Saudi and Turkish foreign ministers discuss regional developments    Saudi Minister of Communications meets Amazon CEO to strengthen strategic partnership    DeepSeek a 'wake-up call' for US tech firms, Trump says    Trump says India 'will do what's right' on illegal immigration    'A long, long road ahead': Gaza rebuilds from zero    Trump signs orders focused on reshaping US military    Arcapita and DSV partner to build state-of-the-art sustainable warehouse in Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone    China's DeepSeek AI shakes industry and dents America's swagger    Al Hilal and Neymar mutually agree to part ways    Saudi Arabia allows foreigners to invest in listed companies operating in Makkah and Madinah    Saudi Arabia redefines the pilgrimage experience, blending spirituality and modernity    Aubameyang leads Al-Qadsiah to a stunning victory over defending champions Al-Hilal    Damac stuns Al-Ittihad with Nkoudou's double in Saudi Pro League clash    Saudi Arabia announces historic participation in upcoming Asian Winter Games    Saudi Film Commission Joins Asian Film Commissions Network (AFCNet)    105th batch of King Faisal Air Academy students graduated    HADAF supports employment of 437,000 Saudis in private sector in 2024    Hans Zimmer delivers a spectacular musical night at Riyadh Season    Tina Turner's lost Private Dancer song rediscovered    Comeback queens, blockbusters and Succession stars: The Oscar nominations previewed    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    









The Messages of Celebration
Published in AL HAYAT on 29 - 06 - 2009

To know the misery of the Lebanese, one must examine the ways in which they celebrate. The leader of the sect appearing on television is reason enough for heavy gunfire, and the same applies to such a leader being elected or appointed to a state position.
What the inspired leaders will say on their television “appearance” does not matter, as firing gunshots from light and middle-weight weapons, as well as rocket-propelled grenades, begins the moment the honorable leader appears on television screens. The necessity of having emerged victorious from an election or having successfully fulfilled one's duties matters even less. What matters in this spontaneous show of hidden feelings is the message which competing and opposite sects and groups should interpret carefully.
At odds with the truth are those influential leaders who claim to oppose the random gunfire festivals that liven the days and nights of Lebanese politics. The preparations made by supporters, in terms of the distribution of ammunition, weapons and fireworks (which used to be considered children's playthings before they evolved to become more like explosives), reveal what is really going on behind the scenes of the forces that condemn what their partisans do after their fits of happiness end. However, doing one thing and saying the opposite is a firmly established tradition in political practice in our country, in addition to the fact that the cost of one of these celebratory parties is far superior to what simple supporters could bear.
As for the content of the message which the competing sect must understand and realize the underlying meanings of, it is based on two elements, the threat of physical force, and spite, usually accompanied by insults. Human casualties, which do not rarely include deaths, alongside the massive material losses, may or may not enter into the calculations of the organizers of gunfire celebrations, yet they in any case represent an important part of the message addressed to opponents. Indeed, part of it says: we are able to harm you when we rejoice, so beware of our anger, which seems small when compared to what it would be in times of adversity. This is to detail the first part of the message of celebration.
The second part of the message can be summed up by the fact that Lebanese groups have reached a degree of crystallization and agglomeration around themselves that effectively prevents the success of any dialogue, if assertions of their own strength, in weapons or in demography, are not present in its margins and in its main body, not to mention the poetry recitals that praise high quality as opposed to poorly produced and poorly packaged quantity.
A sample that could be heard between shots of gunfire and detonating “fireworks” last week says: “if you think that you have won the elections, be certain that we will crush you the moment we get the chance, as we did on May 7, 2008”. And the response: “but we will return to defeat you and force you to remain in your narrow and suffocating sphere.”
And such is the case, that a dialogue set up by weapons, population count and sectarian and racist delusions cannot – or rather should not – result in what would resemble a forthcoming national unity.
Some argue that Lebanon's problems are deeper than threats exchanged through messages of lethal celebration, and that what is ultimately at stake is the meaning of Lebanon as a state and a homeland, and of its role in the Arab region. The soundness of such an argument does not refute the fact that it is a partial one, in the sense that it is not right to reach a discussion over the direction which the Lebanese will take, before the Lebanese themselves decide to walk together in the first place, rather than fight and slaughter each other symbolically if they are unable to actually do so.


Clic here to read the story from its source.