Democracy

March/April 2006

The Lebanese democracy looks absurd. Numbers in a rally do not count. If they do, estimates vary between 200,000 and one million. In both cases, they mean nothing to some groups. A parliamentary majority does not rule and is always under attack from other groups that it does not represent a majority.

Instead, all what counts according to Lebanon's Syrian regime cronies is to look at the greater picture, the regional picture, that of the Arab-Israeli conflict. As if this conflict has something new to it.

Then come the accusations of endorsing Western agendas. What are these agendas? No one knows. Why are they bad? No response. There is one way for nationalism in Lebanon, shut up and praise those who are running the battle against Israel. No elections is needed, no politics, nothing. Just shut up and watch. Even if socio-economic problems rise up. They are the fault of the West and his corrupt protégés in the region.

In Lebanon and the Middle East, no one commit mistakes. The people, the leadership political parties have all been the victims. In politics, you do not blame the victim. You only blame the oppressor.

But the oppressor seems to have lost interest. For example, think. What would America want of a silly country like Lebanon whose population is 4 million, with meager resources and a 40 billion debt? Lebanon is the country that no one wants to deal with, not an attraction for imperialists. Try to get this into the thick heads of so-called anti-imperialists.

Hassan Nasrallah, Michel Aoun, Emile Lahoud and a whole list of Syrian regime cronies only understand one language: orders. They receive orders from their regional bosses and pass them on to their sects and try to bully other sects. Aoun is not even as remarkable to have a regional boss. He's merely a self-employed subcontractor.

This is not democracy. This is demagogy. Just like this editorial.