Honestly, news of The Garten reopening was sweet enough to confirm, but somehow, it’s been made even sweeter by the fact it’ll also be Berghain’s Ben Klock’s first time in Beirut!
The Garten is Back this Weekend
I’m delighted to let you know that the Governor of Beirut has reversed his decision to shut down the beloved club that helped put Beirut on the world’s clubbing map since its first dome was erected on the city’s waterfront.
This comes weeks after the decision to shut it down, following an innocent mistake by a foreign artist, that was put to use by malicious groups who doctored and looped the footage, and waited till the opportune time to disseminate it out of context.
Glad but Disappointed
I’m glad that The Garten is back. Weekends this summer have so far felt weird without its events on the weekly clubbing schedules. I’m also disappointed it was so easily closed down, for such a long time, leaving the entire team behind it in limbo, not sure if the summer can be salvaged.
However, what’s important is that we were asking for: the club reopening, finally happened, and the club will reopen at the same location this weekend. All I can say is, I’m really looking forward to another sunrise at The Garten!
A badly rolled small joint, with a tiny amount of what seems to be hash according to the ISF’s caption. This insignificant amount, of the aptly named “leisure hash” in Arabic, led to the arrest of three individuals.
The people arrested are young, one is only 19 and the two others are 23 years old. Like many of you know, and maybe have survived, or know a loved one who has had the misfortune of being arrested in Lebanon, these three people will go through absolute hell, in conditions that could only be compared to modern-day concentration camps full of dangerous criminals, and innocent suspects caught up in the snail mail justice system we have.
What Happened After it was Posted
Even though this nightmare happens to more than3000 young men and women in Lebanon every year, this photo might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. I have embedded it below, please skim through the hundreds of comments blasting and chastising this shameless boasting by the ISF for such a meaningless, victimless crime, while the big dealers, wife murderers and armed gangs roam freely, unperturbed by the ISF or any of the government’s security apparatuses.
It’s unacceptable to ruin young people’s lives, because security forces wanna meet quotas of arrests, and in all honesty, make some money off the trauma they inflict on innocent taxpayers every day.
The fact this remains a taboo subject, even though Lebanon produces around 6% of the world’s hash supply, means that few people dare to speak up, for fear of being subjected to the inhumane, brutal process that is drug enforcement in Lebanon.
Of course, celebrities and rich folks don’t abide by the same rules, with only the most vulnerable, wasta-less and clueless being the victims of this unrelenting witch-hunt against mostly young people whose only crime is smoking a plant that fills Lebanon’s hinterlands from North to South, and of course the Bekaa.
What Needs to Happen
It’s been far too long, and with a new parliament patting itself on the back for alleged “new” faces, it’s time they decriminalize use of hash and any cannabis products in Lebanon.
In the meantime, you should educate yourselves and be prepared in case the worse happens, and you fall into the claws of drug enforcement apparatus in Lebanon. Skoun has compiled an amazing, comprehensive and multilingual “Know Your Rights” guide here.
What You Can Do
Never put yourself in danger, but talk to your representatives. Call or meet your MPs, and tell them this has to stop. Explain to them that the damage this practice is doing, is irreversible and is costing Lebanon way more than anyone would like to admit. They might not want to do anything about the garbage or electricity, because those are hard solutions that need work. This though, needs just a few papers signed and orders transmitted to the ISF and other security agencies to stop their vicious campaign to entrap and take advantage of innocent taxpayers, and focus instead on fighting actual crimes, like random shootings, armed gangs and domestic abuse.
The “culture” war when it comes to weed and hash has already been won, and I know that most Lebanese are completely against Lebanon’s drug enforcement mechanism, even if they aren’t pro-cannabis themselves. The government needs to keep up with the changing times, and should turn this menace plaguing thousands of young taxpayers every year, into an opportunity not just for medical research like LAU is doing, but the economic growth it could stimulate if we can start exporting our medical cannabis to countries that allow that.
Time to decriminalize it. Maybe even legalize it. Enough is enough.
If you ever wondered what Fox News’ Sean Hannity would be like if he were a Lebanese woman, then please watch the clip below:
What Happened
MTV claimed, multiple times, that the shows it aired during Ramadan this year, were the most watched, number one, their usual self aggrandising delusions. This is like when they claim they are the top-rated and most-watched channel, which I have debunked with actual numbers many, many times on this blog. LBCI remains on top, with Al Jadeed a far second, and MTV consistently ranking 3rd, across the board. (Even in the “rich” segment they snobbishly pride themselves on attracting, they’re second btw)
How they Did It
The first way they did that, was by asking a handful of passerby on streets, same age, same area, what their favorite show aired during Ramadan was. It’s laughable that MTV thinks 1990s-radio style “What’s your favorite station?” questions in front of a branded microphone, qualifies as an actual ratings mechanism or accurate representation of the entire TV audience in Lebanon.
Compare MTV’s hand-picked, edited handful, to the 2500+ households statistics and rating companies usually survey in Lebanon, and it begins to explain why MTV attacks such organizations, evens ones it demanded be created.
The second way was that video I’ve embedded above. It’s hilarious how MTV has now moved to include not just their usual bitter enemy, IPSOS, but all statistics and ratings service providers, even companies it brought in to allegedly uncover the “bias” and as the super angry host in that segment described as “misinformation campaign”, whose results have been consistent with the results obtained by IPSOS and other groups.
They’ve become so desperate, that they used what they alleged are Google search queries, to prove that “Al Haiba” (aired on MTV) is the top search query, and thus proving they’re number one somehow.
What the angry host failed to mention though, is that giant pan-Arab station MBC also airs Al Haiba, and a full hour before MTV. It’s also available on their streaming service, Shahed.
So, as much as they’d like to believe that, most of those search queries happened from other Arab countries, who probably ended up watching it on MBC, or online, given they are searching online for a link to watch online, not on MTV or to help it try to prove a point no one is buying that they’re somehow top when it comes to Ramadan shows.
Nice Try Guys. Here are the Real Results.
As you can see, out of the top 5 spots, MTV’s Al Haiba only has the third spot, with the rest all held by shows that LBCI was airing. But hey, at least you did slightly better than Al Jadeed this time guys!
Children are the future. They’re also the most vulnerable part of our society. That’s why violence against children should never be acceptable, no matter what cultural and societal norms we’ve been passed down from generations past.
The UNICEF campaign is a really powerful one that uses the vernacular phrase to illustrate the negative connotation “raise your child/teach you a lesson” has in Lebanon and our region. “Baddeh Rabbik” means technically “I wanna raise you”, but most of you reading this will know that what’s usually meant is that “I will beat you”.
I’ve embedded the video below, check it out:
Shocking Numbers
A study by UNICEF Lebanon found out that violent disciplinary methods have been used “in the past month” on 57% of Lebanese children, 65% for Syrian children and 82% for Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon.
It’s unbelievable and unacceptable that the majority of children in this country are faced with violence during their upbringing. Unfortunately, we feel that it’s normal, and part of growing up. It shouldn’t be though, and contrary to popular belief, violence isn’t inevitable when raising a child, and never should be.
The way the video showed this sensitive topic was brilliant, with the kids first acting out how their parents show love and appreciation, then casually explaining how violence is used against them, illustrating how endemic this is and how shocked we should be.
Positive Parenting
The second video is the parents watching how their kids acted out the violent methods they sometimes endure. What was significant, is that the parents admitted they didn’t know better, and that that’s how they were raised. What was heartwarming is that they conceded that love and compassion was the better way to raise their children, and acknowledged violence could have very adverse and lasting effects on their sons and daughters.
If I ever become a parent, I pledge to never use violence with my children. I hope if you’re reading this and have children, or plan to, you will make the same pledge. A world without violence, especially against children, is a better world, and it’s everyone’s business to make sure violence stops being an integral part of raising kids in our part of the world.
Lebanon’s government promised in COP15 that by 2020, 12% of our energy will come from renewable sources. In 2016, Solar power provided 0.26% of our total energy consumption, and hydroelectric was at 3%. This year, solar will reach 0.35%, and by 2021, 3 solar farms and 3 wind farms will be operational across Lebanon.
This means that there’s a potential to get much closer to the 12% target in the coming few years. In a country with consistent power shortages, producing renewable energy might be our ticket to lessen our public debt, and increase our ability to produce the power we need as a nation.
Even though it’s still pretty minuscule, the growth that the solar sector has shown in the past few years makes one optimistic. It’s important to note though, that unless the Lebanese government allows citizens to sell the extra power they generate from solar/wind back into the EDL grid with smart meter systems, the dream of renewable energy exponentially increasing will remain that: just a dream.
Below are 8 graphs and charts I pulled from the “The Small Decentralized Renewable Energy Power Generation (DREG) Project”, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lebanon. The project is nationally executed by the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) in coordination with the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC) (source)
(PV means photovoltaic)
Lebanon’s Electricity Generation (2016)
Stats About PV Savings and Numbers in Lebanon
PV Distribution Across the Governorates
Price Decrease of PV Projects
600+ Jobs Created
Annual CO2 and $ Savings
What the DREG Project Did
The UNDP’s DREG project wraps up in September of 2018. Here’s the projects they’ve completed in places like ABC Dbayeh and Liban Cables factory. Let’s hope more and more industrial and commercial projects introduce Solar PV into their energy consumption, and save money for themselves, pressure on the already crumbling EDL grid and most importantly, tens of thousands of tons of CO2 no longer released into our atmosphere.
A special thanks to Jil Amine for providing data and insights that helped in compiling this post.
If you’re an avid follower of Live Love Beirut and their other accounts such as Live Love Mzaar, you might have noticed them teasing something big called “Agosto” the past few weeks. Today, I’m happy to be the first to announce what Agosto actually is.
A Festival at 2000m Altitude
Mzaar Ski Resort have gone all-out this summer, and gathered an impressive 2-day lineup that features 11 DJs from around the world. Names like Firebeatz, Joachim Pastor, Rafael Serato and Sander Van Doorn will grace the Wardeh ski slopes on August 11 and 12.
Full Lineup
Firebeatz
Joachim Pastor
Boshoco
Lea Dobricic
Luigi Madonna
Rafael Cerato
Roberto Capuano
Romulus
Sander Van Doorn
Teho
Um
Dance, Eat, Camp
It’s refreshing to see Mzaar take a different take on it, focusing on electronic music and selecting to do it way up high in the mountains, instead of on the coast.
This is great for many reasons. For one, it’s a 2-day experience for the price you pay, instead of virtually the same amount or even more, for just an hour or two in a congested city. For two, it shines the light on regions that are usually winter-only destinations, such as Mzaar. For three, it’s definitely the highest festival in the region, at 2000 meters above sea level, far away from the summer humidity and blistering heat and pollution.
Apart from the massive lineup, there will be plenty of things to do on the Wardeh slopes. The fire camp under the stars sounds awesome, and plenty of outdoor sports and activities are happening in tandem with the musical lineup. The Mzaar Summer Festival is also a short walk away, meaning you can experience the outdoors, sample a large selection of food, do some extreme sports, dance a lot and have a blast at the camp.
Tickets and Packages
There’s a 2-day camping pass, a 1-day pass and a “VIP” package, which you can buy online from Virgin Ticketing Box Office here.
The summer heat is proving brutal in Beirut, and if you’re like me, summer parties on the coast are a humid, sweaty hell and you look for the nearest industrial-grade fan to dance in front. That’s why I’m really excited about the newest addition to Frozen Cherry: Dublin Room.
Dublin Room will be the new section of Frozen Cherry, a place you will go into after you’ve had sunset drinks at their Sunset Bar with the killer views in the Metn hinterlands.
Dublin Room will open on Fridays and Saturdays, and sometimes for special events on different days of the week. The dress code is casual, and the music will be a selection of local and international artists spinning and performing Techno, House and all the mild and diverse flavors in between.
It opens tomorrow night, with a jam-packed weekend that features Ronin and Raphael Merheb on Friday, and Ziad Ghosn and Yves on Saturday. Eli, Rolbac, 3LIAS, Nesta, Phil, Bibz, Fady Ferraye, Gunther and Three Machines are scheduled for this summer too, along with a few foreign surprises.
Here are some pictures of the final touches being put before the grand opening tomorrow night. I’m personally looking forward to dancing with that killer view, and the cool, crisp breeze!
I came across a group called AHA Europe. This is a facist, anti-refugee group. The same people who funded a boat that would ram boats with refugees trying to get to Europe. Yes, these pieces of shit give money to try and sink boats of people fleeing war, persecution and certain death.
They’re polishing the shit that they are as an “on the ground aid” agency. Here’s an excerpt from their website:
We are convinced that migration to Europe can not be a solution. Only a fraction of the needy, mostly from wealthy families, can afford the crossing. In Europe you will not find the paradise you were looking for. The realization comes too late for many. Remedy can only be provided by positive future prospects for the respective country of origin.
If you didn’t puke in your mouth a little reading the above, then you should check yourself. And of course no one will find paradise in Europe if it has disgusting Nazi scum in it.
We respect the incumbent government and the President of Syria and do not judge us in this regard.
We’re not just judging you for respecting a genocidal dictator killing his own people since 2011, and bombing every hospital and bakery he can. We’re judging you cause you’re fucking Nazis in 2018.
Why They Are Evil
To the racists getting an erection at the fact some people are actively fighting refugees, don’t get excited. The AHA facists plan isn’t to just violently stop refugees from reaching their countries in Europe, but forcing them to stay in Lebanon “indefinitely”. So, even though you might think you share the same xenophobic ideals, they’re just handing you the short end of that stick, in countries that cannot sustain such population growth indefinitely.
They recently set up shop in Lebanon, and are “looking for partners”. They even sent one of their facists to a refugee camp in Bekaa, to walk around refugee kids and living up to the insulting “white savior” trope.
DO NOT PARTNER WITH THEM.
There are many, many other amazing NGOs, from Germany and the rest of Europe, that are working to make the refugees’ and their host communities’ lives better, without injecting “identitarian” political agenda into it.
Remember, refugees are just as frustrated as host communities are in Lebanon. Many Lebanese are trying to leave Lebanon for a better place, why would you assume refugees “have it good” that they want to stay here indefinitely?
However, kicking them out, like our disgusting politicians suggest, is not only against international humanitarian law, it’s inhumane, and not the type of people we are. We don’t send people to get jailed, tortured and killed.
Refugees are starting to leave on their own accord, and those that want to do that, can do so on their own pace and after the UN assesses their situation and whether it’s safe for them to return or not.
If you’re in a hurry for refugees to leave, then you need to pressure the Assad regime, which is making that almost impossible, not the refugees themselves.
Don’t be Nazis. Don’t work with these people, and spit on them if you see them and tell them to go back to the 1930s and leave us the fuck alone.
Taking care of olive trees and forests includes pruning the trees to make sure healthy growth, and minimize risk of forest fires. Al Koura district in North Lebanon, is especially interested in that practice, given that 64% of the district is covered with olive trees and forests.
Usually, the trimmings are burned. That’s between 1000 and 2000 tonnes a year of burned wood and pruning residue. This is why when I heard about the new Bioenergy production project in Koura with the University of Balamand and Koura Municipalities Union, funded by the European Union in Lebanon, I was very happy and excited!
The plant will take in around 1000 tonnes of pruning residue from the district each year, and transform it into around 700 tonnes of “briquettes” that can replace fossil fuels as a means to heat households and businesses across the country.
The project creates jobs, curbs the burning of pruning residue and provides a cheaper, more sustainable alternative to heat homes and cook in traditional stoves still used across the district. In other words, it reduces pollution, creates a new industry from locally sourced materials and the grander scheme of things, it also helps Lebanon get closer to its COP15 target of 12% renewable energy by 2020.
I hope more and more sustainable projects like this spring up across the country!
All politicians in Lebanon are dirty, two-faced liars who want nothing but more unchecked power and to illegally pocket our tax liras, but the Aounists have made the rest pale in comparison since their consecutive toddler tamper tantrums got Aoun and his extended family to sit on thrones they were ready to throw Lebanon to the dogs for.
The FPM chief’s speeches where he spews disgusting xenophobic vitriol about not letting Lebanese mothers pass down the citizenship to their kids because their fathers might be Syrian or Palestinian. Bassil even made a hashtag saying he’s proud to be racist, in between his begging sessions for more money from the West, threatening that if they don’t, he’ll send refugees to European shores. The same thing Hariri does.
When the Judiciary Said No, Our “Leaders” Went Around Our Backs in Secret
After the Constitutional Council struck down their attempt to pass down permanent residencies and eventually passports to those that have enough money to buy apartments, it seems that Aoun, Hariri and Mashnouk got super angry, and decided to hand out 400+ passports to Syrians, Palestinians and other Arabs who are their buddies or who could afford to bribe the three politicians.
Now, we’re used to them flip-flopping when there’s money involved. Just look back through Bassil’s tweets, or Aoun’s speeches, and you’ll see them saying the exact opposite of what they’re doing now. This though, hits at the core of their base’s beliefs, which they rile up with Nazi-style speeches about “different cultures” taking over Lebanon, and other disgusting shit they try to rationalize their xenophobia with. Then, behind our backs, and in secret, they contradicted their racist rhetoric for a few dollars by those than can afford it.
For shame.
Good MPs Who Piggy-Backed on the FPM’s Back, Leave Their Bloc Now.
Not all of the MPs under the FPM’s wing are two-faced, money-grabbing liars. Some don’t need to steal our money, and some have an inch of self-respect I hope. Names like Nemat Frem, Michel Mawad and others, should leave the parliamentary bloc of the sellers of Lebanese passports to rich people, but deniers of Lebanese women’s rights to have their kids grow up here legally.
Supporters of these politicians will always find excuses for their warlords, and as they have demonstrated, even when the justice system says no to their breaking the law, they find new ways to circumvent that and get paid.
When I say times now are just as bad as when the Assad regime occupied Lebanon, people scoff and laugh it off. Well, when Assad was occupying Lebanon, they at least had the balls to publish the names of who they were giving out passports to. These three are so ashamed of their theft and breach of trust, and going against their core racist beliefs, that they didn’t even dare publish it.
Cowards.
Pass a Law Allowing Lebanese Women to Pass Down Citizenship. Now.
All of Bassil and co’s “arguments” against granting Lebanese mothers their rights, just disintegrated after they let their greed overcome their xenophobia. If they don’t immediately begin rectifying this injustice to all the Lebanese mothers who have to renew residencies for their kids born here, and growing up here, then our politicians should crawl back under the rock they came from to destroy what’s left of this country after they destroyed most of it during their civil war golden days.
We are not against foreigners getting the Lebanese citizenship if they deserve it, that’s what Aoun and co are against. However, they’re wiling to make exceptions for their rich buddies, and that’s not ok. You want to give incentives and breaks to the rich friends, then you must stop robbing Lebanese mothers of their most basic rights.
And just so you see how disgusting these politicians are, their excuse was, “oh, 70% of them are Christian, so it’s fine”. What the flying fuck kinda excuse is that? Oh, and btw, the lists of names leaked, show that the overwhelming majority of them are not Christian names. Ya3ne, even their disgusting, sectarian, intolerant non-excuses, are lies.
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