You may have heard of what happened in Lebanon today and if not, basically, there was a big explosion in Beirut that affected many cities, destroyed shops, homes, cars, caused many injuries and deaths. The cause is uncertain.
As a fellow lebanese myself (that also lives there), today was absolutely terrifying, probably the scariest moments of my life. We heard a deafening sound as the floors were shaking. Some of us thought it was an attack, others thought it was an earthquake. As soon as it ended many expected a second one, which luckily never happened.
Here’s a video of what happened that was sent to me, there are also many others that you can find online.
Windows were broken, doors wrecked, cars flipped over, buildings collapsed, people hit by flying or falling objects, and unfortunately, many didn’t make it out alive.
We were one of the lucky ones, our families and friends were all safe and our homes were fine.
Some people couldn’t even get out of the crumbling builings, so we saw corpses being pulled out, although some people survived the crash. But wherever we looked, there was blood, poeple were half covered in it, their shirts, pants, hair, everything. And that sight was traumatizing.
We watched the news with elders severely injured, children with blood-spattered shirts and people in pain that couldn’t get in the hospitals because they were full.
Some people are missing. Just try to imagine the pain and fear their families and friends are feeling.
Articles about what happened, there are a lot more
Not only are we in the middle of a pandemic, but Lebanon is also going through a very serious economical crisis. To give you an example, before, $1 equaled 1 500 lebanese pounds. Nowadays, $1 equals more than 7 000 lebanese pounds. Not to mention that we obviously don’t have any dollars at disposition, so yeah we’re fucked.
People are hungry, homeless, unemployed. And even if they are getting paid, it’ll be useless since the prices of everything went up because they were affected by the economical fiasco.
Important additional information
Today, I heard my 7 year old cousins scream in fear that they were going to die. I saw my aunt shaking, worried that her children won’t survive. I saw my dad freak out while trying to reassure us when we both knew that we were uncertain about the next minutes of our lives. I heard the panic in the trembling voices of my family and friends as they couldn’t believe what had just happened. I thought my loved ones and I were going to die in the next seconds.
I’m never forgetting those moments and feelings.
I don’t think signing petitions will help, i don’t even know if the following links will help either, I just know Lebanon and it’s people are desperate for anything because the future of this country is extremely uncertain.
I think donating to the red cross would be the most helpful, so if you are considering it, it’d be great.
There are so many great threads on twitter about what you can do to help, just search help lebanon or something to find them. Also if you can, please donate, and as I said, the lebanese pound is pretty much worthless currently so USD is way more useful to us.
I’m just here to say that if you only get information from western media you’ll only ever get the narrative they want you to hear, believe, and repeat.
I do this thing where I tend to look up news in arabic and then in english when researching a topic. The way english news sounds is completely different from the narrative the people involved in the actual subject on the actual ground have been through. And I’m not talking about the arabic news from BS arabic speaking zionist channels. I’m talking about the news that get censored in the West, which you’ll never hear about, because you don’t know they exist.
In short. You will never find anything other than what they want you to hear, simply because, the alternative, which frequently tells how they’re involved in the BS, isn’t allowed to show up to their public.
Don’t believe me ? Look up the number of times Palestinians who gained spotlight during the past year, and who actually speak arabic, and see both narratives, have had their accounts suspended on twitter, instagram, facebook, the whole gang, when trying to speak up.
When a newspaper, tv channel, or account, from a specific group, is being censored, on a big scale, it’s often because they’re telling things some people don’t want you to know about.
Believe us when we speak about our countries. We live there.
This goes for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and also Ukraine and Russia.
Listen to the people actually living in these countries.
4 missiles (or more) have been fired to Syria by an israeli ship almost hit a middle east airplane, everyone heard and saw them as if they were fired from their homes and the airport of Beirut just stopped all air flights.
Oh and we’re getting iranian oil (mezout whatever that means in english) since america wants us to starve to death with no bread or electricity or functioning hospitals and they took it personal and went to our President right after the announcement saying WE‘LL GIVE YOU OIL AND ELECTRICITY when they’re the reason we have sanctions.
It can’t get weirder right
Isreal breaking international laws and flying so low above Lebanese territory to bombard Syria, is something so expected of Isreal, I’m not surprised anymore.
Oh and don’t get me started on the US finally waking up to aid Lebanon right after its ego was threatened by us being independent and getting Iranian oil (mezout or whatever.)
As many of you many know, Lebanon and the city of Beirut is going through a devestating time right now. If you wanna learn more about what happened or are looking for ways to help without using money, check out this link:
The Terminal | Narrative Digital Painting | by Alhyari
When his pouch was run through the X-ray scanner, a bottle of frozen liquid was shouting for attention. Since the flight was not due before 2 hours, he was calm when he untied the knot for the alert officials in black uniforms. They inspected the olive oil bottle carefully, knocked on the eggs he separated in socks one by one and argued if the sound was natural, and they seized one Kilogram of grape leaves stuffed with rice, that was all his supply.
On the look for a quiet corner to wait until his flight was called, he was reflecting about life. Two things crossed his mind, but I’m not entitled to share them. The place, though bursting with infinite vistas of exploration, was narrow and dark. He just wanted to leave it behind, to get as far away from it as he could.
Details:
This artwork was painted digitally in Procreate.
“Muhammad at-Tayieb” al-Hyari Freelance Digital Artist & Illustrator www.alhyari.art
I’m highlightingRania Matar’s latest photography book,She,published in October of 2021 by the New Mexico-based non-profit publisher Radius Booksfor this round of staff picks. Radius has donated over 75,000 of their fine art and photography books to libraries, schools, and art programs since their founding in 2007 and earmarks a portion of each publication for donation to underfunded libraries and arts programs.
Rania Matar was born in Lebanon in 1964 and relocated to the United States in 1984. Matar is an award-winning photographer, most recently a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow, whose work focuses on the daily lives of women and girls, informed by her cross-cultural experiences. The composition of the book, and the way it juxtaposes motifs across geographic space (the first two images above come on consecutive pages, image 8 & 9 are on facing pages) creates a sense of continuity of the feminine experience that transcends place. Sheis Matar’s fourth photography book. We also have Matar’s L’enfant-Femme(Damiani Editore, 2016) here in Special Collections – a potential future post. That work focuses on girls in their pre-teens and early teens in the United States and Lebanon, with geographical and cultural differences bridged by the common experience of growing up.
a massive explosion just rocked the capital city of lebanon, beirut. footage of the explosion has been captured, and it is horrific and terrifying. dozens and maybe even hundreds of people have been injured and the reports have confirmed at least 10 people dead. reports are still coming in.
hospitals are overwhelmed. the lebanese red cross has sent out an urgent message in need of blood donations of all blood types.open transfusion centers to help aid in this disaster are currently
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if you have loved ones in lebanon or you are aware of someone who has loved ones in lebanon, i strongly urge you to reach out to them as soon as possible. if you don’t have loved ones in lebanon, i hope you at least spread the word to help others and keep beirut in your thoughts today.
this all started just barely two hours ago, and the reports are still coming in with updates. keep an eye on the news, if you can. stay safe.
the country of lebanon and it’s people have been struggling intensely recently due to political unrest, famine, covid-19, and an economic crisis. please read this twitter thread by a lebanese user for more information and how to help, along with this carrd
additionally,a carrd has been made concerning the beirut explosion and it consists of information on emergency relief, access to breaking news about the catastrophe, and, especially, information on blood donations.
multiple lebanese twitter users have urged against monetary donations as they will have a far far smaller impact than intended. what they are asking for is blood donations and raised voices, along with the sharing of these resources on current events in lebanon.
please keep your heart, mind, eyes, and ears open to lebanon, the city of beirut, and its people right now.
