Negotiating Conflict in Lebanon: Bordering Practices in a Divided Beirut

289 Pages·2018·79.544 MB·English

by  Mohamad Hafeda

NEGOTIATING CONFLICT
IN LEBANON
Bordering Practices in a Divided Beirut
MOHAMAD HAFEDA
To the two poles of the journey: Marya and Karim,
and my grandmother Fayza.
CONTENTS
4 INTRODUCTION:
Bordering Practices
ADMINISTRATION
36 Bordering Practice 01: Hiding
The Chosen Two
SURVEILLANCE
102 Bordering Practice 02: Crossing
At Her Balcony
SOUND
158 Bordering Practice 03: Translating
This is How Stories of Conflict Circulate
and Resonate
DISPLACEMENT
208 Bordering Practice 04: Matching
The Twin Sisters are ‘About to’ Swap Houses
258 EPILOGUE:
Temporal Bordering Practices of Resistance
266 ENDNOTES
273 BIBLIOGRAPHY
278 LIST OF FIGURES
280 LIST OF INTERVIEWS
281 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
284 INDEX
Introduction:
Bordering Practices
Fig.01
Demarcation line: Mazraa Main Road.
On 23 January 2007 Beirut woke up to the eruption of sectarian
violence. On that day a general strike was implemented in Lebanon by
the 8 March bloc with the aim of bringing down the government of the
14 March bloc, these having been the two rival political blocs in the
country since 2005. Young men took control of the streets, changing the
material arrangement of political and social life: they blocked roads with
burning tyres and sand from construction sites, and they created human
barriers to sever main roads and to prevent pedestrians from passing
to get to their jobs. The events led to confrontations and violent clashes
between supporters of the rival blocs on the streets of Beirut, and to the
emergence of demarcation lines cutting across neighbourhoods. One of
the major demarcation lines was the Mazraa Main Road separating Tarik
Al Jdide from Mazraa area.
A couple of days after the Lebanese army had cleared the roadblocks, I
followed the traces of the burning tyres on the streets and pavements.
I was looking to learn about and piece together the new political and
sectarian map of power and segregation drawn by the remaining black
fumes. It was a task that proved to be difficult, primarily because of the
intricacy and intertwining of the demarcation lines created by the mix of
communities and political parties in the city, but also due to the fear I felt
while wandering the streets with my camera among groups of angry men.
However, the key questions this event raised for me, especially after the
material evidence of violence had been cleared away – the evidence that
I had been attempting to follow – were: What is a border made of, and
where, how, and when is it created? Can it disappear and, if so, what
happens afterwards? With these questions in mind, I started to consider
how borders transform, and are transformed by, the lives of residents and
city spaces. Not able to quite grasp the fluctuating border, I embarked on
the current site-specific practice-led research project that I now present.
6 Introduction
Fig.02 (Here and Overleaf)
Photographs taken from residents’ interior spaces, asking them about the trace
left of violent clashes and physical borders, The Trace Series, 2010–present.
Bordering Practices 7
8 Introduction
Bordering Practices 9