Is this finally the beginning for Lebanon?

I woke up yesterday and read article about a Lebanese protest against sectarianismand my heart just jumped with excitement. I ended up writing this piece.

I was born and raised in the middle of the Lebanese Civil war. A war that was started by the propagation of paranoia among the constituents of Lebanon’s various local lords pursuing the expansion of their sphere of influence, and of course, deepening their pockets along the way. It so happened that, just by the reality of Lebanon’s population distribution, these supposed lords used religious principles, ideologies, and events to convince their constituents of their elevated status and dominance over society. At first they where rivals against neighbouring communities, which more often than not used to be of the same sect but under a different local lords patronage. So Christians fought against Christians, Muslim against Muslim, Druze against Druze, in the old and tired and detested clock and dagger style, each vying for dominance. This was indeed the case across much of Lebanon and not in any form or shape restricted to a single one of its 18 confessions. Of course once the friction between the other sects began, the rhetoric got cranked up. All the leaders used the other sects as scapegoats to frighten the people in to backing them up and thus achieved even more control and dominion but this time giving it the face of fanaticism (Christian, Muslim and Druze). Not one single one of Lebanon’s 18 sects and their miniature warring tyrants is innocent of such an accusation, Christian, Muslim, Druze or Jew. And the more they gained the more they wanted to gain. In their unquenchable lust for power they planted the seeds of destruction. Greedily, they wanted more control, more shares of the country, more power, more money... always forgetting the needs of the people. Each leader provided their constituents with “protection” from the “threats” of the “different” sects and thus levied their own taxes, direct or otherwise, and the people willing followed for they were genuinely frightened, even if their better judgment told them differently, being branded a traitor carried its own dire consequences amidst a frightened mob.

I was born into a multi confessional family. Let’s just say I grew up confused, I identified with all the religious and agnostic aspects of my family, they where all compatible to me and therefore I could not understand why people where fighting... I’d here a Muslim speak of how evil the Christians where, and I would here Christians speak of how evil the Muslims where, each thinking me one of them, and candid they were. Every time I heard such repulsive talk I flinched. I’d tell them, quite dejected, that I knew someone of the other side and they were not in any way like that. People used to brush me off as a naive little 9 year old who did not know any better. But that did not mean that they knew any better, for the war raged on and on and all were to blame. Our movement restricted, living day to day in fear of the next. And the war raged on. 

Eventually the war ended but the old prejudices remained, the lords of war needed to keep those fears in place in order to insure their power base. The war ended but the old revelries remained and the lords vied for more power and more wealth threatening war all the time, or if not threatening it, illicitly implying it. And even though the violence ended and peace was declared and people reunited, the war still raged on. Hidden. But still raging. Peace gave a chance for the younger ones to see for themselves what the other side was all about. The mixing of the sects was inevitable in time of peace when one pursued a better education or the better career choice, where ever it took them. People traveled freely now from one part to the other. The younger generation made friends with people of the other sects. Long lasting friendships. Suddenly all the reasons given for the war became irrelevant. And we mixed even more with joy and free will. Leaders did not like this. Parents did not like this. Many were forced to give up their new friendships. The silent segregation was to be upheld at all costs. But still we mixed in spite of the old revelries. Soon we were suggesting civil marriage, and suddenly all the sects united against this simple proposal, it was incredible, I can’t remember which year this was but Muslims and Christens where united against this evil and satanic idea. Civil marriage? It’s of the devil, they said. The old revelries, which by now we had realized where falls rivalries, prevailed and we were denied a basic human right. 

At school we are thought that Lebanon is a democratic country. We learned the meaning of democracy and liked the idea. Many of us though had a hard time consolidating the definition with the reality. The definition in the book did not compare favorably with the reality. Yet we had just come out of civil war and had just been freed from the fears of that war, and we saw how oppressed the rest of the region was and fatally agreed that what we had was better than nothing. Plus we were always discouraged to dream of a utopian Lebanon; “heh! The Christians (or Muslims) will dominate us and oppress us if Lebanon was a real democracy” and we where brushed aside as though we were too naive, again. But were we?

Apathy soon hit us. We could not rise up as secular Lebanese because the first questions people ask are; what is your name? And then where are you from? Which part of that town? Loaded questions, beating around the bush and never asking the real question; “who do you follow?” which can be determined by where you live and what street and what your religion is. This is a form of bigoted discrimination, to be judged based on what family or religion I was born in to? As human beings we have the right to choose... to choose which religion, if any, we wish to follow. Some of us refuse to be categorised by blood inheritance, some of us do not believe that nobility or religion runs in ones blood. We have a choice. It is our human right. Our choice. We choose. No one chooses for us not by birth and not by force. At every turn we were told to stop dreaming. We lost hope. We became apathetic. We could not organise because, even though we wanted the same thing, the old rivalries prevailed. The old rivalries stood in the way of our progress, our evolution, our solidarity, our sovereignty as Lebanese. The old rivalries denied us our freedom of choice and our freedom of expression and much more. We became hopeless and apathetic.

Again and again we where lied to. Told that the opposite faction wants to destroy us. We were still divided across sectarian lines but now things were getting complicated. Lebanon is not only a country divided in its own sectarian identities, but it is also a country divided by the forces and ideologies of the east and of the west. Are we Arabs or are we not Arabs? Lebanon is at the crux of these opposing tidal forces. So the lies had to continued. And once again we were forced to take sides. Sides that have not proven themselves to be working for the greater good of all the Lebanese. Sides that still encourage the erosion of our Lebanese identity by continuing to push their own agenda, shrouded in the veil of religious ideology, be it as devoid of true faith as it is. And again we, the people where forced between a rock and a hard place. Squashed in the middle as the old rivalries and fears crept back to the surface. “The other side will oppress us and take away our religious rights” they said. And still the leaders vied for more power. Striking fear and terror in the hearts of Lebanon’s sons and daughters.

And now the Revolution, that we all hoped for since we were young enough to understand such things, has come. The Arab world is on fire, the people are demanding, not in the name of a religion, but in the name of the people, their rights and dignities back. The message is that we are no longer alone. The internet took care of that aspect. We are no longer afraid. We want our rights and dignity back. We the people demand our due rights.

But Lebanon is a complicated situation. Unlike, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. We are not governed by a tyrannical or authoritarian dictator. Lebanon is ruled by a tyrannical pseudo democratic system that encourages us to be divided. The more we are divided the less likely we are to stand up together and demand from the so called delicate balance of powers in Lebanon the rights that they have denied us. Not any one specific, not against a party or faction or sect but rather a revolution against the entire system that we have deemed as corrupt. We demand the deconstruction of the very system that gives the old rivalries and lords their power. 

The time to say, enough, is now up on us. People have taken to the streets to make their voices and wishes heard. It should not stop there, we should continue to do this until more and more people are emboldened. We should keep on doing this so that more and more people would lose their fear and join us. We should not stop now. Now more than ever, we need to demand our rights back. Our dignity. Our identity. Stand up for secularism and put an end to the greatest obstacle that still stands in the way of our prosperity. Demand an end to this sectarian system that continues to ruin our lives and the lives of our children and theirs. Stand up for our sovereignty as Lebanese, not as members of sects, our loyalty to country and flag. Stand up for our civil liberties which include civil marriage, equal female rights, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom from bigotry. Our infrastructure needs a proper upgrade; we need to start thinking of relying less and less on fossil fuels. We need to develop alternative energy sources, windmills, solar energy, tidal energy, geothermic energy, creating new jobs and new fields for the Lebanese youth. The cost of oil is high and it is putting the entire nation in further debt. Raise the minimum wage, people cannot survive in these dismal conditions and the lack of financial recourses and investments due to these dismally low salaries is another reason why we are not advancing. The lack of financial recourses is making us choose between food and access to information through technology, and most will choose food and lose their access to proper information that could make them live better. The healthcare system needs to be drastically improved. Insurance companies reined in. Public services need to be improved and upgraded. Our telecommunications infrastructure needs to be modernized and upgraded for the needs of the 21st century, not for the requirements of the last.

Invest heavily, very heavily, into education. Rein in the private schools and universities that are asking for ridiculously high tuitions. Invest heavily in public schools; make them better than private schools. Our public schools need a curriculum upgrade, the history of the civil war should be thought without bias and it should point out how guilty everyone was. And the schools need recourses. Lots and lots of recourses. Education is the key to our salvation, the more we invest in proper education, the more we improve our situation as a nation. Religious schools should be closed down, if any one wants to learn in the ways of a religion and its traditions and rituals then they should go to a mosque or church, but not at school. Education should be completely secular, educators should teach -about- religions and not preach –a- religion. There is a big difference there.

Censorship should be abolished completely. The current political parties should be dissolved and their leaders prohibited from participating in political life or power or pass it on to their children or next of kin. An inquiry has to be initiated in order to find out how much these lords have stolen from us and they must be made to pay it all back. All the political leaders in Lebanon deserve to have their assets frozen while this investigation takes place. There is no doubt in the minds of the Lebanese people that our leaders have siphoned off public funds. Whether it was the leaders or their minions or their subordinates who covered it up in so many ways, or even by virtue of giving off information that should have been given to all interested parties. We need equal opportunities, not nepotism or appointments by prejudice.

No one is going to bring about the change that we all want if we do not ask for it. We must stand our ground and demand our rights and dignity back from the hands of those who have humiliated us for so long and kept this god forsaken sectarian system in place. It is time to put it down.

For those of you who are marching on the street in protest of the sectarian system. Do not stop. Keep going. Know that the energy of your spark is carrying all our hopes and aspirations as a united Lebanese nation. Do not stop, even when the dark moments come. Do not stop. And always keep it peaceful. The minute our revolution instigates violence we are doomed. Be peaceful but head strong stubborn. Do not yield and do not relent. And if they bring aggression and violence to you, try to remain calm. Take pictures, document, and share publicly on the internet so that everyone may know who did this to you. But do not resort to violence yourselves. The minute you do, the revolution is doomed. It is one of the most difficult things to do, to be non violent, but it is a method that will win you more and more support and will eventually bring out enough people to bring this god forsaken system down. Just don’t stop till it is accomplished no matter how they threaten you and no matter how they try to bribe you. Do not betray your principles. We shall prevail, we have to prevail, because the alternative is unbearable.