The latest of these is downtown Beirut, where barricades and barbed wire fortify the offices of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. On the one side, the duly elected Lebanese government clings tenaciously to power behind cohorts of armed soldiers backed by APCs. On the other, camped in tents, are thousands of demonstrators who seek to topple it. The government has its foreign backers: the United States, the United Nations, France and the EU, as well as such pro-Western Arab nations as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The protesters have theirs: Iran, Syria and their allies, Hizbullah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The twin blocs are faced off, eyeball-to-eyeball, in a bitter contest to define the future of the Middle East. Yet what a surreal war of wills. Strolling through the city center, you can find it hard to decide whether you’ve stumbled across a campy World War II movie set or a 1970s rock concert.
Perhaps it’s the dueling Christmas trees. When government supporters in December erected a brightly colored symbol of the season, the Christians among the demonstrators retaliated with one of their own. The two sides lounged about, on opposing sides of the barricades, smoking and insouciantly eyeing one another’s work. Then came the battle of the billboards. Government forces put up bright red posters around Beirut, reading WE LOVE LIFE. The opposition riposted with its own: WE WANT TO LIVE … WITH DIGNITY. A month ago, Beirutis woke up wondering if yet another massive street demonstration would disrupt movement around the city; today, they go to work anticipating a new array of competing slogans.
Music seems to be the latest weapon of choice. To draw support for their rallies, the oppositionists in the tent city began offering nightly musical entertainment, laced with fiery political speeches. Needless to say, pro-government forces promptly replied with a New Year’s musical extravaganza. Deadly serious though it might be, ordinary people can be pardoned for treating it all as something of a carnival. When the weather is good, especially on evenings and weekends, thousands of families converge on downtown Beirut to join the rallies, where political ideology mixes easily with having a good time. The smell of grilled meat wafts through the air. Boisterous protesters dance, wave flags and flash assorted signs of victory, defiance or just the exuberance of youth. Groups of friends sit around on chairs or mats, playing cards or backgammon and smoking water pipes of aromatic fruit-flavored tobacco.
As I surveyed this scene last week, encountering soldiers and demonstrators alike, all young men mostly in their 20s, I grew somewhat less concerned for Lebanon. Tensions in Beirut and elsewhere could still erupt into clashes or even war. On the other hand, you can’t help but be struck by the relaxed demeanor of the troops. There’s no doubting their willingness–and capacity–to defend the government’s hilltop headquarters. But it’s also obvious that the opposition lads are not planning to storm the place.
The people manning the new ideological front line in the Middle East are the same people who, not long ago, enjoyed the daily pleasures and pastimes of a city that thrives on entertainment and leisure. With every passing day, the tension in Beirut dissipates a bit. Make no mistake: Hizbullah and its partners still vow to bring down the government. Indeed, they have lately begun holding protest rallies elsewhere in the city, usually in front of government ministries or agencies. (Turnout, though, has been modest.) This escalation has been matched, step by step, by an increasingly self-confident and assertive government, backed by many Lebanese as well as foreign and Arab friends. It has deployed the Army and police throughout the capital, signaling that it will not allow any public facilities to be blocked.
Roughly matched, the two sides are likely to reach a compromise before too long, in keeping with Lebanese traditions of consensus governance that gives all major players a fair share of the national pie. The streets and parking lots of central Beirut will be clear again. Soldiers and demonstrators will go home, having waged serious political battle, tempered with generous spirit and humanity.
I find this all surprisingly heartening, both for Lebanon and the broader region. The resoluteness of the government bodes well for other Arab governments determined to fight back against Islamist challengers, whether in Palestine, Somalia, Egypt or Iraq. So does the peaceful, disciplined restraint of the opposition.
