Word: ghaddafi
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...Arab capital of the nationalist 1960s. Most of the buildings are that old, and slogans of Arab unity and portraits of the leader stare down from every wall, every square, every corner. Still, at least my cell phone worked. And while it's hard to escape from Colonel Ghaddafi's image or his words - his every statement is read word-for-word on the evening news - every building appears to sport a satellite dish, and the city is dotted with Internet café s where Libyans try to keep up with the modern world from which they've been shut...
...hotel, the Al Kabir, is a case in point: The immense crystal chandelier and a blue-tiled fountain are reminders of the more prosperous times, when it was known as the Grand Hotel. But its name was changed in 1970 after the revolution that brought Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi to power, and his image still dominates the lobby, a portrait flanked by stickers bearing the cover of the "Green Book" in which he outlined his ideology. The book itself is displayed in a glass cabinet at reception, on the shelves of the hotel's business center and in the bookstores outside...
...with Libya feeling increasingly abandoned by its Arab allies, Ghaddafi has changed his emphasis. Now he proclaims a "United States of Africa," and slogans such as "We Are Africans" are everywhere...
...that they want to be part of the modern world from which they're isolated by sanctions - and from which Libya's rigidly organized social life discourages them from partaking. On the other hand, they feel unjustly victimized by the West, and many are ready to spring, unprompted, to Ghaddafi's defense in the face of any foreign criticism...
...boulevards are wide, and lined with palm trees and shrubs. But they overlook a big, ugly sandy patch dominated by a concrete structure overlooking the "Square of Martyrs." It had been intended as a fountain cascading the waters of Ghaddafi's unfinished "Great Man-Made River Project"; instead it serves as a dusty soccer pitch for young boys who play late into the night...