5 ways to help you debate politics in Lebanon

Lebanon has one of the most complex and volatile political systems in the world. Governments fall and resign like leaves in autumn. And if you have ever been to Lebanon, then you know that every person there is a political analyst and an expert in Lebanese politics. 

So how does one survive a political conversation / debate / argument in Lebanon without fighting with a friend / family or get stabbed by a stranger. Its simple. you just need to follow these 5 simple rules to Lebanese politics chat :

Find Assess Create Acknowledge Develop

Find:

Before you engage in a heated debate about how the current government is not doing anything or is stealing money, Find out to what political party / group / militia / organization / country is your counterpart with. To start a debate by having the person you are talking to feel offended and take a defensive stance before you even begin is never a good idea. So find out, and do not insult anyone since unlike real Lebanese politics, the point of this is to understand better or push your view through diplomatically.

Assess:

Once you know to whom does your counterpart follow / belong / agree with, then it is time to Assess his level how adamant or hardcore supporter he is. (Some people who are very hardcore might stab you if you said the wrong thing so better to know) In this case their are 3 types of followers:

   1. the Intellectual type; usually educated and smart. He will defend his stand using big words and     examples. The conversation will flow nicely and chance of an understanding are high (safe to carry on the debate)

   

2. The lost angry type; Usually Lebanese who has not lived in Lebanon his entire life, comes with a mix of liberalism and conservatism. Both hates Lebanon and loves it, hates politicians and loves them. Usually very emotional (high tendency to tear up or cry if drinking while debating), takes a stand but the longer the debate, the more likely he will give in to fit in Lebanese society. (Safe to carry on however if tearing is detected, just propose shots or appeal to his patriotic side by saying "kess Lebnen')

  

 3. The hardcore type; this is the most dangerous type, always Lebanese, lived / fought or has family who fought / died during the war or events in Lebanon. try to detect the signs early on to avoid trouble ,he will cut you off while you are talking, tell you that you don't understand anything and begins to relate everything to his personal experience. (If you detect this, end the conversation immediately, talk about ANYTHING else to avoid getting stabbed or beaten)   

Create 

A good way to have the debate spiral into a full blown argument is to be bias, instead try Creating an objective atmosphere rather than subjective. Point out the good (yes there is always good) before you mention the bad or less appealing.

Acknowledge

Building on being objective, Acknowledge that every one has made mistakes or handled himself wrongly. Begin by pointing it out from your point or perspective. Once you have shown this and acknowledged that even the person / party you support has made mistakes, your counterpart will let his defenses down and listen to you when you show that even his party / person has messed up in someway.

Develop

After having done all four steps above, the last one should be easy. this is where you Develop your point and use strong examples (be it national or international) to support your claim. However make sure you have created the correct atmosphere for this.

There you have it, 5 steps to going through or completing a political debate in Lebanon. these might be harder in practice at first, but the more you use them, the easier it will be.

Always remember though spot the Hardcore type early on, the later you spot him, the more likely things will end up badly! 

Good luck....you will need it

(Weird how the 5 steps spell out FACAD or corruption in Arabic)

Check out the kind of an infographic here

Taking over a Country 101

Back in the day, all you needed was an army and one could theoretically control a country. I mean treaties were respected, defeated armies would stand down and the population would accept their fate. However in the modern age, things are not as simple. No one respects treaties, armies may stand down but guerrilla groups will fight on and the population will not bow down.

So with this in mind, how does one take over a country these days?

Welcome to 'taking over a country 101':

First we need to break down the important parts which need direct control :

The Government:

1. Council of Minister (Army and Police)
2. Parliament (Laws and decrees)

The press:

1. Print 
2. Television 
3. Internet 

Yes i know what you are thinking, that it can't be that easy but in reality it is. Controlling these 2 branches and sub-branches will give the controller enough power to control all aspects of daily life.

They will use governments to pass favorable laws and appoint friendly candidates while using the media to slowly get citizens to accept the changes and new laws. All this is done under the premiss that there exists an unstoppable 'evil' who lurks in the shadows never missing a chance to hurt the country.

Put all these together and what you have here is hellofaproblem!
For arguments sake, let us say that this is happening in Lebanon, that there is one group trying to take control of everything. Lets have a virtual checklist :

Government and sub branches (CHECK)
Press:
Print (Check)
Television (Check)
Internet (nay)

Ok so this is good then, the internet is still free from government censorship and control. But for how long, the next step is to actively censor the internet. Blocking the last medium of free communication will allow 'the controllers' to create news, change facts and the level of bias would be unimaginable.

Hopefully no one in Lebanon will ever try to propose any kind of law which will set any regulations to the internet. So until that day we can relax a little and still enjoy Lebanon the way it was meant to be; free.

But hypothetically lets say this does happen, are you willing to do anything about it? Or are you fine with the way things are going and always hope that another person will step in and fight for your rights?

Please reader, i want to hear your input, what do you think?  

L.I.R.A. continued

Members of Ontornet met with Minister Dawouk regarding the L.I.R.A. law and they posted about it @ontornetblog .  Give it a read to see the outcome.

Basically this is what raised some flags for me, the whole thing raised flags but this point higher than the rest: The briefness of the law and general explanation of the articles.

What i mean is that the law does not cover all areas in a specific way. It does not address all so called 'problems' arising from the internet in Lebanon. All it is doing is at best, giving a top line benchmark for Internet Law and at worst (most likely) it is creating a law that will be open to interpretation and changes easily.

Taking into account the latter, this means that this law will start of simple and 'maybe' not censor the internet at all, however its briefness and lack of detail suggests amendments will come in the near future.

Personally i think this law was designed to look simple and seem harmless for the purpose of swift passing. But once passed any John, Dick or Harry can propose amendments and changes. And judging by the start, the outcome of any changes will be only be to censor and hurt free internet in Lebanon.

At the end of the blog post, Ontornet say that this law will pass no matter what, which suggest even more that this is an excuse law to open the door for further internet censorship down the line.

It is very important that this law does not pass, harmless as it may seem, it has too many dark areas and unanswerable questions relating to what the law is meant to do? I find it hard to believe that this law is there for the purpose of fairness, intellectual property protection and fraud prevention. It must be blocked completely, no amendments , no changes; just blocked! We cannot allow the censorship board in Lebanon (who are responsible for censoring all arts in Lebanon) to wield its power on online media.

Its usually the smallest of things which have the most devastating consequences, specially if its crowded in mystery and double ententes. Remember if this law was purely there for protecting those things then it should have three articles at most stating exactly that with nothing else. The internet is free and no country has managed to protect intellectual property (BTW capitalist crap idea) , so how does Lebanon with a very poor record on protecting citizens and basic rights think they can do it better?

Join the groups, sign the petitions, share this blog and all blogs against L.I.R.A. now is not the time to be indifferent...


 http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-lebanese-internet-regulation-act.html

MIddle East Airlines Online Flight

It has come to my attention, rather late, that some people have been bad mouthing Middle-East Airlines for what happened on their flight Paris - Beirut on March 12. If you have missed the video then you can see it here.

Ok i know watching that must of been painful, those two idiots who created such a stir for probably a pillow really annoy you. However the point of this post is not talk about what happened or who was right or wrong, it is to address the negative comments directed towards MEA.



I would like to ask one or two of those NaySayers, in what way was that MEA's fault. If you have two dumb shits on a plane who happen to have a go at each other, is MEA staff supposed to change into wrestling mode and break them apart. From what i saw, i think they handled it as best they could. I mean you all know what Lebanese are like (btw I am Lebanese) on planes. I mean i once heard a European airline hostesses telling her friend, that she would rather fly animals than sit through another flight with Lebs.

Cannot say i do not agree with her, I am Lebanese and they annoy me, i mean there is no respect for anything.talking across the cabin loudly is normal. Showing of is a must, you know those lebs who wear all white when they travel, gold chains hanging out everywhere, I mean who are you kidding!!

Anyway back to the topic at hand, MEA handled it very well. And this is why, the way they approached the two dumb shits was the right way to do it. They did not approach in an aggressive way, instead they were using gestures of understanding and respect.

They did not try to pin down the dumb shits or block their paths, instead they used the Captain (who by the way is the only one allowed to address these issues), to threaten an early landing and arrest. I mean what more could they have done? Tell me all those who commented negative, what did you want to happen? Well on an international Airline, those dumb shits would of been tasered by the air Marshall, put in cuffs and would have a won a one way ticket to Gitmo!

My point is, don't jump to conclusions and attack something just because a video went viral, you know it is ok to leave positive comments too. I mean MEA has been carrying us for decades, through war and peace, storms and blue skies, they have always done their job professionally and have the smoothest landings in the world.

So the two dumb shits who were fighting, hope you go to jail and get blacklisted from ever flying again. As for the Naysayers, make sure you are correct in your accusations before doing so.  

Lebanese Internet Censorhip Act

Well well well, guess what folks, Lebanon has finally done it. A new draft law was proposed in parliament concerning the Internet. In their words regulating the internet. I always love when governments use these kind of words, instead of censorship they use regulation, instead of arbitrary arrests they use for the safety. But do not be fooled, these words are as bad as they do not sound.

The Lebanese government is trying to censor the internet but wait that's not the worst part. All recommendations for the draft law are being proposed by people who have no idea what the internet is, how powerful it is or most probably how to use it. I cannot understand why Lebanon would pick this time to do such a thing, i mean we are still in the 'Arab Spring' phenomena, where millions of people over threw dictators and tyrants using the internet. So lets recap this, other governments who had censored the internet lost power but Lebanon who has free internet and relative civil legitimacy is now censoring the internet???? Are they hoping for a reaction? 

Please find below some links to the new law proposed and what it means to everyone, whether you are a blogger, Facebook enthusiast, Web designer, press or just someone who likes to leave comments on everything; YOUR WAY OF LIFE is being threatened.

So please do not wait till it is over and done with, take action. Remember SOPA and PIPA in one day we spoke and that was enough to silence the censorship board. Please visit these links, read up about the law, understand what it means and most importantly take action. 

http://blog.funkyozzi.com/2012/03/we-wont-stand-still-while-another.html

Visit the link above to see the draft law in our 'native' language !

Migrant Worker's Rights and Obligations Handbook

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine passed on to me the Migrant Worker's Rights and Obligation Handbook; a handbook given to all new housekeepers coming to work in Lebanon.

At first sight, i thought, what an improvement that the Lebanese Authority are trying to help Domestic Helpers by informing them on their rights. However after a closer look and reading it cover to cover, i realized how far of i was.

This booklet is a racist, demeaning guide to migrant workers. Not only does it not inform the reader accurately what his/her rights are, it actually legitimizes illegal acts (according to our constitution). The Religious section is what gets to me the most , its says and i quote:

" In Christian families, you will go to the church to participate at the mass with the family.

  In Muslim families, You may be asked to wear a veil as other women outside the house"

The funny thing is, right on top of that it says:

"Religion is important in Lebanon where there is RESPECT OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION"

Ok so even though there is Freedom of Religion and Expression in Lebanon, why does a non Christian migrant worker have to attend mass? or a non Muslim wear a veil?

I can't get this through my head, i have no problem with both religions, but why mention the freedom and right under it, force something upon the migrant.

However this isn't the worst part, cultural practices seems to set the tone for this sham of a booklet. Did you know dear reader that in Lebanon "people may speak with a loud voice" but "this does not mean they are angry or don't like you". So basically if someone shouts at you, its fine that is our culture, we shout all the time. 

 And not to be demeaning to women everywhere (who celebrated Women's day just a few days ago) but in the family section women are described "as responsible for the household and kids in addition to their job outside the home." While the man just brings in the bacon and does no housework".(not sure which sex should feel small there ) 

If you have time, read the booklet and share your thoughts, you can get it from any Caritas office in Lebanon.

And now the bitching, well not exactly this time, more of a mixture. While i commend the Lebanese Government and Caritas for their effort to give Migrants valuable information on their rights, I disagree with some of these guidelines. I don't understand why Lebanon just drafts things and puts them into effect without consulting with experts or NGOs. Everything in Lebanon (including Laws) are drafted and passed without real knowledge on the subject. So for that reason alone I disagree with this booklet and the way it represents the Lebanese...Archaic and Ottomanised