MasterCard has released a new survey calling Lebanese the most stingiest in the Arab World:
The U.S.-based payment solutions provider said only 28 percent of those polled from Lebanon plan to make charitable donations, significantly less than any of the other five countries covered in the survey.
So among the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, we are the Ba Humbug of the region. I only have one question: so what?
i’d say that’s cause of those countries, we’re the most in need of charity…
I totally agree. Plus I dont understand the big deal if only a third of the population plan to make charitable donations. That really says nothing.
Isn’t that expected? Our people are deficient in social conscience. When you first hear people shreek at the word Hezbollah for example, you’d think they’re offended by the violence of the 80’s, or are afraid this party will take over power. When you look a little closer, you realize that before Hezbollah there was a precursor: a south deprived of schools, hospitals, jobs, all while Beirut prospered. The supposedly democracy back then was made of remodeled sectarian feudal lords who thought sunnite merchants with no social conscience in Beirut, and Christians with a western complex of superiority and paranoia, have no obligations towards shiites of the South. Well the South snapped eventually and took matters into its own hands, through an illegal militia. I don’t excuse the violence of the 80’s, but I am not fooled by any “fears” of the different Hezbollah.
Covered under expensive clothes some Lebanese still uphold a sectarian cast system where sectarian prejudices abound. 1989 changed that. This is when a patriotic movement, that believes in equal rights for all Lebanese citizens of all sects emerged. Out of patriotism it rejected and campaign against the Syrian occupation until 2005. Unlike pro-Hariri, t didn’t wait for the death of a sectarian clan icon to die to reject the occupation, it rejected due to its belief in a religiously diverse Lebanon. Fake civil war was after all the excuse for Syrian occupation. Today it’s the threat that the ex-Syrian puppets, now remodeled as Saudi puppets, use to dissuade the opposition’s demand for social reform. It’s a religiously diverse movement. It’s opposed by Christians, Sunnite and Shiites with sectarian paranoias or who are attached to their comfortable status in a sectarian cast. Those who outgrew this Ottoman mentality however, typically support it (its principles anyways).
As expected, after the Syrian occupation ended this movement, the only constructive one in Lebanon, proceeded to tackle sectarian prejudice. Its leader said “Lebanon is free of the occupation, but not free of its prejudice yet”. Sectarian prejudice is our next hurdle. You say this movement (dubbed March 14) allied itself with Hezbollah in 2005’s elections. This is false, there was no such alliance. This alliance occurred in 2006, after the Patriotic movement outreached to all groups allienated by the sectarian cast system. The patriotic movement offered a memorandum of understanding whereby the social injustices that these allienated groups protest will be acknowledged on a common agenda, and in return they will use democratic means only to defend their causes. They will also agree to an equalitarian government where religion and state are separate. Hezbollah, the socialist and the communist party signed the memorandum. This created the opposition alliance. I am a Christian, but I have little tolerance for the complex that makes Christians shreek at a Hezbollah who, like me, is trying to replace the sectarian cast system with a true democracy. Hezbollah has a lot of changes to make before we can trust them to truly uphold democracy, undoubtedly, but that is not a reason to negate their first big positive change (signing the memorandum of understanding), the fact that they no longer launch attacks on Israel, and the fact that change doesn’t happen by further allienating and infuriating Hezbollah. As it were, Hezbollah has changed, but people higher up in the sectarian cats system are negating this change, because it challenges the superiority of their cast.
If MasterCard’s survey is any indication, we need to replace our self-serving attitude in Lebanon with a bit of a social conscience.
Hi Hala. Great comment!!
I am agree – all we did in the past 7 years is replace puppeteers. Unfortunately we keep holding on to a government system and a constitution that has failed to address the problems in our society and we seem to fail to look beyond for new solutions. Hezbollah’s formation came from a perfect storm – an external threat, Israel, and internal difficulties (as you had mentioned). Even if Hezbollah were to magically disappear today, those two ingredients still exist and it wont be long till a Hezbollah II comes along. Unless these change first, there is no way Hezbollah arms can be handled.
In reference to my “Remembering February 14”, I was referring more to the ideals of February/March 14 rather than the parties that make up (or made up the group) at that point. The ideals were great but the foundation was non-existent which resulted in its collapse. Today, its just groups hiding behind a banner of these ideals – they have no intention to follow through.
PS: I made an error in my comment above, your blog states (under remember Feb 14 tag) that March 14 allied itself with Hezbollah. That much is true, and it’s true that they did without a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would lead to disarmement. That I oppose as well.
The alliance between FPM and Hezbollah however happened on constructive grounds, a MOU that leads to disarmement, if the government would stop ignoring their requests for equal rights, and would echo their demand to return prisoners without a trial, from Israel.
More on how March 14 and the opposition differ as to a social conscience on here:
http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0907/0907_1.htm