Above is an interesting English report by Ms. Nadia Massih and Mr. Mohamed Farhat (France 24; published on November 16, 2019).
Bambi discovered “Megaphone“, which is a news platform that gives voices to Lebanon’s uprising. Thank you France 24.
First, it is somehow ironic, and even amusing, to see the smiling faces of the police officers. I guess it is not every day that they see so many people happily waiting for citizens to be released from their police station :).
Second, and more alarmingly, it is Bambi’s hope that Lebanese people’s right to freedom of expression will keep on being protected, now more than ever.
To the right, we can see the President of Lebanon. Under his picture, the article goes like: “The President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, aroused the popular anger by suggesting to the dissatisfied citizens the path of emigration”. – / AFP
Second, this article, by Sybille Rizk, sheds light on the tragic situation in Lebanon.
Big issues for such as small country.
Below is a translation from French to English, if you have the time or if you care to read:
“In Beirut
If Ubu had been multi-headed, he could have symbolized the Lebanese political class. As a “solution” to the unprecedented crisis in the country since the end of the war, the name of Mohammad Safadi was leaked in the media: an agreement was found to succeed him to Saad Hariri at the head of the government. The mere fact of pretending to consider this way out of the crisis is a testimony about the extent of the gap that divides the political class from the street. Not to mention the context in which the decision would have been taken: an informal meeting, outside any institutional framework. The constitution requires the prime minister to be appointed by the President of the Republic after formal consultations of deputies.
As soon as the news spread in the middle of night, the slogans flourished to discredit this former minister, a billionaire whose name is associated with a complex accused of encroaching on the public property of the waterfront of Beirut and trade of Saudi armament.
Oligarchic regime
Analysts hesitate between two readings. Either the announcement involves maneuvers to “grill” an option in order to “sell” then another. Either it shows a flagrant inability of the authorities to take on the reality. In both cases, it signals the extent of the crisis -some of the collapse-of the oligarchic political regime that began at the end of the 1975-1990 war.
One after the other, the poles of this system have shown their extreme vulnerability. The Prime Minister threw in the towel on October 29. His 72-hour rescue plan, in response to the popular uprising, was deemed as unreliable as inadequate. Its main “measure” was the zeroing of the budget deficit, while it has been two years since the authorities were able to reduce it to 7% of GDP.
It was then the irremovable president of Parliament, Nabih Berri, who was forced to postpone a parliamentary session whose appearance was perceived as an affront to popular demands. Ditto for the agenda: a general amnesty law, comparable to that which had absolved all warlords in 1991. Under the excuse of pardon to people who suffer from a denial of justice (because of a criminal justice system plagued by years of political interference), the proposed amnesty also concerns an impressive array of financial and fiscal crimes.
Popular revolt is carried by its geographical, social and confessional transversality.
Finally, during a televised interview, the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, aroused the popular anger by suggesting to the dissatisfied citizens the path of emigration. A flagrant clumsiness in a country whose youth, the main driving force of the revolt, is overwhelmingly forced to expatriate failing to find work.
Although flickering, these different components of power refuse to give way. They are supported by Hezbollah, which, although shaken as well, remains the main organized force of the country, with an armament whose power exceeds that of the regular army. Iran’s Allied Shiite party fears the emergence of a new political configuration that would directly target it, transposing the conflict between Washington and Tehran to Lebanon, while it has managed to protect itself from it.
In front of them, the popular revolt is anchored in its demands, and carried by its geographic, social and confessional transversality. But it is not yet catalyzed around a political project carried by one or more opposition movements. Hence the risk that the timing of the current political transition is not fast enough compared to that of the economic and financial crisis whose social consequences are potentially devastating”.
Lebanese politicians turn a deaf ear to protestors’ demands
The earlier post was about bad leaders. The current post is a 101 political science course about mismanagement of revolts.
Kids went to school today, at least some of them. Private hospitals across the country were on strike. Banks remain closed. Bank employees are still on strike. People are still massively AND peacefully protesting on the streets.
Whilst the financial crisis is critical, Lebanese politicians keep recycling themselves in order to remain in power.
Is stability of the “shit” safer than the “shit” that some fear in the unknown?
Please excuse Bambi’s language. She is usually polite. Luckily English is not her first language. Thus, this word sounds milder than its equivalent word in Arabic that she will spare you :).
He is the father of the amazing Ben who recently graduated from UNB Saint John!
Mike George & his spouse Jan co-founded Soaring Families in 2015 to support anyone who cares for a loved one with complex care needs due to a chronic health condition or a disability.
Dr. Mirella De Civita is the President of Papillon MDC Inc. (Montréal, Québec).
Her background is in medicine ( Postdoctoral Fellowship in Behavioral Medicine, McGill University) and psychology (PhD from the Université de Montréal). Among her numerous accomplishments is an inspiring book entitled “The Courage to Fall Into Life: The Tao of Purposeful Existence” .
She was featured on a podcast, recorded in August, aired in November, 2019.
Bambi listened to these two enriching podcasts yesterday whilst working.
She is thankful for both Mr. George and Dr. De Civita for the inspiration.
As a father, as a caregiver, as an entrepreneur, and as a human being, Mr. George is a true leader. Along with Dr. De Civita, he shares authenticity, talent, and wisdom.
Bambi is convinced that her colleagues, one from NB and one from Québec, will enjoy listening to each other’s podcasts!
Whilst listening to Dr. De Civita, Bambi learned about leaders, about why some are bad, and what to do when we have to deal with bad leaders.
Ironically, she could not help not to think of bad political leaders (not just business leaders). She was amused when this was also brought up by the interviewer.
Dr De Civita also talked about coaching and clinical psychology. She also shared her observations of women, as leaders.
Bambi hopes you will take the time to listen… and simply enjoy. She also hopes this can help people in need of support.
“Please don’t let yourself fall into the swampy mire of news blogs, improperly moderated social media sites or non-town affiliated Facebook pages that thrive on conjecture, misinformation, populist opinion and falsehoods,” Black said.
Bambi would like to echo a wise comment by her fellow Sackville citizen Mr. Les Hicks (appearing at the bottom of the article above):
“… his advice to instead contact “the people who can make a difference, your elected officials and competent town staff.” I have three issues with this statement. First of all, his ‘swampy mire’ comment appears that it could be directed at The New Wark Times, a news source that to my knowledge has always strived to report the ‘facts’, and in the rare instance where there has been an inadvertent error, I have read Bruce’s written apology for the error along with a correction. Secondly, I have personally contacted members of the town staff and town councillors by email expressing my concerns about various decisions that were made and apart from one reply from a councillor (not councillor Black, by the way) I have received no acknowledgement of my concerns or replies explaining the reasons that certain decisions were made. It seems that factual reporting by reporters like Bruce is the only way to keep up with decisions made by town staff and councillors”.
Bambi has been a regular commentator on the New Wark Times for a very long time. Whether she comments on this news blog or not, she would like to weigh in here:
1. We are lucky to have Mr. Wark in our community. He cleverly and professionally reports news from our town. Bambi admires his professionalism, senior journalism/rigour, passion, and of course humility (yes, he even apologizes for minor inadvertent errors, as mentioned above).
2. Bambi enjoys reading every article by Mr. Wark. She has taken the time to comment and she has enjoyed doing so. At times, she may have been perhaps too direct. She has for sure succeeded in “triggering” an anonymous “Wrayton” who has accused her of being racist twice (just for loving Canada :)). At times, she may have expressed an opinion that may have been perhaps a bit hard to swallow by Mr. Wark himself. Despite this, only once, he did not allow her to reply to the anonymous “Mysterious yet impolite Wrayton”. ALL the other times, he has posted her comments (and her spouses’ comments). Some of these comments could have even been perhaps “risky” for him, who knows? Bambi is referring to the legal saga between her spouse and the Town of Sackville that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Bambi will forever be grateful for Mr. Wark for being an independent journalist. Bambi knows from her own sister how much it is necessary for journalists to be honest in addition to being rigorous. Mr. Wark is all this at once, in addition to being humble. Indeed, he even published Councillor’s black words above :).
3. Mr. Wark allows us, the citizens of Sackville, not only to be informed but also to have a platform where we can comment (rare in our current times!). Readers can express their concerns, appreciations, frustrations, or simply raise questions. Mr. Wark gives voice to all the citizens, even to those with whom he may not personally agree on some or most matters (Sally, Bambi is thinking of you here :)).
4. To Councillor Black, Bambi would like to say the following: between “populist opinions” (to use his own words) of her Sackville fellow citizens who write blogs or comment on them and the “hypocrisy of elitism” of some of our politicians, Bambi prefers the genuine opinions of regular people. They are usually grounded in reality and filled with pragmatic wisdom. They teach us a lesson, if we want to listen. They can inspire us, if we want to learn. They are valid just because they are the voices of citizens at a particular point in time. Yes, those same citizens whom politicians may forget that they are representing them all. Bambi is not talking about Councillor Black (she hopes he knows that). She is talking in general, even if she may have other examples in mind. She is saying this, recognizing that this observation is valid not only for Sackville but also for Fredericton, Ottawa, Beirut, or any other part of the world.
To conclude this post, thank you Mr. Wark for your amazing journalism. Please keep it up!
These beautiful three children sadly lost their dad (38 years old); one of them witnessed the tragedy
Roula Azar-Douglas, a Lebanese-Canadian journalist, editor, author, and PhD candidate living in Beirut, Lebanon, wrote the following on her Facebook Page (Bambi will translate her sister’s words further below):
“Au moment où des partisans du pouvoir, aveuglés par leur servitude envers leurs leaders et leur haine de l’autre, fabriquent des mensonges sur ce père de famille, honnête, intègre, pacifique, aimé de tous ceux qui le connaissent, qui a mené les dernières élections municipales contre les partis politiques et qui a réussi à percer leur liste, sauvagement et froidement tué alors qu’il manifestait pacifiquement avec son épouse et l’un de ses enfants, d’autres compatriotes de différentes confessions se portent volontaires pour soutenir sa famille. Ci-dessous la Shouf National College promet d’assurer gratuitement l’éducation de ses enfants” (Roula Azar-Douglas, Faceboook Page, November 14, 2019).
Ms. Azar-Douglas wrote her FB message before the latest additional good news from the American University of Beirut (AUB) came out.
Both the Shouf National College & the AUB promised to ensure a free-of-charge education to Mr. Alaa Abu Fakher’s children, from now until their university graduation. This will not make the tragedy disappear but hopefully this will help support his widow and her family for years to come.
Here is Bambi’s translation of her sister’s text:
“While supporters of those in power, blinded by their loyalty to their leaders and their hatred of others, are fabricating lies about this father who was decent, peaceful, loved by all who know him, who led the recent municipal elections against political parties and who managed to break through their list, and who was brutally and coldy killed while demonstrating peacefully with his wife and one of his children, other compatriots of different faiths volunteered to support his family. Below the Shouf National College promises to provide free education for his children“(taken from Roula Azar-Douglas, Faceboook Page, November 14, 2019; translated from French to English by Bambi).
May Mr. Alaa Abu Fakher rest in peace. May his family, slowly but surely, find inner peace despite the injustice and the absurdity.
May freedom of expression knows how to keep prevailing.
May democracy win, not just in Lebanon but also everywhere in the world.
May we keep caring for each other, in small and big ways, like those described in this post.
Picture in the Middle from “Radio-Canada International”. Picture to the right is Byblos, north of Beirut
The title of this post is a follow-up to Bambi’s post from yesterday.
Aoun is the President of the Republic of Lebanon. He still has three years of his mandate (he is half-way through).
The country is totally paralyzed: No schools, no banks, no work, no dollars, and no signs of a government yet. Perhaps by the end of the week? Perhaps next week? Perhaps not.
Bambi is not sure if this is the first death as per the video link below, perhaps the second (one may have occurred earlier in Tripoli)? Regardless, this is the first mortality immediately following the President’s interview. How sad all this.
Below is a painting that sweet artists did in Tripoli’s downtown to honour Mr. Alaa Abu Fakher who sadly died yesterday, in Beirut. According to LBC TV Group, “Artist Ghayath al-Rawbe painted Abou Fakher’s portrait, in cooperation with other painters who said that they are willing to complete the portrait with portraits of his family members (his wife and children)”.
End of the quote from LBC TV Group.
A picture from LBC TV Group showing how Tripoli is honouring Mr. Alaa Abu Fhaker
Clearly in Bambi’s mind, despite any good intentions, President Aoun appears to be the weakest president of Lebanon in as far as she can remember. Actually, even a two-year-old knows who is running the show in reality [you may think Bambi is exaggerating but young Lebanese toddlers are very smart :)].
Seriously, President Aoun contradicted himself even further today. Yesterday, he reassured people about finances, saying money is out of the banks and safe (in houses, to use his words, or something like that). Today, it seems that he is saying that “the economic conditions are deteriorating”:
American University of Beirut (AUB) President, Dr. Fadlo Khuri’s interview with Ms. Becky Anderson from CNN
After reading the sad news from Lebanon (one protestor, a father of young children, lost his life yesterday night), Bambi came across this uplifting earlier interview.
According to Bambi, Dr. Fadlo Khoury’s words are food for thought not only for Lebanon or for the Arab world, but also by extension for us here in North America:
A picture from the Associated Press by Mr. Bilal Hussein; also from Naharnet & the Toronto Star
On October 31, the President of Lebanon called for the end of sectarianism (earlier post by Bambi).
Today, he said that he supports a government of “experts (or technocrats) along with the politicians”. He means those same (useless and corrupt) politicians.
Not even a government of independent experts, as people have been demanding from Day 1 of their revolt.
Why? Because they lost confidence in ALL their politicians, including him, his own party, and allies.
Bambi feels for this President. He is getting old (80 years old now?). Stress must be tough on him in this DEEP crisis. He must be under extreme pressure.
Countries that go through economic turmoil or bankruptcy can manage to be saved when they do not have deep political issues like tiny Lebanon.
Both deep internal issues and powerful regional forces wanting to align it to this or to that side. Not an easy situation but this has always been the story of this small country.
In Bambi’s mind, the solution is not that hard though: For once, listen to your own population. It is providing you with the seeds of the solution: Put the Lebanese people truly first, for God’s sake.
Today, in a televised speech or interview, Lebanon’s President
criticized the slogan: “All of them means all of them”.
Although he may have a point that not all politicians are corrupt to the same extent (some may be decent. Who knows?), “all of them means all of them” is the best slogan Bambi has ever heard about her birth country since the end of civil war.
This is the first time where all the Lebanese people are united in one single voice in each downtown and square of large and smaller towns and villages.
This is the first time that people dare to criticize a powerful leader, from his own community (a powerful leader that Bambi will not name). He is one among all the others. He is not better or worse than the others. He is just more powerful, period.
Anyhow, President Aoun said that he extends his hand to the protestors and would like to meet with them.
However, there is no spokesperson for them. No leader. The movement seems to have grown out of despair and anger. It is the whole Lebanese nation in its own revolt (or intifada, as they say in Arabic).
The over 200 fires followed by the WhatsApp tax opened
“Pandora’s box” of tragedies in Lebanon:
Now, the whole world knows that about 27% of the population is poor. In Tripoli, up to 36% of the population lives under the poverty line (Smat Ghadi & Fouad Gemayel in L’Orient Le Jour, edition of November 1, 2019).
What does this mean? 1.2 million Lebanese people live
with less than US$8.6 per day (up to 300,000 of them with just US$5.7 per day).
This is the extreme poverty line (Ghadi & Gemayel respectively, 2019; see
above).
Clearly, there is an unprecedented economic crisis. Even
clearer, some unidentified forces from within the government are pushing for
the status quo.
However, people are far from being dumb.
People on the streets are dreaming of a country of law and of transparency, of fiscal reforms and secularism, of basic rights for all (i.e., electricity for 24 hours and food on their tables).
People are organizing local conferences on the
streets. They are imagining a state that they deserve. What a beautiful civil
movement!
Some are also asking for a true equality between men
and women. Yet others are requesting a state of rights for the Lebanese LGBTQs,
etc.
The good causes are numerous. The underlying idea is
the same: Fairness, justice, and a responsible government.
People want to have faith in their country again.
They do not want to have to immigrate from one generation to the other and to live apart from their loved ones. Today, the President told the population to think of leaving (the country) if they do not like who is governing them.
Bambi worries about the reactions in the streets to this message. Some are already calling for more actions on the streets.
People just want a normally functioning country. Is this too much to ask for in 2019?
The war ended 29 years ago. The same politicians from the civil war era (13 years now) are still in power, sharing the piece of cake. Today, they are choking on the piece whilst the population is starving.
A whole nation is living on its streets, united with
the same basic demands: Solve this economic crisis, end corruption, and let
people move on with their lives.
If you have the time to watch, you may wish to check
the documentary link below from CNN:
Clearly in Bambi’s mind (after discussing with many people in Lebanon): There is a Lebanon pre-October 17 and a Lebanon, post-October 17. Failing to see this change is a symptom of the Lebanese life-threatening disease.
This being said, may God protect Lebanon… from itself. The days and years ahead are sadly going to be tough, especially without a political (real) solution.
