By Wassim Mroue, Alex Taylor
BEIRUT: Many Lebanese believe that
sectarianism is a major problem plaguing the country’s society, but opinions
vary as to how to root out this phenomenon and prevent the next generation from
sliding into the same conflicts. Jad Shahrour, a writer and filmmaker, chose
social drama to help abolish sectarianism in the country by exposing the
ongoing sufferings of the victims of Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War, which to a
large extent, was of a sectarian nature.
As part of a team assembled by the
NGO Search for Common Ground and funded by the EU and UNDP, Shahrour co-wrote a
13-episode series entitled “The Team.” It is a show about a football team made
up of Muslim and Christian players from the Beirut neighborhoods of Ain
al-Rummaneh and Shiyah who must overcome their divisions to achieve success on
the pitch.
“Drama is more effective than any
other tool in delivering a message,” says Shahrour, who is an experienced
political activist.
“This time, you are not promoting an
idea through a political speech or a seminar ... but the idea is reaching
people at home through TV.”
UNDP country director Luca Renda
agrees, which is why the organization has contributed to the series as part of
its peace building initiatives that target youth.
“In this case we’re targeting people
from [ages] 14 to 19 and you can’t just simply go to them with a message ...
You have to catch their attention with something that is entertaining and
something that touches their daily lives and problems – what they live and
feel,” he explains.
The concept of “The Team” was
produced by Search for Common Ground for use in numerous countries – from the
Ivory Coast to Nepal – but adapted to the given country’s history and enduring
conflicts.
In Lebanon’s case, “The Team”’s
plotlines shed light on the social problems resulting from the Civil War and
how these larger issues touch the daily lives of the characters.
“We chose the topic of the Civil War
and the resulting social problems across the country ... We focused the most on
the districts of Ain al-Rummaneh and Shiyah,” Shahrour explains, pointing to
the high number of casualties in the two rival neighborhoods that witnessed the
early battles of the Civil War and remain volatile districts.
The 13 episodes were aired on LBC in
July and the channel is considering broadcasting a rerun after the holy month
of Ramadan which ends Aug. 19. All the episodes and behind-the-scenes stories
are available to watch anytime on YouTube and on the show’s website,
www.theteamlb.org.
To really bring the drama to life,
Shahrour chose docudrama. He found and interviewed real individuals telling
their own stories of suffering from the Civil War to match the plights of the
characters in “The Team.” The short interviews with the corresponding scenes
from the relevant episode are posted to YouTube and the website, entitled “The
story behind the story.”
“We looked for the story which
matches the drama in reality ... We said let us present the people that really
suffered,” Shahrour says, who directed some of the segments as well.
“This includes, for example, two
people from different sects loving each other, someone wounded during the Civil
War or a woman who lost her husband during the war.”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t want
to remember my past at all,” says Rekal Yazbek in one of these short videos.
“It left a deep wound in my heart.”
During the Civil War, Yazbek’s
husband, a Lebanese Army soldier, was captured and killed at the age of 23
while in the northern city of Tripoli during a spate of sectarian killings.
“Whatever I do for my children, they
still feel that something misses them,” she adds.
She explains how her husband’s
relatives identified his body in a hospital in Tripoli. “His body was badly
mutilated, his hands and legs tied,” she says, adding that her daughter had
been only 4 when her husband was killed.
“What is the fault she had made to
deserve to be deprived from saying ‘Daddy?’” she asks.
In addition to the consequences of
sectarian strife left by the Civil War, “The Team” also delves into other
contemporary issues facing the Lebanese, such as class and socioeconomic
divisions.
Nicolas Mezher, an actor in the
series who plays one of the footballers named Christopher, talks about his
character’s story: “I fall in love with a girl who sells flowers, and my mother
doesn’t like it so she forces me to stop seeing her ... Because she’s poor and
sells flowers, the mother doesn’t like the idea of her son with her.”
Valerie Abou Chacra is another young
talent acting in the series as the character Hind, who is a sister of one of
the players. She stresses that the show discusses issues familiar to all Lebanese,
and which are not just religious in nature.
“[The writers] concentrated on the
conflict here in Lebanon and especially the biggest conflict between the
religions. At the same time, [they] brought different daily conflicts that
every Lebanese might face – they included these small complications so that
they can relate to everyone,” she says, highlighting the story of two
characters who compete over university admissions, until one is admitted only
because his family has more money and connections (wasta).
Yet the main objective is to reach
out to youth to get them to look at one another as Lebanese rather than as “the
other,” despite the messages they may receive from older generations.
“The adults are sometimes portrayed
as the ones who have the most prejudice against which the young people have to
struggle because the prejudices and preconceptions are imposed upon them and
it’s difficult for them to understand,” says the UNDP country director Renda of
the series.
“Overcoming differences doesn’t mean
forgetting the past or forgetting history – it means approaching the other in a
different way and overcome the barriers in this society that prevent people
from speaking to each other just because the other belongs to a different
group,” he continues.
Shahrour laments that sectarian
feelings continue to become more deep-rooted in people, even today.
“Unfortunately ... it is being
passed to new generations and no one ... is trying to prevent this,” he says.
“Speeches by politicians are sectarian, and they are being watched by
children.”
Shahrour believes that for a true
reconciliation to take place between all groups in Lebanon, all warlords who
committed crimes during the Civil War should be brought to trial.
When asked whether he believes drama would prove
effective in combating sectarianism which is entrenched in the Lebanese
society, Shahrour says with determination: “Try is a good answer, I have to
try.”http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Aug-13/184445-social-drama-the-team-confronts-sectarianism.ashx#axzz23Ova9jeY
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