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50.0%ANMag Issue 24 Public Surveillance
Lebanon, the Center of the Universe
By Farah Salka, Staff Writer
Beirut, Lebanon − It is a common ground in several countries to find the nationals spelling out jokes about other countries which tend to develop into sometimes unconscious racist and abusive remarks. We find this iterated between Chinese and Japanese, Pakistanis and Indians, Ukrainians and Russians and even on a closer spectrum, Lebanese and Syrians. The funny part is that Lebanese (and I certainly am not a fan of generalizations but believe they do deserve a quick stop in some cases) are not contempt in simply focusing their creativity on disdaining Syrians, but Lebanese tend to further disseminate their efforts by extending the parameters of their condescension to many other people. Discrimination, racism or mere over superiority might be potential adjectives to describe this state of mind and action although other words might also be used in this context. I shall try to color my words with live examples; perhaps the picture will then be clearer in a sense. Some people not only feel genetically superior to Syrians but also to SriLankans, Palestinians, Indians, Sudanese, Ethiopians and several other “third world” nationals. We find this apparent in their attitude, jokes, conversations, advertisements and newspapers. In short, Lebanon is a country where Syrians, Palestinians and others have to be keen on hiding their accents in order to avoid trouble.
Let us take written media. Hariri’s Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, for instance is proficient at finding “thieves and criminals” that always incidentally, never intentionally, happen to be Syrians. The newspaper forever forgets to report on other criminals, let alone Lebanese nationals. In another example, As-Safir, while listing the names of injured by-standers in one of the past explosions in the country, went on to roll them name after name until they reached the last one and spelled out like this: A Sri Lankan girl. So basically the injured were “Jad X, Maha Y, Lamees Z and a female SriLankan.” They all held names, but she did not, or As-Safir decided not to grant her the honor of being called with one. The term “female Sri Lankan” would do. If that is not racism in its essence, then what is? On another spectrum, I need to agree on one thing. Yes, I wholeheartedly oppose the Syrian regime and any other Arab regime as a matter of fact, including the regime-less Lebanon we are living under. However, something ought to be very clear here. It is one thing to oppose the Syrian regime on one side, and it is a totally differing thing to bring out all the frustration we have on guiltless Syrian people and think that Lebanese are simply superior by God-given nature as An-Nahar newspaper keeps indirectly highlighting for us in its pages.
Let us take televised media. In one of the recent television ads for Liban Post, there is always a cartoonish view of a happy family with the post man as the savior who will do the job himself and save the family the time to go send the applications themselves. What there is also in the background of the trailer is a housekeeper (or ‘maid’ as Lebanese refer to her) who happens to be dark-skinned. All the people in the ad where white-skinned, but the house keeper (who ironically enough was smiling in the clip as if that is the case in reality) is dark-skinned. What implications does this have? Why is it so engraved in this culture that dark is for “maids” and light is for “us” (include me not)? This insistence of Lebanese people to feel proud and above any other is clearly highlighted in the most irritating segment that runs daily on L.B.C. television, ‘From Lebanon’. Every night, this section picks a new figure and claims it to be famous and Lebanese, ranking everyone and everything throughout the process. In most cases, this figure turns out to be neither Lebanese, nor famous. I do not see why we should dig so hard to find Lebanese living abroad and feel pride in them when they do not even acknowledge that they have Lebanese connections. I do not see why I should allege that X has Lebanese roots when s/he cannot even situate Lebanon on the map. I do not seem to understand why we have to make up ordeals and rank every possible figure that comes to mind, claiming that they are either richest or most known or best prize-winners, etc… that is just simply not true. This segment is full of lies and fabrications and unfortunately Lebanese feel pleasure while watching it, perhaps because it is a portrayal of an inherent culture of chauvinism and fake prestige.
This is a country where an individual like Samir Jaajaa is referred to as Doctor Jaajaa although he never practiced medicine. This is a country where Walid Jumblat is considered an intellectual simply because he brags about writing for the Nation magazine. By Lebanese standards, even if you were a war criminal and orchestrated one of the worst campaigns of sectarian cleansing during the civil war, it is okay now; you are forgiven. By Lebanese standards, even if you have been targeting all critics of the Syrian regime and calling them traitors for three decades (when you were aligned with the Syrian regime) and suddenly you decided to switch roles, you can still be considered sane and wise, now that you are calling for liberty, democracy and all those magic words.
Lebanon is a country where the wife of an Ambassador was once not allowed in one of the “prestigious” beaches of the country simply because she was mistaken for a “maid”, and “maids” are not to be allowed in. It is so easy for me to describe how beautiful Lebanon is as an entity simply because it is that beautiful. It is so hard for me to explain how complicated the nature of Lebanese culture (generalization notwithstanding: a culture that sees you twice as much worthier if you have blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin) is simply because it is way much uglier than I can express. It is high time we grasp the idea that the world does not revolve around our 10,542 kilometers squares. It is high time we change our egocentric attitudes towards all other Arab nationals. Yes, we can find Egyptian business men; they do not all work in gas stations (all due respect to those who do). Yes, we can find Syrians that are intellectuals; they do not all work for the Syrian Intelligence Agency (Intelligence!!!). Yes, we can find Palestinian Lawyers; they do not all play around with weaponry all day long. Grow some perspective.