Sigha  

«…le monde d´aujourd´hui ne ressemble pas à l´image que vous vous en faites! Ce nést pas vrai qu´il est dirigé par des forces obscures, omnipotentes!»

Of course not! These dark forces have a name and identity card but are encrypted in powerful lobbies entrenched in corporations and business companies run by white-collar thieves that cannot be reached by the many ‘firewalls’ that are placed along the way. But for the fact it´s the same; and this can be seen from any height of the stairs where you are.

I agree with you one hundred per cent, Amin, when you wonder why we were not going to devote the same attention we give to animals and plants as we do to the diversity of human cultures in the world.

And when on page 153 you give more importance to language than to religion in the assertion that long explanations are not needed to prove that a person can live without any religion, but cannot live without a language.

As it´s a topic that touches you personally, you entertain yourself a little more at this point: one can speak Hebrew, Arabic, Italian and Swedish, but cannot be Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Lutheran at the same time.

And you continue to warn that it´s much more dangerous to break the umbilical cord that unites the person with their language —putting the example of France with Algeria— than the freedom of credo.

In a moment of his essay, Mr Maalouf proposes a system of government by quotas and presents the case of Lebanon, according to which an agreement is reached so that the power is distributed among the different communities of the country, considering this formula of government a real work of goldsmithing «sigha»; although, afterwards, the author clarifies that after the development achieved, the ‘Lebanese formula’ cannot be extrapolated from one country to another and that during the growth of this agreement there have been bloody conflicts and amazing reconciliations. So Mr Maalouf, by way of precaution, comes to recommend the fundamental idea of balance through a careful quota system.

He goes on to detail a little more why he considers this system respectable, despite the failures, and believes that it´s the most honourable among other experiences in the Near East.

At this point, I recognize that I don´t know much about the political history of Lebanon and, on the other hand, this book was published in 1998 and that I know this country has had to face serious internal and external conflicts in subsequent years date; so it´s very possible that Amín Maalouf had to update this story in a book published more recently.

As I write this blog —New Year's entry— Lebanon remains without Government after seven months of delay. Apparently, the Sunni representation is the key to untangle this mess and a law of the past 2018 is the culprit.

Problems with the quota system?

From my Borstal.

LDR

Les Identités meurtrières. Amin Maalouf. Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, 1998. Edition 13-mai 2009 Paris