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A Nonviolent Path to Advance Politics By Saba Fatima Haider

LAU’s Saba Fatima Haider talks to Dr. Chibli Mallat, LAU alumnus, leading international human rights lawyer and scholar of European, Islamic and Middle Eastern law, about how to achieve peace in the East

page 22 By Saba FatimaBy Saba Haider A NonviolentPath toAdvance Politics The newgeneration isgoingtoconfront thisandI’msure more will be successful thanus. countries.forour need democracyin the in stages,belief various a to by got moved and continuebe we to and nonviolent,way. politically a democratic committed in we regimes But those changing in failedgeneration My universally. Andthatcontroversially includesIsrael. understood as democracy of labels basic the to adhering East Middle the of countries the of any see cannot I this book is that from a democratic perspective, insofar as you can approximate the discipline of law as region.a the science,of laws the and law Islamic in specialist—particularly academic—a an as and lawyer,Law,”a activist,Eastern as rights work human of a years as 20 of result Press.a OxfordUniversity is at It own governments andleadership? really hard, butitisprobably engagementand academic howIwouldsummarizemyviewofpolitical research. ineffective and vague term? How do you convince people that nonviolence yields an “nonviolence”better makeas won’t seen results that be vision than a with violence?complex immensely is It’s that region a of politics and are violence,cases theplaintiffs victimsofpolitical because andtheaccusedare leaders. usuallypolitical when he was in power.in was he when sort,Saddam the of Sharonsort—or Ariel the and Gaddafi against Muammar the of thugs case criminal immensely usually their bring victims helping of sense “activist,”the more in are some and opinions; of prisoners to advance politics” andacademic wouldprobably theheadingofmypolitical life. be it carries. My political engagement is moved by the “distaste” for violence as a political means. “A nonviolent path such issues and elections Iranian as Iraq, Afghanistan andPakistan? and Lebanese recent the considering especially East, Middle the to compared presidential candidate in2007. Lebanese a was and 2001 since Saint-Josephin Université at Law European in Chair the Monnet E.U. Jean been has He world. the around universities top other among Studies, African and Oriental of School the winning thejudgmentagainstSharon inFebruary 2003. Sabraof v.Victims Chatila caseof and the SharonAriel al.,et ,in jurisdiction universal of law the under Islamic law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the U.K.,Ph.D.in a and and Georgetowngained at international LLM respect foran earned bringing activist.He rights lawyer, human a and as academiccareer a on who allasked, “Howdidthishappen, andwhy?” heard oftheSabrawhen hefirst andChatilamassacres. forces spread around , Beirut. occupying literature atLAU (thenBUC)whenIsrael invadedLebanon. There is no doubt that arepeople yearning for a nonviolent change in leadership that is more representative. their at CM: looking are East Middle the in people young way the in change dramatic a identify you Would SH: history the through think you do How academic. is path nonviolent the of dimension general more The his nonviolent path takes various shapes: Some are pure human rights advocacy, such as the defense of defense the as advocacy,such rights human pure are Some shapes: various takes path nonviolent This CM: Politics in the region and internationally is characterized these days by the immense amount of violence U.S., the and Europe as such world, the of parts other in emerging engagement political see you do How SH: He isnowPresidential Professor oflawattheUniversityUtah. Yale,at taught politics,has and Mallat Princeton,law Lyon and on of University severalbooks of author The embarked soon outraged,he nonviolence,was and for Mallat support his in adamant activist democratic A civilians,world,and politicians,enragingthe governments around waves shock sent massacres the of News A few weeks later, on September 19, 1982, Mallat was in a car in Washington listening to the news on the radio Like thousands of other students around the country, his studies were abruptly halted during the war as Israeli English in degree a toward studying was Mallat Chibli of name the by man Lebanese1982, young June a In he academic work of my life is a book which I published two years ago,years two Middle published to “IntroductionI called which book a lifeis my of work academic The hese are cases which I pursued in my career as a lawyer.a “political”areas career they my Obviously in pursued I which cases are These he general thrust of thrust general The page 23 page

& alumni bulletin VOLUME 11 | issue nº 4 A Nonviolent Path to Advance Politics

Mallat with Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir of Lebanon’s Maronite Church

SH: How will the new generation confront the anti-democratic don’t want to be like Lebanon.” But how do they address it? It’s movements of the Arab autocratic regimes? not easy because when you talk with leading Iraqi politicians, it’s CM: The two ways are easy to conceive. One is the violent immediately a question of, “Are they Kurds? Are they Shia? Are way, which is legal under political science and the received they Sunni?” So they’re trying to square it constitutionally, and notions that we have since the French and American revolutions: it’s not easy. Dictatorship and tyranny can be challenged violently. That’s one They have already had two presidents: One was a Sunni Arab, way and, curiously, it’s a legitimate way, but I don’t believe in it and the current president is Kurdish. If this natural alternation morally. It will do more harm than good. continues, then that’s one way to defeat sectarianism. The other is the nonviolent way. It started haltingly with the first Intifada in Palestine in 1987, then firmly in the Cedar SH: What can you say about the search for democracy by Revolution, and now in the electoral revolution in Iran. Iranians right now? True, the Middle East youth are also confronted with a third CM: The Green Revolution that’s happening in Iran—more choice—to not do anything—which one can understand. There accurately, it should be called the electoral or representative is an apathy, which is understandable because people are tired revolution, because the people were deprived of their votes— from politics and they think politics doesn’t give results, but is the second great nonviolent revolution in the Middle East, they’re still affected by politics. Apathy is a dead end. Violence the first being ours in Lebanon in 2005. The trend toward needs to be resisted, but the resistance needs to be nonviolent. nonviolence is real in the 2009 electoral revolution in Iran. There Otherwise you start looking like those you resist. has been characteristic tampering in elections, which triggered massive nonviolent resistance by people who wanted their vote SH: With the current manifestation of Iraqi democracy that to be counted. And so we have to support them. It’s going to be is emerging, do you see Iraq’s as heading in the same way as a very long and difficult struggle. But the fractured lines are clear post–Civil War Lebanese democracy? between those who are for nonviolence, democracy and human CM: I feel that they are ahead of us. The situation in Iraq is rights, and the brutes in power who kill kids in the street and much more promising than the one in Lebanon because they stage Stalinist trials against their own friends. are very aware of the danger of sectarianism, and they say: “We

Mallat on air

page 24 “ and basic freedomsand basic for thecitizen. press,the in freedom also is freedom,it academic only not It’s catastrophe.a it’s countries other Israel.In is them of hit—one think.we generallywhat is East the onlyway to improve ofdebate? thequality Middle think the you in freedom Do academic East. of lack Middle the the questioning in improve to needs debate of attheE.U.look now. devastated—and completely was 1945—it in was Europe where are.we where look now and time, the at systems League started—we were far better countries in terms of political Arab the when 1945 in were we where at Republic”ago.Look years 2,500 “The in principle this formulated Plato other. each trust don’t leaders are authoritarian their countries because democratic, not the if union regional effective, an have cannot Muslim majorityandtradition can alsoadhere todemocracy. discrimination.of Iran,in And like in that being a Jew doesn’t mean that being a non-Jew is the object sure make to have Israel-Palestine. You federal a for campaign Jewish Palestinian state that is recognized collectively. Hence my non- a have state,you Jewish the where,formulaagainst a find to have you state,so Jewish the keeping whilst Israel in country canbefulfilledinanIslamicregime?democracy We cansaygenerallywhat wethink.” We liveinacountrythat isrelativelyblessed. CM: We live in a country that is relativelyblessed.is country that a in live say canWe We CM: quality the that disagree would anybody think don’t I SH: proved.has YouUnion European the that something is That democratic a for fulfill can quest you that Iranian say I As popular Definitely. CM: the that say you Would SH: —Chibli Mallat here are taboos that one continuesto one that Therearetaboos T urkey,countriesclear with hen look at look Then that it will be successfulthat itwillbe decisively. suremake to generationfar, new so the success to a up is it but been not has It countries. important of number a in worth its proved has it as efficient, not is nonviolence that true not is It course.the stay to need succeeds.We nonviolence where point with increased violence. thenature That’s ofthings. that people in power are reacting to the challenge of nonviolence and through not violent. Of course there is violence, in the sense today in Iran with see the electoral we revolution, what which is so and far violent,through not through and through was which succeeded: relatively and failed relativelyhave greatthinks.instancesthat two one had have We counterproductive. be to proved has it violence,as using in believe don’t way.I another its goalifthere issomuchapathy? achieve can resistance nonviolent that think you Do region. Arab foughtthat shouldbe andchanged. consequences are grave on your career and your standing. I think professors that have toward theirstudentsandinstitutions. duties the on depending calibrated be to has but there is an additional dimension of academic freedom which tik n aiu prs n h Mdl Es, e a rah a reach can we East, Middle the in parts various in think I test.big a it’s hard; is It CM: the in embedded being apathy about talked have You SH: the U.S., the in Israel of minister prime the criticize you If anywhere,think they what say to free U.S.,are the people In Collection dePoèmes Inédits, by Tamer Mallat, Chibli’s great uncle nilne s o a iefcet as inefficient as not is Nonviolence he problem is that I don’t see don’t I that is problem The he in 2005, in Revolution Cedar The page 25 page

& alumni bulletin VOLUME 11 | issue nº 4