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In the revolutions that have recently shook the Middle East, it is near-

ly impossible to deny the key role played by the youth and their media. On Thursday, March 3, a lecture was given by Dr. Joe F. Khalil on pre-cisely that, “The Making and Unmaking of Uprisings: Re-flections on Youth-Generat-ed Media.” In the lecture, the main focus was on the com-ponents of youth-generated media, what differentiates it from mainstream media, and the way in which it has a unique power in affecting the cultural, social, and political spheres in the Arab World.

This is a continuation of the interview published in the last issue with Dr. Peter She-baya and Dr. Richard Smith; the former and current coor-dinators of CVSP respective-ly. How did the CVSP pro-gram start?In the late 1930’s, Charles Malik, Ph.D. in philosophy, wrote a long letter to Presi-dent Bayard Dodge illustrat-ing the need for an associated program in general educa-tion at AUB. Thus, in 1951, an autonomous Department of General Education was first mentioned in the AUB

A new semester has be-gun and one can’t but notice the extensive

non-smoking campaign that has been plastered all over our campus. Banners, fliers, weblinks, letters to the com-munity, all sorts of tools have been used to awaken our spirits and take a lookout on what a crucial issue smoking is. In our world today, the Unit-ed Nations’ World Health Or-ganization (WHO) has esti-mated that every “6.5 seconds a current or former smok-

er dies” and with an expect-ed rate of “1.3 billion smok-ers worldwide,” the picture doesn’t look quite good. In Lebanon, smoking is still al-lowed in indoor public prem-ises, despite the many sug-gested law drafts, bringing in risks not only for smokers themselves, but for people around them who could be af-fected by second-hand smok-ing. So what is this new cam-paign all about? Smoking is still allowed on campus but only in specific areas that are clearly designated. A total of

Live ‘Acoustic Bands’Every Thursday nightat Crepaway, Hamra.

The AUB Music Club with Crepaway’s man-agement, presents live

“Acoustic Bands” at Crepaway, Hamra ev-

ery Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. For res-

ervations, please call 01/745845 or contact AUB student Tarek

Abi Mosleh at tja06@aub.edu.lb

Dalia HosnStaff Writer

Khodor Abou DayaStaff WriterAli AlawiehSpecial to Outlook

Caterina BelardiStaff Writer

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Youth-generated media in uprisings

Dr. Joe F. Khalil, A visit-ing assistant professor from Northwestern University in Qatar, is an expert in this field. He has over 15 years of experience in professional television as director, execu-tive producer and consultant for major Arab channels. He received the Smith Richard-son Foundation grant, and has authored and co-au-thored many works that deal with the subject. He is cur-rently working on a book-project based on his disser-tation, Youth-Generated Media in Lebanon and Sau-

Civilization sequence program from different angles

AUB’s Non-smoking campaign, a success?

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Speaker Series

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Rabih Mroue presents his life’s work

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One on one with AUB Alumnus Tarek Atrissi

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The American UniversiTy of BeiruT

منوعات

Outlookvol. Xliii, no. 19 TUesdAy, MArch 08, 2011 The IndependenT sTudenT PublicaTion since 1949

catalogue. Between 1965 and 1967 the name Cultur-al Sequence Program (CSP) was introduced. However,

Globalization: liberat-ing or humiliating?

First Toastmasters convention in Lebanon

New look coming soon...

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Wednesday March 9 at 1:00 p.m. - West Hall - Ada Dodge Hall Area. With respect to the recent Arab revolutions and regime changes, will the “domino effect” reach the Lebanese political scene? The first Speakers’ Corner for Spring 2011

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Speakers’ Corner Sequel: Arab revolutions ‘domino effect’

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it was unofficially called the great books program. The

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Campus NewsArts & CultureAlumni NewEntertainmentOut Loud

2 MArch 8, 2011 OUTlOOk cAMPUs newsFirst Toastmasters convention in Lebanon

First Entrepreneurship Initiative Speaker Series hosts “Element ^n” Co-founder and CEO

Toastmasters interna-tional is an interna-tional organization

headquartered in the United States of America. This club works on improving com-munication and leadership skills. The experienced mem-bers of the club show great improvement in comparison to the shy quiet people they were, into the strong confi-dent person they are now. For the first time, Lebanon will participate in the biggest convention that Toastmas-ters International holds an-nually. Saturday Febru-ary 26, the AUB club Speakers&Leaders, a chap-ter of Toastmasters Inter-national, held a convention which included two other chapters of Toastmasters in Lebanon, Pro Toast, for work-ing people and alumni, and LoudSpeakers, in Tripoli. This convention covered four contests, prepared speeches, Table Topics (or impromp-tu speaking), evaluations, and lastly, humor contest. There were also educational sessions where skilled mem-

On March 3, Entrepre-neurship Initiative in-vited the AUB com-

munity to attend its first Speaker’s Series featuring entrepreneur Rabih Nas-sar in the Maamari Audito-rium. Co-founder and CEO of Element^n , Nassar talked about his experience as an en-trepreneur and what it takes to truly achieve a dream. Nassar began by mentioning that as long as he could re-member he was an entrepre-neur. With a candid demean-or and a sense of humor that left the audience chuckling in their seats, Nassar shared his 20 years worth of stories of success and failure in the pursuit of dreams. Nassar addressed the audience tell-ing them that they do not be-

bers talked about the differ-ence between a vision and a mission, and the other about leadership. It should be mentioned that nearly 40 members took ac-tive roles to make this event come true. The chairpersons for each contest, the partic-ipants, the guest speaker, the ballot counters, the Ser-geant at Arms, who made sure things went well and on time, and lastly, the judges. Also, the entertainment of the event who is not a mem-ber of the club, but a student at AUB was, the guitarist Tarek Abi Mosleh. Each club individually had these contests, and their win-ners were to compete with the winners of the other two clubs. Guests ranging from all ages, interested people, family, friends, all came to witness this great event, and all of them learned so much about speaking and the ways to be an efficient leader. The reason this event is so important is because the winners of this convention will move on to the Division level (Jordan, Lebanon, and

come an entrepreneur over-night. They might get lucky and have their ideas come to life with one shot; howev-er, most likely they are go-ing to have to put some effort into them, as they might fail a few times and even face de-spair before seeing their pas-sion pay off. After graduating from Saint Joseph Engineering School (USJ), Nassar teamed up with two of his friends and made his first attempt at opening a business. However, after a few months their op-erations were cut short once they realized that they had naively neglected to factor in all the elements that they should have. Following this incident, Nassar partook in several other work attempts that did not pay off as well as he expected. He bravely took to the world and travelled and lived in various places

the Gulf Cooperation Coun-cil countries or GCC), to com-pete with them. This con-vention will take place in Jordan. From there the win-ners will go on to the Interna-tional Convention in Las Ve-gas, America to be exact. As for the winners of each contest, they will move on to the Division Conven-tion. The winners are, for the Prepared Speeches con-test, Philippe Jamhou-ri from Speakers&Leaders, from the Table Topics con-test, Walid Hajj from Speakers&Leaders, from the Evaluation contest Jana Jab-bour from LoudSpeakers took first place, Alaa Abi Morshed from Speakers&Leaders took second, and Nisrine Kater-gi from Pro Toast took third place. For the Humor contest Mehdi Ghurayeb from Pro Speakers. Although there were win-ners, everyone did well, the meeting ran smoothly with food and refreshments, a break in the middle, and a guitarist entertainment act that kept the atmosphere up and running. This big con-

such as Brazil and Paris. He ultimately returned to Leba-non with a determined spir-it and an idea he was ada-mant in seeing come to life. Nassar then factored in the years of wisdom he had ac-cumulated and with persis-tence and hard work co-cre-ated Element^n in 2002. Today, he has offices both in New York and Beirut. This passionate CEO credit-ed his success to four charac-teristic skills that he believes every entrepreneur should possess. According to Nas-sar to truly become an en-trepreneur one should have to believe in one’s vision, be tenacious, resourceful, and simply sincere. One will of-ten find oneself lacking the needed resources to reach the end result, but instead of being hindered, such a fact push one even further. Inves-tors might be ruthless and

vention was prepared by Zahraa Shaito, the President of Speakers&Leaders and a student at AUB doing her Master’s in Public Relations. All of these members and over 40 participants deserve a big round of applause for the effort and hard work, their dedication and motiva-tion to make the best of the convention, and now, the

treat as a person as no more than a commodity. For this reason, a belief in one’s vi-sion is what should propel a person to fight hard. Nassar believed that the true entre-preneur is “someone who has a vision and is able to gath-er all the means to make it concrete.” While one should be risk aware, one should be

winners who will represent Lebanon in front of Jordan and the GCC! Best of luck to them all, hopefully, one of them will win and represent Lebanon Internationally!

Deedee El-Jilani is the Secre-tary at Toastmasters.

careful not to be risk averse. Without taking a few risks one might never achieve the dream one set out to attain. Believing in oneself, believ-ing in one’s dream, and re-maining true to one’s vision will enable a person to see his or her efforts come to fru-ition.

Deedee El-Jilani

(Photo by Mohamad Alameh)

(Photo by Wael Salem)

Lara TraboulsiBusiness Manager and Con-tributing Writer

3MArch 8, 2011OUTlOOk cAMPUs news

Our parents often com-plain about it; why do we listen to inces-

sant beats with meaningless lyrics instead of Fairuz? Or why do we read English and French more easily than Ara-bic? Whether we like it or not, the undeniable movement of globalization is gaining mo-mentum. Sociologist Dennis Smith gave a lecture on Mon-day, February 28 in AUB on the power relations of global-ization, in a more political context than music choice. Dr. Smith is a professor of sociology at Loughborough University and has written a book on the power dynam-ic found in globalization. In the lecture, he discusses how it often leads to a situation where one party is dominat-ing another, the dominated, thus producing humiliation. Although it may often seem that our generation is espe-cially Westernised (or at least that’s what our parents say), Dr. Smith argues the con-trary; he points out that “glo-balization is a process that

has been going on for centu-ries.” The three main proponents in spreading the process, he explained, are trade, explora-tion, and war. Being the prin-ciple means by which previ-ously separate communities interact, these three are the most common ways that peo-ples and governments have increasingly been faced with the temptation to adopt the ways of the West (here mean-ing Western Europe and the USA). The humiliation arises when the ways of another commu-nity are preferred over those of one’s own. To go back to the relatable example, it is some-what humiliating that indi-viduals our age would rather become experts in and sup-porters of another commu-nity’s culture, because it is an implicit rejection of the Lebanese cultural output. This may partly explain an-ti-western sentiment in non-western parts of the world. “Globalization is continu-ing to create and transform relationships,” Dr. Smith af-firmed. Especially relevant today is the Arab uprisings

that have swept eastward since Tunisia’s overthrow-ing of Ben Ali. While dicta-torships and monarchies are common to the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, peoples are progressive-ly (pun unintended) choos-ing democracy – a system, it should be noted, which the USA and first world Europe-an nations pride themselves

on. Of course the outcomes of the uprisings in several of the Arab countries are far from final or clear, but as for the cause – is it globaliza-tion? Is what Dr. Smith has called protests for “the right to have their right and digni-ty respected and protected” a product of attempted emula-tion of other nations?

Although he concluded that globalization is in its essence humiliating, we may wonder how that differs if agency in-volved. Perhaps globalization is not humiliating when we actively and openly choose to apply someone else’s system as an alternative to our clear-ly dysfunctional own.

Yasmine SaabStaff Writer

Globalization: liberating or humiliating?

Russian Orientalism

On March 2, 2011 the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Stud-

ies (CAMES) invited Profes-sor David Schimmelpennick van der Oye to discuss the re-lation of Edward Saïd’s “Ori-entalism” to Russian society while discussing ideas was inspired from his recent book Russian Orientalism: Asia in the Russian Mind from Peter the Great to the Emigration. Schimmelpennick used two distinct but profound Rus-sian artists during different tsarist invasions of Central Asia to portray the lectures objective Schimmelpennick is a pro-fessor of Russian History at Brock University in St. Cath-erines, Ontario, Canada. Af-ter studying at the University of Toronto and Yale College,

he has published two books on Russian History so far and they are Toward the Rising Sun: Russian Ideologies of Empire and the Path to War with Japan and more recent-ly Russian Orientalism: Asia in the Russian Mind from Pe-ter the Great to the Emigra-tion. Schimmelpennick has also received various fellow-ships at Harvard Universi-

“Most of Europe viewed and still view Russia as an Orien-tal or Asian state as the World saw with Hitler as he was

quoted as seeing the Soviets as Asiatic”ty’s Olin Institute for Strate-gic Studies, Brock Univeristy Chancellor’s Chair for Re-search Excellence, the Na-tional Humanities Center and Social Sciences and Hu-manities Research Council in Canada. Schimmelpennick dis-cussed the nature of Russian

society and its relation to Sa-ïd’s “Orientalism”. “In 1960, Konrad Adenauer flew over the German Democratic Re-public airspace. The plane flew low over the border and Adenauer peered out his win-dow to see the Berlin Wall and said, “Welcome to the Chinese sector.” Schimmel-pennick started his lecture in an attempt for the audience

to understand the cultural fight that the Russians faced. “Most of Europe viewed and still view Russia as an Ori-ental or Asian state as the World saw with Hitler as he was quoted as seeing the So-viets as Asiatic,” Schimmel-pennick added. According to Schimmelpennick, this has

been a geo-political fight in Russia for centuries as Rus-sians see themselves as Eu-ropeans and view Asia as their own arena for Russian conquests, while many oth-ers oppose this belief and see Russian origins and political ambitions in another light. Schimmelpennick intro-duced a painter and com-poser to shed further light

on the discussion. He first introduced Vasilii Veresh-chagin’s, a Russian paint-er, to provide an account of a non-Orient view of Rus-sia. Vereshchagin’s opinions on this matter were shown with various portraits from the “Turkestan Series” that included The Apotheosis of

War and Tamerlane’s Gates. The meaning of the paint-ings was supposed to show Asia as dangerous and unciv-ilized. These paintings were inspired and finished during the Tsarist invasion of Cen-tral Asia in the 1870’s while Vereshchagin travelled with the army working as a staff member. Schimmelpen-nick then introduced Alek-sandr Borodin, a composer, who had an opposing view to Vereshchagin on Russia’s Oriental state. Schimmel-pennick showed this in Boro-din’s opera Prince Igor. The opera focuses on an unsuc-cessful campaign of a Rus-sian Prince against Islam-ic khanates. According to Schimmelpennick, Borodin was trying to feminize Asia and make Russians more ac-cepting of their geographic half.

Mohammad YaghiStaff Writer

(Photo by Hasan Nisr - AUB Office of Communications)

4 MArch 8, 2011 OUTlOOk cAMPUs news

Youth-generated media in uprisings

AUB’s Non-smoking campaign, a success?

eo you needed to have a very bulky camera that cost about $10,000. Now you can do that with much less and on a smaller level. So as com-munication production tools become more accessible… young people are developing their own identities as indi-viduals through media.” This seems quite obvious, as now-adays everyone spends more and more time editing their facebook page and typing away at their blackberries. However, one of the key factors that define the Arab Youth, according to Dr. Khal-il is that “they are educat-

own light on the situation. Dr. Khalil explained how “young people’s uncontrolled dissent in increased public visibility equals to a percep-tion of power and that’s why political elites, columnists, sociologists, police and com-mercial interests cast their own definitions and interpre-tations of what their seeing in terms of uprising.” There-fore, there is always an inter-play between youth-gener-ated media and mainstream media, and it is the combina-tion of the two that fuels po-litical uprisings.

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Civilization sequence program, digging beneath the surface

main idea was to have com-mon courses to all students from different majors where they can discuss their views towards human life and thought. In 1978, the name changed to Civilization Se-quence Program (CVSP). Do you believe that the in-structor should affect the students’ judgment on the provided texts?It is not a matter of indoctri-nation. The whole empha-sis is on getting the students to interpret. The instructor is the guide, while the text is the teacher. The instruc-tor has read the books many times and could help the stu-dents interpret it. But when the students interpret, they

should imagine themselves as in a court of law where they are supporting their inter-pretation with evidence that comes from primary materi-al not from somebody’s opin-ion including the instructor’s own opinion about the text. Does the fact that the stu-dents view the Professor as an instructor whose interpretations are to be adopted influence their judgments?Unfortunately it does, you have a whole set of prob-lems there about regurgitat-ing professors notes and does this constitute plagiarism? Yes that constitutes plagia-rism. Teachers in the univer-sity would say: “To give back my interpretation is correct.” I think that it is incorrect and

we have to get some agree-ment around this. This ques-tion needs to be discussed by the whole university. Does CVSP aim at a pre-liminary level to make students question the conceptions that they al-ready have?That is a more difficult thing; to try to get the student to be able to criticize, there we are faced with difficulty that we have 15 weeks in which to train the student and we have eight to nine texts to get through and we are caught a little bit between going too fast over too much and not going deeply enough in order to be able to get a real sense of what the intellectual con-cept of a particular work and to be able to critique it. But,

the justification for our ap-proach is that this is an intro-duction to great works and we hope that students are not being put off by the exer-cise but will have the meth-od of approaching things in their heads for the rest of their lives. Were there problems in delivering religious views that students perceived as false information?One of the aims of CS is to discuss things in an atmo-sphere of mutual toleration. This means that you should accept that people have dif-ferent beliefs, views, and in-terpretations. The main aim is to base your interpreta-tion on the evidence that you have in front of you; not tak-ing it as truth but in a criti-

cal sense. As soon as you take something as truth then: “What is truth?” There you get to other problems. Will there be any changes in CVSP?I feel that the absence of great books from other civilizations is lacking in the program. Is this not a tool of western im-perialism? My answer is that it is not easy to incorporate other books since we need specialists in that field. This is done in core courses in Co-lumbia and in some univer-sities of the States. But, here there is lower funding and little endowment for the de-partment. But, there are many ways to improve CS that are being discussed.

di Arabia. Dr. Khalil defines Youth-Generated Media as, the “historical processes of re-ap-propriation and re-definition of multi-platform converg-ing self-expressive artifacts as developed, circulated, and consumed by young people.” This re-appropriation and re-definition is another way of describing the reworking of already present materi-al, taking things like imag-es and music and changing them in order to bring forth

a single coherent message. This media is multi-platform and therefore does not neces-sarily stem from a single po-litical or social background. Furthermore, this type of media is in no way unique to this internet-obsessed gen-eration, rather it has always been present in everything from graffiti to student pro-tests throughout the ages. However, one cannot deny that the internet definitely made expressing one’s opin-ions a lot easier. Dr. Khal-il expands on this, describ-ing how “twenty years ago if you wanted to shoot a vid-

ed and eager to demonstrate their competence…yet are often unemployed with very limited future prospects.” Indeed many of the protest-ers in recent demonstrations were unemployed and edu-cated. Furthermore, “Young people are absent from the political process…yet are ex-pected to uphold arms and support regimes,” says Dr. Khalil. These are key real-ities that push the youth to generate their own media. Yet despite the indepen-dence of youth-generated me-dia, the mainstream culture still finds a way to cast their

18 smoking zones have been selected all over AUB, from lower to upper campus, Med-ical to Penrose gates, smok-ers all have a place to right-ly relax their nerves, release the stress and catch up on the latest news. With this picture, everyone seems to have room to feel happy, yet is this campaign considered a real success? President Dorman has de-fined it as so, stating in his letter to the community that

AUBites express mixed feel-ings about the topic. Adam Jaradi clearly defines this new campaign as “unfair [and] discriminative towards smokers like us.” Maha Kaa-farani takes the relay and states how “this campaign interferes with our rights, it’s supposed to work both ways, yet as it is right now, we all feel cramped up in delimit-ed areas, stressed, making us smoke even more because we just can’t manage our time.” A conciliatory opinion comes from Hani Hassan, CVSP

“on the whole, the Universi-ty campus non-smoking pol-icy has been deemed a tre-mendous success, certainly by Lebanese standards but also by international ones,” to such an extent that the “AUB campus was recent-ly chosen as the venue to an-nounce the introduction of a law to ban smoking in indoor public places and to institute other sanctions against the pernicious addiction of smok-ing.” Yet, not everyone seems to share this same opinion, as

teacher, asserting how “this is indeed a very good poli-cy, because as smokers we don’t feel discriminated, it’s a good compromise and it does create an interesting social space. Yet this shouldn’t be a mean to ban smoking com-pletely, we should always maintain the possibility to do so.” Basically, what the smok-ing community of AUB, mainly demands, is improve-ment to make this a true a fair midpoint; “these spac-es should shelter us from the

rain, have more benches, be more equipped.” As Hassan Al Zein suggests, “we are hu-man beings after all!” An inspiring final word comes from Ali Kassem who encourages AUBites in stat-ing that “people shouldn’t ignore this campaign, we shouldn’t frown upon AU-Bites who make sure it is re-spected and we should defi-nitely be more participative and aggressive as a commu-nity, to make sure the cam-paign achieves its success for all.”

5MArch 8, 2011OUTlOOk cAMPUs newsRabih Mroue presents his life’s work and visions

Pirate modernity Ravi Sundram on media and the post-colonial city

Theater director and multifaceted artist Rabih Mroue gave a

presentation on Tuesday March 1st entitled “Theater with dirty feet.” In the form of a series of works he had undergone throughout his career, Mroue introduced the audience to his main princi-ples as an artist and exposed his source of motivation. Civ-ically engaged, Mroue at-tempts to express, through his artistic work, his opin-ions and feelings on political and social issues. His work almost constantly makes ref-erence to one of his main di-lemmas in life: are we really individuals, or merely con-vinced to believe so; and how do we reach true individual-ity? Mroue does not count him-self as a traditional direc-tor, since he does not believe a stage, actors, an audience, or even a performance are still relevant in today’s the-ater. For him, the only de-fining factor in the theater

Ravi Sundram, the In-dian sociologist who coined the term ‘pirate

modernity,’ gave a lecture in AUB’s Design Department on February 28, 2011. Sun-dram researches postcolonial and contemporary media technologies and how they are used to challenge certain notions of cultural and urban theory. He presented his re-search particularly focusing on cities in India, where he lives. Sundram began the lecture by giving a description of how modern culture is completely swept by media technology. “The entire population who inhabit the thing we call the city is now mediatized. In India, 700 million cellular phones are used. These are

is the discussion that follows the performance, for it offers feedback and new ideas in his opinion. Mroue went as far as saying “the talk becomes the performance itself,” thus re-flecting the socially engaging nature of his work. Mroue talked about his first acting role, in which his char-acter was an old man, and an offer in Maska magazine, asking him to imagine him-self in the year 2023. He com-pared the 2 ideas, describing an “impossible meeting [be-tween] two Rabih’s” of two different times. “As for my incapacity to plan and think ahead [I have but] envy to-wards artists who are in con-trol.” Mroue then tackled the seemingly complicated issue of legitimacy in art, by explor-ing the question of whether or not he himself was a visu-al artist in addition to his be-ing play director. “Who de-cides what is art, and what isn’t?” he asked. Mroue dis-cussed artists such as Marcel Duchamp, who had pushed

phones with cameras. You can send photographs, vid-eos… They are the ones that now show the city,” he said. The last point is stressed on in Sundram’s lecture, for he states, that this ‘media-tized’ age is creating an anxi-ety among city planners, con-sidering that ‘seeing’ the city is now in the hands of the majority, and not only a se-lect few. As there has always been a planner and architect eye which aims at stabilizing the city, there is now a ‘mo-bile eye’ which is showing and recreating the city freely and at astonishing speeds. So, Sundram asked: “What happens when the city chang-es?” To answer this question, the lecture then served to pres-ent a history on postcolonial India from the perspective of

the limits of what can be con-sidered “art.” With the pic-ture of an overturned urinal on screen, Mroue came to the conclusion that an artist’s job is simply to convince ev-eryone else, without any cre-dentials, that what he or she does is indeed art. When in Vienna, after the Lebanese Civil War, Mroue was surprised that no one was frightened by the real de-struction of Beirut as much as they were by the mere idea

city development. Sundram parallels his explanation to Henri Lefebvre’s theory on how urban lifestyles have re-placed the secret codes of the city, essentially, its maps. In the 1950’s US city planners were designing city maps for Indian cities, many of which were refused. By the 1970’s the city had proliferated and created an informal network. “This raises a big problem for city planners to try and map these places eligibly. You have huge expansion, endless proliferation which makes it virtually impossible to do so. Informality becomes wild urbanism, outside of the law. But informality is what helped transform the postco-lonial city into a media city,” Sundram said. This is precisely what Sun-dram calls ‘pirate moder-

of the destruction of Vienna. This bothered him and led to the creation of a series of vid-eo postcards in which Vien-na and war torn Beirut were combined:”I wanted to de-stroy Vienna.” On the topic of censorship, Mroue recounted the events that led to the censorship of one of his own plays, entitled “Who’s afraid of representa-tion.” But to him, censorship is nothing more than a “form of latency.” “I will play it

nity,’ the informal network that is able to produce and sell ‘counterfeited, unbrand-ed’ items in the ‘grey’ mar-ket. Now, he said, almost anything is reproducible. Copies of original material can be sold for the same qual-ity at a ridiculously cheaper price. Sundram believes this informal, mediatized market is presenting a form of mate-riality that is fundamentally different. Huge powerful en-tities, such as companies, can now be disrupted by small, but numerous entities. Sundram concluded the lec-ture by looking at the conse-quences. “Pirate culture further ex-pands the experience of the city. The borders of culture and technology blur, and it disrupts capitalist control. But, it is not a one way street.

again in Beirut, I know this.” Answering some of the audi-ence’s questions, Mroue ex-plained that he believes sec-ularism is the only solution in a country where the only way to achieve individuality is to be martyred or to disap-pear. “I don’t have a method,” he announced, adding that social ideas expressed artis-tically cannot be limited to schools and techniques:”art is not university; it is a plat-form for discussions.”

Expansion reorganizes but disconnects the people who produce this space,” he said. The lecture is left with the question: What is the city that is yet to come? Ravi Sundram is a Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Del-hi, India. He is also a co-di-rector of SARAI, a research institute on South Asian de-velopment in which they are involved in publishing, exhibiting art, setting up events and workshops in dis-advantaged parts of the city. Sundram holds a Phd in So-ciology from Binghampton University.

Fouad BadaouiSenior Staff Writer

Yumna GhandourStaff Writer

(Photo by Hasan Nisr - AUB Office of Communications)

6 MArch 8, 2011 OUTlOOk ArTs & cUlTUreImage in Conflict workshop:

The power of pictures

Photography’s ability to inform and inspire – from fueling revolu-

tions to informing global au-diences – was demonstrated at an AUB workshop bring-ing together Lebanese and Spanish journalists and pho-tographers. The “Image in Conflict” workshop, held in AUB’s West Hall on February 25, was organized by the Span-ish association Aida, the Leb-anese association Zakira and the Cervantes Institute. It was funded by the Spanish Embassy and the Spanish Ministry of Culture. “An image can have a deep-er impact than thousands of words,” said Spanish Ambas-sador Juan Carlos Gafo dur-ing his inaugural speech. “An image can also compel us to reflect and meditate.” Over the last two months, photographs were success-fully used as a tool for change in the Middle East, following the self-immolation of a Tu-nisian street vendor protest-ing social and political injus-tices, according to Spanish journalist Monica Prieto. “Images can travel in a few seconds to the world,” she said, in reference to photo-graphic coverage of Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. “Im-ages in the Arab world were able to shake the faces off these totalitarian regimes.” With capitalism on the rise, the world was until recently ignoring Arab countries, ac-cording to Lebanese journal-ist Amin Issa. He said that the regime changes of ear-ly 2011 had reversed this de-cline in attention. “We were becoming indif-ferent to the suffering of oth-ers,” Issa said. “There has been a change in the mental-ity of the young Arabs. Imag-es of young Egyptians clean-ing [Cairo’s] Tahrir Square at the end of a riot were a re-flection of that.” Cinematographer Mai Mas-ri showed how images could raise global awareness about ongoing issues. She played

her silent movie, “Children of Shatila,” which showed Pal-estinian children from a Leb-anese camp travelling by bus to see Palestine for the first time. “Creating this movie al-lowed me to realize my re-sponsibility as a photogra-pher to engage in human rights,” Masri said. Historian and scholar Levon Nordiguian spoke on how photographs could act as an historical record of human development. Nordiguian displayed ar-chive images of Jounieh bay taken in 1920 beside recent photos of the same landscape. While much construction has taken place since 1920, the level of green cover had in-creased significantly, replac-ing largely barren hills. Former Reuters photogra-pher Ramzi Haidar, however, warned how the latest wave of citizen journalism is put-ting his profession at risk. “Our photography career is in trouble,” he said. “Also, amateur photos lead to a lack of accountability.” Similarly, photographer and journalist Jeanlou Ber-suder gave examples of ama-teur photos showing Saddam Hussein’s execution. While he acknowledged the imag-es as the event’s sole docu-mentation, Bersuder said press photography is not con-fined to professionals any-more, and is, therefore, less rewarding. “Exclusivity in today’s world no longer exists. A lot of pho-tos are no longer accredited,” he said. “Anyone can be tak-ing them.” Lebanese journalist Nabil Ismail underlined the dif-ficulty of objectively taking photos. “The photo reflects the pho-tographer and the mind of the photographer,” he said. Similarly, photographer and journalist Ramzi Haidar said a photographer can only see fragments of any given situation. Spanish photographer Al-

fonso Moral disagreed. He said images conveyed reality more accurately than printed articles. Through his photos of heroin addicts in Afghan-istan, Moral argued it was possible to convey multiple messages simultaneously. Journalist and photogra-pher Gervasio Sanchez spoke about the moral code of pho-

tography. According to Sanchez, one must always strive to convey the truth. “One must not only be objective but accurate,” he said. Sanchez’s slides, some of which revealed the suffer-ing of war-affected Africans, played in the background as he spoke. One photo showed

five people seated on a bench, all with a leg missing. “Getting close without look-ing at color, religion or race allowed me to convey the messages,” Sanchez said.

Reprinted with permission from the AUB Office of Com-munications.

Edrees ElrachidiStaff Writer

(Photo by Hasan Nisr - AUB Office of Communications)

AUB Social Club hosts Spring Fever

The night of Friday, March 4 witnessed an event that was definite-

ly missed out by those that couldn’t make it, or chose not to make it. As was expected by AUB’s notable Social Club, the annual spring party at Maison Blanche was exactly what AUBites needed before the beginning of another hec-tic semester. “Spring fever”, as was the name of the event, attracted some 350 partiers at the “white house,” leaving a mark of an unforgettable night. DJ Scarface played the tunes, providing the clubbers with the latest RnB and Hip

Hop music to date; and the attendees completed what was required of them, party-ing all night long. At 10 pm, people began showing up at the doors, mostly those that had not bought their tick-ets and came early just to se-cure their spots. Two hours later, the party began. AU-Bites covered the place show-ing delight in the music be-ing played and enjoying the company of friends. Francis Abou Elias, an AUB fresh-man, claimed “The atmo-sphere really is crazy and the right club was chosen.” Rony Sawaya, a Business sopho-

more stated that “at the last Social Club party, the place was crammed. This time, it’s perfect.” By 2 am DJ Scarface played his last few songs and gave way to the resident DJ of Maison Blanche, and peo-ple began leaving the club. The Social Club has once again proven to satisfy the students of AUB with a va-riety of different events and happenings; and so have the students have put trust into the AUB Social Club for mak-ing their nights memorable and their experiences unfor-gettable.

Anis KadadoStaff Writer

7MArch 8, 2011OUTlOOk AlUMnI newsWAAAAUB Second MENA Regional Meeting

Alumni profiles

On March 11, the Worldwide Alumni Association of the American University of Beirut (WAAAUB) and AUB is organizing a session focused specifically on “Young alumni and career prospects: Building a better path to a brighter future.” Our goal is to bring AUB alumni and students together with business leaders and entrepreneurs in Lebanon and the MENA region to explore innovative ways to create employment opportunities for young AUB alumni today

and in the future. We have invited several speakers working in business and entrepreneurship in the region to participate in this event along with AUB faculty members and ad-ministrators. More information on the event https://e-surveys.aub.edu.lb/menaregional/

Young alumni and career prospects: Building a better path to a brighter future

Has established an In-ternational reputa-tion as a graphic and

typographic designer run-ning a highly successful stu-dio in the Netherlands. He teaches design all over the world and readily shares his ideas through his website and blog (www. atrissi.com).

What attracted you to Arab graphics and typo-graphic design in the first place? It was mainly my educa-tion at AUB that created the strong interest in Arabic graphic design and typogra-phy. I carried on this interest in Holland—where I focused on Arabic design and typog-raphy in digital media—and

Nadim Issa (BA ’00) After five years in journalism with Zawya, Dow Jones and Bloomberg News, Issa estab-lished a furniture company called Alinad (www.alinad.com), wrote a children’s book in Arabic called Hide & Seek Game, translated a book from English to Arabic on the history of Turkish cinema, and edited an Arabic book on strategic consulting. He is currently enjoying life in Lebanon with his wife Habi-

later in New York where I fo-cused specifically on type de-sign. AUB emphasized the Ara-bic side of typography and bi-lingual communication and encouraged us to create a unique contemporary Arabic design language that reflects the social, economic, and po-litical environment of the Middle East today.There was, however, rela-tively less done with Arabic typography, which was frus-trating to see. This eventu-ally became the core philos-ophy of my studio: starting from a specific focus on devel-oping a contemporary Ara-bic graphic design language, and growing to a larger inter-est in cross-cultural design and communication.

What are the particular challenges facing an Arab graphic designer today?The not-so-well document-ed history of Arabic design makes it harder for practic-ing designers to find refer-ences for inspiration and a clearly defined timeline of the profession’s progress. The Arabic script is also com-plicated and poses more diffi-culties to work with in some aspects of design.

What inspires you?

ba Fathallah (BA ’01, MA ’07) and their daughter. [nadim.issa(at)alinad.com]

Laila Houri (BS ’05, ME ’08)Has worked as a data analyst in AUB’s Registrar’s Office, toured the world—Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, Italy, Jor-dan, Dubai—(“the best was Thailand with all the yummy sushi and fascinating tem-ples”), and earned a master’s degree in engineering man-agement with a concentra-

In the past I have drawn a lot of my inspiration from my teachers, and today I find myself always inspired by my students—the upcoming design generation—who see things with fresh eyes. I am lucky to have the chance to work with students from dif-ferent backgrounds through the various workshops and short courses I give in uni-versities around the world. I am obsessed with document-ing street signs, graffiti, and popular and political graph-ic street manifestations—which I always bring back into my design work in one way or another.

Which project, to date, has given you the most satis-faction?If I had to choose, it would be designing the logo of Al-Ghad daily newspaper in Jordan in 2004. The newspaper was a newcomer then and I nev-er anticipated that it would grow to become one of the most established brands in Jordan. The philosophy be-hind the design was to create contemporary, simple Arabic lettering that is bold and con-fident, and the opposite of the rather traditional calligraph-ic approach other newspa-pers adopt on their mast-heads. The client accepted a

tion in financial engineering. She is currently working as a financial officer in FAFS, while she pursues an MBA. [laila.houri(at)gmail.com] Silva Kouyoumdjian (BS ’05) Currently lives in Zalka, Lebanon. With her degree in nutrition and dietetics, she began her career as a di-etetic intern at Saint Georg-es Hospital, then joined Abe-la Frères Pharmaceuticals SAL as a medical represen-

daring, different design pro-posal, and that helped Al-Ghad’s identity.

What has been the main per-sonal challenge so far? The fact that, at the end of the day, graphic design is a business. So actually it is the non-design aspect that is the most challenging.

What would be your dream project?To create the full corporate identity, visual language, and branding for the Olym-pic games when they take place in the Arab world for the first time. It will be such a challenging task to conceptu-alize and visualize the iden-tity for such an internation-al and historic event but still give it a local flavor—to cre-ate an iconic visual identi-ty from the Arab world that is as unique and as localized as that of the Mexico 1968 Olympics, designed half a century ago by the legendary Lance Wyman.

Inevitably I have to ask you how it felt to “design a nation”?[Qatar] was a very exciting commission: branding an en-tire country! It is a country that holds onto its Arab roots but needed to express them

tative, attending nutrition-al supplement conferences in Bangkok, Thailand and Hammamet, Tunisia spon-sored by Nutricia Middle East. In 2009, Kouyoumdjian rejoined AUB as a fulltime graduate student to pursue a master’s in population health in the Faculty of Health Sci-ences. She’d be glad to hear from friends and former classmates. [spk01(at)aub.edu.lb] [Onersissian(at)hot-mail.com]

visually to a western audi-ence. Nation branding is so rare an occurrence for any designer to experience, and there is not much training or research done on the subject. I looked at what other coun-tries have done in terms of nation branding during the last 30 years, and careful-ly analyzed why some were more successful than others. The logo of Spain, developed by Joan Miró, was certain-ly one of the examples. One thing I read that I found to be true is that specific things come to mind when mention-ing a country—some nega-tive and some positive. Take Colombia, for example, you think coffee, drugs, jungle, kidnapping—a mix of pos-itive and negative images. It will always be debatable if a logo can reflect an en-tire culture of a country, but it should present its positive image. I lived in Qatar for the entire project, just under a year, which helped me ex-perience and understand the city and country both as a for-eigner and a local, which re-sulted in the final, simple cal-ligraphic approach that was adopted behind the branding of Qatar. Reprinted from AUB Main Gate’s Fall 2010 issue.

Wissam Tawfic Doudar (MPH ’09) After earning a master’s in health management and pol-icy, Doudar resumed his du-ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency as a field laboratory services offi-cer with special duties relat-ed to health reforms in Leb-anon. [w.doudar(at)unrwa.org]

Tarek Atrissi (BA 2000)

One on one with AUB alumnus Tarek Atrissi

8 MArch 8, 2011 OUTlOOk enTerTAInMenT

turn, she has changed and so has her world. Beautifully shot with warm colors, Stray Bullet tran-scends its humble produc-tion to authentically capture both the horror and splendor of the 70s in Lebanon. Labaki is as magnificent onscreen as when she is behind the cam-era. Her performance en-ables her to voice the dread-fulness of the war by those who were unable to articu-late it, in particular women. These were victims of both patriarchal society and con-vention even before becom-ing victims of the war. Deep and minimalist, the plot re-veals the shattering effect of war on the country, families and most important, the in-dividual. As such, it is no surprise that the movie has won the first prize at the Dubai Inter-national Film Festival back in December 2010. Stray Bul-let is indeed a movie which reminds us of the war in or-der to make sure we avoid it.

father than he can achieve something, Amin decides to take part in the annual win-ter kite tournament in Ka-bul. With the help of Has-san, who is an excellent kite runner, he ends up winning the tournament. Before run-ning the last kite, Hassan tells him: “For you, a thou-sand times over”—an utter-ance which reveals his strong love for Amir. While on his way, Hassan meets Assef and his friends. Assef beats and rapes Hassan. Amir wit-nesses the incident, but does not do anything because he is scared. Nevertheless, he does not heal from betraying Hassan, even after he moves away from his homeland. Amir is then offered a chance to redeem himself by an old friend, Rahim Khan. The sec-ond challenge is equally dan-gerous, and Amir recogniz-es the very real implications of his choice. This internal struggle is the core theme of

Following Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut (1998) and Josef Fares’s Zozo

(2005), Georges Hachem’s Stray Bullet establishes itself as another Lebanese movie set in Arabic dialect dealing with the Civil War. Gripping, touching and true, Hachem’s movie is indeed as commend-able as Doueiri’s works. Set in the Northern suburb of Beirut in the summer of 1976, at the onset of the Leb-anese Civil War, the mov-ie sheds light on the atroc-ities and the impact of the unpleasant outcomes of the war on Noha (played by Na-dine Labaki) and her family. As Noha’s wedding to a man she does not love approaches, she is torn between her heart – Joseph (Rodrigue Sulei-man), the man she loves – and her duty towards her family, represented by her mother (Hind Taher), brother (Badih Bou Chakra) and sister (Tak-la Chamoun). Unable to re-solve the conflict, she decides to go on a ride with Joseph for the last time. Upon her re-

Khaled Hosseini’s in-triguing first nov-el The Kite Runner

brings out our curiosity about the world. Its themes are nu-merous, but the most impor-tant ones are family relation-ships, loyalty and friendship in the middle of war. The novel is about a boy, Amir, who grows up in Ka-bul, Afghanistan. Being from the upper classes and belong-ing to the dominant Pash-tun community in the coun-try, Amin enjoys the luxury of education, material com-fort and a lifetime friendship, that of the son of his father’s longtime Hazara servant, Hassan. Twice during his lifetime, Amir’s relationship with Hassan is tested. The first time Amir fails to remain loy-al to his friend. Hiding be-hind his class, Amir choos-es the easiest path, but the scar of betrayal keeps hunt-ing him. Wanting to show his

the novel. Amir is challenged as never before. He is handed the re-sponsibility of the protection of a young boy that has al-ready been scarred by the vi-olence that has happened to him. With extreme compas-sion and surprising simplici-ty, Hosseini describes Amir’s impossible problem. The Kite Runner is a page turner with a lot of complex characters and situations that will make you think hard about friendship, good and evil, betrayal and for-giveness. It is an interesting book which teaches the im-portance of friendship, reli-gion and culture. It also re-veals that it is harder for us to forgive ourselves than to forgive others, simultane-ously highlighting the sad and shocking consequenc-es of war. In brief, it is a very fascinating book.

Movie Review

Book Review

Stray Bullet

The Kite Runner

Maya Sfeir

Aziza Khalil

Photo from Facebook.com

Photo from Facebook.com

9MArch 8, 2011OUTlOOk OUT lOUd

What do you think of the Arab Revolutions and their impact on Lebanon?1) Lojine Kamel (Psychology): As an Egyptian, I’m extremely honored and proud of my country and of the arab world as a whole and I think now is the time to be proud of being arab and to invest in the Arab world expecially in the economy. Hopefully it will trickle its way doewnhere. So far the fact that we don’t have a concrete government nor a single governing entity has kind of affected I guess people’s take on the revolution but I hope that people get the message and start investing it into the lives and re-alizing that democracy applies everywhere and not just in the west.

2) Tatyana Hawat (Biology): The revolutions are beautiful and necessary but I don’t think they can happen here because we don’t have the same problems in Lebanon.

3) Furat El Hatab: It will affect Lebanon because of the political stuff and the way people are dealing with the political issues. I think it affects.

4) Jad Rahme (Business Administration): Huge domino effect in the Arab world going from Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt, Bahrain and all those stuff. Those kinds of stuff won’t happen in Lebanon ‘cause we’re not really in a dictatorial government or we don’t have a dictatorial president or those kinds of stuff. We’re not in a real democracy, but we’re not in a perfect dictatorship.

5) Malek Teffaha (Computer Science): Basically, it is an excellent change to see what is going on in the Arab world because the regime that has been ruling the Arab world for more than 40 years has been finally changing. It’s impact on Lebanon- it’s ac-tually quite funny that overnight Lebanon became the most stable country in the Arab world but in terms of its effect on Lebanon, I don’t see a direct affect other than what the people here might think that they can make a difference when it comes to the power of the people. In the end, what happened in Tunisia and consequently in Egypt, Bahrain and everything was because people actu-ally realized that they can make the difference and it’s not the government that makes the difference.

6) Karinia Khoury: I completely support the Arab revolutions and I really feel happy that they’re getting their freedom these days but I don’t see much of of an impact that’s it’s having on Lebanon. Maybe not as much as in other arab countries and I would really like Lebanon to more with them and perhaps to start a revolution of their own. Well not that much! But follow in their foot-steps.

7) Jamal Awar: There’s a momentum. The Arab revolutions around us, in the region, have built momentum and you can see the domino effect taking place in many arab countries and middle eastern countries. It’s impact on Lebanon is more like we’re cheer-ing for something right now, just like we cheer for brazil in the Mondial. We like excitement, you know. So nothing’s going to hap-pen.

8) Mohamad Chamas (Business Administration): I think that the Arab Revolutions are based on revolting against tyranny from the government or the people that are governing the countries. Whereas in Lebanon we have a democratic system and sad-ly, the people that are governing us are being elected by the people. So if you’re trying to revolt against someone you’ve already elected, there’s no point. Just do it in the next elections.

9) Dara El Masri (Majorless): Should give them ideas to revolt.

10) Left to right: Noura Dajani & Jude Sakakini (Majorless): No comment!

11) Patrick Eid (Mathematics): I think it’s about time that the arab people hold their leaders accountable and we should be conscious about our leaders’ own mistakes. However, we should focus on our real problems as well.

12) Left to righ: Rakan Imad Mallak (Majorless) & Jamal Chaar (Majorless): I think the Arab Revolution has a huge im-pact on Lebanon because it’s giving the idea of freedom to Lebanese people and giving them like the choice of removing the sectar-ian governmental system that we have in Lebanon I think we will have revolution sometime soon. 9

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(All photos by Mohammad Azzam)

10 MArch 8, 2011 OUTlOOk sPOrTs

ScoreboardLeague Match Date Location Teams ScoreVolley Ball (Women) Tuesday March 1, 2011 AUB AUB vs.LAU (Beirut) 2-0 (25-11) for AUB

Volley Ball (Men) Tuesday March 1, 2011 AUB AUB vs. LAU (Jbeil) 2-0 (25-17) for AUB

Basketball Men Wednesday March 2, 2011 AUB AUB vs. USEK 83-99 for USEK

Handball Thursday March 3, 2011 AUB AUB vs. USJ 29-21 for AUB

Swimming Men 100m IM

Friday March 4, 2011

AUB AUB-USJ-BAU-LAU-Haigazian-Balamand Top 5 AUB

Swimming Women 100m IM AUB AUB-USJ-BAU-LAU-Haigazian-Balamand 1st place USJ 2nd-4th AUB

Swimming Men 100m Freestyle AUB AUB-USJ-BAU-LAU-Haigazian-Balamand Top 5 for AUB

Swimming Women 100m Freestyle AUB AUB-USJ-BAU-LAU-Haigazian-Balamand 1st place USJ 2nd-4th AUB

Football Men January 15, 2011 International College AUB vs. LAU. 4-1 for AUB

Rugby ‘s Men Friday March 4, 2011 AUB Hostler centre AUB vs. UOB 28-28 (Tie)

USEK: Université Saint-Esprit De Kaslik, LAU: Lebanese American University, UOB: University of Balamand, BAU: Beirut Arab University, USJ: Université Saint-Joesph de Beyrouth

Exclusive for AUB students (outsiders cannot join). These training sessions are taking place twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays between 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in the Activity Room at Charles Hostler Student Center. Our trainer Coach Bahaa El Fakhih, is

the world champion in kickboxing. Each student is required to pay a fee of 100,000 L.L per month in order to be part of the club. For more info, contact Bahaa El Fakih at 03/052709.

AUB Departments Play for Health medals distribution ceremony last Thursday March 3 at the CHSC Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Left to right: Dr. Ghassan Hamadeh (Chairman of the Committee on University Wellness), Mr. Samer Maamari (Vice President for Facility Planning & Design Unit), Mr. James Radulski (Vice President for Human Resources), Ghaleb Halimi Director of University Sports and Dr. Talal Nezameddin Dean of Student Affairs) (Photo courtesy of Dina Mahmasani)

Mens Volleyball Tournement AUB VS. LAU Jbeil, Score: 25-17 for AUB (Photo by Mohammad Azzam)

11MArch 8, 2011OUTlOOk VIewPOInTOpinionEditor’s Corner

Sectarianism Plight not might

“ And should we be laid asunder by

religion, let us be united by nationalism, for God does not want to

see us divided” The Rihani

Essays 2010, p.35 (translated

by Ms. Rola Baalbaki).

Today, on my way to AUB passing by San-ayeh public park, I

witnessed three modestly sized tents were demonstra-tors had been spending the night after yesterday’s anti-sectarian movement with the a banner overhead that read “down with the sectarian sys-tem.” Then, only minutes lat-er, I noticed yet another over-lying banner, only this time just across from AUB’s main gate. This banner has tak-en refuge there for at least a week now and read “يفنى لبنان ,or in other words ”باحلزبية الدينية“Lebanon perishes under sectarianism.” It got me won-dering just how long we’ve been calling for separating religion from the state. Ev-idently enough, we’ve been discussing a secular, non-sectarian state for years now, the problem therefore is not with speech, but with im-plementation. Why should some people enjoy the privi-leges of better job opportuni-ties while others suffer the heartache of unemployment and lower-end jobs some may ask? But sectarianism is far more than just that isn’t it? As a constant threat to na-tionalism and generic patri-otism, religious sectarianism is constantly placing us at odds with one another, spell-ing out our differences rather than celebrating them under some boarder heading. How can we prosper together as a nation under such terms? In Ameen Rihani’s words,

Unless you live in a box, there’s no way you could have gone

about your business without hearing all that talk on revo-lution and change. First Tu-nis happened, but that’s a bit far from home and we were studying for finals anyway, so it’s okay if you weren’t that interested. But then Egypt overthrew Mubarak and that’s right in our neigh-borhood, and now Libya’s up in flames. Personally, I may not know much about poli-tics but when Mubarak re-signed and the people start-ed celebrating with all their hearts, I’ll be damned if can’t admit that I was crying like

Dalia HosnStaff WriterRami Diab

Editor-in-Chief

“Let us forget religion in our trade; shun trade in political and literary meetings; and let us kneel in worship of our God and give him glory... and divide only to go to temples” The Rihani Essays (2010), p.36 (translated by Ms. Rola Baalbaki). Indeed, if we are to parade in our religions as we do in our garments, then truth be told, we were better of naked.

a little baby. It’s not empathy exactly, maybe a bit of envy if anything, but mostly I kept thinking: “It worked!” People, normal citizens, young university students just like you and me, actual-ly made a difference. I blame Lebanon for my usually pes-simistic outlook on things, but all of a sudden this gave me hope. I kept wondering if maybe, just maybe, that can happen here. But then I re-membered that every other house has arms and every-one seems to love shooting randomly up in the air (even though what goes up must come down). And, more im-portantly, we don’t have one dictator, we have a cou-ple dozen “za3ims.” We have family names that have been in office for a hundred years, that’s not even dictatorship, its good old-fashioned feudal monarchy. Despite the fact that we spend half our time whining about things like unemploy-ment and “wasta,” when we need something we have no problem getting a “wasta” ourselves. It’s only wrong when you’re not the one doing it, and it’s only unfair when someone else’s “wasta” ru-ins your chances. We spend half our time complaining

about this politician or that, and then when it comes time for elections we crawl back to them on our hands and knees even though clearly they haven’t done much to change things. I’m not siding with one party or another, that’s the whole point: we shouldn’t have to! We shouldn’t have to go through ten “wastas” and twenty appointments just to get our voice heard. The young people in Egypt did it all on their own, using Face-book, of all things. We know this country’s heading no-where, that’s why every year the majority of AUB gradu-ates try to find jobs outside of the country, and that’s why there are more Lebanese out-side of Lebanon than there are in it. The overwhelming reality is that this country needs fixing! Everyone keeps repeat-ing, “Nothing will change, nothing will change.” Well I’m sure people in Tunis and Egypt thought that too at one point or another, and look at them now. We need to stop relying on the higher-ups and take some personal re-sponsibility. Take charge of our own lives… wouldn’t that be a nice change?

Change in Lebanon

Fouad BadaouiSenior Staff Writer

While the rest of the Arab World is free-ing itself from the

chains that made it “Arab,” we Lebanese are sudden-ly noticing that giant piece of humble pie wedged in our throats. We have a habit of considering ourselves slight-ly superior to our neighbors. Some would go as far as say-ing “I am not Arab, I am Leb-anese.” Aside from the lack of historical and genetic back-ing to such a claim, and as Arabs everywhere else gath-er behind the banners of de-mocracy, job opportunities, freedom of speech and digni-ty, today, I would rather say

just the opposite: “I am not Lebanese, but I am proud to be Arab.” In truth, no one is Lebanese anymore. There is no nation-al belonging, no sense of civic engagement, and all forms of patriotism come under con-fessional concepts (“the ha-ven of Christians in the Mid-dle East,” “the resistance to Israel” and so on) with ties to the civil war (“we fought the invaders here,” “my cous-in was shot at this check-point” and so on). In addi-tion, we have been trampling in squares and waving flags since God knows when! In contrast, Tunisia, Egypt and other places were absolutely devoid of any form of demon-stration of public discontent

just a couple of months ago! But now, they are on their way to building the most modern and reformist consti-tutions. What changed? And why is that very same thing taking so much time and ef-fort in Lebanon, with barely any progress? Can we even consider it progress? Are we actually satisfied with a sta-tus quo that provides little social security, electricity, public services and the worst Internet on Earth, or are we just compromising due to the fear of another Civil War? Others have taken the leap of faith. But the Lebanese challenge is much harder: what we need to conquer is not oppression, but our own social instincts and our fears.

In a vertically divided and extremely diverse society, co-hesion is impossible without a drastic change of mental-ity. A Tunisian is Tunisian, an Egyptian is Egyptian, a Bahraini is Bahraini, but a Lebanese is _____. The first thing people want to know about you is your confession. This applies to job opportuni-ties, potential dates, moving to a new neighborhood and so on. We still cling to the blan-ket of sectarianism like an overgrown, insecure toddler with developmental issues. The only question that re-mains: do we have the cour-age to change ourselves, or do we just not care about our na-tion that much?

Proud to be Arab

12 MArch 8, 2011 OUTlOOk VIewPOInT

The questionnaire giv-en by the Red Cross on their monthly blood

donation campaign does not target the right and fair questions. First of all, you are asked if you had engaged in a homosexual activity; if you are “courageous” to the extent of saying yes, you are not allowed to donate blood anymore. Second of all, this action implies that any ho-mosexual must have an STD. I don’t understand how the Red Cross, and AUBMC more generally, have this wrong stereotypical medical atti-tude towards homosexuals. First of all, homosexuals might or might not be more susceptible to STDs than heterosexuals, but this does not mean that a heterosex-ual donor is evidently STD free. The risk of an STD be-ing transmitted is related to not using protection, and not to one’s sexuality. Second of all, would the Red Cross and AUBMC accept that a homo-

Is it not the same pure rain that descends from the skies and falls upon

garbage emitting foul smells that which comes down on flowers and scatters there fragrance? Is it not the same rays from the sun which shine upon a stone that remains dull and yet shine on a ruby that glows with a splendid red aura? Is it not the same flower nectar that the bees and the fruit flies drink, where the fruit flies do not utilize it and bees transform it into a gold-en honey? Is it not the same oxygen in the air that both Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Ghandi once breathed, with Hitler con-verting it to hate while Ghan-di translating it to love? Is not the same seed which we plant in arid soil and fer-tile soil that which remains dead within the arid soil while it sprouts into a beauti-ful tree in the fertile soil? Is it not the same holy text which Prophet Muhammad recited, the text which Us-

sexual donates his/her blood if there were no other do-nors? Would the patient in need eventually die because simply homosexuals can’t do-nate? The Red Cross and AUBMC evidently test the blood for STD before transmitting it to the patient. Seeing as it is a medical necessity, I don’t see the reason why the donor’s sexuality is of Red Cross and AUBMC’s business. When I asked a Red Cross mem-ber during the blood drive, she answered saying: why would we? It’s more proba-ble they do have an STD, so why spend time and money testing their blood for noth-ing? This is a very interest-ing answer, and we might have understood this if AUB was actually a non-profit or-ganization.

Ali Faraj is a Computer and Communications Engineer-ing major at AUB

sama bin Laden recites to-day? That which Bin Lad-en uses to move people from light to darkness and Proph-et Muhammad has used to move people from darkness to light? At every moment, we have all been given an indefinite number of potential paths to tread. Some of these paths lead upwards, raising the person higher and higher. Other paths plateau, nei-ther benefiting the person nor harming her. While the third type of paths, drag the person to the lowest of states, which is ever descending. Within us is both potential for arid soil and fertile soil. When we concentrate on fer-tility we become fertile and our hearts become a colorful garden, while if we focus on aridity, our hearts transform into a thorny desert. It is in our hands to collapse our po-tential realities, either into light or into darkness.

Wissam Nuwayhid is a His-tory major at AUB .

Letter to the Editor OpinionRed Cross blood driveTransfusing stereotypes

You’ve got the power

Ali Faraj

Wissam Nuwayhid

Brought to you by the Pales-tinian Cultural Club (PCC)

Opinion

Tonight, on January 24 to be exact, I expe-rienced political tur-

bulence in Lebanon and as a result I decided to write this down. Political instability is no stranger to Lebanon, so why tonight you might ask? Why did I decide to write down how I felt about the commotion going on tonight? It’s strange really, I mean let’s face it! If you are a uni-versity student this is a night where you are probably pull-ing your hair trying to study for your finals; if you are a Lebanese or residing in Leba-non you are probably scared, confused or just disgusted by the political situation; if you

Amal Al Dahouk

are a Tunisian you are prob-ably spending the night won-dering about tomorrow; if you are a Palestinian, well, you are probably hoping they will let you get to work, and then they will let you go back home. So you see tonight is not really a great night to cel-ebrate the start of anything, let alone the surfacing of my writing skills… But tonight I witnessed and experienced something so simple, yet so touching and inspirational, I felt I found the secret ingredient I was looking for to start writing again… Tonight, if you were between Bliss Street and Ain Al Mray-

the situation. Distress sang through our cell phones; yet we didn’t exchange our po-litical opinions. We all sim-ply ate pizza! We sat there, joked, laughed, shared sto-ries, came up with a new slo-gan for Domino’s and ate piz-za... Every once in a while, we made a call to make sure our friends made it home safely. The pizza was yummy. It was consumed fast, and our little gathering soon ended. Our professor (God bless his heart), kept note of where we lived and asked those who lived further than Hamra to miss call him when they get home. Tonight, I saw one Lebanon, filled with all kinds

seh, at the American Univer-sity of Beirut, on the third floor of the Business School, you would have been part of real Lebanon (vs. the nomi-nal one for those economical-ly minded, or the publicized one for the news stalkers). You would have gathered with eight Lebanese gradu-ate students and a Lebanese professor on blue and orange couches. Each one of us be-longed to a different reli-gious sect, believed in differ-ent values, came from, lived or were raised in a different part of Lebanon, if not the world; yet we didn’t talk poli-tics. Blocked roads surround-ed us; yet we didn’t analyze

of Lebanese, loving each oth-er, caring about one anoth-er and sharing three pizzas. This is the real Lebanon, this my Lebanon and this is the Lebanon you can still find at different streets and corners if you look hard enough, be-yond the political mambo jumbo of tonight... Amal Al Dahouk is a gradu-ate student at the Olayan S. Suleiman School of Business at AUB. The original script of this article can be found at http://whenhopespeaks.blogspot.com as first pro-duced on January 24, 2011

Three pizzas, one Lebanon

13MArch 8, 2011OUTlOOk OUT Of The BOx

Emile ZankoulStaff Writer

“

Talal Nizameddin

Cleo Cacoulidis

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Rami Diab

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Staff WritersKhodor Abu DayaNader Al AhmadiehFouad BadaouiCaterina BelardiAmir BitarJackie DaoudSarah Al DiraniEdrees ElrachidiMark FrancisDalia HosnElie El KhouryAziza KhalilYasmin FansaYumna GhandourMaryam Hoballah

PhotographersMohamad AlamehTariq BuhilaigahDima HajjNadi Nassar

Cartoonist

Outlook is a weekly publication of the American University of Beirut (AUB) and represents the voice of the student body. It is an independent, non-affiliated publication that favors no ethnic, religious, or political group. All columns, articles, and reports are the property of Outlook and do not necessar-ily represent the views of Outlook or the AUB community. Outlook welcomes all contributions. Authors please include full name, major, ranking, and contact information for verifi-cation. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way, shape or form without the written consent of Outlook and/or higher authorities. Outlook reserves the right to edit all material.© Outlook 1949

Where are you head-ing to?”“I have an English

class in Fisk. What about you?”“I have a break, I think I’m going to spend it on West or probably study in Jafet.” Fisk, West, Jafet, etc. are the names of AUB buildings, names we say numerous times every day. Have you ever won-dered why our university’s buildings named in that man-ner were? Or who were those people whose names still re-sound until today? I know I have. This is why I took some of my time to undertake a brief research concerning this issue ,so I thought I’d share it with you in case you didn’t know. Here goes:* Bliss Hall: Daniel Bliss (1823-1916) was the found-er of AUB. He first arrived to Lebanon in 1856 and he died on campus in 1917. He found-ed AUB in 1866 and was named President that same

year. Also, he is the great-great grandfather of current President Peter Dorman.* Fisk Hall: “Completed in 1900-02 and named after Pliny Fisk, an early American missionary who arrived at Beirut July 10, 1823 and died two years later. It was the headquarters of the School of Commerce at one time, and later was used mainly for men’s dormitories. The Hall was remodelled in 1960 and is presently used for classes and offices of some departments of the School of Arts and Scienc-es” (quoted from AUB website www.aub.edu.lb).* West Hall: Robert Haldane West (1862-1906) worked in AUB for 23 years. He taught mathematics, philosophy and astronomy, also filling admin-istrative positions. He was a very devoted teacher. The West Hall building was com-pleted in 1914.* Jafet Library: Nami Jafet (1860-1923) was an AUB stu-dent. He graduated in 1882 receiving a BA degree with distinction. That same year,

ACROSS:3. Who travels under the name “Mr. Underhill?”5. What is the name of the village where The Prancing Pony is located?8. What was the name of King Theoden’s horse?9. Which character is por-trayed by Liv Tyler in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings?11. Who wrote the words “All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost” about Aragorn?12. Which city is also known as The White City?14. Which creature kills Gan-dalf?15. Who was originally known as Sméagol?

DOWN:1. Who was Denethor’s (the last ruling steward of Godor-favorite son?2. Who is also known as Wormtonge?4. How many rings of power are there?6. Who is also known as the

River-daughter?7. What is the elvish word for “friend?”10. Which member of the fel-lowship of the ring bears an

axe?13. What is the name of The Sword Reforged?

his father, who used to teach in Thalathat Akmar School, died so he took his place and taught in that school for 11 consecutive years. He then emigrated to Brazil where he became a businessman. De-spite that, he said “Commerce has indeed a special fasci-nation, but the fascination of learning is still greater.” 1921, he went back to Leba-non were he contributed a lot to education.* Penrose Hall: Stephen Pen-rose (1908-1954) taught phys-ics in AUB from 1928 to 1931. He became AUB President in 1948. He worked really hard to secure financing for the university. In fact, one night he worked late then slept to never wake up again, giving his life to AUB. There is also an AUB award holding his name, “The Penrose Award”.* Bechtel: Bechtel is the name of an engineering company.* SRB: Acronym for “Scien-tific Research (Laboratory) Building”

Old-time shapers of AUB: A brief journey through time

Crossword puzzle: Lord of The Rings Theme

Note to player: Questions adressing dif-ferent identities have only first names as an-swers.

14 اذار 8, 2011 وجهة نظر اوتلوكاملقامة الكيدية

إلى غزة

حرية مقابل األلم، وللحرية تعريف آخر

األسدي الهزبر بن ليث حدثنا ألفطر للسوق، مرة نزلت قال: بيضا مسلوق، وإذ شاهدت امرأة من العمر تبلغ العشرين ربيعا، بديعا، ومن الدهر ظفرت وجها جماال اكتست اخلالق ومن الغزالن، مشيها تقلد منيعا. ومن األحلان، صوتها وتسرق خدها اجلوري ألوان. وفي املقلتني شالل عر والش وخلجان، بحار الوجدان، لطياته يرعد قمح ومن احمليا شرب اجلمال، وقال إني

أبد الدهر ظمآن.دنو اخمللوق ذلك من فدنوت أم أأعرفها؟ الغزال، من الليث أظنها اخليال، من ضرب ذاك

املظالم عن الزمان سكت إذا الوقائع، عن األبصار وعميت ليترجم تكلم القلم. تكلم معاناة شعب عانى من االحتالل تكلم زال. وما سنة ستني لينقل ما عجزت الكاميرات عن التقاطه واملرء عن رؤيته. عندما الكلمات وحتكي القلم يتكلم ال شيء يسكتها. هي أقوى من كل سالح، ألنها كلمة احلق، هي منا تنفد عندما به نحارب ما لن رمبا والقذائف. الصواريخ سنتقدم، لكننا العدو، يتراجع و رمبا لن نقتل منه جنديا واحدا، نفوسا، فينا سنحيي لكننا نائمة،كانت، غائبة نفوسا

لكننا سنوقظها.العالم اليوم ينظر إلى غزة بعني

هل سألت نفسك في أحد األيام املصطلح يالئم تعريف عن لنا »األلم«؟ وهل يحق اليومي األشياء؟ أصغر لفقد نتألم أن الكائن هذا هو ومن نحن ومن

املصطنع... األلم؟!ألف عينيه وفي اإلنسان يولد دمعة حتاوطها آالف التساؤالت، جنني يذرف احلياة وملا يتنشقها على يقويه سام رحيق حقا. متاما القادمة. أيامه محاربة إن ما املناعة، جهاز هو كما حتاربه خارجية لدغة يواجه بقوة يرميها حتى وتؤذيه، كيفيات على املركز جسده

كنا الرمال، بادية أميرة كوثرأ، عراعير فوق كنا حني جيرانا سألتها تفكير وبال اجلبال، ظننت أنت؟ أهذا احلال: في وقد أجابت محال. لقيانا رأسها، حزينة حطمت أطرقت وملا عن حالها سألتها فأسها، وقد ردت، بأسها. كاسرة ردت، وقد صوتها، الدموع استعارت

شرب العلقم كأسها: جاءنا في األمس رجل، قد بلغ اجلمال ومن أرذله، العمر من أقبحه، ومن اخللق أحقره. مشيه وصراخه نقيق، وصوته بطريق، ميشي عريق. وسعاله نهيق، أخذ وقد منه، تدلى قد وكرش الطبل الصوت عنه. أما عرعرته فصلعة، كصحن النحاس، لها إن ملعة. تبرأ احلسن منه، وقال

ذاك العجوز لبدعة.

واحدة فقط، عني ترى أن املقاومة في يحصل ما كل سبب هي األخرى، العني أما فلسطني. العني املغلقة، ففيها صور توالت ستني سنة، صور فظيعة، كانت احتلت اسرائيل سببها عندما فلسطني، تطبيقا لوعد بلفور. إسرائيل هي التي اعتدت عندما استوطنت أرض املقدس، وليس عن يدافعون الذين اجملاهدين أرضهم. أأصبحت اآلن إسرائيل وجود ال وفلسطني الدولة هي

لها؟عندما الدولة هي أإسرائيل تنتهك كل بند من بنود اإلعالن أهي اإلنسان؟ حلقوق العاملي عندما العصابة أم الدولة املتحدة؟ األمم منشآت تقصف دولة عندما تستعمل أم تكون دوليا؟ احملظورة األسلحة كونها في املصيبة وليست

فتزرع واالستمرارية، النهوض النضال روح األخيرة هذه فيه يواجه لكي والتحمل والصبر

القادم بقلب كاحلجر.أصغر نفقد عندما نتألم إننا حجمها كان مهما األشياء، للحياة مرادف فاأللم ثمنها أو ومشتقاتها من عبارات اخلذالن العزيز نفقد نحن والتخاذل. إذا ولكن للرحيل. فنأسف بحثنا عن سر هذا األلم جند أن سبب الوجع هو طول االشتياق وبعد املسافة التي تفصل بيننا. النجاح أو املركز نفقد ونحن لوقت معني. ولكن سبب األلم دائرة عند الوقوف وهم هو تفاديها ميكن والتي الفشل بالتحليق إلى دوائر أخرى. ونحن

طبية، موسوعة جسمه وخزانة دوائه صيدلية، ال تعتب فقلب رسمه، في األسقام وجلطات وذبحة صدرية، وسكر وشقيقة وشحوم ثالثية، وزكام

وحمى ورجفة عصبية. كنعيق الغراب كالمه، واجترار الباب وصرير طعامه، الدواب اجتازته الفهم وفي أنغامه، أنعامه، من وصله تبرأت أرحامه، أحالمه، خابت احلسن ومن

وكثرت في البال أوهامه. دق بابنا، وقد طرق ملك املوت في مجددا زوجة، يريدني بابه، شبابه، باملال تزخر جيابه، لتسيل من ولي لعابه. فعريسي األمور وجواهر بشيكات نفسه، زين تواري نحسه. فنصف احلي بات يأسه. جاز املصرف ورصيد له، يتأهبون، ونكير وعزرائيل وأنكر

فحسب، كونها عدم أو دولة دولة تسعى بل هي في كونها تكون متى، فمنذ للسالم! دولة لديها أكبر ترسانة حربية العالم، في األسلحة وأقوى دولة البشر، على تعتدي ثم الدولة هل للسالم؟ تسعى تنقض للسالم تسعى التي واالتفاقيات السالم مواثيق العزل أقتل األطفال والهدنات؟ والشيوخ، والنساء النيام طريقة حتقيق السالم؟. فإذا كان مفهوم السالم يتغير مع الوقت، كيف أعرف حتى أخبروني،

أتكيف مع هذه املتغيرات!!.ثم إن احلكام في معظم الدول في يحصل ما يدينون العربية على اليجرؤون لكنهم غزة العربية واألمة هم التحرك، بأنفسهم يؤمنون ال جمعاء مقاومة يستطيعون وبأنهم

نستسلم أنفسنا. نفقد للخذالن، نستسلم للحياة، لون كأنه احلزن علينا يسيطر سرمدي مزخرف باالنتظار وطول

األمل املشؤوم.األشياء.. أصغر نفقد ونحن كأسناننا، نتألم لفقد أعصابنا. األلم هذا من جنعل أن ميكننا لقوانني وضعناها لقيود حرية احلياة.. لذلك عندما نركز على وكيفية األسنان تفاصيل حيث بعضها، مع انسجامها أن ميكن بها التغيرات أدق أن حتدث تشابك لكل ترتيب الفك، احلقيقة هذه نشابه أن ميكننا نحرر عندما فنحن باحلياة. علينا فرضت قيود من أنفسنا بغير إرادتنا ونحارب الفشل بكل

عامر الصريعكاتب صحفي

نورا أنور سوبره

الزهراء ماجد

لالعب للطرنيب يلعب، فمحال يأبى وحبيبي ثالثة، يكونوا أن ويتجنب. لكن أهلي أحبوا ماله،

رغم أني بدهر، أصغر عياله. ثم قالت ودمعة على خدها البكاء من وصوتها تكرج، اخلميس يوم كتابنا يحشرج: العرسان بني واسمنا يكتب، له فضحت من يا أال يدرج، أسراري، وكشفت عنه أستاري، ويا قابال حني إنكاري، ويا رافضا كنت ما افعل إصراري، عند فإن األحرار، عثرة وأقل تفعل، خلصتني، البوم ذاك من أنت واألسحار، الليل في لك دعوت وألبستك ثوب الكالم، وثوبا من باخلالق حلفتك األشعار، أجود

أترضى جيزتي من ذلك اخلتيار.القدمي، احلب الليث فتذكر فتأهب العظيم، الوجل وراعه

العدو. يعتبرون كل ما يقومون بالنسبة أهمية ذا ليس به لكن الفلسطيني، للشعب التي األمور من أن احلقيقة هذه الفلسطينيون يحتاجها وهذا املعنوي، الدعم هو األيام لهم. نقدمه أن ميكننا ما أقل علينا أن نؤمن بأنفسنا وبقدرتنا األشياء، كما علينا تغيير على أن نزيد من إمياننا بديننا ألن ذلك

هو أكثر ما يخشاه عدونا.

الدولي، اجملتمع أيها اعذرني آخر. عالم في أعيش كنت إن فإنني في عاملي أعرف أن للمرء عن والدفاع املقاومة حق النفس، وفي عاملي يفرق الناس بني اخلير والشر فيدعمون اخلير، كما أن الناس في عاملي يفكرون بعقولهم ويرتكزون على املنطق

والشرع.

نتوجع لنرتاح. نتألم أوجهه، العنفوان رائحة ونشم لنحلق

واحلرية، من أصغر القيود.لنا للتحرر إذا كان األلم سبيال أو نخبئه لم واالستمرارية،

نخجل منه؟الصمت باإلنسان يجدر ال لذلك ملا تألم، إن حتى الدائم، جهازه على سلبية آثار من يقرر عندما ولكن العصبي، أن يعي ما يقول. الكالم، عليه تلك هي احلرية... وجه آخر من أوجه الصديق الكئيب، األلم... جوهر الكتشاف آخر طريق

االنسان ومعدنه.نناضل من أجلها. حرية احلياة، االختيار، حرية التفكير، حرية الصراخ حرية التحرر. حرية

البارئ واستخار وحتير، وتردد األمام إلى فتقدم العليم، خطوة ثم ارعوى، ثم إلى األمام حائرا، تائها، ارعوى، ثم تقدم وآالمته فقر، ليالي آالمته قد ليالي النوى. فراح إلبنة األعمام يطلب مهرها، لكوثر التي اشتد بها اجلوى، وقلبها من نار حبه قد

اكتوى. على الفور قبل األهل صهرهم، عرسهم، الشباب وعجل وانبهر، عجب قد والليث وال خبر، فضره* غائب، ال علم وإلى ما بعد الزواج قد علم، بأن قد اخليال نسج على العجوز اقتصر، فال عريس تقدم، وال إنس أو بشر، حيلة من حيل النساء،

قد عجز عن إتيانها القدر.

*مذكر ضرة

أما في عاملكم، فإنني أرى الناس لها. حقوق وال يوم كل تقتل تستطيعون ال عاملكم في وإن والشر اخلير بني التفريق الشر. تدعمون فإنكم فعلتم يفكرون، ال الناس عاملكم وفي املال رائحة يتبعون عميان هم إلى قادتهم ولو والسلطة،

اجلحيم!!فقد فلسطني، يا اعذريني في مقصرة وسأبقى قصرت اليوم، ألننا فعلت مهما حقك أهل احلق، أصبحنا عكس التيار كثيرا ونتعب جنتهد أن فعلينا إن لكننا أهدافنا، إلى للوصول

شاء اهلل وبعونه، سنصل.

طالبة هي سوبره أنور *نورا اجلامعة في األحياء علم

األميركية في بيروت

ما بوجه والنهوض والبكاء في سبيلنا ويعكر يعاكس احلياة. كفانا تعكيرا لطرقنا في تسود لتعاريف وإطالقا احلياة كفانا أحالمنا... وتلغي أيامنا

بكاءا وكتما لدموعنا.طريقا صرخاتنا من فلنجعل األلم ولنغير األحالم، يشق الكئيب، أللم ملون بدرب يحيي عسانا أرواحنا، في السالم العالم، ونستحق ما نتحرر مع

يقال لنا: إنسان!

الزهراء ماجد هي طالبة علوم اجلامعة في الطبية اخملتبرات

األميركية في بيروت

اوتلوكاذار 8, 152011 منوعاتشخصية األسبوع

الدكتورة فرح جنا

كاتب من هذا الزمن - إبراهيم الكوني: عاشق الصحراء

املشرف على بحثي كان يهوديا. في بداية األمر كان هذا املوضوع يزعجني وذلك ألننا نحن العرب لدينا تصور أن كل اليهود أشرار بعد فيما كاإلسرائليني. ولكن صحيح غير هذا أن إكتشفت الناس، كل مثل اليهود وأن السيء. ومنهم اجليد فمنهم كما أنه فيما بعد تعرفت على فيما وأصبحت يهودية، زميلة

بعد من أعز أصدقائي.«ما هي نصيحتك لكل الطالب؟

» أنصح كل الطالب أن يدرسوا ومييلون يحبونه الذي الشيء إليه، ألن الشخص الذي ال يحب يفشل أن من بد ال يعمل ما في عمله. كما أنني أطلب من كل الطالب أن ال يضيقوا نظرة

العلم، ألن العلم ال يقتصر على الكتب واملراجع فقط، بل العلم يتخطى هذه اإلطارات الضيقة يساعد كونه ويتخطها اإلنسان في رفع مستوى ثقافته اإلنفتاح في ويساعده ووعيه على اآلخرين. وأحب أن قول لكل أن األمريكية اجلامعة طالب من ستأخذونها التي الشهادة هذه اجلامعة،هي شهادة مهمة أنا ملسته الشيء وهذا للغاية كما كندا. إلى سافرت عندما ستخولكم شهاداتكم أن أي في دراستكم متابعة من مكان في العالم، ألنها شهادة في بها ومعترف مصادقة

معظم اجلامعات.«

في جنا فرح الدكتورة ولدت 1975/2/22 في مدينة طرابلس، األستاذ هما كرميني لوالدين عبد القادر جنا، والذي كان رئيس العدل،والسيدة وزارة في قلم تعمل كانت والتي حالب غادة وزارة في صحية كمرشدة التربية. الدكتورة فرح هي اإلبنة التي العائلة هذه في الصغرى تتألف من: نبراس، غسان، مها، وفرح. درست في مدرسة روضة في منها وتخرجت الفيحاء الدكتورة عاشت .1992 العام فرح كل فترة طفولتها وصباها في طرابلس وتأثرت كثيرا باحلرب األهلية التي ولدت في خضمها. الدكتورة قالت كما فاحلرب وحسب أبنية دمار ليست وأعمق، ذلك من أكثر هي بل لم للطفولة دمار هي فاحلرب أبناء كل وال هي ال تستطع جيلها من أن يعيشوها بسبب عاشها التي الكثيرة احلروب كله، هذا من وبالرغم لبنان. فإن األجواء العائلية التي تربت بيئة لها وفرت الدكتورة فيها التي واملبادئ فالقيم مثالية، زرعها والديها فيها وفي إخوتها وإرشادات دوافع مبثابة كان ذواتهم حتقيق في ساعدتهم بالذكر، واجلدير ومستقبلهم. هم إخوانها وكل الدكتورة أن العليا؛ الشهادات حملة من في دكتورة نبراس فأختها غسان وأخوها الدولي، القانون

غادرها التي البادية عن كتب تداعب فتأت ما لكنها صغيرا مخيلته وتبعث احلنني للماضي، ولغتهم الطوارق حلضارة العالم. لغات أصل يراها التي كالصحراء الغموض يكتنفه يصفها لم كما وصفها التي الصحراء أبناء من حتى أحد العربية. درس الكوني االبتدائية والثانوية في اجلنوب واإلعدادية دراسة وأكمل (فزان) الليبي األدبية العلوم في املاجستير العاملي لألدب غوركي مبعهد ومنذاك .1977 عام مبوسكو نشر بدأ . أوروبا في يعيش أعماله في مطلع السبعينيات نزيف التبر، منها: روايات وله اجملوس، رباعية اخلسوف، احلجر،

وشرايني، قلب ودكتور جراح ومها دكتورة في طب العائلة.

اجلامعة إلى دخلت األمريكية ودرست فيها التغذية وفي العام 1996 نالت شهادتها التغذية علوم في اجلامعية وبعدها مباشرة تابعت دراستها أيضا املاجيستير ونالت العليا العام في التغذية علوم في من تزوجت بعدها ثم .1998الدين علم محمد الدكتور الشارقة، إلى برفقته وسافرت حيث عمال في احلقل االكادميي قررا 2002 العام وفي هناك. يتابعا لكي إلى كندا يذهبا أن الدكتوراه. ويناال دراستهما وهناك تابعت الدكتورة دراستها ونالت التغذية مجال في العام في الدكتوراه شهادة في وجودها أثناء وفي .2008بالعديد الدكتورة قامت كندا في واملؤمترات النشاطات من اجملال في و اختصاصها مجال االجتماعي وكان أبرزها املؤمترات التي قامت بها مع بعض زمالئها توحيد إلى تهدف كانت والتي األديان، وذلك من خالل النظر إلى أوجه التشابه بني األديان كافة، واإلبتعاد عن كل ما من شأنه أن يولد صراعا أو خالفا بني األديان. وكما قالت الدكتورة فإن دورها يشتمل كان املوضوع هذا في اإلسالم صورة توضيح على على والتركيز خاص بشكل احملبة دين هو اإلسالم أن مبدأ اإلرهاب دين وليس والسالم،

والقتل كما يصوره البعض.الدكتوراه شهادة نيلها وبعد

كان ما نداء الليل، عشب األخيرة الرواية ونالت بعيدا، للكتاب زايد الشيخ جائزة . 2008 عام اإلمارات دولة في الدولة بجائزة الكوني فاز كما االستثنائية السويسرية األعمال مجمل على الكبرى عام األملانية إلى املترجمة القاهرة ملتقى وجائزة ،2005الروائي لإلبداع اخلامس الدولي جوائز وعدة ،2010 عام العربي كتب فالكوني أخرى. وأوسمة مبستوى رواية ستني من أكثر إلى عدة وترجمت أعماله رفيع عوالم عن ومعظمها لغات جبال يسكن أنه مع الصحراء اجلبال تلك الثلجية. سويسرا األولى غربته إلى زادته التي عن غريب فهو ثانية. غربة في وغريب الصحراوية هويته حيث واجملتمع املثقفني أوساط يأخذون ال احلقيقيون املبدعون

في العام 2008 عادت هي وزوجها إلى لبنان، وبعد ان طلبت منهم االنضمام االميركية اجلامعة التدريسية الهيئة الى صفوف تعيش الدكتورة واآلن فيها. اجلامعة، حرم في زوجها مع ولديها طفالن هما: مرمي مواليد مواليد ومالك ،2004 العام 3 العمر من 2010(ويبلغ العام

أشهر).األبحاث من بالعديد قامت التغذية، مجال في العلمية املقاالت من العديد ولها املنشورة والتي تتعلق بأبحاثها

تلك، ومنها: Dietary patterns and their determinants in Dietary ,(2009)Lebanon exposure to essential and ,(2010)toxic trace elements Effect of Helicobacter Pylori on the availability (2010).of vitamins E and C Effect of Helicobacter , Pylori on the availability ,(2007).of vitamins E and C Helicobacter Pylori and thePrevention of Gastric Cancer. (2004)

ما هي أبرز األشياء التي تعلمتها من وجودك في كندا؟

» كندا علمتني الكثير وواحدة إياها من األشياء التي علمتني أن هي أنساها، أن ميكنني وال عن مسبقة تصورات أضع ال الناس قبل أن أتعرف إليهم عن كثب. وسأدعم ما أقوله بتجربة الدكتور عشتها. حياتية

نهاد غازي عوادكاتبة صحفية

بهم. يعترف وال الالزم التقدير الكوني اخلطيرة فأبرز مفارقات أبعاده هي دراسته للكون بكل واحليوان الطبيعة في املتأصلة النباتات تقوم ، حيث واإلنسان والظالل واحليوانات بدور الكائنات االجتماعية بنوع من التعاطف التي الوجود الصوفي. فحركة لم تتمخض عنها احلضارة بعد، بكل بكارتها األولى هي ما يحفر الروائي بفأسه الكوني فيه بقيثارته الصحراء بناء ليعيد التي الصحراء تلك الشعرية. يقول عنها في التبر: »الصحراء تتطهر. الروح. تغسل وحدها تخلو. تتفرغ، تتفضى. فيسهل أن تنطلق لتتحد باخلالء األبدي. الى املؤدي بالفضاء باألفق. مكان خارج األفق وخارج الفضاء نعم باآلخرة. األخرى. بالدنيا باآلخرة. هنا فقط، في السهول العارية. املتاهة في املمتدة.

: الثالثة األطراف تلتقي حيث لتنسج الفضاء األفق، العراء، ليتصل يسبح الذي الفلك

باألبدية، باآلخرة ». (ص 127)جعل على الكوني يصر تصارع مفاهيم شخصياته مفاهيم أخرى في حيز شاسع ودائم االمتداد والتوسع هو عالم خاصة قدرة فلديه الصحراء ومهارة األساطير خلق على ولطاملا احلكايات ابتكار في ابراهيم عبداهلل الناقد أشار »ميثولوجيا بالقول صانع إليه الطوارق«. فالكوني متمرس في مجتمع الطوارق وأدبه يتوسط حيث والثقافة الطبيعة بالعالقات األولى إلى ينتمي بالعالقات الثانية وإلى األولية اإلنسانية. أسس الكوني روايته على مبادئ التراجيديا اليونانية حيث ال يؤدي تبدل سير األحداث املأساوي املصير في تغير إلى

الشخصية. إليه تنتهي الذي هي معظمها في والعالقات واحليوان وتضمحل اإلنسان بني تلك التي بني البشر أنفسهم. روايات على تتغلب واألساطير واحدة تضيء إن فما الكوني مزاد ويبدأ األخرى تخبت حتى ليست حكايات احلكايات. لتوضيح أو األصول لتمجيد قضية فحسب بل تتعدى ذلك لتكون منارة درب فلسفي ممتد للتراجيديا اليونانية حيث تبيان واإلجابة اإلنسانية، اجلبلة عن اإلنسانية، الطبيعة عن سؤال والشر. اخلير بني العالقة عن ماهية يبني سؤال عن ليجيب احلقيقة املطلقة. سؤال طاملا والكتاب وسائر الفالسفة حير ما وهم كثيرون ومات الناس والكوني زلنا وما يبحثون، زالوا

نبحث مع الباحثني.

سارة أحمد الديرانيكاتبة صحفية

الدكتورة فرح جنا

| |الشاعر علي محمد بدران يوقع ديوانه الثاني

»قتلت حبيبتي وأنتظر«

آخر أيام القذافي .. إما النصر وإما املوت

طالب جتمع مع بالتعاون ومكتب الهندسة كلية اجلامعة قي والتسويق اإلعالم الذي النجاح وبعد األميركية، حققه طالب الهندسة املدنية بدران، محمد علي الشاعر الحتاد املنضم األصغر العضو ديوانه في اللبنانيني، الكتاب أقام بالورد«، »أرسمك األول بدران حفل توقيع ديوانه الثاني مساء األربعاء املاضي في قاعة عصام فارس، بحضور حشد من والسياسي الثقافي الوسط احلفل ريع عاد وقد والطالبي. األطفال، سرطان ملركز كامال قاسم، أخيه لروح ذكرى في

ولكل من حارب ذلك املرض.السيد احلفل بكلمة افتتح كلمة ألقى الذي بيطار حسن األمير ودور أهمية فيها أشاد الشاعر طارق ناصر الدين، الذي لبدران. ومعلما صديقا كان فناصر الدين كما أوضح بيطار، والعروبة الوطنية شاعر هو

لدى ليبيا مندوب صرح وأخيرا األمم املتحدة بصراحة عن اجمللس في الثوار أنشأه الذي الوطني حاضنة كمنظمة بنغازي لتيارات املعارضة الليبية، في ما العدل وزير اإلعتراف هذا كرس مصطفى املستقيل الليبي

عبد اجلليل كممثل لشعبه.العام املتحدث أما الليبي الوطني اجمللس باسم أوضح املهدي اهلل عبد وهو إلجتياح يحضرون الثوار أن منطقة إعالن فور طرابلس

حظر جوي فوق البالد.على اخلناق ويضيق عنق املتعجرف »الزعيم« معمر القذافي حيث أن قوى املعارضة القذافي لقوات هجوما صدت على السيطرة إستهدف البالد. شرق البريقة منطقة

أخرى صورة وله واملقاومة. اخلالد، العاشق صورة مغايرة، حب قصيدة مع النائم صورة احملكية، وبالعامية بالفصحى، والنثر. أما كتاباته فبلغة سرية ال يفهمها إال الراسخ في احلب.

ناصر كلمة كانت وبعدها بسؤاله، ابتدأها الذي الدين وينتظر؟ قتل حبيبته هل فعال يقتل أن علي باستطاعة ال لكنه بالده، أعداء من مئة يستطيع قرص يد حبيبته كي ال يسمع الـ »آه«. وأضاف ناصر »لقد بدران: مخاطبا الدين كان وكيف بشبابي ذكرتني عالم على يهجمون الشباب النساء، إما قاتل أو مقتول، كان بعينني مقتوال دائما الشاعر

ومكر جميلني«. وقال ناصر الدين إن علي شاب و«الفيس اإلنترنت جيل من حبيبته وصل يستطيع بوك« أما الزمن، قياس وحدات بأقل اآلتي الشاب فهو الدين ناصر املعطلة، الهواتف جيل من واحلبيبات املغلقة، والشبابيك االختالف، ذلك ورغم اخملتبئات. واحلب. والشعر املرأة زالت فال

قصيدة رحلت« كانت »عندما ألفها كان والتي األولى، بدران فيها أخبر التي اللحظة عن بأن أخاه العزيز قد رحل، وبعدها قصيدة »آخر نساء الشرق«، ومن

بني مستمرة معارك وهناك الثوار وقوات املرتزقة في منطقة الزاوية التي شهدت سقوط 30 ذكر النوف رأس وفي شهيدا. معارك هناك أن عيان شهود حيث الثقيلة باألسلحة جتري على تدريجيا الثوار يسيطر عينها املنطقة وفي املنطقة. حتدثت مصادر لقناة اجلزيرة عن إنقسامات في كتائب القذافي اخملصصة املنطقة تلك في لتصدير النفط. أما في تاجوراء فقد جرت مواجهات بعد صالة وقوات املتظاهرين بني اجلمعة األمن. وفي مدينة البريقة أعلن الثوار حالة من التأهب القصوى من متوقعة هجمات أي لرد وفي القذافي. كتائب جانب أجدابيا جدد الثوار متركزهم بعد تعرضت الذي اجلوي القصف

له املنطقة . وحتى أن املشاكل لم تقتصر على األسلحة فقط إشتباكات حدثت حتى بل اخلضراء الساحة في باأليدي محاوالت وفي طرابلس. في منعت اإلعالمي للتعتيم بعض الليبية السلطة قوات في جنوب اجملتمعني اإلعالميني طرابلس بفندق من اخلروج منه، لتغطية فيه يقيمون وهم مظاهرات ما بعد صالة اجلمعة. اجلليل عبد مصطفى وأطلق الثوار أمام أن تقول كلمات النصر وإما املوت إما خياران الثوار أن اجلليل عبد وأضاف حتى يستسلمون وال يقاتلون املوت مشيرا إلى أن وقت النفاق

قد ولى.

كعالقة والشعر احلب فعالقة الكنار أو ومعناها، الكلمة وصوته، أو الياسمينة وعطرها. فساعة حب حقيقي أجدى من

عمر صالة وصوم بدون محبة. وكان ختام كلمة ناصر الدين عن إبحث فأضاف: النصح ثم ومن قلبك، في أوال لغتك هي فاللغة القواميس. في األمة، منه تشرب الذي النهر التي الينابيع من يتكون لكنه الشعراء. أما تتفجر من قلوب دوره كحبيب متقاعد، قال ناصر زهرة بني التواصل فهو الدين، نسغها لتعطي بالذبول بدأت

للزهور املتفتحة. ومن ثم استأنف بدران احلفل بكلمة أوجز فيها معنى عنوان يقتل لم بأنه قائال الكتاب مجازا. القتل كان بل أحدا، ما هذا مجاز، احلب هل ولكن احلبيب أما بدران. يعتقده لم الذي الوطن فهو واألخير األول ال يود اإلستشهاد إال على أرض بقراءة بدران قام ثم جنوبه. بضع قصائد، امتازت بأسلوبها السهل املمتنع، يرافقها السيد البيانو. على عازفا حلام روجيه

الشهادة« »قبلة قصيدة ثم املهداة إلى كل شهيد دافع عن

حياض الوطن.

اجلامعة األميركية في بيروت

جزء ٬٤٣ عدد 19 الثالثاء 8 اذار 2011 19٤9 املستقلة منذ عام الطالبية املنشورة

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(صورة: أحمد عيتاني - مكتب اإلعالم في اجلامعة األميركية في بيروت)

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