There's Something Wrong With Us

Publié le par Philippe Boutros

There's something wrong with us.

I have yet to meet a single person here who feels adequately represented by the Lebanese government. Lebanon is –to some extent- a democracy. That means that the people elect the government. Since we're not, and have never, ever been happy with the government as a whole, that obviously means that we, the people, are doing something wrong.

It would follow that, since all we can do is vote, we're voting wrong.
 
Lebanon is a paradox. For a country that takes immense pride in its highly educated populace, it votes along tribal lines. Approval ratings mean as much to politicians as informing voters on what their plans are once elected -absolutely nothing. A general rule of thumb is that if you're from 'the family', you'll get your votes.
 
I don't believe that politicians are to blame for this. No, the fault is ours. We're the ones who don't care about who is in power -just as long as he's one of us.
 
We are proud of our diversity; why not take advantage of it? Instead of voting for the person we're most comfortable with, let's vote for the most competent person. Otherwise, we're just being stupid, plain and simple.
 
On April 25th, people who want what's best for Lebanon -not what they're most used to- are going to march. If you're one of us, ahla w sahla.

 
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<br /> The Block for Change and Reform proposed social reforms, laws, to end sectarianism. The patriotic party was educating people on the words "pluralism" "no to religious segregation" "no to sectarian<br /> casts system used by Beirut merchants to stay on top", since 1989. How does your movement relate to that? Do you think that laicity starts with social reform to educate people out of sectarianism.<br /> Without this social reform the world Laicity just covers up sectarianism, it rebrands it like Beirut's merchants rebranded themselves from pro to anti-syrian in 24 hours!.<br /> <br /> As a political activist for tayyar in the 90's, when tayyar opposed the Syrian occupation, many people from the Beirut mercantile political movement (who put money above people's rights) used to<br /> tell us "I'm not into politics, that's why I won't protest the Syrian occupation". Later we would realize they are into politics, the politics of not having any principle other than "show me the<br /> money", and they thought being pre-Syrian brings in the money. This is the same Beirut mercantile movement (who typically idolized Harir), that drowns Lebanon today into one of the highest per<br /> capita debts in the world. Do you know where this mercantile cutlure came from? Countries from around us ended the despotism of right land owners in recent history, by creating their own solcial<br /> reform. Those merchants used to exploiting people couldn't survive in a fair society, so they moved to Lebanon. Today this mercantile culture think they can create a fake of any good cause, to<br /> protect themselves from real good causes, the kind that caused them to migrate to Lebanon.<br /> <br /> Do you as a youth movement want to have more Lebanese of a particular sect in the voting rosters, or do you want to end sectarianism? Ending sectarianism means social reform, only to be followed by<br /> reducing the voting age.<br /> <br /> You're right that some lebanese voted tribally. Many others however voted out of lebanese national sentiment, and a vision of a pluralist Lebanon. More importantly, the people you suspiciously<br /> don't mention, are those who voted because Saudi / US paid for their vote. Speaking of which, how is your movement funded? It would be great to find out you have no strings attached to yet another<br /> sectarian tribe (the Beirut mercantile tribe), because your principles are an accurate copy of the tayyar's charter, meaning they're good principles.<br /> <br /> <br />
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