Beirut Madinati

by Karim El Mufti May 3, 2016

written by Karim El Mufti May 3, 2016

Berytus Nutrix Legum, or Beirut as cradle of the law in its Latin expression, has lost all meaning in times such as these, when our national institutions have become decrepit due to the decay of the political culture of the ruling class. As a result, local authorities (municipalities and federations of municipalities) are one of the few remaining legitimate institutions in the country, making it even more crucial, for the future of democracy in Lebanon, to hold the municipal elections in their due phase. It is in the name of democracy that Beirut Madinati (Beirut My City) has emerged as a political campaign to run in elections for the Municipal Council seats in Beirut. The negligence of past municipal councils in managing local prerogatives and taxpayers’ money has for many people engraved the idea that municipalities have little to no power and that decisional mechanisms strictly lie at a national

Karim El Mufti

Karim El Mufti is an associate professor of international law and the director of the Human Rights Legal Clinic at the law faculty of La Sagesse University in Beirut. He is a human rights and humanitarian law expert, researcher and activist. His research focuses on state-building in multicommunal societies, such as Lebanon and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1 comment

A Concerned Lebanese and Beirut Resident May 3, 2016 - 8:11 PM

Thank you for this great opinion piece, and for sharing the news about Beirut Madinati with your audience. At a time when *most* of the problems facing Lebanese stems from corruption, mis-management, and poor governance, sharing this information is not a political or partisan cause, it is a cause in support of human rights, human dignity, social well-being, economic development, public health, and pride. We should no longer accept excuses, us or others shrugging and saying “oh, that’s Lebanon” when the electricity goes out, the water doesn’t come, in bad traffic, or dealing with inadequate public institutions. We, all residents of Beirut, and all Lebanese, deserve much more than this.

For the sake of our lives, our health, our sanity, our children, our city, and our country, it is time for a changing of the guard, and resurgence of hope, optimism, and action in Beirut and all of Lebanon.

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Beirut Madinati

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