The religious sphere in Lebanon: A vector for linkage, violence, and conciliation
Type de matériel :
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While the reasons behind the “mountain war” (southern Mount Lebanon, Lebanon War, 1975–1990) were political, people were subjected to individual and collective violence—massacres, disappearances and forced displacement—depending on their religion, which greatly injured the memory of cohabiting when “we didn’t know who was who [who belonged to which religion].” “Reconciliation,” the term given to the procedure established by the public authorities in this region in order to bring the displaced Christians back to their villages and reconcile them with the local Druze, was founded on a communitarian approach and method. Nonetheless, it made the Christians’ return possible and established peace. Between 2005—the year of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination—and 2009, civilian peace was threatened in Lebanon. The clashes between the militants of the coalitions of March 8 and 14, formed after the assassination, raised concerns of a new breakout of war. The strongest symbols—demarcation lines and April 13, the unofficial date the war began—were used by civilian actors as reference points in the rejection of war, as well as religious pluralism and unity. Drawing on our work on the southern part of Mount Lebanon, our article will attempt to focus on certain aspects of the complex religious factor in Lebanese society, as a vehicle of social ties, violence, and reconciliation.
Réseaux sociaux