A Bittersweet Victory Over ISIS in Lebanon

ISIS surrendered. Lebanon’s Army secured a swift and decisive victory. Lebanese soil is free from the terror group, and for good. More than 50 of the terrorist fighters were killed in the battle, and six of our soldiers were martyred.

The bottom line is, Lebanon won, and the terrorists surrendered. However, the courage and decisiveness showed on the military side, were met with outright treason, spinelessness and cowardice on the political side.

ISIS murderers, the beheaders of our soldiers, the suicide vest makers that attacked our towns and cities, the hateful, barbaric terror group that occupied our land, now leave aboard air-conditioned buses, to serve a purpose that we as Lebanese can never comprehend. To make matters worse, our soldiers kidnapped by the terror group, have been dead since 2015, and were just a few kilometers from our fortified positions the whole time…

Terror Must Never Be Met With Impunity

No matter how powerful an army, when the justice system is weak and inept, peace and prosperity can never endure. If every time we get in a fight with terrorists, we end up releasing their most dangerous members from our jails, and allowing them safe passage with their weapons to another part of our region, we are losing.

How many terrorists have we seen granted immunity, released and driven in politicians’ cars so they can restart their career of murder of terror again? How many of those released, will come back to murder our fellow citizens? What excuse can there be for not serving justice on those that have attacked our very way of life, and everything we stand for and believe in? Those that threaten the values we hold dear, such as freedom, equality and tolerance?

The catastrophe started when the counter-offensive in 2014 was abruptly stopped, leaving the soldiers kidnapped by Nusra and ISIS at the mercy of their captors, just a few minutes’ drive from our forward operating bases. The political decision to stop that counter-offensive aimed at rescuing our soldiers, will forever haunt those that stood by, popping bottles of champagne in celebration, as our soldiers were being executed and tortured, with the rest of our forces ordered to stand down instead of finish their mission and end the occupation by terror groups long ago.

Lebanon must never negotiate with terrorists. By letting them kidnap our people, then succumbing to their demands to release their own, is the wrong message to send. What would stop these terrorists from doing it again, to release whatever’s left of their prisoners in Lebanese custody?

How can the people in command in this country look at the faces of the martyred sodliers’ families and loved ones, fellow soldiers and citizens, and explain to them after everything that could’ve been done, we settled for white caskets draped in Lebanese flags, in return for the freedom of the terrorists who put them in those caskets? All that, years after they had been executed, and we still had hope, despite all odds and the spineless handling of Lebanese authorities of this national catastrophe.

Adding Insult to Injury

Most people feel that the authorities knew about the soldiers’ fate, and yet did nothing about it till it was too late. Purposely misleading us, till the time was right for their political calculations, using the offensive as a cloak for more sinister plans they had prepared that will damage Lebanon and the Lebanese just as much if not more than ISIS and its likes.

We got a day of mourning for a Saudi monarch, but 9 of our soldiers, abandoned by our leaders, left to die a horrible death at the hands of terrorists, didn’t even get a second glance from our politicians. I guess those martyred soldiers don’t fill the politicians’ bottomless pockets the same way old Saudi monarchs do (who cut aid they promised to our military for petty reasons, yet still get a day of mourning for some reason)…

Can the politicians in this country sink any lower? Forcing irrational taxes down our throat, using an illegitimate parliament, during the daze of battle, wasn’t enough for them it seems. They also had to insult the memory of our fallen soldiers, and insult the intelligence of their families, and us, the taxpayers who pay those politicians’ salaries.

Why Hezbollah is OK with this

What I still don’t get, is how Hezbollah is ok with this. After making the battle of Ras Baalbek and El Qaa harder for our army, they were the orchestrators of this second withdrawal of the terrorists into Northeastern Syria. The terrorists fled over the border, to where HA is operating alongside the Syrian Army, and they OK-ed their withdrawal, humiliating as it was, to go and fight another day, instead of being killed in battle, or brought to justice in court.

Does HA still have use for them for another time? To utilize the excuse of fighting them for different ambitions later down the road? Who knows, and most of that is just speculation, but I still can’t wrap my head around why HA would be ok with this, and create a status quo on the ground that would make Lebanese authorities also go along with this horrific slap in the face, of letting our occupiers, killers of our citizens and soldiers, go free, and even get them buses to safely escort them to safety… They should see their day in court, and serve the sentences handed down to them and spend the rest of their days in jail, not go on to fight another day, risking all of our safeties and futures.

We’re Sorry

To the families of the soldiers, we’re sorry this happened to you. I cannot imagine how worse your pain must be, losing your sons because of the treasonous behavior of our illegitimated leaders, who know let their killers walk free.

The elections are coming, and each and every one who helped create this situation, will be sent home for this. Let them dare extend a fourth time. The rage is now almost uncontrollable, and with their savage tax hike, pretty soon, most of us will have nothing left to lose and the proverbial camel’s back will finally crack, and all hell will break loose…

To the martyrs of this battle, and our kidnapped martyrs, you will always be in our country’s memory, and we are all forever indebted for your sacrifice. The least we can do, is make sure it was worth it, and everyone who conspired or let you down for their own personal politics, needs to pay, sooner or later.

UNICEF’s Awesome Social Experiment in Ein El Mreisseh #AbtalAlMadrasa

How many of your parents took out loans, sold land they had inherited or never spent on themselves to afford sending you guys to school and university?

How many online debates have ended with a consensus that “education” is the solution?

What would your life be like if you didn’t have your school and university days as part of them?

Where would you have met all your closest friends, your business partners or even your life partners if not between classes and at recess?

Education is important, for so many reasons. It is the great equalizer, where doing well will guarantee you a shot at the life you want, no matter how humble your beginnings or hard the road to get an education was.

At times like these, with so much instability, turmoil and hopelessness, generations are being lost in the crossfire. Dire economic situations are forcing parents to pull their children from school, and into jobs they should never be doing as minors.

In all the gloom though, one good thing about Lebanon is that anyone who seeks an education, can get one. All children in Lebanon, whether Lebanese or refugees, have a right to an education. A chance to be whatever they want to be when they grow up. A chance to lift up themselves and their communities, suffering at the hands of corruption, neglect and conflict.

With the recent savage tax hikes in Lebanon, and the chaotic increase in school tuition, with more and more Lebanese waking up to find themselves on the wrong side of the poverty line, means many kids might get pulled from school.

This campaign is a reminder to everyone, all parents, guardians and community leaders that everyone has a right to free education in Lebanon’s public schools.

Keep your kids in school. Make sure all the uncertainty and unrest don’t have devastating effects that will last for generations to come. Educate your children.

UNICEF and the Ministry of Education launched a campaign now that it’s “back to school” time. The campaign seeks to raise awareness that every child on Lebanese soil is entitled to a free education. The video below is the campaign’s brilliant social experiment carried out on the Corniche in Ein El Mreisseh.

Everything You Should Know About the Upcoming LAF Battle Against ISIS

One thing that has always bothered me about the coverage of the war against ISIS, is how little Lebanon’s role in fighting the extremist group has been covered.

The First Army to Beat ISIS in a Battle (2014)

The Lebanese Army is the first ever organized army to beat ISIS in a battle. Our men did what most other armies in the region could not: they beat back ISIS in 2014, from a massive assault in the hinterlands of Aarsal. Our LAF did what the Syrian, Iraqi and Turkish army couldn’t at first. They bounced back two huge ISIS offensives, albeit at a heavy cost, with 9 of our soldiers still in custody of the extremist group more than 3 years later…

As the battle for Mosul wrapped up, and everyone is closing in on Raqqa, Ras Baalbek and El Qaa are another large, significant swath of land still controlled by ISIS in the region. Unfortunately, very little coverage is being allocated to this instrumental battle, and in this humble blog post, I will try to set the scene and explain why this is such a crucial battle, and why our army will win it.

The Situation in Ras Baalbek and El Qaa Right Now, After the Aarsal Battle

The quick and decisive end of the Aarsal battle meant a lot of things for this upcoming one. First, it showed that the militants who have spent years digging in, can be ejected out, and that negotiations for their retreat deeper into Syria is on the table.

Even though most of the glory went to Hezbollah fighters, the LAF’s role was a much tougher, trickier and bigger operation. As Hezbollah fighters assailed the Nusra bases, the LAF was tasked with the difficult duty of guarding Lebanon against a counter-offensive, as well as protecting the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in informal, tented settlements. That’s securing a major Lebanese town, many kilometers of the Lebanese border, as well as tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in two major camps outside the jurisdiction of the UNHCR and other INGOs.

On one hand, this sent a message to extremist militants: that we are coming for you, and that Lebanon is not like Syria and Iraq, and will resist and repel any attempts to breach our borders and sovereignty. However, it was also a wake-up call to ISIS, who after seeing how quickly their fellow extremists were ejected, humiliated and sent packing, are undoubtedly fortifying their positions, in the exponentially large area they currently occupy.

In other words, Hezbollah fighters had the advantage of a semi-surprise attack. Our soldiers do not have that advantage this time around, and given ISIS’s history, a negotiation that would see them leave Lebanese territory is unlikely.

Right now, the LAF has more than 10,000 troops stationed in the Ras Baalbek and El Qaa area, with more reinforcements coming in every day. The towns in the area have installed sirens, that alert residents of incoming missiles or shells, so they can seek shelter quickly. In other words, while you go about your daily lives unbothered by the prospect of a vicious battle, our fellow citizens and soldiers in the Northern and Eastern Bekaa are in full battle mode, getting ready to eradicate what’s left of ISIS on our borders, and the probably cowardly revenge attacks the extremist group will launch in retaliation.

How The Battle Will Be Won

Since 2013, a series of 30 towers and forward operating bases have been erected from Akkar’s Wadi Khaled, all the way down to Aarsal, with more next to Jabal El Sheikh (Mount Hermon) in the South. It was one of these forward operating bases and towers that repelled the second wave in the 2014 Aarsal attack, the one headed towards the Bekaa, with plans to get to Beirut. Another tower and FOB along the Northern border led the shelling from the Syrian side to stop. In short, the LAF tactic of spreading towers and bases along the border, was already having helpful results and proved invaluable in battles with militants from the Syrian side.

This is just an example of the military aid and training that has been provided to the LAF by countries like the UK and the US. In writing this post, I used images and numbers from the British Embassy in Beirut’s twitter account. And chose to give the towers and FOB example to illustrate how the military strategy and readiness of the LAF has been amazing and extremely effective.

We now have very well-guarded northern and eastern borders, extremely well-trained soldiers, immense popular support and an unshakable resolve to defeat and eject every last extremist fighter from Lebanese soil.

What’s So Important About This Battle

This is an historic battle. This battle will be remembered for decades and centuries ahead. This battle is all of Lebanon, with all its factions, sects and agendas, against a common enemy that threatens the way we live and what we live for. This is all of Lebanon, not just factions, coming together for once, in a show of force and solidarity that will make our country safer, and every centimeter of its 10452 square kilometers back under Lebanese control.

If there is one thing I would like to say, it’s that despite being grateful to countries that have helped fund, equip and train our LAF, I feel that Lebanon deserves even more support. The victories the LAF has accomplished against ISIS and other extremist groups, are victories that are getting the entire world closer to defeating ISIS. They’ve kept Lebanon safe, as well as more than a million Syrian refugees, since 2011. The support for the LAF fighting terrorism must continue, and expand. A capable army in Lebanon means a more unified Lebanon, one where single factions never decide the fate of everyone else, but all of Lebanon’s factions decide together.

I will leave you with this photo of the LAF shelling ISIS targets earlier today (August 9, 2017). Good luck to our Lebanese Army, our hearts and minds are with each and every one of you. Get back home safe ❤

Pictures used are from the accounts of the Lebanese Army, The UK Embassy and the US Embassy in Beirut.

Three “Out of the Bubble” Thoughts on Lebanon Right Now

Hezbollah fighter plants Lebanese and Hezbollah flag instead of an extremist group’s flag on a liberated hill on the border between Lebanon and Syria

We’ve been hearing about bubbles a lot in the past couple of years. Stuff no one expected to actually happen, did, like Brexit, then Trump and string of other reinvigorations of right-wing, xenophobic, ultra-nationalist movements across the world. That’s not all though, upsets from the other end also happened, even when we weren’t expecting things like Macron sweeping both presidential and parliamentary elections in France this year.

Social media helps you stay in that bubble, with all the algorithms being tailor-made to show you only what you will like, and keep you scrolling through your feeds and timelines for as long as possible.

That’s why, I’m writing a little less opinion pieces these days, and not just because of being busy at work, but also trying to figure out how the “other” side sees the story and why it makes me sometimes worried, other times horrified or even ecstatic sometimes.

Three major incidents happened in Lebanon in the past few weeks, and I’ve taken the time to mull them over, talk to people affected by those events and shifts, and people who on paper I am at odds with on most things. Here’s what came out:

How the Refugees See the Army

If you lived in Syria before the war, chances are you were familiar with the Assad regime’s brutality. Soldiers and people in uniform aren’t largely seen as a uniting rallying call, but a symbol of a police state’s oppression, where people disappear for dissent, or if they are seen as a nuisance by those pulling the strings for whatever reason.

Now, imagine hostilities with that same army, and its jet planes dropping unguided missiles, and its helicopters dropping barrel bombs, forced you to come live in a tent in Lebanon. You’d probably feel even more resentment, mistrust and fear of armed government forces, especially a foreign government in a country where you don’t feel welcome.

Add to that mix, a lot of xenophobic rhetoric online and on TV, with just a pinch of Arab-style conspiracy theories, and you get a knee-jerk reaction of deep mistrust and fear for your life and safety. So, when 4 refugees died in the Lebanese Army’s custody, it’s kinda easy to realize how some people asked questions many would rather not be asked. It led to the infamous call for a protest, that was immediately considered as against the army. The ugly vigilante revenge stunts followed, and it was a worrisome and ugly few days after that incident.

Luckily though, the investigation is underway, and in the last operations in Aarsal, the Lebanese Army made sure ICRC or other international NGOs were present to catalog that no human right abuses had taken place, and that innocent civilians, both host communities and refugees, were kept safe from the battle.

The Pro Lebanese Army “No Matter What” Camp

If one wants to try to find something most if not all Lebanese can rally around, it’s the Lebanese Army. No other Lebanese institution is seen with the same kind of reverence, respect and trust. While most government bodies in Lebanon are seen as hopelessly corrupt, criminally inept and never for the people, the Army is the complete opposite.

For many Lebanese, betrayed time and again by every politician and political party over the last few decades, the army is the last semblance of a functioning state that most of us cling on to blindly, with the absence of anything else that can compare.

It’s understandable then that even if their might be a fault, some Lebanese wouldn’t mind overlooking it, even if it means compromising on their morals or ethics, and letting our worst instincts get the best of us.

However, after a few days, people did eventually calm down and come to their senses. It doesn’t mean they’re all evil, bloodthristy, pro-execution, pro-torture, it’s that you touched the one thing they still find sacred, and they reacted with what they felt was appropriate, even if it threatened the peace and security in fragile Lebanon.

Hezbollah in Aarsal

The battles in Aarsal have been a real eye-opener. People who used to blame Hezbollah for every fault, suddenly made a 180-degree flip after seeing Hassan Nasrallah tear up as he talked about the martyrs who fell fighting armed terror groups in Aarsal’s hinterlands. Others, repeated their sterile, ineffective slogan that Hezbollah is not respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty, without offering a viable alternative or solution to the current status quo. It doesn’t help that these are the same people who asked the army to stop in 2013, instead of finish the fight, and get back our captured boys.

For Hezbollah’s supporters, this is the epic fight of our lifetime. It’s good versus evil for them. It’s head-chopping, beating-heart-eating savages sent at them by Wahabist Saudi Arabia. It’s their sons, their fathers, their cousins, their classmates, their friends dying fighting for what they believe in and against all of Lebanon’s enemy: terror groups. So, when an ineffectual March 14 washed-up has-been tweets or posts such detached, insensitive remarks, as fellow Lebanese grieve their dead who died fighting to liberate Lebanese soil from the hands of Al Nusra and its off-shoots, it’s a bit silly and doesn’t really help.

At the end of the day, the men getting killed on the frontlines are Lebanese. They probably went to your university, you probably go to the same malls, like the same singers and play the same FIFA game on Playstations. Don’t be a dick about it.

On the other side, the massive coverage and hype surrounding the effective and quick battle, has emboldened the thuggish supporters of Hezbollah. Those who don’t mind doxxing and threatening people, behind the safety of their keyboards, while trying to reap the rewards of the military successes the actual fighters are doing, getting injured for, and dying for.

This manifested itself in the vicious attacks against Unite with Tomorrowland, with groups of cyberbullies calling young Lebanese men and women “Israeli” and “the enemy” for attending a dance event, that also happened to be broadcast in the occupied territories of Palestine. Calling a fellow Lebanese, for not sharing your misinformed, zealous opinion on boycotts while you use phones with chips made in Haifa…Or miss four Gal Gadot movies before noticing Wonder Woman…

The quick victory in Aarsal, shouldn’t be the excuse to exercise your ideology on others who don’t share it. Don’t like a movie? Don’t watch it, you can’t ban it. Don’t like a music event being broadcast to Israelis (like most other things), then you can’t call the thousands upon thousands of Lebanese, Arabs and foreigners who came together to dance and have a good time as “Israelis” and “traitors”.

In Conclusion

All the parties and opinions above went too far. The level of discourse has become toxic beyond comprehension, and dangerous, and spilling into violence. The main problem is that everyone is so deeply entrenched in their opinion, where if you are not pro torture, others consider you “anti-army”, or if you are rooting for Hezbollah defeating Jabhat El Nusra, that doesn’t mean you are against Lebanon and pro-Iran. Where if you go to a dance event, you’re considered a traitor, and where you are considered disloyal to Lebanon if you do not just sit, arms crossed and watch as extremists dig in Lebanese territories.

I know the above isn’t a scientific assessment by far, but it does represent a version or look at these issues that I didn’t immediately think of at first. This helped me understand how the “other” side in each incident is thinking and feeling, which made things seem less hopeless and scary. It always make things clearer when you can try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and try to figure out how they see things from their eyes.

Whether you’re a Syrian refugee, a Lebanese citizen, a soldier, a fighter or an armchair activist, most of us never even considered the other person’s position, and why they think and feel that way.

The tricky part now though, is figuring out what to do about it, and how to make those gaps less wide and build a few bridges in hopes of seeing change in the elections next spring. Or at least avoiding the situation getting worse.

33 Facts on the Refugee Crisis in Lebanon

With all the toxic rhetoric in the past few weeks, the major missing ingredient was actual numbers and solid facts.

Below, I’ve embedded 33 facts published as part of the effort by professor Nasser Yassin as part of the #AUB4Refugees “Fact of the Day” initiative. You can find a lot more here.

Some facts are heartbreaking and disheartening, but others are also very enlightening and contradict the false information pushed by Lebanese politicians to pit Lebanese host communities, against Syrian refugees, instead of against their corrupt politicians.

Inform yourselves, and act accordingly. The refugee crisis is the worst one to hit the world in our lifetimes, and it’s extremely hard to turn the tragedy and conflict into something manageable and positive in the long run.

What’s certain, is that violence and hatred will not solve anything, and with the fighting winding down in Syria, many refugees are already leaving, with others packing up and getting ready to go back to their destroyed towns and homes.

In an ideal world, Lebanon’s host communities would get funding for much-needed infrastructure projects, like roads, electricity, public transport, health and environmental services, which working-age refugees could voluntarily execute with the money they make helping them restart their shattered lives at home, and their presence in Lebanon leaving a positive impact that our own Lebanese government has been unable to do for the past 4 decades.

Please calm down. Violence is not the answer, and the dire effects of the crisis is putting strain on the entire world, and our region and country especially. Finding solutions that will benefit both sides can happen, and is happening in many instances. Picking fights and letting sectarian and xenophobic urges get the best of us will do nothing but plunge us into worse conditions, and push more people into the arms of extremism, instead of away from it.

Batman Helps Out Refugee Child in the Bekaa in Heartbreaking Video

War Child Holland released the video above this month, and before you continue reading this post, please watch it till the end.

I love War Child and all the amazing work they do. I’ve been with them to the field several times, and the work they do with Syrian refugee children is honestly above and beyond what one would expect from them.

The video starts with a young refugee hauling a big water gallon through an informal settlement in the Lebanese Bekaa, one of over 1500 such settlements across Lebanon.

Then, Batman carries the water gallon for him, and stays with him, plays with him, serenades him and his friends with a Oud. Then, we see Batman carrying the child, and a Chinook military transport helicopter flies by in the distance, with a city burning on the horizon. When the camera pans out, we see that Batman is actually the refugee’s father, carrying his son with the rest of his family as they walk away towards safety and refuge from their war-torn homes.

It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. It’s a human reminder of the plight of so many refugees around the world and in Lebanon. At a time when the refugee crisis is being used by politicians for petty reasons, it’s often easy to forget how real the pain is, and how most of the time, the only solace for refugee children is their own imagination, and how their parents are their superheroes…

Make sure you follow War Child Holland on Facebook, to see what they do and how you can help ❤

Why I’ve Been Going to Tripoli So Often

Those of you who have had me in their social networks for a while now will probably know that a lot of what used to become blogposts, have now become almost instantaneous Instagram posts with captions and a shots taken mostly with my Fujifilm X-A1 mirrorless camera.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing photos from Beb El Tebbeneh and Jabal Mohsen on the #BebElDahab hashtag. Below, I’ll briefly explain what MARCH is doing up there, why it’s been so fucking awesome for me and what we’re hoping to do next.

What’s MARCH?

It’s what I mean by “we” when I’m explaining to someone why I need to be in Tripoli after a full night of clubbing.

MARCH was founded in 2011. It was created to help empower the many different elements of Lebanon’s civil society. We do that mainly through freedom of expression and fighting censorship. MARCH’s mission is to educate, motivate, and empower citizens to know and fight for their basic civil rights. We hope to raise a tolerant, more open Lebanese society so we can foster our diversity and promote equality between all taxpayers in hopes of reaching a genuine reconciliation among the various communities scarred by decades of violence, mistrust and hopelessness.

What’s MARCH Doing in Tripoli?

Our work in Tripoli revolves around our peace-building and de-radicalization efforts in the former warring neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Beb El Tebbeneh. At first, we painstakingly sought out and vetted 16 young men and women who had participated in the fighting in one way or another. Some were even part of radical extremist groups fighting on both sides in Syria and other parts of Lebanon.

Phase 1 — The Play, The Documentary

Over a period of 7 months, our volunteers were trained by many prominent drama and theater professionals. March hired Lucien Bourjeily to help mould the fighters into stage actors. The likes of George Khabbaz, Nadine Labaki, Rafic Ali Ahmad and many more helped the young men and women learn how to act on stage, build confidence and trust amongst each other. They also helped them write their own satirical play about their life and circumstances called “Love and War on the Rooftop”.

To make sure we document everything, everything was kept on film and MARCH produced a 50-minute documentary that depicts the transformation of the actors and the project from right after the clashes stopped, till the cross-country tour of the final play had wrapped up. Below is the trailer, and it will be available for the public very soon!

Phase 2 — The Cultural Cafe

The resounding success of the play, and its accompanying documentary, made us resolve to transform that success and momentum into something more permanent and sustainable.

That’s when we decided to take over a heavily damaged building on the former front line of “Syria Street” in Tripoli, and revamp it. A few weeks later, our fully-equipped cultural cafe: “Kahwetna — Cafe bi Kaffak”, was open.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BO9tA3JB3lS/?taken-by=ginoraidy

The cafe is a safe space run by the former fighters themselves. It has a stage, screens, a sound-system and anything they might need to host their own shows, movie nights, karaoke nights and other events such as kids birthday parties and football match viewings. More importantly, it gave many young folks in both neighborhoods a place to hang out, to work and to unleash their talents on stage or learn from regular workshops carried out inside it. It also gave folks from outside of the two neighborhoods a chance to come visit the heart of them, and meet the people they had only heard bad things about over the news since 2008.

Phase 3 — Beb El Dahab

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOPWGoTBdyW/?tagged=bebeldahab

Months after the cafe opened its doors, it hosted the Cultural Blast festival, with a lineup of different comedy, musical and experimental acts from both Tripoli and other parts of Lebanon. The amazing success of both is what pushed the project even further, with plans to rehabilitate 90 stores on Syria Street and Muhajareen Street that were heavily damaged by the clashes.

Before the neighborhoods were called Beb El Tebbeneh and Jabal Mohsen, they were both known as “Beb El Dahab”. We loved that name, and it symbolizes a more prosperous, more peaceful time. That’s why we gave the rehabilitation project that name, and so far, several small business owners have decided to rename their establishments into: “Cafe Beb El Dahab” “Forn Beb El Dahab” and “Garage Beb El Dahab”!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPFcZtDAfql/?taken-by=marchlebanon

What’s Next — Continuing and Expanding

A lot of the young folks from Tripoli and the region are extremely good musicians, singers and rappers. If you don’t believe me, check out this gem:

Our next plan is to try and create a recording studio for them in the cafe, so they can produce their own music, anytime without the exorbitant fees a musician usually needs to book a studio.

Tripoli isn’t our only focus though. In December, we launched a similar peace-building project in Akkar. This month, we kicked off our Beirut project with renowned Lebanese director and playwright Yehia Jaber: Hona Beirut.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPNZFGqhvxq/?taken-by=ginoraidy

How You Can Be Part of It

Check out our website, and our Virtual Museum of Censorship. Make sure you also follow MARCH on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

If you’d like to volunteer, you can email us and get in touch with us regarding the projects you’d be part of.

We are also participating in GivingLoop’s campaign to help fund more of our projects, with a small monthly amount. So, if you like what I do, check out our page on GivingLoop!