Meet “March 11″

A new political movement is not the only sign that the center is starting to matter.

“Do you support March 14 or March 8?” a question I asked to my 16 year old cousin in a family launch here in Lebanon. “Both Suck, I am with Lebanon”, came his immediate response. My cousin is not alone. It is becoming increasingly fashionable here to say that you’re neither with the (pro-western) March 14 movement nor with the (Iranian-backed) March 8 alliance..

People are growing disillusioned by the less-than-innocent posturings of the two dominant parties in this bitterly polarized and tired country. Even the Maronite Patriarch who used to sympathize with March 14 said recently that both sides are equally responsible for the bad situation. As The Economist puts it:

What is missing is a leader who might rise above the mudslinging and find common ground. Mr Siniora has valiantly tried to stay calm under pressure [..] But he has failed to project a grand vision that would have to include, for example, fresh elections under a fairer system.

In this climate, a “disgusted”, independent center is growing and becoming a political force to be reckoned with. March 11, a new political movement (With which I am not affiliated, although I specifically suggested a year and a half ago that March 11 should be Lebanon’s day) is capitalizing on that disgust.

With a logo that wittily uses the 11 to show the two ‘faces’ of Lebanon, the movement is making itself felt on the billboards. Why the dull, white color in the background? You might ask. Another billboard has the answer: ‘we are tired of colors’, in reference to the different colors each party uses.

The center is becoming large enough to tip the balance in this very symmetrical country. This is why another trend is being felt on Lebanese billboards: Selling Economic policy.

That will be the subject of my next post.

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