13a The Silk Museum

Recently I went to the Silk Museum, where I discovered Lebanon's history with silk, which dates back to the Phoenicians.

Though there is no real relevance between this and the silk Museum, there is a movement of predominantly Christian Lebanese who claim to be Phoenician and not Arab. This dates back to the civil war Lebanon experienced in the 70's and a good ways into the 90's. Those who countered the Palestinians and the Arab Nationalist causes, claimed that they were destroying the nation by using Lebanon as a battle ground against Israel. This they would not tolerate; interestingly they are the same people who initially supported the French Mandate on the grounds that Lebanon was a predominantly Christian country. Now they internalize their struggle and rationalize their culture as being unique to those of the region. It really is a pity that faith can be such a wedge between people, when (especially Christianity) was meant to harbor peace and love between all.

Though all the groups in Lebanon share a history of militancy, today it is only Hizballah that is actually a militia. Many questions arise as a result of their military presence in the country. For one, who will protect Lebanon? The government's security forces are not equipped for securing Lebanon's borders! For another, who will securely protect and represent the Shiite community. They are underrepresented in most everything in the country and this imbalance is largely due to a class struggle they have to cope with. (Though some might disagree with me on this last note, I would say there is a historic precedence of over representation of the Christians in Lebanon, and today an over representation of the Sunni in Lebanon) No balance has been properly found or made, even though the system is built on an assumed thread of equality. It inherently categorizes people, and thus creates power struggles between these categories, which debunks and destabilizes the balance of power it is presumptively based on.

What a mess!?

 THE SILK MUSEUM

:)

These are the worms that start off really small and eat till they reach triple and then some there weight.

When they have reached the right size (they only live for a month) they begin creating thread around there bodies, cocooning themselves inside.

This is what they look like when fully cocooned, they die inside the cocoon, turn into hard rocks!

Then they wash and process the cocoon shells, slowly extracting the string from the cocoon (remember this is how the Phoenicians did it, not how its done today). This takes several men to process.

Finally they stretch out the string and process it into silk. One silk scarf can take up to 10,000 cocoons.

The museum is lined with pictures of the old days and how the silk was made in those days!

It also has a garden that has such beautiful flowers and fruit trees!

And a view of Beirut from afar with the sea right in front of it. The museum is in Bsous!

Finally, I found my favorite wild flower growing in the mountains (its a resiliant bugger!)

The Hands of Revolution

The tight fisted Revolutions that have swept the region are a long awaited punch at the face of oppression. Though the troubles they face are towering Arabs are gripping the steep mountain side and climbing. This is all in the hopes of being counted in a world where voice and individuality mean more than they have in the past. With two fingers raised, they hold high and proud their rights to autonomy. Though this be the Peace sign in America, the index and middle finger raised together represents Victory in the Arab region, both are now in the hands of the people and the ultimate question that comes to mind is: will they succeed?

Beginnings

In an Utopian world I imagine Lebanon as the center of all that matters. That's simply because I have lived in it long enough to know that this is how the people feel about themselves, and that perhaps there is some validity to their claims of grandiosity.

Every thing has stepped into the soils of Lebanon. Interestingly, before ever being inhabited it was simply a swamp. Now its mountains and cities draw lines across the imagined maps and borders of the country indicating the extent of past influences on the countries present. Our diversity is inevitably ingrained in our geography.

Oh, but do not think its all sun shine, beaches, and mountains. Lebanon is as much the center of our Destopia as it is our Utopia. The past is filled with such vibrancy and energy that reads into the present. But today's sectarianism is a product of a clearly defined inability to match differing peoples needs, ideologies, and interests, which is not solely a product of a diversified past, as much as it is a challenging present projecting its expectations onto a demanding future.


Some say it's purely political. Thus the reason Lebanon in my opinion should be at the center of our Utopian world is that even though this political machine seeps down into everything, the people of the country have managed to represent their commonalities in the faintest of friendships and interactions.

The divisions of today are not an indication that Lebanon is and will forever be divided, Lebanese were calmly living together prior to the civil-war and one day will calmly live happily again post-sectarian conflict. I have a friend who firmly believes that historians 50 years from now will state confidently that the civil-war did not end until, well until something is done about sectarianism.

I'm not a politician, thus my objective is not to shed light on the political, though it feeds into the dynamics I discuss, my objective is to shed light on everything else. The culture, the day-to-day movements and interactions that make up such a complex country; they are beyond intriguing: they are magical.

Of course I say this with a grain of salt, Lebanese lack the motivational skills to excel or progressively improve upon what Samir Kassir called the Arab malaise. Like many Arab countries, Lebanon is stuck in a rut and cannot progress comfortably without care and unadvantageous needed assistance, which is no where to be found. Thus they live as if living were the only objective, rather then movement or progress as seeping into their hopes and daily doings.

My biggest wish is that this may change, but the realities of today dictate otherwise, and like I said, I'm writing only with the objective of shedding light on people and life, I'm not isolating my perspective on the baggage that comes with being Lebanese, but it's definitely there, and boy does it stink.

Here is to smelling something a little brighter than garbage!