In Beirut on Thursday 6/8/2020, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the scene of the massive explosion that killed at least 137 people and left some 5,000 wounded. As he walked through the historic Gemmayzeh neighbourhood with its century-old buildings – many now destroyed or unsafe – he spoke to the victims and consoled people with frayed nerves.

As he was walking a Lebanese woman criticized him for sitting with the corrupt Lebanese leadership with the words: “You are sitting with warlords”. “I’m not here to help them, I’m here to help you,” he replied, before they entered into a long, silent embrace.

During this visit he called for political change in Lebanon but insisted that France couldn’t interfere in Lebanon’s domestic politics. Macron called for a “transparent international investigation” into the Beirut explosion. He also pledged that he would help gather much-needed humanitarian aid, including for the displaced, who are estimated to number 300,000. According to avaaz.org, over 61,000 people in Lebanon have signed an online petition to “place Lebanon under a French mandate for the next 10 years” as of Friday morning.

Comment:

At a time of crisis, the vultures come to feast on what’s left. Vultures sense death and destruction. They fly over their prey when they sense death is imminent, and then tear the flesh of the prey when it has succumbed to death. Vultures are attracted to rotten corpses and devastation. So is the case with European colonialists. They love to take advantage of desperate situations in colonized countries. Unlike animal vultures, however, they are the ones who have caused people’s suffering to begin with. They kill, ruin and then exploit.

Lebanon: its flag, borders and constitution – with all the chaos, corruption and sectarianism that surrounds it – is a direct result of French policies. What we are witnessing in is the realization of the French vision for Lebanon: a desperate, divided and unstable country, which at any time can destabilize the region.

When France created the state of Lebanon, which we know today, it placed all the necessary ingredients to make it the powder-keg of the Middle East. It designed a sectarian system giving power to the Maronite Christians making them forever dependent on foreign (Western) support. A political elite of corrupt, sectarian and obedient puppets of Western super powers has plagued the country ever since. The current corrupt leadership of Lebanon is therefore a direct consequence of French colonialism.

France’s brutal history in Algeria is well-known. So is its role in one of the bloodiest genocides in human history, Rwanda in 1994, where it openly supported the regime that carried out the bloodbath. France’s policies in Lebanon is just as brutal as its consequences can be felt in 2020 – more than 60 years after country gained so-called “independence”.

The French president hugging the Lebanese woman is like watching an abuser hugging the one he has abused. Like a killer embracing the children of the mother he has just slayed. Like a rapist consoling his own rape victim. It is utterly despicable.

The talk of “international investigations” and “foreign aid” will get Lebanon nowhere. The West has “aided” Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East more than enough with their brutal policies, wars and involvement in civil wars in Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.

The future for Lebanon is connected to the future of Levant and the Muslim world as a whole. Ties must be totally cut off to the Western colonialists who only seek to exploit the country and continues to support its corrupt political leadership and economic elite. Lebanon’s fate is tied to its neighboring Muslim countries. Once Syria, Jordan and Egypt witness real political change and the establishment of a system ruling with Islam, by the Muslims, will its future be prosperous once again. Until then… vultures will keep on coming.

Taimullah Abu-Laban