Lebanon: Random Posts During the Holidays · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Lebanon has been on a holiday the past week. Three holidays coincided together. This year happens to be one of those rare years when the liturgical calendars of the Orthodox Christians and Catholic Christians coincide. For that reason, all Lebanese Christian communities celebrated Easter together. Last week also witnessed the birthday of Prophet Mohammed. All Lebanese Moslem communities celebrated it. This may be the reason why Lebanese bloggers, in general, seem to be on a break. Nevertheless, the following are some selections of the past week’s posts. Happy festivities to all.
Let us start with some cartoons. Both the supporters of the government and the opposition have used the “I Love Life” campaign. In this cartoon, Amal simply asked the “I love lifer” to go “get a life”.  Shirin also uses this cartoon to express her opinion about the political forces and external interferences that she believes are having an influence in Lebanon.
The Jews of Lebanon blog is taking up the call by the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar which is asking any interested Lebanese Jew, whether in Lebanon or abroad, to speak about their experiences in Lebanon and their lives.
this is an unprecedented act of outreach and one we wish to utilize to the fullest. If you are interested in contributing to the piece [peace?], and really helping to shed light on the dire circumstances Lebanon’s Jews face and continue to face, and to help accelerate the noble cause of this evolving project within mainstream Lebanese media and society, please contact us immediately
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Lebanon sparked the following comments from Dr. Marcy Newman:
If Pelosi, Lantos, and the other congressional leaders traveling in their delegation wanted to understand what peace means to all parties they could have spent their time in Lebanon meeting with victims of Israel's war and she could have toured the areas of the country destroyed by Israel. She could have visited with Lebanese families affected by American-made cluster bombs. Such meetings could have helped Pelosi to respond to a report on her desk from the State Department, which states Israel may have violated legal agreements made with the U.S. in the 1970s when it dropped between 2.6 and 4 million American-made cluster munitions on Lebanon last summer in the last 72 hours of the war after the cease fire agreement had been brokered.
Ms Levantine has three posts that are a talk given by Dr Rami Zurayk, Professor of Ecosystem Management, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, entitled: “Disillusionment in Development” (Part one, part two, part three) In its conclusion the speaker states:
We, in Lebanon, are going through the same prise de conscience other activists are experiencing in Seattle, Rio, Dakar and Bangkok following their disillusionment with corporate development. This has to be looked at positively in order to use it as a catalyst for change. […]we need to review our experience, and develop our new paradigms, in collaboration with like minded activists and militants around the world. We must fight disillusionment with action rather than with despair.
Abu Kais expresses his doubts about the intentions of the chairperson of the Lebanese parliament, Nabih Berri, when he called on the Saudi leadership to convene a conciliation meeting for the rival Lebanese political leaders:
Berri is apparently going out of his way to create a rift between the Saudis and March 14—a role consistent with his status as mediator between the Assad regime and the kingdom of Saud. By moving the talks from Beirut to Riyadh, Berri hopes to corner March 14 and show them as anti-Saudi.
And finally from Layal, a expert’s explanation of why musical video clips shown on TV are more dangerous to kids than pornographic clips available on the internet.
During the meeting, A mother said that her son once told her about his friend who showed him porn movies in the internet, and how he got scared and hid under the table. The doctor said that it's a normal reaction from a kid in his age (9-12) who still didn't get any proper sex ed. What the doctor emphasized on was the modern video clips. She said that video clips are more dangerous because: […]
Be well till next week.