The Martyrs' statue, located in the square with the same name, in Beirut, in October 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
How does one pass on the lessons of a conflict to a generation that did not live through it when, in the absence of political consensus, no school textbook mentions those 15 years during which a country’s fate was upended? How can one unpack its many mechanisms, facets and consequences if, half a century after that fateful April 13, academic perspectives still cannot fill the gaps in collective memory? And even if those conditions were to be met, would that be enough to exorcise its demons? Or even reconcile the various narratives and build a national identity?Having spent decades dissecting the archives and events that defined this conflict and sharing that knowledge through his teaching at the Lebanese American University and the American University of Beirut, as well as through seminal works, including A History of Modern Lebanon...
How does one pass on the lessons of a conflict to a generation that did not live through it when, in the absence of political consensus, no school textbook mentions those 15 years during which a country’s fate was upended? How can one unpack its many mechanisms, facets and consequences if, half a century after that fateful April 13, academic perspectives still cannot fill the gaps in collective memory? And even if those conditions were to be met, would that be enough to exorcise its demons? Or even reconcile the various narratives and build a national identity?Having spent decades dissecting the archives and events that defined this conflict and sharing that knowledge through his teaching at the Lebanese American University and the American University of Beirut, as well as through seminal works, including A History of Modern Lebanon...