Libyan Activists: Why We Are Calling on Malta to Help Save Libya

Earlier this week a group of Libyan activists launched a petiton calling for Malta to grant asylum to two Libyan pilots who defected to the small island nation last Monday. Within 24 hours they had tens of thousands of signatures, more than 1,000 signatures an hour!

Who are these folks?

ENOUGH! Gaddafi is a group of grassroots Libyan activists both inside and outside the country, working together to bring down the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the long time dictator of Libya. Calling themselves a new voice of dissent against the Gaddafi regime, ENOUGH! Gaddafi seeks to utilize grassroots Libyan activism to "promote the ability of the Libyan people to overcome the limitations imposed upon them by an illegitimate and unjust government."

Their petition on Change.org seeks to pressure the Maltese government to grant asylum to these two pilots to “encourage more pilots and ship captains to refuse to attack civilians.”

Ask Malta to grant asylum to Libyan pilots who refused to murder protesters.

Earlier today we spoke with Abdulla Darrat, an expatriate Libyan activist helping run ENOUGH! Gaddafi, about the campaign.

Change.org: What can the international community do to support grassroots Libyan activists?

ENOUGH! Gaddafi: The Libyans inside the country say they are determined to fight this to the end, and are not interested in direct intervention. Libyans are willing to do what it takes to take the regime down.

But at the same time, the opposition is asking the international community for support, recognizing that the regime has some advantages that threaten even the the most determined of people. While the opposition has a higher moral ground and has managed to access some weapons, Gaddafi has access to vast resources and more sophisticated weapons. So we are calling on the international community to continue to isolate the head of the regime--his family and closest advisers.

ENOUGH! Gaddafi: We are also encouraging more within the armed forces to defect.  More and more of those close to Gaddafi need to help bring him down. So we see this campaign as one cog in the wheel of many efforts that are needed to encourage those who are fighting for the regime to defect and help continue to isolate the regime.

Hopefully the petition will encourage the Maltese government to throw their support behind the Libyan people, and to support the soldiers who are choosing to leave Libya rather than bomb their own people.

We need to give more people fighting for Gaddafi a way out.

Winning this and similar campaigns depends on our ability to quickly call on thousands of supportive folks like you. After signing the petition below, please click here to follow us on Facebook - just click ‘Like’ at the top of the page.

Photo: Tom Mascardo