Press Release
The so-called "Sensation Festivals" in Tripoli Are Trying to Make the City Appear Insensitive to the Nation's Feelings
Boycott Them and Stop Their Licensing!
In a blatant challenge to the nation's feelings and pain, and in a blatant challenge to Tripoli, the city of science and scholars, and despite the issuance of a statement by the Family Welfare Committee at Dar Al-Fatwa in Tripoli and the North, warning against this dangerous course for society, where the statement stated, "The committee also warns of the danger of festivals, celebrations, films, and initiatives that have recently begun to appear in our city and are offensive to values and morals, and which are exploited to pass on deviant messages under artistic or cultural slogans, in a city known throughout its history as a city of science and scholars, and a fortress of authentic values and the unifying identity. The committee affirms that protecting society from these dangers is a shared collective responsibility: starting from the family and parents, passing through educators, teachers, and scholars, and also including civil society, municipalities, and politicians, all the way to decision-makers at the state level...".
The statement called on the concerned authorities, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Information, and the municipalities to take their role in confronting these phenomena, explaining explicitly in a statement addressed to the municipalities, to "refuse to license any activity, festival, or celebration that contradicts the morals of the people and their authentic culture...", but the responsible authorities seem to be proceeding with their work, disregarding the statement of the Family Committee at Dar Al-Fatwa, and turning a deaf ear to the cries of Muslims in Gaza, their wounds, and their hunger, and even in Lebanon, which is being violated by the criminal Jewish entity. Wouldn't it have been better for the municipalities in general and the municipality of Tripoli in particular to establish twinning with the municipalities in occupied Palestine and its wounded Gaza, and to take the available means to deliver aid and assistance to our people there, instead of holding festivals of dancing and singing as if they have secured all the needs of the people of Tripoli and all that remains is some fallen entertainment?!
We realize that behind this repeated trend towards Tripoli and its people is the desire to corrupt and change the character of the city and its people from the highest political levels in the country, and the statement of MP Najat Saliba about a plan prepared to confront extremism in Tripoli (and other places) is the best evidence.
O people of Tripoli, its sheikhs, orators, dignitaries, and people of Islam in it: Your role is great in stopping this matter, and what may follow it, by raising your voices from all your platforms and gatherings to boycott this festival and similar fallen festivals, and your role is greater in proving that you belong to the one nation that groans in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Sudan, so is it permissible for us to appear as if we are dancing on the wounds and pain of the nation?!
And to the municipality of Tripoli: We have only known you as sons of this city who belong to its authenticity, and the principle is that you represent its character and the character of its people, and festivals of dancing and singing are not part of its character. Tripoli of the Levant was and still is an incubator for every person in pain, despite its own pain, so do not sing out of tune today, and stop licensing the festival.
We realize the difficulty of the situation in light of this sweeping secularism in Lebanon and the region, but we also realize and trust that there is a large remnant of good in this nation, but this goodness does not concentrate and appear in its true form unless it is as God Almighty said: ﴿And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful. And do not be like those who separated and differed after clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment﴾.
What we are calling you to is a call to good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, a call to unite on what is undisputed and not to divide. And you, O people of Tripoli, its sheikhs, orators, people of Islam, dignitaries, and municipality, are worthy of this response, God Almighty willing, so be with God ﴿And Allah is with you and will never deprive you of [the reward of] your deeds﴾.
The Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Wilayah Lebanon