Here is an exchange I had with “Friends
of Lebanon, UK”.
They sent me their September Newsletter, and I have sent back a few comments.
Friends of Lebanon Newsletter: September 2007
It has been a busy month. We finished off the
summer with a panel discussion entitled “Lebanon One Year On.” Hosted
by Arab Media Watch, Friends of Lebanon,
the Centre for Lebanese Studies and the Council for Arab-British Understanding,
the discussion packed a full house. The consensus at the end of the
evening was that the current political stalemate has been brought about by many
historical and social factors, and that it is only through an informed
understanding of these factors that we can hope to bring the stalemate to a
positive conclusion.
Friends of Lebanon
was a proud supporter of the Arab Media Watch Fundraiser Dinner. With so
much emotional mis-information feeding the actions of the Western World in the Middle
East, it is more important than ever that there is a
guardian of objective media coverage. The highlight of the evening was
the presentation of the 2007 AMW Award for Excellence in Journalism to BBC Gaza
correspondent Alan Johnston. Mr. Johnston exemplifies quality in
journalism: neither embellishing nor politicising, but simply reporting the
real story.
Friends of Lebanon
has recently participated in televised panel discussions—on the
presidential elections crisis and on the cluster bomb issue. The
elections issue is of course the natural result of nearly a year of grinding
distrust on the political scene. We would encourage all of the Lebanese
people to respect their differences and work together for the common
good. We would encourage citizens of other countries to respect the will
of the Lebanese people. We would encourage the Lebanese leaders to listen
less to foreign governments and more to the citizens of Lebanon.
It is time to move forward to a better and more peaceful Lebanon.
Cluster bomb explosions have claimed yet more
casualties in Lebanon.
But there is international momentum to ban these hideous weapons. Last
week the UN issued a statement endorsing the Oslo
process for an international treaty banning cluster munitions. Friends
of Lebanon is now a member of the
Cluster Munition Coalition (http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/).
We are working toward a Global Day of Action Against Cluster Bombs on 5
November. We will be sending out details soon. If you would like to
get involved, please contact us. And again, if you have not yet done so, please
go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/M85submunitions/ and
sign your support. It only takes a minute and every signature counts.
Even the UK Foreign Affairs Committee has challenged the House of
Commons to explain how it justifies continuing to permit UK armed forces to
hold such munitions, given that the failure rate of 'smart' cluster munitions
could be as high as 10%. Please join us in the demand for an explanation.
The October calendar of events has been posted on the
website. As always, if you know of an activity/event that you don’t
see listed, do drop us a line so we can include it. And again, if you
would like to become more involved in the day to day work of Friends
of Lebanon, or if you have suggestions or
comments, please send us an email.
Friends of Lebanon
Phone: (44) 1923 772494
Fax: (44) 1923 772494
Email: mail@...
web: http://www.friendsoflebanon.org
For a better and more
peaceful Lebanon
==============
Dear Friends of Lebanon,
Thank you for sending me your September Newsletter. Your
call for a better and more peaceful Lebanon can hardly be objected to by any friend of Lebanon. What I find difficult is to translate that wish into action. You
write:
We would encourage all of the Lebanese people to
respect their differences and work together for the common good. We would
encourage citizens of other countries to respect the will of the Lebanese
people. We would encourage the Lebanese leaders to listen less to foreign
governments and more to the citizens of Lebanon.
It is time to move forward to a better and more peaceful Lebanon.
You recognize at the same time that the Lebanese
problem is complex:
The consensus at the end of the evening was that the
current political stalemate has been brought about by many historical and
social factors, and that it is only through an informed understanding of these
factors that we can hope to bring the stalemate to a positive conclusion.
One of your correspondents was more specific in his
description of the problem. He wrote on 16/10/07:
“Without
fundamental political reform, Lebanon’s political system – based on power sharing between
sectarian factions – inevitably will encourage cyclic crises,
governmental deadlock, unaccountability and sectarianism. More importantly, the
country’s future is intricately tied to the regional confrontation that
plunged it into armed conflict with Israel, paralysed its politics and brought it to the brink of renewed
civil war.” The International Crisis Group—an independent,
non-profit, non-governmental organisation—works through field-based
analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. The
Crisis Group filed this report on “Hizbollah and the Lebanese
Crisis” on 10 October 2007. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5113&l=1
The above-mentioned article on Hizbollah is very
interesting. It describes very well how Hizbollah adjusted to the changing
situation. But I find the recommendations of that article disappointing. They
do not go beyond platitudes and wishful thinking. It is easy to recommend
peace. But most of the times, recommendations of this nature remain, as we say
in Lebanon, “ink
on paper”.
Even those who call for “fundamental political
reform” do not agree on the specifics of the reform, and have no
realistic program of implementation. In a country that is deeply divided, it is
impossible to reach any agreement on what needs to be changed. Our ideological
differences are so big that it will be foolish to try and overcome them. The
only thing we can do is take notice of them and respect them.
Instead of fighting sectarianism, I propose to learn
to live with it. I base this approach on the fact that we cannot eliminate the
sectarian views of the Lebanese factions. Instead of calling for what cannot be
done in the present situation, I call for a more realistic approach. In the
same way as we do not have to overcome our religious differences in order to
create a modern and viable State, so also it is not necessary to overcome our
ideological differences in order to create a viable democracy. In the same way
as we contain our religious differences within the confines of our communities,
so also we can use our community system in order to contain our ideological
differences (pro-West/pro-East). What is absurd is to allow what should be
contained at the community level to invade the national level and ravage it.
The Lebanese problem has two basic dimensions. One
affects the people and the other one concerns the institutions. We tend to
concentrate our attention on the political scene, that is to say what takes
place on the surface. I call that the stormy agitation of the waters. This is
what reporters report about. They say more or less objectively what the people
are doing in the middle of the stormy waters. We tend to neglect the
institutional problem.
When a plane crashes, the cause can be either a
personal mistake or a mechanical failure. In Lebanon, we tend to explain everything as personal. We do not recognize the
mechanical failures and huge defects of our constitutional system. There is a
mortal flaw in the way the Lebanese State has been
designed. We must redesign the way we govern ourselves so that we respect our ideological
differences instead of being contemptuous of them. Those who give the baby a
bath in their stormy waters end up drowning it.
Lebanon is like a
house that was built on sand and without adequate foundations. We keep
rebuilding if after each storm without thinking about the foundations. We are
obsessed with what is visible. What is below the surface remains, as it were,
beyond our reach.
It is very hard to free ourselves from all the
prejudiced views that are part of our culture. What we consider true in our
political culture can be misleading. Without a critical approach to our traditions,
we will remain the innocent and unconscious victims of our cultural heritage.
I invite those who are prepared to rethink their
“truth” to look for ways of introducing change for themselves.
Let’s stop complaining and blaming the others for our fate. Partial
solutions are better than no solutions at all. Besides, partial solutions are
likely to show the way for more comprehensive solutions.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph Codsi
7464 4th
Ave NE
Seattle,
WA 98115
USA
joseph.codsi@...
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