From
Madrid to
Marjeyoun, for
Juan Antonio and
Dunia: Juan
Antonio Serrano
Álvarez, who
completed his
UNIFIL mission
on February,
came back to
marry Dunia
Atallah on
Sunday July 22,
the religious
ceremony being
held at the
Greek Catholic
Church of
Marjeyoun. The
happy couple
shall go to
settle in
Spain
on August 4
|
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The
image of the Celle-Saint-Cloud
meeting, held in France
on July 14 to 16, was
breathtaking for the abundance
of the non-uttered being
nevertheless perfectly staged
and supremely interpreted, just
like in a Greek tragedy. If this
inter-Lebanese retreat yielded
some result, it was that of
revealing a large group of
presumptions whose media echo
allows a double reading. We can
consider these encounters either
as a tragic moment, or as
manifestation of this parameter
so underdeveloped that we call
«humanitarian». It is
legitimate to establish a
parallelism between the current
impasse, but so painful to
Lebanon , and the tragic moment
whose heroic figures populate
our memory. Gilgamesh, Œdipus,
Phaedra, Didon, and Medea are,
just like Lebanon , pathetic
heroes in their inability facing
a ruthless destiny. Nothing
better illustrates the suicidal
impasse of Lebanon
than the Medea of Euripides, six
times deadly and twice child
murderer. Medea, who killed her
own children, is undoubtedly the
most deplorable but the most
confusing of the female heroes.
The more we approach her
monstrosity, the more this woman
becomes full of mystery,
seduction and humanity, notably
when she exclaims: «I
understand that I committed evil,
but my mood is stronger than my
will». The cry of Medea is that
of Lebanon
where some of its political
forces, blind and suicidal, are
convinced that the mood of their
entrails is greater than the
will of reason.
On
the spot, the war announced for
the month of July did not take
place, the rumors giving way to
a regain of confidence yielding
the arrival to Beirut
International
Airport
of thousands of Lebanese
residing overseas and loyal Arab
vacationers to Lebanon. The
Byblos festival started on
Saturday July 28 with pomposity
in the Phoenician city eight
times millenary with the French
group Nouvelle Vague, and it
shall host on August 2 & 3
the charming Italian singer
Alessandro Safina and his
orchestra. The battle of Nahr
el-Bared, initiated two months
ago, is about to be won by the
Lebanese Army, advancing
building after building in a
mined surface area causing every
week the death of ten soldiers.
The French Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, made
a rapid visit on Sunday July 29
to
Beirut , where he received in
company of Ambassador Bernard
Emié the main leaders of the
country, one week before the
electoral battle in Metn. He met
in the evening before leaving
his Spanish counterpart, Miguel
Angel Moratinos, who traveled to
South Lebanon on the next day,
where a happy event took place
following the tragic attack of
June 24 against the Spanish
UNIFIL contingent: Juan Antonio
Serrano Álvarez, who served in
that contingent until February,
came back to the country to
marry the beautiful Dunia
Atallah, on Sunday July 22, at
the Greek Catholic St. Peter
Church in Marjeyoun. The happy
couple shall go to settle in the
region of Granada
in Spain
on August 4.
The
cry of Medea
by
ANTOINE COURBAN - full text
The
image of the Celle-Saint-Cloud
meeting, held in
France
on July 14 to 16, was
breathtaking for the abundance
of the non-uttered being
nevertheless perfectly staged
and supremely interpreted, just
like in a Greek tragedy. If this
inter-Lebanese retreat yielded
some result, it was that of
revealing a large group of
presumptions whose media echo
allows a double reading. We can
consider these encounters either
as a tragic moment, or as
manifestation of this parameter
so underdeveloped that we call
« humanitarian ». It is
legitimate to establish a
parallelism between the current
impasse, but so painful to
Lebanon
, and the tragic moment whose
heroic figures populate our
memory. Gilgamesh, Œdipe,
Phedra, Didon, Medea are, just
like
Lebanon
, pathetic heroes in their
inability facing a ruthless
destiny.
Often,
just like Phaedra or Didon, they
go on up to the extreme of
absurdity in their situation by
committing suicide and « die
singing just like divine swans»
(Sully Prud'homme). The week-end
of the Celle-Saint-Cloud was the
occasion for a show that
Euripides, Aeschylus or
Sophocles would not have denied.
In the dance hall of the castle,
all the actors of a Greek
tragedy were present. First the
public, represented by the
French friends, the mass media
of the planet as well as the
Lebanese attentively standing
before their TV sets. Afterwards,
the chorus in the form of these
unusual participants, members of
the enigmatic « civil society
» whose status is even more
mysterious. And finally, the
heroes represented by the second
political knives of the forces
denominated political, but some
of which are true predators of
the «city».
Divided somehow against itself,
the tragic game strictly takes
place on two separate planes. On
scene, the drama role players,
the victim-heroes of the process,
always more or less strangers,
alienated to the ordinary
condition of citizen. In front,
dancing and chanting, the chorus
constituted by a group of
ordinary citizens whose
sentiments would interpret a
common wisdom stemming from the
depth of ages. The members of
the enigmatic Lebanese civil
society, participating at the
Celle-Saint-Cloud, perfectly
comply with such definition. As
for the main hero,
Lebanon
, he displayed absurdity in his
endless passion, his grinded
meat and his great pain which,
during a week-end at the castle,
became a pathetic show instead
of remaining silent. The hero is
updated during the tragic
moment, he is rendered present
and near, he is questioned
before the public. He
is «itemized» because he
simply became a problem. Therefore,
on scene, the hero ceases to be
solely the prey of a predator,
thus becoming a stranger himself.
He
is now problematic.
At the Celle-Saint-Cloud, we
witnessed how the tragedy
updated the hero (
Lebanon
) and placed him on status, at
the crossroads of decisions
determining his destiny. However,
this does not convert the tragic
hero into an autonomous and
responsible being. Oddly enough,
he is always depicted as a
disconcerting and
incomprehensible being, guilty
and innocent at the same time,
lucid and blind. By the game of
shifting characterizing all the
drama, the same question is
always asked: what is the
relationship of the hero and his
acts? Even planned and
delicately matured, these same
acts do not have their origin
beyond the entity of the tragic
hero? His
profound sense does not remain
opaque and veiled? At
the same time agent and actor,
the hero finally realizes «who»
is he at the outcome of the
drama. Then it is revealed to
him the fatidic nature of his
proper acts, which he
accomplished without knowledge
nor will.
In the process of disintegration
and self-misappropriation, the
tragic hero goes forward as an
«alienated, posseded by an
external force which at times
proceeds by an insidious cover
and at other times takes hold of
its prey by violent rapture»
(Jean Salem). This is how
Lebanon
is at present. He has no proper
available space: a space for
representation, communication,
and decision-making. At the
utmost, he can choose to run
like Gilgamesh or go on to the
end face to face with destiny.
This face-to-face confrontation
led Didon to commit suicide, the
ultimate and grand expression of
failure.
At the Celle-Saint-Cloud, the
entire planet noticed the
impasse of
Lebanon
. He is the vicitm of a destiny
that surpasses him and against
which he is unable to oppose a
«historical» space, that of
the «city», a space at the
measure of free man and which
was perfectly illustrated on
March 14, 2005. The political
will did not follow that of the
people as some Lebanese
political exalt, without
knowledge and unintentionally,
destruction and death in the
name of the comprehensive and
totalitarian absolutism of their
idealism.
Nothing
better illustrates the suicidal
impasse of
Lebanon
than the Medea of Euripides, six
times deadly and twice child
murderer. Medea, who killed her
own children, is undoubtedly the
most deplorable but the most
confusing of the female heroes.
The more we approach her
monstrosity, the more this woman
becomes full of mystery,
seduction and humanity, notably
when she exclaims: «I
understand that I committed evil,
but my mood is stronger than my
will».
The
cry of Medea is that of
Lebanon
where some of its political
forces, blind and suicidal, are
convinced that the mood of their
entrails is greater than the
will of reason.
The
fifth ascension to
Mount Hermon
shall begin on August 5
On
occasion of the Transfiguration
festivity (on August 6), the
municipal council of Rachaya
organizes the fifth ascension to
Mount Hermon
which shall begin on
August 5 at 10 o’clock.
The pilgrims shall establish a
camp at 2.400m
altitude, where they shall spend
the night. The ascension shall
be concluded with an open air
church service to be held on
Monday, August 6 in the morning
by a representative of Mgr Élias
Kfouri, Greek Orthodox bishop of
Marjeyoun. The objective of this
march is to emphasize the
touristic and historical
importance of this site of
singular beauty being that of
the Transfiguration Mount.
Registration for this march
shall take place on Wednesday
August 1. For further
information, kindly contact us
at the following numbers:
+961.3.615702, +961.3.744834,
+961.3.919007.
www.cedar-travel.com
On
the Nahr el-Bared front
The
Lebanese Army lost on July 22
three soldiers:
– Capitain Tony Khalil Semaan
(36 years old), born in Ablah
(district of Zahlé), he was
married and father of a child.
He enlisted at the military
academy in 1993. He was buried
in his hometown.
– Adjutant-chief Ahmad
Mohammad Farhat (39 years old),
born in Mazraa (
Beirut
). He was married and father of
three children. He enlisted in
the Army in 1985. He was buried
in the town of
Sohmor
(West-Bekaa).
– Sergeant Ahmad Khaled Mehrez,
who was buried in his hometown
of Hrar (Akkar), in presence of
the family, relatives and
friends, companions and a
representative of the Army
command.
Well
deserved pause for the
Lebanese soldiers at the
Nahr el-Bared front
Greek
Roman columns overlooking
the sea at the ruins of the
city of
Tyre
. Photo
taken on 17 July 2007.
Naji Farah
