Lebanon: Lessons Unlearned

This Editorial was published in The Daily Star on 13/04/2011

 Lebanon marks today the 36th anniversary of the outbreak of its catastrophic Civil War, and a survey of the current political scene makes for grim reading.

One easily senses that the ingredients that led to war remain in place, and in some cases are intensified.

Sectarianism is rampant around the country, in complex formulas that are related to given regions: A versus B in one place, and C versus D elsewhere. Official institutions and many civil groups have lived in a state of denial, claiming that the Civil War was a case of “the wars of others” and that the country is in essentially good shape.

Back then, 36 years ago, armed Palestinian organizations acted as the catalyst, and the situation quickly saw many foreign parties get involved, with an interest in using Lebanon as an arena to settle scores.

Thirty-six years later, the country is divided between two political camps, each enjoying its form of foreign backing, while other, purely “domestic” problems, such as corruption and institutional weakness, have yet to be solved. If one reads the policy statements of governments from of a quarter century ago, one will find the same slogans and objectives being put forward, meaning that the same needs, and the same structural problems, remain in place.

The overriding fear over the country’s future indicates that politicians and social leaders still haven’t learned the lessons of the past. Despite all of the human casualties and other losses incurred during the Civil War, politicians and others appear bent on behaving in a way that risks the country’s future.

Amid all this, there are calls for respecting the Taif Accord, as if there is agreement about what this means. There is also a National Dialogue, but even if there were hope that it might take place in the near future, few expect the process to generate agreement on divisive issues. Meanwhile, there have been difficulties in forming a new government, among supposed “allies.”

Politicians have been talking about the issues and views that divide them, but have failed to put forward viable solutions, whether it involves fighting corruption, ending the pernicious influence of sectarianism, or defining the country’s foreign policy.

Meanwhile, no comprehensive evaluation of the problems that led to the Civil War has taken place, while key members today’s political class participated in this war. The same political families’ names appear today, even if new figures have taken the place of older ones, but the overall performance of this political class reminds us of those who came before, and bore responsibility for the darker times. Today, this same political class has been empowered with bringing peace to the country, and April 13 is as good a day as any to remind the public that their work remains undone.