Political Statement on the Latest Political Developments in Lebanon

Mustafa Adib’s turndown for forming the government came to raise the level of danger to Lebanon, its fate, its entity and its existence, due to the dependence of its political system and its capitalism that subjected it to American pressure and foreign interference on the one hand, and because of this system's sectarianism through which the authoritarian political system and all its sectarian binaries practiced exploitation, confessionalism, corruption and the plundering of public money on the other hand. Thus, all attempts to revive this system failed. Neither the government of "national unity" headed by Hariri that the popular uprising toppled succeeded, nor did the government of the "parliamentary majority" headed by Hassan Diab worked, and not even did the "mission-focused" government work after it was aborted in its infancy.

Yes, the French initiative fell in its first version due to two sets of factors: international and regional divisions over how to manage the conflict and balances in Lebanon, and about the direction of its political investment in the ongoing confrontation in the region; and the sectarian contradictions rising locally around the interpretation of the national charter and the inherited rights in dividing ministries and about creating new norms that are added to previous ones in light of a sectarian political system that only resulted in failure, unemployment, poverty, the embezzlement of public and private money, and the constant mobilization of feelings of fear and anxiety among the Lebanese.

The recent attempt at government formation failed in light of the French efforts to renew their guardianship over Lebanon, and in the midst of the two ruling sides’ efforts to establish their new norms: from the club of former prime ministers who bear the greatest responsibility for what the country ended up with in terms of failure, devastation, impoverishment and corruption, and here they are now seeking empowerment from abroad to form governments in their own way and to allow and prohibit what is permissible or not permissible in them; moving on to the other side, which in the name of the Shiite dichotomy and the rule-of-thirds tried to sanctify its hold on the Ministry of Finance, as if the solution to the sectarian issue would only be by consecrating it.

The formation attempts have failed and the initiative has temporarily faltered, but the new tutelage project led by French President Emmanuel Macron is continuing, and he is preparing to consecrate his role as an international sponsor of the existing local balances, and as a faithful servant of the interests of the West and the security of the Zionist enemy, specifically during the period of relative retreat of the American administration due to its presidential elections, and under the pressure of the exacerbation of political, economic and social crises. Amidst these factors, the warships of Western countries, their fleets, and their security men line up in the port and within our territorial waters, leading to the deployment of UNIFIL forces in the vicinity of the port and the neighborhoods of Beirut, in conjunction with tacit official approval and comprehensive political silence by all the ruling parties. This is with the knowledge that these external interventions have their local arms, from political forces, religious institutions, "humanitarian" associations, relief teams, media outlets and paid trumpets, which interact with calls for federalism and calls for neutrality that practically echo the path of fragmentation, regional and Emirati-Bahraini normalization and the subsequent calls for neutrality in regards to the usurper Zionist enemy and who kill, injure, bomb and displace the Palestinian people every day.

All of this is taking place while the Lebanese are lining up at the doors of embassies to escape the sense of hopelessness and the accumulation of crises caused by the ruling powers, and here they are riding death boats towards the Mediterranean cemetery to escape from one hell to another, after hundreds of thousands of families lost their savings, sources of income and purchasing power, amidst the anticipated collapse of the health sector under pressure from the spread of the Corona virus, the arbitrariness of official policies and the approaching implementation of the decision to remove subsidies, which will have major repercussions on prices and the cost of living. The Lebanese are living through a bitter historical period that almost topples the basics of their daily existence, while the ruling powers aim for nothing but the struggle for shares and spoils, as they cooperate with each other to protect the existing system that caused all of this, and to cover up the corrupt who have used monetary and financial policies for decades to rob public and private wealth. Neither do they hesitate to make concessions after concessions to their guardians of abroad, while they offer their people nothing but anxiety, hunger, and death in their clienteles and sectarian struggles, as has happened recently in the events of Loubieh, Khalda, Tarik al-Jadidah, Mirna al-Shalouhi ... All of this formed the appropriate political ground for the dangerous security events taking place in the North, in manifestation of the dangerous role played by terrorist groups and the regional forces supporting them, as a number of martyrs in Koura, Akkar and Minya, both military and civilians, fell during their attacks.

In light of the intensification of external pressures and interference and the exacerbation of the crisis of the subordinate rentier sectarian system, the Lebanese Communist Party believes that facing the crisis today requires the overthrow and termination of this system and the decisive transition to a secular, democratic, resistant state. The entrance to this transition is through a transitional national government with legislative powers from outside the ruling system, and for this government to be entrusted with developing a plan for political and economic change and salvation and to place the burdens of collapse upon those who were enriched and benefited from the plunder of the Lebanese’s savings and wealth, in conjunction with the enactment of an electoral law based on proportional representation system, without sectarian constraints, and with Lebanon as one electoral district. This should go hand in hand with set of legislative, institutional, judiciary, administrative reforms.

Protecting Lebanon's independence, sovereignty, and the right of its people to resist cannot be achieved through excessive retreat to primitive sectarianism and destructive and fragmented sectarian rhetoric, nor by transforming - based on wrong political calculations - into a fortress that practically and objectively defends the historical injustices and defects of the miserable Lebanese sectarian system. Such an approach is, precisely and fundamentally, what was and is still aspiring to and begged by the majority of the local sectarian political formations supported by external forces that are working to implement the “deal of the century”, fragment the region and impose normalization with the Zionist enemy, leading to the final and humiliating termination of the cause of the Palestinian people as a prelude to imposing complete domination on the Arab peoples. In such circumstances, the Lebanese Communist Party believes that protecting independence, sovereignty, and the people's right to resistance can only be achieved by breaking the tutelage and subordination, overthrowing the existing sectarian system, and achieving what the Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF), and October 17th popular uprising had aimed for.

We aim that the party’s anniversary this year to be a major political event in the direction of escalating the entire popular movements across the country. We need to take the opportunity of the 96th anniversary of our party to call on all sectors and departments of LCP to organize a broad program of activities, seminars, celebrations and movements to commemorate the occasion and in preparation for taking to the street on October 24 in Beirut, under the party's slogans and flags and the banner of the national democratic revolution.

Finally, we call at the same time to launch all initiatives and coordinate them from now to serve this goal and to commemorate the first anniversary of the uprising in the regions and their squares in preparation for the central action in Beirut on October 17 and to consider it as one of the platforms for open confrontation with this subordinate system and in order to tip the balance of power and build the widest national coalition that launches the alternative political project.

Beirut, September 29, 2020

The Political Bureau of the Lebanese Communist Party