[LCM Events] Reply re Tuesday's talk

[NAME REMOVED]

Hi 

My name is Pierre I am new to the group.  I have a simple point to make:

Talking about the legitimacy of Lebanon as a country is in terms of its
policy towards Israel--with the presumption that being allied with
Israel is categorically bad for the country and unrepresentative of the
collective interest of the Lebanese population--is completely
ridiculous.  This is what the woman was insinuating in her reference to
Zionist interests, the lobbies in Washington, the evangelical
Christians, and whatever else.  We are entitled to view the policy of
Israel towards the Palestinians and towards Syria as unjust, but this
should in no way concern Lebanon.  Lebanon's disagreements with Israel
are arguably more amenable to compromise, and the responsibility of the
Lebanese government is to defend its country's interests, not the
Palestinians' or Syrians'. That's simply what good foreign policy is. In
this respect, I think the woman's comments were misguided.

On the other hand, she could have said more properly that the minorities
in Lebanon are often tempted to use their connections with foreign
powers as a means of empowering themselves within their country relative
to their rival minorities.  This is not specific to the Maronites of
course, so there is no reason to just pick on them.  


Pierre

-----Original Message-----
From: lebanon-events-bounces at MIT.EDU
[mailto:lebanon-events-bounces at MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of R//H
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 10:02 PM
To: Mohamad El-Husseini
Cc: 'LCM Events'
Subject: [LCM Events] Reply re Tuesday's talk

 
  The freedom to admire Michel Aoun and/or the
Phalangists is unarguable. The reason I brought them 
up was because of the two following pejorative
characterizations that were stated loudly during the
talk, and that have negative consequences as far as
making political and historical progress is concerned:

  1) via the Ambassador: "the Christians are very, 
very close-minded..." 
  2) via Professor Elaine Hagopian: "the right-wing
christian extremists who have collaborated with
Zionists and have failed..." 

 I am a Maronite from Kisrwen, Mount Lebanon where 
even a maronite from outside Kisrwen is considered a
stranger (said "ghreeb" in the local accent), and I
truly don't mind their labeling. The concern is over
the message it conveys, the gist of which being that
the Christians are isolationists and have a
predisposition to collaborate with the jews against 
the muslims. They seem to believe in deeply rooted
mentalities that can take the shape of political
movements and alliances such as Phalangists-Zionists,
Lebanon vs. Syria... therefore, intrinsically bound to
be recurrent in history. For instance, the question
over Aoun would be: would he make peace with Israel 
way before making peace with Syria?  

 So here is a clarification to the concern I
communicated: 

 Being perceived as isolationists and traitors does 
not allow for open communications and ultimately for 
a democratic participation in power. 

 It is a fact that from a religious standpoint, the
christian extremists stress that jews and christians
descended from two brothers. It is also a fact that 
throughout history, the judeo-christian alliances
aligned over a West-East axis, the Near and Middle 
East being predominantly muslim. 

 It is my position that at this point of mingling
between all populations on the globe, all of these
issues are still a work in progress. Change and
adaptation are the essence of life, the Lebanese 
people is all for it. History and political studies 
are reports of the past. People should now be 
empowered to reinvent the future, instead of submit 
to living it as a consequence of the past.     
 
So let's look at sectarianism as having built a strong
sense of identity in these various communities all of
which still being alive and kicking, and let's now
unite (either against the real enemies, or if they
vanish, just for the sake of keeping a great place to
live on this planet). I mentioned the Irish who are 
the stereotype of sectarians, but who managed         
 politically to rule across the US. 
 On a broader level as well, unity in the area will
provide clout and security against the ones who have
elitist and expansionist intentions and goals, thus
who simply threaten our free and proud daily
existence.
 
Now we can disagree on who is elitist and
expansionist!

 --Randa

....................................................


--- Mohamad El-Husseini <abitdodgy at hotmail.com> wrote:


Randa, 

I have a slight clarification on the following
statement you made:

"My understanding is that none of the christians among
you admires the phalangists or Michel Aoun. The
judeo-christian alliances are common in history, but
one should believe in, and work towards having a..."

For those that do not know, a lot of people admire
Michel Aoun in Lebanon and abroad for various reasons,
and thus was proven the case when around a quarter of
a million people attended his return to Beirut on May
7th. What I wanted to clarify is that Michel Aoun did
not work with Israel, and adamantly refused to do so
during the War of Liberation against the Syrian army
despite immanent defeat. Michel Aoun is also running
on a secular platform in the coming elections.

.....................................................

From: R//H <rhartm1 at yahoo.com>
To: Loai Naamani <loai at mit.edu>
CC: "'LCM Events'" <lebanon-events at mit.edu>
Subject: [LCM Events] Today's talk
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 16:28:40 -0700 (PDT)


    Loai,

  The elderly lady with the green jacket is an
Armenian-Syrian professor emerita of political science
at Simmons College. I was quite surprised that you
weren't prepared for her assumption that you're all
"christians from an extremist right-wing,
promoting..."

  It seems as if time had stopped for her at some
point, or that she really is not aware of the change,
even though superficial and political for now, if
that's all they see in it.

  You should contact her to tell her where you all
stand. My understanding is that none of the christians
among you admires the phalangists or Michel Aoun.
The judeo-christian alliances are common in history,
but one should believe in, and work towards having a
now politically-savvy Lebanese citizen who, as
sectarian as the Irish had been in this country, can
hope to participate in power towards more honorable
goals.

 The Arab Students Organization should have her
contact info, as she was recently invited by them to a
roundtable on Palestine.

  What a beautiful generation you represent, all you
need is to thicken your skins to the political games.
  --Randa




		
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