People : Abed Shaheen - Fighting Racism With Social Media

A recent incident at the Beirut Hariri International Airport shows the importance and power of  internet and social media in fighting abuses. Here is the story of Mr. Abed Shaheen, a Lebanese national on how he used the social media to pursue an issue of racism among the employees of Middle East Airline, the national carrier of Lebanon. The incident has also caused a moral issue among the Lebanese people.

Lebanese Abed Shaheen - anti-racism crusader

#Racism at #Beirut Airport ! my personal hands-on experience.

Yesterday on the 6th of October I was at gate 11 with a friend of mine waiting to board the Air Arabia flight at 20:25. 

While waiting to board there was a group of foreign workers sitting with the rest of the passengers waiting for their turn. They were behaving normally as any other group of passengers would. 

Then sadly, the lady (looking at her uniform she apparently works for MEA Ground Services and not Air Arabia) at the gate announced on loud speaker (over the whole system covering the airport) the following: “Filipino people stop talking” ; then she started giggling about it with the macho gentleman who was with her at the gate. 

They continued their racist behavior by announcing again “Filipino Nepal people talking not allowed here” and on and on.

Shocked, I obviously became furious and approached them and explained that this racist and discriminatory behavior is not acceptable, impolite and does not at the least reflect what employees at Beirut Airport should stand for (not to imply it’s acceptance in any other situation of course). 

This unfortunately sounded like a joke to them and they went on to say “we do whatever we want and we don’t care about what you are saying”, then “management doesn’t even want this kind of people on the flight” and “even if you complain this will be thrown away and we dare you to do anything about it”.

When I asked her “how would you feel if you ever wanted to travel to Europe and while queuing for your visa they told you the same thing?”, she replied “these people are different”; The macho gentleman seeing that his female friend, whom he was trying so hard to impress with his imitating giggles, was cornered with her twisted racist logic even went further to ask me to back off the counter and threatening to make a problem and to void my ticket!! When I asked for the complaint form they answered (While still laughing of course) “take it from the flight attendants and good luck sitting next to such people on the flight” 

I did file an official complaint with Air Arabia and their staff was very helpful and promised to reach the message out to their management. 

However Air Arabia is paying MEAG for such services and they need to use their power to do greater efforts too to ensure that the people behind this are held accountable. I also sent an email today to Mr. Richard Mujais from MEAG, explaining what happened and asked him to further discuss this with me and to show us that these employees were held accountable for such racist behavior. 

Until then, and as a friend suggested that they also need to be exposed please help me exposing such intolerable behavior…

Abed Shaheen
Source : http://www.twitlonger.com/show/jifguk

Filipinos are grateful to this kind-hearted gentleman for defending our overseas workers from the discrimination and racial slur they were treated with, but it was just incidental that Filipino and Nepali nationals were involved in the incident. I think Mr. Shaheen would have done the same if other nationalities were involved. But Mr. Shaheen did so because he was extremely shocked and furious on what a fellow Lebanese did : broadcasting her bigotry and racism in a public paging system, at an international airport at that, with probably hundreds of foreign nationals listening. He personally pursued the issue on the racist and discriminatory behavior   of the Lebanese national airline (MEA) employees thru the social media.

Blogging and tweeting his story, it created an uproar and a backlash against the national airline, prompting the airline company to make a public apology and fire one of its employees. This has also brought a moral issue among the Lebanese people, some even admitting that racism and discrimination are quite prevalent in the Lebanese society and these need to be eliminated.

Two thumbs up for Mr. Abed Shaheen!  A modern day hero and anti-racism crusader! May his tribe increase!

Source and Related Links :
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/jifguk
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/lebanon-airline-worker-fired-for-saying-filipino-people-stop-talking/story-e6frg8ro-1226492470346
About Abed Shabeen :
http://www.aramex.com/content/uploads/109/200/42116/Abed%20Shaheen.pdf

Places : Manila - A City that Never Sleeps

If America has New York City as the city that never sleeps, Asia has Manila as the city that never sleeps. Manila as a "never sleeping" city is a recent phenomenon. 

Hongkong , Macao, Bangkok, Manila and other Asian capitals, are given "late sleeper" cities and bustling with activities even at night.  But a recent business trend  and cost cutting practice called: business outsourcing, has made Manila the 24-hour no-sleep city of Asia. 


Business outsourcing has introduced large-scale business call centers  in Manila and this has made Manila's night time as regular business working hours, and has employed thousands of  Filipinos and expatriates. These call centers serve multinational companies in different time zones of the globe has made Manila one of  the busiest business call center hubs in the region. But while other Asian cities are dimming the lights of their buildings and business districts, and getting ready to sleep, Manila is lighting its own to start another business night. 

India is the call center capital of the world until recently, but the Philippines has grabbed this tag. The reason for the shift, they say, is due to the preference for the less accented American English spoken by the Filipinos (as compared to the heavily accented British English of the Indians). The influence of Hollywood movies in making American English the common English is likely another reason for the shift.

Manila- Asia's City that Never Sleeps

Going back to the main topic of Manila being Asia's city that never sleeps, besides the introduction of  call centers, other factors have contributed to this phenomenon. Manila having one of the most vibrant night life and live entertainment in Asia is one reason, and another is the  recent proliferation of 24-hour casinos, shops and restaurants. Both have added to the nocturnal activities of the city. 

But one factor, distinctly Filipino, that has contributed much in making Manila the sleepless city that it is, is the Filipinos' love for coffee.( Asia is generally a tea drinking continent ) Majority of Filipinos being coffee drinkers, have made coffee drinking a ritual and a regular  social activity; and this has created some sort of an elitist subculture of coffee drinkers. This is the reason why many local and international coffee shop chains, have successfully thrived in the Philippines  despite the competition. Many of these coffee shops are open 24/7 and offer unlimited free wifi to night owl netizens. And for many coffee addicts, night time until the crack of dawn, is  the best time to have a cup of hot brewed coffee or a glass of frappuccino with friends.


Sleepless Manila will never be the same again.


Related Link : http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/asia/philippines-call-centers/index.html?hpt=hp_mid


Acknowledgement : 
Picture Source : http://www.pbase.com/manilaxperience/image/99515454

Trivia : Famous Philippine Halo-Halo

The Time Magazine featured halo-halo of Manila Pen

The talk-of-the-town Digman halo-halo of Cavite 

It's summer and the heat is on. It's halo-halo time once again. Although halo-halo is available  all-year-round, it is during summer time when you best appreciate this cooler. There are similar coolers  in other parts of Southeast Asia called "kachang" but it doesn't come close to the taste, ingredients and appearance of our very own Philippine halo-halo. In fact our halo-halo has been featured in the Time Magazine.

 You can buy halo-halo in most restaurants, fast food chains and sidewalk stalls, but where can you buy the best halo-halo in town? There are many good and delicious  halo-halo everywhere. Different versions and ingredients, depending on the restaurant, location or region. Like the famous Razon's of Pampanga which has only two ingredients : crushed saba and macapuno plus the standard ube and leche flan toppings, and finely shaved milked ice that makes their halo-halo unique. But  there are only few famous must-taste halo-halo which every halo-halo-loving  Filipino should try. Two of these are the Manila Peninsula halo-halo and the "talk of the town" Digman halo-halo of  Cavite.

What makes these two halo-halo so special? Well, for the Manila Pen halo-halo, it is the famous halo-halo featured in the Time Magazine, citing it as “the best legal high”. It is supposed to be the most expensive halo-halo in town and you have the pleasure of being  served at the similarly popular lobby of Manila Pen (It's the ambiance. . . you know). And for the Digman halo-halo of Cavite, this is the traditional Filipino halo-halo famous for its ingredients and taste. Delicious halo-halo is synonymous with Digman halo-halo or vice-versa. Shall we try them? Let's go to Digman in Bacoor,Cavite and Manila Pen in Makati then!

Picture Source :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taralets/3076516010/

http://www.interaksyon.com/lifestyle/halo-halo-and-noynoying-at-the-pen

Related Link :

http://www.interaksyon.com/lifestyle/halo-halo-and-noynoying-at-the-pen

People : The Korean "Invasion"

Literally, the Koreans have "invaded" the Philippines. Anywhere you go there are Korean communities and stores-retaurants : Quezon City, Manila, Baguio and even as far as the southern parts of the country. If you have been to the vicinity P. Burgos St and Kalayaan Ave. near Rockwell in Makati,  almost the whole block is resided by Koreans. Some people call it "Korea town". They are migrating here in throngs. Ideally, the Philippines is not exactly the most livable country (we're the friendliest though) in Asia for expats according to surveys. Why their preference for the Philippines?

I just read in the newspaper today that our President P-noy is dating GMA 7 Korean TV host Grace  Lee. There's a possibility that the Philippines will have its first foreigner First Lady, rather a Korean First Lady. I think there would not be any problem in accepting her among the Filipinos, since she is already a popular TVjournalist here. Also, we are a very open minded  nation when it comes to mix-marriages and very tolerant of foreigners. I guess it has something to do with our colonial past, and  also due to the fact that a lot of Pinoys have foreign bloods running in their veins in varying dilution.              ( specifically Spanish and Chinese ). Anyway, Ms. Lee is a very gracious lady and very popular to the Filipinos.

Speaking of the Koreans as a nation, I personally admire them a lot. From their rise from poverty and war devastation in the 1950's to their present status as one of the riches and most developed country in the world, they are admirable in their unity and discipline as a nation. Another admirable character of the Korean people is adaptability. I am awed with how Korea changed from a generally Buddhist country to a Christian country. In fact it is considered the biggest Christian nation now in Asia. ( Do I hear Filipino Catholics protesting?)

Korea has invaded a lot of fields and is triumphant globally : car manufacturing, electronics and communications, ship building, entertainment and music, etc, name it. I think the Koreans had learned a lot from its neighbor country Japan. They seem to have the same pattern of success and development. But I wish  the Koreans learn more of the humility of the Japanese people. Somehow success has gone up the head of some Koreans. Despite of this, still I admire them and I wouldn't  mind having Ms. Grace Lee as our First lady if ever.

GMA 7 Host Grace Lee

Related News :

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/43431/more-koreans-coming-for-its-more-fun-in-ph

Person : Picture-Perfect Palawan Moment Wins NatGeo 2011 Prize for Pinoy Photographer

Click Picture to enlarge

Picture-perfect Palawan. Out of around 20,000 entries from 130 countries, Filipino travel photographer George Tapan's beautifully composed shot of Onok Island in Balabac, Palawan, won the Places category of the NatGeo Photo Contest 2011.

On the National Geographic website, competition judge Tim Laman said, "Tapan showed a perfect sense of timing and composition in the way he captured the two small human subjects in this beautiful scene, and that really made the shot."

Another judge, Amy Toensing, commented,  "(the) very moody, beautifully composed image, called 'Into the Green Zone', compellingly shows a sense of place via the dark clouds, rainbows, the spot of pink amid a palette of blues and greens, and the woman's flowing hair.”

Magazine photographer and judge Peter Essick was also captivated by the detail of the woman's hair. "It only fills a fraction of the picture's real estate, but by capturing the movement at the apex, the photographer has documented a sense of style and flair."

Source :