And, as recently as a few months ago, a French intellectual’s activism was crucial to initiating the so-far unsuccessful attempt to bring down Libya’s Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. For it was Bernard-Henry Lévy who convinced French President Nicolas Sarkozy to meet with Libya’s rebel leaders, an encounter that led directly to France taking a leading role in persuading the United Nations Security Council and US President Barack Obama to back military intervention.
而且，就在短短几个月前，一位法国知识分子的积极斡旋在发起迄今为止不太成功的打倒利比亚上校穆阿迈尔·卡扎菲的行动中起到了关键作用。因为正是伯纳德·亨利列维说服法国总统尼古拉·萨科奇与利比亚叛军领袖会面，这次会面直接导致法国在说服联合国安理会和美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马支持军事干涉事务中发挥了领导作用。