[Reader-list] A Letter from Beirut
Via: Mansour Aziz
A Letter from Beirut
By Tamam Mroue*
December 6, 2006
Watching from over the Ring Bridge which use to demarcate the Green
Line dividing East and West Beirut during the 15-year civil war, one
can see the whole commercial city-center. The downtown that was
rebuilt by former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, after creating the
private real-estate company "Solidaire" that bought-out by way of
incentives and intimidation private and public property, turning the
downtown into one private lot; one of the prettiest and cleanest in
the world(2). Nobody visits this downtown, except for the Lebanese
bourgeoisie and a few passer-byes, while it primarily serves as a
tourist hangout, specially for those well-to-do visitors coming from
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states(3).
But on the day of Friday November 30th, the scene from this same
bridge had changed. It is as if the downtown had reclaimed its old
name, "balad"(4), when buses use to come from the outskirts and
suburbs of the city, filled with people wanting to buy or sell, or to
simply go on an excursion. The balad appeared anew as if it were a
camp: sounds of drums, derbeke(5), revolutionary and religious songs,
the smell of hookas, and dancing in all its forms: from the Southern
and Zghertawi dabke(6) to break dance and other types of Western
dance. They reclaimed the city center and lived in it in a way it
hadn't been lived for over thirty years.
Perhaps the joyous spirit seen on the faces of the participants is
due to the hope that they will soon bring down the goverment, or
perhaps it is a letting-go of the pressure they lived under the July
2006 Israeli bombardment. But it is foremost an expression of the
desire of Shiites to participate in, and to feel part of, Lebanon. If
one follows the television here, he or she may not see the same
festive scene. Those who go on stage are representatives of
oppositional parties, ideological and loyal to the banners and
tactics of their parties. They aren't the ones who would hold the
banner "Oh Fatfat, hurry please, two coffee and one tea."(7)
At night, Hizbollah supporters do not mix with the other protesters
(perhaps for security reasons), although they are keen on interacting
with their partners during the day. This mixing became commonplace
between supporters of Amal(8), the Aounists (9), the left, and the
Marada party, whose Maronite leader Sulaiman Franjiah broke a taboo
by criticizing the Maronite Patriarch. From a program aired on
Hizbollah-supported Manar TV, and in response to the call of the
patriarch to the Christians to not partipate in the strike: "maybe
[the Patriarch] got turned on by the visit of the women." Franjiah
was referring to a visit made to Bkerke(10) by a number of wives and
families of the "14the of March" martyrs(11).
Joyce Al-Jumayel's(12) expression of shock and regret to what
Sulaiman, the son of Feira Frenjiah, had said about the Patriarch,
was a comic irony. She might have forgotten that they (the Jumayel
family) did not give a chance for Feira Frenjiah and her husband Tony
to live and "properly raise" their son Sulaiman (the father, mother,
and sister of Sulaiman Frenjieh were killed by the Lebanese Forces
when he was five years old).
Al-Tayyar (the Party headed by former military general Michel Aoun,
which is in alliance with Hizbollah) performed the Sunday ceremonies
in a Maronite church attended by all oppositional parties (and hence,
religious groups). At the same time, the government which has been
beseiged inside the Sarail(13), was performing another Maronite
ceremony in memory of the assassination of Pierre Jumayyel. A
ceremony which comes after the grand Mufti of the Sunnis had
performed his Friday prayer in the Sarail in solidarity with the
Sunni Prime Minister Sinoura.
Inside the Sarail, the scene is more elegant and bourgeois: western
and Arabic suits, clergymen, and prayers in solidarity with a
government that is surrounded by thousands of protestors. It is said
that the government had been sleeping in the Sarail and avoiding
movement in fear of assassinations, since any such assassinations of
ministers would call for the government to resign. Hasan Al-Sabea,
the former Minister of Interior who had resigned over ten months ago,
overturned his resignation in order to secure government quorum. The
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has called on the Druze students in the
Lebanese University to stay at home and continue with their studies
in fear of those "reactionaries" who want to drive the country into
"revenge wars".
A New Civil War, a New Green Line
The night of Sunday December 2nd, and while a van of passangers was
heading towards the southern suburb from Martyre square in downtown
Beirut, passing by the predominantly Sunni area of Qasqas, the van
was stopped and a number of men attacked the passengers. A quarrel
errupted which resulted in tens of injured young Shiite men, and the
death of one of them from a gunshot to his stomach. The next day,
young men from the predominatly Shiite area of Shiyah went and broke
the doors of stores in the Sunni Barbir area.
These events are highly symbolic for all the Lebanese, for the Qasqas
van has replaced the Ein El-Rummanah bus, the famous bus incident
which is considered by most as delineating the start of Lebanese
Civil War (1975-1990). Back then, the supporters of Palestinian
groups were returning from a ceremony, when they were shot at by
supporters of the Philangist Party. Today, the Shiite return from a
festive protest and are then shot at by supporters of the Hariri-lead
Future Movement. The lines of demarcation have changed. While the
line use to be between Shiyah and Ein El-Rummana, meaning between the
Muslims and Christians, now it has been transformed to Corniche Al-
Mazra'a (where the Lebanese Army has been now deployed), representing
the line dividing Sunni and Shiite areas. The in-the-middle Shiyah
area has simply moved its line of attrittion from the Christian Ein
Alrummanah area to the Sunni Tariq Aljdede area. The common
denominator reamins, which is that Shiyah is one of the poorest
neighborhoods of Beirut.
The Economy
Taxi drivers in Beirut have been transformed into mobile radios for
the defense and propagation of the government's policies. And here's
a sampling of what happens in the shared taxis of Beirut. One of them
told me: "the country has stopped and I hadn't worked today. All the
blame is on the strike that has crippled the country. What do they
want from us? Thugs dancing and playing the drums in central downtown
and we are dying of hunger! We brought down the government of Omar
Karame(14) but we did not dance in the downtown." Another taxi driver
told me: "Isn't it a shame that we cut off the livelihood of 300
families who live off of Solidaire? Isn't a shame that State funds
and public land is stolen by citizens who are constructing in areas
such as Alraml Alali?(15)" For him, public money is being stolen by
the poor whose houses were bombed during the agression and received
money from Hizbollah, and whom are now building with it houses on
public lands.
The government has echoed such sentiments, specially its president
Sinourah who previously served as a Minister of Finance and was
therefore in charge of the public debt which has reached a staggering
40 billion dollars. In irony, he has alluded to that all of Lebanon's
economic crisis is due to five days of protest in the city center,
and that an appeal against the government will lead to the
cancelation of Paris 3, the France-led international meeting which is
scheduled to study the public debt.
The Horror of Civl War
Fear is not hidden from the faces of the people in this city,
specially those moving between areas at night time, as youth are now
starting to carry sticks and stopping cars asking its passengers
about their sect. A scene which recalls the times of kiddnapping and
killing on identity during the civil war, which may soon be referred
to as the Civil War I.
Lebanon is on the verge of civil war and this time a Sunni-Shiite
one, and all the prerequesites are there for a people who has become
accustomed to these wars, if not mastering them. Specially
considering that whether the political class is in the "loyalist"
camp or in the opposition, all of them have been tried and share the
status of warlords, some of which are undoubtedly war criminals.
But the hope remains that it will not happen again, considering that
this time around the Lebanese people know very well the horror of
war, and like the last time when it was anxious for killing "the
others". Also the hope is in Hizbollah, undoubtedly the most armed
party in Lebanon, which has worked relentlessly on cleaning up its
history of involvement in the civil war, and from religious extremism
and kidnapping, in effort to become "a Lebanese resistance party".
Will Hizbollah go backwards and draw his weapons towards the Lebanese
after it excelled in aiming them towards Israel?
* Tamam Mroue is a social worker living in Beirut. This letter has
been translated from Arabic.
A Letter from Beirut
By Tamam Mroue*
December 6, 2006
Watching from over the Ring Bridge which use to demarcate the Green
Line dividing East and West Beirut during the 15-year civil war, one
can see the whole commercial city-center. The downtown that was
rebuilt by former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, after creating the
private real-estate company "Solidaire" that bought-out by way of
incentives and intimidation private and public property, turning the
downtown into one private lot; one of the prettiest and cleanest in
the world(2). Nobody visits this downtown, except for the Lebanese
bourgeoisie and a few passer-byes, while it primarily serves as a
tourist hangout, specially for those well-to-do visitors coming from
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states(3).
But on the day of Friday November 30th, the scene from this same
bridge had changed. It is as if the downtown had reclaimed its old
name, "balad"(4), when buses use to come from the outskirts and
suburbs of the city, filled with people wanting to buy or sell, or to
simply go on an excursion. The balad appeared anew as if it were a
camp: sounds of drums, derbeke(5), revolutionary and religious songs,
the smell of hookas, and dancing in all its forms: from the Southern
and Zghertawi dabke(6) to break dance and other types of Western
dance. They reclaimed the city center and lived in it in a way it
hadn't been lived for over thirty years.
Perhaps the joyous spirit seen on the faces of the participants is
due to the hope that they will soon bring down the goverment, or
perhaps it is a letting-go of the pressure they lived under the July
2006 Israeli bombardment. But it is foremost an expression of the
desire of Shiites to participate in, and to feel part of, Lebanon. If
one follows the television here, he or she may not see the same
festive scene. Those who go on stage are representatives of
oppositional parties, ideological and loyal to the banners and
tactics of their parties. They aren't the ones who would hold the
banner "Oh Fatfat, hurry please, two coffee and one tea."(7)
At night, Hizbollah supporters do not mix with the other protesters
(perhaps for security reasons), although they are keen on interacting
with their partners during the day. This mixing became commonplace
between supporters of Amal(8), the Aounists (9), the left, and the
Marada party, whose Maronite leader Sulaiman Franjiah broke a taboo
by criticizing the Maronite Patriarch. From a program aired on
Hizbollah-supported Manar TV, and in response to the call of the
patriarch to the Christians to not partipate in the strike: "maybe
[the Patriarch] got turned on by the visit of the women." Franjiah
was referring to a visit made to Bkerke(10) by a number of wives and
families of the "14the of March" martyrs(11).
Joyce Al-Jumayel's(12) expression of shock and regret to what
Sulaiman, the son of Feira Frenjiah, had said about the Patriarch,
was a comic irony. She might have forgotten that they (the Jumayel
family) did not give a chance for Feira Frenjiah and her husband Tony
to live and "properly raise" their son Sulaiman (the father, mother,
and sister of Sulaiman Frenjieh were killed by the Lebanese Forces
when he was five years old).
Al-Tayyar (the Party headed by former military general Michel Aoun,
which is in alliance with Hizbollah) performed the Sunday ceremonies
in a Maronite church attended by all oppositional parties (and hence,
religious groups). At the same time, the government which has been
beseiged inside the Sarail(13), was performing another Maronite
ceremony in memory of the assassination of Pierre Jumayyel. A
ceremony which comes after the grand Mufti of the Sunnis had
performed his Friday prayer in the Sarail in solidarity with the
Sunni Prime Minister Sinoura.
Inside the Sarail, the scene is more elegant and bourgeois: western
and Arabic suits, clergymen, and prayers in solidarity with a
government that is surrounded by thousands of protestors. It is said
that the government had been sleeping in the Sarail and avoiding
movement in fear of assassinations, since any such assassinations of
ministers would call for the government to resign. Hasan Al-Sabea,
the former Minister of Interior who had resigned over ten months ago,
overturned his resignation in order to secure government quorum. The
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has called on the Druze students in the
Lebanese University to stay at home and continue with their studies
in fear of those "reactionaries" who want to drive the country into
"revenge wars".
A New Civil War, a New Green Line
The night of Sunday December 2nd, and while a van of passangers was
heading towards the southern suburb from Martyre square in downtown
Beirut, passing by the predominantly Sunni area of Qasqas, the van
was stopped and a number of men attacked the passengers. A quarrel
errupted which resulted in tens of injured young Shiite men, and the
death of one of them from a gunshot to his stomach. The next day,
young men from the predominatly Shiite area of Shiyah went and broke
the doors of stores in the Sunni Barbir area.
These events are highly symbolic for all the Lebanese, for the Qasqas
van has replaced the Ein El-Rummanah bus, the famous bus incident
which is considered by most as delineating the start of Lebanese
Civil War (1975-1990). Back then, the supporters of Palestinian
groups were returning from a ceremony, when they were shot at by
supporters of the Philangist Party. Today, the Shiite return from a
festive protest and are then shot at by supporters of the Hariri-lead
Future Movement. The lines of demarcation have changed. While the
line use to be between Shiyah and Ein El-Rummana, meaning between the
Muslims and Christians, now it has been transformed to Corniche Al-
Mazra'a (where the Lebanese Army has been now deployed), representing
the line dividing Sunni and Shiite areas. The in-the-middle Shiyah
area has simply moved its line of attrittion from the Christian Ein
Alrummanah area to the Sunni Tariq Aljdede area. The common
denominator reamins, which is that Shiyah is one of the poorest
neighborhoods of Beirut.
The Economy
Taxi drivers in Beirut have been transformed into mobile radios for
the defense and propagation of the government's policies. And here's
a sampling of what happens in the shared taxis of Beirut. One of them
told me: "the country has stopped and I hadn't worked today. All the
blame is on the strike that has crippled the country. What do they
want from us? Thugs dancing and playing the drums in central downtown
and we are dying of hunger! We brought down the government of Omar
Karame(14) but we did not dance in the downtown." Another taxi driver
told me: "Isn't it a shame that we cut off the livelihood of 300
families who live off of Solidaire? Isn't a shame that State funds
and public land is stolen by citizens who are constructing in areas
such as Alraml Alali?(15)" For him, public money is being stolen by
the poor whose houses were bombed during the agression and received
money from Hizbollah, and whom are now building with it houses on
public lands.
The government has echoed such sentiments, specially its president
Sinourah who previously served as a Minister of Finance and was
therefore in charge of the public debt which has reached a staggering
40 billion dollars. In irony, he has alluded to that all of Lebanon's
economic crisis is due to five days of protest in the city center,
and that an appeal against the government will lead to the
cancelation of Paris 3, the France-led international meeting which is
scheduled to study the public debt.
The Horror of Civl War
Fear is not hidden from the faces of the people in this city,
specially those moving between areas at night time, as youth are now
starting to carry sticks and stopping cars asking its passengers
about their sect. A scene which recalls the times of kiddnapping and
killing on identity during the civil war, which may soon be referred
to as the Civil War I.
Lebanon is on the verge of civil war and this time a Sunni-Shiite
one, and all the prerequesites are there for a people who has become
accustomed to these wars, if not mastering them. Specially
considering that whether the political class is in the "loyalist"
camp or in the opposition, all of them have been tried and share the
status of warlords, some of which are undoubtedly war criminals.
But the hope remains that it will not happen again, considering that
this time around the Lebanese people know very well the horror of
war, and like the last time when it was anxious for killing "the
others". Also the hope is in Hizbollah, undoubtedly the most armed
party in Lebanon, which has worked relentlessly on cleaning up its
history of involvement in the civil war, and from religious extremism
and kidnapping, in effort to become "a Lebanese resistance party".
Will Hizbollah go backwards and draw his weapons towards the Lebanese
after it excelled in aiming them towards Israel?
* Tamam Mroue is a social worker living in Beirut. This letter has
been translated from Arabic.
comments
No new comments allowed (anymore) on this post.