Days of Wrath – Lebanon 77 / 82

Description

LebanonPostcard presents the Book:

Days of Wrath – Lebanon 77 / 82
Jours de Colère – Liban 77 / 82
By Joseph G. Chami

Hardcover book, 39×21.5 cm 401 pages. J. Chami himself signs the book.

“On April 2nd, 1981, exactly one year ago, an abominable crime was perpetrated against Lebanon by the Syrian Occupation forces. On that day, at 10.00 a.m., while the city of Zahlé had already been submitted to a continuous spate of bombing and shelling, in the free area of the capital, the population was quietly minding its own daily business. The streets were crowded with people and, at that hour, children were playing noisily in the school playgrounds.

Then, all of a sudden, without any reason whatsoever, and without any warning, a hail of shells and rockets fell upon this peaceful city from all sides, spouting from the murderous openings of cannons and guns of all calibre installed on the hills overlooking the city. This lethal hail was aimed, first and foremost, at the schools, the streets, the crossings, the exits of the town, and the markets. It extended gradually to the houses, the hospitals and the places of worship.

Why the Christians? Certainly not to yield to some obscure impulse of Muslim fanaticism as one may be tempted to think. The idea never even crossed our minds. Besides, religious fanaticism, if any, is nothing but an underlying aspect of a political scheme with a basically profane objective.

In the course of seven years of war, first the Palestinians, and then the Syrians vented their murderous fury on Lebanon’s Christians, for other than sectarian reasons: their motivations were purely cold-blooded strategic ones. They realized that the Christians were the backbone of the Lebanese resistance, that they constituted the basic element which confers on Lebanon its distinctive features of specificity concerning all the other countries of the Middle East. To all the enemies of liberty in the region, they represent the only community whose cultural roots symbolize this liberty… advocating it as a pre-requisite for Man’s attainment of his ultimate goal, and of his harmonious development into a better «Self »…

Molested as Christians, we stood our ground as Lebanese. With a full awareness of our responsibilities, stemming precisely from the considerable rank we hold in the nation’s life, we have never stinted the sacrifices needed to defend this country, the whole country. And thus did our adamant resistance thwart the plots hatched against Lebanon, giving our Muslim fellow citizens the time to take stock of things, and then “stand up to be counted”.

Today, in the South, the Chiite Muslims are up in arms, engaged in open war with the Palestinians. To the North, in Tripoli, the Sunni Muslims are battling the Syrians… In fact, they even managed to throw them out of that city a few weeks ago.

Some time ago, we had indulged in wishful thinking; we had entertained hopes that all the sons of this nation would rise and fight the intruders occupying our land. This wish has now come true, to a certain extent. And the countdown for the total liberation of our country has started. The aliens might as well start packing for time is running out on them.

After the recent events which took place, nobody is entitled to question the unity of the Lebanese. This unity was never lacking, whatever some people may say or think…

Lebanon: What for?… This question was answered by many politicians, diplomats, journalists and orientalists in 1975 with a mere shrug of the shoulders… This shrug of the shoulders has cost us seven years of isolation, and many hasty judgements. Even today it brings in its wake a good deal of incomprehension. Had that shrug of the shoulders not occurred we might have been spared numerous difficulties and innumerable victims…

Is it really indispensable for us to go on playing cops and robbers? There are far more important and vital tasks which deserve our attention in the Middle East: wrenching man from backwardness and under-development, and delivering him from the sad plight to which he has been reduced ever since the dawn of time, this is something which calls for a different brand of courage than is needed to play at Napoleon in the souks and streets of Beirut.

Pursuing his quest for the absolute, man in the Middle East is easily deluded by mirages… An ounce of national status might help him find what he seeks, and spare him the horrors of war. What the Middle East needs today is a hero, a hero who can spare it a revolution.

Lebanon has opted for freedom, encompassed within a territory of about 10,000 square kilometres, with a population of 3,300,000 inhabitants of 16 different religious denominations. However, the exercise of liberty is fraught with perils, all the more so for the neighbouring countries, for it can be contagious. In the East, enjoying the boon of freedom is still an adventure for those who would have it. That is why the people of Lebanon, who refuse to dissolve their identity in a melting pot which exists only to enslave man, are the targets, every now and then, of punitive expeditions.

A country devoid of natural resources, a hostile environment, freedom ransomed: the Homo Libanicus is continuously assailed by challenges. However, he plays the game and delights in taking up the challenge. He even doubles the stakes, in a permanent encounter with a harsh fatality !”

Bachir Gemayel
Excerpts of the opening speech of the First International Conference of Solidarity with Lebanon (Beit Mery, April 2 1982).

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