Last updated on 2011.02.28
The CBC radio program As It Happens has been conducting some riveting interviews with Libyan citizens in the midst of revolution. On the Friday, February 25 broadcast, an 18-year-old woman explained what she wants... and what she and her compatriots are willing to give their lives for:
The most important thing is that after this, when we're finally free, hopefully, that means I can get up in the morning and decide for myself what I want to do. And that's the most important thing, just have the freedom to decide, the freedom to speak up to something that's wrong. That's basically all I want, and all most Libyans want.
Decide for myself what I want to do: not the most philosophically nuanced explication of freedom, but in a revolution, it'll do.
Meanwhile, the South Dakota Legislature moves closer to taking exactly that freedom away from South Dakota women.
When an anonymous 18-year-old girl in Tripoli inspires more faith in the human commitment to freedom than my elected officials in Pierre, something is wrong.