They are tired, disillusioned and are more worried than ever that the country is on the verge of political, social and economic collapse.
They are demanding a solution to the political deadlock to ease the societal and economic pressures that negatively affects their daily lives. Because of the precarious environment, ensuring the welfare of the people and the state should be the main concern of the politicians, rather than their constant jockeying to maintain their political status and power.
Nations are built by engaging different political groups in the decision- making process, fostering political consensus, implementing the rule of law and providing integral services to its citizens to ease their daily lives. Improvement of the people’s welfare should be considered above all measures. Telecommunication, electricity, and water services should be provided efficiently. Government employees should offer assistance to citizens without expecting briberies. Policemen should be attentive in providing safety on the roads - not engaging in telephone and pedestrian conversations. Finally, lawyers, and judges should enforce the law accordingly, without political bias. Citizens should feel that their State Institutions have the ability to provide them with safety nets when needed, especially during periods of crises. The political instability, dire economy, and weak institutions have compounded the country’s social problems, resulting in increasingly negative social behavior among the Lebanese.
Lebanon is in the process of losing its most important weapon against a new civil war- the civility of its populace. The daily hardship of survival, coupled with a polarized polity is having a depressing effect on the country’s social etiquette.
To highlight how the country is losing its civility, one needs to merely examine how closely the general public follows the rules of the road in Lebanon. It has become common for drivers to ignore the traffic laws: they drive against the flow of traffic, run red lights or stop signs and have effectively taken the law into their own hands. Many drivers and citizens are using the roads and highways as personal toilets, showing complete disregard to the traditional customs and expectations for privacy. They also throw their trash and garbage on the side of the road without care for the law or the environment. Because of the tight monetary situation and poor enforcement of the laws, citizens are not servicing their cars regularly which lead to numerous accidents on the road, resulting in escalated death and injuries. Further evidence of the citizens’ growing lack of responsibility, exasperated by ineffectual governance: people who abuse public properties by adding wires on an electrical pole, so as to sell electricity to the public and fill the void created by the government. In the absence of punishment, and monetary fines, along with no stable governmental force to implement the rule of law, Lebanese civility is certainly faltering.
M. Scott Peck noted in, A World Waiting to be Born: “Civility is hardly the only way to live, but it is the only way worthwhile”. The choices that the Lebanese people are making these days are different than the choices made in any democratic, peaceful country. People are nervous, irritable, and angry and the respect between ordinary citizens one would normally attribute to a modern society is waning.
The politicians need to recognize this and the role they are playing in this decline. Whatever their differences, they need to wake up to prevent a social, economic and political disaster that will lead the country into more chaos. The on-going political dispute should be solved internally between the two camps, free from external interference and influence. Regardless of their political beliefs and views, the decisions that they take to solve the stalemate will shape the future of Lebanon.
They need to stop preaching partisanship to their constituents, look towards unity, and start working on solutions. The longer they wait to solve the problems facing Lebanon, the greater the chance of losing the country’s civility all together - and its future soon after.
Tags: Beirut, Civil War, Civility, Government, Lebanese, Traffic
