When the nation takes history into its own hands

Economic, social, cultural and political factors all worked in harmony leading to the birth of a popular Independence Intifada that we witnessed in the period between March 14 and the end of April 2005

By Marc Daou

March/April 2006

BEIRUT: Last year's events brought to the fore front a unique kind of popular activity. This activity contributed to the making of a new era in the history of Lebanon. This activity was also a turning point in the history of the Lebanese people along the path of building a free, modern and independent state. This path has proven to be hard to deviate no matter how hard the Syrian regime, its allies and its supporters in Lebanon try to put obstructions, commit murders, shake the security among other means used for the destabilization of Lebanon.

The popular activity, in my opinion, has not been due to the ability of the leadership of March 14 to take good decisions during this war, even if this leadership has had its remarkable contributions. The activity was not due either to the suitable international circumstances that supported Lebanon's independence. The most important element behind all of this has been one thing: that the Lebanese people itself is convinced, fully convinced, of the importance of the success of the state as a guarantee for a better future. Proving this "convinced" claim is what I will try to do in this article.

First, let me start by saying that the economic situation that was the result of the post-civil war fiscal policies, in addition to corruption and the burdensome levies of the Syrian intelligence regime and its protégés in Lebanon, all contributed to the weakening of the Lebanese finances and economics. This was reflected on the whole Lebanese population through the decrease in job opportunities, a decrease in social welfare, an increase in the social gap, deterioration in the quantity and quality of services and chaos in the organization of the domestic and the Syrian workforce in Lebanon. All of this resulted in the accumulation of the reasons for comprehensive change.

The social scene didn't fare any better with the deterioration of public education institutions, the breakdown of the media and distribution of sectarian factions, the obstruction of bridging the gaps between the embattling groups of the civil war, the increase in the price of communication and transport and limiting the nation's public space and reducing it into divided sectarian, regional and even tribal spaces. The social breakdown because of the war was on its way to remedy 15 years after this war was concluded and bridges were being built between the previously warring factions including political bridges such as the now-defunct Qornet Shehwan Gathering and the Democratic Forum. Social bridges included civil organizations such the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections, the Relatives of the Kidnapped and the Missing and other groups. These bridges started to intensify and multiply with time until it formed what was rightly called the Independence Intifada.

In addition to the social and economic situation comes the educational situation especially when it comes to raising the bar of freedom and fighting for its cause. Here we can cite many examples such as the articles of late Samir Kassir and his consequent chasing and withholding of his passport. Late Gebran Tueni's articles were another example. Youth activity in universities and in the streets was a third example and so were the courageous books such as Adonis Akra's book. Meanwhile, the concept of freedom was growing to cover the whole of Lebanon. Another success was that of the Lebanese people's resistance that started in 1969 with the leftist parties and was taken over by Hizbullah resulting in the defeat of the Zionist army from Lebanon. All of this had a positive impact on the Lebanese people and its ability to achieve its freedom and independence.

As for the political reality, the extension of the Lahoud mandate, the transformation of the international position and the coordination among some forces such as in the Bristol Gathering, came to crown all of these developments and events. The Syrian regime's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was like a bomb that triggered all of this transformation and popular activity that announced the birth of the Lebanese people and its ambition for the building of a modern state for all of its citizens. And then, there was the daily national festival in Freedom Square and there came the dream of March 14. The forces of March 14 came to put the slogans, the context and the direction to lead the battle – that goes on until this day – with the Syrian Regime and its cronies. After slogans were identified and goals were set, the people adopted these ideas and got involved in the struggle.

Consequently, economic, social, cultural and political factors worked in harmony leading to the birth of a popular Independence Intifada that we witnessed in the period between March 14 and the end of April.

I use the above analysis to prove that the Lebanese people was convinced and to try to predict the future of this independence path which I'm still optimist about its further success fir the same economic, social and cultural factors still stand today despite some downfalls along the political path.

First, there has been a change in Syrian policies from withdrawal to containment to attack. The military withdrawal was the first stage, then came the stage of bombings and assassinations – as the stage of containment while never giving up believing that the anti-Syrian force would certainly fail – and then the attack stage which started with the killing of Gebran Tueni and political realignment of alliances and the attempts to obstruct the cabinet, the judiciary council and parliament.

Second, the March 14 forces failed to put forward a platform to launch the process of reform in the state, taking back national decision-making, the building of the institutions and handling security. Yet some believed that the international investigation will complete the Intifada through impeaching Lahoud and that international pressure will surround Syria and maybe lead to the downfall of its regime (this I believe is inevitable for the building of an independent state in Lebanon). Such a belief was, however, responsible for interrupting the process of change. Add to this the belief that some mistakenly thought that the pro-Syrian regime parties would accept to live under the ceiling of Lebanese politics without trying to attach themselves to what was later known as the Iranian-Syrian Axis.

Yet, politics does not represent the whole popular scene and the Lebanese conviction, in my opinion, was the main pillar in the independence process. Wars are long and have many battles, some of which might cause tears and others might be victories and cause joy. The prerequisites for the success of this path are the completion of the political struggle through the reinforcement of security, the rebuilding of the judiciary and the recreation of state institutions. This also needs the launching of new and modern political frameworks that bring together people from outside the current sectarian alignments. Members of such new political parties should come from both March 8 and March 14 alignments.

The independence path also requires the deepening of the social revolution in order to re-produce new concepts and social frameworks that should be able to cater to the ambition of the citizens and not the current sectarian clients. They should also trespass war and its remnants in sociology and politics and should finish the business of the prisoners in Israeli and Syrian prisoners as well as that of the missing and the displaced. Along the same path also comes the need for a serious sponsorship of educational institutions, especially the public ones where new generations will be brought up and will form the guarantee for the independent state.

Finally, we go back to one of the most vital issues, namely the economy. Maintaining old policies do not look promising for the fiscal policies that were dictated by a handful of banks that can destabilize the whole country is a dangerous matter. A policy that maintains the interest of those banks and investors alone will only increase social gaps and will repeat the events that were there on the eve of the civil war in 1975.

Also, falling into the past style of sectarian clientelism at the expense of the country and the interest of the people do not have any place in the path of the building of the state unless some think that they have to reinforce their position at the expense of others by using their positions to distribute spoils on their entourages.

Finally, the success of this independence path depends on the citizens who think that their loyalty is with the state.

Mark Daou is a member of the Democratic Left Movement. This piece first appeared in Annahar on Feb. 14, 2006 and was translated and published by Alternative upon the author's approval