Following the mistreatment of a group of Sudanese living in Lebanon, which I alluded to here, there’s been an almighty uproar. Hezbollah, the Sudanese and Lebanesegovernments and the almighty Guardian have all got in on the act.
Impressive.
I can’t help but be cynical here. Seems like a lot of hot air and that everything will blow over with no end result.
Racism is rife in Lebanon. It’s a fact of life. That it occurs in the security forces is hardly surprising. Amid all the sanctimonious waffle, at least that’s become blatantly obvious.
But … they can’t all be bad… they’re considering giving Palestinians a few more rights… yeah, right.
Electricity, or the lack of it, is something of an ongoing problem for Lebanon. For years the country’s providers have been unable to meet demand. The power stations are either blown up, people are leeching off the grid, or there’s no money to pay for the fuel.
Regardless, there’s never enough juice to go around.
Beirut by night
As a result, the vast majority of Lebanese homes and apartment blocks have generators to make up for the shortfall. Everyone pays a small fortune to some shady guy who hooks you up to the local machine.
It’s been going on for years.
But, after all this time, there’s suddenly a way to fix the problem inside of four years. Energy and Water Minister Gebran Bassil has rocked up and declared that all is well and that we’ll have 24/7 power inside of four years.
Ahem. Sure. This has been met with outright disbelief from many media sources. The Daily Star, Lebanon’s biggest English-language daily, called him a liar, pure and simple.
You’ll have to excuse the cynicism. Two nights ago I was putting the washing out to dry with the aid of a torch with a windable dynamo. Ah, the 21st Century, don’t you love it?
Well, turns out that Charbel and co. allowed Oublie la voiture to go ahead, albeit under a new name. The play went through a series of name changes, including, bizarrely, Meryl Streep, before being released under the title of Stoflo.
Ahhh, the trials of posting live news. We live and learn.
There have been a few events in recent weeks that hint that all is not well in the heart of the country. Heavy-handed treatment of refugees and the closing of a play hint at something quite disturbing.
Rachid Al-Daif’s play, Oublie La Voiture, was closed down and people ejected as it was a little too racy for staid (?!) Lebanese views. Hmmmm. Apparently every play has to be vetted by the Lebanese General Security and given a permit. This one had been rejected, ran anyway and was shut down.
Charbel felt that the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini had been underrated, and if you didn't agree, he'd kick the shit out of you.
A group of Sudanese refugees were holding a charity fundraiser for a sick child. It’s been described as a “party”. Well, fresh from their turn as avant garde art critics, the police proceeded to break up the gathering.
People were dragged from the building pushed face down on the pavement and generally pushed about. Nice. Not only that, but it was reported that some less-than-pleasant language was used. “Nigger” is a term that most people deem to be disgusting, myself included, unfortunately it is heard quite frequently here. Oh, and the Sudanese are Arabs.
I’m sure I recall hearing Lebanese complain about the Syrians doing similar things when they were in town. Surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes.
But, not to worry, there’ll be an enquiry. And, after all, they got to arrest some illegal immigrants.
Over the weekend Lebanese women took to the streets to highlight the need for reform of the laws regarding citizenship. At present they can’t pass on their nationality to their husband or sprogs.
While lining the streets and making noise is all well and good, I can’t help but feel that they’ll struggle to achieve anything when it comes to nationality.
Perhaps a concerted lobbying effort might yield tangible results?
I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd suggest BinB to anyone who think might be interested. Readership is going up, slowly, and I'm doing my best to get it out there.
