The fact of the matter is that we have lied for a long time. We exaggerated and went too far. We falsely believed that cosmetics can conceal what is underneath, and that big slogans can fool people forever. We thought that denial is part of the solution, and that misinformation can toss dust at the mines beneath us and destroy them. We have lied for too long. We claimed that our people are united in their sentiments and aspirations, and that they are cohesive much like a solid wall of bricks. We pretended that we are but one family, and that solidarity among its members acts like a barrier against fierce winds. We fled from the cancers that are eating away at us, and we fooled ourselves, one time with folklore and songs, another time with spirited anthems, and a third time with party manifestos. We sought cover in the National Cause, and the Holy Cause. It was as though chronic diseases could be treated with an outdated discourse, the displays of the squares, and proxy wars. We have lied for too long. We refused to watch, to admit and to believe. We falsified the scene deliberately or out of good faith. We said that the situation is good, and that the problem lies in foreign hands and conspiracies from beyond the border. We claimed that the world is targeting our stability, identity and resources, and that its plots are infiltrating our ranks through the embassies, books, screens and through rhetoric. We lied in the books, in the speeches, in the press interviews, and in the news bulletins. We hid the corpses, forced orphans to praise those who caused them to be orphans, and brothers to betray brothers. We practiced sectarian and regional policies, whilst calling them by different names, and obtained through coercion and trickery, certificates of good conduct from the citizens, regional and international bodies, and historians themselves. We lied to ourselves and to others. We invented for our countries an attractive image and lied to both the citizens and the tourists. But lies are soon exposed, no matter how long they last. As soon as the storm blows, our countries become fragmented like broken glass. The institutions crumble, the government collapses, the parliament suffocates and the army disintegrates. People become divided along the barricades of their confessions, sects and regions. Thus we depart from the forcible and false calm to the inferno of civil war. Thus we depart from the lie of national unity to the defilement of people's lives at the hands of those who are supposed to be partners in pains and hopes, as the official radio station had once claimed. Dear reader, I will start from the place I call my homeland, despite my deep feeling of being orphaned. I followed the recent discussions in the Lebanese parliament, and felt deeply ashamed, despite the fact that I was thousands of miles away. The country is fragmented, from vein to vein, from the Naqoura to Al-Nahr Al-Kabir. The fig leaves have been shed, revealing all the blemishes of the so-called Lebanese coexistence: The sectarian discourse, the deep fears, and the concerns of the minorities that are addicted to self-destructive medicines and deadly illusions. I was surprised by the hasty and biased interpretations of the developments in the regions and their implications for Lebanon. It was a congress of intolerance, short-sightedness, and lack of insight that all portend dire consequences. But let us leave Lebanon aside. Syria is officially entering the club of sick countries. When the Security Council unanimously agrees to send observers to Syrian towns and cities, this has many an implication. Sending observers to the border between two countries is one thing, but sending them to inside the same country is another thing. It also means that Russia, the ally of the Syrian regime, no longer espouses the talk about ‘armed gangs', despite its continued criticism of the opposition and certain foreign stances. My concern for Syria was exacerbated when I saw on the television a Syrian saying that Homs's people were being displaced because of their affiliation. I heard him say that he does not accept to live as a second-class citizen. I had heard the same being said months earlier by an Iraqi politician, and became even more concerned when I read about hostage-swaps in some areas and the execution of other hostages when negotiations failed. I remembered how much we heard in recent years that Syria was different, and that the national education there has immunized it against ‘Lebanese diseases'. What is happening is truly frightening. I fear that Syria itself will collapse before either side in the conflict there does. Shortly after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi politicians were mocking any questions that reflected fears of the country sliding into internal strife. Often, the answer was: We don't suffer from sectarianism, just sharp political disputes. Because I come from a sick country, I wished that what I was hearing was true. But subsequent events would tell us whether we didn't know our countries or whether we knew, but we nonetheless lied to ourselves and the world. And what is true about Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, is also true about many countries in search for a constitution or a president. Spring has exposed us. Treating the sick cannot be done by pretending that their health is excellent. Treatment begins by admitting there is a disease. Our reports are questionable. Our national reconciliations are nothing but boring acts. Our true demand is to subjugate the others, and strike out their features if we could not strike them out themselves utterly. Our countries are sick, when it comes to the rights of individuals, minorities, women, the tenets of citizenship and equality in rights and duties. Whenever a storm blows, we become exposed. We have lied for too long to ourselves and to others.
