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The more it changes, the more it becomes the same... And so here we go for some more! The new MTC ad celebrating the fact that the cell-line provider now has hit the million mark, needed to say that "we are now 1 million voices" (Or "ballots). But the winner, without any question, goes to Kafa association dedicated to protecting abused women with the very punchy line "The candidate needs your vote. You need a law that protects you." The trade-off is so honest that it simply throws in the garbage all other political claims. For once - elections are what really are - an exchange of services. The visual shows a woman looking in the window of a shop with the mirro image showing her all bruised and battered.
Well, moving on to the Academy Awards who, in the last few years replaced the expression "And the winner is" by "And the award goes to" under the pretext that all the nominees are already winners. Well, this is not the case in Lebanon, which is why we say "And the winner is" Hagop Pakradounian who managed the incredible feat of being the only Armenian candidate for the only Armenian seat in the whole of the Metn department making him the de facto winner even before the elections. His party is still hoping for a high turnout from its Armenian voters just to prove to the electoral list that since their own candidate has made it they still want the whole list to make it. Yeah, right....
Now let me make this clear: Georges Forides ranks high on my list of campaigns!.... He is running in Achrafieh against the still competition of Neyla Tueni and Issam Abou Jamara both Orthodox and aiming for that one hot seat in that department. One of Forides' ads goes "Neither a young woman nor an old man, we know who to chose" (A perfect rhyme in Arabic) - the old man is Abou Jamra and the young woman is Neyla Tueni. Another goes, "neither by elimination but by the right choice." "Right" is also the way the free patriotic movement to which Abou Jamara belongs has been marketing itself. So Forides deserves top marks... But does he deserve a seat in the parliament?
2 comments:
Banana Republic is a pejorative term for a country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g. bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique.
In some cases, these nations have kept the government structures that were modeled after the colonial french ruling clique, with a small, largely leisure class on the top, and a large, poorly educated and poorly paid working class of peons, though it might have the (fake) trappings of modernity (such as styling itself a republic with a president etc.)
a banana republic also typically has large wealth inequities, poor infrastructure, poor schools, a "backward" economy, low capital spending, a reliance on foreign capital and money printing, budget deficits, and a weakening currency. Banana republics are typically also highly prone to revolutions and coups.
In modern usage the term has come to be used to describe a generally unstable or "backward" dictatorial regime, especially one where elections are often fraudulent and corruption is rife. By extension, the word is occasionally applied to governments where a strong leader hands out appointments and advantages to friends and supporters, without much consideration for the law. A banana republic can also be used to describe a country where a large part of its economy and politics are controlled by foreign powers or even corporations, e.g. LIBANANA
LIBANANA.... Terrific, and I thought I was the advertising copywriter around here.... Pity you did not leave a way to contact you back, Richard! Cheers, Tarek
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