❊ How The Anti-Sectarian Movement Lost Its Way

Nadine Al-Ali has a piece on what happened in the latest anti-sectarian rally in Lebanon. To me the most important paragraph in her report is this one:

the current groups organizing the rallies are overlooking the civil demands of many independent individuals taking part in the gatherings and are only stressing on attacking what she referred to as “Hariri economic policy” while banning any discussions about Hezbollah and its arms.

The problem, in my opinion is the unmistakable leftist slant of the “official” anti-sectarian movement. They are turning their rallies into class-war populist curse-fests and are ignoring the real reason they are there: To fight political sectarianism, an issue with a wide-ranging base of support that spans the left and right of the political spectrum.

Perhaps the left doesn’t know it, but many people support the “Hariri economic policies” (liberal pro-growth, pro business policies) but are also against political sectarianism. The Neyla Tuenis and Hanin Ghaddars of the world who see the practical side of secular government, the many business owners who don’t like mixing politics with religion. Why are these voices ignored? People on the left don’t like liberal economics the same way that people on the right don’t like armed “resistance” militias roaming about the land. Why give one issue preference over the other?

The anti-sectarianists have missed the chance to portray their movement as a serious, wide-embracing intellectual quest for a separation of church, mosque and state. They have opted instead for class war and turned their rallies into comical versions of labor union strikes, and that alienated an important chunk of their would-be supporters. What a pity.

Update: Do check this good video report by New TV on secularists who decided not to join the rallies.