Ce n’est pas le multiconfessionnalisme, mais un système oligarchique qui gouverne le Liban – Interview Mediapart

It Is Not Multi-Confessionalism, but an Oligarchic System That Governs Lebanon - Mediapart Interview

Mediapart

An interview with Mediapart: it is not the confessional system that governs Lebanon but an oligarchy in which the political and capitalist classes have fused—and sectarianism is the ideal system for whitewashing everything.

Incurable Hope

Extracts from the siege diary: an Israeli officer says "Palestinians are an epidemic"—asked about the resemblance to Hitler, he answers: "Yes." And "boutiques equal the number of martyrs."

بين محمد سعيد الزعيم وجبرائيل منسى

Between Muhammad Said al-Za'im and Gabriel Menassa

Menassa: "we import or we die." Za'im: "exchange benefits, don't impose interests." The paradox: what colonialism united, independence divided.

سمير قصير، كيف أضعتك؟

Samir Kassir, How Did I Lose You?

As-Safir

"Samir Kassir, how did I lose you?" is a personal elegy that goes beyond physical loss to a political and intellectual estrangement, as "false heirs" attempt to erase Kassir's true legacy by presenting his final years as his entire life.

Lebanon on the Brink

As-Safir

Translation from as-Safir after Gemayel's assassination: sectarian division invites external domination since 1867—and when the Lebanese unite, they do so despite the confessional system and against it.

Calling Things by Their Name

The Hezbollah-FPM alliance is rooted in shared marginalization, and the confessional system is a "regime of obstruction" forcing people to squeeze rights through pinholes—"Do we change the system or the people?"

خاف الطغاة فقتلوه

The Tyrants Feared Him, So They Killed Him

Tyrants feared him and killed him — because he said with brazen simplicity that democracy is the road to Palestine. A free man whose prisons can no longer hold everyone.

Stereotyping the ‘Syrian’ in Lebanon, Arab Stereotyping

Bashir Gemayel reduced eighteen million Syrians to the singular "the Syrian"—and the entire political class adopted this stereotyping that redirects class resentment toward a neighboring people.

Quel rôle pour le Liban sur l’échiquier régional?

What Role for Lebanon on the Regional Chessboard?

Lebanon has always been defined by externally imposed "roles" serving elite interests—can it not simply exist as a homeland without overdoses of exceptionalist missions?

Lebanon in the Middle East Peace Talks: Player or Bargaining Card?

The Oxford International Review

Lebanon between the Syrian-Israeli "condominium": player in the peace talks or bargaining card? Ghazi Kanaan: "Let the Lebanese trade and leave politics to the Syrians."