The Lebanese Diaspora
With an estimated figure of 15 million citizens living abroad for an inside population of 4 million, Lebanon is one of the only countries to have more citizens living outside its boundaries.
Migration has long been a tradition for the Lebanese, starting as early as the Phoenicians who sailed the seas. The modern Lebanese Diaspora began in the 19th century. At that time the country was under ottoman domination and the Lebanese, especially Christian, had to bear an ottoman policy of second class citizens and oppression. Later on a civil war broke out between Druze and Christian. This only helped in intensifying the migration process touching Lebanese of all faiths.
Another wave of dense migration happened during and after the First World War. As the population "perished from hunger in a land rich with milk and honey"[1], a new wave of migrants decided to join their family members, or village peers, wherever they settled. Migrating "with nothing but courage in their hearts and strength in their arms [to] return with wealth in their hands and a wreath of glory upon their heads."[1]
These migrations were reinforced by the 1975 civil war, when hundreds of thousands of Lebanese left a country under fire and economic depreciation.
Integration in the host country has not always been an easy task for the new migrants. In countries such as Argentina or Australia they found themselves on the margins of the host society. In Argentina, where they were referred to as 'Turcos' -as they were immigrant of an Ottoman Turkish Province- they found themselves as "a stigmatized immigrant group within a strongly assimilation national culture." Michael Humphrey,
Lebanese identities: between cities, nations and trans-nations (Winter 2004). In Australia, they "assumed a ... position on the economic margins as petty traders, were referred to as 'Syrian,' and were often resented for their success. ... their Ottoman imperial origin meant they were classified as Asiatic and consequently kept under close surveillance by local police." Id. In Africa, Lebanese communities have often been targeted as scapegoats for economic crisis.
Yet, one of the impressive factors about the Lebanese Diaspora, apart from the high number of
migrants, is the faculty the children of the Cedars have to adapt, integrate and succeed into a new environment usually unknown and sometimes hostile. Indeed, Lebanese usually "appear to have integrated comfortably with the various societies and diverse cultures, ... many have excelled in these new environments and become notable in the fields of entertainment, politics, sport and academia." Impressions Staff, Lebanese Diaspora (2006). "Throw a Lebanese to the sea and he will come out of it with a fish" states a Lebanese adage.
Lebanon has known three important waves of migration. Starting in the late 1800s the first wave of emigration was a disorganized one. In villages, the means of subsistence were limited, families were large, and land was scarce. The young had no prospects but to emigrate. Often clandestine (as the Ottomans initially prohibited emigration) the early migrants, usually poor and uneducated villagers, would board a boat, any boat, and embark into a journey without knowing where they would end up.
The second wave was more organized, following the First World War and the hunger and poverty that stroke the land of milk and honey, many Lebanese, still poor and, often, uneducated villagers would join family members, or fellow villagers, who had already settled in foreign countries. Often hearing of the success of their peers they also decided to give it a chance.
Some have left to never come back, making a life in their host country, their children "whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon"[1] are "deeply rooted"[1] in their host country.
Nonetheless, many have grown up maintaining strong ties with Lebanon, in many cases members of the family such as parents, siblings or cousins were still there. The young man leaving Lebanon very early in his life would go back there to find a wife and start a family. Those who were living in difficult countries in Africa or Latin America would send their children to Lebanon so that they could receive a proper education or for health reasons. The father would stay in the host country to work, send money to his family and shuttle between his working country and Lebanon. This was, and, somehow, still is, a usual pattern for families in the Diaspora, a father
who earned enough money to place his family in their home country which has a better educational system and conditions are easier.
The fifteen years civil war that struck the land of the cedars will change those rules. Now parents would keep their kin next to them or send them to Europe, Australia or the U.S. for them to get a proper education. Lebanon being too dangerous was not an option anymore.
The civil war has also intensified emigration and is the third phase to the modern Lebanese Diaspora, seeing a metropolitan migration as well.
Many of those who left during the civil war came back home during the 1990s. The usual pattern of sending your wife and kids to Lebanon while you were abroad started anew. Nevertheless, because of an occupied country, a stalling economy, bad salaries, unemployment and an unstable political and regional situation; many hesitated in returning and kept living abroad.
Until today the Lebanese Diaspora plays a role in Lebanon, keeping its ties with their homeland. They have brought a persistent support in all matters and have contributed to the Lebanese society and economy. Often successful Lebanese abroad give back to their
country by helping in the construction and/or reconstruction of their villages' infrastructures. The Diaspora also contributes to the economy sometimes through investments and often through remittance sent to their family back home as well as through tourism by their visits to the homeland. Many, still, hope to return and settle there at last as more young Lebanese seek professional alternatives abroad as hope in home grows faint.
[1] Khalil Gibran
Free Cedar
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