Exasperated with the current state of affairs, the Lebanese might find it enlightening and soothing to read Riad Al-Solh’s response to the complaints regarding corruption, waste of public funds, nepotism and confessionalism in 1943, when he formed the government of independence: those are “the necessities of independence”.

In order for Lebanon to be independent, certain behavior or rules of conduct with foreign powers and nationally are necessary. In order for F.B’s (France and Britain) efforts to be successful and to grant Lebanon independence, Lebanese politicians behaved the way they did. At that time, the issues weren’t as overwhelming, they were limited to some plots of land, the electricity and tobacco companies’ concessions and a few public contracts.  The new Lebanese state and system adopted measures of compromise and pragmatism without which Lebanon as we know it now perhaps would not have been formed nor maintained. This was the story of the so called “first independence” and the story of the “second independence” of 2005 is not much different.

Since F.B, and through “mediation efforts” of Egypt and the US (E.U) and currently of Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US, “the necessities” have grown exponentially with Solidere, Sukleen, public debt and banks’ profits, while the talk on state building has become even more eloquent.

“The necessities of independence” require that 225 people, since 1943, are assassinated without any indictment. “The necessities of independence” require that we go into a civil war with hundreds of thousands killed and wounded and thousands taken hostage by warlords that we honor and whose photographs we plaster on our dirty balconies with our dirty linen.  The same “necessities” also require them to pay us for this advertisement.

“The necessities of independence” require that we be drowned in garbage, waste water and public debt while following the leader and seeking immigration.

“The necessities of independence” require us to name the streets after our occupiers, Foche and Clemenceau. The same “necessities” decree that we also name streets after Jamal Abdel Naser, Kennedy, Gandhi, Syria, Lebanon and Argentina in a strange cocktail that reflects a weird sense of urban planning, in a perpetuated tragicomedy scene.

“The necessities of independence” require us to scream “Thank you Syria” and “Syria out” and to curse the petrodollar and to assume and pretend that the “mediators” are do-gooders while we obediently await the result of the S.S (Syria-Saudi) “mediation efforts”. And this is what we call Independence Lebanese Style. 

Jawad Adra