Lebanon Bloggers
Below is the introduction to the Lebanese Blogosphere that I’m planning to post in the Global Voices website. Your feedback is much appreciated.
Yesterday, Anton Efendi from Across the Bay, posted this picture:
It shows the Prime Minister planting a fatherly kiss on May Chidiac’s forehead. May Chidiac is the Journalist who lost a foot and an arm in a terrorist car bomb.
To Anton, this kiss symbolizes the story of Lebanon: a country that throughout its history, survived by countering devastating acts of violence and adversity with great compassion.
The Lebanese have a strange relationship with their country. Most of them leave to find opportunity somewhere else, they complain constantly of its wrongs, they are very vocal of its shortcomings and have built a reputation worldwide for self-hate. Yet at the same time, they all harbor an unbridled sense of belonging, a sense of passion for their motherland, an optimism that one day, the sun of the land of the Cedars will rise again.
It is this paradox that defines what it truly means to be Lebanese, and it is in this context that we have to look at the Lebanese Blogosphere.
My name is Mustapha, and I’ll be writing about the Lebanese side of the Blogosphere for the Global Voices project. I’ll try every week to summarize what various Lebanese Bloggers are writing, but today, please allow me to introduce you to a lovely bunch: The Lebanon Bloggers.
What makes someone a Lebanon blogger?
Some Lebanese only write about their personal lives, but deserve the title for the sheer fact of them being Lebanese. Take La La for instance, she wrote yesterday about how upset she is that her best friend is devoting her entire time to her boyfriend. If La La didn’t occasionally mention her Lebanese heritage, you couldn’t possibly tell from her blog that she’s Lebanese. The same can be said of Opinion From Bloggistan, Levantese, or The Suffragettes.
Some bloggers lay claim to the title not because they’re Lebanese, but because they write about Lebanon. One example is Micheal Totten, an American who lives in and writes about Lebanon. Another is Unfrozen-Caveman-Linguist (UCL), author of Bliss Street Journal. UCL is also an American who lived for a while in Lebanon, but who still blogs about it even after he left.
There are many Lebanon Bloggers out there, and thanks to the great effort of people like Eve, Rampurple, Delirious, Liminal, Tempest, Maldolor, Ramzi and others, they can be found in Lebanon Heart Blogs, a blog about the Lebanon bloggers.
But For the Purpose of the Global Voices project, I found it useful to introduce the bloggers who post regular commentary about current affairs. I already mentioned Anton Efendi, who writes in Across The Bay, a rather highbrow blog that sees current events as the manifestation of Machiavellian machinations of the political class.
Across The Bay has been around for a while, but a significant chunk of blogs came to light right after the colossal assassination of Rafic Hariri, Lebanon’s previous Prime Minister, and the ensuing “Cedar Revolution”. Those bloggers sometimes like to call themselves the March 14 bloggers, in reference to the day where the Lebanese from all sects and regions stood together to ask for The Truth and for the Syrians to leave.
Raja and Doha from The Lebanese Bloggers, Lebanon.profile from Lebanese Political Journal, and Mustapha from The Beirut Spring (yours truly), started their blogs right after the Hariri Assassination.
This is how The Lebanese Bloggers explain the raison-d’etre of their blog:
This blog was created to honor the memory of heroes of all the Lebanese sects who were assassinated for their patriotic stands…. May God bless their souls and bless Lebanon.
Other bloggers immediately followed. While they don’t see eye to eye on some issues, they write with obvious passion and strong wit. Kais author of From Beirut To The Beltway, Carine from Chercheuse D’or, Vox from The Federal Republic of Lebanon (who also writes in French), Lazarus from Letters Apart, Ramzi from Ramzi’s Blah Blah, Jose Wales from Lebanonesque, Maya in her space and Abu Takla all have their distinctive personalities and styles.
Those and many more constitute the wonderful world of the Lebanon Bloggers. You will hopefully hear from them all soon.
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
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By the way, I also welcome stylistic suggestions and information about a particularly important blogger that i forgot to mention.
just a note, although not sure if you already corrected it. I think “cheer” should be “sheer” (when referring to La La). Good work on the rest though.
oops, Laz.
forgot you :)
dear m-
is the capitalization of “assassination” of rafiq (do you really want to spell the name with a “c” & not a “q”?) hariri intentional? wasn’t sure.
btw - “landlala” would be called La La (like lazarus did).
keep up the good work.
cheers,
–raf*
I had initially posted a comment expressing my solidarity and praising May’s courage on the day she fell victim to this terribly vicious act of terror…and, to be frank, I kind of regret it now, for her personal tragedy has been shamelessly used and abused to feed the Gargantuan propaganda furnace of faux sheikh Saad Al-Hariri and his Neo-Saudi partners in crime.
Sadly, May Shidiac has become a mere pawn in Riyadh’s anti-Syrian “great game”…
In my view, Lebanon shouldn’t be dragged into someone else’s settling of accounts: if Saudi Arabia and Israel want to pick a fight with Damascus, let them do so with their own soldiers, not with (complacent) Lebanese proxies.
Ironically, for many years, May Shidiac and other prominent conservative Maronite journalists used to be systematically described as “pro-Israeli Christian fascist media types” by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and other enlightened Saudi newspapers of Wahhâbi persuasion…but that was long time ago, before Saudi “investors” acquired East-Beirut’s LBC TV, and before billionaire MP Saad Al-Hariri bought Sameer Geagea and his decrepit “fascist lite” Lebanese Forces movement.
I guess “dirty far-right Kuffâr journalists” aren’t all that bad after all, specially when they’re willing to give a kiss of allegiance to a subsidized Saudi stooge like PM Saniura!
Clearly, General Michel ‘Aoun was right: Riyadh’s petro-dollars possess the miraculous healing virtues of the “Naphta oil” of Biblical fame… it can make wonders if you rub it long enough and with enough capitalistic intensity!
Long live liberty!
Long live the free banana pudding republic of Wahhâbi Lebanonistan!
And don’t forget that nothing freely frees you like freedom itself…etc. …Listen May, we won’t forget what you’ve endured for freedom, freedom of choice, the choice of freedom, etc. … blah blah ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I’m flattered that I got the most space, but I think that you should explain more about the characteristics of analytical blogs like Raja’s and Doha’s, Kais’, lebanon.profile’s, yours, etc. and how they approach things. Not too long. A sentence or so. For instance, Raja has been burning it the trail with some thoughtful analysis that draws on his Political Science readings, etc. One thing also that I find curious is for the strong differences in background, and differences in outlook and opinions, for the most part, these blogs I’ve named share a rather similar vision of Lebanon. I think that too is a testament that would elaborate on your introduction on identity.
Anyway, that’s what comes to mind right now. And thanks again!
Also, if you are mentioning non-Lebanese bloggers, you might want to add Stacey from al-Hiwar. Although lately she’s been more concerned with Yemen, the other half of her work is on Lebanon, and she’s written quite a few interesting entries on Lebanon not too long ago.
Very nice. But I would change this line:
“The Lebanese have a strange relationship with their country.”
“The Lebanese have a love-hate relationship with their country.”
Please let us know when you post on global voices, so we can comment.
Mustapha: Thanks for mentioning me again, I’m flattered. Oh, and thanks for the article! It gave me a boost to my day! :)
thanks for the mention, mustapha :)
just a note– it should be “the lebanese blogger forum,” not “lebanon heart blogs.” there were a few really minor typos/mispellings (which you have probably caught already)– for example, josey not jose wales, michael not micheal totten.
also beside compassion, I think the word I’d use is resilience.
Mustapha, please count me in the circle of Lebanese bloggers… I’m still a rookie and would need all the support I could get.
Your feedback on my page would be of great value.
Ladies/Gentlemen, the invitation is open to everyone.
Lira :)
And for the record, I would like to add that I recently posted a reply to Mr. Hassan Nasrallah on his latest speech following the recent violence in the SOuth.
It has been posted on the Daily Star here:
“Nasrallah challenges critics of Hizbullah to prove their loyalty”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?article_id=20355&categ_id=8
You could also find the unedited version in my blog page:
http://lira1500.blogspot.com/
Thank you all, God bless Lebanon and all Lebanese.
I’m terribly sorry guys,
A misunderstanding lead to the publishing of my very first draft on Global Voices. I’ll see if I can include the additions as an addendum in next Sunday’s weblog.
you can read (and comment on) the article in GVO here
mm yalla and what about me???
walla is it coz im a hariri supporter:P
i wonder if anyone is viewing my Lebanese Political Humor http://forlaughs.blogspot.com/ which I am trying to include in it funny stuff about lebanese political life
To Previous Idiot,
It’s got it’s problems but we have a country and you DON’T. Go ponder that.
It may have to do with all the victories raked in by your people since 1948. (Make the V sign, smile, and post us a pic of yourself))
Haha! Such language reflects your state of despair.
Keep it up!! :)
I love Syria,
it seems you neglected to see the language of your fellow citzin..I advice you to compare it with all the other comments.
Asadistan is where you belong, Stay there and we are happy
I take people one by one khaled, no generalizations please.
Khaled, if you as a Syrian “I assume” are happy under Assad, then by all means stay like that.
My comment in this thread is directed towards the (now)deleted comments (and for a reason).
Regards,
I Love Syria
LOL
Damn, one gets lost amidst all this BS.
I Love Syria (satyre)
With Lebanon not having a president at this time we should all do everything we can to bring it together not split it further apart . I found this site http://www.ilovelebanon.com you can get a free email account and and support Lebanon .