78 Silenced and Split the regime. Just saying hi to the old opposition is a crime.” Malik, a member of a London-based exiled Syrian family, remarked, Those who used to visit Syria regularly didn’t want to associate themselves too closely with those who didn’t in case the authorities found out and they get arrested in the airport or they get hassled. Niz, a Libyan doctor from Cardiff, Wales, recalled that although his childhood memories of being around other Libyans were good ones, he developed a sense of unease and caution around community members as he grew older. I had in me a paranoia of Libyans for fear of the regime’s long tentacles, reaching out to the UK. You hear of informants, you hear of the foreign services and security services of Gaddafi being in different parts of the world. I certainly don’t think it was a point overemphasized to us by our parents, but along the way I fell in line with the notion that Gaddafi was a bad person, and Gaddafi had bad people working for him, and that these bad people were keeping an eye on us abroad, and that I needed to be careful. I assimilated a lot of information along the way with news of assassinations abroad, news of Libyan family friends who had been killed, the realization that there were families out of Libya who weren’t in the same situation as us – who were out of Libya for reasons of their personal safety. Sarah, a British Libyan whose parents were deeply concerned about regime informants, developed a similar sense of fear even though, as she recalled, “In the early ’80s, my dad just came here for work and it wasn’t for political reasons. We lived outside of central London in order to remain independent, not get involved in politics because we’d always go back to Libya and my dad had family there.” Because of their travels back and forth, it was imperative for Sarah and her family to distance themselves from anyone affiliated with Libyan politics, dissidents and potential regime agents alike. Sarah continued, If you saw a Libyan on the street, you would cross over. You would never just talk to somebody you didn’t know [or] make independent Libyan friends. It was always keep your head down, because you want to protect your family in Libya and you want to go back to Libya. You don’t want to be on a watchlist, you don’t want to be in anyone’s peripheral vision on their radar. It was always understood that we’re here for work or education and then we’ll go back to Libya. So you’d just hang out with Libyans that you know – family friends, people that my parents knew from back in Libya and their children. You wouldn’t make independent Libyan friends. Just as longtime diaspora members were fearful of consorting with strangers, respondents reported that temporary migrants and students on scholarships were likewise terrified to be affiliated with residents. Because permanent residency abroad was often equated with being in political exile, some exiles attested to avoiding migrants out of concern that they would incriminate the newcomers. Dr. Abdul Malek of Libya Watch explained, I tried to keep away from the Libyan officials and the students – unless they were somebody you really know from back home already. Otherwise, we don’t mix. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press