Political Document of March 14th’s forces
The Bristol – 10 March 2011
Dear Lebanese,
In the spring of 2005 the Lebanese succeeded in putting an end to the security and political tutelage over national decisions. By doing so, they offered a model, the first in its kind, of a peaceful and democratic change in the Arab world. A peaceful political change that was achieved thanks to the vast popular involvement far from the methods of military coups, armed uprisings or foreign intervention.
From the first moment, due to its commitment to democratic values, this independence movement aimed at restructuring power through the ballot boxes. The free parliamentary elections of 2005 asserted, for the first time in decades, the refusal of the majority of the Lebanese of the practices of the past era, and the capacity of Freedom Square youth to restore the power to the people, and to prove that working through the constitutional institutions can guarantee the protection of stability and solve the big problems that were accumulated during the periods of internal strife and tutelage.
This independence movement extended its hand to all political parties in a bid to bring everyone to the state’s framework and to respect its constitution far from the monopoly of power. Unfortunately the other parties and particularly Hezbollah refused to acknowledge the end of the tutelage era and the results of the elections, staging a coup on the independence movement supported by regional forces. They aimed to topple the democratic system through imposing a theory that Lebanon is an open-war society and that Hezbollah’s arms have priority on the entity and the unity of the country and state as well as on freedom, stability, prosperity, law and justice. These parties insisted on pursuing the same practices of the past and worked on obstructing justice through impeding the formation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) which constitutes the only means to punish the criminals who assassinated a number of Lebanon’s leaders and innocent citizens.
The figures of this independence movement were subjected to waves of assassinations and intimidation, and a sit-in was organized in Beirut Central District for more than a year and a half after obstructing the government’s work through non-participation and resignation, in addition to creating divisive atmospheres through an unparalleled campaign of accusation of treason following the July 2006 war which targeted Lebanon and the Lebanese people paid the price. And after that through drawing red lines in the face of the army during Lebanon’s war against terrorism in the Nahr el Bared refugee camp. In addition to undermining our republican parliamentary system, targeting its foundations and impeding its continuity through the closure of Parliament and creating a vacuum in the presidency for a six-month period and in the end, capturing the capital Beirut and extending the strategy of using arms and intimidation to the Mountain and other regions of Lebanon which striped the political system from its capacity to work for the public interest.
In spite of the extreme harshness of these developments, the independence movement was able to survive and to maintain its attachment to the State and constitution and to the principle of extending the State’s sovereignty to all territories and to protect the Republic and its democratic system. This movement succeeded, through the government, Arab support and in cooperation with the international community, in bringing about a safety net that resulted in SCR 1701 to protect Lebanon from Israel’s aggression. And it succeeded also in establishing the STL to achieve justice and liberate political and public life from political assassinations. The movement renewed its popular mandate through the 2009 elections in which the Lebanese expressed their strong refusal to return to the pre-independence uprising period.
Once again, they refused the results of the elections and demanded to participate in the government with a blocking third, counting on the power of arms to hinder the country and institutions. Their demand was approved after they committed themselves to work for achieving the people’s priorities, adhere to the STL, respect institutions and refrain from using arms. However, this other party returned to the government, arms in hands, trying to impose its will on Lebanon, crippling every decision it doesn’t approve of, reneging on all its commitments especially the cooperation with STL, calling for an end to the concept of justice and relinquishing the tribunal, and making the Lebanese choose between freedom, justice and civil peace or security. The result, was paralyzing the Council of Ministers thus putting the country in an impasse once again.
Dear Lebanese,
The 6th anniversary of the rise of the Lebanese independence movement comes amid a wave of democratic uprising in Arab countries, which reflects the vitality of Arab peoples and their will for revival. These Arab revival movements carry authentic moral dimensions, based on three core values: freedom, dignity and justice. And they reject the regimes of hegemony, domination, autocracy and endemic corruption stepping out of the ideological space of the mono-party regime and paving the way for evolution and development in these countries. Through liberating their countries from constant impotence in front of the Israeli enemy, they refute the allegations of Israel being the only democracy in the region. For these are civil movements relying on youth who took the initiative form the old establishment and paved the way to overcoming confessional and ethnical problems on the basis of coexistence and citizenship, and bringing back the Palestinian cause to a strong Arab fold.
These movements are similar to the independence and freedom uprising in Lebanon which started following the martyrdom of PM Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005 and those who fell after him. For in the 14th of March, the Lebanese went to the streets infuriated, yet ambitious. Infuriated by the atrocity of the crime and of all the crimes that were committed for decades, and striving for independence, freedom, justice, dignity and building a strong, sovereign and just state. No one was implementing a decision taken by others but everyone considered himself an authentic partner in the ongoing battle for freedom, independence and civil state.
Whilst the 14 March movement was a model followed by the Arab world’s youth, it is unacceptable that Lebanon’s youth, the freedom pioneers, retreat and let Lebanon go back to the hegemony of one opinion and one party and the rise of a regime of tyranny, oppression and arms, and undermine the enablers of the one, sovereign, diversified, open, democratic and free Lebanese state thus accepting an authority which imposes itself as tutor on the Lebanese will through arms.
Dear Lebanese,
Today, Lebanon faces serious dangers which threaten its existence, entity and future of its children, most notably:
• The danger of losing its independence once again, and returning to religious and confessional divisions, which facilitate tutelage, while the Arab region is getting rid of tyranny.
• The danger of strangling its democracy and turning its system through arms to a one party and opinion regime.
• The danger of seeing a deterioration of the Lebanese living standards and losing their social and economic benefits which they preserved and developed in spite of internal and external shocks and despite of the world’s economic and financial crisis. Which means the danger of moving backwards and having the Lebanese wait for the assistance from a party or a state, as well as the danger of not pursuing the program of reform and development?
• The danger of dragging Lebanon into an external axis while the Arab world is regaining its decision and moving out of impotence and polarization for the benefit of external parties.
• The danger of driving Lebanon out of its international legitimacy. Facing these dangers is our responsibility, the responsibility of every man and woman and every young man and woman, the responsibility of the Christians as well as Muslims and the responsibility of local citizens as well as the expat community.
March 14 forces are engaged, based on their commitment to the interest of Lebanon and its people and for the sake of defending the free and democratic Lebanon and the civil state, to work with all Lebanese in order to defend the following national constants:
First: Reaffirming the adherence of March 14 forces to the principles consecrated by the Lebanese constitution and the national accord document known as the Taef Agreement most notably Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, finality, the unity of its people and territory, its Arabism, its commitment to Arab and international pacts, the democracy of its parliamentarian regime which achieved equality between its citizens, its free economic system, balanced development, the unity of its territory, the refusal of any segregation of people on the basis of their belonging, the rejection of any division or settlement and considering the coexistence pact as a source for the power’s legitimacy in addition to the commitment to the principle of parity between Christians and Muslims in power.
Second: Defending Lebanon’s threatened sovereignty through confining this mission to the state and the state alone in all Lebanese regions including the Palestinian arms inside and outside the camps, thus putting an end to the arms tutelage over political and social life in Lebanon and bringing down the heresy of making the defense of Lebanon the "specialty” of a party which divides the Lebanese into two categories:
• A group that only accepts their own rules and criteria based on their arms, which goes against the constitution and laws.
• While another group follows the common rule of law. This undermines national unity and threatens coexistence and ruins the integrity and respect of the institutions.
Third: Defending the right of the Lebanese to create a worthy state: The citizen’s civil state that is modern, free of confessional infighting, which ensures the basic freedoms to its citizens. Governed by the rule of law, and the principle of the separation of powers and their cooperation under the mechanisms set by the constitution, and where the judiciary branch is independent from political influences. A state in which the public sector is based on the principle of meritocracy, and where no group or person can use public finances and public institutions for their own personal interests.
Fourth: Defending the freedom and the right of the Lebanese people to live in a modern and open society, where religion is not used to advance political goals or to create closed and belligerent identities that encourages the “holy sacred” use of power. And where human beings are respected as individuals for their own worth, women as well as men, the privileges as well us the needy, workers as well as employers everywhere in Lebanon.
Fifth: Reinforcing the trust in the political system and strengthening stability and the social safety networks, to encourage investments rather than the transfer of capital outside of Lebanon because of the prevailing instability in the last decades. This will ensure the respect of the value of production and help in raising the level and quality of life for all Lebanese while subsequently working on the eradication of poverty, and creating new job opportunities for the youth of Lebanon, while putting an end to the constant emigration in our society. And in order to allow the state to plan for the future and protect its right to the national natural resources, and implement the social safety networks that protects the rights of our workers and the future of our retirees. While implementing the laws to protect nature, and preventing any abuse of the environment, while protecting our national heritage like it protects the health of our citizens, while making improvement in security, stability, economic growth, balanced regional development and sustainable improvement in the level and quality of life of the Lebanese.
Sixth: Defending the right of Lebanon’s youth to participate in drawing the framework of a new pluralistic and democratic Arab world. A free Arab world without powerlessness, tyranny, intolerance and violence. An Arab world that is able to defend its strategic interests through cooperation and solidarity. An Arab world capable, from its respected and dignified place in the world order, to impose a just solution to the Palestinian issue, in which the Palestinian people will regain their national rights thus casting down all the naturalization and scattering projects that are refused by all Lebanese.
Seventh: Reaffirming the defense of justice and the STL and accepting all its findings in order to stop the assassinations and achieve a true stability in the country. This tribunal is an accomplishment achieved by the Lebanese, who were the first to introduce the concept of justice in national and Arab life.
Dear Lebanese:
We are committed, standing before you, to work on and defend all these points, through a widespread, civil, peaceful and democratic movement in Lebanon and abroad, through:
1- The March 24 Members of Parliament and their allies.
2- The political parties.
3- The independent political forces.
4- The civil society.
And our principal effort remains to work with you, person by person, from the South to the North and from Beirut to the Mountain and the Bekaa.
Dear Lebanese,
There is no cause that is more important than Lebanon’s existence and its people’s coexistence.
That is why we reiterate today that we are committed to a diverse, free and democratic Lebanon, to a state of law and rights, a state of legitimate institutions and we accept no substitution to this.
We are committed to the support of the Palestinian cause, especially the establishment of an independent state and the right of return.
We are committed to the sovereignty of the state on all its territory and the need for our solidarity around the state to free the territories that are still occupied, while being committed to the international resolutions that support Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and justice.
We are committed to the plurality of our religious, political and intellectual creeds.
We are committed to the principle that all Lebanese should follow the Lebanese law and we oppose the formation of any mini-states within the Lebanese state.
We are committed to a free voluntary and dignified coexistence, protected by the Lebanese state.
We are committed to respect national pacts and to respect the constitution, the law and the principals of our republican parliamentary and democratic system and we refuse any coup or bypass of these values.
We are committed to the values of the republic and we reject isolationism, intolerance, and we condemn violence, assassination and terrorism.
We are committed to justice and the right of the Lebanese to a safe, free, dignified and prosperous life.
We are committed to the prosperity of our economy and its growth and to the wellbeing and development of our people.
We will not accept that an equation is imposed on our person, which says that living in security and peace will be in exchange of abandoning freedom, justice and the truth.
Because we believe that Lebanon is a final nation to all its people and we believe in the unity of this people and the nation’s institutions, we call upon all Lebanese, no matter to which confession, religion or party or region they come from to take part in confronting the plan to cast down Lebanon’s message and the dream of the Lebanese people to have a safe and prosperous state and endanger the concept of Lebanon’s existence as a historic space for dialogue between religions and cultures.
We declare this charter so that all parties can see how dangerous the situation has become and the need to cooperate and work on a national agenda to achieve consensus on our national principles and the unity of our people. Because Lebanon belongs to all its people and not only to a single group. And any efforts to prevail in Lebanon are doomed. So let us all work together to defend Lebanon and to preserve the freedom of its citizens and its democracy and building a civil state.
Dear Lebanese,
Let us meet next Sunday at 10 a.m. holding the Lebanese flag only, in your square,
Freedom Square where the voice of the people will be stronger than the rattle of arms.
