I’m not going to waste my time typing up fun facts about Lebanon that you could easily discover for yourself at popular geography sites, but I will share with you some other interesting facts that you won’t find anywhere on the CIA World Factbook about this country that is slightly smaller than Connecticut (:-P). Just to give you a brief overview of things, I’ll divide into sections the observations which I have made from the past two days from my tour of Beirut and my meetings with officials whose specialties are all things Lebanon!
Society
The people who make up the country of Lebanon are affiliated with one of 18 different religious clans between the Muslims and Christians; essentially, atheism is unheard of, as far as I understand it, and contrary to American etiquette, it is not uncommon to bring up one’s religion in light conversation. If nothing else, a person may merely introduce him or herself by the family name which is a hint enough for the other person to inquire, “So you’re a Muslim, then?” or “That’s a Christian name, right?"” While such religious diversity served as a primary cause for the 15- year-long Lebanese Civil War (1976-1991), it has also resulted in quite an interfaith community. The make-up of the Lebanese society has spilled over into its politics, naturally, a unique form of government by the name of “confessionalism”.
Politics
The confessional federal government of Lebanon consists of the:
- President, who must be a Maronite Christian
- Prime Minister, who must be a Sunni Muslim
- and the Speaker of the Parliament who must be a Shi’a Muslim
Additionally, there are many other restrictions to ensure that there is near-equal representation of the different sects within Parliament itself, as well as in the Cabinet, etc. This style was set up following the formulation of the 1989 Ta’if Agreement and to this day confessionalism has been at the center of political debate within the nation. This governmental system fascinates me and I realize that I still have many more questions to ask about it; as of yet, however, it is unclear to me whether it is these religious affiliations which are so preventing the central government from being strong or whether this is due to some other key divide within the government’s people. By the time I leave Lebanon, I will be sure to have found the answer to my question! I do know for a fact though that the country’s greatest political flaw is, in fact, its weak central government, and considering Lebanon’s political past, I believe that my hypothesis is not too far off…
History
Since its reconstruction after the Civil War, strip malls and high-rises have flourished where the damaged souks and destroyed buildings of traditional Beirut once stood. When I hear reference to the war’s Green Line, separating West Beirut from East Beirut, I can’t help but wonder how this division compared to that of West and East Berlin during WWII. The people of today’s Beirut seemed to have tried hard to make a show of putting the war behind them; most of the women are not seen out of the house without a sufficient amount of make-up on and a nice pair of high heels, and the latest fashions of New York and London are flaunted within the windows of the same classy stores. Men can be seen with their hair slicked back cruising around in Ferraris of the chic streets of the capital. The city’s “Sky Bar” was voted one of the hippest dance clubs in the entire world. And yet amongst all of this gleam and glam are statues where the sun shines through the bullet holes that serve as reminders of what Beirut went through. The few buildings which did withstand the 15-year chaos of the Civil War are scarred with dozens of bullet holes that have been spackled haphazardly. One of my favorite quotes from the past three days, and one which I think is most appropriate to describe Lebanon, is that it is a “country of contradictions”. This refers to contradictions of all sorts, such as that which I described above. A contradiction that you notice even more immediately is the infrastructure of Lebanon, or at least that of Beirut.
Infrastructure
During dinner last night, I experienced my first Beirut power outage. Apparently this is pretty ordinary, sometimes the city can can experience multiple outages in one day, but this particular one lasted only 3 seconds long. It’s incredible though, given all of the seemingly-richness of the city and that of its inhabitants, that the hippest night club in the capital of a nation such as this could black out until the club manages to get its generator to kick in. Similarly, I saw fantastically ornate and elaborate mosques and churches today on my visit to Lebanon’s famous cedar trees and the famous ruins of Baalbek, yet I was afraid that the eroding switchback streets that our tour bus was driving on through the Lebanon Mountains to visit such wonders were going to crumble right beneath us.
Thus far, those have been my main observations, ladies and gentlemen, but this has only been the end of day 3 of my Lebanese experience, so I assure you that there will be much, much more to come. In the meantime, between my valuable impressions of my “study excursion visit” (or whatever it is NCUSAR wants us to call it :-P), I will be posting stories and pictures of my daily adventures, such as the trip out East that my group went on today. More about that tomorrow!
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