Ink battles: the press and political struggle in Western Libya

ABSTRACT

The article focuses on the issue of the press in Western Libya, starting from the Ottoman period, up to early 1920.

In particular, the author analyses the newspaper al-Liwā' al-Ṭarābulusī, the official mouthpiece of the National Reform Party, whose secretary was Azzam and president al-Qīzānī, both involved in the newspaper activities.

The article also aims to shed light on the editorial network that linked Libya to Italy, focusing on the League of oppressed peoples propaganda.

KEYWORDS:

• Italian colonialism
• press
• Libya
• league of oppressed peoples
• Tripoli

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For a broad and comparative overview of the history of printing in the context of the Middle East and North Africa, see the classic work in several volumes: دي طرازي (1913–1933). See also Gorman and Monciaud (2018); Baykal (2019); Ayalon (1995), Ayalon (2016).

2 On the Ottoman legislation on printing and publishing after the Young Turks’ revolution, see الصويعي (1989, 89 ff.).

3 Aḥmad bin al-Ḥājj al-Fassaṭwī, born in Tripoli circa 1887, attended the schools of Sidī Sālim (Bāb al-baḥr) and then continued his studies at the University of al-Azhar (Cairo) for seven years. He returned to Tripoli in 1908 and, after embarking on a career as a teacher, joined the editorial board of the newspaper Al-Marṣād before becoming editor-in-chief. In 1911 he fled Libya, returning the following year to take part in the anti-colonial resistance. After the conquest of Western Jabal by Italian troops in March 1913, he fled to Tunisia and then to Egypt, see Ufficio politico militare della Tripolitania, Situazione politico-militare secondo le notizie riferite dai prigionieri evasi il 9 novembre 1917, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/17, fasc. 148; Ufficio politico militare della Tripolitania, Rapporto su Ahmed el Fessatui, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 108/1, fasc. 8.

4 ‘L’Italia in Oriente’, L’Italia in Oriente-Īṭāliyā fī al-Mashreq, July-August 1920.

5 The British consul in Tripoli, Monahan, regarded La Nuova Italia as ‘the local official newspaper’, see Monahan to Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 29 July 1919, The National Archives, Kew (henceforth TNA), FO 371/3805. In the early months of 1921 a conflict developed between the Tripoli government and La Nuova Italia, resulting in the suspension of government subsidies to the newspaper, see Monahan to Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 9 March 1921, TNA, FO 371/6168. See also Dumasy (2022, 374 ff.).

6 Monahan to Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 10 July 1921, TNA, FO 371/6168; Monahan to Lord Curzon, 7 November 1921, TNA, FO 371-6168.

7 Leone Franciosi arrived in Tripoli in 1920 as a clerk in the public administration. In the capital, he came into contact with workers’ circles, becoming secretary of the Chamber of Labour. His political and social activism led to his expulsion in October 1920; see ‘Il rimpatrio del geometra Leone Franciosi’, La Nuova Italia-Īṭāliyā al-Jadīda, 16 October 1920.

8 On subscriptions and fluctuations in the price of subscriptions see رحومة (2006, 140–141).

9 A list of the main collaborators with an attached biography of the same can be found in رحومة (2006, 157 ff.).

10 Some news about the al-Būṣayrī family can be found in الزريقي (1986). In the years immediately following the Italian landing in Tripoli, the al-Būṣayrī family managed to maintain a monopoly on some judicial-religious positions in Tripoli: ʻAbd al-Raḥmān was qāḍī; his brother Muḥammad was the administrator of the waqf al-jāmiʻ assets (mosque property); the other brother, al-Sanūsī, was secretary at the religious court, where the son of the qāḍī was employed as an interpreter; see the memorandum from the official of the Tripoli administration, Promemoria compilato dal funzionario dell’amministrazione di Tripoli Sormani, 12 December 1913, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 126/1, fasc. 1.

11 On the figure of ʻAzzām see his memoirs, edited by Jamīl ʻᾹrif ( عزام 1977). See also سرحان (1993); Coury (1998).

12 The announcement of the Tripolitanian Republic came together with the declaration of independence. The text of the declaration is reported in the memoirs of Sulaymān al-Bārūnī, edited by his daughter Zaʻīma ( الباروني 1964, 294).

13 On this subject, see some important editorials published in al-Liwā' al-Ṭarābulusī: . 12 February 1920 الحكم الدستوري و السياسة الحالية, ; 1 July 1920, تحالفوا على الدفاع عن القانون الاساسي و الحرية بالسلاح

14 On censorship see: المراقبة , اللواء الطرابلسي . 8 July 1920.

15 It is noteworthy that a couple of months earlier, on 21 October 1920, the Tripoli government had suspended publication of the newspaper al-Raqīb, see Bernini (2006, 106).

16 However, it should be emphasised that heterogeneity of themes was a common feature in periodicals of the time.

17 See also Lafi (2002).

18 The common submission to colonial rulers must not obscure the socio-economic differences that characterised Tripolitan society, and which the new Italian trend aimed to exacerbate. As Partha Chatterjee (1993, 36) observes, regarding the Indian case, ‘the colonial middle class, in Calcutta no less than in other centers of colonial power, was simultaneously placed in a position of subordination in one relation and in a position of dominance in another. The construction of hegemonic ideologies typically involves the cultural efforts of classes placed precisely in such situations’.

19 In D’Annunzio’s view, Wilson’s League of Nations was the ‘armed wing of Franco-British imperialism’, see Cuzzi (2007, 130).

20 On Kochnitzky and foreign policy at Fiume see Kochnitzky (1922); Ledeen (1975); De Felice (1978b); Cuzzi (2020).

21 Although they converged on containing of British influence in North Africa, Zaghlūl did not share D’Annunzio’s anti-US orientation. For an account of the meeting between Giovanni Giuriati and Zaghlūl see Giuriati (1954, 135). With respect to the idea advocated by D’Annunzio and Kochnitzky of including exponents of the Arab world in the League of Fiume, Guglielmo Salotti points out the opposition of Mario Sani, an officer already operating in Libya and participating in the Fiume experience, see Salotti (1991, 27). In the English documents, Sani’s position appears instead more nuanced and inclined to guarantee the Libyans greater freedom, see Monahan to Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 27 July 1921, TNA, FO 371/6168.

22 Ledeen (1975, 158–166 and 242).

23 The (tenuous) ties between the League of Fiume and that based in Rome were embodied by the presence, both in Fiume and then in Rome, of some individuals: among these, the lawyer Giacomo Costa (who was close to Kochnitzky), who in December 1920 had been sent by D’Annunzio on a mission to the government in Rome, see Tedeschini Lalli (1983, 611–612), Di Rienzo (2022, 157). The organization could also count on the support of some Italian military officers, such as General Giampietro, Colonel Taddei and Captain Tavazzani, see Bernini (2006, 127).

24 The government of Tripoli was aware of the closeness of National Reform Party members to the League of Oppressed Peoples, see Volpi (Tripoli’s governor) to Minister of Colonies Giuseppe Girardini, 14 December 1921, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/26, fasc. 238. See also Del Boca (2010, 377n).

25 Baccari (ad interim head of Tripoli government) to Girardini, 23 July 1921, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/26, fasc. 236. Even Lalli Tedeschini confirms that ‘the Italian government, for a short period, somehow thought of exploiting the League for its own purposes’, Tedeschini Lalli (1983, 613).

26 Tedeschini Lalli (1983, 613 ff.). Anti-British attitudes in Libya flared after the occupation of the former Ottoman territories by His Majesty’s troops, see the article that appeared on al-Liwā' al-Ṭarābulusī, 1 April 1920: . المظاهرة السلمية احتجاجا ضد احتلال مقة الخلافة الاسلامية

27 Baccari (ad interim head of Tripoli government) to Girardini, 23 July 1921, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/26, fasc. 236. See also the memorandum compiled by Howard W. Kennard (advisor at the British embassy in Rome) in which he wrote an account of Eduardo Baccari’s position on the League of Oppressed Peoples, 9 March 1921, TNA, FO, 371-6168.

28 Costanzo Chauvet (1844–1918) devoted himself to journalism after a brief military career. He first practised in Milan (La Gazzetta di Milano) and later in Rome. In the capital, he founded the humorous newspaper Don Pirloncino, and in 1875 became director of Il Popolo Romano until his death. His journalistic activity was characterised by ambiguous relations with the political and financial system. His equivocal attitude earned him many accusations, insinuations, and legal problems, for example, his involvement in the Banca Romana scandal. On Chauvet see Cimmino (1980); Forno (2012); Forno (2008); Castronovo, Giacheri Fossati, and Tranfaglia (1979).

29 The governor of Tripoli, Giuseppe Volpi, was aware of the link between the newspaper and the Prime Minister’s office; see the letter sent on 4 January 1922, to Minister of Colonies Giuseppe Girardini, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/27, fasc. 245.

30 A letter from Uthmān al-Qīzānī addressed to ʻAbd al-Salām al-Būṣayrī confirmed contact with the director of Il Popolo Romano Olindo Bitetti, see Bernini (2006, 132). Angelo Del Boca also points out that Il Popolo Romano became the informal organ of the League of Oppressed Peoples in Italy, contributing to the spread of its ideas. In addition to Il Popolo Romano, the Italian newspaper Il Paese acted as a mouthpiece for the League, A. DEL BOCA, Gli italiani in Libia, cit., p. 369n.

31 ‘Colonialismo in pijama’, Il Popolo Romano, 26 August 1921; ‘Pazzeschi propositi coloniali’, Il Popolo Romano, 9 December 1921.

32 ‘Reggicoda di Volpi’, Il Popolo Romano, 30 August 1921.

33 Il muezzin. 1921. ‘Gli italianissimi, l’amnistia e lo statuto in Libia’, Il Popolo Romano, October 1.

34 Il muezzin. 1922. ‘Verso le elezioni amministrative a Tripoli’, Il Popolo Romano, January 14.

35 According to Volpi, the repeated attempts made by the Italian authorities in Tripoli to expel Martini were neutralised by the strong support that Martini enjoyed within the capital’s Masonic networks, Volpi to Minister of Colonies, 4 January 1922, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/27, fasc. 245.

36 Monahan to Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 8 March 1920, TNA, FO 371/3806.

37 On 26 February 1920, a full-page editorial signed by the ‘lawyer Martini’ and entitled اسمعوا وعوا واذا وعيتم فانتفعوا was published. The closeness, not without conflict, between Martini and ʻAzzām, was strengthened by an article written by ʻAzzām and published on the first page of al-Liwā' al-Ṭarābulusī on 4 March 1920 ( حقيقة لابد منها ).

The link between al-Liwā' al-Ṭarābulusī and Il Popolo Romano, was also emphasised in a letter published in Il Popolo Romano written by ‘an old colonial’, in which it was stated that: ‘To measure the truth […] and above all the good faith, the patience, the measure of the Arabs, you need to read the most genuine source, that is the collection of the official newspaper of the constitutional and reformist party, inspired by Azzam’, ‘An old colonial’. 1921. ‘Colpe ed errori della politica libica’, Il Popolo Romano, July 13.

38 ‘Che cosa vogliamo, che cosa arrischiamo’, Il Popolo Romano, 23 August 1921. On the issue of Italy’s Mediterranean policy see ‘Una ventata di follia nella nostra politica in Tripolitania’, Il Popolo Romano, 31 January 1922.

39 Volpi to Minister of Colonies, 4 January 1922, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/27, fasc. 245.

40 Disfattismo! ‘Il Muezzin’, Il Corriere di Tripoli, 1 January 1922.

41 ‘Un importante processo giornalistico a Tripoli’, L’Epoca, 3 January 1922. The dispute between the two newspapers was exacerbated by a personal issue, since Cafiero’s main accuser in the columns of Il Corriere di Tripoli was the former director of La Nuova Italia, Vincenzo Serio, see Volpi to Girardini, 15 January 1922, ASMAI, Libia, pos. 122/27, fasc. 245.

42 ‘Nella direzione della NUOVA ITALIA’, La Nuova Italia, 15 January 1922.

43 The bankruptcy of the Banca italiana di Sconto in December 1921 contributed decisively to the closure of the newspaper, see Vergano (1958, 70).