Baalbek

Below are some pictures of the Roman ruins in Baalbek in the Bekaa valley. I visited them last week with my Argentinian friends Pablo, Leo and Martin after we had been partying, so we spent the day stumbling around the ruins with a major hangover. Very nice though and very impressive, this leaves behind anything in the way of Roman ruins that I've seen in Europe. The temples are massive and amazingly well-preserved.

Another thing this made me think of is the whole female Goddess worship thing. Baalbek was obviously dedicated to different Gods and stuff, and the largest temple there - the columns in the picture above are some remnants of it, and according to my guidebook are the largest man-made columns in the world - was Jupiter's. But the most interesting temple was dedicated to Ishtar or Astarte or whatever her name was, the chick who was made so famous in the 'Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown. Of course he's making a lot of money plagiarising not only a two thousand year old-cult but also another book, which I happened to come across in the flat I am renting. Has anybody ever read 'Skinny legs and all' by Tom Robbins? It was published in 1990 and contains essentially the same 'revolutionary' idea that Dan Brown is using (that religion was really all about worshipping women until a bunch of frustrated, mysoginist priests turned up in the Holy Land, turned things around and wrote a best-selling book about it called the Bible, which is largely responsible for the rampant patriarchism and macho chauvinism inherent in a lot of world cultures today), only in a less ready-made-for-Hollywood, weirder and more fun way. In 'Skinny legs' it's not a bachelor scientist who looks like 'Harrison Ford' and thinks politically correct feminist thoughts while still having a pretty French woman around to look out for and protect (red cliche alert...), but a bean can, a dirty sock and a spoon who discover the true nature of Astarte-worship and the whole religious conspiracy that has ensured male domination of the religious and social order to this day. (By the way, 'The Da Vinci Code' is officially banned in Lebanon.) If I were Tom Robbins I would definitely sue Dan Brown for some of that easy money he made with his clever book. I have a feeling though that Tom Robbins might spend a lot of his time consuming various drugs if his wild imagination is anything to go by...so maybe he's not up for suing...a shame!!!

Had the Romans been to India??
Who knows.... anyway, the fact is that today, Baalbek is an area whose inhabitants support Hizballah, and outside the temple ruins there are some stands selling touristy stuff, like Hizballah T-Shirts and flags. It is located in the Bekaa valley, which is not really a valley but more like a plain between the two mountain chains that run from North to South in Lebanon.

Has anybody seen the system around?

Since I haven't gone on any touristy trips or witnessed anything that could qualify as exciting and worth telling you about, let me tell you about the absence of a system in Lebanon. I know it might sound strange at first, but I've been thinking about this for a while because I encounter the lack of system constantly, everywhere. Obviously here at work, I think I have talked about this in a previous post, but that's a different story. What I'm referring to is the absence of a central state in Lebanon.

It's something that you read about a lot when you study political science, different theories of the state etc., states in the Middle East.....and invariably, you will get to the universally accepted contention that there is an absence of central state power in Lebanon. Ok, it seems fairly obvious, there was a civil war, several militias that were involved in the war still retain their arms, the government doesn't have control over all of its territory: yeah, makes sense that you can't talk about much of a central government power. But this is only such a small part of the story!! And any political scientist looking at Lebanon from this angle is going to miss out on so many things. (I really want to send my thesis supervisor "Tommy" at FU Berlin an email and tell him about all of this, ask to retract my thesis and add some very important points - don't think they'll be up for it, but it would be great).

Normally, 'the system', i.e. some kind of centralised government, should formulate a bunch of policies, like social or economic policy. At least if you claim to be a democratic state, which Lebanon technically does (although of course I haven't met any real life Lebanese yet who think they live in a democratic state). It's a republic, you have elections, representation, separation of powers, the whole lot. What you don't have is economic or social policy. Why? Because money and power are allocated along sectarian lines: each of the different confessional communities, and of the big families within these communities, wants to make sure they get their share of the dough and the power. And they are strong enough to make sure that this works.

Some examples: jobs within the state administration in Lebanon aren't filled according to merit - i.e. who does the job best - but mostly according to religious and sectarian background. This is something that almost any standard text on Lebanon will tell you. Until very recently, I thought this meant that every ministry has its share of Christians, Sunni and Shia Muslims from different sects (there are 18 recognised ones in Lebanon!!). But, no! This can also mean that any one ministry is completely dominated by one single religion or sect. E.g.: the ministry of social affairs is mostly staffed with Shia administrators. So, what happens when you appoint a Christian minister to the top of this structure?? That's right, nothing. Nothing controversial can happen because that would risk an open conflict between sects, and you don't want to do that! Especially not right now, when there's a general and quite serious government crisis which pits the five Shia ministers in the government against their Christian and Sunni counterparts. (If you appointed a Shia, all the money would go to the Shia community.) So, Lebanon will go on without the social policies that would be so badly needed, like a general health insurance system (absent) or a sustainable pension system (absent) or a reform of the education system (badly needed, even though it might be one of the better ones in the MidEast). Instead, a network of charities and associations provide some basic services, and they, of course, are sectarian in turn. To create a state policy and structure to replace this network of sectarian, civil-society providers of social services would be great, but seems to remain pretty utopian. It would require a lot of money and would step on a lot of peoples' toes....

Or, take economic policy - opening up the telecommunications sector. Lebanon's mobile phone rates are some of the highest in the world. It's incredibly expensive - especially if you put it in context - and dominated by two companies who have special arrangements with the state. This makes the whole market very uncompetitive, but: you can't open it up because the Lebanese state depends on the income! They rely on people to use their mobile phones and pay these high rates as a major source of state income. This is especially needed considering Lebanon's enormous public debt caused mostly by overspending on reconstruction projects: it's actually the highest ratio of public debt to GDP in the world, at 171%. This is amazing! The public debt is almost twice as high as what the entire Lebanese economy generates in a year. Now, if you had a system, and a state power that were strong enough to make people pay their taxes, you might not have to rely so much on people's mobile phone habits. But there isn't any power that could make sure taxes are paid, and a budget gets agreed upon in time, and that the loans Lebanon gets are actually used for reducing public debt in the long term.

And there are so many more examples -- the absence of traffic rules. The inability to ensure even the most basic measures of environmental protection. The absence of central heating, or electricity when it's raining...I blame all of that on the system, or more precisely on its absence.

At first sight, it might not seem so bad that money gets allocated to different sects - as long as they all cooperate and care for their respective constituents, what's the problem...? I guess the problem is, as I was trying to argue in these examples, that for some things you really need a system, i.e. a state that can take care of some stuff from the center. Otherwise you'll always be at the mercy of any minor query between different sects, which could ignite at any time and paralyse everything. Plus, it makes everyone reliant on their respective community. There isn't any public space for people to demand their rights as citizens; everything has to go through your sect/community. So don't believe those people waving Lebanese flags and claiming to be patriotic: that is largely an expression of opposition to Syria. But it's very far away from being patriotic about a state....because it doesn't exist!!

So I have to disagree with a friend of mine who says that the Lebanese are experts at opposing any kind of system. It's more like: they don't have a system that they could oppose in the first place, really. And I think this problem has been here the whole time and will resurface more and more now that the Syrians are gone from Lebanon, taking with them their imposed and repressive security system and any excuse for the Lebanese to blame everything on Syria. Anyway, all I can say is that I have hugely underestimated this problem, looking at it from outside. Reading about things and seeing them first-hand really are two different things - I know this sounds really very naive but hey, it's the way I feel about being here.

And if you take this further and think about how to solve the problems that arise from not having a system....it really goes back to a lot of fundamental questions, like, how can the different sects cooperate? What is the role of outside actors in this? You could go on forever.

A River Called Tripoli

For any of you who thought the town of Tripoli was a coastal town in the North of Lebanon, I have some news: on my sightseeing trip there yesterday, I discovered that it's actually a river! :)

I still had fun though because Tripoli has a lot of souks and looks a bit like Damascus or Aleppo - very different from East Beirut. Somehow, I was relieved to discover this and to know that there actually are Muslim communities in Lebanon; something that is easily forgotten when you live and work in a Christian neighbourhood, like I do. Getting lost in the network of souks is a lot of fun, and like in Damascus there are different sections: a clothes section, a fruit and veggie section, a meat section, a jewelry section, and of course, a tacky-crap-section! After I spent some time in the clothes section unsuccessfully looking for a pair of rubber boots and warm socks because my shoes were seriously soaked after crossing the above river-street, I settled for a pair of stuffed-animal slippers in the shape of lions from the tacky-crap-section, because at least that way my feet would be warm once I got home. This proved to be a good calculation and I cannot describe my joy at wearing the brand new lion slippers after a day of slushing through muddy water in trainers! Luckily there is so much to distract the senses in the souks that I didn't notice it so much. There are tons of little Madrassas with black and white stonework, and Khans (storage rooms) from several centuries ago, and incense and tea and the sweets that Tripoli is famous for....I bought some from an old man in a little shop - they're the best. And of course there's the castle, which I will have to visit next time since it's basically a lot of ruins under the sky and I wasn't up for that in the rain. Anyway I'm definitely going back, it's a really nice day trip.

Happy New Year

A very happy, healthy, successful, exciting 2006 to all of you!!

The Holidays here have been really nice, I went to a really nice Christmas dinner with a bunch of strangers that I'd met recently, and it was really good fun. Almost felt like Erasmus, with two Jordanians, a Swiss girl, an Italian, two Germans and an Armenian there.

The new year's party I went to had been organised by somebody I met through work, a guy who works at the World Bank here, and some of his friends. They are all consultants, work in banks and come across as very serious people - but of course, being Lebanese, they know how to party!! So my friend Sherine came to pick me up wearing a bright red, curly wig, whereas the last time I'd seen her was on a panel at the conference we'd organised a few weeks ago. And all the other economists at the party soon were very drunk and started wearing funny party hats and all of that. Later on I drove to a different club with a few friends, six of us in the car piled on top of each other, nobody sober and the car going really fast...a good thing, in that case, that nobody is serious about traffic controls here. Anyway, unfortunately I always forget to take my camera when I go out, so I have no pics...

Had to spend the past two days in bed because I already had a cold before all these parties started - after New Year's I unfortunately could no longer talk, my voice was completely gone. It's coming back now... Luckily they gave us today off at work, very nice, and it's a beautiful sunny day with 20-something degrees, lovely!

On Friday I was feeling slightly more convinced about my work for the first time. After the Ehden workshop experience I talked about last time, and after meeting all these people who talk about ending feudalism and interconfessional dialogue but essentially are completely racist and locked up in their own communities..... we are now applying for a new project. The whole office got together and discussed several ideas - the overall theme was 'youth and political participation' - and in the end my plan was chosen!! To be honest it was easy because none of the other people really felt like writing a project proposal until Friday, but still, I felt a bit chuffed about it. So now we want to try and get young people from different regions together and train them in facilitation and moderation methods so they can go back and pass on this knowledge - at least giving people the tools to cross confessional and regional boundaries, should they want to. Whether or not they do it is of course still up to them. But first we have to write the proposal and get the project working of course. I will keep posting in 2006, of course! :)