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April 01, 2006
Civil War Reenactors Come to Lebanon
UPDATE: The following story is an April Fools' Day hoax. In case you found it several months later by Googling "Lebanese Civil War" or "hot sexy arab Haifa Nancy", please note that it is NOT TRUE.
BEIRUT "No, you don't kill him over there!" Jack Karam runs down the narrow alleyway, a folded-up paper clutched in his left hand. Two young men in camo fatigues look up at him, and away from the two women and the old man they had been menacing with their submachineguns. Jack unfolds his poster-sized paper and starts pointing. The young men, the old man, and the two women gather about. There's a short discussion, Karam speaking in Southern-inflected English, the rest mostly in Arabic. Finally, they trudge a couple hundred yards through the dusty streets of Shatila camp and resume their positions. The two young men mime pulling the trigger, first on the old man, then on the two women, who collapse in a heap on the ground.
"That's more like it," says Karam.
"It's important to get the details right," he explains. "It's the details that really give the whole experience its authenticity, really give you a sense of satisfaction in what you've done. If you're going to do a reenactment, you might as well get it right."
Karam, a third-generation member of the Lebanese diaspora, grew up in Athens, Georgia. A friend of his in high school was a member of a batallion, and one spring invited Karam along.
"It was awkward at first, but I loved the comaradery, the real sense of being part of something," he reminisces. "It just got under my skin, I guess." Karam became a regular member of the batallion, participating in four "battles" a year.
In the meantime, he dropped out of college to work for an internet startup, and somehow came out of the dotcom boom and bust as a prosperous independent consultant.
"The work was fine, but I really lost my fire after a while," Karam said. "I was just marking time between reenactments."
But when the Lebanese came out into the streets in 2005, in the wake of former PM Rafik Hariri's assassination, Karam, like a lot of overseas Lebanese, was inspired.
"I wanted to come out here, and do what I could to help rebuild the country," says Karam. "Like a lot of guys, I guess. But I wanted to see if I could bring something unique, some way of helping to heal the country's wounds."
And then it hit him.
"Once I thought of it, it seemed so natural, like my whole life had been pointing at this."
And so the Lebanese Civil War Reenactment Society was born.
"It's a way of bringing people together, working together to create an event and to honor your country's history. There's a real comaradery, and it's just been great, working with people from all sects and backgrounds on this project."
Adapting Civil War Reenactment to the very different circumstances of the Lebanese Civil War has been a challenge, says Karam. "You don't have the big set-piece battles, so you have to take a creative approach. You have to have a lot more civilian reenactors involved, because so much of the war involved soldiers taking on civilians."
In addition to the civilian-massacre reenactments, Karam and his friends at LCWRS have had to come up with rules for reenacting impromptu-checkpoints, urban sniper nests, and artillery duels. "The artillery is the hardest part. I still don't feel like we've got it right - I mean, you can stand out there next to your fake mortar, and pretend you've lobbed a shell at a civilian area where you think the other guy's emplacement is, but there just isn't much excitement there."
The idea has met with limited acceptance so far. "When we went down to Damour, the people there were, I guess you can understand it, nervous about a bunch of guys with AK-47s wandering around. But we talked with them a while, explained what we were doing." Karam laughs. "And they still thought we were crazy."
Only thirty people took part in the Shatila reenactment this year, and some parties were obviously missing. "Yeah, nobody really wanted to play the Israelis standing around the edges letting people in and out. Kind of a dull part to play, really, and I guess there's some stuff people aren't quite ready for here yet. But who knows, if this gets big enough, maybe some day we could get some of, you know, our neighbors down south to come up and join us in it."
Karam is thinking regionally. "I got a visa for Syria I haven't used yet," he says. "It really would help with the verisimilitude if we could get them involved."
"And, hey, give us ten years," he chuckles, "or maybe twenty, and we can branch out to Iraq."
Posted by tomscud at April 1, 2006 04:13 AM
Filed Under: Levant
, Society & Culture
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Comments
dear tom,
so THAT's who those guys were! i think i once saw them in the dhahiyeh ... well, i'm sure a lot of people in shatilah weren't overly happy to have the massacres re-enacted.
is this the same guy who opened that "1975" bar in rue monot - the one with the camouflage, sandbags, and the fighter on the wall?
--raf*
ps: i wonder if some of the civil war re-enactors also participate in the ashura passion play.
Posted by: raf* at April 1, 2006 05:21 AM
I gather Jack's been working on a "war of the camps" reenactment, but the whole national-politics thing has kind of cooled people on the idea for the moment.
Posted by: Tom Scudder at April 1, 2006 07:05 AM
Do they use contemporary era music for greater authenticity? Like they do in the US with old campfire songs like "Aura Lee"? Van Halen was contemporary I think.
Posted by: matthew hogan at April 1, 2006 08:42 AM
"It's a way of bringing people together"
Nothing brings people together like civil war.
"some way of helping to heal the country's wounds"
Like salt?
"And they still thought we were crazy."
They were right.
Next, Holocaust reenactment camps. Lukas, you starve until we can see your ribs. Anna, go with Jan and Jonas for the rape. Niklas, have you remembered to bring the (laughing)gas cans?
Don't forget to visit the giftshop where there's a special on soap and faux human skin book covers.
Posted by: Baal Shem Ra at April 1, 2006 12:05 PM
this is the strangest (i'm being generous here) thing i have heard in some time. reconciliation does not come about by created a sense of "comaradery" or "excitement". there are ways to "honor your country's history" other than enjoying the most uncivil part of it.
Posted by: Lazarus at April 1, 2006 03:01 PM
> this is the strangest (i'm being generous here) thing i have heard in some time.
Yes, and it's a pity it couldn't have been posted a day sooner or a day later...
Posted by: AMac at April 1, 2006 03:15 PM
oh, and is there a link for this, or is it an april fools post?
Posted by: Lazarus at April 1, 2006 03:26 PM
Well, if it helps, some of the editorial conglo don't like the idea. However, I'm busy and kept my mouth shut. 1 april rot never amused me.
Posted by: collounsbury at April 1, 2006 03:28 PM
Good one Tomscud.
Posted by: Baal Shem Ra at April 1, 2006 03:39 PM
I confess to briefly falling for SecretDubai's 3-headed camel post. Until the bit about "sensitive parts", that is.
Posted by: eerie ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.aqoul.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 1, 2006 03:49 PM
dear all,
oh you SPOILERS!!! one day you'll find yourself in the middle of some godforsaken desert, buried in the sands up to your necks ... and then i'll come along ... with my caravan ... and plenty of water to spare ...
AND I WILL LAUGH AT YOU AND LET YOU ROT!!!
bunch of useless wankers.
they BELIEVED it! couldn't you've waited for AT LEAST a day or two?
GAKH.
--raf*
Posted by: raf* at April 1, 2006 05:04 PM
well, i guess "good one" is due. well written tom scudder (and whoever else may have helped).
although the post about the three-headed camel is on a slightly different par than one using the lebanese civil war, which has seared itself on the memory of those who lived through it in ways that don't mesh well with comedy. not yet anyway.
oh, and raf*, go easy on the other aqoul co-authors. i guess i'm indirectly at fault for letting the cat out of the bag with my second comment.
Posted by: Lazarus at April 1, 2006 06:11 PM
Well, if it helps, some of the editorial conglo don't like the idea. However, I'm busy and kept my mouth shut. 1 april rot never amused me.
Pheh. When it's poorly done, it's not very amusing, perhaps. But how can you, as a Python aficionado, not appreciate some of these well-crafted efforts? A disproportionate number of these involve the British. This says something either about the superior gullibility of the hoaxee or about the superior wit of the hoaxer.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/
The "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest" is a thing of beauty. A good April fools joke is just biting satire that people should get, but don't.
In that vein, kudos both to Tom and to Secret Dubai. Who can't imagine any number of blogs running with Tom's story? The only problem I had with SD's was that it was too believable, being RAK. I think she made a slight tactical error. She should have sent this story to KT as a press release. Even odds it would have printed the story and photo itself!
Posted by: Anonymous at April 1, 2006 06:47 PM
I would have dressed it up with a (Reuters).
Well written, especially the opening which catches the narrative style of "features journalism" too well.
Though I was in on it, I wonder if I would have fallen for it.
I generally share L's dislike of 1 April stuff but this was good in its own right.
OTOH, having known a few Sabra and Shatila survivors in my day, I cringe a bit, but dark humor has its place. In fact, it can serve the other way, as a good satirical take on US Civil War reenactors, who can be criticized for having weirdly fulfilling fun out of something that was horrible in its own real time.
Posted by: matthew hogan at April 1, 2006 07:21 PM
there were too many big words for a Reuters tag. perhaps something from the BBC but, still, a bit to literate.
Posted by: drdougfir at April 1, 2006 09:25 PM
I thought about doing a fakey wireservice tag, but figured that people would expect a link nowadays anyway. BTW, this exile.ru editorial was the inspiration for the story.
Posted by: Tom Scudder at April 1, 2006 09:55 PM
That was very well done indeed. Bastard!
Posted by: duaneg at April 2, 2006 08:23 PM
Re: Holocaust reenactment camps...
Would you settle for "Stalin World" (Grutas Park) instead?
"Lots of details remind viewers of Soviet Gulag prison camps: wooden paths, guard towers and fences. . . . The park also contains playgrounds, a mini-zoo and cafes, all containing Soviet symbolism."
Posted by: blue92 at April 3, 2006 02:58 PM
I'm happy to report this is the number one Google pick for hot sexy arab Haifa Nancy.
For Lebanese Civil War though you still have some work to do.
Posted by: Robert McDougall at April 5, 2006 05:01 PM
bwahahaha. I didn't think that would work.
Posted by: Tom Scudder at April 5, 2006 05:08 PM
