A Civil Society Strikeout

Last week I wrote a bit about youth sports programs used for peacebuilding purposes. I used the organization Ultimate Peace as an example of how these programs can overcome the sectarian nature of sports in Lebanon by introducing a sport no one has ever heard of.

I am sectarian - I worship at the altar of Baseball. (Ha ha.) A natural evolution in my thinking about using sports as a peacebuilder is going from ultimate frisbee to the sport I have devoted so much of my life. I thought, here's a sport that is growing in popularity across the globe, why not bring it to Lebanon? It might be fun for Lebanese kids to learn how to play such a strange sport. I could contact my favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds, to come help out

Then I thought, why not develop an exchange program where American kids come over and help Lebanese kids of all sects learn how to play the game that is so woven into the fabric of America that it might actually help patch up tensions between East-West? We could get the Lebanon Baseball and Softball Association to help out - Lebanon, Ohio, that is, just a short jaunt up the highway from Cincinnati.

Baseball in America is much more than a sport. Baseball was instrumental to the Civil Rights Movement. Jackie Robinson became the first black player to break the color barrier in 1947, a decade before the Civil Rights Movement was born. Baseball players in the fifties, sixties, and seventies were not just ballplayers, they were an integral part of turning the page from a deplorable chapter of American history. Today, baseball is lifting Latin Americans out of poverty (though not without controversy.)

Then the pragmatist side of my bipolar idealism/pragmatism personality came out. This would never work. You'd never be able to convince American parents to send their kids for a week to Lebanon. First of all, well there's that whole Marine barracks memory scarred upon every American's brain, the scar that would heal if only cable news wasn't ripping it open with manipulated facts and "War on Terror" impressionism. The truth is, many of us thirty-somethings grew up associating the word "Beirut" with bullets. Hey, we're all products of the environment in which we grew up. Some of us, however, are able to shake stereotypes and false ideas.

Even if we could get past the Marine barracks thing, there's that whole other issue of Hizbollah, not a great friend of the State Department, you know, given that the group is on the US terrorist list. Restrictions on NGOs are so tight that if your brother's friend's neighbor's dog's cousin knows someone in Hizbollah, you probably aren't going to get a grant. (Yes, that is hyperbole.)

I guess it's probably good parenting to not let your kid travel to a country with a State Department warning to not travel there and where embassy officials live in a fortress.

All of this longwindedness is leading up to the whole point of this post. It is darn hard to work with civil society in Lebanon. You could have brilliant ideas but you aren't allowed or able to execute them - Lebanese civil society organizations face this all the time. They have great ideas that are shot down for complications or simply because we just can't legally do them according to laws in donor countries. By no means am I saying this is wrong; I'm just pointing out a major complication in the work of civil society organizations. Go out and give 'em a hug!

But maybe trying to build peace by using a sport whose main piece of equipment is a bat could be troublesome...

The Beacon of Legislation

The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) here in Washington "is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to examining how genuine democracies can develop in the Middle East and how the U.S. can best support that process. Through dialogue, research, and advocacy, [they] work to strengthen the constituency for U.S. policies that peacefully support democratic reform in the Middle East." You can read their blog here.

Each week, POMED produces a brief but really well-done newsletter of the week's happenings regarding democracy in the Middle East. Called "The Weekly Wire," the newsletter comes to those of us who have signed up for their mailing list. The Wire informs us of legislative actions taken by Congress as well as briefs about each country in the region. This week included some information about two interesting Congressional activities:

On Tuesday (12/8), H.R.2278, calling for the "President to transmit to Congress a report on anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East," was passed under suspension of the rules in a vote of 395-3 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The bill, originally introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) in May, focuses on Middle Eastern media outlets, including al-Manar, al-Aqsa, al-Zawra, that broadcast calls of violence against Americans and the United States and calls for a report in six months that lists anti-American media outlets and satellite companies that provide these channels. The bill also proposes that the U.S. should: designate satellite providers that knowingly contract with such entities as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," evaluate levels of foreign assistance with reference to state-sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence, and "urge all governments and private investors who own shares in satellite companies or otherwise influence decisions about satellite transmissions to oppose transmissions of [such] telecasts."

On Thursday (12/10), the House passed H.R.3228, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010, in a 221-202 vote. On Saturday (12/12), the Senate voted 60-35 on a cloture motion to end debate and bring the bill up for a vote. The bill was then passed by the Senate in a special session yesterday and sent to the President. Full details of the Conference Report for the bill are available on the website of the House Rules Committee, including the full text of Division F of the bill, the portion of the bill making appropriations for State and Foreign Operations, as well as the Joint Explanatory Statement that accompanies it. The bill includes a controversial provision that permits $50 million of the $250 million in Economic Support Funds (ESF) allocated for Egypt to be put into "an endowment to further the shared interests of the United States and Egypt." Such an endowment has been advocated for several years by the Egyptian government, and is widely viewed as an attempt to reduce the potential leverage by Congress afforded by U.S. economic aid to Egypt. Other levels of funding in the bill include $65 million for the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), which is a 30% increase over funding in recent years, but $5 million less than included in the House version of the State and Foreign Operations bill passed in July. For reference and comparison, see POMED's report on the budget and appropriations process from July, and keep an eye out for a brief report on the final version of the bill.

I'm one of those dorks who watches C-Span to see Congress in action, and while not as entertaining as a UK parliamentary session, they've been getting pretty good, what with all the props like babies and leis and all sorts of nonsensical nuttery. It's like a reality television show for the Informed, and it has the advantage of being real!

You'll probably notice that the first piece of legislation has implications for Lebanon with Al-Manar possibly being affected and all. Thoughts?

On another note, we are diligently working to ensure that Lebanese NGOs are able to take advantage of the MEPI funding. If your NGO has a good program idea related to the development and capacity building of civil society, pitch them to us. You can email me.

I encourage you to sign up for POMED's Weekly Wire.

54YT3AA29N6B

On Human Rights

This is the post I wrote for Developing Lebanon on International Human Rights Day.



Some time ago, a King in England signed a piece of paper establishing certain rights of men. King John signed the Magna Carta in part because he was afraid he'd be overthrown by revolting barons who were angry at the monarch's abuse of power. By no means did the document care about the rights of ordinary people - it was meant to protect the wealthy barons' properties. Yet the rights of the rich it protected gradually evolved into universal rights in the nearly 800 years that have passed since it was drafted.

Three hundred years after John put his signature on the Magna Carta, the Twelve Articles of the Black Forest were drafted in Germany by peasants who demanded certain rights as Christians. The articles are considered by many to be the first record of human rights in the world. That is not to say that human rights issues were not being debated and implemented in other parts of the world. Akbar the Great, the Mughal Emperor, established religious rights for all during his reign in the same century. The British Bill of Rights was drafted in the late seventeenth century. The United States of America was founded on the principle of universal human rights:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 is a precursor document to modern human rights.

We have come a long way since we lived in caves, ate raw meat, and died by the age of thirty, haven't we? Yet, everywhere we look we see human rights violations, from Aun Sun Sui Kyi's house arrest in Burma to the Iranian regime's crackdown on student protests in Iran to the United States' detention without trial of prisoners in Gitmo to the apartheid in Israel to terrorists blowing up lives in the name of religion to Uganda proposing the death penalty for homosexuals to migrant worker abuse in Lebanon to the Swiss banning of minarets...Sometimes it makes our heads spin, makes us feel like there is no hope, that we should give up, that humanity is so corrupted by its own selfish impulses there will never be any solution to our global problems. Media bombards us every day with new stories about injustice, new terrors to be wary of, new deaths that have come at the hands of psychos. It's easy to dwell on the atrocities that take place on this planet. It's easy to succumb to the forces of disillusionment and despair. It's easy to let ourselves drown in the seas of human suffering, to let our hearts burn in the fires of hatred and ignorance, to let our minds be swallowed by the psychology of victimhood.

Hope is hard.

Hope is what keeps the world spinning. All of the progress we've made throughout human history hasn't been made by those who wallow in the pits of despair but by those cognizant of the future, by those who can imagine a planet where people are equal, where people have enough food to eat and clean water to drink and clean air to breathe, where people aren't killing each other in the name of their own version of a Creator. Human rights martyrs like Martin Luther King, Jr. did not dwell on suffering but envisioned a world like this.

"...when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

The dream of Dr. King has made progress in the 36 year since he spoke to a million people in front of the memorial to President Lincoln, another martyr who died for the cause of human rights. Yet, we still have so far to go. Sometimes it may seem like we're going backwards or that those who profess a faith in the rights of humanity are hypocrites because they violate human rights. Such is the criticism of President Obama, who accepted a Nobel Peace Prize today.

Those who pursue human rights are not perfect. We tend to view our martyrs as perfect and forget their flaws. We put people like Gandhi on pedestals and forget he had an army of critics. Lincoln himself was something of a racist, but he always believed slavery was wrong and that all men should never be deprived of life, liberty, and property. His work for the cause of Emancipation and the bloody civil war that entailed exposed him to African-Americans and his views on race began to change. It was a speech in which he supported the right for blacks to vote that so incensed John Wilkes Booth, he murdered him two days later.

You have to remember, humanity is still evolving. People's attitudes evolve. There will never be an End to History so long as homo sapiens sapiens roams the planet. We have not reached a point in our history where we are capable of ending our problems as quickly as it takes us to tweet them. Just the fact that we as a species generally recognize something called "Human Rights" is wondrous, something to be marveled at and revered. Sure, many times the path that we think leads to progress turns out to be covered with thorns or full of poisonous snakes and hungry beasts. Sometimes we have to turn around and start over. Sometimes we get so lost that it seems like we will never reach our destination, Dr. Kings dream. But we're gonna get there some day. Just look at how far we've already come.

While human rights heroes like King, Lincoln, and Gandhi have become immortal, we can't forget all of the others who work for human rights without recognition. Today we should remember them, remember all of the civil society organizations across the world that fight for human rights, those who give speeches, who hold conferences, who write the reports demanded by a grantmaking organization, who tweet and blog about human rights, who create awareness about issues. They might not do the glorious work, but they are just as important to progress.

Happy International Human Rights Day!

Some time ago, a King in England signed a piece of paper establishing certain rights of men. King John signed the Magna Carta in part because he was afraid he'd be overthrown by revolting barons who were angry at the monarch's abuse of power. By no means did the document care about the rights of ordinary people - it was meant to protect the wealthy barons' properties. Yet the rights of the rich it protected gradually evolved into universal rights in the nearly 800 years that have passed since it was drafted.

Three hundred years after John put his signature on the Magna Carta, the Twelve Articles of the Black Forest were drafted in Germany by peasants who demanded certain rights as Christians. The articles are considered by many to be the first record of human rights in the world. That is not to say that human rights issues were not being debated and implemented in other parts of the world. Akbar the Great, the Mughal Emperor, established religious rights for all during his reign in the same century. The British Bill of Rights was drafted in the late seventeenth century. The United States of America was founded on the principle of universal human rights:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 is a precursor document to modern human rights.

We have come a long way since we lived in caves, ate raw meat, and died by the age of thirty, haven't we? Yet, everywhere we look we see human rights violations, from Aun Sun Sui Kyi's house arrest in Burma to the Iranian regime's crackdown on student protests in Iran to the United States' detention without trial of prisoners in Gitmo to the apartheid in Israel to terrorists blowing up lives in the name of religion to Uganda proposing the death penalty for homosexuals to migrant worker abuse in Lebanon to the Swiss banning of minarets...Sometimes it makes our heads spin, makes us feel like there is no hope, that we should give up, that humanity is so corrupted by its own selfish impulses there will never be any solution to our global problems. Media bombards us every day with new stories about injustice, new terrors to be wary of, new deaths that have come at the hands of psychos. It's easy to dwell on the atrocities that take place on this planet. It's easy to succumb to the forces of disillusionment and despair. It's easy to let ourselves drown in the seas of human suffering, to let our hearts burn in the fires of hatred and ignorance, to let our minds be swallowed by the psychology of victimhood.

Hope is hard.

Hope is what keeps the world spinning. All of the progress we've made throughout human history hasn't been made by those who wallow in the pits of despair but by those cognizant of the future, by those who can imagine a planet where people are equal, where people have enough food to eat and clean water to drink and clean air to breathe, where people aren't killing each other in the name of their own version of a Creator. Human rights martyrs like Martin Luther King, Jr. did not dwell on suffering but envisioned a world like this.

"...when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

The dream of Dr. King has made progress in the 36 year since he spoke to a million people in front of the memorial to President Lincoln, another martyr who died for the cause of human rights. Yet, we still have so far to go. Sometimes it may seem like we're going backwards or that those who profess a faith in the rights of humanity are hypocrites because they violate human rights. Such is the criticism of President Obama, who accepted a Nobel Peace Prize today.

Those who pursue human rights are not perfect. We tend to view our martyrs as perfect and forget their flaws. We put people like Gandhi on pedestals and forget he had an army of critics. Lincoln himself was something of a racist, but he always believed slavery was wrong and that all men should never be deprived of life, liberty, and property. His work for the cause of Emancipation and the bloody civil war that entailed exposed him to African-Americans and his views on race began to change. It was a speech in which he supported the right for blacks to vote that so incensed John Wilkes Booth, he murdered him two days later.

You have to remember, humanity is still evolving. People's attitudes evolve. There will never be an End to History so long as homo sapiens sapiens roams the planet. We have not reached a point in our history where we are capable of ending our problems as quickly as it takes us to tweet them. Just the fact that we as a species generally recognize something called "Human Rights" is wondrous, something to be marveled at and revered. Sure, many times the path that we think leads to progress turns out to be covered with thorns or full of poisonous snakes and hungry beasts. Sometimes we have to turn around and start over. Sometimes we get so lost that it seems like we will never reach our destination, Dr. Kings dream. But we're gonna get there some day. Just look at how far we've already come.

While human rights heroes like King, Lincoln, and Gandhi have become immortal, we can't forget all of the others who work for human rights without recognition. Today we should remember them, remember all of the civil society organizations across the world that fight for human rights, those who give speeches, who hold conferences, who write the reports demanded by a grantmaking organization, who tweet and blog about human rights, who create awareness about issues. They might not do the glorious work, but they are just as important to progress.

Sport and the Art of Peacebuilding

This weekend, Beirut experienced a marathon in which Prime Minister Hariri, President Sleiman, and Minister of Interior Baroud participated, among 30,000 others. It was nice to see all creeds participating in such a massive event. From everything I've read, the Beirut Marathon Association did a wonderful job of organizing the race and should be commended for this accomplishment. The Association has been organizing the annual marathon since 2002, holding its first race in 2003, and in six short years it is already attracting international marathon stars.

I envy those with the energy to run a marathon. I'm not much of a sports fan (though I do strictly adhere to the tenets of the Church of Baseball), but I do enjoy the World Cup and the Olympics, and I can appreciate watching Alex Ovechkin score another goal for the Washington Capitals. I can't say I don't turn my attention to a television screen during the last few minutes of a basketball or American football game if the score is close and there is excitement in the air. Ok, so maybe I am a bit of a fan.

What really interests me is the way sport can serve as a bridge builder between competing factions, whether they be nations or neighborhoods. I suppose that is what I find the most fascinating about the global soccer order (Egypt-Algeria and El Salvador-Honduras aside.) You can have countries that hate each other in politics go out and play a game. A GAME. Far better than bullets and bombs!

Civil society organizations across the world have been using sport as a peacebuilder. The NBA has a program Basketball without Borders. In Lebanon, groups like Safadi Foundation, MercyCorps, IREX, and the Rockwool Foundation have developed sports programs aimed to build peace among kids with different politico-religious backgrounds.



Football and basketball are common sports used in such programs, but one group is using an entirely new sport as a means to peace - ultimate frisbee. While in countries like Lebanon, a sport could have sectarian or class implications, ultimate frisbee is pretty unknown outside of American university campuses. Ultimate Peace's mission is "to build bridges of friendship, understanding and fun for youth from different social and cultural backgrounds around the world." The organization has recently ventured into the Middle East and will be implementing an ultimate frisbee peacebuilding program in Tel Aviv in 2010. Could Lebanon be in their future? We'll have to check this out!

Lebanese civil society gets active in migrant domestic workers issues

A recent series of tragic suicides has prompted rare and vital coverage of the plight of domestic workers in Lebanon. The Zico House in Hamra, regular host to the only legally recognized gay rights organization in the Middle East, held a panel discussion on domestic workers and also facilitated a vigil to commemorate the victims of suicide, domestic and sexual abuse. The event was sponsored by Taste Culture.

Among the panelists were several domestic workers from a variety of nations including the Philippines, Sudan, and Ethiopia. These women described the duplicitous agencies that worked in their home countries to recruit women to travel overseas and become domestic workers. Despite the diversity of backgrounds, all the women described a similar process wherein the pay and ease of their labor abroad were greatly exaggerated. Once domestic workers arrive in Lebanon, they are usually deprived of their passports, and as a result have no recourse when their employers withhold pay or time off. Compounding this problem is the fact that many of the home nations of the domestic workers do not have full-fledged embassies in Lebanon that could provide passport services or facilitate legal representation. Withholding passports is illegal in Lebanon, but it is widely known that this law is not enforced, and the police in Lebanon are notorious for siding with Lebanese families over their foreign employees.

Besides the laws that aren’t even enforced, domestic workers have incredibly little legal protection. Migrant workers are not guaranteed the rights to minimum wage and regular leave that are provided to all Lebanese citizens under article six of the Lebanese Labor Law. Depressingly, little pay for endless work is perhaps the best-case scenario for a migrant worker in Lebanon, as physical and sexual abuse are also prevalent.

A community organizer, who also spoke as a part of the panel, explained that he had turned his home into a safe house for domestic workers who were attempting to escape abuse and had nowhere to go. There was also a panelist representing Human Rights Watch, who mentioned that the labor secretary of Lebanon has not responded to over 50 letters sent by Human Rights Watch.

It is vital that this rare moment of exposure to practices akin to modern-day slavery not be an aberration. Here are two more important pieces on migrant workers in the Middle East.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-a-morally-bankrupt-dictatorship-built-by-slave-labour-1828754.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/24/lebanon.suicides/

Written by Evan Barrett

Don't miss it!

More information is at Taste Kulcha. Also, while you're there, sign the petition "Promises not Politics: Ministry of Labour Must Protect Migrant Workers in Lebanon." And don't forget to follow @simby on Twitter!

Solidarity with migrant workers

In March of this year, the Feminist Collective held a sit-in in solidarity with migrant workers in Lebanon. Here's the video.

What is "independence?"

When the state of Belgium was formed in 1839, the Europeans who signed the Treaty of London did not realize what a monster it was that they had created. No, Belgium is not a monster (though rising calls for the dissolution of the Belgian state could become one.) The concept of the modern nation state is the monster, and borders are its claws.

Let's go back a bit in history to the Peace of Westphalia (1648) that ended (temporarily) non-stop fighting in Europe between the Holy Roman Empire, the Hapsburgs, the Kingdom of Spain, France, Sweden...am I forgetting someone? The treaty sort of drew up Europe and assigned territorial borders and is generally considered to be the birth of the nation-state concept in political science/international relations. Aside from assigned borders, the treaty also agreed that states were to be free from external interference. A state's domestic affairs belonged to the state and to no one else. (Unless it was in Africa where the Europeans were free to do whatever they liked, ahem...)

The Westphalian System did seem to be a good system. Prior to that, borders were forever changing as rival empires fought for more land and more riches and for revenge on family members with whom they did not get along. The Holy Roman Empire continued to pretend that the fall of Rome hadn't occurred, the Hapsburgs' thirst for land was never quenched, and a variety of Kingdoms and Dukedoms and I'm-better-than-youdoms were forever skirmishing over the same parcels of earth.

Belgium was created under the Treaty of London (after the Belgian Revolution) because the UK, France, and Germany couldn't respect Westphalian boundries. Belgium was to be a buffer state between them. The treaty took neither ethnicity nor history into account, gave land to Belgium that belonged to other states, and pretty much set in motion the events that led to World War I (which led to World War II which led to Europe getting sick of war so that they entered into economic union to never fight each other again. It's worked so far...)

At the same time, colonialism was still in full swing. In what we now call the Middle East, perpetual war was fought between the Sassinids and the Byzantines from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Rise of the Islamic Empire at the time of the Prophet. Then came the Abassids, the Fatimids, the Umayyads, and the Moors. Throw in some Mamluks and others, and the Middle East was no different than Europe at the time of The Billion Years War. The Ottomans later took over for the other Muslim empires like the Safavids and the Mughals, and since they were defeated in World War I, the territory was divided up among the victors. It's been that way since the dawn of human history, only this time, lines mattered. Before that, there was never any state called Lebanon, never any country called Palestine, never any government called Syria, and certainly no lines that drew borders. No, today's lines that have caused so many conflicts in the region are largely a product of the European Westphalian idea. I guess it should be called West-fail-ian.

I read something from a Lebanese Twitterer about how there is no independence in Lebanon "while parts of it are occupied." I argue that there is no independence while Lebanon is gripped by fear and suspicion of the people within its internationally recognized borders. I also see a fierce independence among so many young Lebanese and so many civil society activists for whom lines on a map are not as important as feeding your people, running your economy, striving for progress, and ending perpetual conflict.

Lebanon may not be able to change the world outside its artificial borders, but it certainly has the power to change from within. When Prime Minister Hariri said, "Lebanon will not remain a playground for regional conflicts," he was standing up for Lebanon's independence. It's up to the Lebanese people to help him make that a reality. Let it be known, Lebanon, that you have a lot of people cheering for you!

Friday Fodder

Civil Society in Global Governance - a preview

Pulling Torn Pictures of W out of Arab Trashcans

The Westerners who melded the Mayan religion with the writings of St. John the Divine and then turned it into what is apparently a horrific movie may have been right, because I’m quite certain what I heard at the National Endowment for Democracy at the conference on “Middle East Democrats and Their Vision for the Future” means the end of the world is coming.

An Arab said he wished George W. Bush would come back.

This wasn’t just any Arab, this was perhaps the most famous civil society activist in the entire Middle East North African chain of dictatorships pretending to be democracies, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, founder of the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, former political prisoner in Egypt, Wallerstein Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Drew University, and generally all around hero for humanity.

Dr. Ibrahim was part of a panel discussing “What assistance can the international community provide?” I’m really taking his idea out of context. His point – and there were others who agreed – was that the Obama administration is very weak in its democracy promotion efforts and that the level of pressure on regimes to change is not there. It is not the first time he has criticized President Obama - his August editorial in the Wall Street Journal outlined his disillusionment.

The panel – which consisted of Tamara Cofman Wittes, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; Daniel Brumberg, United States Institute of Peace; Scott Carpenter, Keston Family Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Vidar Helgesen, Secretary-General of International IDEA; Dr. Aseel al-Awadhi, one of the four women members of the Kuwaiti Parliament; Musa Maaytah, Minister of Political Development in Jordan; and Nouzha Skalli, Minister of Social Development, Family, and Solidarity in Morocco – discussed the lack of pressure on Arab governments to reform, unlike during the Bush years, when even Pharaoh Mubarak relented a bit and held presidential elections (even if the elections themselves were a farce).

Cofman Wittes is a well-respected, academically-minded individual who up until her appointment was Senior Fellow and Director, Middle East Democracy and Development Project, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Her CV is here. Her appointment means that she oversees the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Daniel Brumberg has written a lot about liberalization and Arab reform. Vidar Helgesen talked about European approaches to foreign assistance and spoke of the need to stop being so condescending to those groups receiving aid.

The tone of the conversation changed when Scott Carpenter began to speak. Carpenter formerly held Mrs. Cofman Wittes’ post under the Bush administration. He told us that an Egyptian civil society activist said to him they were pulling their torn pictures of Bush out of the garbage and taping them back together. Dr. Ibrahim agreed.

The problem, they say, is that the Obama administration focuses on talking to regimes rather than people, that the level of pressure on regimes to reform just isn’t there, and it is affecting what civil society reformers can accomplish.

Is the criticism warranted? Well let’s see. You have a prominent civil society activist saying there was more done during the Bush years than there has been under Obama. You have an appointment to the head of USAID that takes ten months. You have NGOs on the ground waiting to see what direction the administration is going to go.

Yet.

Even during the twilight of the Bush years, the international community wondered if decades of foreign assistance to the Middle East North Africa region was all for naught. Nothing was changing, and regimes seemed to be getting stronger. In fact, the space created – a sort of Bizarro World kind of freedom – allowed just enough room for “Islamists” to have a voice that was loud enough for regimes to crack down on their people, claiming they were fighting terrorism. There was no political reform, no economic reform, just lip service spilling from the mouths of dictators (no matter how benign they were).

This was enough for the international community to begin asking itself how to change its approach to foreign aid. (In 2003, for example, Daniel Brumberg wrote Liberalization Versus Democracy: Understanding Arab Reform," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Working Paper #37). Throwing money at groups intent on loosening the dictatorial reigns of the Arab World has resulted in…the dethroning of Pharaoh Mubarak? No. The election of someone other than Ben Ali in Tunisia? No. The House of Saud becoming the House of Someone Else? No. Bashar Assad giving a concession speech after hotly contested elections? No.

I was four years old when Pharaoh Mubarak came to power. Lebanon was trying to commit suicide then, and Yemen was split into a microcosm of the commie vs. democracy world order. Habib Bourguiba had been Presidictator of Tunisia for twenty years and lasted another ten before Ben Ali became Presidictator in a coup. An Assad was the Presidictator of Syria. Jordan was ruled by the current king’s dad. Morocco was ruled by the current king’s dad. Saudi was ruled by the current king’s brother or half brother or something like that.

No, change has not come to the Middle East despite all of my tax dollars being funneled there. No we can’t!

Finally, though, someone woke up and started to ask why nothing is different except there are more people willing to blow themselves up. The international community began to reconsider its strategy to “make the world a better place” and decided that bandaids are not appropriate when your arm has been cut off. More democracy people began to say, “Forget the dinosaurs, let’s help the kids!” and youth and community development programs started to receive attention. Foreign assistance programs began to focus on the future rather than choking on the present.

I think like so many other aspects of his presidency, Obama is a victim of history when it comes to strategies towards foreign assistance. Seems that everyone is asking why hasn’t this worked, why have we failed, what can we do differently. He’s jumped into a time of uncertainty and transformation even in the approach to foreign aid. There is a reason it took ten months to appoint someone as head of USAID, and it isn’t because Obama was chopping brush on a ranch in Texas.

And who can honestly say his public diplomacy approach to international relations is a bad idea? Do those civil society activists longing for a return to foreign assistance under the Bush years want the bombs that come with it? That’s part of the package – scare dictators with bombs just enough to allow for some space, isn't it?

Look, President Obama’s deliberate approach to everything is frustrating, especially in the Twitterverse we live in, when two seconds is too long a wait for so many people. It has been ten months, hardly enough time to solve all of the world’s problems. With the appointment of Rajiv Shah as head of USAID and Cofman Wittes to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, it looks like the approach to foreign assistance is coming around, that a new strategy focusing on the long-term is being shaped, rather than bandaid fixes to election and economic laws that have been applied for so long now.

Right now, I guess it’s just wait and see.

A History Lesson

The National Endowment for Democracy held a conference entitled “Middle Eastern Democrats and their Vision for the Future” with a full cast of high profile democracy types from across the Middle East and Washington.

Before reporting on the day’s acts, I must give a bit of a prologue regarding NED. Think what you will about democracy promotion, but please note that it has its roots in noble minds. There is a name for those who oppose human freedom – in English we call them tyrants.

The NED was established in 1983 by congressional mandate. While NED has its own programs, it has the greater responsibility of managing funding from Congress to its four core institutes – the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the Solidarity Center. The activities of NDI and IRI are well-known – NDI is the Democratic Party’s political reform program and IRI is the Republican Party’s. CIPE is an affiliate of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and Solidarity Center is an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

Current NED and core institute programs in Lebanon include:

NED - You can find a list of NED projects in Lebanon here.

NDI - NDI is very active in Lebanon, helping the Civil Campaign for Electoral Reform and Lebanon Budget Project and groups like Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections, Development for People and Nature Association, Nahwa al-Muwatiniya, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, and a coalition of seven civic organizations to implement Citizen Lebanon, a civic education and advocacy program taking place in 30 municipalities across the nation.

IRI - IRI does polling and political party development in Lebanon.

CIPE - Lebanese Anti-Bribery Network with Lebanese Transparency Association

SC (none)

Each of these programs involves local Lebanese NGOs who seek to improve democracy in the country. These are hardworking folks who rise above politics and put the good of their country first. I’ve met many of them, and they all are inspiring human beings. There’s nothing cooler in the world than to watch democracy in action (real democracy involving real people doing real things for their country not involving bombs, religions, or egos).

What I’m getting at is that despite an occasional controversy and the persistent conspiracy theories regarding NED programs, NED really does have people at heart. Is there a national security element to democracy promotion? Of course. The old adage “democracies don’t fight other democracies” tells us that we are safer with more democracies in the world.

Quite honestly, if you meet staff of one of these organizations, you’ll come to find that they’re all a bunch of bleeding hearts intent on saving the world from its own mutually assured destruction.

I suppose I had to perform this narrative because I’ve often been confronted by anti-NED rhetoric and accusations that NED and its core institutes are a front for the CIA! (Can we say X-Files?) The bottom line is that NED and its core institutes do great work.

Up next: Part two of this NED event - a post about what actually transpired at the event.

More on migrant rights

Caritas efforts to protect the rights of migrant workers.

A Good Hope for Lebanon

Amel Association is celebrating 30 years of existence this year. Tell them happy anniversary! They produced this great video in August of this year. Keep up the good work!

Visit their website here.
Find them on Facebook here.

Modern Slavery Rampant in Lebanon

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Imagine what 26-year-old Zeditu Kebede Matente thought when she traveled from her homeland of Ethopia to Lebanon in search of a better life. If you have any sense of empathy, you can probably feel the hope that she most likely felt as she packed her things. A future could have been in her sights, one in which she did not have to face the tragedy of poverty that she may have faced in her own country.

Alas, there was no future for Zeditu. She hung herself last month.

The list of names grows:

Ram Embwe
Kassaye Atsegenet
Saneet Mariam
Vololona
Mampionona
Tezeta Yalmiya
Sarada Phuyal

Just a sample of names, so many more names. Real people. Too many.

Where is the Lebanese civil society activism regarding this tragic issue? It seems that journalists are driving the awareness campaign, as they are a great part of civil society. Aljazeera, LA Times, Guardian, and Lebanon's own Daily Star have covered this issue recently. International NGO's like Human Rights Watch and Migrant Rights have called attention to the matter.

A Lebanese blogger is writing about this issue at Ethiopian Suicides. (We have added this to our blogroll in the sidebar.) I highly recommend a trip over there.

If you know of an organization in Lebanon that is working towards ending this horrific treatment of human beings, please let us know. Safadi Foundation USA is looking to raise the profile of these NGOs and to raise awareness about the plight of these women in an effort to stop the abuse.

Isn't it time that Lebanon takes a stand against slavery within its borders?

UPDATE: Today, Anget R. from Madagascar took her life. She was 20 years old.

Women's coalition calls on the new government to recognize women's equality

(Click on the photo to read the letter)

The Equality Without Reservation campaign is calling on the new Lebanese government to recognize women's equality. The coalition wants all Arab Governments to withdraw reservations and to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

You can find the Equality Without Reservation blog here. Information about the CEDAW situation regarding Lebanon can be found here.

Lebanon, isn't it time?

It's the little things...

CNN has posted a report on smoking in Lebanon. What struck me in particular were the comments made by several Lebanese who are proud to harm their health and the health of others in the name of "freedom."

The use of the word freedom reminded me of small D democracy, power of the people. Lebanon votes, yes, but Lebanese citizens often feel powerless in the system, and that's where this idea of "freedom" comes from. However, true democracy is not just ballot boxes. True democracy is about institutions centered around the rule of law. If Lebanon wants to be a democracy, a change in the "freedom" attitude that defies laws and rules is necessary. Real freedom is not having to worry about when the next war is going to come, not whether you can smoke (and endanger the health of others) or not.

Democracy is also citizen action. Dr. Georges Saade is a good example of democracy in action as he works to better the lives of all Lebanese. Civil society groups like Rotary Club Lebanon are also working to make Lebanon a healthier place to live and breathe. In the end, the people of Lebanon are the ones who will bring about change and make Lebanon a truly free society. It starts with the little things, like respecting those around you. But maybe that's not so little...

Read more about the no smoking cause at our earlier post here.

La la links

Oscar the Grouch trashes Fox News.


Funny, but is it really necessary on a children’s show?

This might only be of interest to language geeks – particularly those who’ve studied Arabic. It certainly makes sense and goes along with what I’ve been saying – that “Arabic” is not a language. It’s a series of languages and the only reason that “Lebanese,” “Egyptian,” “Jordanian,” etc. do not exist as a language is because of the Arab nationalism idea leftover from the Nasser age.

Last week’s massacre at Fort Hood was not the first time it happened there. In 1991, George Hennard killed 23 people before killing himself. Wait – George Hennard? That doesn’t sound like a Muslim name!

A cause liberals and conservatives can get (and are getting) together on. Break down the banks!

Republicans hate women? Who knew?

Shouldn’t this be headlines? 124 people are dead, and it’s buried in the Twitterverse?

I found it odd that an English newspaper would write so much about US health care reform, as it’s one issue that has no direct bearing on the rest of the world. Indirectly, maybe. Because liberals are going to do their best to fight against those Democrats who voted against the bill. I’ll be one of them. It will be stupakendous to see them go down to defeat in the primaries.

That being said, the Stupak amendment doesn’t matter as much as it’s outspoken critics think it does. We need this reform to pass, and it won’t happen without compromise.

I mean, why would so-called progressives prefer no health care reform to a compromise bill with no federal funding for abortion language? Pass the bill, work to change the bad parts later.

Or does it matter?

Flailin' Palin sees US coin design conspiracy. Where does she get this stuff?

Speaking of nutjobs.

Why does rightwing hatred still stun me?

Westboro Baptists used to be so extreme. Now they seem no different than teabaggers.

Support the Troops!™

The Liberal Media™

Really tired of the Che/Lenin/Satan rhetoric from the right while St. Ronnie and St. W get a free pass.

Too big to fail, too big to exist. Awesome. And from a socialist, nonetheless.

Larkin belongs in the Hall.

Paul Krugman is the most sane man in America.

If the woman had told the man that his fascist religion was wrong, he would have been pissed off and Faux News would not touch the story about her being fired.

Another reason liberals are better.

Jesus wept.

Jesus smiled.

Can we help them out?

Socialism!

Recommendations for Lebanon's New Government

Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri submitted a thirty-member Cabinet line-up to the President of the Lebanese Republic today. The new government will now prepare a policy statement to be presented to the Parliament for a vote-of-confidence. Safadi Foundation USA believes the formation of a Cabinet in Lebanon presents an opportunity to advance Lebanon's development and build support for state institutions that will ensure Lebanon's true independence and sovereignty. "The Lebanese parliament should immediately assert its role as a center for national debate and dialogue and begin to constructively engage youth and civil society in an effort to abolish confessionalism, accelerate administrative decentralization and spread a culture of peace in accordance with the Taif Accord," said Lara Alameh, Executive Director of Safadi Foundation USA. Reforms are necessary to ensure Lebanon's independence so that it is not vulnerable to external influence and regional relationships.

The following benchmarks outline recommendations for the Government of Lebanon in the areas of political reform, civil society and education. The donor community should support these reforms for a more sustainable development in Lebanon:

Political Reform

Electoral Law: In light of recent parliamentary elections and the upcoming municipal elections, the government of Lebanon should give new life to the establishment of a revised electoral law that includes additional reforms not yet passed. Specifically, the President should designate an independent and nonpartisan Committee to reaffirm the findings of the Boutros Commission and outline a set of recommendations for parliament to implement in advance of the 2010 municipal elections.

Decentralization: The Government of Lebanon is working with local and regional councils to draft a decentralization law to be debated and passed by Parliament. The Government of Lebanon should request assistance and resources from the donor community to help draft a modern decentralization law that would be adopted for the Lebanese case and would not threaten any of its communities. Additionally, donors should work with current municipalities to provide them with technical and infrastructure related assistance needed to implement administrative reforms. A certain percentage of budget support to the Government of Lebanon should be based on conditionalities to disburse that aid to the municipalities.

Capacity Building: Lebanon's ministries face serious governance challenges. Most positions reflect the confessional design of Lebanon's political institutions and acute levels of patronage. The donor community should help the government of Lebanon build a culture based on meritocracy through expanding training and technical support programs for individual Ministries. These programs will help raise the quality and knowledge of people within the government. Programs should include increased pay for public sector positions, which are approximately sixty percent less than private sector positions. Donor countries should coordinate their efforts to sponsor reform in Ministries that demonstrate leadership at the Director General and/or Ministerial level.

Civil Society

Donor Assistance: Currently, mechanisms for oversight of donor funding in Lebanon are limited. The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) and the High Relief Committee (HRC) are not long-term solutions to addressing Lebanon's development needs as they do not address Lebanon's national needs in a comprehensive manner. Oversight of all donor assistance in Lebanon needs to be expanded to include appropriate parliamentary committees, local and regional representatives and increased community participation. The Government of Lebanon should establish a Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in order to coordinate donor assistance and ensure that donor projects are in line with national strategies.

Capacity Building: Lebanon has many registered NGOs from smaller towns and villages who do not benefit from international donor funding because they do not yet have the technical know-how or the support of a donor network to apply. Larger Lebanese NGOs should use their experience and expertise to reach out to smaller NGOs and form partnerships to help them build their capacities.

Education

Youth: Lebanese youth face high rates of unemployment, violence, school dropout, delinquency, and emigration. These youth should be taught skills to enhance their job prospects such as training in entrepreneurship, English language, and information technology. In addition, peace-building programs that promote tolerance and cross-confessional dialogue should continue to be implemented. The Government of Lebanon should formulate economic policies that focus on job creation for youth and encourage college graduates to remain in the country.

Civic Participation: The political system and public administration are over centralized, mostly corrupt, and inefficient; the lack of meritocracy has limited citizen participation, particularly of youth. Civic Education that features concepts of citizenship, good governance, and public participation in the democratic process should be standardized in all schools. Enhancing citizen participation on a municipal and regional level will help break down traditional barriers and improve the efficiency and authority of the central government throughout the country. Citizen awareness campaigns should continue to be implemented at the local level.

Environment: Lebanon faces severe environmental issues ranging from desertification and clean water to the endangerment of the famed cedars. These issues transcend confessional lines and if they are not solved can lead to future conflict. Civil society and local and national governments should promote public awareness about the consequences of poor environmental policies and practices.

Safadi Foundation USA is a non-partisan registered 501 (c) (3) public charitable tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting a national and strategic framework for Lebanon's development.

We...have...liftoff...

I found it interesting the way news organizations across the globe wrote headlines about Lebanese politicians finally agreeing to a cabinet formation. Some headlines (in no particular order):

Associated Press: Rival Lebanon factions agree on unity government

AFP: Lebanon's Hariri to announce new govt

Voice of America: Lebanon Opposition Agrees to Unity Government

Tayyar: Bassil meets Hariri to convey opposition's approval of government lineup

Jerusalem Post: Lebanon: Factions agree on unity gov't

Xinhua: Reports: Lebanon's new cabinet to be formed in two days

Daily Star: Cabinet formation expected within next 48 hours

The National: Hizbollah agrees to cabinet proposals

Journal of Turkish Weekly: Lebanon Opposition Agrees To Unity Government

Naharnet: Suleiman: Government a 'Lebanese Product' for the First Time

RTTNews: Hezbollah Ends Political Impasse In Lebanon By Agreeing To Join Unity Government

Islam Online: Lebanon Opposition Okays Unity Govt

Euronews: Lebanon opposition agrees to form government

Earth Times: Lebanon's rival factions agree on national unity cabinet - sources

Press TV: Lebanon's Hariri set to announce new govt

ABC News: Lebanon Set to Form Government With Hezbollah: Hezbollah Is Listed as a Terror Organization by Washington

BBC: Lebanon government accord reached

Reuters: Opposition to join Lebanese coalition

There are those who emphasize "unity," those who make a point to say "opposition agrees," and those who say it was Hizbollah's fault it took so long. Not one of them mentions Aoun.

I found nothing in the New York Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, Spiegel, CNN, etc. Maybe they just don't want to report something that might not happen? After all, there is this: Cabinet Policy Statement New Point of Contention As a great New York Yankees catcher once said, "It's deja vu all over again."

Apologies for not covering the papers in Arabic - my Arabic is really bad and takes me quite a long time to read it. Maybe I'll try to focus on it later?

Ich bin ein jelly donut

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner."

-John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963

I remember it vividly. It was 11/9/89. 11/9, a reverse of 9/11, and what had happened on that day was the reverse, too.

I first stepped into the city of Berlin on the eighth anniversary of that day, and it seemed like the celebration had never stopped. In 1997, Berlin held the promise of the future in its cranes and crania. The city looked much like Beirut does today and sounded much the same, too, a symphony of jackhammers and big yellow machines and clanging steel. Most of all, though, I remember the energy - it felt like the future, like possibility, like...Hope.

I was 12 years old when I watched people with sledgehammers breaking up a wall that had symbolized a global division and had been responsible for so many ruined lives, so many heartbreaks, so many deaths. In 1989 I saw that wall fall down through the miracle of television, a wall that had kept prosperity and humanity out, a prison wall, a tragedy. The wall fell and the cranes went up, cranes that would not leave a picture frame, cranes that would start the rebuilding process, that would give back Berlin its heart.

I remember it all even if I didn't understand it at the time. In school we had this good thing called democracy and this other, evil thing called communism, and that was the world and there was no other way to look at it. Then suddenly the definition of the world no longer defined it and people were proclaiming the "End of History" and other ridiculous notions and a lot of peacocks ruffled their feathers and couldn't keep their beaks shut about triumph and victory and blah, blah, blah. What was a kid to do except either ignore it or try to find out about the world and what was going to happen to it now that all the world's problems had been solved?

Indeed, it did feel like a victory of sorts. Back then cable news reported news instead of balloon boys. Back then my twelve year old eyes and heart knew this was something that was changing history. I didn't know why or how, but you could just feel it. The joy and unity people felt in seeing those Berliners dancing on top of concrete and graffiti was shared by everyone (aside from those Soviet fat cats who benefited from imprisoning a city and much of the globe for all those years.) There was a certain energy in the air that made it feel like that illusion the English language called "peace" was possible across the rest of the world.

Eight years later, I found myself getting off a train at the Zoo Station, a twenty year old university student carrying that same optimism for the world that had been born all those years earlier. (Whether that optimism and idealism was inspired by divinity or insanity has not yet been determined.) I had yet to notice the world's optimism was slipping, and it was tough to feel anything but awe and amazement as a city was rebuilding itself.

Another twelve years have passed since the first time I set foot in Berlin. The world is a vastly different place, and ominous clouds have replaced the sunshine of hope that could be felt in the last days of the twentieth century. When once the promise of peace graced us with its presence, now, "times of uncertainty" has become a cliche phrase.

BBC posted images of separation walls that still exist in the world, walls built after we should have learned our lesson.

Curious, I asked Lebanese Twitterers if there were any walls in Lebanon which divided the different communities. A couple of interesting responses:

@MXML: plenty of psychological walls, that's for sure.

@srichani: imaginary walls btw different sects, political affiliations, social classes, ethnicities.

I imagine psychological walls are far more difficult to take down.

Today, a group of Palestinian youth knocked down a section of the Israel Wall.



Their retreat and the bullet trails were nothing like those iconic images of sledgehammers and dancing on top of graffiti covered concrete. Yet - there is a tiny victory in the defiance of these youth, a little of the spirit of Berlin, some of the hope.

That's enough to keep fighting for the future.

We are all Berliners. We are all Palestinians. We are all Earthians. Humans. And we all deserve the freedom that we watched unfold before our eyes on that blessed day in 1989 - 11/9, or as it's written outside of America, 9/11. That's the 9/11 that should shape our world.

This will be published on November 9 on Developing Lebanon.

How long must we sing this song?

The human voice, a product of the lungs, the vocal folds within the larynx, and the articulators, a sort of sound machine, if you will. A radio without radio waves. A powerful weapon.

Then there's the brain part of it, that squishy mass of cells in a human head that somehow manages to produce thought (in some people) and sounds that represent objects and concepts, that great Babel of a thing we call language.

For several months now, an Iranian people fed up with the abuses of an oppressive regime have fought back with their voices.



The amazing thing about what's happening in Iran right now is that the people have kept it up. I can only imagine what it is like to hear the calls of "Allahu Akbar" ringing out from the rooftops night after night. There must be a divine presence in those voices, something felt deep within the soul, the proverbial good lashing out at evil. They have such strength and resilience to have lasted so long, to have not given up. Powerful thing, that Hope. Change can only come with patience and perseverance.

Change doesn't happen by complaining about something and then sitting around waiting for someone else to do something about it. Change is the result of action, of hardwork, of sacrifice. A protest chant can be a song of freedom. In countries like Iran, these songs of freedom are all they have.

Even in Iran, civil society works to bring about change, albeit with very tough restrictions. In places like Lebanon, civil society is much freer to work towards reform. Indeed, in many cases, civil society has replaced government in providing services that in other countries a government would provide. Civil society organizations are working with donor organizations to develop water maintenance systems, to clean up waste, and to fight forest fires, for example.

How long can they continue to do this without a government? No one knows. It's starting to feel like government isn't really necessary, like the Lebanese people can just go about their daily lives while the politicians squabble in their palaces. Much better to have squabbling politicians than a government that murders its own people, right?

Well, yes. But squabbling politicians have too often in history caused death and destruction.

People are talking about how Lebanon has been at peace for too long, that they are due for another conflict. They point to an arms shipment destined for Hezbollah and an increasing "paranoia" that has put Hezbollah on high alert. Beirut's prosperity masks the economic problems of the rest of the country - the high youth unemployment, the poverty, the lack of opportunity. These things cause unrest. These things cause conflict. Lebanon needs a government. (And Hezbollah needs to publicly come out with one English spelling if they insist on being in the news all the time.)

Which brings me back to the human voice, Lebanese version, a voice that sings in three languages. Once, it gathered at Martyr's Square, 800,000 strong, about a quarter of the country. I found this really cool panorama photo of it here. Powerful stuff there, to see all of those Sunnis, Druze, and Christians united. Seems to me the politicians have forgotten about the PEOPLE of Lebanon. Maybe it's time to use some voices to remind them.

Ghassan Karam from blog Rational Republic says this on Qifa Nabki's post about Aoun controlling the political weather:

I don’t expect the Lebanese “sheeple” to change anytime soon but the apathy and total inactivity is no less than a “scarlet letter” that we wear with pride. How , for the love of God or whatever you believe in, do we have the right to complain about an outcome and yet we refuse to make any effort to change it. The Lebanese “citizen” must be one of the least deserving of a responsible government of any people in the world but the sad thing is that we do not know it. We love to pretend that we are modern, educated, well informed, responsible and democratic when in fact we are just the opposite of each of the above. Healing starts by accepting reality and stopping the denial. A people get the government that they deserve.

Wouldn't it be grand to see a crowd at Martyr's Square - Sunnis, Shia, Christians, Druze - singing their protest songs to those who continue to block a government formation, see that sea of red, white, and green, feel the the change that Lebanon so desperately needs - unity?

Oh, sometimes being an idealist can be so...disillusioning. But hey, if idealists had never succeeded in the history of humanity, we'd all still be living in caves and eating raw meat and dying by age thirty.

Still, how long must we sing this song?

U2 - New Music - More Music Videos

Fun Raising

Maya Zankoul of Amalgam fame and others have started a toy drive for Christmas called Fun Raising to benefit Lebanese children.

Please hop on over to the website to find out more.

Support the troops!™

Venture capitalists investing in green again.

Reverend Billy makes the news (and got a decent showing on election day).

Who cares what happens to a person after they’re born? Women shouldn’t be drinking the devil’s drink anyway, right?

There’s a special place in hell for teabaggers. And for the GOPs who have allowed them to take over their party.

Perspective on the shooting at Fort Hood. If more people would actually serve in the military, they'd understand how bad (and sometimes violent) harassment can be and how very little is done to stop it. They'd also know that psychological illness is still mostly treated as a "weakness" and there isn't much done to help those who need treatment, even if there are problems that are recognized. Often, psych patients are called liars by those who are supposed to treat them, because psych is viewed as a "way to get out" of the military.

The guy snapped. The fact that the wingnut media is making this out to be a Muslim thing is disgusting. Then again, the right rarely gets off their butts to serve their country, so how would they know what it's like?

Srsly, what is wrong with this country? Why do people think it’s ok to lie and involve emergency crews for attention?

I saw elephant in the title and thought it was a story from India, not Oklahoma.

A pro-net neutrality column in the Wall Street Journal. There have been a great number of pro-business, pro-net neutrality statements of late. Not, of course, from the US Chamber of Evil, because, you know, those who stand to benefit from controlling the internet – the telecoms – feed Tom Donohue’s bank account.

Power of the People

Democracy. Derived from the Greek words δῆμος (dêmos) "people" and κράτος (krátos) "power." What an odd race we are, us humans, to make such a simple concept so needlessly complicated. Power of the people. Control over our own lives. Except for this group and that group. No votes for you! No representation for you! You can only vote for a Christian, and you, a Muslim!

Today is Election Day in the United States. The US Constitution mandates that Election Day be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but the way the federal system works makes odd numbered years rather dull, or in political terms "use three or four electoral races in the country and pretend the outcomes will predict what will happen in the next year." As someone with a degree in Political Science, I am something of a political junkie, which can be frustrating, depressing, and disillusioning at times.

See, democracy is not about getting everything you want. It's about compromise. Now, I wasn't around in 1789 when the founders of this country drafted the US Constitution and then went about holding elections and all, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as toxic as today's electoral races seem to be. Case in point - one of the most watched election races today is a special election for the NY-23 congressional district. Why? Because a form of rightwing extremism has so polluted one of the two parties in this country that the actual candidate for that party was trashed by those deeming her too "moderate," and she ended up dropping out of the race at the last minute. So the race is between a third party candidate whose ideology is more in line with the extremists than not and a member of the other party, a party which hasn't won that seat for 140 years.

Alright, I've waded too far into the realm politique and probably should pull back a bit. My point is that in some regards, the US has gotten to the point where compromise is akin to treason. What is happening now, what has been happening for a decade or two or even three is that the system has shown cracks. Allegations of voter fraud abound - some based on evidence, most based on wild paranoia - and today, in NY-23, supporters of the extremist candidate are violating electioneering laws and trying to intimidate voters who don't agree with their narrow world views.

Which reminds me of Lebanon. Because compromise seems to be a dirty word in Lebanese politics. What Lebanon has is not democracy. Sure, there are votes and ballots (if you can call them that) and all that, but the only institutions in the country are confessional groups who won't put the quasi-democratically elected government together because what is compromise but a sign of weakness, right?

Then I started thinking about our electoral problems here in the US and I thought, it isn't as bad as it seems (or as the media makes it out to be). I only wish that Americans would stop taking their democracy for granted, because when you look at a country like Lebanon (or worse - Egypt), and you see the people thirsting for real freedom and democracy and not getting it, not getting their human rights, well, it should make a person with a soul want to embrace what they have. The cracks are nothing. They can be repaired as long as we do something about it and not wait for the levee to break. But Lebanon? The levee breaks, and still politicians are squabbling over - what do they even squabble over? - while they're all drowning in the sea that has engulfed them.

It's these people who give democracy a bad name, who have created capital D Democracy, ideology masked as real democracy or used to dismiss real democracy. These are the ones who drag democracy through the miry clay, use it to promote their own political agendas, while real people suffer and real people die. Capital D Democracy is not democracy.

Democracy is a fundamental human right. It's like a gift. Control over our lives, our destinies. But it can be used and abused and we as human beings are the ones who are tasked to protect it from those who seek to destroy it. It's a tough job, it really is, but human beings haven't survived for 10,000 years (or whatever it is) because they are incapable of progress. We are capable of organization, of action, and we see it everyday in the projects and activities of civil society. Civil society is the backbone, the heart, the very essence of democracy.

Like those Greeks told us, we survive because someone managed to shut Pandora's box in time to save Hope.