{"id":5049,"date":"2016-01-10T21:42:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T20:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/?p=5049"},"modified":"2016-02-05T21:24:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T20:24:58","slug":"lebanon-mutual-co-existence-to-political-solution-avoiding-interference-from-other-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/lebanon-mutual-co-existence-to-political-solution-avoiding-interference-from-other-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"LEBANON: A &#8220;MUTUAL COEXISTENCE&#8221; TO A POLITICAL SOLUTION AVOIDING INTERFERENCE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The role of political parties and the leadership of family political dynasties under a selective democracy<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><b>By Glauco D\u2019Agostino<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_eOThecFRKFQ\/SiniZ48ePbI\/AAAAAAAADY4\/OaGjnChfGww\/s400\/Old+woman.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"287\" \/>Last November 12<sup>th<\/sup> attack in the Beirut Shiite Burj el-Barajneh neighbourhood, which resulted in 44 deaths and more than 239 injuries in the \u1e24izb All\u0101h stronghold, was preceded by an important political act towards a break of the paralysis jamming the country: for the first time since May 2014, the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies had gathered to approve more than 40 draft laws to be ratified, including the ones about the end of banking secrecy, the naturalization of foreigners by Lebanese origin, and the improvement of military infrastructure. On the other hand, the electoral law and presidential institution reforms had not been discussed, and the President of Lebanon election had been postponed for the 31<sup>st<\/sup> time, due to lack of Assembly quorum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">After the Christian parties threats of taking to the streets when, pending legislative elections for six years, a reform of electoral law was not included in the political agenda, who had welcomed the invitation had finally been \u1e24izb All\u0101h Secretary General <b>\u1e24asan Na\u1e63rall\u0101h <\/b>(on the poster exhibited by a Shiite woman in the above photo), by wishing an overall political agreement between the <i>March 8<sup>th<\/sup><\/i> and <i>March 14<sup>th<\/sup><\/i> movements, as the two major opposed political alignments are referred to. The striking fact is that both movements, however contrasting each other, since February 2014 have been representing the backbone of the national unity government of 70-years-old <b>Tamm\u0101m \u1e62\u0101\u02beib Sal\u0101m<\/b>, belonging to a powerful family of landowners and elected to the Chamber of Deputies as an independent in the lists of <i>Tayy\u0101r al-Mustaqbal<\/i> (Future Movement) of former Sunni Prime Minister <b>Sa\u02bfd ad-D\u012bn al-\u1e24ar\u012br\u012b<\/b>: indeed, 8 ministerial posts (2 of which to \u1e24izb All\u0101h members) have been attributed to the <i>Ta\u1e25\u0101luf 8 Adh\u0101r <\/i>(March 8<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance), 8 (including the Interior and Justice ones) to the \u1e24ar\u012br\u012b\u2019s anti-Syrian coalition <i>Ta\u1e25\u0101luf 14 Adh\u0101r<\/i>\u00a0 (March 14<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance), and 8 ministers close to M\u012bsh\u0101l Sulaym\u0101n, the Maronite Christian President in office at the time of the government establishment and therefore regarded as neutral, and to the Druze leader <b>Wal\u012bd Jumblatt<\/b>, regarded as a \u201ccentrist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The National Pact and the \u1e6c\u0101\u02beif Agreement<\/span><\/b><em><b><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Since President Sulaym\u0101n\u2019s end of the mandate on May 25<sup>th<\/sup>, 2014, Presidency has been vacant and governed by Prime Minister Sal\u0101m. The difficulty of reaching a shared an election lies in the confessionalism specified by the unwritten National Pact dating back to 1943 (the same year of recognition of Lebanon independence from France), which provided for the allocation of offices according to the following still operating scheme:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The President of Lebanon and the Chief of the General Staff are up to the Maronite Christians;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The premiership to the Sunni Muslims;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The Parliament Speaker to the Shiite Muslims;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister to the Greek Orthodox;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The Chief of Army Staff to the Druze.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Furthermore, under the National Pact, the parliamentary seats were allocated in a ratio of 6 : 5 in favour of the Christians to Muslims, according to the 1932 territorial census and municipal boundaries, when most population was Christian.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/mpr\/mpr\/shrinknp_800_800\/AAEAAQAAAAAAAANmAAAAJDVmYjE1M2I4LTBhZDItNDAxYy1iYmM1LTJjOGNlNDI1ZGM5MA.png\" width=\"492\" height=\"538\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Nowadays, Muslims are more than half of the population (shared equally between Shiites and Sunnis), and, following decades of calling for a system revision according to an allocation of representation taking into account their greater demographic weight in the society, they have seen rewarded their efforts by the 1989 \u1e6c\u0101\u02beif Agreement, which acknowledged a parity in the Christians \/ Muslims ratio for the assignment of the 128 parliamentary seats and in the government composition, all based on a \u201cmutual coexistence\u201d principle. Moreover, each sub-group adhering to a confessional community has a fixed number of representatives in the Chamber of Deputies, so that the electoral contest among candidates in an individual constituency is also focused on winning the votes of a differing religious community. The most represented Christians are the Maronites, the Eastern Orthodox, the Melkite Catholics, and the Apostolic Armenians; the ones among Muslims, are the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Druze, of course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Nevertheless, political conflicts currently in place in Lebanon are not between Muslims and Christians, but between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims, with various Christian groups joining in turn either of the two Muslim struggling factions, as testified by the alliance <i>at-Tayy\u0101r al-Wa\u1e6dan\u012b al-Horr<\/i> (Free Patriotic Movement) of the Maronite Christian <b>Michel Naim Aoun<\/b>, its founder, and <b>Gebran Gerge Bassil <\/b>(right in the photo below), its leader and current Foreign Minister of Sal\u0101m\u2019s Government, made with the \u1e24izb All\u0101h Shiites within March 8<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance. On the ground, the existing lines of separation between Sunnis and Shiites are essentially those that separated Christians and Muslims during the 1975-90 civil war.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/nna-leb.gov.lb\/files\/pictures\/1430684076_.jpg\" width=\"896\" height=\"598\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Calls for unity<\/span><\/b><em><b><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">In this tense situation, we must also observe the sense of balance the leaderships of all struggling Lebanese factions prove, when they show an intention not to exacerbate conflict so far as to falling back in the civil war dark years. Rather, the danger for the State equilibrium comes from outside groups and from continuous foreign meddling on domestic politics. Hence, the Na\u1e63rall\u0101h\u2019s appeal in favour of an internal political arrangement which may prevent interference from other countries. And hence, the \u1e24izb All\u0101h will not to take up the deadly provocations imposed on its members by a few Sunni jih\u0101dist groups, while avoiding retaliations, revenge and escalation threatening the country internal stability. All this, despite indoor and outdoor opponents hindering a Party of God involvement with institutional processes continue to mire it with allegations of extremism, or even terrorism, or continue accusing it of pursuing a constitutional powers draining with a Tehr\u0101n accordance, yet. Meanwhile, that one suffering terrorist assaults is \u1e24izb All\u0101h itself, and we cannot forget that many of its leaders were victims of targeted attacks. We can mention a few of them:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">the March 8<sup>th<\/sup>, 1985 attack in Beirut to a car of Grand Ayatollah Mu\u1e25ammad \u1e24usain Fa\u1e0dl All\u0101h, who was unaffected, but with the killing of 80 people;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">the <i>Shaykh <\/i>\u2018Abd al-Kar\u012bm Obeid\u2019s abduction by Israeli commandos on July 28<sup>th<\/sup>, 1989;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">the February 16<sup>th<\/sup>, 1992 elimination of the founder \u2018Abb\u0101s al-Musawi, along with his wife and son and four more people, by the Israelis in southern Lebanon;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">the February 12<sup>th<\/sup>, 2008 \u02bfIm\u0101d F\u0101yiz Mu\u0121niyya\u2019s murder, by a car bombing in Damascus, and the one of his son Jih\u0101d, along with 5 of \u1e24izb All\u0101h fighters and an Iranian general, by an Israeli helicopter on January 18<sup>th<\/sup>, 2015, in Qunai\u1e6dra, in the area of Syrian Golan occupied by Israel;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">the military commander \u1e24asan al-Laqqis\u2019 assassination, in front of his Beirut home on December 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, 2013;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">the Druze Samir al-Quntar\u2019s murder, last December 19<sup>th<\/sup> in Damascus Jaram\u0101n\u0101\u00a0 suburb, by four long-range missiles, launched by Israeli warplanes from the Syrian airspace.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The Druze community, too, is doing its best to avoid tensions with Sunnis, and Wal\u012bd Jumblatt, one of its most representative leaders, is committed to prevent clashes with Jabhat an-Nu\u1e63ra along the Syrian border areas, primarily out of concern that his co-religionists in the as-Suwayd\u0101\u02be Syrian province may suffer retaliation from the pro-Q\u0101edist forces installed in Qunai\u1e6dra. That is why Jumblatt\u2019s soft attitude has emphasized the need for unity of Lebanese factions, in the face of external provocations, and caution in the attitude to be adopted towards the Sunni community of refugees who fled to Lebanon from Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Politics lay-out<\/span><\/b><em><b><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">So far, we have talked about relationships between faiths, because the constitutional system puts an emphasis on them. Conversely, the parties structure in Lebanon is different from that found in the so-called Western democracies, since their content is not an ideological one, rather representing real popular demands or apparent electoral function, often, as seen, diluted within broader interfaith aggregations. This implies on the one hand an emphasis on a personality within a particular constituency, but, on the other, a fragmentation of party power, as the poor consistency of parliamentary groups and their large number highlight. Far more important is the function of leadership by family political dynasties, holding power within arrays emerging out of them: for instance, the \u1e24ar\u012br\u012bs in the Sunni community, the Jumblatts and Arslans in the Druze community, the Gemayels in the Maronite Christian community, the \u1e62adrs in the Shiite community. Of course, also a confessional appeal has its own significant role, as domestic issues concerning religion or foreign affairs related to international partnerships (with effects on internal balance) are at stake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Bearing in mind the above considerations, and given an extreme volatility of party affiliation by individual MPs, the current Chamber of Deputies composition (one of its session in the photo below) should probably reflect the following situation:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><b>March 8<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance<\/b> has 60 seats, most of which assigned to the aforementioned <b>Free Patriotic Movement <\/b>of the Maronite Christian Gebran Bassil, the two Shiite parties <b><i>\u1e24arakat \u02beAmal<\/i><\/b> (Hope Movement) and <b>\u1e24izb All\u0101h<\/b> (via its political wing <i>Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc<\/i>), and its Druze allies of <i>\u1e24izb ad-D\u012bmuqr\u0101\u1e6d\u012b al-Lubn\u0101ni<\/i> (<b>Lebanese Democratic Party<\/b>), founded and chaired by Emir \u1e6cal\u0101l Arslan;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><b>March 14<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance<\/b> holds 45 seats, most of which assigned to the aforementioned \u1e24ar\u012br\u012b\u2019s Sunni <b>Future Movement<\/b> and its Maronite Christian allies of <i>al-Quww\u0101t al-Lubn\u0101niyya<\/i> (<b>Lebanese Forces<\/b>) and <i>\u1e24izb al-Kat\u0101\u2019ib al-Lubn\u0101n\u012bya<\/i> (<b>Lebanese Phalanges Party<\/b>), the prior headed by Sam\u012br Farid\u00a0Ja\u02bfja\u02bf and the latest by Samy Gemayel;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Social Democrats of Wal\u012bd Jumblatt\u2019s <i>\u1e24izb at-Taqaddum\u012b al-I\u0161tir\u0101k\u012b<\/i> (<b>Progressive Socialist Party<\/b>), formally secular but mainly backed by Druze, keep 7 seats;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The remaining 16 seats are filled by independent deputies or a few minor parties not aggregated to previous groups.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/nottmagazine.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/lebanon_parliament_april_2014.jpg\" width=\"832\" height=\"555\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Note how none of the aggregations reaches an absolute majority, resulting in a unity government, the one currently in office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">In this context, the strongest party with a Muslim electoral base is the liberal-nationalist <b>Future Movement<\/b>, followed by the two Shiite parties \u02beAmal and \u1e24izb All\u0101h and the Druze Progressive Socialist Party. The prior reflects the political heritage of pro-Saudi Raf\u012bq al-\u1e24ar\u012br\u012b, the two-time prime minister killed in 2005, and it took the form of a party under the guidance of his son Sa\u02bfd ad-D\u012bn in 2007, before turning in the nationwide most rated party in the 2009 most recent election.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">The conservative <b>\u02beAmal<\/b> (acronym for <i>Afw\u0101j al-Muq\u0101wama al-Lubn\u0101niyya<\/i>, the Lebanese Resistance Detachments), established in 1974 by the religious leader M\u016bs\u00e1 a\u1e63-\u1e62adr and by \u1e24usayn al-\u1e24usayn\u012b (one of the architects of \u1e6c\u0101\u02beif Agreement), is deemed as linked less closely to Iran than some other Shiite movements, and as more tied to Syria, whose it approved the 1976 military action to Lebanon and its subsequent military presence up to 2005. Since 1980, the movement leadership has been firmly in the hands of <b>Nab\u012bh Barr\u012b<\/b>, Chamber of Deputies Speaker since 1992.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Unlike \u02beAmal, <b>\u1e24izb All\u0101h<\/b>, the movement inspired by Fa\u1e0dl All\u0101h and established in 1982 in the Lebanese Beq\u0101\u02bf \u00a0Valley by \u2018Abb\u0101s al-Musawi with a social program countering neo-liberalism and with the aim of assisting war-affected populations, is in favour of an Islamic rule by peaceful means, and has always had a good relationship with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Since 1992, its political wing has taken part in the general elections. Since 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding between Na\u1e63rall\u0101h and the Maronite Christian leader Aoun binds the two movements in the pro-Syrian March 8<sup>th<\/sup><b> <\/b>Alliance, after the Aoun\u2019s Free Patriotic Movement in 1989 had started a war against the Syrian presence in Lebanon, and in 2005 it had taken part in the so-called <i>Cedar Revolution<\/i> and in the anti-Syrian March 14<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">An Aoun-like story has involved Wal\u012bd Jumblatt and his Progressive Socialist Party, as in 2011, after visiting Damascus, he gave up his anti-Syrian stances and the March 14<sup>th<\/sup> Alliance, enabling the government of Naj\u012bb M\u012bq\u0101t\u012b, the forerunner of Sal\u0101m\u2019s unity government. Founded in 1949 by Kam\u0101l Jumblatt, Wal\u012bd\u2019s father and the party leader up to his killing in 1977, PSP is pursuing a program aimed to secularism, Arabism and an ending of the confessional system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">From a quantitative democracy to a selective and confessional democracy<\/span><\/b><em><b><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Just about the confessional system, this topic involves the Lebanon very nature of existence, as derived from the 1920 Arab Kingdom of Syria to protect the Maronite Christian minority, who, without the prior Ottoman Empire guarantees based on a XVI-century agreement, was looking for a protection. However, the question of governing relationships among individuals of different ethnicities and religions, within a democratic and pluralist frame, was standing. The first 1926 Lebanese Constitution, approved in the year it became a republic, had already stated the election of MPs by religious separations, a conception later exasperated in the National Pact, as we discussed. But the question also relates to nature and content of democracy, as the Lebanese system is characterized by the power granted to religious communities of applying their own Personal Status, under the principle the law to be applied in legal disputes should not be determined by territory, but on the basis of\u00a0the community one belongs to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">This system relativises the State power to take action over citizens freedom, so imposing its organising authority indiscriminately, but, conversely, it enhances the quality and specificity of social groupings which citizens naturally identify with, through an autonomous jurisdiction in civil matters: from a quantitative democracy to a selective and confessional democracy!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">Sure, this system is far from perfect, as shown by above events and the troubled sequence of internal ancient and recent strife of its history. But here it comes to the particular pluralistic conception of a State delegating part of its powers, in order to approach diversified customs of its citizens, and that gives up overriding them according to a supposed uniformity of values and behaviours of society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">After all, a religious identification, coexistence and a regulation of relationships among communities existed in the common awareness of Lebanese well before the first Constitution was adopted, as they were formed under the application of the Ottoman <i>millet<\/i> system for different groups of non-Muslim communities!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The role of political parties and the leadership of family political dynasties under a selective democracy By Glauco D\u2019Agostino Last November 12th attack in the Beirut Shiite Burj el-Barajneh neighbourhood, which resulted in 44 deaths and more than 239 injuries in the \u1e24izb All\u0101h stronghold, was preceded by an important political act towards a break [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-events-by-area","category-islamic-movements","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5049"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5174,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5049\/revisions\/5174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamicworld.it\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}