THE DEEP PLAY - BEIRUT / LEBANON
Au sud de Beyrouth, a deux pas du camp palestinien de Chatila, commence le quartier de Ghobeiry traversé par le marche de Sabra. Entre immeubles vetustes et magasins aux enseignes surannees, les habitants vivent dans un tumulte devenu ordinaire. Apres trois annees de crise economique, ce quartier tres populaire de la capitale s'asphyxie chaque jour un peu plus. Ici pas de services publics, pas d'urbanisme, pas d'armee, l'Etat libanais est aux abonnes absents. Les habitants de Ghobeiry repondent a la loi du plus fort, et les plus forts ici ce sont les Chahrour. Abu Hassan Chahrour, que ses fideles appellent aussi Ali, est le grand caid du quartier. Bourru, imposant, il donne le tempo au quotidien de ce secteur a majorite chiite. Lui et sa clique possedent des armes, disent assurer la securite des commercants contre quelques billets, regentent toute sorte de trafics et quand la nuit tombe, organisent des combats de coqs. Depuis des annees les Chahrour sont les incontournables du quartier, crains autant que respectes. Le parcours de la famille Chahrour a croise celui de l'histoire violente du Liban, et la mort de son pere et de ses freres marque encore Ali. Proche du mouvement Amal allie du Hezbollah, Ali est un chef comme en produit tant l'appareil milicien, habitue a considerer l'Etat comme un agglomerat de bastions a controler et sur lequel faire du profit. Cette mafia de quartier est le resultat d?un systeme, celui de la chefferie : la ou l'Etat Libanais et son armee sont si faibles, la culture milicienne reprend ces droits. Ali, ses hommes et sa famille racontent la durete de la sociéte et de ses enclaves ou prosperent les trafics de drogues et d'armes. Dans un pays berce par la culture du "Zaim", (le chef), depuis la fin de la guerre civile, ce milieu testosterone perpetue la tradition du sectarisme a la libanaise. L'histoire de ce quartier est aussi une histoire de debrouille, de survie, dans le Liban en crise. Une histoire d'abandon, de pauvrete, de sectarisme et d'inegalites. L'histoire finalement d'un Liban livre à lui-meme, coutumier de ses maux.
THE DEEP PLAY - BEIRUT / LEBANON
In the south of Beirut, a stone's throw from the Palestinian camp of Shatila, begins the neighbourhood of Ghobeiri, crossed by the Sabra market. Between dilapidated buildings and shops with outdated signs, the inhabitants live in a tumult that has become ordinary. After three years of economic crisis, this very popular district of the capital is suffocating a little more each day. Here, there are no public services, no urban services, no army... the Lebanese state is absent. The inhabitants of Ghobeiri follow the law of the strongest, and the big man here is Ali. Abu Hassan Chahrour, also called Ali by his followers, is the gang leader of the neighbourhood. He is a gruff, imposing man who sets the tempo of daily life in this predominantly Shia area. He and his clique have weapons, claim to ensure the security of shopkeepers in exchange for a few bucks, regulate all sorts of trafficking... and when night falls, organize cockfights. For years, the Chahrour family has been a fixture in the neighbourhood, feared as much as respected. Their path has marked the violent history of Lebanon, and the death of his father and brothers still scars Ali. Close to the Amal movement, allied to Hezbollah, Ali is a leader like the militia apparatus produces, accustomed to considering the state as an agglomeration of bastions to be controlled and on which to make a profit. This neighbourhood mafia is the result of a system, that of chiefdom: where the Lebanese state and its army are so weak, the militia culture takes over. Ali, his men and his family tell the story of the harshness of the society and its enclaves where drug and arms trafficking thrive. In a country lulled by the culture of the "Zaïm", (the leader), since the end of the civil war, this testosterone-filled milieu perpetuates the tradition of Lebanese-style sectarianism. The story of this neighbourhood is also a story of survival in a Lebanon in crisis. A story of abandonment, poverty, sectarianism and inequality at times. The story of a Lebanon left to its own devices, accustomed to its own ills.
