LBCI distances itself from LF: I don’t think this means (english version) anything but business talking. Meaning that at the ideological level, things will stay pretty much the same. But this is still an interesting development. It shows that media centers are not big monolithic structures speaking through one voice, and this could spill over and change some ideological directions. It reminds me of L’Orient le jour and the fact that they have this one journalist Scarlett Haddad who writes the most interesting articles, in the most horrible newspaper. Resistance can start everywhere.
An interesting article on the relation between the Lebanese state and Palestinian camps, and social and economic conditions. It reviews the main political developments of the last years or so. This article is written in a direction I would take to understand political events taking place in this country: You can say whatever you want about political actors manipulating groups within camps (Syria, Hariri, etc.) at the end of the day, if the camps were not these marginal areas none of this would have happened.
I mean think of it this way: what are the most marginalized areas of Lebanon? South, Bekaa, North, and Camps. South, Bekaa, Hizbullah stepped in and has creating a de facto political order that may or may not integrate through state structures (you can fight it over in the comment section). After years of state neglect, the North has seen the rise of several conflicting Islamic movements emerge. Just look at Diniyeh where most of the so-called ‘extremist’ come from (the dudes who were in prison, and that Fatfat who is from Diniyeh had to co-opt), Diniyeh is probably one of the poorest region in Lebanon. Now the difference between north and south is that without strong backing or political domestication, none of these groups clearly emerged on top of the other. As for the camps, you know the story. It all starts from the absence of the State or a very poor functioning of the State in the areas concerned. Sometimes it is in the interest of the state (or groups within the state because of course there is no “state” in Lebanon) to keep these region in this state of neglect.
Read here Hussain defending the Hariri legacy. Hussain if you read me here, I seriously cannot believe how you deliberately fail to mention the economic exploitative structures Hariri put in place as a result of his economic policies, to the way downtown was rebuilt, to how he monopolized economic activity, to the fact that he was the biggest ally of the Syrians, and to the fact that his recent backstabbing of the Syrians had more to do with wanting to get rid of Lahoud with US and French help and not at all because he “tried to change” things for “us” “Lebanese” etc. (by the way, do you still call yourself a LEFTIST (name me one initiative Hariri took that is related in one way or another to social justice)? And on top of that you say that Lebanese are used to live in a world of lies (and in a good propagandist vein, that the ‘tribunal’ will set the record straight). Well, don’t you have just a tiny bit of conscience to see that you are clearly perpetuating this legacy?
Remarkz 