Most of us know that Lebanon has endured almost 20 years of civil war. Despite the fact that we do not have a clear understanding of the reasons and sequence of events of that war, we do know that it was a struggle for power hiding behind national political slogans and sectarian ideology. This resulted in the division of Lebanon and it’s people and also the involvement of other nations. What we do know for sure is that all crimes (and they were numerous) and massacers have been forgiven. Indeed all party leaders were exempt from the consequences of their actions and they were allowed to roam free in the city. Most of them remain in power today or have passed it down to their next of kin. In other words, the people and ideas that have caused bloody murders for years on, still prevail (most of them) today!
Mentionning the civil war to older members of the Lebanese community seems to bring back unwanted painfull memories. They have all chosen to collectitively forget!
Yet this desir to forget only exists within people. As you walk around Beirut you can still see all the “signage” of war. It ranges from still destroyed buildings to posters logos etc...
Which brings me to my subject matter; how can we forget if we do not eleminate or “purify” the city ?
In my study of this forgive and forget phenomenon i want to collect these signs and try to understand the significance of their presence.
First off course i will have to study in depth the power and strength of symbols and signs relying on historical, sociological and communication theories.
Allthough the direction in which i will be eventualy going is not clear yet i have allready picked up on some headlines which are worth looking at:
1- Signs and territory:
In brief signage was used to limit and signal parties territtories. Each sect had its operating area, and were kind enough to clearly show it to trespassers.
In this segment i thought of doing maps and exploring the developement of territory from specific year to year.
2-Signs and memory:
As mentioned before the paradox of forgetting and forgiving yet never destroying the physical evidence is at the core of my paper, here i will try to understand the purpose, and reasons of this omni-presence of signs and their persistence in our city.
I will also explore the relation of old, new and “recent” signs.
3-Signs and sacrilege:
The unfortunate recent events that Beirut has went through has opened up a new dimension. During the last weeks certain parties have physically invaded our streets. Despite the fact that they are no longer in the streets today, they have left behind them a trail of logos and symbols that seem to re-limit their territory. Has Hamra fallen into the control of the “Kawmeh” party? if not then why are we not erasing their logos of our walls and removing the flags? are they left as evidence? would it be illegal to remove these signs? or have symbols evolved beyond their initial purpose (signage) and have been elevated to some sort of sacriligious dimension?
4- Signs and advertising:
It is intresting to note that today parties take very good care of their image. They work on their logos and have manners of presenting themselves to the public. Here i would like to explore how a party (a somewhat cultural activity) has taken on dimensions that are strictly part of advertising or public relations. In other words they have taken on characteritics of a field that has as only purpose to sell a product to a public.
My ideas are still all over the place, and i am still taking on a heavy work load, as each segment can become an entire field of research in itslef. Hopefully after my research and some writting i will be able to limite my field of study.
ps: sorry for the spelling (i dont have dictionary to correct me) and all over the place ideas ;)
7 comments:
Excellent proposal.
Your ideas are well presented and clearly categorized, but as you have well noted, it is a bite that you won't be able to chew in one paper. All four points seem most interesting when they are related to the very recent reality of the life of the political sign, but I will leave it up to you to decide which to choose. Of course you can touch on the other points briefly in your paper, but your main argument should focus on a specific area of exploration.
Your suggestion of mapping the city according to the political signs is very exciting. In this case you should read about mapping, there are many great books on the subject. Check out Edward Tufte's writing.
When you say 'all the crimes were forgiven' you mean by the state, not by the people, right?
I suggest you start looking up books that deal with the subject, this may help you locate your area of interest. I doubt you will find a lot of writing on Lebanon in particular, but while we patiently await Zeina Maasri's book to come out, you can look into books that take other regions as examples.
Check out 'The Practice of Everyday Life' by Michel de Certeau, it might be very helpful.
yes i meant by the state, but it is intresting that the state did forgive and some people might not have forgiven the crimes that relate to them in some way... I'll check out the books asap thx!
About the party signs still being up so you know anything on that? Im really curious if its a legal issue or something else?
I don't really know where does the law stand on this issue.
It is vandalism but no one seems to do anything about it. I'd be interested to know.
ok then ill have to interview people on the street and ask for their opinion or interfer in some way...
Another question, about the state thing. Who made that decision to forget? and How? I remember something about having the people vote for this "law". I know i have to dig up these answers but i would like a preview ;)
A few years ago i went to Bosnia with Fawaz Traboulsi's political science masters students, in an effort to compare the Bosnian "civil war" to the Lebanese one, What was intresting about Bosnia is despite the fact that the people also wanted to forget and i think crimes were forgiven their was a massive effort in archiving and publishing all sorts of information about the war. They serve as reminders. When we talked to a group that was responsible for looking up the deased and missing, they insisted on the idea of having credible information of the sort to help people heal and move on from the events. Did anything like that happen here? they (bosnia) have a whole museum dedicated to the war, did anyone try to that?
There is the 'museum for the memory of Beirut' thing that's being made, facing sodeco square. But I don't know much about the project.
The problem with the situation in Lebanon is that the old warlords are still ruling the country today, so it's not in their interest to raise the issue again.
jana, to start with thank you for your point, it is beneficial. second of all i really like your topic i mean this is becoming a taboo in someway which is where people don't actually tell it to one another that i will never forget ur ancestors killed mine, but what happened two weeks ago prooved how much people didn't and won't forget what happened. the " purifying" process you mentioned is intresting but how do want to tackle it? i suggest the elimination of all the previous leaders that you said wonder in the streets of our countries without being accused of anything. another point i suggest you mention is how children are being raised upon the past experiences of their parents. that is sunnis and shee3as in lebanon deep down inside have this not hatered but like u say ( 7assaseyyeh) against each other where it has been strongly shown in what happened.this point i just mentioned could be in your intro since your body paragraph will be about analyzing the posts signs... best of luck and see you in uni!tc
one point i didnt talk about is the "purifying process" well this will actually take alot of years more than decades... it is by raising children in an open society accepting one another and respecting one another. i mean in Lebanon how many students in schools and universities they have a wasta if they don't attend classes and sessions! this has no mean of acquiring equality and respect between people! the major problem in all these wars is disrespect.i hope u get what i mean.take care!
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