Celebratory gunfire is a huge issue in Lebanon. I come from Zgharta, a town famous for their affinity to guns and firing them in celebration. Even though that practice has decreased to almost none at all these days, especially compared to when I was a child, it’s still a major issue all across the country.
We keep hearing about someone getting killed or maimed because of a stray bullet when a politician speaks, or a kid shooting their parent by mistake at a wedding reception, or many other horror stories like “hunting accidents” and other silly excuses when it’s obvious the real problem is taking guns lightly or a considering real bullets a viable alternative to fireworks.
“Eleguns” stand at a wedding fair in Beirut
“Eleguns” popped up online and in wedding fairs in Lebanon recently. The company offers “professional” squads that will shoot at your weddings for a certain fee. I will admit, the name “eleguns” is awesome, and so is there branding and identity. Just look at their site, it has different weapons, styles (such as traditional vs modern) and they even have the gender-balanced element too!
Luckily though, this isn’t a legit business or service, it’s a kick-ass awareness campaign by Permanent Peace Movement. PPM have spearheaded an attempt to curb celebratory gunfire in Lebanon, and this is a one of the many initiatives they kicked off, including a conference surrounding the harmful effects of lax gun control held at the Grand Serail that I attended last year.
Unfortunately, many of the young men and women who are about to get married thought that this service was real, and showed a lot of interest in hiring “pro” gunmen and women to come do a “show” at their weddings. When it was time to talk about pricing though, the people behind the campaign came at them with the epic reply: “it might cost the life of your friends and loved ones”, and then encouraged the young couples to sign a pledge saying they would never allow guns to be fired in celebration at their wedding.
Personally, I absolutely loved the campaign, it’s very beautifully executed and got a lot of people duped for a second. It also delivered a tough message in a really nice way. For a second, I myself thought it had gotten this bad, that people now advertise “gun show” services for weddings in Lebanon. Luckily, I was wrong and hopefully, less and less people will think it’s a good idea to use guns to celebrate.
Big ups to PPM and JWT for the awesome #GunFreeWedding initiative!
These pictures were taken moments ago by my good friend and LBCI reporter Lea Fayad in front of the Holiday Beach resort, right next to where Nahr El Kalb pours into the sea.
Last week, the current government decided to expand the current haphazard landfills in Costa Bravo (right next to the airport runways) and the area stretching from Karantina to Citymall, covering the two sides of Beirut’s coast with mountains of garbage that has been spilling into the sea for years, and in fact decades.
The place where some of you post Instagram photos in your swimsuits every summer, looks like a veritable landfill of mainly plastic, the stuff that floats when the waves hit those disastrous landfills this genius government not only erected, but is seeking to expand…
I guess they are doing this on purpose, to twist our arm and force us to accept the absurd incinerators plan, given it will rake in good money for those in power.
Part of the fault is on us, for using so much single-use plastic. The big part of the blame though, is on the consecutive governments, whose solution was either to burn the garbage, or simply dump it into the Mediterranean Sea.
This is why we need to elect the current MPs out of office in May, and get people who put our health and the environment before their quarterly profits from crooked, corrupt deals to make even more money than they used to from our solid waste.
Shame on the Lebanese government. Our air, our water, our soil, our food, everything is turning toxic, when the solutions are much simpler, when we can compost and recycle 77% of our solid waste, why the fuck are we throwing it in the sea?! It’s kinda sad that the infamous, cancer-causing Zouk powerplant is in the background of this frame… Makes the image look like post-apocalyptic hell-hole. But hey, the movie Beirut is painting a wrong picture, and that’s what we should be concerned about, right?
It is with great pleasure that I announce that Gino’s Blog is a proud partner in this year’s edition of La Nuit des Idées at the Institut Français in Beirut!
What is La Nuit des Idées
It’s a night that mixes between partying, and informed debates and discussions, that happens on the same day in countries and cities around the world, with more than 180,000 people being part of the event worldwide last year!
The event and themes are largely inspired from the May of 1968 social revolution in France, which saw nation-wide strikes, occupations of campuses and even president Charles de Gaulle fleeing the country for a few hours for fear it might spill over into a civil war, or a full-blown revolution.
The events of May 1968 led to a more liberal France, one where a decentralized, spontaneous movement of student and labor unions was able to bring the entire country to a halt and pushed President de Gaulle to call for snap parliamentary elections.
This liberation-leaning movement’s effects is clear in La Nuit des Idées program, with panels discussing gender equality, LGBT rights as well popular uprisings and independent movements calling for reform and more freedom, rights and equality in today’s world.
The Program
I’m personally extremely excited about the round-table discussions, which includes activists and experts from both Lebanon and France.
The first round table will be about “New Citizen Movements and Uprisings” and will discuss movements such as Occupy Wall Street in the US a few years back, all the way up to Beirut Madinati more recently in Lebanon.
The second round table discussion will discuss women’s emancipation, and the current status of women’s rights and gender equality, along with the battles that still face feminism today. The round table discussion will be moderated by my dear friend Rana Khoury which you might know from the Beirut Madinati municipal elections campaign.
The third round table discussion will revolve around sexual liberation and identity, and will be moderated by Beirut Pride founder and good friend Hadi Damien.
Apart from that, the night will kick off at 5:30PM with a live stream direct from Paris starting at 6:00PM sharp. The night will conclude with a concert by KHANSA performing “Oyunu” with Tarek Khuluki and local electronic music artist ETYEN keeping the party going till midnight.
The night will many other events, activities, exhibits and performances, which you can find above in both French and Arabic.
Why You Should Go
First, it’s free of charge and open to the public.
Second, it’s more than 6 hours of enlightened, open and uncensored discussions about issues the youth in Lebanon, and around the world, care about.
Third, if your French is a bit rusty, there will be simultaneous Arabic translation offered for free when someone is speaking in French or something is shown in French.
Fourth, it mixes partying and concerts, with interactive debates and round tables that will include the audience members, not just panelists being asked questions and responding. This means that in between informed debates, you can go have fun, watch live graffiti artists, grab a bite, see a show, dance a little, then go back to another round table.
I’m personally going because all the topics discussed are what liberal-leaning folks care most about: equal rights, freedom of speech and progressive thinking to get Lebanon and the world out of the mess we’ve been put in by conservatives.
Another thing I love about this event, is it will be at the Institu Français, which means you can’t get censored or banned, like you might on Lebanese soil.
So, book yourselves for January 25, 2018 and don’t forget to RSVP here or below! See you there!
Even though the current regime removed the garbage from the streets, more than 900 garbage dumps, where open burning of untreated waste happens on a regular basis. Even though up to 80% of our solid waste can be recycled or composted, more than 77% is thrown in these haphazard dumps, or burned into the air we all breathe.
Check out the rest of the HRW report here, and you can sign the petition here.
Even though HRW did not prefer a particular national plan, the one set by the current government of using incinerators, is the absolute health and environment-wise, but the one that will make the ruling class the most money. We need to work on our municipalities to make sure they adopt better, eco-friendly waste management plans that do not put our lives and health at risk.
This was quite the week honestly, and I don’t know about you, but I had an extremely hectic one, full of lots of frustration, but also some much needed good news.
That’s why, I can’t wait for the weekend, for some Techno and some dancing to relieve the stress and celebrate something that’s still good in Beirut: the clubbing.
I absolutely love the BBX initiative by C U NXT SAT and The Goethe Institut, where local live, electronic music artists compete for a chance to spend a month in Berlin, working with the legendary Tobi Neumann on releasing an EP at the prestigious Riverside Studios!
This Friday is the semi-final, and even though I’m extremely excited to see the up and coming talents, the real reason I’m ecstatic is because my dear friends and musical prodigies Three Machines will be performing LIVE! To sweeten the deal, Jad Taleb, last year’s BBX winner, will also be spinning a set!
Frequent Defect are back, and this time at Yukunkun in Gemmayzeh. Frequent Defect are a party crew I’ve been really enjoying the past few months, with their bare-bones, puritanical approach to Techno and its many derivatives: dark, simple, affordable, inclusive and all about the music and the dancing, not the selfies and bouncers.
DJ Koze is finally coming to Beirut! And he’s coming to The Grand Factory, supported by Tala, Rita and Nesta! In Reunion, Konstantin Sibold will be on the decks, supported by our very own rockstar Jade and Guillaume Sudre.
Here’s a remix by DJ Koze of a classic by Moderat!
Audiojack is headlining this Saturday’s CLOSR lineup, which includes Gorge, Ronin, Ledwarf and Patch! If you haven’t danced under the void yet, then why not this weekend for the Gruuv Showcase?
I’m a huge fan of Comic Stash, and adore that someone in Lebanon gets us actual comics that we can collect, or just simply enjoy reading. I’m kinda bummed my first appearance on Anthony Sargon’s web series was for a topic as horrible as censorship, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised by the ban of Spielberg’s The Post being reversed by the Interior Ministry! Congrats!
Here’s the episode if you’d like to know more about how censorship in Lebanon works, why it’s bad and what we should do about it.
Reason has triumphed over backwards banning today. This week, you can all go to the movie theaters in Lebanon, and watch the full, uncensored, unbanned version of Steven Spielber’s The Post.
What Happened
I have been able to confirm that The Post movie’s ban has been refused by the Interior Ministry of Lebanon.
This is an amazing development, and to the best of my knowledge, unprecedented in Lebanon, at least for the past few years.
The overreaching hand of censorship has gone too far, too many times, and because of all the public outrage and morally indefensible reasons of arbitrary bans that work sometimes, but don’t other times, won’t fly anymore.
This is a great day for Freedom of Expression in Lebanon. It’s a great day in the years-long fight we’ve been having against terrorizing arts and culture in this country, for reasons that do not make sense, are inconsistent and always incoherent.
I send my heartfelt thanks out to the Interior Minister Mashnouq, who proved today he cannot be bullied by groups taking advantage of and misinterpreting ancient laws to decide what you and me can watch, listen to or read.
To the activists who demand bans and censorship on arts and culture, while using devices with chips that are made in Haifa, and expect us to clap for them when they ban arts and culture in Lebanon, instead of just calling for a boycott like someone who believed in their cause would, I say, better luck next time.
Censorship is never the answer. I hope this position is followed up by similar ones, and we stop seeing movies banned for religious, political or just plain ludicrous reasons whenever a group in Lebanon decides they feel like it.
I for one, can’t wait, and have already booked two seats for tomorrow’s premiere. You can watch in all theaters starting tomorrow evening and Thursday. Enjoy!
With all the fuss created by the scandalous ban of “The Post” this week, as well as all the fuss being made over the unreleased “Beirut” movie, you might have missed that another movie was also pulled from Lebanese theaters this week: Jungle.
Jungle stars Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe, and is an Australian drama about survival in the wild. It seems that it’s based on a novel written by an Israeli person who went on an expedition to Bolivia. Took them two full weeks to notice that for some reason (since the General Security censors were show the movie)… It then took them 3 days to remove it from theaters that were showing it. I wonder why? Could it be incompetence? Outside influence? My guess is both combined.
What’s scary about this ban, is that the censors didn’t hide behind the excuse of “boycotting” Israel and Israelis, but outright said to The Daily Star the real reason they pulled it:
“may have planted some ideas in some people”
You might think this is a lined pulled straight out of Orwell’s 1984, but unfortunately it’s not fictional and is happening in 2018 (AD, not BC), in Lebanon.
As usual, these bans were spearheaded by Al Akhbar newspaper, who makes it their job to try and smear human rights activists and start witch-hunts with their uninformed, slanderous and libelous style of what they call “journalism”.
This shows how easily the General Security’s censorship bureau is influenced by third parties, whether its religious authorities, foreign embassies, political parties or mouthpieces of hatred and misinformation like Al Akhbar or MTV.
It also shows how the censors aren’t ashamed of the crimes they are committing against Lebanese taxpayers, and outright said it is an attempt to limit thoughts viewers of this movie might have. I’m not sure how Harry Potter running around in the jungle might “plant some thoughts” in people’s minds about naturalizing relations with Israel, but that’s an even farther stretch than thinking the clouds in Lion King spelling “SEX” encourage kids to become sexually active. Please.
This is alarming, and the fact three movies might be banned or censored in the same week is a new record, even for Lebanon’s censorship standards.
Online, in the press and in movie theaters, the scissors of the censors seem to becoming bolder and showing complete disregard to what’s enshrined in Lebanon’s constitution, and ensures Lebanese citizens’ freedom of expression and thought.
Till when will we accept military apparatuses, under the influence of politician, clergy and rich businessmen, decide what we can watch, read or listen to? In the age of the Internet, what does banning do other than waste people’s time, encourage them towards pirated content, incur losses to the Lebanese film-making industry all the while portraying a negative image of Lebanon as regressive, corrupt and inept.
It’s like someone from New York watching an Avengers movie and complaining that it was shot in Montreal, not New York, and if they had to destroy the city in every intergalactic battle or natural disaster or world war or or or or…
The Media and Entertainment Aren’t Tourism Ads
I’m not sure why, but a big chunk of Lebanese people believe that news websites, movie studios and magazine editorial teams are on the payroll of Lebanon’s Tourism Ministry and PhD candidates in all things Lebanon-related.
Their job isn’t to depict what you believe Lebanon is. Their job isn’t to highlight all the things you brag about to your foreigner friends. Your job isn’t to decide if it’s up to your lofty, unrealistic imagination of what Lebanon actually is.
It’s Hollywood
It’s the same industry that casts white people as Japanese anime characters. It’s the industry that always casts the villains Black, Arab or Russian for some reason. It’s the industry that makes you think that the Transporter driver can drive his car up a ramp, into the air, flip it around, and let a conveniently nearby crane dislodge a sticky bomb about to explode placed on the bottom of the car. Come on…
What the hell did you expect? That they portray Beirut as a progressive, high-tech, peaceful utopia? Seriously. It’s like getting upset because your pet reptile doesn’t like to cuddle with you. It’s just something that isn’t gonna happen, ever.
No matter how many heart warming “me too” and “time’s up” speeches at awards ceremonies of millionaires giving millionaires prizes, it’s still an industry that is hopelessly misogynistic, racist and a reinforcer of negative stereotypes.
The Reality Isn’t Much Better
“It doesn’t look like Beirut”, and I completely agree with that statement. There were no piles of burning garbage on the streets in that trailer. The motorcades were also far less fancy than the ones that almost ran you over the other night, or the one cut you off in traffic this morning.
You guys speak as if no people get kidnapped every other week for ransom, or that family feuds end up with mortar shells falling and RPGs being fired in residential neighborhoods almost on a monthly basis.
We weren’t alive in the 80s, but I’m sure it was a horrible, horrible time for Beirut. Ask your parents if you’re skeptical. Did you expect them to highlight that you can ski and swim in the same day? Or the largest hummus plate record? Maybe the fact that we have a mosque and a church adjacent in Downtown Beirut? Beirut in the 80s wasn’t a paradise, so why do you expect a Hollywood movie to portray it as such?
The Real Tragedy
The real tragedy isn’t how Lebanon is portrayed in shitty movies. It’s that even 30 years after the 80s, we still haven’t been able to shed the synonymity with chaos, violence and lawlessness.
We’re still a country where the authorities use deadly force against unarmed, peaceful protests. We’re a country where torture is endemic in every police precinct and sub-human conditions prison. We’re a place where a minister’s thug can murder a taxpayer, and still run free. We’re a country that exonerates child molesters because they’re priests, and doesn’t allow women to pass down their citizenship to their children. We still don’t have 24/7 power, and our Internet is comparable to dial-up most of the time. Armed groups are stronger than the government in many parts of the country. A few warlords just took off their military fatigues and wore ill-fitting suits, but still run the same fiefdoms, rackets and militias.
Let Us Do Our Own Movies, Instead of Ban Them
As long as we ban movies made by Lebanese filmmakers, about Lebanon, we can’t complain when someone portrays our country in an unflattering way. Can we really complain that some lame writer in Los Angeles is the one who committed a sin, when we accept that movies that are more accurate about Lebanon’s current (and former) circumstances get banned or censored for stupid, backwards stuff like a religious person appearing in the background, or the classic “threatens national unity / civil peace” excuse? As if a movie will plunge us dimwits into a war, like we’re idiots who can’t watch a movie and appreciate its artistic take on something, and will crumble back into barbaric violence because of a fucking local movie…
If the authorities in Lebanon didn’t ban everything, left and right all the time, maybe our movie industry would churn out more than one good movie every decade. The sadder part still, is the poor souls who clap and cheer for such bans, expecting that some elitist Hollywood exec will suddenly find Jesus and be honest about how Lebanon actually is. Please.
So, stop being angry about a movie that isn’t even out yet. Instead, focus on liberating our own film industry from the festering hands of censorship and oppression, so we can maybe have a movie that captures Lebanon how you feel it should be.
To the Makers of “Beirut”
Fuck you for being another stupid, forgettable movie that hopefully won’t make the money poured into producing it. As for the date of release, which is the day the Lebanese Civil War started, is just tasteless and insensitive. Also, that random brown guy’s accent in the trailer was absolute shit, no Arabs talk like that, much less Lebanese. Hire someone that’s been to the country next time.
But, thank you for ruining Jon Hamm for all the Mad Men fans in Lebanon, hahahaha!
So for the past few weeks I’ve been obsessed tracks and a live set from the “Techno duo from outer space” as all their bios read, known as 999999999 (nine times nine).
I absolutely adore their take on acid. You can always feel the Cyclone 303 and all it’s analog sexiness at the backbone of all their tracks and performances, and I love it. X0001000X has been on repeat for the past few weeks in my car, been helping with the traffic.
Below, I’ve bedded my favorite (most) of what they’ve released so far. I love new, somewhat shrouded in mystery Techno acts, especially those that play live.
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