A Protestant mother. A Shiite son. A plea for vengeance on his killers.
But unlike many responses to political martyrdoms in Lebanese history, she yields it to God.
Last month in the Hezbollah-controlled south of Lebanon, unknown gunmen shot Lokman Slim in the head. It was a targeted assassination of a man dedicated to the hope that his small Middle Eastern nation might overcome sectarian divisions.
He was his mother’s son.
“I will not go and kill them, but ask God to avenge him,” said the grieving 80-year-old, Selma Merchak. “This comes from my faith in God as the great authority.”
Libanon: Lokman Slims Ehefrau will seinen Kampf weiterführen nzz.ch - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzz.ch Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Lebanon has always rebelled against political repression
For years the Arab intellectual elite looked to Lebanon, coveting its atmosphere of freedom. Feigning the non-existence of repression, Beirut welcomed intellectuals from across the region, published their works and celebrated them. Yet, even following the murder of Lokman Slim, the powers that be are incapable of controlling everything. An essay by Elias Khoury
What’s the difference between an assassination and an execution? This is the headache of a question facing Lebanese; it existed before Lokman Slim was killed, and it looks likely to preoccupy people for a long while to come. The question goes to the heart of the cultural scene and the intellectuals in Lebanon, Egypt and the Arab Levant.
Collecting the evidence mondediplo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mondediplo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The assassination of Luqman Slim underlines that the
scope for dissent in Lebanon is rapidly narrowing.(More like widening with the increase of calamities that are Not resolved by any institution)
The killing of Luqman Slim is another bad omen for Lebanon. Luqman was not just any activist. (Very few Lebanese have heard of him, mostly the embassies were dealing with him and funding his institution Umam)
He was a vocal critic of Hezbollah (f
or over 25 years and he visited Israel too), who chose to continue living in his family’s home in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area controlled by those whom he criticized harshly. (And lived in security and safety)