We talked about this before but Now Lebanon‘s Paige Kollock actually did some research. She went to restaurants and talked with people on the street. My takeaway is that restaurant/hotel owners have all the discretion, things are getting a bit more strict than before and Christians are resentful.
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in the article, she doesn’t mention any venues that only went dry this year. my takeaway is that things have basically been like this for a while now, and this outcry is indicative of deeper resentments that are brewing over the perceived islamisation and gulfification (is there a better word for this?
) of lebanon at the expense of lebanese culture.
hmmm
few years ago, they refused to give me a beer in a downtown restaurant because of Ramadan … I just changed of restaurant!
Are things changing?
f & f
You’re both right. As we discussed in the previous post, the Annahar columnist just made a big stink out of something that has already been in place.
What’s the big deal? Ajami doesn’t want to serve you a beer with your Shawarma during Ramadan? Take a walk to Boubouffe and have TWO beers. People are such drama-queens sometimes.
i guess one can live without the beer during his meal, it’s only a month. If the waiter is fasting, he can’t touch alcohol to bring it to your table. If you can’t live without your beer just go to a place that serves. We live with 18 different religious group, so one has to adapt, to a limit that is.
LNH,
You never stroke me as a pragmatist. I’m pleasantly surprised.
abaretruth,
I guess so, but honestly, I think if I were Christian i’d be pissed
Mustapha while I agree it could be annoying I don’t think its that big of a deal. Here in Canada people make the choice to eat at places that don’t serve alcohol. yes, they’d prefer alcohol but its not available and the that there are 18 religious groups is even more so a reason to be understanding of that. I go to places where they serve these things- If i wanted to I could start a commotion too and say its against my faith. THe people writing these articles want to start problems.
Steve, you are spot on, I might NOT be a pragmatist, but I wouldn’t have my Lebanon any other way. I CANNOT imagine my Phoenician Lebanon without Saida, Sour, Tripoli, and YES Byblos, Jounieh, Beirut and Baalbek. You can’t live without me, the Christian Maronite from Kesrwéén (l’abi7ibsh le-ghriib), and I’m nothing without you, ibn traablus we 7lééawt el-Jibn. I give a little, you give a little, that’s what we’re all about; e pluribus unum, out of the many one… et je ne voudrai jamais d’un Liban (qui est mien) qui nuirait au tien. Monolithic uniformity is ugly; it spells Nazi totalitarianism and boring one-party uniformity. That’s not the Lebanon I grew up in, and if that’s what Lebanon’s Christians wanted, they would have opted for one in 1920, 1926, 1942, and 1982. The first thing the “sectarian” Bashir Gemayel did when he became President was reach out to the Muslim Lebanese he had fought for 7 years prior, and opt for a 10452 sq. km Lebanon as opposed to a purely Maronite “Petit Liban.”
cheers, –f
I wanted to add 1958 to the numbers.
-l