Women (+men) from the Arab region at the Venice Biennale 2011 – a view from a political angle

Venice Biennale, 3 June 2011 (my first Biennale) - I entered the dark space of the Saudi Arabian Pavilion and there it is - the “Black Arch” of Raja and Shadia Alem hits you at once. The sisters, who grew up in Mecca in the 1970s and now live in Paris, stun visitors with a huge mirror in the shape of Earth; the back of the mirror is off course black. In front of it is a carpet of more than 1,400 steel balls from which emerges a modern Ka’aba-like cube. 


I take a step back, take a deep breath, watch and hear... To the right of the installation a projection shows a church and Venetian images, and you hear prayers and voices in Italian. Back to near darkness which is followed by another projection of waves at the centre. Again near darkness, then a projection to the left in which you see a mosque and hear prayers and voices in Arabic. Wow!

“Black Arch”, by Raja and Shadia Alem, Saudi Arabia pavilion

Power women Raja and Shadia explain, “Black Arch is about two visions of the world and of two cities, Mecca and Venice, of two cultures that meet”. They tell me in an interview: “Our work is about East and West, man and woman. There are barriers. But we carry all cultures in us. This breaks barriers. Our work makes you feel that you are part of one universe.” So much black in your work, why? Raja answers: “I grew up aware of the physical presence of black all around, of the black silhouettes of Saudi women, the black cloth of the al-Ka’aba and the black stone”.

I ask them if they plan to exhibit their work in Saudi Arabia after the premiere in Venice. “Inshallah”, is the answer with a charming smile. I doubt this would be possible as long as the country is under control of the fundamentalist Wahabi brand of Islam. The Saudi religious police (real name: “The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices”) would not tolerate any projection of a church with the sound of Christian prayers. I also doubt they would appreciate the aesthetics of a modern Ka’aba.

Ironically, and this shows the political schizophrenia in Saudi Arabia, the exhibition was financed by four Saudi institutions and firms, among them: The almighty state-controlled oil firm Aramco and – now hold your breath again – the Ministry of Culture and Information. Meanwhile, Saudis will have to travel to Venice if they want to see and feel this amazing work of art.

I cannot but hope that one day Saudi Arabia will have on its soil a museum of modern art. A centre piece of its permanent exhibition should be the “Black Arch”. Saudis can be proud of it. By the anachronistic religious police would be a footnote of the very dark past.


In the nearby pavilion of the United Arab Emirates I am welcomed by a smiling Lateefa Ben Maktoum. Dressed and veiled in black she explains her photo exhibition. Two pictures strike me as sad and critical of the dramatic sociological changes that occurred in Dubai during the past decades. In one picture a faceless and veiled woman looks down against the background of Dubai’s tower buildings. All in a fake green. The other picture shows a picture of a veiled woman with a rather disturbing look in her face. She is standing on wetland facing the Gulf Sea, holding a suitcase and looking towards the horizon. She just wants to flee, as far away and as fast away as possible.

“The last Look”, by Lateefa Ben Maktoum, UAE pavilion

Left: Lateefa watching... (she allows photos only without her face)

“Reflecting”, by Lateefa Ben Maktoum, UAE pavilion

Left: Lateefa watching... (she allows photos only without her face)

It does feel quite lonely to live among towers of glass and steel in the middle of the desert. Does not fit. Will never fit. I would want to flee – into a surreal green world that exists only in fantasies or far away on a boat. But Lateefa strikes back: “I do not see the figures in my images as being lonely. I see them as being captured in a solitary moment of thought. They reflect on their surroundings and the changes that they witness happening around them.” She is a bit uncomfortable with my critical view; I accept her softer approach.

Noteworthy is that Lateefa contributed to the UAE’s art scene by founding Tashkeel, a public studio providing specialist facilities for artists and designers to work together. “An artist needs feedback to grow,” she argues. Check the website of the UAE pavilion and an interview with Lateefa.

In the same pavilion Reem al-Ghaith exhibits her installation about construction in Dubai. A bit chaotic, reflecting the wild construction boom leading the Dubai’s financial crisis in 2008. It is similar to the installation “What’s left of her Land” shown at the Sharjah Biennale in 2009. The official brochure says, “The history, traditions and changing landscape of Dubai and the UAE serve as continuous inspiration to her work... Her pieces ... serve as a form of documentary or visual archive for future generations to bear witness to the changes this country has undergone”.

Reem al-Ghaith, “What’s left of her Land”, UAE pavilion 

The third UAE artist is Abdullah al-Saadi, who observes and contemplates and picks on details. His work centers on “Naked Sweet Potatoes”, which is also the title of his art. Abdullah walked on foot across the desert of the UAE and Oman accompanied by a dog and a donkey. He documented his journey with water colours, a diary, photographs, short films and engravings of sweet potatoes on stones. The latter he describes as “studies of the male and female forms of sweet potatoes”.

Abdullah al-Saadi, “Naked Sweet Potatoes”, UAE pavilion 

Very creative and amusing observations, indeed. Abdullah is no fan of the UAE’s steel and glass towers. He lives in the mountainous region of Khorfakan on the Gulf of Oman. He just loves nature. And I love his work.

To the Iraqi pavilion where six very talented artists interpret the theme of water. Title: “Wounded Water”. And wounded is Iraq and its people, indeed. Remember the ecological disaster former dictator Saddam Hussein created in the southern marshlands by draining them. At the entrance of the pavilion, Walid Siti exhibits on the wall in red: A river-like wound goes from one end to the other in a bloodied landscape in Iraq. The interview he gave me about his art and Iraq is touching.

Walid Sati’s river in bloodied landscape in Iraq

Azad Nanakeli, another Iraqi Kurdish artist, shows a video with a man pouring water over his head. His opposite is himself being polluted by red and yellow toxins. 

Azad Nanakeli’s “destneuj (purification)", Iraqi pavilion

The Egyptian pavilion focuses on Ahmed Basiony, an artist and hero of the Egyptian revolution that toppled dictator Hosny Mubarak early 2011. Ahmed was among the first who marched in Cairo's Tahrir Square. He had his camera with him. The video exhibition shows simultaneously footage he took and news reports. This is a homage to Ahmed who was killed at the age of 33 by a sniper in Cairo on January 28, 2011. He unfortunately did not live to experience real freedom in Egypt. But he and all who gave their lives for Egypt will never be forgotten.

From the brochure about Ahmed Basiony, Egypt pavilion

“The Future of a Promise” is the Biennale’s largest pan-Arab exhibition of contemporary art. Arabs from many states exhibit about 25 works – installations, performances, photography, videos and sculpture art. My favorite is Ziad Abillama’s “Untitled (Arabes)”, a post with signs in all directions showing where Arabs may sail from? The Lebanese artists provokes in Italy where the government is claiming the country is being invaded by Arabs via the island of Lampedusa.

Ziad Abillama’s “Untitled (Arabes)”

Unfortunately I was not able to visit the Syrian pavilion in which Syrian and Italian artists exhibited under the motto "Evolution"- to identify contradiction between subjectivity (desires) and objectivity (daily life). Watch this video. Note that there is a controversy over the fact that most artists and all curators are non-Syrians.

Now don’t be shocked, but when I mean in the title of this blog “Arab region” I include Israel. Its pavilion is amazing – only works of Sigalit Landau on water and peace in a trouble region. My favorite is the “Salt Crystal Fishing Net”. She bought the net from Jaffa fishermen and dipped it  in Dead Sea water. The result is bundle of white mass with crystal reflection. She writes in her brochure, “These fishing nets catch magnificent crystals, beautiful but sterile. A fishing net evokes fertility and life, but there it is caked in deadly amount of salt”.

Sigalit Landau, “Salt Crystal Fishing Net”, Israeli pavilion

Another favorite is her video installation “Laces” in which a girl under a negotiating table binds negotiators together with the laces of their shoes. Sigalit Landau writes, “The negotiating table is not theater or fiction, but rather an engagement, a dream, a lament for the future. This future is the life of the child who appears on the laptop-computer screens”. The slogan of the Israeli Pavilion is “One man’s floor in another man’s feelings”.

Sigalit Landau, video installation “Laces”, Israeli pavilion

Lebanon and Bahrain cancelled last minute. A shame for the governments of these two countries. The Lebanese pavilion was to be titled "Lebanon As a State of Mind". Its curator, George Rabbah, told Art Info in an interview that the cancellation had nothing to do with the fact that Lebanon was without a functioning government for months till mid June 2011. He claims: "(The opposition came) from a lot of the actors of the Lebanese art scene. I found out at some point that the Lebanese scene is partly something that has to do with power positions. There are power centers that control access to funds, etc., and also access to patrons of art because they know them, in a way. I don't want to sound too paranoid, but I'm not the only one that's shocked".

In Bahrain authorities in 2011 have been trying to crush a pro-democracy movement - so no time to think about art. Reminder: In 2010, Bahrain won the Golden Lion for best national participation at that year's Architecture Biennale with a wonderful exhibition of original fishermen huts.

A few lines about the Venice Biennale which was launched in 1895: Since then countries offer their artists a showcase in pavilions funded by government institutions, firms and/or private donors. 89 national pavilions opened their doors in Venice in 2011, the highest number ever. Germany won in 2011 the Biennale’s highest honor, the Golden Lion for best national contribution. The work is by Christoph Schlingensief, the German artist who died in August 2010. His "Church of Fear" installation is a massive critique against society and the Church. 


It was my first Biennale, and it was fascinating because it saw how art is very political - and not only in the Arab region. Artists have been playing a crucial role in countries under dictatorships (softly destabilizing them), and they helped topple dictators (remember Ahmed Basiony). Arabs can be proud of most of the work exhibited in Venice in 2011, the year of Arab democracy on the rise. My dream is that one day Palestinians and Israelis exhibit together in Venice, and that Arab artists can exhibit anything they wish in every Arab state. No more fear, no censorship and no taboos.

NB: Impossible to write about art from the Arab region at the mother of Biennales without visiting the US and Iranian pavilions. 

I love the tank on its head in front of the US pavilion. On top a person regularly jogs on a functioning treadmill. When the person runs, the tank engine roars and the chains turn. Watch the video of a ridiculous and helpless monster. Typically big and ... American! John Lennon would have loved it!

Allora & Galzadilla, "Tank and Field", US pavilion

In the state-sponsored Iranian pavilion, a heartbreaking installation of Morteza Darehbaghi with pictures of human losses during the war Iran-Iraq 1980-1988.

.Morteza Darehbaghi, Iranian pavilion

Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in Beirut in 2008-2010. Since January 2011 he is advising on a voluntary basis Arab NGOs and activists, and he is working as a consultant for Media in Cooperation and Transition and the Global Campaign for Climate Action. From May-September 2011 he is heading a pro-democracy project in Tunisia. He also trains Tunisian and Egyptian NGOs on developing communications strategies.

Tunisia in May 2011 - Revolution Reloaded?

Tunis, 7th May 2011 - I saw in the Tunisian capital how police attacked with teargas and batons protesters demanding the start of a new revolution "Asha3eb yurid thawra min jadid!" (The people want a new revolution). 

Bourguiba Avenue, 6 May 2011

Tension has been rising in Tunisia since a former minister warned of a possible coup by loyalists of the ousted regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali if Islamists from the Ennahda party win elections for a Constitutional Council scheduled on July 24.


Scenes of violence took place all over the country and in the city center in and around Habib Bourguiba Avenue where the infamous Interior Ministry is located. Tear gas was fired in all directions, policemen in uniforms or in civilian and hiding their faces behind masks attacked bystanders and journalists, took away their mobiles and cameras and smashed them. I saw one of them attacking a young girl, throwing her mobile phone on the asphalt and verbally abusing her.

No way I could use my camera or mobile as I was between police and not in mid of demonstration. I would have been attacked at once. Policemen in civilian were everywhere. A German journalist from NDR TV, two meters behind me, was taken away by a security guy and interrogated for a while before being allowed to walk away.


The policemen used brutal force against peaceful protesters because they were heading to the interior ministry from streets leading to Habib Bourguiba Avenue. This grey and ugly building from the 1970s is surrounded by barbed wire and protected by army troops. Imagine, the army protecting policemen from the people...


In the nearby Avenue de Paris, glass, waste and burned tires everywhere. Police vans race trough it, jump out, chase peaceful demonstrators to beat them up and curse. They leave the road quickly. I can see that all bystanders in the area just hate them. The policemen know it and feel unsafe. They just behave like an occupying force...

Avenue de Paris, 7 May 2011

   
Demonstrators I spoke to said they mistrust the transitional government and officials in the system. They say a "counter-revolution" is being carried out by the cronies of the former dictator. Ahmed Dermech, a young student, told me, "We will not give away our newly won freedom. We will go to the streets until our revolution is 100% won". More demos are planned tomorrow.



One funny interesting happened. I was speaking with a Tunisian TV team on Habib Bourguiba Avenue on May 7 when a high-ranking police officer approached us and said: "I like to apologize to the media for the attacks committed by policemen yesterday. Please understand that they are not used of being filmed. It was always forbidden to film them, and now they are afraid that their faces and names will be on Facebook. Please put on your jackets in big letters 'Press' and I assure you that nothing will happen to you."


The Tunisian journalists asked if would repeat it all in front of the camera, he said he was not allowed to do so. He was very credible, but it remains to be seen if a change of behavior will really take place.

Anyhow, one thing is crystal clear: Tunisians still have a long and arduous road until they set up a real democracy. 23 years of dictatorship cannot be undone in a blink. Changing the mentality of tens of thousands that profited directly from oppression and corruption will probably take a generation or two.


But I have no doubt that Tunisians will succeed. 63 parties have already been registered since the dictatorship collapsed last January 14; hundreds of NGOs and media outlets  have applied for a permit. In Tunis, I am breathing freedom despite all the trouble. This no one can take away from Tunisians anymore. Everyone I spoke to shouted it!

Bourguiba Avenue, ugly building on left is the interior ministry, 7 May 2011

                                   

Bourguiba Avenue, Africa hotel left. 7 May 2011

Meanwhile, I am blogging from the Carlton Hotel near the interior ministry. I cannot venture outside anymore because of the curfew from 9pm (Saturday 7 May) till 5am (Sunday 8 May). The only bar still open was in the nearby Africa Hotel. I enjoyed there the great local beer, Celtia, and walked trough ghost town Tunis till about 10pm when policemen shouted from far away. OK, OK, I walked in the hotel and started writing these lines and uploading the photos I took.


Background from Reuters: Former interior minister Farhat Rajhi said last Thursday that there could be a "coup" by loyalists of former dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali if Islamists from the Ennahda party won the July 24 elections.



Until August 2011 I will head in Tunis a team that will hold interviews and carry out research about each party fighting for seats for the Constitutional Council that is to be elected on July 24. Data about political positions on key issues will be on a website in French and Arabic to help Tunisians chose who to vote for. The project is carried out by the German NGO Media in Cooperation and Transition. It did something similar in Sudan in 2010.


Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in 2008-2010. Since then he advising on a voluntary basis Arab NGOs and activists, and he is working as a consultant for  Media in Cooperation and Transition and the Global Campaign for Climate Action.

A bus, the civil war and Lebanon`s lost memory

Remember that little bus that carried Palestinians from West Beirut to their refugee camp in Tel al-Zaatar, East Beirut, on the 13^th of April 1975? The Lebanese civil war officially started on that day when Christian Phalange militiamen shot and killed 27 Palestinians in that bus while they drove through the Christian Ain el-Rummaneh neighbourhood. From that moment on Lebanon entered hell. For almost 15 years.

Bus owner Sami Hamdan, in front of the bus in 2007. (c) AP

On that day I was 15. I lived in Moslem Ras el-Nabeh, West Beirut, close to the frontline opposite Christian Sodeco. My school was the Grand Lycee in nearby Christian Ashrafieh, 10 minutes by bicycle. When the shooting started between Ain el-Rummeneh and Moslen Chiah “our” area suddenly filled with guys totting Kalashnikov machine guns. They took control of the streets and spoke about defeating the pro-Western Phalanges and liberating Palestine. In “their” areas guys carried similar arms and vowed to liberate Lebanon from Palestinians and communists. These Cold War years seem like centuries ago.

I remember burned out public buses, stoned militiamen firing for no reason in the air and a sniper from the other side who from his angle could only hit the Western side of Omar Ben Khattab road where my family home was located. We received 61mm mortar shells, then 120mm mortar shells, then Grad and Katyusha missiles; the other side got similar ones, too. The sound of silence after an explosion was terrifying. The screaming of frightened neighbors or the wounded in streets guaranteed sleepless nights.

I narrowly escaped being kidnapped by the Phalange while cycling to school during a ceasefire in June 1975. From far away I saw them close to the school entrance, took a side road back to Ras El-Nabeh and did not see the school till 1990. This is when I realized that the words “Moslem Shia” in my ID could mean death.  

So many pictures are still engraved in my memory, like the unknown gunmen I saw executing five men, probably Christians, in Bshara el-Khoury road in 1976. Just around the corner, the burned out corpses of kidnapped Christians were neatly lined under the bridge near Berbir Hospital. The other side dumped the copses of kidnapped Moslems under other bridges. Since then, I just do not like bridges.

Off course, the war did not start out of the blue with the bus massacre 31 years ago on the 13^th of April. The civil war has its roots in a sectarian system formulated by the French mandate power in the 1920s, in the screaming inequalities between rich and poor, in Palestinians being robbed of their homeland and in the inability of Lebanese to unite, refuse foreign interference and solve their problems with non-violent means.

So insanity lasted almost 15 years and officially ended in October 1990. The result: About  150,000 people killed, many more injured and maimed, one million internally displaced and many more in emigration. Beirut’s city center was destroyed, the infrastructure shattered, forests burnt, the coastline dotted with open waste dumps. But phoenix superficially rose from the ashes and the country was quickly rebuilt. Economically, that is. Beirut became the Arab city to live in. Mega cool, sexy and just fun. That is if you forget the mass poverty in many areas, especially in North Lebanon.

Divisions, divisions and more divisions

21 years after the end of the civil war – one whole generation later – Lebanon is as divided as in 1975. The main fault lines: 

_ Sunni Moslems blame the Shia Hezbollah militia for killing former Sunni Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 with an international UN tribunal to issue indictments soon. Expect a Sunni-Shia confrontation in one way or another. 

_ Christian Maronites are more divided then ever between pro- and anti-Hezbollah. Syria’s and Iran’s dictatorial regimes arm Hezbollah, a state in the state of Lebanon, to pressure Israel and the West. 

_ Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, Hezbollah`s and Syria's  choice, is unable to form a cabinet. 

The country is in a mess and could blow up any minute.

Despite a general atmosphere of gloom and doom Lebanese youth groups launched early 2011 an anti-sectarianism movement, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab states. It started well with more and more people participating in sit-ins and demonstrations, but the movement got bogged down because of internal divisions and a lack of strategy. The Shia Amal movement tried to hijack the movement and supported abolishing the sectarian system, reviving a deep-rooted Christian Maronite angst. The Phalange accused Amal of seeking to establish the rule of the demographically largest religious communities (Sunni and Shia) over Christians. Back to square one, 13^th April 1975.

Anti-sectarianism demonstration, Beirut, 10 April 2011

The Taef Accord, superficial peace with no reconciliation

Lebanon did not recover from the civil war because the 1989 Taef accord, which ended the all-out shooting a year later, did not end the mistrust among the communities and political factions. It just made cosmetic changes to a sectarian system that guaranteed warlords from all sides a well-defined piece of the big pie called Lebanon. The Christians then lost some privileges and had to share the pie 50-50 with Moslems, instead of 60-40. In principle not much changed: Institutions were kept weak, corruption grew, Palestinians were still armed in their camps because they trusted no one and almost all Lebanese politicians kept relying on foreign backers in Riyadh and Washington or in Damascus and Tehran.

Add to this the fact that some main points of the Taef accord were never implemented. All militias were disarmed expect Hezbollah which fought Israeli occupation in the South, but kept its arms after the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000 – in line with the regional interests of Syria and Iran. Syrian troops did not withdraw as stipulated in the accord, but were forced out after mass demonstrations in 2005. The Taef accord said, “Abolishing political secterianism is a fundamental national objective. To achieve it, it is required that efforts be made in accordance with a phased plan”. This was never seriously tackled by the political class.

The worst part of the Lebanese history is that parliament, controlled by the warlords, passed in 1991 an amnesty for crimes committed during the war. This "amnesia law" is one major cause for the many wars and internal disturbances Lebanon has been going through since 1990. Lebanon never had a true national reconciliation process. Beside one brave former top-level militiaman, Assaad Chaftari from the Christian Lebanese Forces, no militia leader genuinely apologized for his crimes. No one asked the victims and their families for forgiveness. No one said where missing people are buried.

Allow me to name the warlords who are today still in powerful positions: Nabih Berri (Shia/Amal), Walid Jumblatt (Druze/Progressive Socialist Party), Amine Gemayel (Maronite/Phalange), Samir Geagea (Maronite/Lebanese Forces), Michel Aoun (Maronite/former Army commander). Hesbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who came to power after the civil war, followed their path by igniting a senseless war with Israel in 2006 (some 1,300 dead Lebanese). In May 2008 he sent his gunmen to storm West Beirut and the Chuf mountains (100-200 killed). Today, Hezbollah arms are used to threaten Shia opposing Hezbollah and all other sects.

National reconciliation as a prelude for real peace

How can the Lebanese prevent another April 13 with devastating consequences? How can this divided nation unite for a true peace process? I believe that political steps must be taken to set up a truth finding process leading to a true national reconciliation. 

The group al-Muqawimoun warning with 

a banner, "The bus (war) is waiting around the corner".

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) believes that effective transitional justice must include several measures complementing one another. “Without any truth-telling or reparation efforts, for example, punishing a small number of perpetrators can be viewed as a form of political revenge. Truth-telling, in isolation from efforts to punish abusers and to make institutional reforms, can be viewed as nothing more than words. Reparations that are not linked to prosecutions or truth-telling may be perceived as ‘blood money’ – an attempt to buy the silence or acquiescence of victims. Similarly, reforming institutions without any attempt to satisfy victims' legitimate expectations of justice, truth and reparation, is not only ineffective from the standpoint of accountability, but unlikely to succeed in its own terms”.

“Transitional justice should be designed to strengthen democracy and peace – the key goals for societies picking up the pieces after periods of mass abuse,” ICTJ notes. “These goals are more likely to be reached with active consultation of, and participation by, victims groups and the public... A holistic approach implies taking into account the full range of factors that may have contributed to abuse”.

But what are the conditions we need in Lebanon to set up a national reconciliation process? How can we get the former warlords to admit, apologize and at least retire from politics once and for all? Do we have to wait until the Syrian regime collapses under the current pressure from a pro-democracy movement all over the country? This would definitely not amuse Hezbollah as it would lose its political and military hinterland – and then feel threatened. 

I think the solution may be in an anti-sectarianism movement that is well organized and which has a clear strategy. This movement should be able to alleviate fears in each sect and mobilize all the Lebanese for a truly democratic society where religion and state are separated. A dream, I know. One great slogan could be “A-sha3eb yourid isqat zu3ama al-taefiyeh”, in English, “The people want to topple the sectarian leaders!”

The bus at "Hangar", April 2011. (c) Soha Menassa

Back to the small bus that brings back so many bad memories. Memory and memorialisation play a crucial role in a national reconciliation process. Umam Research and Development, a Lebanese NGO in Beirut’s southern suburbs, is currently working on a database of people that went missing during the civil war. Its staff recently rescued the bus from disappearance and hauled it into the “Hangar”, Umam’s exhibition hall, where it is now the center piece of an exhibition. Go see it. We should never forget this bus.

Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in 2008-2010. 

Why Arabs and Japanese media report about horror differently -- Time for an Arab Media Code of Ethics as winds of freedom blowing

The images of Japanese towns eradicated by the tsunami on March 18 are horrific. The ones of bloody street protests and of fighting in Libya, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen and other Arab countries moving towards democracy are shocking, too.  When following events simultaneously, in disaster-struck Japan and in troubled Arab countries, one cannot but notice that both societies have different styles in reporting about calamities and human suffering.

TV reports literally beam you in front and above the waves that destroyed cities and killed thousands in Japan. The images that stick are of cars and houses being washed away and of large areas littered with all sorts of vehicles and debris. Near total destruction you see in doomsday films like “War of the Worlds” and “Armageddon” – or in black-and-white documentaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that were flattened by US atomic bombs in 1945.

In none of the tsunami footage broadcasted by Japanese and foreign TV stations, and in none of the following reports by foreign teams on the ground did I see corpses, except rare scenes of rescue workers carrying victims on stretchers. These victims are covered and hardly visible, no wounds, no blood. Dramatic tsunami footage always stops the second waves eating homes and landscapes get close to people in cars trying to escape death. You just do not see people close-ups of badly wounded, dead or dying.

In contrast, images from Libya and Yemen, where dictators hang to power and order policemen and soldiers to shoot, are different. I see bullet wounds, mutilated bodies and pools of blood on streets. Hospital staffs have no problem allowing cameramen to violate the privacy of patients.

In Japan, there is respect for the dignity of victims and their grieving relatives. Why show mud-covered bodies when the devastation on the ground is horrific enough to make your heart bleed? Why zoom in on mutilated bodies? Imagine gruesome details if you wish. The images of razed cities are tragic enough. No need for maxi horror.

The Japanese media follow an ethical code not enshrined in law as this would violate the right for free expression in a democratic system. Foreign correspondents in Japan respect this code, even al-Jazeera TV. Switch to the world’s most famous TV station and to many other Arab TVs and wonder why this code is respected when it comes to Japan. But the moment they report from the Gaza-Israel frontline or from Libya “blood flows to the knees” (Arabic saying).

This trend started sometime in the 1980s when two events happened at the same time. First, private TV stations mushroomed and more camera teams were sent to troubled areas, all competing for the attention of coach potato consumers. The more gruesome, the more viewers are glued to screens, so the logic of media managers. Second, autocratic regimes allowed TV stations to show in detail how Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians and Lebanese. The aim has been to divert popular frustration and anger on Israel. I will not elaborate on tasteless advertisements between tragedies in the Gaza Strip or in southern Lebanon.

Arab newspapers were under pressure, especially after photos on websites and amateur films on YouTube crossed any remaining ethical line by showing what even Al-Jazeera TV did not. Many followed suit and printed pictures that would never find their way in Japanese or European media. Sadly, most Arab media and amateur internet journalists do not ask themselves what impact showing horror has on the sanity of viewers and readers, especially children. Is this good for the Palestinian cause? Does this encourage more violence? Does this make violence banal? Does it increase fear, and does fear lead to more violence?

University of Michigan professor L. Rowell Huesmann argues that 50 years of evidence show “that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively and affects them as adults years later”. Jonathan Freedman of the University of Toronto claims that “the scientific evidence simply does not show that watching violence either produces violence in people, or desensitizes them to it”. Se there is no consensus among experts on the question whether exposure to media violence increases levels of aggression and violence in youth. I believe Mr. Huesmann.

Back to the Arab media: I am against laws trying to stifle internet and conventional media. Politicians should not fiddle with the principle of freedom of expression; this is an untouchable universal human right. However, Arab associations of journalists and publishers have a responsibility to formulate and adhere to a modern media code of ethics. We do not need to show violence and pain in detail. We do not need shocking images from the occupied Palestinian territories to be convinced that Israeli troops are committing crimes against humanity.

Japan`s  “Cannon of Journalism”, adopted in 2001, reads, “Respect for Human Rights: Member newspapers should pay utmost respect to the dignity of human beings, put a high value on individuals’ honour and give serious consideration to their right to privacy”. The respect of human rights is a headline; you cannot be clearer.  In contrast, the outdated “Arab Code of Ethics”, adopted by the Federation of Arab Journalists in Baghdad in 1972, is weak on that subject when it reads, “Journalists adhere to respect the right of individuals to privacy and dignity”.

The Islamic Media Charter, adopted by the International Islamic Mass Media Conference in Jakarta in 2000, promotes “Islamic values and ethical principles”. It says, “Islamic media men should censor all material which is either broadcast or published in order to protect the Ummah from influences which are harmful to Islamic character”.

In Nazareth, the Palestinian Media Center I’lam in 2008 published “The Media Charter – Code of Ethics for Palestinians in Israel”. Under the headlines “Objectivity and human rights” it says that “in their coverage, journalists must rely on general, universal values and on human rights.” It adds, “Objectivity, as a supreme professional value, is consistent with human rights, human freedom, human dignity and other such values.” This document is quite good, but it does not explicitly elaborate on media violence.

In the light of the current pro-democracy wave in the Arab region, time has come for Arab journalists to rethink how they report about violence and natural disasters. They should formulate a new Arab Media Code of Ethics enshrining freedom of expression and respecting dignity and privacy of people. Strictly religious media outlets should have the rights to promote their beliefs as they wish. All other private and state-owned outlets should be open to all political opinions and religious beliefs in a fair way. On media violence, time has come to stop desensitizing and traumatizing Arab societies.

Fouad Hamdan is an independent Arab pro-democracy activist who established and headed Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in 2008-2010. He was a journalist at the German Press Agency from 1987-1992.

Strategy for Youth groups and NGOs to end sectarianism in Lebanon

A suggestion to end sectarianism in Lebanon (1st version written for a meeting held in Beirut on March 6) 

The first demo against sectarianism, in front of Parliament in Beirut, 16.3.2011

The first demonstration of about 2,000 people in Beirut on 27th Feb 2011 calling for an end of sectarianism in Lebanon was wonderful news. Lebanon seems to be awakening from a phase of political cynicism and the belief that nothing will ever change. The demo showed that the potential to unite around one essential demand can bring Lebanese from all walks of life and from all sects together. They want to build a truly democratic Lebanon. They want to end the rule of incompetent family dynasties, corrupt businessmen and criminals of war.

In leaflets, the organizers demanded a “secular, civil, democratic, socially just and equal state”. Music! More demos followed, including a large one with some 10,000 people in Beirut. Sit-ins were organized in Saida (the first tents in Lebanon), Beirut, Tyre, Tripoli and in the valley Beqaa. This shows that there is a clear potential for a radical change.

Demo in Beirut on March 6. some 10,000 people were on the streets.

We all agree that the Lebanese sectarian system fails to provide peace and stability, social justice and a bight future for our children. We know that this anachronistic system allows regional powers like Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia to interfere via their local cronies and degrade Lebanon to their fighting ground.

Almost all our current politicians – the above mentioned incompetent family dynasties, corrupt businessmen and criminals of war – are responsible for plundering the state, keeping institutions inefficient and corrupt, for impoverishing the people and for pushing the country into regular cycles of violence and war.

No, our problems and tragedies are not planned in Tel Aviv, Washington, Damascus, Tehran or Riyadh. They are home-made. Lebanese need to take their destiny in their hands. We need to take responsibility.

The end of the sectarian system is off course our core demand. But what is our strategy to make that edifice crumble. What main section of the foundations must be pulled down so that the rest collapses as a result?

The current election law!

Lebanon needs a modern and fair election law that gives secular parties and independent candidates a fair chance of getting into parliament. The current parliament must scrap the current elections law that monopolizes power into the hands of the current rulers and pass a law allowing proportional representation.

Secular parties and independents should be able to field candidates all over Lebanon to convince people vote for their policies to reform institutions and solve the many problems we suffer from – unfair taxation system, poor health care unless you are wealthy, weak public schools, deteriorating environment, chaotic transport system, energy cuts, anything but independent judiciary, etc.

The demand for a modern and fair election law would be the rallying point for all – even for many March 8 and 14 supporters. Yes, I truly believe that a large majority of the Lebanese would support this demand.

Intifada against sectarianism

Let more follow the example of the youth who on March 1 erected a tent in Saida’s Martyr Square and said they will not leave until the sectarian system is down.

First sit-in in Lebanon to end sectarianism. Saida, Martyr Square, 1.3.2011

Let us support and join them in Saida and other towns. Let us have sit-ins and tents in every town and vilage and ignite a non-violent intifada. So get your tents and sleeping bags and take action. Or at least spend a few hours per day with the ones on the ground. Donate food, whatever material they need, money. 

Suggested rules of the game:

_ All protests are peaceful and non-violent (the mother of all rules).

_ We are inclusive: People who support March 14 or March 8 parties, religious people, priests and sheikhs are more than welcome to participate and unite in the call to end sectarianism, separate religion from state and to demand a modern and fair election law.

_ Please, no party flags and no religious symbols.

Demo in Beirut on March 6, 2011.  

Focus on the following demands:

_ End sectarianism

_ Parliament must pass a modern and fair elections law now

_ MPs vote to hold parliamentary elections in maximum 6 months

_ Then parliament dissolves itself as it does not truly represent the people!

 Let us unite behind these demands!

Suggested broad lines for next steps:

_ Network with groups all over the country and agree on a strategy and an action plan.

_ Formulate a draft election law along the lines of the recommendations made by the Boutros Commission (see annexes 1 and 2)

_ Organize workshops and lectures to educate activists about this law

_ Mobilize, plan and prepare

_ Start the peaceful intifada to end sectarianism

To read, see and learn how to topple Arab dictators

_ From Dictatorship to democracy: A book about how to practically oust dictators though peaceful actions. Download book for free in Arabic, English and French, http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html

_ How to create a peaceful movement to topple Arab dictators:

Non-violent revolutions must be fun, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-1_-P016Ns

A personal note/flashback:

From my experience in setting up the Greenpeace office in Lebanon from 1994-1999 I formulated the following analysis: Greenpeace activists managed among other things through non-violent campaigns to shut down polluting waste incinerators, prevent new ones from being set up, return toxics waste to Europe and stop the use of water pipes with Asbestos. But we failed to change the structures that have been destroying Lebanon’s environment. See the state of our coastline and mountains. Have a look at the unchecked urbanism and the failed energy and mobility/transport policies. We and other NGOs on the ground regularly hit the walls of a sectarian system that did not allow crossing a deadly red line. Time has come to pull down these walls Check: http://www.fouadhamdan.org/cms/upload/pdf/GreenpeaceLebanon_and_democracy_Speech_FouadHamdan_ARABIC_23March1999.PDF 

ANNEX 1

The current Lebanese Election law, passed in 2008, is an amended version of a 1960 law. It

- alters the boundaries of voting districts,

- calls for elections to be held on one day, rather than over several days,

- gives expatriates the right to vote in elections in 2013,

- regulates the role of the media publicity in elections and sets a limit on some costs incurred by candidates (despite the importance of this measure, it did little to make campaign financing more transparent),

- gives candidates equal time to promote their electoral programmes, while a media "silence" will be observed between midnight on the day before polling stations open until the last votes are cast,

- bans opinion polls in the ten days leading up to elections,

- sees to it that transparent ballot boxes are used and fingers are inked

Several proposed reforms were rejected, including a lowering of the voting age to 18 from 21 and quotas for women in parliament.

The Lebanese MPs approved this law in September 2008 and discarded the most crucial reforms recommended by the Boutros Commission (see annexes 1 and 2).

They failed to adopt the commission's proposal to introduce proportional representation. Instead, the law retained the system as is, while revising the demarcation of electoral districts. The law replaced the 14 electoral districts established with 26 smaller districts that largely coincide with the existing qadas (small administrative district).

This provision was adopted to ensure that the proportion of Christian candidates elected in majority Christian districts is roughly en par with the proportions for other sects. Under the previous electoral law, 38 of 64 Christian seats were in majority Muslim districts, while only 8 of 64 Muslim seats were in majority Christians districts. Under the law, just 17 Christian seats are in Muslim districts.

This increased number of mono-confessional electoral districts has the effect of further strengthening sectarian dynamics, as is it is no longer necessary for candidates to appeal outside of their own confessional constituencies to win election.

Rather than reducing the role of sectarianism in politics, the current election law serves to strengthen it.

Annex 2:

A modern and fair Lebanese election law

In August 2005, the Lebanese government appointed a National Commission for a New Electoral Law, comprised of academics, lawyers, and civil society activists, under the chairmanship of Fouad Boutros. The Boutros Commission released in May 2006 a draft law outlining an array of electoral reforms.

Structural Reforms

The most sweeping proposal of the Boutros Commission was the introduction of a mixed system of electing the 128-member parliament. Although confessional quotas would remain the same, 51 representatives were to be chosen with a proportional system at the muhafaza (governorate) level, while the other 77 deputies would be selected according to the current majoritarian system at the qada (small administrative district) level.

The introduction of proportional representation would work to the advantage of secular groups that do not have enough support within any one confessional group to win election. Candidates would be able to appeal outside of their own confessional constituencies to win election, thus reducing the role of sectarianism in politics.

Procedural Reforms

The most important procedural reform in the Boutros draft law was the introduction of uniform official ballots. Under the current system, voters are allowed to use any piece of paper so long as the names of the candidate they select are clearly legible. This seemingly innocuous innovation is a critical enabler for rampant vote buying and intimidation of constituents.

Political coalitions distribute their own specially tailored ballots to clients and supporters, using different colors, dimensions, and fonts for different voting blocs (e.g. particular villages and families) so that their poll monitors can trace where votes are coming from when ballots are counted. This greatly compromises the secrecy of the vote, makes it easy to ensure that the money invested in buying votes does not go to waste, and strengthens the power of local political bosses by making the "services" they provide to candidates verifiable!

The introduction of a uniform official ballot is critical to the integrity of the electoral process.

The commission recommended counting votes at the qada level, rather than at individual polling stations, because this greatly impeded the ability of party poll monitors to track bought votes.

It also called for setting up an independent electoral commission.

The major weakness of the recommendations made by the Boutros Commission is that a maximum of 7-10 secular candidates would be able to make it. What is needed is at least the possibility of 60 secular candidates to enter parliament.

The new law must guarantee a true proportional representation.