Momentum for Popular Change: Independence 05 Revisited

Five years and two months on from March 14, 2005 and the unstoppable momentum of public outrage and the mood of empowerment felt by every Lebanese on that day seems today a distant if fond memory. Every Lebanese can probably remember where they were on that day, I certainly do: I was with friends at a Dubai café and the excitement we felt had nothing to do with our allegiances or confessional loyalties. Simply put, seeing that sea of people on wide screen and feeling connected to everyone down there was euphoric. What ever happened to the Independence Intifada, the people’s revolution?

In a chat with Eli Khoury, the communications guru for Independence 05 and current Chief Executive of Lebanon Renaissance Foundation, he said the blame for the movement's dimming light lies not so much on politicians' shoulders but on the upper middle class and the intelligentsia of Lebanon who shrunk from their duty to lead and help mold public opinion. The intelligentsia just lined up with the masses. Khoury said politicians behaved like politicians do, they chose their political futures and personal benefit above the lofty aims of the crowds.

"The fault in my opinion lies on the heads of the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie in the country. Proof of that is the specific March 14, 2005 day, that day would not have happened if it wasn’t for the intelligentsia and bourgeoisie making the move. Most remarkable in 2005 was not that there were masses down there but who was down there, it was every doctor that you went to to fix your teeth, your professors from school, the banker you always looked up to. It was your idols who were on the street."

Yet we all remember the few populist opinion leaders who raised their heads above the crowds, they ended up paying the ultimate price. Maybe it was a self preserving instinct that forced others to retreat from taking on a similar role.

Khoury explained that the intelligentsia retreated because they behaved out of anger, impatient with politics' slow pace. "I think they sort of got bored or started thinking 'oh my God this is too hard I don’t know how much we can do', they got scared of the momentum I think, or disappointed by the momentum."

He said politicians too share a portion of the blame, but they were never held accountable by the voters. "We all know politicians are politicians and what are we doing about it? Didn’t we go and elect them again, did we ever come out and say to them ‘by the way we didn’t like that statement you made because we followed you on the other statement and that statement came as a surprise.’ Did we ever corner them; have we ever demanded what is rightfully ours?”

"You ask (the intelligentsia) now and they say 'oh, politics sucks', but this is not about politics, it's about your country."

The future of our state, in fact if we are to ever have an effective state at all or if we are to remain a regional football kicked around by one foreign interest or another, all depends on how well we can make ourselves heard.

“Whether we are on the table or at the table (when regional deals are being made) really depends on us,” Khoury said. “It seems nobody wants to rock any boats today. But what if Lebanon came out and said I will rock the boat if my considerations are not taken into account?

“Lebanon, through its intelligentsia and potentially through some of its decent politicians, could come out and speak aloud, with no racism, with no animosity, with no unjustified demands; they can state their case and demand that it be taken into consideration.”

"My learning out of the independence intifada was that you do not entrust democratic change to politicians just in case they turn out to be politicians." But Khoury insists the politicians' role on that day was secondary, that it was and remains a people's movement."Of course the politicians hijacked it, used it for their ends, but to be realistic the people would not have reached the successes they did without the participation or the leadership in some cases of the politicians."

STANDING STILL IS NOT AN OPTION

Khoury believes that March 14 politicians are trying to consolidate their gains and just standing still pretty much hoping their political opponents will do the same.

"They are thinking that things on the world stage have changed, they may not be in their favor, things in the region are explosive or shifting, so they are hoping that what has been achieved should be consolidated, I don’t think they are hoping for much more than that until a better day."

While Khoury agrees this attitude is very plausible, he said that what March 14 politicians fail to realize is that it's precisely this attitude that has led to regression, because their opponents have not stood still.

"Your opponent is moving, you either move or run away, but stand still and you are going to be pushed. One day you get tripped, the second day you get pushed, next thing you’re shoved or dead."

"When you go into a confrontation… you have to demonstrate that you are in all the way you cannot walk into an argument and show that you are not in all the way because that is announcing you have lost it already, it's only a matter of time."

He said there were too many calculations from the politicians who assumed their opponents had good intentions and too much impatience from the people.

AMERICAN PROMISES

"I did not have high expectations of American deliverables (even during the Bush Administration), today even less so, for a very simple reason: In Washington there are two views, there is March 14 and March 8, it has been that way and continues to be."

Khoury said that there is a certain racist view of the region whether on the democratic left or the far right in the US.

"Some of these people are actually saying that 'you know what, those people in the third world and especially the Muslim world have nothing to do with democracy perhaps it's not the system that suites them.'

"What does that really mean? It means you might not be close to a Neanderthal maybe an upper version of a Neanderthal, but you're not a human being yet, a human being deserves democracy. When you start saying that maybe they don’t want it or don’t need it or it's not made for them it means they are people of lesser quality."

He said the way the current administration is behaving today is actually telling people around the world that America's main concern is security and everything else is negotiable. "What they are saying is 'whether people are free to choose or whether they can eat or get a proper education or speak their mind is none of my business'," Khoury said.

A DAY THAT BELONGED TO US ALL

Khoury said that there is a good number of Shiites who support the goals of the Independence Intifada. "Even among the supporters of Hizbullah you have very well intentioned people who are supporting Hizbullah for very good reasons and who also want similar things we want."

He said its Hizbullah's alternative agenda and 'other considerations' that are sometimes greater that the Hizb's national considerations. He said the first big blow to the Independence Intifada was Michel Aoun's defection; the second blow was Walid Jumblat's defection.

"When I read pro-March 8 media all about the fall of March 14, I laugh, personally. To think that March 14 is Walid Jumblat or Samir Geagea or Saad Hariri, if they think that is March 14 they are making the same mistake the Syrian regime made for 30 years."

Khoury said there could be a chance whereby the disenchantment with the politicians that people are feeling might diminish the potential of people standing up for their rights again, but he remains optimisitic.

"The March 14, 2005 moment is not dead because the people who made it happen are not dead. There will come a day again, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year, maybe in ten years, who knows, people will again come down to the streets and say that I want this."