And today 13 of April 2022 hope seems to be totally lost. For me, it is much more than what I wrote below, it is because hearing and reading media articles, videos, interviews, and social media posts, I came to realize that on April 13 1975 the deterioration of the fabric of society was triggered. Why and how is something that requires research. However, what is clear for me is that Lebanese civil society, political and media landscapes, so called intelligentsia, are failing to give birth to opinion leaders and statesmen or just decent people. Ignorance and arrogance are what I see these days.
If you read what I wrote in 2005 and 2021 you will see an inevitable transition.
Today 13 April 2021 comes back in a landscape of despair. Lebanon is a failed state, an occupied country, a country where the fabric of society is torn. The banking sector that sustained the country during the direst moments of the civil war has been finally brought down. The youth of the country never experienced the rule of law. The media is just spouting clichés.
I am sad to realize that it is our generation who is responsible for the demise. NOTHING is worth engaging in a civil war.
My optimism has been defeated, but I cannot give up. Lebanon is a part of me.
In 2005 I wrote published an article in The Daily Star.
Today, 13 April 2019 my hope has been defeated.
13 April 1975 was the start of the 15 years Lebanese Civil War, but then I can say that Lebanese civil war ended in 1978 and then started the era of Syrian intervention and then domination that ended in 2005 with the 14th of March event. But 2006 was the start of a new civil war without continuous military action, but as destructive for the fabric of society.
Today Lebanon is tired and hope for change is dwindling.
With those who lived Lebanon of before the war entering maturity and old age, it is clear that the new war generation are culturally very far from the Lebanese of before 1975.
13 April 1975 was the start of the 15 years Lebanese Civil War, but then I can say that Lebanese civil war ended in 1978 and then started the era of Syrian intervention and then domination that ended in 2005 with the 14th of March event. But 2006 was the start of a new civil war without continuous military action, but as destructive for the fabric of society.
Today Lebanon is tired and hope for change is dwindling.
With those who lived Lebanon of before the war entering maturity and old age, it is clear that the new war generation are culturally very far from the Lebanese of before 1975.
Copyright (c) 2005 The Daily Star |
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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Long-absent hope returns to Lebanon
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By
Khatoun Haidar
Special to The Daily Star |
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April 13, 1975, is a date that
represents, for most of us Lebanese who are above 45 years of age, a frontier
separating the often idealized Lebanon of before the war, and the
insufferable reality of after April 13. For the youth of Lebanon, April 13 is
just a controversial historical date. For them there is no dividing line;
they grew up in a Lebanon ravaged by war, still suffering the sequels of
occupation and a deep sectarian partition. A country where ambition is curbed
and hope scarce
This would have been a perfect
introductory paragraph to a piece commemorating April 13, if I was asked to
write it before February 14. Today I cannot ignore the change, the atmosphere
of revival, and the fact that more than half of the Lebanese population,
waving the flag, took to the streets in two peaceful demonstrations. I cannot
ignore the loud voice of the silent majority, and the strong participation of
women and the youth. I cannot disregard the sight of two women standing side
by side at Hariri's last resting place, one reading the Muslim prayer and the
other performing the sign of the cross. I cannot neglect the reaction of
defiance and the stress on national unity that followed four criminal
explosions that targeted Christian areas. One has often dreamed of renewal,
but never dared to imagine one. Today it is possible, the Lebanese people
just need to reach for it, and then maybe April 13, 2005 will be a new
frontier, that of the rebirth of Lebanon.
I am sure that many dismiss these signs
as emotional reactions, and insist that the situation is much more complex
than the popular mood. This is true in some way, yet it is not pure naivete
to observe the manifestations of discontent and to measure the pulse of the
population. Regimes that dismiss the well-being of their population by
imposing an iron-handed approach to governing do so at their own risk. In
fact, the mood of the Lebanese before and after the Hariri assassination
takes root in the political developments that followed the Taif Agreement.
The Lebanese civil war that started on
April 13, 1975 was officially ended on October 22, 1989, by the Arab League,
sponsoring the Taif Agreement. By then, the Lebanese were weary and tired
from a series of armed conflicts that at first took root in deep internal
divisions but then became regional in nature. The end of the armed conflict
did not bring the civil war to a real conclusion. There was no national
reconciliation effort on the popular level, and Israel maintained its
occupation of South Lebanon, which made the Syrian presence in Lebanon a de
facto reality that nobody could contest without seeming to side with the
enemy. Given this reality it would have been naive to expect the emergence of
an independent democratic Lebanon.
In theory, Taif restored to Lebanon its
Constitution, that guarantees freedoms and democracy. But under the pretext
of national security necessities the country was ruled for the last 15 years
by a false, imposed national consensus that destroyed accountability, the
prime basis of democracy. The choices of ministers became a reflection of
sectarian power centers and foreign intervention, resulting at all political
junctions in deadlock. The parliamentary institution lost its meaning when
deputies started falling in line when it came to the ministerial vote of
confidence or presidential elections, whatever their previously declared
positions. People felt powerless and many gave up on the electoral system.
Then in the year 2000, the South was
liberated from Israeli occupation, and there was hope in the air, but soon it
became clear that the status quo was here to stay, and that the country was
sinking deeper under Syrian control. The signs of an organized effort to
erode the few remaining liberties became more pronounced. This demise of
democracy was exacerbated by a deep feeling of isolation as the international
community showed a total lack of concern. The sense of hopelessness became
stronger and young people had only one dream: leave the country.
Buried under this hopelessness was
anger. The anger exploded when Hariri was assassinated. People took
peacefully to the streets, the prime minister resigned, and the international
community started paying attention. Out of it came a feeling of empowerment
and hope.
For me this hope is embodied in the
commune-like freedom tents in the middle of Beirut. There you find hundreds
of youth of all religious sects that have been living there since the Hariri
assassination. They organize daily activities under strict rules of behavior
and you often find students from opposing parties communicating, building a
basis for national reconciliation. School children visit and try to
understand. The hope is that this generation, whatever happens, will never
forget this experience.
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Copyright (c) 2005 The Daily Star |
A successful first day of daycare will be organized in a way that makes both you and the other parents involved feel like you are in the same room.
ReplyDeleteYou will need a solid understanding of mathematics, though, and you'll need to find curriculum and preschool program options that focus on teaching basic and intermediate math skills through fun, hands-on activities.
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