Ayad Al Qazzaz is an Iraq-born sociology professor in California; Mustafa Bahran is a Yemen-born physicist at Carleton University and formerly the Minister of Energy in Yemen. They share a common conviction that the current crisis in Lebanon is just the latest in a series of disasters resulting from the country’s sectarian constitution, which specifies that each of the main governmental offices be held by a member of a particular religious community. As a result, politicians in Lebanon are corrupt and all loyal to their religious community, as opposed to the Al Qazzaz notes that the French imposed this system on a reluctant population, but that it cannot easily be reversed. Moreover, the U.S. imposed a similar sectarian constitution on Iraq after the recent war there, and similar effects can be seen there today.
Panelists:
• Ayad Al Qazzaz
• Mustafa Bahran
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