(Cult)ure of Martyrs

Shahid (Shaheed), in Arabic شهد: Martyr.

Save for Abraham Lincoln, we in the US we would have a hard time calling those who die because of politics, "martyrs." While religion plays a huge role in the United States, it pales in comparison to its importance in Lebanon and the broader Middle East. Lebanon was founded on sectarianism, even the non-religious are proud to identify themselves as "Muslim" or "Christian." Because religion plays such a huge role in politics and daily life, the word "martyr" gets tossed around quite a bit.

A martyr, according to the American Heritage dictionary is:

1. One who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles.
2.One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.
3.

a. One who endures great suffering: a martyr to arthritis.
b. One who makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy.

Here in Lebanon it can mean your favorite murdered warlord, a killed militiaman who defended your village, a suicide bomber who murdered foreigners in an embassy, or a child that was killed due to an Israeli bomb, that's to name a few. If Lebanon had its own dictionary, a martyr follows this definition:

1. One who is killed by an opposing sectarian/tribal/family group.

2. One who killed others while killing him or herself in the process.

3. Anyone the Israelis kill (this can be anyone, from a man who is accidentally killed in a bombing raid against Hizbollah, or a terrorist infiltrator who gets shot while gunning down children in a school).

Because the Culture of the Martyr is so pervasive, martyrdom always finds its way into politics. Rafik Hariri, the multi-billionaire former Lebanese Prime Minister is considered by some Lebanese to be a martyr for being killed by Syria. Martyrdom was so important to the identity of the March 14th group that they also call themselves, the Rafik Hariri Martyr List. From many accounts Hariri tried to kiss and make up with the Syrians, so he technically wasn't so steadfast in his beliefs, what got him killed was that he was a little TOO vocal for Syria.

On political websites, pro-Syrian Maronite, Suleiman Frangieh maintains a list of 'martyrs.' Included on the list are Suleiman's son Tony and Tony's 3 year old daughter. After infighting over protection rackets and a falling out between Lebanese Front Leader Bachir Gemayel and Tony Franjieh due to the latters pro-Syrian attitude, there was spates of violence. These 'martyrs' were created when Gemayel wanted to hunt down a number of Marada (Franjieh's party) members for murdering Kataeb (Bachir's party) members. What resulted was a blood bath, 10 Kataeb party members were killed (that link is a pro-Lebanese Front view) when Franjieh refused to hand over those who were thought responsible, Tony, his family, and a number of others were killed by Kataeb gunmen. Sticking to the definition of what a martyr is, a 3 year old girl, her mother and warlord father don't really constitute martyrs. Nevertheless the term is used to stir political feelings.

Speaking to an ordinary Shi'ite girl about suicide bombers, I was immediately interrupted by her correcting me to call them "martyrs." I questioned her whether she considered the al Qaeda terrorists blowing up countless Shi'ites in Iraq as "martyrs" and she didn't understand what I meant. The view that people who blow themselves up and take countless innocents with them is considered glorious by many here. The innocents are written off, in the Middle East no one is innocent, sometimes its an incredibly black and white, us versus them environment. What could be more glorious than to 'sacrifice' your life while taking 30 'infidels' with you? This girl's views had been so warped by surrounding influences that anyone who rammed their Ryder van, loaded with fertilizer and diesel fuel into a crowd of people was a hero, a martyr--That's it, any criticism of the person or the act was blasphemous.

These men and women who are now hailed as demigods have had their problems, some of them were drug dealing warlords bent on domination, others were out and out terrorists, some were corrupt, no one here likes to look at the "other" side of them. Once you are a "martyr" in the eyes of the populace who coined this term for you, you could do no wrong. Who knows, maybe I'll come across the poster of a suicide bomber with the word "shahid" scrolled across it, go 50 meters down the street and find a poster of his victim(s) with "shahid" written prominently on it.

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* News about my trip: I am off to Syria this weekend