Ras Beirut: model of coexistence for all of Lebanon?

21 August 2008

BEIRUT: Ras Beirut remains the socially most-diverse, arguably the most-urban, part of the Lebanese capital. Though it isn't immune to sectarian tension, it is still hoped in certain circles that Ras Beirut - where intellectual discussion and social activism are its daily bread - will provide a prototype for a post-sectarian Lebanon.

Lebanese liberals have long found a model worth emulating in this part of the city. In 1973, before Lebanon's 1975-1990 Civil War began in earnest, sociologist Samir Khalaf published his study "Hamra of Beirut," which found in this Ras Beirut neighborhood a model for Lebanese civil society.

In the wake of changes wrought by civil wars of the 1970s and '80s, and the so-called reconstruction period of the 1990s, a great deal of nostalgia has been churned up for the promise this neighborhood somehow came to embody.

This was the impetus behind Mahmoud Hojeij's 2006 documentary "Wish you Were Here, Memories of Ras Beirut," which looks back at what the area was like during its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s.

According to Hojeij's film, and numerous discussions with people that have lived in Ras Beirut, the area has always been characterized by the diversity of its people. While this diversity may have hanged more on its erstwhile mix of international students and residents, the area remains unique today for its ability to accommodate and tolerate various sects.

The American University of Beirut (AUB) remains a focal point of Ras Beirut. During the 1960s and '70s, when Lebanon was flourishing economically and attracting many foreign workers of various descriptions, AUB was considered the most prestigious university in the Middle East.

Cynthia Myntti, nowadays project leader for the university's Mubadarat al-Jiwar (Neighborhood Initiative), studied at AUB in the 1970s. Ras Beirut, she says, is a place of alwan (colors). She remarks that a friend of hers wants to move to the area from Achrafieh because there it is lawn wahid (of one color).

"AUB was an international institution in the 1970s," Myntii said. "My classmates came from Syria, Turkey, Cyprus and Afghanistan, among other places. I studied with Ahsraf Ghani, who went on to serve as Afghanistan's finance minister. This made student concerns more international, while nowadays the student body is mainly Lebanese and concerns are much more focused on local politics and issues."

During Israel's July 2006 war on Lebanon, a lot of displaced people from the South were housed in Ras Beirut, Myntti said, because "this was the neighborhood that tolerated them."

While Lebanon became more confessionally segregated after the Civil War, Ras Beirut has been able to maintain its diversity.

Lebanese journalist Celina Nasser said she moved to Ras Beirut from the southwest Beirut quarter of Tariq al-Jadideh because she felt the area was much more tolerant.

"Tariq al-Jadideh is a Sunni stronghold, and as a Shiite I felt out of place during the summer 2006 war," Nasser said. "I also felt that the thinking there was very conservative, and was conscious of how I dressed. So I moved to Hamra where all sects blend in, and the thinking is much more open."

Arab nationalism was at its peak in the 1960s and '70s, as was Lebanese sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Student activism and demonstrations were a regular part of Ras Beirut life.

Views are mixed on whether students and people of Lebanon are as active today.

Nasser said the March 8 and March 14 rallies in 2005 offered proof that people are still active, and have a voice. But, she said, "people these days don't seem to have their own views, and instead act upon the directions of a certain politician or party."

For Myntti, students are more apathetic. "A lot of Lebanese students are raised abroad and are more familiar with the streets of Paris than of Lebanon, so they have multiple identities and concerns."

The consensus, however, was that students and people have turned their concerns inward and when they do demonstrate it is for local causes.

Rosalyn Ghubril, a 24-year-old resident of Lebanon and former student of AUB and the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Ras Beirut, said: "I see people, more than students, demonstrating, especially when prices of goods go up. Students, instead, get into fights when it comes to politics."

A major concern for Ghubril, and other academics, is how student elections have become sectarian.

"To be elected as a student you have to belong to a sect," observed Bilal Orfali, the AUB summer Arabic program director, "and this has caused fights during the last three years of elections. Instead of focusing on how to improve university life, students are concerned with the parties to which each person belongs."

Ras Beirut remains the most diverse area but it is not immune to sectarian tension.

Faysal's restaurant, now McDonald's on Bliss Street, and Caf? Modca were hang outs where intellectuals in the 1960s and '70s went to discuss how to make a difference. Today, Ta Marbouta, Cafe Younes and Lina's are among the places where "artists" and "intellectuals" are said to gather.

Evidently, though, much has changed in terms of what it means to be an intellectual in Lebanon today.

A literary critic, Myntti said by way of example, reviewed her husband's recently published volume poetry for Al-Hayat newspaper. "While working as a part-time literary critic, he is also a cashier at the AUB hospital, and through this he is able to get free-health insurance, and send his children to study at AUB for free. That is the reality of intellectuals today. Life has become too expensive to be a full-time intellectual."

Abdulrahman Shamseddine, an Arabic language tutor at AUB and historian, said intellectuals have indirectly become sectarian. "Most intellectuals are leftist-thinkers, and they want to take a political stand," he said. "So, without realizing, some are indirectly affiliating themselves with a sect or political party. Perhaps they should have stepped away from taking a political stand."

Looking to test out the theory, we went along to Ta marbouta, and there we did find an interesting array of thinkers - we met Celina Nasser, a rap singer called Kareembo, and a former political activist.

The former activist, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he stepped away from his affiliation to a political movement, because he didn't see that it was achieving any concrete change.

He also preferred not to label himself as an intellectual because, for him, its modern connotations are negative. "There is a gap between intellectuals and society," he said. "Intellectuals think they are more superior."

Given the challenges, what hope is there for the future? In Lebanon, even the word "future" (to say nothing of "truth") has political connotations, with the ruling party having appropriated the word in designating itself the Future Movement.

Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud was one to watch, in Myntti's view. "He is a 37-year-old lawyer and human-rights activist, and is pushing for electoral reform."

Nasser is less convinced. "I've interviewed Baroud and he is interesting," she said. "But when people enter politics they do disappoint me in the end."

Shamseddine believes change should come from religious leaders, saying they "should distance religion from politics."

The erstwhile political activist sees Arab unity as a way forward. "Europe has become united," he observed, "and there are similar movements elsewhere in the world. A small country like Lebanon should be united."

For his part, Kareembo sees rap music as a way of uniting Lebanon's 18 religious sects. "Music has no boundaries," he asserted. "It talks to everyone."

Perhaps hope lies in the fact that people are still talking about, and thinking of, solutions. If Lebanon needs a model of co-existence, maybe it need only look at the streets of Ras Beirut.

AUB project looks to play bigger role in West Beirut

BEIRUT: Mubadarat al-Jiwar is a project that involves making the American University of Beirut (AUB) a more active player in the local community.

It began in October 2007, and has a number of goals, one of which is to look at the university's purchasing policy and its business objectives.

"AUB wants to make sure most of its beneficiaries are local. For example, it is a scandal that the cafeteria is run by an international company, rather than a local catering company," project leader Cynthia Myntti said.

The program will also look to create more green spaces in Ras Beirut, and this involves AUB students of architecture, urban planning and landscape design.

One of their projects has been to redesign the university's surrounding wall to create a backspace to the city, views through the wall and exhibition spaces.

Students were going to exhibit their research designs in May 2008, but after conflict broke out, they rescheduled it for October.

"This project is about being a better neighbor and sharing more of what the AUB has to offer," Myntti said. For example, the city water and wells are made up of salty sea water, and the AUB can share its technical knowledge on how plants can be grown using salty water.

AUB is also actively reorienting its research objectives to solve local problems, rather than being theoretical.

The civil engineering department is studying how Ras Beirut's streets can be made more pedestrian friendly and how congestion can be eased.

The long-term goal of the project is to create more partnerships with local businesses and institutions with a particular view to creating more affordable housing for middle-income earners.

"If this doesn't happen, the neighborhood will be overtaken by luxury, high-rise buildings. The area will become gentrified," Myntti said.

A full professor earns $70,000 and cannot afford an apartment in Ras Beirut with the cost of rent today.

The project aims to stabilize this situation, and preserve Ras Beirut's diversity. - Nadine Marroushi