In Lebanon, hopes are dim that the upcoming political elections scheduled in May will bring about any substantial change to the present situation. The next parliament promises to be a photocopy of the previous one, with possible minor differences that will not help prevent the usual stalemates in the formation of the next government, and there are those who predict that, as already happened in the past, at least a couple of years will be needed in order to elect the new President of the Republic (the tenure of the incumbent one in the Baabda palace is to expire in November).
Generally speaking, what would be needed to trigger a new political process that will finally deliver the long-overdue reforms, and get the country out of the tragic socio-economic crisis it has plunged into? Here are some personal reflections out of the box after a visit to Beirut.
Sunni resurrection
Lebanon needs a strong Sunni political party. It is a generally shared opinion that a Sunni unifying leadership is currently missing. However, the Future Movement can still re-establish itself as a major force able to prevent the fragmentation along local lines of the Sunni political representation, while continuing to be a bulwark against radical stances and sectarian animosity, and to ensure cooperative and friendly relations with the international community.
Game-changer
The unification or at least a true and enduring strategic realignment of Christian political parties, is the (only) way forward for the Lebanese political process to redefine its structural dynamics and take the right turn toward reform and good governance. Christian political parties can and should become the pivots of a broader coalition for change, open to all the positive forces and actors in the country, coming from others religious communities (Sunni, Shia, Druze), as well as independents and the new movements springing from the “revolution”. Personal political ambitions, combined with the old grudges dating back to the civil war, have prevented thus far their unification or strategic realignment from happening. To overcome the past and build the future, the responsibility lies especially with the new generation of Christian leaders, who are called to start working together on a common platform to salvage Lebanon from the current predicament, which is putting at serious stake also the Lebanese Christians themselves.
For Mahdi’s sake
Hezbollah should reconsider some aspects of its present posture. Even many Shias and sympathizers of the “resistance” are of the opinion that the party’s self-referential behavior is jeopardizing the possibility for Lebanon to find a way out of the socio-economic crisis, while sowing the seeds of new conflicts that the other Lebanese (Shias included) are extremely afraid of. A greater “Human Fraternity” should be shown toward the rest of the population, at least allowing it to live in peace and with dignity, without having to strive for survival and to fear escalations of violence due to political or geopolitical reasons which are independent from the Lebanese and Lebanon itself. Is this asking too much?