Seif al-Islam Gadhafi is no ordinary painter. One of the sons of Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi and touted as his potential successor as Libyan leader, the younger Mr. Gadhafi is arriving in Montreal at the end of the month to unveil an exhibit of his country's arts, including some of his creations.
After showings in London, Berlin and Paris, the extraordinary event arrives in Canada with the blessing of several corporate sponsors who see it as a signal of Libya's nascent opening to the international community. While opposition politicians in Ottawa voiced concerns about Libya's record on human rights, the companies supporting the event argue they want to be part of a historical opening of a long-estranged nation.
"We know the country well," said Gillian MacCormack, a vice-president for engineering giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. "We know it's a country in transition. . . . It's a country where we see shared values." Lavalin, which has projects in Libya, has been spearheading the exhibit, with help from the Canadian embassy, one executive said.
Mr. Gadhafi is expected in Montreal for the Sept. 26 unveiling of the exhibit, titled The Desert Is Not Silent, which will last until Oct. 16. Last year, Mr. Gadhafi mused that Canada would "pay the price" if it did not apologize for its support of United Nations embargoes against Tripoli.
Still, he is seen as the ambassador-at-large of a country normalizing its relations after taking responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and pledging to give up on acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
"Colonel Gadhafi's son may be an able cultural ambassador but as a painter he is not even a gifted amateur," Guardian art writer Jonathan Jones reported when the event arrived in London in 2002. Asked about criticism about Libya's human-rights records or the lukewarm reception for Mr. Gadhafi's art, Ms. MacCormack declined to comment, saying that "we are engineers." Some of the sponsors of the Montreal exhibit, such as fight-simulator manufacturer CAE Inc., have no operations in Libya. Others are actively involved in that emerging market, such as Verenex Energy Inc., a Calgary oil company that clinched this year an exploration bid in Libya.
"You might view this particular trip, I think, as bridge-building with Canada," said Verenex chief executive officer Jim McFarland. "The country is certainly opening up since the UN and U.S. sanctions were lifted. It's a major push by Libya to kick-start growth." The exhibit is being staged in the Bonsecours Market in Old Montreal.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day said he would expect the corporate sponsors of the show to remind "Gadhafi Jr." that freedoms such as artistic expression do not exist in Libya. "His country and his father have been an enemy of freedom itself and have been destructive of human rights, personal freedoms [and] democracy."
Source: The Globe and Mail
