In what follows, we publish the introduction of the book Discrimination in Lebanon from the series “Bee” for civil education, published in 2008 by Information International and Inma Association. The Monthly judged it advisable to highlight this introduction, especially following the skirmishes witnessed on Monday 16 April 2012 at “Bi Mawdouiyeh” talk show hosted by Walid Abboud on MTV.

“Rass el Abed[1]”, “Festoq el Abeed[2]” and “Ma Testakredni[3]”

“I am not sure whether the company, which launched the famous “Rass el Abed”, a favorite treat of the children in the1960s, was racist or not when it chose the name. Similarly, changing “Rass el Abed” later to “Tarboush Ghandour” does not necessarily erase the racist overtones marring our society. I believe that we, the connaisseurs of “Rass el Abed” and the devoted fans of the “Hajj”, who many preferred to call “Dekkanji[4]”, did not know at the time that the name “Rass el Abed” reflects a particular form of racism. We also used to couple the “Sudanese Festoq” (Sudanese peanuts) with a “black man” who used to roast the peanuts at the Burj Square, and those peanuts still are called “Festoq el Abeed” (Niggers’ peanuts).

Many do not deem themselves racist when they make racial comments, and rarely do they realize how discriminatory and intolerant most of their practices are.

“Black nigger”, “Christian…”, “Sri Lankan…”, “Khaliji…”, “Palestinian…”, “Egyptian…”, as well as “handicapped” are all words that are often meant to carry negative or inferior connotations. These descriptions are but a few entries in our racist dictionary for we, the “outstanding Christians”, the “Shia’a majority”, and the “not-very-few Sunnis”, have agreed to be racist while at the same time, ironically, preaching freedom and human rights. Could the ardent Lebanese enlighten us on the meaning of the expressions “Don’t treat me like a Kurd” (Ma testakredni) or “Armenian from Burj Hammoud”?

The Bee series introduces this book as another step towards statehood and the building of a new Lebanon.”

This is how the introduction was concluded and continuing on similar lines:

“One may hate May Chidiac, (if there is room in one’s heart for hatred) and may agree or not with what she says… One may care little about the death of any “Ali”, save he who dies at the hands of the Syrian army and one may become oblivious of a Chidiac member who was killed by the Israeli airforce during his work at LBC… and perhaps those are victims only in the eyes of their parents and in ours, we, who did not hail any Za’im or foreign country… One may also condemn or glorify Samir Kuntar… And perhaps all these are indicators of discrimination and fanaticism… but to call MTV’s talk show “Bi Mawdouiyeh”, introducing oneself as an Arab Socialist Baath Party official, and to question May Chidiac’s moral disposition daring her to come clean on what she was “doing” before the explosion…”? This is self-abasement at its lowest. Would this question have been raised if the victim had been a male? Should the focus be on what the victim was thinking or doing before he/she was attacked or rather on the condemnation of the attack itself?

Sadly, racism and fanaticism are not only restricted to “Festoq el Abeed” and “Rass el Abed”, but expand to decay the Lebanese political parties and their officials.

Jawad N. Adra

[1] Rass el Abed: Nigger’s head

[2] Festoq el Abeed: Nigger’s peanuts

[3] Ma testakredni: Don’t treat me like a Kurd

[4] Dekkanji: Shopkeeper