by Patricia Khoder

Hamoui created his blog in February 2005, shortly after the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. He named it beirutspring in homage to the protest movement that had swept the Lebanese capital following Hariri's murder in a call for the Syrians to withdraw and for the rule of law to be installed.

"After Hariri was assassinated I was looking for a way of expressing myself. There were things I needed to get off my chest. Initially it was pretty basic. The blog developed over time," 29-year old Hamoui tells APN.

A native of Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, Hamoui graduated from the American University of Beirut in graphic arts and business management and works in Ghana where he runs the family firm, in a field that has nothing to do with computers. Hamoui makes only two yearly visits to the land of the cedar, but this does not prevent him from keeping up-to-date with what is happening in his home country. He manages to devote on average two hours a day to his blog, either early in the morning before he leaves for work or in the evening.

After launching his blog, Hamoui gradually acquired a taste for writing and also paid careful attention to comments of people who visited his blog, whether positive or negative. "I develop through this interaction, especially when my readers react and don't share my point of view. I learn a lot from them," he says. He never wanted to become a journalist though: "A journalist is not as free as a blogger. The journalistic profession is more rigid."

Hamoui explains why he chose a political blog: "The Lebanese are naturally politically aware and because the world of politics in Lebanon - with groups joining together or attacking each other - is fascinating."

Today, his blog gets approximately 1000 daily hits from people throughout the world, but also from media outlets such as CNN and ABC. Because of his blog, Hamoui was invited to the US last October to take part in a conference at the Center for International and Strategic Studies on the subject of 'Protecting civilians from terrorist violence'.

War of the Blogs  
What, if anything, do Lebanese bloggers have in common? Hamoui's view is that all of his fellow Lebanese bloggers who have decided to write political texts think they can change things. "We believe in it. Indeed, it is what motivates us. We don't just want to be read, we truly believe we can make a difference," he says. "Lebanese bloggers writing in English are also a link between the Western and the Arab world. Western people will not necessarily go onto Lebanese newspaper sites, but prefer blogs, which are easier to read and closer to them, thus allowing them to understand things better." He also maintains that the work of Lebanese bloggers has had a positive effect on the way the blog community worldwide looks at Lebanon. "We have a message to get across."

To better illustrate his idea, Hamoui gives the example of the July 2006 War between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which lasted 33 days. "It was the first war anywhere in the world to be blogged," he stresses, adding that "there were some sharp exchanges between Lebanese and Israeli bloggers as the war was going on."

During the war, over 6000 people visited Hamoui's blog every day. Remembering that time period, he says: "I was in Lebanon when war broke out and I put all the information I had online. CNN and the BBC contacted me for interviews. The foreign media are maybe interested in bloggers since they feel that we are more accessible than journalists and politicians."

Breaking Taboos
Hamoui talks very enthusiastically about other bloggers he has met, whom he initially got to know through their blogs. During his trip to the US, he was able to meet some of those.

Stressing the importance of bloggers in the Arab world, Hamoui says: "In this part of the world there are many taboos and very little freedom. Blogs in the Arab world help break taboos." He points out, however, that this is not the case in Lebanon. "We have a free press. Furthermore, we have only two taboo subjects: relations between Lebanon and Israel, and homosexuality. People who write about these two subjects usually remain anonymous."

Hamoui stresses that there has been two important stages in the history of blogs in Lebanon: the first came after the assassination of Rafic Hariri and the second during the July 2006 War. "The important thing in this context is not how many bloggers post entries during a given period, but how many of them hang in there and keep their blogs going." At this moment there are some fifteen regular bloggers covering Lebanese politics.


Patricia Khoder is a Lebanese journalist working in Beirut for the French-language daily L'Orient-Le Jour

To visit Mustapha Hamoui's blog, click here: http://www.beirutspring.com/