When I heard about the deployment of 4G in Lebanon, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, who wouldn’t want a blazing fast internet connection on his phone? On the other I was perplexed; do we even have the bandwidth infrastructure to support this? It felt wrong and surrealistic, but in a way it was a very Lebanese thing to do.

Glamor before substance

In Lebanon, the Ferrari always comes before the highway. The Ferrari is the flashy products that everyone is immediately impressed by. The highway is the unglamorous backend, the infrastructure that requires long-term planning, painstaking maintenance and incremental upgrades, the infrastructure without which a Ferrari can’t really shine.

But everywhere we look in Lebanon, we see Ferraris but no highways:

• We have tablets in schools, but we still don’t have electricity, adequate classrooms or textbooks.
• We have democracy and voting, but we don’t have real civic institutions, independent media and rule of law to make it work.
• Women have all the trappings of liberation without any of the real, actual empowerment in law.

In Lebanon, everyone loves the Ferrari and nobody wants anything to do with the highway. Ministers love to show off the ferrari because it’s less work and it’s immediate proof that they have achieved something. The population loves the Ferrari because it can be used as shorthand for progress, a nice little trick we do to tell the rest of world that Lebanon is actually a modern place.

Revenge of the Highway

Today the highway is fighting back. Not even the sexiness of the Ferrari can hide the complete ugliness that is our highways. The roads are all choked with traffic and the rain literally cut off electricity from the entire country. Lying to one’s self can only go so far, and it won’t take long before people realize that 4G is worthless if it doesn’t come with cheap and abundant internet.

Update: Do read Minister Sehanoui’s response in the comments section.

Let me introduce you to xkcd, a web series of comics about stick figures being geeky (sample comic above). It’s a weird story with xkcd. The website is spartan and ugly, and if you want to be charitable, you can call the drawing style mediocre. You’d think there’s no way this thing can take off, and yet xkcd is one of the biggest things on the internet today. It won dozens of prestigious awards, and for a good reason: If you’re a geek, xkcd can make you laugh to tears.

Yet when xkcd first started getting recognition, it got howls of protests and resentment from traditional comedy artists who couldn’t believe that people are prefering doodles over their elaborate work, work like this:

And yet they did..

I was thinking of xkcd when I read an internet post criticizing the success of my friend Maya Zankoul and condescendingly judging her work as overrated and undeserving. To double down, the same people wrote a follow up post about “real” illustrators in Lebanon, naively propagating the belief that “real” art should somehow be elaborate and weighty.

Their posts reminded me of some phrases I keep hearing:

• Back in the day, people listend to “real” music, by “real” singers like Oum Kulthum who sang 70-minute songs over elaborate orchestras, unlike that crap you kids listen to nowadays
• Back in the day, people read “real” articles, unlike that twitter noise you like to indulge in
• Back in the day, people ate “real” food, unlike that bizarre raw fish and rice thingy that comes in boxes
• Back in the day, people took “real” photos with “real” cameras, what’s up with the square filtered photos and tiny camera sensors?

The list goes on and on. Critics choose to perceive these changes as a reduction in quality, a step back from the good old days, and maybe they’re right. But they fail to grasp that these changes are also reflections of changes in the way people live. If you’re standing in line to buy coffee, you’d rather read tweets than read the latest IMF report. You’d also rather take a quick photo with your iPhone and share it instantly than lug around a monstrous lense. Also if you’re an illustrator who wants to produce stuff to be shared on the internet, you’d be smart not to spend 40 hours just refining the details.

The world is busy and the distractions are endless. There is a general step away from the weighty, the elaborate and the complicated. People want to share lighthearted, casual, funny and approachable stuff. They want the stuff that is good enough to share and they want to move on. They want a quick laugh, they don’t want to think too much, they don’t want to have fine cuisine on the run, they can’t digest it. In many ways, Maya Zankoul’s illustrations capture the spirit of this age.

Blog Baladi vs the Daily Star

I was chatting with my friend Najib, author of Blog Baladi, a casual blog about lighthearted lebanese news (those words again). I half-jokingly told him that Maya Zankoul is the Blog Baladi of Illustrators. I saw that connection in my mind because I remember all the criticism that Blog Baladi got on twitter when it was nominated for (and eventually won) the “Blog of the year” award in Lebanon. Someone actually told me: “The Daily Star is free on the internet, why would anyone want to read Blog Baladi instead?”. That is very similar to the criticism leveled against Maya Zankoul: We have “real” illustrators out there, they say, why on earth would people want to use her stuff?

And yet they do. And they read Blog Baladi in their thousands, and they take instagram photos and they tweet and they enjoy eating sushi while reading xkcd. Just deal with it…

I was reading this post over at Blog Baladi about the plan to build a bridge at the expense of old Buildings in Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze, and I have a few thoughts I want to share.

Big Deal

This is a big deal. This is not some old house with a vague, conceptual or historical significance that will be destroyed to give way to a new building. This will be a gargantuan undertaking that will disrupt real lives and piss a lot of people off for a long time.

Frankly, I don’t think any Lebanese authority has the stomach, the capacity or the legitimacy to execute such a thing. If you add to the mix the message that Save Beirut Heritage have been spreading,that this bridge harkens back to now-discredited theories of urbanism of the 1950s (what kind of development bank would fund such a monstrosity?), you can see why this thing going through is unlikely.

But this situation will hopefully get some Lebanese to think about tradeoffs that they have to be making in the future.

Whither moral clarity

When a rich company tears down an old historical house to make way for an urban eyesore, there is a clear moral outrage story to be told: The greedy government doesn’t care about our history and culture and is selling our legacy to the highest bidders. The bad guy is known, and the cause is noble. But the bridge is a different story.

Anyone who has been stuck in Beirut’s legendary traffic and anyone who knows that the traffic will only get worse with time can tell you that something needs to be done about it. The problem is that all of our options are bad, and we have to make choices: Beirut’s infrastructure is obviously not ready for a metro system, and traffic cannot just continue to get worse as we sit and watch.

Alas, there is no moral clarity in this story. We are our own enemies here. You don’t have to be a devil’s advocate to believe that an urban bridge is our least bad option. You can’t have omelettes without breaking some eggs, and many people will be tempted to let Mar Mikhael take the fall, especially if the buildings’ owners and residents are generously compensated.

There are many things that can be said about the recent, rather clumsy publicity stunts of acting minister Gebran Bassil. It’s not everyday that a man who fails to get elected in a constituency declares himself a hero on billboards at the entrances of that constituency. And it’s not everyday that a divisive Lebanese politician gets portrayed as a heroic cartoon character in a booklet funded by the Lebanese tax payers.

We will be hearing a lot of outrage from the opposing political camp in the next few days, but what’s interesting to us is why Mr. Bassil is doing all of this and what he is expecting to get.

Transition planning

By now most of us know that Mr. Bassil is Michel Aoun’s choice for leading the FPM after he’s gone. Hezbollah have also shown that Mr. Bassil is someone they like doing business with, considering his friendliness to Iranian commercial interests. But Mr. Bassil still has some legitimacy issues to deal with in his party.

The Free Patriotic Movement has formal bylaws and regulations that decide who gets promoted in the ranks. Other bigwigs in the party have arguably better claims to the leadership (not least because of their abilities to win important elections). Sensing Mr. Bassil’s potential vulnerability, Mr. Aoun and his allies have sought to raise his profile and differentiate him from the rest of the FPM apparatchik. As a thought expermient: Can you imagine glorifying billboards or cartoon characters for Minister Nicolas Sahnaoui, an FPM minister who arguably did better for his ministry than Mr. Bassil did for his?

Intriguing possibilities

There’s also a more interesting but still speculative possibility. It came to my mind as I was driving by Batroun a few days ago and saw all the fawning billboards (about 5 of them) of his excellency.

What jumped to my mind was not what I saw, but what I didn’t see: Any trace of the orange color or the FPM logo. The billboards were professionally designed and it seemed to me that there was a conscious effort not to use the orange color.

If you add to that the fact that most of the glorifying material is focusing on Mr. Bassil’s person and not on the FPM, we can come up with two interesting theories:

1. Mr. Bassil and Mr. Aoun are planning together for a potential revolt in the FPM that could result in the breaking up of the party.
2. Mr. Bassil, empowered by Hezbollah, Iran and oil money, is getting ready to become his own man and slay the father figure on his way up.

— Hold the flag waving –

Guest post by Mohamad Alloush

When I first read the report about Lebanon’s education system being ranked 4th in quality of math and science education and 10th in overall education, my immediate thought was “where on earth was that statistic pulled out from?” I’ve had some firsthand exposure to the poorer public schools in this system and there are primary schools where more than a quarter of the students are still illiterate by the time they reach the fourth grade. I called bullshit and moved on.

But then everybody started sharing these numbers and voicing their pride about them. The Mountains! The Sea! AND now a world class education system? It was irritating to say the least, but even more so because it came from the most educated in our society.

Let me rewind a little to explain. I’m in the process of getting a PhD in economics and I’m mainly interested in education, skills, labor market, and development. I also worked for an international organization writing reports on education and labor in the region. So when I saw those numbers, I knew something just wasn’t right. So I took some time and skimmed through the report.

The Infamous Ranking

The report is a legitimate and thoughtful work on technology, labor, and work in the world. Our two tables of interest were put together using numbers from the 2012 Executive’s Opinion Survey. In a nutshell, this survey asks a number of executives in target countries around the world what their opinion was on certain issues in their country.

I looked the number up for Lebanon, and it turns out 48 executives in Lebanese companies of different sizes responded to this survey. The best part though is what comes next. The survey asks these executives in their opinion

• How well does the educational system in your country meet the needs of a competitive economy? Lebanon ranked 10th. Mind you, this is not what executives around the world think of Lebanon’s education system. It is what 48 Lebanese executives think of it.
• How would you assess the quality of math and science education in your country’s schools?
  That’s where we rocked actually and came in an astounding 4th place.

When these numbers were being shared, they were titled “Quality of education system” and “Quality of math and science education” which is very misleading.

But what is the big deal you may ask? Why isn’t their opinion a good measure?

The Real Position of Lebanon’s Education System

When it comes to secondary enrollment rates and primary completion we come at a whopping 87th place. Over 10% of children drop out of primary school, and this number is much higher in poor public schools. In adult literacy, we rank 88th. In tertiary enrollment rates, we rank 40th without saying much about the quality. In a UNESCO education index that takes many different aspects of the system into account, in 2010, our ranking was 70. We were 97th in 2007.

In an international quality of education test (TIMSS 2011), students in Lebanon got an average score of 449 on math which is 51 points below average. In terms of ranking, we came in 25th place out of 43 participating countries. Better still, in terms of achieving certain benchmarks, only 1% of Lebanese students achieved the advanced benchmark (3% is the world median), 9%, 38%, & 73% achieved the high, intermediate, and low benchmarks respectively. The world medians are 17%, 46%, and 75%. In terms of quality, we are clearly below average.

I don’t mean to berate nameless people on this. But if we don’t realize that something is wrong, then we have no incentive to fix it.

It’s likely that if you’re reading this, you went to a good school. And so did many of your friends. And then you went on to go to decent universities. So when you saw those rankings, you thought about your own experience and thought that it makes sense. Those 48 executives answering the survey probably had a similar experience. Their opinions when presented next to real statistics only show a deep lack of civic awareness among our educated elite about inequality in our country. That, combined with the glorified and skewed image we have of ourselves and our country results in some very misleading perceptions that sadly help reinforce both of these things.

We need to understand the realities that different people face in our country. Maybe then, we will we be able to understand why two neighborhoods can fight for years for no real reason. Maybe then we will be able to understand why extremism is growing in certain places. Maybe then we will be able to understand why people can’t seem to let go of their sects. If we don’t understand it, we sure as hell can’t fix it.

On a different note: While discussing this with a friend, he jokingly reminded me of a website of self-reported penis sizes and how Lebanon is ranked in the top 10 there. Of course it is. Of course it is.

Mohamad Alloush is originally from Tripoli, Lebanon and an alumni of AUB. Currently he lives in the US and is an economics PhD student specializing in development, labor, and econometrics. He tweets at @mmalloush

Please, please, please, go die in Syria.

Let us once and for all get rid of your idiotic backwardness and medieval worldview. The sooner you die, the better. It’s a win win situation: You get your virgins in the sky, and we get to live without people who are fighting a pointless religious war that is thousands of years old.

Please prove to us that there is a God, a merciful god that cares for the rest of us who find your antics distateful and your moralizing obnoxious.

Go ahead and show us the genius of natural selection that separates the fit from the clueless; the clueless who fight in wars that are not theirs, who win for their masters and die for themselves and their families.

Kill Hezbollah and let them kill you. Two birds one stone. Fikhar yikasser ba3dou

Last year in Lebanon, a man was caught on camera attempting to burn down a TV station that had broadcasted an opinion he didn’t like. He lead a group of people that shot at the building and hurled molotof coktails at it before attempting to burn the entrance with wheels. The man, Wissam Alaeddine, was identified on facebook and people pressured the government to arrest him. After he was caught, there were loud protests by people in his political group, a few days later he was released.

Say what you will about American politics, about Americans being quick to blame Muslims and about the shrill media coverage, but what happened in Boston today is a specatcle that deserves to be admired by the Lebanese: Someone who did something bad that killed and injured many people was caught by the police.

Land of the free

Lebanon is the land of the free. Criminals roam about freely without being caught. Many politicians have been assassinated, sometimes spectacularly, but not a single bad guy was caught. Bare-faced people hold machine guns on TV declaring that they are about to kill other people and they are left alone. Families arrange news conferences announcing their intention to kidnap members of other families and they are untouched.

It’s so complicated here in Lebanon. It’s all about politics. There is a huge fight about who controls the ministry of telecommunication because of the data it may provide to capture more criminals. Security heads represent different sectarian factions and compete against each other while simultaneously protecting the bad guys on their sides

It’s all so complicated over here. But in Boston it was simple: A guy did something bad. He was caught. And that is something to behold.

✒ Reminder

This blog was nominated for two awards, “blog of the year” or “best news blog” in Lebanon’s Social Media Awards. If you think it deserves the recognition, kindly help with a vote.

I was reading the news about the Nusra Front in Syria, about its claim for the Alqaeda brand name and the jostling for which branch of Alqaeda controlls which territory in the Arabian peninsula, and I kept having this nagging thought at the back of my mind: What is the point of Alqaeda?

Delusions

For all its spectacular acts of terror, for all the strong fighting spirit of its warriors and the deep devoutness of some of its followers, the organization doesn’t seem to have any realistic endgame in sight. If this were a company, shareholders would be revolting for a lack of realistic vision and selling their shares in droves.

I heard somewhere that they installed a “prince” for Tripoli. Really? A prince? Mockery aside, this is the ultimate symbol for how clueless the organization is about the nature of its influence. The real power in Tripoli is with the moneymen funding the wars of this so-called prince. But here’s what’s really funny: The “prince” really believes that he will eventually rule the city, and become the boss of his current masters, without whose funding he can’t even eat (apply same logic to Alqaeda warlords everywhere)

Legitimacy

The little secret about “ruling with fear”, the idea that with big shows of force people will eventually fear you and follow you, is that it doesn’t work. It never worked, ever! People will always eventually kick out the suppressor. Aspiring Islamist rulers everywhere are now realizing that Shariaa alone will not feed nations, no matter how much you distract the population with matters of sex and religious irreverence.

Nations need their banks, their universities, their factories, their malls and their leisure centers to develop and live productively. It’s difficult to imagine Alqaeda men, with such an obsolete and nihilistic worldview, to ever have the wherewithal and legitimacy to run such things.

Diversity

One of the biggest arguments against Alqaeda ever becoming an influential force in the region, is that they don’t really understand the notion of diversity. The Middle East is a mosaic of  Shiaas, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Armenians, al of which are declared enemies for Alqaeda. What kind of logic makes them believe that blowing up swathes of “infidels” (also known as our neighbors and friends), will make us follow their cause?

The only way for an Alqaeda prince to rule is to find a small geographic pocket of extremist Sunnis, preferably illiterate. But how does that square with their plans for regional domination?

Which brings me to the point of this post: Small fighters are pawns in a game, guided by money and virgins in the sky, but what drives the leaders of the movement? What does Zawahiri want?

✒ Note

Only a few days are left. If you believe that this blog deserves to be recognized as “blog of the year” or “best news blog” in Lebanon’s Social Media Awards, kindly vote as as soon as you can.

Thank you!

When Maragaret Thatcher died yesterday, the world was split between those who called her a visionary savior and those who called her a divisive monster. At the heart of this strong division is ideology: Thatcherism strongly embodied conservative ideals of a small state, the power of the free market and muscular militarism, and it stood in direct opposition to the leftist ideals of social solidarity and the primacy of the state in fighting poverty.

This was a classic example of a clash of ideas. Two ideas with strong believers who strived in their intellect and art to promote their worldview and make a mockery of the other’s. Both sides think that they believe in the truth, but both played the game under the same rules: We can debate and criticize and modify our ideas as much as we like…  

Back To Lebanon

As I read about the Lebanon’s Tank Top scandal yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of the similarly silly issue with prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) cartoons. If only people made the jump from “This is the Truth” to “This is an Idea that I strongly Believe in” in the way they thought about their religions, there would be much less umbrage and frivolous sensationalism.

Yes, prophet Muhammad is a person whom I greatly admire, and yes it would be wrong to call him names (in the same way that it is wrong to call someone’s mother a whore). But the idea that a prophet should not be drawn in a cartoon is just that: An idea. An idea that, like all ideas in the world, ( socialism and capitalism ), deserves to be debated, questioned and even mocked. Other people strongly believe in them, but they’re just ideas.

A similar thing should be happening with the tank top of Santa muerte. Virgin Mary is a person, and it would be very wrong to call her names. But the iconography and symbols surrounding her are just representations of ideas. If you don’t agree with the tank top, you can argue that it’s inappropriate, you can fight it with its own weapon of capitalism (boycotts..etc). But for the love of God, stop whining for the government to interfere.

✒ Call for Support

I was happy to learn that Beirut spring was selected as a finalist in the “blog of the year” and “best news blog” categories in Beirut’s Social Media Awards.

If you believe that this blog deserves to be recognized as such, kindly vote for it at www.smabeirut.com. It will take two seconds and you’ll have my eternal grattitude..