Faced with an unprecedented public protest in Lebanon, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on Monday (October 21st) the adoption by his government of a series of economic reforms.
Among these measures intended to calm the anger of the street against the political class is in particular the halving of salaries of the President of the Republic, ministers and parliamentarians, current or honorary. The government, which held a special meeting on Monday, is also planning to adopt a new pension and social protection scheme before the end of 2019 and to create a national anti-corruption authority.
On the financial side, as the country faces a serious economic crisis, Saad Hariri announced that private banks would at the same time contribute to the reduction of the budget deficit, including through a tax on profits.
Are these measures likely to convince the demonstrators to stop moving? The political scientist and professor at the American University of Paris Ziad Majed, questioned by France 24, in doubt.
Do you think that the announcements made today by Prime Minister Saad Hariri can calm the anger of the demonstrators ?
Ziad Majed : It is unlikely that these ads, which are clearly intended to contain the anger of the street, put an end to the mobilization. The announced reforms demonstrate that the political forces that share power have been afraid of this mobilization and demonstrators who demand accountability. Reforms could have been made for several years since the country's political leaders agreed on the need to undertake them. It took several days of demonstrations to react and try to prove their seriousness, whereas they could have looked much earlier on the fight against corruption, on measures to control the budget, on the reorganization of failing public services and improving the living conditions of citizens. Instead, the various political forces, though associated within the Hariri government, had so far concentrated on laying charges and blaming blockades and their collective failures on one or the other. other of them, even Syrian refugees with uninhibited racism, or claiming that Lebanon is the target of a conspiracy. In reality, they each have their share of responsibility, and the Lebanese who have already heard such promises, even if they were less elaborate than those announced today, no longer have confidence in them.
How do you analyze the current movement that rejects the Lebanese political class as a whole ?
It is a healthy anger, a great popular uprising - I dare say - never seen in the contemporary history of the country, in the sense that it is a spontaneous and decentralized movement that has pushed citizens down through hundreds of thousands on the streets of several Lebanese cities, not just in Beirut, or in two or three cities. There is a general feeling of being fed up with the political class, perceived as arrogant, insolent and decadent. The protesters are determined to go even further than in the past in this challenge and in the radicality of their demands, namely to turn the page of a system they denounce in unison. They are outraged by the economic management of the country and the climate of impunity that reigns in this political class as corruption scandals multiply.
Can the protesters achieve their ends, that is, change the political system they denounce ?
Although this goal seems difficult to achieve, the fact remains that the moment Lebanon lives today is unique. And the credit goes to the protesters who have the courage to try to achieve this with great pride, dignity and even joy. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to change the game, it will take much more than a week or two of events to achieve change in political practices. And it is hard to believe that this same political class is capable of reforming the country and the system from which it feeds and which allows it to remain in power. Personally, I doubt it very much, just like the people who are asking for change and all of them go away, without exception.