Redux: Carlos Slim Vs. Leftists in Lebanon
Carlos Slim Vs. Leftists in Lebanon
Redux: Maid In Lebanon: A List of Shame
Redux: Redux: Maid In Lebanon: A List of Shame & And Another One
The New York Times and Carlos Slim
Redux: Mubarack Vs. Nasser
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu is often accused of being a monopolist, tycoon and robber baron. That is because the recently declared world’s richest man acquired his mass fortune through a near monopolization of the Mexican telecom - both land-line and mobile - industry which has allowed him to charge obscene rates in a nation where 40% of the population live below the poverty line.
The $53billion Slim recently paid a visit to his ancestral homeland of Lebanon. It is somewhat inaccurate to refer to him as being of Lebanese descent (and he never refers to himself as Lebanese) since his parents must have never identified themselves as Lebanese due to the fact when the immigrated to Mexico in 1902 (and founded that country’s first Arabic press), Lebanon did not exist as a nation. That entire area was known as Greater Syria and nationalism - an idea born in the late 18th century French revolution - did not exist in the Arab world at the time. People identified with their tribe, clan or religious community since nationhood was non-existent. And if they saw themselves as anything approaching nationalist terms, it was Syrian. But, anyway, Slim’s hometown is in modern-day Lebanon so technically he is Lebanese and obnoxious and delusional Lebanese nationalists eagerly claim him as some ostensible reflection of the supposed glory of Lebanese ‘Phoenician’ genes (but that’s a different story). Slim visited Lebanon for the first time since the last 1960s and expressed his love of the country, stated that his visit was personal and he was not looking to invest in the nation for now, and offered the Lebanese the obvious advice that if they are to prosper they must put aside sectarianism and embrace unity and tolerance (they’ll ignore the last advice and simply concentrate about how great it is that a ‘Lebanese’ man is so wealthy).
While speaking Slim was interrupted by protesting leftists:
A small group of masked protesters momentarily interrupted Helu’s speech by unfurling a large banner with a slogan in broken Spanish reading: “por todos todo, por nosotros nada,” an apparent reference to the Mexican Leftist Zapatista slogan “para todos todo, para nosotros nada” or “everything for everyone and nothing for ourselves.”
Security guards dispersed the protesters within minutes.
The spirit of Zapata is felt in Lebanon.
Redux: One of the protesters writes a personal account:
"In reference to the small protest staged at AUB against Carlos Slim, in which I took part, LA Times got it wrong, we were not dispersed within minutes. We stayed for almost an hour. Once we put on our masks and unfolded our banners, they closed the curtains so that the people inside the hall could not see us, then the security came and tried to unmask us, but we 'held to our masks'. The organizers of the event came and tried to give us lessons on how we are uncivilized, how this is not the right time or place for protest, how people are there to listen to Slim and not see masked people, and how masked people are scary, but we held to our position. Then AUB bourgeoisie, mostly business students, came to make fun of us, one person but a paper mask and held a paper saying in Arabic "I am hungry" (because you know, the only reason for us to "hate rich people" is that we are poor), another person threw coins at us, a third person put a free drink coupon on the floor in front of us (and I yelled at him "thanks, we need it"). Many people approached us, some were aggressive, some were sarcastic, and some discussed the matter with us, a few were convinced (one person even asked for a mask and joined us), and many told us that they will google up the Zapatistas once they get home. All in all I guess it was a success, beside it was fun pissing those people off, and I think the best thing the security did was trying to disperse us; this way they made a scene and brought us more attention. I believe one of the comrades is planning on writing a correction to LA Times. Please feel free to use this information as you wish."
This part of the Middle East, the leftist part, is almost never covered in the U.S. press. I mean, Mid-East leftists are more numerous and better organized than American ones.
And they clearly make their revolutionary voices heard and they should be recognized as part of the regional fabric.
