A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For November 13-14/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 28th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
November 13-14/2019
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 13-14/2019
France Expresses Willingness to Help Lebanon
Lebanese protesters back in streets, major highways blocked
Protesters Back in Streets, Major Highways Blocked
Minor Skirmishes as Protesters Hold First Large Demo near Baabda Palace
Tensions Soar After President’s Speech, Army Deploys in Baabda
Clashes Erupt at Road-Blocking Protest in Jal el-Dib
Hariri Asks Army, ISF Chiefs to Ensure Demonstrators’ Safety
Jumblat Urges Protesters to Maintain Peacefulness, Carry Lebanese Flags
Berri Says Security Must Have Priority over Anything
In Tripoli, Crushing Poverty Fuels Protests
Army Intelligence Agent Referred to Judiciary over Abu Fakhr Death
Protesters honor Alaa Abou Fakher as rage escalates in the streets
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 13-14/2019
From 2006 Archive/Michel Aoun: A psychotic Lust For The Presidency
Elias Bejjani/December 22/06
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/elias.english06/aoun.elias9.e.21.12.06.htm
France Expresses Willingness to Help Lebanon
Naharnet/November 13/2019
The French envoy in Beirut delivered a message to President Michel Aoun from his French counterpart expressing France’s willingness to help Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday. The director of the Middle East and North Africa department at the French foreign ministry, Christophe Farnaud met with Aoun where discussions “focused on the latest developments in Lebanon,” said NNA. It added that “Farnaud delivered a message to Aoun from French President Emmanuel Macron expressing France’s willingness to help Lebanon in the current circumstances.” For his part, Aoun said: “I will continue my contacts to hold the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new PM.” “Economic conditions are worsening as a result of what the country is going through. The situation will gradually improve when we begin oil and gas exploration,” he added. The envoy had earlier met with caretaker foreign minister Jebran Bassil. He left without making a statement. Farnaud is expected to hold meetings later with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Saad Hariri, and Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, al-Joumhouria daily reported. On Tuesday he wet with Kataeb chief Sami Gemayel and then a group of representatives of the uprising, said the daily. Farnaud will discuss the ongoing political and economic crisis in the country. He is also expected to meet on Wednesday with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and head of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea. On Tuesday evening, protesters led by the leftist Youth Movement for Change rallied outside the French embassy in Beirut to denounce what they called French “interference” in Lebanese affairs, hours after Farnaud arrived in Beirut.
Lebanese protesters back in streets, major highways blocked
Agencies/Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Lebanese protesters are blocking major highways with burning tires and roadblocks, saying they will remain in the streets following a televised interview in which the president urged them to go home. Schools and universities closed on Wednesday, and banks remain shuttered – a reflection of the deepening political and financial crisis the tiny country faces.In a statement on Wednesday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun says the economic situation is deteriorating further as a result of what the country is going through, adding that the start of exploration for oil and gas will help improve the situation gradually.
A man was killed by a Lebanese soldier during Tuesday night protests, marking the first such fatality since nationwide demonstrations engulfed the country on Oct. 17. The protesters took to the streets after President Michel Aoun said in a televised interview that there could be further delays before a new government is formed. He also called on those protesting to go home, warning of a catastrophe if the mass protests keep paralyzing the country. The country has since October 17 been swept by an unprecedented cross-sectarian protest movement against the entire political establishment, which is widely seen as irretrievably corrupt and unable to deal with a deepening economic crisis. The protests triggered Prime Minister Saad Hariri to tender the resignation of his government on October 29, but he remains in a caretaker capacity and maneuverings are still ongoing to form a new cabinet.
Protesters Back in Streets, Major Highways Blocked
Associated PressNaharnet/November 13/2019
Lebanese protesters blocked major highways with burning tires and roadblocks on Wednesday, saying they will remain in the streets despite the president’s appeal for them to go home. Schools and universities were closed and banks remained shuttered — a reflection of the deepening political and financial crisis the tiny country faces. A man was killed by a Lebanese soldier during Tuesday night protests, marking the first such fatality since nationwide demonstrations engulfed the country on Oct. 17. The protesters took to the streets after President Michel Aoun said in a televised interview that there could be further delays before a new government is formed, and said the best option was a Cabinet made up of technocrats and politicians to deal with the country’s economic and financial troubles. He also urged those protesting to go home, warning of a catastrophe if the mass protests keep paralyzing the country.
Lebanon is passing through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades. It led to anti-government protests that culminated in mid-October as demonstrations spread across much of Lebanon. The protesters are also complaining of widespread corruption and calling an end for the rule of the political elite that has been running the country since the 1975-90 civil war ended. Protesters, who have been calling for a Cabinet made up solely of experts, rejected Aoun’s speech. “Our demands are known, we need a technocrat government that is not related to any politician,” said protester Melissa Barrak, a sales manager speaking at a major intersection in central Beirut that was closed by the demonstrators. Highways linking Beirut with southern and northern Lebanon as well as other roads in major cities and towns were also closed. Policemen opened Wednesday morning the Fouad Chehab avenue in Beirut, hours it was closed by protesters. In Nahr al-Kalb north of Beirut, protesters closed a tunnel by parking their cars inside it while a nearby highway was filled with debris. In Khaldeh, on Beirut’s southern entrance, tires were set on fire and sand barriers closed a vital highway. The place where the first fatality in the protests, Alaa Abou Fakher, was shot in the Khaldeh area was decorated with roses and a Lebanese flag was placed nearby. He was the first to be killed in direct shooting related to the protests, though there have been four other deaths since the demonstrations began. A man was shot and killed in the early days of the protests by a man forcing people to pay bribes to pass through road barriers leading to the airport, while two Syrian workers choked to death when a fire was set inside a downtown Beirut building where they were sleeping. Also, a young man fell inside a building as he was trying to climb to the roof to take photographs. He died days later in hospital. Aoun on Wednesday met with French envoy Christophe Farnaud, who carried a message from France’s President Emmanuel Macron expressing Paris’ concerns about the situation in Lebanon and its readiness to help the Arab country. France, Lebanon’s former colonial ruler, remains a major player in Lebanese politics.
Minor Skirmishes as Protesters Hold First Large Demo near Baabda Palace
Naharnet/November 13/2019
Large numbers of protesters were on Wednesday rallying near the presidential palace in Baabda, in the first major demo in the area since the eruption of the popular uprising on October 17. The protesters were flocking to the area from Beirut, Tripoli and several Lebanese regions. Scuffles erupted as the protesters tried to remove barb wires and metallic barriers. “Security forces managed to stop them after they hurled empty water bottles and stones at them,” the National News Agency said. Responding to a Republic Guard officer’s request that they form a delegation to meet with the president, the protesters chanted: “The people demand and don’t negotiate!” Protesters have been blocking main roads since Tuesday evening, angered by what they viewed as the president ignoring their demands in nearly a month of rallies, and after a protester was shot dead.Aoun said on television that Lebanese who did not see any decent person in power should “emigrate” — a comment that, despite the presidency scrambling to clarify it, immediately sent protesters onto the streets. One man died of gunshot wounds overnight after an army officer’s driver opened fire at a road-blocking protest in Khalde south of the capital, in the second such death since the start of the largely peaceful protests. Lebanon’s unprecedented protest movement has since October 17 called for a complete overhaul of a system they charge is incapable of providing the most basic services and syphoning off state funds. After the government stepped down on October 29, protesters demanded a fresh cabinet of experts not affiliated with any of the traditional political parties, which are divided along sectarian lines. But Aoun in the interview argued that a government made up solely of technocrats would not be able to set policies and would not represent the people. He criticized the street movement’s lack of leadership, after previously saying he would be prepared to meet representatives to hear their demands. The protests erupted spontaneously last month against a government plan to tax calls made via free mobile phone applications such as WhatsApp. But they have since morphed into a mass cross-sectarian movement denouncing everything from unemployment and rampant poverty to poor healthcare and endless power cuts. The World Bank says around a third of Lebanese live in poverty and has warned the country’s struggling economy could further deteriorate if a new cabinet is not formed rapidly. The former cabinet will remain in a caretaker capacity until a fresh one is formed, but required parliamentary consultations on the matter have not even been scheduled yet. Forming a government typically takes months in Lebanon, with protracted debate on how best to maintain a fragile balance between religious communities. In the interview late Tuesday, Aoun suggested a new cabinet made up of technocrats and politicians. He did not deny the existence of U.S. pressure to exclude his powerful ally, Iran-backed Hizbullah, from any future government, but said he could not be forced to do so as they represented “a third of Lebanese.”
Tensions Soar After President’s Speech, Army Deploys in Baabda
Associated Press/November 13/2019
Lebanese army troops on Wednesday deployed heavily near the Presidential Palace in Baabda amid tight security measures, after a night of unrest following President Michel Aoun’s announcement that there could be further delays before a new government is formed. “Army troops deployed in masses in Baabda in case of any emergency,” said the National News Agency. Angry protesters blocked several major highways with burning tires and dirt mounds in protest at Aoun’s remarks. Protesters had poured into the streets Tuesday night closing roads around Lebanon after Aoun said in a televised interview that there could be further delays before a new government is formed. He also defended the role of his allies, Hizbullah, in Lebanon’s government. He said it could take days to set a date for consultations with heads of parliamentary blocs for the naming of a new prime minister and added that the best option is for the new Cabinet to include both politicians and technocrats. Protesters have demanded a Cabinet without politicians. A local official for a Lebanese political party was shot dead by soldiers trying to open a road closed by protesters in the Khaldeh neighborhood in southern Beirut late Tuesday, the army reported, marking the first death in 27 days of nationwide protests. An army statement said the army command had opened an investigation into the killing after arresting the soldier. The incident was sure to inflame tensions already running high in the country, which has been engulfed by nationwide protests against the country’s entire political class since Oct. 17. The leaderless, economically driven protests were triggered by new proposed taxes and have quickly evolved into the most spread and most sustained Lebanon has seen in years. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned his government Oct. 29 in response to the unprecedented nationwide protests since the middle of last month. The protests have snowballed into calls for the government to resign and for the entire political elite that has governed Lebanon since the end of its 1975-90 civil war to step aside. Protesters are demanding a government made up of technocrats that would get immediately to work on the necessary reforms to address the worst economic and financial crisis Lebanon is passing through in decades. Politicians are divided among other things over whether the new Cabinet should be made up of experts only or include politicians.
Clashes Erupt at Road-Blocking Protest in Jal el-Dib
Naharnet/November 13/2019
Clashes erupted Wednesday between protesters and Free Patriotic Movement supporters at a road-blocking protest in Jal el-Dib. Media reports said security forces arrested a man who opened fire in the air to intimidate protesters. “Protesters managed to take the firearm away from the young man who attacked them, smashing the windows of his car,” the National News Agency said. Protesters and FPM supporters meanwhile hurled stones at each other as demonstrators accused their rivals of carrying knives and metal chains and of seeking to reopen the road by force. Security forces have intervened several times to contain the clashes between the two sides. The National News Agency meanwhile said one person was injured in the scuffles. “Men carrying sticks and chains attacked us,” said Elie Khoury, an anti-corruption protester in Jal el-Dib, before troops deployed in the area and opened the road that had been closed by burning tires and roadblocks for hours.
Hariri Asks Army, ISF Chiefs to Ensure Demonstrators’ Safety
Naharnet/November 13/2019
The Press Office of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri issued the following statement on Wednesday: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri followed up last night and until the early hours of dawn the events and popular movements in the capital, the suburbs and other areas of Lebanon. For this purpose, he contacted Army Commander General Joseph Aoun and Internal Security Forces Director General Major General Imad Osman, stressing the need to take all measures to protect citizens and ensure the safety of the demonstrators. Prime Minister Hariri also contacted head of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblat and expressed his condolences for the death of the member of the Choueifat municipality council, Alaa Abu Fakher, who died in the tragic incident during the popular movement in Khalde. Hariri praised the responsible national stance expressed by Jumblat and his call to preserve calm, avoid slipping into chaos and consider the state as the indispensable sanctuary. Hariri called on all citizens in all regions to preserve their peaceful movement and block the way of those who want to fish in troubled waters. He also drew attention to the responsibility of all, the authorities, leaders, military and security institutions and popular movements, to protect the country and show solidarity in facing challenges.
Jumblat Urges Protesters to Maintain Peacefulness, Carry Lebanese Flags
Naharnet/November 13/2019
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Wednesday described slain protester Alaa Abu Fakhr as “the martyr of the Lebanese revolution and the PSP.” “The best way to honor him is to maintain the peaceful revolution, without any tension, upheaval or narrow partisanship,” Jumblat tweeted.
“The protest movement has smashed all barriers and united the Lebanese and Alaa was at the vanguard,” the PSP leader added. He also called for “covering squares and streets with the Lebanese flag exclusively” during Abu Fakhr’s funeral on Thursday.
Berri Says Security Must Have Priority over Anything
Naharnet/November 13/2019
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday stressed that “security must have the priority over anything else,” renewing his call for “speeding up the formation of an inclusive government that can fulfill the aspirations of the Lebanese.”Extending condolences to the family of slain protester Alaa Abu Fakhr, who was killed overnight as an army officer’s driver opened fire at a road-blocking protest in Khalde, Berri called for “preserving public order at educational, health and social institutions” and for “safeguarding civil peace and national unity.”Berri also repeated his warning against “falling into the trap of lethal political vacuum.”
In Tripoli, Crushing Poverty Fuels Protests
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 13/2019
In a dusty alley streaked with sewage in Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli, Fatima, her husband and 11 children live crippled by debt and wondering where their next meal is coming from. “We’re a poor people here in Tripoli,” said the 38-year-old mother, in the city that has taken center stage in Lebanon’s ongoing protests denouncing official corruption and inequality. Fresh laundry hangs outside her two-room breeze-block dwelling, its corrugated iron roof held in place by the weight of a few old car tires. “There have been days in the past week when my children haven’t had breakfast — and my little ones milk — before five o’clock in the evening,” said Fatima, whose youngest is just two and a half years old. Her husband sells fish from a cart for a living, and Fatima sometimes helps out with special orders to cook up the fresh catch. But sales have been few and far between since the unprecedented demonstrations erupted nationwide last month, demanding a complete overhaul of the political system. Tripoli has been a hotspot of the anti-government protests and become known as “the bride of the revolution” for its festive night-time rallies.In the beginning Fatima took part, but soon the bus fare to the city’s main square became too much. “I stopped going, to spend the money instead on bread and milk for my children,” she said. More than half of Tripoli’s population live at or below the poverty line, the United Nations says, and more than a quarter live in extreme poverty. Fatima’s family are struggling to pay the bills and already up to $5,000 in debt. Her 17-year-old son has left school so he can help provide for the family, and so has her 15-year-old daughter, who must now look after her siblings.The mother fears her other children may soon have to drop out too, because she can’t afford the $100 a month for the school bus.
Life ‘sweeping stairs’
In a city whose political leaders are among the richest in the nation, Fatima is terrified her children will grow up to a life “sweeping stairs and peddling chewing gum.” Forbes magazine this year listed former prime minister Najib Miqati and his brother, who both hail from the city, as being worth $2.5 billion. But in Fatima’s neighborhood, dozens of families live in tiny homes without even a connection to the main sewage system. Instead, they have dug small cesspits they cannot afford to empty, and whose foul-smelling contents often leak out into the alleyways or even inside their homes. One woman, aged in her 50s, has placed cement blocks outside her front door to try to protect her 10-year-old autistic son from the wastewater and rats outside. “If a political leader’s dog gets sick they rush it off to private hospital, but we can’t even treat our children,” she said, as around her the scent of fried food mixed with the stench of a blocked toilet. “They come and see us during elections, and then they forget all about us afterwards,” she said, preferring not to give her name.
‘Kiss 100 hands’
Not far off, Jamal Shaaban said he had resorted to collecting scrap metal to earn money and feed his seven children, and despaired as to how he would ever find them employment. Without personal connections, “I can’t find my kids jobs even as porters” in the city’s neglected port, said the 40-year-old, wearing a black cap and sunglasses. “I need to kiss a hundred hands — even for a job as a rubbish collector,” he said angrily. Tripoli is now known as a protest center, but from 2007 to 2014 it was infamous for deadly shootouts and bombings. With school dropout rates and unemployment high in its poorer districts, many young residents have joined armed groups in exchange for a little financial support. They have also been easy recruits for extremist groups. “What other future do they expect for a generation brought up in a neighborhood like this?” Shaaban said. “Some people take a wrong turn. But who’s to blame — us or the living conditions?” Several kilometers (miles) away, in a neighborhood pockmarked with bullets holes, Amina Abdallah Sweid said she was struggling to feed her five children after their father was killed in the clashes. In the past few days, she said they had been living off a single bag of potatoes donated by a relative and some bread from the neighbors. Her children sometimes collect scrap metal to sell, but even on a good day that only fetches around six dollars. That means, she said, that “there’s nothing left for us to do but beg”.
Army Intelligence Agent Referred to Judiciary over Abu Fakhr Death
Naharnet/November 13/2019
An army intelligence agent involved in the Khalde incident that resulted in the death of the protester Alaa Abu Fakhr was referred to the judiciary on Wednesday. “The Intelligence Directorate has referred First Adjutant Charbel Hjeil to the relevant judicial authorities after interrogating him over the incident that resulted in the martyrdom of Alaa Abu Fakhr,” the Army Command’s Orientation Directorate said in a statement. Media reports said Hjeil was in a white vehicle carrying an army colonel when an altercation with protesters erupted in the Khalde area where demonstrators were blocking the road. An army statement issued Tuesday had said that military personnel opened fire in a bid to disperse protesters.
Protesters honor Alaa Abou Fakher as rage escalates in the streets
Christy-Belle Geha/Annahar/November 13/2019
Infuriated protesters and Abou Fakher’s PSP comrades described him as “the revolution’s martyr.”
BEIRUT: On the 28th day of the revolution, protesters expressed their grief with chants and candles in honour of protester Alaa Abou Fakher, who was shot and killed on Tuesday night in Khaldeh.
An army statement said a soldier opened fire to disperse the crowd after an altercation, hitting Abou Fakher, identified as a local official with the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and member of the Choueifat municipality. The statement also added that an investigation has been opened following the soldier’s arrest. Abou Fakher was briefly hospitalized in a critical condition to Kamal Jumblatt Hospital before succumbing to his wounds. PSP leader Walid Jumblatt and his son MP Taymur Jumblatt arrived at the hospital around midnight, where the Druze leader urged demonstrators to “count on the state only” or to avoid a “phase of chaos.” Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri also emphasized Jumblatt’s statement on Twitter, reminding “everyone of their responsibility to protect the country and to collaborate in order to face our challenges.”Infuriated protesters and Abou Fakher’s PSP comrades described him as “the revolution’s martyr.”Lawyer Tony Mikhael expressed on Twitter how “harsh” the scene of Abou Fakher’s passing was, describing it as “a scene that shakes thrones and emotions.” Joseph Chidiac, a protestor, described to Annahar his dismay at the death of a man “who was demanding his basic human rights in front of his kids.”“Will innocent men and women forever be killed in this country? When will this stop?” he asked.
Titles For The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 13-14/2019
Lebanon not sick with fever but ill with cancer/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Arab News/November 13/2019
Simple Lebanese chant makes a complicated story even more so/Tala Jarjour/Arab News/November 13/2019
Hezbollah could be hastening the demise of the system it is trying so hard to preserve/Michael Young/The National/November 13/2019
Lebanon protesters tell the president: ‘it’s time for father of all to leave’/Sunniva Rose and James Haines-Young/The National/November 13/2019
Lebanon: One Month of Protests/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 13/2019
French envoy seeks to resolve deadlock as tensions simmer/Georgi Azar/Annahar/November 13/2019
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 13-14/2019
Lebanon not sick with fever but ill with cancer
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Arab News/November 13/2019
Some like to portray the situation in Lebanon as there being a secret society that is governing the country, made up of clerics, bankers, politicians, and arms and drugs dealers. That is why real change seems almost impossible or unlikely for another decade.
The surprise is in the large number of citizens taking to the streets, banging on pots, and turning their anger against politicians into a daily celebration all over the country, successfully drawing attention to the main economic and political issues. Collective complaints have united the Lebanese for the first time since the country was divided in the mid-1970s, most saliently along political or sectarian lines.
The anger was entirely aimed at the upper echelons of government, namely the Christian president, the Sunni prime minister, the Shiite speaker of parliament, as well as at hidden forces such as the leader of Hezbollah, who has a parallel army and more powers than the state itself.
Most of the therapeutic solutions issued by the captains of the sunken ship seem to be a ploy to buy more time
Most of the therapeutic solutions issued by the captains of the sunken ship seem to be a ploy to buy more time. Time is, in fact, the cheapest commodity in Lebanon, as the country is in a near-permanent, ongoing crisis that is unparalleled, except for the Palestinian cause. It is puzzling that there is no compelling reason why civilian life has not returned to normal since the end of the civil war. The war ceased in 1990, but the regime of war continued.
In the current crisis, ideas for a recipe for economic remedies, a reduction in government expenditures and the fight against corruption were put forward. However, Lebanon is not sick with fever but ill with cancer. Thus, reducing expenses and arresting a few fat cats will not convince international investors or Lebanese expatriates and the migrations will continue; and people will return to the street to complain.
Lebanon needs an integrated rehabilitation of the regime so that it does not continue to be a problem for its citizens and a problem for the region. Lebanon constitutes a problem for the region because it is being used as a platform to recruit mercenaries to fight in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and a market used for foreign governments and organizations to serve different agendas. In the light of this chaotic and perplexing situation, the proposed political and economic remedies will only succeed in prolonging the life of the crisis and exhausting the sick state.
Optimists believed that salvation was coming when information was leaked about the discovery of oil and gas off the coast of Lebanon. After five years of waiting, they know it is a mirage. Even if oil and gas were to be drilled and exports begin next January, as the French company Total says, it will not solve the problems of Lebanon while the same political structure remains in power.
The agreement between various political forces to share oil profits will ensure the status quo remains for many years to come, while oil will also increase conflicts and the use of religion and external alliances to maintain internal balances of power. Let us not forget that oil has been produced in countries such as Yemen, Sudan and Syria, and these countries have only witnessed more misery; it did not make their governments more compassionate or successful, even when the price of a barrel was above $100.
Without an updated political system that guarantees a minimum of stability, sovereignty and justice, as well as ending foreign alliances, Iranian and others, and stopping internal looting, the crisis will not shrink, but will grow, and people will return to protest and bang on cans and pots.
• Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a veteran columnist. He is the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat. Twitter: @aalrashed
Simple Lebanese chant makes a complicated story even more so
Tala Jarjour/Arab News/November 13/2019
Three weeks on, and Lebanon’s demonstrations show no sign of abating. Prime Minister Saad Hariri has tendered his resignation and reform bills have been presented, yet more Lebanese continue to take to the streets. This week, students are leaving their schools and universities to join and women are a noticeable presence. Formations change, songs come and go, but one line remains firm. “All of them means all of them,” the blunt slogan “kellun yaani kellun” is turning out to be a much more serious demand in the sectarian state system than the wildest political guesses might have risked a few months ago.
Lebanon’s multiple postwar political alliances, along with the names under which they operate, have constantly crossed conventional religious and ideological lines. Groupings worked at times under traditional political labels, and at others they followed confessional categories. But parties and alliances have also been labeled with numbers that referred to the dates of particularly divisive events, such as the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri or the mass protests ignited in its aftermath. While subnational labels shifted, song seemed to forge its own political sphere — one that rarely obeyed strategic fault lines.
The political songs of Julia Boutros, the Christian singer who has family roots in Southern Lebanon, are a helpful example. While Boutros’ was not the only voice to be coined with patriotic song in Lebanon, she has been significant in forming a nationalistic sentiment that was based on the shared value of territorial integrity, individual and collective dignity, power and resistance. Her appeal, which emerged with her appearance as a talented child singer in the 1970s and 1980s, was contemporaneous with a uniquely common goal in the divisive years of the Lebanese war: Resisting the Israeli military presence, and aggression, in Southern Lebanon.
Yet even that semblance of a unified political purpose was not consistent, nor was it complete. Between the aftermath of the 1982 invasion, in which Israeli forces reached Beirut, and the subsequent creation of a security zone, where military control was shared between the Israeli army and its Lebanese allies (the South Lebanon Army), the desire to regain control over all Lebanese territory was hardly regional. Until the sudden withdrawal of Israeli forces in May 2000, Southern Lebanon remained a tender point in the national body. One singer whose output kept focus on the matter over the decades was Boutros. Her songs became emblematic of resistance against the foreign military presence, as well as all forms of intimidation, even when one faction’s aggressors were another’s allies.
“The sun of truth has been eclipsed; dawn became sunset,” opens Boutros’ 1985 song “Ghabet Shams El Haq.” “We refuse to die. Tell them we will stay. Your land, and homes. The hard-working people. Hear. Oh south. My beloved south,” goes the refrain. Written on the heels of the Israeli invasion and in the midst of a bloody war, this song reliably roused masses for decades. As late as the 2010s, audiences of thousands sent the loudest cheers within two seconds of the opening musical line, singing along with precision. Although the Israeli presence in Southern Lebanon eventually ceased in 2000 (in all but a small strip of land that continues to be contested by multiple sides), the power of Boutros’ song had not waned.
Similarly to almost every other local political loyalty, Boutros’ allegiance to a coalition of theocratic and socialist ideologies was a complicated one. The multiple layers of her fan base’s political commitment to Hezbollah and its leftist supporters were only compounded by the national alliance Hezbollah subsequently forged with Michel Aoun — to the dismay of members of the Christian former army general’s ultranationalist supporters at the right end of the political spectrum. Still, Boutros’ songs continued to bring large audiences to their feet, at least until a year or two ago.
New to office or old powerbrokers, ‘all means all’ remains the street’s unwavering demand for the political elite’s departure.
The last three weeks, however, have successfully blurred not only the fine gradations of the politico-confessional spectrum and its variations of the last four decades, but also the large brushstrokes that united people across its lines, few and far between as those brushstrokes have been.
Today, a new fault line in power alignments is unfolding in the Lebanese public square. Shocking the system and its maintainers alike, the binary split cuts across seemingly unmovable blocks. Like never before, the new “us” and “them” arrangement is as simple as it is clear. In a political environment where neither simplicity nor clarity seemed conceivable, the people of Lebanon have made up their mind: It is “us” the people against “them” the politicians. New to office or old powerbrokers, “all means all” remains the street’s unwavering demand for the political elite’s departure.
In three words, each chanted to one beat and followed by a silent fourth, the rhythmic Arabic slogan encapsulates a singularity that hardly anyone thought possible. Still, like many norm-challenging ideas, in its simplicity this uncompromising demand belies much difficulty.
*Tala Jarjour is author of “Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo” (OUP, 2018). She is currently Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale.
Hezbollah could be hastening the demise of the system it is trying so hard to preserve
Michael Young/The National/November 13/2019
By first trying to deflate protester demands for better, less corrupt governance and economic management, the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was seen as the defender of an intolerable status quo
On Tuesday, Lebanese president Michel Aoun sat down with two journalists to speak about the worst crisis his country has seen since the end of the civil war in 1990. For nearly a month, nationwide protests have taken place because of deteriorating economic conditions and the pervasive corruption of the ruling class. The protesters have been demanding a government free of politicking, clientelism and sectarianism.
It has been more than two weeks since prime minister Saad Hariri resigned. Despite a worsening financial crisis, the political forces seem no closer to forming a government. Mr Hariri would like to form a government made up of technocrats. Not only is that what the protesters are demanding but the prime minister believes this is a prerequisite for outside assistance to Lebanon. A government filled with career politicians – or even one mixing politicians and technocrats – is not one that would generate confidence at home or internationally.
Yet Mr Aoun, who is apparently tone deaf, repeated in his interview that he backed a mixed cabinet and that he could not prevent the return of his son-in-law Gebran Bassil as a minister. Mr Bassil, whom protesters consider highly corrupt, is among the most reviled of Lebanese politicians. His return would represent an insult to the protest movement. Even as Mr Aoun was still speaking, people throughout the country began blockading roads in anger.
Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, by trying to impose a mixed cabinet against popular will, might hinder the foreign aid that is needed to avert an economic collapse
Mr Aoun and Mr Bassil are backed by Hezbollah in opposing a technocratic government in which they would not be represented. Hezbollah is worried that if it is left out of the government, this would the first step in isolating the party and ultimately disarming it. From the start, Hezbollah’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah viewed the protests as a threat to a political order that has long protected the party. That is why he initially sought to undermine the demonstrations by sending thugs to attack protesters.
This attitude has created a contradiction that will continue to profoundly affect Hezbollah, and Lebanon more broadly. Nasrallah, by trying to impose a mixed cabinet against the popular will, might hinder the foreign financial assistance that is needed to avert an economic collapse. This in turn could hasten the breakdown of the system he is trying so hard to preserve.
At the same time, Nasrallah has turned Hezbollah into another focus of the protesters’ frustrations. By first trying to deflate their demands for better, less corrupt governance and economic management, he was seen as the defender of an intolerable status quo. This is no small thing for a party that has made its purported solidarity with the deprived a part of its identity.
Hezbollah’s threat perception is tied not only to events in Lebanon but more broadly to the situation in Iraq and the party’s relationship with Iran. Iraqi protesters have spent weeks defying a corrupt political order bolstered by Iran and its Iraqi proxies, leading demonstrators to target symbols of Tehran’s influence. In fact, on October 30, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seemed alarmed enough by developments to state that the Lebanese and Iraqi protests were the work of the US and its partners, which angered protesters.
In his latest speech on Monday, Nasrallah did not mention the formation of a new government, saying that negotiations were ongoing. However, he did spend a great deal of time talking about the party’s martyrs, since November 11 was Hezbollah’s Martyrs Day. It was his way of rallying his community around the party at a time when even the Shiites have been joining the Lebanese protests.
But the reality is that Hezbollah has yet to resolve its dilemma with Mr Hariri. However, Mr Aoun’s support for a mixed political-technocratic government appeared to signal that both Hezbollah and the Aounists have decided to press ahead if Mr Hariri remains unwilling to head a mixed government. This is very risky, since such a government would be opposed not only by a wide cross-section of Lebanon’s population but also by much of the international community, and most critically by vital western donors.
If that is what Mr Aoun and Hezbollah decide, Lebanon will be in for difficult times ahead. The protests will continue and doubtless escalate, with uncertainty as to how Hezbollah might react. The possibility of violence is definitely there, particularly if the economic situation collapses, as seems increasingly inevitable.
If the government were to attempt to repress the protests using unrestricted force, the most probable outcome would be some sort of rift in the Lebanese state, as the army seems unwilling to carry out such action. If Hezbollah itself attempts to intimidate the protesters and possibly moves into areas of non-Shiite religious sects to do so, this would almost certainly lead to civil war.
Whatever the outcome, Mr Aoun’s reckless decision to ignore the protesters, a step that Hezbollah has supported, means that both are taking Lebanon into the unknown. Even if the country could avoid a domestic conflict, a clearly pro-Hezbollah government rejected by most Lebanese would not avert an economic calamity or isolation from the west and the Arab world. Lebanon could find itself on its own, perhaps as the Venezuela of the Middle East.
*Michael Young is editor of Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East programme, in Beirut
Lebanon protesters tell the president: ‘it’s time for father of all to leave’
Sunniva Rose and James Haines-Young/The National/November 13/2019
On day 28 of mass demonstrations against government, people block motorway to presidential palace
Protesters closed the highway from the Lebanese capital to Baabda Palace on Wednesday and refused an invitation to meet President Michel Aoun. The demonstration outside the presidential palace came on the 28th day of the mass uprising against the government and decades of corruption.
On Wednesday evening, men with guns and knives arrived at a protest in Jal El Dib, north of Beirut, leading to fights with protesters. At least one man fired into the air before being disarmed. Earlier in the day, Mr Aoun conveyed a message through the presidential guard for the protesters outside the palace to send in a delegation to discuss their demands. But the demonstrators refused to send a small number of people, insisting that if the president wanted to hear their complaints he would have to speak to all those gathered.
The previous night, street protests erupted across Lebanon after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon’s government, cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. In his televised address, Aoun proposed a government that includes both technocrats and politicians.
Protesters expressed anger at an interview Mr Aoun gave on Wednesday evening, in which he said: “If they do not like any person in authority, let them emigrate.”
“He told us, ‘If you don’t like what is happening, just leave’,” said Guy Younes, 29, a civil engineer. “How is that possible in any country in the world? This is so stupid. He wants us to leave, 250,000 people to leave.
Architecture student Nicholas Habib, 25, said: “We have a lot of requests. The first is the resignation of Michel Aoun and then we have to make selections and a technocratic Cabinet.
“We want technocrats, we do not want politicians. It is engineers who are going to be judges and in the ministries, people who have nothing to do with politics.”
Mr Habib said Mr Aoun’s speech on Wednesday night angered him. “How can a president of a republic say that to his people?” he asked.
But Mr Habib said he was optimistic that the president would eventually be forced to resign.
People chanted, “We won’t go until the ‘father of all’ leaves,” using Mr Aoun’s self-given title. “Leave, leave, leave, your presidency is starving people.” Marie-Therese Tabet, 65, who lives in Beirut, called for a new government that could stop the brain drain. “Our children, who are supposed to work, are highly educated people, hyper-responsible, but can’t find a way out so they go abroad where they succeed,” Ms Tabet said.
“Why not take advantage of these brains to maintain this country?”
Two women standing on the motorway to Baabda said the president’s message had been provocative and spurred people to hit the streets on Wednesday. “Instead of calming things down, people got very angry and it’ll probably push the level of anger and tension even higher,” one of the women said. “Of course we don’t trust him. Why would the people trust a government that failed them for years and years? “He was just not listening to what people were saying, and it ended up with a terrible outcome last night.” On Tuesday evening, Alaa Abou Fakher, 38, a father of three and a member of the Choueifat Municipality who supported of the Progressive Socialist Party, died after being shot by a solider.
The army announced that the soldier was arrested and an investigation launched after Abou Fakher’s death as the military tried to clear a motorway in the Khaldeh area just south of Beirut. It is unclear why the soldier opened fire and whether he intentionally shot the protester.
The exact details of the incident remain unclear but images on social media show Abou Fakher lying in a pool of blood next to his wife one of his sons.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that he was shot after an argument with a member of the Mount Lebanon Intelligence Branch.The newspaper reported that Abou Fakher was related to the officer who shot him and said the pair knew each other well. His widow called on people to take to the streets, saying “no one should remain in their homes”, local media reported.
Abou Fakher was the first protester killed by the military but official sources told The National it was the fifth death of the protests. The sources said, however, that it was hard to put an exact figure on casualties because they were not directly tied to the protests or the military. Demonstrations have been largely peaceful, except for a few scuffles with the security forces and government supporters, The source said that on the first night of the protests, two Syrian workers choked to death from a fire that spread to a building near major protests in the capital. On October 19, Hussein Al Attar was stabbed in an altercation with a man trying to bribe people to pass a roadblock near the airport, and Omar Zakarina died days after falling from roof of the old theatre in downtown Beirut on the same day. Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri spoke with army chief Gen Joseph Aoun and the head of the Internal Security Forces, Maj Gen Imad Osman, late on Tuesday evening. Mr Hariri told them of the “need to take all measures to protect citizens and ensure the safety of the demonstrators”. He also spoke with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt to express condolences for Abou Fakher’s death and thanked the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party for his call for calm.Meanwhile, the Minister for Telecoms, Mohamed Choucair, and Information Minister Jamal Jarrah appeared before financial prosecutor Ali Ibrahim to answer questions on claims of squandering public funds.
France has extended an offer to assist Beirut, a tweet from Baabda Palace said. It did not indicate what assistance Paris was offering but the French ambassador Bruno Foucher has been meeting politicians and the Foreign Ministry’s envoy to the Middle East, Christophe Farnaud, visited the president.
Lebanon: One Month of Protests
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 13/2019
Lebanon has been paralyzed by nearly a month of mounting protests demanding an overhaul of the entire political system.
Here is a recap:
– Anger at ‘WhatsApp tax’ –
On October 17, the government announces a tax on calls made via messaging apps such as WhatsApp, widely used in Lebanon. Coming amid a looming economic crisis in a country whose infrastructure remains decrepit almost three decades since the end of its civil war, the announcement is seen by many as a step too far. Thousands take to the streets in Beirut and the cities of Sidon and Tripoli, some chanting “the people demand the fall of the regime”. There are clashes near government headquarters in Beirut as demonstrators try to storm the building. Security forces fire tear gas to try to disperse crowds. Hundreds of protestors also block major highways and set refuse bins and tires alight. The government scraps the messaging app tax later the same day, but the protests continue.
– Demos grow –
On October 18, thousands of demonstrators from a broad spectrum of sects and political affiliations bring the capital to standstill. They demand an overhaul of the political system, citing a broad range of grievances from austerity measures and state corruption to poor infrastructure and rampant electricity cuts. The army reopens some highways and disperses a huge crowd in central Beirut with water cannon and tear gas. Dozens are arrested. The demonstrations swell over the following days, with major gatherings also in second city Tripoli and other centers.
– Reforms announced –
On October 19, the Lebanese Forces party pulls its four ministers from the cabinet. On October 21, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announces his government has approved a raft of economic reforms, including halving the salaries of lawmakers and ministers. But protests continue and demonstrators dismiss the new measures as insufficient.
– Hizbullah backs government –
On October 25, the leader of Hizbullah — which with its allies holds a majority in parliament — tells supporters not to take part in the protests. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also warns of chaos should the government resign. On October 26, Hizbullah mobilizes counter-demonstrations, sparking scuffles with demonstrators.
– Government resigns –
On October 29, dozens of counter-demonstrators attack anti-government protesters in Beirut, torching tents and tearing down banners. That evening, Hariri submits his resignation and that of his government, prompting cheers and dancing in the streets. It is the 13th day of protests. The following day, President Michel Aoun asks the government to stay on until a new cabinet is formed. Protesters regroup over the next days, demanding a government of experts, independent of traditional political parties divided along sectarian lines.
– Students join in –
In a live television address on November 3, Aoun announces plans to tackle corruption, reform the economy and form a civil government. But thousands of protesters stream back into Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square, chanting “Revolution!”On November 6 hundreds of schoolchildren lead demonstrations across the country. The following day thousands of university and high school students also take to the streets.
– Protester dies –
On November 12, Aoun says in a television interview that Lebanese unhappy with those in power should “emigrate.” He also criticizes the protest movement’s lack of leadership.His remarks spark a new eruption of demonstrations, with protesters blocking off roads in the capital. An army officer’s driver opens fire during a road-blocking protest in Khalde south of Beirut, shooting a man who later dies of his injuries.
French envoy seeks to resolve deadlock as tensions simmer
Georgi Azar/Annahar/November 13/2019
Farnaud, the French Foreign Ministry’s envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, had landed in Beirut Tuesday in Beirut for talks with senior officials centred around breaking the deadlock
BEIRUT: France threw its support behind Lebanon as it grapples with political and economic turmoil, a day after President Michel Aoun’s speech aimed at easing tensions seemingly backfired.
While the message was being delivered to Aoun by a French envoy, hundreds of disgruntled protestors gathered in the vicinity of the Baabda Presidential Palace after security forces set up a security perimeter.
Aoun assured Macron’s envoy, Christophe Farnaud, that discussions over a new government are still underway with “parliamentary consultations set to be announced soon.”
The Cabinet, according to a statement released by his office, would include both independent technocrats and members of Lebanon’s political parties in order for the government “to secure Parliament’s vote of confidence.”
Aoun made similar comments a day earlier, hinting that a “techno-political” government is the most likely avenue moving forward. This sent shockwaves and angered protestors who hit the streets to block roads and main highways linking Beirut to Tropili and Sidon.
Farnaud delivered a message to Aoun “stressing France’s interest in Lebanon’s situation and its willingness to help Lebanon in the current circumstances,” as Lebanon’s wrestles with nationwide strikes and protests, coupled with a looming financial meltdown. Dollar liquidity remains scarce while banks have remained shuttered for the 5th consecutive day citing security concerns.
Aoun, in an attempt to urge protestors to show good faith, had insisted that decent and honest individuals public office still exist.
“If people aren’t satisfied with any of the decent leaders let them immigrate,” he said, with the ostensible blunder taken out of context while a number of protesters labelled them as insensitive. As tensions ran high, a protester in Khaldeh was gunned down with concerned authorities launching an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the killing.
Farnaud, the French Foreign Ministry’s envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, had landed in Beirut Tuesday for talks with senior officials centred around breaking the deadlock that has gripped Lebanon since Prime Minister Saad Hariri submitted his resignation over two weeks ago.
The visit is also seen as an attempt by France, a longtime ally of the small Mediterranean country, to urge rival leaders to accelerate the formation of a new Cabinet.
Aoun acknowledged Lebanon’s dire financial state, “aggravated further as a result of the ongoing demonstrations and employee strikes,” a day after a number of state institutions have gone on strike, including the Syndicate of Bank employees and Touch and Alfa workers.
Offshore oil and gas explorations set to begin in the coming months, however, are bound to offer economic relief to the heavily indebted country, Aoun said.
Farnaud then met with Hariri, with sources telling Annahar that the caretaker premier has yet to shift his position as things currently stand.
Hariri has been adamant in his demand to preside over a Cabinet comprised entirely of independent technocrats which has been rebuked by both the Free Patriotic Movement and its Shiite ally Hezbollah.
Hezbollah clinging to the Cabinet, sources say, is seen as a clear-cut effort to guarantee the impregnability of its military arsenal.
“We cannot discount Hezbollah, which represents two-thirds of Lebanese people,” Aoun said Monday.
“What the west is asking of us is simply impossible,” he told journalists, in reference to reports of the U.S’ concerted push to further isolate the Iranian-backed militant group.
What started out as a protest against a proposed WhatsApp taxes has ballooned into a massive popular uprising calling for an overhaul of the confessional-based system that has been in place since the end of the civil war in 1990.
Demonstrations have remained largely peaceful across Lebanon with the army succeeding in finding a balance between protestors, on one hand, and those who have taken offence to roads being blocked, on the other.
A scuffle broke out in Jal el Dib at the close of day after an infuriated resident opened fire above protestors who had blocked the inner roads of the area. A fistfight moments earlier also broke out with a number of injuries reported.
The army, who had been absent since the early hours of the morning, quickly made its way to the scene in a bid to restore calm.
Late Tuesday, Hariri took to Twitter urging Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and Internal Security Forces head Maj. Gen. Imad Othman “to take all measures that protect citizens and ensure safety for the protesters.”
