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From: SL
Date: 09 May 1999
Time: 16:10:52
Remote Name: 207.167.71.86
Remote User:
My point is that, with all due respect to your opinion, you do not represent the entire Maronite Community, just as any other Lebanese citizen belonging to a particular sect cannot claim to be speaking for the entire sect. It is offensive to most Lebanese to have a sectarian point of view or party be made into "the party line" for the sect. The Lebanese are much more sophisticated than this. After all, there are Moslem and Druze supporters of the Phlanagists and the Liberal Tigers (the Chamounists), and there are Maronite supporters of the SSNP, the Communists, and other progressive parties. So, you cannot tell me that there is only one Maronite party line, just as I cannot tell you that there is only one Greek Orthodox line, or only one Moslem line, etc., etc., etc. We need to go beyond archaic sectarianism for progressive solutions to our dilemma as a nation-state in the making. Lebanon can only survive in the long run by shedding its history of political sectarianism and adopting the value system of a political democracy.