[LCM Articles] TIME: Lebanon's Sexy Election Campaigns

Wed Jun 3 23:28:00 EDT 2009

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2009 AT 4:19 AM
Lebanon's Sexy Election Campaigns

Those of you who are long time readers of the Middle East blog will know
that I am a great admirer of Lebanon's native talent for marketing and
advertising. But somehow those skills get turned to comic effect when
applied to the country's combative sectarian political and regional power
struggles. (See the this post from about ad campaigns during the Lebanese
political crisis in 2007.)

On Sunday, Lebanese go to the polls to determine whether or not the
Hizballah-led opposition takes final control over the government and can
turn the institutions of state away from American influence and use them to
protect it's anti-Israeli military wing.
But you wouldn't know that from the latest round of posters and billboards
appearing around Beirut. The real issue on the streets would appear to be:
Can you support Hizballah and still be sexy?

That's the subtext of this series of ads run by a Christian political party
-- the Free Patriotic Movement -- led by a maverick ex-general who broke
with the country's mainline Christian parties and allied himself with
Hizballah, the Shia Muslim "Party of God." The FPM is betting that the best
way to protect the dwindling Christian presence in Lebanon is to join forces
with the rising tide of the East -- Shia Islam, Iran and Syria. But that's
created a certain cultural unease among its supporters, who normally take
their style tips from New York and Paris rather than Tehran and Damascus.

So ads by FPM -- which uses orange as its signature color -- feature
attractive, trendy young people telling their peers to vote in English and
French (not Arabic). My favorite of these (which disappeared before I was
able to photograph it) read: Sois Belle et Vote (Be Beautiful and Vote) The
ads seem to say: we may have made an electoral deal with people who wear
beards and chadors, but no one will ever take away your tube top!

The FPM and Hizballah also accuse the American and Saudi backed parties as
being rife with corruption, though in fact both sides are doling out money
and flying in overseas supporters on a scale that will make this election
the most expensive in Lebanese history. In this billboard, an opposition
politician announces that "Achrafiyeh is Not for Sale" vaguely accusing the
pro-American forces of trying to buy off this neighborhood in East Beirut.
An angry photo-shopped satire of this billboard that was making the rounds
on Facebook reads "Achrafiyeh is Not for P#%%$*s" using a vulgar word that
rhymes with "wussies." I thought this was amusing because chi-chi
Frenchified Achrafiyeh, which happens to be home to Time Magazine's Beirut
bureau and many a lady who lunches, is definitely for p#%%$*s.

Hizballah itself isn't campaigning very hard, in part because it doesn't
have to -- its supporters are part of a cradle-to-the-grave mini welfare
state that ensures their loyalty -- but also so it doesn't alienate its
Christian allies with too much talk about Resistance, the return of the
Hidden Imam, and the final destruction of Zionism. Here's a Hizballah poster
that went up around May 25th, the anniversary of the day that Hizballah
liberated southern Lebanon from 18 years of Israeli occupation in 2000. Note
the soothing, conservative production values, the unifying, patriotic slogan
("My land is worth more than gold") and the effect: Hizballah is the party
of safety, security, and independence.
On the other side of the political spectrum from FPM and Hizaballah is a
coalition of Christian and Sunni Muslim groups known as March 14th. This
refers to the day in 2005 when hundreds of thousands of people gathered in
central Beirut to call for an end of the occupation of Lebanon by Syria,
which is one of Hizballah's main patron states. And though Syria left later
that summer, and March 14th formed a government, the movement has had a
tough time since then. March 14th leaders were humiliated when their
American patrons abandoned them during the 2006 war with Israel. Then last
spring, Hizballah fighters took over March 14th offices in West Beirut and
forced them to accept a "National Unity" government in which Hizballah has
veto power over all major decisions. Now, Hizballah is ahead in many polls,
thanks to its alliance with FPM.

Still, March 14th is trying its best. This series of ads take a
smarter-than-thou response to the FPM's sexier-than-thou campaign. The above
poster "I think there 14 I am" is surely brainy, but I wonder how many rank
and file supporters get the English word play. The poster below: "Sois Egale
et Vote" (Be Equal and Vote) hints that FPM's "Be Beautiful and Vote" ads
were sexist and shallow. But oh, it just so happens this March 14th girl is
stunningly beautiful too.

The ironic part is that March 14th does have at least one really sexy
politician, 26 year-old first-time candidate Nayla Tueni. Yet her handlers
have toned down her good looks, perhaps to disguise her youthful
inexperience. Here she looks down from a massive portrait like the Mother
Mary of Sassine Square.

Tueni's candidacy highlights another part of the March 14th strategy:
they're running several children of anti-Syrian politicians assassinated
since 2005. Nayla's father, Gibran, an MP and newspaper editor, was killed
by a roadside bomb on his way to work in the winter of 2005.

Besides such gestures towards its martyrs, March 14th is also trying to
remind voters of the past few years of upheaval that they blame on
Hizballah: the street protests that sometimes turned violent, the bloody
days last May when Hizballah fighters over-ran West Beirut, and the tire
burning blockades that shut the country down. This burning tire billboard,
produced by a party allied with March 14, reads: "There are some whose past
is a shame to their present." Coincidentally, the building on which it
stands was damaged last year when a roadside bomb exploded near a passing
U.S. Embassy vehicle.

Since the Doha political agreement that ended street fighting in Lebanon
last spring, the country has been has been run by a compromise caretaker
government that has turned out to be surprisingly effective. President
Michael Sulieman, formerly the country's top general, installed technocratic
officials who have avoided choosing sides in the cold war for Lebanon's soul
and set to work actually trying to run the country. In particular, they
launched a quality of life campaign aimed at curbing self-destructive
behavior on Lebanon's roads -- where stop lights, speed limits, and and one
way traffic signs are more often than not treated as optional. Surely this
billboard -- placed by the Ministry of the Interior -- offers the best
advice for Lebanese worried about their future after the elections: fasten
your seatbelt.
--Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut

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5 Comments to ³Lebanon's Sexy Election Campaigns²
yboxman Says: 
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 6:22 am
"The FPM is betting that the best way to protect the dwindling Christian
presence in Lebanon is to join forces with the rising tide of the East --
Shia Islam, Iran and Syria"
Protect them from whom? From the people they are "Joining forces" with? How
stable can an alliance based on fear of destruction by your "ally" be?
Maybe they don't have any choices left but the past 70 years are replete
with examples of people who tried to win "protection" by "allying" with the
violent group threatening them. I can't realy think of any that succeded.
ericraff Says: 
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 9:40 am
I'd recommend taking a look at Maya Zankoul's satirical blog, it's all fun
but the underlying tones are something most Lebanese can adhere to,
regardless of political affiliation:
mayazankoul.wordpress.com
maya1983 Says: 
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 5:00 pm
There's a mistake in the translation of one of the billboards. The one that
reads: "There are some whose past is a shame to their present." The correct
translation is ³There are some whose past is ashamed of their present² in
reference to the FPM's past stance as opposed to the one they are taking up
now.
aliharb Says: 
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Maya1983 is absolutly right about the mistranslation. However, the FPM led
by its ex-general joined Hezbollah because the general thought that the
Party of God's power could get him the presidency he fought for for 20
years. It has nothing to do with protecting Christians from Hezbollah.
By the way, I got offended by your discription of Nayla Tueni. Nayla is
running as Nayla not as the daughter of Gibran. She decided to represent
Lebanon's young people in the parliment. There are no games.
ericraff Says: 
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I agree with you aliharb, but regardless of Nayla's intent, there's no
escaping the general perception, as it has been for quite some time, of
political families. I only hope that she'll represent a break with usual
dynastical policies, rather than "giving power for the youth". I'm not
looking for fresh faces in parliament, I'm looking for competent ones. I'd
like to see some people running on completely innovative platforms, rather
than using their last name for further credibility (or lack of it)
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