Despite the snow, Vancouver's Libyan community and supporters gathered outside the Pulbic Library to profess their disgust with Gaddafi's desperate and violent attempts at silencing dissent. According to Aljazeera, "citizens, including the country's former ambassador to India, are saying that warplanes were used to 'bomb' protesters." [1]

Despite the horrendous images posted by the protesters, one could describe the mood as hopeful and perseverant: according to one protester "we will stay here until Gaddafi leaves," which is quite an optimistic statement, given the fact that he has been holding onto power for 42 years. It remains to be seen if that persistence will bear any fruit for the people of Libya.

Of course, one would be tempted to draw inspiration from Tunisia and Egypt, but the situation tends to be somewhat different with dictators who have no foreign country to look to for asylum and protection, which means that they have their own lives to worry about if things take an unexpected turn.

This is in some sense one more episode in the legacy of colonialism in North Africa and the catastrophic consequences of the idea of nation states that was Europe's "gift" to the world: something that could only be implemented in the most primitive society, one striped of any human complexity and reduced to the most visceral of urges like greed and selfishness (of course repackaged and sold as individualism and progress).

[1] "Fresh violence rages in Libya" http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201122261251456133.html

Update: You can find a video of the Libya solidarity rally in Edmonton at http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/edmonton-rally-solidarity-libyan-people/6452