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We need not look further than the current value system for such grim confirmation—its stench is the first sign of this rotting and corrosion.

How is it that dealers and middlemen for weapons sales, drugs and spoiled foods are ministers and parliamentarians? The prominent figures of these societies are butting heads for such positions, proof of which is their brazen status in a society where public admiration is won on a basis of ability to raise money. Those who follow this lead become hunters; the few who do not, become victimized and poor.

Our media is clearly dominated by decedent intellectuals, both civil and religious. Mockeries such as the fatwa which allows a female employee to mix with her male colleagues provided she nurses him are typical of this problem. Such bigotry is commonly displayed in public as was seen on a recent television program with a Sunni sheikh. When asked about a Sunni man's marriage to a Shiite woman he cried, “We do not marry their women, eat their food or pray for their dead”—no one said a word and there was no apology for this outburst. There are no doubt similar examples from all sides. Our society has unmistakably fallen to a degrading level where discussion is based on the intimacies of everyday life and is rife with primitive sectarianism. A quick look at the books people read, the programs they watch, or just a surf of the internet, is enough to show the extent and depth of this decay.

After all of this, are we really surprised about the course of events in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq?

Last year, the bombardment of the Qibab tombs in Iraq led to a wave of unprecedented sectarian violence and massacres that pushed Iraq to the brink of a civil war. Everything was lost, including the fight against the occupation. Is it really surprising that people disregarded the calls of their religious leaders, who immediately characterized the bombing of the tombs as a means of igniting violence? They ignored them because they are intent on fighting. Now, year upon year is passing without the necessary agreement between the groups to confront the occupation – Sunnis, Shiites, nationalists and leftists. How can they be nationalist if they do not unite? How can a national liberation movement be born?  

A national movement will not automatically be born through resistance against the occupation. Rather, this needs a national discourse focusing on reconciliation. It needs a society which clearly voices its opinion in the political process—about the administration run and headed by the US, and about Iran which is using Iraq as backdrop for its maneuvers as a regional power. Anything short of this will only worsen the situation.

Are we really surprised about what is happening in Gaza? Hamas fell into the trap of this clash over authority (if it can be so called), and into an unprecedented level of political and tribal clashes. Those unemployed and impoverished youths that are crammed into the Gaza Strip have been turned into tools and fuel for petty struggles, commandeered by the warlords who seek power that is no less petty.  

Was there any other option than this given that Israel systematically eliminates Palestinian leaders with wisdom and expertise? These leaders lie unreplaced as a result of the continuous violence of the occupation and the historical ruin of  Palestinian political mechanisms. The spread of corruption in the PA and Fatah has completely separated them from the reality of Palestinian daily life and formed an elite class which the people punished by voting for Hamas. There has been a complete shutdown of any future for a political settlement based on the map of Palestine since 1993. Instead, leaders remain content with the international community's vacant calls for implementation of their resolutions. How can we expect one thing when we do another? Or is a mental chaos prevailing along with the social and military chaos already present?

Neither should we be surprised about what is happening in Lebanon—that omnipresent deafness, those high psychological barriers that are prerequisites fpr a civil war. Is Syria tampering with our security? Or Israel? Or the United States? Is there an alternative to the stagnant polarization that has governed Lebanese political life since the sixties and is only on the rise? Has this schism at least been considered by each party and conclusions drawn as to where things are going? Have they taken into account the consequences of their action and inaction? Will they take responsibility or will they depend on the chaos and traditional loss of memory and absence of accountability present in Lebanese society? Do we continue to deny that Lebanon is governed by subordination and domination and then practice these every day? Where are the youth—the future generation, which does not subscribe to the repeated past? Where is the intellectual elite, which does not serve the prevailing regime?

For now, it is too late for Iraq and Palestine. It is slowly becoming too late for Lebanon.

This article was originally published in Arabic in al-Hayat, and translated into English by the Alternative Information Center (AIC) by request of the author.