[tadamon-l] the HOUR: Bridge to Beirut - Tadamon! Initiative brings Beirut a little closer.

[Tadamon!]

the HOUR: Bridge to Beirut
Tadamon! Initiative brings Beirut a little closer
by Sara Falconer: January 19th, 2006

http://hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=8199

"Tadamon" means "solidarity" in Arabic, and that's the goal of the 
Tadamon! Initiative, which links activists in Beirut and Montreal for the 
purpose of grassroots organizing, from immigrants' and women's rights to 
labour and privatization issues to the plight of Palestinians living in 
Lebanon's refugee camps. The official Montreal launch of the project on 
Sunday will celebrate these efforts.

Lebanon has seen enormous political change in the past year, beginning 
with the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February.

Massive Hezbollah-backed demonstrations opposed Syria's withdrawal during 
April's "Cedar Revolution." During the May parliamentary elections, the 
political arm of Hezbollah won the biggest number of representatives in 
its history, and by July it had joined the government in the name of 
national unity, despite a controversial refusal to disarm its militia.

In the midst of these developments, Stefan Christoff travelled from 
Montreal to Lebanon during the summer of 2005 to work with the Independent 
Media Center of Beirut. Together with Afamia Kaddour and Mohammed Shublaq, 
he told Hour about the experience.

"Activists in North America don't always understand the complexities of 
these struggles because they rarely make headlines in mainstream media and 
[are] generally not given political priority globally. For instance, in 
Lebanon, the presence of Syrian armed troops didn't attract the attention 
of international media until it was made an issue for American foreign 
policy."

Local media activists can contribute valuable technical skills and 
contribute to the survival of independent projects in turbulent locales.

"We've seen Indymedias starting and stopping... Indymedia Jerusalem and 
Al-Muwajaha in Iraq had to close. This sheds light on the difficulties of 
developing an independent media in the region [West Asia and North Africa] 
due to lack of resources, political oppression of independent media and 
social movements in the region."

Sunday's multimedia blitz will include a slideshow and presentation by 
Christoff, a performance by the Hassan el-Hadi Band featuring traditional 
Arabic instruments such as the oud, and a screening of Mai Masri's 
documentary War Generation, filmed on the streets of Beirut during 
Lebanon's 15-year civil war.

Tadamon! Initiative at La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) on Jan. 22 at 8 
p.m. Suggested donation $5. For more information contact 
tadamon at resist.ca.

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