BEIRUT — Some 3,000 years ago, in the Late Bronze Age, the scribes of the city-state of Byblos, in modern Lebanon north of Beirut, developed an alphabetic phonetic script that became our modern alphabet. In the process, local developments in a city on the coast of Lebanon ultimately changed world history, by providing a standardized means of communicating and recording events and transactions.
As a fellow Arab living in Lebanon and observing events here at first hand, I would suggest that the Lebanese people once again have an opportunity to change the history of this region and of the entire world, for the better. If the Lebanese move quickly and judiciously to assert the rule of law and democratic pluralism as the norms of modern Arab governance, they can start a process that forever breaks the hold of security organizations on the modern Arab world.
Lebanon is the most interesting and promising Arab country in this respect because of four significant, unique factors: a mass expression of a desire for change, in the form of half the country marching in the streets last winter after the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri; direct, legitimate international intervention in the form of two successive UN-mandated investigations into the murder; the departure of the Syrian military and political forces that dominated Lebanon for a generation, followed by parliamentary elections that ushered in a majority opposed to the old order; and, the detention and questioning last week of four top former security and military chiefs who are being formally charged with involvement in the Hariri murder.
The arrest and charges of the four senior security chiefs mark a truly historic turning point that could shatter the dominance of political power by Arab security and military establishments. If Lebanon is able to bring its security and military institutions under the control and oversight of parliament, the cabinet, the courts and other civilian institutions, this will have enormous implications for Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, Yemen and others.
Make no mistake about the potential consequences of what is happening here: Success in prosecuting the accused security chiefs in Lebanon will have the same historic impact in this region as the birth of the Solidarity trade union movement had in Eastern Europe 25 years ago, prompting changes in power relationships that ultimately resulted in the collapse of the communist police state system.
The same can and should happen in the Arab world, but it has to start somewhere, with one country that transforms mass indignity and desire for change into orderly movement towards accountable, participatory democracy and the rule of law. Lebanon has the opportunity to be that pioneering success story that inspires others in the Arab world. Nowhere in the modern Arab world has a country experienced such a dramatic and swift succession of a populist then an electoral rejection of the old order, followed by judicial action to hold accountable senior members of the security organizations that have dominated, run and abused the Arab world for most of the last half century. The determination to achieve real change is not so clear, however, because the recent movement in Lebanese politics has not all been forwards towards modernity. The country balances delicately between historic change towards modern democratic governance and numbing acquiescence in the complacent old feudal order.
The past seven months since the Hariri assassination have seen the Lebanese political system move forwards, sideways and backwards. It has toyed with real political accountability, while simultaneously finding comfort in the old ways of feudalism, confessionalism and the narrow communal identities that have long protected Maronites, Shiites, Sunnis, Druze, Armenians, Greek Orthodox and others whose atavistic tribal tendencies still make much sense in the face of thin and brittle modern centralized states.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora hinted Monday, at an Arab central banks governors gathering here, that Lebanon was on the verge of genuine reforms and that it would take advantage of its “historic and unique opportunity to develop and flourish.” A rational betting person would probably not wager more than a small cup of coffee on such a commitment, given the erratic, generally insincere, performance of the entire Arab world in reforming government systems in recent years, despite overloads of rhetoric on the matter.
The initial political advances in Lebanon, including the arrests of the four security heads, were achieved primarily because of the strong evidence generated by the UN investigation team headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. As the investigation of suspects, witnesses and accused now shifts into the hands of Lebanese Investigative Magistrate Elias Eid, so does the burden of responsibility for continued reform shift from international quarters to the Lebanese political system.
This moment and the months ahead will test the sincerity and capability of the parliamentary majority that says it wants to break the hold of the “security regime” on Lebanese political and economic life. This is a moment of reckoning both for the collective Lebanese political order and for numerous individual political, tribal and communal leaders who are so powerful here. A surprising and frustrating aspect of the past tumultuous months has been the lack of a single, credible leader who has been able to bring together the former “opposition” forces that are now a majority in parliament. No Lech Walesa has appeared on the Lebanese scene who can bring join the mass desire for change as expressed emotionally by the citizenry with the capacity for change as expressed by the new parliamentary majority, the legal action against the former security chiefs, and the legitimate support of the international community.
If Lebanon is to inspire and change the entire Arab world, and move from being a “security state” to a democratic state, it must soon show a capacity to move beyond narrow communal identities. An important test is whether Lebanon can generate national political leadership anchored in the values of equality, democracy and the rule of law for all its citizens. A culture that gave the world the alphabet is capable of giving the Arab world good governance and quality political leadership, based on a citizen’s rights rather than his or her bloodline.
Rami G. Khouri is editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune.
Copyright ©2005 Rami G. Khouri
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Released: 08 September 2005
Word Count: 1,028
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