The Lebanese mosaic. A country with an Arab face and a Christian heartChristians, key to Lebanon's stabilityTranslation of the article into English
The Syrian occupation of Lebanon did not end until 2005, when the SDF (Dissolution Force) had to leave the country following protests, known as the Cedar Revolution, stemming from the brutal assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, for which Damascus, whose regime was openly hostile to Hariri, was blamed. Two political coalitions emerged from these protests.
The first, the March 14 AllianceThe Lebanese Phalanges, a historic Maronite party now presided over by an exponent of the historic Gemayel family, Sami (grandson of the famous Bashir, son of Amine and brother of Pierre Amine, the first two presidents of the republic, the last exponent of the March 14 Alliance, all of them assassinated in various attacks); The Lebanese Forces, another Maronite party (chaired by its founder and former militiaman Samir Geagea); The Future, a Sunni party, dissolved by its founder Saad Hariri, son of Rafiq, when he resigned in 2021 from the presidency of the government and withdrew from the political scene. This alliance is characterized by its anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian positions and its proximity to Saudi Arabia and the West.
The second, the March 8 AllianceThe Free Patriotic Movement, the party of the current and disputed Maronite president of the Republic, Michel Aoun; Amal (the Shiite political movement linked to Hezbollah) and others, known for their hostility to Israel and their openly pro-Syrian, or better yet, pro-Iranian positions.
Since then, despite endemic instability in the region and in the country itself (an example being the second Lebanon war in 2006, with Israel's invasion following Hezbollah missile launches into its territory from the south of the country), it seemed that Lebanon, with its post-war reconstruction, was slowly recovering.
The economic crisis and the 2020 explosions
However, a new devastating economic crisis (described by the World Bank as "one of the three worst crises the world has known since the mid-19th century"), which led to numerous protests in 2019 and the alternation of governments and presidents for or against Hezbollah, the COVID-related health emergency19 and, finally, the notorious and tremendous explosion that, on August 4, 2020, destroyed the port of Beirut and devastated the surrounding (predominantly Christian) neighborhoods, killing more than 200 people and leaving 300.300,000 homeless, have brought the country to the brink of the abyss.
It is estimated that more than 160,000 people have emigrated from the Lebanon (adding to the already large Lebanese diaspora abroad, between 4 and 8 million people, mainly Christians, although some estimates raise the figure to almost 14 million, twice the number of Lebanese living in the country), not to mention the fact that the country hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Palestinian refugees who, together with the already huge number of Lebanese citizens living below the poverty line, are turning the Land of the Cedars into a powder keg.
Political crises and elections
The above issues led to the fall and alternation, between 2018 and 2021, of several governments - Saad Hariri, Hassan Diab, Hariri again and finally Najib Mikati - and the emergence of a movement bent on changing the parliamentary balance, fighting endemic corruption (also linked to confessionalism and tribalism) and providing concrete solutions to the economic crisis.
However, this same movement has not been able to federate under a single political wing and impose itself at the national level, although, for the first time in the country's history, the recent legislative elections of May 15, 2022 showed the shadow of a possible change.
The electoral campaign and the political debate, in fact, brought to the forefront four fundamental issues on which the vote revolved: Hezbollah and Iran's interference; the country's "positive neutrality", as proposed and understood by the Maronite patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï; the banking and financial crisis; judicial reform and the fight against corruption, to shed light on the causes of the Beirut port deflagration of August 4, 2020 (Hezbollah, moreover, has always opposed a formal and objective investigation of these tragic events).
The picture that emerges in light of the final results is, however, that of a country struggling to change and that has lost confidence. Abstentionism dominated everywhere, even in Hezbollah's fiefdoms: a clear message of distrust towards the ruling class.
In any case, the outgoing president, Michel Aoun, has seen how his own elected deputies in parliament have been reduced by half (his is a predominantly Maronite party, but allied with Amal and Hezbollah), surpassed by the Lebanese Forces of Geagea, his arch-rival, which has become the first Christian party in Lebanon. Partial defeat, by the way, also for Amal and Hezbollah itself, since in southern Lebanon, a historic Shiite bastion, a Druze and a Christian from a different faction were elected.
The role of Christians
The spiritual and cultural heart of Lebanon, we said, is certainly Christian, especially if we think of the main spiritual centers of the country, which are the valley of Qadisha (the holy), in the north of the country, true fulcrum of Syriac Christianity and the Maronite Church (Syro-Antiochene rite).
The Maronite Church, in communion with Rome, takes its name from its founder, St. Maron, and has its historical seat in the green valley of Qadisha, full of ancient monasteries, set like pearls in the rock and converted, with the passage of time, into centers of irradiation (a bit like the Benedictine monasteries in Europe) of knowledge (the first printing press in Lebanon was built in one of them), art, culture, and various trades, centers of irradiation (a bit like the Benedictine monasteries in Europe) of knowledge (the first printing press in Lebanon was built in one of them), art, culture, various trades (including agriculture, especially terraced farming), spiritual wisdom, as well as closeness to the people.
Proof of this is the great devotion that all Lebanese, both Christians and Muslims, feel for the local saints (e.g. the famous St. Charbel Makhlouf, St. Naamtallah Hardini, St. Rafqah), whose shrines are the destination of incessant interfaith and interreligious pilgrimages.
The recent elections also confirmed that the role of Christian communities remains crucial for the fate of the country. In fact, also thanks to the contribution of Christians and President Michel Aoun, the majority that emerged from the previous 2018 elections had pushed the country into the Shiite orbit, under the aegis of Iran, in this case, with the affirmation of the Christian parties referring to the March 14 Alliance, Lebanon could move closer to Saudi Arabia, to Israel and, by extension, to the Western bloc. All this, however, if a government can be formed, given the failure to create an adequate parliamentary majority, with the prospect of further political paralysis and stagnation, if not worsening, of the current crisis.
Among other things, the Lebanese peculiarity in the Arab-Islamic world is not only that of having institutionalized the Christian presence at the political level, but also that of seeing, among the Christians themselves, the predominance of Catholics, in particular Maronites (the other Catholic Churches sui iuris present in the country are the Melkite or Greek-Catholic Church, which represents at least 12% of the population, the Armenian-Catholic Church and the Syrian-Catholic Church. Latins are also present, of course, although in smaller numbers).
The writer has been able to experience how fascinating this popular ecumenism is: it is not uncommon to attend lunches of large families, where mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, are an expression of all the Churches present in Lebanon, whether Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant.
Thus, over the years, the Maronite Patriarch has become an outstanding figure, not only as an ideal representative of all Christian communities, but also of the entire civil society. His Church, in fact, besides being the expression of an important part of the Lebanese population, is also the most active in providing assistance not only to Christians, but to all the people.
Recently, on the occasion of the feast of St. Maron in 2022, the Patriarch reminded the country's civil authorities that "Lebanese Maronites have made freedom their spirituality," as well as a "social and political project," and that this advancement translates not only into faith and progress, but also into the promotion of values such as love, dignity and strength, in contrast to "rancor, envy, hatred, revenge and the spirit of surrender."
Cardinal Raï has vigorously defended Lebanon's cultural and religious plurality, democracy and the separation of religion from the State, promoting that concept especially dear to him of the "positive neutrality" of the country, which preserves its soul and its identity as a land of encounter between civilizations, in fact, distorted by those who have turned it into "a theater of conflicts in the region and a missile platform" (the reference to Hezbollah is obvious). According to Raï, who has become the real pulse of the country, it is imperative, "to save Lebanon's unity and demonstrate its neutrality", to respect the historical triangle that unites "the purpose of the Pact of Coexistence, the purpose of the role of Christians and the purpose of loyalty to Lebanon itself".
Writer, historian and expert on Middle Eastern history, politics and culture.
