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jackobeid
USA
17 Posts |
 Posted - 11/25/2005 : 07:48:01 AM
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Dr Al-Chaer's last artice "Beyond the Ceremonies" represents an accurate assessment of the current situation in Lebanon from all perspectives.He has a progresive and modern outlook at what a nation should be.What we need is a comprehensive social and political agenda that will thrust Lebanon into the twenty first century and bring it to par with modern countries.Instead of having an aggressive economically flat and divided nation.
Enough with the rhetoric and empty words,enough with with ceremonies that have no purpose or agenda.Lebanon is bleeding to death and sinking into social chaos and economic despair.The Lebanese people need leaders with outlook and moral responsibility not "flatliners", like most of the politicians of today.
Long live a 21st century Lebanon. |
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Jean
Lebanon
50 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2005 : 08:15:28 AM
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Well put Jack.
I too liked Dr. Al-Chaer's Independence Day address and I wish I heard a similar speech from the President or the Prime Minister. Instead of talking about the future, our politicians dwell on the past talking about Arabism and the promise of Hariri. In all honesty, all Arabism brought us was disaster and Hariri had more than 15 years to do something; he chose to co-exist with a corrupt system of security and intelligence.
Enough empty rethoric, we need a vision, we need a plan, we need a leader that takes us in the 21st century with a unifying message and a concrete development agenda. |
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Eyad
Lebanon
24 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2005 : 09:55:47 AM
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Me too, I am sick and tired of our politicians and I wonder why can't anyone give a speech like the one by Al-Chaer.
They keep running away from the needs of the people into mystical issues. Blaming Israel sometime, Syria someother time or the International community for the problems in Lebanon.
What I would like to see is one politician stepping forward for a change and offering a plan to work towards something. Yes work not just speak.
Min gheir sharr, all our politicians want to do is talk about international affairs. As if the whole parliament has one mission, to do political analysis of international problems. We do not elect them to be political analysts.
We elect our deputies to legislate and the job of the cabinet is do stuff, to attend to the government.
On the contrary, all they do they go from visiting the Patriarch, to visiting the Mufti we bie'erto tasarih7.
Why isn't the Parliament in session? All these guys have met for was to elect Berri, free Geagea and give confidence to Saniora. Who is doing the nation's work? Who is attending to the needs of the people?
HEzbollah is taking the whole country into a new war in which we have no say and our cabinet and parliament is exchanging congratulations for the Independence. Children are going to bed without food, elctricity or water and Saad Hariri is naming a round-about after his dad in Antigua!!!
Frankly it is revolting. |
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ezdean
Lebanon
21 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2005 : 10:24:40 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by jackobeid
What we need is a comprehensive social and political agenda that will thrust Lebanon into the twenty first century and bring it to par with modern countries.Instead of having an aggressive economically flat and divided nation.
Right but for that we need first a people. Do we have the people with the requisite intellect and outlook to demand such an agenda from our leaders and require its implementation?
I am afraid, I see us as tribes bickering over our tribesmen, arguing whether the Syrians are brothers or enemies (whatever these terms mean) and whether we should keep the arms in the hands of a radical group that threatens to take us to war at any time.
I am sorry to tell you my dear jackobeid, that your words and the Chaer speech may not resonate well in Lebanon; we do not have yet the receptive ears and minds to understand them. You speak of the 21st century, when some of our people still live in the 15th. They rush to kill and die like barbaric idiots who have never lived in the 20th centrury let alone the 21st.
What you need to give some of the Lebanese is more arms and a more deadly ennemy, hopefully they will kill each other and then may be we can start to move in the 21st century.
I mean no offense to anyone. I really liked Al-Chaer's speech and it made me sad when I read it for it showed me where we should be in our political discourse yet I live where we are and listen daily to the barren rethoric of Lahoud, Saniora, Berri, Nasrallah, Geagea, Jumblat, Aoun, and do not forget Mme Moawwad.
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Pietro
Lebanon
64 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2005 : 5:35:05 PM
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| When you consider one third of Lebanon sees Lebanon as a tool to resist Israel and another third wants it an annex state in the Arab Nation - otherwise they'd rather not have it at all, you'll realise the dilemma is around keeping this nation, not making it evolve. |
Edited by - Pietro on 11/26/2005 5:36:09 PM |
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Eyad
Lebanon
24 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2005 : 10:24:47 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Pietro
When you consider one third of Lebanon sees Lebanon as a tool to resist Israel and another third wants it an annex state in the Arab Nation - otherwise they'd rather not have it at all, you'll realise the dilemma is around keeping this nation, not making it evolve.
Which thirds are you talking about Pietro? Why not be blunt and say what is on your mind? Do you mean that the Shiites want Lebanon to resist Israel and the Sunnis want it as an Annex to an Arab Nation? Frankly, if this is your presumption, I resent it. I like to remind you that Sleiman Frangieh is neither a Shiite nor a Sunni, he is a Maronite leader with a strong and solid maronite base who advocates annexation with Syria, yet he is elected over and over by the Maronites and most recently allied himself with the Maronite leader Aoun. Former army personnel and current journalist Charles Ayyoub is also a Maronite who advocates using Lebanon as a tool to fight Israel. Our president, Lahoud, is also a Maronite and he seems fine with both propositions.
I did not mean to launch a sectarian attack here but I think time has come to move away from the unnecessary sectarian jabs and adopt, at least, for the sake of appearances, a confessionally-neutral tone and let our speeches be educational and uplifting to our nation and people.
Pietro, you and I have to set the tone for a positive outlook to Lebanon. You and I have to paint the vision of the nation we need and demand from everyone to help us accomplish it.
Yes we may fail. But we have to try and keep trying. For if we never try to solve the problem facing us, it will never go away on its own, no matter how much we complain about it. The problems you cite are real problems but I disagree with your 2/3 theory. Even if that was the case, we have to work to change it. We have to be the yeast that changes the whole mix. "You are the salt of the Earth" a good master once said. quote:
Originally posted by ezdean
Right but for that we need first a people. Do we have the people with the requisite intellect and outlook to demand such an agenda from our leaders and require its implementation?
Ezdean, we are the people. We are a melting pot of tribes, barbaric, civilized, educated and not so-educated individuals. It is up to one group to lead the others. Do you give up and let the tribes take over? or do you step up to the task and lead the rest? You can go for ever describing how bad the problem in Lebanon is but if you do nothing about it, it will never change. Changing the rhetoric is an important step. If you can get a majority of the people to listen to your ideas and a majority of the leaders to adopt them, you will make it. It takes patience and dedication.
We are building a nation from the rebels. We had no nation in the past and we had an occupation (Syria and Israel) that destroyed whatever primitive state components or infrastructure we had. We have the chance to build it brand new from scratch; let's try to do a good job. We can't control the outcome but surely we can control our efforts.
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With my regards to all.
Eyad Sabounji. |
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Pietro
Lebanon
64 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2005 : 11:26:56 AM
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Eyad,
You assumed I meant Chiites and Sunnits, and then you refused that assumption for the same reason I hadn’t put it that way myself. Yes I know there are Christians who speak of Arabism and Palestinian brotherhood because they intend to live on the account of the surrounding majority. And yes I know there are Muslims from both sects who have achieved enough patriotism to separate between Lebanon’s interest and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and from the so-called Arabism.
That’s exactly why I talked about groups.
You want me to be blunt though, so I’ll go straight to the point: The ones stated above are exceptions. Yes, and for social and not religious reasons – I’m a secularist and I respect all religions from the spiritual aspect, most Chiites care less about Lebanon then they do about fighting the Americans and the Israelis. Yes, and for social and not religious reasons, most Sunnites still speak of Sykes-Pico – the reason for Lebanon’s birth – as a sin in the name of Arabism. And yes, most of Maronites are the ones who have no interest in annexing Lebanon to any neighboring struggle or “cause”.
There’s a difference between being sectarian and recognizing that the ground is sectarian.
If you are an exception in this “most” then no need to go on defending your sect, I have nothing against it and I’m delighted to meet a Lebanese compatriot from any religion.
Finally I stopped believing in our ability to “make it”. The majority of Lebanon has achieved what it wanted since 1920 – since it was opposing the birth of Great Lebanon when it was not yet a majority – and is turning it into an ethnic entity with such adjectives as Arab and causes as freeing Al-Masjed Al Aksa – again you shouldn’t take this from a sectarian point of view because Jerusalem is also holy for me.
Lebanon was a failed project, launched by the Maronite community to build a democracy in the East. Now we’re really too weak to defend that project and all I can do is pray the “AmericanImperialCapitalistZionistIsolationalist” conspiracy of a federal Middle-East is more than a myth and hope it reaches Lebanon.
Now about setting the tone, I never mean to sound offensive, but when a certain truth is in nature harsh, I refuse making it sound mild. That’s what everyone has been doing since 1943, not me.
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Edited by - Pietro on 11/27/2005 11:34:24 AM |
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PaxLibano
France
39 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2005 : 11:35:00 PM
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Beyond the Ceremonies
Lebanon’s Independence: A Work in Progress
An Independence Day Address by Elie Al-Chaer
http://www.democracyinlebanon.org/Documents/CDL-Exclusives/AlChaer-Indep2005.htm
I do not pretend to know what the solution for the problems of Lebanon. We have waxed and waned geographically from small Lebanon at a minimum all the way to Aleppo and Egypt at times. Now some are proposing to go back to the small geography again.
I do not see the point of trying again something that was tried in the past, that failed and lead to massacres (1860). Perhaps we should try this time to be more open-minded and focus more on economic prosperity for all.
I believe if you give the people work to do and salaries to collect and social security to care about, they won't give a damn about extra-national issues whether it is the liberation of Palestine or the protection of Syria.
They will care more about protecting the peace because all their social benefits will depend upon a peaceful nation.
What we need for Lebanon and for the South (to begin with) is an economic revitalization plan that will employ most of the breadearners there and detract them from depending on radical movements. I do not want my interjection here to open the debate on Hezbollah; that is not what I am trying to get at.
I am trying to propose ideas that in my opinion will render any privately-funded social program or radical ideology less attractive to potential followers. |
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jackobeid
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2005 : 1:19:34 PM
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This is the essence of the Lebanese existential crisisquote:
Originally posted by Pietro
When you consider one third of Lebanon sees Lebanon as a tool to resist Israel and another third wants it an annex state in the Arab Nation - otherwise they'd rather not have it at all, you'll realise the dilemma is around keeping this nation, not making it evolve.
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21st century Lebanon
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