Commencement Address Translation

PAGE FOUR

THE LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER ADD EXERC English translation by Professor Suheil Bushrui of the address delivered in Arabic by H.E. the Lebanese Prime Minister, Dr. Salim AI¡Hoss at AUB's 110th Commencement Exercises, Monday, 25 June, 1979.

Ladies and gentlemen, It gives me both pleasure and pride to be here today at this institution of higher learning, where I spent some of the most happy and profitable days of my life, first as student and later as professor. To this University I truly owe a debt I can never forget.

For more than a century the contribution to learning of the American University of Beirut has surpassed that of many comparable institutions in the world. It has always been a forum for free and creative thought and a centre for cultural interchange between East and West. In its character and purpose, and in its activities - cultural in their broadest sense _. it is truly international. It has participated in development projectS in various fields not just in Lebanon, but also throughout the Middle East and the Arab World at large.

I should have liked to address you at length on the academic significance of this occasion to the students, to the University and to our society. But we are not in normal times; and in view of the bitter experiences of the war we have all endured, I find myself impelled to speak of the lessons afforded by this national ordeal. My hope in doing this is that those young people who are now on the point of entering a new phase of life, of moving from the world of learning to the wider world of earning a living by their own toil, and in some cases of assuming positions of leadership - my hope is that they will find in these lessons material for reflection, and hope for a better future.

On speec.h-making occasions such as this, .we have grown used to hearing elegies on Lebanon, lamenting the ruin to which she has been reduced, and nostalgically remembering the beauty, peace, prosperity and freedom which were once hers. Now, peace has turned into war, beauty into devastation, prosperity into stagnation, and freedom into chaos and lawlessness. When we ask ourselves what could be the cause of such a reversal in our fortunes, the only explanation that comes to hand is that a conspiracy was at work, moved by the devilish fingers of an unknown and inscrutable master.

Lebanon may indeed have been the victim of a conspiracy. But what conspiracy could'compass a war which has so far lasted intermittently for four years without a conclusive result? What conspiracy could have accounted for tens of thousands of dead and wounded, and hundreds of thousands of homeless and destitute, and after four years still be menacing with violent death the innocent and peaceful everywhere. What conspiracy could have lasted these long years without its threads being unravelled, or its goals being exposed. There are those who say that the conspiracy had as its object the annexation of the South, rich in land and water resources; others talk of a plot to bring about the partition of Lebanon, and thereafter of the Arab World; others again maintain that lebanon has simply paid the price for her previous success as a country consecrated to serving this region, a country that was great though small, rich though limited in its resources. Much else besides has been asserted on the subject.

A conspiracy of this order, which has inflicted upon Lebanon such untold losses and has dragged on so interminably with no decisive outcome is indeed a conspiracy that has failed; and if there were a conspiracy at all, then Lebanon was not the victim of its success, rather the victim of its failure.

Whatever be the truth of the matter, we should not cajole ourselves into believing that the conspiracy was the sole cause of the crisis, and be blinded by it to the existence of other factors. If we were to do this, we would deserve the accusation of those who say that the Lebanese crisis has produced many lessons, but it has failed to produce those who can heed them. Let us then pause a while and give a little thought to our affairs. In the days when we were at the apogee of our fortunes we were not superior to others, any more than today, in our decline, we are more abject than others. Yesterday, the intoxication of success prevented us from perceiving our shortcomings and from foreseeing the pitfalls that were lying in wait for us; today, the humiliation of our decline should not similarly prevent us from seeing those virtues that are ours and from striving to regain our health and well-being.

On a previous occasion I stated that, were I asked to put in a sentence the causes of the Lebanese crisis, I would say that it was mainly due to the fact that during the thirty years and more since Independence we have not succeeded in creating a strong and benevolent State on the one hand, nor on the other hand in rearing the good citizen.

Lebanon was never a State which had the interests of her citizens truly at heart, nor did she pr9vide them with the security, stability, growth, and social

justice to which they were entitled. Government administration was developed according to a policy of laissez-Jaire, of turning a blind eye; there was no central scheme for regional development, no 'determined tackling of social problems, no effort to improve the running of the natiofl"al economy.

The day-to-day running of the administration did much to increase the hostility of the citizen to the State: corruption ana delay in the handling of transactions, rudeness on the part of the official when dealing with the citizen - these were the order of the day, and the citizen came quite understandably to regard the State as his adversary. The attitude showed itself clearly in all his contacts with the State: he evaded paying taxes, sought out loopholes in the law, defied all rules and regulations, tampered with due administrative process, and in many cases indulged a kind of blind passion for political opposition.

No State can endure as long as it is neither powerful nor just. At the time when the Lebanese people's need for their State was most pressing, and when the State had been rendered all but impotent, a part of the population were suffering from a complex of fear, fear for their existence and future, while another part were prey to a complex of distrust, a feeling that they were not being given a fair deal either politically, socially or economically. Had the State been powerful, the complex of fear could not have developed; nor, had the State been just, could the complex of distrust have taken root.

The qualities of good citizenship - unflinching loyalty to one's country, responsible behavior towards the society in which one lives - these were often sadly lacking in the Lebanese people. The loyalty which the Lebanese citizen had to his denomination, his leader, his tribe, or his region, superseded his loyalty to his country and homeland. His actions were always dictated by a rabid individualism, and he regarded the State in all his dealings with itnot as a protector but as a foe. Instead of working to strengthen the State and establish its authority, he strove to undermine it and outmanoeuvre it in ever more devious ways.

The two entities, citizens and State, are of course inextricably bound up with each other. It is hard to imagine how a smoothly-running and correctlyfunctioning State could be built by any other than the most responsible and civic-minded citizens, or, conversely, how there could be any hope of a corrupt and malfunctioning State producing such exemplary citizens. Does this then mean that Lebanon is caught up in aivicious circle from which there no viable State in the absence of good citizens, no good is no release citizens under a corrupt State? I do not think this is the case. I believe that Lebanon's vicious circle could have been broken by the operation of a third factor, namely the occurrence of sweeping and transforming change either at the political level or at the grass-roots level. In the first case the circle could have been broken by enlightened leadership capable of transcending the realities of the prevailing situation; in the second, by a spontaneous movement on the part of the people to unite in a common will. The motive forces behind these two processes - the one political in origin, the other popular - are, a's it were, those of traction and propulsion respectively. Needless to say neither of these processes occurred, nor were there really any grounds for expecting that they should, given the system of government in Lebanon. Perhaps it would be asking too much of any system in any country to expect such changes to occur.

Revolutionary changes are frequently brought about not from within the system, but by its infraction.

At this point let us pause to ask whether the disturbances and upheavals may not have created the change in public opinion needed for the vicious circle to be broken? Shaken to the core, the Lebanese people have been forced to confront their bitter reality, and have been goaded to rebel against it with a new determination to change and reform. In the midst of grave anxieties

This year's 904 graduating students are distributed as follows:

549

BBA, BA, BS, MBA, MA, MS, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Ar1S and Sciences.

27

MA

92

BS, MS from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.

141

B. Arch, BE, ME, Master of Urban Planning from the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.

36

BS in Nursing and Public Health, MPH from the Faculty of Health Sciences.

59

MS, MD and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Medicine.

from the Division Extension Programs.

a f Education and

PAGE

FIVE

~ESSES AUB's 110TH COMMENCEMENT

:ISES reconstruction of Lebanon must therefore depend on people who are citizens, and not individuals.

The well-being of our country derives from the well-being of the citizen 1~~ a healthy sense of citizenship. There can be no substitute for the good

CItIzen as a shield and protector of the homeland. Before the war it was not uncommon to hear the view that Lebanon's strength lay in her weakness. This vi~:v was ~ased on the theory that if Lebanon shied away from acquiring mIlItary mIght, she would gi ve an impression of peaceableness and in turn consolidate her friendships with other countries throughout the world, from who.m she could then receive the necessary force to defend herself against foreIgn threats, The war effectively put an end to this \vav of seein(! things, We have learnt from experience that weakness can never replace str'cngth'or be a source of strength, and that the invincibility of a country accrues not so much from military might as from the solidari;v and cohesion of the home front, Among the lessons learnt from the Leba~ese crisis is that friendships between nations are limited by their interests: where a friendship collides with self-interest, from that friendship nothing will be forthco;ning but the perfunctory expression of sympathy.

about the future there has asserted itself a new-born spirit of loyalty and support for national entity, State sovereignty, and the rule of law.

Here lies the great test; or rather the golden opportunity: can the.

Lebanese people learn from their ordeal and construct a country which all feel to be their homeland. Will they be able to use that new determination and that new spirit to overcome all the negative forces that controlled Lebanon forces that are still struggling for survival on the Lebanese scene? Will they succeed in mobilizing that strong determination and that powerfu¡l spirit to achieve change on two fronts: rearing the good citizen and constructing a strong and benevolent State? The test lies in the translation of that determination and that spirit into an overall national entente.

Until this entente is brought about, the Lebanese people will continue to have not one, but two mutually incompatible wills, each cancelling out and nullifying the other; until this entente is brought about, they will continue to have not one, but two conflicting causes, each clashing with and thwarting the other. If there were a conspiracy, it could have found no more ideal a setting than this divided Lebanon.

We do not wish entente to be a mere formula for coeixstence, as was the case with the formula worked out in 1943, a return to which is still being suggested by many as the desired solution. Rather we wish it to be a formula for a life fully shared by all. The difference between "coexistence", and "a life fully shared by all" - if I may explain myself by an analogy - is rather like the difference between the loose association of a number of trees growing in an orchard, and the close affiliation of the boughs and branches of anyone of those trees. We wish to be like the boughs and branches of one tree.

In the midst of the wave of nostalgia for the golden days of a secure, peaceful Lebanon, beautiful and brimming with life, we often hear the call for a return to the pre-war formula of Lebanon. All of us would naturally welcome a return to that dearly-cherished image of Lebanon, but who of us would support a return to the situation obtaining before the conflict, with all its shortcomings? A return to such a situation would mean no more than a return to the possibilities of explosion, and that the situation was explosive at that time has been amply demonstrated by subsequent events.

Despite their longing for the golden past, the Lebanese people nevertheless yearn to put their house in order, and better their lot. And if a solution is not easily to be arrived at today, let this desire for betterment be the first step forward on the road leading to a solution. Mere slogans in the guise of formulae are no longer sufficient. Experience has taught us their falsity through the various formulae of government tried in Lebanon - the 1943 formula of Independence supported by all the Lebanese; the 1958 formula which emerged from the crisis of that year; and other formulae which helped us to transcend various major and minor crises. Slogans too often hide differences without remedying them, shelve them without settling them. It has been said - not without a certain asperity - that the formula for coexistence as lived in Lebanon ended up as little more than a fa<;ade which concealed all manner of duplicity and hypocrisy.

Once, when I was feeling very despondent, seeing so many Lebanese people leave their homeland for other regions in search of security and livelihood, and seeing their remarkable ability to succeed and prosper wherever they set foot, I said that though I had fears for Lebanon, I had none for the Lebanese. In a moment of even greater despondency, seeing'1:he Lebanese destroy their country with their own hands, forcing their countrymen to forsake it in search of survival and livelihood elsewhere, I said that I feared for Lebanon on account of the Lebanese! It is a striking fact that the Lebanese people have failed as citizens and as responsible members of society in the same measure as they have succeeded as free individuals. The

It has been Lebanon's experience, in common with many small nations, that the law of the jungle is still at least partially the operative force in the world of international affairs. Might is right, or so it would appear; and the only language which nations heed and understand is that of brute force and flagrant blackmail. Our valiant and steadfast South provides us with the clearest proof of this reality. Here we see how Lebanon's unequivocal right, which has the backing of the highest international authority (the U.N.), pales before the oppressive and tyrannical power enjoyed by Israel. The Lebanese people are incredulous that, at a time when the South is prey to repeated aggressions, there are powers in the world which vociferously support what is just and right, but are powerless to champion Lebanon in a cause which is so obviously just and right.

The lesson we should derive from this state of affairs is surely that strength and authority should come from within, or not at all: neither should they be, paradoxically, the result of (internal) weakness; nor should they be dependent on external ties. Since Lebanon is a small country with limited resources, she is not in a position to found her authority on the power of arms. She has no choice then but to found it on a unity of national purpose and the unflinching loyalty of her citizens. Were it not for the existence of breaches on the home front, foreign influence and instigation would fail in their purpose of sowing dissension and fomenting unrest in our country.

When we use such terms as Hcitizenship" and" citizens" in the Lebanese context, we do not mean that the individual citizen should belong to a closed and inward-looking society, but to a society which interacts with its Arab environment, and beyond that with the world at large. Let us not forget the words of the poet Ahmad Shawqi: HAll we Easterners are partners in tribulation." Lebanon's predicament has always been and will remain part of the predicament of the Arab World.

No one can reasonably doubt that, without the help of the Arab World, Lebanon could ever have achieved the level of affluence and prosperity that she did during the long years preceding the war. Lebanon played a role in the swift development which the Arab World underwent in the wake of the oil boom, and benefited substantially from it. Furthermore she profited considerably from the succession of military and political upheavals in a number of Arab countries - a crisis here, a coup d'etat there, a war somewhere else - which released a flood of money and human skill towards Lebanon, where refuge and hospitality were never lacking. Experience has now ta1,lght us that profit cannot last when it is at the expense of others, especially when we ourselves are counted among those others. The Lebanese crisis has exploded the theory which maintained that Lebanon could draw benefit from the Arab World whether or not it was stable, and that she could reap the fruits of its prosperity and calamity alike. If Lebanon has now come to this realizatIon, having paid a heavy price for the lesson, our Arab brethren must for their part realize that life in their countries cannot remain unaffected by the fluctuations of Lebanon's fortunes between sickness and health, prosperity and catastrophe.

To you, the young men and women who are graduating today, I have addressed these thoughts and impressions so that you can join with me in pondering over them, now that you are about to face life and its challenges, fortified with the learning, knowledge and culture that you have gained here. I gaze at your faces and see them glowing with assurance, aspiration and hope.

May God confirm you in your endeavours and render you successful. I hope that you will always act as responsible and enlightened citizens, and be of benefit to your society. May you receive sustenance from your University and be guided by it along the straight path.

May God's

Blessing~

go with you.