The Public Scout and Girl Guide Movement (Arabic: الحركة العامة للكشافة والمرشدات) is the national Scouting organization of Libya. It was founded in 1954, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1958 and of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1981. The coeducational Public Scout and Girl Guide Movement has about 18,500 members (13,698 Scouts and 4,766 Guides) as of 2004.
In 1966, Ali Khalifa el-Zaidi (علي خليفة الزائدي) was awarded the Bronze Wolf, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting. Other recipients include Dr. Mansour Mohamed El-Kikhia (د. منصور الكيخيا) in 1981 and in 1983, Dr. Mohamed H. Fhema (د. محمد افحيمه).
The Scout Motto is Kun Musta'idan or كن مستعداً, translating as Be Prepared in Arabic, though the local variant is Wa a'eddou or و أعدوا. The noun for a single Scout is Kashaf or كشاف in Arabic.
Scouts and Guides have a unified headquarters for planning and coordination of policies, but their activities are separate. There is strong Guide/Scout cooperation in planning training courses, youth program, seminars and hosting international activities. Jamborees, leader training courses, seminars and conferences are held throughout the year on the sub-provincial, national and international levels.
The organization has adopted relevant programs in the fields of conservation, Scouting with the handicapped, child health and desert Scouting.
Libyan Scouts are active in the Arab Region as well as the African Region.
The membership badge of the Public Scout and Girl Guide Movement incorporates a palm tree and other agricultural produce.
The Public Scout and Girl Guide Movement escaped the ban on almost any form of independent organisation, when Muammar Gaddafi was ruler of Libya, because of its non-political stance and because Gaddafi was briefly a Scout while growing up in the southern town of Sabha. But in the Libyan civil war Scouts acted as front-line support troops for the anti-Gaddafi forces.
Famous quotes containing the words public, scout, girl, guide and/or movement:
“The westerner, normally, walks to get somewhere that he cannot get in an automobile or on horseback. Hiking for its own sake, for the sheer animal pleasure of good condition and brisk exercise, is not an easy thing for him to comprehend.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Simone Clouseau: Jacques would make a wonderful father. He has many redeeming qualities, you know.
Sir Charles: Name one.
Simone Clouseau: Oh, he’s kind, loyal, faithful, obedient.
Sir Charles: You’re either married to a boy scout or a dachshund.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)
“1946: I go to graduate school at Tulane in order to get distance from a “possessive” mother. I see a lot of a red-haired girl named Maude-Ellen. My mother asks one day: “Does Maude-Ellen have warts? Every girl I’ve known named Maude-Ellen has had warts.” Right: Maude-Ellen had warts.”
—Bill Bouke (20th century)
“Don’t you go believing in sayings, Picotee: they are all made by men, for their own advantages. Women who use public proverbs as a guide through events are those who have not ingenuity enough to make private ones as each event occurs.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“... contemporary black women felt they were asked to choose between a black movement that primarily served the interests of black male patriarchs and a women’s movement which primarily served the interests of racist white women.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)