Lebanon, A real disappointment…
Thursday, November 30th, 2006Rime Allaf, again, saying my exact thoughts. I think, the exact thoughts of all syrians who had sympathy for Lebanon. Who had sympathy for the Lebanese, and who truly believed in real freedom and democracy for both countries.
What if we go into mass hysteria when one of our leaders is killed, forgetting all our past criticism of him, living in denial about the state of our economy and foreign debt, and only remembering his multi-billionaire’s vision of our capital’s downtown? What if we lose sight of the values we fought for all these years when the unjust rulers ruled? What if our intellectuals, writers and activists all suddenly decide to ignore those who for years defended their cause and wrote about it at great risk to their personal freedom? What if we ignore a joint declaration they have taken great risks to publish in support of our cause, and look the other way when they are punished for it?
What if we begin to mix between people and rulers, and what if we start taking it out on poor workers, beating them, killing them, burning their tents? What if we start speaking of the rulers’ compatriots, or co-religionists, as if they were to blame for our years of hardship? What if we start treating them all in one way (a bad way), forgetting that they suffered as much as we did from these rulers, even if they came from the same background?
What if we start doing what they are doing? I’ve always thought Syrians had learned from their neighbors (in Lebanon and now in Iraq) never to fall into the temptation to take revenge or to fight on sectarian or other God-forsaken terms. I’m not so sure, however, that the temptation to bicker stupidly and endlessly has gone; in fact, if there’s anything our sycophants know how to do, it’s waxing poetic about leaders and repeating useless slogans ad nauseam while the important issues are ignored. Imagine if they start using these “skills” to reinvent today’s “responsibles” as tomorrow’s visionaries, and if they start to fight one another and paralyze the nation … now that really would be the end of us yet.
This was my comment there…
I was such a passionate supporter of the “cedar” revolution, [the people that is, never the warlords], and i argued so fiercely that they will chose a new lebanon when they get a chance, that they’ve been through civil war 3 times, that they’ve learned how to be lebanese, as opposed to sunnis, shiites and maronites. that democracy in beirut, that a real lebanese state will only push “reforms” forward in syria, whether the royal family liked it or not. that the racism we’ve witnessed the first months, is just an instantaneous thing, it’s just a reaction. I even wrote how syrians turned “racist” against lebanese also. which i still feel, but that’s way beside the point now..The sights on TV, of people swearing to be lebanese and only lebanese, of this girl kissing the security guard who’s supposed to be holding her off, so she couldnt get to downtown. brought so many emotions, I honestly believed, like so many others, that it would actually be the start of the end for the regime, at least as “regime”.
but then there was the elections. were, all the criminals were “elected” now. to be politicians. that was the first blow…
and then, and then, and then… and not the least, the continuous disgusting racism against syrians, as a people, as a culture, as a country, and as an identity.ur article just cried my heart out.
thank you, thank you. thank you.
