I'm not bragging...I'm just saying...

Lebanon is located between three continents, Europe Africa and Asia. Its geographic diversity, mountains to plains and its strategic location both resulted in very complex historical realities.

In fact, the Lebanese coast has originally been inhabited by Phoenicians who founded the commercial cities. It was a nation of middlemen who provided a link between ancient empires and different civilizations.

Phoenicians chose the cultural conquest as their main contributions were trade and the Phoenician alphabet, hence communication.

It is probably no surprise that the Lebanese today are eternal migrants, dispatched on all continents. People of Lebanese origin are 9 million outdoors while the Lebanese on site do not exceed 4 million.

The Egyptians, Babylonians, the Hyksos, the Hittites, the Persians, Greeks and Romans all fought for the domination of Phoenicia.

Today, Lebanon is home to eighteen religious communities: the three monotheistic religions and their divisions making it an ideal meeting place with an opening to the West (the seaside) and an extension of the East (through the plains).

So I’m not bragging, I’m just saying that this multicultural blend should be our strength and our uniqueness. Our history dictated this evolution and we, citizens of Lebanon, should embrace it with open tolerance for our future can never and should never be differently built.

Above: the contribution of the Phoenician alphabet

Who gives a damn about Environment?

Believe it or not…but some people in Lebanon have decided to take action and write about tons of important issues happening today in our Lebanese society. No field is rejected: Politics, Economics, Environment, Social etc.
And let me just say that raising awareness in our dear country has often been worthless. We do not like to open our eyes because we usually feel powerless about these problems; we think that tomorrow will take care of tomorrow. We are too busy planning our upcoming parties and crushing ourselves in pointless political conversations.
Truth is, no major strategies are being applied today to fight against our lack of sustainability.
Our roads are dirty, our eco-systems are very fragile and our interest for recycling, forestation, waste and resource management is simply insignificant.

What do you think about the following titles?

Take action: Migratory birds face peril death in Lebanon sanctuary (thanks to irresponsible hunters we don’t have any birds left in the sky!)

Product of the week: The green bag (Waste is a new brand of bags made of recycled materials. Green is the new “it” factor!)

Solid waste management in Lebanon: a dead end (no, really?)

Are they catchy enough? Every week, Iloubnan.info sends out strong messages…we just have to have the curiosity…to “click”!

Reprise ou re-crise?

A vos marques, prêts, lisez !

« Les économistes vous ont parlé des subprimes mais avez-vous déjà entendu parler des ALT-A et des options ARM?

Les économistes vous ont parlé de la finance islamique et de la micro finance, survivants de la crise, mais avez-vous déjà entendu parler des fonds du vice?

Les économistes vous ont parlé d’une reprise en V ou W mais avez-vous déjà entendu parler de la reprise en O?

Après la lecture de ce livre, vous ne pourrez plus penser que le plus dure de la crise est derrière nous. Vous ne pourrez plus penser que le G20 a été efficace dans la gestion de la situation.

Et surtout vous ne croirez plus à une reprise imminente…

Dans cet ouvrage, les jeunes auteurs Thomas Porcher et Halim Madi font une autopsie minutieuse de la crise et montrent que le « subprime » n’était qu’un avant goût, ils nous livrent une analyse claire et pointent du doigt les dangers à venir. La crise en cache probablement d’autres et probablement plus tôt que prévu…

Cet ouvrage clair, percutant et iconoclaste répond aux interrogations sur la reprise un an après la crise. »

Je félicite M. Porcher, un professeur exceptionnel que j’ai connu à la Sorbonne et mon ami Halim Madi, étudiant du Magistère Banque-Finance-Assurance de l’université de Dauphine, pour cette belle collaboration et pour ce livre très instructif en plein dans l’actualité!

Le livre est actuellement en vente à Gibert Jeunes, la Fnac et Amazon !

A year in Lebanon

After earning my bachelor degree in Economics, I left Paris in July 2009 to come to my country and gain some professional experience before pursuing my graduate studies. I am so eager to get back to my blog with some fresh and local posts! I am currently an intern in a great NGO called Fair Trade Lebanon
More info will be coming up about my stay. Stick around ; )

Beautiful Mess-Protests and Strikes

Being in a leftist public University in France, I experience strikes and protests every year. French universities are profoundly attached to their Revolutionary spirit. Today, Research and Education are defended. Some of the biggest outlines of the government's potential law are:

-The separation of the Research from the Teaching; meaning that if a Professor is considered more efficient as a researcher then as a teacher, he will be asked to dominantly work in research and neglect its teaching (and vice versa).

-The Evaluation of the Research level should be more frequent and have a better controlled financial budget.

More details of the law must be considered of course and I am not the best person to enumerate all of its factors and judge its consequences. Nevertheless, I have read a very interesting point of view about it.

According to the Solidarité et Progres* Party, a creative researcher needs time and independence to publish high quality work. Our society should support and encourage its researchers (Professors, Doctors, Chemists…), while organizing this endorsement on a wider level instead of leaving it all to the deans of universities.

Over the years, the share of Research in the French GDP has dropped from 3% (During the De Gaulle and the Mendes era) to 2% today. Given the fact that we are encountering a very delicate financial phase, monetary restriction could be justified as a measure for limiting Public expenses. However, we shouldn’t mistake that as a sacrifice of Research which, by no means, could ever slow down expansion. Research is synonym of innovation, of product simulation and of responsible societies. It is what we can call the necessary expenses; the compensation it brings is far greater then the amount of money allocated for it. It is like a medical insurance that protects you to a certain extent from the unknown ahead. The US has understood that a long time ago while France is still paying the price. Brain drain is real, it is everywhere and some of our top-notch French Professors have left the country and crossed the Atlantic where their desires and demands are quite easily met there.

*Solidarity and Progress

Persepolis

In her autobiographical comic strip Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi tells stories from her youth in revolutionary and then war-torn Iran. I had heard so much about it last year and I am probably one of the last people in France to discover it this late! A couple of days ago my friend lent me the first part of the four comic strips. I couldn't not post a little something about it.

I really enjoyed Satrapi's courage and insolence and I am very impressed by the life she has led. In Persepolis, we discover that at the age of ten, she is compelled to wear a veil, understand the class differences in her society, the political affiliations of her family and overcome the loss of her dear uncle Anouck (killed in jail after the Islamic revolution). She is then sent abroad to Austria to pursue her schooling. After graduating from highschool, she goes back to Iran for university.

Her work was all adapted into a movie which was co-produced with Vincent Paronnaud. Persepolis earnt the Jury Price in 2007 at the Cannes Film Festival. I have found some nice trailers on the internet that I believe are worthy of your attention:

Persepolis was banned in Lebanon because apparently it could "create tension with the Iranian government"...I just don't get it, why should anything stand in the way of intellect?...Our people can think and judge for themselves. Of course. the movie never made its way neither to Kuwait nor to the whole region. Marjane currently lives in Paris, and is going to stay out of Iran for the meantime.

The pieces finally fit

So what do you do when you are born in a foreign country? And when you spend 20 years away from your own land? How can you still connect? Who do you become?
I wonder how the 8,584,000 Lebanese live in Latin America...Those who have left Lebanon decades ago...Do they have regular Lebanese Nights organized? Do they also enjoy a nice Fairuz song at night?

What about the 2,570,000 lebanese in North America?

Here is what I think:

At one point, you will face two main options;

- You can either draw a line on your past, and rediscover yourself in a new environment...since you never liked the words "aysh" w "laysh" anyway!

-Or you could live abroad the same way you would have been doing in Lebanon: hanging out each time with 10 other lebanese friends, all longing for one quick visit to Beirut, all smiling at the idea of Arak and Mezzé in Faytroun

I decided that I wanted a third option, I wanted to be all the countries I have been in: I am Kuwait, Lebanon and France.All three of them taught me to keep my head high. Kuwait with its soft cocoon, Lebanon and its solid ground, and France which showed me the true value of freedom of speech.

This helps me keep serenity hanging, it helps me belong. I thank them all.