Author: Bambi

We will miss you Dear Mr. Louvain!

Thank you for your incredible talent and inspiring career.

May your memory be as eternal as your voice…

The Dabke is the Levantine’s native dance. It is widely performed across the Middle East, including Lebanon. People dance it in groups at joyful occasions, including but not limited to weddings.

Bambi cannot hear this music without jumping to dance it at parties… And if she is by herself at home, she cannot help not to start dancing (even whilst working :)). Below, she will share three videos on Dabke.

The first video shows dancing that took place at Beirut airport in 2011 (10 years ago only, although it feels like ages in a pandemic….). This occurred during the more golden years of Lebanon. Yes, this was before Lebanon’s tragic financial crash on October 17, 2019, before the tough pandemic, and the surrealistic Beirut explosion of August 4, 2020. Lighter days will return to Beirut and its citizens and visitors will dance and enjoy life again!

Now, the second video features the “Chevaliers du Liban” of Québec. It shows us that we can dance the Dabke even in the snow :).

Finally, in the third short video, four Montreal youth teach us how to dance the Dabké (in English).

Enjoy :)!

Happy Birthday Dearest Rita ?!

Some dates we will always remember until our death— April 13, 1975 is one of them.

Never again! May all the countries of the world, including us in Canada, know how to preserve the freedom of thoughts and of expression, dignity, and peace of mind of all their citizens… It is Bambi’s wish to the world, especially on this April 13.

As for you Rita, Bambi misses you big time and wishes you all the best!

For fun, here are two songs for you:

The first one is about how armed conflict times (“a rifle”) separated a man from his love, namely a woman called Rita. What an eternal song by Mr. Marcel Khalife (words by the poet Mahmoud Darwish)!

“Between Rita and my eyes there is a Rifle

And those who knows Rita

(then they) postulates and prays

To a god in the (her) amber eyes

And I kissed Rite when she was small

And I recall how she clung to me

and covered my forearm with the most beautiful braids

And I remember Rita just like

A bird recalls its (drinking) stream

Ah ah! Rita

(we shared) Between us are a million birds and a picture

And many dates

A rifled fired at her (Rita)

(we shared) Between us are a million birds and a picture

And many dates

A rifled fired at her (Rita)

Between Rita and my eyes there is a Rifle

And those who knows Rita

(then they) postulates and prays

To a god in the (her) amber eyes

Rita’s name was a festival in my mouth

Rita’s body was a wedding in my blood

And I was lost myself for two years with Rita

And she slept upon my forearm for two years

And I was lost myself for two years with Rita

And she slept upon my forearm for two years

And we vowed to each other as we shared the most beautiful cup

And we burned and we burned and we burned and we burned

In the wine of two lips

And we were born again

In the wine of two lips

And we were born again

Rita’s name was a festival in my mouth

Rita’s body was a wedding in my blood

And I was lost myself for two years with Rita

And she slept upon my forearm for two years

And I was lost myself for two years with Rita

And she slept upon my forearm for two years

And we vowed to each other as we shared the most beautiful cup

And we burned and we burned and we burned and we burned

In the wine of two lips

And we were born again

In the wine of two lips

And we were born again

Ah rita

ah rita

What thing turned my eyes away from looking at your eyes

What thing turned my eyes away from looking at your eyes

Except two secrets and amber clouds (refering to her eyes)

Before this rifle

Once upon a time

oh silence of the evening

My moon migrated far away in the morning

in the amber eyes

in the amber eyes

Once upon a time

oh silence of the evening

My moon migrated far away in the morning

in the amber eyes

in the amber eyes

And the city

swept away all the singers and Rita

And the city

swept away all the singers and Rita

Standing between Rita and my eyes is a rifle

a rifle

a rifle”.

Now, the second song is more joyful (Happy Birthday in Arabic ?):

To conclude this post on other beautiful wishes to all the friends and relatives, Happy beginning of Ramadan month to all! If Bambi is not mistaken, some of you will begin the spiritual journey today. Others tomorrow. Take good care and all the best!

Two beautiful Lebanese songs of Fairuz (with English translation) interpreted by the talented Talia Lahoud. Enjoy :)!

Here is a song for you– of course, it is the one by the late Christophe about “Aline” :)!

Here is a picture for you— is there anything more beautiful than the sea? We are lucky to live by the Atlantic ocean… and having known the Mediterranean sea!

On the way to Cap-Pelé, Bambi heard Aline’s song in the car. Upon returning home, she was singing another old French song she has not heard for ages! She bets Aline likes it too– it by the late and talented Mr. Sacha Distel. It reminds her of her childhood and it is also about the ocean :).

To conclude this post on another friendly wink, Bambi has an old friend (Maha) in mind today. She has not seen her for over 15 years years (they first met about 30 years ago). She hopes/trusts she is doing well and wishes her a Happy Birthday too :). She tried to touch base last year and again today… in vain. Hopefully, she will manage to find the new contact soon!

Even if she does not agree with his insults about Québec, Bambi defended Dr. Amir Attaran’s free expression in earlier posts (see further below). She even likes some of his comments, even if she is disturbed by many others.

Indeed, today, Professor Attaran went a step further in his notorious insults by tweeting about his happiness to see another human dead. Can you imagine? How could he? The late Prince Philip could have been his own dad, his grand-father, or simply another brother in humanity…

Of course, Professor Attaran is free to think whatever he wants about the Royal family or the British Empire or whatever else in life. He is also free to be woke. This is not the issue. The sad story here is his lack of respect of human life. Plus, even if he wanted to score a point, even so-called racists deserve respect at their death.

Regardless of any political or ideological opinion, Bambi refuses to understand mean statements or gestures in life, especially by those who consider themselves highly-educated… Even during a 15-year-long civil war, her heart was not filled with hate.

Mind you, in addition to the above tweets, Dr. Attaran made recent insulting comments about and to Québec Minister Benoit Charette (calling him “white supremacist“, if only he knew that his own wife is of Haitian origins and their kids have a dark skin… ). It is both sad and absurd to see the low level of intellectual “exchange” by the elites of our country.

To come back to the late Prince Philip, Bambi took the time to send her heart to our Queen who “lost the love of her life” (as shown at the very bottom of this post). She has never met the Queen in life… just thought of her in a human way.

Related to this loss, Dr. Attaran’s mean words about Prince Philip are a sharp contrast to Bambi’s own words about another man, called Mr. Nasrallah, during a recent chat with her spouse. They were discussing politics of the Middle East. For Bambi’s readers who do not know this man, she often chats with him on her blog (replying to his public speeches). It is actually one of her pleasures in life ?.

Seriously, Mr. Nasrallah is the Head of the Hezbollah (considered a terrorist organization by Canada). He dragged her birth country into unwanted wars so many times. His organization may even have a responsibility in the Beirut explosion that almost killed her parents, brother-in-law, niece, and childhood friends. The surrealistic Beirut explosion abruptly ended the lives of MANY of her parents’ neighbours whilst destroying a large part of their city.

Despite all the above, Bambi still had words of human compassion toward Mr. Nasrallah when she was mentioning that he lost his son during one of the past wars with Israel. In her mind, no one deserves to lose a child, including this (nasty or criminal) man. So, yes, she has human compassion toward his own suffering, as a father. Plus, she would never wish death to anyone, including the heartless, corrupt, and/or criminal Lebanese politicians (former warlords). Not even to Lebanon’s foreign enemies who have occupied Beirut or who try hard to control it by proxy (note that Bambi’s aunt was killed during one of these invasions…).   

Thus, it is Bambi’s wish that Dr. Attaran would one day learn to put aside his hate in order to open his heart to reach out to his fellow human beings, including those he regularly insults, calling them racists or white supremacists.

OK, that was the story of Dr. Attaran.

Now who is the other (former) lawyer? You may be curious. Well, his name is Mr. Ezra Levant. He is an independent Canadian journalist who created the Rebel News. One or two weeks ago, he showed a video on his Twitter account about how the Montreal police asked one of his journalists “if he was a Jew?” Bambi was skeptical at first, thinking perhaps this apparently racist name calling was because the officers thought he may have been a guest of the Hassidic Jewish community attending a service for Passover (during a lockdown). Maybe he needed to show some papers, etc. Well, now, she clearly understood that she was wrong as this story was likely due to racism. It actually repeated itself today, by some Montreal police officers. The latter may be enjoying abuse of power during the successive Covid-19 lockdowns of their city. It seems that they have perhaps enjoyed bullying the Rebel News journalists. You can see this for yourself in the video below…

To conclude this post, what is refreshing or inspiring about this video is to see an employer defending his employees. Not too many employers have the same courage as Mr. Levant… especially in our collectively insane (or sadly increasingly fascist) times. For this, Bambi will say: bravo Mr. Levant!

Are elections ahead? Regardless, bravo and thank you Mr. Trudeau for defending Québec. This being said, Dr. Attaran’s free (“Québec bashing”) speech must remain protected!

Tolerance: What can we learn from Mr. Enrico Macias’ song and Mr. Mario Dumont’s article?

Québec, la belle province, historically the constant target of attacks from the rest of Canada

A beautiful moment between Prince Philip and his grandson…

The picture above was taken from: https://www.annahar.com/arabic/section/6-

Bambi’s heart goes to our Queen who lost the love of her life…

May Prince Philip rest in peace and… may his memory be eternal.

In the About of this blog, you can read the following:

“… Afkar” means thoughts in Arabic. Thoughts (or thinkers) are naturally free. However, paradoxically and sadly, this does not seem to be the case in our days and time, even in a “clever” small town like ours (Sackville, NB). It tells us something about the state of tolerance of diverse opinions, starting with our own brains and extending to our families, communities, schools, and public spaces.

This is why I decided to pay tribute to the freedom of ideas (or thoughts) on this blog by choosing a name that refers to a German song I love dearly, called “Die Gedanken sind frei” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Gedanken_sind_frei)...

Die Gedanken sind frei
My thoughts freely flower,
My thoughts give me power
No scholar can map them,
No hunter can trap them,
No man can deny:
Die Gedanken sind frei! “

For your freedom of spirit Dearest Firas as well as for her own values, namely of freedom and respect of the diversity of opinions in life, Bambi will sing again and again our childhood song. It remains timely, perhaps today more than ever…

She can imagine how sad you must be (even in heaven!) if you are watching the state of intolerance of diverse opinions, ironically in our beloved Canada… not just in Lebanon where people courageously resist intolerance, sometimes until their last breath, to preserve their precious collective freedom of expression… or what is left of it.

Many Canadian and international media have covered and are still covering the 10th anniversary of the wave of the so-called “Arab spring” that swept over Arab countries, one after the other.

It started in Tunisia with a man and his vegetable cart. He set himself on fire to denounce misery, the direct consequence of dictatorship in his country.

From Tunisia, the protests, and the aspiration for democracy, spread to other countries like Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria.

Sadly, the dream of freedom did not materialize in democratization or in better economies. Many people are still struggling to survive poverty or to find jobs to secure a future. The covid-19 crisis is an additional economic nightmare.

Tragically, chaos and devastating civil wars broke out here and there, like in Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Human suffering and tragic refugee stories, both within and outside of one’s own country and continent, became daily routine.

Sadly, in some countries like Syria, the choice became between living under a dictatorship OR under Islamism (the latter is a political ideology; it is not the broader beautiful Muslim religion also called Islam). Which of the two evils is less of an evil, in this catch 22 double tragedy?

Other countries interfered, fuelled, or benefited from wars. Some managed to run businesses out of the misery of other human beings. And yet, of course, others found ways to be generous, to help, and to become better human beings.

So, what is left from the Arab spring? Or did the summer follow the spring or not yet—even after 10 years?

Can we say that a newer Arab spring tried to see the light, more recently (October, 2019) in Lebanon and Irak?

What would be the fate of all these so-called Arab revolts or springs?

So many questions. So many unknowns. Perhaps taboos have been broken and perhaps hope can renew itself in this or in the future spring season(s)?

Hope is surely in the younger generations of Arabs, not only aspiring for but also demanding a just world: an end to dictatorships, oligarchy, discrimination, and sectarianism (or tribalism)! Not only dreaming of a new cultural renaissance (or another “Nahda“!), but also slowly contributing to it in business, science, industry, literature, music, and all forms of arts, etc.

To conclude this post on a musical note that describes the tragedy of the “Arab spring”, here is a song by Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji, preceded by its powerful English lyrics. Bambi has goose bumps every time she listens to it…

Arab Spring song (taken from: shorturl.at/dgpM7):

” What spring am I singing, what spring shall I talk about?

The grief coming out from me is a scream from my worried heart

What spring am I singing, what spring shall I talk about?

Those falling people are innocent, who is responsible?

We dreamt of a thriving spring, which fragrance would spread over people

But this spring turned out confusing, blossomed with blood of children and people

It started with a vegetables cart, then it turned into a revolution in the field

They made our revolution a red one which kills in the name of religions

Big states entered into us with their political interests

Sleep flew away from our nights because of our unprotected houses

They brought those barbarian Mongols from remote places

Their hearts are filled with indisputable and recalcitrant barbarity and ideology

The roar of their voices flew, they told them : “you are combatants,

Arab world is your trench. Do not set apart a colour or a religion”

The folks decided their fates, their rights to live freely

But, alas! Revolution took them back to slavery

What spring am I singing, what spring shall I talk about?

The grief coming out from me is a scream from my worried heart

What spring am I singing, what spring shall I talk about?

Those falling people are innocent, who is responsible?

The aim of the revolution is progression, not regression.

I dread the lengthening of this revolution turns us into a masquerade

I want a green spring which announces a new summer

They turned us into a red spring, they strafed us with weapons and iron

Summer’s shining sun rises behind spring

After summer, autumn hears the thunder of the winter’s cloud

Thus that rain will come tomorrow and wash our red lands

The revolution of life comes back with the human scream

They called us “Arab Spring”, this autumn blossomed into chaos

The West prevented the Arab folk from becoming free through a white revolution

I dread for this Arab folk for whom others are planning revolutions

And Arabs remain ignorant as a child leading in kindergarten

What spring am I singing, what spring shall I talk about?

The grief coming out from me is a scream from my worried heart

What spring am I singing, what spring shall I talk about?

Those falling people are innocent, who is responsible?”