Filtering by Category: English
Who needs enemies with politicians like this?
Naharnet (always a good source of laughter news) reports the following:
Geagea greedy for Public Works Ministry which Jumblat Clings on To.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has reportedly informed Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri during a recent meeting that he wants the public works ministry in the new government, a portfolio MP Walid Jumblat is not willing to abandon. The daily As Safir on Friday, which carried the report, described talks Wednesday evening between Geagea and Hariri as "stormy."
It said Geagea continued to hold on to the LF's three ministerial portfolios, including a key ministry like the public works.
Hariri, however, informed Geagea that he wishes to grant both the LF and the Phalange party one share consisting of three seats.
The PM-designate was said to have told Geagea that it would be difficult to give him the public works ministry, which has been a Jumblat demand.
While inner LF circles reportedly called on Geagea to "turn the table" and boycott a new Cabinet in which the party does not get hold of appropriate representation that would be suitable to both its political and electoral weights, the Phalange party continued to hold on to two ministers – Sami Gemayel (Maronite) with hopes he would be granted the industry ministry, and Salim Sayegh (Catholic) or a minister representing the Orthodox sect or the minorities, As Safir said.
It sure reminds me of my baby-sitting days, with screaming toddlers all wanting the same thing at the same time and none of them would ever give in. The sad thing is that these are all adult men, ‘elected’ to lead the country. Ah, Lebanon...
My husband is officially a /
Alternatively titled: My atheist husband is no longer a Sunni. When we got married in Cyprus, our papers said ‘Walid, Lebanese Sunni’ and ‘Nicolien, Dutch None’. Because the Cypriots take all the information from the official documents, and Lebanese official documents automatically state a person’s sect (whether they are religious believers or not is irrelevant), my poor atheist husband will forever have a marriage certificate that classifies him as a Sunni.
(Or Muslim, as it occurs on some papers, as opposed to Shi’a, for whom the Lebanese State does not use the word Muslim, interestingly enough.)
Unless we get married again, because then his papers will say ‘Walid, Lebanese /’: yesterday, he officially removed his sect from his papers. He will no longer be forced to identify as something he doesn’t believe in, that his father didn’t even believe in, passed on to him along paternal lines just because the Lebanese State refuses to make a civil law for things that can also be arranged by religious decrees.
Until recently, it was impossible to have any papers that did not state one’s sect/religion, until the former Minister of Interior Ziad Baroud decided that it was permitted to have it taken off (and replaced by a “/” sign). This despite the legal problems that will probably occur when the people who have removed their sect want to get married in Lebanon, or be buried in Lebanon, or other such personal matters which are up until now only arranged by religious institutions and then recognized by the State. The Minister didn’t have time to print official applications, but he made the required text available to all Mokhtars (a Mokhtar is the person you have to go to in Lebanon to identify yourself in order to do any and all governmental procedures – usually a guy with an office on a street-corner close to your house, or, as with one of my friends, in the back of a gas-station), thus opening up the possibility to keep one’s religion separate from the State.
Jamil, a friend of ours, was the first to do it. Whether he believes or not, he doesn’t think religion has any place on official documents, so he went through the remarkably short procedure and had his sect removed – despite his mother’s fears that this was his first step on his way to becoming Shi’a (quite possibly her biggest nightmare).
Because Walid’s Mokhtar didn’t want to participate in the procedure (giving excuse after excuse about the lack of official applications), he went to Jamil’s Mokhtar, who gladly obliged and wrote the required yada yada yada on a paper, cheered on by two men who were waiting and thought that everybody should have their sect removed.
Not so in the Ministry of Interior. On his way to the office to get the last required signature and be forever de-sunni-fied, a friendly government worker tried to warn Walid of the dangers involved in carrying out this operation. ‘You will not be allowed to marry in a religious court!’ he pleaded, his hand on Walid’s arm. ‘I’m already married, in a civil ceremony’, was the answer. ‘But you won’t be able to be buried in a Muslim cemetery when you die!’ the distressed employee tried one more time, just before he opened the door. It couldn’t change Walid’s mind; he went in and had his paper signed.
I’m proud to say that my husband is now officially a “/”.
Het is allemaal de schuld van de Nederlanders
Israël-liefhebber en Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Maxime Verhagen zal er niet blij mee zijn: niet alleen heeft Israël opheldering gevraagd over de financiële steun aan de mensenrechtenorganisatie Breaking the Silence, maar nou blijkt ook nog eens dat onze zuurverdiende belastingcentjes besteed worden aan opium voor de Arabieren! Nou ja zeg. Breaking the Silence is een organisatie van Israëlische oud-soldaten die onlangs letterlijk een boekje open deden over het handelen van het Israëlische leger tijdens te oorlog in Gaza, begin dit jaar. Dat het leger er daarin niet zo goed vanaf kwam, moge duidelijk wezen – en daarom wil het (bij monde van Israëlische diplomaten) nu graag weten waarom Nederland daar (financiële) steun aan verleent.
Een paar jaar terug heb ik in Amsterdam een tentoonstelling bezocht die was georganiseerd door Breaking the Silence. Het waren foto’s genomen door Israëlische soldaten tijdens hun tijd in de Palestijnse bezette gebieden, vakantie-kiekjes als het ware: met de huis-tuin-en-keuken cameras van de Israëlische soldaten zelf vastgelegde beelden van huiszoekingen, checkpoints, en, als ik me goed herinner, de momenten van ontlading achteraf. De beelden waren schokkend, en de verhalen erbij mogelijk nog meer. Het lijkt mij voor iedereen beter als zulke misstanden aan de kaak gesteld worden, zeker als dat gebeurt door de mensen die erbij waren.
Dan wat die opium betreft – voor de lezers die niet door dat argumentsloze artikel heen zijn gekomen,* de Nederlandse belastingbetaler wordt pas in de allerlaatste paragraaf bedankt – dat gaat om kritiek van Saseen Kawzally. Saseen is schrijver en redacteur van Menassat, een website voor persvrijheid in de Arabische wereld grotendeels gefinancierd door de Nederlandse overheid. En waar het al erg is als Israëliers kritiek leveren, is het natuurlijk onmogelijk dat een Arabier commentaar heeft op wat er in Israël gebeurt, of wat dat voor invloed heeft op de Arabische wereld.
Vandaar dat Menassat de opium van de Arabieren is. Maar goed dat de Syriërs en Bahreinis onder dictators leven die het beste met hun onderdanen voor hebben: de website is al sinds geruime tijd verboden in die landen, wegens te kritische geluiden. Zal wel ongezond zijn, die opium.
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*nee werkelijk, wat dacht je van een pareltje als: “Half of all Egyptians, for instance, are under 24. This helps explain why many turn to religious fundamentalism for solace.” Religious fundamentalisme! Nu alleen voor onder de 24 jaar! Sluitend argument, echt heel overtuigend. Of bedoelen ze dat het heel vermoeiend is om met zoveel jonge mensen in een land te leven, en alle bejaarden zich daarom tot religieus fundamentalisme keren? Het blijft onduidelijk...
You'd think they sell contraceptives here
stop-baby
... but no, it's a jewelry store. (Found in Basta, Beirut, June 2009.)