To Lebanon's Bourgeoisie: Shall we burn our ships and stay this time?

Lebanon needs a full-time citizenry, not part-timers who are present for the good times, and flee the minute the going gets tough, becoming remote citizens sending kisses, best wishes, and their ballots from a distance! Unfortunately, the post civil war bourgeoisie of Lebanon are a nomadic bunch. My peers among them, who hit their 50s this decade, remember their parents' advice to keep a bag packed and ready to go, to strive to get a foreign passport or two, and to always have an escape plan. Who escapes their own country?

All packed and set to go

The middle class have the resources to escape, but who do they leave the country to? Do they leave it to the wealthy elites who are mired knee deep in corruption along with the political class? For them, all is well, in fact the price per head at the ballot box has plummeted, so winning elections costs them less now. The cost of the Lebanese worker also plummeted, so those in control of major investments and capital tend to benefit. Who do we leave this country for? The poor who can barely feed their own children and struggle to find medicines for their elderly? 

Either the middle class decides to become full-time citizens and participate fully in the political and economic life of this country, or just stop complaining! Honestly, how can you shout "revolution" "thawra" and berate the political class, while you carry your foreign passport and airline tickets in your pocket?!

When the great military commander Tareq bin Ziyad crossed the straits of Gibraltar with his men and invaded Spain, he saw that leaving his ships intact on the beach was tempting to his men who could waver in the face of stiff Spanish resistance, so he burned his ships and said the now famous phrase: "al 3aduwu amamkum wal bahru wara2kum", in essence chose between charging at the enemy or trying to swim home and drowning! 

The Spanish Conquistador Cortez learned that trick from the Muslim commander and used it upon arriving to the shores of the new world, thus his men were well motivated to keep marching forward. Foreign passports are the ships of the middle class Lebanese, they are our plan B, the way out if things get tough. Suppose we burn those ships...!

I feel our Lebanese bourgeoisie is remiss in their national duty, and have been for a long time, they see themselves as outsiders in their own national political system and prefer to yell and scream at politicians from the sidelines rather than roll up their sleeves and dive into the mud pit to help repair and rebuild that broken system. 

Most Lebanese are proud of their “multiple” foreign passports, or else relieved they got that visa and work permit to go abroad. It is as if we can't wait to leave a country that does not suit us any more. We, the middle class, see ourselves as first world citizens in a third world country, and rightly feel we deserve better. Except instead of making our country that better place, we take the easy way out and go to a ready made country with all the comforts we expect. 

I don’t really blame my peers, this is how they were raised by terrified parents during our 1975-90 civil war. Our parents were middle class nomads in search of a safe harbor for themselves and their children in those horrible years. So the idea of getting a second and even a third passport is well and truly imbedded in the Lebanese middle class culture. 

Those “life preserver” passports, which helped evacuate many Lebanese families during the 2006 war Israel launched against us, also help cement the idea in my generation’s mind that Lebanon is not a permanent home, but at best a holiday home, a place to visit occasionally. If anything happens we can always flee.

But how can we expect a country to rise again after such a trauma and economic and social collapse, when it has such a nomadic and skittish middle class ever ready to race for the airport the minute things get a little tough. 

I feel as a middle class we have to assume our traditional leadership role, to join together with the rest of our unfortunate and unlucky compatriots who can't afford to leave, and struggle together to rebuild our country in the spirit of unity.

We have a lot to offer, we know it and so does everyone else. However, ever since I was a kid I remember my extended family always agreeing on one thing: “politics is not for us”, as if it’s some dirty job that only low life’s accept. Politics and prostitution seemed to hold the same position in their minds… “it’s not for us!” Well maybe that’s why our political system is so screwed up and rife with corruption! 

Maybe it’s time we focus on one nationality at a time instead of collecting foreign passports. Let that nationality be Lebanese this time, and maybe we get involved in politics, run for public office perhaps, and lose, who cares, at least we try. How can we keep shouting “thawra, thawra, thwara” when our passport and plane ticket are in our pocket? The middle class "thawra" has to date been little more than a "fawra" (frothing), "fawra bi finjen" (a frothing in a cup)! #Fawra_bi_Finjen #LebanonMiddleClass