Political science Professor Ali Ahmida quoted in New Yorker story on Libya

Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Political Science Department, was interviewed at length and quoted for an article on Libya in the May 8, 2006 New Yorker.  In "Letter from Libya: Circle of Fire," a 17-page story, Andrew Solomon analyzes the contradictions between reform and hardline authoritarianism in Libyan politics and culture. Solomon flew to Portland last winter to interview Ahmida for several hours. Ahmida is quoted in the story, saying that Colonel Muammar Qaddafi "plays his biological son Seif el-Islam against his ideological son Ahmed Ibrahim." Ibrahim is the deputy speaker of the General People's Congress. The infighting helps Qaddafi moderate the pace of change.

Professor Ahmida was also profiled in the Biddeford-Saco-Old Orchard Beach Courier on April 27, 2006. The profile also highlighted Ahmida's new book, Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya. Courier  Editor Eric Wicklund wrote that "Ahmida sees himself as the spokesman for the Libyan citizen, one who has been beaten down through the years, first by colonialism, more recently by nationalism, yet still strives to get along with the West."