Quick Updates: Riots and the South
It has been a crazy and interesting time, for me, for Lebanon and around the world. For the last week I have been in Nabatieh in the south of Lebanon, where I will be helping to implement a new program. I was invited down by Maria, our partner for the project. She works with the Kamel Yousef Jaber Cultural Center, started by MP Jaber, a very friendly and smart man I discovered when I met with him on Sunday.
Nabatieh is a mainly Shi’a community with a strong Hezbollah presence. There are images of Hezbollah fighters that have been killed and flags hanging throughout the town and neighboring areas.
I have a lot of stories and pictures that I will hopefully get up this week but the short list:
1. Went to the Israeli border, after getting special permission because foreigners aren’t allowed in that part of Lebanon without being granted access. It was remarkably and deceptively peaceful, a nice green field with the Israeli houses on the far side of the fence. No guards in sight but there was a shooting the night after I was there. And you couldn’t step off the road because the region has not been cleared of all the landmines.
2. Saw the former Israeli prison where they held Lebanese during the occupation (now turned into a museum by Hezbollah).
3. Drove up into the Bekaa Valley where I got to play in the snow, see the waterfalls in Jezine, and have lunch at the Kefraya Winery.
4. Spent two nights watching the processions for Ashura, or the Muharram festival (which is what it really is but most people, including locals just call the entire 10-day remembrance period Ashura). Lots more on this after this week.
5. Had many long and educational discussions about the region, internal politics, daily life during the war and the Israeli occupation, the role of Hezbollah, relations with the US, future directions for the country, Iran, Syria, how to engage young people and give them alternatives to violence and I swear the religious and political history of this country alone are going to take years (maybe a lifetime?) for me to get straight!
6. Visited an orange/lemon farm and ate straight from the trees.
OK that’s all I have in me to report for now…yes, there were big protests in Beirut, I’m fine and will give you a damage report after I head to the office tomorrow and see that part of town. But today everything is pretty much back to normal. A bit tense but to be expected. There was a small anti-protest today and lots of condemnation of the behavior of the rioters by religious and political leaders alike (and a lot of blame getting tossed in Syria’s direction, a majority of the people arrested were Syrian, then Palestinian and then Lebanese). I have had some interesting conversations about this whole controversy as well and am saddened to note that while the protests are spreading around the world, it is the violent outbreaks that take the headlines.
Nabatieh is a mainly Shi’a community with a strong Hezbollah presence. There are images of Hezbollah fighters that have been killed and flags hanging throughout the town and neighboring areas.
I have a lot of stories and pictures that I will hopefully get up this week but the short list:
1. Went to the Israeli border, after getting special permission because foreigners aren’t allowed in that part of Lebanon without being granted access. It was remarkably and deceptively peaceful, a nice green field with the Israeli houses on the far side of the fence. No guards in sight but there was a shooting the night after I was there. And you couldn’t step off the road because the region has not been cleared of all the landmines.
2. Saw the former Israeli prison where they held Lebanese during the occupation (now turned into a museum by Hezbollah).
3. Drove up into the Bekaa Valley where I got to play in the snow, see the waterfalls in Jezine, and have lunch at the Kefraya Winery.
4. Spent two nights watching the processions for Ashura, or the Muharram festival (which is what it really is but most people, including locals just call the entire 10-day remembrance period Ashura). Lots more on this after this week.
5. Had many long and educational discussions about the region, internal politics, daily life during the war and the Israeli occupation, the role of Hezbollah, relations with the US, future directions for the country, Iran, Syria, how to engage young people and give them alternatives to violence and I swear the religious and political history of this country alone are going to take years (maybe a lifetime?) for me to get straight!
6. Visited an orange/lemon farm and ate straight from the trees.
OK that’s all I have in me to report for now…yes, there were big protests in Beirut, I’m fine and will give you a damage report after I head to the office tomorrow and see that part of town. But today everything is pretty much back to normal. A bit tense but to be expected. There was a small anti-protest today and lots of condemnation of the behavior of the rioters by religious and political leaders alike (and a lot of blame getting tossed in Syria’s direction, a majority of the people arrested were Syrian, then Palestinian and then Lebanese). I have had some interesting conversations about this whole controversy as well and am saddened to note that while the protests are spreading around the world, it is the violent outbreaks that take the headlines.
posted by prairie at
10:56 PM
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