Rabih Mroué
I, the Undersigned
2007
| 2 videos on 2 monitors, sound | 3'50'' & 4'10''
I, the undersigned, Rabih Mroué, present a public and sincere
apology to all of you and to all the Lebanese people. But
before I begin, I don’t wish my position to be understood
as a reaction, or even an action. Since the end of the war,
I have been possessed by this idea and this feeling but…
Officially, the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990, and until
now, none of those responsible that are still today in positions
of power, has presented an apology to the Lebanese people
for what they have committed. With the exception of one person,
who counts among those who lost the war, his name is A.S..
His apology was a small text he published in a newspaper in
2002. That is, around 12 years after the war ended. Almost
nobody took this apology seriously. Regardless, it remains
registered as the first official apology given.
Like many Lebanese citizens, I have waited for apologies from
many of those responsible but in fact nothing appeared. This
is why I decided to make this step and apologize for what
I had committed during the civil war. And to clarify, this
is not a confession; actually there is a big difference between
confession and apology. I, personally, care not for confession.
Why this apology now? In fact, I hadn’t until this day gathered
the necessary courage to make this step. Perhaps cowardice
and fear stopped me from fulfilling this desire. Now the time
has come to proclaim my apologies to you brothers and sisters,
friends, comrades, companions and enemies.
Respectfully yours.
Born in Beirut in 1967, Rabih Mroué's semi-documentary
plays, videos and mixed-media performances use documents,
photographs and found objects to draw attention to the broader
political and economic contexts of contemporary Beirut.
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