What does Charbel Nahas really want?
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/May 05/16
Charbel Nahas, the former Labor and Telecommunications Minister and head of the secular group “Citizens within a State” (Mouwatinoun Wa Mouwatinat fi Dawla), is running for Beirut’s municipal elections. For the past year, Nahas’ name has been circulating among civil society groups and public figures. An alleged fighter for public matters, his candidacy does not come as a surprise to those who know of him and his interest in being involved in Lebanon’s politics and economic development.
However, political opinions and views of Nahas vary. Although he has always attempted to fight against the political sectarian system ruling over Lebanon, Nahas has had his share of benefits from the same political system he claims to be fighting. Nahas previously worked for a company owned by Saad Hariri, held two ministerial positions—due to his alignment with Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement. Furthermore, he was an economic consultant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has very strong relations with Assad’s allies in Lebanon —formed mainly during former president Emile Lahoud’s term— and he is considered a communist by some analysts who have always criticized the context and logic that “a communist can be part of a fascist government.”
Last year, amid the garbage crisis, Lebanon’s civil society could not remain silent and the You Stink movement was born; the movement organized a series of protests in an attempt to pressure the government into finding an environmentally sustainable solution for the garbage crisis. Consequently, many civil society activists became highly visible and were considered the leaders of the movement that was born within civil society. Several politicians tried to join or hijack the movement. However, You Stink activists decided: to ban politicians from joining the movement that was born to object their behaviors and policies. Nahas was no different from the other politicians; he also tried to steal the spotlight away from the movement. Being an economic and development expert, he managed to gain visibility through the media; however, he did not manage to convince You Stink activists or their supporters of his intentions.
Nevertheless, the You Stink movement failed for many reasons. Nahas did not only fail to become a part of the civil movement, he made sure it failed. Working with groups, such as We Want Accountability—that were more political than developmental, he allied with actors who had a negative impact on the You Stink movement on several occasions, and he—directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally— helped the corrupt political system push the You Stink movement to fail.
With the municipal elections in Lebanon nearing, particularly Beirut’s elections—scheduled for May 8, 2016—civil society groups have, once again, tried to be more involved, in an attempt to fight the corrupt political system in the country. Therefore, “Beirut Madinati” was formed, gathering a group of intellectuals and civil society members with no previous political involvement to run for Beirut’s municipal elections. And, once again, Nahas, who claims to support civil society, decided to run against them by forming his own list. It has not been confirmed, but several unofficial sources purported that Charbel Nahas had requested to be on Beirut Madinati’s list and was denied.
Neverthelss, his candidacy against the civil society group will definitely have a negative impact on them. In fact, Nahas’ ambition to become a member of Beirut’s municipal board is not something new. In 1998, after the well-known slogan “My country, my town, my municipality” was launched, Charbel Nahas ran for Beirut’s municipal elections against the political parties that had lined up together and were the dominant power at the time—however, the results were not in his favor. He lost the election and was fired from SGBL, which is owned by Maurice Sehnaoui.
Today, Nahas is trying to do the same thing. Although he continues to criticize Lebanon’s political corruption and allegedly supports civil society groups, Nahas has chosen to run against the only electoral list in Beirut that presents democracy, elections and change to Lebanese citizens, and specifically Beirutis, in a pragmatic sense. As a Lebanese citizen, Nahas has the right to run for elections; however, the alignment of the electoral lists in Beirut today reveals that in the past year Nahas has attempted to become more involved in public matters under the umbrella of civil society activists. This means that Nahas’ priority might not only be change and development, but rather ensuring that he has a spot among the new wave of activists who are engaging in politics and public matters and do not have a shameful past.
This makes one wonder what differentiates Charbel Nahas from the rest of the politicians or intelligence agents who belong to the corrupted system and have survived for ages only because they were capable of dividing and conquering? The politicians and agents who insist on weakening Lebanon’s civil society to prevent them from gaining any power, which would threaten the personal interests of Lebanese politicians.