ALEF (Act for Human Rights) have put up new billboards in Lebanon Azebak Mesh Raha calling for the elimination of torture in detention centers. Jails, prisons, and other detention centers in Lebanon are notorious for their ill-treatment of detainees. Men and women – especially marginalized communities such as migrant workers, drug users, sex workers, LGBTs – regularly get tortured physically and verbally. It is also common practice for the police to torture confessions out of detained individuals.

Non-state actors such as political parties who rule with authority in their areas also use torture techniques to intimidate and control people. The Lebanese state should as well be held responsible for these violations of human rights. Check out this As Safir article for more stats from ALEF’s studies.

So check out their campaign and support it by spreading the Facebook page on your social networks.

Call to Bloggers

Bloggers who are interested in joining ALEF’s Torture Monitoring Unit can contact layal.samaha [at] alefliban.org and learn more about how they can become active in reporting torture in Lebanon. The unit holds regular trainings on how to identify torture, where it happens, how to document and report it, and other useful skills. Bloggers are an integral part of this unit alongside traditional media journalists.

I now believe that ad agencies in Lebanon are trying to piss us off on purpose. Week after week, billboards with such strong gender stereotypes come out displaying women as petty and stupid. Using women as sex objects doesn’t piss me off nearly as much as portraying women as idiots. The latest example is Le Charcutier Aoun, a supermarket chain in Lebanon running a lottery contest for its customers to win millions of Lebanese Pounds. I myself am a customer of the Jisr El Bacha branch. The billboards portray characters explaining what they would do with the millions if they won them. One dude says “I would buy an electricity generator for my neighborhood” (cute). Another little boy says “I would buy a school bus” (also cute). And the young woman says… *drum roll* “I would definitely be able to find a husband” (where did the cuteness go??) Is that all she can think of? Really? Finding a husband with her new wealth? No cute, intelligent uses she can find for the money? Come on, people, khalsoona min hal stereotypes!

Here is the original billboard, photo taken by @NaLoves:

And here’s my remake of the ad:

“If I win millions, I’ll open an ad agency that doesn’t take women for fools.”