Last week, the wonderful people of Cheyef 7alak started a campaign against racial discrimination in Lebanon. A lot of bloggers such as Blog Baladi andIvy Says have spoken out on this topic as well.
I love this country. And I love the people. But we can’t go on being like this. I don’t want to be all preachy but all I ask of you is this, dear reader: be careful of the words you say because you never know who you’ll hurt.
AND YES THAT INCLUDES ”Oooh Sareen you’re Armenian? So you must eat basterma all day”!
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what abut soujouk??
awesome stuff… I also remember seeing veiled Lebanese women being treated the same and not being allowed to swim because of “prestige”.
Isn’t going to the pool already costly enough? How much more elitist can it be?
lool well i think we’re raised to be racist, some of the old ppl still call the black dude “3abed” i heard someone calling will smith “hayda l 3abed l 7elo li massal men in black” :p anyway i am stuck with this issue as my family name reffers to a certain political party and whenever they hear my family name they start “ya ahla 7abaytak ” or “ja2ra” lool anyway do you know sevag?? He lives in bourj hammoud
was it clear that i loved this comic?
by the way every domestic worker is a “sirilankiye”… Actually it is now a job description : “shou 3am teshteghle serlankiye??”
It’s been many years since I’ve last been to Lebanon, but from what I recall this is spot on. The daily to day racism found in Lebanon far exceeds any other place I’ve been to unfortunately. Hope one day ppl wake up and realise that we are all humans.
Love the comic- you nailed it! Let’s hope some of those that need to be reading this will actually see this and get the message. Thanks for the mention S xoxoxox
*singing* : money talks,,, money taaaaaaaaaaaaaaalks
One more card to pull out the next time someone goes banging on about racism here: “It isn’t THIS bad yet! (but it’s bad already)”
Anyway, first day of school and well, things aren’t so bad now
To be fair I haven’t seen any Gulfies in our beach resorts… Well not the obvious ones pictured here…
You’re right, about the “not the obvious ones”. I just wanted to make it obvious that the people visiting were from the Gulf.
Ignorance and arrogance is universal.
I realized that after making this comic. Sadly, racism is a universal issue.
I love you for the basterma comment! Thanks for this
Heehee thank you Sarine! I hope you don’t get asked this question a lot.
Your particular example seems a lot less like racism and a lot more like wealthism – but we take your point.
BTW What’s basterma? I know I could google it but more interesting to get the low down from people who have actually had it. Just from the name I can’t decide if it sounds really good or really bad. Unlike poutine, which for anyone who doesn’t know is french fries covered in brown gravy and cheese curds. I know what it is and I still can’t decide if that sounds good or awful.
Hi Dave thanks for the comment. Actually it’s a little bit of both so you’re right.
As for basterma, it’s a cured beef that spicy and tastes really good. It looks a little like bresaola but it tastes MUCH better and is more spicy. The Armenians are known for making Basterma, it’s one of our traditional meals. We brought it with us when we migrated to Lebanon and to other countries in the region.
Btw, I’ve heard of poutain and it still sounds too heavy hehe
How rude.
Great to point out anti-racism campaigns. This facebook page also denouces racist beaches: http://www.facebook.com/events/282735051834673/
It’s all about the money. The money.
I guess Lebanon doesn’t have an ACLU? They are pretty liberal but they are usually really aggressive about stuff like this. I guess you need a bunch of lawyers to get together and form a Lebanon Civil Liberties Union.
https://www.aclu.org/