Blog: Middle East Diary

On Monday, the Lebanese parliament will meet with the expectation of naming the army chief as president, a long-delayed decision that has led to political paralysis and high tensions in Beirut.

The beloved Lebanese singer and UN goodwill ambassador Majida el Roumi gave a speech a few days ago in which she sharply criticized political leaders for having "torn the country into pieces" with their religious and sectarian agendas. She urged Lebanese to remember their decades of war and to "put an end to this disastrous situation and this horrible division" before more lives are squandered.

El Roumi's speech, at a Beirut ceremony to remember the slain journalist Gebran Tueni, is racing across the Internet this week. It's turning up on Arab-focused blogs, on academic listservs and in chat rooms. Lebanon's English-language newspaper, The Daily Star, wrote an entire editorial in praise of the 51-year-old singer's chastisement of the political class.

"She rightly berated them for having spent the past three decades engaged in divisive politicking that has exposed the country to meddling from both East and West," the editorial stated. "It is too early to know whether she managed to make any of them feel ashamed, but she certainly made some of their offenses clear."

NowLebanon.com offered this English translation of el Roumi's speech:

How many hearts have to be broken? How many homes have to be ruined? How many Lebanese have to be given worries as their daily bread? How many young men and women have to leave the country before you decide to meet and put an end to this disastrous situation and this horrible division? How can divisions reach the point of having people tell me, “Do not pray at Pierre’s funeral or say a word in Gebran’s commemoration, or you would be speaking up against the others.” Who are the others? Aren’t you all Lebanese? All those martyrs who have died from the southernmost part of the country in massacres perpetrated by Israel to its northernmost part, in the case of our beloved army martyrs, and all those who died for our youth’s sake, … Aren’t they all – truly and honestly – ours? Didn’t they break our hearts? Aren’t they only guilty of being Lebanese?

We no longer meet to pray for the martyrs’ souls, since we now have “their” martyr and “our” martyr. I reject this painful discrimination. I hereby say that it was an honor to sing for Pierre inasmuch as it is an honor to speak about Gebran. If I am accused of being Lebanese, then I am the lucky one. I no longer care who will be offended by these words. Indeed, I know that some people will be offended, but I no longer care about them because, after 30 years of war, we have come to lose hope. I no longer care to bear witness to anyone on this earth, especially not in politics. I only bear witness to the Lord, and our Lord loves peace. He is against violence and He tells me to bear witness to what is right, to the best of our youth and to the sovereignty and freedom of this land, as any self-respecting citizen with some dignity should do. I bear witness to the tormented, martyred Lebanese people who has close brushes with death everyday and barely hangs on to life. I say: enough is enough…

You say you are entrusted with Lebanon’s sovereignty and our safety… [In reality,] you have torn the country into pieces, and you want to replace it with one that is tailor-made for confessions, parties and power obsessions. However, this country is far greater than that. You are responsible for driving wedges among us and dividing us under a single roof. You have scattered us and linked our case with half of the world’s pending issues… Why should we be a card in everyone’s hand? How can you accept to remain divided for 30 years, and then tell the whole world that you are unable to run the country’s affairs? In the end, this may be the ultimate aim. If so, then why are you doing it? You are entrusted with our freedom, our sovereignty and our independence. I am here to say: [You have done] enough… let us live.

In the name of what is right, in the name of the Lord, who you say you love and according to whose will you claim to be acting, let this state remain a state. Whose interest would be served if this nation remains unsheltered and if the state breaks up into countless component parts? I am here to conjure you up in the name of the Lord to make peace. You are so stifling us that there will be no one left to hear you. I am here for Gebran’s sake to tell him: I have come to pay tribute to you, my dear brother and friend. Our hearts will keep on beating as one as long as you are alive within us. Why is that so? Because we remained oblivious to the worth of the perfect man that you were. If no tribute is paid to you today as a King who left us, who deserves such a tribute then? Do those who have slain us deserve it? We shall not give it to them. Dear Gebran, I see your pictures on billboards, and I am ashamed to tell you that your blood will not have been spilled in vain. In the name of the everlasting God, I tell you with total confidence that there will come a day when your blood will bloom only in the three colors of our national flag. This day of freedom and sovereignty will undoubtedly come no matter how long it takes because no one can grow greater than Lebanon… Nor shall Lebanon ever be diminished. All shall perish and Lebanon shall remain, and you shall always be there, O Gebran, along with the great men who have borne witness to its dignity and its special vocation on this Earth.

Comments

Wow…what an excellent article on the beloved Lebanon….such a great country with lots of beautiful people! First Arab immigrants to the US and the most affluent. Death of Mr. Hariri was a sad day and true loss, If there is anything that defines Mr. Hariri and points to his proudest achievement, it is, by his acknowledgement, the Hariri Foundation. It is a testimony to the importance that he gives to education and future generations. He admits that the work of the foundation is the closest to his heart. He founded the Hariri Foundation in 1979, a non-profit organization that helped educate more than 33.000 Lebanese students in the best universities in Lebanon, the U.S., the U.K, France, and Canada.

Lebanon and the whole world paid farewell to Martyr PM Rafic Hariri and his seven companions in a huge popular and historic funeral procession that went through the streets of Beirut heading toward Mohammed Al Amin Mosque in Beirut's Central District, where they were laid to rest. An outstanding Lebanese, Arab and international participation characterized the procession, which hardly went through the huge crowds, who came from all Lebanese regions and sects, raising Lebanese flags and pictures of Martyr Prime Minister and his companions. During the procession, Church bells were ringing in the capital, while verses from the Quran were broadcasted from the mosques. May he rest in peace.

Posted by: Andrew | December 18, 2007 at 11:08 PM