Blogging Beirut

"Im down there since yesterday and till tomorrow morning. Never seen anything so beautiful. We re right behind brent sadler, turn to cnn for the view i have"

Ottawa - Parliament Hill - Lebanese Demonstration against Foreign Hegemony
February 26, 2005

Monday 21st of February.
Montreal, -10 degrees, 1/2 a meter of snow.

3 months ago, on the 27th of November, this article was published in FT.
2 articles, 3 months apart... surely something is brewing.

Here, FT captures the uniqueness of Beirut/Lebanon. The generosity of the people, the bonhomie of the spirit... A tradition that survived many wars, and has risen like the phoenix, brighter with every resurrection.

With 35bn dollars of national debt and a declining economy, it seems surreal that such an article could be written - depicting a flame that will burn bright until its final breath.

Of all that which makes us who we are, the mountains, the beaches, the snow, the sand, the springs, the greens, the pines, the cedars... our generosity defines us the most.

As such, a Lebanese is a Lebanese wherever he may be.

Immigration officials at airports the world over tend to be a dour bunch
- repetitive strain from all that rubber-stamping perhaps -
but not in Beirut. Bleary-eyed from having flown in at 4.30am, I
returned from the currency exchange booth to find the two friends I
was travelling with deep in conversation with an immigration official. I
imagined there was a problem of some kind, but as I drew
closer I realised they were bantering, among other things about where to
find the best Lebanese food in town.

"My mother cooks the best," he said in characteristically Mediterranean
fashion. "I invite you to my home." They looked uncertain.
"I mean that," he insisted.

On the flimsiest of pretexts, the baby-faced, khaki-clad official then
waived their visa fees and wished them a pleasant stay.
Beirut's charm offensive starts early.

In the past 3 months I counted more articles written about Beirut/Lebanon than I had in the entire 24 months before.
Whatever the topics, the tones, the tales being told, it was clear that Beirut had returned to its international limelight.

The question then becomes, to what end? Have we returned to our former glory, or is it just superficial cladding on festering wounds?

Either way, this is the end of an era...

The last fling
By David Gardner
Published: February 5 2005 02:00 | Last updated: February 5 2005 02:00

It is midnight on Saturday in downtown Beirut and the Buddha Bar is heaving. A cavernous copy of its Parisian namesake, with a 20ft- high Buddha statue as its presiding spirit, the bar is just the latest incarnation of the Lebanese craving for novelty and gift for fun.

The son of a Maronite Christian warlord assassinated, allegedly by the Syrians, during the 1975-90 civil war, thrusts his way through the throng to the bar with the help of a bodyguard out of central casting: black T-shirt, tailored leather jacket, wrap-around shades and designer stubble.

A vast Johnnie Walker whisky icon towers over the bar itself, causing one regular patron to observe that, "almost everything that takes place in this city happens under the eyes of Johnnie Walker".

Beirut, it would appear, is back in business, restored to its pre- war position as the playground of the Arab world.

I just stumbled upon a drinking game called 'Beirut'.
I'm still trying to figure out why it's so called, but it seems to be quite popular, to the point that there are sites dedicated to the game [also known as beer-pong].
See:
Beirut-Guide.com - the drinking game

It's so big, that they were planning a national tournament in the US, that for some odd reason got cancelled [liver problems? eheh].

Cancelled Tournament

Here are the rules of the game:

This game is similar to BeerPong. Depending on number of players and desired level of intoxication, pick a number of cups for the back row (five is usually good for two on two). After the back row is set up, fill in the rest of the cups in a pyramid shape, with the point near the center of the table. Fill the cups about 1/4 full with beer.

The teams then shoot the ping-pong balls at the cups, and if a team sinks one, the other team drinks that cup. If a team gets an airball (flies off the end of the table without hitting the table or a cup), then the person who threw the ball has to drink one of their own.

Here is where a variation can come into play. One version of the game keeps all of the empty cups on the table until there is one cup left (then they all get cleared except for that one cup). In other versions, when the number of empty cups equals the number of cups in the back row, all of the empty cups are cleared and a new, smaller pyramid is formed.

When it is down to the last cup, there are a few special rules. If a team sinks the last cup, then the other team has a chance to defend themselves. The number of people that threw on the "offensive" team relates to the number of catch-up shots the "defensive' team gets. So, if the one team sinks the last cup on the first try then the other team only gets one shot to catch up. If it is one cup to one cup and the defensive team sinks the catch up shot, then it is like sudden death.

A diamond is made out of the cups (three more are added to each side) and the game proceeds using the same rules as regular play. The team that loses has to drink any beer that is remaining in the cups of the winning team. Usually, the winning team stays on and takes on a challenging team.

- finkployd

The exponential increase in the exploitation and massacre of Lebanon's environment has just crossed a new milestone... the sands of our beaches - the sands of Jiyyeh.

This is the stuff that few people seem to be aware off.

One [1] kilometer north and south of the famous sands of Bamboo Bay and La Voile Blue, the very sands to which over a million tourists flocked to this past summer, a legitimate sand extraction operation is operating on the seabed. Sand is pumped out and sold for construction [to be mixed with cement et al].

Is it not absurd that there is a legitimate business that is massacring the very sands we cherish... and we are oblivious?
Or is it simply that we, who can afford to pay $15 to enter the elite beaches of the south, believe we are beyond the effects of such actions... after all, if they can sell the sand, surely we can afford to buy it back and refill the plots in front of our fenced paradise.

What of these legitimate businesses, that find it necessary to work the nights to further plunder while they can, while they remain protected by the law... the LAW?
What of laws that protect those who do harm onto others... who do harm onto those who cannot fight back... who would pillage the very heart of our country.

The very sands that set off the Phoenicians thousands of years ago on a voyage that led to the very letters we are using today...
These sands that have seen a dozen civilizations come and go, are now being converted forever into a chemical mixture that cannot be reversed, into cement, concrete, grey matter.

These are the doings of our fellow men and women...
I've seen this before, in many places where divinty shines, and I tell myself, maybe, just maybe, they're doing it out of ignorance. Maybe we can educate them?
But then I look around, and realize it's not those who we must educate, but rather the beachgoers just a kilometer down... if only they knew. if only they cared enough... after all, aren't their fathers the owners of these companies, the makers of these laws, the neighbors who turn a blind eye?

We must start with ourselves...
We must seek to be aware.

Ignorance will soon run out of bliss, as our beaches run out of sand.

- Mio

sands of Jiyyeh - Daily Star

The Middle East is rampant with human trafficking, with an estimated market value of 1 billion dollars just between Israel and Lebanon.

What compounds the problem, is the fact that both these countries are in a 'state of war', translating to less funds towards fighting this system - which as with any mafia-run system, is very well funded and protected.

The good news, however, is that just over a month ago the first safe house for abused foreign workers, and victims of human trafficking was opened. The location remains undisclosed for safety purposes.

This not only provides victims with shelter and legal aid, but also provides for the first real SOURCE of public awareness of the existence of a problem. Prior to the opening, the policy was "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

Awareness: A first step towards public support.

THE HOTLINE FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IS: 03-092-538