Wonderful early 1970’s: Movable fairs in Beirut
Woodstock musical fiesta was organized in 1968 and disbanded three days later. The French student revolt in Paris of 1968 ended a week later. These student and youth movements crossed to Lebanon in 1969 and lingered for 5 years as movable fairs in Beirut. I witnessed that wonderful and crazy period as a university student, witnessing far more than studying.
By 1970 I was attending university, mainly math, physics, and chemistry courses. Once the morning courses were taken care of, I roamed Beirut freely and all alone.
For less than 5 Lebanese pounds ($2 at the time) I could see movies, watch theater pieces, or go to the empty beaches in mid September and October, eat local sandwiches of falafel, shaworma, and freshly pressed fruits.
Most of the days I ended up attending conferences, political party meetings, joining regular demonstrations and marches by university students, sit-ins, hunger strikes on the street in front of the education ministry (I tried once for half a day), fleeing police tanks and water hoses, or just walking all around Beirut circulating where the “movable fairs” crossed my path, gathering of people chanting slogans against the sectarian and mercantile political system, the defeatist government, not responding to the frequent bombardment of Israel in south Lebanon...
The citizens (mostly Moslem Chiaa) in the south flocked to the suburbs of Beirut, mainly in Dahieh, and labelled the “Red belt of poverty”
The Palestinian Liberation Movement, led by Yasser Arafat, and its institutions were firmly established in Beirut and in a dozen Palestinian camps. Cash in hard currency spent by the PLO and the various resistance movements maintained the Lebanese currency very strong.
In May 1972, Beirut Cinema Club in cooperation with the US Cultural Center projected a series of Orson Wells movies such as “Citizen Kane”, “The lady from Shanghai”, “Secret report”, “Satan’s touch”, and “Falstaff”. Wells mostly recalls the negative critics: for example, a critic said that Orson shouts like a rhinoceros” when Orson played “Candid” of Bernard Show. Wells and Charlie Chaplin might be the greatest American directors. Wells prefers that producers invest massively on many movies, even if one of his films are not marketed. He said: “Without men there is no art. Without women, men never become artists”
In May 1973, the film “Red Weddings” by French director Claude Chabrol was projected in Eldorado movie theater. There was a curfew in the previous week: The Lebanese army tried to enter the Palestinian camp of Dbayeh (mostly Christians). A few feddayins escaped and fled through the valley of river Nahr Kalb; we provided them shelter for three days in Beit-Chabab and they were to resume the trip to Dhour Showier. An ambush by the Phalange (Kataeb) Party killed several of them on the way.
Chabrol has a particular style and a deterministic view on how events should unfold: His movies are about illicit love affairs, murder, then punishment by the “bourgeois” legal system. That falling in-love is genuine is irrelevant and thus must be punished, one way or another.
In June 1974, “The hour of liberation has chimed.. Out colonialists” by the young woman director Heine Srour won a special acclaim in Cannes. This movie is about the popular revolutionary struggle of the people in Zofar (Oman, Hadramout, and south Yemen) from the British colonial power and archaic monarchic structures.
Heine invested two years in preparation and shot the one-hour movie with the rudiment of equipment and finances. Heine and three technicians walked hundreds of kilometers with the fighters under scorching sun and the bombing of British jets. Heine conducted interviews in the local Arabic slang the “Himyari” and projected the essential roles that women shared in that revolution along the fighters.
This movie was one of the first to broach situation in other Arabic States outside of Syria, Egypt, Iraq, or Palestine. Movies on the Algerian revolution were to be produced shortly after.
In February 1975, director Borhan Awalweyeh showed his movie “Kfar Kassem“. Hundreds of spectators remained in the theater way after midnight discussing the movie. The film is a retrospective documentary of the genocidal massacre that Israel committed against the Palestinians in the village of Kfar Kassem in 1956 before it invaded Sinai. Peasants returning from the fields were killed because they could not know about the curfew that the Israeli troops declared in their absence. This movie was based on the novel of the same name by Assem Jundi. Issam Mahfouz wrote the dialogue in the Palestinian Arabic slang.
Lebanon of 1974, and particularly the Capital Beirut, experienced extraordinarily cultural, social, and political activities, quantitatively and qualitatively.
First, the number of women writers increased dramatically. As Georges Rassi wrote: “In the Arab World, every woman writer is worth 100 free minded men“.
Second, many famous authors and poets opted to write columns in dailies; a move that brought them in close touch with the people and the daily difficulties.
Third, artists and thinkers from all over the Arab World settled in Beirut. Most of these intellectuals were fleeing oppression and persecution for free expressions. The Egyptian intellectuals flocked in great number as President Sadat had decided to connect with Israel and leave the Arab problems and the Palestinian cause way behind.
Fourth, the Lebanese TV witnessed a big jump in quality of local productions thanks to the director Paul Tannous.
Fifth, many cultural clubs were instituted and Arab States organized exhibitions and cultural events.
Most importantly, women became very vocal and active for women rights and drastic reforms in the laws and social awareness.
Late author Mai Ghoussoub was very young then, but she was one of the leaders of “Committees for Free women.”
Initially, men were permitted to join in the discussions until they proved to be elements of heckling and disturbances. The committees of free women decided to meet among women because their cause must be priority in urgent reforms and not a usual side-show tackled by reformist political parties.
Arab movies of quality were being shown such as “Events of red years” by Akhdar Hamina; “Beirut…O Beirut” by Maroun Baghdadi; “May… The Palestinians” by Rafic Hajjar; “The bird” by Youssef Chaheen; “Al Haram” by Henry Barakat; “Hold on… O Sea” by Khaled Seddik.…
The French student revolt of 1968 was a big party with deep lucidity: banners read “Run, comrade, run. The old world is chasing after you.” Youth was taking a reprieve by running joyously, a week of total freedom, running as fast as he could, knowing that the old world will invariably catch up with him.
Karl Marx said: ”When history repeats its cycles, the next time around is a farce.” Spring of 68 was a sympathetic and spontaneous farce; it was an innovating and creative revolt with no arms.
Spring in Paris was a movable fair, an all free-invited party. It was a movable feast for sharing ideas and desires for justice, peace, liberty, and pleasure. There were plenty of generosity and compassion: Youth was feeling bored of the old world system of unjust order, capitalism, petrified ideologies and dogmas. It was a humongous fair where affluent lifestyle in the western States of plenty hide the miseries of the lowest classes living in shantytowns.
It was in a period for the third world struggling to emerge from the slavery stage of colonialism.
Spring fairs in the western world spread to most nations where the partying lasted and lasted.
The virus of the movable feast reached countries with old systems destroyed by the colonial powers: The newer power systems were unstable and mostly haphazard to come chasing after mass movable fairs.
Spring of 68 crossed to Lebanon and lasted 5 years and emerged on a civil war that lasted 13 years and produced 300 thousand casualties (10% of the population!)
Note 1: Details of this introspection were supplied by Georges Al Rassi in “Stations along the trail of Lebanese and Arab movies”
Note 2: You may read more details on my next post https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/movable-fairs-beirut-1970-74/
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