Middle East Focus: Sectarianism and Watermelon Politics: Lebanon, Iraq, and the Middle East…………..

Arabia Deserta

Sectarianism and Watermelon Politics: Lebanon, Iraq, and the Middle East…………..

“An estimated 5,000 people rallied in Beirut for a secular government that would separate religion from politics, organizers said. The Sunday demonstration, called Lebanon's first "secular pride" parade, was informally organized through social networking sites, such as Facebook, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. The demonstrators said they aimed to change Lebanon's government system, which can approve or deny jobs based on religious affiliation. "This type of system has brought only war and chaos," said Yasser Andari, a member of Lebanon's Druze community. "We want a government that looks at all people as people."……….”

Okay, it is an admirable quest on the face of it. What they don’t realize, or maybe they do, is that religious rule and especially sectarianism and confessional-ism are desirable to the region’s dictators and potentates. Sectarian conflicts keep people too distracted by their own hatreds to pay attention to such insignificant issues as freedom, absolute monarchy, and corruption. Sectarian and religious passions are very useful tools to the oligarchies that own the Arab world.

They should remember that in their own 2009 elections when the March 14 movement (Hariri and other right-wingers) and its Arab oligarchy financiers relied heavily on sectarian passions to defeat Hezbollah and its allies. The election voting was clearly along sectarian lines, with over 90% of Sunnis voting for the right-wing and over 90% of the Shi’as voting for Hezbollah and Amal. The Christian vote was split between the two.
Besides, if you eliminate sectarianism in politics, guess who may be elected leader of Lebanon? Yep, very likely he will.
Unless they are only against sectarianism by the “other” sects. That is the way in the Arab world: everybody is against sectarianism by members of the opposite sect, but not if it is among their own sect. In Iraq, they call it “nationalism” when it is practiced by Ba’athists and former Ba’athists, and sectarianism if practiced by Shi’as.
I call all that “watermelon politics”.
Cheers
mhg

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