Lebanon’s political class is neither timid nor bashful. It committed every imaginable fault against the people and the country, and then began issuing condemnations and criticizing everyone who had led the country to this point. Whoever listens to our political system’s pillars believes that it is the people who have desecrated themselves! Do politicians live on another planet? Or do they believe they can still make others laugh?

The most recent striking illustration of this is Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s interview with the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, during which the latter spoke about a political virus that hit Lebanon, and how this virus resulted in something that no one could have predicted. So, what exactly does Berri mean by “political virus”? Hasn’t he been a force in political life since at least 1980, that is, forty-two years ago?

He has also been a member of Parliament since 1992, or thirty years, and has served as Speaker of Parliament during that period. In this circumstance, how can he believe himself to be outside the political club, political class, or political virus, as he refers to it?

Berri claims elsewhere that Lebanon is not bankrupt, but that its problem is one of political absence! You see, who is to blame for the political apathy? Isn’t that because of him and his colleagues? Isn’t it his and their policies that have driven us to bankruptcy? Not to mention their corruption, agreements, and quotas, of course.

As a result, Mr. Berri, I wish you had not given useless speeches from the Nile country, because there no reforms would ever be accomplished as long as you and the governing system are in power!