Lebanese nationalism

Map of Phoenicia and its Mediterranean trade routes.

Lebanese nationalism is a nationalistic ideology that considers the Lebanese people are a distinct nation independent from the Arab nation. It considers the Lebanese people to be direct descendants of the Phoenician people.

This ideology has its roots in the 19th century sectarian wars in Mount Lebanon between the Maronites and Druze. It took its formalized form during the inter-war period and the French Mandate of Syria, when it served primarily as a tool in opposing Arab nationalism and in justifying the existence of the nascent country of Lebanon.

During the 20th century and the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanese nationalism was associated with the Kataeb Party, Lebanese Forces and the secularist movement Guardians of the Cedars.

The Lebanese nationalism goes even further and incorporates irredentist views going beyond the Lebanese borders, seeking to unify all the lands of ancient Phoenicia around present day Lebanon. This comes from the fact that present day Lebanon, the Mediterranean coast of Syria, and northern Israel is the area that roughly corresponds to ancient Phoenicia and as a result the majority of the Lebanese people identify with the ancient Phoenician population of that region.^[1] Therefore, the proposed Greater Lebanese country includes Lebanon, Mediterranean coast of Syria, and northern Israel.

The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Lebanese people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. In a 2013 interview the lead investigator, Pierre Zalloua, pointed out that genetic variation preceded religious variation and divisions:"Lebanon already had well-differentiated communities with their own genetic peculiarities, but not significant differences, and religions came as layers of paint on top. There is no distinct pattern that shows that one community carries significantly more Phoenician than another."^[2]

References

↑ Kamal S. Salibi, "The Lebanese Identity" Journal of Contemporary History 6.1, Nationalism and Separatism (1971:76-86).
↑ Maroon, Habib (31 March 2013). "A geneticist with a unifying message". Nature. Retrieved 3 October 2013.

Salem, Paul Notes on the Question of Lebanese Nationalism

Nationalism

Africa	Acholi Afrikaner Algerian Arab Berber Canarian Egyptian Ethiopian Libyan Nigerian Sahrawi Somali Tunisian Ugandan

Asia	Arab Armenian Assamese Assyrian Azerbaijani Balkar and Karachay Baloch Bangladeshi Bengali Bodo Chinese Circassian Dalit East Turkestani Filipino Gorkha Hindu Indian Iranian Iraqi Japanese Jewish Kashmiri Korean Kurdish Lebanese Lezgian Malay Manchurian Marathi Mongolian Naga Pakistani Palestinian Ryukyu Saraiki Sikh Sindhi Sinhalese Buddhist South Asian Muslim Sri Lankan Tamil Syrian Taiwanese Tamil Tibetan Tripuri Turkic Turkish

Europe	Albanian Andalusian Armenian Asturian Austrian Azerbaijani Balkar and Karachay Basque Bavarian Bosnian Breton British Canarian Castilian Catalan Celtic Circassian Cornish Corsican Croatian Czechoslovak English Estonian Faroese Flemish Finnish French Galician German (in Austria) Greek Hungarian Icelandic Irish Italian Lezgian Macedonian Moldovan Montenegrin Occitan Padanian Polish Prussian Rhenish Romanian Russian Sardinian Scottish Serbian Sicilian Slavic Slovenian Spanish Swabian Turkic Turkish Ukrainian Ulster Valencian Venetian Walloon Welsh Yugoslav

North America	American Canadian Chicano Greenlandic Québécois

South America	Argentine Brazilian

Oceania	Hawaiian Māori NZ South Islander

Other	Black Islamic White

Note: Forms of nationalism based primarily on ethnic groups are listed above. This does not imply that all nationalists with a given ethnicity subscribe to that form of ethnic nationalism.

Lebanese nationalism

References

See also