84 Silenced and Split Additionally, most respondents did not take the threat of exile seriously, arguing that their families at home lived in rural, tribal areas largely outside of the regime’s jurisdiction, or that they could bribe their way back into Yemen were there to be a problem at the airport. 3.2 conflict transmission While transnational repression deterred voice in the Libyan and Syrian communities, conflict transmission, which was caused by the reproduction of divisive homeland conflicts in the diaspora, plagued community organizing in all three national communities across the United States and Britain. As conflicts and mistrust of politics traveled abroad through emigration and were inherited by 1.5- and second-generation youth, home-country fights divided conationals and undermined their mobilization potential. These divisions constrained the formation of movements for regime change and depressed initiatives for charity and development, even when organizers intended for these events to be apolitical affairs. 3.2.1 Factionalism during Libya’s Era of “Reform” After years of crippling economic sanctions and the fall of the Soviet Union, Gaddafi’s anti-Western façade crumbled. As the Clinton administration initiated secret talks with the regime, Gaddafi began to settle his international debts by agreeing to pay settlements to the victims of its terrorist attacks, including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The subsequent attacks of September 11, 2001, also worked in the regime’s favor. After the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition in 2003, Gaddafi declared himself an ally in George W. Bush’s socalled War on Terror and agreed to give up Libya’s weapons of mass destruction. Libya was able to reopen its embassies and consulates, and by 2004, Prime Minister Tony Blair was flashing a toothy grin for the media while shaking Gaddafi’s hand. As Saif al-Islam made gestures of goodwill, some regime opponents in the diaspora decided to take the opportunity to reconnect with their homeland. For Mohamed Shaban in London, “The first trip I and the family made to Libya was around 2004. That was partly because Saif was trying to be open, trying to attract Libyan talent back to Libya, so we started visiting, dipping our feet back in.” Adam of Virginia also recalled that Saif sent some of “his people” to Los Angeles to coax the second generation to meet with regime representatives in 2010. Adam attested that Saif’s reforms appeared to be the only plausible inroad to help the homeland at the time. I looked at it like, let’s see what they have to offer. I’m willing to sit at the table and talk. At the end of the day, it’s a free trip to LA. So, I came out and I sat with [Saif’s right-hand man] and I told him, look, I know you’re part of the Gaddafi family. I don’t care. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press