From Bakersfield to Beirut
I'll be representing Bakersfield and The Californian at an upcoming conference in Beirut, Lebanon, for publishers in the Middle East who want to learn more about what it takes to run a successful independent media company. This blog will be all about my trip and the conference, which should be an amazing experience!
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Mary Lou Fulton
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Lebanon is ready for online community and participation
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Sadness
I have been so distressed at the news that the beautiful country of Lebanon is being bombed daily.  I fear this week's attacks have set back Lebanon's efforts to rebuild by at least a decade, maybe more.


Below is an essay I wrote published in The Californian a few days ago.
t was just a few weeks ago that I was in Beirut, enjoying a lovely summer evening at a seaside café. A popular local gathering place, the café was packed with locals sipping tea, as young men nearby stood on rocks to cast fishing lines into the Mediterranean. A fiery orange sun was sinking into the water.


If I were there today, the view would be much different. Instead of the green hills of Beirut in the distance, I would see black plumes of smoke above Beirut's airport, which was bombed by Israel in retaliation for Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon. The streets of the capital city, normally a cacophony of horns and grinding car engines, are now empty, as Beirutis take refuge in anticipation of further Israeli attacks. The airport is closed; Israel has imposed a blockade on the port, a vital source of supplies for the seaside country; bridges leading to the capital city have been bombed; and people are hoarding food, water and fuel.


The evening at the cafe was the final night of my trip to Beirut, where I represented The Californian at a U.S. State Department conference to support independent Arab media companies. At the café, I thought of the stories I could tell when I returned to Bakersfield.


I would talk about the many gracious and welcoming people I met. I'd note the intense
cultural contrast in Beirut, where veiled women walk alongside girls in halter tops and posters of the Ayatollah Khomeni hang from street lamps within view of billboards promoting Burger King.


I would describe the magnificent Roman ruins at Baalbek that took four centuries to construct and I would tell the inspiring stories of journalists who were assassinated for the simple act of speaking their minds.


I arrived back in Bakersfield and did share those stories with my colleagues and
friends. But the routine of life and work quickly pushed Lebanon to the back of my mind.


Today, I can't stop thinking about it and find myself anxiously checking the English-language Web sites run by my new friends at NaharNet (http://naharnet.com) and The Daily Star (http://dailystar.com.lb/) for the latest news and pictures.


That's the funny thing about travel. It changes you and replaces anonymous adjectives, such as "war torn," with the faces and voices of people, the sights of cosmopolitan city and the taste of honey-soaked pastries.


You acquire a new sense of the importance of geography. Although I had seen maps of the Middle East, I didn't understand how small Lebanon really is until I was there. The entire country is only 3,950 square miles, about half the size of Kern County! It takes less time to drive from Beirut to the northern border of Israel than it takes us to get to Pismo.


Another thing that changes is your ability to label people in sweeping ways. Not all people who live in Lebanon are Muslims, and not all Muslims support Hezbollah. In fact, about 40 percent of Lebanese are Christians. By law the president must be a Maronite Catholic; the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim; and the speaker of the Parliament must be a Shia Muslim. Interfaith conflict was one of the driving forces in the county's civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990.


What's especially sad about this episode of violence is that it comes at one of the most optimistic periods in recent Lebanese history. Since the end of the civil war, Beirut's downtown has been nearly reconstructed, a new modern airport was built and foreign investment is on the rise. Lebanon was considered to be the most progressive of the Arab nations, especially for women.


But the most inspiring event of all happened last year, after former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a car bomb in downtown Beirut.


The nation was outraged at this attack, believed to have been carried out by the
Syrians. Millions of people took to the street in peaceful protest. The largest demonstration drew 1.5 million people about one-third of the country. International pressure grew and the last Syrian troops left Lebanon in April 2005. Lebanon was independent, at last. And now, this.


Middle East politics are complex and a brief trip to Beirut doesn't make me an expert. But a conflict that seemed worlds away a few weeks ago is now personal for me. It is my hope that this round of violence doesn't cause the window of democracy and independence to slam shut again for Lebanon.

 

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posted by mlfulton on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 08:48 PM
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posted by mlfulton on Jul 19, 2006 at 09:59 AM
Thanks for your note.  Every day I wake up to the sound of the radio, hoping for news of a cease-fire or other progress.   I hope that day comes soon.
posted by anonymous on Jul 19, 2006 at 03:11 PM
Too bad you are not Jewish, the 24/7 station news are full of good news for them They can do no wrong our government tells us, and they are right...see how it turned out in Iraq.
The Princess of Darkness is working on a cease fire she says the time is not right, the ratio of death is not acceptable to America yet, as the score has to be Lebanese 10,000, Israelis 30 dead before Bush considers a cease-fire, sorry but the influence in Washington is on the other side. In fact, for the US senate Irael 2, Lebanon 0.
posted by Goat on Jul 20, 2006 at 11:39 AM
I'm really glad to see Israel taking a firm stance against this unprovoked attack, and finally doing what they can to destroy Hezbollah, and to send a message to state sponsors of terrorists that it isn't in the best interest of their country to allow terrorists to live and breed within your borders.
posted by anonymous on Jul 20, 2006 at 06:26 PM
Yeah, Israel is taking a firm stand, on your dime, but that is OK. Since 1946, Isreal with our help has been a pariah on the region and unfortunately we will never learn and we will go down in a burning flame with them.
posted by allRED on Jul 20, 2006 at 08:10 PM

I have posted before concerning the Jews and the United States, This country was created to protect the nation  of Israel, To all that are against Israel, come & try to defeat them.  I'am 64 and would love to go there and be in the fight, this is a fight to the end. I'm not Jewish, but Irish, but I know the Arabs are gulity of trying to destroy Gods people and it has been like this for thousands of years, not since they became a nation again. The jews will be defeated someday, but not this day. The day the EU Nations take over then, The Lord will defeat and restore the Jewish people and this will cause them to know, Jesus is God.

WE WERE CREATED TO PROTECT THEM TILL THE TIME GOD COMES IN AND TAKES OVER.

posted by allRED on Jul 20, 2006 at 08:22 PM

I'm rooting for Israel, the Lebanon people are like the Blacks and Mexicans, they will not tell the police when someone has committed a crime,  the world ask why kill the poor lebanonese, Why? because they let hezbellon come in and estasbish a foot hold.

posted by mlfulton on Jul 20, 2006 at 08:31 PM
allRED, I would appreciate if you could keep your comments focused on the subject of Lebanon and not insult people of other racial backgrounds.  That's not relevant here.

One thing I learned on my trip is that not all Lebanese support Hezbollah, and the Lebanese government cannot control everything that Hezbollah does any more than the American government be responsible for the actions of all Americans. 

This violence offers us a chance to learn and understand more about the complex history and politics of the Middle East.  While in Beirut, I met a columnist from The Daily Star, Rami Khouri, and I think his commentary is very thoughtful.  You can see it at http://ramikhouri.com/
posted by Goat on Jul 20, 2006 at 08:45 PM

allred is a zealot and an idiot.  Just ignore him.

.

For people who don't like hezbollah, the lebenese sure haven't done much to get rid of them.  They seem like collaborators to me.

posted by mlfulton on Jul 20, 2006 at 08:57 PM
Thanks Goat :-)

A couple of thoughts --  I've heard a number of commentators say that while the Lebanese dislike Hezbollah, they dislike Israel even more.  I heard the same thing while I was in Beirut.   Hezbollah came into existance following Israel's removal of Palestinians in order to create the state of Israel after WWII, and occupied southern Lebanon from 1978 until 2000.  The scars are far from healed. 

Rami Khouri writes: "In the past two decades, with every diplomatic move to protect Israel's borders and drive back Arab foes, the response has been a common quest to strike Israel from afar -- because the core dispute in Palestine remains unresolved. Three Arab parties to date developed missiles of various sorts that can strike Israel from greater and greater distances. Iraq, Hamas and Hizbullah have all fired rockets and missiles at Israel, making the concept of buffer zones militarily obsolete and politically irrelevant. New buffer zones imposed by the international community to protect Israel, while leaving Arab grievances to rot, will only prompt a greater determination by the next generation of young Arab men and women to develop the means to fight back, some day, in some way that we cannot now predict."

Another point is that Syria and Iran likely have more control over Hezbollah than the Lebanese government.   I'm not saying that the Lebanese government couldn't be more forceful in its condemnation of Hezbollah, but they don't have a whole lot of control over the situation.



posted by allRED on Jul 21, 2006 at 04:20 AM
posted by Goat on Jul 21, 2006 at 12:23 PM
mlfulton:  Just as the Taliban were complicit in what happened on Sept 11, 2001, the Lebenese are complicit in what Hezbollah does as long as they allow them refuge in their country.  There are many things Lebenon could have done to get rid of Hezbollah, and they didn't do it.  Now they're paying the consequences for that.  I have no sympathy for them at all.
posted by allRED on Jul 22, 2006 at 07:19 AM
Mlfulton my post above was to say most of our black and mexican friends when confronted by police will not tell them anything concerning the crime and this is how crime prospers in neighborhoods, lebanon country seems to be the same, they allow hezbollah to put roots down, thats why I used my comment above. That was not a racial remark but a fact.
posted by Goat on Jul 22, 2006 at 11:08 AM

allred:  you identify a group of people by race instead of by income class or neighborhood, and then you throw out a stereotype attributed to all of them.  Unless you're saying the majority of black people don't report crimes to the police (which I don't think you are, and I don't think would be accurate) there are other, more accurte ways to describe/stereotype the group of people you are trying to describe...  for example, inner city people, ghetto people, peopel who live in crime ridden neighborhoods, poor people (just not poor black people), welfare people, druggies, gang lovers, etc.

If you were to say people in Inglewood or Bellgardens, you'd be pretty accurate.  And it would apply to everyone who lived there, not just the blacks or mexicans (although they are mostly black, there has got to be a white or an asian in there somewhere).  By classifying all blacks in that manner, you make your argument incorrect.  For example, there is a very nice black family that lives two door down from me.  They're middle class, have good jobs, seem to take good care of their three children, and I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to call the sheriffs dept if they were the victim of a crime.  There's another black family around the corner from me.  Two adults live in the home, neither of them work, there are 8 children in the home ranging in age from 16 years old to about 3 months old, the kids are always dirty, running around the neighborhood naked or with no shoes on, never have any supervison, apper to be poorly fed, and the older boys have been arrested several times for committing crimes (Kern County can't/wont do anything about juvenielle crime) in our neighborhood.  If they were to call KCSO to report a crime being committed, it's more likely than not they or one or more of their children would end up being arrested as a result of the police contact.

Do you see the differnece?  It's not a racial problem, it's a class problem.  The only thing that really makes it a racial issue is the tendency of poor blacks to believe their poverty is a result of their race and blaming their income/class situation on other races.

posted by allRED on Jul 23, 2006 at 06:02 PM

Goat I do know when people, people of any race dont stand and fight for their neighborhood, rights as a community will be lost. Rights of  a country will be taken, as has Lebanon's, a weak neighborhood, a weak country, lose their rights for not standing up. When the people of a neighborhood or country report and fight they can hold on to their rights.  Every news account of a shooting that catches my attention, guess what? it's the police asking if any one come help solve this crime, or know if anyone saw what happen, the police always says, even the ones there didnt see anything and it seems always that they are black or mexicans.

Mlfultons post  reminds me of the poor Lebannese people, they dont know NOTHING & NEVER SEE ANYTHING. But Hezbellon lives in the same house and drives the same streets. When she puts pity on the poor Lebannese because Israel is bombing them, I tried to use a sanario, that to me fits. Just the last 3 days I have phoned the Police twice, 5 kids drunk pull across the street @ 5.05 figthing, A new family moves down the street and i've seen her trying to sell her self, she was arrested and i havent seen her since. I got a e/m yesterday from a person that wants to give me 20% of 6 1/2 million for helping them get their money out of a bank. All i'm saying, is people can start @ the 1st sign of trouble and report it, but it doesnt seem to happen in poorer black or Mexican neighborhoods. Is that a rascist comment?

posted by Goat on Jul 23, 2006 at 08:48 PM

>>>it seems always that they are black or mexicans.

.

--->You have to understand that's not because they are black or mexican.  It's because the people who live there are mostly black or mexican.  Your statement is just like the people who say our legal system discriminates against blacks because it's mostly blacks that go to prison.  It's not because they are black it's because most violent crimes are committed by blacks....    It's the crime, not their race, that get them put away, and in your case, it's the neighborhood/class that affects how people interact with the police, not their race.

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