In May 2006, Noam and Carol Chomsky visited Lebanon for the first time—just two months before Israel unleashed a new military campaign against both Lebanon and Palestine. During their eight-day trip, they toured refugee camps and a former Israeli prison and torture compound; met with political leaders—including the pro-government coalition; and Noam conducted interviews and gave public lectures on U.S. imperialism and the imminent crises facing the Middle East

Inside Lebanon documents Noam and Carol Chomsky’s journey and situates it within the tragically altered context of Lebanon and Palestine before and after the war of 2006. Noam Chomsky’s essays provide the background and framework for understanding the role of U.S. politics, power, and policies in these conflicts by examining how the United States wages war and imposes world domination while presenting itself as the righteous protector of democracy. Ironically, U.S. efforts at imperial control generate conflict and crises within the region while undermining the very democracy they claim to promote.

Inside Lebanon also includes essays, diaries, and photographs by Irene L. Gendzier, Assaf Kfoury, Jennifer Loewenstein, Fawwaz Traboulsi, Hanady Salman, Rasha Salti, Mona el-Farra, Laila el-Haddad, and Carol Chomsky. Collectively, their contributions illuminate the region-wide conflict, of which Lebanon is only one piece. It serves as a record of events during the war, while linking conflicts on the ground to the global order.

Interesting read for all the Chomskiites out there and for anyone who attended his conference at AUB.

It also has a transcript of his interview with Marcel-silly-Ghanem. Here are some ground-breaking, earth shattering professional, informative and thought provoking questions he asked him during that interview:

MG: Professor Chomsky, are you a supporter of the Taliban regime?

MG: Professor Chomsky, do you support the Syrian regime?

MG: The neoconservatives use the medium of speech. In his speeches, George Bush vows to end tyranny, to spread freedom and justice, to strengthen democracy and to promote dignity and human rights. Professor Chomsky, it seems that you do not believe his promises. Why not? Are these principles not important?

Don't Flush

In the long line of Phoenician tradition of exporting ideas from the world and transcribing them to a Lebanonese platform, installation art is a relatively new artform in Lebanon and it is being used quite widely in recent years.
Lebanese artist Nada Sehnaoui uses installation art to convey her messages. I have to say that she usually does a good job doing so and on many occasions; a small hop to her website might be useful for the interested.

Her latest was an installation in Beirut central district in the lot facing Starco center. The title for the installation was "HAVEN'T 15 YEARS OF HIDING IN THE TOILETS BEEN ENOUGH?", and the presentation is of a well organized set of about 600 crystal clean toilet seats neatly placed in an almost perfect grid.
The title in itself is quite silly since Sehnaoui presupposes that almost all Lebanese were hiding in their toilets during the (15 years?) of war on Lebanon hugging their toilet seats in a state of constant fear frenzy. Well, no.

Some Lebanese citizens were hiding in underground shelters, some preferred cast concrete staircases and some even preferred a more comfortable overseas hideout in Cyprus, Europe, Australia or other continents. Some lost their loved ones, some fought in trenches, in alleys, or on the frontlines.
Almost all Lebanese families lost a loved one, a relative or an acquaintance during those wars and the toilet seat, however tragic Sehnauoi thinks it is as a household item was probably the last thing on the minds of those families.
Portraying moments of war with a clean toilet seat brightly lit by huge light projectors as if glorified as an object is a message gone the wrong way. To say the least.

I will presume that Nada Sehnaoui personally thinks that the toilet seat is a reminder of the Lebanese civil war, i don't want to imagine her daily agony while performing one of nature's rituals everyday and how confusing that may have been to her for all those years but if indeed it was an object of miserable memories for having to shelter oneself in the most underprivileged room in the house, the mere sense of enclosure was probably the main reason some people turned to their toilets for shelter. That sense of enclosure was abscent in Sehnaoui's installation. Instead, she opted for exactly the opposite; a huge open space with bright lights, thus stripping the whole experience from its principal sensual asset. Besides, toilets during the shelling were most probably lit by faint candlelights since electrical power was cut. Again, Sehnaoui had an abundance of light shining on the new white seats.

I don't know if Nada Sehnaoui meant to create that contrast in contexts but if she did, then the whole "toilet thing" lost all its meaning.
Wars are tragic, they should always be remembered that way. Moreover, wars are learning experiences from which humans can draw conclusions for their common future. A responsible look at civil wars is not only framed in moments of fear and glorifying those moments to that extent, this only supposes that the people remembering those wars have completely missed the inherent lesson. Fear is normal but it's not the essential ingredient that we should learn from.

Almost every medical doctor tells you that the toilet seat is an important place where you can have a look to inquire about the state of your own health. So you wouldn't want to flush that toilet in a hurry for now.

Circus of Hypocrisy

Illustration by Ares

If there ever was a "Richter" scale for hypocrisy, it would have gone red hot mad during the last couple of weeks in Lebanon. Double standards are a rare sight nowadays, where triple (or more) standards have ruled the media landscape on three issues.

First, the controversy over the lawsuit between General Michel Aoun and Paul Chaoul (supposed to be an intellectual, erudite of a creature) following the latter's article in an anti-Aoun newspaper in which he used inflammatory language, libel and sleazy sentences worthy of a whorehouse pimp.
Now, this lawsuit would have been normal and natural in any country in the world except for Lebanon where a large panoply of "intellectuals" and media figures (who accidentally work in anti-Aoun political media outlets) signed a petition raving against the lawsuit and declaring it as a direct punch to the freedom of expression in the country and the mere fact that Michel Aoun resorted to the rule of law in this matter is -in their "intellectual" opinion- something outrageous.
The hypocrisy here is not their opinion or their petition, but the fact that the people who they work for, namely Saad Hariri, Samir Geagea and many other politicians still have a dozen active lawsuits against critical journalists.

Second, Persepolis.
The movie was banned from the movie theaters in Lebanon under the pretext that it portrays the Islamic republic of Iran in a bad way. Something which is supposed to upset many sympathizers of the revolution in Lebanon mainly Hezbollah and Amal.
The ban was a huge hit in the Hariri-media where they grabbed every chance to portray it as a dangerous development in Lebanese values of modernity and freedom. The issue (like almost everything in Lebanon) was politicized to such extreme extents in "intellectual" circles and journalists that one would think that Lebanon has become an Iranian Islamic satellite state.
Of course nobody mentioned the hypocrisy that during the rule of senior Hariri, many movies, books and artists were banned in Lebanon under a panoply of pretexts and no one of those same "intellectuals" cared to lift a finger or wast a drop of their precious ink on a newspaper because the "boss" is always over criticism.

Third, and last week, 20 pubs and restaurants in Gemmayze were closed by the ministry of tourism (part of the Hariri toolbox) under the pretext of noise pollution following a pajama demonstration of some residents of the Gemmayze street. Of course they're upset, saturday nights are busy in Gemmayze and the area is practically the only area in Lebanon where barhoppers can enjoy themselves. But of course totalitarian-style swift justice is not the only solution if the ministry never cared to study the issue carefully and propose a series of recommendations to deal with the problem.
No "intellectual" or Hariri-media cared to even comment on that fact and ideal criticism is obviously only reserved for political opponents.
Just to put things into perspective, one would imagine a huge international media campaign and millions of dollars poured into propagandist media outlets and journalists/intellectuals-for hire if that decision was that on a Hezbollah minister. Hence, Hypocrisy.

For anyone with an atom of common sense, Lebanese media and most of the intellectuals in Lebanon have become practically unbearable.

Warlord in Washington

LA Times: ...This week again, Lebanese politicians — the same ones who accuse their enemies of being dupes of Syria and Iran — continued to seek the support of the U.S. government. Samir Geagea, a senior anti-Syrian politician and a former warlord, is currently making a high-profile visit to Washington. He is scheduled to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Pretty accurate description of Geagea's history here by Joseph Hitti in the American Chronicle.

NB: Many Lebanese Forces supporters were more than pleased to hear about the dispatch of the US warships, and have been lauding that move with sheer patriotism hoping those warships will help them politically over other Lebanese parties. It is to be noted that Geagea himself thanked the US administration for sending those warships in a show of commitment to his coalition's frail status but later dismissed the fact that those warships have anything to do with Lebanese affairs. Pretty consistent is he?

"We are Waiting for These Sardine Cans Packed with Crusaders to be Incinerated"

Franklin Lamb from Saida (lebanon): AlQaeda mujahedeen drooling over uncle Sam's flotilla;

...According to 'Ahmad', a boyish faced middle-aged veteran fighter who arrived from Iraq some months ago, and who would fit the caricature of 'an Al Qaeda inspired salafist mujahedeen' if ever the reader would bump into one, "The US Warships will not leave Lebanon's water until they are attacked and destroyed. They are coming to wage war against Lebanon on behalf of the Zionists", he explained.

A stunning blonde woman, 'Rena' who seemed more European than Arab and appeared to be some sort of military expert explained as though she was a Pentagon spokesperson:

"The US Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group based in Naples, Italy arrived in the 6th Fleet's operational area three days ago. They may join the Cole and we are expecting eventually six ships. The Cole was re-commissioned in April 2002 and had its first post-attack deployment in November 2003."

As this observer's eyes widened, Rena continued:

"We are watching their movements carefully. Besides the Nassau, the group includes a guided missile cruiser, two guided missile destroyers and two additional amphibious ships. The amphibious ships can carry thousands of Marines and can land on Lebanon's shores at almost any point along 120 kilometers."

"How do you know all this stuff?" this observer blathered.

نزهة ريفية. - Marcel Khalife - 1983

قصتنا نزهة ريفية ممنوعة ومش قانونية
من تركيا وحكم فرنسا وحكم الصيغة اللبنانية
خلصنا من التركي وتتريكو اجت فرنسا سايكس بيكو
قسمونا بيكو وشريكو خلقوا الدولة الصهيونية
والزعما اللي أخدوا بلعة كل راعي طايفتو شلعا
بدل الوطن الحر القلعة نصبوا خيام الطائفية

منها الظلم اللي ما منريدوا

ماضي أسود سيفو بإيدو

كنا نحنا من مواليدو

ولا منرضى التاريخ يعيدو

ولما انهزّوا اجرين الكرسي جابوا كل الدول الشرسة

وربطوا الكرسي بنيو جرسي وبالمتعددة الجنسية

Theatrical diplomacy?

via Joshua Landis (Syria Comment),

...Earlier, Richard Murphy, a former US ambassador to Syria, told Al Jazeera that the move was a sign that the US did not know what to do about Lebanon.

"It is gunboat diplomacy. I think it would be more useful for the US to find a way to engage with the conflicting parties in Lebanon.

"We have no dialogue with Syria and this is a moment for dialogue."

Between the Bush administration's pirate games in the Mediterranean, PM Siniora's shaky denial of any prior knowledge of the gunboat dispatch, his nervous attitude with the press after his PC, AND Saudi Arabia's mysterious and ill-justified sms communique to its nationals in Lebanon to evacuate, things seem to be taking a rather theatrical aspect.