The Word of the Ladies of Lebanon on the Anniversary of November 22

On a day like this, nine years ago, Lebanon spoke its word, and what it willed came to pass. On a day like this, nine years ago, the Lebanese crossed the frontier of their bonds: they shattered the barriers, tore up the deed of bondage, wrested back lawful rights, and took a lofty place in this existence. It was a day of release from darkness into light; it was an uprising from the stagnation of torpor and death to the rebirth of life and hope, and to the march in the procession of civilization, progress, and prosperity. It was a day for tearing down the worn and threadbare, to build the beloved homeland anew and to shore up its historic glory, that Lebanon might keep a glorious heritage, and that a new horizon might open before the Lebanese people wherein its gifts, its readiness, its powers, and its energy might shine forth. From that time we have kept this anniversary every year, rejoicing and exulting — and how should we not, for it is Lebanon's day, Lebanon's feast, Lebanon's birth: a second birth, a proclamation and an announcement of its entry into the kingdom of man.

This kingdom, which classifies mankind, which makes peoples known, and which distinguishes nations by what they have earned and what they have acquired: whoso does good, it is for his own soul, and whoso does ill, it is against it — so some are wretched and some are blessed.

On a day like this Lebanon won a round in the field of its national struggle, and it was set down to its account as victory and pride. And this round was the beginning of rounds, and the opening of a new era, in which the Lebanese people gives proof of its capacities and its readiness to face the future with full awareness, a piercing mind, and a true understanding of developments and events. It is the era of complete independence, the era of liberation from pressure from without and from within; it is the era of the sense of responsibility and of the performance of national duties, by government and people, by groups and by individuals. For to obtain a thing is not the whole of the matter in this life; rather, it is knowing how to keep it and to consolidate its foundations that gives a man eminence and excellence and lets him soar in this kingdom, and that marks peoples out with power, prestige, and respect.

Independence is the liberation of man from the bondage of man, and work within the compass of laws that provide for equality among all, and that guarantee right to all, and rest and security to every member of the nation, so that all may enjoy an all-embracing justice, an easy life, and a respected existence.

Independence is the sense of national dignity and the enjoyment of the human rights set down in the charter of the rights of man, which is the constitution of this kingdom.

Lebanon has been accustomed to hear the voice of woman on this occasion every year. It is the voice of sincerity; it is the voice of truth drawn from reality; it is the voice of true patriotism, inspired by hearts filled with faith and working for the good of Lebanon. Would that every year, together with the offering of our most sincere congratulations and best wishes, we might offer Lebanon, as a gift for its feast, a record that speaks of what we have earned and what we have gained — nor would that be hard for us — so that we might know where we stand and whither we are bound; and in that there is for us a lesson and a reminder.

Lebanon, new though its self-government is, has witnessed grave days and events of such moment as have made it knowing and well versed in the necessity of keeping pace with time, moving with developments, and acknowledging realities. And so Lebanon yielded to the wish of the Lebanese woman and to her insistence on exercising her political rights, and there came the recognition of the educated woman's rights — though how I wished that this fettered right had been set loose, and had been complete, embracing the educated woman and the unlettered woman alike. Woman has been classified, but she has not been given justice. The unlettered woman may well be asked for what sin she was taken — she who committed no offense and perpetrated no crime that would justify depriving her of a natural, lawful right. And what, one wonders, are her feelings toward a homeland in which she is deemed to have no concern except to pay taxes and submit to laws and judgments — she who never once shrank from doing her duty? It is a discrimination between one woman citizen and another, and between an unlettered man citizen and an unlettered woman citizen — and we are all children of Lebanon. Illiteracy constitutes no crime for which a human being should be punished with such deprivation; rather the responsibility falls upon the previous governments and the successive authorities that neglected her free schooling and her right guidance — such guidance as would make her a worthy citizen in whom Lebanon takes pride. And woman has firm hope that the high authorities, in the light of the desired reform, will apply Article Seven of the Lebanese Constitution, which reads: “All Lebanese are equal before the law; they enjoy equally civil and political rights, and bear the public burdens and duties, without any distinction among them” — and that the honored government will then issue a further legislative decree, setting the fettered right free and spreading justice and equity among all citizens, men and women alike.

It gives me pleasure this evening to speak in the name of every Lebanese woman, and to declare that woman has grasped the supreme importance and the great benefit of firm union and close solidarity: she has unified her ranks, and her associations, for all the multiplicity of their aims and purposes, have come together in harmony in a single body — one that blesses a true independence, hallows a constitution that has protected human dignity, and glorifies a homeland in which she has become a fundamental cornerstone.