professor of Practice at Louis Gowido Carlo University in Rome and his participating editor of the book “Violence and Social Transformation in LibyaDW said.
“This is done in a very skilled way as the authorities make sure that the broader society is heading with them,” she said, adding, ” Politically.
Rap music as a political outlet
In turn, the Libyan rapper who take issues in their words that can be understood as “rebel” is now afraid of returning to the previous patterns of repression.
During the period under the dictator reddish Gaddafi From 1969 to 2011, rap music was officially prevented. It was only under the ground and the Libyan diaspora. However, in the period before the overthrow of the Gadhafi in 2011, a rapper like Youssef Ramadan, known as the name MC SwatUse their rap songs to invite young people to rise.
In February 2011, Mc Swat “Hadhee Thowra” (“This is Revolution”) released), as he encouraged people to move them to the streets and rebels against Gaddafi. The song has become somewhat the hymn of the Libyan intifada and started a golden age for the Libyan rap. At that time, the 23 -year -old told us the broadcaster CNN that his course described the feeling of “touching freedom”.
Return to repression
Only, the uprising turned to the first Libyan civil war from February to October 2011 between the forces loyal to Gaddafi and rebel groups who eventually killed him in December 2011. Libyan residents and Libyan rapper who called for democracy and found themselves in the first square.
In December 2011, MC SWAT released his song “Freedom Of Beeld”, in which she passed: “I made you believe that the revolution has succeeded, but it failed because of corruption.” After releasing this song, his life took a turn to the worse, the British newspaper told The Guardian later.
He did not take the armed armed groups well, as he continued to write the rap songs in which he gathered against atrocities, violence and corruption among the supporters of the Libyan National Army, General Khalifa Hatfar. He criticized the “Benghazestan” course (2013) in particular the assassinations and recent bombings in Benghazi, which caused the discontent of the ruling forces.
In 2014, the country’s political situation increased. Since then, Libya has been divided between two competitors. The eastern part of the country is still under the rule of General Khalifa and the House of Representatives in Benghazi, while western Libya is subject to the administration of the unrecognized national unity government during the era of President Abdel Hamid Deeba in Tripoli.
For mc SatelliteThe 2017 “exploitation” path, which highlights the pain of people who still take advantage of what we wrote in Libya. He fled to Italy, where he had lived since then. “I hope everything will end in Libya and I can go home and stay with my mother and my father.”
The effect of Salafi ideology
Human Rights and Human Hyman Ray Ryo Rayo Ryo Rio Rio Rio Rio Rio Rio Rio Riu Rio Swat Swat sees any time soon. “The last ban on rap is not a coincidence, it is part of a wider direction across Libya,” said Colombier. “Each of the energy centers in the East and West has increased a campaign campaign not only on personal freedoms, but on any speech that can be explained as a threat to its control,” she added.
In her opinion, this trend has accelerated, as both political authorities are increasingly dependent on security bodies, which are severely affected by Salafi ideology, which follow a very conservative reading of Islam.
For the Libyan rapper, all this most likely means that they will not be able to move to the theater and express the views in public anymore. Only the technical progress of social media platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook have made it easier to share songs with Libyan followers since the Gaddafi era.
