Al Wadi Al Akhdar - canned patriotism

Al Wadi Al Akhdar is launching an initiative whereby "Lebanon is with you, on every can". And what it says it is, it does. For each of their products, they dipped (sorry for the bad pun) the can with a certain known Lebanese area. Apparently there are 8 collectable variants, the kind of boxes nostalgia resellers will keep as is to exhibit them years down the line among their paraphernalia. So, without further ado, and in no particular order: Baalbeck, Beirut, Beiteddine, Byblos, Cedars, Douma, Sidon, and Tripoli (OK, fine I placed them in alphabetical order). Well, I believe these are paper prints on the cans as opposed to them being printed on the cans direct (much more cost-effective). So as I said, this is indeed the kind of  marketing gimmicks that would push people to collect and resell, but ordinary folks will just go for the price factor.

Can anyone make Alfa stop, please?

Alfa has a new ad (here). And it's not even independence day. The sob, the drama, the - heaven help us that word again - resilience. I mean they got the mandolins to the power n, and the pinch-me-till-I-cry drama cranked to the level 11. Oh and as a close friend said, "now is not the time to dig a tunnel under the cedar" which, along with all other pseudo-creative ideas the ad is brimming with, it is indeed not. 

Does the ad solve anything? As usual not. And no, tilling the soil and dancing dabke while waving the flag as children are on the swing will certainly not fix the country. But then leave it to Alfa to have a much ado about nothing.

Massoud "Poussy" Achkar RIP

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Massoud "Poussy" Ackhar has passed away from covid complications. He leaves behind what every Lebanese politician wishes to leave - an excellent name, a legacy unharmed by bribery or theft, and a untainted history of patriotism which no one can dispute, and better - he transcended the murky water of politics, machinations, to become a symbol everyone agrees upon across the Christian aisle. May he rest in peace. 

On that "their" cedar video, and patriotism in Lebanon

Today a can of worms has been opened. A video is heavily circulating of two young men, putting their (deceased Iranian major general in the revolutionary Guard Corps - who was assassinated in Iraq exactly a year ago) Qasem Soleimani's photo in the heart of the Cedar which represents the Lebanese flag (the video is not clear where this happens) but what is clear is that - apart from one of the men saying whose photo it is - the other man says "yes, plaster it on their cedar" - emphasis mine (see video here).

Which naturally brings the "their" to the forefront. It might seem shocking that these two men - or at least one of them - does not feel any belonging to the symbol present on his country's flag (and that the other does neither as he also tends to think it is fine to put such a photo there). But - and here is the big but - the cedar has been mentioned 103 times in the bible. And whereas yes, Lebanon is indeed known for its Cedrus libani species, and for its forest trees (which were much more numerous than they are now), put yourself in the shoes of the Moslem MPs when the first Lebanese flag was drawn.

In 2009, and within the realm of me teaching a class on current events I asked my students (about 35 of them) about what makes us Lebanese. What these youth, which came from different backgrounds and places and faiths, agreed upon in the end were two things "tabboule and Fairouz". The rest which included the flag, national anthem, dabke, Rawche, etc... did not make the cut.

Once more, oddly I am neither surprised nor angered about the "their" cedar reaction (presumably, that of the Christians). One should place things in their contexts. And by the way, please let us not file this (the flag, the presence of the cedar in the bible) as something "from the past" (and ergo no longer up for debate or opinions at this stage).

Nothing is from the past. When Abbas al-Moussawi was assassinated on February 16, 1992, there was an Egyptian ad during the news for Lord Shave (a brand of disposable razors) which aired on (Lebanese TV channel) LBC and which ended with "na3iman ya Abbas" (hope you had a good shave/cut Abbas). The ad showed barely a few minutes after the report on al-Moussawi's blown car (and his assassination) in one of those innocent mistakes that happen without premeditation. The sentence "na3iman ya Abbas" became a catchphrase among certain Lebanese (of course, the Christian part). Please watch the ad here.

When Lebanese politician Gibran Tueni was himself assassinated on December 12, 2005, there were at the time heavily manifestations in downtown Beirut (among which certain manifestations of shiia demonstrators) and on one of those large banners was written "na3iman ya Gibran".

As I said, nothing is in the past. All is today and nothing is forgotten. Or to better quote William Faulkner, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past".

Just to be clear again, "patriotism" is incredibly complicated in Lebanon. And the more you live here, the more you understand how nuanced it is.

Ksara - it ain't broke and they didn't fix it.

You remember the Ksara campaign from earlier this year? Well, it ain't broke so they didn't fix it. Actually they retooled it for a bit more into a winter scheme. Interestingly, it could have become a second degree touristic postcard thing (because it mentions many Lebanese areas) but thankfully, including the bottle so prominently saved it from ending up so. Naturally, enticing the Lebanese to "hold their cup" in a gesture of patriotism really requires a lot of guts, which sadly is quasi empty right now in the land. But then again advertising is now inspirational for nothing. And well, if we can dream a bit at the end of this year, then why not?