Empty Slogans Don’t Build Nations

When a nation strives to gather its fragments and build its state on solid foundations, slogans cannot replace achievements.

When a country struggles to overcome its divisions and agree on common goals that define its future, rhetoric cannot take the place of plans and projects.

And when a people seek to reshape their identity, imported ideas cannot serve as the basis for a new life.

Today, in this decisive moment described by many as “existential” and “historic,” everyone is rushing to put forward proposals that neither advance nor delay the inevitable. One calls for “purifying memory,” another for “redirecting the compass,” a third for a “new national pact.” Yet past attempts have shown these notions to be nothing more than extensions of the very disputes they were meant to resolve.

Take the endless debates about Hezbollah’s weapons. They have lost relevance since the executive authority announced its decision on the matter, welcomed the army’s plan to implement it, and the Prime Minister confirmed the government will not retreat. Arguments once used have crumbled, replaced with shifting excuses each time the rationale collapsed.

If restoring state sovereignty across its territory and limiting arms to its military and security institutions is the key to rebuilding, then the key has already been inserted into the lock, lubricated to erode the rust of years of state paralysis. But the process will take time. The army and security agencies need more equipment, manpower, deployment networks, and field communications before they can absorb the weapons.

Slogans and narratives—those that have dominated political and social discourse for decades—have not built a single road, restored power, or brought clean water. Talk of “constituencies,” “resistance,” or “serving the cause” has not delivered the basic services citizens deserve from their state.

If land is a vital issue, the human being is the greater one. At the start of the school year, tuition fees have soared unreasonably, and the Education Ministry remains silent. The stench of corruption rises from the Customs Directorate while the Cabinet drags its feet over names and methods of reform. The President himself visited the Motor Vehicle Department, long plagued by waste and graft, but nothing has changed.

Everyone knows the deplorable state of roads and traffic law enforcement, yet no tangible improvement has followed. Towns and villages go without water for weeks and months, while energy ministers blame their predecessors as though integrity were exclusive to those in office. Even building permits have become more expensive than construction itself.

The examples are endless. Empty slogans do not pave roads, generate electricity, restore trust in institutions, or guarantee health and education security. What Lebanon needs is initiatives rooted in real national responsibility, starting with reforms in electricity, water, health, education, infrastructure, and the judiciary.

Only a state built on achievement and initiative can be a true state—one that embraces its citizens, safeguards their rights, and rises with dignity toward its future.