However, my question about racism was more about the current shape of it in your communities... do you see it? do you think it exists? does it bother you? why do you think it´s there? It would be interesting to compare the views of westerners and Turkish, Egyptian, Lebanese... and all other nationalities that we have, about racism in their countries.
We have racism in Lebanon, all sorts of racism. Yes it bothers me and I have to admit that sometimes I have racist thoughts;
Many lebanese dont accept if their son/daughter marry a black or a chinese whereas
they most likely accept a white american, a swedish, a british into their family. Also, many lebanese think they are superior to palestinians, syrians, sudanese and
egyptians. This is mostly due to the fact that there is a huge influx of workers from
these countries into Lebanon. The jobs they hold are mainly in construction, trash
collection and in gas stations.
There is a big discrimination also against sri lankians and ethiopians. Most maids in
lebanon come from these two countries. (recently "envoyee speciale" did a special episode about lebanon "Liban le pays des
esclaves" (slaves in lebanon) concerning the maids condition in lebanon. It was a big
scandale but few weeks later everyone forgot about it and nothing changed)
So basically, yes there is racism in lebanon. The law formally forbids
all sorts of racism but then no one is there to enforce this law. That was for color and ethnic background.
Regarding religion that is another issue. There are 18 officially recognized
religious groups in lebanon, 4 Muslim, 12 Christian, 1 Druze, and 1 Jewish. During
the 15 years civil war basically everyone fought against everyone. So religion is a
sensitive issue. Moreover, Lebanese constitution is based on discrimination. Only a christian maronite can be a president, only a muslim sunni can be a prime
minister and only a shi´ite can be the speaker of the parliament. Some groups are classified as a cult and are forbidden, example: jehovah´s witnesses
and mormons.
Homosexuality is considered a crime in Lebanon and it is clearly stated in the
lebanese penal code that male homosexuality along with adultery are prohibited.
In short, yes there is discrimination in Lebanon. That´s my country and I love it despite its faults.
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