new blog
apologies for not posting. but please know that this blog will no longer be updated, the new blog is http://justimage.wordpress.com. thank you
apologies for not posting. but please know that this blog will no longer be updated, the new blog is http://justimage.wordpress.com. thank you
Outside the highway buzzes by
Shebab on their scooters with Lebanese flags wrapped around their heads and Heinekens in their hands
A schoolbus of kids clapping and singing
A convertible with 2 "gorgeous" women both checking themselves out in their respective side-mirrors
An old army jeep with 6 soldiers in the back, one flicks his cigarette onto the road
A Sri Lankan maid on errands for her madame with her 2 hands full of grocery bags walks by
Inside its old french music blasting
The AC is on, but its not cooling a thing
The coffee from the Nescafe machine tastes strange
The old man behind the counter sits staring at the highway outside
A woman, I assume his daughter, stands nearby staring at me
"what is he writing?" she's probably asking herself
An old man paces and stops by the door.
He pauses from staring out the window to count the few dollars in his pocket
He checks some loose pieces of paper mixed in with the bills
The electricity cuts out and a worker from the back runs out to see what's wrong
While he's walking outside the old man behind the counter shouts at him to check what's wrong
I enjoy the silence sans the french music
It's hot, my skin is sticky
A second later the generator kicks in and the music is back
I realize how much I hate france
Sorry, but this image was not taken on my phone as promised in the "about" section for this site, but I need it to illustrate a point.
Earlier in the day I photographed at the Hizballah rally (see previous post). I, and many of the other journalists I talk to, are always very impressed by the amount of organization that Hizballah has. Not only are the events well organized, but how they deal with journalists, their security checks, and then herding us around to take pictures at their events - by the way, at these events contrary to what many think, there is no discrimination by Hizballah against journalists who have written bad things about them, come from countries who call them "terrorists", and they do not censor anything.
Now, compare this to any event organized by the state, and the differences are incredible.
First of all, Lebanon is a bizarre country. We left Dahiyeh where tens of thousands were listening to a speech by Hassan Nasrallah to travel just 15 minutes to downtown where thousands were coming to listen to a concert by Haifa Wahbe. These two figures, one a leader of a disciplined resistance organization, and the other a singer who sings about well, lovey stuff, and has obvious plastic surgery (although now Nancy Ajram might be more popular than Haifa) are Lebanon's most popular. Crazy.
Anyway, at the Haifa concert, the Lebanese police officers were at first sitting around joking with each like always. Hizballah guards at the speech in Dahiyeh joke too, but it's like if you see a couple joking you're lucky, and right after the guy's straight face will return and he will be back in position arms folded. Not only were these police officers untrained in how to deal with crowds, there was only about 20 of them to fight off a storming crowd of thousands. Needless to say, the police officers lost and the stage was stormed and the concert ended.
One of the police officers who was fighting off the storming crowds grabbed me and tried to hand me a phone a bunch of times. I kept telling him in arabic, "it's not mine!" And he was shouting, "Take picture of Haifa!" I looked at him giving him that "are you serious" look and finally I said why not. So I ran up before getting pushed back by Haifa's security and snapped her pic. Finally Haifa was rushed out by police and her bodyguards.
It was chaotic. And this was right after an event in Dahiyeh where if someone stood up to cheer when it wasn't the time to do so, they would get a firm look from a Hizballah guard and sit right back down immediately.