08/26/2024 - 17:06 PM
By Edmond El-Chidiac
( Written On the anniversary of the election of the martyred President, Sheikh Bashir Gemayel, as President of the Lebanese Republic.)
To enter the sacred space of speaking about Bashir is like standing before the burning bush or trying to measure the limits of imagination. How can a pen and paper capture the dream that echoed in our consciences, the fervor that blazed in our veins, the pure spirit of resistance that penetrated our ribs, and the sprout of national politics that grew in our Lebanon, a land that had long been barren before Bashir Gemayel?
We now feel more than ever the void that Bashir left in the life of each one of us, and even more so the void he left at the national level as a whole. We also feel more than ever the importance of what Bashir Gemayel used to say, dream about, and strive to achieve. He wanted a homeland as vast as the dream, so he made the dream into agendas, plans for execution, and achievements.
The greatest achievement of Bashir Gemayel is that he showed us the path paved with the blood of thousands of martyrs before us. He taught us how to hold our heads high and look at the cause as a beacon, so we don't get lost in the dark labyrinths of this East, from which the stench of global politics emanates. And greater than all this is that he vaccinated us against all the diseases that arise from that stench. He vaccinated us with his words, his deeds, and with the greatest antidote, his martyrdom. He vaccinated us against subservience, except to our cause and our homeland.
He vaccinated us against slavery, subjugation, and kissing the boots of colonizers. He vaccinated us against accepting a homeland as a farm and a president who does not represent the will of the people, the people alone.
Before his election, he had set the standards for a president who deserves to lead a country like Lebanon, the qualities of a man who can be entrusted with the 10,452 square kilometers and the 6,000 years of civilization. He said, "We want a president who establishes a harmonious relationship between the senses of the nation, a man of vision whose national dream reaches the level of a vision, not someone with a political lust that does not exceed the boundaries of governance. We want a president who has stood, even once, before the grave of a martyr. We want a president who uses the verbs of anger, the tools of warning, the letters of rejection, and the nouns of determination, someone who comes to dismantle, not to continue, someone who moves Lebanon from a state of coexistence with the crisis and solutions projects to a state of escaping the crisis and imposing solutions."
After August 23, 1982, Bashir spent 22 days as an elected president, during which he drew the lines of the new Lebanon, the Lebanon that "will no longer be a mere stepping stone, nor a low wall, but will be a state in every sense of the word, capable of protecting itself, its interests, its existence, and the security of its citizens and their properties. We will not be subservient to anyone, nor will we accept anyone as a guardian over us, not even over a single inch of Lebanese land. The area of Lebanon is 10,452 square kilometers, and it will remain so."
He believed that a free and sovereign Lebanon could not exist with foreign armies on its soil, and that the presence of these armies or any auxiliary army undermines any role of the Lebanese army and destroys freedom and democracy. He said, as if his words were a prophecy of our current situation, "But where are the Lebanese who can elect a strong man with 30,000 Syrian soldiers, thousands of intelligence agents, and 600,000 Palestinians present? The withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon is a necessity and a condition for conducting fair presidential elections."
Bashir was realistic on the ground as much as he was a man of great dreams. He believed that occupations can only be uprooted from the soil of the homeland by the hands, sacrifices, and blood of the homeland's sons themselves. Sovereignty must be seized, not begged for at the doors of great powers. He said, "We have become responsible for ourselves, for our destiny, for our nation, for everything that happens to us in terms of liberation and sovereignty, and for all the lands that will return to being Lebanese. We are not waiting for anyone's help, and we do not need anyone to die for us. Liberation must either be the result of our work, our sacrifices, and our martyrs, or we are a people unworthy of life and freedom."
Bashir, who launched the slogan of the 10,452 square kilometers, had absolute faith in the uniqueness of Lebanon, which, though limited in size, is a giant of civilization, universal in thought, self-contained, with roots in eternity and branches in infinity. He also had absolute faith in the uniqueness of the Lebanese people, believing that the people of Lebanon are still the only ones in this East who have their history present and their mission evident, with their distinctiveness being an undeniable fact. They look to the future in the light of their original, unique heritage, which has the resilience to protect it against the dangers of disappearance that the occupiers and coverers wish for it. He expressed this faith by saying, "The Lebanese cling to their unique existence in this geographical environment. They are like an oil drop that maintains its size, color, shape, identity, and purity, even if it mixes with any other body, no matter the size and type of that body, and remains at the top of all bodies, no matter how small it is, and no matter how large and expansive the other bodies are. History is also full of examples of peoples who rejected occupation, resisted it, and prevented it from being more than just the occupation of land and spaces without extending to the mind, heart, and soul."
With Bashir's thought, many things ended, and many new things were born.
– The saying "Lebanon's strength lies in its weakness" ended, and the theory of Lebanon's strength lies in the hands of its people, in its un-diminished sovereignty, and in a strong national army, both militarily and ideologically, was born.
– The politics of deception, mercantilism, lies, and concessions, and the idea of Lebanon as a farm ended, and the faith in Lebanon as a country, Lebanon of purity, truth, and the triumph of civilization even unto martyrdom, was born.
– The theory of tailoring the cause to fit the leader and his ambitions ended, and the theory of selecting a leader to fit the cause and the nation was born.
– The saying that Lebanon is composed of Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc., ended, and a firm belief was born that Lebanon is composed of Lebanese brothers in Lebanon, no matter their sect, as long as they believe in Lebanon the proud, sovereign, free, and independent, with no diminished sovereignty, absorbing all civilizations, rejecting any foreign army, whatever its name may be.
Bashir Gemayel was the alarm that awakened the great Lebanese spirit, which had been in deep sleep since the time of Fakhreddine. He was a candle that burned on the altar of Lebanon to light our way. A candle, even if it burned out prematurely, it was born shining brightly and eternally in the heart of every loyal Lebanese, faithful to the promise.
And we end with a word from Bashir of the 10,452 square kilometers, which does the topic justice when he said, "The attempt on my life, whether it succeeds or fails, will not affect the cause of Lebanon. The cause of Lebanon remains as long as there is an occupier, a settler, feudalism, repression, and oppression. Many pioneers of this cause have died, some in bed and some on the battlefield, but the cause continued to grow and expand in conscience, land, and the world. Every persecution of its ideas and pioneers deepens it in the conscience. I am with you in times of peace as in times of war. As for life, it is in God's hands..." (His Excellency President Sheikh Bashir Gemayel – March 27, 1979).
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