[LCM Articles] Editorial - To Be A Shi'ite Now

Fri Aug 11 00:36:04 EDT 2006

This is a  racist article . The Lebanese should not be categorized broadly 
according to their religious sect, and stamped by these prejudices. Enough 
of this.

Rima Rachid

>From: "Rabih Zbib" <rabih at mit.edu>
>To: walid at chamoun.org
>CC: lebanon-articles at mit.edu
>Subject: Re: [LCM Articles] Editorial - To Be A Shi'ite Now
>Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:11:28 -0400
>
>Mr. Chamoun,
>
>I'm stupefied by your admiration for this article and your failure to see
>how offensive it is for any Shiite, and only the more so because the
>prescription is written by a Shiite.
>
>Here's a response to the good professor, explaining what it would have 
>meant
>to be a Shiite to her preference:
>
>http://www.annaharonline.com/htd/DAYA060810-3.HTM
>
>A look at history is always beneficial, and the further back one looks, the
>more it is.
>
>Unfortunately, the article is available only in Arabic. Whoever translated
>the original article, I am sure, is not interested in translating the
>response.
>
>-rabih
>
>
>
>
>
>
>On 8/10/06, Walid G. Chamoun <walid at chamoun.org> wrote:
>>
>>  Editorial in Arabic (attached); English translation (below).  W-
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>>
>>I thought you might be interested to share this outstanding editorial that
>>was written by a Shiite Lebanese Female University professor. It is also
>>posted on LCCC site in both Arabic and English http://www.10452lccc.com.
>>
>>
>>*To Be a Shiite Now ....
>>By: Mona Fayyad/ Professor at The Lebanese University
>>*
>>Beirut, August 8, 2006/Prof. Mona Fayyad - An Nahar Newspaper/--
>>
>>We are going through a catastrophic and existential period that will
>>have long lasting impacts on our country and region for the next century;
>>and since we are facing such a dangerous juncture I saw it fit to pose
>>some questions that one might pose within himself or in secret and
>>wouldn't dare publicize, in fear of being accused of being a foreign agent
>>or a traitor, or even a blasphemer. Confronting difficult questions and
>>putting them out in public could help prevent us from falling to the
>>precipice that has no return and could help leaders take the appropriate
>>decisions in order to stop this hellish war whatever the cost may be.
>>
>>What is the meaning of being Shiite - for the majority of Shiites at this
>>point- and at this critical juncture ?
>>
>>To be a Shiite, means that you entrust your fate to the wise and
>>infallible leadership without daring to ask any question even if just as
>>a point of understanding.
>>
>>To be a Shiite means that watch the Al Manar channel, or New TV or NBN,
>>exclusively and that you enjoy their inspirational songs and their 
>>exclusive
>>news and that you look with enmity to all other channels because they are
>>either "American" or "Zionist", as long as they refer to Israeli forces by
>>their name and do not call them the "forces of the enemy" , and do not 
>>have
>>enough eulogies and is only broadcasting information.
>>
>>To be a Shiite means that you do not question the meaning of victory. Is
>>it the victory of armies while keeping soldiers - flush with weapons- 
>>alive
>>while destroying all of what is built and the killing of the human beings
>>that worked hard to build it up a nd constitute the true protection to the
>>fighter himself?
>>
>>To be a Shiite means that you do not question the meaning of resistance
>>and pride, is it the fleeing from bombing and their stacking up on the 
>>tile
>>floors of schools and their dust?
>>
>>To be a Shiite is to contribute to the creation of a Lebanese "Karbala 2"
>>as the Iraqi "Karbala 1" did not perform its role as needed in
>>building up the Arabs and carrying them on to victory over the enemy.
>>
>>To be a Shiite is to be a hero that does not hurt nor complain, and does
>>not have psychological crises, and accepts sacrificing himself and his
>>country and everything that was accomplished so that he can teach Israel a
>>lesson, and expose its craziness and ensure its defeat as was indicated to
>>us by the Syrian Minister on the LBC station that Israel is the loser with
>>"accentuation on the punctuation of letters". You see it is now hated more
>>than ever before and it is indicted by most of the nations of the
>>world...Now that they see for sure - and the lesson is still proceeding- 
>>the
>>extent of its savagery and folly. When you are Shiite, you have to accept
>>this logic, and even praise it, admiring its eloquence, its wisdom and its
>>global role in spreading the legal education and the enactment 
>>international
>>treaties and its role on a popular level in resistance and liberation. Did
>>'nt we see for sure through this war on us, that "Syria is the cornerstone
>>in this region"? These are the very words of the minister himself. Of 
>>course
>>all this destruction was necessary in order to ensure with concrete 
>>evidence
>>the validity of this reasoning be cause of the level of our objective
>>thinking we only work with evidence and empirical experimentation.
>>
>>To be Shiite is to accept that your country be destroyed in front of your
>>very eyes- with no surprise- and that it comes tumbling down on your head
>>and that your family be displaced and dispersed and becomes "a refugee" at
>>the four corners of the nation and the world, and that you accept standing
>>up to the enemy with no complaints as long as there is a fighter out there
>>with a rocket that he can launch at northern Israel and maybe even at its
>>south without asking about the "why" ? or about the timing? or about the
>>usefulness of the end result?
>>
>>To be a Shiite is to accept that you sacrifice all as long as you have
>>someone that will compensate you with money, and that someone will look 
>>over
>>you as you rebuild what he destroyed. What is your problem with that? You
>>see we are a people of heroes that know nothing but sacrifice and we can
>>absorb mental shocks and the death of loved ones and the humiliation of
>>displacement and the destruction of the infrastructure of the state - 
>>since
>>its is a weak, corrupt and follower state- is it not enough to have on our
>>side a strong country that we work to support its foundations in 
>>confronting
>>the unjust American might and the American Israeli war machine from hell?
>>That machine that whose meekness we have to prove as well as its inability
>>to inflict any harm to the fighters of "Hizbollah" or its ability to limit
>>their military capabilities and we will prove that at any price.
>>
>>To be a Shiite is to keep silent and not to ask what is the purpose of
>>liberating a country. Is it to destroy it all over again and to make
>>it possible for it to be occupied once more? and not to ask about the
>>leadership role: is it to preserve its military power and its men flush
>>with arms without any care or concern for the normal human being? Being a
>>Shiite means that you can only thank the Hizb for its heroism and 
>>sacrifice
>>, it is not your role to contribute to "weakening" it or to "break its 
>>word"
>>or to make him know when to back down or compromise to preserve his 
>>victory
>>on the one hand and to preserve the Lebanese nation and its openness as 
>>well
>>as its development on the other hand!! That means never to question 
>>whether
>>pride takes precedence over the lives of others and whether stones take
>>precedence over arms.
>>
>>To be a Shiite means to confer to the leader of the resistance his role as
>>a loyal hero to the cause of the Arab nation in its entirety, not
>>whether you like it or not, but whether that nation likes it or nor. You
>>only have to hear the popular praise of the masses, that was
>>preceded by the praise the masses heaped on their loyal hero Abdel Nasir
>>and is still shedding tears for its other hero of Saddam Hussein. And the
>>masses are still able to heap praise on any hero that tickles its dreams 
>>and
>>its feelings so that it can sleep tight at night. (You can here review the
>>literature of the educated in the Safir newspaper and the Hayat). Or to
>>recover its lost dignity under the boots of rulers like Saddam as long as 
>>we
>>and only we pay the price until your real awakening. But the question is 
>>to
>>what degree can we rely on these incapable masses, that are enslaved by
>>their rulers to liberate itself without even thinking about reconsidering
>>this Jihadist and revolutionary plan !! Is it empowered? Is it it wise
>>enough? Has it prepared the ground for that? Does it have the tools for
>>resistance and fighting other than the arms of zeal and emotion and 
>>oratory?
>>If you are a Shiite you are not to ask this leadership how the ground work
>>was prepared to absorb this indiscriminate war and its
>>"potential"consequences. Where are the hospitals, the ambulances, never 
>>mind
>>the shelters. These are the responsibilities of a state- That was never
>>consulted in declaring war- so that it can be blamed for its weakness and
>>lack of wit. You see the state is only needed when it is called upon to 
>>heal
>>wounds, but the wise and existential decisions are not within its realm.
>>
>>To be a Shiite means to incapacitate your mind and leave it to Sayyed
>>Khamene'i to guide you and to decide for you what he wants for arms to
>>"Hizbollah" and he imposes on you the meaning of a victory that has little
>>difference from suicide.
>>
>>To be a Shiite means to defend the meddling of the Iranian minister in
>>Lebanese state affairs without even trying to care for appearances.
>>Maybe he came to "warn" the ministers of Hizbollah that "they did not
>>agree" to the 7 point plan especially the point about the multinational
>>force so that the door of the resistance would not be shut, and we remain 
>>a
>>country exploited and abused after it was proven that the Shebaa Farms are
>>Syrian and would be dealt with in accordance to Resolution 242 and that
>>there is no concensus on that point. And in that he is warning them about
>>their putting their Lebanese belonging ahead of their following to Iran.
>>They have to, in spite of their noses, put the Iranian nuclear program and
>>the interest of the state of Iran ahead of the interest of their state, 
>>and
>>ahead of the preservation of the lives of the Lebanese or their 
>>possessions,
>>whether these Lebanese are Shiite or otherwise, but especially if they 
>>were
>>Shiites. Isn't it a priority to make Iran a regional Shiite super power ?
>>What is the problem with sacrificing a country called Lebanon ? or the
>>Shiites of this "Lebanon"?
>>
>>And in this tense mood if you are a Shiite you have to listen to your
>>Shiite speaker who is disturbed and angry and who wants to turn the world 
>>on
>>top of the 14th of March, and who wants to forbid the deployment of
>>multinational forces. And you hear him distribute labels of foreign
>>servitude, treason, Americanism and Zionism left and right, without 
>>raising
>>your lip. You have to absorb his anger and agree with all his opinions of
>>which we have shared but a small sample. This is what takes you as far as
>>possible from thinking who the heck you are? are you a Lebanese citizen? 
>>Is
>>you being a Shiite means that you have to give priority to Iran over
>>Lebanon? Do you have the freedom to have your own opinions? the freedom of
>>expression? Is it possible to think calmly and to ask where are we going
>>with this nation, the institutions of this state, with plurality, with the
>>coexistence that we have to defend now?
>>
>>If you are a Shiite and you dare write such writings and such think such
>>thinking, then you must be a foreign agent and a traitor, in favor of
>>partition and absorption of Palestinians. You must be with the Zionist and
>>Israeli projects, and you defend the state, with its corruption and
>>favoritism, and you support the American biased policies, and you accept 
>>its
>>short sightedness, and its support for the terrorism of the Zionist state,
>>and its failure to give the Palestinians their state like all other
>>creatures of god, with the excuse of supporting the terrorism of "Hamas".
>>And that means you support Israel itself and its satanic war machine and 
>>its
>>extreme savagery and you justify its killing, its occupation, its folly 
>>and
>>you are lucky if you are not accused to be the one destroying the houses 
>>on
>>peoples' heads and the dismemberment of children's corpses and their
>>scattering on the heaps of debris by raising your voice.
>>
>>Did I forget any of the symphony? If I did, please excuse me because I
>>cannot miss any of the news shows any more, I have to go see who is being
>>displaced and whose house is being destroyed at the moment that is if he
>>manages to survive.
>>
>>Mona Fayyad is a Professor at the Lebanese University.
>>
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>>
>>
>>

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