The Lebanese President General Michel Aoun stressed that the country has learnt by experience to enjoy pluralism, adding that the world today is packed with ethnic, racial and religious fanaticism.

President Aoun’s statements came in his speech which he delivered in the context of the opening session of the Lebanese Diaspora Energy Conference (LDE):

“Esteemed audience,

Fellow Lebanese coming from the Diaspora world,

It has become a tradition for you to meet on the territory of Lebanon every year; a beautiful tradition indeed because it gathers you from the four corners of the globe and brings you to your mother-country. You get together, get to know each other and act together, so the distance shrinks.

You are a source of pride to your country, not only with your creativity, careers and achievements at a world scale, but also because you are a role model for coexistence between nations;

Wherever you went, you integrated and managed to adapt to different habits, peoples and languages. You lived with all the civilizations, cultures and religions, whereas you did not form a strange body, rejecting and rejected, in the societies that have hosted you; on the contrary, you have learned and taught, and you have developed the human sense among various civilizations.

Your characteristic is that you are the people of a nation which carries in its genes the essence of civilizations that consecutively passed through its land, enriching its culture and opening it up;

Your characteristic is that you are the citizens of a country which had lived a dire trial when some of its citizens decided to embrace fanaticism and the rejection of the other, and paid the highest price but learned the lesson well;

Your characteristic is that you are the citizens of a plural society which learned how to live its difference and how to respect the right of the other to existence, belonging and expression.

Our world today is packed with ethnic, racial and religious fanaticism; a world where humans have fallen in the gap of being different from their fellow humans and have made their affiliations the enemy of their humanity, a world where chaos prevailed and wars and harsh scenes spread.

The dominant extremism which generated terrorism is an intellectual contagion whose prevalence was facilitated by social media, triggering internal wars and counter-wars, in an attempt to eradicate them, but thought can only be fought by thought; indeed, a weapon kills a human being, destroys a house, wipes away cities, but it does not change a thought; on the contrary, it entrenches it and makes it more extremist and fanatical.

This is where comes the role of Lebanon in the world, Lebanon which is limited and constrained by geography, Lebanon whose area on the world map is not sufficient to write its name, but whose Diaspora covers the globe, equaling many times the number of its residents.

The role of this Lebanon lies in its vocation, in the model it can offer, especially after the trials that it has already gone through and which taught it many a lesson; it taught it how to live its pluralism. It taught it that difference is a right and not a cause for dispute, and that hatred, fanaticism and wars can only lead to destruction and collapse. It taught it that dialogue alone is the road to salvation, the road to peace, to a world whose limit is Man.

Out of commitment to this role, I launched an initiative at the United Nations to proposing the candidacy of Lebanon to become a permanent center for dialogue among the various civilizations, religions, and ethnicities, besides the establishment of the “Human Academy for Encounter and Dialogue”.

In fact, encounter, dialogue, bringing people – youth in particular – closer to each other and introducing them to other civilizations, make easier their correct integration in the course of the evolution of human civilization, and immunize them against any attempts to lure them. It is the ideal means to eradicate terrorism which still represents a risk to the world and to future generations.

This is not only Lebanon’s role but yours too. You have to be disciples of encounter and dialogue, to remain a role model as you are today, and to support the candidacy of Lebanon where you are active, especially that the initiative has had a large favorable welcome from many States and international bodies which expressed their willingness to support and accompany it.

Dearly beloved,

Today, you are spread over all the world’s countries, but you are also spread over all the families of Lebanon; few are the Lebanese households which did not experience the bitterness of emigration, and few are the Lebanese households which do not receive assistance from emigration; you have always stood by your families, your society and your nation, especially during hardships.

In turn, your mother-country must also stand by you, build bridges of communication and exchange between you and the resident citizens, and make you feel the strength of the roots and the magnificence of belonging to a human identity, a land, a civilization and a heritage.

This is why we constantly insisted on consecrating your belonging to Lebanon by enacting the ‘nationality recovery law’ which entered into effect more than a year ago, restoring the right to those who lost it. Tens of implementation decrees were issued for this law, benefiting some of you who have hence held again the identity of their land.

In this context, it is worth reminding that, for the first time in the history of democratic and parliamentary life in Lebanon, the Lebanese emigrants participated in the entire world and from the country where they live, in the legislative elections that were held last year.

There is no doubt that this step will open up a wide horizon for an active participation of the Lebanese Diaspora overseas, in determining the fate and political choices of their country, by renewing democratic life therein.

Esteemed audience,

Lebanon is struggling today to rise from chronic accumulated crises, especially in the economic sphere, but it is on the path of recovery, and any effort on your part will undoubtedly help it to move forward on this path.

Remember, dearly beloved, that you have here a land and siblings who are still building on it and struggling for it, striving to plant it.

Also keep in mind that your visit to Lebanon is like a feast. It brings happiness, joy and hope to your families, your society and your country. Do not deprive them of it.

Long live Lebanon.”

Source: Al-Manar English Website and NNA