Lebanese journalist attacked under eye of Internal Security Forces
The reporter is one of the most prominent investigative journalists in Lebanon, specializing in uncovering corruption cases
Updated 10 September 2021
Arab News
LONDON: A Lebanese investigative journalist has been attacked while covering a story involving the country’s Internal Security Forces (ISF).
Riad Kobeissi’s car windscreen was smashed as he reported on traffic chaos outside a gas station in the coastal town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut.
The incident took place on Wednesday despite the ISF being present at the scene and Kobeissi later said he held the ISF’s director general, Imad Osman, fully responsible for any injuries he might have sustained.
The reporter is one of the most prominent investigative journalists in Lebanon, specializing in uncovering corruption cases.
Since last year’s devastating Beirut port explosion, he has published a number of documents exposing individuals allegedly responsible for storing the ammonium nitrate that caused the dock blast.
Investigations into the explosion have continually been stalled by the Lebanese authorities.
Wednesday’s attack was not the first time Kobeissi has been assaulted and harassed over his journalistic work.
The Alternative Press Syndicate in Lebanon said: “The attack on our colleague, who raised his voice in the face of flagrant violations, is nothing but thuggery against people first and journalists second, and against everyone who sheds light on cartels of all kinds.”
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. (Supplied)
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
While the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East. (Supplied)
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. (Supplied)
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
