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Lebanon’s Tripoli Begins 2024 Celebrations as Arab Culture Capital

The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Lebanon’s Tripoli Begins 2024 Celebrations as Arab Culture Capital

The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati kicked off the “Tripoli the Capital of Arab Culture” celebrations at a formal event held at the Rashid Karami International Fair in Tripoli.

Attendees included Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, and Mohammad Wissam Mortada, Minister of Culture.

Ministers, deputies, ambassadors, and other notable figures also were also present at the ceremony.

Mortada told Asharq Al-Awsat that he believes the celebrations to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Lebanon and Tripoli.

“This is our chance to uncover Tripoli’s treasures in terms of people and landmarks. I’m stunned by the human and natural potential here. You’ll witness what makes Tripoli unique, and we’re doing it all with no funding,” said the minister.

Despite no budget, workers are determined to succeed. Young volunteers are eager to overcome obstacles and make the event a hit. Some see the coming months as Tripoli’s big chance to shine, while others feel funding issues should have delayed the festivities.

“Tripoli has suffered, but now, with activities starting, people will see what they've missed out on for years,” Mortada affirmed.

This year promises a packed schedule of cultural activities, some already underway for months. Organizations are competing to host programs, but the highlight could be cultural weeks organized by several Arab countries.

Qatar, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco, Syria, and Oman have confirmed plans.

For Mortada, the aim is for more than just temporary celebrations; he wants to establish Tripoli as a permanent cultural capital of Lebanon.

The minister is not just dreaming; he's building on reality.

Tripoli boasts the Rashid Karami International Fair, a stunning architectural marvel. Spread across 70 hectares, it features unique conference halls, integrated buildings, and an experimental theater.

UNESCO recognizes its significance but also flags maintenance challenges and development threats.

Tripoli’s vibrant markets and river make it a unique destination. Its port is crucial for trade, with an economic zone stretching to Europe.

Mortada believes Tripoli could become Lebanon’s cultural tourism hub, generating revenue for the country.

“Tripoli is ready to play a vital role,” he asserted.

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Culture

Activists Return Macron Waxwork Stolen from Paris Museum 

A photo shows a wax statue of French President Emmanuel Macron, stolen the day before from the Grevin Museum, during an action by Greenpeace environmental activists outside the EDF headquarters in Paris on June 3, 2025. (AFP)
A photo shows a wax statue of French President Emmanuel Macron, stolen the day before from the Grevin Museum, during an action by Greenpeace environmental activists outside the EDF headquarters in Paris on June 3, 2025. (AFP)
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Activists Return Macron Waxwork Stolen from Paris Museum 

A photo shows a wax statue of French President Emmanuel Macron, stolen the day before from the Grevin Museum, during an action by Greenpeace environmental activists outside the EDF headquarters in Paris on June 3, 2025. (AFP)
A photo shows a wax statue of French President Emmanuel Macron, stolen the day before from the Grevin Museum, during an action by Greenpeace environmental activists outside the EDF headquarters in Paris on June 3, 2025. (AFP)

Greenpeace activists overnight Tuesday to Wednesday returned a wax figure of President Emmanuel Macron they had stolen from a Paris museum as part of a protest against French economic ties with Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

After taking the waxwork from the Grevin Museum in a carefully planned heist on Monday the campaigners had placed it outside the Russian embassy in a symbolic protest.

Carrying on the action late on Tuesday, they placed the waxwork, estimated to be worth 40,000 euros ($45,500), in a chest and put it outside the headquarters of French electricity giant EDF.

They also put the statue on its feet and stood next to it a sign with a slogan denouncing Macron for not completely cutting ties with Russia under Vladimir Putin, in particular in the energy sphere.

"Putin-Macron radioactive allies," it said.

Police then arrived and secured the chest and waxwork ahead of its return to the Grevin Museum, the Paris equivalent of Madame Tussauds in London.

"We came to bring back the statue of Emmanuel Macron because, as we said from the start, we had just borrowed it," Jean-Francois Julliard, executive director of Greenpeace France, told AFP at the scene.

"We notified both the management of the Grevin Museum and the police. It's up to them to come and retrieve it," he said.

The choice of the EDF headquarters was "to make Macron face up to his responsibilities concerning the trade that is maintained with Russia, particularly in the nuclear sector," he added.

According to Julliard, French companies can still, despite the sanctions regime in place since the invasion, "import a whole host of products from Russia" including enriched uranium to power French nuclear power plants, natural uranium transiting through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan via Russia, LNG and chemical fertilizers.

He said Greenpeace particularly criticized the surge in Russian fertilizer imports into the EU, which rose some 80 percent between 2021 and 2023 according to French fertilizer manufacturers.

According to a police source, two women and a man on Monday entered the Grevin Museum posing as tourists and, once inside, changed their clothes to pass for workers. The activists slipped out through an emergency exit with the waxwork.

A museum spokeswoman acknowledged that "they had clearly done their research very thoroughly".