[MODERATOR] RE: [LCM Articles] Beirut among "New Arrivals" (Business Week)

LCM Moderator lebanon-owner at MIT.EDU
Thu Dec 8 12:55:40 EST 2005 

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-----Original Message-----
From: lebanon-articles-bounces at MIT.EDU
[mailto:lebanon-articles-bounces at MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of Assef Zobian
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 11:53 AM
To: 'Mark Farha'; 'Randa Seif'
Cc: lebanon-articles at mit.edu
Subject: RE: [LCM Articles] Beirut among "New Arrivals" (Business Week) 

Dear Mark, 

I am happy to learn that a Lebanese cow started Europe and thus we are
culturally part of Europe. Also, that an entrepreneur started Islam simply
to invade and trade. Finally, that Kamal Jumblatt wanted to cleanse
Christians from Lebanon and his son (who might have killed his dad, right?)
wrongly accused the great Baathists of killing his dad.

Please, please stop using fancy words, language and references to spread
false ideas and propaganda. It is over.

Thanks
Assef

-----Original Message-----
From: lebanon-articles-bounces at mit.edu
[mailto:lebanon-articles-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of Mark Farha
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 10:37 PM
To: Randa Seif
Cc: lebanon-articles at mit.edu
Subject: Re: [LCM Articles] Beirut among "New Arrivals" (Business Week) 

> Dear Randa,
>
> Truth be told, I barely skimmed this shallow article.
>
  I wholeheartedly agree that the reporter can be said to be imprisoned
  in his own cell or cocoon, that of consumerism and materialism if you
  will.
>
> What I take issue with is to facilely equate this purview with the
  "West" and to castigate the latter in toto.
>
> Greed knows no homeland or culture.  Islam, as you probably know,
> cohabited well with capitalism (think of words like check (saqq)(the
> first one we have is from the Abbasids, 756, exposed in Rome), broker
> (baraka), tarif etc.  Not unlike the current American Empire (and other
  precedents) Islam started as an invade and trade affair.
>
> As to the Lebanese war, one would hope that we are beyond pining
  the blame on one party, or one simple factor.
>
> No doubt the racism, arrogance - and smug lack of concern - displayed by
> some Christian, francophile elites was part of the story.
>
> Arguably however the economic and social consequences of this attitude
> (i.e. discrimination in appointments etc.)
> were far more important than the language spoken or the culture
  adulated.
>
> Conversely, plenty of people were killed in the name of Arab and Muslim
> chauvinism.  Kamal Jumblatt spoke of "killing a third of the Christians,
  evicting another third, and having the remainder become Muslim".  His
  son - before he accused the Baathists for having murdered his dad "in
  the name of Arabism" was all giddy about a "carnival of killing" in the
  Shouf.
  (see Theodor Hanf's account of this in his monumental book on the war)


  Most Lebanese Muslims (shia, Sunni, Druze) do not share this
  3assabiiyya, as most Lebanese Christians are not chauvinists.

  But if you want to look for blame one must look at the long, long
  legacy of violence on all sides, Muslim and Christian.  You can find
  this all back during Maronite-Orthodox massacres, the Muslim fath, the
  Crusaders, Salaheddins vengeange, the Mamluk persecutions of Shia and
  Maronites, the Ottomans vicious campaigns agains FakhredDin for trying
  to establish an autonomous, proto-secular principality, 1840, 1860, the
  Turkish-induced famine in North Lebanon and hangings of Muslims and
Christians etc.etc., etc.etc.

  The standard should not be whether someone wants to speak Arabic, French
or Zulu,
  daarij or Fus7a,
  but whether he or she believes in the fundamental injustice of an
  Islamic/Christian state in a pluralist society.  This idea of a state
  based on exclusive ethnic or religious (hierarchies) must be debunked.
  Unfortunately, those who want the Sharia, or those who want a Christian
  canton, still constitute a danger.  But one cannot mention one without
  the other.

  You or I might not particularly revel in these particular nightclubs
  advertised, but it still is better than having the Mutawa3 in the end.
  I agree with you though that Lebanese (and Arabs in general) should try
  to gain a deeper understanding of the West rather than mimic its
  baser manifestations.

  Here is a good article talking about the nabsh almaqaabir which also
  shows how responsibility (of the crimes in the Syrian era) extends
  to multiple parties:
  http://www.assafir.com/iso/oldissues/20051207/opinion/6.html


  Yalla, I hope I did not tire you and remain sincerely,
  Mark



>
>
> On Tue, 6 Dec 2005, Randa Seif wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >  The issue was the tourist's view, perception, and
> > attitude, more specifically the fact that he sees a
> > city like Beirut as an extension of his territory,
> > both geographical and cultural.
> >
> >  It is precisely the tourist whom one expects most "to
> > be curious, ..., to be open, reach out to and learn
> > from the stranger", as you advocate while wrongly
> > assuming that
> > he is not representative of a cocoonist culture which
> > you find worth opening up to and (sadly) copying.
> >
> >  Therefore, the problem is the lack of mutual and
> > genuine exchange, not the exchange itself.
> >
> >  Also, another way to look at the savage war in
> > Lebanon
> > is to see that what triggered and sustained it is that
> > willingness (natural or conditioned) to value the West
> >
> > more, so as to want to blindly serve it, which drew
> > hatred demarcation lines between a Lebanese and the
> > brother sharing his country.
> >  For instance, around that time, a French historian
> > wrote something to the effect that the malaise which
> > shows in Lebanon's recent history stems from the fact
> > that its Christians are trying to live a culture they
> > don't understand (that is the western one).
> > Make it food for thought from a European academic who
> > must have known that Europa is originally a Phoenician
> > goddess!
> >
> >   --Randa
> >
> > *****************************************************
> >
> >
> > --- Mark Farha <farha at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Clearly the article reflected some vulgarity, a
> > weakness of human - and in this case perhaps male -
> > nature (rather than any specific culture or time).
> >
> > > But then again a tourist report really does not
> > merit all the hullabaloo. Even for us citizens of the
> > world, who take issue with Said Aql's justifications
> > for war, there is a
> > certain irony in the fact that the legendary Europa is
> > said to hail from beautiful Tyre:
> >
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28mythology%29
> >
> > > It makes little sense to want to sever Lebanon
> > country from the mare nostrum even as it makes no
> > sense to close
> > oneselves to the contributions of the East.
> > > One should accept the good and true regardless of
> > origin.
> >
> > > To cling to a parochial Arab, Phoenician, Jewish,
> > Muslim,
> > Christian identity, and to thereby close oneself to
> > others, is a mark of poverty.
> > > All cultures grow insofar as they are open, ready to
> > learn and expand as life does;  they wither and
> > shrivel, as soon as they retreat into ethnic,
> > religious or other cocoons of xenophobia and hubris.
> >
> > > The Zionists, Germany's 3rd Reich, and yes, Lebanon
> > during the savage war showed what suffering and evil
> > such
> > 3assabiyya has wrought.
> >
> > > Lebanon's (or any other country's) beauty and
> > strength comes from its affair with hetereogeneity,
> > its willingness to explore, absorb and learn, and not
> > to be locked into "deadly", and ultimately
> > debilitating debate on identities", to paraphrase Amin
> > Maalouf.
> > > To be curious, to be grateful for the other, to
> > welcome, reach out to and learn from the stranger.
> > These are the best of Arab and Lebanese traits.
> >
> > > bili7tiraam,
> > > Mark
> >
> > > On Mon, 5 Dec 2005, R///H wrote:
> >
> > > > --- Mona M Fawaz <mfawaz at MIT.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > > > > why is beirut listed in europe again?
> >
> >
> > ********************************************************************
> >
> > > >  As a pure mind extrapolation for "Paris of the
> > Middle
> > East", and so as not to shortchange "nightclubbing
> > hedonists from the West"; after all "the stunning
> > Lebanese girls" are yet another variety of women on
> > the globe, which trumps any geographical reality for
> > the said hedonists.
> >
> > > >  Also note that the criteria applied for what's
> > hot,
> > beautiful, and fun are purely European as well.
> >
> > > >  --Randa
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________
> > Yahoo! DSL - Something to write home about.
> > Just $16.99/mo. or less.
> > dsl.yahoo.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lebanon-Articles mailing list
> > Lebanon-Articles at mit.edu
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/lebanon-articles
> >
>
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