Should we talk about sadness before talking about anger and maybe even rage? Or should we start with this immense disarray in which the Lebanese and Franco-Lebanese of France have been plunged, for almost two months, and which pushes some to strengthen contacts and links within the community to obtain information, organize, keep warm, when others withdraw into themselves, consumed by a feeling of powerlessness?
Since September 23, the date of the escalation of the war between Israel and Hezbollah and the start of massive bombings on Lebanon, the Lebanese community in France (between 50,000 and 60,000 members) has lived in apnea, its eyes riveted on Arabic channels, WhatsApp loops and websites relaying information from the country. The nights are short and anxious – what new bombing, what neighborhood, what new catastrophe? –, the days interspersed with messages from Beirut or the southern regions, where certain families live. Instagram alerts, too: here, in the Paris region, a clothing collection is taking place for displaced people from Lebanon; there, we can send money to Beirut schools transformed into shelters…
“My first instinct in the morning is to call my brother in Beirutsays Jocelyne Moubarak, who came to France to study political science in 1996, and has never left since. It's stronger than me. At the beginning of September, I became passionate about the upheavals of French politics. And, within a few hours, all I could think about was Lebanon. I am surprised by this myself. » This war, she analyzes, brought up anxiety, trauma and so many painful images. “It’s a return to childhood, and a reminder of what Lebanon missed… The link that I thought was distended with my native country turns out to be visceral. I didn't think it would hurt this much. »
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This is also what Maria Nehme, 34, who came to France after her baccalaureate, and whose family remained in Lebanon, expresses. “It’s so difficult to experience such an event from a distance! I vibrate for Lebanon. My roots are there. It is of the order of the carnal. But what to do? I live in mad worry, desolate in the face of my helplessness. I frantically inquire, I call, and, even if my family seems safe, we all have friends or friends of friends impacted, displaced or killed. I would love to help! And I would like to find more echoes of this war in France. But it's very complicated to talk about it here. The debate quickly gets heated, you have to be careful. Who here feels the real tragedy of Lebanon? »
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