Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Throughout the nineteenth century, Lebanon experienced various uprisings resulting from a variety of grievances that were provoked by specific issues like taxation, land tenancy, conscription, and disarmament. In all cases these uprisings were reactions to attempts by the successive Ottoman pashas to impose tight controls on Mount Lebanon, and an enfeebled feudal aristocracy trying to preserve its eroding power and privilege. These uprisings were also an expression of an emancipated peasantry and clergy who were articulating a new spirit of collective consciousness. Prior to the uprising of 1820 the then Ottoman-appointed pashlik of Sidon imposed himself as ruthless ruler over various provinces by expropriating most of the land to his profit and by demanding excessive custom duties, thereby diminishing the modest economic prosperity the mountainous area had to offer. This incensed the peasantry and with the backing of the Maronite clergy they staged what became known as the ammiyyah uprisings. It is vital to highlight the role of the clergy in the mobilization of peasants because, at the turn of the century, a more reform-minded clergy would emerge and become more economically independent of the notables. Monastic organizations were increasingly more active in industrial crafts such as wine, spirits, bookkeeping, and printing. Most of their growing influence can be attributed ... log in or subscribe to read full text