In order not to do injustice to the Arab sultans (now known as kings or presidents) and in order not to do injustice to the zua’ama of Lebanon (the lords of war, money and tribes) we shall recall what Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in Les Mains Sales (Dirty Hands) in 1948:

“Listen to me:

A family man is never a real family man.

An assassin is never entirely an assassin.

They play a role, you understand.

While a dead man, he is really dead.

To be or not to be, right?”

Since none of them care for, or for that matter, fear the dead, let us also quote Sartre in his 1943 Les Mouches (The Flies):

“Fear ‘your’ dead no more, they are ‘my’ dead.”

With this, The Monthly will notecase to publish an editorial for a period of time.

Jawad N. Adra