The Nation is a victim of the sects

Friday, Sep 18 2009

My brothers and sisters,

The peace and mercy of God be upon you.

During these holy days of Ramadan we need to sit back and take stock of the state of our country and our people. It is unfortunate that the hopes of the majority of the Lebanese people are always being disregarded by most politicians in the name of sectarianism and confessionalism. I must say here a few words on behalf of the nation. It is unfortunate that Lebanon is currently a republic ridden with disease: the state is troubled, the political system is hostage to confessionalism, the electoral law brings into power sectarian leaders, the judicial system is hostage to politics and elections are dependent on political will and decree. Lebanese society is a prisoner to these people, the country's economy is a failure, its security is fragile and its government is only interested in doing business for unknown purposes.

The political system which emerged from the first and second Doha meetings – and we hope that there will not be a third – engineered an electoral law which was unjust and oppressive and promoted confessional, sectarian and regional division, according to demand and supply, with the majority of its powers competing not only to divide up shared interests and positions but also for regional projects through stoking up sectarianism and confessionalism. The majority of these forces, which failed to form a national unity government, are not interested in dealing with the interests of the nation as one single national unified interest, but rather as a pit which is divided up in the name of sects and confessions. Over the past four years we find many examples of this sectarianism overriding national interest. This is a crisis of the political powers who are supposed to be entrusted with the constitution, the state institutions and the rights of the citizen. It is truly a crisis of the republic and the system, government and society.

This holy month has once again come round and we are still looking at our internal security: we are badly in need of security stability as well as political, economic and social stability. This is a great time of the year which holds much spiritual meaning with the possibility of human progress and social integration and cooperation. The politicians have transformed this time into an economic hell in light of the abysmal standard of living and the worsening of the public debt which has far exceeded 50 billion dollars. The hell of unemployment is increasing our youth immigration, the hell of social injustice is increasing the gap in income between the social groups, and the hell of the reduction in social benefits and the income needed to meet the basic needs are devastating the standard of living. The successive governments in the post-Taef period have done a terrible job of maintaining decent living standards for the majority of the citizens. These governments showed an unwillingness and rejection of the formula of an a fair and balanced economic policy, with an absence of the regulatory bodies, transparency and accountability, and they have not ensured the balanced development set out in the Taef agreement nor indeed any real development. The disadvantaged areas are increasing across the whole of the country. What is also unfortunate is that the opposition which focused its energies on important political issues did not pay attention to issues of political or economic reform or to the implementation of the Taef agreement but rather entered into the sectarian and confessional whirlpool which led to temporary conciliations and its retreat from principal and essential issues relating to living conditions.

The Doha agreement between the ruling authorities and the opposition forces, despite helping to prevent the continued security breakdown and the fighting for over a year as well as bringing about the election of a consensus president, still had negative consequences which have become part of the crisis of the system which we are now dealing with. The most important consequences being the following. Firstly, the marginalization of the role of the constitutional institutions and the power of the civic community and its institutions. Secondly, rendering the Lebanese powers which participated in the Doha agreement, some of whom fabricated the current confessional and sectarian political crises, as the only beneficiaries to the exclusion of others. And thirdly, robbing the Lebanese people as a whole of their representativeness and holding their interests hostage to external, regional and international conflicts.

We reaffirm our assurance that no one can take away from Beirut and the Sunnis their Arab identity and their history of struggle and resistance to Israel. We will aspire with all our strength to prevent civil conflict between the Lebanese people, Muslims and Christians, Sunnis and Shiites, and we intend to stand strong in the face of attempts to embroil Lebanon once again in conflict. Today, we feel it to be our duty to remove the mantle of injustice from the Sunni sect which has been crammed into the corner of confessionalism and isolationism. We will work hard to remove it far away from this confessionalism because these divisive attempts are exploiting the political legacy of the late Rafik Hariri to promote narrow interests. This has become a Lebanese necessity in general and for Beirut in specific, as Beirut is a bridge, a unifier and the the glue for all the people of our country.

I promise you on behalf of the National Dialogue Party and the Makhzoumi Foundation to stand by the Lebanese people, irrespective of sect, and to remain the watchful and critical eyes that monitor the interests of the country and its people. We feel that the country is on the verge of great danger and we call once again for a reconsideration of the abuses of the constitution and the creation of new norms by accelerating the implementation of some articles of the Taef agreement, particularly the passing of a new electoral law which is fair and balanced and depends on proportional representation, the establishment of a national body to cancel confessionalism, working for the independence of the judicial system from politics and politicians, and the extension of state authority over all the country's lands taking into account the conflict with Israel and its requirements. And so, we have to hold onto our right which was approved by the United Nations to resist the occupation and to maintain our independence, sovereignty and security until we come to a comprehensive settlement and the implementation of the relevant international resolutions.

May this be a prosperous year for you all and long live Lebanon.