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To the Young Men and Women of Lebanon

Both resident and those scattered around the globe,

I address myself to you with this message to urge you not to lose hope in a bright future and a productive and prosperous life in our beloved Lebanon.

Today you are at a crossroads: Either you save Lebanon and put it on the track of change – and I mean real change and total change – or you keep it struggling with itself and its surroundings, on the receiving end of one blow after another, because of the regional conflicts that surround it.

I want you to help me change the way elections are conducted today in Lebanon, and change the mentality of cronyism and nepotism that dominates the electoral process. You can do this by electing representatives to the next Parliament in a new transparent and clear way.

I want you to help me reform – and I mean real reform and total reform – the institutions of government, the judiciary and Parliament, i.e. the three powers: The executive, the judicial and the legislative.

I want you to help me reinstitute the 1983 protocol of the Presidency of the Republic, and get rid of the failed ruling troika of today, in order to establish a sound administration of the affairs of the country.

I want you to help me lay down new and modern economic ideas, and create new cultural, humanistic and scientific paradigms that will open new horizons for you and your children in the future.

Help me restore Lebanon’s stability, security, borders, sovereignty, and independence, as well as its historic pioneering role in its Arab environment and the world at large. Help me put an end to outside interferences in Lebanon’s internal affairs, not only at the level of the Lebanese State, but also at the level of the regions, the districts and even the municipalities [baladiyaat] and mayorships [makhateer].

Help me enable the successful Lebanese emigrant Diaspora to return and invest in Lebanon in all sectors, including the cultural, scientific, industrial, commercial, professional and news media fields, in order to lift Lebanon back to the level of advanced and prosperous countries.

My fellow Lebanese,

You were on my mind and in my heart on December 3, 2003 when I was a delegate at the United Nations and I demanded your freedom.

You were in my conscience at every step I took to defend you, your sovereignty and your rights with the United States Administration and at the United Nations.

You were an integral part of my pride and dignity when I stood in anger demanding that the United Nations stop humiliating the Lebanese people and their honor, and evacuate all foreign forces from its soil.

You were with me when I left Lebanon in 1979, and you stayed with me day after day, and year after year. Now I will return to be with you again.

So I ask you, be with me in the heart of Lebanon so that, together, we bring about real and total change, and implement real and total reform, so that Lebanon remains and so that all of us remain in Lebanon.

I call upon you to volunteer into my electoral program for the salvation of Lebanon. God bless you and may Lebanon live forever in you and by you.

Walid Maalouf