Once and for all, the Maronite Patriarch should decide if he’s for or against consensual politics.
Back in the heydays when the Opposition was blocking the vote for a new President in order to secure a national unity government, March 14 was itching for what they saw as their constitutional right to vote with a simple majority. There was one major obstacle, however: The highest Christian authority in the land refused to sanction anything other than a two-third corum for that vote.
March 14 was divided at the time as an epic debate broke out in their midst. The Arab-backed concensualists dueled with the western-backed confrontationalists until the formers to which Mr. Sfeir belonged triumphed. The utlimate result of that battle was what we have today: A consensus-heavy national unity government and a veto-wielding Opposition.
Yet today, in a puzzling reversal, we find Mr. Sfeir lamenting the “tradition of unity government” which “paralyzes the nation”:
“In other states, the majority rules and the minority practices opposition, but in Lebanon the two parties want to rule,” Sfeir told believers in Sydney. The government, according to Sfeir, has become like a “carriage with two horses pulling it from the front and two horses pulling it from the rear.” “So how can it move?” he asked
One can only wonder with amazement at why Mr. Sfeir is disowning his own role in this paralysis.
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I've been blogging about Lebanese society, business and politics since February 2005.
Consensual Politics? Hey what ever two consenting political parties do in private is ok with me! But why do the rest of us always have to get the screwed in the end?
True Mustapha,
The Christians are strongly split, and in a way, he feels his people are being split by political extremes, one is Sunni, the other is Shiite. And they’re dying to get at each others necks. So go figure…
you are “amazed”? lesh? HAYDA LIBNAN YA ZALAMAY! Only in this country,can religious @# who are so damn ignorant and who do not have a clue are able to articulate political agendas while under cover of religious piety.
by the way , why should he shut up? So far he has single handedly fcuked up the entire country and handed it to foreign meddlers all in the name of the myopic scheme of seeking to protect Christians. You seem to forget he wanted to protect the office and the “chair” of the president t the same time when lahoud was being threatened with decapitation by a mob of people. It was due solely to him that we had to endure lahoud for 2 more years and the rest of the bullshit hitting us in the face.
YAlLA, TIME TO SHUT UP SFEIR!
Peace
You are mixing two different things Mustapha. He has always talked about this issue from way back. His position hasn’t changed. The issue of the presidential election is different. It was about a constitutional text and ‘urf (common practice).
Sfeir has not contradicyed himself at all. May I suggest that it is clearly your interpretation that is faulty
Let me make one thing clear , I have no use for either Sfeir or any other religious authority in the political sphere. Hell I have no use for them in any sphere. Yet Sfeir has always taken the position that democracy requires a ruling majority and an opposition. This does not meanthat a simple majority is sufficient to elect a president. So where is the contradiction.
The best thing that we can do , however, is to stop listening to what Sfeir and other religious figures have to say on worldly affairs. Their pronouncements on such matters should not deserve any coverage whatsoever.
Well, Tony and Ghassan
Perhaps you’re right in that Mr. Sfeir isn’t intellectually incongruous, but his positions ultimately contributed to the current status, no matter which principles he originally stood on.
He certainly doesn’t earn the right to distance himself that much and rant about the current situation.
But perhaps the best is to do as ghassan has suggested, just ignore the man.
(PS: glad your comments are finally making it through the filter ghassan
)
I agree with ghassan on the matter of Sfeir opinion about majority and minority… He still have the same opinion, a clear one.
but I dont agree that Sfeir should be ignored, he was ignored in the first place when he was asked to propose names for the presidency, so dont come blame him now if things didnt go his way…
all the clerics and religious figures in lebanon should stick with there holy task and stop meddling with politics and trying to be more than they are.
if sfeir, qabani or kabalan are that keen to change the lebanese politics, please run for office and quit juggling between the two.
in other news the washing machine walid beik has turner another time..
I think it’s too simplistic to say that his positions contributed to the current status. Besides, you’re mixing two things again.
What we’ve seen in the last three years, unfortunately, is a massive mutilation of the constitution and the meaning of the Lebanese system, because of Hezbollah (and to an extent, Aoun). The problem with this is that Hezbollah’s experience in participating in the political process has been a total and complete failure — as it was bound to be, because it entered as a dual entity: an armed ideological Khomeinist trans-national Islamist militia, and as a political party.
That has only one possible path: disaster, as we’ve seen. In practical terms what it means is the mutilation of the system, constitution and institutions and instead of a submission to the system through participation, it seeks to subjugate the system with that very participation.
Sfeir’s comments are a call for a return to our system and how it is supposed to function.
Sure, point taken..
Shunkleash, you say “..when lahoud was being threatened with decapitation by a mob of people.”
what inept, flacid mob are you talking about? you must realize, they would have been prevented.
prevented, do you understand? just like the theft-mafia government of fouad sanyora was prevented from establishing the precedent of decapitating the legality of the resistance.
in the endless pointless game of lebanese politics, which truly is nothing more than a game, the theft-mafia government is not allowed to lay its hand on the resistance or anyone who is supporting the resistance. it will be prevented.
so where are you mobs?
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