Archive for March 18th, 2012
“We want to know” site on Lebanon civil war? It is never too late
Posted by: adonis49 on: March 18, 2012
“We want to know” site on Lebanon civil war? It is never too late
More than 100 interviews later, the eye-witness accounts of people and families who suffered deaths, losses, disappearances, and handicapped cases during the long civil war of Lebanon (17 years), and conducted by 44 high-school student selected from 14 schools in Lebanon, are now available to pursue on www.badnanaaref.org (We want to know).
Under the title “On generations of civil war diaries” the program was administered by Carmen Abu Jaoudeh (coordinator of the center for justice), and Maria Sanchez (EU representative in Lebanon).Maria Sanchez said: “Ignoring the past leads to committing the same mistakes in the future…”
Siege Mental Attitudes: Sample of Lebanon Civil War Account
Many Lebanese immigrated during the civil war. They did not experience the siege mentality or the horrors or psychological scars inherited by those who had to submit to these indignities and humiliations. Since 1991, there are new generations that don’t know much about the civil war or don’t care: They simply don’t read even the abridged descriptions. What they know is mainly hearsay and from biased family and peer-pressure sources. Basically, only documentary films, telling eye-witness stories, may effectively convey impressions and feeling.
This piece is a brief translation from Arabic of a chapter in “Ain Wardeh” by Jabbour Douweihy.
Marguerite, the Austrian wife of Joujou, had no control over her body each time she hears the whistling of a missile or a rocket. She hysterically and silently runs and opens the main door and steps outside with a pillow and then re-enters and keeps the same wandering habit through the staircases and outside. She then would sit on the upper stair and cry her eyes out.
In the beginning, Marguerite would freeze like a cat surrounded by drummers. At the start of the civil war, Marguerite wanted to have an idea of “What’s going on” and pointedly asked sensitive and targeted questions. Each answer generated more questions that finally baffled those who were supposed “to know it all in the Lebanese family”.
Marguerite was judged to be very naïve to comprehend this ultra complex situation. For example, when the militias started summarily executing drivers on confessional grounds, Marguerite would ask “How can a militia know the religion of the driver?” The answer could be: “Because religious affiliation is mentioned in the ID”. Then, “And if the driver is not carrying an ID?”. The reply could be “They know from his name”. The follow-up questions is: “Is the name Rida (a member in the family) Moslem or Christian?”. “The militias know from his face or his slang or his pronunciation” and on and on.
Joujou has imposed himself as the experienced worrier who never participated effectively on any front lines. He claims to know the type and caliber of every canon. When he hears a 155 mm bombs he exclaims “Those bastards. This is a field gun. The 155 mm should not be targeting civilian neighborhoods” Or he would say “This is a Hawn 80 mm caliber. It is totally useless and a relics of the short civil war of 1958″
Joujou tries to locate the coordinates of the gunners with the help of maps in his “war room”, only to realize that those guns are movable on trucks. Joujou attempted once to drive a Panhard carrier and injured 5 people when the gun got activated by mistakes. When the phone lines go dead or disrupted, Joujou would volunteer his intelligence that the communication “central” has been targeted. At the start of the civil war, Joujou refused to believe the news on the radio saying: “Those announcers behind their desks are fabricating imaginary events”
The whole family is hooked to the transistor (radio) for the routine news and emergency flash news. When the news warns of the imminence of an all-out attack then the daily routines of every member in the family is put on hold and two candles are lighted and people barely move so that their vast shadows would not scare off the others.
The worst news was when the radio announced a cease-fire with precise date and time. Everybody learned not to believe that this deal would remain for any length of time: snipers were their worst nightmares. Joujou would then carry the radio when everyone is asleep and mechanically locate “Monte Carlo” and “Voice of Cairo” and “The BBC” on the ground that these airwaves were unbiased and might bring confirmation.
In the morning, Nouhad, the tiny spinster aunt, would fetch the radio because she was not appeased with the many shelling during the night. If anyone tried to change channels then she would shout “This is not the time for chatting”. By the by, as events escalated and everyone realized that this civil war is for the duration then Joujou declared “The US Administration is not wiling to put an end to the war; it is waiting for critical political changes to take place before the Administration decides on a policy”
Nouhad started to persist commenting on the news, especially if not to her biased stand, and nobody could hear the news anymore. If the piece of news was not to Nouhad’s liking she would interject “Lier!” Slowly but surely the radio was put to rest and went into desuetude. The cook woman used the radio in the kitchen to listen to music.
Note: You may access many of my post in the category “Eye-witness account”
Racist behaviors or “cultured my ass” environment in Lebanon?
Posted by: adonis49 on: March 18, 2012
Racist behaviors or “cultured my ass climate” in Lebanon?
I am reporting this incident first, and then editing an article that I posted a while ago on the deficient cultured sociopolitical climate in Lebanon.
Marcy Newman posted ” I call it murder” on March 14 (with slight editing):
“A few days ago, I watched a video on LBCI TV of Alem Dechasa (an Ethiopian house help?) being savagely beaten by her “employer” Ali Mahfouz in front of the Ethiopian embassy.
At the time, we did not know their names. Now we do. Mahfouz works for one of the 500 agencies that employs migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. Approximately, one of these workers from various nationalities commits “suicide” every week. As Mahfouz would have it, “they are mentally ill”. Is this description meant to rationalize savage brutality against laborers who perform the tasks in society that no one else is willing or wants to do?
Reports on al Jazeera and in al Akhbar call Dechasa’s murder “suicide.” I don’t. The exploitative conditions that led to her murder would lead the most sane among us to a similar fate.
Lebanon is a signatory to the UN Trafficking Protocol and, in theory, is subjected to it as law. In practice, that is another story. Lebanese people know that neither the internal security forces nor the courts will enforce international law when it comes to protecting and defending migrant workers in Lebanon.
The Lebanese system makes it hard on domestic foreign workers from being free agents on the labor market. Subjecting these domestic worker in exploitative positions, where they are abused and forced off balconies in one way or another, are the conditions that the International Labor Organization (ILO) defines as human trafficking or modern-day slavery:
Al Jazeera channel did a series of reports on modern-day slavery (the best one was on the United States), but they on purpose failed not air an episode on Lebanon or the Arab world. There is an older report from Human Rights Watch on this subject. Lest one think it is only domestic workers whose lives amount for so little here, an Indian migrant laborer was killed and left beneath a pile of rubble for the past four days.
It is classic racism that lies at the heart of what allows us to exploit one group of people because we deem ourselves superior to them. Dechasa was murdered because she dared to seek the protection of her embassy: She was beaten in front of her embassy too!
Dechasa is a martyr in the struggle for the justice of workers around the world who seek a livelihood to support their families. Her murder should not go unchallenged. It should be a call to arms for everyone who believes in justice and who fights against exploitation, slavery, and injustice.” End of report
The pseudo-State of Lebanon is mocking its chattel citizens: What is “Cultured my ass” Lebanese?
There are plenty of disinformation concerning the Lebanese people. It is time to get outraged and discuss exaggerated misconceptions disseminated about Lebanese in general, and particularly how our governments mock our “fantastic modern characteristics”.
They say: “The Lebanese is proud”. Proud my ass. For over 70 years, the Lebanese have been treated as chattel: Individuals and entire communities were treated as bulk and traded to a feudal “leader” or a sectarian warlord chief… Proud my ass. The Lebanese ended up behaving with chattel mentality at every election: A people indifferent, apathetic sheep following in Indian file, behind medieval-minded “leaders”.
They say: “The Lebanese is smart”. Smart my ass. The Tunisian is smart: He overthrew the Ben Ali dictator regime and dismantled the oligarchic political apparatus. Not a single figure from the old system is represented in the current government and previous practices of State Security laws went down the drain. (That was immediately after the revolution:How reforms can be sustained is another issue…)
The Egyptian is smart: He wiped out the Mubarak regime and displaced all the old political and administrative figures. He devastated the State Security centers that humiliated and heaped indignities on him for four decades. The Libyan did it with direct military aid from the western States and Qatar: The current conditions are to be desired…The citizen in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are catching up at the speed of a bullet train.
They say: “The Lebanese is cultured”. What is “Cultured my ass?” Is babbling in three languages and inserting words in three languages in a single sentence a measure of culture? How about a demonstration of ignorance in three languages? How about incoherence in expressing in one system of language, its rich meanings and traditional texture?
Cultured my ass. Knowing a language is being able to read and comprehending a language in the original version: If you hate to read and never read anything of value, or cannot understand a complicated paragraph then, how being cultured is defined?
A century ago, the educated Lebanese mastered the languages they learned, but first mastered the Arabic language: They emulated the Renaissance Man with their polyvalent knowledge. When they immigrated, they carried on their education tradition and were on the forefront of reforms, teaching, publishing, and changes.
Cultured? Get out of it. You don’t want to be visiting Lebanon prison system. You don’t want to be entangled in our legal system. You don’t want to feeling frustrated with our gender discriminating laws. You don’t want to read about the horror stories of maltreatment of “imported” foreign maids. You don’t want to be a poor visitor or a “non-western” tourist.
Even Israel, the worst apartheid State system, now and then feels ashamed of its policies. We don’t: We prefer to amass our dirt under the carpet, out of procrastination and indifference.
They say: “The Lebanese is skilled” Skilled my ass. I am not aware of valid technical schools in Lebanon. Skilled people are imported from Syria and Egypt. Find me a plumber, an electrician, or any worthwhile skilled artisan in Lebanon who is less than 65 years of age. ”Modernity” has displaced family artisan heritage and no “ancient monarchs” are demanding work of arts from Lebanese skilled workers.
They say: “The Lebanese is versatile in knowledge”. Knowledgeable my ass. I have taught in Universities and I don’t recall students graduating in rationality, scientific, or critical thinking. They graduate as the staunchest supporters of this feudal and sectarian system. How can you use a graduate student who has no patience to study, make the effort to reflect, and invest time to acquiring knowledge by their own volition?
A month ago, youth in Lebanon have been demonstrating regularly every week, demanding change in the sectarian political system. They want to cancel all mention of religious affiliation in all official documents. They want civil marriage. They want laws not discriminating on genders, religion… They want fair and equitable election laws representing all classes and citizens.
The youth in Lebanon want to reverse this trend of ill-cultured conditions, falsehood misinformation, and humiliating situations.
