Lebanese Racist Attacks Sukleen Worker For Being A Foreigner

The news about the rising racism that foreigners in Lebanon, notably Syrians, keep on rolling.

Earlier this morning, Anastacia Al-Hajj was doing what she basically does every morning, take her commute road to work. On her way, she’s held up by a scene involving a Lebanese man shouting at a helpless Sukleen worker, telling him to kneel. The man put his hands over the man’s shoulders and tried to force him to the ground, insulting him in all kinds of ways in the process.

When the Sukleen worker didn’t budge, the Lebanese man animal held out a pocket knife and slashed the worker across the street. Seeing that no one was doing anything but observe, in typical Lebanese apathy to such scenarios, Anastacia went out to help the worker only to have one of the women in the nearby buildings tell her: “leave him, these foreigners all over our country, and they deserve it.”

Why was the Lebanese man assaulting the Sukleen worker? Because the latter was cleaning in front of that man’s building, which is the building’s orderly’s job.

Anastacia has reported the incident to Sukleen and they are investigating the matter. Of course, this will probably only amount to a few blog posts and a viral Facebook status, courtesy to the people in this country who still have an ounce of humanity left in them.

This is the Sukleen worker after he was attacked by the Lebanese goon. The look in his eyes is heartbreaking:

Sukleen Worker Attacked

 

It wasn’t enough that these helpless foreigners do the jobs that many Lebanese find themselves to be too high-end to do, we now attack them when they go out of their way to keep our streets clean from all the litter we pile up, in pure animalistic fashion.

This sheer racism against foreigners just because they are foreigners is unacceptable. The argument that these foreigners have done their share of hardships against the Lebanese population is essentially mute. How despicable do you have to be, as a human being, to attack someone whose only way to provide for his family is basically collect the garbage that other people pile up in the most disorganized of ways?

I’m finding myself more and more lately wishing that these people, such as the animal who attacked that helpless worker and that woman who said that worker deserved to have his face cut with a pocket knife, end up with their sons and daughters and maybe even fathers and mothers abroad, working at low-end jobs to provide them with better quality of life, and have their family members being treated with the same racism that they’re treating those they deem are lesser.

Some people deserve to live in a barn. It’s only fitting for their inner animals, all surrounded by filth, their own manure and their ego. And, ironically, some Lebanese people have become as bad as Daesh. As I said before, some people deserve Daesh.

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8 thoughts on “Lebanese Racist Attacks Sukleen Worker For Being A Foreigner”

  2. I’m glad Anastasia did something about it. Very few people would care enough, and thank you for spreading the word. Hopefully the son of a bitch will be apprehended

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  3. I am Anastacia’s sister, and I was there when this happened…I watched and heard the uncivilized barbarian threaten the Sukleen elder and yelling: RKKAAA3!!! (kneel). Anyway, some people have a character insecurity and such behavior boosts their emotional void. Had he been shouting at him or even cussing him, one would just say that he is a disrespectful man and continue our endeavors…but to tell a senior, a man working in Sukleen, a foreigner: RKA3, with a bunch of his groupie surrounding him..hayda izlel – karamet l nes mesh le3be…a man’s dignity is sacred, any human’s dignity should be sacred; unfortunately in Lebanon, a soul is worth 2 dimes. . So many people were watching this humiliating and demeaning event, yet no one had the guts, humanity, or heart to interfere and stop it. And when my sister and I decided to do something about it, a woman from the balcony was laughing and telling us not to make a big deal out of it, since those foreigners deserve it. I am a Lebanese citizen and I too find the amount of refugees to be a burden on Lebanese economy and even security, but that is not the fault of the refugees or the good fellow humans who had bad luck and misfortunate events in their countries, this is the fault of YOUR decisions and YOUR choice of who our authority (AKA war lords) and government is…YOU chose and continue to choose people who are inadequate to make correct policies, elevate growth, and increase security in the country. This man is a foreigner yes, (I think he was Syrian), but he was not included in a political vessel, he was not in a militia, he is not begging, he is working hard at a low rank but respectable job…this man who was assaulted, insulted, embarrassed, robbed of his self-worth in public, has a family waiting for him at home, or even maybe does not have a home…I just wish people would imagine their own brothers or fathers or grandfathers working a minimal job outside the country, and we should know better since our state is very special in the brain drain phenomena. I am appalled by the lack of rational moral conscience and humanitarianism we have reached… We are used to the hierarchy of ranks and jobs, that the Sukleen is deemed lowest of them all…We call them “Zibbel”…no my dears, houwe bi NADDIF w title l job taba3o is “ 3amil Nadafe” to be politically correct…houwe bi NADDIF w ne7na men ZABBIL..ne7na zibbeleen. The last point I wish to say is that I hope this animal is only an exception…I want to stress on the fact that we are not like that, and the majority of Lebanese people are known for their kind hearts, sympathy, and civilization, regardless of our political mess (which does not denote any less of the latter adjectives, it simply means we are also stupid…but no we are not animals). I apologize to any foreigner, to any Sukleen worker, and to any human who was degraded in our Lebanese grounds, with furthermore adding, that we, Lebanese people, ourselves, undergo the same events and are just as cheap on our country, so don’t take anything personal.

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  8. To all those who were and still are interested in the Sukleen Man’s case…This is the first hand exclusive story (the actual story without all the residues and extras of the media) along with all the missing updates that 1- we didn’t know earlier 2- the media twisted, so we would be fair to all sides of the conflict, clear towards all the people who stood up with us, and that the credibility of our names stay affective:
    My sister and I were going to work, we crossed Dikwene (Slav Street), I saw on my left a slightly large man, a Lebanese man for sure, shouting and pressing on the Sukleen worker’s shoulders downwards (the Sukleen worker was definitely much older than he was), and ordering him to kneel several times in the most degrading and disgusting manner. Neither my sister nor I could bear to see such an action happening in front of us, while other people were just spectating, and so we had to move straightforward and then do a U turn to park, the cars behind us didn’t have the patience for us to actually video tape the incident. When we came back from the U turn, the actual conflict was done, the Sukleen worker (Mr. Sleiman) was walking away from the problem, and the Lebanese assaulter was standing angrily and with him several other men. My sister went to speak with the victim to consolidate him and know about the details of the attack, while I went to shout at the group of people who were watching such a demeaning scene and not doing anything…the group of people I spoke to were standing far from the assaulter, but the assaulter could still hear me speak and shout at him…the group of people were saying that they had nothing to do with it and that I was right…While I was giving the people a moral lesson (yes the 20 year old girl), a woman from the balcony was laughing, thinking I was a journalist, she told me to keep the media out of this and that it’s not a big deal, as well as the fact that those foreigners are all over our country. My sister had finished speaking with the Sukleen worker and well we were basically fighting with the ignorant woman, and when we realized this was going to be a very low standard debate, my sister told me to get in the car because we were already really late to both our jobs…The Sukleen worker told her that the problem arised when he refused to clean the building’s entourage and said this was the Concierge’s job, and after oral mishaps, they started hitting him and the assaulter kicked him in the nuts several times as well as taking the swiss knife and cutting his cheek and neck. We were disgusted and my sister posted a picture of the Sukleen man, explaining a brief and descriptive narrative of what we saw and how horrible it was in terms of 1- having a man force an elder Sukleen worker and even if it was another regular man to kneel 2- the racism that we heard from the woman in the balcony…we did not know that the post would go viral and would reach so many blogs, magazines, and TV channels! The media had taken my sister’s post and expanded it it’s own way..even when they called us for more details, they had chosen the details that suited a catchy propaganda and hit on the news..suddenly the man was hitting the Sukleen person because he was Syrian..I didn’t think of going back to Dekwene that same night because I thought the media would have investigated both sides of conflict well to raise a just and ethical cover story, but I was wrong.
    SO, I decided that I would go to Dekwene the second day by myself, to speak with this Lebanese man, and see if I can speak to him as an ambassador of humanity, with no TV or shaming behind me, just a soul asking another soul if he thought what he did was right or justified, hoping to get to his humane side and maybe even a sincere apology from him. And I did, today at around 4 I went to Dekwene where the dispute arose, and asked for the man..he wasn’t there…but the “m3allim” of the building, who was also Lebanese, was, and he spoke on behalf of him. The concierge of the building is Syrian, (the man who was assaulting the Sukleen worker was a different Lebanese one), anyway…this Syrian concierge, Mr. Ammar and the Sukleen worker, Mr. Sleiman had a dispute over the territories of cleaning for about a week, Mr. Ammar told the manager of the building, and the manager of the building confronted Mr. Sleiman… Mr. Sleiman looks at Mr. Ammar and interrogates why he, a Syrian like him, ratted on him? And he told him: “Inta eben haram!” – Mr. Ammar was really offended, and through a head punch at the latter…the latter defended himself naturally, and they were both hitting each other, Mr. Sleiman was using one of the cleaning tools (a stick) to hit Mr. Ammar (who I saw also had bruises in his arm)…it was a fight like any other between two angry men. The Lebanese man (who knows Mr. Ammar and was defending him) came in between the fight and this is when my sister and I were passing in the car and saw him in the fight.
    The bulk of the issue still lies in the fact that if he was a respectable man, he could have called Sukleen and reported their staff member…if he was not an ideal but normal citizen, he would have gotten in between and stopped the fight…if he was a little less respectable, he would have gotten in the fight and started hitting as well…but he was neither, he was an animal who got into the fight, used the knife (according to the Sukleen worker who justified the two deep scratches in his cheek and neck), and he degraded him in public forcing him to kneel. Our point has not changed even after I investigated the second side of the story…we, the Lebanese, should start understanding that we don’t live in a forest or a jungle, and that there are ways to defending ones’ self in a respectable manner without demeaning other people and this is why from now on, we should not shut up or accept any form of degrading assault for whatever reason. If you (naturally) fear that the Lebanese law polluted with corrupt institutions won’t protect your rights or that the organization you are going to complain to will not take your protest into consideration, then shout or even hit…but no one, NO ONE has the rights to force another human being to kneel. Enough of this hierarchy, this snobbish persona that some people are better because they have certain connections or more money or a better nationality, or what not and have the power to demean another human being; even if this human being was wrong, there are so many ways to deal with this wrong effectively and in a civilized or humane or even rational and fair manner. This was and will always be my sister and my point. We also emphasized several times that the racism part came from the woman who defended the Lebanese man’s assault with racism, and did not associate racism with the assault itself.
    This is the whole story from A to Z, the true and detailed version…not the censored, cut, or exaggerated one. We want to thank everyone…seriously, every Lebanese who showed the true face of Lebanon, who helped link a cause from one part of Lebanon to the whole region…I saw humanity rise with fierce passion, and I saw the power we the Lebanese people have once we unite for a cause…I am so proud of my Lebanese brothers and sisters, of the youth, and of the new generation which does not accept intolerance and disrespect. Much love and respect to all.

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