Often enough, criticism of Lebanon’s martyr culture is a thinly disguised sectarian attack on the Shi’a, but a quick walk down almost any given street in Hamra with the ubiquitous Hariri posters or Achrafieh plastered with pictures of Bashir Gemayel and some poor kid who was killed in a snowboarding accident two winters ago, shows us that this is not a strictly Shi’a or even Muslim phenomenon.

Each party and sect in Lebanon, and even the secular parties, has its martyrs.

Now there’s a lot to be said about local iconography, religious and political, but this post is not a treatise on the anthropology of martyrdom. Rather it has a much more modest task, unveiling Lebanon’s latest in a pantheon of fallen heroes.

So it is with a hat tip to Liliane and a wary smile that I disclose Lebanon’s latest martyr, brought to you by Notre Dame University in Zouk:

The sign reads, “Class of the Martyr Michael Jackson.” Be on the look out  for the Michael Jackson Martyr Brigades or the Guardians of the Glove. These groups may or may not be training in advanced dancing techniques sure to dazzle their enemies into a sequined stupor.