Monday, July 24, 2006

The one stop Lebanon info shop.

I've been looking for the best places to get information on what is happening in the Lebanon. On issues like this the mainstream media sources can only get you so far, cough, so its important to find news that comes from the horse's mouth.

Personally I think that Lenin's Tomb has been consistently excellent and informative and Indymedia's special section is very helpful (and features things like this great roundup of the demonstrations), but I want to have a look at some of the blogs and other internet resources we can find from the region itself.

The five papers that I've found most useful have been Al Ahram is an Egyptian paper but is still very useful, Al Jazeera is also consistently useful, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is also worth reading - although on occasion rather sickening - and perhaps the most important news source on the scene is The Lebanese Daily Star. Naharnet is also overflowing with information.

Indymedia has local sites in Cyprus, Beirut, and Israel although there used to be Palestine Indymedia which went down around the time of the first attacks on Gaza.

If you'd like to read something from an alternative point of view The Jerusalem Post, The Gulf Times or The Khaleej Times (from UAE) will certainly provide that.

Looking at various blogs from the region two obvious drawbacks are that a) most English language blogs are going to be written by non-Lebanese people and that b) it's probably quite hard to get internet access. Despite these problems there are some authentic voices coming out of the area.

Here are a few I've come across so far Cedar Seed, Lebanese Political Journal, Lebanese Blogger Forum, Beirut Notes, Blogging the Middle East, Beirut Spring, Cold Desert and one by an American student who recently evacuated to Cyprus, called Thawrah's Den. Reading while falling is written by an American in the Lebanon who has only just being evacuated and there is much info on the process leading up to that.

And more: Friends of Al Jazeera, Lebanon updates, Siege of Lebanon, Samidoun network, Sanayeh relief center, Electronic Lebanon, Scottish PSC delegation blog

And more: Juan Cole, Moonbat media, Angry Arab, Dahr Jamail

One of the best things about the blogs is not just the unmediated news aspect, but the way you really feel what it's like on the ground - and often that challenges any black and white view of the world you might start building up.

This list could not possibly be comprehensive so it would be very useful if people have links out there that would fit into this list please do pop them into the comments box, ta (see also this round up of Palestine news sources) Thanks for the links so far, keep them coming!

8 comments:

Frank Partisan said...

I grew to like Lenin's Tomb. He hates my blog, for reasons he's 75% correct about. When I started blogging, I was away from activism for a long time, and I had some backward positions.

I found one communist blog from Lebanon, but the guy never commented on my blog.

I'm disappointed about how the coverage about Lebanon is weak on lefty blogs overall.

badmatthew said...

On the July 22nd demo: it's clearly hostile in intent but the colection of photos at http://www.moonbatmedia.com/against_israel_220706/ is worth-looking at.
Lenin's Tomb does provide good coverage, but the obsessive need to attack and insult people with different opinions does grate. I'd recommend camomile tea.

morbo said...

Yeah don't forget about the blogging from palestine over on Scary door, any chance you could plug us? ;)

badmatthew said...

Don't forget Juan Cole's collection of items and extrmely persuasive commentary at 'Informed Comment': http://www.juancole.com/

Jim Jepps said...

You just did Morbo, you just did ;)

Through the scary door can be found here and is an excellent blog I don't visit enough...

Oh and Renegade you say "I found one communist blog from Lebanon" have you still got the url?

Matthew's suggestions in link form Moonbat media and Juan Cole

Michael Hawkins said...

I've benefited from the Angry Arab, As'ad AbuKhalil's site out in California. AbuKhalil is from southern Lebanon and just returned from there a day or two before the bombing began. He's been on a righteously angry tear lately, and is connected with news sources I've never heard of.

Also, Dahr Jamail's blog has been great.

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