the complexity of Lebanese politics seems to be boundless.... For anyone trying to read the political landscape there, the ability to grasp so many conflicting forces can sometimes be overwhelming. The few that come to my mind are:
- Tradition vs. Modernity
- Family vs. Family
- Coast vs. Mt Lebanon
- Bekaa vs. Jabal Amel
- poor vs. privelaged
- Maronite vs. Druze
- Sunni vs. Shi'a
- Rural vs. Urban
- Tripoli vs. Beirut vs. Saida
- Arab vs. Lebanese
- Religious vs. Secular
- etc....
Every conflict among politicians in Lebanon is, in essense, a unique cocktail of two or more of the conflicts listed above. It is left to the observer to decipher which cocktail is relevant to a specific conflict because although some of its elements are made explicit, others are not. In some cases, the politicians portray their duel as something that it is not - therefore making it that much harder to grasp.
This beadth of issues and forces is, in my humble opinion, one of the main reasons Lebanese have turned "politics-watching" into a national past-time. So much appears to be at stake for everyone! A good indicator that supports this argument is the fact that the evening news is probably the most popular television show offered by the local television stations.
I will limit this post to stating these observations. However, it is worthwhile to note that the price paid for what some may consider to be such a "rich and engaging" political discourse is always high, and in certain periods of our history, intollerably so.
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3 comments:
reem,
while reading your comment I couldn't help but smile. i felt that i was reading my own words!
recall that in my post I described the political discourse in the following terms:
"what some may consider to be such a 'rich and engaging' political discourse"
Rest assured, I'm not one of those who are impressed by what they see! I guess you could call this excercize an attempt to articulate what is happening in Lebaonon... that's all.
Identity, not ideas as in political philosophy. Dangerous, the stuff race wars are made of. But Lebanon has had enough of that, so are Lebanese politicians seeking another route? The successful ones, I mean?
they say they are, solomon. I don't see anything happening unless at least some segments of Lebanese society shove some sense into them.
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