Virginia Sarotto
NARZOLE On Friday 11 October at the Balocco house there was an evening of those that enter inside you and change you, whether you want it or not.
Virginia Sarottocooperator of the NGO Arcs Solidarity Cultures which follows projects in the areas currently tormented by war, activist and recently returned from Beirut, has drawn attention to the current situation in the Middle East and in particular to Lebanon, a complex and multicultural country.
Sarotto graduated in philosophy in Turin and in international relations in Bologna, she began working as a researcher at the University of Bologna and as a social worker in a reception facility for refugees and asylum seekers. Human rights activist, in 2018 she joined the coordination of the Hayat association in Bologna, which develops socio-educational and cultural projects between Italy and Türkiye. After 4 years of community work and coordination of various projects with Hayat, in 2023 she moved to Lebanon to carry out her civil service with Arcs Arci supportive cultures, where she worked on educational projects, to promote and support economic development, for protection of human rights and the well-being of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
During the evening, the activist outlined a profile of the city of Beirut where she currently works and resides and focused in particular on the last two weeks before leaving on October 2nd to return, temporarily, to Italy.
However, it is necessary to take a step back, just as Virginia did at the beginning of the intervention, to better understand the situation starting from the basics and the activist does this by using simple but effective language, with correct and clear terms in order to avoid misunderstandings and mental conditioning of which sometimes we don’t even realize.
Beirut is a city marked by profound political and economic crises, further aggravated by the port explosion in August 2020. The social and economic difficulties have been felt even more intensely in recent years, with the Lebanese population having found itself facing increasingly precarious living conditions. Growing poverty, rampant inflation and lack of basic services have made daily life a struggle for millions of people.
The story focuses on October 7, 2023 when we witness a new phase of the war, not the beginning of a new war, as is instead communicated by the media. Sarotto reiterates that the war has been ongoing for approximately 76 years, and defines it as an “Israeli colonial project”.
Therefore it is wrong to accuse the act of 7 October as the beginning of a conflict, because peace was never achieved. On this date, Hamas militiamen, leaving the Gaza Strip, attacked Israeli territory by surprise, killing Israeli civilians and soldiers and taking prisoners, who were subsequently hidden within the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will declare that Israel is in a state of war and will respond militarily to the aggression.
Hezbollah will in turn support Hamas by launching missiles into Israel, hitting military targets in the disputed area.
At this point the already critical situation between Israel and Lebanon leads to tensions that will degenerate into a conflict precisely due to Hezbollah’s support for Hamas’ action.
Let us remember that Hezbollah is a Lebanese political-religious movement, an Islamist paramilitary organization that currently presents itself as the only revolutionary front in Lebanon against Israel, net of the terrorist actions that the organization has perpetuated in these years of clashes.
Virginia is keen to underline how criticizing Israel does not mean for her and even less for the majority of Lebanese, understood as such and therefore attributable to different religions, social extractions, backgrounds and ages, being on the side of Hezbollah, but only to identify in a lucid and truthful about what is happening in Lebanon and what Israel has been perpetuating for some time.
Lebanon is a Republic of almost 7 million inhabitants, of which 2 million are refugees, 1 and a half million officially registered Syrians who have been in the country since the 2011 Syrian war and half a million Palestinians who have been scattered in the various camps in the country since 1948, which have now become real neighborhoods. At least 18 religious confessions are recognized within the state, making the country cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, fascinating and conflictual at the same time.
- From 1975 to the 1990s, Lebanon experienced a civil war which affected the Israeli-Palestinian question due to the presence on the territory of the leaders of the PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization, after their expulsion from Jordan for their opposition to the Israel’s political project.
- In ’78 there was a first invasion of Lebanon by Israel.
- In 82 a second invasion.
- In 2006 the third, which precedes the latter.
The activist voluntarily uses the word invasion, unlike what is often communicated on social media. Virginia underlines how an armed action beyond the borders of another state cannot be defined otherwise, there cannot be double standards based on who does what.
In 2019, ordinary people took to the streets attempting a Revolution through an intergenerational demonstration that called for the elimination of the confessional and sectarian system that still characterizes Lebanon today. One of the plagues that grips the country is undoubtedly the political class which for years has been characterized by regulation, such as by Ta’i agreements by assignments to religious groups. The President of the Republic has not existed for 2 years but in the past the position has always been held by a Maronite Christian. The president of Parliament has always been a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister is Sunni.
The people asked for a state that would protect them as Lebanese without religious associations, to prevent political officials from acting in the interests of their own group and ending up in devastating corruption.
Unfortunately, the revolution failed for various reasons, starting from the lack of a common political project, due to the historical period in which it occurred, in the midst of a pandemic, and due to an economic crisis that still strangles the country in a harsh grip that is difficult to counteract .
August 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion, one of the most terrible non-nuclear explosions ever to occur on Earth. Those responsible for the attack will never be identified and the widespread fear pushed many young people to seek refuge beyond the country’s borders.
Virginia resumes the discussion starting from the situation that has drastically deteriorated in the last two weeks. The south and north-east of Lebanon are the areas most subjected to bombing. The north, with a greater Christian presence, except in Tripoli where the Sunni community is significant, is a safer place.
The activist experiences extremely stressful moments in the city, the memory of the sound of the bombs resonating in the air of Beirut triggering a constant state of anxiety, in search of information about the health of the people involved in the guerrilla zones, is well imprinted. Apps are flourishing where you can check where attacks are taking place.
There is also a component of mental coercion, Israeli drones constantly flying over the neighborhoods of Beirut, voluntarily visible and audible, as a constant presence in the lives of the inhabitants who feel under siege, controlled, undermined and threatened in their daily lives.
The Israeli bombings, at the request of the Americans, cannot involve the infrastructures, so that the citizens of the Stars and Stripes can return home. They and all the privileged people who have a passport that allows them to escape from the country under siege.
It is precisely on this point that Virginia focuses. There are no rights that are not rights if they do not belong to everyone, because if the rights do not belong to everyone then they are called privileges. It is not a fault that someone has a privilege, but it is wrong for it to be so, when it should be a right.
Human rights must apply to everyone, not just to a certain part of the population.
Just as the words, genocide, victims, invasion, acts of terrorism, must be used in the same way and measure for all areas of the earth. There cannot be synonyms depending on the parties involved.
Ilan Pappéan Israeli Jewish historian and academic expelled from his country, considered a traitor by his fellow countrymen, has for years denounced discrimination against Palestinians. An image circulating on social media shows a quote from him: you have to be with Palestine not to defend it (it has always done it alone) you have to be with Palestine to defend everything that deserves to be called freedom. His fight also concerns the double standard that the West has developed with respect to Palestine, comparing other wars and the media approach with which not only information but culture in general is managed.
Sarotto, like the historian, underlines the attention that must be paid to the use made of the lexicon and gives as an example the words anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
Anti-Semitism, a term often abused in the wrong contexts, indicates racial hatred directed towards the Jewish people and culture, while anti-Zionism is the opposition to a political project that still today violates human rights and international conventions.
A group of Jewish intellectuals have written an open letter to reject the idea that criticizing Israel is anti-Semitic.
Anti-Semitism is used to obscure the reality of the occupation and deny Palestinian sovereignty, justifying the continued bombing of Gaza and silencing criticism from the international community.
Being anti-Zionist means opposing the political ideology of Zionism, which led to the expulsion of 750,000 indigenous Palestinians from their land and homes. It means opposing the creation of a nation-state with exclusive rights for Jews above others on the earth. Anti-Zionism supports liberation and justice for the Palestinian people, including the right to return to their homes and land. Anti-Zionists believe in a future in which all people on earth live in freedom, security and equality.
Conflating anti-Semitism with opposition to the policies or ideology of the Israeli government is particularly dangerous at this time, and helps to avoid the Israeli state being accountable for its policies and actions that violate the human rights of Palestinians.
It was underlined, following questions from those present, how the involvement of the UN in Lebanon (Unifil) is limited to a non-intervention observation mission as it is bound by a 2006 agreement, signed in exchange for negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah.
The involvement of Europe and America is also underlined, as primarily responsible for the perpetuation of the current war situation, through the sale of weapons to Israel, like Iran which is recognized as the arm that arms Hezbollah.
Virginia Sarotto’s return to Italy marks the end of a mission, but not of her activity. His commitment to the weakest continues, with the aim of raising awareness and mobilizing resources for communities in crisis, both in Lebanon and in other parts of the world.
The evening organized in Narzole with the mediation of Luca Giachino is one of the first steps to raise public awareness on the issues of cooperation, sustainability and human rights, hoping to involve more and more people in these important processes of change.
It was an intense experience, a great opportunity to go beyond the media story, to become aware of what is happening and understand that the future of others is linked to ours and the change must also start from each of us.
Barbara Cake
