Not Over

If you're a Lebanese student learning about your country's history, you might wonder where the last six decades have gone. That's because your history textbook ends with the withdrawal of French troops in 1946, so as not to have to explain the divisions which ultimately resulted in the 1975-1990 civil war. Without a common consensus on why the war occurred, it has been impossible to produce a history book including the civil war.

As a result, students are either ignorant about the war -- or, more likely, they get their information from second-hand gossip from their relatives and friends. "I have only a vague idea about what happened...All I know about it I got from my parents and the news on television," said one student. So each young Lebanese person gets their view of history from the previous generation, who embody the very divisions which began the war in the first place.

There's also the risk that the next generation doesn't draw parallels between the current situation, and the situation during the civil war. Many of the same military chiefs in power during the civil war are still in positions of leadership. Long-running political tensions may still lead to sustained violence because of one horrific attack. Sectarian divisions then are similar to divisions now. But why would they know that?