Subscribe Today
Request a Clip
Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese journalist Uqab Saqr, which aired on Heya TV on January 11, 2007.
Uqab Saqr: The problem [of a high birthrate] is common among the Shiites. I think this stems partly from the prevalence of tribal mentality. In Lebanon, the wars were one of the main reasons for the high birthrate – so that these [newborns] would turn into an army of fighters, which would confront the other sects. This was one reason. A more important reason was the neglect and deprivation of the Shiite sect, which led it to rely on its numbers, and to prefer tribal values over the values of the state. When people accept the civil institution of the state, they feel protected by state institutions, and do not need to give birth to many children. The Shiites are reacting to a feeling that they are being marginalized in the general Lebanese society and in the Sunni Arab-Islamic society. That is why they relied on a high birthrate in Lebanon, and maybe in Iraq and other places. This does not mean that the Shiite sect is backward. Backwardness characterizes the peripheral regions in Lebanon, and in most of the Arab world, where the center controls the periphery.
Interviewer: What sect are you?
Uqab Saqr: I'm a Shiite. My uncle, for example, has 11 children, with only one room in his home. Obviously, he cannot give them as much affection of money as he should, and he cannot leave them any inheritance, because he has nothing. None of his children turned out educted.
Interviewer: Did you ask your uncle why he had 11 children?
Uqab Saqr: I conducted a sociological study about this phenomenon – how come, in my neighborhood, everybody had 9 or 10 children. The peculiar thing was that our of 10 people, eight had difficulties stating the names of their children. Four of them could not name them in order from the youngest to the eldest, and they had to make two or three attempts.
Interviewer: What is the reason, lack of awareness?
Uqab Saqr: If a person cannot memorize his children's names in order, how can he give them affection?
Latest Clips
