On the move in times of war and exile: Engagement, continuities, and caesura in the paths taken by Syrian activists in Lebanon

Since the outbreak of the uprisings in Syria in 2011, Syrian activists have tried to take the streets and denounce the Baathist regime. After peaceful demonstrations were met with violence, many of these early demonstrators took up arms or joined radical Islamic groups. Many others left Syria for neighboring countries, among them Lebanon, and organized more invisible forms of resistance, by providing relief to the displaced within Syria, or refugees in Lebanon. This paper focuses on the “activist careers” (à la Howard Becker) of Syrian activists in Lebanon, retracing notions of commitment, revolution, and mobilization, as well as networks of solidarity, defiance, and resistance within these circles. Through the life stories and activist careers of individuals based in Lebanon, this research focuses on the lived experiences and practices of activists, their contradictory debates, their solidarity networks, their opportunistic strategies, and their invisibility in the public space, following them until the “end” of their activism in Lebanon.