BEIRUT, By Adib Sayegh | iloubnan.info - April 20, 2010"Umam documentation and research" association in Haret Hreik organizes a book exhibition titled "Books from the Battlefield" from April 20 to May 9. Bringing together stories of war literature, this initiative aims to explore the role played by cultural production during the war. It is also part of a project very dear to the association that consists of giving the audience access to some of Lebanese civil war archives documents.
Umam Documentation and Research association is lately facing a hectic period since it launched an exhibition titled “Missing” at the Dome Beirut, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the beginning of Lebanese civil war, knowing that it is launching as well from April 20 to May 9, a very special exhibition: "Books from the Battlefield". "This exhibition includes all works telling in a way or another, realities of the war in Lebanon," says Lokman Slim, founder and director of Umam R & D. He added that some publications, whose authors are anonymous or have been murdered, will also be displayed during the exhibition. Actually, this event marks the start of logistical preparations for giving the audience access to Lebanese civil war documented archives that belong to Umam Documentation and Research association. A thing that delighted both researchers and academics.
Umam is working since its creation in 2004, on archiving Lebanese civil war in order to eliminate all misinterpretations or confusions. The war archives publication project has taken "years of work, years to collect written and rare audiovisual documents. It is also a very expensive archive conservation project, towards which the Lebanese government has shown noticeable disregard” stated Lokman Slim, stressing that this project will be finally carried out, thanks to foreign funds from Norway, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands
"The concept of research is almost absent in the Arab mentality," says Lokman Slim, adding that concerned Lebanese institutions weren’t even interested in protecting "country's memory”, often doomed to oblivion. He thinks that one of Umam’s roles is also to revive memories of the past, in order to turn a new page "not by stifling injuries, but by treating them, while trying to understand causes and consequences that resulted”. It is high time to reconcile with both past and history of the country, and to admit them with honesty, "he continues. And indeed, this exhibition is all about recalling openly and honestly “important moments of the country’s history, even the most painful ones”.
The exhibition also intends to change public opinion, which often opposes the concept of "war" to the one of "culture". "Books from the Battlefield" aims to highlight the role played by Lebanese cultural production (especially the book) during the period of war, explains Lockman Slim. This initiative sums up “these years of violent war”, which according to the director of Umam, persist until today in more or less attenuated forms. The exhibition includes books published by certain political parties on their martyrs as well as some documents censored for telling wars and crimes, which dissemination would be harmful for its perpetrators.
The center of Umam association in Haret Hreik, which was bombed by Israel during the 2006 war, organizes very often exhibitions and other activities, allowing the audience to have a deeper understanding of the ambiguous past of a country “still in ongoing danger”, Umam’s definition for Lebanon. "We have worked on many topics, such as missing in Syrian prisons, monuments caused by the war, or even the situation of the Dahieh region, which for some has become an imaginary city after the 2006 war ... all these projects and more are part of the work of our association that constantly explores " memories of the past" he concludes.
Opening of the exhibition « Books from the battlefield » Tuesday April 20 at 6pm
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