Honestly, I didn’t have much faith enough people would come down to the streets yesterday, but those fears were put to rest when I met up with the procession heading towards Riad El Solh square from Sassine. The best way I could think of describing the mood was similar to the early ones in August 2015, when the dangers were only starting to emerge.

Families, friends, a lot of determination and an unwillingness to just sit at home and whine. Of course, many did just sit at home and whine, which is completely fine as well and it’s everyone’s own decision to make. In this post, I’ll just clarify why I’ve decided to go down, and participate in Monday’s escalation, which in my honest opinion is long overdue.

Positives from Saturday

More people showed up than I expected, I was worried I might find a few dozen, but felt relieved when there were enough folks to fill Riad El Solh square. So, this shows that momentum still survives despite everything, and not just online.

Another thing is how frustrated the government was, spending 8 hours locked up, waiting to see what the protesters will demand before coming out with their own heinous “decisions” so boringly read by the information minister that they must’ve thought we’d get bored 2 minutes in and just switch the channel and say “khallas, they agreed on it, it’s over”. It’s always good to know the corrupt oligarchs can still be affected by pressure from taxpayers, minor as it has been so far compared to the angst towards their malicious incompetence.

The Kataeb were there, at least many of their cadres. They carried the Lebanese flag only, and banners that condemned the garbage crisis. I’m not sure if they were there in their official capacity, but it was great seeing an established political party on the side of the people for once, especially after being taxpayers’ eyes and ears inside the dark rooms in the Grand Serail where deals that undermine our health and taxes were brought to the light, helping spark the unrest.

The Decision Must Be A Joke

My theory is that the political elite in this country aren’t just evil in the movie villain sense, but just incredibly stupid and greedy. In a nutshell, here’s their “solution”

1. Dumping garbage in mainly seaside dumps in stark violation of any logic and binding international treaties (the only places their resorts haven’t taken over public property)
2. Using Sukleen to do that (the root cause of this problem and currently under criminal investigation for fraud and breach of contract with the same government running back to them)
3. Using incinerators (that are highly lucrative for each fiefdom chief) as the “ultimate answer” a few years down the line (enough time to finish partitioning their piece of the revenue)

So, they basically just wanna bury the trash mainly on the shore, exclusively with the same company that got us here in the first place and at a premium price which is being criminally investigated. That though, is just “temporary” (which often means forever in Lebanon) till their money-making, environmentally-devastating and completely unnecessary incinerators arrive and are set up.

Monday

It literally can’t get any worse (I hope). More than half a year of drowning in garbage, with increasingly humiliating and infuriating failures by Lebanon’s garbage government. The risks to our health, economy, environment and all-round quality of life are no longer risks, they’re realities that have been happening for months now.

We get that massive protests unprecedented in Lebanon’s history that aren’t fueled by sectarianism or financed by political parties aren’t going to be enough to change this government’s mind (or lack-thereof). All they care about is the money, which is why peaceful civil disobedience is long overdue.

On Monday, You Stink has asked taxpayers to help shut down the entrances to Beirut tomorrow morning for a few hours. This will be followed by other escalations till the demands for a proper solution are approved and executed, taking taxpayer health and our environment as the top-priority, not just 8 hours (after almost 8 months) of discussing how to split the cheese amongst themselves (as Salam himself was reported of saying about yesterday’s meeting).

Will this fix everything? No. Will it guarantee that the crisis gets solved after almost 8 months of hell? No. But, this was the final warning, and tomorrow is your chance to do more than just rant on Facebook and give excuses about why you’d rather do absolutely nothing to help make the country you live in better.

Locations & Important Notes:

• The action starts tomorrow morning at 6:30AM sharp and should wrap up by 10:00AM
• The locations are as follows:
• Dora roundabout (near CIT college)
• City Center (Hazmieh)
• Khakdeh (muthalath Khaldeh)
• DO NOT burn sukleen cans or tires, those two things are some of the main reasons we’re in the streets protesting! Our health and our environment!
• A few hours of skipped work or class is not a hefty price to pay for the years being shaved off your life expectancy from the current crisis

Stay safe, good luck. Tomorrow, taxpayers are going to shut the capital down for a few hours and make their voice and opinions heard and their rights respected. So, please, if you will not come down and help, stay at home tomorrow morning.

Here’s to hoping we won’t need to do stuff like this for much longer, and that things return to normal in our beloved Lebanon, better than normal even.

So, it is with great sadness that I announce a new segment on the blog: BANNED in Lebanon. The idea is simple, I will aim to publish everything the General Security’s censorship bureau bans upon the request of corrupt politicians, corrupt religious leaders or anyone else who thinks they have the right to decide what we can watch, listen to, read, write, shoot and create.

Home City’s Presidential Ad

You might have already seen this HOME CITY ad on stations like LBC, MTV, Al Jadeed and OTV in the past few weeks. It was approved by the notorious General Security’s censorship bureau, yet, apparently after the incredibly conservative simpleton Tony Khalife (that thinks Monster energy drink is satanic) said he said it’s offensive, the GS decided it had to be pulled.

The excuses given were: “it’s shameful to put the presidential chair in the ad” and “why does a furniture place want to comment on the presidential vacancy?” and other super-condescending reasons that anyone with a basic level of education and access to the Internet would laugh at. Which makes you wonder, why did they approve it originally? Who was it that ordered them to pull it after weeks of being on air?

Who the hell is Tony Khalife to chime in? And why does his opinion become law to the censorship bureau? Or are the reasons less stupid and more sinister? They obviously are more sinister, Khalife’s opinion doesn’t matter as much a political and religious entities demanding the GS ban it because it had pictures of dead and former presidents. As usual, the GS obeyed, banned the ad, called up the TV stations ordering them to stop running it, while never even informing Home City. This is a trend that security forces in this country always do, like when they banned this blog and other websites without even informing any of us before, during or after…

This epidemic of the GS censorship bureau thinking it has editorial control over anything creative Lebanese people come up with, is unacceptable. You are security officers, not Big Brother creating “newspeak” and fighting “thoughtcriminals”. It’s none of your business what an ad contains, as long as it’s not ripping off customers. As for the willingness to blindly obey religious and political figures, and be happy to just be tools in their corrupting hands, is sad. It’s a waste of our tax liras and a very real threat to free speech and expression.

So, in honor of the ban, here’s the ad:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/nKro6Rghf58

To find out what else the General Security has banned over the years, check out MARCH’s Museum of Censorship, and laugh/cry at how funny/sad the free speech and expression situation is getting, in a country that’s supposed to be a beacon of freedom and liberal ideals in an Arab World caught in the clutches of military dictatorships and authoritarian theocracies…

It’s rare that I have such a good time during an interview, but Mia and Sophie are fantastic hosts and it was an absolute pleasure. Talking about EDZ, marijuana legalization and being positive!

Thanks for the invite ladies, and for the soundcloud post!

Like LightFM on Facebook

I wasn’t sure if I was gonna write about this epic video, but when our good-for-nothing tourism minister threatened to sue You Stink for doing it, it was a no-brainer, akid I’m gonna post about it. For a spineless minister that is part of the problem that created this unacceptably humiliating and infuriating situation to threaten us? Really? How rude can a semi-human being get? It makes Mohamad Mashnouk look like a reasonable, polite and non-mentally-challenged minister.

The video is perfect, and aside from reminding people of how dire the situation is, it also did another good thing: put Lebanese people in their place. The culture in our country is always of hiding the bad and never talking about it. Remember when everyone wanted Jeita to win even though they knew the New 7 Wonders thing was a scam, justifying it with “it will bring tourists”, as if online-savvy tourists give two shits about some ponzi-scheme “award”. This horrible feature of Lebanese people of never addressing the bad and being more worried about the country’s “image” abroad, is part of the reason we’re in this situation. So, using the pretty brilliant Ministry of Tourism video to put a spotlight on the crisis at hand, was genius.

Some Thoughts

Despite everything the corrupt, authoritarian government did to Lebanese taxpayers, You Stink and Badna Nhaseb not only survived, but are still extremely active, slowly organizing themselves and becoming more effective. Million-man protests rarely ever work (March 14, 2005, most of the Arab Spring, etc.) when you have crocodiles in power, unfazed by the demands of the people they’ve robbed the right to vote for years now

The unrest did spawn a lot of good things though: it didn’t allow the corrupt, illegitimate government to award contracts twice as expensive to companies just as opaque and corrupt as Sukleen. It forced the hand of the government into giving back money to the municipalities to help them resolve the garbage crisis temporarily, even if that money is still finding its way to the local-governments level. Most importantly, it rattled the political elite of this country, and forced mortal enemies blaming each other of being terrorists, to sit on the same table together and pretend to make friends to face the wrath of the people.

If you’re impatient and expected everything to get fixed back in August, you might not understand Lebanon enough. Remember, most of the politicians in that government wouldn’t mind killing you to stay in power, and I don’t know about you guys, but I sure as fuck don’t want to die because of that stinky pile of human garbage we call ministers. That’s why I’m proud of the You Stink folks for never putting us in danger and playing it smart, despite all the dirty tactics of the filthy government and its stinky sectarian supporters.

Saturday, Come Down

I know you guys love to criticize stuff to look like you’re disappointed, like “there were too many demands” or “Lebanon will never be fixed in 100 years” etc. Well, if you go this Saturday and participate in the “Last Warning”, you’ll have bragging rights forever. On a more serious note though, it’s been 7 months. If you think it can’t possibly get to a year, or two, or more, just ask our president… Oh wait. Or, check when was the last time we had a budget in this country? A decade ago? More? I don’t even remember anymore.

The popular movements organizing this will announce their roadmap when the ultimatum expires on SATURDAY starting 4PM. Walk with us from Sassine Square to Riad El Solh. It’s time to go back to the streets after all the blundering buffoons we call ministers got embroiled in one humiliating scandal after the other. Pissed off CNN featured our glorious garbage? Give them something else to talk about then, and show up this Saturday.

RSVP here and like the page to stay updated!

You all know the Paint Up guys from the awesome projects they’ve executed across Lebanon, beautifying important parts of our cities’ heritage and of course, those refreshingly colorful stairs that got international attention a few times and you’ve all made out on once or twice in Mar Mikhail.

They’re doing it again this Sunday March 13th in the Dahr El Jamal garden in the Nabaa/Bourj Hammoud, beautifying this ultra-rare green space in such a severely neglected part of Beirut.

Come down starting 9AM and help transform the garden for a good cause with all the other painters. You will be serenaded by C U NXT SAT’s The Inse(k)t and Tanjaret Daghet too!

RSVP here on Facebook, tell your friends and wear clothes you don’t mind getting paint on!

So, a lot of you have been asking me why they only see the first 3 seasons of House of Cards on their Netflix accounts when accessed from Lebanon.

That’s because some Netflix Originals are purchased by regional distributors in some parts of the world to be aired the old-fashioned way on TV. Now, I’m not a huge fan of that, and as a paying customer, I expect to get to watch what I initially subscribed for: House of Cards and other Netflix Originals like Marco Polo, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Sense8, etc.

So, it’s an easy workaround for those of you who don’t wanna wait or resort to pirated torrents or streaming sites drowning in pop-up ads. It’s also the same solution I’ve been using for years, even before Netflix became available in this part of the world.

I use Hola as my VPN client, it’s free and unlimited. I will mention though, that I’ve heard some people say they have security concerns when it comes to Hola, so, if you feel you’d rather use another VPN client, please do. I just used the one I’m most familiar with for the video below.

Here’s a shorter, subtitled screen recording to help you do this. Or, just install Hola on your Chrome browser and select “US” or “UK” when prompted “Browsing From”. This works if you have a Chromecast and wanna watch it on your TV, I haven’t had luck on friends’ Apple TVs though.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RE1bHG0gesw

Where do I even begin? I can’t even count the times female friends of mine have told me what they had to endure by creeps on the dimly lit streets of Beirut. The cringe-worthy stories make me wonder how they even stomach going out anymore at the chance of running into the usually mobilette-bourne, vokda-energy-can-wielding pieces of shit that think they’re allegedly one of the guys entitled to 7 desperate women (you know, since most guys apparently leave Lebanon to work and thus justifies treating women so disturbingly).

Sex is still a touchy subject here, perhaps not as bad as in places like Saudi Arabia (where children are lashed for being molested by sheikhs) and Egypt (where hordes of horny ‘men’ prey on women protesting in the streets), but still pretty bad. In fact, the “sexual liberation” here often means preying on domestic workers and refugees and seeing that as “okay” and “normal” instead of two adults consenting to having casual sex when it’s nobody’s business (seeing how most macho men still expect to find a virgin to marry and put in the kitchen, and sadly, still find women like that to perpetuate the archaic patriarchy described as “3a2liyeh shar2iyeh”)

The police would be the first place one thinks of going to when harassed, but often, the police themselves are the harassers. How many detectives offered female suspects a “get-out-of-jail free card” for a blowjob, or worse? How many times was a battered wife laughed at and told to “go back home to her husband”, often ending up in the hospital, or brutally murdered, with their criminal piece of shit husbands getting custody of the kids and not going to jail?

This police unwillingness to deal with the problem (or being a big part of it sometimes), coupled with stigma associated with these kinds of crimes and harassment that pushes many women to stay silent about it, feeling helpless and hopeless in changing the ugly status quo.

One efficient way of solving problems in Lebanon has been putting them in the public eye and shaming the criminals. How many times have banned things been un-banned after the banning authorities were shamed and ridiculed for their pathetic attempts to stifle freedoms? And with the presence of an illegitimate government and parliament, a massively corrupt judicial system and police force, hope for the situation for sexual harassment changing anytime soon is unlikely.

That’s why when I came across HarassTracker, I was very excited. Essentially, the website allows you to pinpoint where you suffered harassment of any kind and add details of the perpetrator and the incident.

Some of the testimonies already posted made me cringe, I couldn’t imagine being in those women’s shoes right there and then.

Here’s how you can report such disgusting incidents:

Now, you might ask how this could help? Well, for one, if more harassers become known, it’ll hopefully deter more sexually frustrated assholes from pulling out their dicks and jacking off while following a woman on the street. However, a more likely result will be numbers and statistics about what’s happening, where and by whom. The fact the police are too busy torturing pot smokers and stifling protests violently, means we have very little if any information about the scale and frequency of these disgusting incidents. Hopefully, this crowd-sourced initiative will give people fighting against this social ill the data necessary to put more pressure on the government to act. And more importantly, show people who are unaware of how bad things are, how horrifying the reality for women in Lebanon is.

Check out their website, like them on Facebook and follow them on Instagram.

Perhaps one of the issues I have tackled most passionately on this blog over the past 6 years is the issue of marijuana in Lebanon. It’s also the one that has caused me the most headaches. In this post, I will briefly recap everything to refresh everyone’s minds about the issue, especially with the renewed excitement about possible legalization of the plant we are well-known for by potheads around the world.

Personal Freedom Issue

Perhaps the number one reason why I am a staunch advocate for marijuana is my deep-rooted belief in individual rights and personal freedoms. It is nobody’s business what you eat, drink, smoke, read, write, think or do, so long as you’re not actually infringing on anyone else’s freedoms or rights (offending someone or their beliefs isn’t considered “infringing” on anyone’s rights). The government, conservative NGOs, the police, the church and the mosque have absolutely no business telling you what you can and cannot do on your own time in your own home.

In a country where you can have a drive-thru vodka-orange cocktail, or get stabbed in the face in broad daylight, or die from cancer after 7-months of inhaling toxic burning garbage, or a bomb, or a politician’s convoy running you over, or a run-amok truck pulverising your car, or, or, or… I really don’t see how it’s that big of a problem if someone smokes a joint.

In short: it’s no one’s business, regardless of your personal thoughts or opinions on the matter.

Corruption and Distrust

It’s no secret marijuana is big business in Lebanon. It’s always been, since ancient Roman times. However, it’s the wrong kind of big business, and can be summed up into to main illicit industries:

• Drug cartels: essentially, they are drug traffickers armed to the teeth and protected by Lebanese politicians. They are beloved by impoverished local communities neglected by the government and seen as “robin-hood” vigilantes, giving hungry farmers a lucrative and easy-to-grow crop, while protecting them from security forces. But, they’re cartels, criminals, and no matter how you spin it, it’s not right that only armed thugs have the exclusive right to grow, distribute and sell marijuana. They make millions (5–6% of the worldwide hashish production is in Lebanon)
• Corrupt police: the only other group in Lebanon that rivals cartels in making money off marijuana, is the police. Heavy-handed, often illegal and unorthodox methods to entrap citizens, torture them and extort them for bribes is huge business for someone on a cop’s salary and with a cop’s unlimited and unsupervised powers. If a young man or woman gets busted, chances are a few thousand dollars are gonna find their way into the arresting police officers’ pockets in return for letting the young man or woman go, desperate under incarceration under inhumane conditions and often under torture, both physical and mental, in well-documented and endemic stark violations of human rights.

Apart from the fact the police often break the law to entrap taxpayers, or arrest them without a shred of evidence, this has created a massive rift between the communities these police officers are supposed to serve and protect. I for one would think once, twice, even thrice before ever seeking help from the police my taxes pay for, because so far, in my 25 years here, all I’ve gotten from them is grief, harassment and unprofessionalism. So much so, that we often see citizens take matters into their own hands, knowing that the police will not act, at least not in support of the law, unless it is lucrative to them in some way, regardless of who is the victim and who is the abuser.

Often times, sadly, crooked cops go hand-in-hand with crooked lawyers, who fail to uphold the rights of their clients because they’ll get a cut of the bribes and extortion money the accused’s family pay the cops (given that a first-time offense of smoking marijuana doesn’t allow the cops to arrest someone for it). So, a corrupt security apparatus coupled with some greedy lawyers, as well as the automatic response of most Lebanese folks of bribing their way out of trouble instead of facing it with justice, leads to a very lucrative cycle of corruption that has cost and is costing countless taxpayers their liberty, health and lives for a victimless crime in a country where an armed cartel head can do prime-time TV show appearances on daily basis, but a university graduate with marijuana leaves on his hoodie will land him a couple of nights in jail and stigma that is almost impossible to shake off.

Making the Drug Problem Even Worse

In a country where 1,000,000 anti-depressant and 700,000 anti-anxiety perscriptions were written by doctors in 2011, it’s not hard to imagine how big the drug abuse actually is in Lebanon. Those are the legit numbers, imagine the illegit, real number and worse drugs. However, despite the horrible effects drugs like captagon for example have both on the users’ health and the safety and well-being of those around them, those drugs dissipate from their systems in a day or two. marijuana needs weeks to disappear from your urine.

So smoking a joint a month ago, will get you in a whole lot of trouble today, but popping pills made in shoddy labs in war-torn Syria over the weekend, will leave you clean as a whistle. This pressure to keep urine clear of THC (from marijuana) has pushed misinformed folks into choosing the much harder to trace, but highly addictive and destructive drugs such as captagon, prescription drugs or other mysterious substances laced with unknown drugs that don’t show up on the questionably efficient urine tests the cops force you to take and pay for even without proof you actually took or smoked anything.

So, in reality, the war on marijuana has only made the drug epidemic worse, much, much worse. After all, fear of being arrested, beaten and extorted outweighs the fear of addiction or self-harm for many folks who opt to self-medicate in a country as depressing and turbulent as Lebanon.

Legislative Coma and Political Hypocrisy

When confronted with the barbaric way the police handle drug use, they always smugly say, “don’t like it, change the law!”. Now, overlooking the fact they choose not to enforce a million other laws (like protecting women against domestic violence), they do have a point in a warped way. They also know that with an illegitimate parliament full of octogenarian warlords with more temper tantrums per week than a toddler, it’s very unlikely the law will change anytime soon via the proper legislative channels. This means the cash-flow from extortion is safe, and the crooked police are happy.

Another issue that grinds my gears is political parties being hypocrites about marijuana. Hezbollah is the most troubling one, given an overwhelming majority of the growing and production happens in one of their main strongholds: the Northern Bekaa. Yet, on countless occasions, its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah blasts it like a republican southern conservative would. This is a problem, because while the communities loyal to Hezbollah benefit, even need the revenue from marijuana, in public, the party pretend to be completely against it instead of seeking to regulate it a bit more, for the safety of the users and to keep the drug cartels on a tight leash. Also, that absurdly inaccurate and ill-timed campaign by the Lebanese Forces didn’t help at all. I still don’t know what Geagea was thinking when he did that insanely awkward video. Then again, that’s the same guy that cuts cake, drinks champagne and laughs when confronted about the massacres he was responsible for along with former-mortal-enemy-now-best-friend Michel Aoun.

Every major landowner (and thus politician) in Lebanon is connected to the marijuana industry in one way or another, and while some politicians like Walid Junblat publicly support legalization, his tweets contradict the reality, given the branch that deals with drugs, the Judicial Police, is seen as loyal to the Druze leader, and yet, we see no effort to try and curb the extreme lengths they go to to entrap people who smoke up. But, recent developments by his ministers do look promising, and I hope the influential leader of the PSP finally does deliver on his promises to stop this brutal crackdown hurting Lebanese taxpayers unlike any other oppressive actions the Lebanese government and institutions dish out on innocent taxpayers every day.

Decriminalization First, Legalization Second

I know a lot of you get excited about exporting our hash to places like Amsterdam and Barcelona, but that isn’t the main concern here. Marijuana export is a tricky legal subject, and shouldn’t be the basket we put all our eggs in. The main issue here is curbing the corruption and detrimental effects the brutal crackdown is having on our communities, especially among younger, vulnerable taxpayers. The problem isn’t how we can export and make money off hash, it’s that no one should go to jail and be beaten and tortured in places like Hbeish and Roumieh for smoking a joint.

This doesn’t need a parliamentary majority, it needs the related ministries to issue executive orders to their subordinates to quit bullying innocent taxpayers. Which means it’s easily doable, especially given the readiness the PSP and its ministers have expressed in making this come true. So, I hope this post and the dialog happening in the country and online about legalization will encourage those with the power to do something about it, to do it. We’re not in a hurry to export our weed, just in dire need to stop losing good members of the community to the fear and terror extolled upon them for a quick buck by the security forces (or as an excuse to stifle dissent like we saw during the You Stink protests last year, when the bullying was at its most obvious: drug testing taxpayers and minors for protesting, and making them pay for the goddamn urine test themselves. Inno, how rude can the police blatantly get? Gaddafi style stuff…)

In Short

It’s 2016. Most of the developed world is ok with it and it’s time to stop incarcerating and terrorizing taxpayers for smoking marijuana and inadvertently pushing some of them towards harder drugs in the process. No one should go to jail or get arrested for smoking a joint anymore. That said, if you do smoke up, do be careful, whenever talk about legalization starts, the police become extra excited about entrapping people to try and make as much money by extorting taxpayers before the inevitable decriminalization takes effect.

I won’t talk about the benefits of weed here, you can Google them yourselves. I’m just talking about the marijuana issue in Lebanon in this post, which is already long enough!

To sum up, I’m gonna quote Sean Paul: “Legalize it. Time to recognize it.”

Also, please take a minute to complete this Typeform survey to get some numbers (anonymous and not all questions require an answer if you don’t feel comfortable answering)

Earlier this month, I got to sit down and have a chat with Coyu aka “The Big Cat”, Barcelona-based priest of the prolific Suara house and techno temple at The Grand Factory before his C U NXT SAT set.

Of course, the first thing I asked Ivan was what went through his mind when he was contacted to come man the decks in our beloved Beirut:

“My mom was worried, so were my friends. It’s a shame that what’s on the news is about bombs and terrorism and war. Seeing how Beirut really was and how beautiful the scene here is will definitely have me coming back and performing more here.”

Next, I had to ask what the deal with the cats was.

“I have four cats, one sadly passed away, so I have three now. I love cats, I’m known as ‘The Big Cat’ of Suara!”

As a clubber, I often wonder if artists like Coyu miss being on the other side of the decks, being the clubber and not the DJ.

“I’m not sure if I miss clubbing itself, I’ve clubbed a lot in my life. But the thing is, I love what I do and I love playing at clubs. I do miss clubbing sometimes I guess and every now and then I do find myself on the other side, but I love when I play and where I’m playing a lot more that’s for sure.”

As a clubber who has traveled around, I notice how similar and how different the scenes in each city I experience are. So, someone as prolific as The Big Cat would definitely have more insight than I do about those nuances. When asked, here’s what Ivan said:

“Even though there are a lot of similarities between the crowds around the world, there’s also a lot of differences. I guess the main difference is the level of enthusiasm. For example, people in the UK or Berlin aren’t gonna get as excited since they’ve been experiencing this music for 30, 40 years there. But, in places like the US or Latin American for example, the crowds are a lot more enthusiastic and you can feel it, given how house and techno are experiencing quite the revival in those scenes and people are visibly more excited to listen to what you play. Another stark difference I noticed is in Japan, where the crowd respects the craft so much that no one would come up to you to take a selfie in the booth, unlike other places especially in South America where the enthusiasm sometimes makes you spend a lot of time shaking hands and taking selfies after your set, which is also fantastic of course. It just shows you how different the scenes are and how they convey their appreciation for the music.”

(Sidenote: I took a selfie with him shortly before starting our chat, so I guess I’m not as atuned to Japanese techno culture as I would have hoped! Hahaha)

Aside from the DJ booth, I wanted to ask Ivan about what happens in the studio. I asked him if he thought the long-lost “album” was still relevant in today’s techno and house world, and if he thought it’s still something important for an artist to produce, not just singles and EPs.

“I think albums are still important because they let the artist be a lot more creative in their work. On an album, you have more freedom to experiment and innovate. In a club, you usually can’t stray too far from the formulaic boundaries that people go to clubs to listen to. I’m working on my own album, which is a lot of fun for me given the freedom you have with an LP vs an EP or singles!”

Given the amazing success Coyu has been having stateside, I decided to ask him what he thinks of the mainstream vs undergound dichotomy that’s so evident in the US right now, and what he thinks that’s like

“Underground means real for me, where the artist stays true to himself and real with the people and crowd. I see some artists today claim they’re underground but feel too important to connect with the crowd and take the time to enjoy the music and party, not just market the next one or their online sales. Of course, both mainstream and underground are both fine, but I prefer staying real and grounded, with the love for the music as the main driver, as every underground artist should be! Of course, that doesn’t mean not filling stadiums and huge clubs, it just means not being a diva and staying true to yourself and your music.”

(This part made me an even bigger Coyu fan. It’s rare to find someone who has such a positive attitude and sums up the whole issue so eloquently. I’m glad we had the chance to sit down and become friends with The Big Cat that’s a resident in Pacha Ibiza during the summer when not touring the four corners of the world! Real and true.)

Lastly, we Lebanese are super proud of our food, so, I asked the Spaniard what his favorite Lebanese dish was:

“Hummus, definitely the hummus here. And the fattouch!”

I’ll leave you with one his awesome Suara podcasts, and thank you Ivan! It was a pleasure!

In my ten years of activating in Lebanon, nothing has impressed me and made me more proud than what MARCH has been able to accomplish and continues to in Tripoli’s former conflict zones.

Despite all odds, the MARCH team led by Lea Baroudi brought together young men and women from the notorious Beb El Tebbeneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods in Tripoli. Over a course of more than a year, the actors transitioned from former combatants and prospective refugees, into community leaders in their neighborhoods solidifying reconciliation and bringing the severely neglected communities together for a common cause: peace and prosperity far away from violence and extremism.

Security concerns, resistance and intimidation from local non-state actors and a deep distrust and fear of each other took months to thaw, but the results stunned everyone, including the MARCH team and our partners. A witty, honest play that eloquently satirized the tragic conditions the actors face every day which the actors co-wrote and co-directed was the result of months of stubborn perseverance. It toured all over the country and a documentary that cataloged the arduous process was also received with much praise and massive boosts of serotonin for everyone who witnessed them and got to meet with the actors.

But, that wasn’t enough. Capitalizing on the positive momentum of the play “Love And War on the Rooftop”, MARCH decided to turn the results into a more sustainable project. That’s when the “Ahwenta Cafe — Cafe bi Kafak” idea came to life.

The idea was to rehabilitate a building that lies where the former demarcation line was and turn it into a culutral cafe. The cafe would be a space where the artistic knack of the young men and women who were part of that project could keep doing what they do best: entertain and educate the rest of us about the importance of denouncing violence and coming together to overcome obstacles posed by an absent government and malicious political and extremist influence on the country’s most vulnerable communities.

The guys and gals helped rehabilitate and equip the cafe and they will be running it themselves as of THIS Sunday! It brings me extreme joy to let you guys know that the success of the play has been turned into a permanent cultural cafe, where the boys and girls have stable jobs and for once, hope for the future. The amateur actors that won over the hearts and minds of their neighbors and families, and also the rest of us who before, only heard bad news about that part of Tripoli, now have their own space to do stand-up, perform music, watch movies, host talks or just have a nice cup of coffee and relax in a spot that once divided them for many, many years.

So, this Sunday join us in Tripoli at 11:00AM for the official opening of the cafe! RSVP and share the event here, and don’t forget to like the page to stay updated about the events and activities in Tripoli’s hottest new cultural cafe!