And now Eid is upon us, sadly

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on the Al Moutanabi poem

And now Eid is here, yes, supposedly scheduled for tomorrow but the day itself is irrelevant. The Gazza scenario is being applied to south Lebanon and obviously, the voices that were offended about the situation there are nowhere to be found (please note, not that these voices did anything for Gazza so it's not like we are missing much anyhow). 

And now Eid is here, to mark the end of Ramadan with people in small tents, or sleeping on thin mattresses, thankfully donations are still trickling in but somehow all this seems not to exist to the powers that be. I mean politicians, specifically Muslim politicians, or to be honest Shiite politicians - these people vote for them. And still, they show up, on the daily, in the news, well-dressed in suits and ties - they "condemn" what is condemnable, as if condemning is going to fend off the rain from the tents.

I am sure, for the optics, there will be maamoul cookies distributed to them tomorrow. But maamoul - the same sweet for Eid and Easter - is not going to heal or fix anything. Is there a fatigue settling in? You bet. We did this before, in 2024, and I said before - now what do we do? (here). I know I should not be saying this, among the goodwill whereby people are still finding ways and things to donate, but there are also people trying to make a buck out of this. Trying to rent rooms at exorbitant prices knowing the refugees have no power to negotiate. Not that it did not happen before, throughout the different wars Lebanon faced since 1975, people were trying to do that for a long time.

I know this seems like condemning but we have a long history in this - During the Siege of Tyre in 332 BC, the Phoenician city-states of Sidon, Byblos, and Arvad (Aradus) gave their ships to Alexander the Great to attack their rival city-state, Tyre. This in itself should be a good reminder.

I truly worry about us as a country, geographically. The odds seem to be stacked against us this time.

Lurpak goes Easter

Lurpak, one of the most famous butter brands in Lebanon, has gone Easter.

Why? Because of Maamoul of course.

In case you don't know Maamoul, it is the traditional Easter cookie in Lebanon.(see here). A lot of households would depend on pastry shops to do the sweet and buy it outright, but with the prices gones stratospheric, the option to do it home-made is (re)prevailing. I say (re)prevailing because this used to be the norm long time ago.

Still, it is a testament for Lurpak as being one of the main butter brands in Lebanon to riff on their selling line (Good food deserves Lurpak) to go "Easter deserves Lurpak".

In Beirut: Let the old dead make room for the new dead

If you have not read Milan Kundera's "Let the old dead make room for the new dead", I suggest you should. Whereas "new" is an euphemism in this case, it seemed fitting that the only  new ad in town, on just two billboards, was one for dead politician Michel Murr who died on January 21, 2021. The rest? Nothing. Just old ads now torn and losing colors, a testimony of what advertising is in Lebanon today.

I spoke at length about the state of advertising in 2020, and how the numbers dwindled and dwindled last year, till there was none (because when you subtract the costs of trying to fix the agencies after the August 4 explosion, the numbers not only disappear but become negative). There was some animations on Instagram and social media, this year none. 

Beirut is broken. Totally, completely, and utterly broken. Whole malls are padlocked, the few shops open far and in between are empty. I spoke to a shop owner and he said "if I was renting, I'd have left it closed, but I own my shop, I want keep the pretense I am still alive. Oh, and sitting at home with my wife only led to explosive arguments so might as well come here and spend the day." This alone tells you what the situation is.

I was at a famous sweets shop buying the Maamoul Easter sweets - the price per kilo tripled since last year. No less than 4 other people went in, asked about prices and went out without buying. Understandably so. But the malaise, the feeling of tiredness is there - sweeping the city. I spoke of a perfect storm and it is. The disconnect with the political class is through a schism which is ever-widening. Not sure what they are betting on but to be honest makes little or no sense to me. The only glimmer of hope comes from Michel Hayek and his predictions about the Dollar and our money in the banks (the Dollar is supposed to go down and be available, and the money in the banks has not disappeared he says).

But on the ground, today, Michel Hayek seems off the mark. Beirut seems a shell of its self. Yes, yes, I know - the pregnant widow and all that. But throughout, there is nothing magical happening.

Eddy Abi Abdallah nails Lurpak Easter ad

Credit: Eddy Abi Abdallah

Eddy Abi Abdallah just aced the Lurpak Easter ad.
The copy? Maamoul is the delicatesse for Easter which means "done with" (dates, nuts, walnuts) so the line means both "done for the festivity" and "a maamoul for the celebration".
Then he doubles down with the name Lurpak done into Lurpaques with Paques being Easter in French.
There you go, a cheeky, smart funny ad. Excellent Monsieur Abi Abdallah!