A Day in the Life of a Lebanese BDS Supporter

He wakes up in the morning. It’s 8 am. Way too early. What is needed when you need your body to get going? Yes, coffee.
So he tiredly makes his way to the kitchen, rips open a pack of Nescafé and pours it down a New York mug which he bought on his last trip to the Big Apple. He heats up the water, mixes it with the powder.

He starts drinking. Sweet Jesus, the energy is coming right in. So he moves back to his bedroom where he takes out his designer shirt and jeans, even boxers, and gets dressed for work at some internationally renowned firm. He grabs his iPhone, puts his MacBook in his bag. He double checks to see if the iPad is there as well – and let’s not forget the Kingston flash drive.

He grabs the keys to his German car – a newly bought BMW – and leaves his Beiruti apartment for work.

As he chunks the numbers and goes through the daily motion of what brings food to his table, he realizes it is lunch time. His friends decide to go grab a quick bite at the nearby Starbucks.

He vehemently refuses. How could you go support a company which is causing Palestinian children to die and Israelis to take more land that is not their’s?
As his friends leave him alone, he grabs his iPad and refreshes his twitter timeline. Meanwhile, his iPhone buzzes with an iMessage from his girlfriend as he receives a Facebook notification. His best friend, currently working in the US, shared a link on his wall – a very funny video featuring some very trashy pop artist doing something very stupid.

As the day at work draws to a close, this person goes back home where he checks the news. A singer is coming to the country for a hit concert in a few weeks. He thinks for a few minutes if he should take his girlfriend on a date there. Then he decides to check who’s the singer.

It’s that singer! Unacceptable! He was in that place not so long ago. Let’s start our activism, he starts thinking. And then he notices another concert by some other artist – and they’re going to that place soon after Lebanon. And a Lebanese band is opening for them. And he’s so hurt he could almost cry.

How could they do that to Palestine? How could they be so traitorous to the land, the people, the women, the children?

He calls up on his friends using his iPhone. His friends reply on their copycat Samsung phones (yes, I had to). They set up a boycott campaign online using a windows laptop because they are more mainstream. Some time later, the first concert is canceled. The Lebanese band canceles its opening gig.
Victory, victory. Rejoice, rejoice. So the activist can now sleep better. He puts his iPhone on silent, puts his iPad on the charger and switches off his MacBook.

Yes, Palestine will soon be free. One band at a time. One ban at a time.

As he goes to sleep, his head starts thinking about how life would be without his fancy clothes, car, phone, accessories and work. He decides that year 1400-something is not something he’d like. So he figures activism against concerts is the best way to go. One band at a time, one ban at a time.

And Palestine will soon be free. He lays his head to sleep and does so peacefully.

This entry was posted in Lebanon and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

9 thoughts on “A Day in the Life of a Lebanese BDS Supporter”

  2. I believe every single individual who believes Israel should disappear in favor of a pre-1948 Palestine deliberately contributes to perpetual war in the Middle East. Even if this position is historically justifiable, if you know something cannot be feasible even in 100 years one is not interested in the rights of Palestinians. If it is not a moral issue but an honor issue of achieving victory over Israel, then I’d be interested in seeing the military plans purely out of military tactics interest.

    The thuggery of Israeli settler activists, and their power in the government pretty much disables any chance of a Palestinian peace right now. But their attitude is no less unhelpful than the non-compromising activists I mentioned above.

    In my opinion only direct negotiations between Israel, all neighbors and all regional players will solve anything. If anything. For now, the greatest hypothetical “victory” would be an intellectual or economical one, but I doubt the BDS will stir the Middle East towards an economic miracle.

    Elie, what would you recommend a pro-Palestinian activist to do? I am talking about any kind of constructive activities which will not only attempt to hurt Israel’s society economically and culturally, but first and foremost will improve the situation of Palestinians inside and outside “1948 Palestine” and will contribute to the creation of a viable independent Palestinian state.

    Like

    Reply

    • You know I’m in favor of a two state solution. I don’t think the things the Israeli state is doing is acceptable and I think anyone who says the Palestinians are not doing good things either is only convincing himself with that – the numbers of victims from each side and the drastic difference in lifestyle show that.
      It is not a matter of culture as Mr. Romney would want people to believe. The problem starts with a big fat O.

      What could pro-Palestinian activists do? Well, for starters, they can not force local bands to relinquish golden opportunities in order for them to feel useful for a brief fraction of time. They can not force artists who sang in Israel not to come to Lebanon and they can get back to the drawing board to do things that are useful – away from music. As to what they can do, I don’t think there’s much they can do. Regardless of what they want to believe, they are insignificant. The only people they are hurting are those other people who are insignificant like them: i.e. us.

      Like

      Reply

  5. Pingback: Welcome To The Republic of Cheap Controversy « A Separate State of Mind | A Lebanese Blog

Leave a comment