Karim Safi Aldin - Charbel Chaaya
17.03.2023
The battle of public sector professors cannot be separated from the comprehensive financial solution, as the reason for the inability of sectarian parties to provide solutions to teachers is the refusal of those parties and their banking partners to acknowledge their responsibility and willingness to bear losses.
"I call on teachers to continue the school year and not to go back to strike, consider it a humanitarian contribution – by all religious, moral, faithful, religious standards."
A sentence summarizing Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's brief position on March 9 on a strike by teachers in public schools to protest economic and social deterioration.
In his speech, Nasrallah stressed the importance of resisting "despair" by "holding on to hope" and "contributing humanitarianly," in other words, asking public sector employees, including teachers, to work for free, i.e. under the system of forced labor.
This is the same approach repeated by the secretary-general of Hezbollah: symbolic solidarity, pressure to paralyze opposing social movements, and a focus on the external factor at the expense of actual contradictions, in which he is directly involved. Therefore, Hassan Nasrallah is settling the situation again, but rather the situation has been settled for years. Nasrallah simply adhered to the position and role he has been playing since the early October 17 revolution, when he called on party supporters to step out of the streets and hold on to the corpse of a collapsed regime.
"Sectarian neoliberalism"
Nasrallah and the rest of the regime's poles see in public sector professors subordinate groups, unable to shape the future of their lives, as mere arithmetic figures in service of the project of non-state and clientelism, in the face of the historical approach of those who see teachers as a cornerstone of building a social state that guarantees the right to education for all citizens and residents in Lebanon.
According to sociologist Rima Majed, Lebanon is governed by a system of "sectarian neoliberalism," a combination of power-sharing based on sectarian identity and a fierce neoliberal economic system based on rents and harnessing public state utilities to ensure its continuity in power. At the same time, no single person or group is a phenomenon that rules the state in the true political sense, but rather sectarian leaders who ally and quarrel from outside constitutional institutions to secure their interests.
من هذا المنطلق، حاولت أحزاب الطوائف ترويض الأساتذة واستيعابهم منذ بدء الإضراب في أوائل شهر كانون الثاني/ يناير، عبر التحاقها (من خلال الروابط النقابية التابعة لها) بالإضراب القائم قبل أن تتراجع عن تضامنها المزيف في 6 آذار، وتعلن فك الإضراب، وذلك من دون العودة إلى الجمعيات العمومية للأساتذة.
اختلف الوضع من جهة النظام، لأنه وبكل بساطة عاجز عن الإجابة عن أسئلة حتمية تتعلق بالمسائل الاقتصادية – المعيشية، وذلك لارتباطاته بمصالح تناقض مصالح الفئات التي يدّعي زوراً تمثيلها.
نصرالله شدد في خطابه على أهمية مقاومة “اليأس” عبر “التمسك بالأمل” و”المساهمة الإنسانية”، بمعنى آخر هو يطلب من موظفي القطاع العام، ومن بينهم المعلمون، أن يعملوا من دون مقابل، أي وفق نظام السخرة.
ردّ الأساتذة وتصاعد الصراع الاقتصادي
رفض الأساتذة قرارات الروابط واصفين إياها بغير الشرعية، فملأوا ساحة وزارة التربية والتعليم العالي ونصبوا الخيم، متمسكين بالإضراب حتى تحقيق مطالبهم برواتب عادلة ومصححة، بتثبيت سعر “صيرفة”، وضمان الاستشفاء لهم.
وكانت أحزاب الطوائف، ما بين قرار الإضراب وتعليقه، تحاول بشتى الوسائل تحفيز الأساتذة على التراجع عن “ثورتهم”، عبر رشوة الأساتذة وتأمين مساعدات خاصة لهم من خارج الدولة، وإرساء ما سمته رئيسة اللجنة الفاعلة للأساتذة المتعاقدين في التعليم الأساسي الرسمي، نسرين شاهين، “بالفيدرالية التربوية”، حيث تتعامل أحزاب الطوائف مع الملف التربوي وكأنه عمل خيري، وليس “حقوقاً مقابل عمل”. وبذلك تحوّل إضراب الأساتذة من تحرك للحصول على مكتسبات محقة إلى انتفاضة على أطر نقابية انتهت صلاحيتها- وإن كان ذلك لن يدوم بسبب ضغوط الروابط وغياب أي غطاء نقابي يحمي الأساتذة المتمردين.
The behavior of the secretary-general of Lebanon's most powerful party in the country in this modest sector is only an indication of the separation between Hezbollah and the grassroots that once enjoyed minimal financial autonomy. This separation is a natural result of Hezbollah's current position in the general conflict between different social, professional, and union blocs on the one hand, and another bloc that brought together bankers, politicians, some elites and journalists, and its attempt to avoid the basic issue of assigning responsibilities in the distribution of losses, to satisfy its banking partners and deceive the popular groups it claims to represent. The professor becomes a humanitarian message and not a worker who deserves a fair wage and a partner in building the state. This is not the first time that forced labor has been justified by empty "moral" rhetoric. History is rife with men of slavery, colonialism and capital, who mastered the use of ideology to maintain the status co.
For example, in 1930, the late President Émile Eddé abolished 111 public primary schools and dismissed about 400 public teachers (Decree 6130) on the pretext that they did not know French, as part of a systematic policy of the mandate to strike public education and ensure the monopoly of missions on the educational file.
The battle of public sector professors cannot be separated from the comprehensive financial solution, as the reason for the inability of sectarian parties to provide solutions to teachers is the refusal of those parties and their banking partners to acknowledge their responsibility and willingness to bear losses. The position is one and the same among the largest blocs against society: they will not pay the price.
MP Mohamed Raad announced the party's position on ways to resolve the financial crisis in a frank statement weeks ago, stressing the importance of preserving "depositors' money" (money that does not exist today), and then demanded that "the state and banks" bear their share of losses. The same week, the Strong Republic bloc (Lebanese Forces) submitted a draft law proposal for an independent institution to "manage state assets." According to the proposal, this institution aims to "reconstitute deposits and strengthen public finances", under the pretext of the crisis of public institutions unable to manage assets of a "commercial nature".
In fact, this law is merely a confirmation of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's talk a year ago, when he stressed the existence of a plan to "destroy the banking sector" and the need to hold "political authority accountable." We are witnessing in the arena today poles and forces that may differ in "politics" and agree on interests, but the question remains: What is politics but a project to manage contradictory and conflicting interests? In parallel, the IMF negotiations file has become in the corridor, and it has been placed in the hands of those who have determined their goal and position in relation to these interests, which explains the "gap" between the government and the Fund. This is how Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Abu Saab described it when he spoke about the many points of disagreement on fundamental issues such as controlling export funds, investing in state assets, writing off debts, and separating large and small depositors.
On this basis, and in light of these contradictions, the societal blocs that are moving today must find a common address that links their economic and social destiny to this financial entitlement and the negotiating track with the Fund. The requirements of this step are not limited to presenting this reading, but also require a great effort to gather the "representatives" of these groups in the absence of official union frameworks. The "movement" is the starting point, and today we must learn from the experience of professors, who decided to replace the political deficit and impose the initiative as an answer to the paralysis of the regime and its opponents.
17.03.2023
The battle of public sector professors cannot be separated from the comprehensive financial solution, as the reason for the inability of sectarian parties to provide solutions to teachers is the refusal of those parties and their banking partners to acknowledge their responsibility and willingness to bear losses.
"I call on teachers to continue the school year and not to go back to strike, consider it a humanitarian contribution – by all religious, moral, faithful, religious standards."
A sentence summarizing Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's brief position on March 9 on a strike by teachers in public schools to protest economic and social deterioration.
In his speech, Nasrallah stressed the importance of resisting "despair" by "holding on to hope" and "contributing humanitarianly," in other words, asking public sector employees, including teachers, to work for free, i.e. under the system of forced labor.
This is the same approach repeated by the secretary-general of Hezbollah: symbolic solidarity, pressure to paralyze opposing social movements, and a focus on the external factor at the expense of actual contradictions, in which he is directly involved. Therefore, Hassan Nasrallah is settling the situation again, but rather the situation has been settled for years. Nasrallah simply adhered to the position and role he has been playing since the early October 17 revolution, when he called on party supporters to step out of the streets and hold on to the corpse of a collapsed regime.
"Sectarian neoliberalism"
Nasrallah and the rest of the regime's poles see in public sector professors subordinate groups, unable to shape the future of their lives, as mere arithmetic figures in service of the project of non-state and clientelism, in the face of the historical approach of those who see teachers as a cornerstone of building a social state that guarantees the right to education for all citizens and residents in Lebanon.
According to sociologist Rima Majed, Lebanon is governed by a system of "sectarian neoliberalism," a combination of power-sharing based on sectarian identity and a fierce neoliberal economic system based on rents and harnessing public state utilities to ensure its continuity in power. At the same time, no single person or group is a phenomenon that rules the state in the true political sense, but rather sectarian leaders who ally and quarrel from outside constitutional institutions to secure their interests.
من هذا المنطلق، حاولت أحزاب الطوائف ترويض الأساتذة واستيعابهم منذ بدء الإضراب في أوائل شهر كانون الثاني/ يناير، عبر التحاقها (من خلال الروابط النقابية التابعة لها) بالإضراب القائم قبل أن تتراجع عن تضامنها المزيف في 6 آذار، وتعلن فك الإضراب، وذلك من دون العودة إلى الجمعيات العمومية للأساتذة.
اختلف الوضع من جهة النظام، لأنه وبكل بساطة عاجز عن الإجابة عن أسئلة حتمية تتعلق بالمسائل الاقتصادية – المعيشية، وذلك لارتباطاته بمصالح تناقض مصالح الفئات التي يدّعي زوراً تمثيلها.
نصرالله شدد في خطابه على أهمية مقاومة “اليأس” عبر “التمسك بالأمل” و”المساهمة الإنسانية”، بمعنى آخر هو يطلب من موظفي القطاع العام، ومن بينهم المعلمون، أن يعملوا من دون مقابل، أي وفق نظام السخرة.
ردّ الأساتذة وتصاعد الصراع الاقتصادي
رفض الأساتذة قرارات الروابط واصفين إياها بغير الشرعية، فملأوا ساحة وزارة التربية والتعليم العالي ونصبوا الخيم، متمسكين بالإضراب حتى تحقيق مطالبهم برواتب عادلة ومصححة، بتثبيت سعر “صيرفة”، وضمان الاستشفاء لهم.
وكانت أحزاب الطوائف، ما بين قرار الإضراب وتعليقه، تحاول بشتى الوسائل تحفيز الأساتذة على التراجع عن “ثورتهم”، عبر رشوة الأساتذة وتأمين مساعدات خاصة لهم من خارج الدولة، وإرساء ما سمته رئيسة اللجنة الفاعلة للأساتذة المتعاقدين في التعليم الأساسي الرسمي، نسرين شاهين، “بالفيدرالية التربوية”، حيث تتعامل أحزاب الطوائف مع الملف التربوي وكأنه عمل خيري، وليس “حقوقاً مقابل عمل”. وبذلك تحوّل إضراب الأساتذة من تحرك للحصول على مكتسبات محقة إلى انتفاضة على أطر نقابية انتهت صلاحيتها- وإن كان ذلك لن يدوم بسبب ضغوط الروابط وغياب أي غطاء نقابي يحمي الأساتذة المتمردين.
The behavior of the secretary-general of Lebanon's most powerful party in the country in this modest sector is only an indication of the separation between Hezbollah and the grassroots that once enjoyed minimal financial autonomy. This separation is a natural result of Hezbollah's current position in the general conflict between different social, professional, and union blocs on the one hand, and another bloc that brought together bankers, politicians, some elites and journalists, and its attempt to avoid the basic issue of assigning responsibilities in the distribution of losses, to satisfy its banking partners and deceive the popular groups it claims to represent. The professor becomes a humanitarian message and not a worker who deserves a fair wage and a partner in building the state. This is not the first time that forced labor has been justified by empty "moral" rhetoric. History is rife with men of slavery, colonialism and capital, who mastered the use of ideology to maintain the status co.
For example, in 1930, the late President Émile Eddé abolished 111 public primary schools and dismissed about 400 public teachers (Decree 6130) on the pretext that they did not know French, as part of a systematic policy of the mandate to strike public education and ensure the monopoly of missions on the educational file.
The battle of public sector professors cannot be separated from the comprehensive financial solution, as the reason for the inability of sectarian parties to provide solutions to teachers is the refusal of those parties and their banking partners to acknowledge their responsibility and willingness to bear losses. The position is one and the same among the largest blocs against society: they will not pay the price.
MP Mohamed Raad announced the party's position on ways to resolve the financial crisis in a frank statement weeks ago, stressing the importance of preserving "depositors' money" (money that does not exist today), and then demanded that "the state and banks" bear their share of losses. The same week, the Strong Republic bloc (Lebanese Forces) submitted a draft law proposal for an independent institution to "manage state assets." According to the proposal, this institution aims to "reconstitute deposits and strengthen public finances", under the pretext of the crisis of public institutions unable to manage assets of a "commercial nature".
In fact, this law is merely a confirmation of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's talk a year ago, when he stressed the existence of a plan to "destroy the banking sector" and the need to hold "political authority accountable." We are witnessing in the arena today poles and forces that may differ in "politics" and agree on interests, but the question remains: What is politics but a project to manage contradictory and conflicting interests? In parallel, the IMF negotiations file has become in the corridor, and it has been placed in the hands of those who have determined their goal and position in relation to these interests, which explains the "gap" between the government and the Fund. This is how Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Abu Saab described it when he spoke about the many points of disagreement on fundamental issues such as controlling export funds, investing in state assets, writing off debts, and separating large and small depositors.
On this basis, and in light of these contradictions, the societal blocs that are moving today must find a common address that links their economic and social destiny to this financial entitlement and the negotiating track with the Fund. The requirements of this step are not limited to presenting this reading, but also require a great effort to gather the "representatives" of these groups in the absence of official union frameworks. The "movement" is the starting point, and today we must learn from the experience of professors, who decided to replace the political deficit and impose the initiative as an answer to the paralysis of the regime and its opponents.
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