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The Laurels of March
14, 1989
March 14, 2006
On March 14, 1989, the army of the Land of the Cedars, (Lebanon) and its
people fought a War of Liberation against a vile and cowardly occupier
that promoted fear and surrender and, with the help of its inside boys –
Trojan horses and bonded serfs – indecision and subservience. The
Baathist Syrian occupier, under the pretense of brotherhood and with
unparalleled feeble-mindedness and ignorance, thought it could make our
people kneel, rape our land, and uproot our roots and our identity.
That War of March was heroic. It purified the minds and energized the
wills, and uncovered the traitors and their conspiracies. It freed our
Lebanese people from tradition and made them aware of the plot that
targeted them.
That was a rightful war of self-defense that ended with the fall of the
legitimate Transitional Military Government, the exile of its leaders and
the occupation of the free zone. Although it did not, at the time, lead to
the liberation of the land and to the freeing of the decision-making, it
nevertheless proved to the chagrin of the tyrants our legitimate right to
the nation of the forefathers and their sacrifices.
Those of our honorable leaders, our soldier heroes, our men of the cloth
and our lay people who stood up to the occupier, had the honor of trying
and earned the scepter of dignity and pride.
Since 1990, the Lebanese sovereignists in the homeland and the Diaspora
persisted on celebrating every year this pioneering and historic milestone
of dignified struggle, because it represents faith in one’s rights, a
testimony to these rights, and the will to sacrifice everything for them.
It is a milestone whose headline is the rejection of a humiliating fait
accompli, and the steadfastness in confronting the oppressive and dark
forces of evil. A milestone of a noble resistance, a vindication of a
nation deeply-rooted in history, and the preservation of a dignity that
never tolerated humiliation. Indeed, the essence of a salvation of rebirth
and renewal from the ashes of the occupation.
It is a message from the fighters of the Land of the Cedars to the free
world and history, written in the blood of righteous martyrs and valiant
heroes. It declared loud and clear that the vitality of the people of this
land, that was blessed by the Virgin Mary and in whose bosom Jesus-Christ
performed his first miracle, does not and will not die no matter how
numerous and how criminal may the butchers and the tyrants be. They are a
people that were always reborn from the ashes to surge to the skies like
the Phoenix.
This day commemorates a courageous rejection by a great and steadfast
people and a patriotic resistant army. A message to the covetous and
renegade invaders that the Land of the Cedars is stronger than all of them,
no matter how powerful and mighty they may be.
A revolution of justice against tyranny, subservience and enslavement that
changed the hearts and minds and opened the eyes of our young and our
leaders. And here we are today witnessing its repercussions and the
achievement of the liberation of Lebanon and the evacuation of the forces
of occupation from it. A truly distinguished liberation milestone whose
banner was lifted high by the young of Lebanon who continue to this day to
uphold the principles of freedoms and the dignity and rights of every
human being, and of liberation and emancipation.
March 14, 1989 liberated our people from tradition and opened their eyes
to the conspiracy. It strengthened their resolve and attachment to their
liberty and rights. And what is that other March 14, 2005 milestone but
the inevitable and natural outcome of that first step for which the way
was paved by the hands, voices, feet and rifles of young people who
struggled with faith and determination through the long years of the
occupation and the rule of the puppets? It is a commemoration that has
become the property of every Lebanese and a new Independence Day for them
and the nation. Together we liberated the land and evicted the armies of
occupation, and together we have recovered Lebanon for all the Lebanese.
Let the March 14, 1989 memory, whose beacon remains lit in our consciences
as a pledge, an oath, a constitution by which we commit ourselves and for
which we work tirelessly to secure a future we want prosperous for our
children and the nation.
The wealth of this nation on its tiny geographic confines, in spite of the
scarcity of its resources and the small numbers of its people, resides in
its historic depth and in the faith of its citizens, residents and émigrés,
in its eternal existence and its sanctity.
No power, no matter how great, can eliminate our Lebanon, with its
cultural heritage and distinct identity that are seven thousand years old,
or erase that identity or eliminate its cultural mission.
On the commemoration of the heroic March 14, the blood of our civilian and
military heroes cries out to us, they who gave everything on the altar of
the nation so we can live free and independent, in dignity and pride.
The repercussions and incentives of March 14 continue, and they will not
stop until our people are emancipated from fear and indecision.
We say it loud and clear: NO to the new and improved forces of subjugation
that are trying to control our capabilities and our decision-making with
the mentality of the occupier and the mindset of its residues.
A million NO to anyone who is fool enough to think that they can reduce
our history and the uniqueness of our diverse society to impose our
leaders and representatives on us, or fabricate electoral laws customized
to their petty turf and greedy interests.
NO. Lebanon will not be subjugated, and they cannot kill in us the spirits
of Gebran, Zeinoun, Cadmos, Melqart and Hannibal and our thirst for
sovereignty, liberty and independence.
A nation that has begotten men and women who have excelled in every sphere
of life and in every far corner of the world never died and will never
die.
Elias Bejjani
*Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
*Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
*Media Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com |
