Political Speed Dating
by Sharad Venkat on July 3, 2008 in Blog, Live from Beirut
This is an article I wrote a few weeks ago for the Daily Star newspaper. Its a reflection piece looking back on the Harvard Lebanon immersion Trip that started it all.
As I looked out into the night from the balcony of the Kataeb compound in Saifi, the lights of the houses glittered on the distant hills outside of Beirut. Waiting with 39 other Harvard students for former President Amin Gemayel to usher us into the conference room, I thought of something a friend told me a day earlier, itself a popular repetition of Beirut’s contradictory reputation. To paraphrase, he said “Beirut pulls you in with its beautiful landscapes, its rich history, its ceaseless nightlife, its stunning and enigmatic women…and then when you have let Beirut enter you, when you have let yourself sink into its welcoming earth, it will explode. Beirut will take your blood to feed the constantly spinning cycle of violence, as payment for taking in its riches, or perhaps as punishment for believing that what you had fallen in love with was the reality.”
Our delegation, organized by two incredible Lebanese students at Harvard, Yalda Aoukar and Sara El-Yafi, arrived here the same night as the leaders who were returning triumphantly from Doha. We arrived to see the opposition dismantle its tents and remove the last of the roadblocks, to see life filling the downtown and patrons packing the restaurants, bars and nightclubs. The ugliness and brutality of Beirut was quickly put away as we flew towards the reopened airport. All signs of conflict were hidden like someone stuffing all of the dirty clothes into the closet before his mother bursts in to inspect the room. Forty students from 18 different countries were treated to the beautiful version of Beirut, all the eyesores having been quickly removed and stowed away.
But we were not fooled. We had spent months studying Lebanon’s history, its colonization by the French, its rich history of bloodbaths and political assassinations courtesy of not only internal power struggles, but also the long hand of the Syrians and the Israelis. So as we listened to Samir Geagea talk about the cedars and the mass protests that forced the Syrian’s out, we did not forget that he is also known as one of the most notorious aggressors of the civil war. As Amin Gemayel spoke of national unity and looking forward instead of back, we kept in mind that the Phalange are widely believed to have taken part in the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. As Hizbullah representatives waxed poetic about their valiant resistance against the Israeli occupation and the two massacres at Qa’na, we did not forget about their lightning military occupation of Beirut just two weeks earlier to remind the government who was really in charge. In Damascus, when Bashar Assad spoke to us about a more open, more progressive Syria and his desire for formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon, we did not forget that many journalists sit in Syrian jails today, or that Assad’s father presided over the complete obliteration of Hama.
Every political party we met did their best to show us their dedication to Lebanon and national unity, while subtly reminding us why they were right while the others were wrong. Every group spoke of wanting to move beyond the sectarian identities of the past but at every meeting we came out feeling like they had not yet sipped the kool aid that they had so readily offered to us. Forty Harvard students can create a political public relations windfall for any group, and they all tried to make the best of it with their cameramen, journalists, and best orators ready. And Syria was not to be left out. It seems that the day after our meeting with President Assad, we were on the front page of every newspaper in Damascus.
So yes, we were transported by the wonderful beauty of Beirut and the rest of Lebanon. Yes, we were shocked and star-struck to receive an audience with almost every major leader in the country. But we were not fooled into thinking that the earth beneath our feet was not rich with the blood of the Lebanese, or that anybody we spoke to was just a victim, or that national unity was the only item on everyone’s agenda.
But despite the many different agendas, we wanted to believe that at the end of the day, all of these parties really do desire unity. We want to believe that despite Beirut’s reputation, this beautiful, vibrant city will not once again give way to the tragedies of the past. We want to believe that Doha is the beginning of a long-lasting peace, that national unity will triumph over sectarianism, that Syria, Israel and Lebanon will settle the issue of the Golan Heights and Shebba Farms, that Hezbollah’s recent exchange with Israel signals the start of a process that will lead to a peace between these two historical enemies, that a two state solution will finally be reached to provide the Palestinians a true homeland and to create the foundation needed for stability in the greater middle east.
As the members of my delegation go back to their home countries, I know they will tell the story of these 12 days in Lebanon over and over again. They will not sing praises for any one party, leader, or group, but they will sing praises about the view from Mt. Lebanon, about the incredible hummus, lahma, babaganoush, and desserts of every meal, about the evenings of smoking sheesha in the picturesque downtown, about the compression of so much politics into such a small space. They will sing about the perseverance of the Lebanese people in a place that is sometimes peaceful, sometimes mad, and unwaveringly complex.
They will tell everyone their many stories about Lebanon, and of the hope of the people that this country will finally achieve its potential. They will speak of the need for the world to pay greater attention and for the international community to step up its efforts to help ensure the success of the many simultaneous reconciliation efforts that are currently ongoing. And they will tell people how pretty the country is, that it is a great place to live, to work, and to invest. Everything they say will be true, as long as there is peace.
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