From: hyper@ecf.toronto.edu (Hypersonic CFD Combust Diag)
Subject: Re: What a pitty! (was:Re: Elections end with sweeping victory for pro-Syrian candidates)
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 04:28:12 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.181902.24998@ulrik.uio.no> eliedw@ulrik.uio.no (Elie Dib Wardini) writes:


> What a pity!

> the discussion on the soveriegnty of Lebanon becomes a discussion on how many
> votes a certain person got or which list was better than the other.

The majority of the lebanese had no real problem with the elections. Discussing
the results and comparing lists was the natural thing to do for someone who has already accepted that the elections are there and held.

> It is true that there were very many important and crusial points that were
> made, but we seem to loose sight of the REAL problem:

I am sorry, but i cannot see how the questions below define your problem.
let me try and answer a few of them.

   > Why elections in Lebanon?
      It is a democratic process which every citizen is entitled to.

   > Why now?
       In accordance with the Taef agreement.
   
   > Who wants them?
     The majority of the lebanese.  And yes, it was the majority.
     If you were to look at it objectively, of course.

   > What will they lead to?
     Hopefully reforms, as they were intended to.  The next step would
     be the abolition of the secterian distibution of government positions.  
     And further steps to follow.

   > Now that the turn-out was low what will happen?
     In Most areas the turn out was as you would expect in any other
     country, except of course for the areas of the opposition.
     One has to keep in mind that the masses can be brainwashed
     by a well organized propaganda.

   > How long will Lebanon survive?
     In its current format, which has been there since 1920, hopefully
     not long. But if reformed,  for generations to come....well, even
     the ancient dynasties had to end at some point.



> What do we wat with our country?
  Rather ambigious.  But we want it built to compete with the rest of the
  world at any level.

> do we want to have a counrty?
  I know I want...But what kind of a country did you have on mind???
  A country where reforms are not allowed??... A country of
  discrimination based on religion??..a country of favoritism??
  A country where if you just happen to have a different belief in 
  god than the three main sects you can only dream of applying
  your skills to the best of your country??...
 
  The Taef is not the answer to the lebanese problem, it is only a 
stepping stone to the real solution.  If people are having problems
adjusting to the little changes offered by the Taef, it makes us wonder
about the reaction when the real changes are to take place.   

> What kind of country do we want?

A country where all citizens, absolutely all, are viewed as lebanese citizens..
where none is a second class.  A country where there is no place for my
religion on my citizenship  card.

> To which counrty do we want to be united?? 
   We can hardly agree on the simplest of the democratic processes, now you
   wanna hold a poll on who we would like to unite with???.....Talk of 
   evading real issues.....let's get the country together first, then 
   we might discuss the above matter.

> I would like to see a real debate on elections in Lebanon.

Try starting one.

> elie wardini

The Parliament in its current format will have a rather short life.  It
is certain that it will not survive until the next election (1996) or even
until 1995 (the election of the next president).   A good number
of the lebanese are not well represented. Eventhough this was no fault of
the government and mainly the opposition, this does not change the fact 
that the representation is incomplete. And this will certainly be corrected,
otherwise it will be just another timed bomb (similar to the opression of the 
group of lebanese leading to the 16 yrs civil war)...ready to explode when 
given the chance...and the international circumstances do change!!, and we
can go back to another civil war, easily.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon