This month’s Lebanese elections will be dominated by orphans and the ghosts of martyrs past. On the March 14 ticket no less than five children — Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt, Nayla Tueni, Michel Moawad and Nadim Gemayel — of slain politicians are all, in one way or another, forced to follow in a tragic tradition that has become the hallmark of Lebanese politics. Meanwhile, the opposition March 8 bloc has its own martyrs whose blood has helped make the soil of Lebanon so sacrosanct.
Yes indeed, we Lebanese do like honoring our dead, but the living must not be forgotten. It is of the utmost importance that our politicians, while recalling past sacrifice, do not lose sight of future obligations. Lebanon is a country dominated by its business community — its bankers, its financiers, its hoteliers, its restaurant owners, its retailers, its property developers, its traders and its small business owners.
From the mega-wealthy, who shape the Beirut skyline, to the shopkeepers on every street corner, business, more than politics, is what courses through Lebanese veins. Any future government, whatever its stripe, must provide to the electorate a robust economic blue print, a model to drag the country from its slough of despondency. Now is the time to deliver on the promises.
The good news is that regionally the markets are picking up, clawing back one third of the losses sustained since the meltdown. It is the first sign that the critically-ill patient is on the mend. More money will be pumped into the region, but this time it will be allocated prudently into those companies that have demonstrated they suitably restructured and shed the fat of corporate excess.
But this new financial nutrition will take time to filter into the region’s bloodstream, and in the meantime, new regulations must be adopted to ensure this new investment is safeguarded. Meanwhile, the price of oil is creeping upwards and this bodes well for regional economies.
For the moment, let’s hope the dead can breathe life into the living.
