What Independence Day are we celebrating?
Photo by Oliver Marsden
For many patriotic Lebanese, national holidays are usually a big deal. It allows us to reconnect with our country on a day of joy and celebration amidst all the accumulated problems that it is currently facing, and learn about our rich - albeit sometimes turbulent - history. But as we commemorate Lebanon’s Independence Day this year, probably for the first time ever, the last thing I feel like doing is celebrating.
22 November 1943 marks the day when France granted Lebanon its independence, ending the French Mandate over the territory. It was the same colonial power that had created the State of Greater Lebanon only a couple of decades earlier, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Fast forward 77 years to Independence Day 2020, I look at our dire situation and ask myself “what are we actually celebrating?”
Coincidentally French President Emmanuel Macron paid Lebanon a visit on its first centennial in August, only days after the devastating Port explosion. Macron not only came to Lebanon to offer his condolences and check up on how the Lebanese were coping - and eye up political opportunities - but also to sit Lebanon’s main political leaders down and scold them like children. A foreign head of state came to remind us that the country’s leaders are corrupt, incompetent, and even traitorous.
As difficult as it is, especially for someone like me who has a tight bond with my country of origin despite being born and raised abroad, I must accept the bitter truth. I, and many who share my sentiments, cannot celebrate this day just for the sake of it. There is no real independence, there is no sovereignty, and for much of the past hundred years, there never was.
Lebanon has long been caught in a never-ending power struggle between regional and global alliances, and has turned into a battleground for foreign interests; Palestinians, Syrians, Israelis, Americans, Iranians, Saudis and many more have used Lebanon for their own political agendas. It is the Lebanese people who have for long paid the price for this.
I don’t want to make it seem that the crisis facing Lebanon today is a result of nothing but foreign meddling and conspiracies, but I also cannot pretend that the nation is run by a bunch of freedom-fighters who put Lebanon first, and want only what’s best for the country.
What independence are we talking about exactly when regional and global superpowers still decide what happens in Lebanon? What sovereignty is this when Israel carries out daily reconnaissance flights and enters our territorial waters? Or when Iranian mercenaries come in and out the country and fund and support their militia proxy Hezbollah?
The examples I could give to prove that Lebanon is a chess board for western and eastern alliances are endless. That government formations and presidential elections are stalled for months or years at a time in anticipation for what might happen in the region, and how that might in turn be used to manipulate the situation in Lebanon. That most of Lebanon’s main political governing warlords and sectarian leaders are puppets serving a foreign agenda. That proxy militias can drag us into regional conflicts whenever it is instructed to by its masters in a foreign country.
The biggest threat facing us today - aside from the incredibly corrupt political establishment - is Hezbollah and their ideology which they’re adamant on enforcing. The two go hand-in-hand; while the ruling class is lenient in the face of Hezbollah’s illegitimate arms and activities, which have practically handed Lebanon over to Iran, the militia in return ignores the topic of rampant corruption. This one-for-one deal includes both Hezbollah’s rivals and allies, a few of which have already been sanctioned by the US.
In spite of the doom and gloom, I am personally optimistic for the country’s future. I consider what is currently happening as a transitional phase, one that will move Lebanon into a new era where it can once again prosper. The uprising which began in October last year is continuing to make gains, and one of its main demands have been to disassociate Lebanon from any foreign agendas, and adopt a Swiss-like neutrality in foreign affairs.
This time last year, a first in Lebanese history, Independence Day was very different. The uprising took over Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut, in what was a spectacular display of thousands of people representing different professions and groups marching through the area, each with their own attire and demands. Government officials, who would usually attend the traditional military parade, were forced to hold a much smaller ceremony at the defense ministry, while the people took back their streets, celebrating this resurgence of patriotism. The message sent to the ruling class was powerful.
However, despite this optimism that things will turn around for the better, I don’t see any actual change happening without an overall settlement in the region, planned and implemented by world powers. That is how it’s been for us in the Arab World from the days of Sykes-Picot onward, and how it might always be.
Today, as the Lebanese people reel under their worst recession ever, deal with a global pandemic, see their families and friends migrate, and rebuild from the ashes of the largest non-nuclear explosion of the 21st century, it would be an insult to ask them how they plan on celebrating the 22nd of November. One can only hope that by this time next year, we’ll be celebrating independence and liberation from a merciless, sectarian and criminal political establishment.