On Lebanon's Loss

Several days ago, I asked the question :

Is it true that Ibrahim Al-Amine, from Assafir, has been "banned" from writing?

Here’s a summary of the story.

Apparently, Amine was offered some money by someone to change the tone of his writings on key issues, one of which was Mehlis. They began using personal threats when he did not cooperate, to no avail. Talal Salman was then called. Salman was offered money and was reminded of the “sanctions” his paper suffered before the 2000 elections. Salman then banned Amine from actually writing his opinion piece.

So here’s the issue. If I was able to get this information, I can not convince myself that more important and better connected people don’t know about this. Yet nothing has been done. Nothing has been discussed. Why should it be? It is not related to big ideas. It has nothing to do with Arabism. It has nothing to do with fear of Western control. It has to do with us, our faults, our weaknesses, and our internal hypocrisies. There is no blaming Syria for this.

You can hold Salman accountable for actually giving in, but we should be realistic. The “sanctions” he was threatened with are unofficial ones, which basically entail stopping official ads, apparently a large source of revenue for newspapers, and pressuring private companies against advertising in Assafir.

Regardless of whom you blame, the end story is that a journalist was “silenced” because he opposed a certain powerful political force. This is the New Lebanon. This is the Lebanon we are building with our unifying hatred.

Many of my other posts were written with a nonchalant attitude of relative acceptance to what was happening and what is going to happen. This however, fueled my frustration at being a pawn. I was angry a few days ago, and even angrier today when I received the complete story.

Newspapers receive funding for political reasons. Journalists get paid to support a certain perspective. This isn’t news to any of us. But what is outrageous is the totalitarian control over simple rights and the blatant unilateralism certain groups are subjecting Lebanon to.

One of the greatest myths that Lebanese value is that Lebanon is a bastion of “freedom of speech”. In reality, it is travesty. I will not accept the argument that we are better than other Middle Eastern states – since when did better mean good enough? Furthermore, at least their citizens don’t harbor lies concerning this. And until we truly understand ourselves - until we remove our colored lenses - then there is nothing more to say, or do.

posted by Lazarus, 5:48 PM