Ahdab: Independent In Principle

He was the only one who represented the Tripolitans who said NO to Berri and YES for change. It's MP Mosbah Ahdab; he voted with a white ballot.

Ahdab has been that independent voice of many voiceless Tripolitan youth. He stands by his principles, he runs independent, he refuses to follow like a sheep in a herd, and best of all he took part in finding a movement so cosmopolitan, diverse and non-sectarian, far away from the hyper-localism of northeners: the Democratic Renewal Movement alongside Nassib Lahoud and Rafi Madoyan. He is in fact now the only representative of this movement in Parliament, keeping its calls for social justice alive.

Ahdab is what we all aspire to be. He has proved that he cannot be reduced to a beautiful face, or to being branded as a son and grandson of important Tripolitan social figures. He carved his own niche; and he carved it under Syrian tutelage. He voted against the extension of President Lahoud's mandate. He was one of the rare MPs who picked into the heart of the "hush-hush" Dinnieh convicts issue and framed it as a human rights violation (due to the convicted imprisonment without granting them any rights). And now he votes en principe, against voting in Berri for another term; however he conceded that now Berri is back again, he looks forward to seeing through the promises he made.

I endorsed Ahdab five years ago, when I was an AUB student relying on the Ahdab busses to get back and forth from Beirut to Tripoli. I thought then that what he was doing as an aspiring legislator was not simply throw money at people so they could vote for him, but instead, through his transportation company, he was providing decent employment to Tripolitans. And when you help provide food and shelter to people through employment, as opposed to simple charity, it means that he stands by the principle of building and bettering the human element.

I endorse him this time around. I wish him the best of luck in representing my voice. (voiceless, I am...never got the chance to vote and never met Ahdab and I am not related to him in any way.)

On another note: MP Ahmad Fatfat, another one of those sizzlingly exciting fresh figures on the northern front, have asked for the Bristol Gathering to accomodate the Shiite component that was missing all along. Why would a northener care? He's larger than Dinnieh.

One more note: MP Edmond Naim from LF voted for Berri...

"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."