| Abstract [eng] |
On October 17th, 2019 mass protests broke out in Beirut followed by other cities in Lebanon. Triggered by economic crisis the protests soon acquired a broader character, calling for the downfall of the regime and various deep reforms. This movement, called a revolution by some, differs from previous protests due to broad participation across different social classes and regions, lack of coordination by any political party or other organization. It is considered to be an opportunity for reconciliation among different Lebanese communities and is viewed from identity-building perspective. Literature analysis concerning the sociopolitical context of Lebanon has shown, that its various religious denominations are through power sharing agreement entrenched in the administrative system and instrumentalized by political leaders, which reproduces confessional identities and makes it difficult for a common national identity to form. The purpose of this Master thesis is to analyze how an intercommunal identity is being built in the context of the civil resistance movement in Lebanon with respect to religion, nationalism and leadership. It aims to reveal the factors contributing to unity and fragmentation within this context. The main methodological approaches applied in this thesis are semi-structured interviews with the participants of the demonstrations in Beirut and participant observation conducted between October 17th and December 19th 2019. As an additional method literature analysis is used in order to clarify the context relevant for this study. This thesis makes use of several theoretical approaches, mainly those concerning identity-building in social movement context, politization of religion and secularization, civil nationalism and nation-building, leadership and its relation to identity-building. The analysis revealed that in the context of the movement in question a certain intercommunal unity, largely based on economic grievances, has emerged. It manifests itself through newly found space for intercommunal dialogue, connection between different regions associated with different religious confessions, increased communication and creation of a common discourse and activities. The politization of religion has been found to be contributing to segregation through manipulation of political leaders and mandatory incorporation of religion into everyday lives. Secularization, as rejection of sectarianism, is seen as a potential solution for this, along with the idea of civil nationalism and equality. This thesis also argues that, following “old” leaders contributes to fragmentation of the society and is often associated with clientelism and pseudotransformational bonds. Rejection of those leaders is seen as another base for unity. The basic split can be observed between the participants of the movement defined as “we”, who rejected the leaders and are building a new Lebanon, or “we”, who are united as Lebanese and “them”, who still cling to the leaders or religious confessions. It has though been revealed that there is a further split within the movement, as not everybody is equally committed to rejecting all the leaders in all their capacities. Some of the other obstacles for unity are considered to be related to differences between generations, memories of the civil war, socioeconomic status, religion as a shelter in times of difficulties and strong commitment to religious traditions. The analysis of some confrontations with the opponents of the movement has shown that they can be interpreted as opposition between secularization and anti-secularization, new and old nationalisms or the result of the allegiance to certain leaders. This thesis considers all these interpretations not to be exclusive, especially considering the character of the Lebanese society and political system, where the questions of religion, leadership and nationalism are closely intertwined. |
