Citizen Lebanon

With support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the seven partner organizations of Citizen Lebanon have engaged more than 7,000 citizens across the country in the last 18 months. Through intensive training of 67 community facilitators, NDI and its partners have supported community activists in 400 municipalities to hold discussion and debate groups. Many of these groups have evolved into "action groups" that receive training and guidance on advocacy techniques with the ultimate goal of enabling participants to work with other citizens, civic organizations, and government officials to address common problems for the benefit of their communities.

A very worthwhile program. Check it out in a municipality near you!

Conversation with a taxi driver

Me: Sodeco Square, please.

Taxi driver: Sodeco?

Me: Yes.

(We drive.)

(Later...)

Taxi driver: Muthaf? (Museum?)

Me: No, Sodeco Square.

Taxi driver: Sodeco?

Me: Yes, Sodeco.

Taxi driver: Wayn fi Sodeco? (Where in Sodeco?)

Me: Just Sodeco. Binayat fi Sodeco. (A building on Sodeco.)

Taxi driver: Muthaf? Muthaf watani? (National Museum?)

Me: No, Sodeco.

Taxi driver (after we are almost at the museum): Muthaf.

Me: Not muthaf, Sodeco.

(Then he tells me I have to walk back the way we just came or get another taxi. It was a ten minute walk. By some miracle, I was not late to my meeting. If he was going to make me walk, he could have just dropped me off at the corner instead of driving a ten minute walk away from my destination. Sodeco Square is a well-known area in Beirut. I got out without paying. For all the times I've been ripped off by cab drivers here, why should I pay when I he made me walk to my destination?)

I see

I can see three churches and two mosques from my office window. I see enormous cranes erecting new high rises next to crumbling, bullet-riddled buildings. I see Roman ruins, Beirut ruins, and towering skyscrapers scintillating under the Mediterranean sun. I see the port where massive ships carrying goods from overseas come to dock. I see banks and satellite dishes and plants growing on top of buildings because there is no soil on the ground for them to grow. I see the reconstructed Ottoman building that houses the Prime Ministry and five star hotels and far too many cars.

But I should be at the beach.

iLebanon

It was like some exclusive place in Soho back when Soho was cool, but there was an ocean between it and New York, a tumultuous ocean full of the wrath of winter. Concrete ceilings, water spots, black walls that probably receive a regular dose of paint, and art, much art, a red-faced Warhol and Superman Obama and marvel comics on canvas, an explosion of popart was right there on the walls of a warehouse bar in Beirut on a winter's Friday night.

The future of Lebanon socialized inside those walls, a mix of programmers, bloggers, photographers, musicians, social entrepreneurs, Twitterers, and civil society activists, all of them recognizing that in natural resourceless Lebanon, human resources are the way to progress, building a knowledge society through technology and ideas.

They called it Geekfest.

They had come out from behind computer screens to prove they are real, that they aren't just avatars but living human beings whose ideas are as real as they are. Lebanon could be a leader in tech, but its telecommunications infrastructure prevents it from being so. Instead, tech investment goes to Amman, and young Lebanese are left in the dark. Will the new government make good on his promise to bring Lebanon into the twenty-first century, or will corruption and ineptitude keep these "geeks" mired in the past, their ideas fading with each advance made by the world around them?

There are so many great initiatives in Lebanon, so many skilled developers and talented individuals, and most of them attended Geekfest at Art Lounge on Friday night. I wish them luck in their endeavors and hope we develop long lasting partnerships for the betterment of Lebanon's civil society.

SMEX post on Geekfest.

Fake Plastic Souks post.

fadynammour photos

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I'm already getting sucked in.

So what are you seeing here? Well, here we go:

Memorial rally for Prime Minister Hariri's assassination. It's been five years now. Seems like an eternity.

He's not Superman. Popart exhibition at Art Lounge.

King Elvis - if you click on the image you will be able to see the bobblehead Elvis on the dashboard.

A can of Seven Up - I find the logo clever - what looks like a 7 actually says up, and what would be up actually says seven. From right to left, of course.

Down the road along the sea - rich people have stolen both a view of the sea and the sun. These towering skyscrapers and what will be new seaside developments (for wealthy gulfies) will also steal the air from the people, as they are blocking the sea which has had some effect on cleaning up the pollution that plagues Beirut. Look for increases in asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory related infections.

Where my office is - no, not the bullet-riddled building on the right.

Racism in Beirut. Made in Germany. No one ever accused the Germans of not being racist.

Orange trees in front of a house. They picked them the next day.

Wall art in a restaurant.

Hizbollah poster.

Friday night in Cybeirut

Big tech event tonight in Cybeirut, Lebanon - Geekfest Beirut, starting at 8:30pm at Art Lounge.

Join the techies of Lebanon in what has been billed as "a social networking event UNORGANIZED for geeks, aspiring geeks and people who think that they might have a little geek in them!"

The mission? "To bring geeks together to exchange ideas, skills, stories and generally have some geeky fun."

In addition to the website, Geekfest Beirut is on Facebook and Twitter.

Lots of things going on, from presentations on all things tech to photography exhibits and some good old fashioned socializing and networking.

The agenda:

The Quality of Disintermediation
A millennium of disintermediation, how technology is challenging the world to change
Alexander McNabb

Creative Commons
Naeema Zarif, Maya Zankoul

CEDRO Sustainability projects in Lebanon
Elie Abou Jaoudeh, CEDRO, UNDP

Our Relationship with Information

How information has evolved and its effect on personal self-expression and business communication.
Ayman Itani, Telephone.com, LAU

The Potential of Mobile Applications

Elie Haddad, Ayna Corporation

What the F’UX?
User experience presentation. Using an everyday object to reflect the online UX and a simple guide to build a good ux.
George El Khabbaz, Cleartag

For more information, visit the Geekfest Beirut website.

Roy G. Biv on the Med

Today as I was type, type, typing away on a document aiming to help civil society in Lebanon, this rainbow appeared above the Mediterranean in full glory. It was a majestic thing, a miracle of science and nature, and I thought about all of the things a rainbow has come to symbolize to human beings. To Noah, a figure in each of the three Abrahamic faiths, the rainbow was God's promise to never again destroy the Earth. To Irish-Americans, if you go to the end of a rainbow, you'll find a little leprechaun and a big pot of gold to make all of your dreams come true, and if you're Polish, it's angels who leave the gold.

Speaking of angels, one civil society organization that operates in Lebanon takes as its name this light refracting phenomenon. Arc en ciel is celebrating its 25th anniversary of helping disadvantaged people. They help market agricultural products, improve the environment, and develop ecotourism in Lebanon, among other very worthwhile activities. They operate in many places across Lebanon. I encourage you to check them out.

Kaboom goes the tolerance

Earlier in the day, it was sort of raining, which produced an amazing rainbow over the sea. Now it is a bit brighter and there are some guys outside cutting up the street with some type of machine. One guy is doing the pushing while another stands with a jug of water, which he periodically pours on the machine to put out the flames it shoots out. The machine is running on gas. A gas can sits not too far from them. Cars are dashing and prancing by them - I wonder if their drivers even notice the fire.

I've been wrestling a bit with my biases since I've arrived, and I can't figure out why I have them. I never felt the need to say "why do they do it this way?" in the past, but most of my travel experience has been in the West, with only brief stints in Cairo, Jordan, and Istanbul. Perhaps since I've spent a few weeks in Lebanon (two last summer, one so far on this trip) I've had more time to notice things I deem "problems." Perhaps it's because Beirut seems like a Western city from appearances and I assume they have Western views on safety. Perhaps as I've grown older, I've become less tolerant of cultural differences.

Or perhaps this really is just stupid.

Come on, you're using a gas-powered machine that's spitting out flames and think pouring water on it is going to stop it from exploding before you finish cutting up the street?

You might want to get to the end of this rainbow and talk to the leprechaun if you're gonna keep doing it this way.

Everything's gonna change our world across the Twitterverse

Last night, I had the good fortune of attending an open house for Social Media Exchange here in Beirut. There, I met real life people with whom I've previously had only online contact, whether it was through Twitter or email.

It's funny how you can instantly connect with people who live an ocean away.

I think Lebanon really has something here. Through technology, young people are coming together and shaping their own view of what the future of Lebanon should be (too bad they can't do it with a decent internet connection...) In Beirut, Twitter has brought together tech types in a way that could never have happened ten years ago. Through "Tweetups," young Lebanese get together to talk about tech, complain about Lebanon's slow internet, and just socialize and enjoy each other's company. True, Tweetups happen in other parts of the world, but not with the same frequency and intensity as they happen here. Friendships are forged, new projects develop, and activities have expanded beyond the Twitterverse. This weekend in Faraya, there is a snow Tweetup at a ski resort.

Imagine if individuals can get together like this what organizations can do with such a simple tool as Twitter. Instead of working individually, organizations can learn about each other's activities and work together to tackle a common problem, whether it be computer illiteracy, poverty, or the corruption in the telecoms sector that is to blame for the poor internet infrastructure in Lebanon.

If you are a civil society organization, sign up for an account at Twitter.com! Make sure you use your organization's name, and if you have one, use your logo as your avatar. Find a third party application like Echofon or Tweetdeck to facilitate the use of Twitter, and start tweeting about your projects!

You can follow us on Twitter at @SafadiUSA.

Floating on

It's been rainy and sunny at the same time all day and a little chilly, especially with the wind gusts. Everyone here thinks it's so cold and I laugh, the same way I laugh at people from the South or California who think fifty degrees in winter is cold. I've heard Jerusalem might get a dusting of snow after midnight, which might also hit here, but that was on Twitter so who knows if it will really happen. Even if it does it will be melted and warmed up enough to not feel like winter by the time I get up. The humidity is really something.

The Med's pretty rough today - white caps are aplenty. It sort of looks like a river good for whitewater rafting, if you can ignore that it stretches to the horizon...and now...the storm clouds are coming in...a ship is coming into port (how the heck do those things float?)...Beirut darkens...and the sea disappears.

But a few minutes later, it returns, and another ship, this one leaving Beirut, appears from beneath the nothingness. For where? What does it carry? Lebanese oranges? Beiruti bananas? Hizbollah drugs and weapons?

The gray has already lifted, revealing patches of blue that make the Mediterranean what it is, a way of life, the color of the soul. Fluffy white clouds laced with the yellow tint of evening follow what had once been darkness. In twenty minutes, a storm was here, then gone, leaving behind the sound of tires splashing through puddles, and what puddles there are, like in any old town, like in Washington, USA, turning the streets into rivers, and mud comes from seemingly nowhere to be suddenly everywhere.

Strengthening the Role of Women in the Public Sphere

Moderating Extremism: Lebanese Leaders’ Perspectives

The Institute for Inclusive Security hosted a delegation of women from Lebanon in Washington, DC as part of their 2010 Colloquium. The women represent a cross-section of Lebanese society (see below for a list of the women).

The delegation met with a variety of think tanks and US policy makers, including Safadi Foundation USA. The delegation emphasized the need to increase female participation in the public sphere. While Lebanon appears to be a very free society on a superficial level, there are many barriers women must work through to obtain equality with their male counterparts. These barriers include patriarchy, confessionalism and cultural limitations imposed by religious clerics. In fact, Lebanon has one of the lowest percentages of women in policy or decision-level making positions. Currently, there are four women out of 128 parliamentarians and 2 female Cabinet-level Ministers out of a total of 30. The women that are present in public life in Lebanon have strong familial ties to male sectarian leaders with strong financial backing. What this shows is that women with strong financial resources and elite family connections are successful in making it to public office. However, there are many other women who are not able to share the same success based on merit alone due to institutional discrimination.

What these women are fighting for is to ensure that women’s rights are being accorded to them based on their national citizenship and not their sect and/or family status. With the assistance of Hunt Alternatives Fund, these women are working to strengthen their advocacy skills through coalition building, training and exchange programs, and technical advice. The delegation announced a set of recommendations specific to advancing the role of women in democracy and peacebuilding in Lebanese society. The recommendations can be viewed in their entirety at: http://www.huntalternatives.org/download/1918_new_solutions_for_moderating_extremism_lebanon.pdf

Safadi Foundation USA commends these women and will continue to seek ways to mobilize support for strengthening Lebanese civil society.

Participants:

Wafa Abed, President, Institute of Progressive Women Union;
May Akl, Foreign Press Secretary for MP Michel Aoun;
Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, Director, Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University;
Elissar Douaihy, Training and Mobilization Coordinator, Women Empowerment: Peaceful Action for Security and Stability (WEPASS);
Claudia Abi Nader, Professor, Military Academy; and
Lamia Osseiran, Vice president, Lebanese Council of Women.

Some Beirut

A few random photos: Roman columns downtown; snow and palm trees on Bliss Street; new mosque and bombed out mall; bombed out church; orange tree ready to eat; generators for when the electricity is out.

I suppose I should write something about why I took each of these photos, but that's just it - I don't know why. I only know that they caught my eye for being so typically Beirut, the kind of life crammed into a situation type of thing that you don't get in too many places on this planet. I mean, sure, there are Roman columns all over the place in so many different countries. But these columns, well, they were discovered after the Beirutis bombed whatever was on top of them out of existence, and they stand next to a T.G.I.Fridays in a downtown rebuilt from the ground up after it was leveled during a 15 year war.

And these snow-covered mountains? They're located about an hour away from palm trees. Lebanon is one of the few places on Earth where you can ski in full view of the sea and go to the beach on the same day.

Bliss Street is named after Daniel Bliss, the founder of the American University of Beirut, which is, obviously, located on Bliss Street, which is where I was standing when I took this picture. Funny, but in July, you couldn't see the mountains from this street through all the haze, so when I was on this street, looking at the snow, I didn't realize where I was.

And where else are you going to find the remains of a shopping center, crying for a bulldozer, near a shiny newish mosque where an assassinated prime minister who rebuilt a city lays in rest?

(Maybe it's not a shopping center - someone told me it was, and there is a parking lot beneath it that you can no longer get to. It's a strange shape, anyway.)
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A bombed out church, next to a highway, that I walk by every day on my way to the office. This corpse of a church is located across from the corpse of a shopping mall down the street from the newish mosque.

I wonder why it hasn't been rebuilt when so many other churches have been. It has trees growing in it. Someone hung a banner on it advertising some Christmas charity, so it isn't totally ignored. Perhaps they just decided to build a brand new church somewhere.

Perhaps the war made them give up God.

Some people have maple trees in their yards. Some have oak trees. Some have elms, hickories, and pines. In Lebanon, lucky people get to have orange trees. How tough it is to walk by and not pick one!

I love this building, too. They have such great architecture, Italian style. Still need some paint, though, and the buildings are covered with the sludge of pollution. (There's something to be said for government regulation of emissions.)

And lastly, the generators, ahh, the generators, the only way you get to have electricity 24 hours a day. Odd for a city that seems so cosmopolitan.

An interesting social media initiative by...the Lebanese government?

That's right! The Lebanese government has rocketed into the Twitterverse with a new initiative @AskLEBGov. Have a question for the government? Ask away!

AskLEBGov says " Ask the Lebanese Government and help others ask. Leading e-Diplomacy Initiative to accounting & querying the Lebanese government through social media."

Prime Minister Hariri, too, has a team on Twitter, @PMHariri.

A response on social media

The following is a comment on our post on the use of technology by civil society organizations in Lebanon by the folks at Social Media Exchange. It is a good response and is useful knowledge for those outside of Lebanon who don't understand the infrastructure issues here.

I appreciate the mention of our work in Lebanon. It’s true, we’re trying hard to help civil society take advantage of what technology has to offer, and at the same time caution against thinking of technology as a solution in itself. As a new organization that has relied almost exclusively so far on project grants, we also understand the challenges that NGOs face with regard to resources, continuity of programming, and sustainability. But it’s not all their/our fault.

Let’s not forget that the Lebanese government hasn’t done much to improve the accessibility of the internet, either in terms of cost or infrastructure. When it takes overnight to upload a video, is it any wonder that NGOs don’t see the value of beginning to explore the possibilities of the web? Our internet connection—the fastest available at 2.3 Mbps—costs us $200/month, and that’s just for 8GB of upload or download. Every additional GB is $10.

That said, it’s true that may NGOs have yet to realize the importance, not just of the web, in general, but of strategic communications plans in particular. This is partly owed to the fact that extra-internet media here are very politicized. So it will take a while for civil society, journalists, and others to develop a new media literacy and internalize the possibilities so that they can use these new tools strategically to suit their needs and, we hope, in defense of the public interest.

We’ve also struggled to keep our website updated, and initially used a content management system (CMS) that was too complex for our needs. As a result, our website and blog often needed to be updated. My one best piece of advice that I’m giving these days: Don’t hire a web developer to build a website from scratch for you. Ask them to guide you through the selection of an open-source (free and customizable) CMS like Wordpress, Drupal, or Joomla. If they won’t do it, find a new developer (we can help with that). If you want a social network, check out Ning or Crabgrass. There’s really no need to pay for the creation of this infrastructure. Save your money for the person you’ll need to maintain the site and keep the content fresh. And remember, that person has to like technology. Get them some training, which is one of the things we do at SMEX.

In the past year, we’ve seen an amazing leap of awareness of the web and what it can do for civil society projects in Lebanon. That will only improve and expand as time goes on—as long as we don’t slide backwards in other ways, over which we may or may not have control.

You can find SMEX online here.

Ahh, the life...

I've never even had an office with a window and now I get this view?

So I finally will have regular internet access from now on, at least access that doesn't require effort like getting in an elevator and going downstairs. But oh, is it tough to focus when I can just stare out at the Mediterranean.

I decided I am going to walk to the office every day (unless it's raining, and maybe even then.) It is only a half hour, and I only half to dash across one crazy street if I cut through the government area, which will probably require me getting my bag checked every morning. Fine with me if it means being safe. The guard was really nice about it this morning, even apologized.

(Boy, is this internet connection is sloooooooooooo ooooooooooo oooooooooow. Perhaps I won't post photos here as much as I'd like. Been trying to upload a second photo for ten minutes now.)

Here's a church next to a mosque, a palm tree at AUB, a violation of copyright, and some palm trees on top of a building. I'll post more pics when my patience refills.