Sunday, October 02, 2005

Lebanese nationalist symbols, like many aspects of Lebanese popular and political cultures, suffer from acute cases of imitations and mimicry. They are never original. In Egypt, they started the movement of Kafa, now a few Lebanese nationalists started a similar movement after the assassination attempt on Mayy Shidyqaq's life. The `Awn movement uses Orange as the symbol, just like the now-in-shambles opposition movement in Ukraine. Even the slogans are borrowed. Even the Lebanese flag: it was mostly designed by French colonialists, although later a few politicians (namely Sa'ib Salam) redesigned it in 1943. And they used red to signify the "blood spilled" in the war for independence, as if Lebanon ever had a "war of independence." The only war of independence that Lebanon experienced was between the French and the British embassy on its soil.