Aoun

A lot of folks have been weighing in on the bizarre, humiliating parliamentary session that ended up with Aoun taking the oath of the presidency. In the voting sessions, names like “Myriam Klink” and “Zorba the Greek” popped up. I say sessions in plural because an MP kept putting an extra ballot each time, forcing a re-vote twice before Aoun’s three-decade wait was over and he was finally sworn in as president of the republic.

I think those “joke” votes though were justified, and honestly, I wish more MPs did that, and for several reasons.

It’s the Respect this Election Deserved

The mockery on Halloween at the Lebanese parliament deserved these kinds of votes and stunts. After 30 months of Aoun and his allies shutting down parliament and grinding the government to a halt till everyone agrees beforehand to go down and vote for Aoun, is not something that deserves the respect of the taxpayer nor MPs whose arms weren’t twisted by the Aoun-Hezbollah camp into voting for the former chief of the Lebanese Army.

The only times this parliament met was to increase their salaries or extend for themselves and when the US threatened to impose financial sanctions on Lebanon if we didn’t update laws regarding banking secrecy and funding terrorism. The same parliament, which extended for itself twice, and which Aoun himself has called illegitimate, yet never actually resigned and was happy to force it to vote for him as president. Who’d respect that institution?

That kind of parliament with this kind of MPs deserves as much respect and seriousness as one of Myriam Klink’s photoshoots and TV appearances. Heck, Klink deserves more respect for sticking to her positions and not flip-flopping as much as Aoun and the rest of his 126 colleagues. More so because despite all the sexist vitriol directed at her, she pays no heed and does what she wants and has garnered a fanbase as loyal to her as her detractors are committed to shaming and bringing her down.

However, Klink isn’t the issue here. It’s the MP who wrote in her name. I support that decision and think it was a brilliant way to highlight several issues with this pre-approved election theatrical piece.

Demonstrating That Vote Doesn’t Really Count

The MP who wrote in Zorba and Klink was trying to say that his or her vote doesn’t really matter. Most of the MPs were gonna vote like their chieftain dictates, even if it means betraying their entire set of ideals and constituents’ thoughts and sentiments. With Aoun pre-approved, the election process was nothing more than a formality, and highlighting the uselessness of the vote by writing in a name that would cause controversy, was brilliant.

As for those arguing that the MP should respect his mandate and act properly as his voters expect him to. Well, if any of those MPs cared about their mandate (which they extended for themselves illegally without the taxpayers’ consent) then why didn’t they remember that in the 29 months of presidential vacuum and lack of legislative work? Were they hibernating?

Only Way of Showing Discontent

After Frangieh asked the non-Aoun supporters to drop in blank ballots instead of his name, the usual way to protest the legitimacy of a candidate or voting process was kind of hijacked. White paper now meant supporting Frangieh versus Aoun, which some MPs might not feel is the case for them. So, letting it be known that they disagree with this weird set of coalitions and backroom deals under the table in such a funny, controversial way was genius.

In other words, it was a smart way of showing that you don’t approve of this undemocratic farce and how little you respect the candidate and the electoral body that voted him in: by voting for pop culture references that have no place in a presidential election in a dust-gathering, highly-fortified Lebanese parliament that has been off-limits for taxpayers for years now.

Epic Trolling

For many of Aoun’s diehard supporters and newly gained “children” given they are all calling him “our father” now and “father of the nation”, this was amazing bait. They see him as a hero valiantly holding his ground no matter what to get what is “right” (more like “right-wing”). They do not see it as a stubborn old man who’d rather watch the country burn (twice) than not achieve his political ambitions. So, for someone to “desecrate” such a significant event for them with a joke votes like this, was priceless. It was a reminder of how silly these new alliances are and how illegitimate this whole process was. Enough for someone to trigger the diehards into explaining to the rest of us what democracy is and how elections work, after they halted both for more than 2.5 years themselves. Priceless bait, perfectly executed and eagerly eaten up by most folks.

What’s Next

Many people are asking people who don’t support Aoun to give him a chance. I find that argument somewhat split from reality. Aoun didn’t descend from the heavens last weekend, he’s been a fixture in Lebanese politics and government for decades. Even if “The Doctor” now supports “The General”, you know how the Lebanese saying goes “s2al mjarreb, w la tes2al hakim” (ask someone who’s been through it/tried it, and not a doctor) and Lebanon has been through lots of Aoun periods. Army chief, exiled leader of a Christian party, anti-Assad, pro-Assad, pro-US, anti-Us and virtually any other possible political realignment, and none of them worked out for us (but worked brilliantly for him and his party). So, I’m not sure what the hopeful people are expecting this time around, cause there’s another cool saying that says something unflattering about repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes.

Movements like Beirut Madinati and You Stink rattled the political elites in 2015. So much so that they had to reshuffle their alliances to ensure they can keep splitting the cake amongst themselves without the people getting a bite. You’d think that hypocrisy in switching allegiances would shake Lebanese people’s faith in their politicians, but somehow, it has strengthened it.

Some folks that were in the streets demanding change last year, are now calling the new president their “dad” and a “strongman”. It is perhaps expected in times of fear and uncertainty that people resort to more authoritarian sides that feed on their insecurities and phobias, whether its sectarianism, their personal interpretations of what terrorism means and of course, fear-mongering about the refugee crisis.

This paints a bleak picture, with little hope of things changing for the better. I want to be optimistic and say, maybe under the Aoun presidency, people will learn their mistakes and support the right people next time, people like them and from them, not warlords and feudal lords who granted themselves amnesty after Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. Then again, all of Lebanon’s history tells me that will likely not happen in our lifetime.

So, we can’t but accept the current reality and try to adapt to it. Aoun is president now, so let’s pressure him to get the garbage off the streets and electricity in our homes and proper, affordable Internet on our phones and computers. Let’s undo the damage his party’s xenophobic and sectarian rhetoric has unleashed in hopes of getting him elected as president by force. Most importantly though, we need to make sure we get elections, and fast, with a law that is proportional at the very least, and non-sectarian at the very best.

Otherwise, for many of us, what little hope we have, if any, will be forever gone, for good this time, if parliament extends for itself one more time or if the elections are held under a law that unashamedly admits the districts are gerrymandered to guarantee each politician gets his cut, regardless of what the voters want.

With only days away from the expected end to the embarrassing presidential vacuum in Lebanon, Lebanese folks are split on whether to be happy or upset about this compromise. Perhaps happy and upset are overstatements, and a better way to describe the dichotomy in Lebanese society is “expected” and “fuck no” with the overwhelming majority just saying “meh…”

I have been extra harsh on Aoun and the FPM in comparison to many of the equally scary and horrifying political parties in Lebanon and their warlord chieftains. That doesn’t stem from a specific hatred to Aoun and his loyalists. I’m ashamed to stay it stems from my former support for the FPM as a teenager, when they were seen as the change and reform to a group of politicians and parties that had largely been stooges to Syria’s Assad, or pushed close to oblivion by the Syrian occupation of Lebanon for three decades. In other words, I hold them more accountable because there was a time where I had faith in them and because I’ve volunteered and protested and attended meetings with them years ago.

So, this Halloween, Aoun’s dream of being elected president is finally coming true. I’ve had mixed feelings about this, and the more I put some thought into it, I realized there are a set of questions that need to be answered by the prospective president. These questions are also essentially the reasons why I’m afraid of Aoun and the FPM, and why you should too.

1- Freedom of Expression

The Aounists are big on freedoms, or at least used to be. They along with the LF and others were the only ones to protest the Syrian occupation everyone else was happy coexisting with and benefiting from. However, in recent years, that has deteriorated exponentially and the FPM are becoming more and more sectarian and outright facist in their line of thinking and attitudes.

One example that illustrates this perfectly, is what happened in the aftermath of an ISIS flag burning in Beirut’s mainly Christian district of Ashrafieh. Staunch Sunni conservative and police-chief-turned-bombastic-populist-Sunni politician Ashraf Rifi, who was then Justice Minister (currently “resigned” because he was sad Hezbollah disrespected Saudi Arabia, cause fuck logic) went apeshit, and decided he will use the full force of the government to prosecute the flag burners. I know what you’re thinking, “fuck logic” again, right? I mean, who in their right mind would hunt down people for burning an ISIS flag? Rifi’s excuse? It has the word “Allah” in it. Now, that would make sense, if he didn’t regularly blast Hezbollah every chance he gets. That has the word “Allah” in it, how come Rifi didn’t jail himself already then?

That’s when the heroic FPM decided to swoop in and assigned some of their top MPs to defend the ISIS flag burners. At first glance, that might seem brilliant, a political party standing up to free speech and against governmental abuse of power. However, that wasn’t the case at all, and I’ll go into that in the next example. This event came at a time when the FPM was trying to smear the Future Movement as pro-ISIS, with their not-so-subtle jabs that a hairless prime minister in a suit, can also be ISIS (they put a bald guy with his back turned on a poster with some stuff about extremism, given that ISIS members are usually raggedy and hairy). So, this was more of a perceived threat to Ashrafieh residents (Christians) by a hostile minister who shares some of the fundamentalist leanings of a Sunni ISIS. In other words, it was just stoking the sectarian fire and trying to paint themselves as protectors of Christians from Sunni persecution.

Further proof that this was the FPM rationale, is their juvenile reaction to the “You Stink” movement. After a series of bizarre press conferences of Aoun claiming the popular protests had “stolen” his slogans, the cherry on top was straight out of the Syrian-Lebanese police state playbook. They targeted You Stink activists and found old, sarcastic Facebook statuses and attempted to prosecute their posters for “blasphemy” and “insulting religion” The saddest part was, that it wasn’t just political maneuvering by a scared political elite worried about the wrath of the taxpayer at their resounding failures and pathological corruption, it was something many of the FPM’s supporters got behind and many were happy to be part of this disgusting witch-hunt that would be more at home in one of MTV’s fabricated stories peddled to their Christian zealot base. This goes to show that the FPM couldn’t care less about free speech, and that they will be happy to hide behind it to fuel sectarian divides, but will gladly forget about it and go to extreme lengths to fight it to serve their narrow purposes.

Other such thin-skin examples are like when a thinly-veiled pro FPM group of activists stormed the Al Jazeera offices in Beirut after one of their reporters “insulted” the Lebanese Army. That’s not counting Gebran Bassil’s slander and libel bullying of publications such as Executive Magazine for casting doubt on shady dealings linked to the Oil sector in Lebanon. Who can also forget Aoun’s angry outbursts and insults to journalists at press conferences who ask him questions he doesn’t like?

All in all, Aoun and his FPM have proven they’re not fans of free speech and press. What would a Aoun armed with archaic slander and libel laws associated with the presidency do with these powers? Will we see kids beaten up and arrested for posting statuses about him and “insulting the head of state”? Will the Syrian occupation era of quashing free speech resume as of October 31, only without the excuse of an invading force being to blame for the injustice?

2- The Orthodox Law

This was a game of chicken that went horribly wrong for everyone involved. In a Lebanon where power sharing is based on sect, there is an elephant in the room that no one seems to be willing to address. Since the last census in the early 20th Century, no one really knows how Lebanon’s demographics currently are. However, any sane estimate would put Christians at far less than 50% of the population. This of course means that a big chunk of “Christian” MPs are voted in by “Muslim” votes. Changing demographics, coupled with horrible electoral laws and obnoxious gerrymandering of electoral districts from the days of the Syrian occupation are the cause of that.

Instead of going for the logical answer and creating a non-sectarian or at least proportional representation electoral law, the FPM stood behind the proposed “Orthodox Law” that stipulates that voters can vote only for the candidates that share the same sect as them. So, a Maronite votes for Maronite MPs, a Sunni votes for Sunni ones, etc. They even went so far as to create silly provisions like the first round, each sect chooses its main candidates, and then that gets put to the test with the general electorate. So, if Christians voted for X, Y and Z for President (yes, they wanted the presidential race to be done my voters, not MPs), those top 3 candidates are the “official” nominees which the rest of Lebanon can then choose from.

The fact that a parliamentary bloc with “Change and Reform” as a name would suggest such ludicrous perversion of Democracy’s basic concepts, is horrifying.

Of course, that law has been laid to rest a while ago (like the general populace voting for president), but it’s very important because after the presidential election and formation of a new cabinet, the first order of business is parliamentary elections to replace this horrible, illegitimate parliament. Therefore, knowing where Aoun and his FPM stand in terms of electoral laws and election reforms, is extremely important.

Will Aoun stick to this unfair, honestly outright stupid stance on elections? Will gerrymandering and weird laws tailored to predict outcomes beforehand be the rule of his presidency and the upcoming probably Hariri-led cabinet? Is that what they agreed upon to get us out of this humiliating clusterfuck for 2.5 years? Well, his coalition’s boycotting of presidential elections unless he’s confirmed as president beforehand for almost 3 years, goes to show how little regard the FPM have for elections, especially in a parliament they themselves call illegitimate, yet never resigned from and kept twisting its arm to elect Aoun…

3- Transparency Issues

We all know Hariri and co are super corrupt. Berri too. All of the political elites are corrupt, and Aoun and the FPM have made a political career from pointing out others’ corruption and their supposedly clean slate. However, many of the ministries the FPM controlled have been plagued with serious allegations of corruption and mismanagement of taxpayer money. That, coupled with an internal election that saw two time parliamentary elections loser and son-in-law being elected as head of the FPM, shows the FPM is just as bad as the rest of the political parties when it comes to corruption and cronyism.

It is the violent reactions and deluded hyperboles that are scariest when the FPM is confronted with questions about their transparency. Usually, it’s incoherent, visceral word salads shouted at TV cameras with the likes of “how dare they!” “we are the cleanest!” “it’s an international conspiracy!” without anything being done to make their work and projects more transparent and allay the fears of law-abiding citizens trying to see where there tax money is going to.

Will a Aoun presidency exacerbate this trend of opaqueness and anti-transparency? Will it add a level of security to do shady dealings like the ones we’re used to from the usual suspects such as Berri, Hariri, Junblat and co?

4- The Hezbollah Question

The FPM-Hezbollah alliance is amazing for both sides. For Aoun, it gives him the authority granted by HA’s military power to maneuvers without worrying too much about resistance from political opponents. Proof? Aoun’s presidency only became a definite after Nasrallah’s address last week. As for HA, being allied with Aoun is necessary to try and allay fears that it is no more than an Iranian proxy in the region. The fact a prominent Christian party is allied with them and work together on internal politics, is great optics for an increasingly contentious “resistance” that has shifted its focus from liberating Israeli-occupied territories and deterring IDF tanks from rolling into Southern Lebanon, to fighting a war alongside Assad’s regime in Syria.

However, many of the international stances HA takes are absolutely irreconcilable with the FPM. This alliance of convenience is hard to sell when Aounists are defending a party trying to keep the tyrant that banished Aoun for years from Lebanon, in power in neighboring Syria. I do not want to go in to the details of that conflict now, but it is obvious the sway Aoun holds on HA is much weaker than the sway HA has on the FPM.

For folks that feel the Aoun presidency is merely replacing Syrian patronage with an Iranian one, the FPM hasn’t done much to allay those fears. Is Aoun the first ex-army chief Iran has installed, like Syria installed ex-army chief Emile Lahoud back in the late 90s?

5- The LF-FPM Alliance

It was hailed as “long time coming” and “finally after decades of bloody strife”. However, in more ways than one, it’s an attempt to restore some of the clout of Christian political parties that have melted into their Muslim counterparts since 2005. It’s no secret that just like HA calls the shots in whatever is left of the March 8 coalition, the same goes for the FM on whatever’s left of the March 14 one. Elections are often lost or won in mainly Christian districts, given Shiite majority ones usually vote for HA and Amal and Sunni majority ones vote for FM-backed candidates.

So, that leaves districts with a big chunk of Christian voters deciding which way the overall results go. It is where most of the self-proclaimed “independent” MPs come from too, and a big reason why the LF and FPM joined forces. The LF has a handful of parliamentary members despite the influence they claim to have, and the FPM, despite their large bloc, cannot even get their party’s head to win an election in his own home district of Batroun. It’s easy to see how an LF-FPM alliance would help in that case, ideally marginalizing Botros Harb and guaranteeing the two seats are divided amongst the LF and FPM (like was attempted in the recent municipal elections).

So, the question is, is this sudden alliance something that means turning a new page? Or is the plan to create a voting block that is as hard to change as the Sunni or Shiite ones? Is it an attempt to keep others out and try to create an LF-FPM hegemony in Christian districts that just isn’t really representative of the reality on the ground, where most people are non-partisan and can change their voting habits with each elections cycles? For a president for the entire country, it’s important to understand what this new alliance means and where they want to take it.

6- Focus on the Issues

No one gives a fuck about parliament by-laws and a constitution they keep amending “for one time only”. Taxpayers and voters care about issues that affect their lives directly, like poor Internet, crumbling infrastructure and diminishing civil liberties. Instead of focusing on disrupting presidential elections for years for whatever reasons they kept pulling out of their ass, maybe focusing on issues that we care about would have been more important and would have won people like me over.

Sadly, all we saw Aoun and the FPM do in the past few years is dismiss the will of the people and compromise over it to get what they want. Whether it’s oppressing atheists, clinging to crippling sectarianism or perpetuating opaqueness in governing, Aoun and the FPM need to step up their game when it comes to civil rights. Gender equality, fair election laws, free speech, a coherent policy on the refugee crisis that isn’t just xenophobic fear-mongering, civil marriage and personal status laws among many, many others are issues the FPM and Aoun have severely failed at. Just so you get an idea of how bad, if a Christian with no heirs dies, their estate goes to the government which then hopefully gives to charities and good causes to use. If a Muslim with no heirs dies, their respective religious authority gets the estate. The FPM block in parliament sought to amend that, but not by suggesting the same policy that’s used for Christians is used for all Lebanese, instead, they want the estates of heirless Christians to go to the Church… The allegedly secular, reformist and progressive FPM suggesting such a horrible amendment to an already horrifying law…

In Conclusion

I’m not happy about the Aoun presidency. Nor that it probably means getting Hariri back as PM, or that Frangieh will get the next round or maybe Geagea. I don’t like how Aoun got elected, by holding a temper tantrum for almost 3 years till everyone else just said, “alright fuck it”.

I hope this posts help frame my unhappiness at him becoming president, with a focus on the issues versus the usual emotion-fueled stances in politics. I hope it helps you reflect on this election as well, and realize that our next struggle is making sure we get an elections law that will get folks like Beirut Madinati and You Stink to power, so we don’t have to keep reliving the incompetence and disregard for the law and taxpayers these same politicians Aoun is part of, have been putting Lebanon through since before most of you reading this post (myself included) were born.

Gino’s Blog

Why Votes for Klink and Zorba Were Justified