Postwar
reconstruction debate at the Sociology Café
The initiative of Professor Nabil Dajani and Associate Professor Sari
Hanafi from the AUB Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences,
who are the co-organizers of the Sociology Café events, is
to "create an environment of informal discussion between students
and professors on critical issues of life in Lebanon." On October
30, the informal setting was Té Marbouta, a cozy café
in Hamra, where around forty people gathered, mostly AUB faculty and
students.
In its first postwar session, the café's debate centered on
the reconstruction efforts in Beirut's southern suburb and the South,
with particular focus on the sociopolitical dimension. The discussion
was initiated by Abdel Halim Fadlallah, deputy director of the Consultation
Center for Studies and Documentation, and Mona Harb, assistant professor
in the AUB Department of Architecture and Graphic Design.
In noting that any reconstruction effort must tackle the social and
developmental dimension in order to be successful, Fadlallah argued
that all displaced residents must return to their residential areas,
because the mobility was a forced one and would increase the population
density in other chosen areas. He also added that the role of the
state was eclipsed during and after the war by the response of a flexible
and organized civil society.
Harb highlighted Hezbollah's quick and effective shelter policy, characterized
by the short-term handling of the basic and immediate needs of the
residents, in contrast to the state's laissez-faire reconstruction
policy. Harb also commented on the university professors and students
who tried to underline socioeconomic revitalization with the current
reconstruction efforts through their fieldwork.
With the topic of the debate still making headlines, a lively discussion
followed. Professor Dajani claimed that reconstruction must not be
based on economic development, and that the national pride generated
by the victory of the Lebanese resistance must be used as a basis
for reconstruction. Additionally, a large number of participants expressed
strong attachment to the local heritage of villages in the South.
The two-hour discussion generated different opinions on the nature
of the postwar reconstruction, yet all agreed that the residents of
the devastated areas must have a say in the reconstruction process.
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