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Thursday, March 10, 2005Lebanon and TrustWhat's most striking about the pro-Syrian demonstrations of late is the amazing lack of social trust they indicate. You have to ask yourself, what do the Hezbollah protesters know that we don't? They are said to be the most powerful force in Lebanese politics. They turned out fantastic numbers for the demonstrations... And yet, looking to the left and looking to the right and seeing none but partisans to their cause, the official response of the demonstrators was: We need outsiders to be in charge. To read the Times and others, you'd get the impression that the Hezbollah demonstrators were a major force and that the pro-democracy demonstrations paled in comparison... So why doesn't Hezbollah wish to put it to an open vote? Why do they feel that Syria needs to set the agenda for a country that they supposedly dominate? The pro-democracy demonstrators exhibibited a tremendous amount of trust. They trusted that what they were doing was worth the risk to life, limb and everything they had. Hama rules, of which everyone is talking, were not going to be used against the pro-Syrian Hezbollah sponsored march - there was no risk. But the pro-democracy protests had to trust that their voice was too powerful to suppress, that either the Syrians would be cowed or that their deaths would matter. While the pro-democracy protesters trust that truth, justice and history are on their side, Hezbollah would rather trust the Assad family than its fellow citizens. Again, I ask, if they're so powerful, why don't they trust in their place in a free and independent Lebanon? What do they know that we don't? The lack of trust is the reason why ultimately Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian movement will fall. People note how the economic burdens brought down Soviet communism. But communism also fell because it cost too much to enforce. When even the most powerful man in the Soviet Union had to wake up in the morning knowing that a coterie of his "camrades" might that day declare him a traitor to the cause, setting in motion his burial first in the ground and then in the archives, it was too much. The system couldn't last because people were too busy protecting themselves to nourish it. The same lack of trust characterizes the pro-Syrian element. Every serious member of this movement, to judge by its actions and its statements, lives in fear that his own country will reject him if Syria isn't there to back him up. How embarassing to need an eye doctor to watch your back in what is supposedly your own neighborhood. The Lebanese people deserve better. Even the Hezbollah supporters among them. Here, by the way, is Friedman's take; as usual for these matters, it's pretty good. 
posted by gbarto at 7:46 PM |
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