A source on politics, war, the Middle East, Arabic poetry, and art.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Several professors from the American University of Beirut wrote to me about my post on Samir Khalaf. Some stuff I can't use. But here is this account from one professor in Beirut: "Earlier this year, in a conference arranged by the architecture department at AUB, Khalaf got into an argument over the treatment of Syrian workers during the Blessed Cedar Revolution. In a moment of great lucidity and frankness, Khalaf burst out with a most amazing accusation: the Syrian workers in Lebanon were ‘the representatives of a serial killer regime.’ This seemed like a justification of the attacks on them – and this in a university which includes a number of Syrian students who must also be equally ‘representatives’ of this ‘serial killer regime.’ At least one student I know walked out in disgust."