King's College London
The Idea of Lebanon
Rights, Violent Caesuras, and Sequels of Injury
The present in Lebanon retains the imprint of a past which is not yet past, but rather one which is lived, reproduced, and recalibrated on a daily basis. Authored and curated by Madonna Kalousian, this section of the exhibition captures the ramifications of this pervasive embeddedness of multiple layers of meaning from the past and the present as these manifest in modern-day Lebanon. It paints a picture in which the administrative, juridical, geographical, and demographic contours of what becomes Lebanon, particularly as undefined and redefined by colonial rule, continue today to plunge the country into a succession of episodes of harm, injury, and injustice.
It does so by building on an understanding of the idea of Lebanon at various stages of its history, from the late Ottoman times and the French Mandate to the post-independence era and the present-day regional escalation of violence inflicting further harm onto the post-civil war reality of a population whose injuries are not only yet to heal, but also continue to multiply.
French Mandate: Between Sect and State
The proclamation of what became Grand Liban, ‘Greater Lebanon’, was announced in September 1920 in la Résidence des Pins, Beirut’s Pine Residence Palace, by French army general and high commissioner of the Levant Henri Gouraud. Pictured here at the entrance to the Pine Residence between Maronite Patriarch Elias Butrus Hwayyek to his right and Grand Mufti Sheikh Mustafa Bin Muhyiddin Naja to his left, Gouraud oversaw the creation of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon. Building on what was already established following the ratification of the Paris Treaty, the French Mandate was instrumental in setting up Lebanon’s post-Ottoman political system, one which today continues to serve the interests of ruling elites and foreign powers.
- French Diplomatic Archives
- Title: ‘Liban, Beyrouth. Proclamation du Grand Liban le 1er septembre 1920, par le général Gouraud, sur le perron du palais de la résidence du casino des Pins’
- Image Number: A005222
Mandate to Constitution: Citizenship As Millet
Page from text of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon submitted by the French Delegation to the League of Nations in December 1920.
Full text of the French Mandate is available from La Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques.
Several articles from the text of the French Mandate are incorporated into the Lebanese Constitution. For example, Article 9 of the current constitution is almost a direct translation of sentences from Article 6 and Article 8 of the French text.
Chapter Two of the Lebanese Constitution is entirely dedicated to laying out the rights and the duties of the Lebanese. While Article 7 of this chapter guarantees equal civil and political rights to all citizens, the re-introduction of the word ‘millet’, which is absent from the French text, into Article 9 is reminiscent of the Ottoman millet system. It also creates a chasm between constitutional rights and allocated rights, one which is further emphasised as Article 9 also guarantees the continuation of differentiated sect-based personal status laws.
الميثاق الوطني:
Governing Post-Independence Lebanon
On November 11, 1943, French troops arrested Bechara el-Khoury, former president of Lebanon, for announcing الميثاق الوطني (al-mīthāq al-waṭani; the National Pact) which laid out the foundations of independent Lebanon. He was imprisoned in Rashayya Citadel, along with several prominent Lebanese politicians, including Riad al-Solh and Camille Chamoun. Following mass demonstrations and eleven days of solitary confinement, they were all released on November 22, 1943 which is now recognised as the Lebanese Independence Day.
The National Pact also established a framework for post-independence political governance, stipulating a sect-based allocation of parliamentary seats and key governmental positions, such as those of president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament.
The National Pact remains unwritten, yet continues to shape Lebanese politics. While its stipulations have never been incorporated into the Lebanese Constitution, they were revised to update the division of parliamentary seats after the ratification of the Taif Agreement which brought the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) to an end.
Pictured here is Bechara el-Khoury and Riad el-Solh on Independence Day.