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

961

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.