Lebanese have to become Good Ancestors

Lebanon has witnessed several conflicts in the last decades, caught in a never-ending cycle of wars, both physical and psychological. One of the dramatic consequences was the proliferation of disparate scattered cities and neighborhoods run by warlords, mafia leaders and tribes, manipulated proxies who mastered the art of utilizing their people, and unconventional participants in […]

It is about time to start working for Peace

Shocking as it was and is these news of explosions by suicide bombers in Lebanon, fear creeps into the hearts even of those who live way far outside this country.  The possibility of dying at any minute, in any place, with no possibility of sheltering oneself goes beyond imagination. During war times, with its own […]

We cannot give up!

In the last decades, religious fundamentalism was on the move in several countries, but so were mainstream interfaith dialogue, dynamic encounters among ethnic origins, sexual identities and social classes, and secular ideas/practices/movements. In counterpoint to tidal waves of authoritarianism, terrorism, extremism, exclusivism and absolutism, there were (and still are) individuals and groups of people breaking […]

Pity our Nation ? (II)

I published ‘Pity our Nation?’ in August 2013 and this is the second part… Yesterday’s suicide bombings resulted in one of the many massacres occurring in the land of what was once called ‘The Switzerland of the East’. Another physical and psychological wound… Another brick in the wall of hatred – the Lebanese Wall of Shame… Another […]

La jeunesse libanaise, entre cultures de la guerre et de la paix

Alain Moussallem, Graffiti en direct, USEK – Liban, 12-09-2013 (‘Anti-mentalité de guerre’) Y aurait-il UNE jeunesse libanaise? UNE culture que celle-ci véhiculerait? Les recherches quantitatives et qualitatives que j’entreprends auprès de jeunes universitaires et d’activistes en ligne et-ou dans des ONGs, notamment depuis 2004, révèlent une diversité d’identités, de conceptions et de pratiques. Parmi les […]

Toward Resilient Arab Societies

I was invited more than 10 years ago by an association of psychologists in Montreal (Quebec- Canada) to testify about my experience as a war survivor. The main theme was ‘Resilience’ and my hosts and colleagues defined it as having a positive attitude, optimism, and the ability to change one’s life even after a misfortune. […]

Entre deux rives (Canada et Liban)

Je publie à nouveau ce matin un de mes articles parus dans l’Orient-le-Jour et dans la revue du Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour (2006). A l’époque, nous avions, mon mari et moi, pris la décision de retourner au Liban, pour des raisons tant familiales que ‘nationalistes’. Il faut dire que notre visite lors de l’été 2006 […]

Pity our Nation?

I woke up this morning with those three words in my head “Pity the Nation” while thinking of Lebanon, Lebanese, of our sad situation caught in a never-ending cycle of wars, both physical and psychological. “Pity the Nation” is the title of Robert Fisk’s publication in England (1990) and the US (1991). Strange how the […]