Political life in Lebanon is full of misconceptions and counter-truth! One of those absolute misconceptions that Lebanese adore repeating is “Political inheritance”. Although it does exist, which is normal is such a small country (may I remind the Kennedy and Bush dynasties in the US), it is certainly not a major parameter in Lebanese politics. The 5 major figures in the political scene during the past 25 years or so have been: Rafic Hariri, Hassan Nasrallah, Michel Aoun, Nabih Berri and Samir Geagea. The assassination of Rafic Hariri brought Saad to politics against all odds. The common denominator of the 5 leaders being: Modest and rather poor family background. No political inheritance. The Jumblat and Arslan dynasties however, although the first one claims to be democratic and socialist, are feudal and there is no room for the emergence of a new non-inherited Druze leadership. In the other communities Rafic Hariri has dethroned the Salam, Yafi, Solh, Karame etc… Nasrallah and Berri took over the Shia from the Hamade, el Khalil, Husseini, el Assaad, while Aoun and Samir Geagea replaced emblematic figures such as Chamoun, Gemayel and Edde. Those new wave leaders are the tenors of their communities. The few exceptions such as the successors Gemayel, Frangieh, Chamoun, Edde, Salam, Karame etc….have no real impact in terms of leadership and popular base when compared to the tenors.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:45:06 +0000
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