Lebanon, Arabism and political double vision

تأكد ان ‏لبنان سيتمثل في القمة العربية بوفدين اذ اعلن الوزير طارق متري عن الوفد الذي سيشارك ‏مع الرئيس السنيورة المؤلف منه والوزيرين متري وسامي حداد والامين العام لوزارة ‏الخارجية هشام دمشقية هذا فيما علم ان رئيس الجمهورية اميل لحود سيشكل الوفد المرافق له ‏من الوزيرين فوزي صلوخ ويعقوب الصراف كمستشارين بالاضافة الى مشاركة نجلي لحود، اميل ‏ورالف والسفير مارون حيمري والمستشار الاعلامي رفيق شلالا ومدير مكتب لحود العميد غابي ‏رعيدي.

اما بالنسبة للتوزيع البروتوكولي داخل قاعة المؤتمر فعلمت الديار ان الامانة العامة ‏للمؤتمر تقوم بدرس مخرج لحضور الرئيس السنيورة كضيف على المؤتمر الى جانب الضيوف الآخرين ‏لان السنيورة لن يجلس وراء الرئيس لحود او ضمن الوفد المرافق له وقد وضع جميع الاطراف في ‏اجواء هذا المخرج، الذي يفيد في ترسيخ حالة «فك اشتباك» تجنب تكرار ما حصل في قمة ‏الخرطوم لا سيما وان ورقة العمل اللبنانية التي درست في اجتماع وزراء الخارجية العرب لا ‏خلاف عليها بين كل من لحود والسنيورة

Source Addiar Newspaper

So for the second year in row, Lahoud and Sanyoura, separately, are representing Lebanon in the Arab assembly. So let me ask here the million dollar question, which one is the representative of the Lebanese people? It is really hard to tell, since accusation of Lahoud having Syrian-rather-than-Lebanese agenda can be followed by accusation of Sanyoura to be America’s puppet. Furthermore, one can argues that Lahoud was elected under Syrian influence which makes him unrepresentative of the free will of the Lebanese, but on the other hand Sanyoura government is not legitimate since half of the ministers had resigned which render it to be non representative as well. I think this is a unique political situation when both parties are legitimate and not legitimate at the same time, it depends who you do like, Syria/Iran or USA/France.

We always take for granted that people should choose the Arabism choice, but why will they? We are assuming that they feel the Arabism so this should influence their choice, but isn’t this exactly the point in question? They simply don’t feel it; hence their decision is a logical one, in their point of view. I will very much like if anyone disagrees with me, but please no emotion shall be involved.

By the way, both Lahoud’s sons are attending the assembly, isn’t this hilarious?

these two photos may be helpful in explaining the term: political double vision ;)

Goverment's version

Opposition's version

Both pictures courtesy of Andrew Lee Butters, Time's Middle East blog

The Pianist

When the Tsaritsa speaks everyone should remain silent


Filmed by me

Eric Augier's Sometimes, the esthetic of destruction

This is another post sent to me by my friend La Parisienne. I believe she has got a lot to say, so I am encouraging her to start her own blog. She is La Parisienne, so this post will be in French ;)

To whom French is an unfriendly territory: this is a short video made by Eric Augier (Pleix Films), a French artist. The movie is inspired by 9/11 attacks, however his take on this subject is interestingly different from what has been done previously “We are not trying to deliver any political message neither to play the moralist. We are simply a sponge which absorbs and is influenced by everything surrounded it”

ERIC AUGIER, artiste : « PLEIX »
Conférence projection le mercredi 28 février 2007

Après les attaques de 11 septembre, beaucoup d'images en ont été vues à la télé, sur Internet. Tout le monde était impressionné !! Et on a beaucoup réfléchi d'un point de vue politique.
Dans cette conférence, ce qui était remarquable c’est qu’on abordait un sujet qui a fait bouger le monde, mais sous un aspect artistique ou esthétique.
Pleix a fait une vidéo inspirée du 11 septembre, qui se base sur une recherche en 3D, qui parle d’une esthétique de la destruction et présente des détails comme un bâtiment qui se détruit, une voiture qui bouge...
C'est un aspect de l'événement que je n’avais jamais vu auparavant, sans aucun rapport au politique, mais qui fait revivre notre mémoire dans un autre sens.
En nous expliquant son point de vue ERIC AUGIER nous a dit :
« Nous n’avons pas envie de porter de message, de jouer les moralisateurs. Nous sommes simplement un peu éponges, inspirés par tout ce qui nous entoure. »

Eric Augier's lecture at ODNM

Oeuvre: Sometimes Présentation : film vidéo +3D
Produced by Pleix.
Music : Kid606 Mille Plateaux 2003.
Technique utilisée: photographie réelle, construction en 3D, musique.
Caméra utilisée : numérique type Nikon.
Nombre de personnes en charge: 2 personnes.
Temps pour achever le travail : 2-3 mois.

Vous pouvez voir cette vidéo sur le site :
http://www.pleix.net

Pour voir tout les conférences de ODNM :
http://www.ciren.org

Je fais ce cours dans mon master avec la prof : Liliane Terrier
Observatoire des nouveaux médias ODNM : Cycle de conférences organisé par l’École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (Atelier de recherches interactives) et l’Université Paris 8 (Programme de recherche Ciren et Master Art contemporain et nouveaux médias).
Ensad 31 rue d’Ulm 75005 Paris, 18h30, Amphi Bachelier.

Let Old Damascus Be

Posted by Abu Kareem


"I will try not to cry until late at night; to cry for my memories and the memories of my family and all that pulls me to this magnificent place. I cannot cry during the day because I have several families whose livelihood depends on my business. I need to think about how to feed them and to insure a dignified life for them." Soon to be evicted store owner in old Damascus as told to Razan Zeitouna.

Several websites and blogs have have reported on the story of the plan to bulldoze a last vestige of old Damascus outside the city walls. It is a critical issue that is worth repeating to give it the widest exposure as the anonymous comment on my last post stated. An article in the magazine, The Architectural Review, aptly titled "The Damascus Massacre" which appeared in 2005 details the history of this ongoing dismantlement of the very heart of this ancient city. It is a history of colonial destruction (the 1925 French bombardment) followed by imposed urban planning, misguided modernization and most recently a combination of neglect, mismanagement, corruption and greed. The current project for the old city date back to the 1968 plans of Michel Ecochard, a French architect commissioned by the city. His plans, followed the Western urban planning ideas of the time, emphasizing urban functionality; hence the focus on wide arterial roads to the detriment of everything else.

The 1968 plans have been met with a variable resistance from Damascenes since then , but even when parts of the plan was implemented, it was done carelessly. In fact UNESCO, which designated old Damascus as part of the World Heritage has been unhappy with the course of events in the past few years. The recent plans and the haste with which they seem to have been implemented have aroused protests but also some suspicions. Interestingly even government controlled media outlets have published articles critical of these plans. The plan when implemented will result in the loss of livelihood and displacement of thousands of Damascenes without plans for adequate compensation.


No one can dispute that change is needed in a city whose population is mushrooming. However, intelligent change takes into account the social, historical and architectural character of the city and minimizes the impact of any planned change. Unfortunately, no such intelligent planning can be seen in the completely unregulated and chaotic expansion of the outer areas of Damascus. Given the opaque and corrupt nature of most government institutions in Syria, there is little confidence that what is being planned is absolutely necessary and if so, that it is carefully thought out and executed.

Razan Zeitouna

Subhi Hadidi

Shady Zayat

Abu Kareem

Yazan

Syrian Brit

Fares

Ammar

Decentering Damascus

Andre

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Free Hugs Campaign

"Love is as contagious as a cold. It eats away at your strength, morale... If everything is imperfect in this world, love is perfect in its imperfection."
from Bergman's the Seventh Seal


The video was sent to me by la Parisienne, posted by Moi

What were the “cool local” people in the red mini cooper looking at?

In replying to the controversial, World press awarded photo posted by Arima and Lujain, this is what I visualize the people in the car were looking at, its name is Land of despair and it was taken by the genius Thomas Dworzak (Magnum). He is well-known for his shocking New Orleans’ pictures, right after hurricane Katrina, known as Ghost Town. Land of despair was voted one of the best Photos for 2006 by Time magazine.

I will not comment any further, because sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Is this the best Cabernet wine because God says so ? An essay in God and morality

It has been widely believed that God is necessary in order to have and maintain a system of morality or moral knowledge. Away from God, this system will fall into the subjectivity of individuals and their prejudices in distinguishing right from wrong. Killing is wrong because God says so, and we can’t rely on people’s judgment to decide if it is right or not.
in this post the previous statement will be analyzed, it is not an easy task, so be patient ;)

a little story to start with:
Toni is fond of wine (who is not?) he mainly relies on his own olfaction to decide which bottle of wine he will buy. His friend Jeff is also wine fanatic, but he is always dependent on the famous wine taster Geo’s opinion in deciding which wine bottle to buy. One day Toni asked Jeff how he knows that Paul’s advice is accurate; Jeff replied “Paul’s wine selections are always of supreme quality” Toni’s great philosophical mind found this answer ambiguous, so he replied “but is it this wine selection good because he says that it is good, or is this wine good because it is actually a good Cabernet-sauvignon one?"

Pablo Picasso, Guernica

So to put this question in our moral dilemma’s terms
Are things wrong because God says so, or does God say that they are wrong because they are?

This dilemma was first put by Plato; there are only two possible answers or options.
Let’s examine the second option first. God declares that things are wrong because they are. Based on our wine example, wine may be good or bad independent from Paul’s opinion. He only facilitates the selection process; consequently a good bottle of Cabernet-sauvignon is a special treat even if Paul says the opposite.
Similarly things are right and wrong independently from God judgment. He is just confirming the fact and facilitates (or compels) its application. A code for right and wrong exists independently from God. So why we need him to confirm this standard if it’s already out there? We can help ourselves directly to this universal standard.

Now let’s turn to the first option. The omnipotent, omniscient God actually decides what is right from what is wrong. Once more following our wine example, if Paul, our expert wine taster, decides that certain type of wine is rubbish, it will be used by Jeff to season salads and to grill meat. But how do we know that Paul’s opinion is correct? How we can be sure that he will not declare a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette as a good merlot wine one? Jeff will answer back saying that Paul is so good and famous that any bottle he claims to be a good wine will certainly be a good one, but there is a huge contradiction here, Paul is the one who defines our idea of good wine, so what we are actually saying is: the good wine according to Paul, will be always a good wine according to Paul ;)

Leonardo da Vinci, Virgin and child with St.Anne and John the Baptist

in the same way, if God states that killing is right, it will be right. But even the most faithful believer will not agree that killing is right (sometimes, people from all major religions do justify killing for specific reasons and in certain conditions, but they will never agree that killing per se is good, as a concept). Furthermore this will make morality system no less arbitrary decided by God than decided by any one of us. However God is good, as our friend Paul, so he can not declare such horrible thing like killing a good act, but if God is the one who decides right from wrong, he will be always good, because we are saying that God (which by this definition is good) is good by his own laws. It is like saying God is God or that Paul’s wine is always good.
On the same line, God who says killing is good will be a good God, because our measures of “goodness” will be based on his definition.

Now someone can say: maybe you are right, God is not needed to define good and bad, but he is definitely needed to force people to acknowledge and to do good stuff by the heaven and hell duality (this is a popular belief even among some existential philosophers). it sounds like a convincing idea, but following this logic, one can not say that atheists can not distinguish good from bad, they definitely do good stuff even if they don’t attributed to God. In this case they are acting on a free will basis, and not fearing the punishment or seeking the eternal life. Atheists’ actions are much more mature and deserve respect since their deeds are based on their conviction rather than on an imposed contractual obligation.

Van Gogh, Wheat Field Under Threatening Skies

Conclusion:
Moral knowledge is independent from religion in the sense that people are able to distinguish good actions from bad ones, and to behave morally even if they are not religious. I am not saying in any way that people should or should not be religious, this is an absolutely personal decision, everyone decides his way to meet his spiritual needs. Nevertheless, the notion that the only way to moral knowledge is through religion is disingenuous. In the end, religious books are full of moral codes, however people choose the moral facts that are coherent with their existing moral point of view and they reinterpret or just simply ignore the rest! (more examples will be provided upon request) ;) .



Further reading
Stephen Law "the Philosophy Gym"

The best mp3 player for your blog !!

web widget world is so complicated!! i have been looking for mp3 player for my blog for ages, maybe because i have not had anything more interesting to do;), finally i found one,it is from fine tune little bit awkward to find a specific song but it simply works !! another cool widget is from Library thing one can share books that he is reading and read reviews on them.
it is amazing how nowadays one can waist so much time on web 2.0