Again and always, racism's ugly head :(

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I don't usually post more than one article a day, but I felt the need to!
Watching news on LBC right now about the Ethiopian Airlines crash (here & here):

Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi visited the Lebanese families who were mourning their loved ones. He went from one town to the next, from one house to the next and paid his respect to the grieving relatives.

Politicians, journalists and other prominent Lebanese figures attended the mess in memory of Marla Pietton, wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton. This is understandable and I can appreciate everyone making the effort to attend in person.

WHAT I CANNOT UNDERSTAND

On the other hand, only Ethiopians attended the mess in memory of their fellow nationals (mostly women, I didn’t notice any man which is possibly because all these ladies are most likely housekeepers).

Not one politician.
Not one prominent figure.
Not even one representative sent by the government.

Truly disgusting.

I sit there and remember that my husband, my brother, my sister and I spend our life away from home; away from our families; just like these women.

I know what it means to be lonely sometimes; to feel like you want to hug your sister; to feel like you need to touch your mother, sometimes just smell her perfume (I own a bottle of my mom’s favorite fragrance and use it when I miss her so I can sense her all day long) and yet, unlike these brave Ethiopian ladies, I have the opportunity to visit home many times a year.

What are they feeling right now?

Divine injustice for losing their friends and relatives?
Earthly injustice for facing racism on a daily basis?

I’m wondering what support system these ladies are getting away from their homes; away from their loved ones.

God help them.

God help all those who have had to face this tragedy.
God bless the souls of those who left and may they rest in peace.

F***ing Good Morning to You Too!

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Last night hubby flew back to Dubai for a couple of days before heading to China for a good two weeks. I'm not going to nag about his business trips and how we're never together anymore. This is not the topic of this post. I just had to mention this detail because his flight was at 3am so we stayed up until 1:30am when he drove to the airport (it's just 7min away by car, no traffic); and then I couldn't sleep until the plane took off (air catastrophes aside, I just do that every time someone travels). Bottom line, I wasn't asleep before 4am.

Late night fantasy of "grasse matinée"

I thought it was all OK because I would sleep late today; after all it's what Sundays are for, right?

But our great leaders had other plans for me and so this beautiful day started on high note.

We live two steps away from the Bristol Hotel which is a favorite location for our delightful politicians to organize parties and whatnot.

People familiar with the Bristol area will tell you parking's a bitch (pardon my French) and none of the buildings which were designed sometime around the 80's have underground parkings. So the entire neighborhood parks on the sides of the streets.

As mentioned earlier, today is Sunday and most families in my building only, let alone the entire neighborhood, have already left to the mountains since yesterday. Most of these families own two cars but use only one on weekends. Which means that the remaining car is nicely parked on the side of the street since Friday night.

And this fatalistic morning...

My sunshiny wake up call today? The police blasted through their microphones for people to remove their cars on both sides of the road! Apparently our national security heroes are very afraid someone might have left a bomb or something targeted at one of our (I'll say it again) delightful politicians.

First of all: If you're so damn scared of what your own people might do to you, you need to start wondering what you've done to them to make them that angry

Secondly: If you're so damn scared of public places, why don't you hold your little parties in a less urban location? There are hotels everywhere in our tourist-friendly Lebanon. Do you have to do your thing in the middle of Beirut, in its most crowded area between Hamra and Verdun? Streets are crowded with cars. You don't like it, move. We definitely won't mind having not to bear the weight of your oh-so-damn-annoying presence!

Secondly (bis): If you're so damn scared of public places (I have another option for this one) why don't you hold your little parties in one of your mansions? All of you delightful politicians have big houses with 24hrs a day power supply. And if you're so keen on securing the location, yours are already fortresses! The streets (and their surroundings) you live on are more than secured , as if you owned Lebanon's public roads and sidewalks. So why bother securing an entirely new area when you've already got checkpoints around your homes and we common citizens have to go through your insulting staff every time we must pass by?

Thirdly: Even if every car owner was in town and could move their cars, where would they park them? It works the other way around too: Even if there were available golden parking spots somewhere, all the cars owners are not in town!!

My two cents

I'm no security expert but I've got some fairly acceptable managerial skills so I'll venture and advise our (again, can't help myself) delightful politicians and their amazingly qualified staff the following:

IF YOU WANT THE STREETS TO BE EMPTY ANY DAY OF THE WEEK AND PARTICULARLY ON A SUNDAY

DO YOUR JOB AND WARN PEOPLE A FEW DAYS AHEAD OF TIME!
(how difficult was that to think of?)

OK, YOU CAN'T THINK THAT FAR, FINE. HOW ABOUT WARNING THE PEOPLE THE DAY BEFORE THEN
(is that one also impossible?)


If you expect the citizens who were silly enough to vote for you to do their part, how about you start by doing yours?

Today is going to be grand!
I can feel it.

The sirens haven't stopped yet as if clearing the roads was some kind of medical emergency. The idiot behind the microphone is still shouting at people as if they were common criminals (I mean come on, who would park their car in front of their own building?) and he was doing society some big favor. (And they wonder why we hate them?!)

And I am fairly certain that even when the roads will be clear (and most of the neighbors will have to go pick their cars up from the impound) the sirens will not stop.

La Morale Monsieur Lafontaine?

Basically we scream "democracy" and "republic" during elections campaigns.

Then we actually throw away all that crap, enforce "feudalism", crown ourselves Lords (if not Kings or even Emperors) and treat the so-called citizens like serfs.

Finally, the common people (or "serfs" for those who haven't been following) can enjoy the GREATNESS of FREEDOM by reelecting us again, and again, and again, and again, and again (and if/when we die, elect our children) again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and... Until eternity.

A Freaking Good Morning to You Too!

The Lebanese Laïque Pride

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Rayess Bek's contribution to the The Lebanese Laïque Pride - مَسِيرَة من أجل دولة علما which will take place in Beirut on April 25, 2010 at 11am.

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