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❊ Hariri’s Speech, Political Theater And The Saudi King’s Poster

I want to make two quick comments on Mr. Hariri’s speech today and its context.

The Saudi King’s giant portrait.

Right before Mr. Hariri spoke, a large poster of King Abduallah of Saudi Arabia was erected on one of the walls of Virgin and became a backdrop for Mr. Hariri’s speech.

I was very dismayed when I saw it, as it contradicts much of what March 14 stands for. To mention only two things: The rejection of foreign intervention in Lebanon and the embracing of liberal values like freedom, democracy and multiculturalism (all of which are absent in Saudi Arabia).

It’s telling that the king’s poster was erected right before Mr. Hariri’s speech. This means that those handling the logistics know that such a backdrop would have been political suicide for Christian speakers like Mr. Samir Geagea and Amin el Gemayel.

But why even erect that poster in the first place? The best answer I could think of is this: This is a loud  message to Mr. Najib Mikati and to the rest of the world that whatever Mr. Hariri is about to say is approved by the Saudi King. In other words, Mr. Mikati has received “official” Sunni ostracism.

Mr. Hariri’s new political persona

Mr. Hariri began today’s speech with a stunt: He took off his jacket, his tie, and literally rolled up his sleeves (of course he did’nt go as far as unbuttoning his shirt because that would have revealed his bullet-proof vest). He then proceeded to talk colloquially, powerfully and without looking into any prepared documents.

The people ate it up in a visible collective hysteria, confirming that whatever started in BIEL (what I called back then Hariri 2.0) is working well for him.

The change, although mostly in style, should not be underestimated. Mr. Hariri obviously had a serious communications problem, and that was due to the fact that his youth and style did not sit well with the role of statesman and father-of-the-nation that he tried to laboriously play when he was prime minister.

The role of the fiery, populist opposition leader obviously suits him much better, and it will be interesting to see what kind of political dividends this will pay..

13 thoughts on “❊ Hariri’s Speech, Political Theater And The Saudi King’s Poster”

    • Well well, that portrait explains indeed Al Jazeera’s condescendence…they got the wrong Khaleeji :)

      Frankly speaking, when I saw the huge portrait, I thought it was a prank from the Orange Movement!

  2. “without looking into any prepared documents” : he had a teleprompter !!!! Do you really think he’s capable of memorizing a speech or of improvising one ???

    Wake up dude !!!!

    • If there was a teleprompter, how come all the previous speakers didn’t make use of it and read from papers?

      But even that would be beside the point. We’re talking about a manufactured political persona, and perhaps Mr. Hariri was the only speaker allowed to use a teleprompter (if there was one) because the handlers wanted to give the illusion that he was improvising and speaking directly to the people.

      This post is all about political theater, not reality..

      • Yeah, and besides, I would be really surprised if he was able to read from a teleprompter with that speed and ease, his Arabic reading skills did not look very good to me on previous occasions.
        In my opinion it is harder to read colloquial Arabic than literary Arabic, I really think he must have rehearsed the speech, even if he did use a teleprompter.

  3. At least he didnt speak from an underground shelter talking all high and mighty abt being brave and honorable and all that BS 20meters below the surface.

    • haha good point…

      for all the bullshit rhetoric coming out of Hasoonti’s mouth…he does say it from his underground hideout…

      i don’t see bibi hiding underground in Tel Aviv…yet Hasoonti has us believe he won the war….

  5. Copycat and passingby,
    the Saudi monarch’s poster was a political stunt by March 8. A good one I might add, but I think it will backfire.

  6. act of sabotage? this doesn’t make any sense.. When Hariri is present tight security is everywhere, not to mention protest organisers..So how easy is it for M8 to put up that poster just right there in that exact timing..?

  7. yeh where is the problem , at least saudi king dont provide weapons , terrorists, bombs ect ..

  8. From what I understand, Hariri has recently had a falling out with the King, so this is maybe his way of saying “I’m sorry”

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