Lebanon cannot be ruled by "fatwa"

I could not believe the words blasted on the radio. Mufti Kabbani was literary excommunicating any Lebanese Sunni politician who approves institutionalizing voluntary civil marriage in Lebanon!

With all respect, your “excellence” you do not have the authority to make such statements. The Grand Mufti is a governmental employee of the Lebanese Republic representing Sunni citizens at the official authorities in Lebanon and abroad. He heads Dar Alfatwa which is the Sunni Muslim authority Office. He does not have the religious authority of an Ayatollah. In the Sunni sect there is no “wilayat al fakeeh” position. The Sunni Taliban style of Islam allows for such a position. I doubt that many Sunnis in Lebanon approve the Taliban style of mixing state with religion. In Lebanon the Prime Minister represents the Sunnis in issues related to civil life and politics. The Grand Mufti deals with the administration of religion. Ruling by “fatwas” is not the norm.

It is not surprising that Mufti Kabbani springs to the occasion of being seen as the defender of Sunni Lebanese within the actual power struggle within the sect. It is a good occasion to confirm his authority. On another level, the “ambiance” in the country where the Maronite Patriarch meddles in secular issues and defends the rights of the Christians while the Shia community falls behind the Iranian Ayatollah is conductive to such posturing. Let’s not forget that in the face of offensive statements and actions by Christians and Shias, the Sunni community is starting to turn away from moderation and we saw during the last two years the rise of fundamentalist Sunni movements all around the country.

The other 18 Lebanese religious denominations whether Christian, Muslim, or Jew are ducking low. They surely do not approve the voluntary civil marriage that removes part of their authority over the lives of citizens. Family Law Courts are a source of income and dominion. They are just trying to stay out of the discourse. Why to start a controversial battle when Mufti Kabbani is on the forefront of the confrontation? It is definitely a smart and self-promoting position.

The problem is not situated within the realm of religions and sectarian powers. The real challenge resides in the populism and incompetence of parliamentarians and secular leaders. Many Lebanese MPs are for the introduction of the voluntary civil law, yet we are not hearing their voice. They are not going public with their opinion. Such issues are tricky during an election period. They are missing a chance to be truthful to their belief. They are missing a chance to give a country divided a first step towards unity around a nation state rather than sects and tribes; more so the MPs representing the moderate Sunnis within the Future Movement and the 14^th of March coalition. It is their chance to take a clear direction and stop dithering. The minimum action is to clearly refuse Mufti Kabbani’s action. Sadly, it is clear that they are hoping to attract the moderates and the fundamentalists. Again and again they are adopting a wrong strategy and wrong electoral tactics. Many of the electorate of the 14^th of March movement are now disabused, they will not vote for colorless politicians.

The President of the Republic took a courageous stand supporting the institution of a voluntary civil marriage law in Lebanon. It will remove the discrimination against those who do not believe in sectarian citizenship. It upholds the Constitution that states that all Lebanese citizens have the same rights and duties independent of their creed or race. This is an opportunity to fall behind his leadership on this issue. I am not calling for the creation of a new icon leader. We can disagree on many issues with the President while supporting his actual courageous stand.

Hope for women in Arab Spring countries

The plane was starting to land. I gazed down at Tunis airport and pondered the wisdom of my decision to attend the “Arab Women’s Network Regional workshop for Social Democratic women in January 2013”. A decade ago I took the decision to refrain from attending regional Arab women seminars. These occasions were a source of frustration, they just depressed me. Many participants were women designated by authoritarian regimes that spoke along set party lines. Contributions and intervention were restricted by the exclusion of relevant subject matters that were tabooed by the organizers as hosting countries had restricted freedom of speech laws. The changes around the Arab region were an encouraging factor in my decision. I was hoping to meet women that were part of the revolutions or the change movements in Egypt and the Maghreb region.

The first item on the agenda of the first day, January 19th of January read “Welcome- Iyes Fakhfakh, Minister of Finance and Tourism”. I braced myself to be bored. My experience with old regimes' officials was monotonous speeches that praise the Leader. Mr. Fakhfakh, a charismatic professional looking young man surprised me. His speech was concise, up to the point and interesting. It did not deviate from the theme of the workshop. That represented for me a first indication that I was experiencing a new Tunisia and maybe some of the early positive signs of the Arab Spring era.
The second speaker was Lobna Jeribi, member of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly. It was very encouraging to hear about the experience of a young woman activist taking part in a process so crucial to shaping the Tunisia of the future.
As soon as the first session was underway, I started to understand that this event was different in a positive way. The format of the workshop and the moderation strategy, a joint effort by the initiators and funders were innovative and conductive to focused dialogue. The “Labour Party/Westminster Foundation for Democracy” and the “CEE Network for Gender Issues” got it right about how to go about to facilitate the formation of a functional network. It is a good example of how European organizations can fund projects that emanate from the needs of the beneficiaries and in parallel shadow the project in order to fill in the gaps coming from lack of experience. Guidance and shadowing are two crucial factors in the formation of networks. So is funding during the start-up phase.

As time went by and from one session to another, the social democrat Arab woman network project started to take shape. The participants and organizers were equally committed to serious work. Even the after lunch sessions when all are usually sleepy were intense! My usual cynicism just melted like ice in spring.

I came back with hope for women in the Arab Spring countries.

The Tunisia Ettakatol team had such a variety of competent and committed young women that I am confident they will be able to further their agenda soon. They have the advantage of real support within the ranks of their party that is today part of the ruling coalition. The team from Morocco surprised me. I have to say that my knowledge of what is happening in this country is lacking. I met very determined progressive women with set strategies and goals. Their tactics are innovative and well-studied. What they achieved until today within the actual context is impressive. The Egypt team reflected the status quo in the country; very competent progressive women as individuals, yet a lack of unified strategy at the party level. The birth process in Egypt is difficult, but necessary. The future may still hold focused positive change. The Lebanon team’s contribution was lessons learned from decades of activism. It sadly came in the form of a negation “what not to do if we want to succeed”. Realistically the women’s movement in Lebanon has been facing failure after failure for the last fifteen years. When we talk about achievements, we need to go back to the last century!

The solution: a 20th Lebanese sect, the secularists!

In an effort to take the dialogue and current discussion about the Election Law to a higher level, Professor Georges Saad together with a number of professors at the Lebanese University announced:

The Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Lebanese University is organizing a conference Monday, January 14, 2013 in the conference hall of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Lebanese University, Rachaya on the following topic:

"The legal approach-philosophical idea of “Federalism"

The purpose of the conference is to generate discussion around the idea of “Federalism” that is considered “taboo” in Lebanon, and thus is rarely addressed. Federalism has been misunderstood in the Arab World and Lebanon. In its original form Federalism is Unitarian and can be compared to the fraternal bonds within a family. The Taif Accords of 1990 stated that Lebanon should walk along the road of decentralization. Today, 2013, and nothing has been done to implement the Taif Accords. In this seminar select scholars will try to answer the question of “How to familiarize the Arab public with the real meaning of decentralization and/or federalism?” and more specifically “What are the implications of decentralization or federalism on a country such as Lebanon?

Such initiatives are much needed. The arguments we hear today from the Deputies and political parties are as deep as a tea cup, populist, xenophobic, racist, in short absurd.  They do not address the core of the problem which is how to promote the idea of a democratic nation state where the rights of small majorities (the Muslim denominations) and significant minorities (the Christian sects) are guaranteed.

The Taif Accord proposed the solution of decentralization and the formation of a senate where religious denominations are represented while the Parliament represents the national unity of the country. During the Syrian hegemony period on Lebanon, the Taif Accord’s implementation was delayed, and since 2005 the 14^th of March movement did not give it enough attention; one of the many leadership shortcomings of this movement.

Today, Christian parties, instead of calling for the implementation of Taif are calling for a measure that goes beyond decentralization or federalism; they are calling for total separation, a vertical schism with baseline the 19 Lebanese denominations.

May I ask, what about citizens that do not identify themselves according to their religion or sect? We should maybe call for the formation of a 20^th sect, the secularists!

A reckless stance by Lebanon’s Christians

Kafkaesque is the only adjective I can think off when hearing what the major Christians parties -with the blessing of the Maronite Patriarch- are proposing to “reform” the Lebanese Parliamentary Election Law.

Facts: Christians in Lebanon represent numerically less than 30 percent of the population yet they are guaranteed a quota of 50 percent of the parliamentary seats in addition to the position of President of the Republic that is restricted to Maronite Christians. The country official holiday is Sunday and celebrates all Christian religious holidays. Family Law for Christians is ruled by the Church who has the authority on the civil side of the Law to censure books and movies. At this point in time, religious leaders and major political parties representing Muslims whether Shia or Sunni or Druze are not contesting Christian privileges.

Can any sane persons explain why Christians are today demanding that the Christian deputies be elected restrictively by Christians? How can this request be conductive to the building of the Nation State and the Lebanese identity? How can they envision that their Muslim co-citizens that represent more than 65 percent of the population agree graciously to elect only 50 percent of the members of parliament? How can they believe that such a prejudiced action will not lead to a reaction within the Muslim community requesting a fair sectarian proportional representation in parliament? Their action equals shooting oneself in the foot!

There is a real need for a wakeup call within the Christian intelligentsia. The ghetto mentality will materialize a nightmare where other denominations start viewing the Christians as a minority and demand that their role is reduced from a leadership one to the status of minorities whose rights are protected in democracies.

Christians in the early twentieth century played a leadership role in the Arab cultural awakening and the struggle for independence. The prize was a democratic secular Lebanon where they rule. Lebanon, dubbed then the “Switzerland of the Middle East” was a bubble of open economy and free expression in a sea of military dictatorships and religious Caliphates. Today, within the context of the Arab Spring, incompetent Christian leadership is retracting into their holes, confirming their minority status. They are irrationally hoping to realize some alliance of minorities within the region. This will lead to the death of Lebanon as we know it today.

Sadly their actions will lead to unabated sectarian divisions and will affect mostly the Lebanese that believe in a nation state as described by the preamble of the constitution

(…) c. Lebanon is a parliamentary democratic republic based on respect for public liberties, especially the freedom of opinion and belief, and respect for social justice and equality of rights and duties among all citizens without discrimination.

(…)

h. The abolition of political confessionalism is a basic national goal and shall be achieved according to a gradual plan.

i. Lebanese territory is one for all Lebanese.  Every Lebanese has the right to live in any part of it and to enjoy the sovereignty of law wherever he resides.  There is nosegregation of the people on the basis of any type of belonging, and no fragmentation, partition, or colonization.