MECC in the EPP - EU Parliament webinar about Beirut after the Blast

Dr. Michel Abs: Bleeding Lebanon is in need of all sort of support

Dr. Michel Abs, MECC Secretary General, participated in a webinar organized by the EPP Group - Intercultural and Religious Dialogue Unit in the European Parliament, under the topic of “Lebanon after the Beirut seaport explosion”.

During this webinar, Dr. Abs delivered a speech about the political and economic situation in Lebanon, the blast’s repercussions and the MECC disaster relief work. In addition, His Excellency Ralph Tarraf, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Lebanon, has also delivered a speech about the political and economic crisis the Lebanese are facing, the explosion’s causes and how did the United Nations responded to this emergency. The meeting was attended by a group of participants from various European Union countries.

You can find the full intervention of Dr. Michel Abs below:

Lebanon after the Beirut Blast

Dr. Michel E. Abs

Secretary-General

The Middle East Council of Churches

The Beirut Blast is not an isolated incident nor an independent one from the whole process that Lebanon has been experiencing ever since the end of the civil war in 1990. This process culminated in a revolution that emerged on October 17th, 2019.  When, on that Thursday evening, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese filled the streets of Lebanon, there was one unanimous outcry: We’ve had enough!

This upheaval, called first the “WhatsApp uprising”, was apparently a reaction to a proposal from the side of the Government to tax the use of WhatsApp by the Lebanese; but this was only the drop that overflew the bowl.

The story began much earlier. Three decades ago, when the supposedly representatives of the nation gathered in the Arabic Peninsula, signed the National Unity Pact – called the Taef Agreement – in order to end the fifteen years of war. This agreement, which left the government without a head – but rather with three heads, was the starting point of the three-decade systematic deterioration –even destruction- of the public management structures which were supposed to safeguard the interests of the Lebanese people who survived the war. The end-product today is a dismantled public sector and a corrupt political life that leave no room for a hope of reform. The toll of neglect that characterizes the management of public affairs is the only explanation of the situation that led to the Beirut Blast, regardless the fact whether the explosion is mere combination of circumstances or an induced one.

The militia leaders who discovered and practiced the magic tool of Political Sectarianism, used it the best possible and the most efficient ways for three decades long, 1990-2020. During this period thousands of cases of corruption were discovered, and hundreds of scandals erupted but none of them was properly dealt with. The different politico-sectarian groups drew a red line in front of their supposed leaders. If you happen to explore the “file” of a corrupt politician, the whole politico-sectarian group will stand up and protect him. During all this period, this was the defense recipe which was used by all politicians even if they were in total animosity with each another. The formula applies to everybody and became a consensus in the political arena. You practice forgiveness with my leader, and I practice the same with yours. Fanaticism was stronger than interests and paralyzed the whole rational thinking process that leads to accountability. Therefore, no public figure person was hold accountable for what he committed. We are in the state of connivance. This was baptized under the name of Consensual Democracy.

Therefore, during all the period that separates us from the end of the civil war in 1990, very few people were held accountable for what they did and fewer were jailed. When it was the case, it was mainly due to the lift of coverage from the side of the politico-sectarian leader and mainly for personal reasons.

In this respect, we do not lure ourselves by calling these leaders politicians or parliamentarians, but rather princes. Their power doesn’t come from the people who has no choice but to elect them, but rather from a divine power who chose them to “protect” the supposed community – the politico-sectarian group- versus the other politico-sectarian ones. For the masses, this duty was sufficient the fact that allowed these princes to abuse in their management of the resources of the country.

Through learning by doing, the formula was developed further: either this ruling class governs the country and pilfers its resources, or they drive it into a civil war. This new blackmail equation emerges every time honest elites require opening “files” and hold the princes accountable for what they did.

The revolt of the Lebanese which started in October 2019 was a real and frightening early alarm for the cast of the princes. It indicated that the people have had enough with being exploited and that the level of awareness became adequately high to destroy the idols and push for accountability and punishment. The central claim was to recuperate the stolen wealth of the Lebanese for thirty years. This event was a turning point in the contemporary history of Lebanon. The happenings were unconventional and announced a paradigm shift in the political scene.

As answers to this uprising, all sort of traps and punishments were used to deter the Lebanese from carrying-on the process. These ruling class maneuvers worked to different degrees but without conclusive results.

The advent of the COVID19, which was accompanied by the dramatic depreciation of the Lebanese currency, changed the scenery. The focus of discontented masses was deviated, and the uprising started to weaken, seemingly at least.

Beirut Blast occurred in the very time when Lebanese were wrestling with their means of livelihood. The deteriorated national currency dropped substantially the standard of living of the large majority of the population, since Lebanon is a country which economy was geared, for the last thirty years, towards rent and speculation and which depended for more than 80% on importation, even for the most elementary products. The corporations were closing-down by hundred, employees were laid-off by thousands and salary cuts were practiced at high rates.

In all this, the Lebanese were lost between an extremely corrupt government and ruling class, a deteriorating economic situation and the threat of a sectarian civil strife. The frog, happy first in the warm water, can’t any more get out of it when it became boiling.

Alike the COVID19 Pandemic, Beirut Blast came as additional burden on the shoulder of an extremely vulnerable society, thus preventing people from holding its leaders-princes responsible for what they perpetrated for decades. People are too busy securing shelter, medicines, food and tuition fees to be able to care for anything else.

The relief and reconstruction aid which was provided to people affected by the blast via some governmental organizations, the Lebanese Army and some Ministries, as well as via NGOs, remains far below what they lost. The figures shown by the different surveys that were conducted in the affected areas show a huge need for funding and a long period of time for reconstruction as all materials are not available due to exchange rates problems.

Beyond the material aspects of the Beirut Blast, the main concern remains in the psychosocial as well as the cultural – values- aspects.

To make a long story short, one would say that the Beirut Blast was the Coup De Grace to any remaining hope in political reform and the establishment of the rule of law and even to the future of Lebanon. The investigations, which were supposed to last for few days as promised, remain without concluding results three months after the catastrophe. Lebanese do not hope nor expect anything positive from the coming days and have the certainty that the whole thing will be wrapped like thousands of similar cases ever since the independence of Lebanon in the 1940s.

Hope, resilience and determination can help reconstruct a country, but the crucial question is: do Lebanese still have these qualities?

The race between despair and hope is hard, but the Lebanese are known to be a tough people, alike the rocks they had broken through history to build their country.

While I was preparing the draft of this intervention, Huguette Abs Abou-Mrad, a professor of Cultural Studies, published a cry in the local French speaking newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour. It summarizes the tragedy of Lebanese. I shall quote her in French in order to preserve the substance of the text.

Talking about the class of the princes governing Lebanon, dividing the loot between them without any consideration to the suffering of the Lebanese she says: 

« Et tandis que des avides du pouvoir se battent pour s'arracher un privilège, une population dépense ce qui lui reste de papiers dévalués pour ne pas mourir deux fois. »

Then she underlines the sufferance of the wounded population saying « Comment guérir les blessures de ces oubliés, de ces laissés pour compte, ces morts vivants, dont les pertes morales et matérielles ont dépassé l'imagination la plus fertile? »

For her, as for most Lebanese, the 4th of August 2020 is a marking date in our history, but it is the beginning of a new disappointment: “Dans l'histoire moderne de notre Liban, il y aura deux moments: avant et après le 4 août. Et la prestation pour l’après - 4 août est arrivée plus décevante que celle d’avant. »

Then she concludes stating that in Lebanon the destroyed places became “home « unsweet » home.”

In this gloomy scenery I cannot but underline the role of some still surviving parts of the Lebanese government on which we can still rely and bet. These islands of hope in the public sector institutions should be the cornerstone for the revival of the government.

Moreover, we should also underline and stress the role of the non-governmental as well as the intergovernmental organizations in helping the people during disasters. They were instrumental in providing for needs of people when nobody else could.

Watching the situation of a nation with an acquired helplessness syndrome, where even the basic needs of human beings are not met, one could ask: What about Human Dignity?

Bleeding Lebanon is in need of all sort of support from the side of the international community, from immediate relief, to the restoration of the culture of Human Dignity, including professional rehabilitation, medical care, educational support and housing. At the Middle East Council of Churches, we are either addressing these needs or planning to do so in the forthcoming plan of action. Awareness raising is a main item on our action agenda.

While providing support, be it in the form of know-how or material aid, the international community is called to scrutinize the organizations through which the support is channeled so that no wastage shall be incurred and that the efficiency of help reaches its peak.

Huge losses were done in the name of a population which benefited for only a reduced degree from what was provided for its well-being. This must come to an end. Wounded Lebanon, in the image of Christ, will win over the devil and the course of history will be to its interest in the days to come.

We just hope that the process will not necessitate as much sacrifices as Lebanon has given so far.

Beirut, November 20th, 2020

Watch the full webinar: