This Says It All...

Freedom & Peace To Lebanon

Absolution

To every Lebanese fighting another

I absolve myself of you.
I absolve me of the anger
dripping morbidly from turbid eyes;
of the hatred, loud and raucous,
and stupid;
of the ignorance engulfing you
like summer haze:
humid, and sticky, and slowly reeking.
I absolve me of your sins.

I absolve me of your children,
dull and arrogant,
and devoid of hope.
I absolve me of your tongue,
its beautiful words
gone blind.

I absolve me even of myself,
this guilt of being,
this exhaust of writing,
this ball of fury in your throats.
I absolve me even of this,
the need for absolution.

صباح الخير يا بيروت

قوم فوت نام ..

قوم فوت نام .. وصير احلم
أنو بلدنا صارت بلد

قوم فوت نام .. هالأيام
حارة بيسكرها ولد

هاي بلد ؟؟ لأ .. مش بلد
هاي قرطة عالم مجموعين
مجموعين ؟؟ .. لأ
مطروحين ؟؟ .. لأ
مضروبين ؟؟ .. لأ
مقسومين
قوم فوت نام .. وصير احلم

قوم فوت نام
كدوش الفرشة يلا قوام
وتغطى وسمك الحرام
وتمسى بنفس الكلام
تابع برامج بالسكام

كلها أغاني عن الوحدة الوطنية
كلها أماني في المسيرات الأمنية
كلها تهاني في صيغتنا اللبنانية

وقوم فوت نام

ماهو تلات ملايين
عالتخمين
هودي اللي جوة البلد
والباقيين مفروطين
كل شوية في بلد

هاي بلد ؟؟ لأ مش بلد
هاي قرطة عالم مجموعين
مجموعين ؟؟.. لأ
مطروحين ؟؟.. لأ
مضروبين ؟؟.. لأ
مقسومين ؟؟.. لأ
قوم فوت نام .. وصير احلم

كلمات و الحان : زياد الرحباني

The Hakawati

I am very proud and happy to present to you the latest masterpiece by my great friend, the sinfully underrated Rabih Alameddine: The Hakawati.


But don't take my word for it, check out the amazing blurbs it got from the likes of:

• Andrew Sean Greer
• Amy Tan
• Junot Díaz
• Jonathan Safran Foer
• Aleksandar Hemon

The book also received starred reviews from:

• Library Journal
• Booklist
  
• Publishers Weekly
  
• Kirkus Reviews

Jailed Saudi blogger in Solitary Confinement

Seems the Saudi virtue police are done with their female hair chase fixation, now they are on the loose in cyberspace.

What would any country that suppresses the slightest form of freedom of expression and of positive criticism expect?There goes the answer: Suppress civil expression of the educated class, and you get droves of bearded illiterate hair-chasers and uncivil terrorists..

Ah Yes! they already have plenty of those, I wonder why?

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Arabian Business.com by Amy Glass on Sunday, 24 February 2008

Jailed Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan is being kept in solitary confinement and subjected to daily questioning, members of his family said on Saturday.

Al Farhan's mother said Saudi authorities allowed her son to briefly telephone his family from Jeddah's Dahban Prison on February 12, his first contact since his father-in-law was allowed a short visit on January 5, reported Saudi daily Arab News.

Despite his on-going imprisonment, Al Farhan told his mother he was "all right, and that he was not being harassed", quoted the newspaper.

His family's requests for further visits have been denied, and it is unclear whether he has received access to legal assistance, Arab News said.

Al Farhan, a popular Saudi blogger, was arrested in Jeddah on December 10, but has not been informed of the charges against him. His detention is believed to be the first arrest of an online critic in the kingdom.

The authorities are believed to be holding Al Farhan for his online criticism of government policies, including detentions without charge and trial of prisoners of conscience.

These criticisms include the government's ongoing detention of nine men arrested in February last year after calling for government reform.

Mansour Al Turki, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said earlier this month that there was no update on the Al-Farhan case other than his previous statement that he was being held for interrogation for violating non-security regulations.

Al-Farhan's blog - Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, shoura and all the rest of lost Islamic values - has posted a letter, allegedly from Al-Farhan, which states he believes he was arrested because he "wrote about political prisoners in Saudi Arabia".

His arrest and imprisonment has sparked the launch of several campaigns and appeals for his release by international and Saudi NGOs, including the Arabic Network for Human Rights, Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

I am Beirut

This is a slightly sappy, but touching and heartfelt, chain email that came across my way (I took the liberty to edit it a bit before posting it). You might have already seen it. I have no idea who wrote it; but if you do, please share the knowledge.

I used to be a beautiful city… Some people say I'm still as beautiful as I was before... I don't like me anymore… I scare my kids away… I kill my people unintentionally… I starve them to death… I even turn some of their brightest days to a funeral in a split of a second…

Every day I stand there, waving to all these people, mostly young, leaving on these big airplanes… Jealousy kills me, knowing that they will go and enjoy grocery shopping in a street I've never heard of, smiling to a stranger who doesn't even know where their country is… Working hard and becoming successful… I wish they could be here with me, becoming successful with me… I feel helpless without them, thousands and thousands leave, few come back while I sit waiting and waiting and waiting…

A girl came to me the other day, young and beautiful… Wearing that white dress made her look like an angel. Stood at the "Corniche" with a coffee in her hand… She was staring at the sea with words coming out of her eyes

"I miss you Beirut.
I miss your weather, miss your sea breeze.
I miss staring at you at night from my bedroom balcony… when the world is sleeping and there is only you and I miss feeling loved.
I miss belonging to you, miss feeling the security… You don't know how hard it is to wake up every morning wondering if your parents or friends are ok, until you read the news and make few phone calls in case there was an explosion… Try harder Beirut…"

Tears filled my eyes and anger filled my heart… Didn't know what to say to comfort her! My body is heavy and scattered, my land enjoys blood and every now and then one of my veins explodes and many of my innocent kids die… I can't help it... I try...

"I want to come back and live here Beirut, next to my family, next to my dad and brother… I want to raise my kids in Beirut, just the way I was raised… Never knew the difference between a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew… never heard about terrorism… Want my kids to grow up on discipline, respect, beliefs, freedom… and mostly integrity. What happened to you Beirut? You're no longer the same…

I turned and left, didn't want to hear her anymore… She kept calling me but I never answered... She broke my heart, only because she was telling me the truth! I'm no longer Beirut she once enjoyed when she was 4… They took my magic away…

Ashamed I am… I starve my people to death; I have no shelter for them anymore, no security, no love among each other… I'm in pain, I want to endure more, maybe, maybe someday my people will understand the pain I'm going thru and help me stand instead of walking all over me… I don't blame them; they are hungry and poor…

She left on one of those big airplanes few days later, sad she looked back at me hoping to come back and see me at least in the same condition, but we both knew it was not the case; I screamed and screamed hoping for her to hear me…

I order you to come back… Yes I can't promise you security but I promise you that you and me can make it together, come back and bring all those people who once left… because I miss them, miss their faces and their laughs… Come back and fight for me, clean my body from rotten creatures, change the world for me, help me stand… I can't do it alone.

I'm your city,
I'm your mother,
I'm your child,
I am Beirut.