Aoun: Christians Seeking to Preserve Balance in Lebanon
President Michel Aoun on Thursday announced that Lebanon's Christians are “seeking to preserve balance” in the country.
“We in Lebanon are living together as Christians and Muslims, and as Christians we are always seeking to preserve balance, especially that we are living difficult circumstances resulting from the war in the region,” Aoun told Serbia's Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irinej during a meeting in Baabda.
The war in the region “was aimed at eradicating large groups and destroying entire regions,” the President pointed out.
06 June 2019, 18:56
51
Article 24 of the Constitution gives half of legislative seats to Christians. If Christians are one quarter of the population (Noam Chomsky says Shia Lebanese are more than half the population), then three Muslims balance one Christian.
Maybe he thinks Christian privilege in Lebanon is in jeopardy. Maybe he's right. If he can think one more step in that direction, he'll realize that that would be the best thing that could happen for Lebanese Christians.
06 June 2019, 19:57
01
At this moment of inter-Muslim schism, it may be best to keep the 50/50 balance in Parliament. The figures you mentioned about population distribution is false. I respect Chomsky on so many fronts but he is not a demographer.
07 June 2019, 03:56
30
How does that "balance" help the "inter-Muslim schism"? It sounds like you mean that Muslims won't be ready for citizenship until they learn to, well, learn to what? Respect their respective ethnic identities?
It is farcical to talk about "balance" when you're touting ethnic identity. There is no provable thing under law which could be called ethnic identity. The only identity that law understands is "citizen", leaving non-citizens with a residuum of rights. One day soon that distinction will disappear when all states recognize the same rights.
Lebanon has not had a census since 1934 because ethnicity is so controversial, says Wiki.
How would someone answer the census today? "My mother is Christian and my father is Sunni, but I'm a Shia convert?" It's impossible to imagine, but that means it has to be tried. What's the worst that could happen?
07 June 2019, 05:01
02
lol @"(Noam Chomsky says Shia Lebanese are more than half the population)"!
He also said that you should wait for the Mahdi.
