Harald Doornbos (1967) is a Dutch print journalist who left the Netherlands in 1992. He lived in the Balkans for eight years covering the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. In the immediate aftermath of September 11, he moved to Pakistan and covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. After shifting to Lebanon in 2004, he reported on the country’s internal violence and the war between Hezbollah and Israel. Since 2010, he divides his time between Dubai in the UAE and the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where he has a house. The Arab Spring brought him to uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and, mainly, Libya.
Lybia, and more exactly Khadaffi, is what Harald is talking about most. Doornbos is one of the few Dutch people who hasn’t read about the Arab Spring, but has experienced it himself. He was an eye witness of it all and has even been under fire. Since he just returned home from Lybia, he brought two props on stage to make him feel more at home. A poster of Khadaffi lying on the floor and a run-down green flag accompanying it: a sight often seen in Lybia these days.
- Dodi Khadaffi – a cat passport
It’s not the only prop Doornbos brought along. Doornbos visited Khadaffi’s old private residence, which he describes as messy, comparing it to a student dorm. He wasn’t there alone, thousands of Libyans were running around with guns and sticks. Rebels, civilians, trying to get anything they could get their hands on. After 42 brutal years, all their frustration came out, and they really went for it. Doornbos took a few things, not for owning it but for historical reasons. Otherwise it would have been destroyed.
- Miss VIP Leader of Revolution’s Daughter – plane ticket
The first prop he shows is the passport of the Khadaffi family cat “Dodi,” which he found in the bathroom of Khadaffi’s daughter Hanna. He also showed a plane ticket where she’s referred to as “VIP Leader of Revolution’s Daughter.”
One could describe the Arab Spring as people’s power at its best. An ironic statement, as Khadaffi was someone who would always love to use the words people’s power. It’s mentioned many times in Khadaffi’s beloved “green book,” which Doornbos found in Khadaffi’s swimming pool with around 100 other copies. Doornbos quotes Khadffi from the book: “The green book guides the masses to an unprecedented system of practical democracy.”
Doornbos asked the people in Lybia how they dared to rebel, what gave them the courage? They answered: “Because of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.” Ironically, Doornboos shows Khadaffi’s photo album of his trip to Tunisia where he’s spending time with another leader who has been removed by his people.
Lybian’s price for freeedom is very high. Doornbos has seen people dying in front of his eyes, heard tragic stories and describes how seeing an amputated leg in a hospital almost broke him. However, as we know, Khadaffi’s time is up. Doornbos beautifully illustrates this with his last prop, the clock from Khadaffi’s home that ended at 5:45. Khadaffi’s wife, daughters and son are now in Algeria. Khadaffi and two sons stayed and were killed. One of his sons was arrested and is now in jail. There is only one more Khadaffi still walking around freely in Tripoli: the cat Dodi. Cats might have nine lives, but Arab leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia, and Yemen don’t. One life, that’s it.
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