Who said politics are all about long boring speeches? Graffiti in Lebanon is engaged, mostly politically, but increasingly socially as well. (A prominent stencil "campaign" through the streets of Beirut, last year spoke of the taboo -read illegal- subject of homosexuality).Traditionally, people scribbled basic phrases of allegiance to this or that party along with the icon/logo thereof. However, graphic artists have recently been at work transforming the streets, expressing undying faith in ever struggling, ever-surviving Beirut (Beirut will not die) but also increasing weariness towards the political status-quo. The image to the left (taken from Leb Graffiti) shows people literally pulling the plug on the television news (which invariably report nothing good.) More Beiruti graffiti pics can be found at http://lebgraffiti.blogspot.com/ and http://29letters.wordpress.com/ (under the heading of Lebanese graffiti for the latter).
Al-Jazeera English covered the work of a few Lebanese artists, and the report is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnn273QNwA
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