Did you know? :-)
Monday, May 28, 2007
1. The armed Salafi group Jund al Sham in Ein el Helwe refugee camp in South Lebanon is referred to by the inhabitants of the camp as "Jund al Sitt". Jund al Sitt Bahiya al Hariri, that is.
2. The bank (Bank al-Bahr al-Mutawassit / BankMed) that was robbed, and through which the Fateh al-Islam people used to withdraw their cheques, is owned by Hariri Empire. Now you will say, why would they rob the bank (or rather, $1,500 from the bank) ? Because Hariri Empire, somehow "discovered" that Syria (someone should write a Syrian version of "Blame Canada"...) has managed to infiltrate and use the Hariri Empire bank to pay the Fateh al-Islam fighters, and duly froze the accounts. BankMed is like a pressure cooker (I never liked it when my mom used pressure cooker, once she forgot to open the 'air' vent thing and the whole thing was about to explode. Now I always say, if I survived the pressure cooker, I can survive anything). It seems the Bank al Madina scandal will pale in comparison to this one. Interesting times indeed...
The plot/conspiracy/Syrian infiltration thickens.
Stay tuned for more fascinating developments, folks.
And now for the best part... I now have added a new label/category on my blog: Blame Syria.
Labels: blame syria, hariri, i love life
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 5/28/2007 07:45:00 PM,
,
In their own words :-)
Saturday, May 26, 2007
المستقبل - الجمعة 13 أيار 2005
من الذي ركّب ملف أحداث الضنية ومجدل عنجر، وأقنع مراكز القرار الغربية بوجود القاعدة المختلق في لبنان، من أجل المتاجرة بالحالة الإسلامية في بازار الإرهاب الدولي؟
أليس الذي فعل ذلك النظام الأمني اللبناني ـ السوري المشترك، وهو الذي يستمر اليوم في استباحة المسلمين والمسيحيين معاً من أجل الإبقاء على رموزه في السلطة بأي ثمن؟
المستقبل - الثلثاء 10 أيار 2005
التيار السلفي
[The Salafi Current/Movement]
يعتبر التيار السلفي في لبنان من ابرز التيارات الاسلامية، وان كان لا يشكل اطاراً منظماً وموحداً بل هو خليط من مجموعات وشخصيات ومدارس وجمعيات ومعاهد شرعية تختلف في ما بينها سواء على الصعد السياسية او الفكرية او حتى وصولاً الى الخلافات الشخصية.
ويمكن تقسيم التيار السلفي في لبنان بين اتجاهين اساسيين:
الاول ما يسمى السلفية الجهادية، وهو يضم المجموعات المتأثرة بتنظيم "القاعدة" وبعض الجماعات الاسلامية الجهادية في مصر والجزائر وحالياً في العراق.
والثاني التيار السلفي الفكري ويضم شخصيات ومجموعات متنوعة تعمل في الاطر السياسية والفكرية والتربوية.
ويبرز الاتجاه السلفي الجهادي من خلال بعض المجموعات التي تنفذ عمليات عسكرية او امنية ومنها عملية اغتيال الشيخ نزار الحلبي ومتفجرة البلمند ومحاولة اقتحام السفارة الروسية او تهريب الاسلحة الى الاردن وصولاً لمجموعات البقاع الغربي ومجدل عنجر ومجموعة احمد الميقاتي.ا[Angry Anarchist: who gave amnesty to the Majdal Anjar gang?]وليس لهذا الاتجاه اطار معلن وان كان بعض افراده ارتبطوا عملياً بمجموعة "عصبة الانصار" الموجودة في مخيم عين الحلوة، كما برزت بعض المجموعات المنشقة عنها كـ"جماعة النور" وجماعة "جند الشام".[Angry Anarchist: Who funds Jund al Sham? Not Sitt Bahiya al Hariri, by any chance...?]وهذا الاتجاه يبرز في بعض المناسبات أو لتنفيذ عمليات محددة وإن كان نشاطه في لبنان ينطلق من اعتبار هذا البلد "ممراً وليس مقراً" للذهاب الى دول أخرى.
وثمة تخوّف كبير من ازدياد نشاط هذه المجموعات في المرحلة المقبلة بعد الانسحاب السوري نظراً للدور الذي كانت تلعبه سوريا في لجم هذه المجموعات أو ضبط تحركاتها.
وإن كانت محاولة ربط عملية اغتيال الرئيس رفيق الحريري بهذا التيار من خلال قضية أحمد أبو عدس لم تنجح وأثبتت معظم الوقائع عدم صحتها.
أما الاتجاه السلفي الفكري والسياسي فمن أبرز رموزه التاريخية الشيخ سالم الشهال الذي أسس في السبعينات "نواة جيش التحرير الإسلامي"، ثم بدأت تظهر شخصيات ومؤسسات جديدة أبرزها "معهد الدعوة والإرشاد"، و"جمعية دعوة الإيمان والعدل والإحسان" التي يرأسها الدكتور حسن الشهال، و"مركز حمزة للولاء" ويشرف عليه الشيخ زكريا المصري، و"معهد الأمين" و"معهد طرابلس الديني" و"معهد الإمام البخاري" و"مسجد أهل السنة" و"معهد الوقف الإسلامي". وتنتشر هذه المعاهد في بيروت وطرابلس وعكار وصيدا والبقاع الغربي.
وقد بدأت التيارات الإسلامية في الأسابيع الماضية سلسلة اتصالات ولقاءات في ما بينها للتنسيق والتعاون وثم تشكيل "المكتب السياسي الإسلامي" برئاسة الدكتور حسن الشهال.
ويبدو أن الانسحاب السوري من لبنان واغتيال الرئيس الشهيد رفيق الحريري ساهما في تعزيز تحركات التيارات السلفية التي تسعى لـتكثيف نشاطاتها وتحركاتها في المرحلة المقبلة، وهي تلقى دعماً مالياً ومعنويات من العديد من المؤسسات الإسلامية في الكويت والسعودية.ا[Angry Anarchist translation: "they [the Salafi currents/movements] receive financial and moral support from a number of Islamic associations in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia."]إضافة للتيارات والحركات والجمعيات التي تحدثنا عنها سابقاً فإن هناك الكثير من المجموعات والجمعيات والهيئات الإسلامية الناشطة على الصعيد الإسلامي في مختلف المناطق اللبنانية، والتي ازداد نشاطها بعد اغتيال الرئيس الحريري واتخاذ قرار الانسحاب السوري، وبعض هذه الهيئات كان يعاني سابقاً الضغوط الأمنية والسياسية التي تعيق تحركه ويجد اليوم أنه أكثر قدرة على النشاط والحيوية.ا
Stay tuned for the next round of "in their own words". :o)
These are two articles that appeared in Al-Mustaqbal (Hariri) newspaper in May 2005, which addressed the question of the Dinnieh and Majdal Anjar events, as well as the Salafi movements in Lebanon. The excerpt I quoted from the first article argues that Al-Qaida in Lebanon is fictitious, and that Syria was just trying to convince western "centers of decision" that it does exist, in order to do business with the "Islamic condition" in the "global terrorism bazaar". The second article talks about the Salafi movements post-Syrian withdrawal, and heaps praise on the newly found freedom of activity of these groups, which are divided into two groups: the "Jihadi" ones (which carry out military operations), and the "intellectual" ones. It also says that Syria used to restrain these groups, but following the Hariri assassination and the Syrian withdrawal, their activities have increased. Most importantly, they receive financial support and morale boost from various Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian associations.
Labels: hariri, i love life, lebanon, media, syria
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 5/26/2007 01:27:00 PM,
,
It IS funny. It is DAMN funny (can't you hear me laughing?)
Sunday, May 20, 2007
I hate to take on such a tone, but sometimes I am left with no other choice. This is one of those times.
You, and your truth, your international tribunal and your masters and your slaves and your blood-selling politicians and your zu'ama and your ta'ife and your tarik jdide and your bcharre and your rabieh and your dahieh and your chouf kingdom, and your shallow, idiotic analyses and finger-pointing and ignorance, are living proof that my Lebanese passport is not even fit to be toilet paper. Though I paid 300 fucking thousand Lebanese liras for it. Your currency by the way is equally unfit to serve as toilet paper.
I will not even waste my time preaching about not repeating the civil war. Go ahead, do it. You deserve all that you bring upon yourselves. Your herd mentality, your sectarianism, your racism, your hatred, your fucking obsession with Hariri (wlak k** emmo la Rafiq al Hariri w kl beit al-Hariri), are beyond disgusting. You call yourself a nation? I call you a joke. And I laugh. Today I will laugh at you, and you can tell me it ain't funny, but I will keep laughing. Because you are a joke. And you are too busy doing your masters' bidding, or coming up with conclusions based on -- you guessed it -- nothing, not one shred of evidence; and building on it an entire empire of ideas and imaginary explanations of a thousand other phenomena in the past and present, as well as predictions of the future. You are a joke, and I laugh out loud as you get slaughtered. So, do not mind my interruption, continue doing your masters' bidding.
لعيونَك ابو بهاء.
ولعيون لينين كمان. قال شيوعي قال.
اذا الشيوعية هيك بفكروا يعني كارثة.ا
ولعيون لينين كمان. قال شيوعي قال.
اذا الشيوعية هيك بفكروا يعني كارثة.ا
You got the point. I hope.
Yes, it is damn funny.
Labels: hariri, i love life, lebanon
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 5/20/2007 11:57:00 PM,
,
Camera moments
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
You know those moments you just wish you had a camera at hand to capture a scene? I had two of those moments, today.
***
On my way home, I take the "north" highway-which-does-not-look-like-a-highway. Today, something extraordinary happened on the highway. And no, it was not the discovery of yet-another-enormous-pothole. I was driving in my lane (well there are no lanes... no need to, really, after all that is the unique Lebanese way of doing things; but by lane I mean line of traffic) at around 40 km/hr (due to moderate traffic) when all of a sudden, a jeep came up right next to me. I turned my head to check out what was the matter as the jeep was keeping up my pace even though it could go faster in its own lane. To my amazement, I saw two guys (aside from the driver), one in the front one in the back, with their windows rolled down, holding RIFLES, staring at me. At first I ignored them. I was so shocked that I turned around again to check out what the hell this was all about. Even by Lebanese standards it is unusual to see people going around in unmarked jeeps, with windows rolled down, and holding rifles. Then, one of them moved the rifle a bit out of the window, to make sure that I saw it. He then put his arm out of the window and gestured that I move to the right. What the hell? At first I did not know what was going on. So I moved a bit to the right. Then, I realized what was actually happening. It was actually a 3-car convoy, with the jeep leading it. All three cars, including the jeep with the armed gunmen, were unmarked in any way whatsoever. The last car in the convoy was a black brand-new Mercedes-Benz. It, along with the other 2 cars, bore standard/regular license plates. The mixture of shock and amusement soon wore off, since the cars actually passed me and disappeared into the traffic. Then, somehow, I don't know how, it so happened that I actually found myself having caught up with the convoy. To my amazement the man sitting in the front gestured again for me to move away, to the right. Being the trouble-maker that I am, I gave him the most disgusted look, shook my head, looked back at him, shook my head again, and not only did I not move away, but actually cut them off.
I was told by the person sitting next to me, that I should not be doing such things, that it was risky, and that on another occasion they might actually get out of the car and beat the crap out of me. I had to laugh out loud at that. First: beat the crap out of me?? The last time anyone tried to do that (and no I do not have a martial arts belt) they not only wished they had not thought it a good idea, but that they had not even been born, so as not to think it. Second, I am supposed to take their crap because they might beat the crap out of me??? What kind of twisted logic is this? And who are these people? Their cars are unmarked, their license plates regular, and even if not, then so what? If they are officials, then officials get paid to do their jobs rather than have red carpets rolled out for them on highways as if they are distributing money to the people from their pockets. And what are unidentified gunmen doing going around and threatening people like that???
***
Speaking of cameras: I passed through a red light today, and I was unlucky enough to have one of those camera thingies (courtesy Hariri, Inc.) snap right at that instant. I thought to myself, what the hell, why do I have to be so unlucky? Then I chuckled, and told the person riding with me in the car that the state of affairs in this country can be summarized when you look at, on the one hand these cameras that are supposed to catch traffic violations and other wrong-doers; and on the other hand the release of Mark Hoayek's shooter.
***
By the way, have you been noticing the fancy brand-new American-donated Internal Security Forces black Ford Explorers touring around the Hariri, Inc. part of Beirut? Did you also notice they almost never leave the Hariri, Inc. part of Beirut? I saw one today. It was stationary. The driver and the rider next to him had parked the car in the shade and were sleeping.
Labels: beirut, hariri, lebanon
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 5/09/2007 10:55:00 PM,
,
The Culprit
Friday, April 20, 2007
I was talking a few days ago with a faculty member, and I don't know how we got into a discussion of the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri. I was taken aback by his argument. To be honest, I would not have been surprised if it came from an undergraduate student, or the multitudes basing their positions and beliefs on what they hear on their favorite TV station(s). Perhaps I had given too much credit to the academic institution in Lebanon.
Note that the discussion below is not a word-for-word transcript, as I am not in the habit of carrying a tape recorder with me.
Syria the Culprit
~~ or ~~
Prove their innocence or shut the hell up
~~ or ~~
Prove their innocence or shut the hell up
Professor X: Well, no. It isn't.
Me: ...
X: Syria is guilty until proven innocent. Usually it is the other way around, innocent until proven guilty, but in this case it is not.
Me: Why not? What makes it the exception?
X: Because Lebanon was under Syrian occupation and nothing could have gone on without Syria's knowledge.
Me: Oh come on now, that is not true. You are saying there could have been no intelligence agents other than those of Syria?
X: I'm saying that those tons of bombs couldn't have gone unnoticed if it weren't Syria.
Me: Really? Then, by the same token, the Spanish authorities were the ones that carried out the Madrid train bombings?
X: ... the same comparison has been drawn by some people in response to what I have said... but still...
Me: ...
Labels: episodes, hariri, lebanon, syria
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 4/20/2007 05:15:00 PM,
,
The Good, the Bad and ... the Saint
Monday, March 5, 2007
Lebanese university students' favourite daydreaming themesThe Good
This morning:
X: Lebanon will always rise from the ruins and ashes, no matter what. I mean look at what Hariri did.
Me: ... What did he do? ...
X: What do you mean what did he do, he rebuilt Lebanon.
Y: Downtown, hehehe.......
Me: Uh, rebuilt Lebanon? I must've been living on Mars or something?
X: Come on, what would downtown have looked like without him?
Me: And I should care why exactly?
X: Because it attracts people to visit the country!
Me: Walla. Very nice theory. And that actually was worth smashing people's skulls for and vacuuming what little money that was left in their pockets? So you're saying downtown is good for the South Lebanese? Walla, you have a brilliant theory right there.
Z: You know what I think? I think Hariri was one of a kind.
Z1: There's always Sa'ad Hariri.
Z: Yes but no one can fill Rafiq Hariri's shoes.
Me: To be sure...
**
The Bad
This afternoon:
Me: You know, a taxi driver told me the other day that "a Saddam" should rule Lebanon, because that is the only thing that will fix the country.
X: You mean Michel Aoun?
Me: Uh, well, I guess that'd be more like Walid Jumblatt.
Y: Ha ha!! Walid Jumblatt would make a fabulous dictator! Just imagine!
**
The Saint...
This afternoon:
X: But you know, it's not right to say "once a murderer, always a murderer" with regards to Samir Geagea. It just ain't fair.
Me: Oh yes, that's not fair at all. Not fair at all.
X: Yes, because he might have changed.
Me: Yes yes, he might have.
X: Plus, in Lebanon you can't not put things into a historical context. The man was a product of his circumstances.
Me: Yes, that's an ingenious idea, because there is a "historical context" ONLY in Lebanon. But even "if" this "historical context" is not a concept unique to Lebanon, certainly Stalin "could have changed" too. Not to forget our good ol' buddy Hitler. And to be sure they were both products of "their circumstances."
**
I
This afternoon:
X: I want to convert you from leftism.
Me: Uff, now that's some humongous project...
X: Nah it's not too difficult I am sure.
Me: Just some advice, don't waste your time. ;)
Me: Oh, and one more thing, I am not a 'leftist'.
X, Y: What are you?
Me: I'm an anarchist.
Z: So you are a fan of Bakunin?
Me: Actually no, I am not a fan of anyone.
X, Y, Z: ...
This morning:
X: Lebanon will always rise from the ruins and ashes, no matter what. I mean look at what Hariri did.
Me: ... What did he do? ...
X: What do you mean what did he do, he rebuilt Lebanon.
Y: Downtown, hehehe.......
Me: Uh, rebuilt Lebanon? I must've been living on Mars or something?
X: Come on, what would downtown have looked like without him?
Me: And I should care why exactly?
X: Because it attracts people to visit the country!
Me: Walla. Very nice theory. And that actually was worth smashing people's skulls for and vacuuming what little money that was left in their pockets? So you're saying downtown is good for the South Lebanese? Walla, you have a brilliant theory right there.
Z: You know what I think? I think Hariri was one of a kind.
Z1: There's always Sa'ad Hariri.
Z: Yes but no one can fill Rafiq Hariri's shoes.
Me: To be sure...
**
The Bad
This afternoon:
Me: You know, a taxi driver told me the other day that "a Saddam" should rule Lebanon, because that is the only thing that will fix the country.
X: You mean Michel Aoun?
Me: Uh, well, I guess that'd be more like Walid Jumblatt.
Y: Ha ha!! Walid Jumblatt would make a fabulous dictator! Just imagine!
**
The Saint...
This afternoon:
X: But you know, it's not right to say "once a murderer, always a murderer" with regards to Samir Geagea. It just ain't fair.
Me: Oh yes, that's not fair at all. Not fair at all.
X: Yes, because he might have changed.
Me: Yes yes, he might have.
X: Plus, in Lebanon you can't not put things into a historical context. The man was a product of his circumstances.
Me: Yes, that's an ingenious idea, because there is a "historical context" ONLY in Lebanon. But even "if" this "historical context" is not a concept unique to Lebanon, certainly Stalin "could have changed" too. Not to forget our good ol' buddy Hitler. And to be sure they were both products of "their circumstances."
**
I
This afternoon:
X: I want to convert you from leftism.
Me: Uff, now that's some humongous project...
X: Nah it's not too difficult I am sure.
Me: Just some advice, don't waste your time. ;)
Me: Oh, and one more thing, I am not a 'leftist'.
X, Y: What are you?
Me: I'm an anarchist.
Z: So you are a fan of Bakunin?
Me: Actually no, I am not a fan of anyone.
X, Y, Z: ...
Labels: episodes, hariri, lebanon, photos
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 3/05/2007 09:59:00 PM,
,
Short Episodes
Monday, February 19, 2007
August 2005
A friend calls me up.
Friend: We are doing a get-together at Starbucks, wanna join us? Everyone wants to meet you, it's been such a long time.
Me: Starbucks?
Friend: Yeah, Starbucks in Zalqa.
Me: No, thanks.
Friend: Why not? You have something to do?
Me: Umm not really.
Friend: So?
Me: I do not set foot in Starbucks.
Friend: ???
Me: Long story. But to keep it short, it is the embodiment of evil. Not only does it support the crimes against the Palestinian people it also ...
Friend: ...
Me: Are you there?
Friend: So you are not coming?
Me: Not unless you change the location. And before you say it, no, I don't go to McDonald's either.
Friend: .... ok... sorry to hear it. It was just for a short while, you don't have to get anything.
Me: Akhhhh.... I told you, I don't set foot in Starbucks.
Friend: Ok. Talk to you later.
Click.
Me: Later. Umm, too late. :)
**
December 2006
A conversation with a taxi driver (who had a rather non-Beiruti accent).
Me: Marhaba, kifak? (Hello, how are you?)
Driver: 'eltili nezle `a Riyad el-Solh? (You said you are going down to Riad el-Solh square?)
Me: Eh, ya`ni a'rab shi `al seha iza btrid (Yes, the closest to the square, if you will)
Driver: Lesh nezle tkhayyme honik? (Why, you're going down to camp there?)
Me: la'... (no...).
Driver: Leki benti baddi 'ellik shaghle. Kell za`im w qa'ed bhal balad `ambyerkod wara maslahto wl sha`ab m`attar. Hal balad bi`omro ma rah ytghayyar. (Look my girl, I want to tell you something. Every za'im and leader in this country is running after their own interest and the people are poor. This country will not change in its life).
Me: ...
Driver: Shufi shufi heyda kif `ambisoo'... mtl el haywenet kl wahed ekhid siyyarto w nezel `al ter'at, mdri shu `ambya`mol. Ta'ellik mshkletna. `anna ktir hurriye. Bas heyda ma hurriye hatta, heyda fawda. (Look look how this one is driving... like animals every one has taken his car and has gone down to the roads, I don't know what he is doing. I will tell you what our problem is. We have too much freedom. But this is not even freedom, this is chaos).
Driver: Ani mosh ma` hada. W 'alil fi hek nes hal iyyem. (I am not with anyone, and rarely are there such people these days).
Driver: El hall el wahid enno yejina wahad mtl Saddam. Nehna sha`ab mabyefham illa iza hada fahhamna shi. (The only solution is that someone like Saddam would come. We are a people that does not understand unless someone made us understand something).
Me: ...
**
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007
A conversation:
Person X: We should go out for coffee with the other folks some time.
Me: Yes we should. How about tomorrow?
X: !! What??! You are such a troublemaker.
Me: What? Why?
X: What's wrong with you, tomorrow is Feb. 14*!
Me: Ohhh, uh ... ok....
(* the anniversary of Hariri's assassination)
**
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007
Walking down a street in "Haririland", I notice a very old man sitting on the sidewalk, in traditional Arabic dress and a white headdress. He seemed in need of help and everyone else was just passing by without paying any attention, as if he did not even exist.
He saw me looking at him curiously and said, "se`dini ya binti se`dini" (help me my girl, help me), and gestured with his walking stick. I thought he needed help to get up and walked up to him and extended my hand. At that instant, a man walked past me, muttering a deliberately audible "tsk tsk". I looked up at him; he was wearing a suit and a tie, carrying some documents. He shook his head and said to himself in a deliberately loud voice, "shu hal sha`ab wlo" (what a people... - in a condescending manner). Well, that pissed me off, not because I thought he was referring to me (he wasn't), but because he was referring in a condescending manner to that old man. I called him, "ya estez, `aib `leik, lezem testehe min halak" (o mister, shame on you, you should be ashamed of yourself). He stopped, turned around, gave me a blank look, shook his head, then turned around and continued walking, while muttering something inaudible.
The old man turned out not to be in need of physical help. He was simply a poor man
Labels: class struggle, episodes, hariri, lebanon
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 2/19/2007 02:23:00 PM,
,
لك يا خيّي\أختي أنا ما بدّي الحقيقة
Thursday, February 15, 2007
كنت عمبقرأ من قبل شوي رسالة السيد حسن نصر الله بمناسبة ذكرى اغتيال الحريري...
ولك شو هالرسالة والله كتير حبّيتها... يعني شو بدّي قول غير هيك... إذا الكل بدّن الحقيقة (ولك هلكتونا خلصونا بقا) طيّب أنا شوووو؟؟؟
يعني إذا الجميع ناقص أنا = الجميع، أنا بصير الـ"ما حدا". طيّب، عال...
وشو غير هيك؟ إذا قلتوا إنّو "ما في حدا ما بدّو الحقيقة" يعني عمبتحكوا عنّي. تمام.
وشو كمان؟
آه اي، بما انّو انا الـ"ما حدا" هيدا كمان بيعني إنّو أنا منّي وطنية وبدّي إنّو يضيع دم الشهيد الكبير... اي، لأنّو الذين استشهدوا برصاص قوى "الأمن" أكيد منّن "كبار". كبار بشو؟؟؟ أكيد مش بالملايين (من الدولارات). اوكي...
وأكتر شي حبّيت بالرسالة؟ لازم "نعاهده على إنجاز الهدف الذي كان يتطلع اليه". ممكن حدا يفسّرلي شو كان "هدف" الحريري؟ يعني كان عندو هدف كمان؟ والله ما بعرف عن جدّ. إنّو، اذا بدنا نحكي عن أهداف لازم نشوف الأفعال. بس شو بدنا بهالشغلة، شهيدنا "كبير" كرمال هيك ما في الزوم نعمل بحث طويل عريض حول الموضوع. يعني الحقيقة أهم. حقيقة شو؟ آه، أكيد مش حقيقة "شو صار بالملايين" او او او... خلص الحقيقة وبس... وأكيد ما تنسوا نحنا منحب الحياة.واوعا تنسوا الألوان هااا ... وبدنا نعيش. اي أكيد بكرامة... على الطرقات...
طيّب اسألوا الذي تشرّدوا من وراء "أهداف" الحريري. بقولوا.... "نحن فِدا الحريري" و"بالروح بالدم نفديك يا حريري" بس أحسن شي؟ "يا سعد يا عينينا سلّحنا والباقي علينا"... شو هالـ"بلد" ولو... يعني عن جدّ شبيه بالـ"ديزنيلاند..."
ويااااااااااااا ايها اليساريون والشيوعيون بعدكن عمبتحكوني عن "ثورة"؟؟؟؟ ولك انتو خرجكن تشتغلوا "عدّاد" للمظاهرات، تكتبوا تقارير - كم واحد نزل عهالمظاهرة أو هيداك...
لك يا عمّي فيقوااااااااااااااااا وخلصونا من هالقصة، كلياتكن زبالة عن جد زبالة. وعسيرة الزبالة، الذي بيشتغل بالـ"سوكلين" أشرف منكن انتوا و"حقيقتكن". هيدا إذا كنتوا مفكرين انّوا انتوا "غير" ناس عن الذين بيشتغلوا بالـ"سوكلين".. اي اي، اسمعوا منّي، ما تشغّلوا بالكن كتير. ما بتحرز. روحوا عند شيخكن سعد وبيككن وليد وحكيمكن عمّو سمير وجنرالكن عون وسيدكن نصر الله هنّي بفكّروا محلكن وانتو شووووووووو بتعملوا؟ تتبعوهن متل الغنم. اي، انتو أشرف غنم.
مودّتي،
الـ"ما حدا"
Labels: hariri, in arabic, lebanon
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 2/15/2007 09:40:00 PM,
,
Downtown Beirut: A Sense of Disney
I urge you to check out the excellent article by Miriam Cooke, titled "Beirut Reborn: The Political Aesthetics of Auto-Destruction," The Yale Journal of Criticism, volume 15, number 2 (2002), 393-424.She does a brilliant job at discussing the translocation of the war and its memory into downtown Beirut, which has become the center of Hariri's economic terrorism.
She provides a very interesting, innovative (although by no means comprehensive and often innocently (?) ignorant of the real politics and economics of the "reconstruction") analysis and critique of the translocation and transformation of the narrative of the war (or the wish to erase the memory thereof) -- through urban architecture. I will quote some bits and pieces which I have arranged thematically, but I recommend that you read the whole thing to make more sense of what she is trying to convey.
The Narrative
Stories were written to make sense of the chaos, to stand witness and thereby create conditions for the construction of a moral memory. Narrativity, Hayden White writes, is “the impulse to moralize reality, that is, to identify it with the social system that is the source of any morality that we can imagine.” That is why war stories are told and also why their authority has been so policed. Some, like male combatants, will be authorized, others, like female civilians, will not."Mobilized Amnesia"
After 1990, the fiction of morality was even harder to sustain. A tension arose between the need to forget this war, this bad patch in Lebanese history, and the need to remember in order not to repeat. Between forgetting and remembering comes a moment of crisis in representation. Such moments, Donna Haraway writes, can be both numbing and empowering because when “historical narratives are in crisis . . . something powerful—and dangerous—is happening. Figuration is about resetting the stage for possible pasts and futures.” The aftermath of the Lebanese war, stretching from 1990 until today, has produced just such a powerful and dangerous discursive moment that will dictate how the stage can be reset for possible pasts and futures.Political-Economic Power: A Defensive Shield
The survival of this financial artery through the Burj “front,” both in fact and in memory ... complicates the telling of a moral story. It suggests that even in a place that was represented as the epicenter of lethal chaos there was control, and further, that those who made sure their buildings were spared might have other forms of power. These are the details that some want to forget.Engineering Forgetfulness
First of all the extent of the war must be reduced and contained, even as the official war memorial is placed elsewhere. If the Downtown were to be remembered as the place of the war—its front—it would compel attention to that particular place, and it alone, as the site of immorality. With time and in the absence of a counter-narrative, this translocation of the war may succeed despite the fact that it was generally known that the Downtown was merely a stage on which confessional enmities were spectacularized while the real fighting happened elsewhere.Silencing Collective Memories
If all the anarchy can be identified with this one location, it can be made to bear all the history.OGER & Solidere
The key then is to shape that history, transform it so that it will be useful and not continue to harbor unpredictable collective memories.
The first level of destruction after the outbreak of violence was demolition work. Saree Makdisi writes that it is now known that between 1983 and 1992 there were cycles of demolitions in the Downtown, many of them unnecessary. The first demolitions were conducted in 1983 by Rafik Hariri’s engineering company, OGER. The pretext was to clean up the mess to enable reconstruction. The process “involved the destruction of some of the district’s most significant surviving buildings and structures . . . in total disregard for the then-existing (1977) plan for reconstruction, which had specifically called for the rehabilitation of those areas of the city center.” In 1984 fighting flared up again and destruction continued by other means.Two years later, a temporary calm allowed OGER to resume the demolition work they had started in 1983. In 1992, the year Hariri was first elected Prime Minister, the government called for further demolitions."A Sense of Disney"
The visitor to the new Downtown is struck first of all by a sense of Disney, or Epcot. SOLIDERE has created generic Arab Mediterranean facades. [The Master Plan] describes the Saifi and Jmaizi districts, the brand new pastel housing blocks, as “restored Levantine vernacular . . . carefully integrated.” [It] calls Saifi an “urban village” and although construction is clearly new, the Plan vaunts the “large number of existing buildings that have been retained.” The buildings in this formerly working class area resemble their antecedents. But not quite. And it is this “not quite” that is so important because it serves to cloud the memory. The slick lines and surfaces of housing blocks targeting the wealthy middle classes cannot harbor the unpredictable collective memories that lurked in the thick green of the weedchoked Downtown ruins.Profit Without Guilt
SOLIDERE promised a return, a reversion to a pre-war past ... The promised return capitalizes on nostalgia for communal harmony and desire for profit without guilt or memory, in the hope that the repressed will not return."A Land Without a People for a People Without a Land"
SOLIDERE, too, is using the instrumentalities of the civil war to displace it from the country and scattered locations of its capital to the site of the Downtown and then elsewhere. It is erasing its traces by drowning them. SOLIDERE has bulldozed the debris into the sea, and is using the ruins to build a new foundation that no one can claim because the sea does not belong to anyone. According to Edward Said, the new colonizer claims, names, and inhabits the land said to be empty. The occupied land can then appear to be productive of culture. The new Downtown has been made to absorb the history of the war and in the process it has emptied it of meaning.Resisting the Memory of the Forgotten
SOLIDERE’s inflated claims for a glorious history for the Downtown glosses over the war that is finished, and prepares a vision for a brilliant global future that will owe its regeneration to SOLIDERE ... It revives the regional past (Phoenician and Greek) to erase the local past (the war) and to launch this new Beirut into a global future. The war is over. A monument to a conventional (hence, moral) war has been built and installed somewhere in the mountains. The traces will soon be gone. It will no longer matter who was responsible for the war nor why it was fought.
Labels: economics, hariri, lebanon, photos, solidere, war
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 2/15/2007 06:56:00 PM,
,
