The dream of a better Lebanon remains afloat

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Dany H. Assaf is a lawyer and the author of Say Please And Thank You And Stand In Line: One Man’s Story of What Makes Canada Special and How to Keep it that Way.

Lebanon is a place in desperate need of a better tomorrow.

Since 2019, it has experienced a crisis in its banking sector, economy and currency; a government default on its sovereign debt, just before the COVID-19 pandemic made things even worse; and a devastating port explosion in its capital city. In the past year, war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed around 4,000 people. Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes in the south and northeast while the Lebanese army works to deliver on its promise of disarming the militant group.

But the Lebanese are dreamers, as is reflected in their renowned spirit of entrepreneurship. In much the same way that the sun never set on vast Imperial Rome, the sun might never set on the Lebanese “empire” of entrepreneurship that stretches across the world through the diaspora. It is hard to find a single place on the planet without a Lebanese business. And at its spiritual core, entrepreneurship is a belief in the best tomorrow.

Opinion: My beautiful Lebanon must find a way to escape its cycles of violence

Today, a window has opened for the Lebanese to urgently act on their belief in the best Lebanon of tomorrow for its beautiful youth – one that is independent, non-sectarian, strong and secure. There are genuine signs that this vision can now be realized. Lebanon finally has the generational national leadership needed to lay the foundations for success that’s built on two essential pillars: a nonsectarian political order and a unified state military force.

Lebanon has a war-hero president in Joseph Aoun, the former head of the Lebanese Armed Forces, who has also been awarded Lebanon’s medal of war three times. He espouses a key vision for secure statehood with his promise to “monopolize weapons” under the authority of the Lebanese state. The government having a monopoly on military power is a critical criterion for stable statehood. It is an imperative that rises above politics: In a strong, solid and properly functioning state, there is no place for militias.

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And Lebanon now has a prime minister, Nawaf Salam, a diplomat and former president of the International Court of Justice, who has called for an end to the political sectarianism that has plagued the country. The 1989 deal to end the Lebanese civil war, known as the Taif Agreement, thankfully ended the violence, but transitioned the conflict to a sort of political war by allocating power based on Lebanon’s many religious sects. For the country to properly heal from the pain and fractures of civil war, it must transcend its sects – and Mr. Salam certainly has the legal and political bona fides to push on this key issue.

A laser focus on the Lebanese national interest above all else is overdue. This would represent a delayed but enlightened evolution to a shared and united Lebanese identity worthy of its history as one of the world’s oldest urban and pluralistic societies.

More practically, this would allow the country to unleash the potential of its resilient and capable people. In a fair and nonsectarian system, the talents of every Lebanese person can be deployed to where they are most needed, rather than being assigned on the basis of religious affiliation, which is no way to identify the best person for a given task.

None of this is to underplay the serious security threats Lebanon faces. But like any other country, for better or worse, all Lebanese must have an equal say on all these issues without any subnational group or sect unilaterally determining the path forward. These kinds of decisions benefit from democratic consensus and collective wisdom; otherwise, by definition, they will produce weaker results. The Lebanese need to meet the test of these times and choose wisely, together.

And in a fractured world, Lebanon also presents a test – and prime opportunity – for the rest of the world. The core problems in Lebanon are in many ways the same ones plaguing the rest of the planet: conflict and a divided society. In that sense, supporting Lebanon serves as a case study for efforts to solve broader global and domestic issues.

While there seems to be a growing global consensus for helping Lebanon open a new chapter, there is a choir of voices – including the U.S., Europe, Israel, the Gulf States and Hezbollah – that must come together to achieve peace. In the recent words of Mr. Salam, “We have done what we needed to do. To go further, we need Arab and international support.”

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This is an opportunity for Canada to use its convening power to show strong leadership in global diplomacy. There is a void in the world of diplomacy, and on the heels of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement to recognize the state of Palestine, there is an extraordinary opening for Canada to navigate this complex and strategically vital region and rise further to this global occasion that honours our peacekeeping past. A more peaceful and rules-based world is one where Canada shines and thrives, and as Canada reorders its economic priorities, connecting more deeply with a country known for its entrepreneurship would be in the national interest, too.

Lebanon is also a test for Iran to play a constructive role, and for Israel to ensure mutual respect for borders. You don’t need to be a scholar of history to know that perpetual wars with neighbours can spark fires that can sprawl and burn everything down. There’s a reason the region’s ancient desert culture is marked by traditions of hospitality: when the unforgiving and indifferent landscape exposes the vulnerability of anyone who enters, interdependency – not hate – is what’s needed to survive.

There has been a lot of international intervention in the region in recent decades, too, and there haven’t been many clear wins for “Western values” to show for it. Lebanon thus also serves as a bite-sized experiment to show what these values mean, if anything, any more. It has a diverse, open and pluralistic history that is predisposed to much of what the West has been selling, and if those countries can’t meaningfully support Lebanon, it’s not clear how they can solve more wicked problems.

This may sound like just a dream, for Lebanon and beyond. But then, what is human progress and development if not a cumulative collection of our imagination and ideas?

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Consider the simple rock. Its original primary use for humans was as a weapon to hurt or kill. Today, rocks represent much more, including the imagination to find ways to mine them for minerals used to make rockets that allow us to explore other worlds altogether. These are essentially the same rocks; the only difference is the way that humans dreamt something different.

Consider, too, the striking cedar forests of Lebanon. They are famous for many things, but like the rock, these trees became something more because of what humans were able to imagine. Beyond simply admiring them, they were worked and shaped to create the ships that the fabled Phoenician fleets used to explore the unknown and seek new frontiers. These trees helped bring the world a little bit closer together. The land they grow on could serve that purpose, once again.

The humourist Will Rogers once said that diplomacy is the art of saying “nice doggie” until you can find a rock. But this cynical adage also shows us a way forward. After all, we’ve come a long way from our primitive use of rocks as weapons. We are exhausted of much of what this yesterday has wrought. We deserve to dream again of a better tomorrow – one that honours the best of what our shared humanity and imagination can offer the kids of Lebanon, Canada and beyond.