Lebanon’s political model, a source of inspiration for pluralist societies
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Lebanon is the only state in the world that was founded by Christians and Muslims. This makes the Lebanese Constitution an example and a possible source of inspiration for pluralist societies, said Jean Fahed, president of Lebanon’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), in his address at the conference on "Dialogue and identity", in Budapest.
In Hungary, Jean Fahed spoke at a conference on "Dialogue and Identity" organised by the Hungarian Ministry of Justice to mark the 4th anniversary of the new Hungarian Constitution, which, in the words of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was at the congress, was "a necessity to show the constitutional identity of the Hungarian nation."
The adoption of Hungary’s Basic Law has led to a standoff with the European Union, since it incorporates religion, Church, nation and family, not as legacies of the past, but as values of the future.
In its preamble, the text refers to Christianity as a unifying factor of the Hungarian nation whose "spiritual and intellectual unity,” it is committed to preserve. For its critics, this is discriminatory towards atheists and other religions. It also conflates political and ethnic nation, and claims for the Hungarian nation, the Hungarian ethnic minorities living outside the borders of Hungary.
Thus, it could grant ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries the right to vote, possibly sparking conflicts with neighbouring countries with a large Hungarian minorities like Slovakia and Romania.
The constitution also opens the door to a possible ban on abortion by saying that "the life of the foetus must be protected from the moment of conception."
Minorities as corporate groups
In his address, Jean Fahed, the only non-European speaker, gave a quick overview of the history of empire, which, in 1,300 years, succeeded each other in the Arab world, from the Christian Lakhmids and Ghassanids in the 3rd century AD, to the Ottoman Empire through the Arab empires.
He tried to show that the official recognition of different ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious groups as corporate entities in this part of the world preserved the pluralism of these societies until the late 19th century.
However, the appearance of homogeneity-oriented Arabism, which dominated during the 20th century, cast a shadow on minority communities as corporate entities. This is why, constitutional secularism imposed on countries like Iraq and Syria swept under the rug Arab minorities.
By contrast, Lebanon’s communities were able to escape this tragic fate, at least in part, by anchoring the values of communal pluralism in the country’s 1926 constitution.
Hence, Jean Fahed stressed the novelty of the Lebanese Constitution and its role as a model, noting that the Lebanese state is the only one in the world founded by Christians and Muslims.
Unity, an ongoing reality
Protecting national unity is "a permanent goal of every Lebanese, done on a daily basis through dialogue among all components of society," Jean Fahed said. This is why Lebanon’s identity is “constantly born and renewed, in permanent evolution, a by-product of history and liberty.”
For the SJC president, Lebanon’s identity "is not a random fact, an impossible goal," but is something rooted in the mind and heart of every Lebanese, which led Pope John -Paul II to see Lebanon as "more than a country, but a message of freedom and pluralism for East and West."
Therefore, for President Fahed, in view of its complex demographic make-up, Lebanon’s political model, despite its apparent complexity, can be a source of inspiration for the growing number of religiously, culturally and ethnically pluralistic societies.
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28/04/2023 17:55
05/01/2022 18:01
