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November 20, 2005
Book Review: Lebanese Christian Nationalism
On the morning of October 13, 1990, thirty thousand Syrian troops invaded the free Christian area of Lebanon. The divided Christian forces, weakened by their own short civil war (one of the factions "invited" the Syrians in) was unable to resist effectively, and by late afternoon, it was over but for the murders, the pillaging, and the rapes. The "international community", as it usually does when the aggressor is a member of the "poor and oppressed" countries, did nothing. The United States, who wanted Syrian participation in the coalition against Saddam Hussein, kept quiet. Israel, too busy with its own problems (and cowed by the United States), kept the IDF home. And thus ended the historic Lebanese Christian Resistance.
In Lebanese Christian Nationalism, the Rise and Fall of an Ethnic Resistance, Walid Phares offers an account of the resistance, from the rise of Islam until 1994, but with an eye in the modern movement. Phares expertly navigates Lebanese as well as World Politics, successfully serving as a guide into the often confusing world of Middle Eastern ethnic and religious conflict.
The tale itself is sadly familiar. A religious minority wishes for freedom from oppression from the Muslim majority. They organize and they fight. Their internal divisions weaken them until they are betrayed by their elites and their alleged friends in the West. It is not enough, however, to cry over the spilled blood. There are some lessons worth learning:
* Short-term economic gain can be very expensive: The Lebanese Christian wealthy merchants always wanted a compromise, even when compromise was unadvisable, in order to protect its economic interests in the Islamic World. This factor itself may have prevented a Lebanese Christian nation.
* Extreme leftists are the natural allies of Islamic supremacists: Some people are still surprised when extreme leftists cooperate with Islamic Jihadis; "why, but their ideologies are so dissimilar!" They forget they share a similar hatred of human liberty, which overrides all other considerations, at least for the short term. This happened in Lebanon too.
* The West's "realist" policies are both immoral and suicidal: I mean, did the United States really needed the cooperation of the Syrian Ghoul to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait? Do we really need to abandon oppressed ethnic minorities in order to appease the oppressing majority? More to the point, do our leaders really need to defy reality by calling Islam 'a religion of peace'?
* Disunity will be the death of us: In the road to defeat, there were many wasted opportunities spoiled by senseless disunity. Time and time again, one faction or another would compromise with the enemy, in order to outmaneuver their opponents. The end came when a civil war broke among the Christians, and the losing faction called for Syrian "help". The motive for the civil war? Why, a power struggle between two men of course.
Those are, I must emphasize, the lessons I drew. You might disagree of course. But to do so, it will profit you greatly to read Lebanese Christian Nationalism. I hope you do.
Posted by Ruy Diaz at November 20, 2005 11:43 AM
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