❊ Is the STL Politically Bad for March 14?

Many people are starting to make this argument:

Despite the significant local, regional, and international shifts, March 14 seems to be intent on pursuing the tribunal as a central political goal. […] This is an unwise move, March 14 is missing a chance to reenergise itself and find a renewed sense of purpose.

This is a cold, but valid political question: Is it better for March 14 to simply forget about the STL and move on? Why are their MPs constantly harping on about the matter?

To answer, we have to first look at our options regarding justice for those who were killed in the series of political murders that shook the country in 2005.

Those who argue that the STL has become a liability consistently and wrongly maintain that there could be (or could have been ) another way of finding the truth about those political murders (a “reformed Lebanese Judiciary” is often mentioned.)

The third way fallacy

To me, this is misguided. Like politics in this country, we unfortunately have a very binary choice. Any third/centrist/independent option is an illusion that reflects more our own wishes than reality on the ground.

Here are our only two options for justice:

• We choose the STL and hope for a transparent process that can objectively find the truth and eventually vindicate March 14
• We move on, a-la-Hezbollah, with a “Israel did it and let’s forget about this whole thing”

There are no other ways. None.

But people just want to live.

A fair question that people can ask at this point is this: Isn’t it easier/better/more comfortable/less stressful if people just forget about this and move on? for their consciences, people could simply pretend that somehow justice is being sought behind the scenes (which, as I said, is a fallacy).

Won’t people reward the Mikati government if they get more electricity, faster internet, more ministers from their cities and a generally more effective government?

This is essentially what Mr. Mikati and his allies are betting on.

Looking the other way

For this “third way” to succeed, it is crucial that voters forget about justice and the people who died. This requires a willful “looking the other way” act, especially from those who used to sympathize with the cause.

This is why it is very important for March 14 to remind the people, again and again, from any pulpit they have access to, of the importance and centrality of justice and that the STL is the only available vehicle to achieve it.

Today is precisely the moment to talk about Justice. Ignoring the matter or relegating it to the background would be both morally wrong and politically foolish for March 14.

Update: More from Doreen..

Update 2: Nicholas Noe of MideastWire “strongly disagrees”