Kamal Joumblatt

I Speak for Lebanon

by Kamal Joumblatt

This book is worth reading because of who the author is, as much as because of what he says. Jumblatt embodied some of the confusing paradoxes of Lebanese politics. He founded Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party and was a great admirer of Gandhi. But his political prominence really rested on his role as the hereditary chief of the Druze community. As such, he was a prominent politician and warlord in the early stages of the Lebanese civil war. He was assassinated in 1977 at the behest of the Syrian government. This book, published posthumously, contains his reflections on the Arab-Israel conflict, the possibility of democracy in the region, the outlook for peace in Lebanon and what he saw as the twin curses of Middle Eastern politics—oil and sectarianism.

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