No Frontiers flyer causes trouble

Rami Atme
Outlook Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

 

No Frontiers, an AUB-based independent leftist group, blasted the current regime in an outspoken anti-Syrian flyer that was distributed on Main Gate last week. The flyer, written in the form of a humorous fable, compared "Mother Syria" to a hen and indirectly referred to the president, premier, and parliament speaker as subservient chicks in what was described as one of the bluntest attacks against Syrian tutelage over domestic politics. The group demanded "sovereignty and balanced relations with Syria free from Syrian or American interference" and "grains" for the people.

   "… (Mother Syria) started taming its children (three blue chicks) and taught them a song to sing before sleeping and the song says: 'Bak Bak Syria, Bak Bak Syria' because of the regional geography," said the flyer. The flyer indirectly attacked Lahoud's mandate extension and the 95 "green chicks" that voted for it under the blessing of Berri.

   An anonymous source from No Frontiers, who shall be referred to as "Ziad" said that the fable was open to interpretation and that they did not mean to attack anyone specifically. Ziad stated that even though all agreed on the content, some No Frontiers members had reservations on the style used in the flyer.

   The flyer was distributed by two No Frontiers members "outside" the Main Gate. AUB security blocked the two from distributing it under the roof of the gate. The Student Code of Conduct requires groups to get an approval from the Student Affairs Office before distributing such leaflets on campus. This flyer, like most others distributed outside Main Gate, did not have that approval. "We couldn't have got an acceptance even if we asked for it," said Ziad. "It is not an issue of a technicality, because we distributed HIP leaflets a week before under the roof of Main Gate without an approval and nobody said anything," added Ziad.

   The distribution of these flyers did not go without problems. Two men from the Internal Security Forces (ISF) along with another from the military approached the two distributing them and demanded that they accompany them after they confiscated the papers. The two rushed to campus in fear of being arrested. Last year, Mansour Omeira and Hussein Salloum, both No Frontiers members, were arrested and interrogated by the Lebanese Army for distributing similar flyers.

   One of the two who rushed onto campus continued passing papers in a less visible manner. Later, he was given a verbal warning from Dean of Student Affairs, Maroun Kisirwani, for passing leaflets without taking permission from the Office of Student Affairs.

   "The first part of the leaflet is full of sarcasm and could be subject to legal persecution by the state because it affects the relationship between Lebanon and a neighboring country," said Kisirwani. On whether he would have given permission for such a flyer, Kisirwani asserted that the first part of it incurs "unnecessary humiliation to certain individuals even if they are not named." Kisirwani added that such incidents might cause friction between students and therefore should be stopped.

   In reply to Kisirwani's statements that such flyers cause only problems and should be avoided, Ziad accused Kisirwani of trying to deal with the consequences of a problem rather than seeking a proper remedy. Ziad contended: "Proper citizenship asks you to respect the opinions of others that might be different than yours."

   "Though it is 'funny', it is still disrespectful and vague," said Hadi El Farr, an AUB student affiliated with the SSNP, in reference to the No Frontiers flyer. "If they have anything to say, they shouldn't be afraid to say it clearly," continued Farr. He mentioned that even with their staunchest enemies, the SSNP never referred to anyone with such language and asked No Frontiers to offer solutions rather than describing problems.

   Ziad, Farr, and Kisirwani, all agreed that the majority of such flyers be distributed near Main Gate. "Outside AUB we are protected by the Constitution that guarantees our freedom of expression. Inside AUB we are protected by the Mission Statement. Yet, the only free place is on the borderline between the two," declared Ziad.

 

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