Syria Wide - Centre for Research and Development!
Will the Real Antun Sa'adeh Please Step forward?
Dr. Adel Beshara
In 1930, at still an unidentifiable date, a steam ship sailed into Beirut with immigrants returning to catch up with friends and relatives. Among them was a young man in his mid-twenties. He was no different from anyone else on the ship except in his outward appearance. His travel documents indentified him as Antun Khalil Sa'adeh, a former resident of Mount Lebanon, and an émigré of almost ten years. He was relatively short but solidly built. His manner was straightforward and completely lacking in pomposity- literary or academic. Yet, he was an avid reader with a good memory and the necessary self- discipline unlike most autodidacts.
Unbeknown to anyone on that ship, this young man was in fact on a personal crusade, literally to 'liberate his people.' His diary entry on the 1st of March, 1929, is instructive:
This is the start of a new day for me. O March, on this day your month starts. And on this day, I turn twenty five. With the commencement of this year, I will start to reflect on the life that is responsible for me and you. In these split seconds, on this dark-pitch night in which you and I start life anew, I hear from my home country a melodious and rather pleasant voice calling me: “O son. Where are you?” I lift my head and stare at the sky, whose face is veiled like Isis, and call back: “O mother, where are you?” I hear the same voice calling me again: “O son. Where are you?” I stare into the horizons and call back: “O motherland, where are you?” My mother and my motherland were the starting-point of my life and they shall remain by my side forever. O Lord, please look after me so that I can be righteous to them...
The entry for the 19th of March of the same year is even more revealing:
I must carry out a basic duty regardless of the pain that my soul must endure. For life is short and there is very little time for crying of pain.
There is life in pain for those who are intelligent enough. It is a philosophy I discovered through experience. Therefore, I refuse to be an egocentric who is interested only in self- pleasure and laments every time he loses it.
No. No. I must not be selfish. I must think first of the suffering of the millions of my countrymen and then of myself...
I must forget my personal light injuries so that I can help bandage the serious wounds of my nation.
An émigré like no other, and an affection for Motherland that cannot be matched. Nothing mystique about this traveler; just an ordinary ‘chap’ on a messianic path: “Where is the Motherland ... It is to there that my spirit yearns and my affection increases ... The Motherland is where my mother brought me up, where I came into the prime of my life...”
That much is obvious. What is not obvious, however, is whether Sa’adeh had any idea what he was up against. The situation in the country was so irreparable that it defied all reasonable logic: social discord, religious sectarianism, backwardness, corruption, exploitation, to name a few. More than that, the country was carved up and under foreign rule, freedom of expression and freedom of association were proscribed, and political dissent was punishable. But all these problems fade in significance before the psychological hurdles:
The situation was one of desperation and fear. Espionage was widespread in all places and treachery concealed in every corner. Foreign armies were occupying the strategic positions, and the intelligence bureau was sending its agents into all milieus of the populace. People's thoughts were uneasy for they found themselves in a chaotic condition, which prevented mutual understanding. Everyone’s spirits were in darkness and the future looked gloomy. The ordinary citizen had been reduced to sub-human level: he was unacquainted with the past, unable to comprehend the present, or perceive the future, and unwilling to share with others his true opinion, if he dared to think at all.
It sounds far-fetched, even bazaar, but it is true. However, it does beg the question: what type of person would be gain – or foolish - enough to leave behind him a life of comfort, security and potential enrichment to take on a nightmare scenario of such proportion? read more >>>
