Lebanese racism at Black Arabs.

[Hales]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/22/pan-arab-narrative-myth-lebanon

 

 

Anger towards Lebanon is brewing in Sudan and in Sudanese online forums. According to reports in the Arab media, a fundraising party held by Sudanese immigrants and asylum seekers in Beirut in aid of a child with cancer, was raided by Lebanese security apparently on the hunt for illegal residents.

 

Eyewitnesses report that although most of those attending produced valid residency cards, this did not spare them from being handcuffed, beaten and racially abused. According to Sudanese and Lebanese newspaper reports (in Arabic), the detainees were referred to as animals who "learned how to wear nice clothes" and "black pieces of coal", and lined up flat on their bellies. Some members of the police, seemingly ignorant of the fact that there are any Arabic-speaking black Arabs, asked some of the Sudanese how they spoke Arabic so fluently. The Sudanese responded that they were Arabs from Sudan. In disbelief, the officers thought that they were being mocked, and another round of beating started.

 

The Lebanese authorities have launched an investigation, but deny that there was any racial motivation to the raid. On the skin-colour and race spectrum, Sudan is possibly the most African of the Arab League nations. Lebanon on the other hand, or at least the image the country portrays in the media, is fair and Occidental, both in culture and race (Lebanese applicants at my university regularly ticked the "Caucasian" box on application forms). This incident highlights the unspoken, unsettling chasm between the two nations in terms of popular perceptions of different races in the Arab world. While mistreatment of migrant workers attracts coverage, the subtleties of intra-Arab discrimination rarely do.

 

Lebanon is no stranger to such controversy. Following a plane crash in the country earlier this year, it was reported that "even though there were nine nationalities aboard the Boeing 737 jet, which burst into flames and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off in a violent thunderstorm on Monday morning, the Lebanese, naturally enough, only concerned themselves with one".

 

The families of Ethiopian migrant workers were segregated into separate rooms and DNA testing and identification of dead bodies was prioritised for Lebanese citizens. Unfortunately, this, in addition to the well-publicised plight of foreign maids in the Lebanon and such insensitivity as manifested in the "Nubian monkey" affair, makes it hard to dismiss this episode as a one-off incident.

 

Ironically, in an unusual and unique phenomenon of Arab migration to Africa, the Lebanese remain the biggest non-African migrant minority in west Africa. This community goes back as far as the 19th century, spawning a racial sub-category of African-Lebanese mulattoes and amassing riches in Sierra Leone where it has dominated the diamond industry. In a typically colonialist fashion, this embracing of Africans does not seem to apply back home.

 

However, there is a public pan-Arab narrative to which all states adhere. Meetings of the Arab League are usually sessions praising and paying homage to the host country's leader and each other.

 

The meme is that Arabs are all brothers in race, language, history, and anybody who dares suggests otherwise is a turncoat agitator in the pay of the west. Hence, both the Sudanese and Lebanese governments are doing their best to downplay the affair. The Lebanese ambassador in Khartoum even went so far as to praise being black by saying that "priests wear black as a sign of respect and that the Kaaba in Mecca is covered in black silk". As if the slurs were some sort of compliment. The Sudanese ambassador in Lebanon condemned a call to boycott Lebanese products as "sabotage". This is not surprising as Sudan itself does not have a glowing record of treating its non-Arab citizens particularly well. In addition, most Sudanese residents in Lebanon fled from such conditions in Sudan, which does not predispose the Sudanese diplomatic mission to a very sympathetic stance.

 

Sadly, it is a region where few are innocent. Northern Sudan, which dominates the rest of the country politically and culturally, has since independence downplayed its African heritage and amplified its Arab and Muslim character, subscribing to the popular perception that Arabs are superior to Africans. Needless to say, according to statements on behalf of the Lebanese and Sudanese governments, this incident "will not affect the fraternal relations between the two nations".

[Hales]

very high suicides among foreign maids

[Hales]

Somalis are also Black Arabs, if you knew, Somalia is part of the Arab league.

Plus Somalis like the Sudanese consider themselfes Arabs.

They acknowledge their black racial grouping but regard themselfes racially distinct from other negroes; this distinction and their interaction leads them to view themselfes as a branch of the large Arab people.

Both racialy and culturaly

[Allamagan]

I miss Mr. PeaceNow!

[Hales]

This incident shouldnt lead anyone to generalize against the Arab people of which you are a part of.

Its not good to self hate

[BUKURR]

^ My dear, dont you know that Arabs are perhaps the most racist creatures god has ever created, nothing new here, am surprised you even mentioning it.

 

Allamagan, peacenow is really missed.

[Cawaale]

You will find that Lebanese and Libyans are the most racist of all Arabs. If go to Libya you would think that Racism was found there in the first place.

 

Rage Omar made documentary about Sri Lankan housemaids working in Lebanon and it was horrible.

these housemaids are subjected to physical and mental abuse and there is no one to protect them.

 

As for Somalia, I think Somalia joined the Arab League after 4-5 years of the Kacaanka. Soomaalidana waba ku yar yihiin Lebanon, laakin Liibiya aa lagu cabiidsadaa.

[Cawaale]

^Loll@Alla Magan.

 

Make an appeal bring him back sxb.

MAX is coming back, i heard he is approved now by the big boys

[Hales]

^^

You watched that Documentary on Aljazeera English where many maids from Sri Lanka and South East Asia migrated to Lebanon as foreign workers? right.

I remember the abuses of how dishes were thrown at her by the mother, where she wasnt paid for a long time etc.

This is the video.

 

 

Itd be entertainment if Peacenow came back too, i find him to be an funny Soler and i have nothing against Arabs.

[Allamagan]

@ Cawaale, no no anni kuma jiri markaa, ninkaa qasaarihisa ayaa 100 jeer ka badan faa'idadisa.

 

@Hales, we are not arabs, but somehow we histrionically and culturally related to them. We are also part of this infamous club (the Arab League) and we can cancel our membership anytime we want given that we dont see our interest in it. When we first joined them they were strong and committed to arab/muslim cause, today they are all nothing but sell outs

 

Re. generalization. you right, but there are good arabs and bad arabs. The good arabs are those who follow their deen accordingly and treat any muslim brother/sister equally regardless of his/her ethnicity. The bad ones, unfortunately nowadays there are plenty of them and you can find them in every arab country & in qurbaha.

[xiinfaniin]

peacenow ma la cayriyey?

 

I should've been notified about his ban. Nin liid ah buu ahaa.

 

Libaax S, waa markaad ugu fiicnayd

[Allamagan]

^ admin notice-board-ka ma aqrisid miyaa jimce kasta? lol

[Hales]

War the Arab League need the Somalis, they have not yet seen the upcoming cushitic golden age that will transpire the horn yet.

 

No seriously if Somalia leaves because the Arab leagues little help to Somalia it will impact them negatively.

[Nin-Yaaban]

Not any worse than what the US Police does to suspected illegals.

[Hales]

Ninyaaban@

Tell us about the abuse they put you through.