Yesterday, AMAL celebrated Musa Sadr in Nabatyeh. I attended the event, and as soon as I have some free time, I will tell you more about it. It was an interesting first hand experience.
For the rest of the world, the disappearance of the imam Moussa al-Sadr is probably at most a footnote in the checkered history of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. In 1978, the Lebanese Shiite religious leader flew to Tripoli for a week of talks with Libyan officials. He was never seen or heard from again. But in Lebanon, the mystery of the missing imam remains a burning issue for Shiites.
In 1975, al-Sadr founded the Amal movement. He was an impressive figure. Regarded as a moderate, he urged cooperation with other faiths. His biggest success may have been that his preaching for Shiite dignity changed the way the sect's members thought of themselves.
Amal and other organizations he founded became the model for a grass-roots Shiite political movement. “Imam Moussa al-Sadr was a major turning point for Shiites in Lebanon. He moved them from isolation and marginalization to uprising,” said well-known Shiite lawyer Ali Qabalan. “All Shiite resistance groups and movements were triggered by Imam al-Sadr's slogans.” [Naharnet]
Nabih Berri's speech was very good, addressing the most pressing issues at hand, and the people responded well to it. It was the first time ever that I heard Berri addressing the masses. I knew he is a skilled politician but he is also a powerful speaker. You can read it here.
Update:
As promised I want to share bits of my Nabatyeh experience. On the way from Beirut to Nabatyeh I have seen lots of cars and buses with pictures of Berri and Musa Sadr, and of course the green flag of AMAL.
As I got closer to Nabatyeh the traffic was guided by men wearing T-shirts with AMAL's logo. I happened to have a green T-shirt as well. Just before reaching the town we started to move very slowly. I could hear the music from the cars next to mine, and a couple of girls asked to follow their car to the event. Young, old people and children most with posters, flags, clapping hands, yelling, smiling, waving hands at perfect strangers, all excited to get to the event. Did I mention the many young men and couples on the motorbikes? There were so many! In Lebanon driving is …. let's put it this way, its an adrenaline rush. Always. To be on a scooter or motorbike is just madness. Of course, no helmet, no nothing.
The security did not allow the people to drive in close to the arena where the event was about to start. I was luckier than others, and I was allowed to get into the center of the town by car. I could not have done it on high heels, anyway. It was not a good idea to wear high heels, but well, at that point there was not much to do about it.
Soon my luck ended. I had to take my press card from AMAL's press office there, but for reasons that I am not going to discuss here, I walked around like mad with security guards for like 40 minutes. When I was about to give up, aggravated, upset and disappointed, and after at least dozens of calls, a good friend came to rescue.
The security was very tight. In spite of my problem with them, they did their job as they were supposed to. AMAL was in charge there, seconded by the army, police, Hizballah, and maybe others I was not aware of.
There were many political, religious, military figures, diplomats, UNIFIL representatives [I spotted someone from the French troops] so on, so forth.
The event did not take as long as I imagined, however, the guys from the local media found a chair for me. Thank God! I am not used to walk and/or stay on high heels that long. I was glad to take few pictures. I asked the guys from security if I am allowed to walk from one end to the other when Berri spoke, and they said its fine. I have seen on two of the buildings facing the arena, people on the roof, I imagine they were not there to get a tan. It was like a movie scene with the snipers on the buildings, and everywhere I looked there were men with some sort of arms [sorry, I have no idea of their name, caliber etc] … I am the kind of gal to support the idea that rules are nothing else than suggestions, but in Nabatyeh, I was very strict in respecting everything I was told. Was it frustrating? Kind of.
When Hizballah has a demonstration everyone talks/writes about it. The sea of flags, of posters, the thousands of people, well, that I saw in Nabatyeh too. My point is that AMAL in spite of its downs is still a force among the Shias, and that is something some should carefully look into.
It was a civilized event. Over the years, I often heard the opposite, but is true that nothing compares to the personal experience. The press and the guests received a white baseball cap. No logo, no AMAL flag, nothing. Nice PR touch.
P.S. At that time I did not really notice, but one of the security guys after showing my ID, said hello in Romanian. What were the odds?!
