On The International Day of the Lebanese Expatriate:

The World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) 1959-2020: Sixty-one years of struggle and still progressing

Every March, we celebrate with all expatriates The International Day of the Lebanese Expatriate. As we approach this day, which was approved by the Lebanese government in 2000 based on the initiative of the WLCU and the community in Mexico, we stand before the statue of the Emigrants – the symbol, overlooking the port of Beirut, and before the statues planted around the world by the World Lebanese Cultural Union, from Latin America, to North America and to the Australian continent, we stand with the sacrifices of the first immigrants, who eased the tears of our mothers and grandmothers after the famine, contributed to the economic renaissance of Lebanon, and flamed the torch of freedom, not only in Lebanon, but also in the Arab world, as a result of an migratory renaissance that toppled the Turkish hegemony, and contributed to the liberation movements in our dear Orient.

As soon as Lebanon became independent, its expatriates rushed to invest in it, and they became the pillars of the Lebanese economy, pumping life into its arteries and strengthening its body.

We salute the National Council of the World Lebanese Cultural Union in Mexico, where our international Union was founded in 1959, and we salute the “Centro Libanes” in the Mexican capital, where this occasion will be celebrated on the 8th of this month, along with our colleagues and all communities across the continents. The first pioneers, who founded the WLCU, made it a distinguished national institution, which monitors the interests of the expatriates and their demands, in Lebanon and around the world, a global fortress to defend Lebanon, its freedom, Its sovereignty and its independence during hard circumstances.

As this occasion passes this year, Lebanon is experiencing an unprecedented popular revolution. It is suffering under the most severe economic, financial, political and national crisis that threatens the Lebanese with poverty and humiliation. The WLCU continues its usual national role, and it emphasizes the following:

1. The World Lebanese Cultural Union continues to support the trans-sectarian Lebanese revolution, which began on 17 October, 2019 and supports its demands for freedom, justice and the fight against corruption, the recovery of Lebanese funds embezzled by politicians and their associates in public administration and private companies, and the separation of powers, in particular the independence of the judiciary and the call for fair governance.

2- The WLCU is disturbed to watch the two authorities: legislative and executive, having their centers surrounded by either concrete walls or with fire and violence facing a peaceful revolution, which demands the most basic rights. The WLCU considers this not only humiliating to the Lebanese, but also a distortion of the image of the homeland and a breach of the Human Rights act, hiding from the people, which seemed to be screaming in a deep valley created by the state to shield itself from its own citizens.
3. The WLCU, is following up with utmost professionalism, with the complaint filed at the United Nations by its World President, demanding the recovery of Lebanon’s stolen assets. Acting as a consultative NGO at the world organization, the WLCU is constantly exerting pressure, within the UN and within its host nations, to globalize this issue, and to force Lebanon to implement the articles of the agreement it signed with the United Nations dealing with fighting corruption.

4. In the midst of the crisis of public debt, and as the Lebanese people money was stolen and their savings were spent, we loudly declare: the money of the Lebanese in general, and the expatriates in particular, is the responsibility of all the political authorities, and this shall become our main issue, and once it happens, it will lead to a revolution abroad that will shake the ground under these authorities all over the world, as we also warn against malicious and sustained attempts to change the face of lebanon’s free economy.

5. First and foremost, lebanon’s return to prosperity will only be achieved by the return of all its children to the bosom of the homeland, away from the regional fires, and by restoring the people’s confidence towards their State, as well as the confidence of the friendly nations, and there is no justice without freedom and sovereignty.

6. We, as we salute the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Nassif Hitti, whom we respect, for his efforts to break the isolation around Lebanon, we look forward to meeting with him, putting ourselves at his disposal and calling upon him to prevent attempts, old and new, to undermine the World Lebanese Cultural Union.

As a reminder, the World Lebanese Cultural Union is an independent NGO, registered as a Transglobal organization, based in New York, a member of the United Nations non-governmental organizations since 2009, its highest authority is the World Conference, it does not beg its authority and name from anyone except its members and its National Councils throughout the world, and as it has resisted during the years of hegemony, it will resist the new hegemony and it will continue to hold anyone accountable for impersonating or infringing or using its name or emblem, and it remains, on its 61st anniversary and beyond, the conscience of Lebanon.