Ethnocide: “This term refers to the destruction, annihilation of the culture, civilization, and social identity of an ethnic group or human group, without necessarily intending to physically eliminate the group. This destruction is carried out by another human group, through violence or soft power (soft power), for example, by introducing more or less brutal economic, social, or cultural changes.” (Political Dictionary)
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Our Lebanese society is subjected to the domination of a fundamentalist politico-religious doctrine that does not always openly present itself as such, but which has planned a long-term cultural genocide that its minions have patiently and surreptitiously implemented. Allied with these fanatical fundamentalists are cartels of profiteers and criminals of all kinds and religious affiliations, who slyly display national concerns, claim to defend the Constitution or religious minorities while in reality, their only allegiance is to their own pathogenic narcissism, with their sole concerns being the greedy possession of power and the invention of means to continually draw emoluments from it. We are confronted with the destruction of a civilization that has never known, as much as today, the decay of values indispensable to communal life, which have been maintained as best as possible until now. This ethnocide is planned in such a way that the Lebanese, rendered powerless and docile, become accustomed to the progressive fading of their identity and sociocultural organizations, resigning themselves to adopting a new identity. What is underway is a sort of cultural cloning, a replication of the identical, with the consequences seen in the Middle East, where the imposition of a single model has led to devastating wars, population exodus, massive emigration, demographic shifts, despair of peoples, and the destruction of the original culture.
A culture harbors a set of knowledge, customs, traditions, moral values, and beliefs that are not caged or enclosed. On the contrary, these cultural components have only been able to flourish through their openness to others and have only been enriched through dialogue in the acceptance of difference and diversity. Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss “cannot see how the human race could really live without some internal diversity.”
However, what characterized Lebanese culture, what contributed to its expansion beyond borders, was indeed its openness to both the Arab East and Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the entire world, causing numerous exchanges, expanding boundaries, participating in reflections and debates on contemporary changes, fostering creativity in fields as diverse as art and science. For cultural progress to be achieved, it was necessary to welcome otherness, to draw from it elements that would generate new fertility.
The fanatical ethnocidal agents who do not doubt their direct connection with God, united in the same sinister objective with their minions, have decided, with divine assent, to lead us down opposite paths: towards a culture of hominids governed by the tyrannical father of a horde, monopolizing all power, adherent to an incestuous, if not incestuous, closed, barbaric, and barbed culture, regressive. They aim to establish an era of self-withdrawal, closing off to others, instituting a single line of thought, rejecting difference, only promoting the reproduction of memes. They have resolutely maneuvered to ensure that the living-together built up as best as possible among sociocultural components would crack and explode into mistrustful and hateful tribes. They leave room only for a unique prototype to which every Lebanese must identify, denying them any right to freedom since it can only exist through the right to assert opposition, reflection, or a distinct opinion. Uniformity becomes the rule, the new Law. They leave room only for a single prototype to which every Lebanese must conform, denying them any right to freedom since it can only exist through the right to express dissent, reflection, or distinct opinions. Uniformity becomes the rule, the new Law. There is no longer any place for an alter: this one must be subdued, domesticated, and considered nothing more than waste to be recycled. And if they prove to be defiant, rebellious, or perceived as a threat, their elimination will be carried out without any hesitation, with murder being subject to no prohibition. The Lebanese pound has been a prime target: a symbol of the sovereignty and independence of a nation, it now reflects the image of the country: devalued, fragmented, shattered, reduced to a mere shadow of its former self, becoming the emblem of a failed state, accompanied by other states equally ravaged by corruption and concealment. The goal of impoverishing the vast majority of Lebanese has been quickly achieved: thus, Lebanese people will now concern themselves only with meeting their basic needs. When this is not enough, the kleptocracy resorts to terror: any opposition to their dictates is brutally suppressed so that the Lebanese are left with nothing but fear and submission in the face of a police state serving the perpetrators. Gradually, their successes have spread to all aspects of the economy, also corrupting justice and the law: it is the criminal who is protected, and the victim who is incarcerated. The Lebanese educational system is dying, healthcare and medication are reserved for the privileged, graduates or those on the path to graduation have the opportunity to be welcomed abroad, while the most vulnerable risk their lives and those of their families to try to escape impoverishment and humiliation. Foreign interveners, far more concerned with their personal interests than horrified by the dismemberment of a state and the mafia-like actions, have proposed their recovery plans. Little did they know the cunning and complete amorality of the fanatic puppet masters, who managed to deceive them with smoke and mirrors. Identifying with the aggressor, these messengers have even become their accomplices!
“The only fatal exclusivity, the unique blemish that can afflict a human group and prevent it from fully realizing its nature, is to be alone.” (Claude Lévi-Strauss)
