Je rassemble ici divers éléments de discours et matériaux repérés sur les réseaux sociaux sur cette thématique, qui est exploité pour créer des divisions à l’égard du mouvement de protestation contre le gouvernement
D’abord, un thread très éclairant de Maya Mikdashi, prof. de Gender Studies, éditrice-fondatrice de la revue en ligne Jadaliyya (@mayamikdashi sur twitter ) commentant le discours de Nasrallah avec un cadrage #genre et montrant comment les insultes sexuelles proférées contre les membres de gouvernement (insultant leur mère, leur femme, leur fille, ou les traitant de maquereau (comme je l’ai vu tagué dans le centre-ville de Beyrouth à propos du président) appellent en retour une justification des attaques contre les manifestants occupant les places centrales ou barrant des routes sur le registre de l’honneur viril bafoué.
▻https://twitter.com/mayamikdashi/status/1190350060179066880
1/thread on #Nasrallah speech: Head of #Hezbollah Sayyed Nasrallah gave highly anticipated speech today, the latter half was dedicated to situation on the ground in 🇱🇧due to #LebanonProtests. He used trope of “honor” 2 explain violence against protests (more below)
2/he addressed government, corruption, foreign intervention & protests. Stated his disagreement with resignation Saad #Hariri, which he said effectively means that demanded economic reforms-as well as cabinet’s promises of reform-will not happen for a long time due to paralysis
3/He addressed corruption, saying it was funny that all admit to endemic corruption & simultaneously proclaims personal innocence(subtle dig at #Aoun/ not subtle dig at everyone else). Supports professional govt & stressed #USA interference in government & economy & 🇱🇧politics
4/while insisting that no foreign country interferes in any aspect of Hizballah’s (ie Iran) decision making (even he smiled while saying this). He supported demands of the protestors when it came 2 corruption & reform, but said that the protests quickly focused on “one side” &
5/ that numbers of protestors were in the 100s of thousands (not millions) & that strategy of closing roads was negatively impacting civilian & economic life, stressing the closing of roads to the South. Insisted on Hizb’s ability to defend 🇱🇧 at any time from attacks by 🇮🇱
6/ What he DID NOT DO was condemn violence against protestors by supporters of Amal & (lesser extent) Hezbollah in #Beirut and South. In fact, Nasrallah tried to explain them through gendered “honor” discourse. He stressed repeatedly that protestors had crossed⛔️lines in politics
7/by swearing at the mothers, sisters & wives of politicians & said that any supporter would moved to defend the “honor” of the person being insulted. Nasrallah linked violence against protests to wounded masculinity & defense of honor, which is always embodied by women.
8/ This gendered discourse seeks 2 explain violence & excuse it. #Feminists have ALSO tried 2 change chants bc they insult men through degrading women closest to them, like mothers. Feminists have attacked the gendered & sexist honor discourse that animates the chants. Nasrallah
9/ uses same #gendered #sexist honor discourse encoded in chants 2 explain violence “in response” 2 wounded male honor & masculinity + to evade substance of protests & focus on rhetorical offenses. Disappointing but not surprising from Nasrallah, who has used honor discourse b4
10/ This speech is important reminder that #gender politics ARE #POLITICS & should not be left out of political analysis in 🇱🇧 or elsewhere. Masculinity & its wounding was central to his explanation of their stance on protests, as was the “protection” of (men’s) honor (women)
11/ This speech will not stop the #Lebanonprotests & is more of the same stalling strategy seen from other political factions. They all hope⏳will wear the uprising down, but protestors know this & have already called 4 more mobilization. [PS i agree with Nasrallah
#لبنان_ينتفض
12/ that the "all but not me"corruption talk is 😅.
In other news #Nasrallah continues to have the most immaculate beard ever seen 👀 &
short takeover of bank assoc. by small group protesting against regime & logic of the banking system was much more interesting 2day #لبنان_ينتفض
FYI #GENDER POLITICS IS #POLITICS is not a topical approach (ie women in the revolution, or the"inclusion" of women &/or LGBTQ). Instead it is an ANALYTIC frame that helps us understand #politicaleconomy, discourse, practice
& theory + law, #ideology, and much more. #Lebanon
But also we end up with a rather long televised spoken treatise by a prominent political-religious leader on the appropriate use of language, namely, on cursing 5/n
It’s easy to make fun of that and to find it comical (I know I do) but if I’m honest I must add that in my case it was preceded by conversations with people on the other side of the dispute, one week ago, also about the use of language and specifically cursing 6/n
People speaking in the register of ’this is a revolution in language and this is good’ and even I’d say (the gloss is mine) ’we almost corporeally need the possibility to curse in this way’ 7/n
and then of course we can observe that the remarks I just made can easily develop into yet another meta-mode of talking in the register of ’but how does cursing work anyway?’, ’can I push for my right to curse to be recognized and why exactly would I want to do that?’ ... 8/n
’can I ask for a right to curse as a matter vital to me, and also ask you to understand that my cursing you does not have to imply a refusal to share the world with you?’ 9/n
This is what I’m trying to say when I say that so much of the current juncture seems to revolve entirely around the question of: what was, is, and should be our relation to language? and around a very poignant open-ended exploration of that. 10/n
