Published
Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 08:30
- The magazine, web radio and label recently apologised for irresponsible behaviour regarding a case of alleged rape at one of its events in Beirut.
Content warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence.
Widespread backlash has emerged against pan-Arab music publication, web radio and label Ma3azef after it admitted to mishandling an allegation of sexual violence at a party it co-hosted in Beirut.
In a now-deleted statement published in late June, Lebanese researcher and activist Fatima Fouad claimed Bashar Suleiman, a Jordan-based producer, DJ and MC known as Lil Asaf, attempted to "penetrate" her at a New Year's Eve 2019 party, leaving behind bruises. Fouad also claimed she was force-fed a MDMA pill by an individual who shall be referred to as AM. According to Fouad, AM led her upstairs with Suleiman and encouraged him. Suleiman hasn't yet responded to Resident Advisor's emails or publicly commented on the matter.
According to AM, who denied the allegations in an online statement that has since been deleted, Fouad voluntarily took the pill and didn't refuse Suleiman's advances. At the time, AM thought nothing was wrong but after speaking to Fouad the next day, they said that they believed Fouad was sexually assaulted by Suleiman and wished they had had "better judgement" to intervene. AM also claimed to be sexually violated by Suleiman that night
A few days after the alleged incident, Fouad wrote in her statement that she met with Ma3azef staffers, AM and the director of Barzakh, the venue that hosted the party, but the meeting didn't lead to any action. Fouad also claimed that Ma3azef founder Maan Abu Taleb encouraged employees to conceal the alleged rape and continue coverage of Suleiman "on the grounds that he knew B.S [Suleiman] well," she wrote.
Ma3azef responded to Fouad in an Arabic statement, which they later translated to English for RA. "Ma3azef leadership understood that there was an altercation that night, but failed to launch a quick investigation," the statement said. Apologising for this, Ma3azef also pledged to boycott Suleiman and AM. An independent investigation is now examining Taleb's and Ma3azef's role in the incident, the statement continued.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Taleb also apologised for failing to investigate the incident, took full responsibility for taking the decision to cover Suleiman despite resistance from employees and said he was stepping down as director for the duration of the investigation.
Former Ma3azef editors Nour Ezzedine, Hala Mustafa, Zuhoor Mahmoud and Haykal Al Hazqi, plus former managing editor Ammar Manla Hassan, have also weighed in. They wrote a joint statement in Arabic, which was posted on Fouad's now-deleted Instagram account. It's since been translated into English by RA. Employees were requested to "conceal" Fouad's allegations and continue working with Suleiman, the former editors wrote. There was pressure "to rehabilitate the reputation of the abuser B.S" despite "constant protests" from staff members, they said.
Several organisations and collectives have since denounced Suleiman, AM and Ma3azef. The three are now being boycotted by the likes of Radio Alhara, Exist Festival and Ballroom Blitz, a Beirut club that co-hosted the 2019 party. Utrecht festival Le Guess Who? cancelled Suleiman's show at this year's edition, while Astral Plane Recordings, home to previous Lil Asaf releases, said it will take down his records. The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture has also ended its partnership with Ma3azef. Labels Kenyon Sound and Majia have stopped their respective shows on Ma3azef's radio platform, as have composer Hasan Hujairi and Chinabot affiliate Sarah Haras.
In Ma3azef's statement to RA, it acknowledged these soured relations. "Given these grave errors, it is understandable that our credibility as an organisation is being challenged, and individuals and organisations are choosing to cut ties with us," Ma3azef wrote. "However, we are committed to learning from these errors, and creating and implementing structures that can ensure the safety of future event attendees, employees, writers and artists. We believe that this is a crucial moment, and it is important to ensure that we learn and grow from the harm incurred on our watch, both as an institution and as a cultural scene at large. Hopefully, our actions moving forward will allow us to rebuild trust with our network."
The statement added: "We've created a plan to work towards rehabilitation, recuperation, and safety in its future activities. This plan includes the suspension of Ma3azef's former manager, a thorough investigation into Ma3azef's role in this incident, undergoing legal restructuring of the company, applying new sexual harassment and governance policies, and preparing open workshops to address matters of institutional accountability, safe spaces and rape culture. Ma3azef won't be hosting future events until we can assure that certain standards regarding anti-harassment and respectability are implemented."
These developments have resurfaced age-old conversations about the lack of formal safety training and guidelines on the boundaries of safe spaces in club communities around the Middle East. Many believe these preventative measures are essential to building a sustainable nightlife ecosystem for everyone.
"I hope and would love for the institutions, artists and workers in the Arab alternative art field to acknowledge that it is their main duty to ensure, with the most effective way, a safe environment for everyone," Deena Abdelwahed told RA, translating her Instagram post. "This would start with clarifying/defining, without using double talk, about what is a safe environment and the responsibility of everyone who profits from this scene to be involved."
Ma3azef was founded in 2012 to champion artistry and music history in the Middle East through longform journalism and critique in Arabic. With editors and writers around Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Europe and the US, among other places, it built a reputation as a voice of creative culture in the Middle East. Under Taleb's leadership, the publication also challenged stereotypes of Arab music that were often pervasive in international coverage. In recent years, Ma3azef has released compilations such as Nisf Madeena in addition to curating and hosting live events around the region.
It remains to be seen whether the platform can regain the music community's trust, especially as more allegations emerge. In their statement, former editors Ezzedine, Mustafa, Mahmoud, Al Hazqi and Hassan detailed various incidents of unethical work practices that resulted in a "toxic" work environment.
"Employees have suffered from harmful acts such as cursing, insults, belittling, marginalisation, private and public harassment, undergoing psychological pressure to the point of crying, have had their wages and hours reduced, inciting staff against one another, lack of financial transparency and threatened with sudden or arbitrary expulsion without financial compensation," they wrote. "Before any resignation or dismissal, defamatory statements were prepared in case the resigning/dismissed employee would speak out against Ma3azef and/or communicate with current employees to gather information about problems at Ma3azef." Staffers were also allegedly prohibited from discussing previous employees.
In addition, the statement expressed worry about the current investigation into Ma3azef. Led by an external committee with oversight from the February Network, a Berlin-based NGO focused on media in the Middle East and North Africa, the inquiry aims to install new policies intended to prevent future episodes of violence at events. "We are doubtful of how Ma3azef turned to the February Network for an investigation, as Ma3azef's administration has previously demonstrated how influential it is in that network," the former editors wrote.
In response to these issues, Ma3azef's current leadership provided RA with the following statement: "We believe that the statement from Ma3azef's former employees highlights some very important structural ills. The current team shares in many of the former employees' sentiments and are working towards the redistribution of decision making duties and engaging in cooperative self-management. We are working towards this redesigned lateral structure and will make it public. We appreciate their solidarity and will work towards a better workplace moving forward."