SKYLARK VOICE

May you enjoy peace and happiness

2008-12-31T15:36:00.005Z

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Nakba 60

2008-05-16T12:11:00.001Z

Beirut: Pictures from Martyrs' Square

2008-02-14T18:02:00.010Z

What you don't see in these pictures:
1. The lines of poor people queuing for cheap chocolate croissants as a reward for their attendance.
2. The flags graciously offered by the organizing committee to the people attending the rally.
3. The way LF supporters and Mustaqbal supporters from Tripoli looked at each other when squeezed under the rain.
4. The slogans cried by children. A kid not older than five should probably be in a kindergarten, not in a rally crying Ya Bashar, ya 'akrout.

Giusti dell'islam

2008-01-27T08:09:00.000Z

Tra i circa ventiduemila nomi dei "Giusti tra le nazioni" censiti dallo Yad Vashem, il memoriale della Shoah a Gerusalemme, figurano anche quelli di settanta musulmani: persone che, in nome di valori islamici, si diedero da fare per salvare la vita ad alcuni ebrei durante la persecuzione nazista. Con questo loro gesto hanno ricordato che la frase del Talmud "Chi salva una vita salva il mondo intero" (trattato Sanhedrin, 37a) compare anche nel Corano (5, 32).

﴾ و َمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا ﴿

E chi avrà salvato una singola persona, sarà come se avesse salvato tutto il genere umano.

Attraverso i suoi venticinque pannelli, la mostra Giusti dell’islam, promossa dal Centro di cultura e attività missionaria PIME di Milano e sponsorizzata dalla Regione Lombardia, racconta le storie di due bosniaci, tre albanesi, due diplomatici turchi e un iraniano che con il loro coraggio salvarono alcune decine di ebrei.

Buon compleanno

2008-01-25T07:10:00.000Z

Per i miei splendidi trentadue anni, auguro ﺇﻥ ﺸﺎﺀ ﺃﷲ a me stesso di essere pragmatico e realista.
Auguro a me stesso di essere concreto, perché finalmente, dopo tanto lavoro serio e appassionato e tanti sforzi, inizio a vedere alcuni risultati dal punto di vista professionale e voglio sperare di riuscire a cogliere le opportunità che mi potranno essere offerte.
Auguro a me stesso di tenere gli occhi aperti, perché anche quest'anno arriveranno sgambetti e tranelli, come già l'anno passato.
Auguro a me stesso di essere ragionevolmente flessibile e di avere l'intelligenza per reinventarmi sempre.
Ma, al tempo stesso, auguro a me stesso di continuare ad essere sognatore ed idealista. Auguro a me stesso di continuare a credere nei miei ideali e nei miei valori e a cercare, tra inevitabili debolezze ed errori, di vivere in maniera coerente con questi ideali.
Auguro a me stesso di non perdere la speranza e la capacità di sognare castelli in aria, cavalieri, principi azzurri, orsacchiotti, città ideali e, soprattutto, un mondo migliore dove ogni essere umano possa essere un po' più felice di adesso.

Ringrazio Dio per tutte le possibilità che mi ha offerto e lo prego di proteggermi e starmi accanto col suo amore in ogni momento.

Questa sera festeggerò con la mia famiglia e una ventina di amici di lunga data. A ciascuno di loro va il mio ringraziamento per l'affetto, la pazienza e il sostegno che ognuno, a suo modo, mi ha dato, aiutandomi a divenire l'uomo che, con tutti i miei limiti e difetti, sono orgoglioso di essere.

Lebanese contestant for Italy's Big Brother

2008-01-23T09:04:00.000Z

Beirut-born Ali Ayach, 28, is one of the nineteen contestants in the eighth edition of Grande Fratello, Italy's version of Big Brother. "I see it as a way to enhance public relations, a key to open the doors of my future", he says.
This edition of the reality television show also includes a transgender contestant, 29-year-old make-up artist Silvia Burgio.

Giuseppe Verdi Play Jazz

2008-01-20T22:21:00.000Z

Sequenza:
Nabucco (1842) - Parte III, Va pensiero sull'ali dorate
Aida (1871) - Atto II, Marcia trionfale
Rigoletto (1851) - Atto III, La donna è mobile
La Traviata (1853) - Atto I, Alfredo
Libiam nei lieti calici
Croce e delizia
Otello (1887) - Atto I, Vela una vela
Atto IV, La camera di Desdemona
Il Trovatore (1853) - Ouverture

Marco Gotti Octet:
Marco Gotti (arrangiamenti, sax tenore e clarinetto)
Giancarlo Porro (sax soprano e baritono)
Umberto Marcandalli (tromba)
Sergio Orlandi (tromba)
Angelo Rolando (trombone)
Sandro Masazzo (contrabbasso)
Vittorio Marinoni (batteria)
Giovanni Fugazza (piano)

Discografia: CDpM LION 141-2

Menù:
Salame e sardelle
Terrina di anguilla con le uova di aringa barbuta
Frittelle di bertagnì
Casoncelli coi biligòcc
Tonno & Jazz
Crostate di mele cotogne

Prosecco dei colli trevigiani
Rosso della Valle del Fico.

"Alla fine bruceremo il porco, perché al destino piacciono le ripetizioni, le varianti, le simmetrie."
(Liberamente tratto da Jorge Luis Borges)

Monnezza

2008-01-18T17:08:00.000Z

Vediamo di fare il punto della settimana. Si potrebbe partire dalla immonda gazzarra suscitata dalla mancata visita di Benedetto XVI all'Università La Sapienza, dopo l'invito (secondo me totalmente inopportuno) da parte del rettore di ateneo affinché il pontefice tenesse la lectio magistralis di inaugurazione dell'anno accademico. Tra "laici" (o presunti tali) che ostacolano il diritto del pontefice a parlare in un luogo pubblico e "cattolici" (o meglio, sostenitori di CL e disgustoso carrozzone mediatico al seguito) che si scandalizzano perché qualcuno osa dissentire e addirittura criticare lo stesso pontefice, mi pare che stia montando un clima molto preoccupante di intolleranza generalizzata e crescente. In Italia tira veramente una brutta aria.

Rimanendo in tema di brutta aria, una parte di questo paese sta soffocando sacchetto dopo sacchetto nella monnezza. Forse sarebbe il caso di affermare pubblicamente che alcune regioni, Campania in testa, hanno ormai attuato la secessione di fatto dallo stato italiano, visto che le leggi di questo stato sono sistematicamente inattuate e disapplicate.
La classe politica italiana, nel frattempo, è occupata, come da diciassette anni a questa parte, nella ricerca del sistema elettorale perfetto. Poiché in entrambi gli schieramenti le idee sono poche e ben confuse, non è ancora dato sapere quale sarà la legge elettorale collezione primavera-estate 2008.

Da rilevare infine lo sviluppo della Mastelleide, con la vicenda surreale di un ministro della giustizia che forse si dimette, no non si dimette, infine si dimette dopo che il suo partito-famiglia-feudo viene travolto da un'inchiesta giudiziaria, non prima di aver rivolto accuse pesantissime contro la magistratura tra ali osannanti di parlamentari, tanto di destra quanto di sinistra. Presumibilmente gli stessi parlamentari che hanno votato a favore dell'indulto, salvo poi cedere ai pruriti xenofobi dell'opinione pubblica dopo alcuni noti fatti di cronaca e votare un ridicolo pacchetto sicurezza.
Il tutto mentre si continua a morire sui luoghi di lavoro per la mancata ottemperanza alle più elementari norme di sicurezza, come la presenza di estintori funzionanti.

Vorrei poter essere ottimista, ma la miscela di rabbia, risentimento, intolleranza reciproca e violenza sempre meno latente mi sembra crescere settimana dopo settimana e, con amarezza, fatico sempre di più a distinguere vie di uscita credibili.
E adesso cerco di spiegare quanto sopra ai miei amici americani...

Un mar de paraules

2008-01-17T18:49:00.000Z

Amb motiu de l’Any Europeu del Diàleg Intercultural i en el marc de la campanya “1.001 accions per al diàleg intercultural”, la Fundació Anna Lindh i la seva xarxa espanyola, encapaçalada per l'IEMed, convoquen el concurs internacional de contes i relats "Un mar de paraules".
Adreçat a joves dels 37 països de l’espai euromediterrani, el concurs vol promoure la creació literària en forma de contes i relats relacionats amb el diàleg intercultural com a instrument per a la resolució dels conflictes contemporanis que afecten la regió. La data límit pel lliurament de treballs és el proper 29 de febrer.

In occasione dell'Anno europeo del dialogo interculturale e nel solco della campagna "1001 azioni per il dialogo interculturale", la Fondazione Anna Lindh e la sua rete spagnola, rappresentata dallo IEMed (Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània), convocano il concorso internazionale di racconti "Un mare di parole".
Indirizzato ai giovani dei 37 paesi dello spazio euromediterraneo, il concorso vuole promuovere la creazione letteraria sotto forma di racconti e romanzi brevi legati al dialogo interculturale come strumento per la risoluzione dei conflitti contemporanei che colpiscono la regione. La data limite per la consegna dei lavori è il prossimo 29 Febbraio.

Per saperne di più: El concurs. Convocatòria i reglament.

Counting Down The Hours

2007-12-31T11:51:00.000Z

Counting down the days
till I will get you there
I don't care as long as
I get there with you

Counting down the days
to take the chance, the dare
I don't care as long as
I get there with you.

Buon Natale

2007-12-25T09:08:00.000Z

Natale torna ancora a ricordarci la stupefacente verità di Dio che si fa bambino tra i diseredati e ci richiama al nostro destino di luce e di gioia, al nostro impegno di fraternità con tutti gli uomini e le donne, nella giustizia, nella libertà e nel rispetto reciproco.
La grazia del Natale sostenga la nostra speranza che, malgrado i muri dell'odio, dell'intolleranza e dell'incomprensione, il suo messaggio di pace arriverà a ciascuno.

Fadlallah: A Fatwa Against Violence on Women

2007-12-06T22:37:00.000Z

أصدر سماحة العلامة المرجع، السيد محمد حسين فضل الله، بياناً شرعياً لمناسبة اليوم العالمي لمناهضة العنف ضد المرأة، جاء فيه:

بالرغم من كلّ التقدّم حيال النظرة الإنسانيّة للمرأة، والتكريم الذي حظيت به قياساً بما كانت عليه في أغلب المجتمعات الشرقيّة والغربيّة، وبالرغم من صعود المرأة في السلّم الاجتماعي والسياسي، حتّى تبوّأت أعلى المناصب، الحكوميّة وغيرها، وانخرطت في حركات النضال إلى جانب الرجل، وتفوّقت عليه أحياناً؛ إلا أنّ المرأة لا تزال تعاني من العنف الممارس ضدّها، والذي يأخذ أشكالاً متعدّدة، ولا يقتصر على دائرة دون أخرى، كما لا يأخذ هويّة شرقيّة بل نجده شاملاً في مستوى العالم، وإن كان قد يختلف شكل العنف وحجمه بين مكانٍ وآخر.

فلا تزال المرأة، سواء كانت أختاً أو بنتاً أو زوجة، عُرضةً لتسلّط الرجل عليها، سواء كان أخاً أو أباً أو زوجاً، ويأخذ العنف في ذلك أشكالاً متعدّدة.

فمن العنف الجسدي الذي تتعرّض فيه المرأة للضرب، وهذا ما يمثّل الرجل فيه أحطّ حالات الإنسانيّة؛ لأنّه يدلّ على فقدان الرجل للمنطق الذي يُمكن أن يفرضه على الآخر من موقع الالتزام والاقتناع؛ كما أنّه لا يدلّ على قوّة الرجل، بل على ضعفه؛ لأنّه «إنّما يحتاج إلى الظُلم الضعيف». حتّى يصل العنف ـ في هذا المجال ـ إلى أقصى مستوياته وأقساها عندما تتعرّض المرأة للاغتصاب الذي قد ينتهي بموتها.

Despite all the progress that the human view towards women has witnessed, and despite all the honouring that women have gained in comparison with their previous states in most Eastern and Western countries, and although women have climbed the social and political ladder reaching the highest governmental posts, and taking part in the struggle movements side by side with men and even outdoing them, women still suffer from the violence against them that takes several forms.
Moreover, violence against women is not restricted to the East alone, but it is rather universal, although its forms and degrees may vary between one place and another.
Women, whether sisters, daughters or wives, are still subjected to men's domination whether brothers, fathers or husbands, whose violence takes several forms:

We have firstly the physical violence in which women are beaten. This form represents the most degrading human practice, since it shows that men are incapable of resorting to reason and logic to prove their viewpoint. It also does not prove that men are strong. On the contrary, it proves that they are weak, for only the weak are in need of unjust violence. This violence could reach its most severe and harsh form when women are subjected to rape which sometimes might lead to death.

إلى العنف الاجتماعي ضمن ما يُطلق عليه «جرائم الشرف»، الذي يكتفي فيه المجتمع القبلي أو العائليّ أو ما إلى ذلك، بالشبهة ليحكم على المرأة بالنفي أو بالإعدام، فضلاً عن أنّ المجتمع لا يملك حقّ تنفيذ الأحكام إلا من خلال القضاء وآليّاته المبيّنة من خلال الشرع الحنيف. أو العنف الاجتماعي الذي يفرض على المرأة الزواج من شخصٍ لا ترغب فيه، من خلال الذهنيّة العائليّة أو القبليّة أو غيرهما.

إلى العُنف النفسي الذي يهدّد فيه الزوج زوجته بالطلاق أو بغيره، أو عندما يتركها في زواجها كالمعلّقة، فلا تُعامل كزوجة، أو الذي يستخدم فيه الطلاق كعنصر ابتزازٍ لها في أكثر من جانبٍ، فتفقد بالتالي الاستقرار في زواجها، ممّا ينعكس ضرراً على نفسيّتها وتوازنها.

إلى العنف المعيشي الذي يمتنع فيه الزوج أو الأب من تحمّل مسؤوليّاته المادّية تجاه الزوجة والأسرة، فيحرم المرأة من حقوقها في العيش الكريم، أو عندما يضغط عليها لتتنازل عن مهرها الذي يمثّل ـ في المفهوم الإسلامي ـ هديّة رمزيّة عن المودّة والمحبّة الإنسانيّة، بعيداً عن الجانب التجاري.

Then we have the social violence or the so-called "crimes of honour", whereby the community relies on circumstantial appearances to issue a sentence of death or exile. In addition to this, the society does not have the right to issue such sentences or executing them, except through the proper judicially institutions and through the legitimate mechanisms. Another form of social violence would be to impose on women husbands they do not want.

Another kind of violence is the psychological violence which occurs when husbands threaten their wives with divorce, or when they do not treat their wives as such, or when the divorce is used as an element of intimidation and extortion, which makes women live a state of instability in their marriages and hurt their psychological and even physical wellbeing.

Then there is the economic violence, which occurs when fathers or husbands do not shoulder their economic responsibilities towards their husbands and children, or when they pressurize their wives to forgo their dowry which represents – according to Islam a symbolic gift and a token of love and not a commercial exchange.

إلى «العنف التربويّ» الذي تُمنع معه المرأة من حقّها في التعليم والترقّي في ميدان التخصّص العلمي، بما يرفع من مستواها الفكري والثقافي ويفتح لها آفاق التطوّر والتطوير في ميادين الحياة؛ فتبقى في دوّامة الجهل والتخلّف؛ ثمّ تحمّل مسؤوليّة الأخطاء التي تقع فيها نتيجة قلّة الخبرة والتجربة التي فرضها عليها العنف.

إلى العنف العملي الذي يُميّز بين أجر المرأة وأجر الرجل من دون حقّ، مع أنّ التساوي في العمل يقتضي التساوي في ما يترتّب عليه، علماً أنّ المجتمع بأسره قد يمارس هذا النوع من العنف عندما يسنّ قوانين العمل التي لا تراعي للمرأة أعباء الأمومة أو الحضانة أو ما إلى ذلك ممّا يختصّ بالمرأة، إضافةً إلى استغلال المدراء وأرباب العمل للموظّفات من خلال الضغط عليهنّ في أكثر من مجال.

إنّنا أمام ذلك، نؤكّد على جملة من الأمور:

The educational violence is also another form of violence against women. This form takes place when women are deprived of their right of education reaching to post graduate levels, thus, depriving them of raising their cultural and scientific levels and keeping them in the circle of backwardness and ignorance. To add insult to injury, they would then be responsible for the mistakes they commit as a result of the inexperience that is imposed by violence.

We also have the violence in work, which is represented by not giving women equal pay for equal work. This kind of discriminating violence is practised by the entire society when the laws it sets do not take into consideration maternity or similar rights. Then there are the various kinds of exploitation of the employers to their employees.
Faced by all these forms of violence, we would like to highlight and stress on the following points.

أوّلاً: يشكّل الرفق منهجاً مركزيّاً في الإسلام، يكتسب الأولويّة على العنف الذي لا ينبغي أن يتحرّك إلا في حالاتٍ استثنائيّةٍ قد تقتضيها ضرورة التربية أو ردّ العدوان. قد جاء عن النبيّ محمّد(ص): «إنّ الرفق لم يوضع على شيء إلا زانه، ولا نزع من شيء إلا شانه»؛ وهذا المنهج عامٌّ لكلّ العلاقات الإنسانيّة، من دون فرقٍ بين رجلٍ وامرأة، أو صغيرٍ أو كبير.

First: In Islam, lenience is the norm that takes priority over violence which should only be resorted to in exceptional cases, as in self-defence or the need for educational punishment. The Messenger of Allah has said: Whenever leniency has been put on something it would improve it, while it would discredit anything it is removed form.
This rule is universal and includes all human relations, with no difference between men and women, old or young.

ثانياً: إنّ قوامة الرجل على المرأة لا تعني سيادة الرجل عليها، بل تعني تحميل الرجل مسؤوليّة إدارة الأسرة التي لا بدّ أن لا يستبدّ بها، بل أن يتشارك مع الزوجة في كلّ الأمور المشتركة بينهما كزوجين.

Second: The fact that men maintain women does not mean that they have the authority over them. It merely means that they run their families but not in a tyrannical way, they have to confer with their wives in all the things they both have in common.

ثالثاً: إنّ إقبال المرأة على العمل المنزلي والاضطلاع بأعبائه من خلال إنسانيّتها وعاطفتها وتضحيتها، في الوقت الذي لم يكلّفها الإسلام أيّاً من ذلك، حتّى فيما يختصّ بالحضانة وشؤونها، واحترم عملها حتّى افترض له أجراً مادّياً، لا بدّ أن يدفع الرجل إلى تقدير التضحية التي تبذلها المرأة في رعايته ورعاية الأسرة؛ فلا يدفعه ذلك إلى التعسّف والعنف في إدارة علاقته بها.

Third: The fact that women perform the household work which Islam did not commission them to, but even proposed a salary for such a work, should lead men to appreciate the sacrifices women offer in taking care of their families, and refrain from any act of violence against them.

رابعاً: لقد وضع الإسلام للعلاقة بين الرجل والمرأة في الحياة الزوجيّة والأسرة عموماً قاعدةً ثابتة، وهي قاعدة «المعروف»، فقال الله تعالى في القرآن الكريم: {وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ}، وقال تعالى: {فإمساكٌ بمعروفٍ أو تسريح بإحسان}، حيث يُمكن أن تشكّل قاعدةً شرعيّةً يُمكن أن تنفتح على أكثر من حُكمٍ شرعيّ يُنهي الزواج إذا تحوّل ضدّ «المعروف».

Fourth: Islam has laid a fixed rule for the relations between husbands and wives, as well as the families in general; the rule of equity and kindness. He says in the Glorious Quran "and treat them kindly", and "then keep (them) in good fellowship or let (them) go with kindness". This rule could well serve as a guide for the religious authorities to end marriages if they violate the rule of kindness.

خامساً: اعتبر الإسلام أنّ المرأة ـ في إطار الزواج ـ كائنٌ حقوقيّ مستقلّ عن الرجل من الناحية المادّية؛ فليس للرجل أن يستولي على أموالها الخاصّة، أو أن يتدخّل في تجارتها أو مصالحها التي لا تتعلّق به كزوج، أو لا تتعلّق بالأسرة التي يتحمّل مسؤوليّة إدارتها.

Fifth: Islam considers that married women are lawfully independent financial entities. Husbands are not allowed to control their wives’ wealth, or to interfere in their private business and financial interests that are not related to them as husbands or the families they run.

سادساً: إنّ الإسلام لم يبح للرجل أن يمارس أيّ عنفًٍ على المرأة، سواء في حقوقها الشرعية التي ينشأ الالتزام بها من خلال عقد الزواج، أو في إخراجها من المنزل، وحتّى في مثل السبّ والشتم والكلام القاسي السيّئ، ويمثّل ذلك خطيئةً يُحاسب الله عليها، ويُعاقب عليها القانون الإسلامي.

Sixth: Islam did not allow men to practice any violence against women, whether regarding their lawful rights attained through the marriage contract, kicking them out of the house or even using harsh words or cursing, which is sin that Allah will hold men responsible for and the Islamic law defined certain punishments for such actions.

سابعاً: أمّا إذا مارس الرجل العنف الجسديّ ضدّ المرأة، ولم تستطع الدفاع عن نفسها إلا بأن تبادل عنفه بعنف مثله، فيجوز لها ذلك من باب الدفاع عن النفس. كما أنّه إذا مارس الرجل العنف الحقوقي ضدّها، بأن منعها بعض حقوقها الزوجيّة، كالنفقة أو الجنس، فلها أن تمنعه تلقائيّاً من الحقوق التي التزمت بها من خلال العقد.

Seventh: If men practice physical violence against women, and the latter have no means to defend themselves except through exchanging violence, this would be permissible as an act of self-defence. It is also permissible for women who are denied of their legal rights such as providing for them or fulfilling their sexual needs, to deny their husbands the rights that the marriage contract stipulates for them.

ثامناً: يؤكّد الإسلام أنّه لا ولاية لأحد على المرأة إذا كانت بالغةً رشيدةً مستقلّة في إدارة شؤون نفسها، فليس لأحد أن يفرض عليها زوجاً لا تريده، والعقد من دون رضاها باطلٌ لا أثر له.

Eighth: Islam emphasises that there is no guardianship over physically and mentally mature women who are independent in running their own affairs.
No one can impose on these women any husbands they do not want. And any contract convened without their consent is considered null and void.

تاسعاً: في ظلّ اهتمامنا بالمحافظة على الأسرة، فإنّه ينبغي للتشريعات التي تنظّم عمل المرأة أن تلحظ المواءمة بين عملها، عندما تختاره، وبين أعبائها المتعلّقة بالأسرة، وإنّ أيّ إخلال بهذا الأمر قد يؤدّي إلى تفكّك الأسرة، ما يعني أن المجتمع يُمارس عنفاً مضاعفاً تجاه تركيبته الاجتماعية ونسقه القيمي.

Ninth: In the framework of our concern to preserve the family, we maintain that the law that governs women's work should coordinate between women's jobs and the family needs. Any neglect of such a responsibility could destabilize the family, which means that the society would be practicing multiple violence against its own social structures and values.

عاشراً: لقد أكّد الإسلام على موقع المرأة إلى جانب الرجل في الإنسانيّة والعقل والمسؤوليّة ونتائجها، وأسّس الحياة الزوجيّة على أساسٍ من المودّة والرحمة، ممّا يمنح الأسرة بُعداً إنسانيّاً يتفاعل فيه أفرادها بعيداً عن المفردات الحقوقيّة القانونيّة التي تعيش الجمود والجفاف الروحي والعاطفي؛ وهذا ما يمنح الغنى الروحي والتوازن النفسي والرقيّ الثقافي والفكري للإنسان كلّه، رجلاً كان أو امرأة، فرداً كان أو مجتمعاً.

Tenth: Islam has emphasized that the women's position goes side by side to men, whether in being human or being rational or in holding responsibility. It instituted familial life on the basis of love and mercy, giving the family a humane dimension in which its members interact away from the legal terms that are emotionally and spiritually dry. Thus giving the human being as a whole spiritual richness, psychological stability and intellectual progress, be he a man or a woman, an individual or a community.

مكتب سماحة آية الله العظمى السيد محمد حسين فضل الله
التاريخ: 17 ذو القعدة 1428هـ الموافق: 27 / 11 / 2007م

Aoun: The Lebanese Christian Proposals

2007-12-05T21:59:00.000Z

أعلن رئيس "تكتل التغيير والاصلاح" النائب العماد ميشال عون من الرابية، "وثيقة الطروحات المسيحية اللبنانية". بحضور أعضاء "التكتل" وعدد من الشخصيات والفاعليات السياسية والحزبية والنقابية. وجاء في نص الوثيقه.
"لأنّ لبنان من دون مسيحييه ليس وطناً، تماماً كما هي حاله من دون مسلميه، ولأن لبنان الرسالة هو مسؤولية مسيحية ـ إسلامية مشتركة، ولأن لبنان هو محفّز حوار الحضارات ومهماد صراعها، ولأن استهداف المسيحيين قد أدخل لبنان في مسار إنحداري تتوجب معه معالجة مكامن الخلل والتعامل مع جذور المشكلة وليس مع ظاهرها، ولأن من رفض قيام لبنان مسيحي منعزل عن محيطه، له على الشريك الآخر أن يرفض معه قيام لبنان مسلم متنكر لصيغتة، ولأنه لا بديل للمسيحيين عن الاندماج في محيطهم والتآخي ضمن مجتمعهم، مع الحفاظ على شخصيتهم وهويتهم الحضارية المتجذرة في الشرق والمنفتحة على حضارة الغرب، ولأن الحياة المشتركة الواحدة هي أكثر من عملية تلاصق قسري، إنما هي مدخل الى المواطنية ومنظومة حقوق وواجبات، تلجها الجماعات الروحية اللبنانية طوعاً عندما تطمئن الى استقرارها ومستقبلها، وبعد قراءة هادئة في الواقع الوطني والمسيحي، واستنتاج العبر والدروس من التجربة التاريخية، وبعد مشاورات أجريت مع العماد ميشال عون إثر أزمة فراغ الرئاسة، نعلن الطروحات المسيحية اللبنانية التالية:

1 - في المسألة الكيانيّة:
إن المسيحيين يستوحون أداءهم من الإرشاد الرسولي ونداء السينودس والتعاليم المسيحية، ولهم في لبنان وجودٌ مؤسس ونهائي، كما أن الحرية والتعددية وقبول الآخر هي من ميزات لبنان الحضارية، ومن ثوابته الأساسية أنه لا يحكم "تحت رحمة أيديولوجية الأكثرية" بل بصيغة الشراكة والتوازن والديمقراطية التوافقية.
وبما أنهم ينشدون التآخي والتعاضد داخل مجتمعهم فإنهم يسعون إلى الانفتاح والتواصل مع المجتمعات الأخرى، نابذين كل أشكال الدونية والذمية والتبعية، توّاقين دائماً الى تمتين الوحدة الوطنية والسلم الأهلي، رافضين سياسة المحاور الاقليمية والدولية، ساعين الى صداقة كافة الشعوب والدول.
إن الدور الفاعل هو الذي يثبّت الوجود ويحافظ عليه، وما المسيحيون في العراق وفلسطين إلاّ البرهان الساطع على أن الوجود للوجود فقط هو طريق الزوال. وعليه فإن اللبنانيين عمومًا، والمسيحيين خصوصاً، مدعوون دعوة صادقة إلى قراءة متأنية لوثيقة التفاهم بين التيار الوطني الحر وحزب الله.

2- في أزمة المسيحيين وواقعهم الراهن:
انطلاقاً من أن استهداف المسيحيين في حضورهم ودورهم وحقوقهم هو استهدافٌ للبنان في وحدته وفرادته، ينصب اهتمامنا على ما يصيبهم من تهميش، متوقفين بشكل خاص عند الخلل الديمغرافي الناجم عن مرسوم التجنيس والهجرة والتهجير والحؤول دون استعادة الجنسية لبعضهم وسوء تمثيلهم النيابي جرّاء قوانين الانتخاب الجائرة، ناهيك عن مشاركتهم الشكلية في الحكومة والإدارة العامة والقضاء والمؤسسات الأمنية، إضافةً الى ما تعرضوا له من اضطهاد وانتهاك لحرياتهم، وما نالهم على مختلف الأصعدة الاقتصادية والاجتماعية والتربوية.
وأزمة الوجود المسيحي في لبنان وإن تفاقمت راهناً مع الفراغ الحاصل في سدة الرئاسة الفارغة في المضمون منذ عقدين، فهي تعود بالزمن الى العام 1969 مع بدء عملية تقويض لبنان الوطن والنظام والدولة.
والأزمة الراهنة ما هي إلا امتداد لما كان في زمن الوصاية السورية التي شكّل المسيحيون رأس حربة في مناهضتها، ودفعوا الثمن الأغلى لاستعادة السيادة والاستقلال، وفي ذهنهم أن زوالها سيكون المدخل لتحقيق المشاركة من جهة وبناء الدولة من جهة أخرى. غير أن شيئاً من هذا لم يحصل، فكان إمعانٌ في تزوير ارادتهم بفعل انتخابات العام 2005، وتعطيل المجلس الدستوري لمنعه من بت الطعون الانتخابية المحقة، وعند تشكيل الحكومة غُيّب عنها ممثلوهم الحقيقيون ليستكمل المشهد بفقدان الحكومة لشرعيتها الميثاقية مع خروج الوزراء الشيعة منها.
وفي حين تبوّأت الزعامتان الشيعية والسنية منصبي رئاسة مجلس النواب والحكومة، كان للخارج مع بعض الداخل دورٌ كبير في إنكار هذا الحق على المسيحيين، تمهيداً لتمرير سياسات وأهداف خارجية تضرب مواقع الممانعة والرفض ولا تقيم وزناً للمصلحة الوطنية اللبنانية، الأمر الذي يشكل حاضراً جوهر أزمة الاستحقاق الرئاسي، ويُخشى معه ألا يعي الشعب اللبناني خطورتها إلا بعد فوات الأوان.

3- قواعد وأصول الديمقراطية في الوسط المسيحي:
إن الفكر الآحادي الذي سقط في العالم أجمع، وبخلاف ما ينظر إليه البعض على أنه مصدر قوة لهم، يبقى الخطر الأكبر عليهم.
من هنا فإن مبدأين وركيزتين ومرجعية واحدة يجب أن ترعى علاقة الأطراف المسيحية في ما بينها:
المبدأ الأول هو التعامل مع التنوع الفكري والسياسي والتعدد الحزبي وغير الحزبي على أنه ميزة يتوجب الحفاظ عليها.
والمبدأ الثاني هو الاعتراف بالآخر وبوجود أكثرية وأقلية، كلاهما ملتزمتان عدم الانقلاب على الديمقراطية وتداول القيادة السياسية.
أما الركيزة الأولى فهي للأكثرية التي لها حق القيادة السياسية، والركيزة الثانية هي للأقلية التي لها إما الخيار بالانضمام إلى الأكثرية وفقاً لحجمها التمثيلي وإما تشكيل معارضة ترصد أخطاء الأكثرية وتطرح البديل عنها في التداول الديمقراطي.
أما المرجعية فهي بكركي التي تبقى الضامنة والساهرة على احترام هذه القواعد؛ فالكنيسة "سلطة عليا" وبكركي كانت وستكون المرجعية الروحية والوطنية التي لا نزاع عليها. ولكي تبقى كذلك يجب أن لا يُسمح لأحد باستخدامها كسلطة موازية أو منافسة للسلطة السياسية، وأن تنأى بنفسها عن التجاذبات السياسية إقتداءً وعملاً بالإرشاد الرسولي الذي جاء في فقرته 112 ما حرفيته : " ... فليس لها اذن أن تلتزم مباشرة الحياة السياسية لأنه ليس عندها في الواقع حلولاً تقنية... ولا تقترح أنظمة ولا برامج اقتصادية وسياسية ولا تبدي إيثاراً لهذه أو تلك... بيد أنه من واجب الكنيسة أن تذكر بلا ملل بالمبادىء التي هي وحدها تستطيع أن تؤمّن حياة اجتماعية متناسقة..."
إن أي كلام، في ظل هذه المعادلة، عن انقسام ما بين المسيحيين هو تهديم ذاتي لهم ولبنيتهم السياسية.

4- قواعد وأصول الديمقراطية في التركيبة اللبنانية:
في الوقت الذي نطمح فيه الى مجتمع تكون فيه المواطنية قاعدة الانتماء الى الدولة لا الطائفية والمذهبية، فان واقع النظام السياسي اللبناني القائم على الاعتراف بحقوق كل طائفة، يفترض بديهياً وحكماً أن يصار الى احترام أصول الديمقراطية التنافسية البسيطة ضمن الجماعة الواحدة المتجانسة طائفياً، والديمقراطية المركبة التوافقية ضمن المجتمع الأكبر غير المتجانس والمتنوع طائفياً. الأمر الذي يجعل من رئيس الجمهورية على سبيل المثال انتاجاً مسيحياً يحظى بقبولٍ وطني، تماماً كما هي الحال في الدول التعددية كسويسرا وبلجيكا وسواها. وفي الحالتين لا تجوز محاسبة أو معاقبة المسيحيين، كجماعة سياسية، على اختيارهم لقياداتهم إنما تجوز مناقشة قياداتهم على خياراتها السياسية وعلى أدائها.

5- في هيكليّة المجتمع والاقتصاد:
لأن إعادة انتاج وتكوين الطبقة المتوسطة هو في أساس استنهاض لبنان والمسيحيين، يتوجب توجيه الطاقات وبذل أقصى الجهد وإظهار المزيد من التضامن والتآخي المجتمعي في قطاعات التربية والتعليم والصحة والسكن، وبما يحقق المزيد من العدالة الاجتماعية. كما يتوجب إيلاء اللامركزية الموسّعة والتنمية المتوازية والمستدامة وهجرة الأدمغة ما تستحقه من اهتمام وأولوية وايجاد الحلول العصرية الملائمة لها.

6- في بناء الدولة:
يبقى الإصلاح ومحاربة الفساد "حجر الزاوية" في عملية بناء الدولة القوية القادرة والعادلة التي تُرسي حكم القانون وتطمئن مواطنيها وتفيد من مكامن القوة وميزات كل مكوّن من مكوّناتها.
يرفض المسيحيون كل مقولات الأمن الذاتي الذي يحمل في طياته سمات التقسيم والتفتيت مقابل إرساء منظومة دفاعية وطنية تكسب لبنان المناعة والاستقرار وتشكل قوة رادعة بوجه الأعداء، كما تسمح ببسط سلطة الدولة على كامل التراب اللبناني وتصون سيادة لبنان واستقلاله من أي تدخل خارجي.

7- في الأخطار المحدقة:
خطران داهمان يتهددان لبنان ومسيحييه: خطر التوطين الذي من شأنه أن يغيّر المعادلة الديمغرافية القائمة على توازن حساس ودقيق أصلاً، والذي يسعى لبنان، المفتقر الى الموارد، وذو الكثافة السكانية السادسة في العالم، إلى تحقيقه بهجرة أبنائه إلى الخارج، الأمر الذي لا يحتمل استيعاب أي فائض بشري. وخطر الفائض المالي الذي يستعمل في شراء الأراضي وتبديل هويتها، وهذا ما يضع لبنان مرة أخرى في دائرة وصاية جديدة ويضرب فلسفة السيادة والقرار الوطني الحر. أضف إلى ذلك حال المديونية العامة التي فاقت قدرة لبنان على الايفاء بالتزاماته والتي يخشى معها أن تفرض عليه مقايضتها بالتوطين أو سواه من الأخطار التي لا تمت الى المصلحة الوطنية بصلة.

8- في بعض المطالب الآنية:
أولاً ـ إعتماد مبدأ التعامل بالمثل وتحقيق العدالة السياسية كقاعدة أساسية لتوازن السلطات.
ثانياً ـ إعادة الاعتبار الى موقع الرئاسة الأولى بضمان وجود مواصفات ذاتية وتمثيلية في شخص الرئيس
وتوضيح بعض صلاحياته.
ثالثاً ـ إقرار قانون عادل للانتخابات النيابية (يعتمد الدائرة الصغرى) ليؤمّن صحة التمثيل ويضمن المشاركة المتساوية.
رابعاً ـ تصحيح الخلل الحاصل في تمثيل المسيحيين في الحكومة والادارة والمؤسسات الأمنية والقضاء.
خامساً - إنهاء ملف المهجرين المسيحيين في الجبل واللاجئين الى اسرائيل والمفقودين في سوريا.

9- رسالة المسيحيين في لبنان:
إن جزءاً من أزمة المسيحيين يعود الى انطباع تكوّن لديهم ولدى محيطهم ولدى الغرب بأن وجودهم ورسالتهم قد انتفيا علةً وسبباً في زمن العولمة ولقاء الغرب بالشرق مباشرة. غير أن الواقع هو عكس ذلك، فلقاء نصفي العالم على الضفة الشرقية للمتوسط قد جاء صدامياً لا حوارياً، عنفياً لا حضارياً، الغائياً لا تسامحياً ولا تفاعلياً، ومن المؤكّد أن هذه الصورة الصدامية تخفي علّتين إثنتين: أولاً عدم ايجاد الحل العادل للقضية الفلسطينية، وثانياً الفشل في نشر الديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان في هذه المنطقة من العالم.
إن الوجود والرسالة المسيحيتين في لبنان يشكلان الجواب الوحيد على هذين التحديين، إذ وحده هذا الحضور الحر المتآلف والمتناغم مع الجماعات الروحية الأخرى يقدّم النموذج العملي والثقافي والمجتمعي والحضاري المطلوب.

10- طريق الخلاص:
على المسيحيين أن يتذكّروا أن الانتظار هو موت بطيء، وأن الشهادة للحق والتمسّك بالرجاء هما من صلب إيمانهم وأن السبيل لتحويل مسارهم الإنحداري التفككي إلى مسار تصحيحي استنهاضي هو في الانتقال من مرحلة الاعتراض والممانعة إلى فعل المقاومة السياسية الكفيلة وحدها المحافظة على وجودهم ودورهم.
وإذا كان الوجود الحر هو مسألة مطروحة على المسيحيين أنفسهم، فهو أيضاً وبالمقدار عينه تحدٍ كبير وتاريخي مطروحٌ على شركائهم
المسلمين إن أرادوا لهذا الوطن أن يبقى مطرحاً للتلاقي والتنوع والحوار مثبتين بذلك أن الإسلام دين رحمة وتسامحٍ وقبولٍلٍ للآخر.

Étant donné que le Liban sans ses chrétiens n’est pas un pays, pas plus qu’il ne l’est sans ses musulmans,
Étant donné que le Liban « pays mission » est une responsabilité islamo-chrétienne commune,
Étant donné que le Liban est le catalyseur des dialogues entre les civilisations et l’amortisseur de leurs conflits,
Étant donné que la prise à partie des chrétiens a placé le Liban sur un parcours destructeur, qui impose de remédier aux déséquilibres et de trouver une solution qui s’adresse aux racines de la crise et non à ses aspects externes,
Étant donné que ceux qui ont refusé la création d’un Liban chrétien isolé de son environnement, s’attendent à ce que leurs partenaires leur soient redevables et refusent à leur tour la création d’un Liban islamique en contradiction avec la spécificité libanaise,
Étant donné que les chrétiens n’ont d’autre alternative que celle de s’intégrer dans leur milieu et de fraterniser au sein de leur société, tout en préservant leur personnalité, et leur
identité culturelle ancrée dans l’Orient et tournée vers l’Occident,
Étant donné que la coexistence est plus qu’une cohabitation forcée, mais un préambule à la citoyenneté en tant que base d’appartenance à l’État, et un ensemble de droits et de
devoirs, que les communautés religieuses embrassent d’elles-mêmes une fois rassurées sur leur stabilité et leur devenir,
Et suite à une analyse calme et réfléchie de la situation nationale et chrétienne, après avoir tirer les leçons des expériences historiques, et à l’issue des concertations faites avec
le Général Michel Aoun à l’occasion de la vacance de la présidence de la République, nous présentons les propositions chrétiennes libanaises suivantes :

1. En matière d’existentialisme :

Les chrétiens s’inspirent de l’exhortation apostolique, de l’appel du Synode et des préceptes de l’Eglise. Ils sont au Liban une force fondatrice et permanente, de même que la liberté, la diversité et l’acceptation de l’autre dans l’harmonie sont des caractéristiques culturelles du Liban. Les fondements principaux du Liban dictent qu’il ne peut être « à la merci d’une idéologie de la majorité » mais qu’il est gouverné par un partenariat, un équilibre des pouvoirs et une démocratie consensuelle.
Comme les chrétiens appellent à la fraternité et à la cohésion au sein de leur communauté, ils cherchent à s’ouvrir et à communiquer avec les autres communautés, rejetant toute forme d’infériorité, d’inféodation ou de vassalité, aspirant éternellement à renforcer l’unité nationale, refusant la politique des axes régionaux et internationaux, recherchant l’amitié de tous les pays et de tous les peuples.
C’est ce rôle actif qui est le garant de leur existence et de sa sauvegarde, les chrétiens d’Irak et de Palestine n’étant que la triste preuve du contraire. Partant de là, les Libanais en général et les chrétiens en particulier sont appelés à une lecture minutieuse du Document d’Entente entre le Courant patriotique libre et le Hezbollah.

2. La crise des chrétiens et leur situation actuelle

Puisque la prise à partie des chrétiens dans leur existence, leur rôle et leurs droits, constitue une atteinte au Liban dans son unité et son unicité, notre attention se porte à leur marginalisation, et plus particulièrement au déséquilibre démographique résultant du décret de naturalisation, de l’émigration ou de l’exode forcé et de l’incapacité de certains chrétiens à recouvrer leur nationalité. A cela s’ajoute la mauvaise représentation parlementaire des chrétiens, conséquence des lois électorales injustes, sans oublier les vices qui entachent leur participation manquée au sein du gouvernement, de l’administration publique, de la justice et des institutions sécuritaires, en plus des campagnes de persécution et de violation de leurs libertés, et des atteintes endurées par eux sur les plans économiques, sociaux et culturels.
La crise existentialiste des chrétiens au Liban bien qu’aggravée actuellement par la vacance de la présidence de la République -qui dans son essence est vacante depuis deux décennies- remonte en fait à 1969 avec le début de la destruction systématique du Liban en tant qu’Etat, régime et nation.
La crise actuelle n’est en fait que le prolongement de la crise qui sévissait sous la tutelle syrienne opposée par les chrétiens. Fer de lance de la résistance, ils ont payé le prix fort pour recouvrer l’indépendance et la souveraineté, considérant pour leur part que la disparition de la tutelle constituerait un pas vers la réalisation d’un vrai partenariat national d’un côté, et vers l’édification de l’Etat de l’autre. Amèrement, ils ont du constater que rien de tout cela n’a eu lieu, bien au contraire il y a eu acharnement à falsifier leur volonté par le fait des élections législatives de 2005, puis par la dissolution du Conseil constitutionnel pour l’empêcher de statuer sur les invalidations légitimes d’un nombre de sièges, ensuite par la mise à l’écart de leurs véritables représentants dans la formation du gouvernement, pour que se parachève ce spectacle par la perte du gouvernement de sa légitimité avec la démission des ministres chiites.
Alors que les leaderships sunnite et chiite ont accédé respectivement à la présidence du gouvernement et de la Chambre, les ingérences étrangères couplées avec certaines influences internes ont joué un rôle déterminant à refuser ce même droit aux chrétiens, comme prélude à des politiques et des objectifs étrangers visant à anéantir les derniers
bastions de résistance et d’opposition et n’accordant pas d’importance à l’intérêt national
libanais, ce qui est aujourd’hui au coeur même de la crise de l’échéance présidentielle,avec en prime le risque de voir les Libanais prendre trop tard conscience de ce danger.

3. Les principes et les règles démocratiques dans le milieu chrétien

Le principe de la pensée unilatérale que certains considèrent comme source de pouvoir a non seulement échoué dans le monde entier, mais plus encore, il a constitué un véritable danger pour la partie qui s’en est servie.
Voilà pourquoi deux principes, deux règles et une autorité devraient régir les relations des parties chrétiennes entre elles :
Le premier principe est la préservation de la diversité intellectuelle, politique partisane et non partisane.
Le second principe est la reconnaissance de l’autre, ainsi que d’une majorité et d’une minorité toutes deux engagées à respecter les fondements de la démocratie et à alterner
entre elles le leadership politique.
La première règle consiste à admettre le droit de la majorité à assumer le leadership politique.
La deuxième règle donne le droit à la minorité de choisir de se rallier à la majorité proportionnellement à sa représentativité, ou bien de constituer une opposition qui se charge de relever les erreurs de la majorité et de proposer des alternatives dans le cadre du processus démocratique.
Bkerké demeure l’autorité garante qui veille à l’application de ses règles. L’Église étant une « haute autorité morale », Bkerké était et reste l’autorité religieuse nationale incontestée. Pour qu’elle demeure ainsi, nul ne doit s’en servir comme autorité concurrente ou parallèle à l’autorité politique. Elle refuse de prendre part aux tensions politiques conformément à l’exhortation apostolique qui stipule dans l’alinéa 112 littéralement : «… Il ne lui revient donc pas de s’engager directement dans la vie politique ; en effet, elle n’a pas de solutions techniques, elle ne propose pas des systèmes ou des programmes économiques et politiques, elle ne manifeste pas de préférence pour les uns ou les autres… Cependant, le devoir incombe à l’Église de rappeler inlassablement les principes qui seuls peuvent assurer une vie sociale harmonieuse… »
A l’ombre de cette équation, tout propos déplorant les divisions entre chrétiens s’inscrit dans un processus auto destructeur de leur existence et de leur entité politique.

4. Les principes et les règles démocratiques au Liban

A l’heure où nous aspirons tous à une société où seule la citoyenneté constitue la base d’appartenance à l’État et non l’appartenance confessionnelle ou communautaire, la réalité du système politique libanais basé sur la reconnaissance des droits de chaque communauté, implique qu’il faudrait respecter les principes de la démocratie compétitive simple au sein d’une même communauté religieusement homogène, et de la démocratie consensuelle au sein d’une plus grande communauté hétérogène et religieusement diversifiée. Ce qui à titre d’exemple, fait du président de la République un produit chrétien requérant une acceptation nationale, tel que le cas se présente en Suisse ou en Belgique. Dans les deux cas, il n’est pas acceptable de questionner les chrétiens ou de les sanctionner quant au choix de leurs leaders politiques, mais par contre leurs mêmes leaders peuvent être interrogés sur leurs choix et leurs performances politiques.

5. La restructuration de la société

La restructuration de la classe moyenne est à la base de la résurrection du Liban et des chrétiens, il faudrait pour cela, concentrer les efforts et les énergies et montrer davantage de solidarité et de fraternité communautaire dans les secteurs de l’éducation, de l’enseignement, de la santé et de l’habitation, pour réaliser davantage de justice sociale.
De même qu’il conviendrait d’accorder un intérêt primordial à la décentralisation élargie, aux questions du développement équitable et durable, et à l’exode des cerveaux dans le
but d’y trouver des solutions modernes et adaptées.

6. L’édification de l’État

La réforme et la lutte contre la corruption constituent la pierre angulaire de l’édification d’un État fort et juste capable d’asseoir le règne de la loi, de rassurer ses citoyens et de bénéficier des caractéristiques de chacune de ses composantes.
Les chrétiens refusent le principe de l’auto sécurité qui porte en lui les germes de la division et de l’émiettement du pays, ils lui opposent l’adoption d’une stratégie de défense nationale capable de conférer au Liban l’immunité et la stabilité nécessaires pour constituer une force dissuasive face aux ennemis et agresseurs, étendre le pouvoir de l’État sur l’ensemble du territoire national, et préserver la souveraineté et l’indépendance du Liban de toute intervention étrangère.

7. Les dangers imminents

Deux périls menacent le Liban et ses chrétiens : le péril de l’implantation des Palestiniens qui changerait la donne démographique basée sur un délicat équilibre déjà précaire, que le Liban -manquant de ressources et dont la densité d’habitants au km2 est la sixième au monde- tente de préserver à travers la migration de ses fils vers l’étranger ; il lui est par conséquent impossible d’assimiler un quelconque surplus humain. Le deuxième péril est celui du « surplus d’argent » qui se concrétise par l’achat massif de terrains et l’aliénation de leur identité, ce qui place le Liban une fois encore dans la sphère d’une nouvelle tutelle et porte atteinte aux principes de la souveraineté et de la décision nationale libre. A ces deux périls vient s’ajouter le fardeau de l’endettement général qui excède de loin la capacité du Liban à tenir ses engagements, et qu’il craint de devoir troquer avec l’implantation des Palestiniens ou tout autre procédé contraire à l’intérêt national.

8. Les revendications immédiates

I. Adopter le principe de réciprocité et la restauration de la justice politique comme base essentielle de l’équilibre des pouvoirs.
II. Réhabiliter la présidence de la République en garantissant les qualifications personnelles et la représentativité du président et éclaircir certaines de ses prérogatives.
III. Promulguer une loi électorale juste (fondée sur la petite circonscription) pour assurer une bonne représentativité et une participation paritaire.
IV. Remédier au déséquilibre survenu dans la représentation des chrétiens au sein du gouvernement, de l’administration, de la justice et des institutions sécuritaires.
V. Achever de traiter le dossier des déplacés chrétiens de la montagne, des réfugiés en Israël et des disparus en Syrie.

9. La mission des chrétiens au Liban

La crise que vivent aujourd’hui les chrétiens découle en partie d’une impression qui s’est concrétisée chez eux, dans leur environnement et en Occident, qui sous-entend que leur existence et leur mission n’ont plus de raison d’être à l’ère de la mondialisation et de la rencontre directe entre l’Orient et l’Occident. Mais la réalité est tout autre, car la rencontre des deux mondes sur la côte-est de la méditerranée a résulté depuis quelques années en une collision et non en un dialogue, elle fut violente, exclusive, intolérante et non interactive ; les raisons pour cela étant doubles : d’une part, l’absence d’une solution juste à la cause palestinienne et d’autre part, l’échec dans la diffusion de la démocratie et des droits de l’Homme dans cette région du monde.
La présence et la mission des chrétiens au Liban constituent la solution la mieux adaptée à ces deux défis, car seule cette présence libre fraternisant en harmonie avec les autres groupes confessionnels peut fournir le modèle pratique, culturel et social requis.

10. La voie du salut

Les chrétiens doivent se rappeler que l’attentisme est une mort lente et annoncée, que le témoignage pour la vérité et l’espérance sont au coeur de leur croyance et que le seul moyen de sortir de ce parcours destructeur et d’entreprendre une démarche résurrectionnelle, est de passer du stade de l’objection et de l’opposition à l’acte de résistance politique transcendante, seule garante de leur existence et de leur rôle.
En définitive, si la présence chrétienne libre au Liban et sa sauvegarde sont avant tout une affaire entre les mains des chrétiens eux-mêmes, elle constitue néanmoins un défi historique auquel se trouvent confrontés leurs partenaires musulmans, s’ils souhaitent que ce pays reste un lieu de rencontre, de diversité et de dialogue, affirmant ainsi que l’Islam est une religion de miséricorde, de tolérance et d’acceptation de l’autre.

Promemoria

2007-12-01T08:41:00.000Z

Responsabilità oggettiva?

2007-11-27T19:19:00.000Z

Tutte le fotografie di questo articolo sono state scattate dal sottoscritto il 23 Gennaio 2006 a Potočari, Bosnia-Erzegovina.

Il Tribunale Penale Internazionale per l'ex-Jugoslavia (ICTY) presieduto dal giudice Fausto Pocar ha oggi dichiarato ricevibile la citazione in giudizio avanzata nel Giugno scorso da alcune donne di Srebrenica nei confronti del contingente olandese dell'ONU di stanza nella località. Secondo l'accusa, i caschi blu si sarebbero resi responsabili di gravi negligenze, non ostacolando l'eccidio commesso nei giorni successivi all'11 Luglio 1995 dalle milizie serbo-bosniache, quando diverse migliaia di civili bošnjaci (musulmani bosniaci) vennero trucidati.

In base alla risoluzione 819 (1993) del Consiglio di Sicurezza delle Nazioni Unite, un battaglione olandese (Dutchbat) inquadrato nelle fila della UNPROFOR era stato stanziato nella segheria di Potočari, alle porte di Srebrenica, una énclave musulmano-bosniaca completamente circondata dalle truppe della VRS (l'esercito della Republika Srpska) che venne dichiarata safe area.

Dopo due anni di assedio da parte della VRS, la situazione si deteriorò definitivamente nella primavera del 1995. Una serie di errori nella linea di comando della UNPROFOR e l'ambiguità delle regole di ingaggio per i caschi blu resero possibile che il battaglione si lasciasse disarmare praticamente senza colpo ferire da parte delle truppe serbo-bosniache che mossero alla cattura della cittadina tra il 7 e l'11 Giugno 1995.

Nelle ore immediatamente successive (di cui questo articolo offre una ricostruzione esauriente e documentata), le truppe della VRS procedettero al rastrellamento e al massacro di circa ottomila civili musulmani bosniaci, perlopiù gettati in una serie di fosse comuni.
La corte internazionale, secondo il suo corso, stabilirà se nella condotta del contingente olandese sia ravvisabile qualche rilevanza sotto il profilo penale.
La memoria storica, la mia perlomeno, non potrà fare a meno di rimanere con qualche dubbio spinoso relativamente all'atteggiamento dei caschi blu. Rimane difficile non provare sensazioni contrastanti di fronte ai graffiti lasciati dal contingente olandese sulle mura del loro quartier generale: si noti cosa scrivono nei confronti delle stesse persone che erano chiamati a difendere.

Il mio culo è come quello di un "indigeno". Puzza allo stesso modo.
Bosnia 1994.

Niente denti...? Baffi...? Puzza di merda...?
Ragazza bosniaca!

Un ufficiale del battaglione sembra aver lasciato sul muro un abbozzo di diario di guerra. Le annotazioni più recenti sembrano essere state cancellate dall'umidità.

March 1994
Sergeant Raayen and the rest of the Stafkitchengrp
11st airborne leave Lukavac (Bosnia) for Srebrenica
All I know of the situation is that there has been a breakthrough
and we have to get there
Sgt. Raayen

16:00 - 22 March 1994
The vanguard of the Stafkitchengrp 11st airborne arrives at Potočari

08:00 - 1 April 1994
5 km to the South, the 11th Stafcompany airborne
is speeding to the rescue of Srebrenica
The orders are simple: "Drive like hell"

3 April 1994
Ammunition is starting to run out

17:00 - 5 April 1994
The punishment starts, Srebrenica is pounded by the Serbian artillery
During the night the airforce bombs out

19:00 - 6 April 1994
Convinced that reinforcements are being parachuted
the 11th Staf and Bravo company airborne...

Per saperne di più:

(UN) Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35 - Fall of Srebrenica

(ICTY) Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić

A tutto gas

2007-11-23T20:45:00.000Z

Parrebbe che nella politica italiana ultimamente non si parli di altro che di simboli di partito. Prima l'ennesima berlusconata, che ancora non si capisce bene se sia stata un geniale colpo di teatro o una colossale zappata sulle gonadi. Poi Uòlter, che ha presentato il nuovo logo del PD. Infine, leggo oggi su Repubblica che Rifondazione Comunista, Comunisti Italiani, Verdi e Sinistra Democratica (i quali non hanno ancora ben deciso cosa vogliano fare da grandi) hanno già iniziato a scontrarsi sul simbolo della nuova formazione politica unitaria, ancora prima degli stati generali previsti per il 9 Dicembre prossimo.

Nel mentre, il fatto più importante della settimana è ovviamente passato in sordina. A Mosca, Paolo Scaroni (amministratore delegato di Eni) e Alexej Miller (CEO di Gazprom) hanno firmato l'accordo per la costituzione della società paritetica South Stream, incaricata di progettare e costruire il gasdotto che dovrà attraversare trasversalmente il Mar Nero dalla stazione di compressione di Arhipo-Osipovka, in Russia, al porto di Varna, in Bulgaria. L'accordo fa seguito al memorandum di intesa siglato il 23 Giugno scorso a Roma, con la presenza di Scaroni, del numero due di Gazprom Aleksandr Medvedev, e del ministro per lo sviluppo economico Pier Luigi Bersani. Il nuovo progetto prosegue la cooperazione instaurata con Blue Stream, il gasdotto che si estende per 1213 km da Izobil'nyj, in Russia, a Samsun, in Turchia e che è stato inaugurato il 18 Novembre 2005 alla presenza di Putin, Berlusconi e Erdoğan.

Il riscaldamento delle case italiane è assicurato (compreso il fatto che io possa assurdamente continuare a girare per casa in maglietta), ma la notizia non è stata presa per niente bene a Londra, Parigi, Bruxelles e Washington, che, per motivi affatto diversi, temono una eccessiva dipendenza dei mercati energetici europei dalla Russia.
In settimana, un alto dirigente della compagnia turca Botaş si è affrettato a spiegare che l'azienda, pur non volendosi porre in contrasto con Gazprom, intende contribuire ad una maggiore competitività nel settore attraverso la diversificazione delle forniture. Per questo, Botaş punta sul progetto Nabucco, che nel 2012 dovrebbe collegare la Turchia all'Austria passando attraverso i Balcani, e il South Europe Gas Ring (ITG-IGI), che nel 2012 dovrebbe collegare la Turchia all'Italia passando attraverso la Grecia e il Canale di Otranto.

Non è ben chiaro se i fatti faranno seguito a cotanto ottimismo da parte turca. A parte il gasdotto Baku-Erzurum che trasporta il gas naturale estratto in Azerbaijan, il flusso in entrata nella rete turca è costituito in gran parte dal Blue Stream, e quindi è ancora sotto il controllo del colosso Gazprom, sulla cui rete continua a convergere gran parte della produzione di gas del bacino caspico, e in particolare del Turkmenistan.

Nel chiasso generale, infarcito di fatti efferati di cronaca nera, di porno-professoresse di lettere e delle trovate pseudo-securitarie di qualche amministratore locale, non mi risulta che alcun esponente politico o illustre giornalista si sia esposto per porre un quesito o esprimere un giudizio su questo argomento. Dove ci approvvigioniamo di energia? Quanto ci costa? Esistono delle alternative praticabili? Ma non è forse politica anche questa, molto di più delle surreali sceneggiate mediatiche sul nulla espanso che ci vengono quotidianamente spacciate come "politica", contribuendo poi a un deleterio menefreghismo generalizzato?
Eppure le politiche energetiche incidono pesantemente sullo sviluppo economico generale, sulle politiche ambientali e, non ultimo, sulle relazioni internazionali. L'Italia, attraverso Eni, sta compiendo in questi ultimi anni delle scelte molto nette, peraltro mostrando una sostanziale continuità tra il governo Berlusconi e Prodi (e questa, si noti bene, non è automaticamente una critica al governo Prodi). Forse sarebbe il caso di discutere in maniera informata e consapevole su queste scelte strategiche.
O forse no. Visto l'imbarbarimento generale e l'incapacità montante di condurre un dibattito civile (ossia argomentare le proprie opinioni sulla base di fatti senza insultare o denigrare il proprio interlocutore e senza ricorrere ai più triti e ottusi armamentari ideologici), forse è meglio che alcuni oligarchi informati dei fatti possano decidere in silenzio per tutti, mentre l'orchestrina suona i soliti motivetti da circo equestre. E buonanotte a tutti quanti.
Al calduccio, naturalmente.

Per saperne di più:

Gas to Europe Map (dal sito della Energy Information Administration)

Gasproms große Pläne (François Gremy)

As the First Tanker Leaves Ceyhan, the BTC Pipeline Expands Further Eastward (Lili Di Puppo)

Venezia e l'Islam

2007-11-22T21:43:00.000Z

Sono riuscito finalmente a visitare l'interessante mostra dal titolo Venezia e l'Islam 828-1797, giustamente allestita nella Sala dello Scrutinio di Palazzo Ducale. Una esposizione come piace a me: compatta, sobria, ridotta nelle dimensioni. Non un test di sopravvivenza fisica e psicologica né uno sfoggio di ego ipertrofici e dell'erudizione dei curatori.
I pezzi in mostra (tessuti, tappeti, vetri, ceramiche, monili, stampe, quadri, miniature) ricostruiscono, tramite lo studio della cultura materiale attraverso i secoli, il complesso intreccio di interazioni tra la città lagunare e i potentati islamici sulle altre sponde del Mediterraneo. Al di là del valore artistico degli oggetti esposti, la mostra ha, a mio avviso, proprio il grandissimo merito di invitare il visitatore accorto a porsi in maniera più articolata la questione delle relazioni interculturali e a soppesare con attenzione quanto le due culture si siano influenzate e suggestionate a vicenda, in un rapporto turbolento ma nel complesso molto fecondo.

Non è mica facile far passare un messaggio del genere in questo momento. Il punto di vista generale sul mondo islamico è formato da improvvisati esperti mediatici (mo' ce sta er probblema dell'islàmme) e da accaniti allamiti/fallaciti, perlopiù incapaci di distinguere tra quanto è avvenuto nel 1219 da ciò che avviene oggi o di distinguere un musulmano che si fa saltare su un treno da un musulmano che il treno lo prende per andare in università o in ufficio. Anche ad essere in buona fede, l'italiano medio è, senza offesa, rimbambito dalle autentiche panzane che gli sono state propinate per anni da sussidiari e libri di testo di grande bizzarria. Nella migliore delle ipotesi, mamma li turchi sono dei panzoni con la barba e la scimitarra che si dilettano ad assediare Vienna prima di tornare ai piaceri equivoci e un po' peccaminosi di hammam e harem visti attraverso l'immaginario europeo (un esempio da manuale di proiezione nell'altro da sé delle proprie più inconfessabili pulsioni). Quanto agli arabi, si sa che hanno i cammelli. Vuoto pressochè totale sulla cultura persiana (chissà perché, pare che non sia esistita prima di Khomeini) e sulle dinastie dell'Asia centrale e dell'India.
Ci vorrebbe un pizzico di prospettiva e qualche buona lettura in più.

Marco Paolini ha descritto, con tutta la maestria di cui è capace, come le Colonne marciane, ossia il portone di ingresso al salotto buono della Serenissima, si aprano in prospettiva verso le distese marine dell'Adriatico e dell'Egeo, mica verso le campagne di Belluno. Sarebbe forse il caso di avvertire i venetisti contemporanei che il Leone di San Marco era la bandiera di una compagine profondamente mediterranea, multiculturale e mercantile, altro che l'orticello padano-alpino-cattolico che certuni sembrano vagheggiare.
Tanto pragmatici sono i mercanti veneziani che nel 1289 preferiscono far cadere Tripoli del Libano nelle mani del sultano mamelucco Qalawun al-'Alfi al-Mansur, piuttosto che accettare che i concorrenti genovesi eleggano un proprio podestà al governo della città, mettendo così in pericolo le loro quote di mercato. Pochi decenni prima, nel 1204, i veneziani avevano istigato la deviazione della quarta crociata dalla strada per il Santo Sepolcro verso Costantinopoli, allora capitale dell'impero bizantino, che viene orribilmente devastata e ridotta in servitù.
Basterebbe guardare Kingdom of Heaven di Ridley Scott per farsi un'idea di come andarono a finire i regni latini d'Oriente, al di là di tutta la retorica passata, presente e futura. Comunque, non c'è che dire: le Crociate sono state una brillante delocalizzazione di nobilucci in esubero, fanatici religiosi ed esaltati vari che in Europa non creavano altro che fastidio. Ci sarebbe quasi di che rimpiangere che sistemi simili non possano essere utilizzati ai giorni nostri per fornire un utile svago ai cascami di famiglie reali, bigotti vari ed esagitati da stadio.

La battaglia di Lepanto (1571)? Il garrire di gonfaloni e vessilli, gli standardi, le armi lucenti, le galee, gli eserciti? Il comandante della guarnigione di Famagosta crocefisso e scorticato vivo dai malvagi turchi? Tutto vero. Basta però ricordarsi che, pochi decenni prima (1522), il sultano ottomano Solimano il Magnifico ha concluso un trattato con il re di Francia, Francesco I. Mica l'ultimo dei fessi, tanto per dire. Il sultano concede, tra le altre cose, il regime delle Capitolazioni, che assicura ai mercanti "franchi", veneziani, toscani e genovesi tutta una serie di esoneri, privilegi e agevolazioni. Un po' come i contractors americani in Iraq al giorno d'oggi, verrebbe da dire.
Veneziani e turchi si massacrano voluttuosamente per il controllo di Cipro, Candia (Creta) e della Morea (il Peloponneso), ma poi, studiando i saggi di storia economica, si scopre che l'approvvigionamento alimentare di Costantinopoli dipendeva dalla rete di scambi tra grossisti turchi e veneziani. Questi ultimi continuano a costituire con gli altri mercanti e avventurieri europei un intero quartiere di Costantinopoli, quello di Galata (Pera), mentre a Venezia il Fontego dei Turchi accoglie i commercianti islamici (bosniaci, albanesi, turchi, arabi e persiani).

Dice: ma il declino di Venezia non è stata colpa dei turchi? Balle. In estrema sintesi: il declino di Venezia dipende dal declino dell'impero ottomano, il quale a sua volta dipende in parte dal declino delle grandi rotte commerciali via terra tra il Mediterraneo orientale, l'India e la Cina dopo l'apertura delle grandi direttrici transoceaniche. È la globalizzazione, bellezza. E quella non fa sconti per nessuno, nemmeno per la Scuola Grande di San Rocco.

En passant, uno dei pezzi esposti in mostra è un manoscritto medico ispirato all'Avicennae Liber canonis. Un piccolo capolavoro di scienza medica trasmesso dalla cultura islamica alla cultura europea. Al pari di Tolomeo, Ippocrate, Galeno e Aristotele, per fare qualche nome. Senza il tramite dell'erudizione islamica e uno scambio prolungato, irrigato anche dalle relazioni commerciali, la cultura europea non avrebbe, con tutta probabilità, prodotto Tommaso d'Aquino e neppure Marsilio da Padova e neppure il Rinascimento.
Forse sarebbe il caso di ricordarsi ogni tanto delle radici islamiche dell'Europa.

Venezia e l'Islam 828-1797
Palazzo Ducale, Venezia
Fino al 25 Novembre 2007, dalle 9 alle 19.
Ingresso: intero 10€, ridotto 8€.

Per saperne di più:

Sito della mostra

Runciman, Steven. Storia delle Crociate. Torino: Einaudi, 1993. ISBN 88-06-13260-1

Braudel, Fernand. Civiltà e imperi del Mediterraneo all'epoca di Filippo II. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2002.

İnalcik, Halil, and Donald Quataert (eds.). An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-34315-1

"Zang Dar", Nooshafarin

2007-11-09T22:14:00.001Z

Nooshafarin is an Iranian-born pop singer and former actress, currently based in Los Angeles.
This is the video of Zang-é Dar (زنگ در), one of her latest songs. Somehow, I don't expect this video to be broadcast anytime soon on IRIB channels.

I find interesting that one of the icons of the Iranian (oops, Persian) diaspora in the US seems to have assimilated some of the most debatable aspects of the Western culture, including bleach blonde hair, zoom zoom music and ridiculously expensive mansions with perfect landscaping as a status symbol. If this is the model of society alternative to Ahmadinejad, I probably want neither of the two to win. Peroxide capitalism versus enghelab-é islami. Go figure.

October Revolution, 90 years

2007-11-07T22:44:00.000Z

Siberia, you said?

Stand up!

2007-11-04T22:14:00.000Z

When ethnic and cultural stereotypes become so deeply entrenched in the official narrative (including mainstream media) that it is increasingly hard to challenge them, maybe the best thing is to have a few laughs about them, as Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani so brilliantly does here:

Blame those Goddamn kabob-eating, MercedesBenz-driving, camel-riding, 711-owning, slurpy-selling, gas-price-raising, uni-browed, hairy-chested motherfuckers!

Star Academy 4

2007-10-31T22:26:00.000Z

Nawal Zoghbi performs Yama Alou on Star Academy 4, the famous emission broadcast by LBC.

على ناري يا حبيبي
بستنى كده و في قلبي كده
أشواق تملى الدﻨﻴﺎ بحالها

'Ala nari ya habibi
bastanna kedah wa fi 'elbi kedah
ashuaq tmalla al-dunya b'halha

(Libera versione italiana):
Ardo come il fuoco, amore mio,
al pensiero di aspettarti in questo modo, e il mio cuore
è così pieno di desiderio che riempirebbe il mondo intero.

This year, the emission was won by Iraqi contestant Shada Hassoon.

The Axis of good

2007-10-30T22:09:00.000Z

The General Assembly of the United Nations voted on October 30 to lift the trade embargo and the economic sanctions unilaterally imposed by the USA on Cuba for nearly half a century.
For the sixteenth year in a row, the Assembly adopted a favourable resolution, this year with an overwhelming majority of 184 member states on a total of 192.
The Federated States of Micronesia (population: 108,500) abstained, while four member states voted against the resolution: Palau (population: 20,842), Marshall Islands (population: 61,963), the United States of America and Israel. The Axis of Good, I presume.

"Dror yikra"

2007-09-13T17:09:00.000Z

Dror yikra is a poem composed by Dunash ben Labrat (דונש בן לברט in Hebrew, دناش بن لبراط in Arabic), a Jewish Moroccan poet who lived in the tenth century CE.
This is Dana International's version at the Eurofestival 1999.

דְרור יקרא לְבן עם בת
וְינצרכם כְמו בבַת
נְעים שמכם וְלא יָשבַת
שְבו נוחו ביום שבת

Dror yikra le-vem 'im vat
ve-intzorekem kmo ba-vat
ne'im shemkem ve-lo yushbat
shevu ve-nuchu be-yom shabbat

(Libera versione italiana):
Dio chiamerà la libertà per i suoi figli e le sue figlie
e ti proteggerà come la pupilla del suo occhio;
piacevole è il tuo nome e non sarà escluso;
fermati e riposa nel giorno di shabbat.

WonderFul

2007-09-10T20:03:00.000Z

This is an Israeli advertisement of Mc Donald's (מקדונלדס). Before you watch it, you should know that ful (فول) and tahina (طحينة) are Arabic dishes, the former being a hearty mash of fava beans seasoned with olive oil, garlic, coriander and lemon juice, the latter being a sesame paste which is used to season hummus (حمص), a delicious chickpeas dip, and all sorts of salads.

Number fifty-seven, how do you say Mc Donald's in English?

No ful... Tahina!

Neo-nazi gang arrested in Israel

2007-09-09T23:09:00.000Z

Israeli police arrested a gang of eight young men living in Petah Tikva, Israel who are accused of having carried out attacks on homosexuals, Ortohodox Jews and foreign workers. The members of the gang apparently used to film or photograph their violence.

Part of the footage of the attacks was released in the public domain. (This video contains sections with graphic scenes of violence)

Lebanon goes rugby

2007-09-07T19:38:00.000Z

As the 2007 Rugby World Cup kicks off today at the Stade de France, it is time to celebrate the Lebanese rugby national team, even if they're not taking part in the tournament, and the Lebanese Rugby League.
This segment from Al Jazeera English explains how the fortune of rugby in Lebanon owes much to the Lebanese-Australians living around Sydney.

Pyrrhic victory

2007-09-03T19:29:00.000Z

The Lebanese government has declared "the greatest national victory" in its battle against the militant group known as Fath al-Islam, but how devastating is the cost for the victor?
With a death toll of 163 Lebanese soldiers killed in battle and an uncertain number of casualties among the militants and the (mostly) Palestinian civilians living in the refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, there is hardly any room for the triumphalistic tones seen on the media and in Beirut over the last two days.
When the emphasis over the annihilation of a small pocket of "terrorism" is over, there will be time to question where the weapons of Fath al-Islam came from, who is in control of the Palestinian refugees camp in Lebanon (whose registered population amounted to at least 210,000 in 2005), and what status will the people living there (generally in despicable conditions) have in the nebulous assurances of future peace also known as "Road Map".
Maybe, there will also be time to question what would have happened among the Arab (and European) public if Israel, instead of the Lebanese government, had acted in the same way against a pocket of Palestinian militant "resistance" in Gaza or the West Bank.

FPM wins Metn by-election

2007-08-09T20:54:00.000Z

While the by-election of a Sunni seat in Beirut (left vacant after the assassination of Walid Eido) was nearly uncontested, the race in the Northern Matn constituency (for the Maronite seat left vacant after the assassination of Pierre Gemayel) was much tighter.
Camille Khoury, the candidate of the Free Patriotic Movement also supported by local lord Michel Murr and the ethnic Armenian Dashnak/Tashnag party, narrowly won against former president and Phalangist leader Amine Gemayel (also the father of slain MP Pierre), who was supported by the pro-US March 14 coalition.

In my opinion, Khoury's victory does not modify in a substantial way the complex balance of power in the Lebanese political landscape. However, it is difficult to underestimate the weight of Gemayel's symbolic loss in his stronghold district. His defeat also leaves him out of the games for the presidential race which is supposed to take place in September.
The nervousness among the March 14 milieu is best certified by Amine Gemayel's latest rants, when he accused the Tashnag of cheating and called for the ballot in the predominantly ethnic Armenian area of Burj Hammoud to be cancelled. He also said that he had faired better "among Christians", somewhat implying that the Armenians were neither proper Lebanese nor true Christians, sparking obvious outrage in the Armenian community.

This round of by-elections leave the games for the presidential election substantially open, as neither March 14 nor the opposition can claim a clear electoral lead within the Christian (and specifically the Maronite) community, to which the president of the republic must belong to.

"Love Boy", Dana International

2007-07-29T13:06:00.000Z

Love Boy is the new massive hit by Dana International. The song is very cheesy, very catchy, very queer and will be included in her new album הכל זה לטובה ("Everything is going to be fine"), which is going to be released in Israel on August 17.

Miss Arab World 2007

2007-07-28T21:33:00.000Z

Wafa' Yaaqoub Ganahi, a 23-year-old from Bahrain, was chosen as Miss Arab World 2007 after nearly six hours of contest in Cairo. Miss Egypt Shaimma Mansour, 25, was the first runner-up and Miss Lebanon Rula Bahij, 23, became the second runner-up.
Yaaqoub received her crown from Miss Arab World 2006, Iraq's Claudia Hanna.

Partners for peace

2007-07-26T18:46:00.000Z

Former British PM Tony Blair says he's "optimistic" about the peace process in the Middle East and has invited all parts to reconciliation. Now he's speaking like a real good Catholic boy, isn't he?

In case a failure of his efforts resulted in delusional depression, I suggest he could call this Middle East Mental Health hotline:

Where are you?

2007-07-24T22:35:00.001Z

Next stop: this blog, 2008. (Just kidding. Do you see how Western- and Asian-oriented is this iA Web Trendmap 2007 map of the world's "trendy" sites?)

Tribute to Mahmoud Darwish

2007-07-17T22:59:00.000Z

One day I shall become what I want.
One day I shall become a bird,
and wrest my being from my non-being.
The longer my wings will burn,
the closer I am to the truth, risen from the ashes.
I am the dialogue of dreamers; I've shunned my body and self
to finish my first journey towards meaning,
which burnt me, and disappeared.
[...]
O my name: where are we now?
Tell me: What is now? What is tomorrow?
What's time, what's place, what's old, what's new?
One day we shall become what we want.

La Celle Saint-Cloud

2007-07-16T23:15:00.000Z

No, it's not one of those fantastic Burgundy wines.
La Celle Saint-Cloud is a town in the outskirts of Paris (near Versailles, actually) where the last round of talks between the main Lebanese political leaders took place -- and failed, as it was easy to predict. The new French FM Bernard Kouchner was expecting a breakthrough in a deadlock that has been going on for months. Maybe he thought that the kids would obey whenever umm al-hanoun calls to order.
Other than a pledge of an "honor code" in the use of media (whatever that means) and the rejection of "violence as a political tool" (in Lebanon? Oh really?), the meeting in France was a flop. The March 14 parliamentary majority offered a vague "national consensus" only after the election of a new president, while the March 8 opposition insisted that the formation of a national unity cabinet must precede any settlement of the presidential election issue.
In the meanwhile, no candidates have officially been designated or endorsed by the two different camps. Général Michel Aoun stood for president, but he hardly is a consensual figure that can be accepted by the current majority and it's far from sure that Hezbollah will base its political strategy solely upon Aoun's aspirations.
March 14 can't form the quorum (2/3 of parliamentary seats) to convene the parliament and to elect a new president if opposition MPs boycott the sessions. Some majority exponents have declared that the majority will proceed with the election of a successor to incumbent Émile Lahoud even in case of a lack of quorum. Opposition representatives have replied that the March 8 factions (and possibly FPM) could then form a shadow cabinet. Since Lebanon is not Westminster, this is not one of the most encouraging perspectives.

Reporting from Beirut

2007-07-15T19:29:00.000Z

Haifa ... Beirut

Lisa Goldman, an Israeli journalist and the author of a very interesting blog named On the Face, managed to sneak into Lebanon with a third-country passport and to report from Beirut and Bint Jbeil for Israel's Channel 10.
Part of the footage was re-aired on Saturday afternoon by Al-Jazeera, which claimed that Goldman managed to report live from Beirut, while Goldman vehemently denies that.

Goldman's report elicited interest in Israel (where apparently quite a few people were surprised to learn that Beirut is not a slum inhabited by cavemen) and sparked enormous reactions in Lebanon. Furious attacks against "security breaches" and "collaborationist rings" (as if Mossad didn't already have its informers) were balanced by some supportive comments. You can have a sample of the discussion on this Orange Room thread.

My assessment is mixed. On one hand, it's only positive that a report is showing the human side of the story to "the other side" and describing what Lebanon really is, although I am somewhat critical of Goldman's description of the situation in the South. On the other hand, I am worried that those people who came in contact with Goldman (such as hotel staff, taxi drivers, etc.) risk being accused of "conspiracy". Furthermore, I hope this "cool" journalistic feat will not unintentionally result in a curtailing of media freedom in Lebanon.

Snap quiz

2007-07-13T21:44:00.000Z

Israeli Defence Forces bombing Southern Beirut?
Lebanese Army targetting Nahr al-Bared refugee camp?
Fatah al-Islam sending Katyusha rockets over Northern Lebanon?
Choose one.

One year later

2007-07-12T19:42:00.000Z

ﺃﷲ ﻋﻁﻴﻙ ﺍﻠﻌﺎﻔﻴﺔ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺴﻠﻡ

And may you always smile and carry flowers in your hands.

Declare your independence

2007-07-04T16:09:00.000Z

(Lyrics: Björk)

Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you
Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you

[Justice]

Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you
Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you

Start your own currency
Make your own stamp
Protect your language

Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you
Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you

Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you
Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you

Damn colonists
Ignore their patronizing
Tear off their blindfold
Open their eyes

With a flag and a trumpet
Go to the top
Of your highest mountain

And raise your flag [higher higher]
Raise your flag [higher higher]
Raise your flag [higher higher]
Raise your flag [higher higher]
Raise your flag [higher higher]
Raise your flag [higher higher]

Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you
Declare independence
Don't let them do that to you

Raise the flag.

La petizione per mettere un libro all'indice

2007-07-01T20:42:00.000Z

Senza entrare nel merito delle accuse specifiche rivolte nell'ultimo libro di Magdi Allam a singoli colleghi noti a chiunque si interessi di questioni relative al Medio Oriente e all'Islam non solo come ricercatori seri e qualificati, ma persino come persone coinvolte in svariate forme di impegno civile, intendiamo protestare fermamente davanti alla sfrontatezza di chi afferma che le università italiane "pullulano" di docenti "collusi con un'ideologia di morte profondamente ostile ai valori e ai principi della civiltà occidentale e all'essenza stessa della nostra umanità". Ci pare davvero eccessivo che quanti, in sede di dibattito scientifico e civico, esprimono posizioni differenti da una pretesa unica “verità interpretativa” divengano automaticamente estranei a universali valori di civiltà o, addirittura, alieni dalla comune umanità. Una tale impostazione non solo è lontanissima dallo spirito e dai valori di una democrazia costituzionale – e molto più in linea con ideologie totalitarie - ma si pone anche a siderale distanza dal senso critico che sta alla base della ricerca storica e scientifica e dalla stessa, difficile ma essenziale, missione dell'informazione giornalistica in una società plurale. Tutto ciò rischia di contribuire, purtroppo, al preoccupante imbarbarimento dell'informazione in un paese come il nostro che già si trova a pagare un prezzo troppo alto alle varie forme di partigianeria che lo travagliano. Già abbiamo visto sentenze discutibili coinvolgere colleghi noti per la loro serietà ed equilibrio nell'affrontare il tema dell'Islam, con addirittura condanne penali che prevedono la pena detentiva. Il giornalismo rischia di cadere in una logica da tifo calcistico piuttosto che analitica e razionale, soprattutto quando si toccano temi delicati e sensibili come quelli religiosi e, in particolare, relativi all'Islam ed alle questioni legate all'area medio-orientale. La libertà di ricerca ne paga il prezzo, schiacciata tra opposti estremismi interpretativi, e non solo. Ci auguriamo che tali tendenze trovino presto voci più equilibrate e meno partigiane a contrastarle, e che queste trovino a loro volta ascolto nel mondo dell'informazione, in quello politico, in quello culturale e in quello religioso.

What is a good journalist?

2007-06-29T20:06:00.000Z

Eventually, a female journalist called Mika Brzezinski is brave enough to say that "celebrity" gossip should not be in the headlines. She was also brave enough to challenge her pathetic, patronizing male colleagues. This woman earned my respect.

Siamo ovunque, arrendetevi

2007-06-17T19:48:00.000Z

(Lyrics: Daniele Silvestri)

Vado di fretta,
vado di fretta,
non ho più tempo
datemi retta,
Gino mi aspetta
dentro un'Alfetta
piena di muffa.

Vado di corsa,
vado a una festa
piena di gente
molto entusiasta,
ora non posso,
vado di prescia,
forse ritorno
ma non è una promessa...

Vado di fretta,
vado di corsa,
quello che serve è tutto dentro alla borsa
e per adesso mi basta...

Maria sei sempre mia,
sei l'unica... possibile...
Ma di Gino io mi fido un po' di più,
lui mi conquista
e mi rilassa,
Gino ha i miei stessi punti di vista
e per adesso mi basta.

Ehi, ehi, sono gay, sono gay...
Non sono gay, no, non sono gay...
Sono gay, sono come vuoi,
oggi sono lui,
da domani poi se lo vuoi
sarò lei,
sarò solo lei.
Mi dirai: come fai, come mai, non lo sai cosa sei,
sei diverso da noi.
Ma che vuoi, sono gay fatti miei,
che disturbo ne hai,
quale enorme disagio ne trai?
Sono gay, sono gay, sì sono gay
No, non sono gay, ma vorrei...
Ma lo sai quanti geni ed eroi sono gay... Non lo sai?
O non vuoi ricordare,
preferisci pensare
che un gay sia una sorta di errore,
una cosa immorale
o nel caso migliore
un giullare, un fenomeno da baraccone
e lo tollererai solo in quanto eccezione,
e lo tollererai solo in televisione;
lo chiamano gay
e tu pensi "ricchione".

Maria sei sempre mia,
sei l'unica... possibile...
Ma di Gino io mi fido un po' di più,
lui mi conquista
e mi rilassa,
Gino ha i miei stessi punti di vista
e per adesso mi basta...

UN report slams US, Israel, Palestinian leadership

2007-06-15T06:09:00.000Z

A secret end-of-mission report written by UN special envoy Alvaro De Soto was published by the Guardian. The report, which was probably supposed to remain confidential, contains a devastating account of misconceptions, wrong evaluations and failed diplomacy that transformed the Quartet (US, UN, European Union and Russia) from a negotiation-promoting group into an all-imposing body. De Soto is particularly critical about the "devastating consequences" of the decision to freeze international funding to the Palestinian Authority after the victory of Hamas in the last general election. That caused, according to De Soto, a "precipitous decline of the standard of living of Palestinians". As if it was high earlier, I may add.
While De Soto does not condone the failures of the Palestinian leadership and its very poor record in curbing violence, he also states:

"Israeli actions,whether this is intended or not, seem frequently perversely designed to encourage the continued action by Palestinian militants."

Here you can find the full text of the De Soto report. Recommended reading.

Stomach bugs

2007-06-08T23:31:00.000Z

US President George W Bush suffered from stomach ailment on Friday (possibly after sipping a "non-alcoholic" beer) and missed the morning sessions at the G8 talks in Heiligendamm, Germany. However, White House counselor Dan Bartlett was keen to inform the media that President Bush and French newly-elected President Nicolas Sarkozy had an informal meeting of about one hour at Bush's suite.
Bartlett added that the two discussed a myriad of issues, including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, trade and missile defense.
All these issues in one hour? What a joke. I guess if they also had time to talk about Paris Hilton.

Le mec qui m'a piqué...

2007-05-06T23:42:00.000Z

Rien à ajouter, malheureusement.

Qana, April 18... Do not forget

2007-04-18T23:41:00.000Z

At 12:05 on April 18, 1996, Israeli artillery hit a UN compound in the village of Qana, in Southern Lebanon. Around 800 Lebanese civilians had taken refuge there to escape the fighting, of whom 106 were killed and around 116 others injured.

The United Nations appointed Major-General Franklin Van Kappen to investigate the incident. As you can read in this letter to the UN Secretary-General, his findings were:

"(a) The distribution of impacts at Qana shows two distinct concentrations, whose mean points of impact are about 140 metres apart. If the guns were converged, as stated by the Israeli forces, there should have been only one main point of impact.

(b) The pattern of impacts is inconsistent with a normal overshooting of the declared target (the mortar site) by a few rounds, as suggested by the Israeli forces.

(c) During the shelling, there was a perceptible shift in the weight of fire from the mortar site to the United Nations compound.

(d) The distribution of point impact detonations and air bursts makes it improbable that impact fuses and proximity fuses were employed in random order, as stated by the Israeli forces.

(e) There were no impacts in the second target area which the Israeli forces claim to have shelled.

(f) Contrary to repeated denials, two Israeli helicopters and a remotely piloted vehicle were present in the Qana area at the time of the shelling.

While the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, it is unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors."

The Lebanese civil war, 32 years on

2007-04-13T02:31:00.000Z

This translation is going to be revised and corrected soon. Please check later.

ﻜﺎﻥ ﺒﻠﺩ ﺍﻻﺭﺯ ﻭ ﺍﻠﻠﻴﻤﻭﻥ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺯﻴﺘﻭﻥ
ﻜﺎﻥ ﺒﻠﺩ ﺍﻠﺩﻡ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺤﺭﺏ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻠﻁﻭﺍﻴﻑ ﻭ ﺍﻠﻌﻴﻝ
ﻜﺎﻥ ﺒﻠﺩ ﺍﻟﻟﻲ ﺒﺘﺩﺒﺢ ﻭﻻﺩﻩ ﻭ ﺒﻨﺎﺘﻪ
ﻜﺎﻨﻭﺍ ﺭﺠﺎﻝ ﻭ ﻨﺴﻭﺍﻥ ﺍﻟﻟﻲ ﻤﺎ ﺒﻴﻘﺸﻌﻭﺍ
ﻭ ﺒﻴﺤﻜﻭﺍ ﻉ ﺼﻭﺕ ﻭﺍﻁﻲ
ﻭ ﺒﻴﻁﻔﻭﺍ ﺍﻟﻀﻭ
ﻭ ﺒﻴﺸﺭﺤﻭﺍ ﺒﺎﻟﺴﻜﻭﺕ ﻜﻝ ﺭﺼﺎﺹ
ﻭ ﻜﻝ ﺠﺜﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻠﻁﺭﻴﻕ

ﻨﺤﻥ... ﺃﻨﺘﻡ... ﻫﻡ... ﺸﻭ ﻴﻌﻨﻲ ﻨﺤﻥ؟
ﻠﻨﺎ ﺍﻠﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻥ ﻨﻘﻭﻝ
ﺍﻨﻭ ﺍﻠﻌﻴﻭﻥ ﺒﻴﺸﻔﻭﺍ
ﻭ ﺍﻻﺫﻥ ﺒﻴﺘﺴﻤﻊ
ﻭ ﺍﻠﻔﻡ ﺒﺘﺤﻜﻲ
ﻭ ﺍﻠﻌﻘﻝ ﺒﻴﺘﺎﻤﻝ
ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻠﻤﺭﺍﺕ ﺒﻴﺸﺠﺏ ﻭ ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻠﻤﺭﺍﺕ ﺒﻴﻐﻔﺭ
ﺒﺴﻴﻁﴼ ﺒﻴﻔﻜﺭ

ﻔﻜﺭ
ﻗﺒﻠﻤﺎ ﺘﻁﻠﻕ ﺍﻠﻨﺎﺭ
ﻔﻜﺭ
ﻗﺒﻠﻤﺎ ﺘﻘﻭﻝ ﻭ ﺘﺤﻜﻡ
ﻓﻜﺭ ﺍﻨﻭ ﺍﻠﻘﺭﺍﺭ ﻔﻴﻙ
ﺨﻠﻴﻙ ﻠﺤﻅﺔ
ﺨﻠﻴﻙ ﻠﺤﻅﺔ ﺒﺱ
ﻤﻊ ﺭﺍﺴﻙ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺇﻴﺩﻴﻙ

ﻜﺎﻨﻭﺍ ﺸﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻠﻠﻲ ﻤﺎﺘﻭﺍ
ﺒﺱ ﻋﺭﻓﻭﺍ ﺍﻨﻭ ﻠﻥ ﻜﻨﺎ ﻨﺴﻴﻨﺎ ﺍﻓﻜﺎﺭﻫﻡ ﻭ ﺍﺤﻼﻤﻫﻡ
ﺍﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﻤﺜﻝ ﻤﻌﺠﺯﺍﺕ
ﺍﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﺍﻠﺘﺤﺭﻴﺭ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺤﻭﺍﺭ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺴﻭﻴﺔ
ﻀﺩ ﺍﻠﻔﺴﺎﺩ ﻭ ﺍﻠﻁﻐﻴﺎﻥ ﻭ ﺍﻻﺤﺘﻼﻝ
ﻷﺠﻝ ﺍﻠﻤﻅﻠﻭﻤﻴﻥ
ﻷﺠﻝ ﺍﻠﻤﺤﺭﻭﻤﻴﻥ
ﻀﺩ ﺍﻠﻠﻲ ﺒﻴﺨﺒﻭﺍ ﻀﻤﻴﺭﻫﻡ ﺘﺤﺕ ﺍﻹﺴﻤﻨﺕ

ﻜﺎﻨﻭﺍ ﺭﺠﺎﻝ ﻭ ﻨﺴﻭﺍﻥ ﺍﻟﻟﻲ ﻗﺎﻭﻤﻭﺍ
ﺤﺘﻰ ﺍﺫﺍ ﺍﻨﻴﻬﺩﻤﺕ ﻜﻝ ﺸﻲ
ﻻﻨﻭ ﺸﻭ ﻴﻌﻨﻲ ﺍﻠﺤﻴﺎﺓ
ﺍﺫﺍ ﺒﺘﺨﺎﻑ ﻤﻥ ﻗﻨﺒﻠﺔ ﺍﻭ ﺴﻼﺡ؟
ﺒﻴﺨﻠﺼﻭﺍ ﺍﻠﻨﺎﺱ
ﺒﻴﺨﻠﺼﻭﺍ ﺍﻠﺠﻴﻭﺵ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺤﺭﻭﺏ
ﻤﺎ ﺒﻴﺨﻠﺹ ﺍﻹﻗﺘﻨﺎﻉ
ﺍﻨﻭ ﺍﻠﻌﺩﺍﻠﺔ ﻭ ﺍﻠﺴﻼﻡ ﻭ ﺍﻠﻜﺭﺍﻤﺔ ﻤﺵ ﺃﻭﻫﺎﻡ

ﻔﻜﺭ
ﻗﺒﻠﻤﺎ ﺘﻁﻠﻕ ﺍﻠﻨﺎﺭ
ﻔﻜﺭ
ﻗﺒﻠﻤﺎ ﺘﻘﻭﻝ ﻭ ﺘﺤﻜﻡ
ﻓﻜﺭ ﺍﻨﻭ ﺍﻠﻘﺭﺍﺭ ﻔﻴﻙ
ﺨﻠﻴﻙ ﻠﺤﻅﺔ
ﺨﻠﻴﻙ ﻠﺤﻅﺔ ﺒﺱ

ﻤﻊ ﺭﺍﺴﻙ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺇﻴﺩﻴﻙ

(Based upon the lyrics of "Pensa" by Fabrizio Moro)

The notorious van of Ain El Rommaneh, 1975-2002.

Barbir bridge, 1989-2002.

You can see many more images like these ones in Lebanon Shot Twice by Zaven Kouyoumdjian and Hayat Karanouh, a beautiful book full of stories of life and death that will make you shiver, cry, remember... or simply think.

Projet à la libanaise

2007-04-10T17:04:00.000Z

Le Syrien, avez-vous dit?

"Ana Mich Ilik", Aks'ser

2007-03-31T19:11:00.000Z

La cuisine libanaise de Skylark (4)

2007-03-18T17:56:00.000Z

Le mouloukhiyeh est un pot-au-feu préparé avec de feuilles de mauve, lesquelles donnent une consistance un quelque peu visqueuse. Vous pouvez de toute manière utiliser les épinards ou la bette.

Mouloukhiyeh (ﺍﻠﻤﻠﻭﺨﻴﺔ)

The Blue Note, 11 janvier 2007.

Pour 6 personnes:
500 g de feuilles de mauve (ou bien épinards)
1500 g de poulet
600 g de jarrets de bœuf (ou d’agneau) avec os
5 oignons
100 g de coriandre verte
30 g d’ail
30 g d’huile d’olive vierge extra
1 citron
Une pincée de sel
Une pincée de poivre noir
400 g de riz
2 pain arabes (ou pain pita)
1 verre de vinaigre

Faire bouillir les jarrets de bœuf (ou d’agneau) avec les os dans deux litres d’eau salée pendant trois heures environs, en ayant soin de bien écumer le bouillon en cours de cuisson.
A part, faire bouillir le poulet dans deux litres d’eau salée, en ayant soin d’écumer le bouillon.
Laver soigneusement et hacher les feuilles. (Si vous utilisez la mouloukiyeh, vous devez la laver la vieille, l’effeuiller et l’essuyer avec un linge, ensuite vous en devez faire des paquets que l’on hache aussi finement que possible).
Faire griller au four trois oignons et le piler dans un mortier avec l’ail.
Dans une poêle, chauffer l’huile et y faire rissoler pendant trois minutes les oignons et l’ail, ainsi que la coriandre.
Mélanger le bouillon de viande et de poulet. Ajouter le sel et le poivre. Amener le bouillon à ébullition, et y ajouter le mélange d’oignons, ail et coriandre, les feuilles hachées et ensuite le jus de citron et faire bouillir trois minutes.
Servir chaud. On accompagne ce plat avec du riz à l’eau (ou à l’étuvée), de morceaux de pain grillés au four et de morceaux de viande.
On garnit avec une vinaigrette préparée en macérant deux oignons finement hachés dans le vinaigre.

Traditionnellement, on serve ce plat dans l’assiette creuse individuelle, où on dispose quelques morceaux de pain grillé, une couche de riz, ensuite les morceaux de viande et au-dessus le bouillon de feuilles à volonté. On ajoute en haut la sauce de vinaigre et oignons.

Le Liban aujourd'hui - Venice meeting on Lebanon

2007-03-12T00:51:00.000Z

An academic congress about Lebanon took place at the Ateneo Veneto in Venice on Friday 9 and Saturday 10. Among the discussants were Joseph Maila, Melhem Chaoul, Ahmad Beydoun, Ziad Mejed, Daniel Meier, Roger Assaf, Elias Khoury and Hoda Barakat.

Friday 9
Joseph Maila: Le Liban dans les enjeux internationaux
Giulio Pecora: Lebanon and Information in the Mediterranean
Melhem Chaoul: Du politique au militaire. Maronisme et chiisme
Ahmad Beydoun: Le Liban vu du Sud-Liban : quelles réformes s’imposent?
Ziad Majed: Le Printemps de Beyrouth
Daniel Meier: Les liens libano-palestiniens : un enjeu de l’identité nationale libanaise
Video Beirut, l’estate dei cedri by Carmen Lasorella

Saturday 10
Mohamad Soueid: Cinema and Lebanon
Roger Assaf: Théâtre et politique au Liban
Elias Khoury: Lebanese Novel and Civil War
Short Youm attanein by Talal Khoury
Interview with Elias Khoury and Hoda Barakat
Giorgia De Parolis: Les relations Italie - Liban
Rita Zanutel: Il progetto del Coordinamento Nazionale Enti Locali per la Pace e i Diritti Umani
Antonio Ferrari : Lebanon, Italy and Europe
Video Cinemasoumoud

Women (who) make the difference

2007-03-08T15:57:00.000Z

Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian politician. Elected to the country's Parliament on an anti-corruption platform, Betancourt was the candidate of Partido Verde Oxígeno in the 2002 presidential election. She was kidnapped during the election campaign while she was on her way to the demilitarized buffer zone of San Vicente del Caguán to negotiate a truce between the government troops and the guerrilla forces of FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del pueblo).
Betancourt has been held as hostage since that day: 1839 days in captivity.

I celebrate her strength and her civil commitment. This is my way to mark the International Women's Day. I am not really at ease with this day. I find it somewhat sexist, as if women needed to be lulled once a year with flowers (smelling yellow mimosas in Italy), chocolate boxes and empty rhetorics. Instead, they are a part (actually, the majority) of humankind that has to fight every single day of the year to get all what they deserve: respect, equal rights, and equal chances as those of their male counterparts.
I firmly believe that the advancement of women's conditions, as well as a bigger political, social and cultural awareness of the issue of violence against women and girls should be at the top of the agenda all year round, not just today.

By the way: those packs of young women in Western Europe who pretend to "celebrate" March 8 with booze and male striptease shows are clearly missing the point of the day and sadly emulating the worst of Western masculine culture.

Compagni un caz

2007-03-07T19:11:00.000Z

What's left of the left, Marco Travaglio asks today on L'Unità, once the daily newspaper of Italy's Communist Party.

La cuisine libanaise de Skylark (3)

2007-03-03T17:56:00.000Z

La recette de cette semaine s’appelle moghrabiyeh. C’est un robuste plat hivernal préparé avec des boulettes de semoule de blé dur que, au Liban, on achète dans les boulangeries. En manque de moghrabiyeh, vous pouvez utiliser du couscous gros ou de la fregula (un ingrédient de la cuisine sarde en vente dans les hypermarchés).

Moghrabiyeh (ﺃﻠﻣﻐﺮﺒﻴﺔ)

Pour 6 personnes:
1000 g de boulettes de moghrabiyeh
1500 g de viande de poulet
600 g de jarrets de bœuf (ou d’agneau) avec os
400 g de petits oignons
200 g verre de pois chiche trempés
100 g de beurre
15 g de cannelle
15 g de cumin en poudre
une pincée de sel
une pincée de poivre noir
une pincée de poivre blanc

Faire bouillir dans un litre et demi de court-bouillon les jarrets de bœuf (ou d’agneau, si vous préférez un goût assez plus rustique) coupés en gros morceaux ainsi que les os. Ecumer soigneusement plusieurs fois en cours de cuisson.
Faire cuire à part les pois chiche précédemment trempés quelques douze heures.
Dans une autre casserole, faire bouillir le poulet entier dans un court-bouillon jusqu’à complète cuisson en ayant soin d’écumer au cours de la cuisson.
Faire bouillir dans le bouillon de viande les oignons entiers, épluchés.
Mettre dans un grand plat allant au feu (ou au four) les boulettes de moghrabiyeh (ou bien le couscous ou la fregula) avec le beurre. Les faire dorer en remuant fréquemment. Ajouter petit à petit le bouillon de poulet et les épices, en prenant garde de ne pas trop faire cuire (autrement les boulettes colleraient les unes aux autres).
Ajouter les oignons, le pois chiche, le sel et le poivre blanc et noir, les morceaux de viande et de poulet.
Servir très chaud.

Shakira! Shakira!

2007-02-27T23:47:00.000Z

Tonight I enjoyed Shakira performing live at Datchforum hall near Milan during her Oral Fixation European Tour. She was amazing.

La présidentielle 2007 et l'Islam

2007-02-26T22:44:00.000Z

What is the role of Islam in the French presidential election? Libération addresses this topic in an interview with Franck Frégosi entitled « Sur l’islam, une image brouillée ».
This is an excerpt:

Dans la mesure où il cherche à ramener dans le giron de l'UMP les électeurs proches du FN, Sarkozy recycle les vieux clichés sur la polygamie, l'excision, les moutons égorgés dans la baignoire, comme il l'a fait sur TF1 le 5 février. Or l'amélioration des conditions de l'abattage rituel fait partie de son bilan de ministre de l'Intérieur. D'un côté, il dit à l'électorat frontiste : «Je vous ai compris.» De l'autre, il ne peut s'empêcher de voir dans la religion un vecteur de contrôle social des quartiers, un élément pacificateur. Il en résulte une image brouillée.

[...]

Dans sa tentative de reconquête du pouvoir, le PS, jadis accusé de différentialisme par la gauche laïciste, ne peut pas se permettre d'afficher un discours trop mou sur l'islam. Du coup, il adopte un discours ultralaïque. Lors d'un débat participatif, Ségolène Royal a déclaré : «Mon combat pour la laïcité, je le mène au nom de toutes les femmes voilées, excisées, mutilées, violées...» Assimiler le voile et le viol, c'est un sacré raccourci. En s'adossant à la laïcité, le PS tente en même temps de redorer son blason auprès d'un électorat et d'un lobby laïque de plus en plus intransigeant vis-à-vis de l'islam. Tous ces propos s'inscrivent dans une volonté de récupérer sur le terrain une forme d'ultralaïcité perdue. Le PS a aussi dressé un réquisitoire contre la politique du ministre-candidat avec des arguments éculés.

Another interesting piece is a study of the electoral strategy of Nicolas Sarkozy (the candidate of moderate right-wing UMP) to attract more Muslim voters towards his side. The analysis is entitled Sarkozy ou la grand récup' des voix de l'islam.
This is another interesting excerpt:

Depuis le début de l'année, place Beauvau, les communautés se succèdent en rang serré. Africains, musulmans, Libanais ont tour à tour été accueillis par le ministre de l'Intérieur. «Il les reçoit en catimini sans la presse», confie un haut fonctionnaire de la maison. «Il y a 50 000 Franco-Libanais. Ce sont des gens qui votent», souligne l'organisateur de ces soirées, Abderrahmane Dahmane. Un effort d'autant plus nécessaire, selon lui, que ces électeurs «ont mal compris» le soutien apporté par Sarkozy à Israël en pleine guerre contre le Liban, cet été.

La cuisine libanaise de Skylark (2)

2007-02-24T18:19:00.000Z

Cette semaine je vous propose des brochettes de poulet piquantes et très appétissantes, connues avec le nom de shish taouk, un mot qui dérive du turc şiş tavuk (à la lettre, poulet sur le gril).
Au Liban, on mange ces morceaux de poulet en guise de sandwich, enroulés dans un pain pita garni avec de tomates, pommes frites, cornichons et sauce aïoli. Mais je vous conseille cette recette come plat de résistance pour un barbecue familial ou avec vos amis.
Vous aurez un succès bœuf !

Shish taouk (ﺸﻴﺶ ﻂﺎﻮﻚ)

Pour 8 personnes:
1200 g de viande de poitrine de poulet
deux pots de yaourt naturel
trois gousses d’ail
20 g d’huile d’olive vierge extra
1 citron
15 g de piment
15 g de curry
une pincée de sel
une pincée de poivre noir

Couper la viande de poitrine de poulet en morceaux réguliers d’environ 3 cm de côté.
Dans une boule, mettre le yaourt, l’huile d’olive, les épices, l’ail écrasé en purée, le jus de citron et enfin le sel et le poivre.
Bien mélanger, ajouter les morceaux de poulet et bien remuer.
Laisser la viande dans cette marinade pour six à huit heures.
Embrocher les cubes de poulet et cuisez sur le gril.

Vous pouvez aussi faire sauter les morceaux à la poêle avec une cuillerée d’huile, en ajoutant un demi-verre de vin blanc en fin de cuisson.

Medz Yeghern

2007-02-22T22:40:00.000Z

In the spring of 1915, during the First World War which saw the Russian and the Ottoman Empire pitted against each other, a massive ethnic cleansing of Armenian communities took place in Eastern Anatolia. This event is often referred to as the "Armenian Genocide" or Մեծ Եղեռն (Medz Yeghern, or "Great Calamity") in Armenian.
While a detailed historical reconstruction of this period has proved to be extremely controversial, it is fair to say that several hundred thousands of ethnic Armenians were forcefully evicted from their original areas of settlement and that a large share of them perished during the "evacuation" marches towards the Syrian desertic area near the town of Deir ez-Zor, on the banks of the Euphrates river. Many of the survivors found a shelter in Aleppo, Damascus and the eastern outksirts of Beirut, where Armenian communities have been thriving until our days.

On February 22, 1922, His Holiness Sahak II, the Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, send a letter to the scattered Armenians of Syria and Lebanon. This is the French translation of its opening:

Mes salutations aux Arméniens de Cilicie que la déportation a dispersés de par le monde. Mes salutations à tous ceux qui souffrent de la part de leur Patriarche Sahak affligé de douleurs, Catholicos de la Maison de Cilicie, autrefois Grande, mais aujourd’hui détruite.
Selon l’usage cette lettre aurait dû revêtir la forme d’une encyclique, avec une entête pourpre et ornée. Mais je ne vous écris ni de Hromkla ni de Sis, mais de Damas, ville où furent exilés nos princes honorables et leurs fils et surtout Saint Vahan de Goghten auquel des chants furent dédiés ; de Damas où il n’y a ni Siège pontifical ni sceptre, ni chancellerie pontificale ni chancelier, ni sceau, ni encre pourpre, [de Damas] où tout est noir.
Donc sans chercher la forme et le cachet répondez-moi, mes chers enfants, dites-moi où vous êtes afin que je puisse suivre les traces de votre chemin de croix, sinon pour vous consoler matériellement, du moins pour alléger votre joug et le poids que vous écrase, en partageant vos douleurs…

The memorial chapel in Antelias, near Beirut.

L'ennesimo suicidio della sinistra italiana

2007-02-21T22:39:00.000Z

Si è consumato nel giorno delle Ceneri, con un tempismo a dir poco singolare, l'ennesimo episodio di suicidio politico della sinistra italiana: il governo non è riuscito ad ottenere la maggioranza dei voti in Senato su una mozione relativa alla missione militare italiana in Afghanistan e il primo ministro Romano Prodi ha deciso di rassegnare le dimissioni. Non che si sia trattato di un fulmine a cielo sereno. Senza una linea chiara in materia di politica economica, senza una linea chiara in materia di politica internazionale, senza una linea chiara in materia di diritti civili, le divergenze interne alla coalizione di maggioranza (soprattutto tra i cosiddetti "riformisti" e la cosiddetta "sinistra radicale") si erano fatte sempre più insostenibili. Le quadrature del cerchio non sempre sono possibili, soprattutto se i cerchi da quadrare sono molti. Troppi, forse.
Intanto Berlusconi, Feltri e compagnia brindano.
Portatemi le ceneri.

Slave Britain, Slave Lebanon

2007-02-20T13:27:00.000Z

As the United Kingdom prepares to commemorate two hundred years since the abolition of the slave trade, an exhibition at St Paul's Cathedral in London shows how human trafficking is a devastasting reality for thousands of human beings even today.
On the exhibition website you can see a gallery of Karen Robinson's portraits and the related horrific tales of women forced into sex trade or employed as housemaids in conditions close to slavery.

I wonder if a similar exhibition could take place in Lebanon. I guess a few Eritrean and Srilankan maids and some Ukrainian sex workers could tell similar stories, if only they could. But maybe it's more important to discuss how many Sunni and Shi'a ministers there will be in the future cabinet.

To Mai Ghoussoub

2007-02-19T18:43:00.000Z

What has she achieved in her voluntary exile, and what would have become of her if she had stayed?
Would she have learnt to forgive, like Umm Ali, or harboured revenge, like Leila's grandmother?
And who was Said? A gentle grocery boy or a blood-thirsty torturer who terrorised entire neighbourhoods?
[...]
Mai Ghoussoub reminds us that Beirut is everywhere.

Lebanese writer, publisher and artist Mai Ghoussoub died in London on Sunday. Born and brought up in Beirut, Ghoussoub studied French literature at the Lebanese University and at the American University of Beirut. She moved to Paris during the Lebanese civil war and finally settled in London in 1979 where she later studied sculpture at Morley College.

In London she established the Saqi Books publishing house, which has released some of the most interesting and brilliant books about contemporary Lebanon. Most of these works cover unconventional topics such as social change and urban transformation (Transit: Beirut: New Writings and Images, edited by Malu Halasa and Roseanne Khalaf), culture and society, politics (Hizbullah. The Story from Within, written by Na'im Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah), sexuality and gender issues.

Ghoussoub herself was the author of Leaving Beirut: Women and the Wars Within and the co-editor (with Emma Sinclair-Webb) of Imagined Masculinities. Male Identity and Culture in the Modern Middle East. This excellent book explores how the notion of maleness is constructed and communicated in Middle Eastern societies and how males are "acting, reacting and adapting" to a changing pattern of images and symbols of virility and masculine responsibility. The part on Islamic sexual politics and that on male aggressivity and attitudes to weaponry is a must-read.

La cuisine libanaise de Skylark

2007-02-17T11:36:00.000Z

Je frappe les trois coups pour le début de ma nouvelle rubrique de cuisine libanaise, qui sera écrite presque entièrement en français. (You don’t speak French? Feel free to learn it.) Cette rubrique voudrait rendre hommage à une des cuisines les plus prestigieuses et appréciées du monde. La cuisine, c’est un véritable témoignage d’amour. Le choix des ingrédients, l’apprentissage des techniques, le soin dans la présentation ne sont pas suffisants. Pour faire une cuisine valable, il faut aimer cuisiner. Ou plutôt, il faut aimer.

Nous donc commençons aujourd’hui avec deux recettes de salades bien connues et assez faciles à préparer : le tabboule et le fattush. Ces mets peuvent être des excellents plats de résistance, savoureux et rafraîchissants, dans un repas estival, mais ils sont plus souvent dégustés parmi les hors-d’œuvre (mezzés) chauds et froids.

Tabboule (ﺘﺒﻭﻟﻪ)

Pour 8 personnes:
850 g de persil à petites feuilles
150 g de menthe verte fraîche
400 g de tomates assez mûres
1 gros oignon blanc
2 citrons moyens
100 g d’huile d’olive vierge extra
150 g de bulghur (blé concassé, en vente dans les hypermarchés et les magasins spécialisés)
une pincée de sel
une pincée de poivre noir
deux laitues ou un chou blanc et tendre (ou du chou frisé).

Mouiller le blé concassé dans un peu d’eau chaude (au moins trois heures) ou le plonger deux minutes dans l’eau bouillante. Essorer très bien le blé pour le débarrasser de son eau.
Effeuiller les branches de persil et de menthe, les laver soigneusement à l’eau courante et les hacher assez finement.
Eplucher, épépiner et couper les tomates en petits cubes et hacher très finement l’oignon.
Dans une boule, mettre le persil et la menthe hachés, le blé concassé, les tomates, l’oignon haché et bien mélanger le tout.
Préparer une citronette avec le jus de citron, l’huile d’olive, le sel et le poivre et verser sur la salade. Goûter pour vérifier l’assaisonnement.
Servir à côté du plat des feuilles de laitues ou de chou (malfouf).

Fattush (ﻓﺘﻭﺵ)

Pour 8 personnes:
deux laitues
200 g de tomates assez mures
100 g de persil ou de coriandre
50 g de menthe verte fraîche
10 g de menthe sèche en poudre
100 g de concombres
2 oignons blancs
100 g de pourpier (Portulaca oleracea) ou de valérianelle
2 poivrons doux
50 g d’huile d’olive vierge extra
15 g de sumac en poudre (en vente dans les magasins spécialisés)
une pincée de sel
deux cuillerées à soupe de vinaigre rouge
un pain pita

Effeuiller les branches de persil, de menthe et de pourpier, les laver soigneusement à l’eau courante et les hacher assez grossement.
Eplucher les concombres et les couper en rondelles fines. Couper les poivrons, les oignons et les laitues en morceaux. Eplucher, épépiner et couper les tomates en petits cubes.
Couper le pain en morceaux de forme carrée et les griller au four jusqu’à obtenir une couleur dorée. On peut aussi les frire à la poêle, mais je trouve que la recette devient ainsi un peu trop lourde.
Dans une boule, mettre ensemble tous les légumes et les morceaux de pain croustillant, les remuer, ajouter le vinaigre, le sumac, la menthe sèche, le sel et en dernier l’huile. Bien mélanger à nouveau et goûter pour vérifier l’assaisonnement.
En saison, on peut aussi ajouter des herbes aromatiques fraîches (thym, marjolaine) ou bien des fleurs de capucine (Tropeolum majus) qui donnent une véritable touche de couleur.

Sahtayn! (Bon appétit !)

The ineffable lyrics of February 14

2007-02-15T21:22:00.000Z

The second anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former PM Rafiq al-Hariri was commemorated at a huge rally in Martyrs Square, Beirut which was attended by huge crowds. Despite the twin blasts on Tuesday morning and weeks of exacerbated tensions, no significant accidents were reported during or immediately after the rally. This was partly due to the repeated requests of many political and sectarian leaders to their supporters to restrain from acts of violence and partly to the twin barbed-wire fence interposed between the sector of square where the manifestation was staged and the sector of square where the opposition is still staging its sleep-in tent camp.

This is part of what Samir Ja'ja' said during the rally, as reported on al-Mustaqbal:

ﻠﻥ ﻨﻘﺒﻝ ﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﻠﻴﻭﻡ ﺒﺴﻼﺡ ﺨﺎﺭﺝ ﺍﻠﺠﻴﺵ ﺍﻠﻠﺒﻨﺎﻨﻲ

ﺍﻠﺠﻴﺵ ﺍﻠﻠﺒﻨﺎﻨﻲ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﺍﻠﺤﻜﻤﺔ ﺍﻠﻠﺒﻨﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻫﻲ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﺍﻠﺸﻌﺏ ﺍﻠﻠﺒﻨﺎﻨﻲ ﺒﺄﻜﻤﻠﻪ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﺸﻬﺩﺍﺀ ﻋﻴﻥ ﻋﻠﻕ ﻭ ﺃﻫﻝ ﺍﻠﻤﺘﻥ ﺍﻠﺸﻤﺎﻠﻲ ﻫﻡ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﺭﻔﻴﻕ ﺍﻠﺤﺭﻴﺭﻱ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﺒﺸﻴﺭ ﺍﻠﺠﻤﻴﻝ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﻜﻤﺎﻝ ﺠﻨﺒﻼﻁ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ
ﺴﻤﻴﺭ ﻗﺼﻴﺭ ﺠﻭﺭﺝ ﺤﺎﻭﻱ ﺠﺒﺭﺍﻥ ﺍﻠﺘﻭﻴﻨﻲ ﻭ ﺒﻴﺎﺭ ﺍﻠﺠﻤﻴﻝ ﻫﻡ ﺍﻠﻤﻘﺎﻭﻤﺔ

We will not accept after today weapons outside of the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese army is the resistence.
The Lebanese government is the resistence.
The Lebanese people in its entirety is the resistence.
The martyrs of 'Ayn 'Alaq and the people of Northern Metn, they are the resistence.
Rafiq al-Hariri, he is the resistence.
Bashir Gemayel, he is the resistence.
Kamal Jumblatt, he is the resistence.
Samir Kassir, Georges Hawi, Gebran Tueni and Pierre Gemayel, they are the resistence.

The nerve of this person. He defines pro-Israeli wartime leader Bashir Gemayel as a hero of the resistence, a term usually associated with the Hezbollah guerrilla against Israeli occupation troops in Southern Lebanon.

Here you have part of what Walid Jumblatt said during the rally, also as reported on al-Mustaqbal:

ﺠﺌﻨﺎ ﺍﻠﻰ ﺴﺎﺤﺎ ﺍﻠﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﻠﻘﻭﻝ ﻠﻙ
ﻴﺎ ﻁﺎﻏﻴﺔ ﺩﻤﺸﻕ
ﻴﺎ ﻗﺭﺩﺍ ﻠﻡ ﺘﻌﺭﻔﻪ ﺍﻠﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ
ﻴﺎ ﺃﻔﻌﻰ ﻫﻭ ﺒﺕ ﻤﻨﻫﺎ ﺍﻻﻔﺎﻋﻲ
ﻴﺎ ﺤﻭﺘﺎ ﻠﻔﻅﺘﻪ ﺍﻠﺒﺤﺭ
ﻴﺎ ﻭﺤﺸﺎ ﻤﻥ ﻭﺤﻭﺵ ﺍﻠﺒﺭﺍﺩﻱ
ﻴﺎ ﻤﺨﻠﻭﻘﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺃﻨﺼﺎﻑ ﺍﻠﺭﺠﺎﻝ
ﻴﺎ ﻤﻨﺘﺎﺠﺎ ﺍﺴﺭﺍﺌﻴﻠﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﺸﻸ ﺍﻠﺠﻨﻭﺏ ﻭ ﺃﻫﻝ ﺍﻠﺠﻨﻭﺏ
ﻴﺎ ﻜﺫﺍﺒﺎ ﻭ ﺤﺠﺎﺠﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻠﻌﺭﺍﻕ

ﻭ ﻤﺠﺭﻤﺎ ﻭ ﺴﻔﺎﺤﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺴﻭﺭﻴﺎ ﻭ ﻠﺒﻨﺎﻥ

We came here to Freedom Square to tell you
O despot of Damascus
O monkey that the nature does not know
O snake from which the snakes flee
O whale that the sea has rejected
O beast among the wild beasts
O creature of half-men
O Israeli product over the remnants of the South and the people of the South
O liar and Hajjaj of Iraq
O criminal and murderer in Syria and Lebanon.

This list of compliments is addressed to Syrian president Bashar al-Asad. The term Hajjaj is a reference to caliph al-Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (661-714 CE), whose leadership was so ruthless that it was once allegedly said that "if all the nations brought their most tyrannical and evil rulers, the Muslims would only need to bring Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf to surpass the rest of the world's murderous rulers in evil".

"Aktar", Asala

2007-02-14T20:47:00.000Z

ﺃﻜﺘﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻠﻠﻰ ﺃﻨﺎ ﺒﺤﻠﻡ ﺒﻴﻪ
ﻤﺵ ﻗﺎﺩﺭﺓ ﺃﺨﺒﻲ ﺃﻨﺎ ﺘﺎﻨﻲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ
ﺩﻩ ﺃﻨﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺃﻭﻝ ﻤﺎ ﻗﺎﺒﻠﺕ ﻋﻴﻨﻴﻪ ﻨﺎﺩﺍﻨﻲ
ﺤﺒﻴﺒﺒﻲ ﻤﻌﻙ

ﺤﻴﺎﺘﻲ ﻭ ﻋﻤﺭﻱ ﺍﻠﻠﻲ ﺃﻨﺎ ﻋﺎﻴﺸﺎﺓ
ﻭ ﺃﺠﻤﻝ ﻭ ﺃﺼﻌﺏ ﻗﻭﻟﺔ ﺁﻩ
ﻴﺒﻨﻲ ﻭ ﺃﺤﺱ ﺍﻨﻲ ﺃﻨﺎ ﻭﻴﺎﺓ ﻔﻲ ﺜﻭﺍﻨﻲ

ﻭ ﺩﺍﺭﻴﺕ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻗﻠﺒﻲ ﻭ ﺍﺘﻤﻨﻴﺕ
ﻗﻠﺒﻙ ﻴﺠﻴﻨﻲ ﻭ ﻴﻘﻭﻝ ﻜﻝ ﺍﻠﻠﻲ ﺤﺎﺱ ﺒﻴﻪ

ﻭ ﻫﻭﺒﺎﻥ ﺍﻠﺸﻭﻕ ﻋﻠﻲ ﻫﻭﺒﺎﻥ
ﻭ ﻫﻭ ﻜﻝ ﺸﻲ ﻭ ﺒﺎﻭﺍﻥ ﻗﻝ ﺍﻴﻪ ﺒﺎﺨﺒﻲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ

ﻭ ﺍﻴﺎﻙ ﻟﻭ ﺤﺘﻰ ﻭ ﺍﺒﺕ ﺒﻌﻴﺩ
ﻭ ﺍﻟﺸﻭﻕ ﺇﻟﻴﻙ ﺒﻴﺯﻴﺩ
ﻭ ﺍﻔﻀﻝ ﺃﻔﻜﺭ ﻔﻴﻙ

ﻟﻭ ﺃﻗﻭﻝ ﻋﻨﻙ ﻜﻼﻡ ﻴﻁﻭﻝ
ﻭ ﺍﻔﻀﻝ ﺴﻨﻴﻥ ﻭ ﺍﻴﺎﻡ ﺃﻭﺼﻑ ﻏﺭﺍﻤﻲ ﺃﻨﺎ ﺒﻴﻙ

Io sono con te anche se tu sei lontano;
il mio amore per te aumenta
ed io continuo a pensare a te.

Se dovessi parlare di te il discorso sarebbe lungo
ed io trascorrerei gli anni e i giorni descrivendo il mio amore per te.

Bikfaya blasts: side notes

2007-02-13T11:34:00.000Z

Three people were killed on Tuesday morning when two explosive devices blasted through two vans travelling in the village of 'Ayn Alaq, near Bikfaya, in the Metn region. According to official sources quoted by Naharnet, the second explosion occurred a few minutes after the first one, as people were rushing to the blast scene.

The unverified rumour that the death toll amounted to twelve victims was spread by major newscasts for hours before a statement of the Lebanese Red Cross set the bar at three. While special correspondents were busy sticking each other with their umbrellas, interviewing MP Hagop Pakradounian and repeating over and over the same two lines, an embarrassing scene was broadcast live on several channels. Groups of onlookers were tampering the crime scene, walking, talking and even touching the burnt wrecks. It was appalling to see how the area was not really cordoned off. Maybe an "international tribunal" will sort out the proper evidence, anyway.
Talking of "evidence", Walid Jumblatt was predictably ready to point the finger against Syria. Asked by a journalist of Al Jazeera International if he had any evidence to back his claim that Syria was the author of the twin blasts, Jumblatt replied that this was "so evident it doesn't need evidences". That reminded me some notorious George W Bush tautologies.

World Press Photo of the Year 2006

2007-02-10T22:58:00.000Z

Spencer Platt, USA, Getty Images.
Young Lebanese drive through devastated neighborhood of South Beirut, 15 August.

This picture of a group of affluent Lebanese young people driving through dahiyeh on the first day of ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been selected at the 50th annual World Press Photo Contest as World Press Photo of the Year 2006.

Stark social, economical and cultural contrasts. Sport cars and bombed buildings. Nice scantily-clad chicks and hot guys. Death and life. Lebanon in a nutshell.

God dammit, we're in jail dude

2007-02-06T15:26:00.000Z

The Sun released today a cockpit video of two US pilots "friendly" firing against a British military convoy in Southern Iraq in March 2003.

"Yama Alou", Nawal Al Zoghbi

2007-01-31T23:45:00.000Z

ياما قالوا
ما يقولوا
حبينا كده و هوينا كده
و ملينا الدنيا غرام في غرام
هيعيدوا و يزيدوا ده اللي أنا حاساه
واللي أنا عايشاه
في الحب يا ناس و لا في الأحلام

قرب من قلبي اللي على شاناك
ياما غني و غني
و بيحلم بلقاك يا حبيبي
و لسه بيتمنى

روحي أنا
عمري أنا
أنا ذايبة في حبك و هواك
ده إنت أنا
آه يا أنا
و أنا منك
و هوايا هواك

على ناري
يا حبيبي
بستنى كده و في قلبي كده
أشواق تملى الدنيا بحالها
و تجيني
تلاقيني
الشوق ذوب فيا و عذب
و الحيرة بتفضل على حالها

Avvicinati al mio cuore che per te
continua a cantare
e sogna di incontrarti, amore mio
e non finisce di desiderarti.

La neige

2007-01-13T21:11:00.000Z

Today I joined my friend N for a daytrip to Faraya-Mzaar-Kfardebian, on the slopes of Sannine mountain range. Some of his friends were very late: a sure sign that they are no serious skiers. I had the time to indulge in a delicious mana'ish spread with za'atar and cheese and to enjoy the political billboards that blossomed on both sides on the northbound highway as I was driving through the reckless traffic. The original ad campaign based on the slogan J'aime la vie ("I love life") was supported by the March 14 majority coalition (although my friend F, who works for the ad campaign, vehemently denies that) and it was indirectly suggesting that the Hezbollah-led opposition had a cult of death while the "normal people" of Lebanon wanted to live in peace. The opposition bounced back with a series of ads where the original logo is slightly edited and a series of handwritten comments are added as footnotes. The campaign says J'aime la vie - en multicolore ("I love life - in colors"), or "I love life - in dignity" or "I love life - without debts", indirectly suggesting that the current cabinet has no national dignity and that it is ruining the country's economy.

Parliamentary majority and opposition side by side.

I guess you're always drawn into politics in this country. When we finally arrived in Faraya, the woman at the ski rental shop asked me if it mattered to me to wear orange ski pants, since the orange color is associated with Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, while the area of Faraya is mostly standing with the rival Christian formation of Samir Ja'ja's Lebanese Forces and the Kata'ib. I showed my Red Army fur hat with sickle and hammer well on view. I guess this will leave the poor lady speechless for the whole weekend. By the way, the whole daily rental package (skis, sticks, boots, gloves and pants) came at a very affordable price of 15,000 LL (10 US$, € 8).

I bought a half-day pass for the whole Jonction skiing area for 30,000 LL (20 US$, € 15) and enjoyed more than three hours of skiing.

Il y a six mois

2007-01-12T23:21:00.000Z

This morning I went back to Club 43, which was established in the 1960s as a not-for-profit secular association, for the so-called Résto Social. A free Friday lunch is served to dozens of elderly and disadvantaged people from different backgrounds who seem to have gone through a good lot of troubled times in their lives. Volunteers such as Madame Wafa (a lady remarkably looking like a less young version of Emmanuelle Béart) prepare and serve a decent meal and, above all, make these people feel that someone is taking care of them, even if only for a couple of hours per week. These elderly men and women were ready to fight among them to have an additional serving of kibbeh or to bring "home" an additional loaf of bread. Something somehow sometime has to be fixed in a society where people aged seventy brawl to get basic food.

According to guidelines that I've been adopting for a long time, I did not take pictures of these people. This is Jean, Bettina, Rana, Pamela, Madame Wafa and Imad having lunch after the guests had left.

I couldn't help observing how most of the volunteering ladies (not portrayed in this picture) were wearing a Pierre Gemayel memorial pin on their outfits. This matches with a huge display of memorial banners all around Gemmayzeh and might mean a surge of popularity for the Kata'ib party.
After an afternoon at the university and a good dinner at the Hamra branch of Kabab-Ji, I went to a dance-till-dawn upscale student party at the Royal Plaza Hotel.

I had been in the same place six months earlier, watching the explosions around the airport at the beginning of the July war. It was one the first times in my life that I felt really happy to listen ordinary club music among packs of pretentious silver spoon students. Life is back and war is over... for now.

Visages de Beyrouth

2007-01-11T23:46:00.000Z

I am being honest here: reading political essays from the 1940s can be quite boring at times. Today, I decided to reward myself with a generous serving of earthy mouloukhiyeh at The Blue Note.

Moulokhiyeh is a sort of stew of rather slimy leaves similar to spinach with chunks of chicken and beef meat, served with rice and a sweet-and-sour dressing made with raw onions and vinegar. Rashid Da'if, a Lebanese writer, mentions the Blue Note and this dish in Testofil Meryl Streep!, one of his sharpest novels ever. So I thought it would be nice to remind the maître d' that this café and its signature dish have their own place in contemporary Arabic literature. Well. Not only was the maître not aware of the story, he didn't even know who Rashid Da'if is. I decided to quit my literary pretensions and to return to Michel Chiha's Visage et présence du Liban, a collection of articles and essays on Lebanese and Mediterranean identity that was published in 1964.
I then drove to Gemmayzeh for the vernissage of Wissam Beydoun's Mouvements and Amjad Faur's An Extraordinary Violence at Espace SD, next to Charles Helou Road.

The place is extremely interesting and the bookstore a threat to my budget restraints. I couldn't resist buying Zaven Kouyoumdjian's Shot Twice. The author collected some dozen pictures of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war and then went back to the same places, taking pictures of the same people fifteen years later. This photographic book is a punch in the stomach and definitely a must-see. My friend F joined me at Espace SD and then we had some pub crawl (with a few margaritas) in Gemmayzeh.
At 9 pm, I went to Club 43 to watch Fatih Akin's movie Gegen die Wand, also known in English as Head-On.I ended my day at Basement, where resident dj Jade was performing minimal electro.

As the name properly suggests, the place is a concrete-clad basement with some decadent baroque decor à la B018. In a certain sense, it looks a lesser version of B018 with much younger crowds.

You, me, everybody

2006-12-31T07:01:00.000Z

Fools. Internet (and blogging in particular) is of course a tremendous opportunity to express and share ideas and perspectives. However, despite all the media hypes, neither me, nor you, nor any other of the bits and bytes of the entire cyberspace define what's high on the world agenda. My question for the end of the year is: who do you think was the person of 2006?

Here are my answers:

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Like him or not, he is one of the most influential leaders of the Middle East and the entire Islamic world, and probably the most charismatic person of our days (after Fidel Castro and late John Paul II).

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria, the new president of Chile. A Socialist woman and a former victim of the Pinochet military junta.

I would like to remember that Augusto Pinochet Ugarte and Oriana Fallaci finally died this year, so 2006 wasn't so bad after all.

Early Italian takeover of UNIFIL?

2006-12-28T01:25:00.000Z

Italian deputy minister of defense Marco Verzaschi said that Italy could take over the command of UNIFIL a few weeks earlier than originally scheduled. According to AFP, ANSA and Italian daily La Repubblica, the United Nations may consider January 24 (instead of February 19) as the date of takeover because of alleged "differences" of opinion between French M-Gén. Alain Pellegrini and his staff.

Amr Moussa's special Beirut Eggnog recipe

2006-12-25T22:41:00.000Z

Gently whisk 19 neatly trimmed parts of March 14 in a plush downtown hotel, add two cups of Leo Burnett and a tablespoon of Saatchi&Saatchi, and let the mixture chill for a while until it's light and fluffy.

In a large downtown square, stir 10 parts of partly skimmed, heated March 8 and an additional pinch of seasoning if you like it extra-spicy. Remove from heat just before boiling point.

Gently and a little at a time, pour the March 8 mixture into the March 14 mixture while continuing to whisk in order to avoid the formation of lumps. Use barbed wire to strain the mixture if necessary.

Add 1 part of independent vanilla essence as thickening agent and ladle into outrageously expensive Patchi cups. Decorate with caramelized clerical blessings and a branch of cedar tree on top.

(For those who wonder what this means, al-Manar reports that the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar published on December 21 the text of the initiative of the Arab League Secretary, Amr Moussa. The proposal includes the expansion of the cabinet up to 30 ministries. The supposed sharing formula would allocate 19 seats to the March 14 bloc (one short of the 2/3 majority) and 10 seats to the March 8 opposition bloc (one short of the 1/3 blocking minority), whereas the last crucial seat should be occupied by an independent personality, agreed upon by both sides. It isn't clear yet who this person could be, how he/she would be selected, and how he/she could maintain his/her integrity and mental fitness under so many foreseeable contrasting pressures.)

Enjoy your eggnog.

Instant quiz

2006-12-18T18:43:00.000Z

In country A, less than one percent of the population is eligible to vote. Those (actually 7,000) who have the right to go to the polls have been cherrypicked by the ruling establishment in order to ensure that the election results do not alter the existing political and social status quo.

In country B, 46.5 million of people (men and women alike) have exercised their right of vote in national and local elections.

Question: which country is hailed as "free" and "democratic"?

When will you become Lebanese?

2006-12-17T15:58:00.000Z

"The Lebanon", The Human League

2006-12-15T17:24:00.000Z

(Thanks Vikingur)

She dreams of 1969
Before the soldiers came
The life was cheap on bread and wine
And sharing meant no shame
She is awakened by the screams
Of rockets flying from nearby
And scared she clings onto her dreams
To beat the fear that she might die

And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon

Before he leaves the camp he stops
He scans the world outside
And where there used to be some shops
Is where the snipers sometimes hide
He left his home the week before
He thought he'd be like the police
But now he finds he is at war
Weren't we supposed to keep the peace?

And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon

I must be dreaming
It can't be true
I must be dreaming
It can't be true

And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone?
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon

Olmert's embarrassing week

2006-12-14T20:10:00.000Z

To have nuclear weapons... as Israel

First came this interview on Sat.1 where Israeli PM Ehud Olmert apparently unveils that Israel has a nuclear arsenal. This has been an open secret for decades, despite the Israeli policy called עמימות ('amimut, "opacity") and consisting in a deliberate ambiguity on the matter.

Then there was this footage aired by Israeli station Channel 10. Olmert is seen coaching his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi about what to say at a joint press conference. Olmert tells Prodi to mention that the Palestinian cabinet should recognize Israel and asks the Italian PM to stress that Israel should remain "a Jewish state". This is a quite obvious reference against the "right of return" of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their original homeland, which would alter the Jewish ethnic-religious supremacy within Israel. A nice slap in the face to the old-fashioned liberal idea that all citizens should be equal before the law irrespective of their ethnic background or of their religious credo. Prodi cheerful obeyed.

(Update, January 21: This is the video.

I prefer not to post any additional comment.)

Fatfatism

2006-12-08T18:23:00.000Z

Fatfatism (الفتفتية, al-fatfatiyyah) is a neologism coined by flamboyant professor As'ad Abu Khalil to mock and ridicule Lebanon's current minister of interior/home affairs Ahmad Fatfat, one of whose greatest accomplishments was to let the Internal Security Forces serve tea to Israeli occupation troops in Marj'uyun, Southern Lebanon in last August. It isn't clear yet if the Israeli occupation troops had their tea ma' sukkar aw bala sukkar (with or without sugar).
The fact is remembered by the protestors in downtown Beirut through the chant احمد فتفت يا قابدي واحد قهوة واثنان شاي(Ahmad Fatfat ya qabaday wahid qahwa wa ithnin shay, which translates as "Ahmad Fatfat, you tough guy, one coffee and two teas").

According to Abu Khalil,

[Fatfatism] requires no commitment to principles; it merely adjusts to the interests of the political status of Ahmad Fatfat. The ideology contains contradictions: it speaks of democracy and 'liberalism' and yet cultivates support among Bin Laden supporters in North Lebanon and serves as a client for Saudi Wahhabism; it speaks in favor of 'sovereignty' and 'independence' while it faithfully represented the interests of the tyrannical Syrian regime, and now represents the external patrons of Sanyurah. The ideology of Fatfatism believes that the most effective way for fighting foreign occupation is serving tea to the occupation soldiers. While it is widely believed that Fatfatism is a Lebanese phenomenon, it is now noticed that Fatfatism is spreading in countries in the Middle East and well beyond the Middle East.

Abu Khalil's satire was promptly rebounced on several Lebanese media and on Wikipedia, where an anonymous contributor in the mood for irony wrote an entry on Fatfatism. The page was speedily deleted after and subsequently locked. It is interesting to note the coincidence of the timing of this deletion with some comments left on Abu Khalil's blog by a Wikipedia user and administrator (or some vilain impersonating him). These comments (basically a list of anti-Arab ethnic slurs and Islamophobic rants and a few threats that people with different opinions will be banned and "expunged from Wikipedia") raise further concern over Wikipedia's alleged "neutral point of view" and reliability, especially if you ponder the strong pro-Israeli, anti-Islamic position that is clearly evident in many Middle East-related entries.

"Lebanese" gay porn movie is released

2006-12-06T18:03:00.000Z

Among one Israeli aggression and the next one, with a sectarian conflict in the making and a collapsing economy on the background, this is exactly what Lebanon was in dire need of: a gay porn movie, allegedly shot entirely on location.

If you are interested in the topic and if you are over legal age and if you don't live in places such as Saudi Arabia or Utah, you will easily find additional information about this pièce of cinematography, entitled Lebanon: Collin O'Neal's World of Men.

Now, for all of us who have been occasionally harassed because of their non-professional cameras, it is slightly discouraging to know that you are not allowed to take a picture of Byblos fishing harbour because of security reasons, yet someone manages to film an all-male threesome sequence a few kilometers from there.

I'm not sure I want to see what happens when this story hits the headlines in Lebanon. I expect an unanimous chorus of utter disgust, predictably with a good handful of pious clerics of all denominations and sects united in preaching against the "Zionist-American" (alternatively, "secularist") conspiracy to corrupt Lebanese young men through "sexual deviance" and "shameful debauchery". And then people will flock at the nearest Internet cafés (where porn, indeed including gay sex sites, is one of the main staples) to watch the image galleries: you never know if the bulky son of the greengrocer at the corner is one of the movie stars.

Most hilarious will be the contempt of the Lebanese elites who crave for everything foreign. After all, with such sex flick among its credentials, Lebanon will now be really like US and France.

Shi'a party wins Bahrain election

2006-12-03T21:31:00.000Z

Hezbollah, FPM bounce back

2006-12-02T14:44:00.000Z

The Lebanese opposition groups (including Hezbollah, Amal, the Free Patriotic Movement and Suleyman Franjieh's Marada) have staged a massive rally in downtown Beirut, vowing to maintain a sit-in in front of the Grand Serail building (which hosts the prime minister offices) until the cabinet resigns and a new national unity government is formed.
Much has been said about this gathering. It is even tedious to remark how the manifestations are described as a sign of "freedom" and "sovereignty" if they belong to one political camp, and a "threat" to the government and even a possible attempted coup if they belong to the other one.

The following images make Brent Sadler, Ghassan bin Jiddo and a dozen of other correspondents feel lost. Weren't those Hezbollah guys supposed to establish Téhéran-sur-Mer overnight?

Rock chicks

Nice tattoo

Asian Games opening ceremony in Doha

2006-12-01T17:33:00.000Z

The 15th Asian Games have been inaugurated today in Doha, Qatar. Despite unexpected heavy wind and rain, the ceremony was impressive and at times quite touching.

Peace be upon you

The handsome guy lighting the cauldron is shaykh Mohamed ibn Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, one of the sons of Qatar's ruler, prince Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani.

No citizenship out of sectarianism

2006-11-30T22:03:00.000Z

Al-mujtama' al-madani ("Civic gathering") is a non-denominational Lebanese group which advocates the end of political feudalism and confessionalism in the country through public awareness campaigns under the banner "Stop sectarianism before it stops us".
The latest shocking campaign includes bogus billboards and ads with a blatantly sectarian content. It takes a while to realize that they are fake. Or maybe they're not?

Shi'a car

Only for Maronites

Scenes of conflict rehearsal: the Lebanese Forces

2006-11-29T23:32:00.000Z

Some weeks ago I received an email from an old acquaintance of mine in Kisrawan who happens to be a fervent supporter of the Lebanese Forces. He wrote that "the Lebanese Forces will come back to the territory", which I interpret as "the LF will be back in town".
Was he using figurative language or are the Lebanese Forces seriously thinking to get rearmed and operational? The news of the day is that a group of Lebanese Forces armed men were arrested while they were going to a training session near the village of Chahtoul in Kisrawan. The men subsequently claimed they were security personnel for LBC and this claim was unconvincingly backed by LBC's chief Pierre Daher. Who knows if this is going to have an impact on the rift inside LBC between Pierre Daher (and Marcel Ghanem) on one side and Sitrida Ja'ja' (the wife of Samir Ja'ja') on the other?

If you are high on conspiracy theories, you will be delighted to read this report about an alleged meeting among Samir Ja'ja', Walid Jumblatt, the chief of the Mossad and the CIA Cyprus bureau director. It is not sure whether The Phantom Blot attended the meeting or if he was partying in Ayia Napa.
Alternatively, you can delight yourself with reports of alleged telephone contacts between men of the Mossad, of Samir Ja'ja and of Ahmad Fatfat. Gyro Gearloose was eavesdropping, no doubt.

On a lighter note, this is a satirical sketch depicting Samir Ja'ja' as a puppet of the Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. (Alert the Mossad and Brent Sadler: this is a different Nasrallah).

Salafi militant dies at Syrian-Lebanese border

2006-11-28T20:36:00.000Z

A Sunni radical militant blew himself up earlier today at Jdeidet Yabous, the Syrian border crossing point on the highway between Beirut and Damascus, after being confronted by two security officers as he was trying to enter Lebanon with forged documents. According to the official Syrian news agency SANA, the dead militant, called Omar Abdallah also known as Omar Hamra, was the military leader of Tawhid wa'l-jihad, a militant group which was allegedly linked to (and possibly founded by) late Iraq insurgency's leader Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi.

This bit of news went nearly unnoticed on Western-oriented media. I imagine it would have been problematic to explain to the audience why the event doesn't fit the line "blame Syria for everything". They may have had to explain that the Syrian government itself (usually presented as a sponsor of Hezbollah, and therefore of "Islamic terrorism", whatever it means) has a problem with Sunni radical groups who want to overthrow the current status quo. Maybe it would have been even more embarrassing to guess why a Salafi anti-regime militant was trying to sneak into Lebanon.
Is anyone scrutinizing the activity of Salafi extremist groups that are now operating in Northern Lebanon, sometimes under the shadow of Sa'ad ad-Din al-Hariri's Future Movement? Is anyone scrutinizing the activity of Salafi extremist groups in Palestinian camps such as 'Ayn al-Hilweh or Nahr al-Bared?
Is it possible that the US, while kicking Syria out of Lebanon, are unintentionally paving the way for an infiltration of Al-Qa'idah in the country?

These questions remained unanswered in my mind as I followed the latest update about Britney Spears and a report about the possible comeback of the Spice Girls: the usual flood of useless news.

Lebanese minister assassinated in Beirut

2006-11-21T19:14:00.000Z

Pierre Amin Gemayel, the acting minister of industry and son of former president Amin Gemayel, was assassinated in Beirut this afternoon. Self-styled "experts" and resident commentators have already joined the bandwagon of those who blame the Syrian government for this killing, even though every person with a spare dime of wisdom realizes it is a little bit too early to jump to any sort of conclusions.

I would like to note down a few personal considerations:

1. Pierre Amin Gemayel was a lesser figure in the Lebanese political landscape. He did not have the stature of either his late uncle (the former president Bashir Gemayel) or his late grandfather Pierre, the founder of the Kata'ib/Phalanges Libanaises, a party of clearly Fascist ideological affiliation that played a big role in Lebanese politics from the late 1930s all through the 1980s. The Phalanges have become insignificant and marginal in recent years, also because of the internal rift between their leader Karim Pakradouni (who eventually sided with the pro-Syrian bloc) and the so-called "correctionist base" who preferred an alliance with the right-wing Lebanese Forces. Pierre Amin Gemayel won a seat in the last parliamentary election only because of a last-minute deal in the Northern Metn constituency, where the rival list of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Michel Murr obtained a landslide victory. He was brought into the Saniora-Hariri cabinet only because they needed to appoint a Maronite Christian personality who was neither impalatable (as most Lebanese Forces members) nor unrepresentative (as most of the politicians belonging to the Qornet Shahwan gathering).

2. This assassination, and the almost immediate pointing the finger of blame at Syria, happened on the same day when Syria and Iraq restored diplomatic relations after 26 years. It is no secret that British envoys were dispatched to Damascus during the last weeks in order to secure Syrian co-operation in a solution of the Iraqi quagmire. In other words, after demonising it as part of the "axis of evil" over the past five years, the UK and the US have asked Syria's help to sort out the mess. Why would you stage a disruptive assassination on the very same day when you get out of the outcast role you've been confined to over the last five years? Wouldn't it be foolish, even according to the parameters of the Syrian regime? In fact, naming the only country that benefits from this development is so obvious I don't even want to waste my time elaborating about it. (Hint: starts with 'I').

3. As As'ad Abu Khalil writes,

The UN Security Council today condemned the assassination of Pierre Gemayyel and considered it a "violation of Lebanon's sovereignty" (!?). The same Security Council did not condemn the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and did not consider it a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.

4. This assassination comes in a moment of political turmoil when the Saniora-Hariri cabinet is very shaky. Six Shi'a cabinet ministers resigned last week in protest about the call for the institution of an international court that would judge the alleged killers of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The resignation, which leaves the cabinet grossly unrepresentative of the complex fabric of the Lebanese society, actually revolves about the failure of the "national dialogue" (al-hiwar al-watani) initiative.
This was an attempt at discussing a revision of the power-sharing formula which operates within the inherently consociative Lebanese political system. Hezbollah, Amal and the FPM (uncorrectly depicted by Western mainstream media as pro-Syrian, therefore evil) insist on having a number of cabinet ministers that would allow them to act as a blocking minority, if need be. Hezbollah had promised to stage a series of massive protests after his requests for greater representation fell on deaf ears and most people were waiting for something to happen somewhere, at some point. The opposition camp is now left wrongfooted and in relative disarray: the funeral on Thursday will allow the ruling majority to take to the streets. Again, it is fair to ask who benefits from political stalemate and an increased polarization that makes a compromise less likely to reach.

5. It is interesting to remind that, in the past, Christian leaders (such as Tony Franjieh and Dany Chamoun) have been killed by other Christians, vying for political leadership over the Maronite community. It is also interesting to note that the political consequences of Gemayel's assassination could result in substantially thwarting Michel Aoun's bid for the presidency of the republic.

6. It is unlikely that the situation in Lebanon evolves in the short term into a full-fledged civil war, mainly because no political group or militia has the capability or the potential to overcome the other ones. However, Gemayel's assassination has unleashed widespread fear. I believe the country will remain in a state of chronic instability with clashes among groups of thugs and sporadic assassinations here and there.
Nothing new under the sun, someone could say.

Marsa Alam, Egypt

2006-11-17T19:36:00.000Z

Enjoying a few days of diving, sunbathing and swimming with sea turtles and dolphins:

Can you spot the dolphins?

Happy October Revolution Day

2006-11-07T19:37:00.000Z

Just being sarcastic here.

Saddam Hussein's death sentence: a Salafi fatwa

2006-11-05T19:51:00.000Z

According to PRISM, shaykh Hamed al-'Ali has issued a few hours ago this fatwa about Saddam Hussein's death sentence, apparently in response to the question whether the former ruler of Iraq should be considered a shahid (martyr) if he was executed on behalf of the government-appointed tribunal.
Saddam Hussein hasn't been completely rehabilitated yet by militant radical Islamic groups, but the fatwa mentions God's mercy upon him and calls for more unity among the insurgent groups in Iraq. Note how the text questions how many Kurds have been killed in internecine conflicts between Mustafa Barzani's KDP and Talabani's PUK militias rather than in the infamous Anfal campaign.

Israeli cluster bombs kill four civilians a day

2006-11-03T08:31:00.000Z

Please watch this video about the indiscriminate dissemination of IDF cluster bombs in Southern Lebanon.

US military sources: Iraq sliding into chaos

2006-11-01T18:28:00.000Z

The New York Times has published this slide, shown at a briefing of the United States Central Command, commenting how it could be read as a stark warning about the difficult course of events in Iraq and how it surely mirrors growing concern by some US military officers.

Israel: settlements and setting accounts

2006-10-28T17:51:00.000Z

The entry of far-right nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman and his party Yisra'el beitenu ("Israel our home") into the Israeli government is being hailed as controversial, at best.

Haaretz, which has traditionally a leftist leaning, launches a frontal attack against Labour party leader (and current minister of Defence) Amir Peretz in an editorial entitled What is left of Amir Peretz?, asking what is the point in sitting in the same cabinet with the far right. The editorial contends that Peretz was not able to implement his social agenda, especially as he accepted a chair he was not fit for.

During his half year in power, he betrayed his public mission by not taking over a socioeconomic ministry. Instead, he opted for the Defense Ministry, an area in which he never showed any interest or had any involvement in the past. This is also an area in which his ability to influence proved minute, if not downright negative.
Had he agreed to pass up the honor inherent in this position and stuck to promoting the issues for which he was elected, he could, with his talent and experience, have exerted an influence - as education minister or any economy-related minister - and would not have become a person whose opinions have no impact on the matters for which he is responsible.

Although some Labour MKs (members of parliament) are trying to oppose the cabinet reshuffle, most central committee members support the inclusion of Yisra'el Beitenu, even if that means that the political balance within the cabinet (where Lieberman is bound to serve as deputy prime minister) is way more right-wing on both diplomatic and socioeconomic issues.
Haaretz is particularly concerned by the possible repercussions on the peace process (if any process still exists):

With the inclusion of Lieberman, it is clear that any concessions in the West Bank have been forestalled. Negotiations with the Palestinians are also impossible, even if the Palestinians meet the most stringent preconditions, because a right-wing government has nothing to offer in such negotiations.

The early signals are not encouraging. Peretz has acknowledged the existence of several illegal "outposts" of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the illegal urban development of many settlers' "new towns", and has announced that he does not intend to evacuate these illegal outposts in the near future.

An editorialist of Haaretz summarizes this story with an article entitled A Lethal Combination:

And indeed, by turning to Lieberman, Olmert is declaring that he does not have the strength to lead the country on his own, while Defense Minister Amir Peretz, for his part, is admitting that he does not have the political and emotional strength to fight back. This is a process that typically occurs among a defeated elite: In order to save itself, it tends to call in the bully for assistance. Olmert and Peretz know they have lost the public's confidence; they know that the recent Lebanon war, which was begun and conducted irresponsibly, was a major strategic failure. But government leaders refuse to recognize their responsibility and are breaking all the records for that familiar public cynicism and corruption.

La banlieue, one year later

2006-10-27T17:43:00.000Z

What has changed in the suburbs of Paris one year after the October 2005 clashes? Quite little, this blog hosted by Libération seems to suggest.
Le Monde diplomatique dedicates an issue of Manière de voir to a compelling analysis entitled Trente ans d'histoire et de révolte. After an introduction by Ignacio Ramonet, the issue includes articles such as Les raisons d'une colère by Laurent Bonelli, Comment la droite américaine exploitait les émeutes by Serge Halimi, Quartiers populaires et désert politique by Abdellali Hajjat and a whole chapter about urban segregation.
This is an insightful excerpt:

Pourquoi cette explosion ? Aucune explication monocausale ne suffirait à répondre. L'émeute défie à la fois l'austérité néolibérale, la ségrégation par l'urbanisme, les discriminations à l'encontre des enfants de la colonisation, le mépris pour la jeunesse et les violences policières, le désert politique de quartiers délaissés par la gauche, etc.

Rien là de défaillances conjoncturelles : cette faillite, en premier lieu en matière de politique de la ville et d'immigration, tous les gouvernements depuis trente ans — de droite, donc, mais aussi de gauche — en partagent la responsabilité.

It's the war, stupid

2006-10-22T13:57:00.000Z

Dedicated to all those who were accused of being indirect supporters of terrorism because they were bona fide opposing the war in Iraq.
Now a senior US State Department official is saying:

I think there is great room for strong criticism, because without doubt, there was arrogance and stupidity by the US in Iraq.

Why does it look like déjà vu?

L'odore d'i nostri mesi

2006-10-14T20:56:00.001Z

L'odore d'i nostri mesi by Canta u populu corsu.
(Lyrics: Ghjàcumu Fusina; Music: Ghjuvan'Pàulu Poletti)

Ottobre sente e castagne
in paese fumicosu
quand'u celu nebbiacosu
fala nant'à le muntagne
pare tutt'avvene chjosu
è finite le cuccagne.

Dicembre sente l'aranciu
chì fiurisce per sse piaghje
ma quandi lu ventu traghje
piglia inguernu lu sbilanciu
tempu d'acque è di nivaghje
affannosu è pocu danciu.

Maghju sente la ghjinestra
chì sbuccia per lu pughjale
inzeppisce fiuminale
verdiceghja la campestra
l'acelli spàrghjenu l'ale
si spalanca la finestra.

Aostu sente a filetta
calpighjata à merendella
a notte s'empie di stelle
di dulcezza benedetta
in core di le zitelle
c’hè un fiore chì l'aspetta.

Chì senteranu li mesi
di la prussima stagione?
Duve pianterà viaghjone
cù le so sperenze appese?
È basteranu e canzone
per guarì tutte l'offese?

Run baby run

2006-10-13T19:41:00.000Z

Media maxima culpa

2006-10-05T21:31:00.000Z

That's how a journalist in Baghdad describes the media coverage of Saddam Hussein's trial:

This trial was supposed to be different. The first trial of Saddam Hussein was a circus.
[...]

Next up, though, was the Anfal trial, the genocide campaign against the Kurds in 1988, that saw over 100,000 Kurds killed, many with poison gas, thousands more imprisoned, whole villages wiped off the map.
This would be a serious trial, there was to mass graves, forensic evidence, diagrams, the whole bit. Dujail - whatever - that was a dress rehearsal. Now this would be a proper court case.
The new judge, Abdallah al-Ameri, a Shiite, presided over a very different court. With Barzan gone, everyone was a bit quieter. The new defendants didn’t mouth off as much and Saddam - mostly - kept a low profile. Everyone was polite.
Among the journalists it was a welcome change, though it meant we had to pay more attention to the witnesses for our story and less to the antics of the defendants.
At the end of the every session, though, the judge would usually give Saddam or one of the other defendants a chance to talk - and Saddam would make some pronouncement like if he was still in charge the country, it wouldn’t be such a mess.
So then the grumblings started, from the prosecutors of all people, one even burst out in court that the judge was being too sympathetic to the defendant.
Bit shocking really, I mean not telling someone to shut up and sit down all the time isn’t being sympathetic. Besides, maybe being allowed to mouth off every now and then kept the defendants a little more passive.
They’re going to hang them anyway.
So the next session, the angry prosecutor was relegated to a back seat and that was that.

Except for one little off hand comment that very few people heard.
One of the witnesses described how he sent to a petition to Saddam to find out what had happened to his family. When it came to his turn to question the witness (defendants get to question the witness, it’s bizarre), Saddam said, if I was such a dictator, why were you allowed to appeal to me?
It was a pointless question, and enraged the witness, so the judge decided to calm things down, and said (dismissively) to Saddam “no, you weren’t a dictator, sometimes it’s just the people around one that make one seem to be a dictator.” Perhaps sarcastic? Whatever it was, it was offhand.

Everyone had it in their notes, but only AP passed it on to their desker and then that became the top of the story.
Just to back up a bit, the way the wires cover the trial - since we have to be filing information throughout - is that we take notes and then periodically send them from the press room to our editors (via Yahoo Messenger, as it turns out). Back at the office, there is a desker who receives the quotes and the description and then writes the actual story.

I’ve done both ends and the simple formula is, find the quote, and the fact or two that will make an attractive interesting story. Basically you need two or three quotes from the unhappy witness (my family was gassed, I saw the dead bodies, and then they beat us some more, whatever) and the Saddam quote. There is always one good quote from him every trial and it usually leads the story, unless there is a something particularly awful described in court like a rape or a child dying.
Those who don’t follow this callous (was that a whiff of evil?) formula, will find the next day that the newspapers have chosen the competition’s articles get chosen.

So the word came down the line, “AP’s leading with a dictator quote, do you have it?” So the other wires, went back through their notes (and perhaps maybe, in exasperation, asked the AP guy) and dutifully delivered up the requisite quote.

And where the wires go, the rest of the media will follow. It doesn’t matter what the other TV, newspaper reporters saw or heard, their editors will be sitting there looking at the wire copy that came out during the trial, saying “do you have the dictator quote?”

And of course the Iraqi media, follows the wires as well.
So that was the story the next day, not about the Kurds who suffered, or how well run the trial was, but that the judge thought Saddam wasn’t really a dictator.
For two days the government went out of their way to say the judiciary was independent and they would respect that.
And then on the third day they fired him.

The funniest part was the American advisors to the court, a rather righteous bunch of characters, who’s main role, as far as we can tell, is to convince the media that the trial isn’t really a travesty of justice. It’s an Iraqi process.
So the night the judge is fired we called them up and they swore up and down that the old judge would be there the next day. And the next day he wasn’t and they were spinning it along explaining how it was all within Iraqi laws.
“To say that removing a single judge out of a panel of five besmirches the whole process is a bit premature,” said an advisor to us angrily. Right. When the lead judge gets fired by the government for the second trial in a row, that’s nothing to worry about.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t like Saddam, or the toads and psychopaths he surrounded himself with. But there are principles here somewhere. There is an ideal of due process.

[...]

Anyway, what do I care, all that matters is the quote.
So the new judge came in, and on his first day he ejected Saddam, the defense lawyers walked out and at one point, the judge even threw out all of the defendants and then went on to hear the rest of the witnesses in an front of an empty dock.

"Ya tayr", Fairouz

2006-09-29T18:54:00.000Z

Oh bird, who are flying over the edge of the world
If you could only tell the beloved one what's up with me
Oh bird

Go ask the one whose beloved is not with him
Hurt by the wounds of love, what will be good for him?
Being in pain, and not telling what pains him
And longing for the nights of childhood
Oh bird

Oh bird, who are carrying with you the color of the trees
There's nothing left but this waiting and boredom
I wait under the sun, on the cold stone
Confused, and the separation distresses me
Oh bird

In the name of your feathers and my days too
In the name of thorny flowers and blowing winds
If you were going to see those I love, and love was to erupt again
Take me even for one minute and then bring me back
Oh bird

Political gatherings in Lebanon

2006-09-17T23:01:00.000Z

Massive political rallies with hundreds of thousands of supporters, hardliner clerics and former warlords posing as statesmen, adorant crowds almost in jubilation, and scantily dressed girls: Lebanon is back to normality.

Hezbollah rally in Southern Beirut, Friday 15.

Lebanese Forces rally in Harissa, near Jounieh, Sunday 17.

Beirut back on track (someone at least)

2006-09-16T20:35:00.000Z