Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Suffocating In A Pool Of Oppressors

Can someone tell me how in anyone's mind the March 14 and March 8 and free-standing Aoun will return to the national dialogue table on the 16th of May?

The national dialogue politicians thought that they can fool us by postponing their so-called final meeting to May 16, when in reality they failed miserably to agree on anything whatsoever. The national dialogue meetings only showed the depth of the ideological divide between the two contending political groups. And now we see all this semblance of consensus fall apart with tomorrow's mass demonstrations.

We are further fooled with things that we read in the news like that Berri's bloc is still contemplating whether to join the demonstrations tomorrow, when Berri himself went for a visit to Damascus on Sunday. And what kills me most is that someone from the March 14 bloc, MP Butros Harb, a presidential aspirant, was reported saying that he sees nothing wrong with Berri's visit, that it is paving the way for PM Seniora. Further, and Abu Kais pointed it out in his latest post, MP Saad Hariri expressed his appreciation for Berri, when he is the Mr. X in Mehlis's report, cursing the late Rafiq Hariri and promising Ghazali to enflame the streets with demonstrations to topple Hariri's government.

To add more fuel to the flames, Jumblatt is touring the Arab world, as Arab leaders press on him the importance of Lebanon's stability. What does that mean? It means that pushing to topple the Assad regime in neighboring Syria should be swept under the carpet and that publicizing meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, Khaddam, and other Syrian opposition groups should be halted.

It's interesting how when we read the words "Lebanon's stability", we are immediately reminded of the Syrian era. I get the shivers when I read these words, not because I don't want Lebanon's stability, but because these words carry negative connotations of a certain status quo that is gloomy. A status quo that amounts to Lebanon becoming all that many don't want it to become: back to being pro-Assad's Syria, pro-Ahmadinejad's Iran, anti-Western, and a bastion for parochialism, religiosity, and sectarianism.

But why be so surprised? After all, Lebanon is trapped in the midst of a pool of oppressors.

Have we just turned back time?

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

4 comments:

Ramzi said...

Here is what I think of the 'National Dialogue' farce...

Raja said...

Very well said, doha.

And now because FM FPM Jumby and the rest could not get along we're going back to becoming Syria's lapdog - in the interest of "stability" of course (that, oh so noble, cause).

Stability has killed and maimed so many people and oppressed so many political activists that it easily trumps "zionism" as the region's most deadly political concept.

Anonymous said...

"Stability has killed and maimed so many people and oppressed so many political activists that it easily trumps "zionism" as the region's most deadly political concept."

Haha! Very well said! Stability is code word for "shut up, and stay opressed" in the Arab World.

Anonymous said...

Doha, I think it is important to recognize that our destiny is not quite in our hands anymore. Please do not expect much from any of the political movements within our country...all we are doing now is dilly - dallying, waiting for the outcome of the UN investigation. Real change will occur at that point - And I, for one, am looking forward for it!