Sunday 27 February 2011

Marching for secularism in Lebanon

There are lots of things 'wrong' with Lebanon, and almost all of them are what makes it the incredible place that it is. Except Sectarianism. It is a cancer that rots this country, perpetuated by the old warlords of the civil war who went on to become politicians. These zaims, who draw their power from their religious constituents, have created a profoundly entrenched reliance on their patronage – a textbook case of 'divide and rule'.
A few hundred or so Lebanese citizens marched through Beirut today, despite a massive rain storm, to vent some anger over the seemingly unshakable stranglehold the Sectarian system and its leaders have over the country. Sadly, unlike other countries in the neighbourhood who've weeded out their perennial dictators, the situation in Lebanon is so goddam complicated; the day of the protest there wasn't even a government in power to overthrow.





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