Citizens in a State

Citizens in a State (Arabic: مواطنون ومواطنات في دولة, Mouwatinoun wa Mouwatinat fi Dawla, abbreviated MMFD) is a Lebanese political party launched in 2016 by Charbel Nahas, who is also its current General Secretary. The party is a participant in the 2019-2020 Lebanese protests.

Citizens in a State مواطنون ومواطنات في دولة Mouwatinoun wa Mouwatinat fi Dawla
Leader	Charbel Nahas
Founded	2016 (2016)
Ideology	Progressivism Secularism
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Purple      Blue
Slogan	To decisively contribute in the building of a civil, democratic, fair, and capable state.
Parliament of Lebanon	0 / 128
Cabinet of Lebanon	0 / 30
Website
mmfidawla.com
Politics of Lebanon Political parties Elections

History

In his 1999 book, A Socioeconomic Program for Lebanon[1], Nahas discussed Lebanon's conflicts and financial problems. He proposed an action plan that would acknowledge issues faced by the Lebanese people and outlined actionable steps to improve their financial and political situation. The book was the first political and economic analysis of Lebanon's crisis[2] and made suggestions for a progressive system that prioritized the improvement of the living conditions of the country's citizens.

According to Nahas, the laws issued after 1994 were a series of mistakes resulting in corruption that benefited the political class and its cronies. In 2014, Nahas stated that the entire political system needed change, and that the Taif Agreement was not an actual reform that benefits members of the society who followed it. Therefore, the party took it upon itself to represent the whole Lebanese society without discrimination to formulate a societal project that would contribute to saving the regional communities and not only the Lebanese population.[3] The party blames the government for abandoning its citizens to religious and public institutions and special economic commissions that are playing the roles of the public institutions and are free from control, accountability, and monitoring.[4]

Political positions

The party argues that sects cannot form a nation and that the political regime with its current formula is incapable of surviving economic and social hardships, such as the 2019 financial crisis. Following the outbreak of protests on October 17, 2019, the effects of the economic crisis began to peak. The Citizens in a State movement proposed itself as an alternative to manage the transitional phase through a government with exceptional legislative rights and offered a transitional political vision with the title of “Fair and Purposeful Distribution of Losses.”[5]

Methodology

The movement works within a systematic methodology of realistic assessment as the main grounds of choosing its confrontations. The campaign aims to play a decisive role in changing the current political and social regime through anticipating and identifying the regime’s contradictions and building the necessary knowledge and power to handle them. Hence, it offers a substitute that goes beyond what the existing system can offer.[6]

The success of the movement is tied up to the given methodological means:

• Basing arguments on a critical and intellectual effort.
• Assessing all behaviors and initiatives, whether individual or collective, according to their values and contributions to the "societal order."
• Adopting realism in dealing in all forms of "societal order," through exerting the necessary effort to understand its constructs, the historical circumstances affecting its formation, along with the work of its institutions, and the limitations facing its control and the management of its internal conflicts.

References

1. "charbelnahas.org: A socioeconomic program for Lebanon". Retrieved 6 June 2020.
2. "Nwf.com: حظوظ اجتناب الأزمة وشروط تخطيها، سيرة تجربة في الإصلاح: شربل نحاس: كتب". Retrieved 18 January 2020.
3. "
المسؤولية التاريخية لهيئة التنسيق: تــغيير النظام لا تصحيح الرواتب". Retrieved 18 January 2020.
4. "Charbel Nahas - برنامج التصحيح المالي في لبنان 1998-1999: سيرة تجربة في الاصلاح". Retrieved 18 January 2020.
5. "رؤية "مواطنون ومواطنات في دولة" للمرحلة الانتقالية – مواطنون ومواطنات في دولة". Mouwatinoun wa mouwatinat fi dawla. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
6. "في منهجية عمل الحركة – مواطنون ومواطنات في دولة". Mouwatinoun wa mouwatinat fi dawla. Retrieved 18 January 2020.