In order to better subject them to the tutelage of the Mullah Republic, Hizbullah has been working for more than three decades to remove the Lebanese Shiites from their libanity and to strip them of their own identity. The resources invested in various fields were colossal, and perhaps a priority in education. The Lebanese State, by closing its eyes, out of negligence and cowardice, became an accomplice in this duly planned and progressive control.
The ancestral history of the Lebanese Shiites, despite or because of the trials, the abuses they have suffered throughout the centuries, especially under the Ottoman Empire, is a history woven out of necessity in the alchemy of living together and in the culture of tolerance. The land of the South was a land of persecuted minorities, shared with Christians.
The attachment of each other to the mother earth was existential to them.Two communities kept on the margins, far from the archanes of power and the political, economic and cultural effervescence of the capital.
Two communities under the guise of political feudalities, which only manifested themselves every four years in the parliamentary elections in order to have the candidatures of their foals, offspring or forced into the seats of deputies validated without delay or consultation. The only democratic consultation for which the people of the South were mobilizing, where they felt they were counting, was that of the municipalities. It should be noted that the first visit to the South of a Lebanese President was that of Suleimane Frangié. He accompanied Gaddafi who had expressed his wish to return!
Although left behind, the Shiites of the South developed a real cultural resistance until the so-called civil war in 1975. They have succeeded individually and collectively in promoting their specificities in various areas: Their improvised poetic games of the Zajal moved crowds of enthusiasts from all over the country. The dance of their Dabke was known for its own pace. Their culinary specialties were popular, sfihas, kebbe, peasant salads, rounded saj bread … Lebanese music was inspired by the rich repertoire of their serenades.
The daily life in the South was the beauty of the tiny, colorful fucks on the heads of the young girls, the mix of noisy evenings, the yous of weddings, the joyous feasts of the sacred, the melodious call to prayer, the radiant beauty of women and the cheerfulness of teenagers, the nocturnal and festive harvests of tobacco, the teasing of love in the moonlight… And especially the duty to educate, educate, educate children. The faith of the Shiites of the South commanded them to celebrate Mary’s life and on August 15th.The Shiites of the South were ignorant of the Iranian clergy and Iran. It was the South, it was before the black curtain fell!
Mona Makki
Director and producer of the television magazine Espace francophone
