Sfeir told reporters at Beirut airport Sunday before leaving for the Vatican: “We thank God that what happened in other countries did not happen in Lebanon. This is a grace.”
Will the wave of public protests currently sweeping the Arab world and which has so far led to the overthrow of two autocratic presidents and is seriously threatening other authoritarian regimes hit Lebanon?
So far, “Lebanon’s Spring” seems to be far off. All signs indicate that Lebanon is immune to the popular uprising that swept Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power on Feb. 11, less than a month after Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in a similar uprising demanding public freedoms and an end to one-man rule.
The successful revolts in Egypt and Tunisia have inspired other Arab citizens who have long yearned for a democratic change and public freedoms in their countries that have been ruled for decades by dictators or authoritarian governments.
Public protests demanding either a total regime change or political and economic reforms have so far engulfed Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Sudan and Djibouti, amid a strong possibility of the “Day of Rage” fever spreading to other Arab countries.
There are several major factors that make Lebanon immune to the “Winter of Rage” that is currently sweeping the Arab world.
Ironically, leaders of the two rival Lebanese factions, the March 8 and March 14 camps, must be thanked for their current sharp political divisions on how the country should be run.
These divisions keep the feuding parties’ supporters polarized to their masters’ power struggle instead of gearing their efforts toward a regime change in a country where the delicate sectarian balance has to be maintained if Lebanon is to avoid a new bout of sectarian violence.
In Lebanon, the president who under the Lebanese Constitution cannot act as an autocrat and must follow constitutional rules with regard to his role, is not the target of either of the two factions in any power struggle. Besides, unlike presidents and kings in some Arab countries who can rule for life, a Lebanese president is elected every six years. Any extension of the president’s mandate for only three years needs a constitutional amendment.
An attempt by the March 14 coalition in 2006 to march onto the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, to force then-President Emile Lahoud to step down before the end of his extended term failed mainly because Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, the head of the powerful Maronite Catholic Church to which Lahoud belongs, opposed the move.
Also, unlike the rest of Arab countries where public freedoms are suppressed and human rights are violated almost on a daily basis, Lebanon is the only country in the Arab world that has adopted democracy as its ruling system since it won independence from France 1943. According to this system, all kinds of public freedoms, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of worship are guaranteed in the Lebanese Constitution. Lebanon’s vibrant press and media outlets are the freest in the Middle East, with no censorship or government restrictions.
Asked how he foresees the future in Lebanon in view of the popular uprisings against Arab rulers, Sfeir told reporters at Beirut airport Sunday before leaving for the Vatican: “We thank God that what happened in other countries did not happen in Lebanon. This is a grace.”
Asked to comment on the downfall of the Egyptian and Tunisian presidents as a result of their peoples’ revolts against them, Sfeir said: “We regret what is happening in some Arab countries. But if the people rise up, this is the result.”
During its turbulent political history, Lebanon has witnessed thousands of anti-government protests demanding better living conditions, and even demonstrations against Arab governments.
No doubt, the Arab governments’ suppression of their peoples’ rights to enjoy public freedoms and protests over poverty, unemployment and the worsening economic conditions has eventually burst out into violent street protests against these governments.
President Michel Sleiman has advised Arab countries to adopt a democratic ruling system and grant their people freedom of expression if they want to avoid revolts similar to the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings.
Asked about his assessment of the public protests that engulfed some Arab states in the wake of the Egyptian and Tunisian revolts, Sleiman told a group of Kuwaiti journalists on Feb. 11, a few hours before Mubarak stepped down: “The situation requires a profound reading by authorities and rulers. Authorities must adopt democracy, achieve social justice, ensure a rotation of power at all levels through parliamentary, municipal and mukhtar elections and secure the participation of various sections of the society in power.”
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