Deputy since 2005, Samir Frangieh, 60 years old, has an optimistic eye on the evolution of the Lebanese society. He welcomed us at his office at the Parliament, Nejmeh Square, Beirut. He arrived late to the meeting. For forty minutes, we were wondering if he had forgotten the interview. Actually, he didn’t. He arrived and apologized humbly. He is extremely modest and simple. He explained why he arrived late: he had condolences to present. Oh, condolences are a crazy thing. It is a tradition that gained social value during the war, at times where it was impossible to meet in coffee shops to chat. People had to meet somewhere else! Funerals, then condolences, the 7th and the 40th day after death; this is the ideal occasion to meet. Yet, he takes advantage to criticize the hypocritical aspect of this tradition, and its use in politics for electoral purposes. Then he offered us a cup of coffee with a charming smile that seldom leaves his face. He sat, and lit a cigarette. He smoked three to four cigarettes during the two-hour conversation. He said that he gave up smoking… for a while. “I tried to follow the advice of a medical team who help those willing to give up smoking! They were interested in my state of mind, asking me if I smoked to make up for any anxiety, stress or worries. But I told them that I smoke only because I like to.” And he recalled that because he smoked he was fired from the Jesuits school at the beginning of the baccalaureate academic year.

iloubnan.info : Only because you smoked?

Samir Frangieh : No, because without any doubt I used to raise too many objections. At that time, I went to France where I joined the St. Germain en Laye Lycée to continue my baccalaureate year. Then I came back to Lebanon where I studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Lettres (now known as Sciences Humaines – USJ). Then I worked as a journalist at the newspaper l’Orient Le Jour and as a correspondent for different French newspapers.

How do you perceive the evolution of the Lebanese society?

For many years, I have been having the feeling that people are frustrated because they had been framed for a long time in their communities. This was clearly obvious with the March 14th, 2005 phenomenon, really interesting sociologically speaking. This phenomenon reveals, for the first time, the emergence of public opinion. One third of the population participated, 30% of whom where there for partisan reasons, and the remaining 70% for a personal or individual choice. This event reconfirmed the willingness of Lebanese people to live together.

Do you thing that the Lebanese are becoming more responsible, more national?

Yes. Today people are concerned more than ever; they have their word to say on their country. There are two talk shows every day in Lebanon. Sometimes, nothing interesting is being said; however, this allowed the Lebanese to go more into politics: through TV, politics have become a daily stuff for the Lebanese. For instance, if I go out tonight to the restaurant to have dinner with my wife, when I give my car to the valet parking, he will certainly ask me what I think about the situation. The waiter will certainly ask me how I perceive things. The restaurant manager will too come to my table and ask me what should be done, in my opinion. In most of the cases, the whole place will be talking politics.

This must be getting hectic, isn’t it?

A little bit. It is true that in Lebanon people don’t have limits when it comes to questioning somebody! I even took part, unwillingly, in family disputes where men left their home because their spouses have different political stands: they wanted me to be a witness of what they consider an election error made by their wives.

When you were a kid, where you subject to this?

Actually, I am from a Christian village in the North: Zghorta. It was considered the Sicily of Lebanon because of the violence prevailing there! Family and rival parties used to enter confrontations and massacres against each other.

My father, Hamid, was deputy and minister. He got sick when I was 10 years old and quit the political arena in 1957. I think that he had a remarkable impact on people’s minds. (He picked up from his desk an invitation card addressed to him from a cultural association. He traced with his index the name mentioned on the card: “Samir Hamid Frangieh”). Mentioning my father’s name next to mine, long after he quit the political arena, is for me, a very touching homage.

What are the souvenirs you recall about your father?

In the context of the Maronite institution, my father was atypical at that time. He was very open to other cultures. When I was a kid, I never felt any community separations. His friends, and all those who used to visit him belonged to different confessions. I’ve never heard him judge people based on their confession, whether Muslims or Christians. This had no importance to him. I took this openness o mind from him. I never felt afraid of Islam. Actually, during the war, I lived in West Beirut, and I never felt as an intruder or a stranger, or living at “somebody else’s”. This openness towards others gives a feeling of lightness, away from the oppressive feeling that emanates from the confinement within one community group facing another community group.

What do you say of today’s youth when you think of your youth age?

Young people are extremely important today. I try to keep in touch with them, and to be always accessible to them. When they discuss with me, they often say that my generation has made several achievements and that their generation has less credit than ours. But my reply is that our generation was spoiled. When I was 20 years old, there was no war. We didn’t suffer the gloom they witness today. Today’s young people have more problems than we had especially when it comes to their future. Before the war, boys used to continue their parent’s business, whereas the girls got married. Lebanese were rich, we should not forget that. Nowadays, life level has dropped down since it became difficult to find a job. I admire today’s youth: when we used to demonstrate in the late 60s, we were crowned for our left heroes; whereas today’s youth are crowned only by their attachment to their country. I would even say that today’s youth are more concerned with the country than my generation.

However, we hear sometimes about a come back to religion among youth … I think that this corresponds to a search for moral values they sometimes think they have lost. This is not a recrudescence of the community phenomenon. I trust the young generation, and I think that my generation has become numb, while the current generation is far less. I receive on my email a considerable number of funny letters, pictures or texts about the current political situation. I think this shows that today’s youth think more about the events than the previous generation.

Finally, are you optimistic about the Lebanese youth?

Yes. But… this is my nature