You got to give it to the Lebanese mothers’ stubborn determination to maintain the nation’s unity and prevent a war. They have been at the frontline of this revolution, and also at its heart with all that it stands for. Valiant pacific knights, their minds on Lebanon’s safety, their hearts on the people’s well being, and their actions constructively oriented towards the ultimate goal.
As soon as the first attempts were made to incite a sectarian war, they hit the streets to counter them, enacting loving unity and peace, and acting more vocals than ever. After the mothers of Jal El-Dib’s march that followed the mothers of Ain El-Remmaneh and Chiyah calling out any attempts at sectarian conflict, here comes another affirmation of strong unity in Beirut.
This recent march of Saturday may not have been the first of their endeavors, but it was still as critical and required to reaffirm the unity of two districts of Beirut; Burj Al-Ghazal in Achrafieh where their march took off and Khandaq El-Ghamiq where the destination was set.
These two areas may not have been past enemies of the civil war, like Ain El Remmaneh and Chiyah, but they still hold significant importance in a conflict of the 17 October Lebanese Revolution.
That conflict began with two communities having different visions of how the revolution should be handled and turned into a conflict of the strongest a week through the beginning of the revolution.
امهات الاشرفية والخندق ضد الطائفية والتحريض ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/BUemkRP9cg
— georges azzi (@G_azzi) November 30, 2019
Between supporters and non-supporters of the Lebanese revolution and the demands required, a group of thugs taking refuge in Khandaq El-Ghamiq wanted to wreck the revolution from within. They took it upon themselves to yell, mock, and abuse the protesters in Riad El-Solh, Martyrs’ Square, and the Ring Bridge.
These thugs hid behind sectarian chants and gave themselves the right to hit men and women, destroy tents, and set fire around to disrupt the peace. As the revolutionaries insisted on the peacefulness of the demonstration, the Lebanese army forces formed into human shields to separate the thugs from the people.
However, on the 45th day of the revolution and amid huge fear of economic and financial breakdown, our brave Lebanese women refused to be prisoners of pessimism and secularism and decided to come in peace together with the people of Khandaq El-Ghamiq.
This move was to prove that peacemakers refute violence and will always break all the walls that divide us as Lebanese people sharing the same pain and the same hardships under the current dragging crises in Lebanon.
@mountaha.hamad1The Ring Bridge, which has witnessed the most violence throughout 45 days -and was called by some as the bridge of strives– turned on Saturday, Nov 30, into a bridge of unity, joining two communities that know no hatred; only peace, dabkeh, and our love for shawarma!
The women march was met with white flowers, tears, and zalghouta, like a mother on the wedding day of her children. Singing the Lebanese National Anthem, mothers also chanted a now-popular chant that says: “We do not want secularism, we only want national unity.”
امهات الخندق الغميق والاشرفية في مسيرة للتأكيد على الوحدة الوطنية ورفض كل محاولات التخويف والتفريق #لبنان_ينتفض pic.twitter.com/3Y94JXY8Tg
— Larissa Aoun (@LarissaAounSky) November 30, 2019
The mothers and women of Ashrafieh and Khandaq walked hand in hand in the streets of Beirut, proving that one conflict caused by one individual or one entity does not make a whole area rotten.
Falling in the same context, cheers to the Ring Bridge and the people who made it their rightful home for the past 45 days!
This bridge has so far passed by all the phases of this revolution and its hardships and has seen the best and the worst of the revolution. After Saturday’s initiative, this bridge does deserve the name of The House of the Nation!
@insta_lebaneseeWe salute the mothers of Lebanon keeping the nation united together and keeping to the fight of the revolution for the Better Lebanon we all deserve!
