It’s the first of two long weekends in a row, and that means loads of parties and events taking advantage of the fact you don’t need to wake up early to get stuck in hours of suffocating traffic.
Here’s my selection for the coolest stuff to attend this long weekend.
The beloved weekly ritual of disco and funk that made its debut in AHM last summer, is coming to The Grand Factory this Thursday! If you have Friday off this week, then maybe put on something that makes you feel good and dance in celebration of the coming long weekend.
Metro Al Madina is one of Beirut’s most beloved spots for shows and performances that don’t necessarily feature in the more mainstream venues and spaces. The venue is taking on a fresh direction though this Friday, with my dear Rita spinning some middle eastern funk, disco, latin brass, oriental classics and balkan drops starting midnight. Oh, and it’s free entrance!
SMASH TV are back! The Berlin-based duo are some of my favorite artists, who love Beirut just as much as Beirut loves them. They’re going to be shredding the intimate space at Reunion, with local sweetheart Alias. It’s a list-only event, so submit the form here if you wanna attend.
Mind Against are coming to C U NXT SAT this Saturday, and I personally cannot wait. The gruesome twosome’s sound is one that many artists have tried to emulate, but no one has gotten quite right. Their collaborations are particularly amazing, like their regular collabs with Tale of Us and their epic “Solaris” collab with Aether, from which I’ve embedded “Eclipse” below. The Afterlife label heavyweights never disappoint, and I look forward to seeing the Italian duo at the factory this Saturday night!
Chronicles have been doing some amazing things the past few months, inviting Lebanon’s best and brightest behind the decks to RendezVous sessions in different venues, and catching it all on tape. For their 20th edition of Chronicles Rendezvous, they’ve decided to showcase Beirut’s most iconic venue too: B018. Yves, Ziad Ghosna dn Anthon b2b with Priss will make your RendezVous and B0 a perfect wrap-up for March 2018 and the ideal time to experience Chronicles if you still haven’t.
Boiler Garden is a lovely series of events that started last year on a nice shore in Amchit. Since then, several intimate gatherings have brought together electronic music aficionados and artists in gardens all over Lebanon. This time, they’re getting All Day I Dream’s Gorje Hewek and Izhevski on board as well! It’s at Puncho in Amchit, and starts at noon, so enjoy the good weather this Saturday with some good music and maybe a dip?
Kasser is the awesome idea of partying, while intermittently breaking stuff that will all be taken to recycling plants once you’re done relieving your stress on an old TV screen, some glass bottles and ceramic garbage. This time, you can get your own sorted trash as well, and break them at Kasser and have them recycled after. Party starts at 2PM at KED, and stays till late. So, if you feel like putting a sledgehammer to an old computer, or bowling a steel ball towards a bunch of glass bottles, then you know where to be this Sunday.
21dB’s third episode of their beautiful “Sound Matters” series is out, and after releasing the first two episodes here featuring The Garten and Reunion, I’m extremely excited to share with you the third episode, featuring the legendary Uberhaus winter venue.
The “beast” as it was fondly called by everyone who spent hours dancing in its “belly”, was an acoustic miracle. For a structure made mainly with shipping containers, the sound was exceptionally crisp and warm, the opposite of what you’d expect from a structure like that.
This was thanks to Uberhaus teaming up with the 21dB to ensure that the sound in their mega club that put Beirut back on the international clubbing scene, was on par with the parties and names they were hosting.
It’s awesome seeing how the solution was found in a way that doesn’t affect the aesthetic sexiness of the one-of-a-kind structure that was the location where so many of us made so many fond memories in.
Check out 21dB’s Fouad, and Uberhaus’ Nemr and Ali take you through the steps that led to the creation of one of Beirut’s most iconic clubs, and the hard work that goes in behind the music!
Stay tuned to find out what the next episode will be, and if you missed them, here are The Garten and Reunion episodes!
The massive BBXWeekender is happening this week! It’s a collaboration between the Goethe Institute in Lebanon and The Grand Factory. This year, the aim it to further expand the BBX Platform that was launched last year, further exploring the landscape of modern Berlin from a cultural perspective, and how it compares to Beirut’s.
Sven Marquardt is bringing his legendary photo exhibition to Beirut. For those of who you don’t already know the iconic Sven, he was a passionate photographer long before he became known as the intimidating face of Berghain/Panorama Bar.
Sven Marquardt’s black-and-white portraits document former East Berlin’s Prenzlauerberg scene of the late 1980s and the evolution of the city’s vibrant Techno culture after the fall of the Berlin wall till this day.
For the first time, Sven’s large-scale photo exhibition “Rudel” will be shown along with an audiovisual installation called “Black Box”.
“Rudel” is an exhibition that consists of large-scale portraits, which combine formal severity and clear imagery with bleak impermanence. They impress through interaction of ease, severity and the dramatic art of monochrome contrasting. The ever-changing metropolis of Berlin has shaped Marquardt’s sensibility for striking characters, his sense for the unusual in humanity and his artistic subject.
“Black Box” is an audiovisual installation, which combines Sven Marquardt’s black-and-white portraits with the rough, dark and intense Techno sounds of Marcel Dettmann, a German producer and resident of the iconic Berghain. The two artists met for the first time at the legendary Ostgut Club in the late 90s but it was only in 2014 that they decided to combine their artistic talents and create Black Box.
The exhibition will run:
Thursday 7:00–10:30 PM, and the artist will be present!
Friday 4:30–10:30 PM. At 7PM sharp, Sven will have a 1-hour long talk about his work
After a jampacked 2 months, the final comes down to Pomme Rouge and Ziad Moukarzel. The winner will get to fly to Berlin and work on and record an EP with Berlin’s legendary Tobi Neumann during an entire month. The night will wrap up with a set by David Jach.
Later at night, the none other than DJ Tennis will be the main room of Grand Factory, and Berghain resident ETAPP Kyle will be in Reunion, wrapping off the Techno Culture weekend extraordinaire in style.
I’ve been struggling to keep my mouth shut for the past couple of months, and today, I can finally share with you that the Lebanon leg of the Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music: Hybrid Sounds is coming on April 19, 2018 to Beirut!
Miss Kittin will be headling Beirut’s Boiler Room x Ballantine’s event, bringing her eclectic mix of Electroclash, Techno and leftfield electronica to our scene! It’s going to be a pleasure seeing Miss Kittin in Beirut again, and this time headlining a Boiler Room event!
Chaos in the CBD
The approach of Chaos in the CBD to House music, is one true to the genre’s early beginnings, with sampling being an integral part of many of the New Zealand duo’s productions. They’ll be making their Beirut debut!
Dollkraut
I got a chance to interview Dollkraut back in January about his upcoming trip to Beirut, and here’s what he had to say (you can read the full interview here)
Have you been to Beirut before? If not, what have you heard about the music scene in the Lebanese capital?
No, not yet. Well, one of my DJ heroes Morphosis (Rabih Beaini) is from Lebanon! The entire area has a very rich musical history, and I listen to all kinds of stuff from the Middle East and North Africa. I’m thinking older stuff, 70s, 80s, Tunisian music, Moroccan stuff. I like the folky, arabesque music, the ones that leverage quarter tones in their music. In the Western world, they say “Ooh, that’s too much, that’s not correct”. But, what is correct? I mean, if it sounds good, it sounds good. That’s why we were very happy when they asked us if you want to go to Lebanon, because we use quarter tones in our music. I even have one track, which features “Sakhrawta” (Zalghoota in Lebanese).
Dollkraut will be collaborating with Zeid Hamdan and Maii Waleed (from Egypt), to create a special production that highlights the “Hybrid Sounds” of Boiler Room x Ballanetine’s True Music tour this year!
Our very own local hero 3LIAS will be on the Boiler Room x Ballantine’s roster as well, propping up the international guests with home-grown musical talent that many of us grew up listening and dancing to in Beirut’s most iconic clubs and parties.
Jad Taleb is another Lebanese favorite that will feature on the Boiler Room x Ballantine’s Beirut leg. His take on Techno has proven quite the winning combination, with live performances and DJ sets that have perked up ears and made feet move in Beirut’s biggest clubs as well in Beirut’s underground scene.
Zeid is the producer behind some of the most successful alternative Lebanese artists, and is a well-regarded singer/ songwriter in his own right. He’ll be bringing on board the romantic, ethereal vocals of Maii Waleed, with whom he released an album last year. Their work spans myriad styles, ranging from Arabic folk, to indie, to electro.
Together they’ll create an exclusive new track that challenges the perception of modern day genres, to feature on the True Music EP. A blend of synthetic and organic sounds, the EP will be made up of similar collaborations from Moscow, the first stop on the True Music Hybrid Sounds tour in February, Sao Paulo and Valencia, and will be released on digital and vinyl later in 2018!
Stay Tuned!
I’ll be keeping you posted as we get closer to the date, but I am personally ecstatic to attend a Boiler Room session right here in my beloved Beirut. I’ve been to a few before, in Berlin, Amsterdam, Brooklyn and Moscow, but I feel like Beirut will be my absolute favorite ❤
Beirut is on FIRE this weekend. Berlin’s legendary club, Sisyphos, is coming back to C U NXT SAT at The Grand Factory, Bedouin are back for an extended set at The Garten and TeknoAnd are doing their first intimate gathering at Gate 9.
Here are the events and parties I highly recommend this weekend:
This will be TeknoAnd’s first “Tekno Sessions”, with a limited capacity of 150 in the subterranean space of Gate 9. Headlining the night is Gunther, along with Ramzi & Rami, Archetype, Elie Kozah and Karl.
It’s like whenever I get an itch for Berlin clubbing, the guys at C U NXT SAT get it too, and fly in the entire Sisyphos crew to Beirut. Last year’s Sisyphos Night was one of my favorite and wildest at The Grand Factory. This year’s looking even better, with Atlantik playing a live set, Fidelity Kastrow, Jonty Skruff and Juli N. More. Supporting the quadruple threat from Berlin, are local sweethearts Jade, Tala and Rita ❤
Oh, and you even have a chance to win a trip to Berlin and a guestlist spot Sisyphos too (they’re even getting the legendary Sisyphos pizza too!)
It doesn’t need an expert to know that when Tamer and Rami come to The Garten, you must never expect to leave before they usher in the sunrise with their extended set. The boys are back, and it’s going to be at The Garten, making it really feel like summer again. Tia will kick things off and get you in the mood, then Bedouin will keep you going till right before you gotta get ready for your family lunches!
Earlier this month, I was supposed to attend the London launch of Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music: Hybrid Sounds. Unfortunately, my UK visa was denied. Not wanting to miss out on asking the artists and people behind this event a couple of questions, I sent some with my dear friends who were able to attend.
What is it?
Boiler Room and Ballantine’s announced this year’s True Music: Hybrid Sounds, a three-continent tour which will pair some of the electronic music scene’s most original live acts with their more traditional, instrumental counterparts in four of the most musically and culturally diverse cities in the world:
Moscow, Russia
Sao Paolo, Brazil
Valencia, Spain
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Each event will explore exciting possibilities at the intersection of electronic and acoustic music, uncovering what happens when two distinct music types collide and merge.
This is the third year of Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music, and this year they’ve gone a step further by encouraging artists to not just create something new, but pushing them out of their comfort zones and pairing them with artists they’v never worked with before, and probably would have never even met under normal circumstances. After all, acoustic artists and electronic artists usually operate in completely different circles.
True Music: Hybrid Sounds will see four lead producers collaborate with local musicians in each of the cities on the international tour (including BEIRUT!), to create new tracks that disobey the traditional idea of musical genres. The blend of synthetic and organic sounds will feature on the True Music EP that will be released on digital and vinyl later in 2018.
Why Was Beirut Chosen?
I asked the folks behind the True Music tour what made them choose Lebanon, and their answer was perfect:
Lebanon is a first for us and for Boiler Room, and we’re extremely excited to get under the skin of this incredible city that’s often overlooked as a music destination. Dollkraut is the perfect collaborator to hit up Beirut and work with us to unearth some of the more diverse talent.
I’m not gonna say anything about the date yet, but I promise I’ll announce it soon enough. Get ready for the first real Boiler Room experience Beirut!
Interviews
Since I couldn’t physically be there, I sent a couple of questions with Nadim, who was kind enough to ask them to the artists, and record them for me so I can transcribe them below. I got to interview rRoxymore, Dollkraut, Steven Appleyard and Tom Elton.
rRoxymore
I’ve embedded a set by rRoxymore so you can listen to it as you the interview with her.
Your music obviously feels right at home at a club, but there’s that something special to it too, that makes it stand out and become instantly addictive even outside of a club setting. What would you say is the recipe to achieve that unique sound?
Well, to make catchy songs, it’s a recipe of several things. You have to be emotional, you absolutely have to, but in my case it’s more complicated, or rather complex. I try to reproduce something, but in my style. It constantly evolves. If I wanna do a classic House track for example, I say ok, I’m gonna do it like this, but no, this is too obvious, so I’m not gonna do it like that instead, I’m gonna do it the other way. I don’t wanna be just simple, that doesn’t interest me.
Do you listen to music, or are you too caught up producing it?
Since I also DJ, I listen to music every day. Sometimes, just to challenge myself, I get inspired from something and try to do something like it but with my own style. I’m not gonna claim I created a style out of nothing all by myself, that would be pretentious!
I heard you’re playing at Berghain next week, can you tell me what that’s like, and if you’re gonna prepare for it like any other night, or is it different when preparing a set or performance at such an iconic club?
Yes, it’s definitely a very special night. The first few times I played there, it was always upstairs in Panorama Bar. This is the first time I play downstairs in Berghain, so Techno! It’s also a celebration of a friend who is releasing a Berghain mix, and I produced a track for that mix. I’m also opening the night, so it’s gonna be amazing getting people to start dancing! If you’ve been to Berghain, there’s no one dancing there at midnight, people start to dance at 1–2, so it’s always a interesting challenge to get people to start dancing in a place like that.
I haven’t started to prepare yet, because I was on holiday in Mexico, but yes of course I’m going to prepare for it, and a bit differently than I would any other club or party.
You’ve been to Beirut before, what was your impression of our city?
I really liked it, I would love to go back! I was there for a world music/electronic tour. It was a really very lively, beautiful city. It’s a bit like Ibiza, but on another level I guess!
Dollkraut
Have you been to Beirut before? If not, what have you heard about the music scene in the Lebanese capital?
No, not yet. Well, one of my DJ heroes Morphosis (Rabih Beaini) is from Lebanon! The entire area has a very rich musical history, and I listen to all kinds of stuff from the Middle East and North Africa. I’m thinking older stuff, 70s, 80s, Tunisian music, Moroccan stuff. I like the folky, arabesque music, the ones that leverage quarter tones in their music. In the Western world, they say “Ooh, that’s too much, that’s not correct”. But, what is correct? I mean, if it sounds good, it sounds good. That’s why we were very happy when they asked us if you want to go to Lebanon, because we use quarter tones in our music. I even have one track, which features “Sakhrawta” (Zalghoota in Lebanese).
One thing that’s special about your music is how you make use of analog sounds. How do you keep it so fresh and unique?
Yeah, old crap! Haha! Well, we do use the old machines. It’s because of our love for old stuff, and old masters of composing who used these machines, and did beautiful things with them. I was thinking, why not keep doing this? Why should I go with innovation, computer stuff? You know? Maybe I’m old-fashioned, I guess you could say that.
I’m not a person who loves just following technology trends. I don’t think that’s a good thing in every situation too, a lot of bad things happen because of these new technologies. One small example is that there are already rumors that Facebook makes you anti-social, so adopting the newest technology isn’t always what’s best.
Does the Beirut night mean that Lebanon’s music scene is finally getting the recognition it deserves?
I’ve never been there, and I’m going to see it with my own eyes. It has definitely peaked my curiosity. I will meet the artists in the first session and maybe record some stuff together. Then I will come back to Beirut again for the actual show! I hope I can stay more days, at least a bit longer to explore the country.
Steven Appleyard (Boiler Room’s Chief Business Development Officer)
Beirut hasn’t really been on the Boiler Room radar before. We’re very excited it’s finally coming to Beirut. Do you have any particular expectations about the Beirut edition of this tour?
I hope that it’s gonna be fun! (laughter) I don’t know if I have any specific expectations or hopes. The reason Boiler Room exists, is it’s an online window into real-world, emerging music scenes and subcultures that are otherwise not readily accessible. That’s why we started it 7–8 years ago, because there was this amazing scene happening in London, in East London very specifically. A lot of DJs, like Ben UFO, Jamie XX and others were in our scene, but didn’t get the exposure we felt they deserved. So, we stuck this GoPro camera with tape to the wall and started filming like a keyhole into the local music scene. It was connected to a U-stream account, in the pre-YouTube days.
I guess we still, even now with a big team of 120 people who work for us globally with offices in different countries, the MO is still the same. It’s about shining the spotlight on local music scenes, real-life music scenes and subcultures, as they are lived and we report directly from the dance floor, uncut. The cameras are definitely better now, but it’s still free and wild. We don’t want to report on the scenes, we want a true presentation of those scenes and convey that experience to the rest of the world.
I think that through this collaboration with Ballantine’s, the largest part is showcasing artists who are “True Music”: authentic, going against the grain, doing what they want to do. We partner with international artists, and collaborate with local artists to make interesting, new sounds and combinations. Also, working with more famous people gets more attention and engagement, so when we go into the local market, people are checking for it, and we want to get the widest possible audience to engage with the event.
What I’m hoping to get out of it, is that we showcase artists who are representative of True Music and we specifically get to showcase the scene and the people, promoters and the places that are part of this scene to everyone else in the world. Everyone says that Lebanon is popping right now, and the weather is very nice, so we can’t wait to go there!
Tom Elton (Ballantines head of music)
I had to ask the Ballantine’s folks why they’re making what seems to be a shift towards the electronic music scene the past few years, so I sent a couple of questions to Tom Elton.
Ballantine’s exudes a classic, vintage feel to it. Does the collaboration with Boiler Room signal a particular interest in the electronic music and clubbing scene?
That’s a good question. The reason Ballantine’s and Boiler Room partnered together is, we are all about supporting people and artists who do things their way. Boiler Room absolutely epitomises that. They are pioneers in the electronic music scene, everything about their brand, their brand philosophy, their approach to artists, experiences, is inherently “stay true”.
This made them the perfect partners for us. What we did is we created this platform called True Music, which is fundamentally about giving a platform and a voice for emerging artists, and established ones, and showcase it to the rest of the world. So, that’s why we’re doing it together. We’re connecting these people, communities around the world and showcasing them on a global level.
That’s why we’re going to Lebanon, everyone tells us the music scene in Lebanon is kicking up, is something that not only we need to go and see, but the whole world needs to see on a bigger scale. That’s why we’re in Lebanon, we’ll make sure we do justice to one of the best music scenes in the world.
We pushed Beirut for a few reasons, like firstly, going to new places with thriving music communities, both for Ballantine’s and Boiler Room. It’s also what all of our friends tell us to do, especially the artists! All the artists keep telling us Lebanon is a place we need to go to and explore. Everyone talks like “Beirut is going off!” and it’s somewhere we haven’t been present heavily as a brand been in there heavily, and Boiler Room have just dipped their toes there before. Now that’s it’s a thriving music scene, it makes sense for us to go there.
I want to thank the Ballantine’s and Boiler Room teams for making me part of this tour, and soon, I will be headed to Moscow to cover that part of the tour, so stay tuned!
Summer maybe technically winding down, and the effect of that has been felt, with no Decks on the Beach this Friday, following the season finale of Electric Sundown a week before. However, the nightlife scene isn’t stepping on the brakes just yet, and AHM is hosting Stephan Bodzin live along with Luna Semara, while The Garten is hosting Maceo Plex along with Raxon, making it quite the difficult decision for Beirut’s clubbers this weekend. As always, I will curate the best events this week in Beirut!
Wednesday
Discotek’s Disco Banana
Discotek is almost closing for the season, so tonight and Friday is one of your last chances to party in the pyramid disco inferno. The weekly disco, pop and house extravaganza will feature Monokultur and Romax tonight, and don’t go too bananans tonight y’all!
Ever since Love Night at AHM started, my weekends have been starting on a Thursday, and they’ve been epic ever since. Nothing like a good warming up on a Thursday night to make your Friday and Saturday night even better. It’s free entrance if you come between 9:30 and 10:30PM, so you don’t have an excuse not to take your date on a Thursday night there.
Adonis are celebrating the launch of their third album, “Nour” this Thursday at RAW in Dbayeh. The local sweethearts that have captivated the indie scene with their soulful lyrics and emotive tunes will be performing live this Thursday. Tickets are for 20,000LL, doors open at 8PM and show starts at 9:00PM!
If you’re in the mood for a sound you will not hear anywhere else in the city, then Frequent Defect might be just what you’re looking for. The heavy, industrial Techno that has become their signature, much to my delight, starts off in the usual BPM range we love, and becomes faster and faster is the night progresses into morning. This Friday, the lineup includes three live or hybrid sets, from Antrho (NL), Taka (PL) and Safa (LB). Necrostate, HWGA, June and Renata will also be playing sets on the night. Tickets are for 20,000 LL and party starts around 10PM.
The Beirut International Beer Event and Cloudnine are adding a Techno flavor to this year’s BIBE at the gorgeous Beirut Hippodrome this Friday sunset till late. The lineup includes some of Beirut’s favorite decknicians, including Gunther, Stamina, Nesta, Ziad Ghosn, Eli and Krys & Rita. Entance is 10$ and party starts at 5PM and stays going strong till past 1AM. Enjoy the copious amounts of beer and Techno everyone!
Yukunkun this weekend hosts the second edition of “i am not a robot”, and to my absolute pleasure, it’s the “play techno” edition. The night starts at around 11PM, and entrance is just 10,000 LL. On the ticket are Tamira Soufic, Ziad Nawfal and Essabbagh, playing their unique flavors of Techno ❤
I love Stephan Bodzin so much. I was lucky enough to be at The Brooklyn Mirage when he started playing live again after years of crafting his new live experience for “Powers of Ten”. Unfortunately, last time he was here, the airport security didn’t let him get his custom-made, otherworldly looking equipment through customs. This time though, there will be no such mixup, and he’ll be playing live with all his glory at AHM! As if the deal wasn’t sweet enough, Luna Semara will also be at AHM that night. See you between the ship masts on Saturday for some legit Bodzin live!
Maceo Plex is back in Beirut, and this time at The Garten! The last time I saw him (before his Grand Factory show) was at a Van Gogh museum in his hometown of Amsterdam in front of the iconic “The Starry Night” masterpiece. It was legendary. He’s coming to the pyramid this Saturday, and to make things even better, Raxon is flying in from Dubai to support, along with our own beloved dutchman, Romax!
Here’s one of my favorite Maceo Plex remixes to get you warmed up:
The weekly hip hop ritual is back for a 6th edition at Skin City this Saturday! This week, Ram and DNK are on the 1s and 2s, with Chyno MCing the night!
We’ve been protesting in the streets since before we could legally drink alcohol. At first, it was protesting for big, ideological titles and protests and movements were well organized by the traditional political parties in Lebanon. But that changed, and I’m so happy it did.
2015’s Garbage-Induced Seismic Shockwave
In 2015, an earth-shattering paradigm shift happened and the country’s youth broke up with the political parties in light of their criminally stupid and corrupt handling of the garbage crisis, which we are still drowning and swimming in till this day.
It was further solidified when a few months later, independent, anti-establishment and pro-reform lists ran for the municipal elections all across the country.
The shift happened when demanding in the streets, turned into running with an airtight platform, with gender-balanced lists that are openly non-sectarian and transparently crowdfunded. And most importantly, got shock results that saw all the political parties colluding with all their funding, get less than 60%, while the crowdfunded, independent Beirut Madinati list got more than 40%.
If you want proof of how resounding the impact of those municipal elections was, just look how desperately the political elite in Lebanon are trying to push the elections further. Their soap opera handling of the electoral law, with pathetic reasons like “the weather will be bad, so let’s push the elections a year” is proof of how worried they are. How petrified they are of the ballot boxes.
And who can blame them? They have been rearranging their alliances, with mortal enemies suddenly going on TV and telling us all that they’re allied now and no one can change that (given that most of the people in those parties still bicker, and make it to the news, forcing the godfathers to go and reassert their weird, nonsensical alliance after decades of hatred that was never really resolved). They did nothing in their stolen time, but plunge us further into debt and the country into disrepair.
We Need to Get Better Organized
We have 11 months to prepare. Personally, I think the rotten politicians will try to extend for themselves even further, but let’s assume the situation is bad enough, that no excuse of bad weather or “training” people to vote will last past next May. Plus, let’s use their illegal extension to our advantage, and make sure we organize and prepare our candidates and lists to destroy them next elections and start running the country for its taxpayers, not its tax-evading billionaires.
Our Weaknesses
Ego-Driven Disputes and a Transparent Process to Select our Candidates
Most of the prominent activists and community organizers are good friends of mine, and we have worked shoulder to shoulder as the authorities beat some of us to a pulp, tried to smear us and throw us in jail.
However, one thing many of those activists lack is the legitimacy from average voters. No one voted for these people, so how can they speak on everyone’s behalf? Why are they the ones that decide when we protest, why and for how long? Those are just some of the comments heard, and the reason groups bicker amongst themselves sometimes so publicly.
This isn’t an attack against the activist leaders, but many stumbling blocks in our movement was because of political maneuvering by one group or the other. Therefore, it’s time to create a mechanism where the voters themselves can decide, before we get to the elections, who will run for us and who can really win at the ballot box.
Primary elections could be one way. Hold primary elections in districts we plan to run, so voters can register with us their support, and choose the pool of candidates we will eventually help get into office. If primary elections are too costly and difficult, and there are many other ways to find the people we need in office who have so far stayed out of the limelight.
We need candidates that work on the ground, who are experts in their fields and who have given to Lebanon more than a few protests and sound bites on the evening news. The criteria for who can qualify as a candidate for us, need to be clear and every candidate needs to meet them, no matter what.
No Cannibalizing Each Other
If different independent groups decide they want to run in X district, they shouldn’t run against each other, but together. If group A has better chances in dictrict X, group B should throw their support behind them, and group A will throw their support behind group B in a district where group B has better chances of winning.
The scenario of Charbel Nahhas’ group and other independent groups poaching votes from each other that ultimately only help the establishment, cannot happen in the next elections. We need to coordinate, sit down and decide what is the smartest way of tackling the elections and making sure our boys and girls make it to office, and transform our demands in the streets into concrete action translated into government policy.
One Campaign, Many Groups
We need to go into the elections under one campaign. All the groups, with their different areas of operation, different platforms, different hopes and aspirations on the details of reforming this country, need to form an electoral coalition.
We cannot fall into the trap of coalitions being “Maronite weddings” in that they cannot be broken or changed no matter what. This isn’t the Feudal Age, no one needs to pledge allegiance to anything or anyone except their country. These groups might not agree on absolutely everything, but that doesn’t mean they can’t run together because the broad points are the same.
Non-sectarianism, independence from foreign powers (Arab or otherwise), reform and fighting corruption, environmentally friendly policies, focusing on infrastructure and development nationwide (not just Beirut and its immediate surroundings), fair elections, judicial reform, electoral reform, gender equality and a respect for basic human and civil rights.
Does one group prefer sorting garbage from the source, while the other wants to make sorting plants? So fucking what? Get to power, then decide with a vote and the resources and information at the government’s disposal which option is best, most cost-effective and environmentally sound.
This isn’t falling into the trap of “steam rollers” (ma7edel) where everyone just melts into an amorphous blob of ambiguous political opinions like our traditional parties’ electoral alliances (7ilf el roube3e anyone?). It’s being smart, and agreeing on the broad titles, while maintaining each group’s independence and unique agenda. After all, this is what voters will support, and just being “anti” something isn’t enough, we need to show our own plans and what we want to do, not just what we all are against or hate. Kinda like Beirut Madinati did.
The Beirut Madinati Experiment
Beirut Madinati was a very educational experience for everyone involved. The mechanism of selecting candidates, how to fundraise, how to campaign, how to create a detailed, optimistic yet pragmatic platform, and most importantly, how to mobilize people into a loose coalition that had a massive impact.
We should focus on our strongpoints in that campaign, and work on the ones we found needed improvement. The BM model was the most successful attempt we’ve had at going into government, and under a fairer law, we’d have more than third of the seats, given we won one of the 3 electoral districts of Beirut (in the parliamentary elections district of the 1960 law) with a 15 point lead and lost to slim margins in the other 2.
Municipal elections are very different from parliamentary ones though, and we need to get that and make sure the difference is clear. Municipal elections are far more developmental in their concerns, with political leanings not as big of a deciding factor in how people vote, like in parliamentary ones.
Parliamentary elections happen all across the country, at the same time. They also decide the fate of the entire country, not just your hometown or village. They’re a far, far larger effort in terms of scope, funds, volunteers and issues. And I think we can be ready for that in the 11 extra months the current parliament has stolen from us.
It’s Time
Meetings have been ongoing for months, but none have delivered the results we are all hoping for. Yet. The work should come out from the shadows and into the public, including the maximum number of groups and individuals who can run and vote.
Organizing election campaigns should get underway, and figuring out the campaign title and slogan that will unite all of them in a coalition that can get us results, and into parliament, and best of all, the current failures out of it (or some of them at the very least).
There are many names I’d like to see run for elected office, and some of them have already shown intent to run, with some having their teams and platforms already in order and ready to launch.
Joumana Haddad and Ziad Baroud are the potential candidates and candidates I am most excited about. Both are inspirations for so many of us, and I personally love them both and respect the work they‘ve put in trying to make Lebanon the way we want it to be, not the way the current establishment has made it the past few decades.
I’d love to see names from Beirut Madinati, like Yorgui Teyrouz, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Mona Hallak and Serge Yazigi run too.
It will be interesting to see what prominent names and figures from the 7irak that formed in 2015, might run as well. Assaad Thebian, Wadih El Asmar, Marwan Maalouf, Imad Bazzi and many others.
Anyway, it’s time to start work guys. From now till the elections, I will do my best to cover what’s happening, help highlight candidates I support and how we hope to win the seats we deserve. I’ll also try to cover candidates that do not deserve to be re-elected for the dismal performance they have shown us the past years with no elections…
There’s a page on Facebook I really like that shares photos and videos of Lebanon’s “golden days”, which basically means before the Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975, and before our current politicians/former warlords rose to power.
The video is more than 5 minutes of rushes following a couple from Beirut’s airport all over the country. It’s such a nice snapshot of the times, whether its our streets, buildings, food, beach, mountains, historical landmarks and just about everything else during the time when Beirut was the “Paris of the Middle East”.
Here are some nice photos too of Lebanon in the 1960s
Jounieh (we seem to always have had those damn smoke towers)
The Holiday Inn still operational, and before the Beirut Waterfront and Zaintay Bay existed
For a lot more photos like these, check out Old Beirut Lebanon on Facebook.
Chances are you already saw the picture above on your walls and newsfeeds. For those that don’t read Arabic, it roughly translates to: “Homosexuality: A Disease and Treatment”
I can spend hours explaining why this is wrong on so many levels, but I think it’s enough to remind everyone that that is the same exact church that protected child molesting priest Pandalemon Farah in 2013, and whose parishioners violently attacked news crews covering the scandal which came weeks after Mansur Labaki, a catholic priest, was convicted of child sex abuse.
If you want an idea of what kind of people the hosts and attendees of this event are, this is your answer: they are people that don’t mind that their spiritual leader rapes and molests kids, and will attack journalists trying to cover it, however, if a law-abiding LGBT citizen asks for basic rights, they hold an event calling them “sick” and venturing to provide the “treatment” (which I assume is as vile and stupid as the “exorcisms” held on TV in the early 2000s).
This only feeds to the hatred spewing out of terror-promoting violent organizations like “Hay2at 3olama2 El Muslemeen”. But, the show of support and solidarity was a lot more than the threats and violence of the backwards conservatives. This just shows they know their cause of intolerance and hatred will never be resurrected, and that what’s right is slowly prevailing.
Pay no heed to the pedo-protecting thugs, did you really expect any from them?
Gino's Blog 