❊ 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..