The March of Freedom
By: Prime Minister General Michel Aoun

The day comes back each year with the country still under occupation. But the journey continues, and the 14th of March remains a major milestone in our contemporary history. That day represents our rebellion against fake political discourse that is built on hypocrisy and deception. It is also the day of our rebellion against insidious diplomacy that speaks with beautiful sentiments but commits the most abominable of crimes with white soft gloves.

It is the day we rejected malicious brotherhood, the brotherhood of Cain, that brought destruction to Lebanon, both the nation and the people. It is the day of a great cry against those looking for their mutilated selves in a past that is no longer part of history. It is the day we called for frank and open dialogue, in absolute freedom, so that each of us reaches for their full potential in harmony and not in fighting, and so that we move forward with confidence and determination toward a better future.

The smothering of this revolution stemming deep from the soul of the Lebanese people was the objective of the reactionary forces in government and the regimes of repression that fear freedom. Whereas repression castrates the mind, amputates the arm, and severs the tongue, freedom releases the creative power of humans and makes them responsible contributors to the edifice of the self and society, in thoughts, words and actions.

Freedom is the first and foremost necessity to the Lebanese in particular, and to the Middle Eastern peoples in general. It takes precedence over bread. Enslaved individuals wait for the crumbs to fall from their masters’ tables or go searching for them in garbage dumps, and still remain hungry. Free individuals, on the other hand, use their own generative resources to feed themselves and others.

Freedom knows no borders and brings people together. It is red like love, white like innocence, green like hope. It is the source of power that topples tyrants and announces the good news of a new dawn.

We remain faithful to the pledge and the oath. The time has come for the long night to end, and the sun is rising on the faces of the young people of Lebanon. The revolution of the 14th of March cannot be repressed; our yearning for freedom has grown stronger, our rejection of the rotting regimes in power has become ever more steadfast, and our outlook now reaches far into the
future.
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