You can read the full post in Arabic about the Lebanese Parliament vote to cancel Article 562 of the Penal Code that offers reduced sentences for “honor” crimes.

The Committee for Administration and Justice, headed by MP Robert Ghanem, had raised the recommendation to cancel Article 562 back on May 16, 2011. The matter was put to a vote as the last point on the agenda of the legislative parliamentary meeting yesterday. Some MPs argued against the annulment: Butros Harb, Samir El Jisr, Imad El Hout, and Ali Fayyad. Others argued for removing Article 562: Sami Gemayel, Elie Keyrouz, Antoine Zahra, Marwan Hamadeh, Ghassan Moukhaiber, and Elie Aoun, and their arguments were good.

The vote finally passed FOR and the article should now officially be removed from the Penal Code. I could not find information on the voting numbers – I will post those when I do. Nayla Tueni and Gilberte Zouein (who represent half of the women in parliament since we only have four) were not even present.

It is important to note that Saada Allaw from AsSafir had written an article objecting to the annulment of Article 562 without looking at Article 252 as well. Article 252 allows for reduced sentences on crimes committed in a state of rage. She argues that many judges in Lebanon would frame “honor” crimes as ones committed in a state of rage and criminals could still benefit from reduced sentences. Although she is right, I don’t think we could have a Penal Code that does not distinguish between pre-meditated murder and second degree murder. So I am not sure what the solution would be – perhaps to forbid its use when it comes to gender-based violence. Thoughts?

The important thing now is that this small and long overdue victory does not take our eyes off the crucial battle of sending the bill to Protect Women from Family Violence into Parliament for a vote. It is right now still in the Special Committee and might be vetoed through the pressure of religious groups. “Honor” crimes are a direct result of the vicious cycle of gender-based violence going unpunished and remaining a taboo in Lebanon. So if we’ve agreed to cancel those, we might as well install protective laws against violence all together.

In all cases, congratulations to the women’s movement on this victory

Yesterday, a group of independent activists demonstrated in front of the Syrian embassy in Beirut to express solidarity with the people of Syria and condemn the Ramadan Massacre in Hama. Shortly after they had stood there in silence, a groups of thugs arrived violently chanting pro-Bashar slogans. The activists formed a human line to separate the two groups. Then another group approached from the other side with knives, canes, and metal chairs and began attacking the protestors. Many fled into nearby buildings, restaurants and shops and were still followed by the thugs who lurked around Hamra for hours after, continuing to beat up the protestors. Two police officers who were there at the beginning disappeared soon after and none of the army officers or police who were around the area interfered to stop the attacks. Check the video below for a scene of the horrific attack.

Some protestors suffered heavy injuries from the beatings and are still in the hospital, while many others suffered beatings, cuts, and bruises. Activists head to the Hobeich police station to report the attacks and found zero cooperation from the police. The perpetrators must and will be prosecuted for their illegal attacks and all Ministries are held accountable for failing to protect their citizens to express themselves freely and peacefully. This is an atrocity and we must not be silent about it.

Check a link about the attacks here http://bit.ly/rcYjIX and @fattoosh live tweets from yesterday.

Al Jazeera Stream hosted a debate on the proposed Law to Protect Women from Family Violence last night. I was arguing for and Sounay Nouh of the Women’s Committee to Protect the Family was arguing against. Discussion focused on marital rape, culture, child protection, and the current legal protection mechanisms.

Guest Post by Jad Baaklini

On July 1, an independent group of anti-sectarian activists organizing within the Matn region convened a discussion of Christian thought and Secularism by University of Balamand lecturer and cleric Joseph Massouh. ‘3ala Matn el 3elmaniye/On Board Secularism’, which I am a member of, organized this event to address a problem it faced while agitating against the sectarian system in the past few months, as part of the Isqat al Nizam movement; given the demographic make-up of our region, most people we spoke to understood our cause as a cipher for a majoritarian coup aimed at further marginalizing the Christians at best, or a project of outright ‘Islamification’ at worst.

We felt we needed to approach our community from a perspective different from the usual left-leaning narrative; while our region has had a long history of progressive-nationalist political activity, we wanted to engage with those who do not share these points of reference, and take their concerns seriously. It was important for us to communicate how the secular state that we call for is not something to fear nor at odds with their culture and upbringing.

On the contrary, during his talk Massouh went as far as saying that even when basing himself purely on Christian values and points of reference, the case for secularism is very strong; “as a cleric, it is my religious duty to protest against the sectarian system and not just my national one,” he insisted.

Massouh began his cogent and engaging argument by highlighting the roots of secular thought in Europe, saying that Christianity, when understood as a social phenomenon and not as the teachings of Christ himself, has had a “black history” full of war. In his opinion, secularism in Europe freed both citizens and religious authorities alike by allowing priests to focus on their proper role as interpreters of spiritual matters instead of dictating people’s lives.

He then went on to outline the history of anti-sectarian thought within the Libano-Syrian Christian community, recalling Boutrous Boustani’s ridicule of the system around 150 years ago in the journal Nafeer Sourya in which he called sectarianism “backwardness” and “barbarism”.

“The system always generates war and yet we still say that ours is a pluralist system, a ‘message’,” Massouh continued. “Incidentally, John Paul II’s statement about Lebanon was mistranslated; he didn’t say we are ‘greater than a nation’ (akbar min watan), he said we are ‘more than a nation’ (aktar min watan), and he’s right; we’re more than one nation.” He went on to say that this ‘message’ must be understood as in need of constant ‘re-writing’ (i3adat siyagh) in order to build a unifying civic and national identity.

Massouh then explained how the “Greater Lebanon” period established the current confessionalist balance: “We Christians were the majority and we had power, but failed to build a state. We never had a ‘man of state’ (rajul dawle),” he insisted. “If we did, he would have left us something of a state. No, they were all concerned with benefiting from it.”

Massouh asked Christians to stop thinking in terms of numbers, an idea echoed later by an audience member who put it best saying: “stop counting!” Massouh stressed on the fact that population size is no guarantee of anything, adding provocatively that within the current system, we cannot expect non-Christian sects to be charities; “they are not Caritas.” Christians looking for protection and existential guarantees can only expect to find it under secularism, he concluded.

So how does Massouh understand this system? He differentiated between laïcité and sécularisme, with the latter holding a (materialist) position with respect to religion itself, while the former aiming only to drive a wedge between secular (i.e. non-clerical) affairs of the state and the spiritual affairs of religious authorities. Hence, Massouh advocated laïcié and not anti-religious secularism, but also insisted that people have a right to non-belief. “Just because my father is Orthodox doesn’t mean I should remain one; why should a priest rule over me [in marital affairs] just because I was born that way?”

“People have a right to leave their sect; we [clerics] would be acting in bad faith (nifaq) if we did not allow them to leave,” he insisted.

Secularism according to Massouh would confer full citizenship to people: “If I were born a Sunni in Koura, where the only parliamentary seats are for Orthodox people, I would not be a full citizen; I would be living in dhimmitude.”

“Women are not allowed to confer citizenship to their children if their father is non-Lebanese,” he continued. “The fear is that they may marry Palestinians… Can’t a woman fall in love with a Palestinian? Jesus was a Palestinian!”

Massouh criticized Islamic institutions that do not accept laws that protect women from domestic violence, for example, but he also criticized Christians who say that they will accept such civil laws when Muslims accept them. He urged people to support these measures based on their principles, saying that “waiting is not part of Christian belief; we work on bringing God’s Kingdom in the here and now”.

Wrapping up his talk, Massouh warned that the current system did not help Christians, asking those of the faith in the room to remember the secularist tradition of their great grandparents, adding: “clerics who defend the sectarian system speak against Christ.”

While some in the audience asked questions indicating that they were still not convinced about secularism itself or the current Isqat al Nizam movement, the feedback overall was very positive. One audience member told me later that not only was Massouh’s case for secularism made very well (“he is more engaging than Gregoire Haddad even!”), basics of Christianity became much clearer to him for the first time.

3ala Matn el 3elmaniye/On Board Secularism hopes to organize more events in line with our belief in community-based, regionally-aware activism, and offers this discussion as a model for others working within areas that may not be immediately hospitable to secularism to emulate and develop.

If you would like to get in touch with us, please join our Facebook group or follow us on Twitter: @MATNel3elmaniye

After the announcement of the new all-male Lebanese cabinet on Monday, journalists asked MP Michel Aoun – the main winner in PM Mikati’s new government formation – about the lack of female participation. He replied with:

We did not have any women candidates to nominate , but we welcome their opinions, my house is full of women, and I am very popular among the female population.

and:

You all know that women in Lebanon need more practice and experience in the public life so that she may become qualified for parliamentary and ministerial work.

Clearly, we have a serious gender inequality & stereotyping problem. It is becoming more prominent and more exemplified in our dysfunctional political sphere that there is no room in Lebanese politics for women. People have said to me: what do you care that there are no women when all politicians are corrupt? La2, I care.  Of course I don’t want sexist, corrupt women in power any more than I want sexist, corrupt men in power either. I want good, strong women and men who care about social issues and the people’s concerns. But the current regression (illustrated below) demonstrates clearly that we not only have a problem of getting people outside of sectarian politics into the governing sphere. We also have a problem of getting women into government and parliament full stop.

Aoun’s comments – like all of his counterparts – show that the ruling elite have no awareness whatsoever of the importance of women’s political participation.  To say that there are no qualified women (out of a population of 2 million) is extremely offensive. And no, we have not forgotten the FPM’s famous appeal to women in the 2009 elections: Sois Belle et Vote.

The chart below illustrates the regression in Lebanese parliament and government from 2005 to the present.

I wonder how many election campaigns in 2013 will try to sell themselves to women.

Photo by @joellehatem - click on it for the full album

Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday at the demonstration to Protect Women from Family Violence!

Check out some of the press coverage today: Al Akhbar, Daily Star, L’Orient le Jour, AsSafir, Al Balad, Al Diyar, Al Moustaqbal, and Al Joumhouriya.

You can also check out the #protectwomen hashtag on twitter for the live updates.

I estimate that we must have been around 800 protesting yesterday – very diverse crowd. The presence of lots of political parties provoked mixed reactions from the feminists, some applauding their participation in the demo (which is a rarity in Lebanon) and others thought their presence was hypocritical and tainted what should have been a people’s march. I personally don’t like marching alongside any party for whatever cause because I dislike all of them, but I respect Kafa’s decision to involve them as partners in the campaign. If there’s any organization in Lebanon that can bring very different groups together at the same table, it’s Kafa, and that requires hard work and guts, so kudos to them.

It was a little disappointing to see that the largest coalition of our women’s movement could only bring together hundreds of people. We are a long way from becoming a mass movement. And certainly the worst thing about the march was the chant “Rfa3 eedak, koun rijjeil” (targetted at parliamentarians). Shou ossitna we still endorse the idea of “being a man?”

All in all, it was a successful demo and we’ll keep our eyes on the developments of the proposed law.

Here are the main characteristics of the new Civil Personal Status Law prepared by Dr. Augarite Younan and Dr. Walid Slaiby and presented to Parliament. It sounds so delicious, makes me want to get married I will write up some critiques of the new proposed law that different activists have raised soon. In the meantime, you can join the group on Facebook to support and learn more.

For more information visit www.chaml.org

The women’s committee of Dar Al Fatwa in the North of Lebanon have created this flyer bashing CEDAW and claiming that it is an attack on family values and on the psychological and physical particularities of women’s femininity.

If anything, they should be sued for horrible graphic design. Why do they have a suburban American-looking house that is being struck by lightning? Do we have such houses in Tripoli? Who’s being Western now, huh?

Also from Tripoli, posters calling for a demonstration today AGAINST the proposed bill to protect women from family violence.

I think this pubic battle between fundamentalist groups and the women’s movement in Lebanon is terrific. It could finally galvanize supporters to speak up and make themselves heard. And it brings out the opposition that we always knew existed but that didn’t take our efforts seriously before. See you at the demo on Sunday!

Adultery is a crime in Lebanon – like in many other parts of the world – according to our Penal Code. I am not quite sure why a supposed violation of a marriage contract (which is in the personal status law) could be in the penal code. But, either way, the Parliamentary committees have approved a bill to make the conditions for adultery equal between men & women. The current Penal Code (Articles 487-489) punishes a woman who commits adultery with a prison sentence from three months to two years. A man committing adultery, however, has to be caught in the act in his own home or be known by others to be conducting an illicit affair to be sentenced to prison for one month to a year.

It seems to many like a step forward for women’s rights since the new law (which is yet to pass a Parliamentary vote but probably will soon) would make the conditions of adultery equal for men and women. And certainly, we welcome all such initiatives for equality. But I, and many of the Nasawiyas, discussed it today and we believe that adultery should not be criminalized in the Penal Code. Although it may cause a lot of harm to the spouse, the consequences (whether divorce or forgiveness or negotiations) should be left to the privacy couple and not a matter that the State can interfere in. So we say: scrap it out all together.

Do you think adultery should be a crime?

People, the lobby AGAINST the protection of women from family violence is starting to speak out with strong statements issued this week by many groups and political parties. Check out this story in As-Safir:

حملة من أجل “تكريس قوانين الأحوال الشخصية” الحالية: “قانون مناهضة العنف الأسري” يهمّش الدين والأخلاق

and this one on New TV:

نعيم قاسم: لسنا مع قانون مدني للأحوال الشخصية بلبنان لانه يخالف الشرع

Religious groups are also lobbying AGAINST the lifting of reservations off the CEDAW, which is an international convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

And so it is very important – now more than ever – to show that:

• We will NOT compromise on women’s human rights no matter what
• We believe in the protection of women from family violence as a basic right for women’s dignity and self-respect.
• We know from evidence that the lack of protection leads to the killing of women in many cases, in addition to their daily suffering from physical, emotional, economic and sexual violence.
• We reject the claim that “reconciliation” is the answer to family violence. When a wife or daughter is beaten, the perpetrator has crossed the line and “reconciliation” should NOT be the woman’s only option.
• We refuse to be pawns in the fighting and bickering of political parties and refuse to be used to further their propaganda and fundamentalist agendas.
• We stand as advocates for women’s human rights – men and women together – from all regions of Lebanon, all ages, all beliefs to say YES to a law that protects women from family violence.

Join us THIS SUNDAY to show your support in a demonstration at 11am from the Ministry of Interior to Riad el Solh in Beirut. Bring your friends and mothers and sisters to show that we will NOT BE SILENCED and we will NOT BE INTIMIDATED by anyone meen ma ken ykoun.