From: John Hajjar/Chair-Council on Diplomatic Relations
World Lebanese Cultural Union
January 12/2006

Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
PO Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

RE: Editorial by Yvonne Abraham on December 25, 2005
 

Dear Sir/Madam:
Yvonne Abraham's recent editorial On the beach-Why the recent riots in Australia should surprise no one illustrates her lack of understanding of her own ethnic background and her lack of gratitude to her country of birth. While it is unfortunate that these riots have taken place and there is clearly enough blame to go around, Ms. Abraham's dichotomous view of the situation as Aussies versus the Arabs grossly oversimplifies the situation.

Ms. Abraham makes no distinction between Lebanese and Arab by crudely interchanging either term. In fact, Lebanon, like Australia and the US, has been a melting pot of various ethnic and religious groups for millennia. Unfortunately, Lebanon has been undergoing a forced Arabization over the past twenty-five years that has been met with indifference in the West due to concerns of realpolitik such as oil, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Cold War, etc. What is truly unfortunate is that the culture, religion and identity of the Lebanese, the Copts in Egypt and the Berbers of Algeria (among others) are endangered, and, in the case of the Assyrians of Iraq, quite possibly face extinction in our lifetime. Ironically, countries such as ours and Australia that have welcomed immigrants and celebrated diversity are now under attack by forces that seek to wipe it out, as they have done in the cases cited above.

To all of this, Ms. Abraham cloaks herself in Arabism and lays blame squarely on the Aussies. Poor Yvonne, by being Lebanese she had to endure the second-worst thing imaginable. I am not, by any means, excusing the criminal conduct of the native Australians, but some of the new Arab immigrants clearly are interested in taking advantage of social entitlements and engaging in criminal behavior. So notorious is their behavior that the past Premier of the State of New South Wales, Bob Carr and his Commissioner of Police at the time, Peter Ryan launched a war on the LebaneseCommunity claiming that there were gangs waging a war in Sydney.

This gang war was being waged largely by Islamist youth with Jihadi tendencies who, although being Lebanese by birth or ancestry were utterly devoid of Lebanese character and enjoyed no support of the established Australian-Lebanese Community, including the mainstream Muslim groups. By failing to recognize these facts, Ms. Abraham's article should be considered no more than yellow, reckless journalism.

Lebanese have been immigrating to Australia, like the US, for over 130 years and have met with great success and positions of honor in social, business and political life. The vast majority of these early Lebanese immigrants to Australia (and the USA) were Christian and were seeking economic opportunity and to escape religious persecution from the Ottoman Turks. They sought to set down new roots in their homeland and to be good citizens. Their efforts and sacrifices, and the liberty afforded them in Australia, as in other countries of the Lebanese Diaspora, rewarded them handsomely.

Joseph Baini, the former President of the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU), who resides in Sydney and is a proud Australian, reported these facts to me. (The WLCU is a charitable, social and nonsectarian organization that has been recognized by the Lebanese Government as the sole representative of the Lebanese Diaspora.)
John Hajjar
Chair-Council on Diplomatic Relations
World Lebanese Cultural Union