Video Of The Week - Kasam Jibran
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Excuse me if this video is from propoganda central a.k.a Future media, but nevertheless the person who this video is being attributed to is not to be taken lightly, and it's more important to focus on the content. Martyr Jibran Tueni, a true revolutionary figure in Lebanese politics. He wanted to bring change to our political system starting from decreasing the salaries of the MPs, and the ridiculous life long salaries that ex-MPs get. He also wanted to decrease the parliment's span from 4 to 2 years. Yet, as all revolutionaries in Lebanon he was assasinated. A fierce political opponent of Syria, and fierce opponent of injustice was lost. In Lebanon only the good men and women are lost. Those that bring the risk of unity between the Lebanese people, and a sense of democracy into their lives. Democracy and unity, two ingredients of terror in most political figures.
Glorification After Death
Friday, June 23, 2006
If you take a look at the Lebanese and their history, you'll actually find something amazing, and even shocking. Every political person who dies suddenly becomes one of the most virtuous persons that has ever lived. All what was said about him before he did were lies, and all that shall be said about him after he dies should be absolutely a step closer to his sanctification.
Now I am certainly not denying that Lebanon has never had its fair share of people who fallen for this country because of the positive things they had planned for this country, but I certainly do acknowledge that they were not all saints, and I look for the truth and not the "He-said,she-said" through other means to see if I can accept the reason of why that mistake or step was done.
But that certainly is not what most of the Lebanese like to do. Most of the Lebanese suddenly have lots of positive things to say about a person who just died, and most of them forget what a person actually did before he did. This does not mean that we should disrespect the dead, but there is no need to glorify every single person that is killed in this country. I will not give examples, because we've had a lot of examples in the past year. It's always when we forget the past, and somehow, create a great future for those same people, forgetting those who truly died on the frontlines for Lebanon. Why not name a street for every martyr the fell during the Lebanese war?
The Lebanese & The Arab-Palestinian Cause
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Cost
Something that has constantly amazed me in some of the Lebanese citizens and their political figures is their continuous attachment to the Arab and Palestinian cause. Their constant repetitiveness of the need to defend our Palestinian brothers and their right to a Palestinian nation, whether Israel is to exist or not.
A question I have to ask these people is what is this Arab/Palestinian cause? What is this pseudo-political ideological foundation that has put Lebanon in the pits of despair over and over again? A classical answer to this question would be that the great Zionist Jews came in Palestine and conquered their land. They are Arabs and we are Arabs, so we have to support their cause and refute the presence of this Zionist state. Now my answer to this classical hypocrisy would be, what is left of the Arab and Palestinian cause?
There are 300 million Arabs in this world if not more. Somehow it is up to the 4 million Lebanese to fight for those 300 millions rights. Somehow it is up to us Lebanese to carry the whole existence of the Arab cause and fight for their dying non-existent expired rotting cause, while they build their internet cities and make their economies prosper, while we Lebanese are on the front lines of defending their Arab cause.
It's time to stop these ridiculous out-dated ambitions. To each his own. We Lebanese have to concentrate on the Lebanese cause. The cause that never existed, and the cause that was always overshadowed by the Arab cause and Palestinian conflicts that we have grown saturated with. They accuse people who solely want the interest of Lebanon to come first and have priority of being insensitive and inhumane, and I am personally one of the people being accused. So I would be liked to excused if I refused to have Lebanon become the brother of the middle-east, the whore house of the Arabs, and their crash test dummy. We have concentrated on a useless cause long enough, we have sacrificed enough blood on Lebanese soil for a cause that was not our own.
Lebanon comes first and last in my book. It is time to pave the way for Lebanese who want Lebanon for every single Lebanese citizen. A Lebanon that considers all its citizens equal, and a Lebanon that does not separate its citizens between sects, but between capability and competence of how they can serve their nation, as a Lebanese nation only.
The Consequence
Higher Than Criticsm
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Today marks the one week anniversary of the flaming anti-freedom riots that exploded through Beirut's suburbs. Freedom of speech was targeted in these riots. It was targeted by two kinds of people. The first kind is the one that is blindly loyal to the party that he supports or is a member of. He does not question the motives behind any political move, and considers the leader or leaders of that party somewhat like family. Although he's never known them or met them in his life. He is prepared to punch,hit,stab and wreck havoc throughout an entire city when the "integrity" of that leader comes into play.
Then you have the other kind of person. That person does not believe in freedom of speech. The former is a victim of his own ignorance, or more accurately, he's a victim of those that want to keep him ignorant. After all, the least educated are the most easily manipulated. But this kind of person, know what he sees, he laughs at other people's leaders when he sees them on TV. He accepts all political shows to make fun of other leaders. The leaders that other people look up to and mostly follow blindly like him. The sole difference however is that they do not wreck havoc when their leader is made fun of. This is the first time that Lebanon has witnessed such an incident like the one of last Thursday. I believe that most of you know what I am talking about.
I am referring to the Basmet Watan episode where they imitated but did not mock the leader of Hizbullah, which is Hassan Nasrallah. These hooligans on the street were calmed down by Hizbullah, but don't you think that by this small detail in the evening news which did not receive much importance, that the government has shown how weak it was. How it was not able to intimidate the people, and stop them from wrecking havoc without having to use deadly force? Isn't it ironic that a government cannot calm down the citizens of its own nation. What we are witnessing over here my friends, is a small alternative replay of the 1860,1958, and 1975 events. All which lead to a destructive civil war. The Lebanese have yet to learn their lesson, but this has to be expected since most of them have allegiances to countries outside of Lebanon. There are few political parties, the FPM and GOC being one of the few if not the only, that have yet to be influenced by the continuing pressures of foreign powers. What the Lebanese have not learnt is that not one single country in the world wants what's best for Lebanon. Lebanon has always been the thorn in the Arab's side. It was the only democracy in a sea of dictatorships. It could have been the road to the liberation of Palestine by creating an alternative state in Lebanon. The Lebanese however did not allow such a thing to happen. But it does not only stop there, it is in everyone's interest to keep an ongoing fight in Lebanon. The Americans to justify their presence in the turbulent middle-east. The Syrians to justify themselves for occupying Lebanon since we Lebanese cannot seem live with each other. The Israelis will have an excuse to target the Palestinian camps as ruthlessly as they did during the Lebanese war. The list goes on...
The Lebanese people have to understand that by occupying themselves with such pathetic topics, such as rioting because of a comedy show, which I have seen by the way, and which will be posted at the end of the article. Instead of rioting for such a comedy show, why don't the same people, including other Lebanese stand up for their rights in front of the government. Why don't they riot (not that I advocate rioting) because taxes are too high? Why don't they riot because the government is not giving them what they need? What I'm saying over here is why don't the people revolt. Enough waiting for your useless political leaders. They are only doing what they see is fit. They are not living between the people and gained a first hand experience of their suffering. They do not have water shortages. They do not suffer from electrical shortages. They have everything they need. The people are the ones who are suffering, yet they lay on their backs being passive like they always have. Merrily like sheep waiting for their Shepard to send them to graze.
It's amazing how the sheep terminology can fit the Lebanese. They will not react if their leaders do not tell them to react. They will not move an inch if their leaders don't tell them to move an inch. It's the culture of the zoama (zo3ama) that still exists in Lebanon today. It's still being inherited from father to son, and so little of the Lebanese tend to realize that. There's no reason to question a zaeem, he knows what's best for us (usually referring to their sect).
Below here is the video of the controversial episode of Basmet Watan. If anyone can please point out to me where this video is offensive I will be glad to withdraw the following statement.
The hooligans that started the riots because their "spiritual leader" was made fun of on that episode of Basmet Watan have no sense of freedom of thought, and neither do they know the meaning of freedom of speech. They do not realize that Hassan Nasrallah is involved in politics, and him like so many other political leaders will be subject to critism. He is not higher than critism. No one is higher than critism, but it would be difficult to understand that if you are constantly victimizing yourself, and hearing the on sided truth. The people are not to be blamed completely. The government is lacking, severely lacking, which has allowed religious extremism to flow throughout the deprived societies.
Basmet Watan - Hassan Nasrallah
Basmet Watan - Bachir Gemayel
I do know that the immitation of Hassan Nassrallah is not projected in the same way of Bachir Gemayel's immitation, but nevertheless, niether of them are provoking. If some one can please show me where and at what point Hassan Nasrallah was provoked as a religious figure I'd be grateful.
Then you have the other kind of person. That person does not believe in freedom of speech. The former is a victim of his own ignorance, or more accurately, he's a victim of those that want to keep him ignorant. After all, the least educated are the most easily manipulated. But this kind of person, know what he sees, he laughs at other people's leaders when he sees them on TV. He accepts all political shows to make fun of other leaders. The leaders that other people look up to and mostly follow blindly like him. The sole difference however is that they do not wreck havoc when their leader is made fun of. This is the first time that Lebanon has witnessed such an incident like the one of last Thursday. I believe that most of you know what I am talking about.
I am referring to the Basmet Watan episode where they imitated but did not mock the leader of Hizbullah, which is Hassan Nasrallah. These hooligans on the street were calmed down by Hizbullah, but don't you think that by this small detail in the evening news which did not receive much importance, that the government has shown how weak it was. How it was not able to intimidate the people, and stop them from wrecking havoc without having to use deadly force? Isn't it ironic that a government cannot calm down the citizens of its own nation. What we are witnessing over here my friends, is a small alternative replay of the 1860,1958, and 1975 events. All which lead to a destructive civil war. The Lebanese have yet to learn their lesson, but this has to be expected since most of them have allegiances to countries outside of Lebanon. There are few political parties, the FPM and GOC being one of the few if not the only, that have yet to be influenced by the continuing pressures of foreign powers. What the Lebanese have not learnt is that not one single country in the world wants what's best for Lebanon. Lebanon has always been the thorn in the Arab's side. It was the only democracy in a sea of dictatorships. It could have been the road to the liberation of Palestine by creating an alternative state in Lebanon. The Lebanese however did not allow such a thing to happen. But it does not only stop there, it is in everyone's interest to keep an ongoing fight in Lebanon. The Americans to justify their presence in the turbulent middle-east. The Syrians to justify themselves for occupying Lebanon since we Lebanese cannot seem live with each other. The Israelis will have an excuse to target the Palestinian camps as ruthlessly as they did during the Lebanese war. The list goes on...
The Lebanese people have to understand that by occupying themselves with such pathetic topics, such as rioting because of a comedy show, which I have seen by the way, and which will be posted at the end of the article. Instead of rioting for such a comedy show, why don't the same people, including other Lebanese stand up for their rights in front of the government. Why don't they riot (not that I advocate rioting) because taxes are too high? Why don't they riot because the government is not giving them what they need? What I'm saying over here is why don't the people revolt. Enough waiting for your useless political leaders. They are only doing what they see is fit. They are not living between the people and gained a first hand experience of their suffering. They do not have water shortages. They do not suffer from electrical shortages. They have everything they need. The people are the ones who are suffering, yet they lay on their backs being passive like they always have. Merrily like sheep waiting for their Shepard to send them to graze.
It's amazing how the sheep terminology can fit the Lebanese. They will not react if their leaders do not tell them to react. They will not move an inch if their leaders don't tell them to move an inch. It's the culture of the zoama (zo3ama) that still exists in Lebanon today. It's still being inherited from father to son, and so little of the Lebanese tend to realize that. There's no reason to question a zaeem, he knows what's best for us (usually referring to their sect).
Below here is the video of the controversial episode of Basmet Watan. If anyone can please point out to me where this video is offensive I will be glad to withdraw the following statement.
The hooligans that started the riots because their "spiritual leader" was made fun of on that episode of Basmet Watan have no sense of freedom of thought, and neither do they know the meaning of freedom of speech. They do not realize that Hassan Nasrallah is involved in politics, and him like so many other political leaders will be subject to critism. He is not higher than critism. No one is higher than critism, but it would be difficult to understand that if you are constantly victimizing yourself, and hearing the on sided truth. The people are not to be blamed completely. The government is lacking, severely lacking, which has allowed religious extremism to flow throughout the deprived societies.
Basmet Watan - Hassan Nasrallah
Basmet Watan - Bachir Gemayel
I do know that the immitation of Hassan Nassrallah is not projected in the same way of Bachir Gemayel's immitation, but nevertheless, niether of them are provoking. If some one can please show me where and at what point Hassan Nasrallah was provoked as a religious figure I'd be grateful.
Ya Beirut - Weekly Video
Sunday, June 04, 2006
This is truly a magical song by Majida El-Roumi. I find it one of the most moving patriotic songs out there right now, and this video clip is an even better representation of the song, although it's in low quality the beauty and destruction can be clearly made out. This video cannot but also anger me when I see it, since it only shows where Lebanon was and where it has become. The destruction see came all in the name of arabism, the Palestinian cause, the Arab-Israeli war, and the Syrian annexation plans.
All of these plans are like raindrops during a storm. They all seem to be little problems, and then they enter into the cracks of concrete. The temperature drops even lower and they expand causing bigger cracks in the concrete making the wall fall apart. That's what all these plans were for. None of these plans were for Lebanon, they were all against Lebanon, and against its sole existence, but as many have tried during the past to remove Lebanon of the map, these people have failed and they will never succeed. All these plans involved in breaking the Lebanese apart from their cohesivness, so they would not form a unified front, and it saddens me to say that they have succeeded to a certain extent. Our fight for a truly free and independent Lebanon has not ended. Those who think it has ended are only victims of thier own ignorance. The path to freedom is still far away and we have barely left our front door.
But anyway here's the video. Witness the destruction.
All of these plans are like raindrops during a storm. They all seem to be little problems, and then they enter into the cracks of concrete. The temperature drops even lower and they expand causing bigger cracks in the concrete making the wall fall apart. That's what all these plans were for. None of these plans were for Lebanon, they were all against Lebanon, and against its sole existence, but as many have tried during the past to remove Lebanon of the map, these people have failed and they will never succeed. All these plans involved in breaking the Lebanese apart from their cohesivness, so they would not form a unified front, and it saddens me to say that they have succeeded to a certain extent. Our fight for a truly free and independent Lebanon has not ended. Those who think it has ended are only victims of thier own ignorance. The path to freedom is still far away and we have barely left our front door.
But anyway here's the video. Witness the destruction.
