Waiting for the Revolution

Let's say you are part of a broad-based opposition movement that's been camped out in central Beirut for over a month. It's winter, it's boring, and the government shows no sign of collapsing. So what do you do to pass the time?

Well, if you're like most Lebanese, you know a business opportunity when you see one.

The Free Patriotic Movement, one of the country's main Christian parties, set up this little shop in it's campground above Martyrs Square.

The FPM has a signature color: orange. To make sure its fashion-conscious members are well supplied in orange scarves, raincoats, caps, umbrellas, ashtrays, etc., the party has its own merchandizing company. For some reason the best selling items are the coffee mugs.

Members of Amal, a Shi'ite political group, are just as keen to make extra cash, though they are a little less organized than the FPM. Here's a drinks and hubbly-bubbly stand set up by a member of the Amal military wing (who didn't want his face pictured for security reasons) right across from some of the country's fanciest retail shops and hotels. "Those rooms are so expensive, you have to pay VAT just to have sex," he said.

There's no hanky-panky going on in the Hizballah compound however. The Islamist movement makes its female supporters leave the square by around ten or eleven o'clock every night. But if it's a slumber party for men only, there are plenty of activities for women during the day, including one consciousness-raising tent where women can share newspapers and discuss current events. And members of both sexes can express their feminine side at the arts tent, where the paintings tend toward the patriotic.

--Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut