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Lebanon
– Haunted By History
Today is auspicious
for no other reason than its marks the inaugural rally by the
Australian-Lebanese Gathering.
It’s momentous
simply because we are all here united in the one ideal and fortified in
the single resolve to restore Lebanese sovereignty and independence.
The distinguished
guests who have graced this podium and who will join us from Lebanon
have truly augmented this rally; however it is you the assembled
faithful who have placed indelibly your imprimatur on this assembly. You
are the heroes and the hope of Lebanon.
Demonstration in
Martyrs Square:
Monday 14th
March 2005 was a testament to Lebanon’s courage – a tiny nation staged
the biggest popular demonstration in the history of the Middle East. It
literally dwarfed the pro-Syrian rally called on Tuesday 8th
March 2005.
Again and again
rallies have been and are to be held all over the world where the
Lebanese Diaspora is dispersed but nevertheless firmly entrenched.
How fortunate are we
today to be lawfully and peaceably assembled here.
Today warrants a
review of what this Gathering represents and where we hope to take it.
It is significant to the extent that all Lebanese regardless of sect or
political allegiance are represented. The youth have been integrally
instrumental in the coordination of this function and that must auger
well for the potential as both Australian citizens and proud adherents
to the culture and welfare of their forebears.
Critical Catalyst
for Condemnation
When one reflects
upon why we are assembled and more importantly what it is we are lending
our support to in the unity we seek to forge with our Lebanese
compatriots – it’s not hard to find the genesis for our concern.
Parallels in history
provide useful if not strikingly similar analogies that upon reflection
are too real to face because the lessons were not learnt or adhered to.
Hungary, like
Lebanon at the time of the civil war out break in 1975 was, again like
Lebanon a nation divided at the time of the Russian invasion. Much the
same as Lebanon’s division when Syria invaded in 1976.
The divisions and
contradictions existed thereafter, more often than not within the minds
and the hearts of the Lebanese within and throughout the Diaspora well
in to and past the Taef Accord of 1990. In fact it may be said up to 14th
February 2005.
Now Lebanon seeks
to return to its true harmony of the once coveted nation governed by
pluralistic democracy. It must in doing so confront the reality that it
is profoundly scarred by 15 years of civil war now popularly
acknowledged to be purposeless slaughter.
The catalyst of the
conflagration that was supposed to be extinguished by the Taef accord
was the imposition of the puppet regime currently led by the inept
puppet President Emil Lahaud and his stooges.
The Syrian
orchestration has been affectively staged and choreographed by the
father and son production unit – “Assad Productions”.
It is not the place
to chronicle each of the calamities that Lebanon has legally,
politically and individually endured save but fore one. The trammeling
of the institution by Lahoud at Syria’s request on 1.10.04 by amending
cl 49 of the Constitution to effectively entrench him in the office of
President for a further 3 year term. The rest as they say is history –
Walid Jimblatt openly defies the Decree, Harriri resigns and it
culminates in his assassination on 14.2.05
The Lebanese people
respond with their mass protests which are a testament to the fact that
the written Constitution of Lebanon – consisting of its enumerated and
ratified powers and limitations was in essence a way of expressing the
sovereign judgments of the people, properly understood, and giving them
concrete expression as the fundamental law.
So seen and so
perpetrated is it any wonder that after Hariri callous murder, it was in
the view of ‘the people’ – meaning them as a collective entity with
sovereign power but one that, for the sake of stability in
constitutional matters, would come together only infrequently for the
purpose of establishing constitutional meaning. This rally under the
auspices of the Australian Lebanese Gathering is a combination
collectively of that popular affirmation as witnessed in Matyr’s Square
on 14.3.05
Lessons For Lebanese
The purpose of this
rally is to remind ourselves that history is attempting to teach us yet
again a lesson and we must be vigilant to learn from it.
Lebanon’s near
demise could not have been predicted by resort to life expectancy tables
for civilizations, let alone sovereign nations.
Whether a society
wastes money in ecological neglect or is destroyed by foreseeable
disaster cannot be predicted with certainty. What can be stated with
certainty is – awareness is all. So it is with this rally and the
witness it bears to our Lebanese brethren in their resolve to restore
sovereignty and independence.
What has come about
is a stocktake on Lebanon’s environment by the true Lebanese themselves.
Recent arrests have necessitated that a checklist of factors can be
undertaken that collectively and separately have or will contribute to a
society’s fate:
1)
1)
the inherent fragility of its political and
socio-economic habitat;
2)
2)
the stability of its constitutional climate;
3)
3)
the friendliness or hostility of its neighbors
and trading partners; and
4)
4)
most importantly of all, the conclusive and
decisive determinate force, the society’s responses to its political and
socio-economic problems
So
posited is it any under the Lebanese resolved on 14.2.05 that enough is
enough!
This gathering of
individuals has both the power and the purpose within the bounds of
chance and circumstance where peoples, like individuals, make their own
destiny. Choosing well or badly among policies and possibilities, they
determine themselves what ultimately becomes of them
We must resolve to
let our governments know that no longer can foreign policy be devoid of
morals
There is no doubt we
are both emotionally disinclined and intellectually equipped to think
sympathetically about extreme events until they are upon us. Absorbed as
we are in the dailiness of ordinary life, and enfold by its brevity, the
calculation of remote possibilities and the comparison of developments
constitutionally in Lebanon had no real meaning. Not until Hariri’s
death and for some Geagea’s imprisonment and Jumblatt’s open defiance
coupled with Aoun’s exile did the mosaic finally take shape.
We must change and
change radically if we are to avoid for ourselves and our descendants a
cultural and national annihilation.
The temptation to
resolve in a hectic flurry of piled – up fact-bites, speculative
calculations, passing quarrels and offhand policy dicta – all an endless
mixture of assertion, guess remark and opinion for which the term fancy
was invented will not help Lebanon. It is rather like a lawyer’s brief
if one argument fails try another if one expert demurs get a
replacement- it wont work to the end desired.
Lebanon traded
independence for security and she was surely conquered now she must
resolve to turn adversity into prosperity.
The assassination of
Harriri is such an incident that within a life – world situation that
Lebanon is laboring under, a calamity as has occurred can take
intelligible shape. It is that shape that determines both the response
to it and the effects that it has.
Lebanon poised on
the knife edge has presented to it such a life - world situation.
Recently in the Sydney Morning Herald, E.Loughlin writing on the events
of 14.3.05 made the observation that Harriri’s death and Jamblatt’s
reluctance to come to Beirut left no discernible leader in the ranks of
the opposition. What he failed to remember was that Geagea in his cell,
Aoun in exile and Bahia Harriri in the wings are ready to restore and
revive the political process.
Beirut on 14.3.05
became yet again muse and museum; mistress of the seas and poets; a
byword for wealth and poverty, intellectual fertility and future
scholasticism. She again showed by the out pouring of her people that
there is magic in every myth and images that she evokes.
And of you here
today how do we respond and see our contribution? I could do no better
then quote from Jalaluddin Rumi when he wrote;
“It’s good to leave each day
Behind,
Like flowing water, free of sickness
Yesterday is gone and its tale told
Today new seeds are growing.”
This rally is the
germination of the new Lebanon – you are at seeds let us bear healthy
bountiful fruit.
Stephen J. Stanton
Spokesperson for the
Australian Lebanese Gathering
3 April 2005
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