More Lebanese are associating Tripoli with salafists and Islamists. This is having an effect on national politics.
A picture spreading on twitter comparing Tripoli to Beirut
It must be very difficult to be a member of the Lebanese Forces nowadays. With all the bearded men and the black flags gaining visibility in Tripoli, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to defend their political alliance with the “terrorists”.
Civil campaigners will be staging a peaceful demonstration today against the presence of weapons in Tripoli. But this is just one part of the story.
Posters from the “Tripoli Arms free” Facebook page
If I were in Lebanon I would surely join the demonstration for a Tripoli free of arms. If you are in Lebanon, you too should try to join. But there’s an important point that needs to be made: This is very much a middle-class and elite backlash against what they claim is being done by “outsiders” to their city. Unfortunately things are a bit more complicated than that. Continue reading
Yesterday, this exchange between our ex-PM and and a twitter “hater” made the round on facebook, accompanied by the usual tsk.tsk.tsks directed at our ex-PM:
Mr. Hariri’s response was mediocre as a put-down. It betrayed anger and awkwardly tried to squeeze in an “I’m rising above the fray” sentiment towards the end.
Critics focused on the fact that Mr. Hariri responded in the first place. That he almost stooped to a level of bickering in his responses to Assy. Supporters retorted that to the contrary, the tweets show that Mr. Hariri is a real person, unlike other politicians (a.k.a Mr. Mikati) who let sleek PR firms do the tweeting for them.
Here’s my suggestion to Mr. Hariri: Continue reading
Attacking a good idea for political expediency..
There’s a new talking point in Beirut: An electoral law based on proportional representation is evil because it reinstates Damascus’ influence by increasing the power of its allies in Lebanon.
I understand when people like MP Walid Jumblatt peddle such rubbish. After all, he stands to significantly lose influence if such a law was to be enacted. But MP Hariri’s reiteration of this argument yesterday is very worrying to me. Continue reading
You don’t read news like this every day:
A former Lebanese security official residing in Paris told [Alseyasa]: “The moment the attempt [on Samir Geagea's life] was announced, hundreds of LF, Phalange Party, and National Liberal Front fighters, as well as Lebanese army backers, headed to the regions that surround Beirut’s southern suburbs and Shiyyah area, Hizbullah and AMAL’s respective stronghold.”
He revealed that Lebanese intelligence confirmed that some 2,300 Christian fighters had in fact deployed in those areas.
This can only be one of two things: An irrational and spontaneous act by armed loyalists that was somehow called off at the last minute, or clumsy rumor-mongering that is meant to establish the high cost of assassinating Dr. Geagea in hope of deterring would-be assassins and assuring supporters.
I’m discounting the first option because it doesn’t sound right. Thousands of armed militiamen can’t just gather around an urban center without being seen by anyone, especially with Dahieh being such a Hezbollah security strong-hold with thousands of informants lying around waiting for any signs of irregular activity. If such a mobilization really did happen, we would have heard about it in Al-Akhbar or Assafir by now.
Considering the source of this story (Alseyasa) and their own source for the news (A former Lebanese security official residing in Paris, a.k.a Johnny Abdo), this story feels distinctly like rumor mongering that is more sad than scary. Such a rumor would have two target audiences and two messages:
This is sad because the people’s need to hear such stories is testimony to the failing of the law-and-order forces and the Lebanese army at inspiring confidence. It’s also scary because such rumors have a nasty habit of turning into self-fulfilling spirals of distrust that can kindle civil wars.
The best thing right now is for Dr. Geagea to categorically deny these rumors and to, once again, declare that he has complete trust in the Lebanese army as the sole legitimate carrier of weapons and the only guarantor of civil peace.
I had to read it twice before sharing it, but Tariq al-Suwaidan, a prominent Kuwaiti Muslim Scholar did announce that freedom should come before Shariaa.
The first thing I looked for was a catch. A little detail that would undermine his position, something like perhaps: “as long as we don’t choose to leave Islam”. But no, he seemed to be talking of real, honest liberty:
a human being is free in his movements and where he wants to belong, and convictions are what move people, and not force
This is really refreshing because it breaks from the common understanding in the region that Muslim moderates are not truly liberal, but people who just know how to “tolerate” and befriend people from other religions.
The natural extension of Mr. Suwaidan’s idea is that a civil state should rule and treat citizens equally under a civil law, regardless of what their religions and beliefs are. Now that would be a true breakthrough in modern Islamic thinking.
Below are three news stories from the past couple of days that don’t mean much on their own but that together could be indicative of a trend:
As I said, these news cuts could be isolated incidents and specific circumstances that don’t have any wider ramifications. But one can’t help but wonder if the new assertiveness of Islamists in the region is beginning to gradually rub off on Lebanon, a country that is highly influenced by its surroundings.
I’ve previously written about the potential effect of the events in Syria on the Lebanese Sunnis, and I think it’s worth repeating it here:
The Hariris have until recently maintained an alliance of secular Sunnis, businessmen, Islamists and Wahhabis. That alliance held because of a common enemy [the Syrian regime], but take that enemy away and the centrifugal forces will start working again. Lebanon’s Sunnis, like those in the Arab region, are embroiled in a historic moment that combines high uncertainty with a frantic rush for gold
But the Sunnis are not alone. If anecdotal evidence is any guide, even the Shiaas are starting to exhibit a more assertive Islamic identity in public. The political allegations that this behavior is the result of Hezbollah’s hubris does not square with the generally accepted idea that Hezbollah will lose out from the demise of the Assad regime.
The Christians too are acting as if Islamisation is already upon us. One only needs to watch the behavior and statements of Patriarch Rai and Christian political leaders for signs of both paranoia and bravado, a combination that paints a portrait of a community living in a world of fear and existential anxiety.
As historic inflection points go, this is something we can only eventually realize in hindsight. We can’t really tell right now if we’re going through a real, enduring wave of Islamisation in Lebanon. All we can see are signs. But like everything else in this country, signs can be deceptive and fleeting.
In case you’re not familiar with the story, here’s what happened: A group of “Hezbollah students” have apparently decided to have a collective Muslim prayer in the middle of the yard of a proudly Christian and ecclesiastical University.
The university responded by issuing the following statement:
The identity of our Antounieh university is clear and invariable: A private, Christian, Catholic, Maronite, Antonite, open university that gladly admits students of all sects, religions and classes, but does not compromise on its identity and its ecclesiastical heritage
I am not familiar with why the students decided to pray so publicly in that establishment (update below), but I’m not buying the political talk that Hezbollah is taking over a Christian establishment to spread the wilalyat el Fakih.
What I do know is that timely prayers and group prayers are very important to some Muslims. The defiant public prayer at Antounieh could be seen as an act of protest against rules perceived to be too strict against Muslim students.
That said, this is a private university that is entitled to set its own rules, and the administration is absolutely right to be upset by this. Still, a little bit of pragmatism could have gone a long way in preempting this provocation and potentially nasty sectarian fall-out.
The Antounieh University would be wise to set up a small prayer room for Muslim students, and that would neither be a compromise of the University’s identity nor a capitulation to the Wilayat al Fakih, but a simple act of putting the University’s words about openness into action.
Update: I just read Rita’s post and found out that indeed the students were protesting the lack of a prayer room.
Samir Geagea: (Maronite, Lebanese Forces)
[Patriarch Rai] is subjecting the position of Christians to danger by pitting them against others [...] Is it reasonable for the Patriarch of the Maronites to have the same position as [Wiam] Wahhab, Russia and China? How can he justify this position?
Mou’in El Merebi (Sunni, Future Movement)
[Mufti] Qabbani is an impostor, an illegitimate occupant of a position that belongs to Muslims
I welcome this trend. A religious man who deals with politics should expect the stink of politics to follow him. But there are still some rules: You can only criticize your own religious leader.
What happens when pretty ladies show up in Salafi demonstrations? This actually happened in Lebanon, and it turns out it’s no accident, as Angie reports:
The stunt was set up by Beirut artist and photojournalist Randa Mirza, who wanted to critique the Salafist movement against the backdrop of the consumer-driven, neoliberalist capital of Lebanon. The focus was on contrasting various political notions and highlighting the obvious dichotomies: “fundamentalism and consumerism, the West and Islam, fashion, gender and aesthetic.”
This idea is so amazing I want to give it a name: Babe Bombing (A slight variation on photo bombing). It should spread to all Arab countries, as it has a great potential for hilarity and social/political commentary. But a word of warning: For this to work, there has to be a strong media and security presence, or the girl would be assaulted and then blamed..
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