Shar & the Forgotten Genocide of Libya | Ali Abdullatif Ahmida

In this powerful episode of The Afikra Podcast, host Mikey Mahanna sits down with Professor Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, a scholar of Libyan history and author of *Genocide in Libya: Shar and a Hidden Colonial History*. Ahmida sheds light on the largely erased history of Italy's brutal colonization of Libya from 1911 to 1943, particularly the systematic genocide committed against the Libyan people during the resistance led by Omar al-Mukhtar. He details how the Italian Fascists employed forced displacement, concentration camps, aerial bombardment, and chemical weapons—making Libya the site of the first modern use of poison gas in warfare. Despite this, the genocide remains absent from mainstream historical narratives, due to Italian state denial, Allied cover-ups during WWII, and the lack of engagement by Arab and Muslim intellectuals in global genocide studies. Ahmida emphasizes that the term 'Shah'—a word coined by survivors to describe the collective death in the camps—should be recognized as a parallel to 'Shoah' in Holocaust discourse, calling for a reclamation of memory and justice. The conversation also explores the broader implications for Arab intellectual responsibility and the urgent need to confront colonial violence in our own histories. Key takeaways include: 1) Libya’s colonial genocide was a deliberate, state-sponsored campaign of ethnic cleansing and mass death, not incidental violence; 2) The erasure of this history stems from deliberate suppression by Italy, silence from Western scholarship, and Arab intellectual disengagement from genocide studies; 3) The term 'Shah' must be adopted globally to honor the survivors’ lived experience and reframe the narrative; 4) Omar al-Mukhtar was not just a military leader but a moral exemplar of ethical resistance; 5) The episode calls for a follow-up to explore Libya’s colonial legacy in relation to current regional dynamics. The tone is urgent, scholarly, and deeply moral, with a strong emphasis on historical justice and epistemic responsibility.