Saniora: Those Calling for Freedom in Lebanon Can't Do so while Supporting Syrian Regime

Former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora noted on Wednesday that some sides in Lebanon who are accusing others of meddling in the Syrian crisis are in fact guilty of these charges.

He said: “Those calling for the freedom in Lebanon cannot do so while simultaneously supporting the Syrian regime.”

He made his statements during the launch of the Mustaqbal movement’s political document on the Arab Spring, entitled “Al-Mustabqal and the Perspectives of the Arab Spring.”

Saniora said: “At the outbreak of the uprising against the Syrian regime, the charges of conspiracy and treason have flared up against supporters of independence and those who express their solidarity with the Syrian people's uprising against its despotic regime.”

“These accusations stemmed from the pretext that those who are supportive of the Syrian people are guilty of ‘conspiring against the Resistance’ and that the specificity of Lebanese-Syrian relations requires a non-interference in Syrian affairs,” he noted.

“In Lebanon, those who really interfere in Syrian affairs by the autocratic methods of yesteryear, are those who proclaim loud and clear every day in the media, on the ground and in all Arab and international forums, that they support the Syrian regime against its people, or that they distance themselves from any interference in Syrian affairs,” declared the former premier.

He stated that the year 2011 witnessed the explosion of Arab youth movements, which started in Tunisia and spread to other Arab countries, especially those with military and security regimes.

“These movements had four characteristics: the large number of participants, their diversity, a majority of youth, and their insistence on the peaceful nature of their movement despite the oppression they suffered since the first day,” noted the MP.

“They also shared the same slogans and goals: freedom, dignity, pluralistic democracy, justice, and civil State,” added the head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc.

“We consider the Arab change a period of maturity,” Saniora remarked.

“It places the Arab world, including us, at the gateway of a new future filled with the ambitions of our youth, to establish political regimes on the basis of the respect of rights and public freedoms, especially religious freedoms, of the safeguard of human dignity, and of justice and good management of the public affairs,” he said.

“This review is aimed at preserving the unity of our society and its diversity in this time of change.

Additionally, it would help start a common, comprehensive, and advanced action on the national level with all social, cultural and political groups of Lebanon, to strengthen coexistence,” explained the MP.

It will also help strengthen the National Pact and constitution as starting points to improve public affairs, and allow our youth to participate in building their future, he added.

The change ushered by Arab youth is a long-term democratic process, which goes beyond holding elections that result in a ruling majority, he stated.

The change will ensure full equality between all citizens, protect public freedoms, respect diversity, and reject any monopoly from the part of a majority, whatever its nature, declared Saniora.

Below is the full text of the Mustaqbal movement's document on the Arab Spring:

The Future Movement and the Perspectives of the Arab Spring-Document