The results of the Lebanese elections are out. March 14 won by a confortable margin. I had predicted this win, but I didn't think they would win by such a margin. However, the real winners of the Lebanese elections were:
1. Sectarianism. Electoral turn-out was very large because people voted in small districts dominated by one sect. It is likely that people felt that this scale of elections represents them better. In other words, voting for one's sect is more important than voting for one's nation.
2. Money. Sectarian money showed that it can really sway elections. Massive amount of money was spent on the electoral campaigns, on buying votes and on flying people in so that they can vote fpr one group or another. On a per capita basis, this must be one of the most expensive election ever. Just like Lebanon's debt: one of the highest on a per capita basis.
3. Inherited parliamentarism. A large number of "political families" are represented in this parliament: Frangieh, Karameh, Gemayyel, Murr, and the newest addition: Tuwayni, a family which in record time has sent 3 generations to the parliament.
4. Ultra liberal economics. Both sides subscribe to this creed, but the March 14 people have a more formal, structured approach to its implementation. Rough days ahead for the poor.
Now it is all wait and see: will the winners invite the other side, especially the Shi`a block, to take part in the cabinet? Will they give them veto power as in the last government? What will the role of the President, who aligned himself with the March 14 in Jubayl and lost in his own district, be? Will he get the veto power in government? Will the new government avoid the issue of disarming Hizbullah or will it raise it again? How will this be done? To what extent will it allow itself to be manipulated by regional and global powers such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the US, who have been actively promoting March 14? Things might totally get out of control if wrong steps are taken. After all, as As Safir put it, the elections re-created the type of Parliament that brought Lebanon to Civil War in 1975. They called it: the Parliament of Civil Partition.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Is organic only for the rich?
"Bref, c’est à se demander pourquoi les Français ne consacrent au bio que 1,5 % de leurs dépenses alimentaires (soit 2,4 milliards d’euros en 2008), loin derrière les Danois, les Autrichiens ou les Suisses. A cause du prix ? Sans aucun doute. Pour en avoir le cœur net, nous sommes allés faire nos courses à quatre reprises la même semaine. Dans une grande surface, nous avons rempli notre Caddie uniquement de produits bio, puis le lendemain, de produits de marques, et enfin, de premier prix. Puis, le quatrième jour, nous avons poursuivi le test en nous rendant dans un magasin spécialisé. Résultat : le prix de ce dernier cabas « boutique bio » est 160,3 % plus élevé que le même rempli de produits premier prix, soit 2,6 fois plus important."
From the latest issue of Terra Eco
From the latest issue of Terra Eco
Palestine is permaculture
"At five in the morning on 8 November 2000, Israeli troops invaded the Sustainable Development Centre in the West Bank village of Marda, tearing doors off their hinges and smashing windows. They destroyed seven years of work on the permaculture project. During the two-and-a-half hour rampage, the plant nursery, seed bank, agricultural equipment, computers and files were all wrecked.
...
The Bustan Qaraaqa community -- a big stone farmhouse surrounded by 12 dunums of land -- also acts as a testing ground for ways of living "off the grid" in Palestine. Like Murad al-Khufash in Marda, Gray believes that lifestyles more associated with alternative communities in Europe and the US could offer new solutions to farmers cut off from their land by the Israeli Separation Wall."One of the Occupation's methods is to refuse to give people infrastructure," Gray explains. "Some farmers are saying OK, you build the Wall between me and my land. I choose my land. So the Israelis say -- you can have no infrastructure. No electricity, no running water. Now try living there."
...
As Gray emphasizes, the denial of services is one of the Israeli State's means of enforcing a political agenda aimed at removing the Arab population, from "unrecognized" Bedouin communities in the Negev as well as Palestinian villages near to the Wall. But, she believes, permaculture's reinvention of ways of living that might have been familiar generations ago can help to circumvent the occupation's methods, and farmers from villages like al-Walaja where land confiscation has been a major issue are wiling to try out some of Bustan Qaraaqa's ideas." (Thanks Marcy)
Where are the Israeli green peacenik liberals when one needs them? No where to be seen. You want to know why? Simple: you cannot be a true green, peace-loving, believer-in-equity-and-social-justice when you are a Zionist.
...
The Bustan Qaraaqa community -- a big stone farmhouse surrounded by 12 dunums of land -- also acts as a testing ground for ways of living "off the grid" in Palestine. Like Murad al-Khufash in Marda, Gray believes that lifestyles more associated with alternative communities in Europe and the US could offer new solutions to farmers cut off from their land by the Israeli Separation Wall."One of the Occupation's methods is to refuse to give people infrastructure," Gray explains. "Some farmers are saying OK, you build the Wall between me and my land. I choose my land. So the Israelis say -- you can have no infrastructure. No electricity, no running water. Now try living there."
...
As Gray emphasizes, the denial of services is one of the Israeli State's means of enforcing a political agenda aimed at removing the Arab population, from "unrecognized" Bedouin communities in the Negev as well as Palestinian villages near to the Wall. But, she believes, permaculture's reinvention of ways of living that might have been familiar generations ago can help to circumvent the occupation's methods, and farmers from villages like al-Walaja where land confiscation has been a major issue are wiling to try out some of Bustan Qaraaqa's ideas." (Thanks Marcy)
Where are the Israeli green peacenik liberals when one needs them? No where to be seen. You want to know why? Simple: you cannot be a true green, peace-loving, believer-in-equity-and-social-justice when you are a Zionist.
Israeli farewell presents to South Lebanon
"The presence of cluster bombs in the area meant that, until MAG began work here in January, the Shahar Restaurant sat empty and unused following the 2006 war. Ismael lost out on the US$4,000 a year of summer seasonal income that would support his family of four and was unable to carry out his plan to hire five part-time workers. "
Listen without illusions?
Friends have asked me what what I thought of Obama's speech in Cairo. I sent them this article by Slavoj Zizek
"Days before the election, Noam Chomsky told progressives that they should vote for Obama, but without illusions. I fully share Chomsky’s doubts about the real consequences of Obama’s victory: From a pragmatic-realistic perspective, it is quite possible that Obama will just do some minor face-lifting improvements, turning out to be “Bush with a human face.” He will pursue the same basic politics in a more attractive mode and thus effectively even strengthen U.S. hegemony, which has been severely damaged by the catastrophe of the Bush years."
Friday, June 5, 2009
Badael-Alternatives
What do you call sectarian elections? Answer: selections.
I am leaving later today for Paris where I am talking about quality control for traditional foods in Lebanon at this Unesco conference. I am leaving right before the Lebanese parliamentary elections. I did not plan it, but I am not displeased about it.
I have not addressed the matter of the elections on this blog, in spite of the fact that Lebanese life has been revolving around them for a number of weeks now. This is a blog about food and farming, and while the candidates have been feeding us vapid words and cultivating sectarian hatred, this did not qualify for posting here. I also blog about politics in times of crisis, but this is hardly a crisis, although its outcome may cause a crisis at a later stage.
I am a non-voter in these elections. Not a blank-voter, just a non-voter. I have been criticized by many friends because I am not chosing to "exercise my democratic right", and I am not participating in the choice of my representatives. What democracy? What choice? Tons of money are flooding the country, to buy votes and sway results, in contravention with all accepted and acceptable norms: these are elections for the rich and powerful. And the country is so divided along sectarian lines, that out of 124 available seats, only 14 seats will actually be fought over. The others are "assured" to the selected candidates of one sect or the other.
Lebanon is a country of sectarian discrimination. There are posts and positions one cannot access because one belongs to the wrong sect. Parliament seats are divided according to sect, and so are state appointments and governmental jobs. People hide behind sects and sectarian leaders who are often also business people and warlords, because they are afraid that the other sects may become too powerful and take some of their privileges. Leaders cultivate fear and hatred with a demagogic discourse. This is how the wars of Lebanon are fueled. To achieve their sectarian goals, the Lebanese use regional and international political dynamics. Sectarian leadership is not ideologically picky: they have been all over the place in the past 30 years, and the same group can swifly move from being pro-US to anti-US, strike deals with Syria and then attack it or open up to Israeli advances and then declare its full support to the Palestinian cause. What is important is the survival of the sect and the retention of its priviledges: this is the real source of power in Lebanon.
It is against this background that the elections have to be perceived. And while there are sects that are more unfavored than others, economically or socially, sectarianism provides the wrong entry point for correcting these situations. This is principally because sectarianism and the discrimination that accompanies it are is the principal forces underlying these inequities. They cannot be corrected by a sectarian agenda or through the sectarian system.
Many people agree with me in Lebanon, or at least they say so. There is a lot of political dissimulation and double discourse going around, and my belief, based on numerous observations over many years, is that people whose ideologies are not strongly anchored in the radical left will always find the right non-sectarian argument in support of their sect.
People often challenge me by telling me to vote for change. Politicians in Lebanon regularly declare themselves secular and anti-sectarian. Why not chose one of those as the recipient of my vote? There are 2 reasons: 1) voting in sectarian elections implies that one endorses the principle of sectarianism as a basis for electing representatives and 2) who can really believe that someone who has been elected within a sectarian system will work towards the destruction of that same system? Logic, strengthened with years of observations, imply that they will contribute to the continuation of the system that gave them power and glory.
One reason that is often given for voting one way or another in these election by people who I know are truly non-sectarian and often atheists (one does not necessarily imply the other in Lebanon), is that one of the 2 choices available (the March 14 coalition and the former Opposition) represent more than the sects they include. For example, the former Opposition, also known as the March 8 coalition (but this should not really apply because of the presence of the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun in the coalition, and he who was not there on March 8- long story) stands also for Resistance and opposition to the Israeli agenda and the US plans for the Middle East. But looking beyond that, one finds that this coalition has no real social and economic agenda, and that past performance does not really indicate that they are concerned with acting on issues of poverty reduction and equity and social justice. The March 14 group, at least, is dominated by neo-liberals, and this provides an important entry point in opposing its program.
To sum up, one has to see these elections as a simple referendum with a yes/no outcome. The question of the referendum is: do you endorse sectarianism? If you do, then go vote, and if you don't then abstain. Within the sectarian system, a vote in these elections is a vote for sectarianism. The only way we have to express our dissatisfaction with the sectarian system is by refusing to play its game. We have to withdraw legitimacy from the system by reducing the number of people who participate in it. And while I fully agree that this is a very long shot (I believe that there will be a very large turn out for these elections), I do not see a better starting point.
There is a big flaw in my position, and it was pointed to me a couple of days ago by a friend who was justifying his decision to vote. He said that this whole line of reasoning would be correct if "not voting" was part of an organized political movement, and if the results were used towards political action. I agree with him, and this needs long term preparation: maybe for the 2o13 elections, if, as we say in Lebanon, we are still alive.
I have not addressed the matter of the elections on this blog, in spite of the fact that Lebanese life has been revolving around them for a number of weeks now. This is a blog about food and farming, and while the candidates have been feeding us vapid words and cultivating sectarian hatred, this did not qualify for posting here. I also blog about politics in times of crisis, but this is hardly a crisis, although its outcome may cause a crisis at a later stage.
I am a non-voter in these elections. Not a blank-voter, just a non-voter. I have been criticized by many friends because I am not chosing to "exercise my democratic right", and I am not participating in the choice of my representatives. What democracy? What choice? Tons of money are flooding the country, to buy votes and sway results, in contravention with all accepted and acceptable norms: these are elections for the rich and powerful. And the country is so divided along sectarian lines, that out of 124 available seats, only 14 seats will actually be fought over. The others are "assured" to the selected candidates of one sect or the other.
Lebanon is a country of sectarian discrimination. There are posts and positions one cannot access because one belongs to the wrong sect. Parliament seats are divided according to sect, and so are state appointments and governmental jobs. People hide behind sects and sectarian leaders who are often also business people and warlords, because they are afraid that the other sects may become too powerful and take some of their privileges. Leaders cultivate fear and hatred with a demagogic discourse. This is how the wars of Lebanon are fueled. To achieve their sectarian goals, the Lebanese use regional and international political dynamics. Sectarian leadership is not ideologically picky: they have been all over the place in the past 30 years, and the same group can swifly move from being pro-US to anti-US, strike deals with Syria and then attack it or open up to Israeli advances and then declare its full support to the Palestinian cause. What is important is the survival of the sect and the retention of its priviledges: this is the real source of power in Lebanon.
It is against this background that the elections have to be perceived. And while there are sects that are more unfavored than others, economically or socially, sectarianism provides the wrong entry point for correcting these situations. This is principally because sectarianism and the discrimination that accompanies it are is the principal forces underlying these inequities. They cannot be corrected by a sectarian agenda or through the sectarian system.
Many people agree with me in Lebanon, or at least they say so. There is a lot of political dissimulation and double discourse going around, and my belief, based on numerous observations over many years, is that people whose ideologies are not strongly anchored in the radical left will always find the right non-sectarian argument in support of their sect.
People often challenge me by telling me to vote for change. Politicians in Lebanon regularly declare themselves secular and anti-sectarian. Why not chose one of those as the recipient of my vote? There are 2 reasons: 1) voting in sectarian elections implies that one endorses the principle of sectarianism as a basis for electing representatives and 2) who can really believe that someone who has been elected within a sectarian system will work towards the destruction of that same system? Logic, strengthened with years of observations, imply that they will contribute to the continuation of the system that gave them power and glory.
One reason that is often given for voting one way or another in these election by people who I know are truly non-sectarian and often atheists (one does not necessarily imply the other in Lebanon), is that one of the 2 choices available (the March 14 coalition and the former Opposition) represent more than the sects they include. For example, the former Opposition, also known as the March 8 coalition (but this should not really apply because of the presence of the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun in the coalition, and he who was not there on March 8- long story) stands also for Resistance and opposition to the Israeli agenda and the US plans for the Middle East. But looking beyond that, one finds that this coalition has no real social and economic agenda, and that past performance does not really indicate that they are concerned with acting on issues of poverty reduction and equity and social justice. The March 14 group, at least, is dominated by neo-liberals, and this provides an important entry point in opposing its program.
To sum up, one has to see these elections as a simple referendum with a yes/no outcome. The question of the referendum is: do you endorse sectarianism? If you do, then go vote, and if you don't then abstain. Within the sectarian system, a vote in these elections is a vote for sectarianism. The only way we have to express our dissatisfaction with the sectarian system is by refusing to play its game. We have to withdraw legitimacy from the system by reducing the number of people who participate in it. And while I fully agree that this is a very long shot (I believe that there will be a very large turn out for these elections), I do not see a better starting point.
There is a big flaw in my position, and it was pointed to me a couple of days ago by a friend who was justifying his decision to vote. He said that this whole line of reasoning would be correct if "not voting" was part of an organized political movement, and if the results were used towards political action. I agree with him, and this needs long term preparation: maybe for the 2o13 elections, if, as we say in Lebanon, we are still alive.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Bedouin designs 2: The story of Nawf
In classical Arabic, nawf means exalted. In Bedouin folk culture, it is a name given to a woman of sacred beauty. Nawf is the name of the brand of hand-made quilted cushions produced by the bedouin women of the Abu Eid tribe, in the Northern Bekaa. I have posted about the cushions before, and now the designs and the quality control have been improved. The cushions are 40cmx40cm, made from high quality pure egyptian cotton and they are for sale at $20 per piece. The women who make them have created a small microfinance fund into which all profts are channeled and which serves as a pool of small loans for their individual projects of for emergency expenses.
There is no local retailer yet (they are looking for one who will give them good terms), and I will be taking some to Paris and New York soon, avis aux interesses !
Contact me on the blog if you want some. Hurry, they are going fast: they look much better than the pictures.
There is no local retailer yet (they are looking for one who will give them good terms), and I will be taking some to Paris and New York soon, avis aux interesses !
Contact me on the blog if you want some. Hurry, they are going fast: they look much better than the pictures.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
No rice for Iraq
"On 24 May Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Turkey, the source of the two rivers, had agreed to increase water flows into the Euphrates by 130 cubic metres a second from 22 May.
Whilst Al-Dabbagh welcomed the move, the Water Resources Ministry’s Abdullah was more critical. He said: “This isn’t enough; it is modest and has come too late… We asked them to release 350 cubic metres a second in March and increase this to 700 cubic metres a second by November.”
Abdullah said the situation was critical as Turkey had five major dams on the Euphrates, and Syria two. All rice fields depended especially on the Euphrates, he said. However, in some places tributaries of the Tigris feed into the Euphrates, so water levels in both rivers affect rice growing in Iraq, he added. " (Thanks Annia)
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=84553
Whilst Al-Dabbagh welcomed the move, the Water Resources Ministry’s Abdullah was more critical. He said: “This isn’t enough; it is modest and has come too late… We asked them to release 350 cubic metres a second in March and increase this to 700 cubic metres a second by November.”
Abdullah said the situation was critical as Turkey had five major dams on the Euphrates, and Syria two. All rice fields depended especially on the Euphrates, he said. However, in some places tributaries of the Tigris feed into the Euphrates, so water levels in both rivers affect rice growing in Iraq, he added. " (Thanks Annia)
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=84553
UN: Israeli buffer zone eats up 30 percent of Gaza's arable land
"Israel's warning came from the sky, as it often does in the Gaza Strip. But this time warplanes dropped neither bombs nor missiles on the impoverished Palestinian territory, but thousands of tiny leaflets warning Gaza's residents to keep away from the 30-mile-long border they share with Israel.
Stay at least 300 meters (1,000 feet) from the border, the May 25 pamphlets advised Palestinians, or risk being shot by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Once a plush scene of rolling olive, citrus, and pomegranate groves, much of the border region is now just a barren landscape, marked only by the presence of IDF tanks, military watchtowers, and the occasional pop of gunfire.
Farmers and their families have been displaced, too afraid to return to their fields, while international humanitarian organizations are unable to make an assessment of the needs and damages of the area in the aftermath of the assault."
From CSM (Thanks Marcy)
Burning life
"A group of extremist settlers burnt on Monday hundreds of acres planted with olive trees, wheat and barley near the Palestinian villages of Burin, Aseera, Tal and and Sorra south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
...
...
Ali Eid, head of the Burin village council, told the Maan News Agency that the fires consumed olives trees, and large areas planted with wheat and barley.
Also, local sources in Jeet and Far’ata villages, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, stated that the settlers set ablaze hundreds of acres planted with wheat.
The sources added that Israeli soldiers did not attempt to stop the settlers and instead protected them and barred Palestinian fire trucks from reaching the burnt lands. "
The end of farming
In the fertile Crescent: agriculture in Iraq (Thanks Annia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43rv7yl2tUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43rv7yl2tUY
Keep them coming
More on WTO from Al Akhbar: an article (Arabic) by Ester Bouser (not sure of the translation): Joining the WTO, what the Lebanese should know. Rasha wrote yesterday part 5 of her WTO saga, but I cant get the link because of al akhbar's website.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Organic turns sour
"But soon the price of organic feed shot up. Then the recession hit, and families looking to save on groceries found organic milk easy to do without. Ultimately the conglomerate, with a glut of product, said it would not renew his contract next month, leaving him with nowhere to sell his milk, a victim of trends that are crippling many organic dairy farmers from coast to coast." (Thanks Daniel)
Vote for Zaytoun
Friends, Zaytoun, which exports fair trade olive oil from Palestine, and makes a big difference to Palestinian farmers, is now in the news with its director Heather Gardner-Masoud a candidate for the Times 'Women in Ethical Business Awards'. Please go to the link below and click on the blue link in order to vote for Heather of Zaytoun.
http://tinyurl.com/raaaal
As the Times says: "Heather Gardner-Masoud is a director at Zaytoun the company she was inspired to set up after a visit to Palestine when she joined human rights observers accompanying farmers to harvest their fruit - she learnt about the scale of injustice first hand and was determined to find a UK market for the olive oil and other products."
For more details on Zaytoun: http://www.zaytoun.org/
http://tinyurl.com/raaaal
As the Times says: "Heather Gardner-Masoud is a director at Zaytoun the company she was inspired to set up after a visit to Palestine when she joined human rights observers accompanying farmers to harvest their fruit - she learnt about the scale of injustice first hand and was determined to find a UK market for the olive oil and other products."
For more details on Zaytoun: http://www.zaytoun.org/
In the schoolyard
Nestle rehabilitated a school yard in the southern suburb as part of its corporate social responsibility program. Wael Yehia writes in Al-Akhbar today: "They rehabilitate our schoolyards and support Israel".
More WTO in Lebanon
Rasha Abu Zeki continues the Lebanon-WTO saga: 3rd and 4rth installments. The 3rd one has stuff about the linkage between WTO and normalization, and the 4rth about the position of farmers and industrialists. I admire this young woman: she is a talented economics reporter and a leftist activist who is engaged in political action.
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