The Libya Institute for Advanced Studies organized a workshop on the Zoom platform, entitled: Family Challenges in Libya, on the occasion of Arab Family Day, December 7, 2020.
The meeting was moderated by Dr. Salama Masoud, Professor of Educational Sociology at the University of Sirte.
She spoke about the topic of the workshop and its importance, and that it is a product of the current situation in Libya. The family is the basis for building society and is the first educational and cultural vessel for children. If the foundation is strong, it ensures the establishment and continuity of the building, and if it is fragile, the building is doomed to collapse. It is no secret that the family faces a number of challenges. Which distances her from her roles at this time.
She noted the role of the Libyan social fabric, and that the family and the state have complementary roles, so any shortcomings or instability in the state is directly reflected in the family.
Benefiting from experts and involving them in developing strategic solutions, to confront challenges and problems, social, political, and health, all of which requires a serious stance from state institutions, the Ministry of Social Affairs, educational institutions, and civil society institutions, how to direct the family to the right path to address these challenges in the right way so that we can reach safety for our Libyan family.
We lack comprehensive development plans for all sectors of the Libyan state in the short or long term, follow-up actions and reaching results, and I regret that the recommendations, actions and studies carried out by specialists have remained in place without being activated!
Then, Dr. Souad Al-Shatwi, Head of the Sociology Department at the Faculty of Arts, University of Sirte, presented the title of her intervention: The social repercussions of the Corona pandemic on the Libyan family.
It divided the social repercussions into two parts: the first: high rates of civil violence within the family, which resulted in a high divorce rate, and the second: social distancing, which caused multiple family problems. It indicated important ratios, results, and statistics, and represented realistic societal examples from the surroundings, and conveyed With a set of recommendations, including: increasing society’s awareness of the dangers of stigmatization of infected people or intolerance against them, strengthening the role of the family in dealing with new life circumstances, supporting and protecting vulnerable groups of women, children, the elderly and people with special needs, activating the role of civil society institutions, and the importance of taking care of social treatment.
The intervention was made by Professor Maryam Tabika, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sirte, Director of the BRC Scientific and Humanitarian Foundation, and the title of her intervention was: The Libyan Family between Traditions and the Requirements of Modernity.
It tried to answer the question: Is it possible to mix or blend traditions with modernity so that the movement can move in harmony? After defining the family, its role and importance.
She stated that a study on modernity and the family dilemma in America says: Any circumstances that prevent the family from performing its duties will lead to psychological problems, and modernity patterns have great pressure on the family.
The conflict of modernity with some traditions made the family exposed to many problems, which had serious repercussions on Libyan society, and pointed to shining examples of traditions: solidarity – neighborly relations – good customs – spiritual connection.
Then she pointed to developments such as: economic independence, which created a kind of separation, and demonstrated the need for education, and among the results of education was a kind of positive change, especially with regard to women, work rights, working anywhere, leaving the home, but the form and intimacy of relationships changed. Interconnectedness has changed. This disintegration in the family is not positive. Other forms of communication have come at the expense of family communication. There is a conflict between a prevailing mentality and a new expatriate mentality, a conflict with the existing cultural heritage.
The invasion of the means of communication has led to the presence of a partner in education in the websites or components of the content broadcast by the means of communication and the media, and this is a danger that threatens the family.
One of the treatments for some of these problems is the necessity of upbringing based on developing thought, diagnosing reality, and knowing right from wrong.
One of the problems in Libyan society is that we take things too simply, and we do not realize that generations have changed and societies have changed, and thus the old rules in dealing with children have become useless.
One of the problems is that a family chooses spouses for their sons and daughters based on interests. The basis for building a family in which human and intimate matters disappear, and the branches are based on the foundation. If humanitarian matters and love do not exist from the beginning, they will not exist in the branches.
One of the problems is the relationship between parents, which children acquire from their parents. There is a cultural decline in the genders’ appreciation of each other. When we analyze what is published on social media, which reflects problems in society, we notice a lack of appreciation of the role of women by men, and a lack of appreciation by women for what men do. ! Family discussion and dialogue is missing!
One of the problems is the distinction between boys and girls. A girl’s mistake is a major disaster, while a boy’s mistake is okay and no problem! A kind of civilized rebellion!
The gap and gap have increased in size and become larger, such that bridging it requires efforts from the state and institutions concerned with the family, because the consequences of the collapse of the family will reach human society.
One of the problems is the contradiction between the apparent and the hidden. On the surface we are pure people, and in secret we do many things that we do not want people to see us doing. We are afraid to face reality and the culture of society. We are a shy society and we value traditions, but we have a life that we love and that young people want to live. The result of this is an imbalance. In upbringing, it creates an unbalanced environment, a contradiction between what is declared and declared publicly and what is justified as modern values.
We are proud of our identity, our belonging, our country, and our life. We love the Western form and are obsessed with it, and we criticize many of our customs and traditions. All of this is the result of a defect in dealing with the formation of a child’s mentality. There are no principles, and no knowledge of answers: who are we, what do we want, and how can we reach what we want?!
There are many issues that result from this contradiction, and among the serious problems resulting from the contradiction are the spread of drug abuse, prostitution, suicide, terrorism, intellectual extremism, crime, defamation, blackmail, and exploitation of children, many countless problems.
She concluded her intervention by saying: We must deal well with modernity in order to live a better life.
Then the intervention of Dr. Zahra Al-Hadi Daghman: Director General of the Libyan Observatory for the Family, Professor of Sociology, Social Specialist in the Department of Studies and Planning at the Social Solidarity Fund in Tripoli, and the title of her intervention: The educational role of the family and the interference of other media and its impact on society.
She opened by stating that the challenges that the Libyan family is going through are: social, intellectual, and security, as a result of the events that took place in Libya over the past years.
A call was sent to research centers on the need to conduct real, realistic research studies on Libyan society in this decade, the changes that the Libyan family has undergone, the effects of war, the social and cultural effects, and religious phenomena, and then refer them to work policies adopted by the government in the future. As for the present time, it is the role of The government is completely absent.
The decline in the values of religiosity, brotherhood, and the educational role is a result of the predominance of the language of violence, because wars usually only produce worse and more devastating wars.
A family has been displaced for 10 years. How can you raise children free from psychological disorders? Because of displacement, wars, bombs, and the poor economic situation. The economic situation of the Libyan family is diverse, with a scarcity of liquidity, weak salaries, and a lack of interest in small projects and productive family projects. Providing an environment Good for the family to perform its functions is an important matter and a national, legal and international duty.
Diagnosing these phenomena and challenges is important, and we do not have real numbers to talk about and turn them into indicators and general policies that the state will adopt when it is established, and this is very necessary.
The Libyan family is now in danger, and the danger of this stage and the seriousness of the effects and problems that the Libyan family is experiencing, and the resulting creation of a distorted society, and the economic, intellectual, and security repercussions that this has, such as kidnapping children, financial extortion, and mistreatment of women.
We must talk about the role of the helpless family now, who cannot feed their children or send them to school. The indicators are serious, and the effects are not simple.
Then there was an intervention by Dr. Ali Abdel Aziz Manna, a professor at the University of Sirte: It is a comment on the previous interventions, including:
Our family problems are completely similar, based on what we are accustomed to. In the past, the culture of the home, the school, the street, and the surroundings had the same values and the same circle of values. Influence by cultures was not affected arbitrarily, but rather took place positively within the framework of the development of culture in each nation, so the process was very humane, and for this reason Work was proceeding normally.
In the past, colonialism was for land and goods, and the culture was strong, so resistance occurred, and colonialism was more materialistic than anything else. Today, with the culture of globalization, the individual within the family has become non-existent in it!
This globalization is a new invasion, targeting the individual, culture, human being, and identity. Consequently, nations that do not have a culture capable of resistance will fall into great abysses, and we lack the means of resistance.
The child has come to see everything in pictures and sound, no matter how forbidden, forbidden, or harmful, and he does not need translation or languages to understand this.
People today are next to each other, and not together. Our societies are threatened in their identity. If they do not have the strength to become partners, they will dissolve!
This does not mean self-reliance, but rather we must think about building ourselves culturally and cognitively, so that we become partners in this world, and if we are not, we will dissolve in this world!
The intervention of journalist Idris Ahmeed from the city of Sabha was: Our society has lacked important ethics, bad behavior has emerged, news of war and misinformation has spread, most media outlets are distracted from the problems of society, as well as social media, studies are often far from reality, and there are risks that threaten society. Including negativity, the disintegration of the state, and the collapse of institutions. We must first search for stability. We turn to society and to the responsible parties with this workshop. We must mobilize resolve.
The meeting concluded with the necessity of holding other meetings and brainstorming, and the necessity of having practical, training, awareness-raising and educational projects, graphic surveys, media communication and governmental, institutional and civil work for the sake of the family, for the sake of the children and for the sake of society.
You can watch the full meeting here