My first conversations with Bashir Gemayel, were at the school we both attended, in two different generations, the Institut Moderne du Liban (IML). Then I was in his classroom where he taught Civic Education at that same school. There he discovered that I had already been an avid reader of history of the country and the region, while still at high school. My older brother Sami who was attending Saint Joseph University with him, had guided me in readings while I was still in middle school. Bashir liked my papers and asked to see me after the year was over in Ashrafieh.
We met several times in Sioufi and at his law offices in Hamra. He was very concerned about the terror threat against Lebanon. But at times he would tell me. “The greatest threat we have is not the outside enemies, but the internal politics of our people” (the community). “We will be able to surmount the pressures from the foes, but I don’t know if our political culture can sustain greater challenges. Look we don’t have books for our students detailing the real history of this country. I don’t know how your brother and yourself got that information” I told him “from archives never used by the state.”
He seemed to be frustrated because while he felt the people was in need of narrative, there were very few publications. I told him I am still at school, no one would take me seriously if I wanted to publish a book. I will have to wait until I finish a degree. Unfortunately the war came too fast. Kaslik released a few essays in 1975, not enough. My first book came out only in 1979, thanks to Kaslik. More publications were released since.
Bashir wanted to encourage a mass reform of the educational system in Lebanon. In a speech delivered in August 1982, few refer to, he committed that a new Lebanon will be pluralist and its history books will reflect the entire history of Lebanon and of all its communities, with no exception. He added “I want the whole truth to be said, even if that truth is difficult to be said.”
But Bashir was killed in September…
(From Memoirs)
Photo at the IML school in 1969
