How Similar Really Was Lebanon To Switzerland?
For decades, we Lebanese accepted the label of “Switzerland of the Middle East” yet we never really believed it, did we? We even chanted it, poetized it, and bragged about it, but we all knew that it was mainly us wanting so much to believe it... against all odds.
Our country, despite all its amazing features, was always riddled with conflicts, internally and on our borders, for our sectarian divisiveness and those of the region, and for our political parties' causes and for other countries' causes.
And no, that was not the result of the Civil War as some assume. That was what caused the Civil War ; to only cite our modern history.
So, how is it that our country came to be compared to Switzerland , that prominently evolved country with a highly civilized standard and equitable civic laws, and that symbolizes Peace and Prosperity?
I have been wondering that for decades, since before the civil war, which I saw starting and ending, and lived it and through it.
And, if argument advances that such status had existed before my existence, how come my father, like many of his fellow countrymen in their early twenties, had to emigrate to the other side of the world for better living conditions?
I do remember when he relocated us to Lebanon 10 years after his emigration. I was a kid, yet I remember. That wasn’t Switzerland . That was Lebanon with its goods and bads, but not Switzerland .
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So, no, we weren’t the Switzerland of the Middle East by a long shot. However, and this might surprise many of you, Switzerland was neither always the country we know today; not for hundreds of years, it wasn’t.
That country, which we know as a beacon of prosperity and stability, is relatively new. And that’s where we meet in similarities.
We all know that both World Wars spared the Swiss neutral confederation in the heart of Europe. While most countries around it struggled to get back on their feet, after these massively devastating wars, Switzerland managed to establish itself gradually as we know it today:
A role model of peace and prosperity, fair civic laws that serve all equally, one of the world's most important banking hubs, and the host state of many international organizations, including the United Nations .
However, as shared with me by a Swiss professor, a family friend, “ Switzerland used to be one of Europe’s poorest nations: landlocked and hostage to its mountainous terrain."
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He explained that "the Switzerland of 150 years ago suffered as a battleground of religious and sectarian motivated civil wars and was much less developed than its imperial neighbors, which used the Swiss as proxies and mercenaries for their own regional power politics.” (Sounds familiar?)
In our exchange, we came about some interesting parallels between Switzerland before its nation united, and our Lebanon of these past long decades.
Keep in mind that this is only a comparative breakdown, which could, maybe, just maybe, tell us that since that country did it, so can we. And as you'll come to see, we today have more advantages than the Switzerland of back then.
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#1 Nations within a nation / Sectarian communities within a nation
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Like Lebanon with its multi-sectarian communities, Switzerland had a similar formation, yet with some major differences in which Lebanon has a strong comparative advantage.
Switzerland was actually a nation of various nations, literally. It remains even today a patchwork of multiple nations:
the francophone Romandie in the west,
the germanphone Deutsch-Schweiz in the center and north,
the italophone Ticio in the south,
the romnachophones (ancient Latin language) Grischun in the east.
Lebanon has a stronger comparative advantage on that; three actually: We are NOT different nations within one. We are ONE nation of diverse sectarian communities. That's a huge difference.
We don't have language barriers; we are united by one same language of communication, the Lebanese-Arabic language. And, we have One predominant culture (regardless of the subcultural features).
These are very important factors that cement our current stance that we are all Lebanese first and foremost, and we are ONE nation.
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