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Lebanon’s imperfect democracy requires considerable reform, but revolution makes no sense....This is the easy part, as so many Lebanese discovered shortly after March 8th & 14th. It’s one thing to carry a flag, march into a square, and demand change. It’s something else to come together to build something new, something better and sustainable....despite massive daily foreign meddling...
The fact that people can get their knickers in a twist over the question of who will become second deputy dog catcher in the Upper Metn is not a symptom of Lebanese myopia vis-a-vis the regional tumult, nor is it a token of our base sectarianism. It simply means that such an issue has real political stakes attached to it. Yes the Lebanese system is deeply problematic and needs serious overhaul. But it is not a dictatorship that has an open-and-shut case against it in the court of public opinion....
A significant step would be to set up a two-tier parliamentary system, with an upper house based on fully proportional representation. This would not address the issue of cabinet formation, but it would be a relatively easy way to bring in proportional representation without requiring major concessions from current power-brokers (i.e. without requiring the turkeys to vote for Christmas)....
.....We need to have a sense of unity and patriotism before we can come close to uniting against a regime or state of affairs in Sectarian Lebanon....
The Zionists are in the end rationalists. Their own Talmudic teachings also instruct them to take the path least destructive to them. The only reason they left South Lebanon is that they, both politicians and their top rabbis, came to the conclusion that occupation was not sustainable without a great cost they were not willing to bear anymore . The same thing with Gaza. Their ultimate goal is not suicide, but self-preservation. Yes, the more vulnerable they feel, the more they will feel inclined to find more peaceful means of resolving this conflict. I also believe the US, as they see more people rise in the ME who will naturally take a more adverse position towards Israel and the US (notice the chants of the Egyptian people against Israel this last Friday), will come to the conclusion that Israel is a strategic liability and will do what is in its own self-interest in the end.
Smart one-liners have never ended occupations. You believe in something and then you sacrifice for it. For those who sit on their hands and do nothing but complain, I suggest you present your workable political vision, your goals, and then show us the way. You cannot do nothing and then complain when others are trying to do something, however much you disagree with it. Talk never liberated South Lebanon. My only intention is to see peace for myself and others, including those Israelis who wish to live between us in peace and respect....
Regardless of the Iranian ships going through the Suez canal, Israel has already gone down into a new strategic re-thinking in light of what has happened in Egypt (it was in their papers while the protests were taking place in Egypt). The Iranian ship is simply a symptom of this new reality in the region that they have to get used to more and more. I think it is to be expected that they will withdraw into themselves initially and get bogged down further into a defensive mode. But my hope is that they realize that these the environment will only get more hostile towards them, even if all the Arab dictators don’t fall right away. Arab regimes now realize that cozying up to Washington and Israel without some serious effort on their part to be genuine and fair about peace will not fly anymore. I am sure the US and even some Arabs will first try to reverse the tide of popular revolt, or even placate the demonstrators’ demands without making too many sacrifices. But the level of awareness and power articulated by the protesters, especially in Egypt, I saw, seems to indicate that they will not be hoodwinked any longer. This is the new reality that I find promising. Such a reality should lead to peace rather than war. And If the whole region turns democratic, what rational would Israel, the one that claims to be the sole democracy in the ME, have in oppressing the Palestinians anymore? Such a situation would become untenable.
I don’t think anyone is against a just and equitable peace. But it cannot be the peace of the humiliated. What Egypt showed is that Israel had peace not with the Egyptian people but with a dictator who was oppressing his own people. You can fool some of the people all the time, ……, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
“Yes the Palestinians have the right to their own land and to live and prosper, but let them first agree amongst themselves.”
It is a known fact that Hamas owes its creation partially to Israel who helped it along, initially of course, to counter-balance Arafat in the mid 80s. If there were some just and meaningful proposals for a settlement, I believe that we would then see a convergence of Palestinian positions on the issue. But the fact is Israel keeps humiliating Abbas, who is but an utter stooge, driving a further wedge between him and Hamas creating the perfect excuse not to engage in any serious negotiations....
As for “blind religious belonging,” one should tell that to the Israelis themselves. Israel’s raison D’être is its Jewishness, to the exclusion of the rights of Palestinian Muslims and Christians.... I think even Iran, in due time, is finding out the hard way that mixing religion and the state is not a winning formula. Religion should be a private matter. There were some very encouraging chants from the protesters in Egypt, “Muslims and Copts hand in hand…” and some others even. We should focus on the positive and encourage it rather than make fearful claims.
So for any volcanic political change to come from Lebanon, you need the spark and the drive.The spark being the enormous social/economic/political pressures to reach unbearable proportions…and the drive being the unity of the Lebanese, no matter how many groupings are listed, in demanding a single platform vehicle to bring about change….I can see the spark happening in the near future, but the drive....?
In the case of Lebanon, the center cannot hold, never ever did....and relatedly neither does the periphery.... Too many falconers, I suppose, but aren’t those falcons pretty?
Meaningful changes to the political infrastructure in Lebanon are tied to a resolution of the Palestinian issue. Getting rid of that elephant in the room will shrink Lebanon to its real political size, and will mean less interference from outsiders who have only helped to stoke the fires of mistrust between the various sects. We will still have a lot to do on our own and we will have a real nation to build, but the issue of our lifetime that has been the impetus and excuse for most of our wars will have been laid to rest. Short of that, we will still be bickering for a while....
HK's flame lives on....
Let's restore to the Chamber of Deputies its constitutional function ; culminating in a Bill Of Rights that guarantees state protection to all citizens; establishes national truly integrated political parties whose only allegiance is to the welfare of their constituents, after eliminating all the traditional feudal families with questionable foreign ties.... and a vibrant democracy where the opposition plays an immensely important role in keeping those in power honest and responsive....
This religious tribalism in Lebanon must be broken but I have become convinced that it will not until we pass a strong and effective Bill of Rights. Once that is done then individuals will no longer feel the need to associate with a tribe to protect their rights... That would help usher in an era of responsible citizenship.
Section 12 of the Lebanese Constitution speaks of merit and competence as the only preconditioned to any elected office... Does this mean that I could nominate myself to a public post that does not conform to my official government records of my religion and once my nomination is refused then I can have that challenged in a court of law... I am sure that this simple idea must have occurred to many others, why hasn’t it been done?
