The Arab world is witnessing today accelerated democracy uprisings, marking a new era in the region’s history. The special significance of this change stems from focusing on the values of freedom and justice, surpassing the ideological national or religious framework which framed people's movements in this region for more than a century.

These values lie at the basis of the idea of human dignity that refuses to divide the world, through a Manichaeism vision, into two camps: good and evil! It is a vision upon which all dictatorships established their basic legitimacy.

This wave of democracy sweeping over the Arab world also coincides with a precedent vision to change; it demonstrates that the achievement of people’s aspirations to freedom and human dignity is possible without waiting for the "savior" or "charismatic leader." The man who sparked the current revolution in the Arab world was not the commander of organized masses, but rather, he was an ordinary man, a peddler in one of the forgotten villages in Green Tunisia. It is no secret that free communication between individuals has great impact on moving stagnant waters. All this released an emotional tidal wave which re-highlighted the value of human life itself, contrary to the process of mass reduction which was and still is at the heart of the current crisis in the Arab world:

the individual reduction in the belonging group, then the group reduction in a party monopolizing talking in the group’s name, and then the party reduction in the person of a lifelong Commander.

However, this dramatic change is similar in its dimensions and implications to what happened in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall which was was not spared from the violence of a criminal act. It is the violence of authoritarian regimes in the face of legitimate demands of the people. It is at the same time the violence of forces still clinging to crumbling Ideological systems, and trying hard to stop the wheel of history.

We believe that the process of democratization that is under way in full swing in the Arab region is good news for Lebanon. Our country, for more than half a century, was subjected to vigorous attempts, claiming its Arabism and national creed, to make it similar to the surrounding systems.
Today, the Arab region - in its quest to abolish the slavery of last century and the historic marginalization – is consciously biased to the meaning of Lebanon, in the meaning of values of freedom, democracy, pluralism, and openness to the world.

Starting from this current view to change, we believe that Lebanese Christians are invited to re-link with their historic enlightenment in the Arab region, and to effectively contribute to answer the Arab world’s key question:

How do we live together, equal in our rights and duties, diverse in our religious, cultural, ethnic, affiliations, and in solidarity with our quest towards a better future for all of us, Christians and Muslims?

Why can the Lebanese Christians present an authentic and effective contribution in this area?

First, because they historically played a leading role in establishing the roots for the basic concept of co-existence since the nineteenth century, through their active participation in the modern Arab renaissance, and through the definition of Arabism as a strong cultural association between people of the region.

In this context, they refused in 1920 the idea of “the National Christian homeland”, and called for the creation of the “Greater Lebanon” which included the mountains with its Christian majority and the regions with Muslim majority. Later on they refused in 1943 the mandate and fought for independence.

After the civil division caused by the war from 1975-1990, they were the first initiators to restore the Muslim-Christian co-existence in Lebanon through an exceptional effort in the context of the Synod (1995) in order to leave the “culture of war” and give back meaning to Lebanon and its message. In this direction too, they worked under the guidance of the Apostolic Exhortation (1997) on a self review in order to have “memory purification”, before they engaged in the Maronite Bishops call (2000). The battle to liberate Lebanon from the Syrian Tutelage was the battle that led to the second independence in 2005. Finally, the Lebanese Christians are deserving of the mission they are invited to, because they always refused to see themselves as a minority concerned in maintaining their presence. They were interested in the “presence”, and they saw themselves as an effective interactive group, "invited to” - as the Apostolic Exhortation pointed out- cooperate with other groups in order to build a future of co-existence and full partnership. Let us not forget that the churches of the Middle East, in its directives and decisions, have always ruled out this minority vision of the self, assuring that the “Christians of the Middle East constitute an integral part of the Muslims’ cultural identity, just like the Muslims constitute an integral part of the Christians’ cultural identity. They are all responsible for each other before God and before history”.

We believe that the basic task of the Christians in Lebanon and the Arab World today is in working on upholding the culture of peace and co-existence in order to confront the culture of violence and exclusion that continues to weigh on Man in this region of the world. Thus, they will contribute in raising the big challenge which was expressed by the Lebanese Christian Amin Maalouf in saying: “Either we know how to build a joint civilization in this century, where each of us can willingly belong to, where there is high moral value and deep belief in the human experience, enriching our cultural diversity ... Or we sink together in a bottomless joint barbarism.”

This culture of co-existence in reflected in the “State of co-existence”. This state should be a civil state based on the clear distinction and separation between religion and state. The state gives rights to the citizens without discrimination, but at the same time provides for the communities the safeguards they are entitled to in order to ensure their free existence and the fateful decisions.

This culture of co-existence should find its place in the new vision of Arabism; the “Arabism of co-existence” which is free of any ideological content intending to employ it in the service of a party or a state. Such Arabism has a considerable history in the Andalusia experience, where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together for centuries in human, cultural, and religious harmony. This civilized Arabism is the one that should rise again on the ruins of the “Arabism of vengeance and resentment” which led the Arab World, since the rise of the Israeli State, to self convergence, and obstructed its development.

The “Arabism of Co-existence” should present an original addition to the generated hybrid modernism which materialized with the manifestations of Globalization. This co-existence should establish a new regional Arab system that can – like India, Brazil, and China - effectively participate in shaping the new world order.

“Arabism of co-existence” should find its translation of a new vision for the Middle East- “Middle Eastern co-existence”- on the basis of the Arab peace initiative which called for the rise of an independent Palestinian state. For it to succeed, the international community should intervene to take the Israelis out of their “prison” which their ethnic-racist tensions put them in. These tensions are warning of having Israel turn into a Theocratic state.
Finally, “Arabism of co-existence” should contribute in elaborating a new vision for the Mediterranean - “Mediterranean of co-existence”. This “Great Lake” which had been the link between all the cultures  settling on its shores, and spreading beyond these beaches, is today known as the “Great Lake of rifts”, haunted by major conflicts and generating various types of religious, ethnic, and national discrimination where nobody is immune anymore from its destructive effects.

This appeal aims to initiate a dialogue between the Christians in Lebanon and the Arab world about the options worthy of them at this stage of the historic transformation in the region.
For those who wish to join the signatories, please contact us at the following address:
foranewarabworld@gmail.com