At a time when the country is slipping away from us, we feel the need to return to the foundations of our culture by reconnecting with our monuments, our heritage, our resources and our national glory to regain our territory.
In February 1973 Lebanon became part of the Francophone family. But this date is only symbolic because France and Lebanon are old companions who share common backgrounds through history. We must absolutely dismiss the fact that the French language was imposed by the arrival of the French mandate in Lebanon. In fact, it was introduced with the religious missions and contributed to the bilingual and even trilingual character of the country. French gradually became much more than a language. It became an art of living and expressing oneself, a powerful means of rebellion and protest as well. This evolutionary phenomenon accelerated in 1842.
“The Lebanese have a particular love for the French language, and many speak it with that rare kind of elegance that belongs only to foreigners”. Maurice Barrès, 1914
In February 1963, 965 streets in Beirut were randomly named by officials who sometimes gave them strange names as well as foreign, mainly French, names.
Although a recent decision regarding the removal of Western-sounding Street names was taken deliberately and meticulously, orientalists, military men, poets and other French personalities still feel at home in the city’s neighborhoods. General de Gaulle, for example, would not be prevented from enjoying the beautiful view of the sea, nor would Marshal Foch from living in the heart of the city. But apart from these streets and avenues that recall good old Mother France, what about Trabaud and Georges-Picot streets? Or rue Verdun, a street that bears the name of an entire neighborhood?
While a governmental decree declassified them and changed their names for political reasons, we still go to “Trabaud Street” and “Verdun Street” because of our hearts, our habits and our affinities. Beirut is definitely as rebellious as its inhabitants.
Facing the sea are the dreams and disillusionments of some, the coastline that has seen the arrival of different languages, and the heart of the town that beats to the rhythm of the city. The streets are chic, elegant, and brand new with names like Foch, Weygand or Picot.
Consul General François-Georges-Picot was appointed High Commissioner to Palestine and Syria on April 9, 1917. As a former French consul in Beirut, he participated in the negotiations of 1916. On April 25, 1914, he was appointed Consul General of France in Beirut. With Sir Mark Sykes, he contributed to the delimitation of the French and British control zone in Arab Asia. On May 16, 1916, the Sykes-Picot agreement was signed. He then settled permanently in Beirut in January 1919.
Further on, the district of Saïfi, in the middle of its friendly universities, will present the streets Gouraud, Huvelin, Victor Hugo, and Monot. While Paul Huvelin, a professor at the Faculty of Law in Lyon, wrote a report in 1919 entitled “What is Syria worth? “, the Jesuit Father Ambroise Monnot contributed to the establishment of the University on Huvelin Street. Whether it is a simple administrative error or a simple concern to simplify the name, Monot is spelled today with one or two N’s. Whatever the case, the misspelling of the name is part of our Lebanese way of life. Sorry Father Ambroise but we will not correct this historical error. It reflects our characteristic lightness of getting involved but not deeply, of getting enthusiastic but not lingering, and of paying sincere tribute and then forgetting.
Further west, it is in Ras Beirut that the French seem to have had the most fun. Then, the big names are displayed… The avenue of Paris that makes you want to sing, that of General de Gaulle whose name has been added to a street in the Sin el-Fil sector, then Clemenceau… and of course the women, Madame Curie and Jeanne D’Arc.
Lebret Street is named after Father Louis Lebret (1897-1966), founder of Économie et Humanisme and Irfed (Institute for Research, Training and Harmonized Development). Solicited by the governments of the South (in Lebanon as in Vietnam), he served as a development advisor. His mission will focus on the implementation of a regional planning strategy, a series of administrative reforms and the modernization of public action in Lebanon.
Louis Massignon Street is a symbol of the specialist of the Arab-Muslim world, the one called “the last of the orientalists”. Until his departure in 1962, Massignon never stopped analyzing the relations between the East and the West. His life and visions were atypical, and he was intellectually involved in the battles of the Middle East region. Indeed, Massignon had a major influence on French foreign policy.
Bernadotte Street in Mousseitbé must surely refer to Count Folk Bernadotte, the United Nations mediator in Palestine. On the other hand, the district of Medawar can be proud of housing the most romantic of orientalists, Alphonse de Lamartine. The latter had a very passionate relationship with Lebanon, bordering on mysticism. When he arrived in Beirut on September 6, 1832, he immediately fell in love with the beauty of the landscape. He especially appreciated the Lebanese mountains and exclaimed with admiration: “I had dreamed of Eden; I can say that I have seen it”. He spent seven months in Lebanon in the hope of curing his daughter Julia, who was suffering from tuberculosis. Unfortunately, the 11-year-old girl died and Lamartine was overwhelmed by grief. He recalls his emotions in his famous book “Souvenirs, impressions, pensées et paysages pendant un voyage en Orient”.
Moreover, in Medawar, there is the famous Pasteur Street which needs no introduction. Once in Minet el-Hosn, you will find France Street and France Avenue. Further on, Chateaubriand Street is meant to remind us that after his trip from Paris to Jerusalem, the writer was fascinated by the Orient. He mentions Lebanon several times in his works and particularly the cedars. Chateaubriand even planted a tree in the park of the Vallée-aux-Loups.
On the port, sailors sing to the rhythm of the Marseillaise Street, while in Zokak el-Blatt, a street bears the name of Maurice Barrès, a great friend of Lebanon. In 1914, Mr. Barrès was in charge of an investigation on the Catholic missions in Lebanon. The result was a passionate book on the civilizing mission of France in Lebanon. During his stay, he was charmed by the Lebanese landscapes and legends. Barrès, who said of Lebanon that it was “a country of memories and full of seeds”, tried to retrace Renan’s steps and wrote a novel.
Finally, in Mazraa, Sarloutte Street leads us to Ernest Sarloutte, who died in Bhannes in 1944. He spent his entire priesthood at the college of Antoura. In 1911, he became the superior of the school for more than 33 years. He dedicated his entire life to his function as an educator, a task he pursued with love and humanism. On May 28, 1950, a monument to his memory was built.
All these streets that are still standing today remind us of what Léopold Sédar Senghor once said: “La francophonie is a culture that expresses a set of human values common to all French-speaking peoples”.