Foreign meddling is no excuse for the Lebanese to not have a local agenda |
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Editorial
For a long time it's been an open secret in Lebanon, although it continues to raise eyebrows, and cause extreme puzzlement. It's the following: a series of countries - Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, France, and the US, for example - intervene in Lebanon. The players come and go, changing slightly, but this is "great secret" that isn't so secret. The problem is when it becomes an obsession, and an excuse.
Perhaps our geography is partly to blame. If we were located another 100 or 200 kilometers north, we might face a different set of problems, and less interference. But we are where we are, and for much of the last 150 years or so, it's been the eye of the storm, but not a calm place. We've experienced colonialism, the two world wars, the Cold War, and we're still here. And the intervention in our affairs by others remains. The problem is when our appreciation of this state of affairs becomes a serious disconnect: international powers rule our lives, and meddle in our affairs; therefore, we can't do anything about our political system and, by extension, our daily lives.
We've acquired an attitude that paralyzes us when we think about our water supplies, our electricity situation, traffic problems, education, public health, the environment, and so on and so forth.
We require radical reform and thoughtful regulation on all these fronts. But why are such reform issues relegated to the back burner? Because of the "critical regional situation"? Geopolitics has an impact in Lebanon, certainly, but international factors aren't to blame for lack of progress on making Lebanon's judiciary independent. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is not responsible for whether our pharmacies abide by professional standards.
Our public sector woes aren't linked to the international scene as such; world wars might break out but not necessarily impact our service provision, for example.
Our politicians spend a lot of time convincing us that the other side has a foreign agenda, but everyone has a foreign agenda. The question is who really has a local agenda?
President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri have the potential to activate this local agenda; they and their colleagues in the National Dialogue, or the Cabinet, can't negotiate with all of the regional and international players; the matter is beyond us. But it's not beyond our power to focus on what reforms Lebanon really needs, and now, and carrying them out.
It's a bit delusional to expect Sleiman and Hariri to solve the entire regional stalemate and reduce international tension. But anyone who thinks they're not capable of local reform is also being delusional. Outside influence is no excuse for not having a local agenda.
© Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
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