Macron’s visit to Beirut after dreadful blast: post-colonial theatrics?

BEIRUT- Rajee rajee yetaamar rajee Lebnan- Zaki Nasif’s consoling song- blasted out of a convoy of cars around Residence Des Pins as soon as president Emmanuel Macron opened his press conference expressing his support and empathy on Thursday evening, two days after the unprecedented blast that shook the entirety of Beirut.

Macron had visited the capital walking through Beirut’s rumbled Gemmayze streets earlier in the day as crowds jostled around him chanting for the government to "fall" and asking for international aid. He also met with representatives of multiple political parties.

As political leaders walked out of the palace before the French president’s speech, Samir Geagea said: “Macron being here today, is a telling indicator about the immensity of this catastrophe.”

Two days after a deadly blast that tore through the capital, killing at least 137 people, Macron who said the disaster should “mark a new era” in the country, is the first world leader to have rushed to the Lebanese capital in its devastating aftermath.

“France will never leave the Lebanese people. Our destinies are indefinitely knotted by the bonds of time, of the spirit, of culture and of our dreams, “said president Macron.

He promised "clear and transparent governance" of the funds provided by France, which he said would be routed "directly towards NGOs" and towards the civil society - a major demand of Lebanese people weary of systematic corruption. He also promised to organize an aid conference with the EU in the coming days.

While people drastically took to social media to share links to aid organizations  with petitions and fund raisers to better provide care for explosion victims, a petition to put Lebanon under a French mandate garnered more than 50,000 signatures in 24 hours.

Lebanon was a French mandate in the years after the first world war becoming France’s success in the Levant.  To consolidate their power, and with dreams of making Lebanon part of L’Union Francaise, the French once crafted the Lebanese system based on French paternalism and hegemony.

People signing to go back to a mandate is telling of a national exacerbated desperation with the Lebanese government especially after the latest double explosion that has left more than 300 000 individuals homeless in their own city.

Some Instagram, Facebook and Twitter users even changed their display pictures to a Lebanese- French flag with Lebanon’s cedar at the heart of the blue, white and red stripes.

The petition was directed at French President Emmanuel Macron who rejected it with a shocked face on Thursday during his conference.

“I shouldn’t be the one recomposing the Lebanese political system.  I shouldn’t be the one writing your own history for you,” he noted. “France can assist this country in emerging to a new phase but you can’t ask me to substitute your leaders, it wouldn’t be a solution.”

But some criticized Macron’s visit arguing that it was patronizing, ironically comparing it to a professor giving homework to his schoolchildren.

The French president promised to be back by September 01, the 100th anniversary of  the declaration of the state of Greater Lebanon by Henri Gouraud from the historically symbolic Residence Des Pins exactly where Macron was standing as he addressed the Lebanese population.

While the media seemed to be rejoicing a French rescue plan and long-awaited economic and political reforms for Lebanon’s ailing situation, the reality is much cruder. Lebanon – a land where no census has been feasible since 1932 due to political sensitivities – has not only become a realm of proxy-bloodshed and geopolitical intervention but one of desperation and instability. 

Feeding corruption, dysfunctional apparatuses and fragmentation with brute force and racism, the French had once sought to build a new state which would be in perpetual need of their support. Their plans, that once crashed as the Lebanese began calling for independence in a shifting global political climate has rather been proven to be on stand-by.  

Today, with a totally dysfunctional government that has ravaged the heart of their country stumping the last bit of hope left in each and every Lebanese citizen has activated a praise towards our former colonials.

President Macron with an emotional yet heavy tone ended his highly empathetic and supportive speech with “بحبك يا لبنان” (“I love you, Lebanon”) as the crowd applauded and cheered “Vive la France!”