SM Global Report: Lebanon MP Jawad S. Boulos

Using Facebook to Serve Constituents & Stay Alive

                  

                  [ Jawad S. Boulos. MP Lebanon. Public photo file]

In a couple of days, here in the US, we will elect a new president. Many people think both sides played hardball in the two campaigns. We have no idea. In Lebanon, where Jawad S. Boulos, was elected in 2005 to a four-year term in Parliament, opponents are assassinating members of his party in order to trim the voting majority and he is clearly a target.

For this reason, Jawad, a Sorbonne-educated lawyer, his wife and their three children live much of their lives either in hiding, or behind a formidable wall of security. This is not easy for a politician who wants to see and mix with constituents.

To talk to his constituents and to exchange ideas as well as receive epitaphs and insults from those who disagree with his freedom-loving views, Jawad uses Facebook--at least when Facebook's watchdog employees aren't shutting him down as a suspected spammer.

This is the 112th interview in this series and Lebanon is the 34th country we have visited. Although, Jawad speaks in a calm and level-headed voice, this is among the most dramatic and inspirational stories I've reported on so far.

[Special thanks to Stan Magniant for connecting me to Jawad and making this interview possible]

 

1. As a Member of the Lebanese Parliament (MP), you sometimes have to take extreme precautions to ensure your safety. Why? And can you tell me more about this?

I was first elected in June 2005, a few months after the horrific assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and then Minister of Economy and MP Bassel Fleihan. These followed a previous attempt on the life of former Minister and MP Marwan Hamadeh.

All three had been active in attempting to free Lebanon from Syrian control. These events were the straw that broke the camel’s back and brought the Lebanese people into the streets. During a full month of demonstrations culminating in a massive rally on March 14, 2005 more than 1.5 million Lebanese took to the streets in what became known as the Cedar Revolution.

They demanded the departure of Syrian troops and the end of Syrian hegemony and control over the country. This massive turnout of nearly one half of the Lebanese resident population (an equivalent rally in the US would require the participation of more than 150 million Americans) finally convinced the international community, which had been complacently blind to the occupation, to put pressure on the Syrian government to pull their troops out of Lebanon.
 
Hariri's assassination led to international outrage an an international investigation into the assassination to unmask the responsible party. The investigation has been ongoing for three years now in utmost secrecy while, in parallel, the legal, financial and operational requirements for setting up an international tribunal to judge those responsible for the assassinations proceeds apace with the investigation.

The elections that were held right after the Syrian pullout gave the independent faction, known as the 14 March Alliance, a majority of seats in Parliament and therefore control over the apparatus of government. This control was not complete because of the presence of Hezbollah, an armed organization operating outside of the scope of the state. Hezbollah constituted the nucleus around which the pro-Syrian opposition, strengthened by 30 years of occupation, coalesced.

Despite the international investigation, assassinations continued at a pace targeting majority MPs, journalists and leaders of opinion as well as officers in the army and police force. The common thread was the political affiliation of the victims to the “Sovereignist “coalition.

In less than a year, four Sovereignist MPs were murdered, whittling down the independent majority in Parliament at a time when holding by-elections was becoming more and more problematic in the face of mounting security threats and the influence of a heavily armed Hezbollah. As a consequence, surviving MPs were advised to take extreme security measures to protect themselves against assassinations with a view towards destroying the parliamentary majority.

During certain periods, the security threats were so prevalent that MPs had to regroup in severely fortified and protected premises away from their homes and families but also to completely curtail our movements. Though the security threat has decreased somewhat as security services, which were previously subservient to Syrian whim are rebuilt and acquire better capabilities to thwart threats but also after the UN Security Council voted a resolution to create the international tribunal for Lebanon rendering ratification by Parliament unnecessary.



2. Why do you continue? Why do you not just decide to step out of Parliament and perhaps move to another country where it is safer for you and your family?

I do it because I believe in Lebanese exceptionalism. Besides, there is no place like home. Let me expand:

Lebanon has always been the odd player in this region.

We have managed to create a parliamentary democracy that is open and tolerant with constitutional protection of individual and community rights and equality for all citizens. This is unique to the Middle East.

In Lebanon, there is no state religion and religion is not a source of legislation as in all other Middle East countries. It is a system where the military is subservient to the civilian authorities unlike Turkey, for example, where legislation does not discriminate according to religious affiliation (such as the law of return in Israel) and where power proceeds from the people (unlike Iran which is a theocracy). It is also a democracy unlike the Monarchies of the Gulf and the authoritarian states of the Levant and North Africa.

Lebanon has a market economy, a liberal bent, an open society-- and we worship our freedoms. Unfortunately, our openness as well as our geographical location between two states that have territorial designs over our country, coupled with the presence of a very large Palestinian refugee community, have negatively affected our stability since our country gained independence from France in 1943.

The very openness of our system has rendered us vulnerable to shocks resulting from the conflicts that rage in the Middle East. Despite all this, the Lebanese people have been unanimous in defending their system and their country and have consistently refused to succumb to totalitarianism or to theocratic tendencies. Ours is a country worth defending and worth sacrificing for.


3. Tell me about technology in your country. How many people have computers? How many people use mobile communications devices?

Figures are a bit sketchy but there is a relatively high penetration of the Internet and computer literacy is broad. Mobile telephony was a hit since it was introduced. Indeed most people prefer their mobiles to fixed lines and most people own mobiles, which are a must in country with a high level of social interaction and where most business is conducted over the phone. Lebanese software companies, while small, have radiated in the region and the Lebanese are pioneers in the use of communication devices and software in marketing and advertising in the Arab world. Access to computers is widely available in schools, businesses and private homes. However, our infrastructure is not up to par. We sorely need investment in our telecommunications infrastructure.


4. Why did you decide to start using Facebook?

As I mentioned, security considerations had forced me to curtail my movements and draconian security measures made it difficult for me to meet with my constituents--or even friends and family. I had to find a way to communicate with people and connect. This was early in 2007 and Facebook and other social utilities had started to really take off in Lebanon.

It was “cool” to be on Facebook and fun too. I first connected just to see what the excitement was about. But I soon discovered the potential of the tool to communicate with a very large constituency of socially diverse and geographically dispersed population. The Lebanese are like the Irish. They tend to emigrate in large numbers in search of better opportunities. But they remain connected and keenly interested in developments at home. It is a common occurrence for me to be informed about something happening literally next door to me from a constituent who has emigrated to Australia 10 or 20 years ago. The constituent from abroad would call to inquire about an event that I wouldn’t know had occurred in my neighborhood or in my circle.

Quite soon, I started using Facebook as a tool to reach out and exchange views with constituents. That’s when the facebook service started disconnecting me. After the 30th or 50th message, Facebook would interpret my activities as spamming and shut me down. After the third disconnect, the Facebook Help Desk warned me that I would not be reconnected next time. So I had to learn to manage the tool in a less expansive way.


5.  How many of your constituents use Facebook? What sort of conversations do you have with them?

I really don’t know how many of them do, but I am surprised by their numbers. I currently have about 1100 friends most of whom are constituents.

But I receive a huge number of messages from people who don’t solicit an “add.” They just want to ask a question or inquire about an issue or clarify a position. I get some hate mail, of course, from people who sometimes later become friends as we talk about issues.

But mostly, it is people with legitimate concerns or who are just curious or who, for one reason or another, simply do not want to appear on my profile.

I often use my friends as sounding boards for positions I wish to take publicly in order to obtain their feedback and fine tune the message. I also take note of complaints and requests from citizens who require services or who are sometimes blocked by the bureaucracy and who require my assistance. So it is a mixed bag really.


6. Who else do you speak with on Facebook? You seem to encounter some people there who are bitterly opposed to your views. Do you feel these conversations can be constructive?

They are. Facebook is an excellent means to customize a message and explain issues. Modern media favor the sound bite over a more nuanced delivery of a political position.

People are very often confused by issues and need to be walked through the details. I often discover that there is a lot of common ground with people who come across as intransigent or radical in the first exchange.

This is not to say that Facebook outreach is a miracle mind changer. We often agree to disagree but keep up the contact. This is very important in a small constituency where people like to vote for candidates they happen to know personally or have access to. This may be a sufficient incentive for them to vote across the political divide. But is it certainly enriching--and time-consuming though I certainly don’t mind receiving hundreds of birthday good wishes.

7. How do you feel Facebook has changed your role in Parliament How has it changed you as an individual?

I don’t think Facebook is an issue as far as my parliamentary duties are concerned. So there is not much of a plus there though I sometimes wish I could connect during a particularly boring session in commissions.

On the individual level, it has allowed me to connect with friends and family spread across the globe. I have been able to stay in touch with friends I haven’t seen in years. It is very rewarding to be able to share in the lives of people who have touched your own life at one moment or another. Though I am a private person, which is pretty unusual for a Lebanese politician, I enjoy being part of a worldwide network of friends, family, supporters or just ordinary people who want to reach out.

8. What is your vision for the future of Lebanon? How can social media play a role in that future?

I definitely want my children to grow up in a free country where stability does not come at the price of liberty. I want a country that is ruled by laws and where rights are preserved and defended. I want a sovereign country where the right of the state to exercise it’s sovereignty over it’s institutions and territory is not in question as it is today, where citizens are unarmed and where the courts are free and equitable. I want a country that has good schools and respected universities.

This may sound like pretty basic stuff to many of your readers but not in my country. We are still struggling with existential issues. How to secure our borders, how to defend our skies and waters from daily Israeli encroachments, how to sterilize Syrian influence born from 30 years of hegemony, how to avoid paying the price of regional conflicts in which we are intimately embroiled without denying our basic values, how to conduct a dialog between religious communities in a region where religious convictions are an important part of identity and where fundamentalism is on the rise. How do we stabilize and rebuild for the umpteenth time after the latest war?

I do not think that social media can replace broadcast media or come close to the impact these media have. But I am sure that, as far as politics are concerned, that social media can have niche roles such as the one that is the subject of your questions.

I think it really depends on the personality of the individual who wishes to harness its use. It doesn’t make sense to delegate when using a media such as Facebook. You can’t ask a staffer to do the job because the whole point of it is that people want to talk to the person they are trying to connect with. So one has to be able to allocate the time it needs and therefore design a unique role for it in his or her outreach strategy.


9. Is there something that the global social media community can do to help Lebanon's plight?

One of the problems we face is that Lebanon is a very complex society with unusual problems. Our issues do not lend themselves to over-simplification yet they are extremely important.

Had the world community heeded the lessons of our historical experience, many of the issues that are being debated now in crisis mode could have been addressed earlier and solutions found. I would cite the example of the role of Islam in politics for example or the protection of the rights of religious minorities in societies where a complete separation of church and state is impossible.

Had the US made better use of the experience of the Lebanese, it may have avoided many of the mistakes it has made in Iraq. It is not by design that Pope John Paul II described Lebanon as “much more than a country, it is a message”.  We are sometimes amazed by the misrepresentations and superficiality of reporting on Lebanese issues that far exceed the small size of our country in their importance. We would like to see more serious, thoughtful and unprejudiced reporting on Lebanon

10. Any additional comments?

If you are a politician and you are not using social media, you had better start learning fast.

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Comments

[Katie Paine]

I visited Beirut in 1971, when it was still the unblemished Switzerland of the Middle East. I was privileged to spend time with a very well informed and fascinating Lebanese family as well as a professor at the American University in Beirut (and, by the way, Buckminster Fuller). It was that experience that began my long-time love affair with the Middle East. Since then, I've grieved with every bomb that went off in Lebanon, and cheered the Cedar Revolution with enthusiasm levels I normally reserve for NH Dems. This interview brought it all home, thank you. And may whatever god you chose to name watch over Mr. Boulos and keep him safe, and his dreams and goals intact.

[Stan]

Great job on this interview. I know it's been a difficult process, but well worth it in the end.

I particularly like Jawad's answer to your last question. In light of recent history, it's good to see social media power "change", be it in the US or in the middle-East.