Poster Politics

I Love Life

The Lebanese have a seemingly natural talent for marketing, advertising, and sloganeering which gets applied to politics when the situation demands. After the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, stark black billboard posters appeared demanding "The Truth" about who killed him, though Hariri's supporters had already decided that Syria was responsible. The anti-Syrian demonstrations that followed the assassination brought with them posters declaring "Independence '05" and soon after the Syrian army did in fact leave Lebanon.

Now the country is awash in dueling "I Love Life" campaigns. The slogan was created by pro-government groups supposedly to raise awareness about the risks of sectarianism in Lebanon. But the Hizballah-led opposition interpreted the campaign as blaming them for the destruction caused by the past summer's war with Israel. (The implication being that Hizballah loves death and martyrdom.) So the opposition copied the theme and launched its own version, this time with a rainbow of colors representing the opposition groups, and slogans like "I Love Life Undictated."

That's a reference to the opposition claims that the Lebanese government takes its marching orders from the United States. Here's a poster with a favorite Hizballah target -- US Secretary of State Condoleeze Rice -- giving lessons to an apt pupil, Lebanon's pro-American Prime Minister Fouad Siniora -- at the School of the New Middle East. Among the special courses are: spreading sectarian chaos, embezzlement, setting up security states, and trampling sovereignty.

Interestingly, I've never seen a satirical poster in public that links the Hizballah-led opposition with Iran and Syria, even though members of the Siniora government have often claimed that their rivals are the pawns of Teheran and Damascus. This photoshopped picture -- of Iran's President Ahmadinejad and Syria's President Assad as the proud parents of Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud and and Christian leader Michel Aoun (both of whom are part of the opposition to Siniora) -- made rounds on the Internet only.

Perhaps that's because it's worse to be called an American stooge than a Syrian or Iranian stooge in Lebanon these days? I'm not sure. The country seems pretty evenly split between pro-Western and pro-Eastern camps. Or perhaps the Siniora camp is just too afraid to get personal. Notice that there's no image of Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Proud Parents picture, even though he is far and away the most important opposition leader. Hizballah supporters brook no disrespect for their Sheik, and have rioted at least two times in the past year when they thought Nasrallah was being insulted. Such thin skin takes the fun out of politics.

So with the the country divided between Tehran and Washington, between loving life, and loving life with colors, I've got an idea for a Third Way: Supermodel Mila Jovovich. She doesn't love life. She doesn't love death. She just loves Mango. I vote for her.

By Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut