Even though it is consistent with the requirements of our times, the importance of this venture lies in its new approach to a sensitive and sore subject in Lebanon and the region, which is war and civil peace, especially at a time when many Arab countries are living to the beat of civil war. Therefore, a person reaching a stage where he can present his experience as a participant of a war and the lessons drawn is certainly a unique move in itself, especially if it tells the story of this person’s transformation from a «fighter of war» to a «fighter for peace». Hence, bringing together video witness accounts through this website, which will become an interactive platform, to cover diverse backgrounds and affiliations is certain to paint a picture of the history of the war and of the future if this experience was to start all over again in the present without drawing on the experiences of the past.
«Access to knowledge has become quite easy with the number of channels available, but the difficulty lies in accessing the truth,» says Ziad Saab, ex-combatant and head of Fighters for Peace. «We aim to communicate with the Lebanese, whatever their alignments and present our experience through which we were able to go from ‘fighters of war’ to ‘fighters for peace’, using various channels, including direct meetings held with students at schools, having held in the last one year and a half 85 sessions and met with 6,000 students, in addition to launching this website aiming to speed up the delivery of this message to as many people as possible and to communicate with people with similar experiences,» adds Saab.
«This website, (http://fightersforpeace.org/) which was preceded by the organization’s accounts on social media, aims to break the barrier between ex-fighters and any Lebanese citizen who may see in their experience a documentation or historical narration of the war, in addition to enriching the experience and expanding the circle of people aware of it, not just in Lebanon but also those in the diaspora and the world, including Arab countries, where we hope this experience would be a starting point for similar endeavors, especially in view of the wars ravaging them today,» says Christina Foerch, responsible for the content of the website, which was created with the support of the UNDP «Peace Building in Lebanon» project and the Norwegian Embassy in Lebanon. «This platform is regarded as an identification card of the organization and its 25 ‘fighters’, and it aims to become in the future an open platform for everyone, providing a platform for anyone who wants to share their memories of the civil war, whether there were fighters, volunteers, paramedics or simply citizens, regardless of their political, regional or religious affiliations.»
«The website is under development and we would like it to become a tool we use to contribute to documenting the collective memory of the civil war in Lebanon in the absence of a unified history book by presenting different points of view, approaches and narratives,» Foerch adds, saying that «the goal remains presenting change experiences and not promoting violence.»
«The depth of this experience lies in the fact that it does not reflect a single point of view, as a result of the diversity of combatant affiliations,» Saab believes, «while it is virtually impossible to arrive at issuing a unified history book in Lebanon that would require agreeing on a ‘unified logic’ to write it from a neutral point of view.» He adds, «such accounts by fighters about the Lebanese civil war and the paths towards change that they have undergone have never been part of a history book and will never be.»
Saab does not deny that their position of «former combatants» in the eyes of young people puts them face to face with the challenge of breaking stereotypes and prejudices about combatants. He also notes, «after overcoming this stage, young people receive the message incredibly positively and are affected by it far more than adults. This is achieved through raising their awareness about the reality they are living and comparing it to the similar reality we were living before the war and that led us to take up arms and fight the other, and subsequently call on them to avoid any similar adventure or experience.»
Saab explains, «nevertheless, we are keen on not presenting ourselves as holders of the truth. Our role is to encourage people to search for it themselves by planting doubt in their minds and thus pushing them to search for this truth themselves, and this is what we do and we are seeing its results through our interaction with young people directly or through social media, and finally by launching the interactive website.»
In view of the chasm running vertically in society among the Lebanese lately, both political and religious, Saab says, «this reality is sounding the alarm bells for many actors in Lebanon, namely schools, whose principals are now keen on contacting the organization to organize meetings with their students, and the organization has held meetings with students in more than 85 schools in the past year and a half, while only 35 were planned.»
«History can be documented in many ways,» Foerch says, «Documentation by means of recounting personal suffering from the mouth of the concerned person has the most impact on the hearts and minds of people and youth in particular, especially if it is recorded in video, and this is what the FFP platform is trying to offer.» She adds, «These fighters will be gone eventually, but these live accounts will form the memory of this country and will be left for future generations for them to learn from their predecessors. I hope that these lessons will not be limited to the Lebanese, but that they will go beyond to the citizens of the Arab world, which is in turn witnessing civil wars and internecine fighting between the children of the same country.»
She reaffirms, «this platform will be open to everyone, whatever their affiliations, away from politics. In addition, it has never been and will never be biased towards a party or be politicized, and therefore the experiences that will be shared are personal, staying away from accusations of parties or politicians, or even religious communities, because the goal is raising awareness to reject violence, which has never been, and will never be, a solution to any problem.» This is echoed by Saab, «differences in views does not influence the message that we are trying to deliver to the society, and we, as ex-combatants in the organization that started with five people and now has 25, are a clear reflection of this difference and of what we were in the past in terms of our different political affiliations and the beliefs that we fought for. We are brought together today around a single and fundamental creed and that is rejecting violence, without this implying that we have the same views regarding principles and politics, which goes to reaffirm that difference does not necessarily lead to conflict, which applies to our current reality and what we are trying to deliver to young people and the society, that no matter how much we disagree, there are many things that can bring us together and keep us away from war and fighting.»
With the outbreak of violent clashes around three years ago on the streets of Tripoli in North Lebanon between the Sunnis and Alawites, recalling the Lebanese civil war that raged between 1975 and 1990, and following fears that the fighting might spill over to reach other regions and drag them into another war, a number of ex-combatants from different religious and political factions decided to come together and raise their voices against violence and hostility, and the FFP organization was established.
The mission of FFP, the only organization in Lebanon that brings together former combatants from different political, religious and social backgrounds, is not limited to engaging young people and civil society activists, but also seeks to include more former combatants with the aim of building sustainable civil peace and establishing real reconciliation in Lebanon. In addition, the “Fighters For Peace” seek to go beyond the borders of Lebanon to support neighboring countries torn by civil wars and violence too, from Libya to Iraq and Syria. The former combatants having become fighters for peace, aim to present their stories and experiences to create a space that former fighters can use to find ways of breaking the circle of violence, achieving inner peace and establishing peace in their local communities.
The organization’s work focuses on peace building, social cohesion and reconciliation through:
- School, university and refugee camp visits, in addition to other organizations and holding discussions there;
- Creating an electronic museum that holds the accounts of former combatants, and thus contribute to Lebanon’s collective memory;
- Communicating with the local community through a selection of activities;
- Providing a safe space for reflection and contemplation and providing psychological and social support to former combatants;
- Offering training on peace building and reconciliation;
- Communicating with current and former combatants in other countries.
