A plaque accompanying a new public artwork in New York's historic “Little Syria” neighbourhood has drawn scrutiny, after members of the Lebanese diaspora objected to references describing several renowned Arab-American writers as Syrian rather than Lebanese.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said on Monday that he had directed diplomats in New York and Washington to raise concerns with city officials over the public artwork commemorating the writers.
Among those featured are Khalil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy, Ameen Rihani and Elia Abu Madi, literary figures widely celebrated in Lebanon.
Mr Raggi called for "correcting the text in a way that is consistent with the known historical, cultural and geographical facts, and that confirms the original and authentic Lebanese origins of these writers, who formed a main part of Lebanon’s cultural heritage in the world”.
He stressed the “importance of preserving accuracy in documenting the contributions of the pioneers of the Lebanese diaspora, because of the literary and civilisational value they represent in the national memory and in the particularity of the Lebanese identity”.
The remarks came after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration last month unveiled the artwork recognising the once-thriving Arab immigrant enclave known as Little Syria in lower Manhattan.
The artwork, titled Al Qalam (The Pen): Poets in the Park, is a mosaic installation and sculpture by French-Moroccan artist Sara Ouhaddou honouring members of the neighbourhood’s literary community.
Some critics said describing Lebanese poets as “Syrian literati” in the installation undermined Lebanese cultural identity.
“This is appropriation galore, stripping Lebanon of its most famous Lebanese American is straight-up theft of a cultural icon,” a group called Lebanese in USA and Canada wrote on X.
But others defended the historical reference to “Little Syria", noting that the community predated the creation of the modern Lebanese state.
Mr Raggi’s comments caused debate online, with some accusing him of focusing on symbolism at a time of deep crisis in Lebanon.
“As Lebanon is being occupied, flattened, its people hunted and displaced, the Foreign Minister is very concerned about a plaque in NY commemorating ‘Little Syria’, a diaspora community that predates the creation of the state of Lebanon,” wrote Maya Mikdashi, editor of Jadaliyya.
A petition is now circulating on the Change.org website demanding that the plaque be "corrected" and the writers identified accurately.
The debate reflects longstanding tensions over identity and historical memory tied to immigrants from the Ottoman province known as Greater Syria, or Bilad Al Sham, which once encompassed present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War One.
Many Arab immigrants who arrived in New York between the 1880s and the early 20th century were officially classified as “Syrians” because modern Lebanon had not yet emerged as an independent state. Lebanon only came under French mandate in 1920 before gaining independence in 1943.
Little Syria flourished in lower Manhattan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before much of the neighbourhood was demolished in the 1940s to make way for major infrastructure projects, including the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
The Washington Street Historical Society, which has led efforts to preserve the neighbourhood’s legacy, said the area housed a community of Arab authors and poets, including members of Al Rabitah Al Qalamiyah, or Pen Bond, founded in 1920 by Gibran and other writers from the Levant.
The project was first conceived in 2011 by members of the historical society.
