Monday, September 18, 2006

George Corm on LBC-TV. I watched George Corm on LBC-TV's Naharkum Sa`id. I am biased in favor of Corm: I have always admired his intellect and his principled secularism and anti-Harirism. Corm did an outstanding job, as always; more than any other Lebanese I know, he insisted on deconstructing the rhetoric and terminology of the ruling dynasty in Lebanon. His patience must have been strained to sit across the table from the thick-headed Walid `Abbud (a grandson of the progressive and secular Marun `Abbud, I hear?). But I disagreed with Corm on three points: 1) he said that he adhered first to Lebanese nationalism. I think that we secularists should come to the conclusion that secularism is incompatible with the very existence of the Lebanese entity--which will always be sectarian. We should aim at dissolving Lebanon in a larger Arab (secular) entity (no, not with the current lousy Syrian regime), and any form of Lebanese nationalism is repugnant to me; 2) he was too soft on the fanatical Pope; 3) I also disagree with his opposition to the Cairo Agreement. I in fact call for the restoration of the Cairo Agreement in Lebanon. I firmly believe in the right of the Palestinian resistance movement to operate from all Arab countries. But Corm did an outstanding job in refuting the arguments of Hariri Inc.