Thanks for your initiative Habib. <br><br>I have created a Google group for this purpose. You can join by invitation only, so if you're interested in discussing what we can do for our country, please send me a blank email with subject line "Add Me" and I'll add you.
<br><br>Please refrain from using LCM-Articles for further discussions because it's not a discussion list.<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>-A<br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 1/25/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Habib Haddad
</b> <<a href="mailto:hadidhabbab@hotmail.com">hadidhabbab@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style=""><p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">Great movie Abdallah !</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">I tend to think, or at least I like to think, that most of Lebanon's young generation falls in the non-political affiliation category. Unfortunately in times of crisis, the need for a political affiliation forces itself leaving people with no choice but to pick a party based on religion or even worse, on very shallow reasons when religion is not a decisive factor.
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">I believe this is natural to happen. People living a crisis want to have a sense of attachment to a bigger group. This is how it starts and few years later those people find themselves still belonging to the same group. Most don't even have solid justifications for their affiliation. They just use cliches imprinted on them by the medias.
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">With today's internet reaching every house in Lebanon, it would be easy to create a virtual group that gives a feeling of attachment to people.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">I would like to get your opinion on the following initiative:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">Create a non-political non-religious affiliation with very simple principles. No to sectarianism, No to blind political affiliation, No to violence of any kind.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">It would be naïve to think that this could resolve the country's issues, but it could be a start of an ideological movement in an attempt to break the vicious circle of this blind loyalty to a politcal party or its Leader. It would also give a sense of attachment even for a small group of people.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;">To succeed, this initiative should be totally anonymous. People would join by signing their names and emails as show of commitment. If it is a good idea it will pick up on its own, and will slowly grow, and if enough motivated people join they will have more creative ideas on how to evolve and spread the word.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Tahoma;"></span><br> </p>
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<font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">From: <i>"Mohamad El-Husseini" <<a href="mailto:abitdodgy@hotmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">abitdodgy@hotmail.com
</a>></i><br>To: <i><a href="mailto:abdallah.jabbour@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">abdallah.jabbour@gmail.com</a>, <a href="mailto:lebanon-articles@mit.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
lebanon-articles@mit.edu</a></i><br>Subject: <i>Re: [LCM Articles] It's about time</i><br>Date: <i>Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:01:58 -0500</i><br><br>
</font><div>
<p><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">Thank you for posting this, Abdallah.</font></p>
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<p><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">This has been my sentiment for a long time; the sentiment that was lost to anger in my last email, but which I have stated on countless occasions.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">A star danced, and under it they were born.</font></p></div>
<div></div>
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<div></div><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;">From: <i>"Abdallah Jabbour" <<a href="mailto:abdallah.jabbour@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
abdallah.jabbour@gmail.com</a>></i><br>To: <i>"LCM Articles" <<a href="mailto:lebanon-articles@mit.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">lebanon-articles@mit.edu</a>>
</i><br>Subject: <i>[LCM Articles] It's about time</i><br>Date: <i>Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:30:57 -0800</i><br>
</font></font><div></div><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><br><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8326734789464462895&q=Zarka&hl=en" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8326734789464462895&q=Zarka&hl=en</a><br><br><br><br>============================================================
</font></font><div></div><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><br>Disclaimer:<br>The events described in this video have not been verified by the sender of this email. The sender bears no responsibility about the contents or tone of the video.
<br><br>LCM Articles is not a discussion list.
</font></font><div></div><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><font style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,sans-serif;"><br><br>============================================================<br>
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