Youth… We are the Future of Lebanon
September 28th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
AUB students divided on perceptions of Lebanon’s future
By Zoe Holman
Special to The Daily Star
Friday, September 28, 2007BEIRUT: The events of this week have done little to dispel widespread doubts clouding the presidential election. With the country’s future in limbo, another academic year began at the American University of Beirut (AUB). The Daily Star took a walk around campus to find what effects the broader political picture had had on the university level.
“Of course the election could have an effect on our academic year, but I think it will go smoothly,” said Marielle, 17. “I think they will find a consensus president.”
Asir, 18, agreed with her friend. “We have always managed until now” she said, “so I think - God willing - it will be okay.”
Where older respondents tended to be more pessimistic, many at AUB perceived a peaceful resolution as a realistic outcome.
“I’m staying optimistic,” said Sitar, 19. “I think things will get better. We just need a candidate who everyone can agree on - not someone from a certain political party.”
Other were more worried about the academic ramifications of national affairs.
“Everything here depends on how smoothly the election goes,” said Omar, 21. “Looking at the last few years, all the assassinations really disrupted the academic year. We had our exams pushed back two or three days, and they mixed up all the students’ performances.”
For many, therefore, political uncertainty translated into scholastic uncertainty.
“I just don’t know,” said Yasmine, 19. “If something happens, the college will close and if not, we’ll come. I think they’ll find a peaceful solution, but if something interferes, they won’t be able to.”
In this climate of prevailing doubt, it seemed that many were committed to simply going on with their lives.
“Either they’re going to work it out or it’s going to get really bad,” said Lina, 21. “It can’t stay like this. Hopefully everything will be okay here because this is my last year and I really want things to go well. I just want all the killings to stop.”
Some respondents held strong convictions about who could be blamed for the state uncertainty.
“Now everything depends on the security,” said Omar. “It depends on how - I don’t want to start blaming people, but I’m going to say - Syria decides to keep the situation, whether they decide to keep it calm or not. There might be more assassinations or their might not. Anything’s possible now.”
Many students are choosing to study abroad.
“I’m leaving the country for a year because of the situation of Lebanese politics,” said Karim, 21, who has decided to study in Germany. “It’s terrible here and I’m worried this year is going to be hard. Hopefully there will be no more big problems, but events have shown that it’s not going to be easy.”
Others were able to shrug off the situation.
“We don’t know if there’ll be more violence or not, but it won’t have too much effect,” said Hamid, 18. “They’ve always had elections, and there’s normally no effect.”
Lama, 17, had taken an example from her pedagogical experience. “AUB teaches people not to look at things too politically, so hopefully people won’t take it into consideration too much here,” she said.
Regardless of the direct repercussions, many saw political violence affecting their university lives in more subtle ways.
“I don’t think there will be much effect on the academic year,” said Ali, 19. “But with respect to relations between students in the university, I think so. It might make some students change their thoughts. It affects their relations with each other.”
For Madonna, 18, political events also, had direct personal implications. “Of course there will be problems, but I don’t know if the effects on the university will be negative or not,” she said. “It definitely will have effects on people. It affects how people move, whether they’re more alert. Like right now I’m afraid to come here from home and about where I park my car.”
Moneer, 20, was unable to emulate the optimism of many of his peers.
“I hope for peace, but it’s hard to expect peace nowadays. I hope for a nonviolent solution - we always hope for that,” he said. “Ever since the [Rafik] Hariri bombing [in February 2005], it’s always had an effect on us. I remember whenever we had a final, I just spent the night before watching the news to see if a bomb had just gone off or something. I think all the parties all despicable. There are bigger entities at work here and they’re all too caught up in whole game of it to look at the bigger picture.”
Anti_Racist Blog Said,
October 1, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
I run a site which exposes anti-semitism on college and university campuses. I am curious how Jewish students are treated in Lebanon? Please check out my site and let me know how things are going. Jews all over the world will be interested in learning about the challenges you face. I’m linking your site as well.
http://antiracistblog.blogspot.com/
M. Said,
October 2, 2007 @ 9:51 pm
Our situation is quite different since we keep our identity very quiet, only very close personal friends and family know I’m Jewish and most of my friends don’t even know my real religion. Anyway, I feel safe around those who know and not once have I ever been mistreated because I was Jewish. Most people don’t understand or appreciate this struggle we live with in Lebanon, Jews outside want to generalize and politicize the issue to serve their own ulterior motives and non-jews in Lebanon think we’re Israeli- so far from reality but one day people will appreciate this sacrifice we have given Lebanon and all its people- my people.
Sandrinou Said,
October 3, 2007 @ 11:29 am
Hello M. Said,
I’m a 26 year old lebanese. I just read your comment and wanted to react on it : I have spoken a lot about this project around me, and honestly, 99% of the people I spoke to, don’t take you for israelis, realize what you must be going through living like that and appreciate the sacrifice. We all have lived the war and all that came before and after, and at some point, during the war, you were slaughtered for being a Christian. But whatever we have gone through during that time and since, is not comparable at all to what you have gone through on top of it all.
So you live in Lebanon. I don’t know how old you are, but I’m hopeful when I talk to people, especially those who have left Lebanon with the intention of coming back, who have seen beyond what some media and enclosed parts of the lebanese society would like to show us.
Whatever religion, we all share one thing in common : the disgust with the political class and the attachment for Lebanon.
NGO’s are the next step. Hopefully, you will someday be known and all of the lebanese jews who stayed or wanted to stay.
It’s not a question of duty towards you, it’s a question of pride that you are my people and that we are strong enough to bring down all the obstacles.
Love,
S.
Someone Said,
October 3, 2007 @ 5:33 pm
“M.”, I agree with most of what you said, and my situation is the same as yours. But I disagree that non-Jews in Lebanon think we’re Israeli. Yes, there are many who doubt our loyalties and make no distinction between Jew and zionist, but it is wrong to generalize, and in fact many, if not most people, make a distinction between a Jew and a zionist. Unfortunately, the problem stems from the fact that since the civil war in Lebanon, we have drifted into a state of “non-existence” (I can only describe it as “living a double life”), so the new generations haven’t even interacted with a Jew, so they base their perceptions on the closest thing they have experienced coming from Jews, which is the terrorism of the Israeli state / zionists. The older generation in this sense is guilty of not having passed down their experiences with Lebanese Jews and knowledge of our history in our country and our loyalty to it. But even then, I would not go around and blame entire groups of people because that is stereotyping and gross generalization, and I think that many people draw conclusions that are sectarian in nature (and bigots abuse this to drive a wedge between sects), based on assumptions and misconceptions about what people of a certain sect are “supposed” to feel about something or towards some group of people.
Joe G. Said,
October 4, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
Terrorism of the Israeli state? Are you serious?
Don’t let the propaganda from the Arab and Muslim world make you hate Israel when it isn’t deserved. All Jews have a stake in Israel’s survival, and the right to live there.
Hate Hizbollah, a real terrorist group that wants all Jews dead.
Israelis are brothers with Jews all around the world. Israel is a safe haven for Jews in Lebanon when the masses try to destroy you.
To pretend that Zionism is distinct from Jewishness is naive. So many Jewish prayers for thousands of years have talked about the state of Israel.
How many times is Israel mentioned in the Koran? Hundreds. How many times is “Palestine” mentioned? None.
Don’t hate Israel just so you can fit in and survive in an anti-Semitic country. The real terrorists are the intolerant rulers of Middle Eastern countries who feed their people anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and lies to distract them from the miserable conditions of their own countries.
Administration Said,
October 5, 2007 @ 1:14 am
Someone Said,
October 5, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
No, Joe, Judaism is not about the STATE of Israel, it is about the LAND of Israel. Jews cannot have a state, are not supposed to have a state, until the arrival of the Maschiah. Israel is a man-made state. Our attachment to the Land of Israel is also not merely material but rather, spiritual. Therefore, not only does the establishment of the state in itself violate the most basic tenets of Jewish faith, the manner in which this has been done makes it imperative for all Jews to distance themselves from, and condemn, those who have engaged in it and support its continuity.
The (zionist) “Judaism” you are talking about is a transformed and manipulated one, which does adopt some aspects of real Judaism, but also adds many components that are purely non-religious in nature, and very much an artificial national(ist) construct.
By the way, who are you to tell me who I should hate and who I shouldn’t hate? That is none of your business. It is warmongers like you who go against the very basic and human concept of piece, co-existence, and tolerance. I don’t hate those who have stood up against injustice and occupation and terrorism. I hate those who have perpetuated it for decades, and who have used the blood of our parents and grandparents who perished in the Holocaust, and the suffering of those who had to abandon all their belongings and walk to unknown lands, for their petty, inhumane, unJewish, and in fact anti-Jewish purposes.
Zionism and Judaism are exact opposites. It is zionism — not Judaism — its ideology and endorsement of mass-murder, that encourages anti-Semitism. The world does not suffer from the plague of anti-Semitism. The world is inherently good, and it is not divided into the racist notions of “Jews” vs. “goyim” that you have transformed Judaism into.
By the way, if your last paragraph is true, doesn’t it mean that Israel — as the defender and protector of Jews and Jewish future, including its (Israel’s) own future and the welfare of its citizens — has to actually distance itself from these leaders who encourage and stoke the fires of hatred and anti-Semitism? Last I checked, Israel was on good terms with all Arab dictatorships. It has made “peace” with Egypt (a dictatorship) and Jordan (a dictatorship), and Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia (a dictatorship) — among a dozen other Arab dictatorships — these days could not have been any better. Unless of course you are saying that there is no anti-Semitism in the states that Israel has some sort of relations with and with whose leaders it cooperates; or, that anti-Semitism in these societies is not a result of leaders’ conspiracy theories.
So tell me, does the anti-Semitic enemy of Israel’s anti-Semitic enemy, the friend of the Jewish people? By that token, theoretically speaking, there would be nothing wrong with collaborating with the Nazis if some maniac actually decides that it is in the interest of the Jewish people. Actually, this HAS happened. The zionists actually did collaborate with the Nazis. As they say, birds of a feather flock together.
And how come our own “brothers”, as you call Israel, actually bombed us and destroyed our Synagogue in Wadi Abu Jmil? Surely there isn’t anything in the Torah that talks about the duty of Jews to destroy Synagogues? Or is that only the case when it comes to Synagogues built on land occupied and ethnically cleansed of “goyim”? Was our relatively small existence as a community, in Lebanon, so threatening to the mighty state of Israel that it found the need to terrorize us — but failed miserably? And why don’t you tell me — O great expert of Islam — how many times you have actually read the Qur’an? And since your Islamophobic self is (ironically) relying on the Qur’an to prove its point, why don’t you tell me how many times the Qur’an actually mentions the STATE of Israel as opposed to the LAND of Israel or the CHILDREN of Israel, etc.
Stop manipulating Judaism to fit your zionist world view.
ram79 Said,
October 6, 2007 @ 2:15 am
Mr M,we support in lebanon and we wish that one time we can have meeting and start to do something for jews of lebanon like activity.
Mr someone i agree with you 100% about everything you said.
GOD protect lebanon and lebanese people.
LEBANON IS VERY SMALL COUNTRY BUT LEBANON IS A BIG MESSAGE TO THE WORLD.
Tony T. Said,
October 6, 2007 @ 4:03 am
I don’t expect you to understand the spell you are under, having lived as an opressed minority in a country that wants your religion wiped out. Your defense mechanisms and desire to survive must be great. But you are deluded, and your hatred of zionism and Israel is so off base and disgusting. The future of the Jewish people rests with free Jews not oppressed ones like you because we can see reality, and we can think for ourselves without fear of retribution from terrorists and anti-semites. Good thing for that too. We will save our people, and one day we will save you too. You are lucky there are free Jews in this world who have the power to defend our religion, and our people. Remember that Judiasm is not just a religion, it is a people. The millions of Jews in Israel comprise one of the biggest parts of the Jewish people. Don’t sell them down the river for protecting themselves.
D Bone Said,
October 6, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
If you agree with everything “Someone” said you are lost. I hope all the Jews of Lebanon are not as stupid and ignorant as you.
Anonymous Said,
October 7, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
Who bombed the Synagogue in Wadi Abu Jmil… Israel. This isn’t conspiracy theory but fact, and was even documented in the press by the New York Times among others. Take your garbage elsewhere, ignorance is what kills Lebanon. Jews in Lebanon are stuck between the ignorant geniuses of Zionism and the reactionaries in the Arab and Muslim world. We’re Lebanese, Lebanese, Lebanese. Go check the names of our Synagogues scattered across the world, it’s not a coincidence they have Lebanese names. We’re so sick of this rhetoric, if we had real security in this country we could defend ourselves, but we don’t so the only spokesperson and example the world has of Jews are those in Israel and the noble Jews on the television screen. We’re not Anti-Israel, not if we don’t support Israel blindly and wholeheartedly we’re not real Jews. Like the Jewish leaders said before and its located in the history section of this website, our only connection to Israel is spiritual and religious, in every other matter of culture, identity, and citizenship we are LEBANESE, I’m sorry if this doesn’t serve your agenda of how showing how Jews are so oppressed and they’re so innocent- wake up man! Israel raped Lebanon last summer because they wanted to take out Hezbollah and they failed miserably lets be honest. Personally I don’t like Hezbollah for ideological and political reasons, but I’m not going to take lessons from a bunch of ignorant foreigners who know NOTHING about Jews in Lebanon or Lebanon for that matter besides what their leaders teach them how the evil Arabs kill Jews, and how Hezbollah is so bad. Israel created Hezbollah with their stupid policies and you morons have the nerve to come give us lessons on Judaism. Go watch CNN and Fox News, tell George Bush we say hello from Beirut, but enough is enough. Let us live in Lebanon, Lebanese can sort things out for themselves and the ordinary people never had problems with each other, Lebanese don’t have a problem with each other, we lived in Lebanon for over a thousand years peacefully and prosperously yet a 15 year experience ruined it all and now people want to erase that history and only remember 1975-1990. I think Israel should compensate and rebuild our Synagogues if she considers herself a friend, in fact, Israel hates our existence in Lebanon because we contradict the stereotypes. Nobody in the world can understand the quagmire and the pain we live with in Lebanon, forced to live secretly and honestly, I blame the Jews outside of Lebanon for creating this situation, those terrorists who raised a finger against us are reactionaries. Nobody is innocent, we are Lebanese, we love Judaism, it is our religion, I am a Jew and Lebanese, just as there are Christians and Muslims, we are Jewish, but we are Lebanese. Lebanon will resurrect, the entire world can never keep this country down with their assassinations, bombings, and terrorism. No country is innocent!
Sandrinou Said,
October 7, 2007 @ 6:45 pm
From a non-jewish person :
to all the people here attacking “someone” or the others for saying they love Lebanon…. Should I remind you that we ARE semites too?!….
If stupidy killed ….
Anyway, I don’t expect from Lebanese Jews to mention Israel, whether in bad or in good terms, as long as, like the people here, love my country not any less than I do. I am grateful that they point out some relevant facts about Israel’s policy …
But the Lebanese “jew haters”??? Hezbollah (I’m not in love with them myself) want all jews dead ?
Where do you get that bullshit from ? Please enlighten me.
S. Said,
October 8, 2007 @ 9:52 am
To D Bone :):):):)
” I hope all the Jews of Lebanon”…. You said the world “ALL” and that is enough for me because it begins there.
You do acknowledge that there are many, as opposed to what propaganda would like to have people believe : that there are not more than 50.
So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU !!!
S.
T.J. Said,
October 8, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
So much talk about Lebanese nationalism. As if the country gives a crap about Jews who live there. There were many Jews who cared about Germany too before WWII, and that didn’t help them much.
nabih abi habib Said,
October 9, 2007 @ 10:59 am
Je suis triste que le liban soit autant divisé, encore plus qu’a l’époque de la guerre civile!
Aujourd’hui, les jeunes suivent aveuglement les anciens chefs de guerre, dommage que le plus gros virus au liban soit les libanais eux même et le sectarisme.
J’ai rencontrer plein de juifs libanais au liban et ailleurs, certains d’entre eu sont plus nationaliste et fière de leur pays que tous ceux qui le prétendent.
quelqu’un qui aime son pays c’est celui qui y reste malgré que son pays le rejette et le terrorise!
ps: pourquoi le liban est le seule pays arabe ou il ne faut pas parler de juif, ou vivre comme s’ils n’existaient pas.
Jalloul Muhammad Rashid Said,
October 11, 2007 @ 9:35 pm
I totally agree with the administration. This is a site supporting the rights of the Lebanese Jews who represent an ancient religious sect in Lebanon. This is NOT a site to discuss the Lebanese-Israeli conflict; so take your endless debates elsewhere…
About the topic concerning the Lebanese presidency; it is apparent that neither of both political sects seeks to come to a consensus. Nevertheless, no one can predict the future but God. Therefore, I cannot tell whether we are approaching a crisis or a solution.
Someone Said,
October 13, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
Anonymous @ 5:30pm : Exactly. THANKS!