ANXIETY AND FURY IN LEBANON

Most Lebanese citizens are furious with their leaders and they pledge not to forgive them.  In the heart of Beirut's neighbourhood, close to the site of last Tuesday's terrible explosion, desperate survivors begged President Macron to help them save their destroyed country.

 Nearly two days after the disaster, President Emmanuel Macron was the first political leader to visit Beirut, neither did the Lebanese prime minister nor superior ministers have visited the site.  They would certainly not be welcomed by the angry crowds.


Among the ruins of the Gemmayze district, where people were searching among the rubble for survivors, Macron had come to talk about solutions and he spoke bluntly and directly:


"I guarantee you, this will not go to corrupt hands," he told tormented locals.  Later he said that "it was an opportunity to have a frank talk with the Lebanese political powers and institutions". He said that help from France and elsewhere would focus on humanitarian needs and he cautioned that "if reforms are not made, Lebanon will continue to sink".


Distinguishing between aid to help stabilization and donations that would help to safeguard the political fortunes of Lebanon's leaders was exactly what was worrying Macron and many Lebanese citizens.


"They think they are getting off the hook," said an electrical engineer from Beirut.  "They aren't and they won't.  Not this time."


"This is a conflagration of all that is wrong with Lebanon, said Falaha.  "Centred in corruption of the political system, state institutions and the judiciary.  There will be a few scapegoats and the real culprits will not face justice.  Will the villains go to jail?  That would mean confronting taboos that have taken us beyond the abyss.  Who among them can sit in judgement of the other?"  Even Robert Mugabe's standards were higher.  This is a moment of reckoning like no other, and a failure to seize it will lead to the absolute failure of the Lebanese state.


A retired army general said that anger was palpable across Lebanon "The credibility of the ruling class is done, finished", he said.  "Even their supporters do not agree with them.  There is no strategy,  no vision."


"Throughout history, solutions have been inspired by the Lebanese but implemented by international communities. But this time we need real help, the aid model of giving aid just to make things go away."


 " There remains a huge obstacle, the weapons of Hezbollah and Hezbollah itself. They have turned the country into a large theatre of operations which include, Lebanon, Irak and Syria. this is unsustainable and we need to acknowledge this".

Bahaa Hariri

Bahaa Hariri, a Lebanese billionaire and brother of the former prime minister, Saud Hariri, called for an international investigation about the explosion, a reset of how politics are done in Lebanon where patronage networks run by warmongers place policies over institutions.


 "This synbiotic, bankrupt relationship between officials and warlords must come to an end", he said from London. "And it will come to an end.  We need an international investigation, that is not under the control or the government,  We do not believe a word of what they say".

Charbel Nahas

Charbel Nahas, a former government minister said a sovereign backed by the rule of law was predominant. "The super-structures of government are governed by rules of behaviour that are accepted as legitimate," he said, "and those we should have".


We hope and pray that very soon Lebanon will be rebuilding their capital and that they will be ruled by a government they truly deserve.     

   

The Lebanese Flag

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