Three concurrent developments are rippling through Lebanon prior to the next parliamentary session to elect a new president before May 25. First, massive demonstrations are expected in a number of cities today, May 14, as teachers and other workers seek adjustments to a minimum wage that the trade union movement considers unfair and substandard. The perception in Lebanon of a growing gap between the rich and the poor is making these demonstrators insistent on economic and social rights.
Second, Maronite Cardinal Bechara al-Rai will be going to Bethlehem and Jerusalem on May 25 to meet Pope Francis. There has been some whispered criticism of Rai’s visit to the Holy Land, but the cardinal, as the patriarch of Antioch, is taking into consideration the presence of a significant number of Maronites in Israel who are part of his congregation.
