Our Founding Question

Once a beacon of freedom and prosperity, Lebanon draws from a Phoenician heritage rooted in maritime trade, alphabetic literacy, and decentralised civic life. Its coastal city-states sustained wide networks of exchange across the Mediterranean, cultivating traditions of openness, commercial enterprise, and cultural adaptation. Its people have long excelled in art, literature, diplomacy, commerce, and enterprise, yet the country itself has descended into dysfunction. The paradox is striking: why do Lebanese individuals thrive abroad while their homeland struggles?

This paradox extends into an objective of identity itself. Unlike in Greece, or Scandinavia, where ancient heritage and modern identity are interconnected, in Lebanon the choice is politically charged. To identify as "Arab" is not merely linguistic or cultural; it is often interpreted as aligning with a twentieth century pan-Arab project that opposed liberal economics and Western orientation. To emphasise Phoenician heritage, in turn, is interpreted as rejecting regional connections. The result is identity paralysis — a society unable to narrate itself without provoking conflict. This unresolved question lies in the epicentre of every major political juncture in the country's history.

Defending Culture exists to address it. It is a platform for open dialogue and intellectual multidisciplinary inquiry across economics, politics, philosophy, history, art, architecture, literature. The project advances a multicultural approach to Lebanese identity — rooted in laissez-vivre, laissez-faire and laissez-dire, grounded in the conviction that it is these civic values that are conducive to human dignity, flourishing, and peace among Lebanon's diverse communities.

And more importantly, because objective truth exists. The key is to seek it rigorously, to articulate it clearly, to transmit it faithfully, to defend it courageously, and to hold it with the humility that leaves space for growth, correction, and rediscovery.