Posts Tagged ‘Constitution’
Where Lebanon from here? Structural political change is an obvious requirement. What intermediary reforms?
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 7, 2019
Where Lebanon from here? Structural political change is obvious. What intermediary reforms?
Lebanon is a very tiny State (about 10,000 sq. km) with a reduced population of less than 5 million and 19 officially religious sects having the sole monopoly of individual registry.
With the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 (by a majority of a single vote in the UN), Lebanon has but a single land trade route to the rest of the world through Syria.
Since the creation of Israel (our existential enemy) daily trade and communication of our people have been blocked.
Unless political close relationship is established with Syria, there is no possibility to encourage the productive sectors in industry and agriculture or even in financial sectors.
The current financial fiasco in Lebanon has proven the tight interaction between Syria currency and Lebanon overvalued currency (linked to the dollar since 1994).
The impact of Lebanon tenuous currency has directly affected the currency of Syria since most of their entrepreneurs deal with Lebanese banks for their imports.
Our highway robbers of militia/mafia “leaders” are controlled by their Godfather:
- Nabih Berry has been chairman of the Parliament since 1994 without discontinuity. He is every-time elected by the entire deputies, give or take a couple of deputy. The reason for this is that Nabih has supported every deputy to acquire a monopoly of a consume good, energy, financial transaction, services… Berry has transformed our Ponzi scheme system into an anomy system.
- Nabih Berry considers himself the sole interpreter of the Constitution, although we have no idea which constitution is to guide us: the initial constitution of 1943 or the constitution of the Taef ( Saudi Kingdom) in 1992
- Actually, the Constitution is basically scarecrow that nobody abide by and is repeatedly baffled on the basis of urgent trade-off among the sectarian parties. We do have officially 19 religious sects, each one maintaining the citizens’ private registry.
- What Berry and most of the deputies elected by the sectarian parties and enjoying astronomical privileges is to wipe out, by a general amnesty, all their highway robberies during the last 30 years, and escape facing justice. The mechanism is to create special Courts elected by the parliament deputies itself.
- As long as Berry is still in power, Lebanon will never experience any reforms or any kind of change in its political system
Why the Lebanese upheaval is blocking the Parliament to meet in sessions?
Posted by: adonis49 on: November 22, 2019
Why the Lebanese upheaval is blocking the Parliament to meet in sessions?
Let me upfront clarify my position:
- Nabih Berry has been chairman of the Parliament since 1994 without discontinuity. He is every-time elected by the entire deputies, give or take a couple of deputy. The reason for this is that Nabih has supported every deputy to acquire a monopoly of a consume good, energy, financial transaction, services… Berry has transformed our Ponzi system into an anomy system.
- Nabih Berry considers himself the sole interpreter of the Constitution, although we have no idea which constitution we are guided: the initial constitution of 1943 or the constitution of the Taef ( Saudi Kingdom) in 1992
- Actually, the Constitution is basically scarecrow that nobody abide by and is repeatedly baffled on the basis of urgent trade-off among the sectarian parties. We do have officially 19 religious sects, each one maintaining the citizens’ private registry.
- What Berry and most of the deputies elected by the sectarian parties and enjoying astronomical privileges is to wipe out, by a general amnesty, all their highway robberies during the last 30 years, and escape facing justice. The mechanism is to create special Courts elected by the parliament itself.
- As long as Berry is still in power, Lebanon will never experience any reforms or any kind of change in its political system
لا جلسة لا تعبر عن ارادة الشعب.
لماذا يجب ان نمنع انعقاد جلسة مجلس النواب
1- لانه يوجد شك بدستوريتها
2- لانها لا تطرح اي قانون يحمي ودائع واموال اللبنانيين في المصارف ولا تحاسب اصحاب المصارف وحاكم مصرف لبنان
3- لاننا لا نثق بهؤلاء النواب الذين يمكن لهم ان يعدلوا ويضيفوا ويحزفوا من قانون العفو لكي يحموا انفسهم.
4- لان على جدول اعمالها بنديين قد يحرما اللبنانيين من استرداد الاموال العامة المنهوبة ومعاقبة السارقين وحرامية السلطة الفاسدة
وهذين البنديين:
. البند الاول، قانون هيئة مكافحة الفساد والذي ينص على ان الحكومة تعين اكثر من نصف اعضاء الهيئة، يعني فاسدون يعينون فاسدين لمكافحة الفساد.
. البند الثاني، قانون تشكيل محكمة خاصة لمحاسبة سارقي المال العام، ويجيز في احد بنوده على ان مجلس النواب هو من يشكل المحكمة ويعين القضاة،
وبهذا يكونون قد ضربوا استقلالية القضاء واستولى المتهمون بسرقة الاموال العامة على المحكمة، يعني حاميها حراميها.
ايها اللبنانيات واللبنانيون امنعوا الجلسة بشتى الوساائل،
Tidbits and notes. Part 298
Posted by: adonis49 on: July 27, 2019
Tidbits and notes. Part 298
The racist “Silent Majority”, who cannot suffer free opinions Not matching its belief system, exercises undue tyranny and biases on the minorities, under all forms of government.
US colonies wanted independence because they wanted to maintain the slave trade for their plantations after England banned the trade. Since then, USA is enslaving people around the world by all means available
The USA constitution was Not meant for people of Color, Red, Black or Yellow. The Right to own guns was a right to shoot at every person of color who trespass the plantation. Time to interpret this Constitution in the context of the period.
Les Americains, avant les Europeens, croient en la réalité de la “race”. La race devient L’ enfant innocent de mére Nature. Une affaire de hiérarchie
Anyone can edit most Wikipedia pages, and the site counts 36.7 million accounts, 121,000 of which have edited something in the past month.
The next level is administrator, of which there are 1,142; elected by about 12,000 eligible members of the community, they can block users and delete many (though not all) pages. Bureaucrats are higher-level administrators, and there are only 18 in English-language Wikipedia.
There are 36 stewards who “hold the top echelon of community permissions.” A 10-person Arbitration Committee “is analogous to Wikipedia’s supreme court.” Jimmy Wales told the Guardian that he’s the “constitutional monarch”: “Like the Queen. It doesn’t mean I have any actual power.”
You are as many as the number of languages you know (I guess could read in the original, and actually read and comprehend?)
Qui s’ interesse a un paradigme depasse’? Tous ces genies qui ont contribue’ a nos connaissance, tres peu de gens s’interessent aux origines des assumptions et leur procedures.
Giving birth is far more a mystery than death. And yet, the processes of birth is more understood than dying. Meaning, it is our psychic than fabricates more mysteries for us Not to be absorbed or swallowed.
The philosopher of Athens, Anaxagoras, demanded that the citizens of Athens define what they claim to be “gods”. How a reasonable person can adore an entity that he cannot know? Anaxagoras was judged as a heretic and banned. He took refuge in Lampsaque of Milet in Turkey.
The “citizens” of Athens were close-minded and de-facto controlled by adventurer aristocrats (Same thing for the British empire) who have great influence on the common “citizens”. It is the talented and hard working “strangers” who built the city. Classical Europe fabricated a mythical “democratic” City-State Athens
The haitairies d’Athens (the strangers), similar to modern gangs of youths, had their own code (of honors) their languages (slang), feast and…
“Nous sommes des riches citoyens d’ Athens, et les pauvres meteques affluent pour le miel. Quand nous vainquerons Sparte, on les transfera a Sparte pour la peupler”. And Sparte occupied Athens and dismembered Athens empire.
A black female cat is hiding behind a flower pot, her behind blocked by a wall. The male cat is looking at her and waiting. And you claim that sex is Not controlling our behavior.
If it were Not for the internal civil wars among Greece city-States, the Roman empire would not have emerged that soon. The Mediterranean sea would have been split between two merchants empires: Carthage and Athens. Carthage would have conquered Africa and Athens would be in constant wars with Persia, Turkey, and the northern Caucasian people around the Black Sea.
To read the short stories of Dino Buzzati “Les nuits difficiles” and “Les 7 messagers”
To read “Madame Socrate” by Gerald Messadie’. All you need to know about the city-state of Athens.
After the retreat of the Syrian Troops from Lebanon, what then? What Social and Political System? What Electoral System? (Dec. 5, 2004)
Note: This article was written a year before the Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon as the international squeeze on mandated Syria was on to vacate Lebanon. The dialogue on “what Lebanon we want for after the Syrian withdrawal” is still not serious and very superficial.
There are nowadays heated discussions about the parliamentary laws for the coming election in April and the heavy interference of the Syrian intelligence services in our internal affairs. The coalitions of pro and con the current political orientations of the government in Lebanon have missed their targets. Their political programs are non existent. Their political discourses are plagued by coded insinuations of pure sectarianism and a coward evasion to face the requisites of the future. The society has made a full circle to where it was before the civil war.
The only differences are that: 1) the Moslem bourgeoisies (Sunni and Shiaa) have captured a sizeable share of the economy compared to the overwhelming monopoly of the Christian, especially the Maronite, bourgeoisie and 2) the polarization of the citizens into sectarian enclaves is almost complete throughout the land.
How the retreat of the Syrian forces from Lebanon would change this stagnant social fabric if we are still apprehensive of asking the right questions? What forces would replace the Syrian forces to ensure law and order if there are no communication among the political parties? How the Lebanese citizens could ever fall again into the trap that foreign powers could guaranty a long lasting stable political system that satisfies the interest of all the citizens? We all know that the Lebanese Army (soldiers and officers) is old and still is no match to the entrenched militias who have been governing ever since the Taef agreement.
If Lebanon is to experience a profound and lasting rebirth, drastic political reforms have to be discussed at all levels in the society. These reforms should attack the fundamentals of a civilized society, mainly a new Constitution and the clipping of the sectarian powers that is insidious in every phase of the citizen life and status. What I propose is an alternative that would make digging of trenches a worthwhile endeavor if no rational responses are offered for a compromise.
I will develop two facets of Lebanon in the future: First, the fundamental internal changes needed in the Constitution and second, the four political problems that are dividing the Lebanese society: Mainly the presence of the governments with all its institutions in the South, the disarming of the Palestinian camps, the dismantling of all the armed militias, including Hezbollah and obviously, the withdrawal of the Syrian troops and its intelligence services. The Constitutional acts to be discussed are as follow:
Half the parliament members should be represented by the female sex in accordance with the spirit of a true democratic representation.
The rationales: Women are more than half the population and their intrinsic problems are more intimately understood by them as well as their solutions. They will be the guarantee that their rights are fully considered, applied and secured.
2) Election laws should be revisited.
Every one who voted twice in any general election, municipality or parliament, and who can read and write in the Arabic language should be eligible to be a candidate. No fees should be attached to the application for candidature in order for the election to be for the people and by the people.
The minimum age for voting should be 18 so that new spirits and demands become major factors in political programs.
3) Part of the parliament members should be elected on the basis of individual departments that would guarantee the fair representation of all religious sects.
The rationales: Electoral districts should include between 15,000 and 25,000 voters and a male and a woman deputy elected. This system might prevent unknown candidates to win by taking advantage of the notoriety of the other candidates on the list. Also, this system will insure the representation of all sects implicitly and save the Constitution to be discredited by explicitly requiring that Christians and Moslems be equally represented.
Part of the parliament members should be elected on political party lines and syndicated affiliations and on the proportional basis.
The rationales: The political life in Lebanon is almost non existent because the political parties have been weakened and sidelined after the civil war. There is a strong link between the immigration of the youth and the political void that excludes them from expressing their dreams and their needs of varied opportunities.
I suggest that the election law allows voters to select two political parties so that part of the members should represent the political parties that come second in the ballot boxes. The second choices should be among parties that are non sectarian historically or have proven to include other religious affiliations in their membership.
The rationales: The non sectarian political parties should also be included in the first choice list of parties. The second choice is important so that sectarian parties would embark on programs that would promote them to be acceptable by many more than one sect.
Every one of the 17 or so religious sects should be represented by one member in the parliament.
The rationales: It is becoming urgent that responsible and legitimate discussions on religious differences be aired to the public and how these different values might be affecting the interests of all citizens..
Decentralization and autonomy of the districts in the administration and financial spending on projects and programs so that competition heighten performance and efficiency.
The rationales: Many ministries have to be eliminated and decentralized so that communities start enjoying the benefits of the concept of subsidiaries. Ministries like Education, Youth, Sport and Health should be dismantled and regrouped for the administration of the districts (Mouhafazats) and a post of a general counsel, for each one of these ministries, attached to the Prime Minister, has to be created in order to coordinate and harmonize among the administrations of the districts. The districts have to keep three quarter of the tax revenue without the need to be redistributed by the Ministry of Finance at later date. I suggest that Lebanon should be divided into only three districts having a continuous link from the sea to the Bekaa Valley.
Beirut should NOT have a special status since all the central administrations are located in the Capital and would enjoy the expenditures of the central government anyway.
Competition for performance and attraction of investments would drive these districts into steady growth in all fields. The Mouhafazat should enjoy their seaports, local airports and equal number of citizens and land size. The local airports should service the internal requirements, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, and Cyprus.
Election of the administrative bodies of the Mouhafazat should take place with the elections of municipalities. The Northern and Southern regions should retain three quarter of the tax revenue for four years, the middle region two third and Beirut a third. These proportions should be revisited on the fourth year to establish an equitable balance. As working examples, the North region might include the departments or (Cadaa) of Jbeil in the south all the way to the northern borders of Lebanon and the Bekaa and Hermil to the East; the South region might include the departments of Shuf in the north all the way to the southern borders of Lebanon and the Hasbaya and Rashaya in the East. The Middle region might include the departments of Kesrwan in the north, Aley in the South and Zahle in the East.
Civil marriage should be the law of the land. Providing options outside the civil law is tantamount of increasing the power of the religious sects by their effective means of rendering the law virtually weak and inexistent
All marital rights and responsibilities, like heritage, divorce, adoptions and so forth should be governed by civil laws.
The rationales: It is about time that sectarian powers to our every day life are reduced to their bare minimum and allowing the citizens to mingle, communicate freely and do commerce freely among them.
The President of the Republic should be elected by the people for 4 years with the option of being reelected for another single term.
The rationales: It is of paramount importance to curb this vicious cycle of making a mockery of the Constitution every six years in order to prolong the term of the President. A four years term with option for another full term would give strong incentives for the President to perform in order to be reelected for a second term. Personally, I would encourage the citizens to desist in reelecting a President for a second term.
Ambassadors Extraordinary should be appointed in Beirut and Damascus.
General Commissioners for the inter commerce and common policies should be attached to the Prime Ministers in Beirut and Damascus.
Adonis Diaries 