I lived in Lebanon in 2011. Not many people know this, but Lebanon's system of government actually guarantees that Christians maintain a 50% control of parliament.
A lot of the tension within Lebanon is the fact that this constitutional agreement, enacted decades ago, is no longer really reflective of the demographic realities on the ground.
When the National Pact was originally enacted in the 1930s, the deal gave Christians a 6:5 majority in parliament. This made sense at the time, since the 1932 census pegged Christians as 51% of the country's population.
Don't want to oversimplify Lebanese history, but there was a bloody religious civil war from 1975-1990. That ended with the Taif Agreement, which re-structured the Parliament to a 50-50 split between Christians and Muslims, and reduced the Christians' power within the executive branch of government.
During the civil war, much of Lebanon's christian population fled. To put it in perspective, in 1985, it was estimated that only 25% of the country's people were Christian. The result is that there are now more Lebanese living outside Lebanon than within (and most of them are Christians). That reduction in population was part of the reason to justify the reduction in Christian seats in parliament (since there were fewer Christians in Lebanon).
Over time, this growing diaspora (combined with differences between Christian and Muslim birth rates) has resulted in Lebanese Christians making up a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. Most recent estimates peg the Lebanese Christian community at just 41% of the population.
Make no mistake, there are a lot of people on the ground who hate the fact that Christians, with 41% of the population, have 50% of the seats in parliament.
Lebanon is a clusterfuck and proves why it was such a bad idea for the British and French to draw lines in the sand to create countries in the middle east, without caring about the fact that they were creating multi-nation states and multi-state nations...
Their commies thought they could use the poor but only bueno terrorists coming from Jordan to destabilize the country and eliminate the patriarchal/christian tradition (ffs read about the druze masacres in the late 1800).
Lebanese Christians offered the hand. Commies took all the way to the shoulder. Terrorists took the neck.
Zero Pity. Just dont be a dumb fuck. Lebanese failed at that and are now paying for it.
You’re dead right. Half of my ancestors came over during the Druze massacres. Most of the Christians knew they were fighting the commies who were using the muzzies like the leftists here use identity politics. Here’s Christian militia leader and former first son Dany Chamoun talking about it. https://youtu.be/BOZvRMwkkzA
To my understanding the entirety of Lebanon's present-day problems, including its civil war and the fallout thereof, originated with 400,000 Palestinian 'refugees' being expelled at gunpoint from Jordan (for using Jordanian territory as a staging base to attack Israel from, then trying to overthrow the Jordanian government when the King told them to cut it out). This was back in 1970, and was called Black September IIRC.
The Muslim Palestinian migration completely altered the demographic balance in the previously (as you said) Christian majority Lebanon and left them saddled with a huge number of, frankly, parasitic intruders who went right back to acting the exact same way they had in Jordan. The Palestinians contributed squat to Lebanon's society or economy, their refugee camps were squalid hellholes filled with people who had no intent to integrate, and their leaders saw Lebanon as nothing more than the new staging ground for their harassment of Israel.
That in turn invited Israeli ire, leading to the Lebanese Christian leadership trying to get a handle on the Palestinians, who took as kindly to that as they had to Jordan's King trying the same, and cue the civil war. Hezbollah was originally a very minor player (as were the Shiite militias as a whole), but they eventually came out on top thanks to Iranian & Syrian patronage and the Christians, Sunnis and Druze beating each other bloody.
Looks to me like Lebanon could've spared itself a lot of pain, and Beirut remained the Paris of the Orient rather than ground zero for a new quasi-Hiroshima, were it not for the Palestinians coming in and ruining everything in the 60s-early 70s.
I had tea at Walid Jumblatt's estate and it was magnificent. They also had anti-air craft guns in the courtyards and armed militia everywhere. If I had to put money on what sect would survive and become stronger from a Civil War Pt II, it would be the Druze
I lived in Lebanon in 2011. Not many people know this, but Lebanon's system of government actually guarantees that Christians maintain a 50% control of parliament.
A lot of the tension within Lebanon is the fact that this constitutional agreement, enacted decades ago, is no longer really reflective of the demographic realities on the ground.
When the National Pact was originally enacted in the 1930s, the deal gave Christians a 6:5 majority in parliament. This made sense at the time, since the 1932 census pegged Christians as 51% of the country's population.
Don't want to oversimplify Lebanese history, but there was a bloody religious civil war from 1975-1990. That ended with the Taif Agreement, which re-structured the Parliament to a 50-50 split between Christians and Muslims, and reduced the Christians' power within the executive branch of government.
During the civil war, much of Lebanon's christian population fled. To put it in perspective, in 1985, it was estimated that only 25% of the country's people were Christian. The result is that there are now more Lebanese living outside Lebanon than within (and most of them are Christians). That reduction in population was part of the reason to justify the reduction in Christian seats in parliament (since there were fewer Christians in Lebanon).
Over time, this growing diaspora (combined with differences between Christian and Muslim birth rates) has resulted in Lebanese Christians making up a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. Most recent estimates peg the Lebanese Christian community at just 41% of the population.
Make no mistake, there are a lot of people on the ground who hate the fact that Christians, with 41% of the population, have 50% of the seats in parliament.
Lebanon is a clusterfuck and proves why it was such a bad idea for the British and French to draw lines in the sand to create countries in the middle east, without caring about the fact that they were creating multi-nation states and multi-state nations...
Excellent synopsis of Lebanon’s history. Pity the Nation.
They allowed their commies to exist.
Their commies thought they could use the poor but only bueno terrorists coming from Jordan to destabilize the country and eliminate the patriarchal/christian tradition (ffs read about the druze masacres in the late 1800).
Lebanese Christians offered the hand. Commies took all the way to the shoulder. Terrorists took the neck.
Zero Pity. Just dont be a dumb fuck. Lebanese failed at that and are now paying for it.
You’re dead right. Half of my ancestors came over during the Druze massacres. Most of the Christians knew they were fighting the commies who were using the muzzies like the leftists here use identity politics. Here’s Christian militia leader and former first son Dany Chamoun talking about it. https://youtu.be/BOZvRMwkkzA
To my understanding the entirety of Lebanon's present-day problems, including its civil war and the fallout thereof, originated with 400,000 Palestinian 'refugees' being expelled at gunpoint from Jordan (for using Jordanian territory as a staging base to attack Israel from, then trying to overthrow the Jordanian government when the King told them to cut it out). This was back in 1970, and was called Black September IIRC.
The Muslim Palestinian migration completely altered the demographic balance in the previously (as you said) Christian majority Lebanon and left them saddled with a huge number of, frankly, parasitic intruders who went right back to acting the exact same way they had in Jordan. The Palestinians contributed squat to Lebanon's society or economy, their refugee camps were squalid hellholes filled with people who had no intent to integrate, and their leaders saw Lebanon as nothing more than the new staging ground for their harassment of Israel.
That in turn invited Israeli ire, leading to the Lebanese Christian leadership trying to get a handle on the Palestinians, who took as kindly to that as they had to Jordan's King trying the same, and cue the civil war. Hezbollah was originally a very minor player (as were the Shiite militias as a whole), but they eventually came out on top thanks to Iranian & Syrian patronage and the Christians, Sunnis and Druze beating each other bloody.
Looks to me like Lebanon could've spared itself a lot of pain, and Beirut remained the Paris of the Orient rather than ground zero for a new quasi-Hiroshima, were it not for the Palestinians coming in and ruining everything in the 60s-early 70s.
Fucking Palestinians gonna Palestinian.
I had tea at Walid Jumblatt's estate and it was magnificent. They also had anti-air craft guns in the courtyards and armed militia everywhere. If I had to put money on what sect would survive and become stronger from a Civil War Pt II, it would be the Druze
So they have independents like Rs and Ds. We vote for who we feel is best. 41% should get 50% if its only split 2 ways