One of my greatest regrets is that I didn’t have the chance to spend any time in Lebanon, Beirut specifically. The only time I had was a couple of months ago. I flew there on the 14th of June to attend an IREX meeting, unfortunately personal tragedy struck and I had to fly back home the very next day.
That being said, the time I did manage to spend in Beirut allowed me to fall in love with it and its people. True, I’ve been in love with it even before stepping foot in there, and that got me thinking about the reasons why Arabs regard Lebanon the way they do, that question was further prompted by Ash in one of her comments.
Well, my take is the following:
People feel much more empathy to that which they are familiar with. Lebanon and the Lebanese are much closer to our souls in this area of the world than Sudan or even Egypt for that matter, let alone Darfur.
Lebanon to us is much more than a place;
Lebanon to us is the spirit of Arabia,
Lebanon to us is the culture,
Lebanon to us is the art,
Lebanon to us is an idea,
Lebanon to us is the history,
Lebanon to us is the poetry,
Lebanon to us is the literature,
Lebanon to us is the darling young bride,
Lebanon to us is much more than all of the above combined:
Lebanon to us, is our soul.
How can we NOT feel distraught at what is happening there?
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Wow Mahmoud, that makes me sad to see. You are right, it has the feel of a European city in a way. No wonder so many people have fallen in love with it and will continue to be passionate about it. A city is buildings, and roads and museums etc.. but a city reflects the spirit of the people who live there, that is something you cannot bomb into high heaven (other than killing people)..let the rebuilding begin. I hope that many countries will donate to help with that..
thanks for sharing this vlog
Ingrid
Mahmood, let’s not forget
Lebanon to us is Partying, Drinking, and Getting Laid 😉
Amen to that Bro!
yep, that is true enough, and to each his/her own.
bahraini, that showed you really need a life. How come you cant party, drink and get laid in bahrain???
Thanks for explaining, Mahmood. I understand the emotional response. However, I would still argue that such subjective reactions should play second fiddle to a more objective humanity. I doubt that there are many people on Earth who feel a nostalgic love for Darfur. Does that mean that its beleagured citizens should be just left to rot by the rest of us? I truly hope not.
Of course not. Being objective, no human being deserves any kind of inconvenience, let alone suffering and death. I merely explained the why – objectively – we as Gulf Arabs seem to have more empathy toward Lebanon, Iraq etc rather than Sudan and Darfur.
Does that excuse what is happening there? Of course not.
So what’s the answer? Where is the international outrage about Darfur? Here (in the UK) it makes a headline every now and then – usually the page 5 type of headline. Every now and then the UN makes some feeble admonition to the government in Khartoum. But there are no marchers on the streets of London, no “Stop The War in Sudan Coalition”. Zilch. And I write this as someone who has for the last two years tried to raise some awareness and concern about what’s going on there. Despite the fact that I work in journalism and have a great many contacts of the sort that should be useful, it’s difficult to get more than sanctimonious expressions of sorrow from people. “Not enough public interest” seems to be the general attitude. It’s difficult not to think that this is largely a) because the victims are black Africans and b) because a worrying amount of “compassion”, in the West at least, is more about fashionable causes than about suffering.
Lebanon the country might very will be engaged in what seems like endless turmoil. Lebanon the spirit, the people; however, can never be denied. Fairuz, Marcel Khalife, Amin Ma’alouf, Gibran Khalil Gibran, May Ziadeh, and many more are Lebanon no matter where they may be, here or there, living or dead.
Lebanon is the pen, the song… the heart of each and everyone of us who appreciates the Middle East’s rich culture.
Beirut does indeed have a very European feel to it, especially the downtown area. Mahmood, you had a nice room there… right near the ‘corniche’ area… which was especially nice. We were there for 7 days last July and we fell in love w/ the city and it’s ppl. It’s so sad to see the footage and the pictures and to think about it now. When you talk about the love Arabs have for Lebanon, it makes me long for that type of feeling…. which I think many Americans don’t have – other than for their own country, town, city or family member… which isn’t all bad, but still different. Even tho I didn’t live in NY, when I see footage of what happened, it still causes my heart to swell and tears to come. But, it still seems different to me compared to what you talk about here.
I agree w/ Ash… it’s a sad thing that ppl aren’t in the streets marching for justice for what’s happening in Darfur. I see more ppl, as of late, getting involved, but I still wonder if it’s doing any good. But like she said, there isn’t enough coverage of the crisis in that country.
Ash
Regarding Darfur. Europeans will have continous demonstrations over the USA in Iraq and complain about Guantanamo prisons, but can’t summon up any outrage over Darfur where an organized massacre has tolled hundreds of thousands of dead.
“Not enough public interest†seems to be the general attitude.
More like “Americans aren’t behind it, so who cares?”
@ Anonymous – yes, and I had meant to include that but forgot. There is a weird mindset among many in the West which is less concerned about tragic events than it is about who it can blame for them. Activists here will gleefully involve themselves if they can blame the US, the UK, or Israel but don’t seem to care much when they can’t. There’s a curious reverse racism in this – an implicit belief that non-Western countries can’t be expected to uphold the same standards as Western countries. I’m not sure if I explained that very well but, re: Darfur, there’s a sort of implicit “oh well, it’s Africa, they are always killing each other and nothing can be done about it”.
This is somewhat true, isn’t it?
The latest wave to hit George Bush is his speech last week about fighting global corruption. When I heard that I simply groaned and had an immediate stomach ache….
While I completely agree that if corruption is reduced (as it can never be stamped out, just human nature) a whole swathe of 3rd world countries will see immediate benefits to their personal and daily lives. I dare say that the vast majority of Arabs specifically will heave a huge sigh of relief. But, like all his schemes, they are intrinsically good, but are fool’s errands too. Only suitable to simple minded people like his good self as they have no practical value.
I wonder if he will implicate himself; though, as well as his vice for their various involvements in Halliburton and other Big Oil they’re involved in, how about his own father?
But I digress. Going back to the black hole that is called Africa, there are so many ills in there that what you say rings very true, as do-gooders go there with a simple plan to eradicate X from such and such a country and then roll what they learnt to Africa as a whole. They find that immediately they go on their first holidays back to civilization and come back that all their work has become undone because of internet bickering within the tribe, let alone the bigger community or district or country.
What’s the solution then, as far as Darfus is for example? I don’t know. Why do people seemingly don’t care? Because they’ve got their own fish to fry and maybe they are apathetic when it comes to Africa because of situations like the above.
So how can this be solved once and for all?
I have no effin’ clue.
But if someone actually come up with a workable solution, that someone will be from within their own community, and not “civilized” world imposed ideologies.
Ash: “oh well, it’s Africa, they are always killing each other and nothing can be done about itâ€Â
Mahmood: “This is somewhat true, isn’t it?
Maybe so, but of course lots of people say exactly the same thing about the Middle East ….
Mahmood: “But if someone actually come up with a workable solution, that someone will be from within their own community, and not “civilized†world imposed ideologies. ”
There are many many Africans who are struggling to effect changes within their own communities but they also seek and need support – not only financial but also things such as skills training (this is something I’ve been directly involved with) and sometimes simple moral support and faith that a better world is at least possible. Bush’s inane pronouncements are nothing to do with me and he’s one of the last people I’d wish to see taking any sort of interfering role (unless he would push the UN to send serious peacekeeping troops to Darfur, while at the same time keeping out of it himself …).
I don’t really regard “stop slaughtering civilian men, women and children” as a “civilized world imposed ideology” – just as basic common humanity.
Merci Mahmood 🙂
But if someone actually come up with a workable solution, that someone will be from within their own community, and not “civilized†world imposed ideologies.
This is key, but how many of their problems are due to cultural attitudes? For example, if someone defines corruption as a bribe being $40 instead of $20, then there is a mindset to overcome.
I believe Bush’s point is that it’s wasteful to give money to Africa because it gets lost in corruption anyway. Which has been true for the most part. Eliminating corruption as a pre-requisite for foreign aid may actually prompt reform.
Mahmood – Though Dick Cheney had some questionable connections with Halliburton regarding stock options, Bush was not involved.
Ash,
After what happened in Mogadishu, American troops will never see Africa again. As for the genocides, the rest of the world needs to take more action on this sort of thing. No one seemed too concerned about Rwanda, until after the fact, and there will probably be similar regrets about Darfur later.
I have seen some small demonstrations about Darfur in NYC, but they aren’t headline news.
bahraini, that showed you really need a life. How come you cant party, drink and get laid in bahrain???
Gizmo, all middle easterners know that lebanon is the place to be for parties. The fact that I included drinking and getting laid in there is because usually it’s part of the package. So chill and piss off ;)!
Peace!
I’m chilling, and piss off who?