As we watch the horror of serial assassinations carried out in Lebanon, we strive to learn and keep the lamenting to a minimum. The perpetrators cannot dream of winning this mafia-style war against a nation and its struggle to rise from the ashes of occupation and bondage.
Lebanon, being the country that it is, never fails to surprise and stun. The latest victim of such atrocities is George Hawi, the head of the Communist Party of Lebanon. For all we know, he has been a devoted communist for decades and kept on championing the ‘cause’ even after the demise of the Soviet Union. That is his right and no one disputes it.
Now that he is dead, he is being called a martyr. Hawi is a Greek Orthodox Christian by birth and a communist by conviction. The term martyr is, by definition, one that assumes the presence of God. Being a communist, Hawi would cringe at such an appellation. Others might say that he is a ‘martyr’ for the ‘Cause.’ Fine, but not many people around here would see it that way. Of course, there was a full funeral at the Greek Orthodox Church for him.
It is a point to reflect on: Arabs would take something as atheist and godless as communism and give a godly face; Much as they take American capitalism and try to give it an Islamic face. The interaction between ideas and civilizations is something very positive. But it has to be admitted and not covered up.
I cannot fly American planes to ferry pilgrims to and from Makkah, and then call America the Great Satan. If we are to use theological terms in politics (a thoroughly nasty and bad idea) there was no greater self-declared Satan than the Soviet Union and its Marxist ideology. Not a single Islamic nation called them that even after they invaded Afghanistan — an erstwhile Islamic country.
The Arab world is the sum of contradictions that has yet to distill itself into a vial of logical and/or normative syrup. A communist being buried in an Orthodox church is just one simple example.
On a grander scale, you get theologians who practice politics and politicians who are closet theologians. This is almost a universal phenomenon. But in our world, it is official.
The Catholic Church was the first beneficiary of giving up politics officially and stopped having standing armies. Now the Pope, as a position, is revered, respected, and in many ways more influential. From his window, he commands billions without raising anything more threatening than a wooden cross.
We simply need space to thrive. We need to reflect on our words, to measure our approach, to grant ourselves the luxury of thought. We fear our inner thoughts lest they make our paper tigers crumble. Well, the first step is to understand that others know that our tigers are nothing but paper. Shouldn’t we, at least, acknowledge as much?
