Beirut: Big Brother is watching you
Beirut: Big Brother is watching you
By observing everyone in Beirut, intelligent agents are creating an atmosphere of fear rather than increasing security.
2 min read
15 Jan, 2015
In Beirut, everyone is under surveillance [Getty]
Big Brother, the fictional enigmatic dictator of Oceania in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four does not talk or appear in the book. Intelligence agents speak in his name and carry out his orders. After the novel was published, the phrase "Big Brother" became synonymous with the excessive use of authority.
When I was ten years old I dreamt of having a large car and carrying a gun – I wanted to be in the military. That dream did not last long. Whenever I went out with my mother, security agents would have strange looks in their eyes, and policemen would look at her lustfully.
I watched the entire series of James Bond films, tales of international intelligence agencies and an intelligence officer who is unique and does not like himself, but who all the women love.
Intelligent agents in Lebanon are like walls that listen to everything, surveying all your senses. I fear that one day everything that has come out of my subconscious will be used against me in a cell.
A drink is not as simple as it used to be, at least for me. Drinking in Beirut's coffee shops involves watching men that are watching me. What does an intelligent agent look like? He wears the same cheap clothes as me, he drinks espressos, but he is always cautious of being exposed.
He is the one who is not screaming at demonstrations but taking pictures. He does not speak, he does not ask about anything because he knows everything. I see him everywhere, and he is watching every step I take. It feels like he knows I am writing about him now. I do not trust him or those who turned him into an invisible monster that makes me afraid instead of secure.
Big Brother has been watching you for more than half a century - everyone is in a prison - even if not all of us are behind bars.
This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
When I was ten years old I dreamt of having a large car and carrying a gun – I wanted to be in the military. That dream did not last long. Whenever I went out with my mother, security agents would have strange looks in their eyes, and policemen would look at her lustfully.
I watched the entire series of James Bond films, tales of international intelligence agencies and an intelligence officer who is unique and does not like himself, but who all the women love.
 |
Intelligent agents in Lebanon are like walls that listen to everything. |
Intelligent agents in Lebanon are like walls that listen to everything, surveying all your senses. I fear that one day everything that has come out of my subconscious will be used against me in a cell.
A drink is not as simple as it used to be, at least for me. Drinking in Beirut's coffee shops involves watching men that are watching me. What does an intelligent agent look like? He wears the same cheap clothes as me, he drinks espressos, but he is always cautious of being exposed.
He is the one who is not screaming at demonstrations but taking pictures. He does not speak, he does not ask about anything because he knows everything. I see him everywhere, and he is watching every step I take. It feels like he knows I am writing about him now. I do not trust him or those who turned him into an invisible monster that makes me afraid instead of secure.
Big Brother has been watching you for more than half a century - everyone is in a prison - even if not all of us are behind bars.
This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
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