Libano 2024

Lebanon is like Ulrich’s character in Robert Musil’s ‘The Man Without Qualities.’ A nation full of positive and unique elements, but an alienated nation. Is Lebanon a nation that does not love itself and how to find the lost love? Is it like Ulrich who scattered within his own search for ‘morality’ finds his way back when the ‘forgotten sister’ and figure of love without possession reappears after years in his life? A ‘love that is connected to the concept of utopia, in the sense of non-place, an absolute condition..’ What could help a tormented land?

The Palestinian issue. Is this a Middle East without quality? Same things return. Bombings and land invasions, refugees from south moving north. How many more Beirut’s Dahiehs will be built and then destroyed, how many refugee camps will be set up, and how many of these camps will become neighborhoods made of bricks and concrete? ‘we’ and ‘you,’ neighborhood against neighborhood, neighbor against neighbor, checkpoints, barricades, distrust, hatred of the different, civil war. The Lebanese Ulrich is an human being “without qualities,” not because of poor character but because he fails to put his gifts into practice, suffering from not being able to overcome his inner contradictions. Lebanon hostage to Hezbollah, Lebanon hostage to Israel, Lebanon hostage to Iran and the US, Lebanon hostage to Gaza hostages.