MATTHEWGOODONLINE

In July of 2006, I spent many nights up listening to bombs go off. Everyday that passed I would feel more and more helpless and yet my hate for what Israel would only increase. We couldn’t leave our homes, The airport was blocked off, and Hizbullah we thought would be our own way out. Though I never was a Hizbulllah supporter, never agreed with their views, at that time I respected them for standing up to those who were invading.

Today David has become Goliath, Hizbullah no longer points its guns at israel in order to Defend Lebanon, instead they have turned their guns on their own people. And as the days pass the death toll rises, and hate grows. They have taken human life and have taken the right of the other side to even speak, by closing down pro-gov’t Future TV. Freedom is lost.

I came across this video of Noha, a Beirut resident, who is now a prisoner in her own home care of the recent fighting, and invasion of Beirut. Her video moved me cause she reminded me of what I went through during the July 2006 Israel war on Lebanon. Israel 2006 = Hizbullah 2008.

Noha, a Beirut Resident, shares her experience

It started two days ago. Earlier in the week the government announced its decision to replace the Beirut airport security chief Brig Wafiq Shoqeir for alleged ties to Hizbullah, He allegedly allowed Hizbullah to install their own security network with in the airport. The government also announced that it will close down Hizbullah’s telecommunication network. And thus overnight Hizbullah leader Hassan Nassrallah contended that these decisions are declarations of war and thus moved his gurilla army to take over Beirut. And so much like Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon, Hizbullah has launched their own version of that war internally.

Once Hizbullah vowed never to use their arms in internal fighting but much like other promises they made they also failed to keep this one. On Wednesday, May 7, Hizbullah supporters closed off the airport road, leading to the complete shut down of Beirut’s international Airport, a similar move to what Israel did in 2006. What Israel didn’t do however Hizbullah did. Yesterday they moved into Beirut and have officially taken over the capitol. Today they burned down one of Future TV’s building and have forced the pro-government TV station to shutdown.

Friends living in Beirut are living in Terror. Random bullets are flying into residential homes. People are sleeping away from windows. Hizbullah is detaining pro-government supporters. People are scared to speak out, already worried that Hizbullah is monitoring their phone calls. They are turning Lebanon into another totalitarian state. The whole country is completely shut down. This is what Hizbullah Leader Hassan Nassrallah calls a democracy.

I am so disappointed, upset, mad, and completely disgusted with Hizbullah. We are on the brinks of a shia vs sunni civil war. History doth repeat itself.

What is it about people who when angry resort to burning tires? There must be stocks of tires waiting for such occasions in the areas surrounding the airport. Last year on January 23rd the opposition decided to enforce their type of democracy by forcing the country to shut down. They burned tires and blocked roads and eventually lead to the deaths resulting from clashes. Last week in an ingenious effort by the opposition to remember that day they staged another protest, this time the army was ready for them, and no roads were blocked.

But today was unexpected. Protesters in the area of Sheiyah took to the streets to protest the recent power outages, a problem that most of Lebanon suffers from, a problem that I had touched on back in a post I called H2O. I am not sure why the rest of Lebanon isn’t burning tires but the opposition supporters seem to choose tire burning and blocking the airport road as their main mean of protest. Do they even think about the toxins they and their families are inhaling?

A state of lawlessness is the biggest fear that Lebanon faces today. People that are angry and frustrated are taking matters into their own hands. Leaders’ broken promises and the countries failing economy are only making matters worse. And with all the chaos what starts out as a protest ends as a riot, what might start off peaceful ends in death. Today’s death toll so far is 8 with many injured. Political leaders urged their citizens to get off the streets but as the day passed things worsened and tire burning turned into bullets and grenades flying. The airport road was blocked and the army was mobilized in order to end the ensuing chaos. By the end of the day the streets were cleared and tomorrow Lebanon has issued yet another day of mourning.

A day of mourning means a day of school and university closure. Lebanon usually declares days of mourning as a way to prevent further violence. I used to work at a Lebanese university and have seen my fair share of students beating the crap out of anyone who opposed their political views. A day of mourning usually gives them a day to let out steam.

I of course am sitting half across the world in my safe living room, but can’t help and panic over family and loved ones back home. I thought things would get better as days pass but it just seems to get worse. Presidential elections have been postponed over 13 times, in the last two weeks there have been two terrorist related bombings and a riot. People are becoming less tolerant and fear of escalating bursts of violence and terror are almost a certainty.

No news is good news. For the last month, I have given up on the politics of Lebanon. Internal bickering has left me sick and nauseated. Presidential elections have been postponed for seven times in order for the two feuding parties to come to a consensus. The opposition seems to find fault in anything put forth by the majority and the majority makes empty threats of not involving the opposition if they don’t participate willingly. This has been going on for months. One day you see Hariri and Berri shaking hands and the next Aoun is out screaming new demands.

Enter Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Sulieman. After disagreeing on 12 different candidates for reasons of being too pro-government or too anti-government, both sides start voicing favourable thoughts on setting General Sulieman as the consensus president. Of course without fail even in agreeing both sides still couldn’t come to agree on the full details. For months the opposition has been letting everyone know that Sulieman might be a good candidate and so once the Pro-government political leaders agree that he might be a good choice, then more demands pour in from the opposition. Mostly from power hungry Aoun who suggested, with the blessings of Hizbullah, that the opposition will only accept Sulieman for a 2 year term instead of the usual 6 year term. Aoun justifies his demand by stating that since Sulieman is a consensus leader then when a new parliament is in power 2 yrs from now then they should have the right to vote for who they choose. Nicely put Mr. Aoun, but how come this current parliament doesn’t have the luxury of democratically electing the president, could it be cause your party and your Hizbullah allies are in the opposition. Is it because you use scare tactics to black mail the majority into meeting your demands? My guess is yeah that might be the case.

And as soon as a ray of hope shines through, even though it hardly can been seen, a bomb blast hits much deeper. Today on his way to work Brigadier General Francois Hajj was assassinated in yet another car bombing. The general was in line to succeed Commander General Sulieman as head of the Lebanese Army. The attack comes as a shock since Hajj is the first figure to be assassinated that does not have any political affiliations. The reason behind his assassination was speculated to be anywhere from an act of revenge for heading the Lebanese army in the fight against Fatah El-Islam militants at Nahr El Bared to a message to Sulieman that no one is safe. Whatever the reason, another man fell today as a result of the continuing political instability of a once flourishing nation. So many have died for this country, how many more will it take?

There he goes flexing his muscles again. I am sick of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nassrallah’s unrelenting threats and hypocrisy. In his latest speech Nasrallah went on to remind the world that he will not allow anyone to disarm Hizbullah. He argued that Hizbullah’s weapons & fighters were prepared “day and night” to defend Lebanon.

“The resistance is ready, day and night, to defend South Lebanon as well as all of Lebanon … to achieve a historic victory that will change the face of the region,” he said.

Well that is interesting… Where were these Hizbullah protectors of Lebanon during the Nahr El Bared Conflict? How come they didn’t use their weapons to protect the innocent from terrorists. I mean if Hizbullah was only protecting Lebanon from Israel then they should say so, and with 13,000 UN peace keepers on the Lebanese/Israeli border I would think that job is pretty much covered.

On the political Scene Nasrallah went on to threaten the majority of electing a president if one is not reached by consensus. Saying that if consensus is not reached, then a simple majority shouldn’t be used to elect the new President and that instead they should hold early parliamentary elections. So here I question Nasrallah, what if the new parliament is similar to the current one (i.e. Hizbullah being in the minority) would he then allow a simple majority vote or is a simple majority vote only acceptable if Hizbullah was part of that majority.

In his speech Nasrallah asked the current president not to allow a simple majority vote “Do not allow the country to fall into the hands of thieves and murderers.” referring to the majority government as thieves and murderers. Here is the part that confused me. The only people that were being assassinated in Lebanon were from the same majority that Nasrallah just called murderers.

Of course Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat lashed back at Nasrallah’s speach saying

“This contradicts the image of thieves and killers who hide themselves under the name of the resistance to turn Lebanon into an arena to serve the thieves and killers of the Syrian regime and their Iranian partners,”

Many others have also criticized this latest speech.

The Lebanese Presidential elections have already been postponed 3 times in order for a consensus to be reached. The latest date is Nov 21st which comes only 3 days prior to President Emile Lahoud’s extended term in office expires. I’ll be waiting, though I doubt consensus will be reached by then and I am afraid Hizbullah will prevent a vote.

Sex is quite the taboo subject in the Middle East. Being a more conservative society than the west, pre-marital sex is a huge no no. But it wasn’t until I moved to Lebanon that I found out that what is forbidden is what is mostly desired.

So are all Middle Eastern women virtuous? I found out they really aren’t that much different from western women. The only thing holding them back is culture. A woman that is not a virgin is considered unsuitable for marriage. But that hasn’t stopped anyone from actually having sex. A family friend who is an OB/GYN told us that one of the most popular surgeries she performed was hymen restoration for women who were about to wed, all in an effort to make sure the groom believes that his wife-to-be is chaste. Do I feel negatively towards these women that choose to lie about their virginity? I actually don’t know how to feel about that because in most instances the decision is made in fear, not in order to dupe the guy who ,culturally, is not expected to be a virgin. But again, isn’t a relationship supposed to be built on honesty? So I will leave this in that grey area where it belongs. Virginity in the Middle East, according to a friend, is not a virtue, but a lack of opportunity and, I would like to add, a lack of money to get the surgery.

All this said, sex is harder to come by than in the west. The answer is prostitution. Prostitution in the Middle East, though unspoken of, is widely available. The first time I knew it existed was on a trip to Lebanon in 2000. Some cousins and I went to Kaslik for the night and, as we drove through on our way to our particular club, we passed by signs for “super nightclubs”, “super super nigh clubs”, and “Bar Bar”. I laughed and asked my cousin what was so special about these clubs and how come we were going to just a club instead of a “super club”. He then enlightened me with the translations. A super nightclub is basically a strip club, A super super nightclub is a strip club where you make arrangements with the dancer to take her out on a “date” the next day. And a “Bar Bar” was basically a brothel where you go in and take your pick for a price. The women at these clubs are mostly eastern European, Moroccan, and Asians. The minority would be Middle Eastern.

The reason I am writing this entry is because I came across this Frontline PBS article about prostitution in Dubai. The journalist speaks of how many of the women in the sex trade business in Dubai have chosen that lifestyle lured by the financial gain.

When I arrived to report this story with my video camerawoman Sachi Cunningham, I was prepared to confront the human degradation of Vika’s experience, but I was surprised to find something else. I met women working as prostitutes who told me that they were doing so because they had chosen to.

There is also a video that you can watch posted on the same site.

We all take it for granted, our morning shower. I never really thought about it until I moved to Lebanon. And now that I moved back here I am back to not giving it a second thought. Living without water, without power, without street lights definitely makes life interesting.

Now don’t go off thinking that people over there live in huts, or that water and power don’t exist, because they do. The problem is that you never know when your electricity will go out & when your water runs out. Israel’s war on Lebanon didn’t help matters, bombing many water and power facilities last year. Thus, many Lebanese knowing that their government is unreliable in providing basic needs have stocked their homes with power generators and their own water wells. Bigger towns and cities have privately run power generators that supply buildings or homes. And if you have no water source on your land then you can get water hauled to your home at a price, which is what many Beiruties are doing these days. At the end of the month, you have your electricity bill, your water bill, the power generator bill, the water hauler bill plus many more bills. It can get quite confusing.

There have been so many days that I’ve gone into the shower to find out there was no water, and what’s worse is when you are in the middle of a shower. I can’t count the times that I had shampoo in my hair and had to scream out to who ever was home to turn on the water pumps for our well but first they would have to turn on the power generator to be able to do that. So many moments of panic when you pray and hope that your generator didn’t run out of fuel or what’s worse, that the generator is in need of repair. Well then you are stuck with having to make do with the water bottles. By the end of the four years that I lived in Lebanon I became an expert at being able to shower with about three 2 liter water bottles.

Two years ago, Lebanon held its first elections free from Syrian interference. The anti Syrian opposition won, finally turning around a country that has been Syria’s puppet for years. Out of 128 seats in parliament, the Anti Syrian Cedar Revolution Coalition won 70 seats. Since then, 4 of those MPs have been assassinated. MP Gebran Tueini, MP Pierre Gemayel, Mp Walid Eido, and today another name was added to the list - Lebanese Member of Parliament Antoine Ghanem who was killed in a horrific car bomb which also claimed the lives of 7 others and wounded 56.

The assassination comes days before the much controversial Presidential vote in which the March 14th coalition (Pro Government/Anti Syrian coalition) was hoping to oust the current President whose term was unconstitutionally extended by the Syrian regime at the time. Today’s assassination sent a shock throughout the country and the pro government movement whose members are being taken out one by one. Since the last assassination, 1 MP from the anti government movement had won a by-election, thus reducing the number the Majority. After today’s assassination the number is further reduced to 68 pro vs 59 anti.

The speaker of the house, Nabih Berri, who is an alley of Hizbullah and part of the anti government movement, had declared that he will only hold Presidential elections if 2/3 of the House would be present on September 25. However, the opposition has threatened to boycott the vote and deny Parliament its required quorum, thus blocking the process.

And so with the killing of more of the majority’s MPs, the easier it is becomes for Pro Syrian opposition to twist the majority’s arm into agreeing on a Presidential candidate, one that will have Syria’s interest at heart. Mission accomplished, and another sad day for Lebanon.

Fireworks, smiles, and victory signs. The Lebanese army has finally won the three-month Nahr Al Bared war on terror. On May 20th, fighting broke out in Northern Lebanon after a raid on a terrorist group suspected of bank theft. The fighting was concentrated in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr Al Bared, but as time passed terrorist cells would turn to bombing numerous sites throughout Lebanon creating a state of fear which led many to self-impose curfews.

After 3 months and 13 days, the death of 220 people, including 158 troops, and the destruction of most of the camp, the war is over - and so a little bit of stability is back in the daily lives of many. Still the thought of other terrorist cells out there cannot be avoided. For the last 2 years Lebanon has suffered many terror plots, either targeting their tourist sites or politicians that are part of the cedar revolution. I am still waiting to hear who was behind these plots. Hopefully an investigation will shed some light. Many are pointing fingers at Syria, accusing it of trying to destabilize Lebanon, a promise it made when it was ousted from the country in 2005.

Living in Lebanon you are not only categorized by region & religion but recently by colour. I am not speaking of the colour of your skin but that of your political affiliations. It’s funny cause now every time I wear yellow or orange I feel something is wrong.

In Lebanon Yellow represents Hizbullah, Orange the free Patriotic Movement, Lime the Marada, all of which represent the opposition. On the other hand, Blue represents the Future Movement, Red and White, the Phalangist and Lebanese Forces, Red & Black the Socialist Progressive Party, all of which are part of the Pro-Government political movement.

It is practically impossible for me to wear one of the opposition movements without someone commenting on it. For people in my area blue is the colour of choice. I remember last summer while escaping the war, my luggage was strapped on the roof of the car and I made sure to tell the cab driver to keep the yellow suitcases in the trunk cause boy I didn’t want an Israeli fighter jet to mistake me for a Hizbullah supporter.

The whole situation really borders on funny and sad. Their was a commercial that ran on Lebanese television trying to bring up the issue of how the Lebanese identify themselves. In the commercial it showed people from around the world proclaiming their nationality but when it came to the Lebanese you heard them identify themselves as Orthodox, Maronite, Sunni, Shia or Durze. Just a few weeks ago I was at the beach in Beirut and a couple next to me commented on my Canadian flag beach towel. 5 minutes into the conversation we were talking politics and noticing my multi coloured beach bag they asked what colour was I. I thought they were joking said that I like all colours. The man then jumped up and proclaimed “I’m yellow”. I just couldn’t help but laugh, I used to think it was weird when people in Lebanon would ask what was your religious background but to take it further and ask about their political affiliations. How much more can a society segregate itself?

Aside: I’m moving back to Canada tomorrow to start my PhD this fall and hoping to be done in three years. Living in Lebanon for the last four years has been on of the most enjoyable and interesting experiences of my life. I feel like I have grown and learned so much throughout the time I spent here. It was a very hard decision leaving a country that I have grown to love but at least I am glad that this summer I am leaving on my own terms not being forced out because of a war. Lebanon continues to be unstable though and I’ll make sure to keep up with all the regional events and more. I’m hoping that in the three years that I am absent the country will find a way towards peace. And so you will continue to hear from me.